add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘my_theme_enqueue_styles’ );
function my_theme_enqueue_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style( ‘child-style’, get_stylesheet_uri(),
array( ‘parenthandle’ ),
wp_get_theme()->get(‘Version’) // this only works if you have Version in the style header
);
}
In this video I show you the exact process I use to write SEO content with Chat GPT which not only sells but also ranks on Google.
You do NOT want to just copy and paste content from Chat GPT.
I will show you how to use Chat GPT to structure your content and write the foundation, which you can then use to write a great piece of copy which will work for search engine optimization.
In this video I show you the exact process I use to set up WordPress websites.
This method is going to allow you to set up a WordPress website with minimal to no coding required (depending on your needs).
I will show you exactly what plugins to use and how to set up a child theme so that your website does not break when the next WordPress update happens.
In this post I’m going to tell you about 10 plugins I use on every WordPress website and why I use each one.
Let’s get right into it.
1. Classic Editor
I don’t like the Gutenberg editor that comes with the current versions of WordPress, therefore I always install the Classic Editor plugin so that don’t have to deal with it.
I personally really like the Classic Editor for posting blogs, it just makes life a whole lot easier. Plus, there’s a reason why its the number one installed plugin for WordPress.
2. Elementor
Before Elementor I hated page builders. I thought they were rubbish, and I liked doing everything in code.
However, Elementor does a really good job. It’s a super easy to use page builder that actually does what you want.
I’ve been using it ever since I first tried it. It makes your life a whole lot easier.
If you need a page builder for your WordPress website – Get Elementor.
3. Elementor Headers & Footers
If you’re working on a budget and don’t want to pay for Elementor Pro, you’ll soon find you can’t edit the headers and footers.
However, you can get Elementor Headers & Footers and that will allow you to adjust the headers and footers using Elementor but without having to pay for the Pro version.
It’s basically exactly the same thing except it gives you the option to make and set headers and footers, which you can set for specific pages, posts, whatever you need – It’s all there.
Overall a really good plugin.
4. Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO makes it easy to do most of your onsite SEO such as meta titles and descriptions.
I personally like Yoast SEO, I’ve been using it for a long time and it just does the job really well. It’s also really easy to use so you probably won’t even need to read a tutorial.
5. Contact Form 7
I’ve been using Contact Form 7 for quite some time and I like the fact that it’s mostly code so you can just edit what you need.
However if you’re not that savvy with code, you can go with “WP Forms”. WP Forms is another really good option that is very user friendly and you don’t need as much knowledge of the code itself like you do with Contact Form 7.
I like the customizability of Contact Form 7, which is why I use it.
6. Redirection For Contact Form 7
Basically what this plugin allows you to do is you can redirect the form after someone has filled it out to a page or URL. For example, you can redirect it to a thank you page, which then allows you to track this page so you’d know how many people have submitted the form (in Google Analytics, for example).
It’s a really good plugin, very easy to use, and it integrates right into Contact Form 7 so you can do everything within the Contact Form 7 interface.
7. Duplicate Page
WordPress doesn’t have the option of duplicate pages in their system. For example, you have one page you want to duplicate and use as template and just change the content? You can’t do it without using a plugin.
This plugin allows you to quickly and easily duplicate pages, posts, practically everything within WordPress. It’s simple and it works well.
8. Redirection
This plugin allows you to take care of redirects on your website very easily. For example, if you’ve changed the URL of the page, you can easily set the old URL to redirect to the new one.
It even has the option to track and do them automatically, so if you’ve changed URL’s in WordPress, it will automatically redirect them to the new one.
9. WP Analytics Events
This one allows you to easily track almost anything on your website, such as button clicks, by setting CSS classes or IDs.
You don’t have to do a lot of coding, all you have to do is set the parameters for what you want to track in that plugin and then you just put the class or ID in the button, or thing you want to track. It will then trigger the event in Analytics every time someone clicks it.
This will then allow you to track that Event as a Goal, and that’s how you can track conversions through Analytics for things like button presses – If somebody presses a phone number or an email, things like that.
10. WP Headers & Footers
This plugin allows you to put code in the header or the footer of your whole website very easily. For example if you need to add tracking code such as for Google analytics or Google Tag Manager, this will allow you to do it quickly and easily. It gives you a box, you paste your code in, and its done.
