WordPress plugin: What Would Seth Godin Do

Seth Godin advocates using cookies to distinguish between new and returning visitors to your site:

One opportunity that’s underused is the idea of using cookies to treat returning visitors differently than newbies. It’s more work at first, but it can offer two experiences to two different sorts of people. (Source: In the Middle, Starting)

I built this WordPress plugin to implement Seth Godin’s idea. For WordPress users it reduces the “work at first” to almost nothing. Installation is simple:

Download the WWSGD WordPress plugin and unzip it.
Copy the what-would-seth_godin-do folder to your WordPress plugins folder.
Activate the plugin in the Plugins panel.
Customize settings in the Settings panel.

By default, new visitors to your blog will see a small box above each post containing the words “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!” After 5 visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location. Your visitor must have cookies enabled.

New visitors will appreciate some context and background information about your site. This is your chance to offer them a special welcome and invite them to become permanent subscribers!

DOWNLOAD the What Would Seth Godin Do WordPress plugin

I can be reached at richard AT richardkmiller DOT com. I appreciate comments and suggestions.

FOR OTHER PLATFORMS:
(I have not tested these.)

973 thoughts on “WordPress plugin: What Would Seth Godin Do”

Chris on April 14, 2011 at 1:04 pm said:

Hi Richard,
I have the same query as @Henning. Is there a way to make this plugin compatible with super-cache?

Thanks,
Chris

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Chris on April 14, 2011 at 1:34 pm said:

Actually, couldn’t we just deliver the message by default, though make it hidden, then using javascript, check the cookie on the client side to see whether to show the message or not? That might work.

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on April 15, 2011 at 10:09 am said:
  
  Hey Chris, I think that’s exactly the approach to take for this, just haven’t had time to code it up yet. Hopefully soon.
  
  Reply ↓
  - Chris on April 25, 2011 at 1:20 pm said:
    
    Richard, I coded it up. Here’s the updated code http://goo.gl/nJeUO
    
    I also added the ability for the user to “hide” the intro message before the number of repetitions expire. You can see this at work in the default message. Right now, when you set the plugin to check the cookie on the browser, the Message to Return Visitors doesn’t work so I’ve commented that out for now. I don’t use it on my installations. I have this live right now on gothamschools.org. Note that I had to add the jquery.cookie.js file to the plugin.
    
    Let me know if you want all of this in a different form. Maybe I’ll write up a short blog post about it on my blog.
    
    Reply ↓
    - Richard K Miller on April 25, 2011 at 4:51 pm said:
      
      Wow, thanks for doing this Chris. I’ll be glad to roll it back into the code. I haven’t even looked at it yet. I’m moving to Boulder, CO in 10 days so I’m busy with those preparations, but as soon as I get a free moment I’ll get this tested and integrated, with kudos to you. Thanks for doing that.
      
      Reply ↓
    - Richard K Miller on June 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm said:
      
      Chris, I’ve incorporated your patch into the plugin, available in trunk though not yet formally released. I took out the option to choose between server-side cookies and client-side cookies and just went with client-side cookies. Feel free to test it out here: http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/what-would-seth-godin-do/trunk/
      
      I’m going to add a couple more things and then release this as WWSGD 2.0. I’ll include a shoutout to you in the release notes. Thanks again for the code.
      
      Reply ↓
    - Richard K Miller on June 6, 2011 at 7:23 am said:
      
      OK, I finished more quickly than I expected. I released WWSGD v2 on Saturday and it includes a lot of the code you sent. Thanks again.
      
      Reply ↓
      - Chris on June 8, 2011 at 5:50 am said:
        
        Nice work Richard. Thanks for the shoutout.
        Chris
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Ali on April 22, 2011 at 6:35 pm said:

Hi Richard,

Why don’t you think about showing a thank you message for visitor coming back for at least 5 times.

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John Rocheleau on May 4, 2011 at 11:47 am said:

Two questions for you:

First, I noticed that two people had problems with WP Super Cache activated. Are there issues for sites using Super Cache, or have they been resolved?

