How to make a thank you page?

[Rick Olsen]

For my aweber thank you page I want to use my site's header and outside double border. Is there a way I can do this?

My site is using wordpress, but I want just a simple html page with the above.

[TraciKnoppe]

Take the existing page.php template with your theme, remove the coding that calls in the sidebars, and place this code at the very top of the page, above any other coding:


<?php /* Template Name: New Template Name */ ?>

(*Rename the template to call it whatever you want, i.e.: Thank You Page Template) Then upload the new page template to the same folder as the theme you currently have active on your site.

When you now go to create a new page, you will see a dropdown menu to the right where you can select this page template.

[Adriana]

Great info Tracy: I needed this as well. But I have another question: how do you create this page and make it invisible on the site?

For example, I created a thank you page at my blog here: http://www.myonlinebusinessjourney.com/thank-you/, but it appears on the navigation with all my other pages. I tried to make it private, but then my subscribers got error messages.

I'd really love to learn how to resolve this problem. Thanks.

[lisahartwell]

There's a Wordpress Plugin I use with the catchy title of "Exclude Pages from navigation". When you create a page you can tick a box (down on the right hand side underneath Attributes) which will remove it from the navigation menus.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exclude-pages/

Lisa

[Adriana]

Thank you so much Lisa! That was so easy to do, and worked like a charm.

[TraciKnoppe]

The normal pages widget also has an exclude section.

However, if you have tabbed navigation at the top of your blog theme, you may need to insert the exclude='page_id' into the coding in the header that list the pages. Depends on your theme, some themes now include easy to customize options and also now have exclude pages from navigation areas specific to that theme.

[Rick Olsen]

Traci - I thanked you before right after you posted, but it's disappeared. Thanks again. I can't get this to work. If I go here:
http://catlovershopping.com/cat/wp-content/themes/tweaks/thanks.php It says this:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function get_header() in /home/xxxxx/public_html/cat/wp-content/themes/tweaks/thanks.php on line 3

If I don't go there nothing shows up at all.

[TraciKnoppe]

I assume you uploaded your custom thanks page template and created a new page called thanks.php and published it?

[Rick Olsen]

Thanks Traci. It works now. I forgot to title the page when I made it and I didn't leave the post stuff in.

Is there any way to make this page half as wide as a normal page? I added text and it runs right off the page on the right side.

[TraciKnoppe]

I'm getting a fatal error when I try to view the page:



Fatal error: Call to undefined function get_header() in /home/writer/public_html/cat/wp-content/themes/tweaks/thanks.php on line 3

Do you have the header code in place for the page? Should look like this:


<?php get_header(); ?>

[Rick Olsen]

I made a test page. It doesn't look right. I'm going to try to make an html page as soon as I can figure out how to make one. Thanks.

[Rick Olsen]

I managed to make an html page template. See it here: http://catlovershopping.com/confirm.htm

Does this look okay? Should it be wider?
Thanks.

[TraciKnoppe]

Yes, very nice Rick! :)

[Lynn Terry]

Looks great, Rick!

I might add some wording to it, as this is your first real opportunity to truly connect with a visitor who just took definitive action on your site. I would start with something like this at the top:

"Thank you for subscribing - We love cats, too!"

And then in the next line (which is already there) instead of "to receive my email newsletter" I would say "to receive our fun emails for cat lovers".

[jkgourmet]

I'm still confused by this. Can't aweber be set up to send a thank you email? Is setting a page up for this preferable for some reason?

I've got another thread going that directly relates to this, but with more questions (big surprise, huh?)

http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/members/showthread.php?t=2812

[Lynn Terry]

When someone opts-in to your list, they are redirected to a confirmation page. Aweber has a default page that they use, or you can create a custom confirmation page.

This may help clear up the confusion - it's a walk through of the process and ways to customize your subscribers' experience:

How to Set Up Your Mailing List with Aweber (http://www.clicknewz.com/975/how-to-set-up-your-mailing-list-with-aweber/)

[Rick Olsen]

Jeanette - If you need help with the template, let me know. Once I figured it out it didn't take long at all.

Traci has another way, but I couldn't get it to work.

[Rick Olsen]

Hey Lynn,

Is this better? http://catlovershopping.com/confirm.htm

[Lynn Terry]

Yes, I think that reads a lot more personal - and personable :)

[Rick Olsen]

Thanks Lynn. After this line: "If you don't see this email, check your Spam, or Junk folder" should I put something like, "If you can't find the email just resubscribe."

[Lynn Terry]

No, I think it's fine as-is. That tells them where to look for it if they don't see it right away. They can't resubscribe when their subscription is waiting for confirmation anyway - and it wouldn't do any good if they don't ever see the confirmation email. Know what I mean?

[Rick Olsen]

Geez, I should have thought before I spoke. Okay, it's on to the thank you page.

Should I have preloaded messages? If so, what would I put in them? Thanks.

[Lynn Terry]

You should have at least one follow-up message that welcomes them to your list. Just a custom confirmation message that lets them know what to expect next. What you put there will depend on what your list is - if it's a blog notification list you might say "stay tuned for new posts from CatLoverShopping.com and let me know if you have any pictures, videos or stories to share with the other readers!"

The key is to set it up in a way that makes the most sense for your main objective with the list. You want to build rapport with your readers, so they feel a connection with you and look forward to your emails and messages.