Looking for Premium WP Themes and Plugins? Check out WPeka Club

Posted: 29 Apr 2015 05:14 AM PDT

The beauty of using WordPress as your platform is that you can you change your design whenever you wants with a couple of clicks. It’s just a matter of finding a new theme, uploading and activating it from your dashboard.

Now if you are looking for a professional design, purchasing a premium theme could be a good idea, and those tend to be more polished and they come with more customization features. Want a recommendation for such a theme? Check out WPeka.com, a resource that I came across a couple of weeks ago.

They have over 39 themes available, and you can browse according to category and style. For instance, they have themes that are AdSense-ready, themes for e-commerce, themes for the launch of a product and so on.

wpeka

One thing I liked about them is the pricing: every theme costs $19, which is quite affordable if you compare with some theme shops that charge as much as $100 for a single premium theme. You also have the option to subscribe paying a monthly fee (starting at $27), and this will give you access to all the themes and plugins.

The premium plugins are another strength of the site (click here to view all). They have over 55 premium plugins available, to help you customize your site in all sorts of ways. Here are some examples:

-BackupBreeze (helps you to backup automatically)
-Click Missile (automatically switch between mobile and desktop ads)
-E-Affiliate (helps you to insert and manage affiliate links)
-Community Board (adds forum capabilities to your site)
-Promotional Bar (adds a bar on top of your site to promote your products)

Overall it’s a nice resource for WordPress users, and they are constantly releasing new products and WP themes, so check it out!

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

7 Ways to Make Your Posts Pop on Social Media

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 02:10 PM PDT

As a marketing tool, blogging is still very much alive and kicking. Case in point: In a study by Social Media Examiner, 58 percent of marketers rank written content as their No. 1 priority on social media. Meanwhile, 68 percent plan to blog more than they do now in the coming years.

Considering what blogging does for businesses, those stats make sense. According to Hubspot, companies that blog bring in more website visitors, more inbound links, more indexed pages and more leads per month than those that don’t. Of course, this is assuming the blogs in question are:

High-quality
Able to get readers to take a desired course of action
Well-represented on social media

By now, you already know how to do No. 1 and No. 2. In this post, I’ll discuss No. 3: aka how to draw eyeballs to your blogs in the noisy world of social media.

1. Craft a Kickass Headline

If Copyblogger is to be believed, at least half of your time should be spent writing the headline. That’s because eight out of 10 people read headline copy, while only 2 out of 10 bother to read the rest.

Sounds absurd? Not really. Readers can only consume so many articles a day, so if they want to read one piece out of the hundreds on their newsfeed, they should be able to tell ? within 5 seconds flat ? whether it’s worth the read or not. In other words, a clickbait-y headline might not salvage a mediocre piece, but a ho-hum headline is a surefire way to get an excellent article bypassed.

Try to take a leaf out of BuzzFeed’s book, and craft headlines that push readers’ curiosity buttons. You can also refer to Buffer’s comprehensive guide on headline formulas, or cheat your way to headline ideas via title generators like those from Hubspot, Portent and WebpageFX.

2. Always Include at Least One Image

A wise man once said: “One grain of rice can tip the scale. One image may be the difference between victory and defeat.” Mulan references aside, it’s amazing what one photo can do to your social share count!

In a study by OkDork, posts with images are twice as likely to get shared on Facebook and Twitter as those without. Moreover, posts that utilized Open Graph meta tags are three times as likely to get shared, since these tags allow you to customize the thumbnails pulled by social networking sites. For a detailed guide on using Open Graph, see this post by Jay Hoffmann. If you use SEO by Yoast as your SEO plugin, you?re in luck ? Open Graph meta tags are built into the plugin.

3. Choose Your Images Carefully

It’s not enough to just have an image, though. According to Hubspot, your image has to be:

Relevant. If a post is about a recipe, you can’t use an image of a Star Wars action figure ? unless maybe your headline is ?5 Ways to Make Lasagna Luke Skywalker Will Love.?
Compelling. When you have a headline like “10 Ways to Escape the Corporate Rat Race,” it’s better to use a photo of a man in a suit rushing past the finish line than an oh-so-common image of an office worker falling asleep over a desk.
High Quality. Are you a crap photographer? Source your images from people who aren?t. Trust me, you?re better off that way. There are literally thousands of free, high quality images out there and even tools to search for them.
Optimized for All Screen Sizes. A plugin like Hammy will take care of this for you.
Within Your Rights to Use. This one can be tricky. If you’re not careful, you could end up like these copywriters who paid $4,000 for a $10 photo. It’s best to search for Creative Commons images, which require attribution, or Creative Commons Zero images, which do not.

