Category: Wordpress

One way of doing that is by ensuring that you have an active website. However, that alone is not enough. You need to create traffic that will increase the number of people who visit your website. But how to do this is the challenging part. Stick with me to get some basic tips on how to get constant traffic towards your website.

Reach out to bloggers with the same interest

Many bloggers may be writing articles related to products that you are selling yourself. For instance, if you are a wedding blogger and want to promote save the date templates, reach out to other bloggers who share similar interests. Getting in touch with them widens your market share and make you reach more people who may be interested in the products that you are offering. Reach out to the bloggers and ask them to write product reviews of what you sell and provide links that will lead potential clients to your website.

So how do you find these bloggers? Pretty simple, search for keywords related to the product that you’re selling, and you will see a bunch of suggestions and articles written by different bloggers. Quite often, the bloggers will provide their contact details at the end of the posts. You can simply send them an email, or even call them and provide a basic description of what you want them to write about. You’ll probably have to pay a small fee, but it is worth it.

Take advantage of the available social platforms

Social media has made the world feels like a small village where ideas or concepts can be shared with a multitude of people by one click. Use those platforms to advertise your website. Sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have advertisement options where you will pay as per the number of people that you want to reach. This move will enable you to reach many people who may find your website interesting and definitely make a few orders or even refer their friends.

Create eye-catching headlines

People mostly visit websites to find something interesting. It is therefore vital to make sure that you come up with a captivating headline that will make them want to find out more about the topic in question. Research has shown that click baits lead to enormous traffic, providing an increase in sales and engagement with potential customers.

Use content optimization technique

Search engine optimization (SEO) plays an important role in driving people towards your website. This strategy enables you to get relevant traffic that will boost your sales to extraordinary levels. Also, try to engage with web professionals that could provide you with guidelines on what to include in your SEO.

Creating traffic to your website can be challenging, but the above techniques can lead to you to great success. Try them and watch your business grow.

This is a guest article by Dhanak Fatima.

So, you could ask me about the best and cheapest hosting you can find. Therefore, today I’ll share my thoughts with you about 7 important aspects of quality web hosting. Let me tell about my experience and introduce you to Veesp.

After days of research on finding the ideal host for my project, I found out that it’s not always as easy as I used to think. First things first.

1. Requirements

Depending on your project, the server’s hardware and software requirements can be quite different. Analyze your needs carefully, and read on to have a better understanding of what your website may need.

2. Type of hosting

If you are creating a blog or a site based on WordPress, many people would actually recommend you a regular shared hosting plan or a special optimized WP hosting. There are also a lot of cloud hosting offers but many of them just are marketing tricks.

I’ve encountered a lot of scams, that’s why I always favor a simple VPS which I can easily manage from a control panel. The main difference between shared hosting and a virtual private server for me is that I’m not sharing any resources of my server with anybody and the price is often the same. Veesp has a wide range of Linux and Windows VPS, and all of them have KVM virtualization which is reliable and stable. Click here to Check out their SSD VPS.

If you are planning to make an e-commerce or a resource-demanding web project, a dedicated server is a much more favourable option.

Veesp also provides dedicated servers, but those are unmanaged servers, which means that you need to have sufficient knowledge or have an administrator in your team. Actually, sometimes it’s even cheaper to hire a specialist for the project and get an unmanaged server than buy a managed service.

And ultimately, you can create your own custom solution with the Veesp server constructor.

3. Tech support

What I liked a lot with Veesp is their support. While being a client of a big brand company can be hard to get any help when needed, Veesp support team always got back to me within one hour or less, efficiently solving issues that I had with my set up.

4. Uptime

Veesp has a very good uptime, and has in fact been rewarded with the HostAdvice Uptime Award.

5. HTTPS

Nowadays, you can get a SSL certificate right through your hosting provider which is a very good thing. Please refer to this article if you need more info about the process.

6. You can ask for a free trial and test it

You can choose any hosting provider and ask about a trial period – it should be free. Veesp has a 3-day trial. I ran a few tests to test my servers such as Apache Benchmark and JMeter and they went smoothly.

7. SLA and a money back guarantee

Finally, Veesp has a money back guarantee and they can refund your money if needed. What comes to myself, after five months of using it, I absolutely don’t regret my choice!

Good luck and Happy New Year!

This is a guest article by Vadim Eremeev.

When to use iterative design

Although iterative design can be incorporated at any phase of the software development life cycle (when the solution has been launched, but you want to seamlessly introduce new features or improvements), multifunctional teams prefer to either iterate or not — to make the whole process more productive and cost-effective.

Indeed, it’s much easier and cheaper to develop a prototype and test it than to build the whole system and fussily start making changes according to user feedback. Moreover, the tech market offers a great number of powerful tools you can make use of to enhance the prototype development.

And if you’ve come up with several variants of key features or early-stage products, iterative design can really help you to choose the right starting position and go ahead with it until invalidated or a pivot is needed.

Iterative design and agile methodology

Iterative design is closely intertwined with Agile software development. Unlike the traditional waterfall model with its stringent development stages, iterative design welcomes new information that may affect the initial requirements.

The process starts with research for user needs or with a hypothesis. Then, the team meets to compile a list of desired features or functionality, known as a product backlog. After the features have been worked through and prioritized, they are implemented within short timeboxed cycles (sprints), with each sprint typically lasting one or two weeks.

Once the first functionality has been released, the development team receives feedback from the product owners and users. This feedback is analyzed during a sprint review and serves as a cornerstone for planning the next increment. In other words, the team proceeds to backlog grooming and prioritizes features for the next sprint, which might include, for example, addressing the bottlenecks found in the customer journey.

However, when the feedback reveals evident bugs that can’t wait a week to be dealt with, the team proceeds to so-called hotfixes.

Getting started with iterative design

Iterative design presupposes the completion of three key stages.

User analysis and design thinking

Like in most software development models, iterative design starts with user analysis. Based on the gathered information, you identify the major problems and goals that will help you define the core functionality of your future product.

For example, if you’re building a live streaming platform, you’ll probably deal with the need for high quality of streaming content, cross-browser and cross-device compatibility, an advanced video player, multiple payment options, and more.

With all this information in mind, you proceed to solution ideation, akin to the third stage of the design thinking model. During this stage, you’re looking into the ways to solve the above-mentioned problems and, in agreement with your client, create customer journey maps, user scenarios, and personas.

During the ideation stage, you can implement one of these design-thinking techniques:

• Brainstorming represents an oral discussion of various ideas (even wild ones) in the group and blending them to create the optimal one.
• Brainwriting consists in writing down new ideas on a sheet of paper and passing it on to other team members for tweaking or enhancement.
• Brainwalking is very similar to brainwriting; the core difference is that it makes the participants get out of their seats and move to other spots of the brainstorming table.
• Braindumping is individual brainstorming that entails sharing the ideas in the group later on.
• SCAMPER helps you explore new ideas or review the existing ones by looking at them through seven “provocation lenses”: substitute (S), combine (C), adapt (A), modify (M), put to another use (P), eliminate (E), and reverse (R).

Design and implementation

When the initial planning and analysis are out of the way, it’s time to get down to prototype creation (if it’s a new design) or to expand the already available design.

To continue with a streaming app example, you’ll have to tackle the following challenges:

• Creating an uncluttered UI
• Optimizing the system for various browsers, platforms, and operating systems
• Introducing various subscription models and payment options
• Building a customizable video player with DVR controls, subtitle management, and multi-language support
• Implementing a holistic CDN approach so that the system could support a slew of simultaneous users.

Testing and evaluation

When the first shippable functionality is delivered, it’s time to implement a range of testing procedures to identify potential bugs and make the corresponding changes. During this stage, you also get valuable feedback by trying your product on real users.

For instance, with UI and UX testing, you’ll make sure your video streaming app matches the initial mockups and that all users, including those with disabilities, can easily navigate the app — across all resolutions and screen orientations.

Functional testing will help verify that your app behaves the way it’s supposed to. This may include validating the correctness of user data, like purchasing or personal information.

Integration testing will check how your solution interacts with third-party systems, such as payment gateways. Another testing type you’ll likely tap into is load testing aimed at determining a system’s behavior under normal conditions and peak traffic.

After all the needed testing procedures are complete, the evaluation or review phase begins, where you and your client discuss where the project is, what should be changed, etc. This is the heart of iterative design, when you’re brought back to the first stage and repeat the process.

Looking into examples and case studies

The use of Wikipedia is probably one of the most notable examples of iterative design on the web. It creates content that can be changed by any registered user. The introduced amendments are either accepted or rejected by the editors — according to Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines. The idea is to help Wikipedia evolve to become the go-to online encyclopedia.

Although the use of wikis is not a replica of the iterative design of your project where you have more control over changes, it’s a clear illustration of what the incremental process looks like.

As for more specific case studies of iterative design, the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) used rapid iterative prototyping to redesign their homepage.

The first stage consisted of re-analyzing the audience they had in the past (thanks to many-stage usability testing) and a number of qualitative surveys to understand customer reactions to the website and the whole brand. The results of this analysis helped NN/g define their major design objectives, like showing more credibility, creating great aesthetic appeal, and keeping clear pathways to primary offerings.

During the second phase of the homepage redesign, the company used Moqups to build multiple high-fidelity visual prototypes. Those mockups passed three rounds of repetitive testing and new users on both desktop and mobile devices.

With each new round, the NN/g’s team was getting relevant user feedback that was categorized into themes like architecture, layout, and visual style. Based on the received feedback, the designers were able to prioritize the features and make the corresponding tweaks on the homepage.

As a result, such an iterative approach allowed NN/g to explore interesting design options without wasting time on early coding. Moreover, the company managed to maximize user feedback and make live enhancements during usability testing.

Enjoying the benefits of iterative design

The NN/g’s case study shows that the cyclic process of designing a product bears its fruit. Iterative design allows you to vastly improve product versioning, increase its quality, as well as easily adapt to changing user and market requirements while succeeding in building truly user-centric products. This model will also help you ensure outstanding usability, leading to a steady client base growth, strong customer loyalty, and ultimately more money in the bank.

On top of that, the incremental approach to design will help secure smooth communication and collaboration between team members, active customer involvement, and better visibility for stakeholders.

Final note

Designers are increasingly opting for the iterative design model because it lets them create and test ideas faster than ever. The concepts approved by users on early stages can continue their way toward a successful market release. And those that fail to gain traction can be rapidly abandoned, minimizing the cost of the project. As a result, by putting user experience at the crux, iterative design helps you magnify chances for the overall success of your solution.

This is a guest post by Yana Yelina. Yana is a technology writer at Oxagile, a custom software development company based in New York. Yana’s articles have been featured on Creative Bloq, UXMatters, UX Planet, and more. Yana is passionate about the untapped potential of technology and explores perks it can bring businesses of every kind. You can reach the author at [email protected] or on Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium.

Some industries naturally have higher bounce rates than others. Knowing your industry’s benchmark bounce rate shows how you stack up. The ultimate goal you set for your bounce rate must factor in time spent on page and your ultimate goals for site visitors. Your bounce rate may not be as low as someone else’s — and that’s fine as long as you’re meeting your overall goals as a brand.

Fortunately, no matter what industry you’re in, there are some universal ways to reduce your site’s bounce rate. Studying other brands that likely have slow bounce rates is a way to figure out what elements work toward converting site visitors into customers or subscribers. Here are five examples.

1. Speed Up Your Site

People are impatient and have shorter attention spans than ever before. If your site doesn’t load in a few seconds, visitors will abandon your site and go to one that loads quickly.

Many elements impact the speed of your site. Start with your web hosting provider. Your server speed affects how quickly parts of your page show up. Choose the fastest platform you can afford. You should also optimize images and eliminate elements that bog down your site, such as unnecessary WordPress plugins and JavaScript.

AJokeADay loads lightning fast both on a PC and mobile device. The hallmark of a site optimized for speed is that on the first visit, you see all the elements on the page almost immediately. In a recent report, AJokeADay ranked in the top 100 fastest websites at 863 ms.

2. Add social proof

A site visitor has no reason to trust you or believe what you say. If you want to keep them on the site and get them interested in your offers, you must provide social proof and show that other people who already trust you.
There are a few ways to offer social proof. Add customer testimonials, allow reviews on your products, link up to social media accounts and show how many followers and likes you have and tell visitors how many customers already love your brand.

3. Include a video

Around 90 percent of people feel product videos help them decide on buying. While a product video grabs attention, you can also share video testimonials, brand stories and many other types of videos. A video engages site visitors and offers an additional action, which, in turn, improves your bounce rate.

One Point Partitions offers a video on their landing page highlighting the process and how easy it is to design your partitions for a bathroom or any other use. It shows how easy the partitions are to install, as well, which addresses the concern buyers might have about a complicated installation.

4. Improve user experience (UX)

A user lands on your page and looks at a number of different elements, which all impact the overall experience they have. Improving UX on your website means looking at your site through the eyes of your target audience. Just a few of the elements of UX include:

• Aesthetics of the design
• Size of the font
• Ease of locating navigation
• Clickable links
• A balance of white space and positive space
• Loads fast

Many other features play into the user experience, so go over everything and make adjustments as needed.

5. Revamp your call to action (CTA)

Look at the calls to action (CTAs) on your website. What is their purpose, and do they fulfill that purpose? Study click rates, and if any of your CTAs aren’t performing, change the placement, button color and wording. Conduct A/B split testing and see which CTAs increase your conversions.

Grubhub does an excellent job with their CTAs. When you land on their homepage, they offer you a chance to “Find Food” in your area. The CTA is a bright green, which contrasts with the rest of the page, so it pops. The CTA is self-explanatory and to the point. After a few minutes, a pop-up box appears and offers money off your first order with a CTA that is bright blue against a white background and reads “Save $12 on your first order.”

Focus on Controllable Elements

You’ll never have total control over your bounce rate but making some minor adjustments to your landing page will likely improve your site’s sticky factor. Improving your bounce rate takes time and ongoing effort. Track your site’s analytics and make changes as needed, but don’t stress over minor fluctuations.

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.

What is WebsitePolicies?

WebsitePolicies is an attorney-level legal policies generator that helps you make your websites and apps compliant with the law without paying hefty lawyer fees. Every legal policy is unique and is built around the information you provide for the best results.

Why should you care?

With the ever-rising importance of privacy-related concerns and issues, it’s vital that you have a valid privacy policy available on your website as a bare minimum to comply with various government laws and regulations.

Have affiliate links on your site? Well, then you are pretty much required to have a privacy policy and disclaimer to avoid losing your commissions with your affiliate partner.

How much?

Our policy generator is completely FREE for personal and non-commercial use so there’s no reason for you not to at least give it a try.

Need something a bit more comprehensive to cover commercial activities and include additional disclosures for the best possible legal coverage? No problem, each policy is only $14.95 one-time fee. Absolutely no recurring payments, ever! Looking to purchase more than one policy? It gets even cheaper with our discounted bundles.

How to enter the giveaway

Today might be your lucky day. 3 CatsWhoCode readers will get to receive a bundle of 5 premium policies suitable for commercial use. It will include a privacy policy, disclaimer, terms of service, refund policy, and cookie policy.

Simply leave a comment on this post to let us know that you’re in. In one week, I will randomly pick three lucky winners who will receive their prize directly from WebsitePolicies staff, by email.

What is MapsMarker?

Created by Robert Harm in Austria, MapsMarker Pro is a WordPress plugin that allows you to pin, organize, and share places on your WordPress blog or website.

Made as an alternative to gigantic, proprietary mapping companies with questionable privacy policies, MapsMarker Pro integrates with Google Maps, Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, Bing Map, and more; allowing you to then pin locations, display itineraries, or showcase nearby places of interest.

In 2019, it’s pretty rare to find a serious website that doesn’t display at least one map. Most sites, such as Netzen, are using maps to display their offices’ locations.

But there’s much more you can do with MapsMarker Pro.

Key features

MapsMarker Pro is loaded with useful features that will allow you to do more or less anything as long as you have a need to display maps and markers or share places on your site. Here is a quick list of my favorite features of the plugin.

You can view the full feature list on this page.

Responsive

As you probably already know, nowadays the majority of your site traffic is coming from handheld devices as such as smartphones or tablets. Therefore, it is a must in terms of ease of use and SEO that your website loads quickly and is easy to use on a smaller device.

MapsMarker Pro is definitely taking responsiveness into account. Maps created with the plugin are fast and easy to use on any mobile device – which is certainly a good thing as visitors like to check maps to discover interesting places around them. And as we have mentioned SEO, MapsMarker Pro is SEO-optimized.

Integrates with Google Maps, Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, etc.

Another feature I’m a big fan of is how well MapsMarker Pro integrates with the most popular maps. You can use Google Maps as it is by far the most common map type, but you can painlessly use many other maps such as OpenStreetMap or Bing Map. It’s up to you!

Translated to 46 languages

Thanks to over 100 contributors from all around the world, MapsMarker Pro is available in 46 languages. While I haven’t checked the quality of the available translations as I primarily use English online, this is clearly a great feature as maps are chiefly designed for a particular place, where people don’t necessarily use English.

No need for API keys

If you have already worked with Google Maps or a similar map service, you know the need for API keys. While obtaining and using API keys is generally a painless process, the fact that MapsMarker Pro doesn’t require additional API keys with included keyless geocoding providers Algolia Places and Photon@Mapsmarker which is good news as it will make you save time and effort.

Probably the most complete plugin of its kind

While there are quite many options for creating maps and markers, MapsMarker Pro is probably the most complete solution. If your site is running on WordPress, using the plugin will save you a lot of time and hassle as compared to setting up a more generic solution.

Exclusive CatsWhoCode deal: 10% off

If you are interested to try MapsMarker Pro on your website, here’s some good news! MapsMarker Pro has provided an exclusive discount for all CatsWhoCode readers.

Simply head over the pricing page and pick any license you like. At checkout, use coupon CATSWHOCODE to receive 10% off your purchase.

Conclusion

So, what to think about MapsMarker Pro? Its strong point is definitely the number of useful features that allow you to do basically anything you can think of, as long as it’s based on maps and markers, from simply displaying a map of your company office’s area to complex maps with filtered markers.

As for the weak point, I’d say the overall design could be improved. This, of course, doesn’t change anything to the functionality of the plugin, but a little eye candy never hurts.

In conclusion, I can affirm that MapsMarker Pro is a safe choice for any website owner looking for a map/marker solution that works out of the box and provides all the options you might need.

• Visit MapsMarker Pro website
• View the frontend and backend demos
• Pricing information

30 lucky winners will get a chance to use GetSiteControl for a month for free. That means you can add subscription, contact, and survey forms, promo popups, floating bars and Live chat to your website and boost user engagement.
Keep reading to learn more about GetSiteControl and find out how to win a monthly account.

What is GetSiteControl

GetSiteControl is a set of 7 call-to-action widgets that help increase user engagement and generate leads. You can use it on any website by adding a short code snippet right before the </body> tag or by installing a dedicated plugin from the WordPress directory.

What you get is 7 marketing tools managed from a single dashboard:

• Email subscription forms
• Contact forms
• Survey forms
• Promo popups and bars
• Live chat
• Social media follow buttons
• Social media share buttons

You can adjust widgets to the style of your website and fine-tune the way they are displayed to the visitors. For example, there is an easy way to add a cookie banner, promote lead magnets, offer a callback, create an exit-intent popup or a survey for any webpage.

Real-time statistics is available right in the dashboard, plus you can integrate GetSiteControl with Google Analytics to track its performance. And if you feel geeky about conversion optimization, you can A/B test multiple variations of each widget to achieve maximum results.

The app integrates with all the popular email marketing services including MailChimp, AWeber, Constant Contact and others – to easily send the captured emails to the tool of your choice. Plus, you can connect the Live Chat widget to Slack and communicate with website visitors on-the-go.

What makes GetSiteControl different

Clearly, this is not the newest concept on the market, and you will probably be able to name a few other form builders right off the top of your head. So, why should you be interested in checking out another solution? Well, here is a couple of advantages you might want to know about.

First, GetSiteControl combines 7 standalone tools under one roof, whereas many other solutions that only bring just email opt-ins, surveys, or contact forms. Second, you get flexible targeting capabilities for creating more personalized calls-to-action. Not only can you trigger widgets based on the user on-page behavior – time spent, scroll depth, or exit-intent – but you can also target specific audiences based on their characteristics such as language, location, UTM, the number of pages viewed, referral source, devices, and more.

And because you’re not limited by the number of widgets, there’s literally no limit for optimization opportunities either.

How to enter the giveaway

If GetSiteControl sounds like the app that could help your website grow, we encourage you to participate. There are 30 accounts to give away, so the chances to win are pretty high! Here is what you need to do:

• Follow GetSiteControl on Facebook.
• In the comments below, let us know how you would use it on your website

The first 30 commenters will be able to use GetSiteControl Plus for a month. The plan includes all the above-described advanced features, an unlimited number of widgets, and up to 500K widget monthly views. So, you’ll have enough functionality to make use of.
Good luck!

One of the certifications that most of the IT companies demand is the Linux Professional certification. Linux has grown and become one of the most common software brands in the companies and individuals with Linux certifications are getting better job opportunities and what not.

In this article, we will be talking about the Linux Essentials Professional Development Certificate (PDC) and 010-160 exam which is held by Linux and how one can prepare for it.

What is the LPI Linux Essentials Certification?

Linux has become one of the most used certificates in the world and many private, as well as government companies, have been making use of it in their daily tasks. This is the reason that more and more people who know Linux and its basics are being required by the companies. People who are just starting their career should get the Linux certifications and the best of the Linux certification for the beginners is the Linux Essential Certification. This is also one of the stepping stones for the people who want to get other specialization certification from Linux. To get this certification, the candidates have to pass an exam and get the passing score.

What is LPI 010-160 Exam and its Previous LPI 010-150 Version?

010-160 exam is the test that candidates should pass if they want to be eligible for the LPI Linux Essentials Certifications. This is an easy primary level exam that can be passed if the candidates have the fundamental knowledge in the subject. Note, that the previous version of the exam is 010-150 (version 1.5) and it is available until the 1st of July 2019.

To know more details about 010-150 exam, visit LPI website.

Since 010-160 is a newer version, let’s focus on some other important information about this exam.

Exam type

The exam is a multiple choice questions exam. Each question will consist of 4 answers and the candidates will have to choose from them.

Exam Duration

The candidates will be given 60 minutes to solve all the questions. They will be given 40 questions in total that they need to solve within an hour time frame.

Registration

The registration is easy and the ticket can be bought at the official website. The price of the ticket is $110 USD, but it can vary from region to region because of the currency difference.

Eligibility

All candidates with the basic knowledge of Linux software’s are eligible to give this exam. There is no qualification required. The candidates have to be 18 years or older.

Languages Available

The exam is available in three different languages including English, Japanese and German. However, more languages are being launched in the coming time.

How to prepare for 010-160 exam?

LPI Linux Essentials Certification exam is a fundamental level exam, but this does not mean that it is easy. The question asked is pretty detailed and one needs thorough knowledge to score well. Here are some ways in which you can prepare for your exam.

Self-Study

The first way to study is the self-study which a lot of working individuals prefer. This is also the cheapest way you can prepare for your exam. Get the syllabus and by the related books that you will need to prepare. Now make a timetable and start studying in your own time. Make sure that you start as early as possible.

Online classes

If you want a little help but do not have the time to attend full-time classes, the online classes are the best for you. These will cost you some money, but you will be able to get all the information specially designed for you. You will be given notes and lectures and also some tests to check your progress.

One on one classes

If you want a better understanding of the topics, the one on one classes are another option that you can take. These on one class are taken by learned professionals who will be teaching you about every topic in detail which will help you build a strong base of knowledge.

Practice papers

The last and the most important preparation material and strategy are solving practice papers. You need to solve the practice papers on a regular basis. The practice papers are really helpful in determining the growth of the individual and help you check what places you are lacking. At the beginning of the preparation, make a habit of solving at least one practice paper a week and then go to one a day.
To get reliable practice test questions for your certification exam, browse https://prepaway.com website.

Some Important Tips

Here are some important tips that will help you with the better preparation of the exam and in scoring better.

• Keep the syllabus in handy while preparing for the exam. Even if you know what you are studying and have the best study material, you should always keep checking your syllabus to see whether you are missing something important that might increase or decrease your score in the exam.
• Keep track of the notifications on the website. Keep checking for the updates on the exam on the website after you have filled the form. Linux usually sends an email to the users before the exam, but in case you miss it, you should be well informed.
• While writing your exam, solve all the questions you know first and then go for the questions that you are skeptic about. This will save you time and you will not miss out on the questions that you already know. There is no negative marking so make sure to attempt all the questions in the exam.

To sum up

People who are just starting out with their IT careers should go for the LPI Linux Essential Certification since this is the foundation certificate that will build your base for getting the higher level certificates in the years to come. This certificate is surely really helpful for the people in the IT industry and will bag them better jobs and salaries. Keep the above tips in mind and score your best in 010-160 exam.

This is a guest article by Darren Demers.

Here is a quick list of tips to optimize your WordPress site. Those are easy to implement by yourself, but you can also get in touch with a web development team as such as tsh.io to help you implement them.

Stay updated

It might sound very obvious, but keeping your WordPress site fully updated is a must when it comes to make sure your site is secure.

Always pay attention when an update is available, not only for WordPress core, but also for all of your plugins and themes. As most security problems occur on outdated WordPress sites, staying up to date is simply the best security tip I could give you.

Make sure your hosting provider is making backups

In case something goes wrong, having frequent backups of your site files and database is vital. Most serious hosting providers (as such as WPEngine, Tsohost, Dreamhost etc) offer daily site backups and can help if something happens to your site.

If your current hosting provider doesn’t offer backups, you can rely on a few WordPress plugins which aim at creating backups of your site that you can restore later. Popular WP backup plugins include BackUpBuddy, BackWPup and BackUpWordPress.

Think mobile first

In 2019, there’s no doubt that most website visits will be done using a smartphone or tablet, rather than a desktop computer. For this reason, you have to make sure your site displays well on smaller devices.

The vast majority of modern WordPress themes are fully compatible with smaller devices. If the theme you are using isn’t, it’s time to change or update.

Make it fast!

Nowadays, the faster the better. Why? First, because as I previously stated, most website visits are done on phones or tablets, often using not-so-fast WiFi connections. As internet users don’t like waiting, a fast-loading website will ensure your visitors aren’t simply going to leave before your site has fully loaded.

And secondly, Google is favoring faster websites when ranking them. Therefore, a faster website equals a better SEO.

To see how fast your website loads on both desktop and mobile devices, check out Google Pagespeed Insights. If your loading speed isn’t good according to Google Pagespeed Insights, you can refer to my site speed optimization guide to fix what needs to be fixed.

Add an extra security layer

WordPress is a very secure platform in itself, and so are most of the available plugins. But that being said, as a website owner you’re simply never too careful.

I definitely recommend using the free WordFence plugin to protect your site against various malicious attacks. Wordfence includes an endpoint firewall and malware scanner that was built to protect WordPress.

Take good care of your SEO

As you already know, SEO plays a big role in how successful your website is. If you haven’t already, I recommend installing a WordPress SEO plugin as such as Yoast SEO or All-in-One SEO Pack.

For a successful SEO in 2019, make sure that your website is fast and optimized for mobile devices, understand how your visitors are searching for it, and most importantly, while your site should be optimized for SEO, it should be built primarily with humans in mind.

Enjoy the new possibilities of WordPress 5.0

WordPress 5.0 “Bebo” was released in December. The most interesting addition to WP brought by this update is definitely the new editor, nicknamed Gutenberg.

The new block-based editor won’t change the way any of your content looks to your visitors. What it will do is let you insert any type of multimedia in a snap of fingers and rearrange it to your liking. Each piece of content will be in its own block.

If you need more information about WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg, just read this article.

You don’t need all internet users to visit your website for success, but your goal should be to grow your target audience. With the right strategy, you can drive traffic to your website. Here are six proven ways to achieve it.

Get Social

Hope is not a strategy when it comes to getting traffic to your website. If you produce great content, you must be proactive in getting your target audience to find it. Social media channels provide a wonderful way to promote your content and increase traffic to your website. Facebook, for example, is one of the most effective platforms that you can utilize to reach your target audience. Twitter can be used for short, snappy links to draw people to your site and gain traction.

Create top-notch headlines

Headlines are an essential part of your content and they help determine if your target audience will take an interest in what you are promoting. Lacking compelling headlines will cause your content to be overlooked, and your potential audience will move on to something more interesting. Think about writing headlines that are thought-provoking, witty and that stir emotions. You want to pique the interest of as many people as you can with a magnetic headline.

Focus on-page SEO

Content optimization still plays a valuable role in driving traffic to websites. You want to make the most out of elements like image alt text, internal links to new content and meta descriptions. Optimizing on-page SEO is a worthwhile traffic delivery strategy that could help gain more relevant traffic in search engines. This can be used to give your website competitive power and a stronger audience. You can have your pick of the best web hosting 2019 providers to improve traffic to your website.

Start guest blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to gain exposure and get in front of an audience. By securing a guest post on a reputable site, you help establish your credibility and authority by providing valuable content that will compel the audience of your guest post to visit your own site.

Utilize email marketing

You can gather an email list of people who have opted-in to receive your communications. It’s vital to have quality contacts of people who are interested in what you are promoting. In this sense, email marketing will help to drive website traffic and increase repeat visits. Promotional emails can be used to attract a new audience, while personalized emails can be used to cater to your subscribers’ exact preferences and needs.

Infographics

Infographics have the potential to draw your target audience to a topic they find interesting and keep them engaged. For infographics to be effective, they must be easily understood, typically tell a story, comprise of unique content, be eye-catching in design and detailed yet concise. It’s a solid way to build engagement.

Driving traffic to your website can be a real challenge, but with the right strategies, you can get it done. You have to work at it, putting in a constant effort in order to appeal to your target audience’s interests. You want to provide value, gain trust and have new and repeat visitors.

This is a guest article by Sophia Williams.

Modern brands seek to interact with their audience. Thus, website design must be expressive and lively. Today, you can’t impress your audience with bright images only. People want to get a certain combination of emotions when visiting your website. For example, when users buy garments through social networks like Instagram, they feel like they will look exactly like the model promoting the clothes. Let’s see what web design trends are anticipated to occur in 2019.

Non-standard approach to web design

In the next year, websites will be greatly affected by a chaotic nature and randomness of visual information. For example, non-standard placement of visual blocks can hone the user’s appetites for your brand, goods, or services.

A full-screen video is an informative element

A full-screen video will take a leading position in web design. That’s because this content is informative and useful for readers as there is no need to scroll the entire page down and read a long post. Instead, you may take your time and watch or listen to the information you consider to be useful for you.

Geometric shapes can brush up your website

The use of geometric shapes in web design is not a new thing. This trend appeared in 2016 and it’s presumed, that it will gain the highest popularity in 2019. The websites designed in such a way look friendly, thus, attracting more and more users.

Cinemagraphs will replace gifs

People often confuse cinemagraphs with gifs but in fact, these two effects are quite different. Cinemagraphs are static images containing only a single dynamic element. Marketers generate lots of bright ideas for cinemagraphs. Traditional animation still works well. All these web effects attract more users and motivate people to check out the rest of the content on your website.

Bright colors stay actual

Bright colors will remail actual in 2019. They can make your site look more stylish and rich. Gradients can be also used to make a page more fresh and unique. An interesting innovation is flashing and vibrating colors. If you are at the start line with redesigning your website, think about outsourcing to Ukraine. Contacting overseas developers can save your time and money. Offshore development companies have lower rates for software engineering, web development, and design.

Simple design and unique fonts

Unique fonts are in high demand in the web design industry. Along with a minimalistic design, unusual fonts enhance websites and emphasize the importance of the content. Non-standard fonts will gain their popularity in 2019.

Minimalism and translucent buttons

In today’s busy world, people don’t want to pay too much attention to the long guidelines or blog articles on the web. They will likely read a pair of words about what you do and what useful services you can offer to them. Thus, more and more website owners aim to deliver valuable content. The philosophy of minimalism – less is more – becomes popular.

Photos of people

People become central figures in advertisements produced by brands. That’s because people want to see other people in ads to understand how this or another thing will meet their needs in real life. Realistic ad campaigns stir emotions and associations with style and aesthetics.

Natural and exclusive shapes

We prefer natural lines, shapes, and forms to straight lines. The natural design makes users calm and, at the same time, it encourages them to check out your content.

Surely, you don’t have to follow all the trends in web design, yet, it’s useful to be aware of them. Let’s sum it up!

1. Notable headlines. They attract users and help highlight the main point.
2. Minimalism. Interfaces should be simple, clear, and user-friendly.
3. Empty spaces. Empty spaces help make design clear.
4. Bright colors have the ability to move people.
5. Voluminous elements. Volume attracts users attention and makes your website stand out from competitors.
6. Gradients. A smooth transition of colors makes people calm.
7. Animation. It helps make users focused on the main point.

You can easily use one of these concepts or mix them carefully to get the most out of the upcoming trends.

This is a guest article by Irina Kravchenko, a content writer from Diceus.

Making a multi-language website is a surprisingly simple way of reaching new audiences and scaling into new markets: it allows visitors to navigate in their native language (adding a deeper sense of trust); it also helps you to tap into emerging markets and gain an edge over the competition.

Other benefits of adding translated languages for a multi-language website include:

1. Greater visibility: Stronger Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Reach new audiences: attract and convert more customers
3. The bottom line: Drive more sales and scale your business

Now we’ve touched on some of the benefits of creating a multi-language website on WordPress, let’s check out Weglot, one of the best (and top-ranked) plugins available on WordPress (also available for other platforms, including Shopify and direct JavaScript integration), before running through a multi-language website plugin setup. See for yourself you just how easy it is to set up your own multi-language website, and get up and running in no time.

Let’s start by looking at what Weglot has to offer website owners.

Weglot multilingual WordPress plugin

Weglot is one of the highest-rated multi-language website plugins for WordPress. It supports over 100 frequently updated languages, with new languages added constantly, too. Automatic translations are supported by live human editing, taking the setup process one step above when you need a high level of professionalism and accuracy.

The plugin also covers multi-language website SEO, which will make your site even more easily searchable by a wider audience. Each language is placed into an automatically-generated subdirectory – for example, /es/ or /fr/. A personalized language button sits on the page, so users can easily select the language of their choice, with hreflang tags added to the section of your site which makes it easily recognisable by Google.

Weglot works with any WordPress theme and offers automatic compatibility with plugins (including WooCommerce). It also gives you the option of translating everything at page level. Extra posts, pages, custom post types, custom taxonomies and custom fields are translatable; including straightforward integration with Yoast’s SEO plugin.

Now for pricing: Weglot’s pricing is based on how much traffic goes to your site, and the quantity of words and languages you need. The free tier adds one language with 2,000 translated words, and you can go all the way up to unlimited languages and 5,000,000 translated words. There’s also a trial period which allows you to try Weglot’s features for free. There’s something for everyone

Your multi-language website: your plugin choice

It’s important to have a clear idea of what you need for your multi-language website before choosing your plugin for installation. Weglot is a good fit for these, but you need to know which package to choose

If you’re a small business owner, then choosing the freemium, lower word-count “packages” (provided by Weglot) or simple, automated translations could be enough to set the ball rolling.

