Category: Wordpress

Securing your website with a simple file backup is not enough. You need to go an extra mile to ensure that you do not ruin your reputation because getting hacked affects your SEO ranking. Here are simple ways that will help you to secure your WordPress website in 2019.

Unique passwords

When creating WordPress account passwords, use unique combinations. This is the part to play with sophisticated ideas that hackers cannot guess. Instead of using letters and numbers alone, sprinkle in symbols in a unique pattern.

Once you have a password, try to remember it. Do not save your password on Google. Similarly, change your password on a regular basis. It helps you to secure private client information and to keep your website free from hackers.

The two-factor authentication

It is imperative that you practice the two-factor authentication strategy. This involves having a password at two different security levels to verify your account. Remember, there are different ways to authenticate your account. They include using a secret question, a secret code on your mobile phone and an email verification through a unique code. While this process can be hectic, it plays a significant role in enhancing the security of your WordPress website in 2019.

Embrace core automatic updates

Hackers are always trying out new hacking techniques. For this reason, it is imperative that you update your apps whenever there are formal updates from Google and other related sources. It helps you to stay up to date with WordPress. Lucky enough, most automatic updates are usually set on as default and you are assured of important notifications. However, you need to always check on your WordPress settings to ensure that you haven’t switched off your notifications.

Limit your login attempts

In a WordPress website, you and other users are allowed to try to log in as much as you can. While this gives users a convenient approach to access their accounts, it also exposes your website to hackers. Therefore, to avoid creating security loopholes, it is wise that you limit your login attempts. Use different free plugins to limit attempts and by doing so, hackers will have very few chances of hacking your account.

Customize your URL address

It is always advisable that you customize your URL address or login page to keep hackers away. Ensure the page cannot be seen in the site’s main URL because it makes it vulnerable to hackers. However, if you customize the page, you are making it safe and unbreakable. Therefore, set up iThemes Security plugins or create a unique custom URL for example, my-custom-login. The former changes your login URL automatically.

Most importantly, do not use common names such as ‘admin’ as your username. In the event where you have already used the default admin name, it is recommended that you update it immediately using PHPMyAdmin and replace it by something much more unique and difficult for hackers to crack.

Switch to HTTPS

HTTPS protects your WordPress website from different security attacks and hackers. It offers a high level of encryption between your web server and browser, therefore, keeping attackers away. It also prevents the unauthorized transfer of data from one server to the other.

HTTPS also protects your WordPress site from various hidden scripts on your computer system.

With these security ideas, you can avoid a security breach on your WordPress website. Protect your admin and login page with the ideal security tools and apps to stay safe.

This is a guest article by Alex Merashi.

However, to be able to enjoy all of these perks, it means that you need to be generating some serious revenue from your online sales in order to ultimately support you without any additional income to prop you up along the way. If you want to move stock, you need to get noticed by your target audience and convince them you are the business selling something that they just can’t get anywhere else.

To get you started and help you boost your profit margins, this handy guide is going to take you through three essential things you need to think about and do to be successful in the business world of today.

Have striking visuals

With social media becoming an ever-present part of modern life, the focus on visual marketing has never been more intense. With platforms such as Instagram relying solely on the sharing of images to convey information, it is crucial that whatever visual material you are using to promote your brand and products is of the highest quality.

With this in mind, a great idea is to create your logo online for free and start building your brand identity. By choosing to use an online logo maker, you are already saving money and time on getting a commission done, and logo makers let you create a final design that looks polished and professional without having to waste your money on a graphic design software.

Think differently about your products

Online businesses can run in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular is selling handmade goods. When you are making the products you are selling yourself it is important that you consider what materials you are using.

For example, out of the many reasons you should use fair trade goods, one of them is that it has a widespread appeal to consumers. Knowing that the products you are selling are ethical and helping people will make your target audience want to spend their money on your goods because they know you are a responsible business person.

Spread things out

The internet is second to none when you want to reach out to your target audience, wherever they may be. One of the things you can do to make this work even more to your advantage is to spread out where you are selling your products (and this is easy to do considering how you can synchronize your inventory across platforms).

By selling your products across multiple online marketplaces, you will be reaching more people than ever and continuously increasing your likelihood of making more sales. If you couple this with expanding to include international postage, then you will be able to have your products distributed all over the world and have enough money to live a rather charmed life.

This is a guest post by Fatima Ishfaq.

Over a year ago Google announced that page speed has become a ranking factor for mobile sites. Therefore, when ordering web development services, always make sure that you mention speed as a key factor to your project.

And if you are a developer yourself, read on to discover handy tips on how to create a fast website, or enhance the loading speed of an existing page.

Test with the right tools

In order to enhance your website speed, the first thing you need is a tool that will let you know how fast your website is and what you should do to make it even faster.

Many tools are available. Amongst them, here are the ones I work with:

• Google PageSpeed Insights: Brought to you by Google, this tool is very handy and allows you to make your website run according to Google’s standards, which is very important in terms of SEO.
• Pingdom: A very popular speed testing tool, Pingdom offers a free tool as well as paid options.
• GT Metrix: This tool combines results from various sources, allowing you to check your site speed in depth.

Think mobile first

Nowadays, most website visits are made from smartphones and other handheld devices. Therefore, it is now wise to think mobile first.

For some more insights about mobile-first web design, check this interesting guide.

Optimize your images

Images often represent 75% of the total size of a webpage. Therefore, in order to have a fast loading website, it’s essential that your images are properly optimized.

Optimizing images isn’t complicated. If you’re using Adobe Photoshop, make sure that you use the Save for Web function and choose the appropriate file format for your images.

.jpg should be used for pictures and illustration images. Use .gif if you need to display an animation or an image with few different colors, such as a logo. If you need transparency, .png is the file format you should use.

For more info and tips about image optimization, feel free to refer to this article.

Handle assets properly

After images, assets (.js and .css files, PDFs, etc.) are a big part of the total size of a website. Therefore, it’s vital to handle them properly.

The first thing to do is to minimize HTTP requests. Do not split your CSS and JavaScript into multiple files – on the contrary, try to use a single .js and a single .css file.

Your loading speed can also be enhanced by deferring the loading of some of your assets. JavaScript, for example, is considered a “parser blocking resource”. This means that the parsing of the HTML document itself is blocked by JavaScript. When the parser reaches a <script> tag, whether that be internal or external, it stops to fetch (if it is external) and run it.

In order to specify that the script should be executed when the page has finished parsing, use the defer attribute, as shown below:

<script src="scripts.js" defer></script>

And finally, make sure to minify your .js and .css files. In case you didn’t know, minification is the process of removing extra spaces and comments from assets files, in order to reduce their size. You can use Minify to do so.

Make sure your site is running on a quality host

There’s no quality website without a quality server. If you want your website to be fast and available 24/7, you have to consider using the services of a quality hosting provider. Below is the list of my three personal favorites:

Tsohost: This company has been hosting CatsWhoCode since 2012. The speed and availability are amazing and the support service always responds fast, even on Sundays or in the middle of the night. The only down point is the somewhat expensive price, but just like cheap hosting isn’t good, good hosting isn’t cheap. Good news: By using the coupon CATSWHOCODE when checking out, you’ll get 10% off any hosting plan.

InMotion Hosting: I haven’t worked with them directly yet, but I’ve been fixing quite a lot of websites hosted on their servers and everything has been smooth. Definitely worth checking!

Dreamhost: A good quality hosting offering competitive prices and great support.

Use caching techniques to display your images faster

Although this isn’t really an image optimization technique itself, caching your images is, overall, good practice and will display your images faster to your returning visitors.

Here’s a ready-to-use code snippet that will cache various filetypes (images, and also other kind of documents like pdf or flv). This code has to be pasted in your website .htaccess file. Make sure you have a backup of it before applying this technique, just in case something goes wrong.

