Blogger vs WordPress Blog

Hello my Windows Insiders!

This week we have been hosting a Continuum App Contest in Redmond and it's been really cool to see the awesome apps our dev Insiders have created.  I installed the finalists' apps and love how useful they are to my day-to-day—on both PC AND Phone. You all should check them out, there are some that are quite—Insider-y

You can get a Perfect Workout—anywhere! The graphics & animations on this app are simply wow and failure-proof.

You can keep track of what's going on with world currencies (along with a TON of other functionality) with Calc Pro (coming soon to HoloLens as well!).

I have my personal blog on WordPress, so I really loved WP for Windows (which has gorgeous magazine style layouts and a read-out-loud feature!).

EZPodder is perfect for me to consume TED Radio & my other fave podcasts from anywhere (the presentation also came with a free Design for non-Designers lesson along with MVVN design patterns example, which was awesome for a nerd like me!).

And of course, what is life without a hilarious Meme Generator Suite (and there are a TON of templates especially for you, my creative Windows Insiders!).

We in Redmond are about to take off for the long weekend to celebrate the 4th of July weekend, BUT before then we wanted to give you what we've been working on. Today we are releasing Build 14379 for both PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring with another batch of bug fixes based on feedback:

We fixed an issue where the size of the Credential UI might not be big enough to display the contents on a PC with High DPI.

We fixed an issue where Action Center might crash after dismissing a large number of notifications.

We fixed an issue where Centennial app launches from Start or Cortana wouldn't count towards those apps bubbling up in Start's "Most used" list.

We fixed an issue where no note would have keyboard focus after minimizing then reopening the Sticky Notes app.

We fixed an issue that could result in a stray focus rectangle becoming visible in certain apps, such as Groove or Cortana, after bringing up the keyboard.

We fixed an issue where the aspect ratio of images on live tile wasn't preserved if they need to be shrunk, leading to them appearing stretched.

Using Continuum from your phone on your PC via the Connect app will not work. This should be fixed in the next build.

You can open PDFs in Microsoft Edge but won't be able to use touch to interact with the PDF (such as scrolling, pan or zoom). When you try to use touch to interact with a PDF, it will constantly reload the PDF.

We've heard you and we are investigating decreases in battery life on older devices such as the Lumia 830, 930, and 1520.

We're also investigating Wi-Fi disconnect issues – if you are experiencing an issue with your Wi-Fi disconnecting, please see this forum post and make sure to upvote Wi-Fi disconnecting issues in the Feedback Hub.

REMINDER: We have changed the backup format for Windows 10 Mobile devices to reduce the size of the backup stored in OneDrive. As a result, if you do a backup on a device running the latest Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview builds and move back to the released version of Windows 10 Mobile (Build 10586) and restore from your backup – your Start screen layout won't restore and remain the default Start layout. Your previous backup also gets overwritten. If you need to go back to Build 10586 temporarily, once you are on Build 10586 you should disable backup so it doesn't overwrite the good backup from Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview builds.

Check out some of those sweet apps for Phone and PC, play with the build. have a fantastic weekend and as always, keep hustling,Dona <3

Updated June 30, 2016 3:13 pm

Source: Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14379 for PC and Mobile

I use WordPress for most of my work. Whether I'm building WordPress websites for clients, or I'm writing blog posts and developing content for my own sites. Everything I do tends to involve WordPress. However, I don't like always having to do things in the browser. Trust me, I have enough tabs open as it is. That's why I was excited to hear about Calypso, WordPress' desktop app for writing and editing blog posts. I've been wanting a separate desktop app for a long time, so I decided to try it out.

Are You Managing Multiple WordPress Sites?

Calypso is perfect for you! All you need to do is download the desktop apps from WordPress.com and enable management from the dashboard of each site (or Jetpack for self hosted sites). Then, you can edit posts as needed, updating them with new content. You can also create new posts. You can go to the icon of your profile and go down to the bottom right section where it says to add a WordPress site. Imagine not having to log in and out of every WordPress site you own. You can simply log into the Calypso interface and make a site active for adding or editing posts.

Working with Multiple Accounts in Calypso

After you've entered the credentials for all of your sites, you can click on 'My Sites' in the top left corner of the app, and you'll see a stats page for the most recent site selected. You'll see information about the number of visits you've received, where they are from and their search terms, and what posts and pages they have visited. You'll also see the top referring sites that are sending visitors to your website.

In the bar graph, the most recent day is highlighted in orange, but you can click on any of the other bars to see that date's stats. This is extremely handy if you saw a spike in traffic on a particular day and want to investigate the origin.

