Tag Archives: blogging

ideas for new blog

5 Ideas For Your New Blog

Blogging Tips, ,

If you want to start a blog, you have a lot of things to consider. You’ll have to choose a platform, figure out how to get started, compile content, and work on design, and each of those steps usually takes a little longer than you might expect! But before you even get to any of that, you have to make the most crucial decision of all: what are you actually going to be blogging about?

You may already know the answer to this question, if the idea was what inspired you to start a site in the first place. But if you’re merely curious about the idea of running a blog, or you’re looking to practice your writing or design skills, or even if you’re looking for a little bit of side income, you might be in need of an idea. There are innumerable options, but here are a few specific concepts that might get your wheels turning.

Just Start Writing

wordpress post dashboard

Sometimes the material comes before a concrete idea. That might make your blog a little bit disorganized at first, but you may ultimately discover that you stumble on a regular subject, or find your niche. A lot of blogs start off almost like personal journals and wind up settling into more specific focal points, either because an audience responded to a given idea or opinion, or because the writer just happens to zero in on something. It’s not the most concrete idea, but sometimes you really are best off if you just start writing.

Review What You Know

Some of the best blogs out there are those that turn writers’ personal opinions into expert takes for audiences. Film is one common example that comes to mind. There are lots of film blogs out there, run by everyone from freelance contributors to professional critics. And if you feel like you know movies well enough to comment on them, there may be room for you in this genre. The same can be said of books, music, comic books, or even political speeches. The trick here is finding an angle that isn’t being done yet. For instance, you could see if anyone out there is reviewing movies in 300 words or less, or gear each review toward answering a specific question like “is it a date movie?” or “is this how you should spend your Friday night?”

Review What You Try

You can also start a blog simply commenting on things you try, like products, businesses, professional services, etc. We live in a time in which consumers actually depend quite heavily on the opinions of others when making purchases. Just think of all the Yelp and Amazon reviews you’ve probably sifted through in your time. It can be a little difficult to gain a following as a reliable critical voice, but reviewing things you try can be surprisingly fun, and can definitely keep you busy. If you go about it in a professional manner (but with some personal touch) and grow your blog strategically, you may just gain a following.

Latch Onto A Booming Business

If you have the knowledge and capability to write about a new or popular business that’s already capturing people’s attention, it can be a great way to start a blog. One that comes to mind from recent years is daily fantasy sports, or “DFS” sites. The DFS industry has undergone scrutiny from government and lawmakers regarding its legality, but it’s persevered to the point that it now appears ready to last. And everyone wants DFS advice. If you can comment regularly and intelligently, you can have a successful blog on your hands. The same holds true for any number of other new businesses. Think Bitcoin exchanges, virtual reality headsets, mobile game developers, and anything else trendy these days.

Document A Journey

In one very thorough write-up of different types of popular blogs, it was suggested that “The Guide” is among the better options. The idea here is to guide readers through an aspect of their lives, be it a fitness routine, spiritual journey, or whatever else may come to mind. People enjoy reading about progress, and in many cases use it for inspiration. Documenting anything from a weight loss effort to a quest to travel around the world can capture people’s interest and earn you a following that few other subjects are worthy of.

wordpress widgets to boost blog visibility

7 Free Widgets to Boost your Startup WordPress Blog’s Visibility

Blogging Tips, Wordpress Guide, , ,

WordPress widget is basically a small block which is designed to perform a unique function. You can easily add such widgets in sidebars of your web page. These areas are available for widgets.

The widgets on WordPress were designed basically to provide a user-friendly and interactive way of giving total control to structure and design of your WordPress theme. You can easily drag and drop the widgets in a specific area. All you need to go to Appearance > Widgets section to check the list of widgets available and widget area in WordPress dashboard.

With the help of widgets in WordPress, you can easily add features and content in the widget areas of the theme that is generally sidebar. But these widget areas can be found in the footer, header, sidebar, or below the content, or any area in the theme. The widget areas available in your theme may vary according to the specific theme.

Most of the wordpress themes are widget ready and they are likely to have several widget areas. Themes are generally not needed to have areas for the widget. If widget areas are not found in your theme, it is sure that the theme doesn’t support widgets.

You can find several kinds of widgets available. By default, WordPress has several widgets, such as tag cloud, categories, calendar, navigation menu, recent posts, search etc. If recent post widget is dragged into the widget area, it can have the recent posts listed.

Generally, widgets are separate areas which contain codes to perform a specific and predefined function. Plugins also add their signature widgets to provide added the control to the user over the display of its functions. For example, OIO Publisher is a plugin widget which lets users add a separate banner ad area in the widget areas.

In this guide, I am going to introduce you to seven WordPress widgets that are quite useful and can help increase the visibility of your site in different ways.

1. Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails

Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails

WordPress features a recent posts widget by default. It showcases a simple list of recent posts. With the help of Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails, you can easily show recent posts in your blog with thumbnails. For a thumbnail, it adds the first image in your post or a featured image. From the settings screen of widget, you can easily adjust the width and height of the image.

It is a simple and light widget that comes with plenty of options. It is based on the widely used default widget on WordPress “Recent Posts”. But it is extended to show more details on the posts like excerpts, thumbnails, and assigned categories.

It will add thumbnails from featured image or from the first image of the content on WordPress blog. If you don’t have a content image or featured image, it can let you show a default thumbnail. You can easily set its alignment. The thumbnail basically is aligned left to the post titles if they are featured in left-to-right languages. Otherwise, it will be aligned on right side.

2. Category Posts

Category Posts wordpress widget

As the name implies, this widget does nothing but simply shows recent posts from the category you select. It can also let you show post titles in the list or show thumbnail and excerpt. When it is used with Display Widgets, you can easily see the hidden widgets on specific WordPress pages.

With the help of Category Posts widget, you can easily place the list of posts linked from the same category in widget area or sidebar. You should activate “Williams Category Post Widgets” to use Category Posts widget.

Here are some of the most common uses of Category Posts widget –

  • You can make a menu-like widget in the sidebar in which posts are linked in a category.
  • Add thumbnail images and display a random post from any category you choose.
  • Show dates on time-based elements like News & Latest Announcements.

Here are some of the Common Features –

  • Change all Short Code options easily in customizer
  • Supports several short codes
  • Added option to use multiple widgets one after another for post offset
  • In order to edit shortcode, it can add customizer link on admin bar with just one click
  • Insert Shortcode buttons added to editor
  • Lets users to set dimensions and show post thumbnail by height and width.
  • Responsive Layouts with fluid images
  • Set hover effects for thumbnail
  • Enable excerpt filters from plugins and themes
  • Supports “Social Buttons on Posts” of Jetpack
  • Added option to activate excerpt filters from plugins and themes
  • Thumbnail can be set as default thumbnail
  • Change posts ordering.
  • Disable banner, social buttons in excerpt.

3. Simple Social Icons

Simple Social Icons

This widget is really very easy to add social icons to the sidebars. The widget’s settings include all the configuration options. You can pick the social media icon to link and add URLs of your profile. The icon can also be modified by choosing icon font color and background. By far, it is the best widget to add social icons. It is a customizable, user-friendly way to show icons with which visitors can be linked to several social profiles. By using it, one can easily customize size and color of icons, profiles to link to, and you can also align them to center, left or right from the widget form.

4. Google Maps Widget

Google Maps Widget

Fed up of slow and lagging Google Maps default plugins that take forever to install? The Google Maps widget gives the ideal map with a light-box and thumbnail that can be set up in minutes.

Google Maps Widget is the shortest and easiest way to integrate a map on the sidebar of your WordPress site. You can easily display Google Map in the empty area with this simple widget. So, when someone clicks on the map, it will open a lightbox popup to display a larger view of the map. To display location and address of your business, it is the best WordPress widget.

5. Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget

With the help of Testimonials Widget, you can randomly list or slide selected quotes, portfolios, texts, or reviews with videos or images on your blog. You can simply add testimonials through theme functions, shortcode, or widgets with tag and category selections and have several options to display, including specific or random ordering. For improved search results, Review Schema is also inbuilt.

The Testimonials Widget can easily add social proofing to the website. It can help you slide or list reviews through short-codes, functions or widgets. All in all, it is more than a typical Testimonials slider.

Key Features

  • Fade, carousel and slide transitions
  • Random display
  • Filter slideshow content through tags, categories or post ID of WordPress
  • Responsive Image Slideshow
  • Styled well for adapting easy theme
  • Slide content which is rendered with short-codes and compatible with shortcodes, such as Gravity Forms and WordPress galleries.
  • Slide text which is vital to rotate testimonials
  • Slide images which conduct responsive slideshow
  • Shortcode and widget ready
  • Performs video slideshows

 

6. Image Widget

Image Widget

Without writing HTML in a text widget, you cannot add an image to the sidebar. But it causes issues for the beginners who don’t know HTML and are unable to style image. But this problem is fixed with Image Widget. Users can easily add an image with WordPress media uploader. It also provides a user interface to add alt text, caption, and choose the image size. It is a simple widget which uses the default media manager of WordPress to add an image to your site.

Key Features

  • Manages image alignment and resizing
  • MU supported
  • Description & Title
  • Link image
  • It has given all fields optional.
  • Link to External Image, upload, or choose an image from media storage with the in-built Thickbox browser.
  • Responsive
  • You can override template for the theme

7. YouTube Channel Gallery

YouTube Channel Gallery

With the help of this widget, you can easily show latest videos on your blog from your YouTube channel directly. All the videos will be arranged perfectly in a grid layout which is also space efficient and makes it look more appealing. First of all, you have to setup and activate YouTube Channel Gallery plugin. Once the plugin is activated, display latest videos through “Appearance> Widgets” in a sidebar widget. Just drag and drop this widget to the sidebar.

This widget is very configurable. So, you have to install it. First of all, you have to provide a playlist ID or user ID in widget’s feed tab. To set thumbnail and player sizes, click on thumbnails and player tabs. Save changes once everything is done. YouTube can also work as HTML5 Player for mobile devices by using IFrame Player API of YouTube.

Summary

We hope you liked this post and it would help you pick the best WordPress widget to improve your site ranking and visibility as per your needs. By using the above widgets, you can easily improve your website’s overall presence and make it as lightweight as possible to attract visitors.

Instagram Maximize User Engagement

Instagram Tips To Maximize User Engagement

Blogging Tips, how to, ,

The Instagram social network has an average of 4.2 billion image likes every day and this can only increase as the platform continues to grow in popularity. If you are marketing a business, brand or website, it’s imperative that you include Instagram in the mix.

As with any marketing campaign, when you create visual content for your brand on Instagram you should focus on your target audience as much as possible. According to data compiled for a new infographic by website builder, more than 80% of the users live outside the United States and this includes several non-English speaking countries. About 19.22% of Instagram users are from the USA. For an international brand, this is, of course, a benefit. The fact that images are also the focus, helps break any language barriers you might face with other types of advertising.

Research suggests that if you can attract the right audience, at least 5% of them will take action to visit the website, share the post or shop for products, depending on your call to action.

Instagram Tips To Maximize User Engagement

Here are 5 tips to help you get started:

#1 Always use relevant hashtags

Without an easy way to find your post, your marketing efforts will go unnoticed. This is where the hashtags become useful. When you use popular hashtags relevant to your business, your post will be found by those who search for hashtags. A single hashtag in a post can increase the engagement by 12.6%. When you use hashtags, you can use 5-10 per post, but don’t go overboard as this will cloud your caption and might come across as spammy.

#2 Use the best images in every post

instagram best image

On Instagram, the appeal is purely visual and you should never ignore its importance. Even the best image can become useless if you don’t understand how your image is scaled by the app. Instagram now allows high-resolution pictures, but it scales down the images to 612 x 612 pixels. Brighter pictures garner 592% more likes and cool colors are widely preferred.

#3 Create contests on Instagram

50% of users follow at least one business and customers always enjoy free giveaways. Holding contests and giving away prizes is one of the tried and tested methods to improve engagement. When you create a contest campaign, you should be specific about what you expect the customer to do and what they will get in return. You can use these contests to increase likes, shares, and tags. Your contest should always contain a specific hashtag that is easy to share and remember.

#4 Use stories to establish brand personality

Recently, Instagram launched a snap chat-like feature, allowing you to create Instagram stories. You can write over unfiltered images and videos and post them as stories. These will be shown for 24 hours and it is a great way to increase engagement. The users can also create their own stories and videos using your content and this will engage them even more. Use these stories to define the personality of your brand. You can also provide time-limited offers exclusively for Instagram users using these stories.

#5 Cross promote on different platforms

On top of Instagram, your business should at least have a Facebook and Twitter account. These social media platforms allow cross-promotion which is useful for keeping your audience within your network. You can use the engagement features of other platforms to drive traffic to your Instagram posts and vice versa.

seo onpage optimization tools

Top SEO On-Page Optimization Tools For Websites

Blogging Tips, ,

Every SEO professional works for the betterment of the website over the web. For this, he uses many SEO tools and techniques to optimize the site adequately and gathers more and more traffic for it. Among all the finest search engine optimization activities, On Page optimization is a right strategy that helps in good analysis of website’s performance at major search engines and other social media channels as well. It can be done by using some useful search engine tools. Thus, every webmaster needs to have depth knowledge about search engine tools used for On page activity of a website.

For On Page optimization of a website, there are many vital search engine optimization tools available, which can help you do better analysis of a site’s technical aspects, keywords, broken links, content quality, page speed, and a lot more. All you can check by using relevant On Page SEO tools as follows:

SEO On-Page Optimization Tools

Technical Analysis: For technical analysis of the website, following SEO tools are useful:

  • Google Webmaster Tool: This is a suite of Google SEO tools that help webmasters to control data and configuration of the site on Google.
  • BetterGraph Website Analyzer: This tool is effective in checking SEO related issues in the website like its ranking, meta tags, speed, etc.
  • Screaming Frog: This is an SEO spider tool used in crawling a website and also makes its audit easier.


Keyword Analysis:For Keyword Analysis of the website, following tools are useful:

  • Google AdWords Keyword Planner: This tool is used for checking the traffic generated for a targeted keyword of the site and also helps in finding more relevant keywords for it.
  • Jet SEO Keyword Density Checker: This tool allows you check the density of keyword in the content of the web page as well as review the site correctly.

Broken Link Analysis: For broken link analysis on the site, following tool is useful.

  • Broken Link Checker : With the help of this SEO tool, you can easily check the broken or dead links on your website. The tool enables you to scan an unlimited number of webpages and their links as well. It allows you to find the exact location of broken links on the site. This tool gives you the flexibility to check the quality of the links on the site manually. The tool is useful in validating both internal and external URLs and also points error codes in bad URLs.

Copied Content Analysis

Every SEO requires original content for optimization of a website or its keywords at major search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Google, etc. So, it’s important to do a proper analysis of content in terms of its quality and plagiarism. There are many free online tools available to check the plagiarized content.

  • Copyscape Plagiarism Checker: This tool is specifically used for checking plagiarism of the content on the site or web pages. Moreover, it can also be useful in preventing content theft and content fraud on the website. It offers a manual check for content duplicity on the site on a daily or weekly basis.
  • Siteliner: This is a free service SEO tool which enables webmasters to check various things on a site such as duplicate content, broken links, page power, reports, etc. For content, this tool is very useful, as it checks content very well and warns for its plagiarism easily.
  • Jet SEO Plagarism Tools: This tool is effective in finding internal and external duplicate content for specific web pages. It extracts the duplicate content in the text from both internal and external ends of pages and indicates for them explicitly.

Page Speed

Page speed is also an important factor in the performance of a website. It’s necessary to be checked the speed of web page to download on devices of any sizes like mobile, desktop, tablet, etc. Usually, page score of a website ranges between 0 to 100 points. If a page scores 85 or more then its means it has a good page speed.

  • Google PageSpeed Insights Tool: This is a well-known page speed tool used for checking the speed of a website. This tool helps in making a webpage fast to access
  • GTmetrix : It is a very popular tool that analyzes your page speed performance.

Thus, above SEO tools are very useful in On Page optimization of a website and also helps in generating more traffic for it.

Conclusion:

Doing On Page optimization of a website is easy with the help of relevant SEO tools that are useful in analyzing the worth of a site at various parameters like technical, page speed, keyword density, content quality, and a lot more.