These 10 plugins are the plugins that I use most often on every website I build. They will let you do most of the basics that you’ll need in order to build a fully functioning website.
Google hates them. Users get annoyed by them. They cause serious issues with your SEO.
Yes, 404s are a major problem and you need to make sure that they are nowhere near your website.
What Are 404s?
A 404 error occurs when someone tries to access a link that doesn’t exist on your website. Most commonly this is because a page used to be there, but was removed.
However, they can also come up if someone is just typing in random URLs, in which case a 404 is appropriate.
When you land on a 404, you typically get take to a page that looks something like this:
So What’s the Big Issue With 404s?
The issue with 404s is primarily that they create a bad user experience. People are expecting to find the answer to their query, and instead they get hit with a blank page saying “sorry, what you want isn’t here”. Nobody likes to hear that.
As a result, Google doesn’t like 404s and will quickly remove them from the search results so that users don’t click on them.
The issue with that is if you had a page that was ranking on Google that became a 404 for whatever reason, Google will remove it and you now lost that ranking position.
It’s also going to be much harder to get that back.
Google also doesn’t like if links within your website lead to 404s, even if they don’t rank, because, again, it creates a bad user experience. So they will generally penalise you for having them.
So Do You Know If You Have 404s?
If you have Google Search Console set up, there is a report that will show you a list of all 404s on your website. If you click “Coverage” in the menu on the left, and scroll down, you’ll see 404s, which you can click on to get a list:
So How Do You Solve 404s?
You need to redirect any link that is no longer active to a page on your website that is.
So let’s say for example you had example.com/sample-page and you took down that page for whatever reason.
You will want to take that link and redirect it to the most relevant page that still exists. If there isn’t a specifically relevant page, send it to the home page.
You do this by creating a 301 redirect. I’m going to show you two ways you can do that here, one with a WordPress plugin, and manually within Cpanel.
Redirecting a 404 With a WordPress Plugin
If you are using WordPress and you are not confident editing your website’s files, using a redirection plugin is the easiest way to get the job done.
First you will need to install a plugin that will implement the redirects.
So log into admin and go to Plugins > Add New:
I like to use this one, which you can find by searching “Redirection” in the search bar:
Hit Install Now:
When it’s finished installing, press Activate:
And now we can go into the plugin to add the redirects by going to Tools > Redirection:
Now you’ll need to let the plugin run through its setup so just click Start Setup:
In the next step, I like to select “Monitor permalink changes” so that if I change a URL, the redirect will automatically be done for me. Then hit Continue:
On the next step, it’s generally a good idea to hit yes to import old redirects, so go with that:
Now it will finish its setup, and when you get the Good icon, click Finish Setup:
It will now finish the setup, and when done just hit Continue:
And now you’ll be able to set up your redirections. You should now see the main screen of the plugin (as in the image below). Scroll down to “Add new redirection” and here you will be able to add your new redirection:
In the “Source URL” field, add your old URL (the one that brings you to a 404 page). Let’s use “example.com/sample-page” from before as an example. You only add the page URL, not the main URL – so in this instance remove “example.com” and just put “/sample-page”:
Next, add the page you want that link to go to in Target URL. If you want it to go to the home page, just put a “/”, like below:
Now hit Add Redirect, and that’s it. Your redirect will now be applied and you’ll see it pop up in the list above:
So now if you were to go to example.com/sample-page, it would take you to your home page. Test it out on your website to make sure that it works.
Redirecting a 404 With the Htaccess File in Cpanel
You can also redirect 404s directly in the htaccess file of your website.
NOTE: Be aware that if you are doing this, you need to have at least a basic understanding of how to use Cpanel and edit website files, because if you make a mistake you may break your website.
To do this, you need to need to log into Cpanel for your website, which is usually at yourwebsite.com/cpanel:
Once inside, go to file manager:
And once inside File Manager click on the “public_html” folder:
Your htaccess file will be in this folder. You may have to edit your permissions to see hidden files. Click Settings in the top right, and then tick “Show Hidden Files (Dotfiles)”:
Now you will be able to see it in the list. Find the .htaccess file, and right click on it and press “edit”:
You’ll get this pop up, click Edit:
And now you will be able to edit the htaccess file. You will see some code in the file, make sure to leave that all alone. All you have to do is go to the bottom of the file, below all the code, add your redirect in the following format:
Redirect301 /old-url /new-url
So from our example above, we would put:
Redirect301 /sample-page /
Remember the home page is just a “/”.
