Wordpress Splash Page

[loubo44]

Hello,

I am in the process of developing a membership site but in the mean time I would like to set up a coming soon page that will have some info about the site as well as an opt-in form. I can't figure out how to do this in wordpress and I need some help.

I want to be able to continue to work and edit my site but have users reaching the main URL to go to the splash page.

My last question is for those that use wordpress as a member site, do you have your url go to the splash/sales page then link to the actual content after them member has joined? I obviosuly need some help with this.

Thanks in advance.

[Istvan Horvath]

If your WP is installed in the root directory (i.e. showing up at example.com) then it would take more than one-two simple steps to do it - if you understand how the template system works.

I will write it down step by step... in the meantime here is the simple solution:
- while developing move the WP in a subdirectory
- set up a simple html optin page (+thankyoupage+confirmationpage) in the root
- when the development is over, move up the WP install
(For the moving I have a foolproof 4 step process!)

===================

And now the method using a "splash" template.
1. Take your splash/optin page HTML file (when it is OK, tested and working) and save it as .php, e.g. splash.php
2. At the very top of the file, before anything else put this:

PHP Code:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Big Splash
*/
?>

3. Place it in your active theme folder
4. Go in admin > Page > New and select this new template for your Page
4a. Do NOT put any content in it, just save the new Page with a title, e.g. Optin
5. Create another empty Page but this time with the theme's Deafult Page template, name it Blogposts
6. Go Settings > Reading and select for "frontpage" a static page
7. For the front select from the dropdown the Page saved with the title Optin; for "posts page", obviously, the Blogposts

At example.com you will have your optin page displayed... and going to example.com/blogposts you will see your blog and can work on its design, setup etc.

Note. If you use some special plugins, like for a membership site and in need to have full flexibility to work with posts and Pages... the simple move solution might be better

[loubo44]

Thanks for the help so far!

Can I take my WP folder and simply create a new directory for example: www.mydomain.com/blog and copy and paste the WP contents into it? Will I still be able to access the blog to post content while the development is ongoing?

[torrent]

You can't just copy and paste the Wordpress folders/files into another directory, and I'd argue that you don't need to move your blog into a subdirectory at all.

You could arguably set up a static page with an aweber (or other email capture) form and still work on the rest of your site template and content without affecting the functionality of the homepage.

I would also look into LaunchPad, which is a Wordpress theme for sites not ready for prime time.

[garyfromdurham]

Sorry loubo44

I don't have an answer to your question but I hope you won't mind me piggybacking your thread by asking another question for experts like Istvan and torrent:

Is it possible to create a one page word press splash page that allows for comments?

Thank you....and thanks to loubo44 for asking the question.

Gary

[loubo44]

No, prob. and i'm interested in that answer too!

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by torrent

You can't just copy and paste the Wordpress folders/files into another directory, and I'd argue that you don't need to move your blog into a subdirectory at all.

You could arguably set up a static page with an aweber (or other email capture) form and still work on the rest of your site template and content without affecting the functionality of the homepage.[/QUOTE]
I agree the functionality of the static (plain HTML) homepage would not be affected. However, the functionality of the WP installation behind it will certainly be affected!

The problem is that in order to get the static HTML page displayed at the root (example.com) you will have to name it index.html.

Now we have two problems!

1. You have two index files in that directory:
index.php (from WP, the so-called short and sweet index)
index.html - you just made it

OK, you may say: when visitors come to example come, they will see the index.html (squeeze page)... and when I work in the background on my WP site, I add index.php to the URL and I see the WP site in development.

You might (depending on server settings) - but NOTHING else from your WP site.

2. The reason: WP calls in the background the INDEX of the site/directory, without specifyinig whether it's .html or .php... and as a result an URL like
example.com/?p=10 <== "ugly permalink"
would go directly to your html index squeeze page.

Try it, if you don't believe me

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by loubo44

Can I take my WP folder and simply create a new directory for example: www.mydomain.com/blog and copy and paste the WP contents into it? Will I still be able to access the blog to post content while the development is ongoing?

No, you won't be able to access it if you do it like that.

(BTW, the recommended URL for examples is example.com - it is not sold, it is reserved by ICANN exactly for that: to use it for examples. All the other domains are sold, including "mydomain"!)

Easy steps to move your WP blog to another directory:
In this case we will do a move from the root (example.com) to a subdir (example.com/blog)

1. login to admin > Settings > General
2. Change the two URL values to the new location -> example.com/blog (no slash)
3. Save and you will get a nice big ERROR message - disregard it!!!
4. Do not try to look at your blog now!
5. In case you didn't get #4: Do not try to look at your blog now!
6. Copy/move all your WP files and folders to the /blog directory using your favourite FTP client
7. Login to your new location: example.com/blog/wp-admin... and enjoy

If this will be a permanent move AND you already have images, media etc. in the uploads folder - install the Search and Replace plugin and run it to change the path to those files.
Explanation: the database stores the path to those images in this form:
example.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/image.jpg and they will not display after the move.
With the plugin you can do a query changing every occurrence of "example.com" to "example.com/blog".

That's it.

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by garyfromdurham

Is it possible to create a one page word press splash page that allows for comments?

The short answer is - YES.

On any page/Page that is using the WP engine you can add the call for the comments template.

In the example I gave above we made that "splash" thing part of our theme - so inserting something like

PHP Code:

<?php comments_template(); // Get wp-comments.php template ?>

should display the comment form and the comments (if there is any).

[VegasGreg]

The way I normally do this is just install WP on the root domain name and either install a theme that has built in squeeze page templates or add one of the squeeze page plugins available. Then Make a 'page' inside WP and make that page a squeeze page and make that the static front page in the Settings=>Reading settings.

Then you can create everything else "behind the scenes".

When complete, if you want a different hone/front page, just change the choices in the WP admin panel.

That way there is no need to move things around.

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by VegasGreg

The way I normally do this is just install WP on the root domain name and either install a theme that has built in squeeze page templates or add one of the squeeze page plugins available.

Yep, that's the easy way

The above steps were for people not having such a theme or plugin...

[garyfromdurham]

That's great.

Thank you very much Istvan and Greg for giving me a solution

Gary

[homebizoutlook]

Originally Posted by VegasGreg

The way I normally do this is just install WP on the root domain name and either install a theme that has built in squeeze page templates or add one of the squeeze page plugins available. Then Make a 'page' inside WP and make that page a squeeze page and make that the static front page in the Settings=>Reading settings.

Then you can create everything else "behind the scenes".

When complete, if you want a different hone/front page, just change the choices in the WP admin panel.

That way there is no need to move things around.

Do you have a WP plugin that you recommend?

[VegasGreg]

Originally Posted by homebizoutlook

Do you have a WP plugin that you recommend?

I have been using the FlexSqueeze theme lately (not free though), but have also used a plugin/theme from a fellow Warrior (Check the WSO section). He offers a free sample template at Wordpress Landing Page Templates: Create Affiliate Pages, Sales Letters and Squeeze Pages in Any WP Theme! | WP Landing Pages, which works very well.

[loubo44]

Thanks for everyone's help!

I love WF!

[loubo44]

Originally Posted by VegasGreg

I have been using the FlexSqueeze theme lately (not free though), but have also used a plugin/theme from a fellow Warrior (Check the WSO section). He offers a free sample template at Wordpress Landing Page Templates: Create Affiliate Pages, Sales Letters and Squeeze Pages in Any WP Theme! | WP Landing Pages, which works very well.

I like that! im probably gonna purchase it as it looks like exactly what I need!