by Nick Throlson | Sep 10, 2018 | Off Topic, Web Design, WordPress
WordPress owns almost 30% of the websites present over the internet today. It is one of the most popular website builder offering dozens of plugins and features. If you are planning to build a WordPress website, then here are some of its popular plugins that will be beneficial for your website:
SEO can make your website discoverable over the internet and it is a compulsion to make your target audience find you. Yoast SEO plugin helps in auditing your website content to make it SEO-friendly. It is one of the best SEO plugin provided by WordPress with over 5 million installations. Although the basic version is free, the premium version costs you some money but it also provides you with a good return. You get one-year access to the support team plus expand the SEO scope to News, Video, Local and WooCommerce.
Spam can be anything that comes from a very unreliable source and it generally degrades your website. This can be avoided through WordPress?s Akismet Anti-Spam plugin. It automatically deletes unhealthy content that comes in the form of comments and content form submissions. Another anti-spam plugin which is popular for its intelligent filtering is Spam combat. It allows the website owner to manually flag the content as Spam or Not Spam.
Another must-have plugin for each and every WordPress website is JetPack and it also comes by default. It has ample of features to support your website from customization tools to site analytics and spam protection. Some of the other features include lazy image loading, high-speed CDN, and downtime-monitoring. This plugin has got everything to help you from the beginning until the very end.
As the name suggests, Broken Link Checker is a plugin offered for WordPress sites to fix broken links. Dead or broken links are the links that do not redirect your visitor to a useful site page. And it is in the best interest of SEO to resolve such links as it impacts user experience. This plugin makes sure there are no more such links in your website by finding them and notifying you through email. ?
WP-Optimize works for cleaning and maintaining your site database. It runs an automatic clean-up at a fixed time scheduled by you to remove unnecessary data occupying your database. This ultimately helps your website run smoothly and efficiently.
Image optimization is another part of SEO. Images with large dimensions are usually slow in loading and it creates a bad impression if your website if such images take forever to load. But the case is altogether different if you have WP Smush installed. It resizes and compresses your images to make it load faster and save up space.
To ensure the integrity of the site, WordPress comes up with the WordFence Security plugin. It has some of the very important features like:- Malware scanning
- Core file, themes, plugins, and backdoors scanning
- SEO spam protection
- Malicious redirect support
- Code injection identification
It identifies any hacking attempts by providing information like the IP address of the hacker, origin and time of hacking.
Caching improves both your website?s SEO as well as user experience. It enhances site performance and reduces download time. W3 Total Caches comes is with all the features to improve your site?s overall performance.
The uniqueness of this plugin is the aesthetic looks of social sharing icons that can help anyone stand out from the rest. Its lightweight code helps in loading icons quickly. Apart from this, it also allows you to display the count if your social shares. With the support of over 100 social media platforms, this is a must-have plugin for websites. Conclusion:
Though there are several other options alternatives available, the above-mentioned plugins are a must for efficient website setup. What?s your thought regarding the above-mentioned plugins? Share your thought in a comment section.
by Nick Throlson | Sep 6, 2018 | Off Topic
Right now, blogging is such a popular business. Years ago, it was just something that was done as a hobby. Then slowly but surely, it became a very reputable industry that you can not only make your mark in but make money from too. Fast forward to today, and now there are so many blogging entrepreneurs that are really making a lot of money from their blogs. So there?s no surprise that there are a ton of people that want to create a business in this field. However, with the market being so saturated, you do really have to work really hard to find success. It?s not something that is always that easy, or that will happen overnight. But if you?re happy to put the work in, you will find success. So what work should you be focusing on?Well, this is where the seven steps to blogging success come in. Because there are key areas that you need to focus on, and that you need to be able to do if you want this to work out for you. By putting the work in, being consistent, believing in yourself and being patient, you will be able to make this work. But it can take time. So if you?re ready to get to work and make some magic happen in the blogging world, here are the steps you should look to take.- Create A Brand For Yourself
So first of all, you?re going to want to think about creating a brand for your blog and for yourself too. If you want to be recognized and be able to build a strong business with your blog, branding helps. It?s going to help your blog to look progressional and more like a business. But you also need to work on your own personal brand too so that you can start to build some notoriety for your blog.- Put The Work In
Next, you absolutely have to be okay with putting the work in. No ifs! If you want this to grow without you putting the time and effort in, you need to find another job to do. Because blogging requires work and effort. So just know that you need to put the time in coming up with content, analyzing your performance, marketing your posts, and pushing for growth.- Drive Traffic
From here, you?re then going to want to make sure that you can drive traffic to your blog. Because you need readers! So look to experts like BCC Interactive SEO Agency that can help you and do some research yourself. Because you can definitely make some steps with your SEO and your other organic marketing efforts to continuously push your traffic.- Add Value
