User Guide User Guide Title Page Page i
Table of Contents Welcome 1 Welcome to Avvo Websites 1 Getting Started 2 Accessing your Avvo Website Dashboard 2 Dashboard Features 3 Screen Options 4 Submitting a Support Request 5 Writing & Editing Website Content 6 Content Types 6 The Text Editor 8 Posts: Blogging 9 Adding a Blog Post 10 Editing a Blog Post 11 Media: Images, Documents, Sound Files, & Videos 12 Uploading a File 13 Pages: Your Website s Pages 14 Adding a Page 15 Editing a Page 16 Addresses: Your Office Locations 17 Adding an Address 19 Editing an Address 20 Cases: Your Firm s Success Stories 21 Adding a Case 22 Editing a Case 23 Editing the Case Archive 24 Staff: Your Firm s Employees 25 Adding a Staff Member Profile 26 User Guide Table of Contents Page i
Table of Contents Editing a Staff Member Profile 28 Editing the Staff Archive 31 Changing the Display Order of Staff Member Profiles 32 Testimonials: Your Firm s Reviews 33 Adding a Testimonial 34 Editing a Testimonial 35 Changing the Display Order of Testimonials 36 Changing the Appearance of Your Website 37 Customizer 37 Widgets 38 Adding a Widget 40 Editing a Widget 41 Menus 42 Editing a Menu 43 Advanced Techniques 44 Adding Images and Media 44 Featured Images 45 The More Tag 46 Scheduled Posts 47 Shortcodes 48 SEO: Search Engine Optimization 49 Sharing 50 Google+ Authorship 51 User Guide Table of Contents Page ii
Welcome Welcome to Avvo Websites Avvo Websites are performance websites for attorneys. Designed to convert more visitors into contacts, Avvo Websites are built on the WordPress blogging and content management system, a solid platform that powers almost 20% of all websites today. As part of your Avvo Websites subscription, we keep your website up-to-date with the latest version of WordPress and test and apply all security patches as soon as they are released. Avvo Websites are worry-free, allowing you to focus on building your business. This user guide provides you with step-by-step instructions to complete common tasks related to your Avvo Website, such as writing a blog post, editing text on your website, or submitting a support request. Towards the end of the user guide, we cover more advanced techniques that can help you make the most of your Avvo Website. In addition to the help provided in this guide, customers who purchased the Avvo Websites Professional or Ultra packages have access to email and phone support from a dedicated Account Manager. If you purchased the Basic package and you are interested in speaking with someone about upgrading to a package that includes support, please complete the form on your website dashboard or call our main sales line at (888) 382-8861. Thank you for purchasing an Avvo Website. User Guide Welcome Page 1
Getting Started Accessing your Avvo Website Dashboard Your Avvo Website dashboard is the main administration panel of your website, where you can add a blog post, make a change to your website, submit a support request, or report a problem. 1 2 3 4 Using a web browser, visit the homepage of your Avvo Website. At the bottom of the page, click on the Sign In link. If you are not already logged into Avvo.com, this will take you to the Avvo login screen. Login using your Avvo profile username and password. If you ve forgotten your password, reset it here: http://www.avvo.com/account/ forgot_password. After logging in, you will be directed to your website dashboard. User Guide Getting Started Page 2
Getting Started Dashboard Features Take some time to get acquainted with the layout and features of your website dashboard. This is your website s main administration panel and is organized to help you quickly accomplish tasks like adding a blog post or editing the text of a page. Admin Bar At the top of the dashboard, the Admin Bar contains shortcuts to commonly-used features. From here you can switch between viewing your website and your dashboard and quickly add a new post or page. If you have more than one Avvo Website, the My Sites dropdown menu will contain links to all of your website dashboards. Main Navigation To the far left of the dashboard, the Main Navigation menu contains links to all of the major administrative functions of your website. User Guide Getting Started Page 3
Getting Started Screen Options Below the Admin Bar in the upper-right corner of the dashboard, the Screen Options pull-down tab allows you to select the elements that appear on your dashboard. Each dashboard screen has different screen options; if you do not see an option or setting on a particular page, click on the screen options tab and make sure that all of the boxes are checked. You can edit your website dashboard to show features that are important while hiding others that you don t want to see. 1 2 3 Click the Screen Options tab located in the upper right corner of your website dashboard. Depending on the screen, there will be a different selection of screen options. Uncheck a box to hide an option or check a box to show it. When you re done making changes, click Screen Options again to remove the pull down from view. User Guide Getting Started Page 4
Getting Started! Note: the Basic package does not include ongoing support from our Account Management team. If you purchased the Basic package and you are interested in speaking with someone about upgrading to a package that includes support, please complete the form on your website dashboard or call our main sales line at (888) 382-8861. Submitting a Support Request If you d like to request a change to your website you can let us know by using our support request widget. 1 2 3 4 5 6 On the homepage of your website dashboard, locate the box labeled Website Support Request Widget towards the bottom of the page. Your information will automatically populate the fields Your name and Your email. Type your request in the box labeled Describe your request or problem. If you would like to send us a file such as an image or a Word document, click on the Browse button in the box labeled Attach a file (optional) and locate the file you would like to upload on your computer. Click on the Submit button to send your request. You can expect an email notifying you once your request has been completed. User Guide Getting Started Page 5
Content Types To keep things organized, your website dashboard divides your website into different kinds of content. Each content type is shown in the Main Navigation menu on the left side of the dashboard. Posts Posts are blog posts, which are displayed in reverse chronological order on the blog page of your website. Posts can be organized by using Categories and Tags. Media Media are images, documents, sound files, or videos that you upload to your website. Pages Pages are website pages, such as the homepage of your website, your practice area pages, and your contact page. Media files can be embedded into Posts, Pages, Cases, and Staff member profiles Slides In some themes, Slides are displayed in the slideshow on the homepage. Comments If you choose to allow the public to comment on your blog posts, these will show up under Comments. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 6
Content Types Cont. Addresses Addresses are the mailing or physical addresses of all of your office locations. Cases Cases are legal cases that you would like to highlight. The Case Archive displays a list of all of your Cases on your website. Staff Staff members are people who work at your law firm, such as attorneys or paralegals. The Staff Archive displays a list of all of your Staff members on your website. Testimonials Testimonials are reviews by clients or peers that you would like to display on your website. Contact Contact forms are the forms on your website that allow visitors to contact you quickly and easily. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 7
The Text Editor The Text Editor is the tool that you use to write and edit the text of many of the content types on your website, including posts, pages, cases, staff members, and testimonials. Similar to word processing software, the text editor gives you access to common text formatting tools such as bold and italics, bulleted and numbered lists, centering text, adding links, and more. When you access the text editor for the first time on your website dashboard, you will notice that there is one row of buttons in the text editor toolbar. Hovering over each button displays a tooltip that tells you what the button does. To display additional buttons that are hidden by default, click on the Toolbar Toggle button. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 8
Posts: Blogging Blogging is a great way to engage with current and potential clients. You can share firm news, highlight articles that might be of interest to your clients, comment on current events or changes in your practice area, or showcase results that your firm has achieved. By providing site visitors with relevant, interesting information, you can potentially increase the traffic coming to your website. In addition, by updating your blog frequently, you encourage search engines to crawl your site more often. Avvo s Lawyernomics blog (http://lawyernomics.avvo.com/) has a great section with tips and techniques to help you blog: http://lawyernomics.avvo.com/blogging-2. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 9
Adding a Blog Post 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, hover over Posts in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Post screen. Add a title to your post by typing in the title bar at the top of the page. Type the text of your blog post in the large text area below the title bar. If you would like to categorize or tag your post, find the boxes labeled Categories and Tags to the right of the screen. You can choose from existing categories, or add a new one by clicking + Add New Category. Similarly you can choose from existing tags by clicking Choose from the most used tags or add new tags by typing them in the box, each separated by a comma, and then clicking Add. Publish your new post by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 10
Editing a Blog Post 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, click on Posts in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of all your website s blog posts. To edit a blog post, click on its title. This will take you to the Edit Post screen. To edit the post title, edit the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit the blog post content, type your changes in the large text area below the title bar. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 11
Media: Images, Documents, Sound Files, & Videos The Media Library is where you can find all of the images, documents, and other files that you have uploaded to your website. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 12
Uploading a File 1 2 3 From your website dashboard, hover over Media in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Upload New Media screen. Drag and drop the files you would like to upload from your computer to the box labeled Drop files here. Alternatively, click on the Select Files button to browse your computer and select the files you would like to upload. Once your files are uploaded, they will appear below the Drop files here box. Note that some file types, such as PDF documents, sound files, and videos, can take longer to upload than others. We do not recommend trying to upload very large files; the maximum upload file size is 8 megabytes. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 13
Pages: Your Website s Pages The primary pages of your website, including the homepage, firm overview, practice area pages, contact page, and disclaimer, are stored under Pages. When you are editing a page, you will occasionally see text contained within square brackets, such as [testimonials]. This is WordPress s way of including other types of content within a page. Removing or changing the text within square brackets can disable some functionality on your website. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 14
Adding a Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, hover over Pages in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Page screen. Add a title to your page by typing in the title bar at the top of the page. Type the text of your page in the large text area below the title bar. If your page should be the child of an existing page (e.g., if you are adding a page describing a new practice area), select the parent page by finding the box to the right labeled Page Attributes and selecting the parent page in the dropdown labeled Parent. Publish your new page by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. If you would like your new page to appear in one of your menus, you will have to add it to a menu. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 15
Editing a Page 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, click on Pages in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s pages. To edit a page, click on its title. This will take you to the Edit Page screen. You can change the page title by editing the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit the page content, type your changes in the large text area below the title bar. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 16
Addresses: Your Office Locations Your office s addresses and phone numbers are stored under Addresses. Here are all of the address fields when you are adding or editing an address (all fields are optional): Address Label: displayed above the address, e.g., Cantor Law Office Address Line 1: street address, e.g., 400 Broad Street Address Line 2: suite or floor number, e.g., Suite 101 City: the city where your office is located, e.g., Seattle State/Province/Region: the state where your office is located, e.g., WA User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 17
Addresses: Your Office Locations Cont. Zip/Postal Code: your office s zip code, e.g., 98109 Country: the country where your office is located (optional) Main Phone: the main phone number for this office location, e.g., 206-555-5555 Main Phone Label: the text displayed just before your main phone number, e.g., Call Us Alternate Phone: an alternate phone number, such as a toll free number or mobile number Alternate Phone Label: the text displayed just before your alternate phone number, e.g., Toll Free Fax: your office s fax number Email Address: the email address for general inquiries coming to your office, e.g., info@example.com Map and Directions URL: a link to your office s location on Google Maps or another mapping website Embed Map Code: the code to embed a map of your office s location on your website User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 18
Adding an Address 1 2 3 4 From your website dashboard, hover over Addresses in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Address screen. Add a title to your address by typing in the title bar at the top of the page. The title is for your reference only and is not displayed on your website. Enter your address information in the box labeled Address below the title bar. Save your new address by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 19
Editing an Address 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, click on Addresses in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s addresses. To edit an address, click on its title. This will take you to the Edit Address screen. You can change the address title by editing the text in the title bar at the top of the page. The title is for your reference only and is not displayed on your website. Edit the address information in the box labeled Address below the title bar. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 20
Cases: Your Firm s Success Stories Cases are an easy way to highlight legal cases that you consider to be representative of your firm s successes. The Case Archive is the page on your website that displays all of your cases. Cases are displayed in reverse chronological order by the date that they are published on your website, with the newest cases displaying first. You can change the title of the Case Archive page and add text that can be displayed above your list of cases. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 21
Adding a Case 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, hover over Cases in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Case screen. Add a title to your case by typing in the title bar at the top of the page. Describe your case in the large text area below the title bar. In the box labeled Case Details below the large text area, input the Conclusion Date, Outcome (such as Not Guilty, or Awarded $1,000,000 in damages), and Practice Area. Add your new case by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 22
Editing a Case 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, click on Cases in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s cases. To edit a case, click on its title. This will take you to the Edit Case screen. You can change the title of the case by editing the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit the description of the case, type your changes in the large text area below the title bar. To edit the details about the case, find the box labeled Case Details below the large text area. You can change the Conclusion Date, Outcome, and Practice Area. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 23
Editing the Case Archive 1 2 3 4 From your website dashboard, hover over Cases in the left-hand menu and click Archive. This will take you to the Edit Archive screen. To change the title of your Case Archive, edit the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit or add text that will be displayed above your list of cases, type your text in the large text area below the title bar. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 24
Staff: Your Firm s Employees Staff Members are the people at your firm who you would like to highlight on your website. You can include attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, and other employees of your firm. The Staff Archive is the page on your website that displays all of your staff profiles. You can change the title of the Staff Archive page and add text that can be displayed above your staff profiles. You can also change the order in which the staff profiles appear on the Staff Archive page. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 25
Adding a Staff Member Profile 1 2 3 4 From your website dashboard, hover over Staff in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Staff Member screen. Enter the staff member s name in the title bar at the top of the page. Type the staff member s profile text in the large text area below the title bar. Below the large text area, you can enter additional details about the staff member. a. In the box labeled WordPress User, choose the name that corresponds with the staff member; otherwise, leave blank. b. In the box labeled Title, enter the Job/Position Title of the staff member. c. In the box labeled Contact Information, enter the staff member s contact information. You can Choose an existing address if the staff member s contact information is the same as an Address that you have already entered. If the staff member has different contact information and you don t want to enter it as an Address (if, for instance, you wish to list the staff member s direct telephone line), check User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 26
Adding a Staff Member Profile Cont. the box labeled OR use a different address? and enter the staff member s address information below. You can also enter the staff member s email address in the box labeled Email Address. d. Enter the staff member s individual social media and profile links in the box labeled Profile Links. To add a new link, click the + symbol. Choose the Link Type and enter the full Link URL, including http://. e. To add the staff member s contact information as a downloadable vcard, upload the vcard file in the box labeled vcard. 5 6 7 To set the staff member s profile photo, find the box labeled Featured Image on the right-hand side of the screen below the Publish button. Click Set featured image and either upload a new image from your computer or choose an image already uploaded to your Media Library. Add the staff member by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. If you would like the staff member to appear in one of your menus, you will have to add it to a menu. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 27
Editing a Staff Member Profile 1 2 3 4 5 From your website dashboard, click on Staff in the lefthand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s staff members. To edit a staff member profile, click on the staff member s name. This will take you to the Edit Staff Member screen. You can change the staff member s name by editing the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit the staff member s profile, type your changes in the large text area below the title bar. Below the large text area, you can add or change additional details about the staff member. a. In the box labeled WordPress User, choose the name that corresponds with the staff member; otherwise, leave blank. b. In the box labeled Title, enter the Job/Position Title of the staff member. c. In the box labeled Contact Information, enter the staff member s contact information. You can Choose an existing address if the staff member s contact information is the same as an Address that User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 28
Editing a Staff Member Profile Cont. you have already entered. If the staff member has different contact information and you don t want to enter it as an Address (if, for instance, you wish to list the staff member s direct telephone line), check the box labeled OR use a different address? and enter the staff member s address information below. You can also enter the staff member s email address in the box labeled Email Address. d. Enter the staff member s individual social media and profile links in the box labeled Profile Links. To add a new link, click the + symbol. Choose the Link Type and enter the full Link URL, including http://. To remove a link, click the symbol. To edit a link, click the pencil symbol. To reorder links, drag and drop them using the four direction arrow. 6 e. To add the staff member s contact information as a downloadable vcard, upload the vcard file in the box labeled vcard. To change the staff member s profile photo, find the box labeled Featured Image on the right-hand side of the screen below the Publish button. Click Remove featured image, then click Set featured image and User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 29
Editing a Staff Member Profile Cont. 7 either upload a new image from your computer or choose an image already uploaded to your Media Library. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 30
Editing the Staff Archive 1 2 3 4 From your website dashboard, hover over Staff in the left-hand menu and click Archive. This will take you to the Edit Archive screen. To change the title of your Staff Archive, edit the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit or add text that will be displayed above your list of staff member profiles, type your text in the large text area below the title bar. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 31
Changing the Display Order of Staff Member Profiles 1 2 From your website dashboard, click on Staff in the lefthand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s staff member profiles. To reorder the staff member profiles, drag and drop them into the correct order. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 32
Testimonials: Your Firm s Reviews You can showcase positive client reviews or peer endorsements by adding them as Testimonials on your website. All of your testimonials are displayed on a specific page and may also be displayed in a sidebar widget. You can set the order in which testimonials are displayed on the page if you would like to showcase a specific review first. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 33
Adding a Testimonial 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, hover over Testimonials in the left-hand menu and click Add New. This will take you to the Add New Testimonial screen. You can add a title to the testimonial by typing in the title bar at the top of the page. Type the testimonial text in the large text area below the title bar. Scroll to the bottom of the page and type the reviewer name in the box labeled Reviewer Name. Optionally, select the radio button beside the rating of your choice. Publish your new testimonial by clicking on the Publish button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 34
Editing a Testimonial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 From your website dashboard, click on Testimonials in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s testimonials. To edit a testimonial, click on its title. This will take you to the Edit Testimonial screen. You can change the title of the testimonial by editing the text in the title bar at the top of the page. To edit the testimonial text, type your changes in the large text area below the title bar. To edit the reviewer name, scroll to the bottom of the page and edit the text in the box labeled Reviewer Name. To add or edit the testimonial rating, select the radio button beside the rating of your choice. Save your changes by clicking on the Update button on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 35
Changing the Display Order of Testimonials 1 2 From your website dashboard, click on Testimonials in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a list of your website s testimonials. To reorder the testimonials, drag and drop them into the correct order. User Guide Writing & Editing Website Content Page 36
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Customizer The WordPress Customizer is a tool that allows you to try out changes to the look of your website; until you save your changes, they are not visible to the public. To access the Customizer, hover over Appearance and click Customize. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 37
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Widgets In WordPress, widgets add content and features to your sidebars. Most Avvo Websites themes have five sidebar areas: the Header sidebar, which appears at the top of the page near your website s title and disappears when the site is viewed on a mobile phone; the Mobile sidebar, which appears when the site is viewed on a mobile phone; the Content Area sidebar, which appears beside your main content area; the Badges & Ratings Area sidebar, which is used to hold badges in some themes; and the Footer sidebar, which appears at the bottom of the page. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 38
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Widgets Cont. Depending on your theme, your available sidebars may be slightly different. Avvo Websites come with many widgets, including standard WordPress widgets and custom widgets that add features specific to law firms. To view all available widgets, access the Widgets screen by hovering over Appearance and clicking Widgets. The available widgets are listed on the left-hand side of the screen. The available sidebars are shown on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 39
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Adding a Widget 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, hover over Appearance in the left-hand menu and click Widgets. This will take you to the Widgets screen. Find the widget you would like to add in the list of Available Widgets on the left-hand side of the screen. Click on the widget you would like to add; this brings up a list of available sidebars. Click on the sidebar you would like to add the widget to, and then click Add Widget. Customize the widget by editing the settings that appear when the widget is added to the sidebar. To show or hide the widget on certain pages, click on the Visibility button and set the appropriate visibility rules. To save your changes, click Save. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 40
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Editing a Widget 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, hover over Appearance in the left-hand menu and click Widgets. This will take you to the Widgets screen. Find the widget you would like to edit within its sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen. To expand a sidebar, click on its name. To reorder the widgets within the sidebar, drag and drop the widgets. You can also drag a widget to move it to a different sidebar. Expand the widget you would like to edit by clicking on it to reveal its options, then edit the options. To show or hide the widget on certain pages, click on the Visibility button and set the appropriate visibility rules. To save your changes, click Save. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 41
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Menus Your website s menus help your visitors find the information they need. All websites have at least two menus, the Primary menu and the Footer menu. The Primary menu is your website s main navigation, displayed at the top of the page. The Footer menu is displayed at the very bottom of the page, near the copyright. Some themes also have a Practice Areas menu, which is used to display a list of pages in a widget. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 42
Changing the Appearance of Your Website Editing a Menu 1 2 3 4 5 6 From your website dashboard, hover over Appearance in the left-hand menu and click Menus. This will take you to the Edit Menus screen. Choose the menu you would like to edit in the dropdown labeled Select a menu to edit near the top of the page. Click Select. You can add many different content types to your menus, including Pages, Posts, Archives, Staff, Links, Categories, and Tags. The most common are Pages and Staff. If you do not see the content type you would like to add on the left-hand side of the screen below the Select a menu to edit dropdown, make sure the appropriate box is checked in Screen Options. Find what you would like to add to the menu by clicking on its content type to expand it. Check the box next to the element you would like to add to the menu and click Add to Menu. The element you just added will appear at the very bottom of the menu in the box labeled Menu Structure. Drag and drop it into place. If you are editing the Primary menu and would like to create a dropdown menu, move the element so it is indented and labeled sub item. When you are finished making changes, click Save Menu on the right-hand side of the screen. User Guide Changing the Appearance of Your Website Page 43
Advanced Techniques Adding Images and Media Adding media such as images, videos, or sound files to a page or blog post is often called embedding. To embed an image, video, or sound file that you have uploaded to the media library, make sure your cursor is positioned in the text editor where you would like to embed the media and then click on the Add Media button above the text editor. This will bring up the Insert Media dialog box. From here, you can insert one or more media elements into your post or page. You can also create a gallery of images by clicking Create Gallery on the left-hand side of the dialog box. Many media types, such as YouTube or Vimeo videos and SoundCloud sound files, can be embedded without uploading them to the media library. Simply add a link to the file on its own line in the text editor and WordPress will do the rest. For a more information about embedding files from thirdparty providers, read these articles on WordPress (https:// codex.wordpress.org/embeds) and Jetpack (http://jetpack.me/ support/shortcode-embeds/) embeds. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 44
Advanced Techniques Featured Images In addition to adding an image within your post or page in the text editor, you can also add a Featured Image. All themes support featured images on blog posts; depending on your theme, you may also be able to add a featured image on pages. Featured images are also used for the headshot photos on staff member profiles. Adding a featured image for each blog post can be a great way to add visual interest to your blog in a consistent and unified way. If you decide to do this, you should generally crop all of your featured images to the same size; rectangular images at least 600 pixels wide work best. To add a featured image to a post or page, simply click the Set featured image link to the right of the screen and upload an image or choose one from your media library. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 45
Advanced Techniques The More Tag When you add a blog post, by default the entire post is shown on the blog page. For a short post this may be desirable, but for a longer post this can cause your blog page to become very long. A better technique is to insert what is called the more tag, which creates a continue reading link on the blog page. To insert a more tag, position your cursor in the text editor where you would like to add the tag, and then click on the Insert More Tag button. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 46
Advanced Techniques Scheduled Posts WordPress has the ability to schedule blog posts for a future date and time. This is particularly useful if you have timesensitive news that you would like to announce at a time when you cannot be at your computer. Simply write the blog post as you normally would. Before you click Publish, click on the Edit link beside Publish immediately in the box above the Publish button. Set the appropriate date and time and click OK. You will notice that the Publish button is now labeled Schedule. Click on Schedule and your post will be published at the time specified. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 47
Advanced Techniques Shortcodes As we mentioned earlier, WordPress uses text within square brackets, called shortcodes, to include other types of content or to add additional functionality. Advanced users can add additional shortcodes to their posts or pages in order to insert specific content automatically. By clicking on the Add a shortcode button in the text editor, you can easily insert an Avvo Badge, Avvo Answers syndication, Avvo Legal Guides syndication, Contact Information for one of your addresses, an Embedded Map for one of your addresses, a list of all Child Pages of a given page, a list of all of your Testimonials, your website s Site Map, and Icons from the Font Awesome icon set (http://fontawesome.io/icons/). User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 48
Advanced Techniques SEO: Search Engine Optimization Moz, a leader in SEO education, describes SEO as the practice of improving and promoting a web site in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines. SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but getting a solid grasp of the basics is relatively easy. If you re an SEO beginner (or if it might be time for a refresher), we encourage you to read Moz s Beginners Guide to SEO (http://moz.com/beginnersguide-to-seo) and to check out posts related to SEO on our Lawyernomics blog (http://lawyernomics.avvo.com/seo). Avvo Websites follow all basic SEO best practices, so right from the start you re set up so that search engines can easily crawl your site and understand its contents. Our sites use the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin, which makes it easy to perform common SEO tasks such as editing the SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions of pages and posts. To edit SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions, find the WordPress SEO by Yoast box when you are editing a page, post, case, or staff member. If you do not see the box, check the Screen Options to make sure that the box labeled WordPress SEO by Yoast is checked. When you are done making changes, don t forget to click the Update button to save your changes. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 49
Advanced Techniques Sharing Sharing your blog posts on your social media profiles is a great way to generate traffic to your website and interest in your law practice. If you blog frequently, sharing each of your posts on each of your profiles can be a bit tedious. Luckily, your Avvo Website can share your blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, and Path automatically! To set up automatic sharing, hover over Settings in the lefthand menu of your website dashboard and click Sharing. Click Connect beside the service you would like to set up and follow the instructions. You can choose whether the connection should be available to just you, or to share the connection with other users on your website. When writing a new blog post, you will see all of the services that the post will be shared with in the Publish box on the right-hand side of the screen. You can edit which services you would like to use for that post and include a custom message as well. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 50
Advanced Techniques Google+ Authorship Setting up Google+ Authorship on your website can help encourage people to click on links to your site that appear in search engine results. When you have authorship set up correctly, Google may choose to display a small headshot photo next to your website on the search results page. To ensure that you have Google+ Authorship set up correctly, you will need to have a Google+ personal profile (not a business profile) with a high-quality profile photo that shows your face. Once you have your Google+ personal profile set up, make sure that there is a link to it on your WordPress user profile page by clicking on Profile in the left-hand menu of your WordPress dashboard. Add the link to the box labeled Google+. You also need to make sure that there is a link to your Avvo Website in the Contributor to section of your Google+ personal profile. You can add this automatically from your website dashboard. Hover over Settings in the left-hand menu and click Sharing, then click the Sign in link under Google+ Profile and follow the instructions on the screen. User Guide Advanced Techniques Page 51