Chiropractor2Web WordPress Theme Update for WordPress 2.9

WordPress 2.9 is out and there are some nice new features that come with it. During testing, we found that this version of WordPress causes problems with the menus in our theme.

It was an easy fix – but if you are using the Chiropractor2Web WordPress theme v1.4 or earlier, and decide to upgrade to WordPress 2.9 you will need this update to fix your navigation menus.

I sent an email to all members with a link to the new version of the theme (if you downloaded the Chiropractor2Web WordPress Theme you will get the e-mail.)

Let me know if you have any trouble with the update – I’ll be glad to help you out!

How to Add a Video to Your Home Page

A *lot* of people have asked me how to add a video to the home page of their WordPress website using the Chiropractor2Web WordPress theme.

The theme comes with a static home page by default since many business owners want that instead of the traditional list of blog posts on the home page. And many have figured out how to edit the HTML of the home page to replace the image with a video.

But there is an easier way…

Here is an easier way do to it – just create a new “Page” in WordPress, embed the video (I used a YouTube video in the example) and then add some minor styling tweaks for margins and you are all set!

This video walks you through how to do it step-by-step. Even though I describe how to do this with the Chiropractor2Web theme, this could work for any WordPress theme.

Try it out, and leave me your questions or feedback in the comments below!

My Notes From The Local Search Summit in San Jose

Last week I attended the first annual Local Search Summit in San Jose, CA. There were some great sessions there, and lots of tips for small business owners learning how to market their business online.

Here are my notes from a few of the sessions:

Google Keynote by Google TV
Google TV executive Steve Stukenborg outline Google’s ambitious plans for moving into the TV advertising market, including geo-targeting and measurability of your campaigns.

Local Search Ranking Factors panel
David Mihm and Gib Olander presented some awesome tips for getting your business to rank well in the local search results.

Social Media for Local Marketing panel
Sarah Smith, Will Scott and Aaron Irizarry presented some tips for advertising using Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

WordPress Website Tutorial Series

On Expand2Web I’ve been publishing a series of video tutorials on using WordPress. If you are interested in learning how to update and improve your WordPress website or blog these are definitely worth checking out.

Topics Covered

I cover topics like:

• How to publish a page or a post in WordPress
• Customizing your writing settings
• Adding widgets to your sidebar
• How to create an image gallery in WordPress
• Embedding photos, video and audio into your posts
• There are over 30 more tutorials and growing every week!

See all the tutorials here: WordPress Websites Tutorial Series

How To Add a Google Map to Your Chiropractic Website

Google Web Elements makes is super easy to grab a custom map for your business and add it to your website. If you are using the Chiropractor2Web WordPress Theme, the custom options panel makes it even easier.

This video shows you how to get a custom map and add it to your chiropractic website:

Creating Sub-Menus in the Chiropractor2Web WordPress Theme

If you are using v1.2 of the Chiropractor2Web WordPress theme you can easily create sub-menus on your navigation bar. This short video shows you how:

New WordPress 2.8 Update for Chiropractor2Web Theme

WordPress 2.8 was just released, and it is definitely worth upgrading to. Some of the new features include:

• The ability to browse and install Themes from the Admin UI (instead of using FTP)
• Faster loading of admin pages
• Improved Widget management user interface

Some WordPress Theme Problems

The 2.8 release of WordPress also caused me some problems with the Chiropractor2Web theme. They changed the database format – specifically in the WP_POSTS table – and removed the post_category field.

This caused a problem with new installations of Chiropractor2Web theme – when you “activate” the theme it is supposed to automatically create the Contact, Find Us and Blog pages for you, but this was not happening due to the change.

And Some Fixes

I’ve updated the theme and everything is working fine now – so be sure to grab the latest version if you are installing it on WordPress 2.8! To get the updated theme, just go back to the link in the email you received from me, and re-download it.

Let me know in the comments or in the forums if you have any questions!

Note: You will not have any problems upgrading to WordPress 2.8 with the Chiropractor2Web theme. You only need this update if you are doing a new install on top of WordPress 2.8.

Chiropractor2Web Theme Update – v1.2

I’m excited to announce that we’ve just published a new version of the Chiropractor2Web WordPress theme, based on your feedback!

Here are some of the new features:

• Added the hCard microformat for business information (SEO benefit: Google Rich Snippets support)
• Ability to have Sub-menus using the Wordpress native Child-Parent function
• Formatting and layout issues caused by long business names is solved
• Continue Reading function using the tag for blog posts is now enabled
• Link to Help and Tutorials can now be found in the Theme Options Panel
• Option to exclude your email address from the page header
• Long home-page business descriptions will wrap-around the left
  image, eliminating white space.

To get the theme, just go to the WordPress Theme download page and sign up.

Upgrading from previous versions

If you already have a version of the Chiropractor2Web theme installed, I’ve posted upgrade instructions and the upgrade files in the forums here:

Chiropractor2Web v1.2 Upgrade Instructions

How to Change Your Sidebar Widgets

Over on Expand2Web I just posted a video that shows you how to change the default sidebar widget by replacing it with a newsletter signup form.

I’ve embedded the video below, and you can click here to read the whole tutorial on Expand2Web – How to Add a WordPress Widget to Your Website.

The Chiropractor2Web WordPress Theme has a default sidebar widget – the “Call Us Today” widget with the picture of the smiling receptionist. This default widget will show unless you go into your WordPress Admin panel and add a widget of your own.

Then this one will go away and be replaced by the widget(s) that you add. This video shows you how to do this.

Note: I’m using the excellent AWeber email newsletter service in this video.

Upload Patient Forms to Your Website

Do you want to provide pre-visit forms for your patients so they can fill them out before they come to your office?

With WordPress it is easy to upload any type of media, photos, audio, video, and documents and include them in your posts or pages.

In this short tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a new page called “First Visit”, add it to the navigation menu, and upload a PDF patient form to the page.

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