The more your posts’ images meet these criteria, the better.

4. Overlay Text on Your Images

You know those photos of quotable quotes superimposed over beautiful scenery? Those are great examples of overlaying text on images. They work pretty well as marketing materials, since people are naturally drawn to visuals. Also, they’re quite easy to make, thanks to the following tools:

Canva. With its user-friendly features like templates, custom image sizes, and drag-and-drop interface, Canva is perfect for those who don’t have the resources to hire a professional designer.
Pablo. Here, all you have to do is write your text, pick a background image and you’re good to go. Other customization options, such as font size and formatting, are available.
PicMonkey. If basic features are all you need, PicMonkey is available for free. Edit, crop, and perform basic modifications to images right in your browser.
ReciteThis. Like PicMonkey, ReciteThis is a free, Web-based tool. Its intuitive interface ensures that you’ll know your way around it in no time.

Whether you want to spruce up photos or add a more creative twist to your marketing campaign, overlaying text on images is a great technique to learn. For more tips on this, check out these 19 inspiring examples.

5. Tailor Image Sizes for Different Social Networks

Yes, size matters too. For example, a tall image works better for Pinterest than for Facebook, while the opposite is true of wide images. Buffer has a great post on ideal image sizes for social media posts, though the general rules are as follows:

Facebook: 1,200 x 628 pixels
Twitter: 1,024 x 512 pixels
Google+: 800 x 1,200 pixels
LinkedIn: 800 x 800 pixels
Pinterest: 735 x 1,102 pixels
Instagram: 1,200 x 1,200 pixels

If you take these sizes into account, you will fill up the optimum amount of screen real estate on your social platforms, without your images getting distorted or cut off.

6. Use the Power of Suggestion

No, we’re not talking about Jedi mind tricks. We’re talking about giving your audience big, flashing signs that say: “Hey, can you do this for me? It’s free!” Make it easy to tweet quotes from your article with Click to Tweet, or appeal to your readers? inner pinner with a readily-accessible Pin It button overlaid on your images.

7. Appeal to Your Audience with Colors

People respond subconsciously to colors. For example, yellow is often associated with optimism, while red is associated with passion. If you know how to mix and balance them as detailed here, you’ll be able to avoid school uniform syndrome; that is, the presence of complementary but boring colors.

Be careful not to oversimplify the meaning of colors, though. To quote marketing strategist Gregory Ciotti: “?Elements such as personal preferences, experiences, upbringing, cultural differences, context, etc., often muddy the effect individual colors have on us. So the idea that colors such as yellow or purple are able to invoke some sort of hyper-specific emotion is about as accurate as your standard Tarot card reading.” Couldn?t say it better myself.

Closing Thoughts

These rules aren’t set in stone. Experiment with these one at a time, and see which one of them works best. The important thing is to try, analyze and implement the ones that resonate the most with your specific audience. Also, remember to keep learning new things, so you’ll always be one of the forerunners in your industry.

Adrienne Erin is a freelance writer and designer who blogs at Design Roast. Follow @adrienneerin on Twitter to get in touch.

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

ProBlogger: 7 Digital Marketing Skills Every Professional Needs

7 Digital Marketing Skills Every Professional Needs

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:08 AM PDT

This is a guest contribution from Brian Burt.

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

That popular bit of wisdom has a timeless ring of truth to it, but we may want to update it for the internet age.

"Whatever you are, be a digital marketer" might be more apt in this era, when nearly everything that matters happens online.

The new reality is that in order to be marketable in any field, you need to sharpen your digital marketing chops. Whether you're an administrative assistant or a CEO, you can be a better version if you have a basic foundation in web marketing.

7 Digital Marketing Skills You Need to Succeed

1. The Online Hustle

If there's one thing that internet marketers are masterful at, it's the online hustle. And by that I mean, the ability to jump online, identify key influencers or companies, figure out how to contact them and then be persistent as hell about getting what you want. This skillset is critical in everything from finding a job to getting guest blogs to nabbing new clients.

Every professional today needs to be a digital ninja, adept at tracking down opportunities online and coming up with creative ways to turn those opportunities into reality. Maybe that means Tweeting at the hiring manager of your dream job or doing some light online stalking of a new business partner you want to impress. Regardless of your goal, you'd do well to learn how to become an expert at leveraging the web to get what you want.

2. E-Relationships

In the digital age, your first point of contact with anyone new is almost always done online. So it's absolutely crucial that you hone your interpersonal e-mailing skills. You might be thinking, "Uh, I'm pretty sure I know how to e-mail," but just because you can type and press send doesn't mean you're doing a bang-up job at using e-communication to your advantage.

When it comes to forming and maintaining excellent professional relationships online, it's all about finesse. Digital marketers are pros at becoming BFFs with people they've never even met in person. Sometimes that means making a cheesy joke about the weather or asking an authentic question about the recipient's life, but the point is to go the extra step to turn your faceless e-mail address into a real, living, breathing human with whom people want to work.

3. Social Media Savvy

The only person who can acceptably say things like, "Oh, I just don't get social media" is your grandmother…and even she's probably posting funny pictures on Facebook. Social media know-how may have once been a bonus, but it decidedly necessary by now.

Regardless of the field you're in, you should have a polished LinkedIn profile at a minimum, but you should also have a decent working knowledge of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr. Anything less makes you come across as a bit of a dinosaur in the professional world. This is especially true if, like many, you're working in the start-up world, where every employee is a jack of many trades and should be ready to take the helm of the company's Twitter account or Pinterest boards if asked to do so.

4. Finger on the Pulse

In the digital marketing field, it's essential to keep up with trending topics, modifications to the Google search algorithm and new social media policies, just to mention a few things. As the game is always changing, it's stay current or perish. And while things might not move at such a breakneck pace in other industries, keeping abreast of news and trends in your niche is pretty much always a surefire way to get ahead.

5. Data Matters

Internet marketers are not just about crafting cool messages and viral social media posts. Hard data is actually where the rubber hits the road, because no amount of hard work or clever words matter unless they're having an impact on the goal of increasing exposure and opportunity. All professionals would do well to become more data-oriented if they want to be more successful. After all, the work only works if it has your intended result.

6. SEO 101

It's not really necessary for all of us to be SEO experts. But as internet users and professionals, we should all have a basic grasp on how websites earn a high ranking position in Google searches. Here are a few key understandings:

How to spot an ad versus an organic result in search results.
The fact that websites that are in the top organic results of Google searches are there because they've established themselves as a legitimate and reliable, over time.
Google punishes websites that use cheap shortcuts to try to rank quickly.
The more reputable websites that link to a website, the higher its ranking.
The more people share links to a site on social media, the better it does in rankings.
New businesses need to work hard to establish themselves online – no one will find your new website if you don't put in serious work to build a presence.
For content to boost SEO, it needs to use popular search key terms naturally.
One easy and reliable way to climb the rankings is to consistently add original content to your site in the form of blog posts.

7. In Your Audience's Shoes

The digital marketer's perennial question is: Who is my audience? In this world, that may be the customer or the potential client. Even if that's not true for your field, you have an audience. When you tweak your resume or put together a presentation for colleagues or just write a new blog, you'll improve your work in a serious way if you make every move with your audience in mind. Marketers know that their opinion is sort of irrelevant in the sense that they can be over the moon about a new idea, but if it won't resonate with the audience, it's worthless.

As the internet becomes an increasingly dominant part of business, all professionals have a duty to become proficient in basic digital marketing skills.

And when you add this skillset to your already impressive qualifications in your field, you become a double threat and infinitely more valuable to current and future employers.

Brian Burt is a digital marketing pro who's been in the field for more than a decade. As the founder of WebRev Marketing & Design in Chicago, he's constantly learning about and experimenting with new strategies that help businesses improve their online presence. In his rare spare time, Brian also enjoys fixing up vintage cars and guest blogging on a variety of business and marketing sites. Check out www.webRevmarketing.com for more.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

7 Digital Marketing Skills Every Professional Needs

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