Here’s what it would look like in the file:
If you need to add more than one, you would just put the new one on the next line:
When you’ve added all your redirections, hit Save Changes:
That’s it. Now just test the link to make sure it is properly redirecting to the new page. If it is, job done.
Ideally, you’ll want to track every time someone submits a form, clicks the phone number or clicks the email, as that will give you about as accurate data as you can get.
First I will show you how to set up the form tracking, as that is the easiest one. Then I will cover the phone number and email, but that can be a little more technical, so if you are unable to do it I will talk about what you could do instead.
If you are using WordPress then all of this should be pretty easy.
The easiest way to track when the contact form is submitted is to make it redirect to a thank you page when the person submits.
So go ahead and make a “Thank You” page. Here’s mine:
Once you’ve done that, you now need to make your form redirect to this page when someone completes and submits the form.
With most forms, there will be an option in the settings. Obviously I can’t show you every single one, but if you do a quick search online you should be able to find it.
If you are using Contact Form 7, you will need to install a plugin to be able to redirect. Here is how you do that. If you are not using Contact Form 7, skip this section.
HOW TO SET UP THANK YOU PAGE REDIRECT IN CONTACT FORM 7 ON WORDPRESS
Go to the plugins section, and click Add New:
Then search for “contact form 7 redirect”. I like to use the one called “Redirection for Contact Form 7”:
Simply click “Install Now” and then “Activate” and the plugin will be installed.
Now you go to Contact Form 7 and select your form. You will see a tab called “Actions”. Click on it:
And now you will be able to set the redirect. Select “Redirection” from the drop down and click “Add Action”:
Then click on the one you just added and you will be able to set up the redirect. Set the title you want, and select your thank you page from the drop down. Hit save when you are done:
Now the redirect should work, so test the form and make sure it’s taking you to the Thank You page.
Now you are ready to set this up as a conversion in Google Analytics.
SETTING UP CONVERSIONS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Go to your Google Analytics account and click the admin gear icon on the bottom right:
Then click “Goals”:
Now click “New Goal”:
Then select “Custom” and hit “Continue”:
Now name your goal (I like to put “Form Submit”) and select “Destination”, then hit “Continue”:
Now you need to put the URL of your thank you page. In the drop down on the left, I like to select “begins with” as opposed to “equal to”, because this ensures that if there happens to be a slash at the end or something else, it will still trigger the goal when using “begins with”. Also make sure to not put your full domain in, just the page URL (in my case “/thank-you”):
Then hit “Save”. You can click “Verify this Goal” if you want, but it will probably show you 0. Don’t worry if it does, I will now show you how to actually test it live now.
Select “Real Time” from the menu on the left and click “Conversions”:
Here you will be able to watch live as the conversion triggers when you load the Thank You page. Make sure you have any ad blockers or tracking blockers disabled, and either go ahead and submit the form, or just load the thank you page. You should see the conversion trigger, like this:
This means that you successfully created the form submit conversion in Analytics, and now every time someone submits the form, it will count as a conversion.
Importing the Goal Into Google Ads as a Conversion
Now that you’ve done all that you’ll want to link your Google Ads and Analytics accounts so that you will be able to import this goal into Google Ads.
Click “Tools & Settings” and select “Linked Accounts”:
Then find Google Analytics UA and click on “Details”:
Here you’ll see a list of all the Analytics accounts you are admin of. Select the one you want to link to your Google Ads account and click “Link”:
Your Google Ads and Analytics accounts should now be linked.
Now you want to go to “Tools & Settings” and click on “Conversions”:
Click on “New Conversion Action”:
Click on “Import”:
Then select “Google Analytics UA” and hit “Continue”:
And here you will see a list of Goals you set up in Google Analytics. Select the ones you want to import and hit import:
Now you’ve got your conversions in Google Ads and can set your ads to optimise for these conversions by running a “Maximise Conversions” campaign.
Setting Up Conversion Tracking on Phone Numbers and Emails
This one is a little bit trickier than setting up the form submit however there’s a plugin that makes it easy on WordPress.