To switch to a different site, click the back arrow that is labeled 'Switch Sites' in the top left portion of the app.

Working with Posts and Pages in Calypso

For any of the websites you manage, you can view, edit and create new posts and pages. In the example, I clicked on the blog posts menu, and it shows a list of posts and their featured images. From here, you can click edit, to edit posts, adding more content, or you can click the trash icon to delete them. What I like about Calypso is that it gives you stats on how many views each of your posts has received, one by one.

One stand out feature I like is that when you click on stats under each post, it breaks down views of that post by individual days. This is a great way to see how different posts are doing on your site.

When you're looking at your overall stats for a particular site, it will also give you more detailed information. If you click on the insights tabs, it will show you your most popular post day and time, as well as what percentage of views it has. It will also show you who is following your site and recent commenters.

Status Updates

If something is happening on one of your WordPress sites, you can see it and manage it all from one interface. For example, if you are seeing an unusual spike in traffic, it will say that your site's stats are booming. It will also mention any recent comments left on your site. This makes it easy to manage keeping up with multiple sites and numerous comments across the board.

Limitations

One drawback that I can see with the WordPress.com Calypso app is that you can't manage plugins for each site unless you install Jetpack Manage. Depending on how your theme is built, sometimes Jetpack can cause conflicts with your site. This is only in isolated circumstances, though. However, I still don't like the idea of adding another plugin to my site to enable managing functionality in a desktop app.

Extras

It's not built into the application, but some of the added features you can tack on at a reasonable price are site backups, spam protection and site restoration. This is a big deal to most site owners, because regular backups mean that your site can be restored if something goes wrong. Spam protection means you won't be battling spam comments, which even with Akismet, can seem like a constant battle. Security scans will help keep your site clean and clear from malware. I just recently worked on a client's site who's mobile traffic was being redirected to malware and spam websites. It was a chore to diagnose and clean up, so having that added security may be worth it to you in the long run.

Conclusion

The Calypso WordPress desktop app can be a great tool in the arsenal of anyone running one or more WordPress sites. The app performs well, seemingly running faster than the actual back end of a WordPress site. My thoughts are that this is due to the fact that it isn't running in the browser, but natively on the desktop. If you are someone who likes to look at the stats of posts and analyze the traffic of each WordPress site in depth, Calypso may be a good choice for you. You can hop from site to site, saving time when managing your blogging empire.

Have you used the Calypso app? What are your thoughts?

Source: Calypso: The Desktop App for WordPress

Image SourceYou're running a business and you're not just writing a blog for fun. You would like to generate more leads and gain more clients so you earn more income.

Top bloggers can earn a six-figure income and companies that add blogging to their marketing strategy can experience a significant increase in revenue.

Eighty-one percent of U.S. consumers trust information and advice they read on blogs and 92% of companies who blog multiples times per day have acquired a customer from their blog.

Here are 10 tips that will help you improve your business blog so you can increase traffic, grow your following, generate leads and increase revenue.

#1. Publish only the best contentPublishing top content is the best blogging tip that you should implement when developing your blog posts. If you think of your blog post as product and your product is something you would be ashamed to sale, it's not worth publishing it on your blog. Publishing the best content possible allows your readers to confirm that you're an expert or thought leader in your industry.#2. Write targeted contentThe surest way of building a relevant following is by creating highly targeted content that resonates with your audience. Don't count on every post creating a sudden surge in business. Instead, focus on providing your readers with the information they came to your blog to find.

#3. Create your own unique content The importance of producing your own unique content cannot be underestimated. This enhances your search engine optimization (SEO). Writing powerful, unique content boosts your SEO and gives your blog more exposure if your content is linked on a different blog or website.

#4. Interview expertsAnother good way of creating great content is through interviewing a thought leader. A thought leader can provide a ton of value to your readers. In addition, experts who are interviewed often share the interviews with their own social communities. This is a great way to gain additional exposure for your own blog.#5. Utilize guest bloggersIf you are running short of time or blogging ideas, consider utilizing the skills of a guest blogger. You can invite industry professionals, your staff or anybody who is full of ideas and has great writing skills. Guest bloggers offer your audience a fresh perspective and also help to bring new eyes to your blog. Induron, a manufacturer of protective coatings, uses their sales team to write blog posts to help describe the company's products.

#6. Help solve problemsYour readers are looking for answers to questions that will help them accomplish various goals. If you don't publish content that will help them accomplish those goals, they will look elsewhere. Be useful. Be relevant.