Secondly, can you code it so that it cancels further new visitor messages when a new visitor clicks on the RSS feed link in the plugin display box? That way when readers take the action that you want them to take, they are no longer asked to do so. The limit of how many times the box is shown should only be applied to those that have not yet signed up. I think it is a nuisance to readers that do sign up, to still see the new visitor message perhaps 3 times again.

I think this plugin is extremely useful; I have installed it, and I thank you for developing it. A few tweaks here and there as time allows, and it can be great

John

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on June 4, 2011 at 4:20 pm said:
  
  Hey John, I’m working on WWSGD 2.0 which will work with Super Cache and will also give you the option to cancel the message as soon as the visitor visits a certain page. Should be done in a couple of weeks.
  
  Reply ↓
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Gee Ranasinha on June 4, 2011 at 2:31 am said:

Hey Richard,

Finished your move to Boulder yet?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on June 4, 2011 at 4:19 pm said:
  
  Hey Gee, yeah I’m mostly moved in.
  
  Reply ↓
Jo on June 8, 2011 at 1:30 pm said:

Love your plugin but have one question about the option to exclude certain pages/posts. What format do I need to enter for it to work? I’ve tried post title, direct url and slug but no luck.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on June 8, 2011 at 2:41 pm said:
  
  Hey thanks! To exclude posts/pages you should enter their numerical IDs, separated by commas. I should make this clearer at some point.
  
  Reply ↓
  - Jo on June 19, 2011 at 11:07 pm said:
    
    Perfect – works like a charm – thank you for the tip.
    
    Perhaps in your next release, you can add some instructions to the ReadMe file.
    
    Reply ↓
  - Erin on August 25, 2011 at 7:47 pm said:
    
    I do not understand what the reason is, but this is not working for me.
    In the settings area, I have it so the message locations is placed only where I use the template tag.
    The Show Message on Pages? On Posts and Pages
    Posts/Pages to Exclude and then I include the numbers.
    It’s not working.
    Am I doing something wrong that is not obvious to an amateur?
    
    Thanks,
    Erin
    
    Reply ↓
  - Jason on September 3, 2011 at 6:58 am said:
    
    I’m having trouble too. I created a landing page that I don’t want the message to show up on. It’s the only ID in the exclusion list. When checking it in Safari and Firefox on a Mac, I still see the message. I’m using WP 3.2.1 with v2.0.3 of the plugin.
    
    Any ideas?
    
    Thanks! Great plugin.
    -j
    
    Reply ↓
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Steve Steiner on June 19, 2011 at 8:51 am said:

Richard,
I came across a post of yours in the Warrior Forum today when I was looking for some WordPress information. I got here by following one of the links in that post (actually I created a PDF of that post since it seems that one of your other posts has gone MIA on the warrior forum. I PMd Chris for a copy of the PDF in hopes that he still has it. You give some fabulous tips for using WordPress as a “squeeze machine”. I have had several visitors to my site, but only one left a comment and no one has signed up to my list. I am going to take the approach you suggested – leave a comment and get your free copy of .

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Dustin on June 23, 2011 at 9:03 am said:

Hello I Just upgraded to 2.0.1, pasted in my welcome message and links and now the whole welcome box has disappeared. It’s like the plugin isn’t even there. I tried uninstalling and re installing the plugin, still nothing is showing up. Did I break it? Any idea why this might be? Thanks! D

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- Richard K Miller on June 25, 2011 at 8:50 pm said:
  
  Hi Dustin, I’ve received a couple other reports that the plugin may be broken on some blogs. I’m looking into it now. Stay tuned for an update.
  
  Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on July 9, 2011 at 6:21 pm said:
  
  Dustin, I just completed WWSGD 2.0.2 which fixes an issue with non-standard WordPress installations (users who keep a separate site address and WordPress address.) You should see this appear in your plugin updates in the next few hours. Let me know if it still doesn’t work afterwards.
  
