Teaser Maker

Create one or more pages of "teasers". Teasers are like WordPress Posts –
except that they generally point to content on some external site

Author:Fern Technology (profile at wordpress.org)
WordPress version required:3.0
WordPress version tested:3.9.1
Plugin version:0.1.114
Added to WordPress repository:19-07-2014
Last updated:20-07-2014
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
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Plugin URI:http://ferntechnology.com/
Total downloads:1 059
Active installs:10+
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"Teaser Maker" is a tool for creating, managing and displaying "teasers" on a WordPress site.

Where "Teasers" are a very common trick (used by many large and small sites), to build both content and traffic.

"Teasers" for Small (eg; Personal) Blogs

Sole bloggers have the problem that it's almost impossible for a single person to create sufficient new content to keep users returning on a regular basis. Even one interesting post per week can be a major challenge.

But a very effective solution is simply to add links to related content from other sites. It's quick and easy to do. And users don't care that the content itself is off-site. The fact that you've collected links to the content of interest to them (in one convenient location), is what matters.

Many well-known sites use this technique. And there are typically 5 to 100 teasers for each original article/post. In other words, it's not unusual for the bulk of the site's content to be externally sourced.

"Best of" Pages on Small and Large Sites

Many well-known sites (that perhaps employ 100s if not 1000s of paid writers), also make extensive use of teasers - in the form of "Best of" pages. About.com for example, uses "Best of" pages a lot.

"Best of" pages are easy to create. And users just love clicking links like (eg):-

*   "10 Best Digital Cameras"
*   "World's Best Beaches"
*   "Hottest New Movies of 2014"
*   "The 20 Best Reasonably Priced Restaurants in Paris"
*   "Best French Wines Under $20"
*   "Ten Leading Hollywood Actors Who Wound Up on Skid Row (or in Jail)"
*    etc, etc

So Teasers can help both small and large sites to build up both content and traffic.

Teasers are Effectively Fancy Links - With Title, Image, Text and "Read More" Link

Each teaser typically has:-

  • Title,
  • Image,
  • Paragraph or so of Text, and;
  • "Read More" link

(though most of these components are optional).

And teasers are typically listed (like WordPress Posts), on pages containing one or more teasers - with perhaps some ordinary page content before and after the teasers. An introduction before and/or comments section after, for example.

Teasers vs. WordPress Posts

Teasers look very much like WordPress Posts. But there's a significant difference:-

  • Clicking a TEASER's title or read more link takes the user to the external (or internal) page that the teaser points to. Whereas;

  • Clicking a POST's title or read more link takes the user to the single post page for the post concerned,

Adding/Editing Teasers ("Std" Version)

  1. Log into the WordPress Admin Section.

  2. Click the "Teaser Maker Std vX.X.X" link on the Left Menu.

  3. Click "Teasers".

  4. Click "Add Teaser to to create a new teaser - or the "edit" link in the Action column to edit an existing teaser.

  5. Fill in or edit and Submit the form. Each field has some help notes to guide you.

Displaying Teasers ("Std" Version)

  1. Log into the WordPress Admin Section.

  2. From the WordPress "Pages" screen, Add a new WordPress page.

  3. Add the [teaser-maker] shortcode to the page (where you want the teasers to be displayed). You may put other page content (text and/or images, etc), both before and after the shortcode. An introduction to the teasers that follow, for example.

  4. "Publish" or "Update" the page.

Teaser Maker "Std" Version

The Teaser Maker "Std" version is available for FREE download from the WordPress.org Plugins Directory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/

The "Std" version:-

  • Allows you to create a single page of Teasers (with no limit to the number of teasers on that page).

  • Supports one non-customisable teaser layout (image, title, text and read more link, listed vertically down the page).

Teaser Maker "Pro" Version

The Teaser Maker "Pro" version is a paid plugin available from: http://www.ferntechnology.com

It does everything the "Std" version does plus:-

  • Allows you to create as many teaser pages as you want (with an unlimited amount of teasers on each page).

  • Supports two standard teaser layouts:-

    • "ALL DOWN THE PAGE". Image, Title, Text and Read More link listed vertically down the page (in that order). (Same as "Std" version.)

    • "IMAGE FLOATED RIGHT". Image floated right, with Title, Text and Read More link listed vertically down the page (in that order).

  • Allows you to clone and then customise these standard teaser layouts (and/or any custom teaser layout). To adapt it to your site's theme, for example.

  • Allows you to create unlimited custom teaser layouts. Each custom layout can contain whatever HTML, CSS and Javascript you want. With the teaser title, text and target/image URLs, etc, inserted into your HTML, CSS and Javascript by means of template tags like (eg):

    o   [**TEASER**TARGET.URL**]
o   [**TEASER**TITLE**]
o   [**TEASER**TEXT**]
o   [**TEASER**IMAGE.URL**]
o   [**TEASER**DATE.CREATED**]
o   [**TEASER**DATE.LAST_MODIFIED**]

  • Allows you to export and import any teaser category (including the teasers that belong to it, and their images).

    This allows you to backup your teasers. And also to develop teaser pages on one site (say a test/dev site on localhost), and then move or copy them to another (say the live site).

Additional Information and Support

Further documentation and support is available from the Fern Technology website: http://www.ferntechnology.com