#7. Focus on peopleBlogging is about people. Learn to focus more on your readers than on the technical aspects of blogging. Keep your blog's language simple and straight forward. It's not necessary to show off how many big words you know. No one cares.Issa Mirandilla, contributing author of the technology blog Hongkiat says, "Readers hate it when you bombard them with highfalutin jargon. Not only do these words sour the reading experience, but they also make your blog post look stilted and pretentious."

#8. Show who you areDo not shy away from showing your readers a little of your personality. Add personality to your articles. Blogging, unlike journalistic writing, allows you to add a touch of personality to your writing. Allow your readers to see the person behind your business.

Marketer Heidi Cohen says, "[p]ersonality combined with presentation have a greater impact than content quality since readers decide whether or not to consume your information before they've taken any time to read it. They make their decision based on your blog's perceived trustworthiness."

#9. Buy your own domain nameYou need to project a professional image on your business blog. Even if you are just starting out, you really need your own domain name. Nothing screams rookie louder than janesflowers.wordpress.com.

Blogger Ramsay Taplin says, "many people speculate that if you were really serious about your website you would get your own name and host it yourself. And Google only wants to point to websites that are considered serious and trustworthy."

#10. Remain consistentNo matter your niche, blogging remains a very viable tool that improves your SEO and gives you a voice in your industry. Blogging also helps with branding, lead generation, community building, and generating sales. None of this is possible if you don't blog consistently. Develop a blogging schedule and stick to it.

Lindsay Kolowich, contributing author at HubSpot, says "[c]ompanies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies that published between 0 - 4 monthly posts."

ConclusionYou can improve your business blog by posting only the best content and making sure your content targets a specific audience. Create unique content as often as possible and consider interviewing industry experts. Focus on solving problems and create blog content consistently. Following these 10 tips will help improve any boring business blog.

Source: 10 Tips to Improve that Boring Business Blog

".Blog Could be a Multi $100 Million Business" Comments By Elliot Silver ⋅ June 27, 2016

Chris Sheridan shared a great Q&A video interview with WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp Europe 2016. At around the 20 minute mark of the video, Matt discusses the .Blog new gTLD domain extension that was acquired by WordPress earlier this year.

The discussion focused around the revenue sources for Auttomatic, the parent company of WordPress. Previously, there were three revenue "buckets" for the company, but the .Blog extension is poised to become the fourth bucket. In fact, Matt has big plans for .Blog domain names, and he predicted selling .Blog domain names "could be a multi $100 million business."

VentureBeat reported that the .Blog extension was acquired for $19 million, although Matt is a bit coy in this interview due to what I presume are legal reasons.

.Blog is definitely an extension that I will be watching, especially when it comes to the marketing of these domain names. WordPress has a massive audience and .Blog is an extension that should see considerable traction.

Have a look at the video interview below:

About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has sold seven figures worth of domain names in the last five years. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest.

Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Google + | Facebook | Email

Source: Blog Could be a Multi $100 Million Business"

AS part of streamlining our reporting function the Hedon Blog is to become formally part of HU12 Online with all of our Hedon news beginning to be featured on that site.

The Hedon Blog has been a labour of love for founder and editor Ray Duffill who runs the community website as a non-profit venture. However, the difficulties of maintaining and regularly updating two websites has become time and resource intensive.

This 'wordle' captured one day's blogging on Hedon Blog in Dec 2014

HU12 Online (over the next few weeks) will become the place to catch up with the latest news, events, photos and information about the town of Hedon. The aim is to make HU12 Online more commercially viable with advertising playing a bigger part in efforts to ensure that it can continue its job of reporting local news into the future.

HU12 Online will feature predominantly news from South West Holderness but will continue to plug other stuff from other places in Holderness subject to material regularly being sent in from correspondents in those areas.

The rich history and 'slice of life' of Hedon captured by Hedon Blog since February 2009 will not be lost. Whilst the website address hedonblog.co.uk will soon begin to direct readers to HU12 Online, the basic contents of the original Hedon Blog will still be available at hedonblog.wordpress.com although in a simpler form and no longer updated. Lots of our features and services (Wednesday Writings, Sunday Photos, etc) will simply be transferred to HU12 Online.

HU12 Online has recently had a facelift and it is hoped that readers will find the new website experience fresh, exciting and easy-to-navigate. The website has been transferred to a new and supportive web hosting company which will enable it to operate much more efficiently than before and better cope with the increased visitor numbers.

