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How do I integrate my non wordpress squeeze page into a wordpress site?

by ikelove
16 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
So, initially, I had a review site up for product I'm promoting that was a static designed without wordpress. The site included a squeeze page that I added recently. Well, as I learned more and more about IM, I decided that it would be better to convert my site to a wordpress site, so I created a separate folder and went to work over the past few weeks recreating my review site in wordpress. Well, the work is done, and I'm ready to transfer wordpress into the main directory, however, I have NO clue how to integrate my non-wordpress squeeze page into the wordpress website. There are several things I'm confused about including how to make the squeeze page my default page when in wordpress there already is a default page.

How do I integrate my non-wordpress squeeze page into the site?

Thank you very much,

Ike
#integrate #page #site #squeeze #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Big Squid
    What directory did you install wordpress to? www.domain.com/blog or something of the sort?
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by Avid Reader View Post

      What directory did you install wordpress to? www.domain.com/blog or something of the sort?
      Yes. Do I just leave it as with my squeeze page remaining the default page in the root directory (i.e. index.htm)? I was kind of worried that the name "blog" i.e. www.mydomain.com/blog may be a bit misleading and not be a good idea for the name of a review site.
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  • Profile picture of the author realoakfloors
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by realoakfloors View Post

      If you convert you squeeze page to a wordpress page template page - can be static and don't need to include any of the wordpress loop functions. Then just create a page using this template and set it has the home page in the Options > Reading > Display static page as home setting. That should work a treat.

      I already have a theme. Are you saying that I can combine two themes within one wordpress site? Also, do static themes actually exist?
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      • Profile picture of the author realoakfloors
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        • Profile picture of the author ikelove
          Originally Posted by realoakfloors View Post

          I mean you just have to create a page template. You create a new single page within your current theme directory, for example - squeeze.php

          Now add this to the top of it:
          <?php
          /* Template Name: Squeeze */
          ?>

          Next copy all of the code from your current squeeze page into this new page, underneath the above code and save it.

          In your wordpress admin create a new page and call it anything you like, in the right hand side where the categories are you should now see a "page template" dropdown menu. Select the squeeze template and publish the page.

          Now set that page as your static homepage in the reading settings.

          That should work with no problems.
          Really??? Wow bro, thanks!!!
          One quick question: When you say "create a new single page" do you mean I actually create a whole new php file that I transfer into my themes directory and NOT simply go under the page tab on the left-hand side of wordpress and say "add new page"?
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          • Profile picture of the author Big Squid
            When you create a template like this, it'll be an option for you to choose when you're creating that page...

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            • Profile picture of the author ikelove
              Okay, I almost get it, there's however one thing I'm still confused about (forgive me, it's still "night" here and I haven't slept yet): You're saying when I create a php page (in notepad or some other editor) and add the page to the folder of my CURRENT theme, the new theme will show up in the side panel when I'm creating a new page?
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Squid
    You're going to want to upload the template file to the template folder of the current wordpress theme that you're using.

    So if you change themes, you'll have to move that file to the new theme.
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by Avid Reader View Post

      You're going to want to upload the template file to the template folder of the current wordpress theme that you're using.

      So if you change themes, you'll have to move that file to the new theme.
      Wow, thanks man, it totally worked. Just one thing is that I don't want the link to my squeeze page to appear on the navigation bar for the MAIN theme I'm using., so I made the visibility "private". However, by making the visibility private, when I go to Settings->Read and try to make my squeeze page my front page, the squeeze page doesn't show up as an option in the drop-down menu. How do I rectify this so that I can make my squeeze page the front page but not have a link to it show up in te the navigation bar?

      Thanks for all your help man.
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  • Profile picture of the author sitefurnace
    It's all about branding really. What do you want when people type in yourdomain.com? Do you want that to go to the squeeze or wordpress.

    You don't have to move your blog in fact I usually always keep it tucked away in a folder called "blog" instead of having all the WP files in my root - too messy! Just go to general settings in WP and you can define there if you want your blog to show on yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com/blog it's dead easy.

    I would then keep a separate folder called sales in the root and in that hold all your squeeze pages (you are split testing right?) name them something like page1, page2 etc

    Now you can market your site as yourdomain.com and visitors will hit your blog, if you want to send traffic to your squeeze page instead, use yourdomain.com/sales/page1/

    The biggest question you need to ask yourself is about your whole funnel. Are you going to make sales through your review blog or E-mail marketing. Having a mixture of both may indicate that you are unsure of your fundamental plan and perhaps sitting down and really thinking about how to sell to your market may help you in more ways than you know. I find it nearly always better to focus on one strategy, it gives a more consistent message to your leads.