Go back to the Add New Plugins section from earlier and search for “WP Analytics Events”. This is the one you want:
Go through the same process as before to install it and then select it from the menu on the left:
Then what you want to do is click on the “Click Tracking” tab and click “Add New Click Event”:
And now you’ll get a pop up where you can input the details. Here are the settings I use, you can copy them directly. This is for the email. If you are doing the phone number, you’ll just replace “Email” with “Phone”. Click “Add Click Event” when done:
Now we’ll need to go to everywhere that the email is and add the class “Email”. I’ll show you how to do that now.
In my case the email is in the footer, so I am going to open up the footer in Elementor. Then click on the email link you want to track, and click on the Advanced tab. There you will see “CSS Classes” with an input field next to it. In that field, type in “Email”:
Now hit Update to publish the page.
If you are not using Elementor: What you need to do is put the following code in the HTML of the <a> link:
Then when the link is clicked it will trigger the same event.
Now go back to Google Analytics and click on the Admin gear icon at the bottom right, and the click “Goals”:
Now hit “New Goal”:
Select “Custom” and hit “Continue”:
Now name the goal and select “Event”. I like to name mine “Email Click” (or “Phone Click” if it’s the phone number). Then hit “Continue”:
Now you need to enter the exact same details you entered in the plugin on the website. They need to be exact so that the conversion fires. If you did it exactly as I did you can copy mine below.
I also like to set the match type to “Begins with” (mentioned earlier when we set up the previous conversion). Hit “Save” when you are done:
Now we’re going to test that it works. Open the “Real Time” section and click on “Conversions”, like before:
Now go to your website and click the email you just added the tracking to. If you have done it correctly you should see the conversion fire:
That’s it. You are now tracking whenever someone clicks the email link. You’ll want to do add the class “Email” on all the email links across the website, and if you want to track phone number clicks, do those as well but swap “Email” to “Phone” on all the steps.
Now you are tracking when someone submits a form, clicks the email link or clicks the phone number, and you can import all these into your Google Ads account so that your ads can optimise for when someone takes one of these actions. This is how you track and optimise your ads to get really good results.
Having looked a lot of legal websites (easily in the hundreds by now) I often see the mistakes being made over and over. These mistakes result in less leads, lower conversion rates, and higher ad costs, so they are important to make note of.
1. Hard to find contact details
This is probably the most common one I see and it will kill your conversion rates. The reason why is because people hate to have to do any work, so when you make them hunt for your contact details, they will sooner leave your website than do so.
Having a contact button in your header and a small phone number and email in the footer is not enough. It’s very easy to miss, and you have to remember that most people are on mobile and in that case it’s even harder to find them.
You want to make sure you have your contact details absolutely everywhere on your website. I spoke more about this topic in this post here, so if you want to know more go check that out.
2. Keywords not in Page Titles and H1 Headlines
Not having the main keywords in the H1 headline and Page Titles is another common one I see.
When writing your H1 headlines and Page Titles, you want to look at which keywords are worth going after and then making sure they are in the titles.
For example, “Family Law” is a common one. “Family Lawyer” is the keyword with the highest search volume when it comes to the topic of Family Law, but by not having the word “Lawyer” in the H1 headline or the Page Title, you are far less likely to show up when someone searches “Family Lawyer”.
Not having the location in the H1 headline or Page Title is also a common mistake. By including the location, you are making your website much more relevant for when someone from that area searches the keywords, and especially if they include the keyword in their search, for example “Family Lawyer Sydney”.
Remember, if you don’t have the keywords in your H1 Headlines and Page Titles, other firms do. So they are the ones that are going to show up when someone searches.
I spoke more about page titles in this post here, so check that out if you want to know more.
3. Listing all services on one page
Having one page where you list all your services/expertise as opposed to individual pages for each one is a problem for several reasons.
1) It’s bad for SEO, because your pages are not specifically relevant to any particular topic to rank. So no matter what you do, websites that have specific pages are always going to outrank you.
2) It’s less relevant for the person searching and looking at your website, so your conversion rates are going to be significantly lower since the page is not exactly about what they are looking for.
You would get far better results by having a specific page about each of the services your provide, whether you are running ads or relying on organic traffic. Your conversion rates will be higher, and the chances of you showing on page 1 and much higher, as it will be practically impossible to do with a single general services page.
Next, add the page you want that link to go to in Target URL. If you want it to go to the home page, just put a “/”, like below:
