Posts Tagged ‘listpipe’

RelayPipe Explained

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

RelayPipe™ is our exclusive web service that allows you to receive our content to your dynamic PHP site by adding special code to a page on your site.

NOTE: If you have a WordPress site, we recommend you use our WordPress Plugin, instead; it is a lot easier, and does the same thing.

RelayPipe is a RESTful web service that uses REST to serve Powerful Custom Content™ from ListPipe, via HTTP, so that developers can easily integrate this content into a custom dynamic site. If you are not familiar with REST, visit this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer

How RelayPipe Works

RelayPipe creates a handshake between the ListPipe engine and your dynamic website using the REST protocol. Content is stored in your account on the ListPipe system. Your site will display this content by retrieving it from ListPipe and then formatting it to your liking on your site (similar to how your site can display content from a database; although using REST protocol instead of SQL).

We provide example scripts in your account control panel to help illustrate the functionality of RelayPipe and give you a head start on implementing this into your own site. We also have a public RelayPipe Help Center that provides pre-written solutions that you can use to install RelayPipe on your own site.

RelayPipe requires that you have a unique RelayPipe Access Code, which you receive with your account when it is created as a RelayPipe account type. You will need to insert this code into specified areas of the code samples in order for them to work correctly.

It is important not to share your access code or post it where it can be found; the access code is the only level of security to prevent other people from connecting to your account and obtaining your content. Your access code is not your account password. If someone learns your access code, they will not be able to access your ListPipe account, but they will be able to access your RelayPipe data (for the record, your RelayPipe data is the content on your site, which is easily accessed simply by browsing your site, so the security risk is very small).

RelayPipe is designed to be simple. You simply use this URL to send a request to ListPipe, and the RelayPipe will return the requested data as a JSON array. You will open this URL using your programming language of choice and read its contents. For example, when using php, the 'file_get_contents' function is an excellent way to get the contents of the URL and then the 'json_decode' function can be used to convert the contents into an array.

You will also need to add the RelayPipeFunctions.php file to your site. Instructions for implementation are provided at the RelayPipe Help Center.

Ways To Connect With ListPipe

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

ListPipe offers at least five ways to connect with our service. Whether you sign up for one of our internally hosted accounts or have your own site, we can get you connected with an array of connection technologies that are easy to install and require no management.

1. Internally hosted is our standard, out-of-the-box solution for those who don't have a site or want a second one that points to their first one. This is the easiest solution and takes only a few minutes to set up and be running. Our internally hosted sites are built on the WordPress framework and provide a host of management options.

2. WordPress plugin for those who have an external WordPress account and want our content, only. Our WordPress plugin is easy to install and takes only a minute or two; literally. This is an easy way to connect with ListPipe and allows you to maintain your own site by your own rules while receiving great custom content from our service.

3. RelayPipe™ for advanced integration with PHP websites. RelayPipe is a web service based on REST that allows you to create a new page with any of our various code samples and receive our content to that page. While we have made this solution fairly easy to implement, we recommend this solution for webmasters, only, because a knowledge of CSS and basic coding is highly recommended. (-That said, we have had newbies install this successfully, so if you are technically inclined and patient, it is possible.)

4. Domain Mapping is available for those who have an internally hosted account but want it to appear as a seamless extension of their existing site/domain. Once you have created your internally hosted ListPipe account, you can map a domain or sub-domain to the account using a handy took in our Control Panel. It only takes a few minutes to do, and will make your ListPipe site appear in the search engines as a natural extension of your existing domain. We highly recommend this if you have an internally hosted site.

5. An iFrame can be used to present an internally hosted site in a window on your existing page. This is a simple way to incorporate the blog content onto a site, but offers no additional SEO value than the externally hosted site already affords. Using an iFrame adds the convenience of showing all your content within a single site, but iFrames can be a little cumbersome. Some integrations we have seen have been done really well, others not so much. Your results will vary depending on your skill and the theme of your existing site.

Google Analytics In ListPipe

Monday, March 26th, 2012

We are pleased to announce that our ListPipe Control Panel now includes basic Google Analytics for each of our standard accounts.

It has been a long time coming, but we have completed phase 1 of this project, allowing each standard account to view basic analytics about their account including daily and accumulative visitation statistics for the last 30 days, pageviews, average time on the site and bounce rate.

We will certainly grow from this point, and are thrilled that we now have a method for users to measure basic performance on their site so they can track the effectiveness of various strategies and tactics for marketing their site. Users can watch the traffic and holding power of their site, and can measure content sharing and social media marketing  strategies to determine which work best for their business marketing audience.

Our analytics page includes a Legend, explaining each graph as well as suggestions for increasing traffic and basic performance.

To access your Google Analytics for your ListPipe account, simply login to your account home and click the new Analytics icon.

Currently, our analytics page will only show data for internally hosted accounts that are not mapped to an external domain (Domain Mapping). We can not currently show analytics for external accounts or for RelayPipe accounts. If you have your own site, you can incorporate Google Analytics without too much trouble by starting your own Google account and activating the Google Analytics feature. It only takes a few minutes and is free.

 

 

RelayPipe and Facebook Connections – Solved

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

We recently added a new feature to our ListPipe Control Panel for our RelayPipe™ users; the ability to specify the page to which your Facebook posts link.

This has been an often-requested feature from our RelayPipe users because until now we had no way of knowing which specific page to link back to, so we were simply sending all links back to the Home page of the user's website. This caused some confusion, and raised the question about whether we could provide a method for specifying a different page for posts to return to. Yes we can!

RelayPipe users can now enter the Link to Social section of the Control Panel Toolbox and enter the URL to which you would like us to link all your Facebook posts.

RelayPipe users are customers who have elected to have our content published directly to their existing site using a web service. Because RelayPipe allows for a wide range of custom implementations, it is impossible for us to know which page (URL) contains the posts, or even that the customer prefers that we link back to THAT specific page.

With this new feature, RelayPipe users can specify the exact page to link back to from Facebook posts; it can be your Home page, your Blog page, or any other page you specify.

If you are a RelayPipe user, please login to your account and click on the Link to Social button in the middle of the Control Panel Toolbox to get to the new feature. You will find it at the bottom of the page, just below the Facebook Link section.

NOTE: If you are NOT a RelayPipe user, you will not see this new feature.

ListPipe Testimonial – Google PR After Only Three Weeks

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

I received the following testimonial via email from Tip Kilby, an Independent Distributor for Enagic, a ListPipe customer...

Subject: Wow! My Google placement after less than 3 weeks on ListPipe

I am the world's biggest skeptic sometimes, but you convinced me to give your ListPipe blog system a fair try. I did.

After only three weeks of using your blog service, when I typed in my Google search for "Tucson Kangen distributor", I placed fifth on Page One! There is only one actual Enagic distributor ahead of me and he is a well-established business in Irvine, CA. (Go figure!) So I am the only actual Tucson distributor listed at the top of Tucson.

And a moment ago, I thought to do a Google search for "Tucson Enagic distributor" and I just discovered my Listpipe site has the TOP TWO positions on page 1!!

Anyone who does either of those searches will definitely end up landing on one of my main Enagic template sites through the generous linking done from my blog site. Neither of my Enagic sites placed anywhere reasonable on Google.

Man, I love you guys!

Thanks Tip; We really appreciate your kind words and wish you even more success!

Adding A Blog To Your Site With An iFrame

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

While not optimal for SEO, sometimes there is a case for adding a blog to a site through an iFrame. Here's a quick look at what it means to create an iFrame on your site, and how to do it:

An iFrame is literally a window-within-a-window on your site. On a page on your site we can create a window that shows the view of a completely different site. In this way you can include the contents from another site on a page of your own site. It is relatively easy to do and offers a solution to showing content on your site that is being hosted on another site.

Many of our ListPipe customers are using an iFrame to show the contents of their hosted blog on their HTML-based Home Page. As an example, take a look at Bay Hundred Automotive, who has created a 'Video' page on their Home site, and are showing their hosted blog through an iFrame. The result is that they can offer the videos to their customers on their own site without having to develop a more complex solution. Their Home site is not running PHP or another dynamic language site, so they were limited in their options for including the content and decided an iFrame would suit their needs.

Notice that they have a static page with a window embedded inside a 'frame'. Inside the frame you can navigate the site, watch videos and click links. An iFrame is the next best thing to having the content actually exist on your site.

The pros of an iFrame are that it is easy to implement, and universally available (independent of your code language). The cons include lower SEO and the drawbacks of having dual navigation. Sometimes the tradeoff makes sense.

Here's how to create an iFrame on your site to include your ListPipe blog:

  1. Create your account on ListPipe as a 'Hosted Blog' account. This will give you an independent blog site.
  2. Create a new page on your Home site for the blog (name it 'Blog' or 'News', etc.)
  3. On the new page, place this line of code: <iframe src="http://*****.com/" width="100%" height="600" style="border:0;"></iframe>
  4. Replace the five asterisks (*****) with the URL of your ListPipe Hosted Blog (replace '.com', too, if you need to)
  5. Save, and load. You should see your ListPipe blog appear within a window on your new page, just as it does on the Bay Hundred Automotive site in our example.

Good Luck!

Read All About It: New Features in ListPipe

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

We finally launched our new automated About and Contact pages.

readallaboutitWhen a new customer signs up for a blog using our automated system for any of our vertical categories (including dentistry and real estate), our system will automatically create an About page, and a Contact Us page. Both pages are fully editable, of course, and can be modified by the user simply by loging into the blog control panel and making any necessary adjustments.

Square Compass created a new Simple Contact plugin for WordPress expressly for the new feature. The new plugin provides a simple way to add a contact form to your WordPress blog. The no-frills contact form will be available in the WordPress plugins library soon. I'll keep you posted.

As for the new Pages feature in ListPipe, users now have the ability to capture more search engine attention with an automatically customized About page. The About page includes a short, custom paragraph about you based on your input during the registration process. Though simple, the About Us content is designed to give search engines a customized glance at who you are, and provides a more mature position for your ListPipe site.

The Contact Us page is also customized, and includes an automated form that allows your visitors to contact you by completing a simple contact form. The form is customized to deliver the feedback directly to your email address, and includes a Captcha for security, and error checking to help assure you do not get spammed. The form is optimized to ensure, also, that your visitors provide you with at least one method of contact, and warns them if they do not complete the comments field.

We are excited to announce this new feature, and thrilled that we now have a complete solution for those who use ListPipe to capture business leads through Internet marketing.

New WordPress Training Videos Posted

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

We recently posted an all new collection of WordPress training videos for WordPress bloggers. Learn how to do the basics in WordPress.

You can view our recommended top ten wordpress training videos here. Just click on the headline for each numbered item to go to the video page.

You can also dive straight into our ListPipe WordPress video library from this page.

Our how-to videos are presented in high quality Quicktime on the site, and are available on YouTube if you want to see them in a smaller version. When you get to YouTube, do a search for 'ListPipe' and 'Wordpress' to find all the videos. There are currently 13 of them, covering topics such as logging in, and inserting images.

Each video on our demo blog includes written instructions on how to complete the task in the latest WordPress version. Each video is designed to teach you a specific task in between two and three minutes. For those of you new to WordPress blogging, this is an excellent way to become familiar with the basics of your WordPress system.

Take a look and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

What are the SEO benefits of ListPipe?

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Search engine optimization has many facets. Our focus is on what is called ‘organic content’, which is what search engines look for when measuring the liveliness and relevance of a site. Search engines want to deliver the most relevant and most current sites at the top of search results, so they look specifically for sites that demonstrate recent activity, and relevancy based on keyword frequency.

Our goal is to provide you with a convenient tool that helps you widen your web marketing without you having to become an expert blogger. After all, you have spent plenty of time learning to be great at your profession; leave the web marketing to us. We’ll help you increase your page rank, rise to the top of search results, and attract search engine traffic to your site.

Here is a quick look at some of our key features, and their benefits to you:

  • Frequency: We provide one article each week. This is the minimum optimal frequency for posting, and indicates to the search engines that your site content is lively and current. Sites that allow their content to grow stagnant are discounted by search engines as ‘less relevant’ because they do not have current information.
  • Keyword Research: We load each article with keywords that are relevant to your industry, and add a second helping of supporting keywords and phrases to help search engines understand your relationship to your market. Keywords, when used properly, help search engines index your site appropriately so that you are listed in the appropriate results
  • Linking: We incorporate an advanced linking strategy into every article we publish on your behalf. Each article includes links to your home site from keywords, URLs, and even graphics. All this is coordinated in order to demonstrate to the search engines that your keywords are intimately related to your home site. We also include high-value links to your named associations, and industry-related articles. Our linking strategy is designed to build credibility for your home page by association.
  • Localization: Most web searches are for products or services that are local to the user. With this in mind, our content strategy incorporates a mix of localizing keyword modifiers including your location by city, state, and surrounding areas. Establishing yourself as a fixture in a localized community helps you climb to the top of the search results for the most popular searches.
  • Customization: The articles that we publish to your blog are customized with your unique information. This creates a one-of-a-kind article that is expressly written just for you. We call this Powerful Custom Content™ that search engines recognize as unique, fresh, and real. The advantage of Powerful Custom Content means that search engines recognize your content as real, human-readable content that is meaningful, and therefore valued highly in search results.
  • Marketing: In addition to our Powerful Custom Content, we provide additional marketing support for your blog to help increase the attention you get from the search engines. We incorporate linking strategies to lead search engines to your blog as soon as it is created, and include links to your blog in regular marketing announcements and promotional content. Sites in our system are noticed early, and are provided the advantage of direct links from highly ranked pages.
  • Personalization: We have made it easy for you to personalize your own blog with your own content, too. Adding your own content creates even more organic value for your site and we encourage you to add as much content to your site as you can. For your convenience, we provide you with the ability to log into and manage your own blog. Go ahead and add content, upload images, and edit to your heart’s content. To make blogging easy and less intimidating for you, we have included a series of ten instructional videos that visually demonstrate the basics of blogging.