But – if you already own a successful business and a large WordPress site, then you’ll want one of the premium tiers, and should also opt for manual editing by a native translator to ensure every piece of website copy is crystal clear in your language(s) of choice. Automatic translations are a great starting point for translating language(s) individually, but you can’t beat the services of a professional to double-check and ensure translations are of the highest quality.

We’d recommend starting with just one language to keep things simple, but with Weglot you can add multiple languages with the different plans: your Google Analytics data is a great place to find this.

Now let’s get your multi-language website plugin set up on WordPress! Here’s the easy two-step process.

1. Make a start with Weglot’s free multi-language website plugin:

To get started installing your multi-language plugin, choose your first language to translate to.

Once you have your first target language, head to your WordPress Dashboard, and Plugins ? Add New. Search Weglot, then Install ? Activate. Click Settings, and follow the prompt to create an account, which you’ll need to do the automatic translations.

Set your original website language, and then choose the first language you’d like to translate into.
Once you’ve chosen, save settings. Et voila! Could it be simpler?

2: How to ensure your translations are high quality

You’ll want to make sure your translations are accurate, so head to your Weglot Dashboard, where you can manually review translations.

You can find professional agencies for your multi-language website by heading to the Professional Translations tab, where native translators will review your translations for accuracy. This service is useful if you don’t have in-house access to translation services. This way you can ensure your WordPress site is professional in your language(s) of choice.

As a side note, look out for text in images. You shouldn’t have these as they’re bad for accessibility and SEO, but you can use Weglot to replace images with translated versions.

To do this, go to the Weglot Dashboard, sort your Translations List by Content Type ? Media, and then customize the URLs of images which you want to translate. You’ll need to upload these images separately from your WordPress Dashboard ? Media Library ? Add New.

Now you can fully customize your site in any language for your audience. Consider these the first steps towards creating a fully immersive, localized experience for site visitors, whenever in the world they may be.

Take your multi-language website to the next level

By creating your own multi-language website, you’ll remove barriers between yourself and foreign audiences; making it even easier to access a global marketplace. Not only will you stand out from the competition; you’ll also stand out to customers and site visitors by going the extra mile to communicate in their native language: A lucrative move for all involved.

Multi-language website plugins automate this process for you and alleviate your workload. Not only does Weglot provide personalization for site visitors; you can also fully customize this plugin to fit your own site design; making it as prominent or as subtle as you choose.

You could even take your multi-language website above and beyond by acknowledging cultural specifics in your chosen language. This might range from employing a native customer support manager, to adding local working hours, or celebrating local cultural holidays and acknowledging business etiquette.

However far you decide to take your multi-language website customization; providing site visitors with the option to get to know your product in their language of choice is bound to lead to greater site visibility, higher sales and even happier customers.

This is a guest post by Alex Denning.

In one study of user engagement from the top of the page to the bottom, researchers found that the most engagement occurs just below the fold, but that user engagement drops slowly as the user scrolls 1,500 pixels down the page on to 3,000 pixels down.

All elements on your page matter, including the footer. Here are seven things users expect to see in your footer and how to meet their expectations in surprising ways.

1. Include Contact Information

Traditionally, companies offer contact information in their footers, so users expect contact when they reach the end of the page. Some users navigate directly to the bottom of the page by hitting Ctrl/END for a direct route there. Meet user expectations with information such as your company telephone number, email or a contact form placed in the footer.

Indiana Spine Group offers an interesting take on their footer that shows multiple ways of contacting them. Note that there’s a map based on your location so that you can find the office quickly. There’s also a teardrop with a toll-free number, local number, address, fax and a form you can fill out to get in touch with the facility. They offer multiple formats for contacting them, going above and beyond for their site visitors.

2. Show Your Personality

Have you ever visited a site that’s light-hearted and fun, when suddenly you reach the footer and it’s all business? Make sure your footer matches the overall personality of your site and brand. Add a bit of whimsy if the rest of your site is whimsical. Stay informal with your call to action (CTA) wording.
One idea is to include your photo and a short note about why you do what you do or a quote from the founder of the company. Let users know who you are in case they haven’t figured it out already.

3. Connect to Your Privacy Policy

With the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in recent months, updating your privacy policy and keeping it in an accessible location is vital. The footer is a natural place for linking to privacy policies and disclosures. Placing policy links in the footer allows you to provide that critical information without interrupting the flow of the content on the page.

Altorfer CAT puts links to their privacy policy and copyright information at the bottom center of their footer. There’s also a link to their sitemap in case users need additional information. They repeat the links to major parts of the site within their footer as well, but locating the privacy policy at the bottom of the footer keeps it unobtrusive yet accessible.

4. Place a Call to Action

If a site visitor makes it to the bottom of your page, their interest in your product or service is high. Adding a CTA button can convert the undecided into leads. Repeat your CTA button at the bottom of the page to capture those who haven’t converted yet. Think about the reservations someone who hasn’t converted into a lead might have, and address them in your footer along with an invitation to find more information.

5. Add Social Media Icons

In a survey of adults in the United States, researchers found that the majority of adults use at least some of the eight social media platforms considered. About 68 percent of American adults use Facebook.
Consumers use social media for engaging with brands they like — add social media icons to your footer for better user engagement across multiple platforms.

Little Passports features social media icons at the very bottom of their page under the traditional information you expect in the footer, such as their About Us page, contact information and a link to their blog. Those looking for social media icons turn to the footer, so locating them near the bottom of the page is an excellent choice for placement.

6. Repeat Navigation

Site visitors use your navigation structure to orient themselves to your site and figure out where the elements they most desire reside on your server. It’s natural to place a navigation bar at the top of your page because that’s the first place visitors expect to see your navigation. However, many people also know that the essential navigation elements repeat in the footer. If they’re near the end of the page, they scroll to the bottom to navigate back to your homepage or elsewhere on your site.

7. Include a Signup Form

If you don’t already offer a mailing list, why not? Email marketing is a valid form of promotion. Include a signup form in your footer and gather emails that one day may turn into new leads. About 24 percent of the websites surveyed allowed visitors to subscribe to email updates within their footers. It’s a common element that visitors look for, especially if they want a discount coupon or information about special offers.

Choose Footer Elements Wisely

What you include in your footer depends on the goals of your site and your target audience. Each website is a bit different, so think through the path you want your visitors on and guide them through the actions to get there. As always, test any changes with split testing to see what’s most effective for your business goals.

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.

1. Linking to a PDF document from the media library

If you don’t need to display a PDF file, you can use the Media Library. From the post editor, click the “Add Media” button. Upload the PDF file as you would do for an image and click “Insert into post”:

This will create a link with the name of the PDF file as the anchor text. You can modify it if needed.

Clicking this link will make your browser open or save the PDF document.
This might be a good enough solution for the occasional PDF file, but if you need to display the content of PDF files within your posts, you’ll need a plugin.

2. Embedding PDF documents into your content

From the WordPress dashboard, go to “Plugins > Add New”. Type “pdf embedder” in the keyword search. Click on “Install Now” and then on “Activate”.

From the post editor, insert a PDF file from the media library. The plugin will make a shortcode appear instead of the regular link:

Preview the post to see the PDF document embedded in the WordPress post:

The use of Javascript over Adobe Flash eliminates compatibility issues. The embedded PDF viewer displays a nice toolbar with a page navigator. The premium version of the plugin allows you to customize it if needed.
By default, the viewer width is set to 100%. You can adjust it by appending this to the shortcode:

width="500"

Replace the value with whatever width you want. The shortcode should look something like this:

You can use the following parameters to customize the toolbar:

• toolbar = top|bottom
• toolbarfixed = on|off

If you wish to control the viewer width for mobile devices, you will need the premium version.

Customizing the PDF embedder plugin

To avoid setting the viewer options through the shortcode, you can set these globally. From the WordPress dashboard, go to “Settings > PDF Embedder”.

You can modify the global height and width parameters – along with a bunch of other stuff:

You can change the location of the toolbar, the height of the PDF, and determining how the toolbar appears. You can change these on a case by case basis using shortcodes by referring to the documentation.

Using the PDF Embedder Plugin With a CDN

If you are using a CDN (Content Delivery Network), you will need to do some tweaking. For security reasons, web servers prevent browsers from displaying content from a different source than the website. If you need to embed PDF files hosted on a CDN, you will need to make these changes:
Add this code to the “.htaccess” file located at the root of your website:

<FilesMatch ".pdf">
Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
</FilesMatch>

Clear the CDN’s cache and check that the PDF viewer is working. If you are hosting the PDF documents on Amazon S3 or Cloudfront, read the documentation here.

Conclusion

The paid version of the plugin provides additional options such as PDF protection. This allows you to prevent visitors from downloading or printing the original PDF document. Other features include the ability to scroll PDFs continuous scroll and full-screen mode.

But if you can do without the bells and whistles, the base PDF Embedder plugin is a great tool. It’s easy to use and gets the job done.

This is a guest post by Stéphane Brault. Stéphane is a programmer and sysadmin with over 20 years of experience. He specializes in Linux server management and PHP development. He is the owner of WebHostingHero.com, a website providing free tools and tutorials for webmasters.

First, let’s look at what you might need to add these features.

What are the tools for a great e-commerce website

WordPress is a great base upon which to build any e-commerce store. What’s more, WordPress comes replete with plugins that enable you to add features and functionalities without the need for complex coding, like Toolset.

Combine it with WooCommerce, and you’ve got yourself a powerful combination of e-commerce management tools on your side.

1. Custom Search

A custom search is a great way to help customers find the items they seek as soon as possible, avoiding any distractions.

Don’t assume that shoppers know the exact item they’re looking for, especially if they’re just here to window shop. A custom search allows you to provide a number of filters so that customers can narrow down their search and find exactly what they want.

2. Detailed product page

The product page is a critical piece in your website’s sales funnel. Whereas the home page or categories page show off how expansive your inventory is, the product page is your chance to give individual items a chance to shine.

Once shoppers land on the desired WooCommerce product page, you want to give them something impressive to look at.

Not only should you include great images and descriptive text but you should make sure you customize your WooCommerce product page. A custom product template will provide a unique shop window which will help your items stand out.

Not only can you style your page but you can also include other important features to it such as custom fields, taxonomies and special offers.

3. Related product recommendations

Another way to help visitors find what they need on your WooCommerce website — and help you upsell or cross-sell customers in the process — is to provide related product recommendations. You can do this in a number of ways and at different points throughout the customer journey.

You can display related product widgets or sliders beneath a product’s photo and description.

You can display a related product pop-up after an item was added to the shopping cart. You can also display related product pop-ups if someone is about to abandon the website before completing their purchase.

The goal is to accurately assess their needs based on their behavior and profile and provide them with an item that is related to the product they’ve shown interest in or an item that can replace the current one they’re looking at (in case it’s not exactly what they were looking for).

4. Product categories slider

Another way to compel visitors to peruse more of your store is to display product categories sliders around the site.

Related product widgets are essential in upselling items that visitors have already shown interest in. But product categories introduce them to inventory they might not have even been aware of or simply hadn’t considered buying at the time.

It’s a great way to inspire customers to stick around and get all their shopping done while they’re on your website.

5. Multilingual

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to expand into new markets is by creating a multilingual website. Not only will new customers be able to understand you but you can also localize your website by using the correct currency, taxation and by offering free shipping.

This is where a multilingual plugin should enter the picture. Specifically, you will need two plugins to accomplish this. WPML is the WordPress multilingual plugin. The free WooCommerce Multilingual plugin is the glue that connects WPML to your WooCommerce website.

With multilingual functionality programmed into your site, international customers can now enter your website and experience as seamless and welcoming an experience as those who are local to your business.

Wrapping Up

If you’ve spent enough time online as a consumer, you recognize that e-commerce websites come equipped with certain features and functionality you wouldn’t see on an ordinary business website. When building your own e-commerce site, be sure to take the five must-have features above into consideration if you want to compel your visitors to become customers. This WooCommerce tutorial will help get you started.

This is a guest post by Joe Lobo.