Then, you?re going to want to make sure that you?re always able to add value with the content that you produce. Do not just recreate what is already out there. Instead, you need to go above and beyond what has been done before. Add your own spin on things, give more detail or something extra that your readers can take away from your content. If you do things differently, you?ll start to get traction.- Advertise
Another great option that is going to help you to grow and find success with your blog, is the idea of advertising. When it comes to creating your marketing strategy, it?s normal to just focus on organic options and anything you can do for free, but that will only take you so far. Instead, you need to advertise using Facebook and Adwords to really start to push your reach.- Focus On Quality
From here, you?re then going to want to make sure that you?re just putting out the best kind of quality that you can. It?s just so important. Don?t scrimp, don?t cut corners, and don?t do things with half of the effort - because it will show. Instead, if you can above and beyond, you?ll get noticed.- Engage With Your Audience
Lastly, you?re then going to want to make sure that you are looking to really engage your audience as much as possible. Because it?s easy to want to focus on driving traffic, but if you can?t convert that traffic, you?re going to have a problem. So, make sure that you?re really working on what you can do to engage your audience and really get them to interact with your brand and your blog. The more engaged your audience is, the more successful your future product launches are likely to be. by Nick Throlson | Sep 5, 2018 | Web Design
The rise of NodeJS can be summed up in a single statement- what PHP was in the last decade, NodeJS is today. For a detailed review, we?ll need to dig deeper.Internet, since its inception, has come a long way both in terms of how users connect and the services they use. If we talk about connectivity, dial-up connections and privately managed servers have been replaced by broadband and cloud while a similar seismic shift can be observed in services. But until recently, one aspect largely remained untouched- how those services worked. The browser sends a request to the server, to which server responds and waits for another request. While this architecture worked well in the early days, it now poses a two-edged problem:- Clients have to wait for server response despite their fast connectivity
- The server is highly underutilized given their huge multi-core processing power
NodeJS is popular and widely adopted primarily because it solves both of these problems. Plus the fact that it doesn?t cause any additional overhead by using an already popular language- JavaScript, makes it an appealing choice for even smaller projects that don?t necessarily face those problems.How NodeJS works?
Technically speaking, NodeJS works in a non-blocking I/O mode. If that sounds cryptic, consider this- the browser requests the server, the server while processing that request, doesn?t block other connections and keeps listening for any other requests. The first request when processed is sent back to the browser. This not only reduces the latency for many clients but also maximizes server utility.Now add to this the fact that NodeJS bridges the gap between the server and client-side programming languages, thus drastically reducing the rendering time for the browser, you?ll get the full picture of how NodeJS makes web applications faster and scalable.NodeJS at its Best
While these capabilities serve basically all categories of web applications, there are some cases where it is instrumental in enabling those services.Real-time applications
Services that need to work with data in real-time have minimal tolerance for latency and as discussed above, NodeJS excels in this regard. The fact that applications like Uber and PayPal use NodeJS at their backend is a testimony to that claim.Streaming application
Owing to its non-blocking mode with minimal rending, NodeJS enables applications to offer seamless streaming experience. If you ever used Netflix, you are already familiar with its underlying power and efficiency.Single-page applications
Single page apps are the new trend in web development due to its better user experience. And because such applications rely heavily on client-side, the minimal rendering ensured by NodeJS makes it a good fit for building such apps.Dashboard
NodeJS is capable of tracking and visualizing user action on an application and thus makes an excellent option for creating dashboards.Now if we sum it all up, we are sure you?ll get a definite answer to the question we begun with- why use NodeJS?- It?s easy to learn
- There are tons of third-party tools for JS, that make a highly productive development environment
- It offers cross-platform support
- Its use of Google's V8 engine ensures high performance
- Excellent for modern apps like chatting and streaming
- Open source tag and corporate backing guarantees consistent improvement
- Cheap development and hosting solutions
Overall, if you wish to build a robust, scalable web application, just hire a NodeJS developer and you won?t possibly regret your choice. In fact, even the long-standing web development companies who have experience working with all technologies are resorting to NodeJS as their goto technology for new projects.
by Nick Throlson | Sep 4, 2018 | SEO
Six Awesome SEO Strategies You May Have Forgotten The success of any online business depends on Search Engine Optimization. Today, you have to put more effort to achieve a top ranking as opposed to just creating a beautiful web design. Nowadays, Google is more advanced, it is smarter than ever and it focuses on a wide range of factors when ranking a website?One of the strategies to ensure a successful SEO campaign is by optimizing your keywords for quality content. This can be done effectively by the use of a Google Keyword Planner and link building services provided by a reputable digital agency. It is a modern technology that molds content in a way that appeals to the target audience. You may have also forgotten about these awesome strategies that can easily generate quality traffic to your website- User experience (UX)
You may have overlooked about creating the best user experience on your website. This is a crucial factor in determining whether users will keep coming back to your site. For this reason, it is essential that you create a website that offers ease of use. Think about the attitude and emotions of a web user when accessing your site. Be empathetic and create a website that:- Offers real-time answers to client questions.
