The Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion Options page has settings related to promoting your site through custom ads and services like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Flickr, Google, Bing and Yahoo webmaster tools.
Social Network Promotions
Currently there are three promotion buttons, Google+, Facebook and Twitter. Settings include turn all buttons on/off, turn individual button on/off, show buttons on posts and pages or posts, pages and archives, add your Twitter username so when your visitors Tweet your posts they link to your Twitter account on their Tweets.
For those interested in SEO the buttons are served using javascript which means they are SEO neutral.
Flickr Widget
Turn the Flickr Widget on or off. When turned on you’ll find a widget under Appearance >> Widgets where you can add your Flickr account and show up to ten of your Flickr images.
For those interested in SEO the widget is served using javascript which means it’s SEO neutral.
Advertising
Stallion Theme Custom Ad Widgets, 125px by 125px Ad Widget on/off
When on this adds an options page under the Stallion menu called “125px Ad Settings”. Under this options page you will find a form for adding up to 20 banner ads.
Each ad has the following settings:
Image URL: Add a URL to an image like “http://www.stallion-theme.com/stallion-125-125.jpg”. Leaving this setting blank while adding other settings for an ad will use the “Advertise on this Site” image, this can be used to link to a page where you sell ads.
URL: Add a URL to where the AD goes like “http://www.stallion-theme.com/”
Alt: This is the hoverover text (alt text) like “Stallion SEO Theme”. This setting has SEO value, if it’s a banner link to one of your sites add some relevant keywords to help it rank better in Google.
Cloak Ad: If you add Y to this box (leave blank to not cloak) the banner ad will be cloaked using the Stallion Link Cloaking script which is set on the “Stallion >> SEO Advanced” options page. For the cloaking to work the setting “Cloak Affiliate Links ON” must be ticked.
When a banner ad is cloaked it will use the code described at Stallion Theme Cloak Affiliate Links Tutorial. Don’t worry, it’s all automated, just add your settings and Stallion does the cloaking.
Set the Width and Height of your images, depending on the Stallion Layout you are using (under Stallion >> Layout Options) will determine the image sizes that will work well for your site. For example if you are using one of the 300px wide Right/Left sidebar layouts a 125px by 125px banner ads works well on the main sidebars, you get two ads side by side (as you see on the right menu of this site, see the 4 Stallion banner ads). For other sidebar layouts wider banner ads may work better. If you are selling ads a lot of ad buyers use the 125px by 125px banner ads.
The number of ads sets how many ads to show at a time. If you want all ads to show at once add the number of ads you’ve created or select a number below the ads added to have those ads selected randomly. For example if you add 10 ads and select 6 ads, 6 of the 10 ads will be randomly selected with each page load.
The positioning of the ads is random.
Under “Appearance >> Widgets” you’ll find the “125px by 125px Ads” widget, add it to one of your widget areas.
Custom Ad Widget
Turning the Custom Ad Widget on activates the “Stallion Custom Ad Widget” under “Appearance >> Widgets”. The Custom Ad Widgets settings are contained within the widgets menu.
Add a Stallion Custom Ad Widget to one of your sidebars and add the relevant settings.
You have two choices, an ad built in parts or an entire ad code pasted in the box. to build an ad, add these settings.
Optional Title Heading: A heading for the widget (can leave blank just for the banner ad).
Banner/Image URL: URL of the image, for example http://www.stallion-theme.com/wp-content/themes/stallion-seo-theme/stallion-cbaf/stallion-300-250.gif
Ads Link URL: Where you want the ad to go when clicked, for example http://www.stallion-theme.com/stallion-seo-ad-theme-clickbank-affiliate-program
Alt Text (HoverOver Image Text): the alt text used (has SEO value), for example “WordPress SEO Clickbank Affiliate”.
Select an alignment (left, right or center) and if you want the ad to use the Stallion Link Cloaking (see instructions for the 125px by 125px Ad Widget tutorial above for how this works).
You can see a Stallion Custom Ad Widget in action on the right menu, it’s the large Stallion banner ad linking to the Stallion Clickbank affiliate program using the example settings above.
This widget can also be used for pasting fully formed ads, paste the entire code of an ad as provided by an ad network etc…
You can add multiple Stallion Custom Ad Widgets allowing you to add custom banner ads to a number of widget areas.
Google Analytics
Turn Google Analytics ON/OFF and add your Google Analytics UA Code plus sub-Domain Tracking if required.
Webmaster Tools
Verify your site with
Google Site Verification
Bing Site Verification
Yahoo Site Verification
Website - WordPress SEO
44 responses to Stallion Theme Promotion
Hi, Dave:
I can’t verify my site with google. After I saved the meta tag, this: “” />” appears on my home page, and got the message on google webmaster central: “Verification failed. Your meta tag is not formatted correctly.” I wonder has anybody else got that problem? Another quick question: Do I need all the plugins that you recommend for talian 5 as the Stallion has got the best built in plugins already?
Some advices please,Dave. Thank you very much.
Haiyan
Stallion Theme Promotion
Google Site Verification Using the Stallion theme
Are you using the Stallion built in Google verification box on the Promotion Options page?
If so looks like you’ve added the entire meta tag code, all you need is this bit:
VzpHZQQR6lhw3eSthAqFTRp_1N2AI5cwtuJH1_xQTEs
I think that’s your code, on the options page it’s the bit represented in red as “copythispartofthecode”, the rest of the code is dealt with by Stallion.
If you’ve added the meta tag manually to the header.php file looks like you’ve made a mistake and either pasted it in the middle of another meta tag or something gone wrong.
BTW once verified remove the code, you only need Google to see it once to prove it’s your site.
David
Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion
promotional options
Adding Yahoo site verification wont work.I tried the way the instructions showed and the verification failed.
Bill
Yahoo Site Verification Using the Stallion theme
I looked at your site and saw your attempt at Google site verification.
Looks like you pasted the entire meta tag into the Stallion themes options page.
Don’t follow the instructions from Google/Yahoo/Bing for verification, follow the instructions on the Stallion Promotion options page, you only need the code that I highlighted in red on the options page, if you copy the entire meta tag it won’t work.
After a site is verified remove the code from the options page, Google etc… only need to view it once.
David
Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion
Hey there David
I am adding Stallion to a second website of mine. I did not have to use the Google verification on my first site because it was already verified.
Your code example under the Google verification box on the Promotion Options page looks like this: META name=”y_key” content=
The code on Google Webmaster tools page looks like this:
meta name=”google-site-verification” content=
The reason I mention this is because the verification says “Verification failed. We couldn’t find the verification meta tag.” and I was thinking that your verification code may be different than what Google uses in my account for some reason???
By the way – this options page is simply awesome!
Stallion Theme Promotion
Google Site Verification
See my comment directly above yours Google Site Verification Using the Stallion theme, you only copy and paste the bit referred to on the Stallion options page, not the entire meta tag: most of that is dealt with by Stallion, similar to how you only add your AdSense pub-###### number not an entire AdSense ad.
Once verified don’t forget to remove the code you pasted in the verification box as there’s no reason to keep it on the site when verified.
David
Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion
Facebook referrers issue
Hi Dave,
After getting my design shaped up more or less I finally launched Stallion on my site yesterday.
Things are pretty good, however in wp-stats my Facebook referrer views rocketed from a typical 50-100/day to 764 (I had switched ON the Facebook button feature in the Stallion Promotion panel). A friend of mine with the Stallion theme has been experiencing something similar.
Checking in Google Analytics shows just 48 visits from FB yesterday, nowhere near 764. I also noticed in the Analytics content section that some of my page urls were double-listed, and the extras had the additional ending fb_xd_fragment.
Doing a google search for “fb_xd_fragment” seems to show that it is an FB bug of some sort. I’m not sure if there are any negative effects other than the apparent misalignment of stats. Maybe you are aware of all this and have covered it somewhere I missed, but just wanted to let you know and see if there was a solution.
Thanks,
Erik
Stallion Theme Promotion
Facebook Like Button fb_xd_fragment Bug
I’m aware of an issue with the Facebook like button that’s apparently been an on going bug issue with the Facebook default Like button code for years.
This is a bug in the Facebook coding, not Stallion. I stumbled upon the issue about a week ago on one of my wife’s sites and have been looking for a fix (so far nothing I can put into Stallion).
On my wife’s site there was a frame redirection script (WordPress plugin) running because it’s a photo blog and with photo blogs you get a lot of traffic directly to the image via Google images (the visitor doesn’t actually visit the site). The script forces a page out of a frame and basically redirects them to the site where they get AdSense ads etc… Have to admit the plugin didn’t make any obvious difference to the amount of AdSense clicks.
When I updated the site from Talian to Stallion it would not load a page in Internet Explorer and gave a URL with fb_xd_fragment with in it. Basically would load correctly then reload a URL with the Facebook link code within it and the page would be blank.
Didn’t take long to find info on the Facebook bug, what was happening is there was an interaction between the Facebook iframe code and the WordPress plugin, but only in IE. I disabled the plugin, problem solved.
I’ve updated about 60 domains to Stallion and this is the only time I’ve found this bug and no one else (until now
) has reported an issue like this.
If I can’t find a fix (not looking good as I can’t change Facebook’s buggy code on their servers) I’ll be adding a warning to the Promotions Options page about the bug. If a site trips the bug would be a case of either disabling the like button or find what’s causing the bug to occur and remove it.
To test your site for the bug load a post with the like button on in Internet Explorer or check your server logs for pages with fb_xd_fragment within them. I read it doesn’t affect pages that have been liked, so make sure it’s a post which hasn’t been liked already.
This shouldn’t damage a WordPress sites search engine rankings since WordPress has built in canonical URL redirection. Basically these broken URLs if read by Google etc… will be treated as the original page and redirect the benefit. Not suggesting this should be ignored since your visitors running Internet Explorer get a blank page! Once fixed either by finding what’s interacting with the Facebook code or turning the Facebook Like button off there will be no SEO damage.
The Facebook referrer views is another issue. I see it as well on my sites, it appears to be occasionally a page double loads and uses the FaceBook Like URL as the referrer. I’ve looked into it and couldn’t find a reason for this to occur, other have the same issue.
Basically the default Facebook Like button code is poorly written! Facebook can send a fair amount of traffic to some types of site, I’ve got pages with over 500 Likes and wouldn’t want to remove the like buttons, so stuck with buggy code I’m afraid.
David
Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion
I have noticed the same FB url code:
/?fb_xd_fragment=
Just wanted you to know.
Facebook bug
Thanks David, I appreciate you taking the time to explain this. I thought it might be an Facebook issue and as you explained looks like that’s the case. I guess no company is immune from bugs, even FB
Best
Erik
Social media ideas for Stallion for the future
I have always somewhat ignored SEM. However, with the recent Panda update I am looking to diversify more into social media and promotion more, just in case.
Do you think in the next release you will expand the social promotion options?
For example:
Stumble is pretty big now (the number 2 source of Social Media traffic), perhaps a button at the bottom option, with fat juicy icons, with number count.
fb_xd fragment could be changed.
Maybe ‘follow us’ or ‘follow me’ including FB, Twitter, Stumble, Youtube widget. The reason here is many non techy people do not even know what RSS is.
Note this is different from the stumble or like buttons at the bottom of the post which gives thumbs up to a post rather than connects you to the feed (you know this writing this for others).
Change the language for example ‘entries RSS’ to something like Post or ‘Articles RSS’ or something non geeks would understand.
Comments RSS I find important as people keep coming back to the comments.
Could be other ideas I am not aware of as I am not an SEM guy.
I know this is a lot of coding and can be done with plugins, but I noticed most social plugins have no follows etc, and really do not do it right in terms of code, although some look pretty cool like ‘share and follow’.
So it is just an idea for the future.
Stallion Theme Promotion
Stallion Theme Social Media Promotion
You hit the nail right on the head when you said “I noticed most social plugins have no follows etc, and really do not do it right in terms of code”.
There’s lots of WordPress plugins that do social media promotion that looks good and works from a user perspective, but the code is so wrong SEO wise I can’t use it on an SEO theme! Most of the social media promotion plugins use nofollow on the links and as you know nofollow is so SEO damaging we can’t use it.
It pretty much leaves us with using javascript or possibly iFrames for social media buttons and there’s not a lot of social media promotion plugins built that way. Currently testing this plugin which uses the same sort of javascript/CSS combination code I use for the Stallion link cloaking. Got it running on a development server, but out the box it doesn’t show up on single posts/pages, shows up on archive pages instead (looking into it)! Not spent long on it, but it’s similar to what I’d have designed if I had to build it from scratch.
Although I’m not going to add every feature I use directly into Stallion because some things are better dealt with using dedicated plugins (like the plugins listed at WordPress SEO Plugins) there are more features I want to add to Stallion and better integration into social media networks is on the list. Been looking for auto posting new posts to Facebook for example, but not found a plugin that works yet, use this plugin http://www.ajaymatharu.com/wordpress-plugin-tweet-old-posts/ for Tweeting old posts automatically (had that running on my wife’s sites for a while and it’s generated 3,000 Tweets
).
I like the Article RSS change suggestion, will be in the next update.
I’m always open to good ideas, currently looking for a new theme look for a larger sidebar size version of Stallion and not sure what to use yet. Have made a new theme colour that has a different background colour, if you have a monitor setting above 1,000 width the background outside 1,000 is dark purple/blue (added a matching header image and other images).
David
Stallion WordPress Theme Promotion
SEO ideas - too many to develop
Dave, I have run the gauntlet on Plugins. Installing and uninstalling them on test sites for hours. Each one has something that does mess up SEO a bit. Maybe one plugin that is not SEO is OK if you are using Stallion, because you have a good base. However, the thing is if that one thing like a ‘no follow’ shows up on every page and post, it eventually does change how a search engine evaluates your site.
Regarding, ideas, yes it would be great if you had a thread just for ideas and improvements in general. I know you can not do every one and this might open the flood gate for everyone demanding everything, but it could also be a source for brainstorming.
Maybe you open a tread even on Panda or Google changes? I do not know. I know that some of my websites are doing fine and others took a dip. So you could use some of the chatter to come up with ideas, although no one really knows the deal with the change.
Stallion Theme Promotion
Promotion, Social media and other ideas for the next update
Now that Google has the +1 button out it is a consideration. On the other hand, maybe it will go the way of Buzz etc. but the big G seems pretty serious about this.
I guess social signels are a factor in SEO. I have tried like you to be a social media guy but it does not work as well as SEO. But if this is a factor in SEO than maybe the Google +1 button might be a consideration for an update. You do not want to clutter your page up with all that junk but if these are the rules of the game than maybe.
I also like Stumbleuopn for traffic.
Also the Facebook like button fb_xd_fragment thing change might not be bad idea, but you know better than I on this.
I think Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and maybe +1 are the big three of social media.
YouTube is actually the largest social site on the web, next to FB, but I do not know how to harness that power. Some people have a YouTube button to their channels others I know basically just market and promote with Youtube.
One more idea, but just an idea. I saw a WP plugin that was a stumble button, but it works like related posts to improve click through. This again might be an SEO factor post Panda.
wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stumble-for-wordpress/ I wonder what your take on a plugin like this if the button was in the right place?
Stallion Theme Promotion
FaceBook recommend on comments
This might be too much but I noticed the Wall Street Journal online uses a Facebook Recommend on Comments. If people have a lot of comments on their blog, maybe this would help as people get emoutional about comments. I personally do not recommend comments to my FB friends but I do not know if this would help for promotion options. Just an idea.
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