The Web Wrangler

This was originally an article I wrote for Demand Studios, but I was told it was too specific in focusing on a single program. I’m posting it here because there’s no sense in letting good info go to waste. I picked Paltalk to write about because it’s free and it looks like a useful product. I’m not affiliated with them in any way.

The convenience of online meeting sites is one of the best things about living in the 21st century, but it turns out that it can be beat. It’s possible to make it even more convenient for clients and colleagues to gather online by providing conferencing capabilities right on your website, and it’s easily done thanks to web conferencing programs such as Paltalk, which make it easy to embed online video conferences, audio conference calls and multi-user chat windows into your Web pages.

Paltalk Setup
Step 1

Go to the Paltalk web site and click on the “Free Download” button.

Step 2

Wait for the .exe file to finish downloading and then double-click it to run the Installation Wizard. Agree to the terms of the license agreement and click “Next” on each step of the Installation Wizard screen. Click “Finish” when the installation is complete. The Paltalk program should start automatically, but if it doesn’t, double click the new “Paltalk Scene” icon on your desktop.

Step 3

On the login screen, click “New user? Get a Nickname.” Fill out the Paltalk Nickname Registration screen and click “Create a Nickname.” After it logs you in, select your service type and click “Next.” Skip Step 3.

Add a Paltalk Widget To Your Web Page
Step 1

On the new Paltalk screen, under “Favorites,” click “My Room.” This will take you to a Web page where you can set up your chat groups. On the main menu, mouse over “Video Chat On Your Site” and select “Video Chat Widget.” Scroll down until you see a green bar that says “Click here to get Paltalk’s Video Chat Widget Now.” Click on this bar.

Step 2

Fill out the form to set up your chat room. In the “Admin Code” field, pick a number that contains four to six digits. Click “Create My Chat Room.” On the next screen, select the options for your widget and click “Copy Widget Embed Code to Clipboard.”

Step 3

Paste the code into your website’s HTML. How to do this depends on your Web host, but on a regular web site you should be able to login to your Web host’s cPanel and use the File Manager to locate and edit the HTML file. Choose the appropriate location for the widget, making sure it goes between the and tags.

If you are posting it to a WordPress blog, login to your WordPress dashboard and select “Widgets” under the “Appearance” menu. Select the “Text” widget and drag it to your sidebar, paste the Paltalk code into the text field and click “Save.”

If you have a Blogger blog, you’ll need to add a “gadget” instead of a “widget.” Login to your Blogger dashboard and go to the “Design” tab. Under “Page Elements,” click “Add a Gadget” and select the “HTML/Javascript” gadget. Paste in the Paltalk code and save the gadget.