All my edits are done in the function.php file within the theme, but this could easily be put into a plug-in.

1. Add a field to the registration form.  I am going to make this a hidden field so that it will not distract from the other fields.  Also, I am grabbing the role from the URL with the $_GET variable.  This is so I could have different registrations forms for different types of users.  (For example: URL is http://example.com/wp-login.php?action=register&role=my_role)

add_action('register_form','show_role_field');
function show_role_field(){ ?>
        <input id="role" type="hidden" tabindex="20" size="25" value= "<?php if (isset($_GET['role'])){echo $_GET['role'];} ?>"  name="role"/>
	<?php
}

2. Next thing is to register that role when the user has submitted the registration form.

add_action('user_register', 'register_role');

function register_role($user_id, $password="", $meta=array()) {

   $userdata = array();
   $userdata['ID'] = $user_id;
   $userdata['role'] = $_POST['role'];

   //only allow if user role is my_role

   if ($userdata['role'] == "my_role"){
      wp_update_user($userdata);
   }
}

You will obviously have to change my_role to the role you want them to register for.  Also because we are taking the role from a $_GET variable we can modify this form so that other roles are passed to it.  If you want to have more than one role allowed to be registered then change the if statement to:

//allow other roles
if (
($userdata['role'] == "my_role1")or
($userdata['role'] == "my_role2")or
($userdata['role'] == "my_role3")
{
   wp_update_user($userdata);
}

As a security note, you DO NOT want to allow for a role with administration rights.  This is why the if statement above is so important to make sure a user will not register as an administrator.

Learn more about WordPress version 3

On Site Optimization

On site optimization starts with your content. Is your site talking about the subject and using keywords that you want people to search for?  When writing content for your site make sure you use the keywords you expect people to search for.  Try to be as specific as possible. For example if you are writing about beans, be as specific as possible, like “Lathyrus sativus” rather than just bean.  If you did a Google search for “bean”, you would find that you had 49,600,000 other sites competing with that word and 66,100 sites competing for “Lathyrus sativus“. So be as specific as possible.

Understand synonyms. Synonyms by definition is “A word or phrase with a meaning that is the same as, or very similar to, another word or phrase.”  With this idea we should also understand that Google’s idea of the meaning of one word may be different than you think.  For instance, if I say the word “Apple”, you would typically think of the fruit, but a Google search would return the Apple Computer.  Therefore, when writing be aware of what Google thinks a word means.  Further you can find what other words Google will associate with the keyword.  If you did a search using the ~ before the keyword, you may be able to pull out some of the other synonyms that Google associates with that keyword.  For instance, if you type in ~apple into the Google search then the results would bold the other synonyms like Mac and Quicktime.  Those other keywords are important to use within the content of your site to create a “keyword theme” page.

Search engines are not able to see images, so use them wisely.  Images can enhance the sites look and feel for the “human” visitors, but  search engines can only identify that an image is there by looking at the code that the images uses, but unlike humans they are not able to view the image.  Therefore it is important to use images responsibly.  Don’t put text in an image and not use that text outside the image if you want the search engines to index that text.  A good tool to help identify what the search engines will read and index from your site is the Lynx Viewer.

Pay attention to useful suggestions from Google. If you want to know what Google wants to see in order to get to the top of the search engines then it is a good idea to follow some of their Webmaster Guidelines.  Also, use their Webmaster Tools to help find problems with your site as well as submitting a site map to them.  Once you have your site map submitted to them then keep it maintained.  If you are using WordPress, then this is done automatically.

Make SEO (Search Engine Optimization) easy by using WordPress. One of the last things you can do to optimize your site is to make sure the html code is formatted and organized in an efficient way.  WordPress offers thousands of themes and plugins which help optimize your site automatically.  If you hire us to help you build a content management system using WordPress then we will suggest some of our favorite plugins to take advantage of automatic on site optimization.

Off Site Optimization

Mostly what off site optimization is is making sure other websites are aware of your site and are linking to you from their site.  This is one of the most time consuming and hardest things to accomplish.  For instance, if I have a website about Honda cars, then I would love to have a link from one of the authority sites about Honda cars, http://honda.com.  The more of an “authority site” the other site is the better.  Google determines “authority sites” by Page Rank as well as the number of links linking to that site.  You can think of this concept as a “referral system”.  If I just watched one of the best movies I have ever seen, then I am likely to share that with other people.  Obviously, the more people that recommends a movie to you, the more likely you will go and see that movie.  You will probably especially go and see it if someone you respect, or consider an “authority” on the subject, tells you to go and see it.  Users and webmasters all across the internet visit billions of sites every day and therefore Google relies on “humans” to link to sites that are useful.  One other concept or practice that is important with this linking structure is the use of anchor text.  Anchor text, the text that people click on, should be words or phrase pertaining to your keywords or subject matter on your site.  Therefore if I am writing a web page about Apple Computers, then it would be good for the links to your site to use anchor text like, Apple Computers or Mac.  The use of “click here” to go to your site is not very helpful for you.  If you write useful and interesting content that people want to link to, then this off site optimization should happen naturally.

Other Resources:

• Google Blog
• Lynx Viewer
• Webmaster Guidelines
• Webmaster Tools
• XML site maps
• Matt Cutts

Visit the site

Visit the site

Visit the site

Visit the site

Visit the site

Visit his site