- Generates a call to action.
By answering these questions, web visitors will enjoy the best experience when learning about different products and services. - Genuine backlinks
Google can rank you top if you generate genuine and quality links. The more genuine links your site has, the more traffic it generates. If you keep using ?spammy? links on your website, Google will automatically de-index it. For this reason, it is wise that you focus on building genuine relationships across different groups including discussion groups and blogging forums. One point to note is that you need to identify groups that match your niche as it gives you quality and right links for top ranking. - Updated content
It is also easy to forget about the quality of content on your website. More and more users today prefer sites that are regularly updated. An outdated link is an instant turnoff to web visitors. It is therefore imperative that you keep your visitors entertained by offering more useful content. The rule of thumb is to avoid fluff in your content. Ensure that what you post is relevant. The more you post quality and informative content, the more you attract traffic and even backlinks to your site. - Get the right words
The choice of words in your site is equally an important factor to keep in mind. Do not include a lot of content while forgetting the organization of words. Let the content mirror what you are talking about as soon as a visitor clicks through your website. In this regard, take time to carefully organize words in your website to generate conversions and engagements in your pages. Consider a writing style that is persuasive. Above all, use catchy headings and subheadings. It leads to quality Click Through and conversions while giving a boost to your SERPs. - Title Tags
The other SEO strategy you may have forgotten is the title tag. It is an important element as it appears when you search for a keyword or a phrase. A title tag plays a major role in determining whether your site will generate the desired traffic or not. ?Therefore, to ensure that someone clicks through and stays on the website, work on a title tag is catchy and persuasive by - Including keywords at the top of your page because both search engines and users always search for keywords.
- Avoiding stuffed keywords in your title tags.
- Avoiding spammed title tags especially those generated by WordPress. Take time to optimize your keywords based on the information you want to pass across.
- Use a language that is user-friendly to engage web visitors in a way that creates a memorable experience.
- Last but not least, give your title tags the focus they deserve to enjoy quality traffic to your website.
???- Content analysis
It is also easy to forget about content analysis when running a Search Engine campaign. This is an important component as it allows you to check for possible grammar errors, spammed content, and plagiarism. Web users get irritated with spammed content whenever they click through a website. Such a site also risks serious penalties from Google among other search engines. As a result, it is wise to carry out a thorough analysis of your research before your site goes live. Similarly, have a clear checklist of what will keep you focused on the basics of your web content. A task template can do the trick as it offers a clear guide on what tasks to complete at a given time. From the above tips, you will note that these are simple and useful yet easy to forget SEO strategies. They have the ability to boost your ranking in search engines. You only need to focus on your website, know how you rank with https://serpbook.com, identify your weak areas and work on them while maximizing on your strong points. Most importantly, keep your target audience in mind to create a site that is unique, informative and readable. by Nick Throlson | Sep 4, 2018 | Off Topic
How To Drive Traffic To Your Blog Or Business WebsiteDriving traffic to your website is a lot easier than you think, but you might want some tips if you are not sure where to start. Everyone who wants to make a change in the way that their business website welcomes customers. You might want to have your site set up in a brand new way, or you could simply adjust your website based on these tips. - Use Tagging
Meta tagging is something that people often forget if they are running their sites on their own. Meta tagging allows search engines to find you, and meta-tagging should be used in all your articles. You will be happy with the way that people find your site, and you can see traffic increase if you spread out your meta tags to as many different keywords as possible. - Use Local SEO
Local SEO is a large part of the way that you will attract people to your site. You might want to use local city names, street names, and landmark names. You must create local SEO tags that will include local sayings, and you could tag yourself with the names of sports teams. You might prefer to Use Local SEO tags that include the names of partner businesses, and you could include any city or town that is nearby. Someone who wants to Use Local SEO must be very thorough because you never know who will find you because of these place names. - Use Affiliate Ads
You could use affiliate ads for your website by placing them all over the Internet. Someone who is a part of your affiliate ad program makes money every time someone comes to your site to buy something through the ad, and you will increase traffic because you have built up an affiliate program that sees your partners pitching your ads to their customers. - PPC Ads
PPC ads are a large part of your website, and you must purchase a PPC ad program that will pay you when people click. You are increasing your own profits, but you are showing your customers other places that might be interesting to them. You might think this takes people away from your site, but you must have partners who have ads for your site. They will help people get back to you, or you could place a stopper on the ad that asks people if they want to leave. - Be Consistent
You must be consistent when writing for your site. You cannot post to your site once a month hoping that people will be intrigued by what you said. You must have articles posted every day or two that people will want to read. You could have an RSS feed set up that will send people the articles that they want to read. You must keep your site as active as possible so that there is no lapse in their reading. - Create A Better URL
You must create a better URL that your readers will find simple to remember. You want them to be able to remember the name of your site easily, and you must build your URL around words that will be easy to spell. You might use the name of your product instead of the name of your business if the product is more popular. There are many people who will share the URL because they can remember how to spell it, and you will have more people come to the site because they remember the URL from seeing it just once. - Create Videos
You must create videos for your company that will point to your site. You could make something like a commercial that people will see on your brand?s YouTube Channel, and they will be more likely to come to your site because they liked the video. You should create videos on a regular basis so that people who subscribe to your YouTube channel will get a steady stream of videos that they want to see. Take an example of Youi?s YouTube Channel and start targeting your audience with more interesting content.- Start A Blog
You must create a blog for your business that makes it easier for people to interact with your site. They will be directed back to your site from the blog when they are done the reading, or you could put links to the site on your blog. Blogs are a good way to humanize your business, and the people who shop with your company will have instant access to you because of the blog. - Use Social Media
Social media allows you to connect with customers, and you could capture many different people who are on social media and have never heard of your business. They will connect with you no matter which platform you use, and you should use the social media platforms to connect to people who might not be in your target demographic. Also, you should be active on social media because you want people to talk to you. You could give customer service through the social media platform, and you could interact with other businesses because they are just as active as you are. - Make A Web Store
You must create a place where your customers can shop for all your products. They will stay on your site because they are shopping with you, and you must use the descriptions of all these products have the keywords that you want people to search for online. You must put ads in your web store, and you must create a place that your customers will want to visit repeatedly. If you allow people to build a cart on your site, they will come back often to see if it is time to check out. Conclusion There are a lot of people who will find that they can increase traffic to their site specifically by using the tips above. This means that many people will find your site if they have never heard of you, and you will see your profits rise because you have so much more traffic.
SEO can make your website discoverable over the internet and it is a compulsion to make your target audience find you. Yoast SEO plugin helps in auditing your website content to make it SEO-friendly. It is one of the best SEO plugin provided by WordPress with over 5 million installations. Although the basic version is free, the premium version costs you some money but it also provides you with a good return. You get one-year access to the support team plus expand the SEO scope to News, Video, Local and WooCommerce. 
Spam can be anything that comes from a very unreliable source and it generally degrades your website. This can be avoided through WordPress?s Akismet Anti-Spam plugin. It automatically deletes unhealthy content that comes in the form of comments and content form submissions. Another anti-spam plugin which is popular for its intelligent filtering is Spam combat. It allows the website owner to manually flag the content as Spam or Not Spam. 
Another must-have plugin for each and every WordPress website is JetPack and it also comes by default. It has ample of features to support your website from customization tools to site analytics and spam protection. Some of the other features include lazy image loading, high-speed CDN, and downtime-monitoring. This plugin has got everything to help you from the beginning until the very end. 
As the name suggests, Broken Link Checker is a plugin offered for WordPress sites to fix broken links. Dead or broken links are the links that do not redirect your visitor to a useful site page. And it is in the best interest of SEO to resolve such links as it impacts user experience. This plugin makes sure there are no more such links in your website by finding them and notifying you through email. ?
WP-Optimize works for cleaning and maintaining your site database. It runs an automatic clean-up at a fixed time scheduled by you to remove unnecessary data occupying your database. This ultimately helps your website run smoothly and efficiently. 
Image optimization is another part of SEO. Images with large dimensions are usually slow in loading and it creates a bad impression if your website if such images take forever to load. But the case is altogether different if you have WP Smush installed. It resizes and compresses your images to make it load faster and save up space. 
To ensure the integrity of the site, WordPress comes up with the WordFence Security plugin. It has some of the very important features like:
Caching improves both your website?s SEO as well as user experience. It enhances site performance and reduces download time. W3 Total Caches comes is with all the features to improve your site?s overall performance.
The uniqueness of this plugin is the aesthetic looks of social sharing icons that can help anyone stand out from the rest. Its lightweight code helps in loading icons quickly. Apart from this, it also allows you to display the count if your social shares. With the support of over 100 social media platforms, this is a must-have plugin for websites. 
The rise of NodeJS can be summed up in a single statement- what PHP was in the last decade, NodeJS is today. For a detailed review, we?ll need to dig deeper.Internet, since its inception, has come a long way both in terms of how users connect and the services they use. If we talk about connectivity, dial-up connections and privately managed servers have been replaced by broadband and cloud while a similar seismic shift can be observed in services. But until recently, one aspect largely remained untouched- how those services worked. The browser sends a request to the server, to which server responds and waits for another request. While this architecture worked well in the early days, it now poses a two-edged problem:
