This new addition to your job description can be a bit daunting if you have never dealt with the WordPress platform before. The good news is that there is a relatively gentle learning curve involved in picking up the basics. The problem is that your boss might assume that you already know this stuff, so they could fail to offer you any training – not to worry. Here are the 11 things your boss expects you to know about WordPress:

1. A WordPress blog is a way to interact with existing customers and attract new customers. It encourages people to keep talking about your products or services, and you can even use it as a tool to get your readers to promote your business for you.
2. The hard-sell tactic does not work well on blogs. People will not be interested in your content if they believe that you are purely advertising products and services. The reader needs to feel that the content you offer is useful to them in some way, and they are likely to be too internet savvy to fall for thinly disguised advertisements. In order for your company blog to be successful, you will need to think carefully about what content will benefit your customers.
3. One of the keys to a successful website is to choose the right theme – this is the template that determines the design of the blog. WordPress offers a good choice of free themes that are easy to install, but it is usually better to pay for a custom theme as this will give your site a far more professional look. First impressions do count, and the first thing that visitors to your blog are going to notice will be the theme. If you’re looking for a new theme then we have a variety of themes to offer!
4. There are two versions of WordPress – wordpress.com and wordpress.org. The wordpress.com platform comes with free web hosting, but this option is better for hobby bloggers because there are limits on what you can do with this platform. The WordPress.org option offers more functionality but has a higher level of technical knowledge required, the main benefit being that you can choose from thousands of plugins and custom themes. When people use wordpress.org they will also have to pay for hosting for the website.
5. The WordPress online community is a great resource to turn to if you have any problems with the platform.
6. A website needs to have its own domain name in order for it to seem professional. This means that if people do want to use wordpress.com, they should definitely consider paying for domain mapping. Domain mapping means you will be able to use the domain name you select and not the one provided by WordPress.
7. If you use the self hosted (wordpress.org) version of WordPress then you will get access to thousands of powerful plugins which offer many useful functions. It’s a good idea to learn more about what’s available.
8. It is often said that content is king online. This means that the bloggers should put a good deal of effort into creating readable content that benefits from good spelling and grammar. I’d recommend the Jetpack plugin to help with this – it’s a free plugin by the team from WordPress.com – and it includes a spelling and grammar checker.
9. It is unlikely that many people will read your blog unless you make the effort to promote it. This means learning how to use social media like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter from where you can add links back to your website.
10. It is a good idea to learn a bit about search engine optimisation (SEO), so that you can create content that is going to do well in the search engines. Many businesses, which are serious about performing well online, will pay for SEO services, but you have to be really careful with the company you select. They could do more harm than good – so it’s a good idea to read up on best practices and things not to do. I’d recommend starting with Googles webmaster guidelines.
11. In order for a blog to be successful it needs to have fresh content added regularly. Create a website content strategy and stick to it!

The post 11 Things Your Boss Expects You to Know About WordPress appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

Reasons for Creating a Blog Plan

There are a number of good reasons for why you will benefit from having a blog plan, including:

• This will create a strategy for your blog.
• It will mean that you will have a clear idea about how you are going to go ahead in the future.
• It will keep you focused on your audience.
• The plan will make it easier for you to decide on what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

How to Create a Blog Plan

There are a few key things to decide when creating your blogging plan:

• The first thing you need to do is define your audience. Who are they? What are their hobbies? Why are they interested in your website? How old are they? Create some example users – and it will make it easier to decide what content to develop.
• You need to decide on a realistic goal. What do you want to do with your blog?
• The plan needs to contain clear steps (mini goals) that will help you reach your goal. It is better to have too many steps than too few because each time you complete a step it will give your motivation a boost. The fact that you have many steps will also break your journey down into more manageable chunks.
• You need a content plan. How often will you blog? What sort of things will you blog about?
• This plan should also include your social media strategy – what social channels will you use? How often will you update them? How will you update them? I would recommend experimenting initially – and then ultimately picking 1 or 2 channels to focus on. Refer back to your user personas and think about the channels your audience use the most.

How to Stick to Your Blog Plan

Writing a blog plan can be as simple or as complex as you like – so you always need to be realistic. Ensure you develop something you will stick to.

Unfortunately many (including myself) will write a blog plan, and then never look at it again. There’s a lot of benefit in just doing the initial research (simply because you’ve now defined your audience so know who to target) however you will do better if you work hard to stick to your plan.

A nice way to do this is to give yourself small targets and then celebrate each time you complete one. Another thing to do is to create a schedule. For example you might decide to post one article a week (as I do here on Pro Theme Design). Once you get into a routine it becomes much easier, and then you can look to adjust the routine.

Measure and Improve

One thing that’s worth doing is evaluating your plan. Once a month look back over your plan and see what you’ve done, what works and what didn’t. Look at what content is popular and plan more of it, likewise do less of the things that didn’t do so well. Measurement is important so use a service such as Google Analytics.

Have you made a blog content plan? What do you do to stay on target and ensure success?

The post Website Content Strategy – Write a Blog Plan and Stick to It appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

1. Not Updating the Blog on a Regular Basis

One of the worst blogging mistakes you can make is never, or rarely, updating your blog post. Leaving your blog to stagnate interferes with your rankings in the search engines, and creates a negative effect on your readership as your site readers might think that the blog is no longer in use. If you want your blog to be useful, you should post fresh content or information on it regularly. For the best result, you can make your postings on a daily or weekly basis (which is what I’ve started doing here on Pro Theme Design – hopefully you think it’s working! ).

2. Blogging for Money

If you create your blog with the main intention of making money out of it straight away, then there is a high chance that you will be disappointed. It’s true that you can earn money from blogging, even make a living from it, but that shouldn’t be your main aim when starting out. Avoid taking blogging as a job or a get-rich-quick scheme and focus on building a community around your content. It takes a lot of time and dedication to build a profitable site – you need to build a tribe of stable and trusted visitors who like your content and then the money will build naturally.

3. Not Replying to Comments

As I mentioned above – creating a tribe or community is very important in your blogging efforts. If you don’t have dedicated users who interact with, and share, your content then your site will not grow as you want. Replying to comments is an essential element of community building. Blogging is a two-way thing – so when your readers post comments on your blog – you should always make an effort to reply to them. This will encourage and motivate them to visit more regularly and to interact more in the future.

4. Posting Copied Content

Posting copied content on your blog not only shows how unprofessional you are, but also puts off potential visitors. Even if you are working on the same topic as your competitors, do not duplicate or copy content posted on other blogs. You have to come up with unique and original content capable of providing relevant information and entertainment to your readers. If you don’t do anything unique then there will be no reason for your readers to come to you over your competition.

5. Not Using Images

A blog without images looks bland and unattractive. To make your post attractive to potential visitors, you should post include images that relate to your topic. Apart from adding beauty to your blog, images also play a major role in keeping readers engaged by providing them with psychological and visual breaks. They’re generally the thing people look at first (after the headline) so it’s worth making them look good. A couple of weeks ago I posted about some sites where you can get royalty free images for your site.

6. Being Impatient

One of the common mistakes often made by many bloggers is being impatient. They expect to get hundreds of visitors within a week or a month after they start blogging. When they fail to get many visitors within such a short time, they get disappointed and quit. As a professional blogger, you should know that it takes time for a blog to grow and command a strong readership. It takes many months, even years, to grow to a profitable size. Blogging is definitely a task that requires time and dedication to succeed.

7. Failing to Interact With Other Bloggers

For your blog to get noticed easily, you should interact regularly with other bloggers in your field. The simplest way to do this is by commenting and creating conversation on their blogs. You can also reach out to other like-minded bloggers by sending trackbacks or linking out to them – or talking via Twitter and Facebook. Do anything you can to interact and build a community and in turn your new-found contacts may one day return the favour and help you out as well.

Do you have any other tips you would like to share? What lessons have you learnt from your blogging experiences?

The post Why Your Blogging Never Works Out the Way You Plan appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

The default WordPress installation permits unlimited login attempts on a website’s administrative page, making the platform particularly susceptible to malicious brute-force attacks.

Recently there have been a series of brute force hacking attempts on WordPress sites – Ars Technica have a detailed article covering the attacks. This seems to be a concerted effort with no real target beyond causing trouble and, as such, a lot of web hosts are taking pro-active steps to address the issue. However if your host isn’t protecting you – or even just for your own peace of mind – there are still things that can be done to improve the situation – and I want to mention one of them today.

Login Vulnerabilities

The rise of hackers, malicious users and botnets targeting WordPress login pages has made brute-force attacks a common security vulnerability. Typically, most websites now have limited login attempts. If a user enters their password incorrectly a number of times, they are either locked out from entering any further attempts for a period of time (usually around 30 seconds) or additional security measures are used e.g. CAPTCHA.

Bruce-force attacks can be deterred by these additional security steps as they rely on constantly trying different passwords before they find the right one. However, as WordPress allows unlimited login attempts, any sites powered by the CMS are particularly vulnerable to various brute-force methods.

The Limit Login Solution

For WordPress the solution is the Limit Login Attempts plugin. Since the worldwide hack attempt started last week the Limit Login Attempts plugins install numbers have grown considerably, and it’s been getting a lot of good press of Twitter.

When installed, the plugin blocks an IP address from making multiple login attempts when a limit is reached. Administrators can limit the number of attempts which are permitted as well as set the lockout time duration and how long it takes until retries are reset. Also, when a certain amount of lockouts occur from the same IP address, the plugin is able to log the offending IP attempting to gain access and can automatically email an alert to administrators letting them know that someone is trying to access their website.

Of course, multiple failed login attempts don’t necessarily mean that the website is currently being attacked and it could be the result of a user forgetting their password. Although it isn’t advisable, the plugin can be configured to ‘whitelist’ certain IPs from trusted users so they can make multiple login attempts without being locked out.

Don’t Underestimate Password Security

Website security should always be treated as a high priority. Administrators are urged to create a password with as many different characters as possible to safeguard their WordPress website. However, as some brute-force attacks are powered by huge botnets which are capable of trying dozens of different passwords a minute before gaining access, Limit Login Attempts is a much more pertinent security solution. Although WordPress is constantly being updated to fix compromises and vulnerabilities, administrators should consider adding as many layers of security as possible to safeguard their website.

The post Limit Login Attempts appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

The truth is, a little monetary return for your hobby can only add to the smile to your face. WordPress isn’t purely a platform for expression, it can be a platform where that expression gets rewarded. Here’s a few ways you can earn some money from your passion.

1. For those with a knack for writing, blogging is the easiest way to go about it. And with the many options that WordPress provides, blogging can generate considerable monetary gains. The main source of earning, of course, is the money that comes from banner ads, text ads, video ads and all other forms of advertisements that exist online. The simplest ad network to start with is Google Adsense. It’s easy to create an account, install an Adsense plugin, and have ads your site. It only takes a few minutes and you can be earning money. Getting started is very simple but keep in mind that to earn a lot of money through advertising isn’t so straight forward. You need a decent amount of visitors reading your content to be able to earn a reasonable living. In my experience Adsense earns about $1 per thousand page impressions – which isn’t amazing. There are bigger ad networks around so with research and effort it’s possible to earn more.
2. Internet marketing is another way to make money from WordPress, which you can do by helping users promote their WordPress blogs online. If you are not much inclined towards creating your own content, helping others in promoting theirs is a good way to earn some cash.
3. Website owners and bloggers using WordPress are always looking for variety when it comes to the layout and design of their site or blog. If you are into designing or programming, you can offer these owners or publishers a range of services. Designing and customising new templates for owners of WordPress sites is an option. Creating themes and modifying existing ones can be a well-paying gig. As you can tell it’s the option I took all those years ago – Pro Theme Design wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for WordPress. Of course creating a WordPress themes site isn’t easy – and there’s no guarantee of success. There’s dozens of theme shops online but I imagine you’ve only heard of a handful of them – so you’ll need to be good at marketing or have a big online following in order to be able to make a dent in what is already a massive market.
4. Many WordPress owners like to add to the functionality of the site for commercial purposes. Whereas WordPress is originally a blogging platform, a bit of tweaking and a couple of plugins later and you can use it as an e-commerce store. Using this simple platform you could soon set up an online shop for your bricks and mortar store – or you could hire yourself out as an e-commerce specialist.
5. Offering simple services such as converting existing website or blogs that currently run on a different platform over to WordPress is also a skill that could bring home a decent amount of money. Potential customers will pay you to move the content, redirect URLs and so on to prevent loss of traffic. This will need good interpersonal skills and a fair element of salesmanship. The people who want these things done for them are often not the most technically savvy – so you will need to be able to clearly explain what you’re doing and why.

Making money from your involvement with the Internet is a possibility. Making money from your involvement with WordPress, however, is a sure thing, if you know exactly how to apply your skills.

The post 5 Ways WordPress can Make you Rich appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

When choosing a subject for your next blog post you clearly need to narrow your focus in to the central purpose of your blog and, first, ask yourself whether your intended post falls within the subject area covered by your blog. Next, you need to consider your audience, and make sure that the material you are proposing to present to your readers will not only interest them, but also be to their benefit. Finally, if you are running a business online, and selling products or services, you need to think about whether your content, however interesting it is, is going to add to your marketing plan.

Now that may not seem too difficult, but you can still do more harm than good, if your blog article includes content that touches on any of these 7 topics.

1. Topics covered by your competitors. Many of your readers will also be visiting your competitors’ sites, and the last thing they want to see is the same content that they can read elsewhere appearing on your site. Give your visitors fresh content that they simply cannot find anywhere else. This alone will give them a reason to come back to your site.

2. Topics of a political nature. It is very easy to be drawn into a political discussion about almost any subject you can think of, and this usually results in laying the blame for something at the Government’s door. Many people hold strong political views, and it is very easy to upset them, without meaning to do so.

3. Topics of a religious nature. Just as many people hold strong political views, so to do many people feel very deeply about religion. This too is another area that should be firmly off-limits when writing a piece for your blog.

4. Topics of a controversial nature. As with politics and religion, there are also several topics that can be said to be controversial, and to provoke vigorous, and often very heated, debate. The list is too long to details all the topics here, but includes such things as abortion, gay rights and the death penalty.

5. Topics including comment on natural disasters. It is not uncommon for people to use a natural disaster to attract a reader’s attention, simply because natural disasters are trending and popular topics, that themselves draw an audience. By it’s very nature a natural disaster brings death, suffering and misery to a significant proportion of the population, and this is not something that you should exploit to further the aims of your website, or wider business.

6. Topics of a purely personal nature. If you wish to get personal with your audience, perhaps on a one-to-one basis, than a platform such as Facebook is better suited to this than the pages of your own blog. Starting up a discussion about home remedies for flu, based upon your own child’s recent illness, is fine on Facebook, but most of your blog readers will not be comfortable with such a discussion on your web site.

7. Topics that you have previously covered. Most webmasters get lazy from time to time, and it is often easier to write a post based around something you wrote a few months ago, and not come up with something new and fresh. The problem is that your readers may well end up with a sense of déjà vu reading your latest post, when they really wanted to come away feeling that they had learned something new.

Unless your blog is about one of the topics mentioned here, then avoiding these 7 topics will go a long way towards keeping you out of trouble with your visitors.

The post 7 Blog Topics To Avoid appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

Here are some facts about blogging that would get you to write posts while burning the midnight lamp.

1. Over 75% of people who use the Internet read blogs. According to a survey conducted in 2011, there are over 181 million blogs that get around 1.3 million comments every day – that number will have gone up massively by now!
2. The blogging population is growing rapidly and there are now 31% more bloggers than there were three years ago. With services like WordPress.com and Tumblr.com the it shows no signs of slowing – now anyone can create a blog – and many do.
3. Over 60 % businesses have a blog which shows the acceptance that blogging has created in the business world. The best of these blogs are used to create a rapport with their audience – not only advertising products, but also giving away information and pulling in new fans.
4. Blog articles influence buyers’ decisions. With people becoming increasingly Internet-savvy, they like to read product reviews and recommendations online. Moreover, shopping has also become online, which makes these reviews even more important. Before placing an order for the latest bestseller novel or a home appliance, a buyer is likely to read reviews on multiple blogs and review websites. Companies, as a result, are approaching bloggers to write reviews for their products.
5. Bloggers generally prefer to read in the morning. Statistics state that over 80 % people prefer to read blogs in the morning and the highest readership is around 10 am. Why don’t you try scheduling your blog posts for earlier in the morning (or very late at night) so that you can catch these early readers.
6. A blog is considered a base that works like an anchor for all other social media tools. It serves as a platform where one can express freely without any word limit restrictions and make an impact. Whether it is about sharing thoughts or opinions, a blog gives you the space to express.
7. A blog can build a solid online reputation for your expert skills. There are many bloggers who are considered to be experts in the fields they blog. Their blogs command attention from the readers and offer the most trustworthy information on the subject.
8. Blogging is a “proven business model”. Therefore, it is the perfect launch pad for you if you are looking to expand a business or launch a new one, start with a blog. It gives you the perfect base from which you can decide on how to define your new business model on your own. Many use WordPress just for it’s blogging – but it’s actually a very powerful content management system and can be used for all elements of a website. In fact WordPress isn’t just for blogs and can be used to create some very complex websites (check out WPVote.com – it’s powered by our theme Nominate).
9. Companies who post more than 51 articles in a month have experienced a 77% increase in their monthly leads. Can you manage that many articles? That’s nearly 2 a day!
10. 40% bloggers have a secondary income from their blogs. The simplest methods for earning money with a blog are through advertising, and marketing affiliate products. Adsense is the simplest ad solution and anyone can sign up for it – but it doesn’t necessarily make the most money so it may be worth looking for alternatives.
11. 27% bloggers are full-time bloggers and there are over 11% for whom the primary source of income is their blog. Is that you?

With such astounding facts to fall back on, blogging, undoubtedly, is not about maintaining an online journal anymore. People are looking for meaningful content online, and blogs are one source where they get relevant and good content.

The post 11 Facts About Blogging That Will Keep You Up At Night appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

Colours are usually grouped into primary colours (red, yellow, blue), secondary colours (a combination of primary colours – e.g. red + yellow = orange), and tertiary colours (made from other combinations). Strictly speaking, black and white are not considered true colours, but are essential components of the colour palette. Colours are also classified by their ‘heat’; red, yellow and orange are considered ‘warm’ colours, whilst black, white and blue are viewed as ‘cold’.

Most people have a favourite combination of colours, but many are unaware that colours can affect our moods, and convey subtle messages to others. Think about some well-known brands, and the colours associated with them, and you can get an idea of how colours can convey a lot about an organisation. Certain colour combinations can also affect how we perceive a brand. Plenty of research has been done into this psychology of colour, with interesting conclusions. Take a look at these examples:

• Red: Vibrant, exciting, encouraging action, but if overused, it can also be overwhelming, so it’s better used to accent another colour
• Blue: Conveys sensitivity and loyalty, and implies a corporate image, but can also appear cool.
• Yellow: Cheerful, implying happiness and optimism, but can be overpowering, so again, it is better used for accent.
• Green: The colour of nature, so it implies a natural ambience, and aids relaxation. It can imply conservatism.
• Orange: Similar to red, but with a less strident impact. Warm and cheerful.
• Purple: Associated with royalty, so implies wealth and sumptuousness, but not a colour associated with nature.
• Black: Can convey sophistication and professionalism, but can also be viewed as mournful and repressive.
• White: The colour of purity and cleanliness, but also considered a winter colour, implying coldness.

When thinking about a colour palette for your blog, it’s important to think carefully about the theme of your blog, and the identity you want to project to your readers. Of course, we have already done a lot of the legwork around this concept, and for our most recent themes, Opti and Mimbo Pro, we provide you with colour picker options so that you can make your website look exactly how you want. This is a concept we will continue with moving forwards – introducing it to all of our new themes.

It’s really worth taking a look at some blogs and websites, especially those of well-known companies, and considering what their choice of colour scheme conveys. Experiment with ideas of your own and find something that fits the theme and emotions you want to convey. By paying close attention to your use of colour, you can make your blog a more powerful tool.

The post Mastering the Psychology of Colour Theory in Web Design appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

1. Facebook official plugin

It took a while but last year Facebook released an official plugin for WordPress that covers all the major functionality you would need from a facebook plugin, covering comments, like buttons, social graph integration, recommendations – the works. If you’re interested in Facebook then you could also check out my bloggers guide to Facebook.

2. My Pinterest Badge

Pinterest is growing in popularity rapidly – and the My Pinterest Badge plugin makes the most of this by giving you a widget to add to your blog that displays your recent pins.

3. Simply Instagram

Instagram was purchased by Facebook last year for a crazy amount of money. It’s a great way to build an audience around your content – although it’s not great in all situations (I’ve yet to work out a way to use it for Pro Theme Design ). The Simply Instagram plugin adds widgets and shortcodes for integrating Instagram into your blog in pretty much any way you can imagine – so if you have an Instagram account it would be well worth taking a look.

4. Artiss Social Bookmarks

Artiss Social Bookmarks offers links to about 270 social networks – which is more than any other plugin till now. The best thing is that the supported networks also include many Russian, Chinese and Japanese websites.

5. Floating Social Media Icon

Floating Social Media Icon connects your website to your profiles on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, RSS Feed, Google + and LinkedIn. You have the option to use social media widgets or you can choose to have the icons appear automatically from top left to bottom right when the visitor scrolls through the page.

6. iLike Social Media Optimization

With this plugin, you can enable and customise your social profile buttons that are powered by AddThis.com. However, it comes with a slight enhanced feature which you can enable or disable to earn more traffic to your social network profile. The standard buttons include Google +, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. iLike Social Media Optimization plugin’s best feature is its very simple installation process.

7. Social Media Tabs

Social Media Tabs allows creating of widgets that add sliding tabs with each social network profile. You can insert the tabs to either a specified widget area on the blog or set it to slide out on the margin of the browser.

8. Sociable

This is one of the most advanced and feature-packed plugins for establishing a rating system on your WordPress website. Essentially, you can set up various rating systems for comments, posts and pages of Facebook, Google +, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also track how many readers visited your blog from Twitter or Facebook.

9. ShareThis

ShareThis offers access to a surprising number of 120 social channels including the most popular ones (Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Email and more). The good thing is that the widget can be completely customised for seamless integration into your website’s design and layout.

10. Shareaholics

With Shareaholics, you can increase reader engagement by highlighting related content on the website. Shareaholics offers widgets in the form of classic bookmarks for a sharp professional look for your website. These bookmarks include Facebook “Like” button, Facebook “Send” button, Google + and Pinterest. You can also share counters for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

11. Digg Digg

Digg Digg displays popular sharing buttons along with counters of Digg, Twitter, Buffer, Google +, dZone, TweetMeme, Yahoo Buzz, Topsy, Sphinn and WebBlend. It offers support for print and email services as well.

12. WP Socializer

You can add whichever social button you like on each page of the website by choice. It offers a floating share bar and an optimised “Smart load” feature. For advanced placements, you can use template functions as well.

13. Socialize

With Socialize, you can insert sharing buttons in two places on your website: in a box right underneath the content, and inside the content (aligned right or left). This allows people to select the more relevant sharing buttons for each post, which encourages subscriptions, comments and more shares. It offers 12 buttons including Buffer and Pinterest.

14. Sharexy

Sharexy claims to be “awesome looking.” It offers a lot of flexibility and customisability since each button seamlessly fits in your blog design. Supported networks include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, Retweet and Live Messenger.

And a Bonus…

I must admit – I have a bit of a thing for the Jetpack plugin. It’s a big old plugin – there’s a lot of functionality, and it’s not all useful (at least not for me). Personally I use around half of the functionality on each of my sites – and from a social perspective – it includes social sharing buttons (for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and more), and social widgets so it’s a nice bonus having it all wrapped up in one big package – with a bunch of extra bonuses thrown in. I really should do a full post about Jetpack to go over why I like it so much.

The post 12 WordPress Plugins to Connect Your Site to Social Networks appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

Perhaps you too have realised the immense potential involved in having a WordPress site. The platform can be used not only to publish blogs, but to create all kinds of online content, including news, social networks, business sites, educational websites, and many others.

If you are a WordPress user who keeps up to date with the latest developments in the world of website development, you may have realised what the next big trend will be in this field. Mobility is the keyword here, and almost all experts in the subject believe that in terms of websites and technology, the future is mobile. According to the latest data, every day more than 328 million applications are downloaded from mobile devices, which do not only include smart phones, but also tablet PCs, e-readers, and others. In the near future, it is expected that the number of users who access blogs, e-commerce sites, and other websites from a mobile device will exceed the number of people who do it from a desktop computer, so it is obvious that making your website mobile-friendly is a must.

But then, how exactly can you do that? Maybe you are familiar with WordPress mobile edition, which is a great way of optimising a WordPress site so that is friendly to mobile users, but is that all? What other plug-ins can you add to your site to make it incredibly slick and mobile user-friendly?

1. WordPress Mobile Pack

One of the most comprehensive mobile plug-ins for WordPress sites. You may need to spend some time familiarising yourself with all the options, but once you’ve done that, the results will pay off, as it offers a range of cool themes, customised variations, an intelligent mobile switcher, mobile ad widgets, and more importantly, a device adaptation system that works its magic on text and images, making them 100 per cent mobile user-friendly.

2. WordPress Mobile Admin

So let’s say you optimise your site for mobile users, but then realise that not all mobile devices are created equal. Some support Java, other don’t. iPhone browsers are not the same as the browsers used by other phones. These issues can be taken care of by WP Mobile Admin, which lets you manage posts, comments, statistics, tags, etc. swiftly. This plug-in requires version 2.2.2 or higher and installation is as easy as download and extract.

3. WordPress Tap Mobile Detector

If you want to customise the browsing experience of all your mobile users even further, download this WP plug-in right away. As a website admin, you can create personalised themes for each type of mobile browser, so that users get the best experience possible according to the device they have. Once the plug-in has been installed, it will detect whether an Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. is trying to use the site and it will display a suitable theme. Even better, if you want to redirect your mobile users to a specifically designed URL, WP Tap Mobile Detector will also act as a redirection agent.

4. Jetpack (and mobile theme)

I know this is divisive but I am a bit of a fan of the Jetpack plugin, and one of its many features is the mobile theme. This is a really simple theme that makes things nice and easy to read for users on mobile devices. There’s no customisation options – but it makes the most of the built-in WordPress functionality – utilising custom menus and headers to let you keep your branding in-tact.

Are there any more WordPress mobile plugins I should consider?

The post Optimise Your Website for Smartphones With These Top WordPress Plugins appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

However, there are a lot of technicalities involved in finding images – in particular legal issues in terms of just grabbing photos from Google for example. Most of the photos you can find online are protected by copyright laws, they can’t be used for private or commercial purposes without getting full authorisation from the copyright holder. To save money and time, you can switch to websites which provide free stock photographs that can be used without any hassles.

Here are some of the best places to find free stock images:

1. Stock.xchng

With close to 400,000 images, stock.xchng boasts of an impressive collection which spans over a variety of keywords. Every time an artist uploads his or her photographs on this site, he or she can decide the terms and conditions. All images can be used free of cost, however there may be some miscellaneous restrictions so make sure to read the small print. At times, you might need to notify an artist or cite his or her name when you use a particular image. Before you start borrowing images from stock.xchng, read carefully through their terms and conditions.

2. MorgueFile.com

All the images stored in the database at MorgueFile can be used for private and commercial purposes. In fact, you won’t even need to create an account to use the website. The icing on the cake is the excellent search tool which allows you to search for images according to a several categories like size, keywords, rating, color etc.

3. Stockvault.net

Stockvault is known for its sharp, high quality images which can be used only for personal, non-commercial purposes. The site has a small but impressive collection of images, logos and backgrounds which are ideal for all kinds of blogs, especially for blogs which are more image-centric.

4. FreeRangeStock.com

The good part about FreeRangeStock.com is that all images can be used free of cost on any blog. Unlike many other websites, there are no hidden legalities involved. On the flip side, the range of images is not very impressive. In most cases, however, you should find decent high-resolution images.

5. FreePhotosBank.com

If you are looking for some eccentric, quirky images to spice up your blog, FreePhotosBank should be ideal for you. While they have their share of regular free stock images as well, their abstract images set them apart from other sites. Additionally, you can start downloading images without creating a new account. Consequently, the entire procedure is quick, easy and highly productive.

6. Pixabay

I must admit, I have been using the site quite a bit myself recently. It’s another free site that doesn’t require accounts/ logins – and the photos are generally of quite a good quality. They are the site I have been using for the images here on Pro Theme Design over the last couple of months.

Do you use images on your site (or are you going to)? If so then what sources do you use for your images?

The post Enhance Your Blog Posts with Free Photos appeared first on Pro Theme Design.

To do this, you need to make sure that you design your website so that it is appealing to your visitors. There are thousands of things you can do to customise your website, many of which will end up putting your visitors off. Here are 10 customisation sins that you need to avoid.

1. Limited payment options

Many websites only present one payment option to their customers. Offer as many payment types as possible – at the least you should support credit cards and PayPal. If you can offer others then that’s even the better.

2. Drop down menus that cover the site

Drop downs will appear when someone hovers over a navigation link or sub menu, and often these cover critical sales points on your website. Make sure that this doesn’t happen.

3. No telephone number

It is very important that you always provide as many contact details as possible. When you give a telephone number, people trust you more, and you make it easier for them to reach you directly.

4. Important website information as graphics

Any important information on your website needs to be in text form, not graphical form. Remember that search engine bots can’t read graphics, so this isn’t going to help you in the search engines. If you do use graphics, always include the ‘alt‘ property to describe the information contained in the graphic. If there is text on the graphic then the alt tag should include that text.

5. “Spamglish”

This is basically text that is written for search engine robots. It always has lots of keywords, and simply isn’t pleasant for the human reader. Always make sure that you write for humans, not robots. Always build your website for your users first.

6. Stale content

It is essential that you keep providing fresh content to keep people coming back. Good content is the bedrock and foundation of any successful website, so make sure you update regularly, and give your readers what they want.

7. Not providing a sitemap

A sitemap makes it a lot easier for your visitors to navigate around your website. Why bother making your visitors hunt for the information they want? Make it easy for them to find, and they’re likely to stay with you longer.

8. Confusing navigation

There is nothing more annoying for anyone visiting a website, than to not be able to navigate properly. People are busy with their lives and don’t have time to muddle around with poor navigation.

9. No opt in on the homepage

Many websites have newsletters – and so you should include the newsletter opt in form as prominently as possible on all pages. Very few people buy anything on their first visit, so you need to be able to market to them regularly. The only way of doing this is by capturing their e-mail address.

10. Too many graphics

A lot of people overcomplicate their websites with fancy graphics. These only end up slowing them down, meaning that loading times are increased. This is the last thing you want, and can lose you visitors.

Make sure that you avoid these 10 customisation issues, and you’ll be well on your way to a well functioning website.

The post 10 Website Design Sins appeared first on Pro Theme Design.