WordPres Widget Help Please | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

sandy@yesiamcheap said:

Hi!  I just migrated to Wordpress earlier this month and am still trying to figure out all the widgets. I have 3 questions.

1. I tried to install the WP welcome message widget but it doesn't work on my site.  Can you suggest something similiar?  It would display a welcome message in a box at the top of my blog that would display for new visitors.  Some that I have seen even have special messages based on where the visitor came from (twitter, FB, etc).
2. Which comment CAPTCHA widget do you suggest?
3. Are there any other widgets that you would recommend to someone like me that's new to WP?

Thanks in advance for your help.

---

Hello Sandy! I am going to suggest a couple of plugins that I use:

1) It sounds like you either want "What Would Seth Goodin Do" (this displays a custom message both for new and returning visitors based on how you set it up), or "WP Greet Box" (this displays a custom message based on where the reader came from)

2) I use Conditional Captcha – it will only pop up if your spam filter thinks that the comment may be spam. It will give the reader a chance to prove that they aren't spam, and it won't come out and annoy people who you've marked as "not spam".

3) I have 59 active plugins right now, plus I have a premium theme, so I'll try to list a couple here. I use Digg Digg and Sharing is Sexy to place social network buttons on my site. Commentluv to allow other bloggers who leave a comment to display their latest post.

I'll just stop there and let other people chime in. Go visit my site and move around and then let me know if there is something that you want to use on your site. Or, just post what you want to do here and I'm sure you'll receive plenty of great suggestions.

Is there a widget that I can use where a visitor would enter their
e-mail address to sign up for my (non-existent) mailing list and then be
given a link to download it?

 

How are you going to maintain your mailing list?  I think Aweber has something to use or there's a plugin for Aweber.  There are probably other option out there to for other mailing list providers.

 

For visitors I use WP Greet Box.  You can adjust what each message says and set up different messages for visitors coming from different places.

 

Khaleef – You have 59 active plugins?!?  I have about thirty and I think I have too many.

sandy@yesiamcheap said:

I want to offer an eBook.  Is there a widget that I can use where a visitor would enter their e-mail address to sign up for my (non-existent) mailing list and then be given a link to download it?  I'm working on this for a second blog that I am building.

---

Sandy, if you use Aweber you can set up a simple web form on your site (I have one one mine) to collect their email addresses and subscribe them to your newsletter…right now all I'm using it for is a different way to receive my blog posts but I have plans for the future.

Then in your Aweber account you can set up an autoresponder that will send out prewritten emails whenever you want.  All you have to do is include a download link to your ebook in the first message and it should accomplish exactly what you're looking to do. 

If you have any questions let me know and i'll be glad to help you set it up.

Mike