    The wordpress way does work but can get quite messy and you will need to have a good understanding of WP files and know where to add the images and CSS for your squeeze page. Also the WYSIWYG editor can play games with you, deleting code and annoying things like that when you change from code to editor view. I just like to keep things separate, your blog is your blog and your sales pages are just that.
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by sitefurnace View Post

      It's all about branding really. What do you want when people type in yourdomain.com? Do you want that to go to the squeeze or wordpress.

      You don't have to move your blog in fact I usually always keep it tucked away in a folder called "blog" instead of having all the WP files in my root - too messy! Just go to general settings in WP and you can define there if you want your blog to show on yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com/blog it's dead easy.

      I would then keep a separate folder called sales in the root and in that hold all your squeeze pages (you are split testing right?) name them something like page1, page2 etc

      Now you can market your site as yourdomain.com and visitors will hit your blog, if you want to send traffic to your squeeze page instead, use yourdomain.com/sales/page1/

      The biggest question you need to ask yourself is about your whole funnel. Are you going to make sales through your review blog or E-mail marketing. Having a mixture of both may indicate that you are unsure of your fundamental plan and perhaps sitting down and really thinking about how to sell to your market may help you in more ways than you know. I find it nearly always better to focus on one strategy, it gives a more consistent message to your leads.

      The wordpress way does work but can get quite messy and you will need to have a good understanding of WP files and know where to add the images and CSS for your squeeze page. Also the WYSIWYG editor can play games with you, deleting code and annoying things like that when you change from code to editor view. I just like to keep things separate, your blog is your blog and your sales pages are just that.
      I initially had a static, non Wordpress site, but as I've been cutting my teeth with IM, I started to see that it may be better to have a wordpress site since: (after you get over the learning curve) it's easier to manage, google loves wordpress and favours regularly updated sites, I was tired of giving all my articles to EZA without having a site of my own to post them on, and finally, it'll give users a reason to stay longer and read articles that help sell the product more.

      I've read that many IMers who do article marketing also have a site that they post their articles FIRST, so I'm clear as to what I'm doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author tbjason
    I always jut hire someone to convert it to a word press theme. I got a guy who does it for $30 for me. Saves me the headaches and he gets it done within 24 hours too.

    Just a suggestion.
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by tbjason View Post

      I always jut hire someone to convert it to a word press theme. I got a guy who does it for $30 for me. Saves me the headaches and he gets it done within 24 hours too.

      Just a suggestion.
      Save yourself the 30 bucks and learn to do it yourself, it REALLY is not hard at all, and you'll be kicking yourself for having paid someone 30 bucks to do it for you!
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      • Profile picture of the author Big Squid
        You need to get a free plugin called WP HIDE POST. Just search for it through the wordpress plugin directory.

        Once you've installed it, each and every post/page will have a PAGE VISIBILITY box. Here you can do exactly what you're wanting.

        Either the 2nd or 3rd option will allow you to hide the page from the navigation bar. But it will be available to select as your static front page.

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        • Profile picture of the author ikelove
          Thanks a lot for the plugin, because I found quite a few plugins that were able to hide pages, BUT they weren't compatible with Wordpress 3.0 or above. Their highest compatibility was @ordpress 2.9.2. I wound having to go into the header.php file and get help tweaking the code to get the desired effect.

          Thanks again!
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        • Profile picture of the author ikelove
          Originally Posted by Avid Reader View Post

          You need to get a free plugin called WP HIDE POST. Just search for it through the wordpress plugin directory.

          Once you've installed it, each and every post/page will have a PAGE VISIBILITY box. Here you can do exactly what you're wanting.

          Either the 2nd or 3rd option will allow you to hide the page from the navigation bar. But it will be available to select as your static front page.
          I tried the plug-in, which again, is compatible up to Wordpress 2.9.2. It works for posts but doesn't work for pages. A section was visible that said "post visibility" on posts that I put up, but nothing showed up for my pages that said "page visibility".

          I find it funny the dearth of plugins available for Version 3 of Wordpress.
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          • Profile picture of the author Big Squid
            Yeah, that's exactly why I haven't upgraded yet. There is a great degree of lag time between the development of WP and that of the plugins.

            2.9.2 for now.
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