  Reply ↓
Paul on July 2, 2011 at 4:26 am said:

Hi Richard,

I also have the same problem like Dustin. It does not work any more. You need any further information of me???

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- Richard K Miller on July 9, 2011 at 6:22 pm said:
  
  Hi Paul, if you have WordPress installed in a separate location from your site, WWSGD may have been broken because of that. I just checked in WWSGD 2.0.2 which fixes this. Look for it shortly in your plugin updates. If that doesn’t fix it for you, let me know.
  
  Reply ↓
Louise on July 7, 2011 at 2:15 am said:

Hi
I’ve just started putting a web blog together and added your plugin but mine also isn’t working? Just wanted to let you know.

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on July 29, 2011 at 9:59 pm said:
  
  Hi Louise, are you referring to http://eco-homesandgardens.com/category/blog ? Is the plugin installed and running there?
  
  Reply ↓
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Jimmy on July 19, 2011 at 12:20 pm said:

Does WWSG do work with Thesis? I just switched my blog to it and it seems to not be working?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on July 29, 2011 at 9:57 pm said:
  
  Hi Jimmy, I’m told it works with Thesis. Any luck yet? Is it currently running on jimmysmithtraining.com?
  
  Reply ↓
Heather on July 29, 2011 at 5:03 pm said:

hey richard,

love the plugin but it seems that the text from the widget has overriden my meta-description. so when i go to post a link to my site on FB for example, the description next to my thumbnail is the text from the WWSGD widget. NOT GOOD. this is confusing for people! i tried a number of things, and then eventually just deactivated the widget entirely. i also emptied my cache and history, but this same WWSGD text STILL shows up any time i try to post a link to my site anywhere. HELP! this is causing massive problems. someone said i’d need to go into the source code to figure out where the problem was, but i’m not sure where to look. i have a wordpress.org site. any help would be extremely appreciated, as i DO want to use this widget eventually ~ harmoniously…! thanks.

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- Richard K Miller on July 29, 2011 at 9:56 pm said:
  
  Hi Heather, what’s your website and is the plugin running there now?
  
  Reply ↓
Moe on July 29, 2011 at 8:41 pm said:

Two WP updates ago it seemed to stop working in Firefox but still worked in IE and Chrome. Now with the last update I notice it has stopped working in those two as well.

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- Richard K Miller on July 29, 2011 at 9:55 pm said:
  
  Hi Moe, is this for plusshe.com? Is the plugin running on your site now?
  
  Reply ↓
  - Moe on July 31, 2011 at 5:10 pm said:
    
    Hi Richard,
    Yes, plusshe.com (before posts) as well as http://www.thewriteprompts.com (after posts).
    Thank you,
    Moe
    
    Reply ↓
  - Moe on August 16, 2011 at 9:34 am said:
    
    Just following up again as it is still not working. Is there an update coming soon. I really miss this plugin.
    
    Reply ↓
    - Richard K Miller on August 20, 2011 at 6:29 pm said:
      
      Moe, I just posted an update which should come through in the next day. Let me know how it works for you.
      
      Reply ↓
      - Moe on August 21, 2011 at 2:27 pm said:
        
        Thanks. I just checked the Write Prompts link and it is not working. I did the update. I did the “reset” that I found in the settings and still doesn’t appear to work. I viewed it in firefox, ie, and chrome.
        I also did the updates and checks on the plusshe blog too and it is still not working.
        It is so weird. They were working fine for the longest time.
      - Moe on August 22, 2011 at 10:53 am said:
        
        Today I thought maybe it is another plugin interfering so I deactivate all the plugins except WWSGD and it still didn’t work.
        My next thought would be something in the theme but they are different themes for each blog so that seems unlikely.
      - Richard K Miller on August 22, 2011 at 11:26 pm said:
        
        OK, I’ll have to do some more checking on this, Moe.
      - Moe on September 9, 2011 at 1:27 pm said:
        
        I’mmm baccck. ;D
        
        Today I loaded the Rafflecopter to a blog post at Plusshe.com and ta da, the WWSGD plug in is working again. I checked http://www.thewriteprompts.com blog and it is still not working over there. Sooo weird.
        Anyway, thought I’d give you an update.
        Moe
Heather on July 31, 2011 at 10:07 am said:

Hi Richard! my website is http://www.heatherthorkelson.com and yes, the plugin is currently active on posts only. however i should mention that since i last posted, i reinstalled the theme i am using on wordpress entirely and rebuilt my site. when it was freshly installed, and not a single plugin activated, i was still getting the ORIGINAL text that i had written into the plugin ages ago coming up any time i try to post a link to my site. very very frustrating! it’s stuck in the system somewhere. i only just re-added the WWSGD plugin this morning, and i’m still having the exact same problem. i thought maybe reactivating it in my fresh site would bump out the old text, but no dice. please help!! where can i go to delete this? i need my meta description representing my site!

thanks a million (in advance) ~ H

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- Frugal Jen | Frugal, Freebies and Deals on August 1, 2011 at 9:31 am said:
  
  Heather- this is a problem with this plugin, I just started using it, too, and am experiencing the same thing.
  
  Here is a post I found with some suggestions to try: http://netprofitstoday.com/blog/plugin-messes-up-google-listings/
  
  I am trying copying the first part of my post text and throwing it into the description in All in One Seo Pack- this is a bit of a pain, but it should override the WWSGD text.
  
  jen
  
  Reply ↓
  - Frugal Jen | Frugal, Freebies and Deals on August 1, 2011 at 10:03 am said:
    
    Looks like that solution works- I just tested it in Facebook.
    
    jen
    
    Reply ↓
Tamal Anwar on August 7, 2011 at 11:30 am said:

Hi Richard, thanks a lot for the plugin; I have it installed but it is showing only in the home page, not in individual posts; any suggestions?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on August 22, 2011 at 11:23 pm said:
  
  Hi Tamal, can you tell me if the new version of the plugin (2.0.3) helps at all?
  
  Reply ↓
Kate {The Parchment Girl} on August 10, 2011 at 6:44 pm said:

Hi Richard,

I just installed the plugin and it isn’t showing up on any posts. Does it generally have problems with Genesis?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on August 22, 2011 at 11:24 pm said:
  
  Hey Kate, can you tell me if the latest version of the plugin (2.0.3) helps at all?
  
  Reply ↓
Craig on August 11, 2011 at 5:39 pm said:

Hi Richard,

I see you’re pretty good about responding to people here, which is pretty incredible given how popular this plugin is.

I’m having trouble implementing it on my site (http://utahcommonvalues.org). It’s properly installed, as far as I can tell, but I can’t get the message to appear.

Here are some details:
- I have Super Cache, and I’ve tried it with and with out caching activated.
- I’ve tried on a few computers.
- I’ve tried putting it before, after, and only where I have the code inserted, but none of the options work for me.

If you have any suggestions for me, I’d be quite grateful!

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on August 22, 2011 at 11:25 pm said:
  
  Hey Craig, that’s the irony — that I took 2 weeks to get back to you. How is it working for you now, and does it help to upgrade to the latest 2.0.3?
  
  Reply ↓
Minki Kim on August 23, 2011 at 12:53 pm said:

Hi,

I just recently upgraded to the latest WP version and I really would like to use your plugin but it isn’t showing up on my existing blog posts. I have a bunch of plug-ins installed but I do not see any of them interfering with yours.

Can you have a look and see what the problem is? I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling it but to no avail, and I’ve used the most recent version of WWSGD.

Thank you!

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on August 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm said:
  
  Hi Minki, can you let me know if the plugin works when all other plugins are deactivated? Does it work when you use the default template?
  
  Reply ↓
Lisa on August 25, 2011 at 6:05 pm said:

I have a dumb newbie question. This plug in sounds terrific, but when I activate it, it doesn’t offer an settings option, and I’d really like to add a bit about email alerts, and maybe have it run at the bottom. Am I doing something wrong?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on August 30, 2011 at 9:48 pm said:
  
  Hi Lisa, you should find settings in your blog administration panel, under Settings and WWSGD.
  
  Reply ↓
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TinaTheVA on September 7, 2011 at 4:56 am said:

Hi Richard,

I goofed! I tried to alter your php file and now I cann fix it nor no matter how many times I delete and add the plugin bck, WP (or the plugin?? not sure) still says there is an error. Can you please help and tell me how to totally clear this error and get a fresh install of the plugin?

Reply ↓
- Richard K Miller on September 7, 2011 at 7:46 pm said:
  
  What error message are you getting? Normally it should be enough to delete the plugin, reload the blog, including the plugins admin page, then re-install the plugin.
  
  Reply ↓
  - TinaTheVA on September 9, 2011 at 10:02 am said:
    
    Thanks Richard,
    
    Here is the error message (sorry I did not include this at first):
    
    br />
    Fatal error: Call to undefined function esc_textarea() in /home/tina2010/public_html/wp-content/plugins/what-would-seth-godin-do/what_would_seth_godin_do.php on line 81
    
    And I have deleted it via the admin panel and ftp and still get the same thing.
    
    Any help is appreciated! I was trying to style it if possible too.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Tina
    
    Reply ↓
    - Richard K Miller on October 15, 2011 at 10:17 am said:
      
      Hey Tina, my apologies for the delay. Thanks for your kindness. It sounds like you’re using a version of WordPress before 3.1. If you upgrade to 3.1 that may fix it.
      
      Reply ↓
Lon on September 12, 2011 at 1:35 pm said:

Great concept and plugin. Only issue i’ve had is that when my site is googled, or certain articles of it are googled, the blurb in google shows up as my wwsgd come sign up text – rather than the meta description or snippet of the article…. i’ve since switched to placing the wwsgd bit below the post content, but i’d rather have it on top for first time visitors.

Reply ↓
DAN on September 12, 2011 at 11:58 pm said:

For various reasons I intend to blog in my native language (Italian).
My question:

is the “sethgodin” plug in available in Italian?

Thanks.
Dan

Reply ↓
TinaTheVA on September 14, 2011 at 1:56 am said:

Hi Richard,

Can you offer any more help on this?

Reply ↓
Richard K Miller on September 14, 2011 at 3:51 pm said:

Hey everyone, WWSGD is on hold right now. I came home to my parents’ house to help with a family emergency — my little brother David went missing 10 days ago. I’ll get back to you when this is over. Thanks for your patience.

http://sites.google.com/site/finddavidmiller/

Reply ↓
TinaTheVA on September 14, 2011 at 9:57 pm said:

Praying for you Richard

Reply ↓
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Anthony on September 19, 2011 at 8:28 pm said:

Hi,

Strangely the plugin doesn’t work, even after I logged out of admin and even when I put the in my template. When I view the source, it appears the code was hidden with css:

My custom message etc

Any idea what’s happening here? Thanks.

Reply ↓
Anthony on September 19, 2011 at 8:30 pm said:

Hi, sorry it appears that in my previous message the code segment didn’t show. Anyway in the source, it appears that my custom message was wrapped in a div like, <div style=”display:none”&rt;

Thanks in advance for your help.

Reply ↓
http://wpsynit.com/bl/ on September 23, 2011 at 1:44 pm said:

Excellent post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m inspired! Extremely useful information specifically the last part I care for such information a lot. I used to be seeking this certain info for a long time. Thanks and good luck.

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John on September 23, 2011 at 1:47 pm said:

I see everyone can’t get the newer version of the plugin to work. I don’t know what was updated or changed in the new version but I do know that version 2.7 works just fine. I have tried to update to the newer version and it hasn’t worked and that’s why I reverted back to the older version. Maybe knowing this will help a few people keep things going until the new version of the plugin can be corrected.

Reply ↓
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