Wordpress is the best all round blogging platform. You can use it for a simple online journal or to power huge websites such as our very own MakeUseOf.
I guess thats why so many bloggers trust it to get the job done on an everyday basis, as well as keep their site looking great with themes and widgets.
That being said, there are times when we need specific features and that’s where plugins come in. Many of us will use plugins to make our blog comparable with another service such as a social network or to improve server response time, but today I want to take a look at three cool Wordpress plugins I use which just make blogging easier and more enjoyable.
The WP login page hasn’t changed much since the platform was first released so it’s cool to be able to jazz it up with this plugin.
What it does is simple: it transforms your login page into a page of your blog when wp-admin redirects you to the login page. The login area is displayed where your post would normally be with the rest of your blog being the same. You can still use the normal login page by going directly to wp-login.php.
While this doesn’t make blogging any easier per se, it does give you a little bit of individuality and fun.
This plugin will be of great benefit to those who post on their blogs every few days or so and like to keep their posting pattern regular. Obviously, if you own a bigger blog then some of the point is lost because all of the days will be highlighted but it might still be useful to you to decide which day a post would be best suited to.
It’s a basic plugin but one of my favorites. A small calandar will appear once the plugin is installed, to the right of your posting area. The days when you have post scheduled for the remainder of the month will be highlighted in green as seen above. The current day is highlighted and bolded.
I find this really handy when posting as I just have to glance at the calandar to check my frequency and to decide what day/date would be the best for the post to go live.
A picture is worth a thousand words and like most bloggers, I like to start off an article with a big, high-quality picture that really captures the theme of the article. The trouble is that when posting creative commons images you have to source the picture on a separate website such as Flickr and post an attribution link.
Photodropper however, creates a small icon in the post editor as shown. When clicked a search bar will appear. This enables you to search Flickr for CC images. When you click on one of the results and select the appropriate size (the largest being 500px), the image is placed in the post and an attractive link along with the Creative Commons logo is placed below.
I think this makes the post look very professional and also saves you a lot of hassle.
So there you have it. Three cool Wordpress plugins to make your blogging life a little easier. Do you use any interesting plugin which helps you blog or just to liven things up?
(Via MakeUseOf.com.)
Long before you officially take the profession of graphic or web designer, your friends and family will support your ambitions by developing your talent. At first, your loved ones inspect your work and if they like what they see, you’ll get flooded with their requests for one page flyers, t-shirt designs, logos, and company websites. When you are just starting out, you welcome their requests because it gives you a chance to grow your skill set as a designer. After all, it’s almost like dealing with real clients, right?
The drama comes when you actually become a full time designer. The friends and family who drew upon your talent during your newbie years are still standing around with their hands out, and now you also must contend with two more groups of favor askers: clients and anonymous foreigners who contact you through Twitter.
Here are 8 of the most common and eye-rollingly annoying favors all designers encounter at one point or another. For ease of reference, we’ll call the offending party ‘Dude.’
1. ‘Hey, can you take a look at my site and tell me what you think?’
At first glance, this seems like a harmless five to ten minute project. Dude asks for your opinion, and you both know that you are an esteemed and dedicated design pro. You optimistically click on his website link, and you’re teleported back in 1998 with a Geocities-reminiscent design so horrifying it makes MySpace look professional. After you try hard not to lose all respect for Dude, you carefully suggest that he get rid of the Flash intro. You are then met with an uncomfortable defensiveness, where Dude refuses to accept your professional advice.
Lesson learned: Decipher whether your friend is looking for actual advice or just a pat on the back.
2. ‘Um, would you mind designing my site… for free?’
It’s shocking how many people feel truly entitled to a free web design. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of introducing yourself as a web designer, you may notice the wheels instantly starting to turn in your acquaintance’s mind. Everyone, even those without any product or any relevant thing to say, want, demand and need a website. These are the people, especially, who will want such a website produced for free. They may lure you with the distant hopes they use to fuel their own insanity: ‘Once I get some visitors, I’ll direct them to your services’ (Standard practice, regardless).
Lesson learned: Limit your charity cases to those you can do in your free time and only do it for charity because the only reward you’ll reap is psychological.
3. ‘Can you help me design my site to look like ______?’
This request is closely related to the first two requests. Perhaps Dude has taken it upon himself to designed a website, already had a moment of epiphany and now realizes that it sucks. At least you’re on the same page. Then comes, ‘I’d like my site to look just like Avatar. You know, all 3D and stuff.’ Once you realize that Dude is serious, another realization also sinks in. If you take on this ‘consulting’ project, all of your time and energy will be engulfed by this vortex, and you won’t be getting paid for your trouble. What’s the solution? Direct Dude to Yahoo! Answers? No, he’ll never go for that, because this is a top secret idea.
Lesson learned: Find your inner ineptness and apply it to this situation. Feign ignorance, suggest peripheral design ideas such as blue color palettes and wait for your friend to get bored of the idea and come to his senses.
4. ‘I think I have a virus.’
No one likes to hear these words, and if someone’s sharing this information with you, they usually want one of two things: sympathy or help, sometimes both. When you hear these words come from a client, you must assume they are referring to a computer virus (let’s hope). This your client’s passive/ aggressive way of getting you to offer assistance. If you, wisely, remain silent, he or she will shamelessly ask you for your help. Just because you work in front of your computer all day does not mean that you qualify for tech support. You have to Google things just like everyone else.
Lesson learned: Get the courage to finally direct someone to Let Me Google That For You. However, for professional relationships, avoid the snark and actually lightly research the problem, but make no promises and waste no longer than 15 minutes.
5. ‘Let me help you with any of your extra work.’
This favor comes in the form of a donated favor. In other words, Dude is suggesting that he’s doing you a favor, when he’s actually just trying to get paid. One morning you open your email box, and there’s an email from some dude you’ve never heard of. He wants you to lend him some of your work. Depending on your level of job-related stress, you may be inclined to offer him some work, but what’s this? No portfolio? No website? No spell-check. Wait, is Dude even located in the same hemisphere as you?
Lesson learned: You get what you pay for.
6. ‘So, it’s been a minute… How much longer is it going to take?’
Just when you’ve got your Good Samaritan on and decided to help Dude during your free time, he starts becoming a diva. Never mind the impossible requests to make his website look just like *let your imagination run wild on this one,* or the countless revisions to a perfectly designed logo, or the endless hours you spent over IM trying to explain why putting an invisible list of keywords at the bottom of the webpage is unnecessary. When you least expect it, expect to receive a phone call, email, direct tweet saying, ‘Hey, so, um… when’s the project going to be finished?’ You reply back, ‘Dude, I told you I was going to fit this in between my actual work from actual clients that actually pay.’ To this, Dude replies, ‘I didn’t think it was going to take this long, maybe I should just get this professionally done.’ Oh, that’s a killer. First of all, Dude has no consideration for the amount of time you’ve invested in this project. Secondly and more importantly, you are a professional. Why not offer you money so that you can prioritize his project?
Lesson learned: Clearly state from the beginning that it will take you some ridiculously long amount of time to complete the project for free and if Dude’s still on board, he’ll be happy if you finish it sooner than expected.
7. ‘Can I use your server until I get my own hosting?’
What’s so wrong about this request? You have extra space and you can afford the bandwidth. The problem is that Dude will never get his own hosting, and eventually he’ll forget about his site. A year later, you’ll remind him, ‘Hey Dude, you know you still have your stuff on my server? I’m moving to another server, so is it alright if I get rid of it? You have a back up, right?’ Dude will do one of two things: he’ll respond with indignant anger, upset that you’re rushing him to get his act together or he’ll pretend to be okay with it, all the while, holding a grudge.
Lesson learned: Friends don’t let friends use their servers.
8. ‘Hey, I volunteered you to re-do my co-worker’s step-daughter’s wedding album.’
You can replace this with any task in which your mom volunteers your services for free. It’s always lovely to deal with someone who’s happy to accept your honest labor for free, because we all know they won’t make any unreasonable demands. The most difficult part of this ordeal is having to contend with your mother in her role as the merciless middleman who nags you for quality, timeliness and her good reputation.
(Via Web Design Ledger.)
This post
originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
What’s the most important piece of your business’s web presence? Your website, of course.
Creating a website requires a good deal of thought; it’s important to plan what information you want on the site, what the layout will look like, and how you’ll connect each piece together.
Think of your website as your hub; it’s what people will see when they look for you. Here are four elements of a successful business web presence that can help ensure that your first impression is a good one.
Before We Begin
Your very first step should be to define the goals of your website. Most businesses should have at least three: to create an online presence, to differentiate your business, and to capture leads.
1. Creating an online presence is the most basic reason for building a website. This means building a site that includes your business information, highlights what makes you special, and gives consumers a way to contact you.
2. Making your business stand out takes a more advanced strategy. Maintaining a blog that portrays your thoughts and insights can help your website stand out and help consumers better understand your business.
3. A good business website can be used to capture potential leads. As the site grows it becomes a community for customers and potential consumers. Connect with potential consumers and find a way to continue marketing to them. Your website can be the elevator pitch and your connection the long sell.
The Website
With our goals in mind, we can begin to explore specific elements of a strong website.
The homepage will generally be the initial point of contact with your consumers. A good homepage will answer the questions ‘What do you do?’ and ‘Why should I trust you?’ Consumers will make a split-second decision on whether they’ll stay to learn more or go to a competitor. Don’t lose them at the start.
An ‘About’ page can further reinforce the trust factor. Explain exactly what your company does, in-depth. I want to know who you are, why you do what you do, and what makes you special. This page should make an impact and impress your consumers.
Finally, create a ‘Contact’ page. This page should clearly explain to your customers how to get in contact with you. Make sure it outlines your address, phone number, email address, and any other way someone can reach you. You might even want to include a Google Map with directions to your store or office.
These three pages create a basic online presence, but not much more. If you want to set your business apart from everyone else, the best way to do that is to create a company blog.
The Blog
For some reason, many business owners shy away from blogs. What they don’t realize is that most business ‘News’ sections are blogs. ‘Blog’ simply defines any continually updated news or content section of a site. In fact, this is technically a post on a blog.
So why is a blog important? For one, it shows that you know what you’re talking about. It helps you identify yourself as an expert or unique. Secondly, a blog is constantly updated. It gives readers a reason to come back to your site. The more contact you have with your consumers, the more likely they are to buy from you.
Also, consumers have become savvier and will search out information. They want more than a simple explanation of what your product does. They want to know how to use your product, examples of interesting things people are doing, and how you can make their life easier.
After you have a site with information and a blog that is ever-growing, you’ll begin to experience a growth in site traffic. It would be a shame to ignore these potential customers. Which leads us to our next step; lead capture.
The Newsletter
It’s here that we begin building leads from your website’s visitors.
The first and most important element is a newsletter form. I use Aweber to handle my own personal newsletter sign ups and delivery. I just write the actual newsletter and format it.
There are a number of other services you can use too such as MailChimp and ConstantContact; it simply depends on what you want. Do your research and choose a program you like. The newsletter cost quickly pays for itself. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate sales.
Getting consumers to sign up for your email list means you no longer have to wait for them to come to you, you can go to them. You can offer your core consumers specials and keep them up to date on new products or changes.
Social Media Accounts
Another option for capturing leads is social media. Microblogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can help you connect with and contact those within your core community. For this strategy to work, your blog should serve as a central hub. The hub sends consumers to your respective social media profiles to build the connection.
Businesses with a Facebook Fan page can include a Fan box on the site to make it an easy process to fan the business page. If you have an active Twitter account, consider adding the ‘Follow Me on Twitter’ button. These two elements can help turn a one-time reader into a connected consumer.
When you’re building an online presence, the most important aspect is your website. It’s your hub and your first impression. Are you using the right elements to maximize your website’s effectiveness?
(Via Mashable!.)
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