# 1 YEAR
<FilesMatch "\.(ico|pdf|flv)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=29030400, public"
</FilesMatch>
# 1 WEEK
<FilesMatch "\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|swf)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=604800, public"
</FilesMatch>
# 2 DAYS
<FilesMatch "\.(xml|txt|css|js)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=172800, proxy-revalidate"
</FilesMatch>
# 1 MIN
<FilesMatch "\.(html|htm|php)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=60, private, proxy-revalidate"
</FilesMatch>

Using WordPress? Beware of themes and plugins

If you’re using WordPress, you know how themes and plugins are useful. Be aware, though, that many commercial themes and plugins are packed with features, and therefore can be quite big in size, which is not a good thing for loading speed. Make sure you test themes with a speed testing tool before you decide to make a purchase.

You can also have a look at my list of fastest WordPress themes.

Implement caching

Let’s finish this list with a very important thing: caching. A web cache (or HTTP cache) is information technology for the temporary storage (caching) of web documents, such as web pages, images, and other types of web multimedia, to reduce server lag.

If your site is running on WordPress, the easiest way to implement caching is to install a cache plugin, as such as W3 Total Cache or WP Fastest Cache.

All in all, however, boosting conversions and lead generation is a matter of optimizing your forms. Here’s how you can alleviate some of the necessary evils that come with forms.

1. Change the Button Copy

Every form has a submit button — it’s the final step that saves entries and ships the information off to the host. But that doesn’t mean the button should actually say “submit,” because that’s a terrible waste.
Actionable phrases like “click here” or “go” work much better than “submit.” If you want to take it a step further, tell users what the button is going to do. “Get Your Free E-Book” is an excellent example of this.

Toptal’s contact page ditches the conventional “submit” for something just as simple, yet more direct: “Send message.” It works because it tells visitors precisely what’s going to happen when they hit the button.

2. Keep it simple

Do not overextend the form by including irrelevant details and requests. If you want an email address, ask for that and that alone. If you need a full name and a phone number, stick to those fields. There’s no reason to ask for extra information, especially if you’re never going to use it.

The shorter the form, the more likely people will share what you need. Finishing Systems’ contact form, for instance, includes just four fields: name, email, phone number and message. It’s short and sweet, and there’s no hassle to using it or reaching out to the company, exactly how it should be. The form also remains on the right-hand side of every page, which helps with leads and conversions.

3. Be transparent

What are you going to do with the information you collect? How will you be using emails, phone numbers, addresses or any other personal data? Tell your audience exactly what you intend to do and how that’s going to affect them.
Furthermore, stick to what you say and only use the details for what you’ve outlined. Don’t sign them up for a weekly email newsletter, for example, if you told them a sales rep is going to reach out.

Another point to make here is that you should have your privacy policy available and accessible — through a hyperlink — right below a form.

4. Make it snappy

Like your general site’s design, performance is a big deal when it comes to filling out forms and submitting information. If the experience is sluggish, buggy or doesn’t work, no one is going to participate.
Be sure to test out your forms before pushing them live. You may need to use a different plugin or form provider if the one you initially chose is not working out.

5. Test compatibility

Sometimes, a form will look great on desktop browsers, but cluttered or misaligned on mobile. Other times, buttons might be impossible to click on smaller displays. Any number of problems may crop up when dealing with cross-platform experiences.

Be sure to test the form on multiple devices, browsers and platforms. Consider every channel your audience will be using and then some.

6. Move it up

Always keep the form at the top of the landing page, with other content and elements strategically placed around it. In other words, the form should be the absolute focus. On desktop-style sites, that means keeping it above the fold, but for mobile, that means keeping it right at the top.

7. Provide value

What are you giving back? What will your audience get after they fill out the form? This tip is similar to being transparent about how you’re planning to use the data you collect, even though it seems similar. What you’re doing here is giving your potential audience a value proposition. Why should they want to fill out the form? Are you giving them a free e-book, providing access to exclusive features on the site or will they get special promotions?

Sleeknote complements its contact form with different things users will be able to do after making contact. It provides a clear understanding of why visitors should reach out.

8. Keep it dynamic

With things like contact forms and call-to-action buttons, it’s always a good idea to run split tests to discern what works and what doesn’t. But even if you don’t spend time running those kinds of tests, you can estimate progress on your own based on performance.

The trick is to create something dynamic. Leave enough wiggle room so you can change fields, various elements or maybe even the layout over time. Like any other part of your site, you’ll want to find what works best, which means making minor adjustments here and there rather than using a single, stagnant design.

Live and learn

These tips will help you boost conversion and lead ratings for your landing page, contact form or any other interactive element. But the most important takeaway is that success doesn’t generally happen overnight. It can, but more often than not, it’s an eventual buildup, achieved through hard work and perseverance.
When it comes to contact forms, it’s going to take some tweaking — maybe even a lot — to get them optimized. You might not see huge gains right away, or even in the short term, but that’s OK. You’ll get there through perseverance.

This is a guest article by Lexie Lu. Lexie is a web designer and UX strategist. She writes for Marketo, Creative Bloq, Manta, Website Magazine and Cats Who Code. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Meeting growing consumer information needs

Last year, Google fielded 3.8 million search requests per minute. If even just a tiny fraction of this search traffic is driving to your website, it might still be difficult to offer practical solutions to consumer issues on a human level. Difficulty aside, it takes time, and that is something precious we all have little of in the increasingly connected internet age.

The desire for instant gratification has, over time, made chatbots more and more appealing to businesses looking to streamline their customer service experience. This instant gratification economy has become so widespread, in fact, that many online retailers have done away with an “Add to cart” button and have replaced it with a “Buy it now” option.

We exist in a state of constant interaction and feedback with the world around us, mostly through the use of social media and entertainment apps that provide a seemingly endless flow of information. With so much available at our fingertips and with our increasing need for immediate response, chatbots have never been a more attractive option for the average business. As millennials continue to drive trends in customer service through the way they interact online, you can expect to see more and more chatbots popping up on your most frequented sites.

Humanity in chatbots

The mere mention of chatbots might elicit a groan from consumers who interacted with less-developed bots in the early days of online retail and customer service. In the past, these bots were perceived as more hassle than they were worth. In many cases, consumers are more interested in talking to a human representative who can provide more direct answers. Although most of our interactions are streamlined through the web, human connection is still important and the use of chatbots partially removes this from the customer service process.

Despite the apparent absence of human customer service, chatbots can often do things that human service representatives can’t, including solving complex equations in a matter of seconds and using keyword recognition to direct the customer to the exact solution to a specific query. Bots are also constantly learning ways to improve service—every time a person has a conversation with a chatbot, the bot learns from the interaction to inform future communication. These bots have a response rate of 100 percent, and can make large strides toward improving customer communications by replying to messages that may otherwise slip through the cracks. Plus, when a human touch is really needed, almost all bots can redirect customers to human representatives.

The way of the future

With the explosive growth of online commerce, it’s clear that chatbots aren’t going anywhere. Artificial intelligence continues to gain popularity, and, as the technology expands, the bots themselves are getting smarter and smarter. Not only are they becoming better at talking to consumers, they are also increasing overall efficiency. For example, in 2017, Facebook acquired the bot start-up, Ozlo, for this very reason—to create an easier and more specific customer service experience.

In 2018, VentureBeat reported that the value of the global chatbot market is projected to surpass $1.34 billion by 2024. This figure not only suggests that chatbots are here to stay but that they are more popular than we might think. In fact, have used them and 70 percent reported positive results and indicated a willingness to use them again in the future.

Chatbots provide an opportunity for consumers to engage with new technology. We are always looking to try the next big thing—the next model of iPhone, the new social media platform, or the latest video game that is exploding in popularity. By nature of the way that they are built, chatbots learn as you talk to them, meaning that users are like developers themselves. Bots are the ultimate way to engage with technology, offering users the chance to be part of the technology’s evolution.

For those who are especially interested in the progress of chatbots, it has never been easier to learn more about bots or even to build your own. Amazon recently launched a bot information portal specifically designed to help consumers and businesses learn more about chatbots and the steps to take to achieve maximum efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence.

With instant gratification driving the way that users interact online, it is likely that we will see the popularity of chatbots continue to rise over the next five years. Convenience and instant response rates make bots an attractive option, especially as businesses look to better serve a younger demographic of consumers who have grown up on the internet and who are accustomed to having information quickly accessible at their fingertips. Whether you’re a chatbot user, build your own chatbots, or simply enjoy learning more about them, you’re part of an exciting wave of the future of technology driven by convenience.

This is a guest article by John Van Duyn.

Sometimes best practices for nonprofit websites seem obvious, but let’s begin with a story that illustrates how fundamental these features are for success.

For years a neighborhood association asked members to join and renew at its 4th of July parade. But not everyone attended the parade or reached the membership table. The association had a PayPal button for dues payments on their website, but no one was automatically reminded to renew. As the parade outreach effort faltered, the organization resorted to inconsistent, volunteer-led member retention efforts.

After setting up membership software with automatic recurring credit card payments, the association quickly doubled its renewal rate. They were also shocked to see that many members also opted to add on significant additional recurring donation amounts beyond their dues payment. Making this one change possibly saved the association from extinction.

Recurring donations or memberships

Nonprofits with paper membership processes or PayPal donate buttons are losing significant revenue. Certainly setting up membership management software requires time and resources. But proceeds from auto-recurring payments and one-time renewal payments spurred by automatic reminders should more than compensate. Be sure to set up multiple past due/failed payment reminders in your system to accommodate today’s distracted members.

Email list signup

The people most likely to become donors and members are those already on your prospect email list. Set up an account with MailChimp or another email marketing platform. MailChimp is free for up to 2000 subscribers as long as you send less than 12,000 emails per month. Add an email signup widget to your website.

Automated blog post emails or an e-newsletter

Nonprofits that are volunteer-run or short-staffed find it hard to draft a regular e-newsletter. But how else will members know what you are doing for them? In some cases, writing blog posts that are automatically sent to your email list is better than an e-newsletter because:

• A post doesn’t need to be designed in an email marketing platform.
  Information reaches your subscribers sooner.
• If your recipients are just as likely to open one email from you as another, why put so much effort into an e-newsletter?
• Headlines from your blog posts (which should be your email subject line) are more click-worthy than a subject line like, “Our Monthly Newsletter.”

But be careful not to send communications too often or you risk unsubscribes. Check your unsubscribe rate after each mass email.

Pictures and good design

Like the adage says, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” Your current and prospective donors and members want to see themselves as part of an energetic organization. Pictures are the best way to tell that story. You have around seven seconds to prove to visitors that your site is worth exploring. Consider running a usability test to be sure you are doing a good job.

Members only content or benefits

Members join because they want to belong, but benefits play a role. Your welcome and renewal emails should link to a page where you list all of your benefits. Create content such as articles or a member directory that only members can see. Offer events or tickets just for donors. Your membership software should allow you to limit access to specific pages, posts and events.

Contact information

Donors may be diverse in term of age, education and tech savviness, so offer them different ways to connect. Older donors like to reach out by phone, while younger members may want to be able to message you on Facebook. Meet members and where they are, but only if staff can fully support each method (such as regularly posting on Facebook or having set times when you are answering the phone).

Scalability for desktop, mobile and tablets

Half of visitors to nonprofit websites are using a mobile or tablet device. If people receive your emails and want to take action, be sure that they can complete the entire task on their phone without having to scroll right or zoom in to read. Google also favors mobile-friendly sites in search results.

Events calendar

Events — in person or virtual — are a core function of most nonprofits. Your membership software should support online event registration and payments. If your site is in WordPress, your system may offer widgets to promote a list of upcoming events in the site-wide sidebar or footer.

Clear call-to-action

Is it clear what action you want a first time or returning website visitor to take? If the main goal is driving membership, there should be a benefits list on the home page as well as a Join button. Ask friends to look at the home page. Can they accurately answer, “What is the primary action we are asking you to take?

Volunteer information

On average, those who volunteered in the last 12 months donate ten times more money to charities than non-volunteers. Make it easy:

• Include a volunteer link in the website navigation.
  Maintain an updated list of volunteer opportunities.
• Designate a volunteer coordinator to connect volunteers to opportunities and stay connected to this key group.
• Ask members to indicate what volunteer opportunities interest them.

Have other ideas? Let us know in the comments.

This is a guest post by Amy Hufford, a Technologist at MembershipWorks.

In most colleges, Wi-Fi connections are always public and you need to use them to complete your college papers online without anyone accessing them. Most systems are integrated with VPN to ensure secure connections between computers and allow access from home. It connects a smartphone, PC, or tablet with a server on the internet, and the server allows you to browse using its internet. So if the server is located in a different country, your browsing activity is registered as coming from the resident country of the VPN and it will help you access information that was initially restricted in your country.

How it works

A VPN can be available from your workplace or you can create one for yourself or host one. Acquiring it is not complicated because you just need to sign up with any of the many sites readily offering the service, and to research on which VPN best works for you then settle on one. Download it and start using it.

When your device or computer is connected to a VPN they act to be on the same network with the VPN. This way you can be sure that all your network traffic is secure. This means you can access local network resources from the original location of the VPN. This is beneficial since you access geographically restricted sites and when you are on public Wi-Fi you can connect without much concern since you are secure. For example, depending on which country you’re located in, if you want to access Netflix you might need to acquire a VPN based in the USA and you will easily access Netflix as your connection will be from within the USA.

Why you should use it whenever you go online

It improves your connection’s security

We sometimes see it in movies and series that people can hack into the system and watch your every move online. That’s just acting, but in the real sense, it happens. It is easy for rogue attackers to access your connection and monitor all that you do online. Though public Wi-Fi networks are more susceptible to such attacks, it does not mean you are safe on other connections either. If you are looking for a reliable and fast Wi-Fi network, some connections can cause you more damage than good. Instead of risking everything you have it is better to add a VPN to your connection to be safe. The encryption used keeps you safe from snooping eyes when online. It hides your emails, online transactions and browsing history from attackers.

It bypasses restrictions by defeating censorship

Most networks have terms & conditions that you need to agree to before you can use them and in this case what you can access over the networks is limited. Some countries also censor information that can be accessed online on their websites. When choosing a VPN, consider the country you are choosing and any restrictions they might have set. Some countries have started clamping down VPNs to maintain censorship within their countries. Using VPN allows you to access restricted sites from different locations, but if you realize problems with the connection you can change to another in a different location.

It stops tracking

It is not a wonder that Google or Facebook track your activities online bringing friend suggestions and advertisements that suit you. These profiles are easily sold to advertisers. VPN encrypts data that you send across and scrambles it making it impossible for the message to be intercepted by a third party. The website you are on cannot track you down and your browsing history and search terms are hidden. If you are logged onto your Facebook and Google accounts you might be at risk of them storing your movements, so minimize this by using anonymous search engines.

It keeps you away from surveillance

It seems it is not only the social networks that are interested in knowing what you are up to but even the government wants to know about it. Some leaked reports show that some governments are prying on their citizens wanting to know what they are doing, the messages they send online and even phone calls they make. VPN is very handy in such instances because it turns all your data to nonsense by decrypting it. However, if the government asks for the encrypted messages, be sure that your VPN provider will supply that information to them.

VPN is an easy way to improve your online security when accessing different sites such as ewritingservice.com. However, you need to be careful of free VPNs – some are out to make a profit without proper provision of service required. Some providers also fake locations so intensive research is needed before you commit to any particular one. A good VPN is simple with great speed and good functionality.  

This is a guest post by Alice Yoon.

Consumers who feel passionate about going green seek out companies with a focus on sustainability. In a recent study, researchers found that across every category, sales for sustainable products grew by at least double over non-sustainable counterparts. Even though your upfront costs for going green might be a bit higher, the long-term savings and profitability of committing to sustainability will balance out that investment.

If you’ve been thinking about making your business more eco-friendly but aren’t sure where to start, consider these seven key ways to make both an online and offline business greener.

1. Get an energy audit

Brick-and-mortar stores should begin with an energy audit. Your local power company may offer one for free, or you can hire an independent consultant. You don’t have to go completely solar to take advantage of energy savings such as programmable thermostats and insulated window coverings. Look for ways to reduce the overall energy your company uses in day-to-day operations.

Think about small changes, such as adding motion sensor lights in bathrooms or opening windows for fresh air rather than turning on the air conditioning on days with mild weather.

2. Seek out green website hosting

When it comes to sustainability, not all web hosting companies are equal. Perhaps the majority of your business is an online model, and you aren’t sure how you could save on energy usage. Fortunately, you can commit to the environment by seeking out companies with green practices. Green hosting companies advertise themselves as such but dig into what methods make their company green before choosing a company.

Look for a server that follows green practices in every possible area of their operations. You can do your part toward encouraging bigger companies, such as large hosting companies, to develop green practices by taking your business to a group with the same commitment you have.

3. Choose green promotional products

Do you regularly set up booths and attend trade shows to get the word out about your product or service? If you’re touting yourself as a green-friendly company, make sure everything about your booth is eco-friendly too. Hand out promotional items created from entirely recycled materials, for example.

Pass out items that encourage others to love the earth, such as a reusable tote bag or seed packets with your company design on the package. Look for recycled promotional items as well as products that encourage people to consider the environment.

4. Avoid sending and opening spam

Online, reduce your carbon footprint by limiting the time you spend surfing mindlessly. Don’t send or open unwanted emails. Every year, around 62 trillion spam emails use as much energy as 1.6 million cars. Every second you spend online uses up power.

In addition to not sending or opening spam, encourage employees to limit their time online, and train them to work more efficiently.

5. Create a four-day workweek

If you want to make a more significant commitment to living green, create a shorter workweek for you and your employees. If you teach employees to work more efficiently, you’ll find that the same amount of work gets done in less time. If no one is in the building for a full day, you can lower heating and cooling costs and turn off all the lights to reduce your brand’s carbon footprint.

6. Reduce paper use

Reduce paper use in your company. Replace any disposable cups or plates in your break areas with personalized coffee mugs and washable plates and forks. The average worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper each year, but about 45 percent of it ends up in the trash the same day it’s printed. Go digital wherever possible, and train workers to consider if they need to print a document or can view it on their screens.

7. Drive less

Most working Americans spend 17,600 minutes driving every year. What if you could encourage employees to reduce all those carbon emissions? Some employers offer an incentive to employees who take public transportation, such as paying part of the cost of a transit pass.

Another idea is offering carpool-matching and giving employees an incentive for carpooling, such as a start time that’s 30 minutes later or letting them leave a little early at the end of a workday. If you used the four-day workweek idea above, that’s also another day employees aren’t commuting to the office. Consider adding additional days by allowing people to work at least part of the time remotely.

Advantages to a green office

Reducing your company’s carbon footprint comes with many advantages. You’ll preserve precious resources for future generations and also attract customers who care as much about the environment as you do. Small changes create a significant eco-friendly impact — try some out and see for yourself!

This is a guest post by Lexie Lu. Lexie is a web designer and UX strategist. She writes for Marketo, Creative Bloq, Manta, Website Magazine and Cats Who Code. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

To make matters worse, WordPress sites are some of the most vulnerable on the internet. Since WordPress powers a whopping 75 million active websites (over ¼ of the internet), its one of the most lucrative platforms for hackers to target. Once they know the WordPress security flaws and exploits, they have a huge pool of websites to choose from. On top of that, WordPress sites are often easier to hack than other platforms. So many WordPress users have weak passwords, unsecured and outdated themes or plugins, and cheap, vulnerable hosting.

Thankfully, hacking doesn’t always have to spell failure for your website, business, and livelihood. In many cases, you can recover and fix the hacked site. Not sure how? Take a look at our handy guide.

Before you start

Before we take a look at how to get a hacked WordPress site back to safety, it’s important to note that prevention is always better than a cute. Even if you manage to get your site back, being hacked can ruin your reputation, expose your site’s users to malware and fraud, lead to Google penalties that ruin your SEO, and so much more. So, it’s important that you take steps to protect yourself from future hacks.

Some of our top tips include:

• Using a VPN when doing admin work. There are so many great VPN services out there that can hide your IP address, encrypt your traffic, and make it very, very difficult for hackers to gain access to your computer while you’re working on your site.
• Set up monitoring software on your website to block attacks before they get through and cause damage. Cloudflare and Sucuri are two of our favorites.
• Limit login attempts (we recommend 3 to 10 attempts maximum) with a plugin like Login LockDown to ensure hackers can’t run a password script on your site to break in.

How to recover your hacked site

Step 1: Figure out the details

Your first step is to try to identify how the hack is affecting your site. This will be a huge help when it comes to the next step. Go through your website and note down any relevant information about how it has been affected. Try to answer some of the following questions:

• Does Google flag your site as potentially dangerous when you try to access it?
• Can you still login to the dashboard?
• Is your website (or any of the links on it) redirecting elsewhere?
• Is there anything on your website (such as new links or pop-up ads) that you didn’t put there?

Step 2: Contact your web host

If you’ve signed up to a reputable hosting company with great customer service reviews, it is likely that they’ll be able to help you fix your website. Contact them via phone or live chat and let them know all the details you wrote down. In many cases, they can use this information to find the source of the hack and tell you how to fix your files. If you’re lucky, they may even be able to fix the website for you.

For many website owners, the process ends here. However, if your website host is no help, read on to find out how to DIY the process.

Step 3: Scan your site

If your host couldn’t provide you with a list of infected files, you’ll need to run a full scan on your site using a security scan software like WPScan, Sucuri, or WP SCANS.

First, update everything on your site to the latest version including the theme, plugins, and WordPress itself. Next, follow the instructions your scan plugin provides and ask it to run a full, deep scan of your entire website. This should provide you with a list of all the files that have been infected or compromised.

Step 4: Restore a backup or replace the files

Once you know which files are infected, its simply a matter of getting rid of them. The ideal way to do this is to restore a backup of your site. The best practice is to back up your WordPress website daily just in case a problem like this occurs.

However, if you don’t have a backup, you can replace the infected files yourself. Just pull up the clean copies of your theme, plugins, and core WordPress files, then upload the relevant ones to their respective folders on your hosting platform. Its generally easier to replace whole plugins or themes, but note that you may lose your settings and preferences if you do so.

Step 5: Be wary of the culprits

When looking at the list of infected files on your site, try to pinpoint which components were affected by the hack. If your theme or plugins let a hacker in once, they could do it again. That’s why you should double check all the infected site components to make sure they’re reputable and up-to-date. In some cases, it’s best to remove those vulnerable components entirely and look for alternative solutions.

Conclusion

If you follow the steps above, in many cases you can recover your site and restore it to full, secure functionality. Of course, if you’re finding the process difficult or you’re worried about breaking your site, you can always hire a professional to clean things up and ensure all traces of the hack are removed.

Whatever route you choose, when you have your site back online, remember to change all your passwords and follow our aforementioned prevention practices to avoid a repeat hack.

This is a guest article by Alex Mitchell.

The modern ways of working include technology and the internet and has made the work of designers and developers less complicated. With new tools coming up, a unique and interesting design is becoming the need of today. Remember, being a good designer is not just about having creative ideas and execution but also having the right equipment and tools. If a designer uses a handful of tools, it will provide a solid foundation for communicating the ideas and simplifying the work. So, in the journey to move from a good designer to a great one, all you have to do is have a set of tools with you.

Below you will find Wix which I personally admire and use, it has great logo design platforms that will save you tons of time and money, paid and free website themes and much more. These 39 solutions were handpicked out of thousands, be prepared to find the best tools and services on the market in 2019.

1. Wix.com

WIX is the most powerful and respected tool that will help you build a professional website for yourself or your clients. Whether you’re a designer, developer, marketer, or digital agency, you’ll get all the resources you need: tutorials, training programs, webinars, a professional forum, the Wix Experts Blog and more.

It’s trusted by over 140 million users and thousands of digital agencies worldwide. With Wix, you have total freedom to design any kind of website. The platform is simple enough to produce on a mass scale, but also complex enough to fine-tune exactly what each of your clients is looking for.

Wix is loaded with a brilliant drag-and-drop builder, with over 500 gorgeous designed templates, over 200 apps designed to help you grow your business online, a powerful logo maker and much more. It is a complete solution that will guide you from start to finish with a friendly interface. Try WIX now, it’s not only the best website builder on the market, but it is also an experience. Their team have done a fantastic job.

2. EverSign – free, legally binding online
signatures

Eversign is the best electronic signature system on the market that enables you to sign and approve digital documents from whatever devices you are using: PC, tablet, and mobile phones. In 3 simple steps and a few minutes, all the parties will receive and sign your document. In the end, the signed document will be stored in the cloud, making it secure. This is the modern way that any freelancer and small to large companies should use. eSignatures made by Eversign meet all the strict security and authentication requirements defined in the United States and Europe. Your documents will be legally binding and enforceable in the court of law.

Eversign is packed with lots of useful and powerful features. Executing contracts on behalf of more than one businesses? You’re in the right place — using Eversign you will be able to manage multiple businesses, each with their own team members, contacts, and documents.

Enable customers, employees, partners, or contractors to sign documents (e.g. non-disclosure agreements or waivers) directly on your PC, tablet, or mobile device. Keep track of every past and present transaction storing a complete and detailed audit trail. Your audit trail will be secure and comprehensible, containing names, email & IP addresses and timestamps. Start using Eversign for free and upgrade the plan whenever you need it.

3. Tailor Brands – logos, colors, and other design tools

Tech has officially come to brand design, and not a moment too soon. The Tailor Brands branding package is enough to take any small or midsize business through the branding process from start to finish – and it relies on AI to do so!

It starts with a logo maker, which takes information about your business and design preferences into account as it designs a unique logo for you. You can tweak your logo to your heart’s content with the platform’s logo editor, after which you’ll have the access to a brand book detailing the guidelines of your specific brand, based around your logo style and colors.

Aside of being able to create business cards and presentations that are branded with your logo, you can use Tailor’s Master Design Tool to create and edit top-notch designs for any purpose. With Tailor’s platform, branding design technology is all you need to turn your business into an entire brand.

4. Total WordPress theme

Building a website doesn’t have to be hard. With the Total WordPress theme you can build and design your own WordPress powered website. Total includes a built-in portfolio to showcase your work, a staff post type to add your team members, a dedicated section to add customer testimonials as well as a powerful blog (with tons of style options) to add content to your site. Plus Total comes with the WPBakery Page Builder and two premium sliders that you can use to build custom pages. Just drag and drop page elements to design your perfect layout.

5. Landingi – landing page builder

Landingi is the most powerful and easy solution to build highly converting landing pages without having any programming skills or previous experience. This web tool is loaded with over 200 gorgeous landing page templates, an excellent drag-and-drop builder and a friendly interface. Start converting better with Landingi.

6. DarwinPricing

Darwin Pricing is the expert partner that you want to help you with dynamic pricing software development. They are working with over 700 customers, from small companies to huge corporations like Otto Group which is having an annual turnover of over $13bn. They helped Otto to increase their sales volume with over 50%, check the case study to see what they did for this company and how they can help you.

7. Codester

Codester is a huge marketplace for web designers and developers where they can buy thousands of high-quality PHP scripts, website themes, graphics, codes and much more. Always check the Flash sale section where hugely discounted items are being sold.

8. NameQL

Whenever you are out of ideas and you want to launch a new product, a company or you are just looking for a new website domain, try Name QL. After you write the base name you are looking for, the web tool will show you lots of variations. It works very well and it’s lightning fast.

9. Dr. link checker

Bad links and even worse, malicious links can harm your business extremely bad. Part of the people that find these links are never returning on these websites.

Manually searching for them can be a very demanding task, especially for the large websites which are having hundreds of links. Dr. Link Checker can do the scan for you and you will find out in a couple of minutes which links need to be fixed.

10. Rank Math SEO

Rank Math SEO is an extremely easy to use WordPress SEO plugin that load super-fast, it has built-in content analysis for writing SEO friendly content and it is easy to configure. Let the best plugin handle your SEO and watch your organic traffic grow.

11. Online quiz maker

Creating beautiful polls, quizzes and surveys to which people respond and share is super simple with Opinion Stage. This online quiz maker is loaded with hundreds of great templates and everything can be fully customized to fit your needs.

12. WP Hacks

WP Hacks is a WordPress resource website which is focused on providing excellent tutorials, themes, plugins and deals. Everything is being handpicked, be prepared to find only high-quality stuff. Browse the website and pick what you need.

13. MeridianThemes

Meridian Themes is a powerful, well-reputed WordPress theme developer which is building high-quality templates. All of them are loaded with the latest technologies and powerful features that usually are found on the most expensive themes on the market. Browse their collection and pick what you like for your projects.

14. WP Review

Do you want to build a review website and you don’t know how because you have 0 programming skills? WP Review is the best WordPress review plugin on the market that supports Facebook and Yelp reviews, it is integrated with WooCommerce, it supports multiple types of designs and much more. It is free to use, download it now.

15. Grace – Creative multipurpose
Bootstrap template

Grace is a stunning HTML template which has a pixel-perfect design and will make your website stand out of the crowd. Choose between fixed or side navigation, between a single page and a multi-page layout and many other customizations can be made to be a perfect fit for your projects. It is based on the powerful Bootstrap framework, so it will look awesome on any device your readers are using.

16. Landing – Free onepage bootstrap 4 template

Looking to build highly converting landing pages but you don’t have any programming skills and you are low on budget? Landing is a free Bootstrap 4 website template that you can use to build any type of landing pages. It features a smooth scroll, slick slider, slant sections, table pricing, smooth accordion for frequently ask questions, and many more. It is built with the latest technology such as HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and Sass. Download and share!

17. Photorealistic iPhone Xs PSD mockup for free

This is a photorealistic iPhone X PSD mockup that you can download for free. It is easily customizable in Adobe Photoshop. Just download the mockup. Then open the PSD file in Photoshop. There you can simply drag and drop your creative artwork and replace the current design. The mockup has a smart layer. Thus editing the mockup is really easy. So, what are you waiting for? If you find this mockup useful, download it today.
Make your presentation eye-catchy and professional with this iPhone mockup and impress your clients and customers.

18. NextGen Gallery

Displaying stunning galleries is super simple with NextGen Gallery, the most used and appreciated WordPress plugin on the market. It is used by over 1 million happy customers and numbers quickly increase every day. If you want to make it even more powerful, use the PRO extensions.

19. The WordPress photography theme

Niche themes are my favorite as they are much better than general themes. Photocrati made the best WordPress photography themes on the market. Their themes are much better than everything else because they worked together with real photographers to have better understanding of the specific needs that these freelancers have.

For $99 you will get the theme and the powerful NextGen Gallery plugin.

20. Tesla Themes

Tesla Themes is a powerful WordPress developer which is building premium, pixel-perfect themes that are lightning fast, SEO friendly, easy to customize and fully responsive. Whenever you need, the friendly and premium support will answer your questions.

21. WordPress event themes

If you decide to launch a powerful event website, these are the best WordPress themes on the market, dedicated for this specific niche. Over 6,000 people are using with great success these themes. Build a powerful event website.

22. uKit

With uKit website builder you won’t need to hire a developer or an entire web studio to create a website. You can do it on your own even without any coding skills at all. Intuitive drag-and-drop interface, comprehensive business tools, robust SEO, social media solutions, impressive design templates to choose from and more. Get yourself a great website today!

23. uLanding

Create your unique online identity in minutes with uLanding website builder. Start by choosing a template (there’s a good collection of modern, designer made layouts), customize your website’s look and feel, add content and social media pages, connect a custom domain, tweak SEO and you’re all set to go live. No coding skills required. Try it today for free, it’s easy!

24. uSocial

Want to give your site a dose of marketing buzz? There’s no better way to do this than to provide your site visitors with means to share your content. And uSocial is a great tool for these needs. It empowers you to construct your perfect set with social networks buttons and insert it into your site without any knowledge of coding.

25. Logaster

Do you want a gorgeous logo and you want to keep the spending at its minimum? Logaster will you with a beautiful logo design and brand identity in a couple of minutes. The results are remarkable and the logo generator is fast and enjoyable to use.

26. Content Snare

Content Snare is a software product that helps web designers get content out of their clients automatically. Instead of constantly chasing clients only to get everything back in loads of attachments across multiple emails, Content Snare provides a central place for content. It does all the chasing for you and lets you know only when everything is ready to go.

The company is also dedicated to helping digital agencies grow through the accompanying podcast, Agency Highway.

27. Work Examiner

Work Examiner is a powerful internet monitoring software that you can use to increase productivity in your
company, prevent data theft and much more. It is loaded with tons of powerful features and options, being an all-in-one solution. Try it for free for 30 days.

28. MailMunch – Create beautiful landing pages
in minutes

MailMunch is the best landing page and squeeze page builder in the market, which you can use to increase your conversions on your website or through emails. Creating high-converting landing pages takes only a few minutes and there is no need to have any coding skills or previous experience, anyone can increase conversions up to 400%.

29. Invoice Berry

Invoice Berry is a powerful invoicing platform that is covering perfectly the needs of small and medium companies. Creating and sending a fully customized invoices takes less than 60 seconds. The platform works excellent also for tracking expenses, managing clients, creating detailed reports and much more.

30. Freelance contracts

Bonsai Contracts is a suite of tools dedicated to freelancers. Using it you can make, sign and store contracts and online documents, including invoices with much ease and in a professional way. Try Bonsai now and love it forever.

31. SuperbWebsiteBuilders.com

SuperbWebsiteBuilders.com is a blog, which has won user attention as a trusted source of information about website builders and hosting providers. The website contains reviews, comparisons and ratings of the best hostings and website builders as well as articles on how to get the most out of the web design process. The posts are written by Howard Steele – the founder of the blog, who personally analyzes and compares the systems.

32. Xfive – Developers who care

Xfive is a powerful web development team with over 10 years’ experience on the market that can help you in 2 ways. You can rent their team and used it as an extension of yours, helping you to cover busy periods or to get additional projects. They are extremely well prepared and friendly. They are developers who care.

You can hire them to make your projects done, discuss with them the details of your next project.

33. actiTIME – Time tracking & ccope
management

Keep track of your employees in the field with actiTIME timesheet app which makes it easy to track time away from a computer. actiTIME helps to keep a record of all billable hours, manage project scope and improve productivity. The mobile app syncs seamlessly with the web version of actiTIME that has a powerful reporting tool.

34. uCalc

Searching for an easy way to create a calculator or form for your website? Welcome, uCalc! It’s a fresh, yet robust solution on the market that lets create calculators, embed them to sites so that your clients can see cost estimations, receive quotes to their email or smartphones as a text message and pay for their orders. No coding skills are needed! Don’t wait, try now — it’s free!

35. What Font Is – The best font finder

What Font Is will help you identify in minutes the font you love from a picture or a given URL. This web tool is loaded with over 450k fonts (premium and free) and a powerful AI finder that will help you identify the font you are looking for. For every uploaded picture, you will get 60 similar fonts.

You looking for a specific font? Try www.whatfontis.com to get the answer.

36. Wokiee – Multipurpose shopify theme

Wokiee is a powerful shopify theme that is loaded with lots of prebuilt layouts and designs. It is much more than a simple theme, it is a powerful design tool that will help you build the best shopify store on the market, while spending only a few bucks and having 0 programming skills.

37. Pixpa – Online portfolio builder

Pixpa is an all-in-one solution to build remarkable online portfolios for websites, stores, blogs or for your client galleries. All you need is in on place. Use the powerful drag-and-drop builder, the gorgeous included themes and the friendly interface to create awesome portfolios, without having any coding skills or previous experience.

38. Instant logo design

Instant Logo Design is a powerful logo generator that will help you with a gorgeous design in a couple of minutes. You simply start by writing down the logo name, you add a slogan and symbol if needed, and you browse the designs the platform has generated. If you like something, you pay, if not, no.

39. Gravitas

Details | Demo

If you want to create an extraordinary online-project, you will be definitely happy to do it without any
particular efforts. Gravitas is a new MotoCMS 3 flagship that will provide you with advanced flexibility and opportunity to get your website ready in a flash. Together with its fantastic options, you can invent something interesting and unusual. You can easily edit fonts styles, colors, and sizes with an easy-to-use admin panel just in a few clicks. Collect contacts of your visitors by means of the newsletter subscription form and make them become more interested in your services.

40. TMS Outsource

Looking for a reliable development partner that it can help you with PHP, Symfony, Laravel, WordPress, AngularJS, Node.js, React, Vue, Slim, Silex? TMS is an expert into these fields since 2014, having a great team of professionals that can act as an extension of your existing team or to back up your business. They keep learning everything that is new, being very well connected with the markets and the trends. Discuss with TMS.

This is a guest article by Alex

You can acquire the certificate by doing the CEH exam. Before doing the exam though, it is advisable to go through the necessary training. The following are some tips for CEH exam success.

1. Have a study Plan

The first thing you need to do is to plan on when and how to study. It is important to have a plan in place in order to be on schedule with your topic coverage. According to a SUNY study, studying in 20-50 minutes intervals is more beneficial than cramming. Just like with any other kind of exam, you will need to cover sufficient ground before you actually sit for the exam. It is possible that you also have other obligations on a daily basis. Allocating your time to study will thus be important if you want to achieve all your goals without sacrificing particular aspects of your normal life.

2. Identify the important topics

The second thing you need to do is to identify the topics that you want to cover. There are many topics that fall under the CEH branch. In the broad sense, you will study about network security as well as threats. Under these broad areas, you will also study security controls, types of threats, social engineering and so much more. You need to identify all the topics that you need to study and also break them down into different sections. Doing this will make allow you to cover work quicker.

3. Study with real-life scenarios

In order to succeed in your exams, you need to know how the core subjects are applicable in the real world. While the biggest part of the study involves reading information on books, you need to actually try some of the things you study in order to gain the full perspective of the topic. You should not try everything though. Some issues like trying VPN for torrenting are fairly safe and legal to try but most issues that relate to hacking are not permitted without permission.

4. Commit to the exam early

Just like with most other certifications, getting the CEH exam involves a lot of planning on the side of the examiners. The processes that go into the preparation can be time-consuming and you need to submit to the exam early. You should make the necessary payments early and also check your eligibility on time. Depending on whether you took the official training, there might be some requirements that are different from the exam council. You need to submit early so that you can be informed about these requirements and fulfill them on time.

5. Practice

Another important issue that you should consider doing is practicing for the exam with past exam preparation resources. You can find many CEH handbooks and exam blueprints which not only give you a quick structure of the exam but they also allow you to understand how the exam is presented. Such resources can also help you understand the kind of topics that are frequently covered in the exam. You will also learn about the specific percentages of questions dedicated to each topic. After practicing with such resources, you will find yourself better prepared for the exam.

6. Familiarize yourself with the exam

Apart from looking for practice resources, you can also acquire the information that is often submitted to students by the exam council. Such information is available via the official CEH council website. The resources provided directly by the council are much more specific and they generally cover the question structure, topics, and official training providers. The prerequisites of the exam will also be detailed in the official information and details about the allotted time for the exam will be shared.

7. Join a community

Finally, it is important to connect with fellow students. There are many vibrant online communities where you can link up with candidates, professionals and general members share information about their experiences. By sharing information with others, you can be able to learn about actual approaches that have been used to attain success. Also, the camaraderie that you acquire from fellow candidates will give you confidence as you go into the exam.

This is a guest article by Jamie Cambell.

To make your website function online, WordPress must be installed on the server which hosts your site. This is what has sometimes already been taken care of by your web hosting provider, and the installation process is extremely simple and fast. Once installed, you can log into the WordPress platform to add the theme you want along with text, photos, videos, and any other content. The beautiful part of the WordPress website creation process is that you have a wealth of “templates” you can choose from, and which you can change to your liking and according to your needs – with only one click. You can also add all kinds of plugins, known also as extensions, depending on what you need.

WordPress: the best platform for your new website

Let’s take things a step by step. After you’ve gotten to know how the WordPress platform is structured, you can learn what you need to do to actually create a website. The first thing is to register a domain. A website that you’ve created goes by the name you choose, but it also must be available. Each domain on the Internet is unique and checking its availability is very easy to do and is done through the hosting provider.

When you are choosing your domain, you need to keep a few things in mind:

• Be brief
• Be unique
• Be creative
• Choose something which is easy to write
• Include keywords – the closer your domain name is to the niche you represent, the easier it will be found in Google searches
• Registering a domain also involves choosing an extension. The most popular of them are .com, .org, and .net.

Then to run online, the site needs space on a server. This server is like a hard drive meant to store all the information on your site (text, pictures, videos, etc.) The web hosting provider virtually leases space on their servers and takes care to have the best conditions to operate on the Internet. When it comes to a writer’s WordPress website, the best and the most accessible hosting option is shared hosting.

Now, let’s talk about the fun part!

So, after choosing domain and hosting, here we are at the most important point: creating a website. These days, you do not even need programming or web design skills to create a website – just WordPress. A piece of cake. We all know how it works: the harder the task, the more you postpone doing it. Like most students do when they’re thinking “Hey, it’s time to do my dissertation for me!” So, after you’ve finished the whole process of analyzing how you can build a site and how you can earn money from it, just install WordPress and get to playing with different themes, fonts, and colors.

Because you are taking the first steps in the world of this platform, the most appropriate path for you is the semi-automatic installation option. This is done through cPanel – the interface that manages the hosting account. Here are the steps (which will take less than 1 minute):

• Write the name of your new site in the browser and add the “/cpanel” sequence in the end. It will look something like this: www.sitename.com/cpanel;
• Enter the username and password to log into your account;
• Click on the WordPress Installer icon (in the area called Softaculous Apps Installer);
• Choose where you want to install the site
• Configure the username, password etc.;
• Click “install”

Pros and cons of having a WordPress website for a writer

Let’s start with the pros of using WordPress.

• It is easy to use
• You don’t need to be a programmer – just determined to create your own virtual space
• Low costs
• Free themes
• You can customize almost everything
• You can create own theme that is suitable for your niche (online assignment help or blogging, for instance)
• You can upload/edit/delete any content easily

If you want to see what the downsides of WordPress are, then you should know that:

• If you don’t really know how to use a PC or you are completely new to using the admin interfaces, it will be a little hard to become familiar with it from scratch
• When you need to edit some templates or to create one by yourself, you need to know the how-to
• When you want to move a logo by a few pixels, for instance, you can face some problems. In WordPress, you cannot do this without programming knowledge

It’s never too late to get writing!

Whether writing is your hidden passion or you just do it as your second nature, don’t keep it for yourself! Share your perspective with others and connect through words with millions of people.

This is a guest article by Alyssa Johnson. Alyssa wanted to share her experience, and she wanted to do it herself. That was the moment when she decided to create a website, to write and to share with the others how the world looks like through her eyes. Not to mention that she has been doing that for almost 20 years, and will continue sharing tips & tricks for writers.

What are CSS transitions?

Introduced a few years ago with the CSS3 specification, the transition property allows front-end developers to smoothly change property values over a given time.

If you need a website designed with the latest technologies, including CSS3 transitions, feel free to visit 7ninjas.

As of 2019, transitions are well supported by modern browsers. Older browsers might still support this functionality, if you use vendor prefixes like -webkit-, -moz-, or -o-. Please refer to Can I use for more info on browser compatibility.

If you need more information on CSS transitions, W3 Schools have a concise article that will teach you what you need to know in order to get started.

Smooth background color change

A simple, but common effect in many modern websites, is to have a smooth background color change on hover. Let’s start with this dead simple piece of HTML:

<div class="color">Change Color</div>

And now time for the CSS magic. Notice the transition property on line 12, which animate our <div> on hover.

div.color {
    margin: 121px 149px;
    width: 483px;
    height: 298px;
    background: #676470;
    color: #fff;
    font-family: Lato;
    font-weight: 900;
    font-size: 3.4em;
    text-align: center;
    line-height: 298px;
    transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

div.color:hover {
    background: #53a7ea;
}

Source: Web Designer Depot

Sophisticated background transition

A more sophisticated example, demonstrating how easy it is to animate a background with CSS3. Here is the HTML:

<div class="container">
    <div class="circle one"></div>
    <div class="circle two"></div>
    <div class="circle three"></div>
    <div class="circle four"></div>
</div>

And the corresponding CSS code, where you can spot the use of transition as well as transform, for more sophisticated animations.

.circle {
	border-radius: 50%;
	left: calc(50% - 6.25em);
	top: calc(50% - 12.5em);
	transform-origin: 50% 12.5em;
	width: 12.5em;
	height: 12.5em;
	position: absolute;
	box-shadow: 0 1em 2em rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
}

.one,
.three {
	background: rgba(142, 92, 205, .75);
	transition: background 1s ease-in;
}

.two,
.four {
	background: rgba(236, 252, 100, .75);
}


.one {
	transform: rotateZ(0);
}

.two {
	transform: rotateZ(90deg);
}

.three {
	transform: rotateZ(180deg);
}

.four {
	transform: rotateZ(-90deg);
}

.circle:hover {
  background: rgba(142, 92, 205, .25);
}

Source: Flavio Copes

CSS gradient border & rounded corner buttons

Here is an advanced, super good looking button, made entirely of CSS3. The HTML is very simple:

<a class="btn" href="#">
  <span>A button!</span>
</a>

The CSS code is a bit more complex, and demonstrate the full power of CSS3:

body {
  background: #e7e8e9;
  padding: 40px;
}

.btn {
	background-image: linear-gradient(to right, #006175 0%, #00a950 100%);
	border-radius: 40px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
	color: #00a84f;
	display: block;
	font: 1.125rem 'Oswald', Arial, sans-serif; /*18*/
	height: 80px;
	letter-spacing: 1px;
	margin: 0 auto;
	padding: 4px;
	position: relative;
  text-decoration: none;
	text-transform: uppercase;
	width: 264px;
	z-index: 2;
}

.btn:hover {
	color: #fff;
}

.btn span {
	align-items: center;
	background: #e7e8e9;
	border-radius: 40px;
	display: flex;
	justify-content: center;
	height: 100%;
	transition: background .5s ease;
	width: 100%;
}

.btn:hover span {
	background: transparent;
}

Source: Amber Weinberg

Different transitions for hover on / hover off

Transitions can be different for both hover on and hover off states, as demonstrated with the following HTML…

<a id="button" href="#">Buy Now!</a>

…And CSS:

#thing {
   padding: 10px;
   border-radius: 5px;

  /* HOVER OFF */
   -webkit-transition: padding 2s;
}

#thing:hover {
   padding: 20px;
   border-radius: 15px;

  /* HOVER ON */
   -webkit-transition: border-radius 2s;
}

Source: Chris Coyier

Hover over one element to affect another

Let’s finish this round-up with an interesting example on how we can hover one element to affect another one. Let’s start by creating two HTML containers:

<div id="box1">#box1</div>
<div id="box2">#box2</div>

Now let’s have a look at the CSS:

#box2 {
    position: absolute;
    left: 120px;
    background: blue;
    -webkit-transition: 1s ease-in-out;
    -moz-transition: 1s ease-in-out;
    -o-transition: 1s ease-in-out;
    transition: 1s ease-in-out;
}
  #box1:hover + #box2 {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(360deg);
    -moz-transform: rotate(360deg);
    -o-transform: rotate(360deg);
    -ms-transform: rotate(360deg);
    transform: rotate(360deg);
    left: calc(100% - 102px);
    background: yellow;
}

Source: The Art of Web

Upload better content

While a webmaster is responsible for most of your foundational, technical SEO, you can help improve search engine rankings regularly by sharing high-quality content. This does not necessarily mean that you have to turn out 2,000-word pieces on a weekly basis. “Content” in this context can be videos, slide presentations that guide visitors, and more. Visual content is powerful, so mix up your blog posts with content audiences can feast their eyes on.

There are a few additional things to keep in mind here. No matter what kind of content you’re sharing, make sure the headline is relevant and interesting. Also, try to have a high-quality image accompanying the headline. And above all else, do not recycle your content. Google can tell when you do, and this will not help improve your visibility.

Improve customer service

Yes, the modern digital marketer does have to keep their eye on customer service. That’s because it’s so much more than a buyer reaching out via email or chat. Customers expect that they will have multiple avenues through which to reach you, including social media.

Moreover, we have to provide customer service even when the customer is not consciously aware that they are receiving customer service. These efforts include “you may also like” personalized recommendations, as well as marketing efforts that include their name. Marketing emails, pages following sign-in, and more can be much more effective when they address your customer personally.

Hire the right team

Ultimately, all of this may not be something you should take on yourself. A Chicago digital marketing agency should keep all of your needs covered for you nicely. Whether you do hire a full-time, in-house team, or decide to outsource, there are some key roles your digital marketing team should be able to fill.

Two of the most important people would be the social media manager and the dedicated customer service manager. Both of these roles require great timing. A social media manager will be aware of the most optimal times to share content, while a customer service specialist knows that time is of the essence when it comes to responding to inquiries. Additionally, you’ll need someone to serve as an analyst to measure what your efforts yield. Finally, you must have a team member or two focused on content creation and curation.

More and more companies are paring down their advertising budgets and concentrating instead on exceptional digital marketing. It’s much more cost-effective and is a better choice when you’re serious about raising conversion rates. Share better content, personalized customer experience, and always ensure you’ve chosen a team of experts who have the most important digital marketing components covered.

This is a guest article by Sophia Williams.

Microsoft Office 365 (web, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)

Generally, you would purchase a boxed duplicate of Office for $100 or more and install it from the CD on your PC. That would give you Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, alongside additional tools like Outlook and Access.

Office 365 changed that all. From $6.99/month, you can get each Office application on all your devices. Or then again you can use the free Office Online versions of those programs from your browser or the nearly full-featured mobile applications so you can complete your cheap essay writing thirst anywhere.

Start writing a Word document on your desktop PC, make some edits on your phone, and then print it out from the program once you get to the workplace. You can collaborate in Office Online, and edit a document along with associates in Word Online or adding remarks to an Excel Online spreadsheet that your collaborators can check later.

Office applications each incorporate a larger number of features than those in most of the suites featured in this roundup, with many years of improvement behind each one. Excel includes an amazing number of functions and data analysis tools, while OneNote is a standout amongst the most innovative note applications with a paper-like design that gives you a chance to compose what you need.

If you intend to work using a PC or a tablet more often and don’t have any desire to work using your browser, Microsoft Office is still likely your best option for most office work. Its applications are some of the best ways to create documents and spreadsheets, with enough collaboration features and new applications to make them work in the modern workplace. Office 365 also incorporates 1TB of capacity in OneDrive so you can back up your documents online.

• Office 365 tools include: Word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, notes, database developer (on PCs), email, file sync
• Office 365 Excel spreadsheet functions supported: 465
• Office 365 price: Free Office Online web applications; $6.99/month Personal plan for individual use; $9.99/month Home for up to 5 PCs or Macs; from $10/month Business plan for organization use per client

Google G Suite (Web, Android, iOS)

Microsoft Office may have been the first and most often the default “office suite” in the enterprise, yet it took Google to take it beyond desktops and into the cloud. G Suite was once named Writely, a basic internet composing application from 2005, which Google obtained and transformed into the foundation of the present best Microsoft Office competitor.

G Suite’s individual applications are modern tools with all that you need to make documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

What makes G Suite incredible is the way it works for collaboration. You can share your records to anybody — even freely on the web if you like — and let them all jump in and help make a masterpiece. You can live edit with others in the meantime or leave remarks that Google will email for input later. Since it accompanies any Google account, G Suite is for all intents and purposes universally.

It’s getting smarter, as well. The new Explore tool in Google Docs and Sheets can discover bits of information from your data, making outlines from your spreadsheets and finding related documents automatically. It can even work while you sleep. Add a Google Form to your Google Sheets spreadsheet and new answers will appear in your sheet consequently, ready for whenever you sign in.

G Suite is one of the best on the web. It has versatile applications, however with fewer features than the core web applications. You can’t add recommended edits or most formatting to a document on mobile, for instance. Also, G Suite possibly works offline when you use it in Chrome. But if you mainly work from a PC and are online most of the time, G Suite is one of the best options to work on documents online with your team or any individual who has a Gmail account.

• G Suite tools include: Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, notes, email, file sync
• G Suite sheets spreadsheet functions supported: 351
• G Suite price: free for individual use; from $5/month per client Basic plan for groups

Apple iWork (web, Mac, iOS)

Need to make catchy documents, spreadsheets, and presentations? Apple iWork applications (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) are the easiest way to create them, and they’re free with Macs and iOS devices. You’ll either discover them preloaded on your new devices or in the App Store as a free download.

Each includes various formats and templates to help you instantly make the files you want in a simple interface that conceals the most part of its tools until the point when you require them. You can begin with a template, pull in your very own pictures and illustrations, and wind up with a print-quality file in minutes. Or then again, transform your file into a book, as Pages give you a chance to export any document as an ePub book that is immaculate to distribute to an eBook store.

Numbers is an amazing spreadsheet application, acting more like a document than the common matrix filled sheet you’ll discover in Excel or Google Sheets. Do the math you require, include content and graphs around it in the blank document to create a full report around your core table.

Keynote, also, is amazing for something other than your standard slideshow. Its animations are so fluid that it can be used as a tool for prototyping new applications and making short animated videos. Or on the other hand, you can use it to make your next meeting more interesting: With the new Keynote Live, you can stream your presentation online directly from the application.

iWork is best in its local applications on Mac and iOS, however, you can also use it online from iCloud.com. This is an amazing way to impart your documents to colleagues who don’t use iWork or to quickly tweak a presentation from a work PC when you forget your laptop.

• Apple iWork tools include: Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations (notes, mail, and calendar applications also included with iOS and macOS)
• Apple Numbers spreadsheet functions supported: 266
• Apple iWork price: Free for Mac and iOS; free web application with an iCloud account, which comes free with any Apple gadget

Zoho Workplace (web, Android, iOS)

Zoho offers a whole bunch of applications, yet everything began with their online word processor, Zoho Writer. New applications joined the group step by step, in the end transforming into Zoho Workplace — a full office suite on the web, with many other Zoho applications that you can add on if necessary.

Writer keeps on being the leading application in the suite, with another design that rethinks how a word processor ought to be designed. It keeps about the majority of its features hidden by default, for a distraction-free interface. Need to change something? Open the left sidebar to discover the wide array of tools sorted out in toolbars. Acquire Microsoft Office documents, and Zoho completes an amazing activity at retaining the most of the original formatting.

For anything else you have to do, there’s a Zoho application to take care of it. Its presentations and spreadsheet applications pursue a progressively conventional style, with menus and toolbars blended so you can work in the way you want. Each application includes a Zoho chatbox where you can chat with your collaborators and keep the discussion going on regardless of which Zoho application you’re using.

• Zoho Workplace tools included: Word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, email, group visit, document match up, sites (with 25+ other Zoho applications accessible)
• Zoho Sheet spreadsheet functions supported: 362
• Zoho Workplace price: Free for 25 clients with 5GB capacity; $3/month per client Standard arrangement for unlimited users and 30GB storage

This is a guest article by Xenia Infinity.