Whilst several challenges remain, especially maintaining the financial viability of the news reporting service in difficult economic circumstances, the concentration on one web portal will obviously help.

Republished from Hedon Blog.

Source: HU12 Online welcomes Hedon Blog readers

AS part of streamlining our reporting function the Hedon Blog is to become formally part of HU12 Online with all of our Hedon news beginning to be featured on that site.

The Hedon Blog has been a labour of love for founder and editor Ray Duffill who runs the community website as a non-profit venture. However, the difficulties of maintaining and regularly updating two websites has become time and resource intensive.

This 'wordle' captured one day's blogging in December 2014

HU12 Online (over the next few weeks) will become the place to catch up with the latest news, events, photos and information about the town of Hedon. The aim is to make HU12 Online more commercially viable with advertising playing a bigger part in efforts to ensure that it can continue its job of reporting local news into the future.

HU12 Online will feature predominantly news from South West Holderness but will continue to plug other stuff from other places in Holderness subject to material regularly being sent in from correspondents in those areas.

The rich history and 'slice of life' of Hedon captured by Hedon Blog since February 2009 will not be lost. Whilst the website address hedonblog.co.uk will soon begin to direct readers to HU12 Online, the basic contents of the original Hedon Blog will still be available at hedonblog.wordpress.com although in a simpler form and no longer updated. Lots of our features and services (Wednesday Writings, Sunday Photos, etc) will simply be transferred to HU12 Online.

HU12 Online has recently had a facelift and it is hoped that readers will find the new website experience fresh, exciting and easy-to-navigate. The website has been transferred to a new and supportive web hosting company which will enable it to operate much more efficiently than before and better cope with the increased visitor numbers.

Whilst several challenges remain, especially maintaining the financial viability of the news reporting service in difficult economic circumstances, the concentration on one web portal will obviously help.

This article will be republished on HU12 Online.

Source: Hedon Blog to merge with HU12 Online

It was a bit noisy overnight in northeast North Carolina – we had some heavy rain, thunder, and lightning.  I wish I could say that was going to be the end of the rain for us, but we'll be tracking a couple of rounds of thundershowers through your Thursday.

Here's the set up:

We are tracking a stationary front draped just north of the Ohio River Valley.  As this front starts to sag farther south, we will have another round of showers through the mid-morning hours, then another round of showers and storms later this evening.  Basically, we will be in and out of the shower chances today, so keep your umbrella on standby.

Round I is moving south of the Albemarle Sound, so we'll put that in our rear view mirror.  Round II will make its debut in Hampton Roads closer to 8-9 AM.  MOST of the rain fall north of the Metro, across the Peninsula, Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck, and Eastern Shore.

We will be tracking passing showers from the mid-morning hours through 11 AM to Noon.

Going through the second half of the day, expect partly sunny skies with highs in the low-90s and dewpoints in the low-70s – the frizz factor will be high today!  Anyway..  The sun will actually work against us because it will destabilize our atmosphere and lead to a better chance of some isolated strong to severe storms as Round III crosses Hampton Roads this evening.

As this stationary front turn cold front drops through, that will spark scattered showers and thunderstorms.  The Storm Prediction Center has placed our entire viewing area under a slight risk for the possibility of some strong/severe storms this evening, after 7 PM.

IF we see any severe storms develop, the primary threats will be strong winds and/or hail.  The tornado threat will be farther north and west, closer to the Ohio River Valley.  IF any severe thunderstorm watches or warnings are issued, we'll let you know on-air and also online at WAVY.COM.

We'll keep scattered showers and storms in the forecast through the early morning hours on Friday.

If you're a light sleeper, you might wake up a few times overnight!

Unfortunately, that front will stall out across Hampton Roads tomorrow, so that will force us to keep more clouds than sunshine in the forecast along with a chance of occasional showers.  At least it'll be cooler on Friday with highs back in the low-80s.

Look forward to the weekend!  Not just because it's the weekend, but because we will see abundant sunshine Saturday and Sunday with highs, comfortably, in the low-80s!

-Meteorologist Ashley Baylor

Advertisement

Source: BLOG: Next Up: Rounds II and III

If you are experiencing a 404 when switching to the dashboard of a given site, verify the web.config is accurate.

We've found that older versions of WordPress have incorrect rules within web.config.

Try the following web.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="WordPress Rule 1" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^index\.php$" ignoreCase="false" /> <action type="None" /> </rule> <rule name="WordPress Rule 2" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$" ignoreCase="false" /> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}wp-admin/" redirectType="Permanent" /> </rule> <rule name="WordPress Rule 3" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^" ignoreCase="false" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny"> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" /> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" /> </conditions> <action type="None" /> </rule> <rule name="WordPress Rule 4" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*)" ignoreCase="false" /> <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:2}" /> </rule> <rule name="WordPress Rule 5" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$" ignoreCase="false" /> <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:2}" /> </rule> <rule name="WordPress Rule 6" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="." ignoreCase="false" /> <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration>

Thanks to Toan Nguyen for reporting the regular expression bug.

Back to top
Source: WordPress MultiSite 404 on Admin Dashboard

What comes to mind when you hear of WordPress? For a majority of people, blogging comes to mind. To other people who are professionals in website building, the thing that pops up is power. WordPress is one of the most powerful content management systems on this planet. It is actually the most powerful one and it comes to highly preferred to the likes of Drupal and Joomla. Actually Drupal is also good only that it is difficult to use sometimes. WordPress was designed for user-friendliness. It is like the easiest platform you could ever use for website building purposes.

In this article, let's just talk of blogging on WordPress. It is always nice to go to the basics every once in a while, right? Now WordPress was initially designed for bloggers. It extended to the creation of other types of website when internet blew out. Everyone wants to own a website especially the businesses. Therefore, WordPress themes were designed to help the business owners come up with cool websites for their enterprises. Still WordPress is the most prevalent content management system in the blogosphere.

Why bloggers go for WordPress

There are only a million reasons why you would want to choose WordPress as your CMS as a blogger. To start with it is extremely easy to install. In fact there is nothing you need to know about WordPress in order to install it. It is like buying an app on the app stores and installing it on your phone. It is designed to make work so easy for its users. There are people who use WordPress but they have not an idea of what it is or how it works.

Bloggers are a creative bunch or rather most are. As a blogger you want a website design that matches your creativity. WordPress provides this for you. There are so many WordPress themes available for you to work with. It is all a matter of choosing the one that you would want to use for your website construction efforts. It is an assurance that you will be totally spoilt for choice when it c omes to selecting a theme. There are just so many of them.

Still connected to themes, WordPress has many themes for different types of blogs. The theme a fashion blogger uses will not be similar to the theme a dental health blogger or a financial consultant would use. Each theme has its level of formality. There are those that are just cool for game sites and such casual activities wh ile others very executive they could easily be used for creating a site for the White House.

Bloggers want security of your content and reliable content management. This WordPress supplies efficiently. Your content will be safe at all times. When you want to access it you just need a password and that will be it. As a matter of fact you will be able to access your content and be able to edit it from any part of the world. The only thing that you require is a decent internet connection and you will be sorted out. You can blog from anywhere and from any computer not just your own.

The affordability of WordPress

WordPress is so affordable that it needs it own subsection to discuss. When building a website you always need to arm yourself with a good amount of money. Check out some of the most unique and high performing sites like clockspot.com and try to guess how much money was used in creating the site. This is not just a regular website. It is one of the best perfor ming sites that were designed for business purposes. Building a website can cost anything from zero to $10,000. But then again $10,000 is like buying an online house.

Anyway that is beside the point- WordPress is one of those platforms that you can use to build a website in that neighborhood of zero-costing sites. There are those free WordPress sites. Now these ones are great when you just want to test the waters. A majority of bloggers usually want to try out this profession and see where it will take them. WordPress makes it possible for you to do this. It will take a matter of minutes to build your free website- not more than five if you know what you are looking for.

The problem with the free websites is that WordPress is going to advertise on your site in order to make money. This is not a problem unless of course you have a problem with it. It might also be hard to the advertisers for yourself and as you know this is how most bloggers make money. All in all it give s you the WordPress blogging experience you are looking for.

There are the premium WordPress services. These ones you will have to pay for in order to blog but you have the freedom to customize your blog as much as you want. Even with the fees being charged you will not have to worry about paying a fortune. It is like one of the cheapest ways to get your own website. You will be paying once in a year or so. On top of that you can get the advertisements on your site plus do some serious monetizing of your blog.

The self-hosted WordPress blogs are usually the costliest because you will have to get another web host to provide the services. The premium WordPress blogs have the platform hosting them. In this case you find your own webhost to work with. Still you do not have to worry about WordPress charging you a fortune for these. It is awfully affordable.

Conclusion

WordPress is the finest platform to host your blog on. Bloggers have a very easy time if not enj oyable when working with WordPress. It is cheap, reliable, secure and every friendly to use. You will not have to learn a single word of web design and development to build your site on WordPress.

Source: Reasons Why WordPress Remains the Best Platform for Blogging

June 21, 2016 — Earndaddy.com, an informative and educational blog site for topics related to online marketing and earning money online, presents the latest information to improve the success of the online marketeer or for anyone that is interesting in making money online.

Earndaddy.com's homepage features its most recent posts, making it easy for returning visitors to get the latest news with only a click of the mouse.  The website categorizes its blogs and articles into the following main topical sections, making articles on specific topics easy to find:

 

The Blogging section offers articles on a variety of topics such as RSS feed submission sites and activating a WordPress theme.  The Make Money Online blogs offer valuable information on exactly that, a variety of ways anyone can earn money online.   The Reviews page provides a summary of blogs reviewing a wide range of subjects including affiliate marketing programs and advertising programs.

The Special Offers page shows blogs related to promotional offers from vendors and merchants that online marketeers will find invaluable.  The Tips and Tricks section has a wealth of information to help anyone from novices to experienced online experts get more out of their online marketing efforts such as how to better use WordPress tips.

Earndaddy.com has a treasure trove of insightful information that no online marketing or business should be without.  For anything from optimizing Facebook accounts to effectively working with WordPress themes, search engine optimization (SEO) tool reviews, and affiliate marketing programs, Earndaddy.com empowers everyone to achieve better online results.

To learn more about Earndaddy.com please visit http://www.earndaddy.com/.

 

About Earndaddy.com

Earndaddy.com is a blog site dedicated to providing information about online marketing, including SEO, internet marketing, WordPress tips, and SEO tool reviews, as well as earning money online.

Media ContactCompany Name: Earndaddy.comContact Person: Aashish BistaEmail: nachoua72@yahoo.comPhone: 000-EarndaddyAddress:Kathmandu, 44601Country: NepalWebsite: http://www.earndaddy.com/

Source: Earndaddy.com Blog Site Offers Online Marketers a Wealth Of Tools, Tips And Special Offers

Lionbridge Technologies has released Lionbridge onDemand for WordPress, connecting Lionbridge's onDemand translation platform with WordPress, to help organizations create and manage multilingual Web sites and blogs from within their working environments while maintaining global brand consistency.

Lionbridge onDemand for WordPress users open the multilingual plugin within Wordpress and can then select and submit content for global translation and track the status of jobs, all without having to leave the Wordpress environment. In addition, users can access their accounts anytime by logging in to Lionbridge onDemand to review project status, input purchase orders, track spend against cost centers, translate content not coming through WordPress, manage the in-country review workflow, and more.

Lionbridge onDemand for WordPress offers the following:

Full content support across multiple file types, including HTML, video, InDesign, and more;

Fixed and automated quotes that allow purchase orders to be tracked in real-time

Global support teams that ensure seamless application across all content types and sources

"Our clients are looking for a single platform to manage all of their translation needs with a common global brand voice," said Marc Osofsky, senior vice president and general manager of global offerings at Lionbridge, in a statement. "With Lionbridge onDemand for WordPress, clients can now easily translate WordPress content along with videos, mobile apps, and InDesign files along with several more file types."

Source: Lionbridge Integrates with WordPress

Hot Off the Press Two New Blogging U. Courses Available On Demand

Jun 20, 2016 @ 7:18 pm

Michelle W.

Jun 20, 2016 @ 7:18 pm

Better Blogging, Customization, WordPress.com

blogging u., business, courses

Previous Post Field Notes: Grow Leadership Academy 2016

Please do not use these comments for asking questions, support, or bug reporting. Use the forums or support contact form for that.

Please read our comment guidelines before posting.

Source: Two New Blogging U. Courses Available On Demand

Tricia Cusden, 68, says blog about something that interests you

But it also has to be a sustainable topic that you can keep up long term

A successful blog is one that's regularly updated - stick to a schedule

By Claire Coleman for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:43 EST, 19 June 2016 | Updated: 18:43 EST, 19 June 2016

View comments

Tricia Cusden, 68, is founder of beauty blog Look Fabulous Forever. Here is her advice.

CONSIDER CONTENT

You can blog about absolutely anything that interests you - fashion, beauty, food, travel, technology, a house renovation project, anything at all. But do think about whether your topic is sustainable and whether you have enough interest in the topic to keep it up long term.

Before you start, put some thought into what you want your blog to look like - will it be mostly pictures, words or videos? It could even just be lists of handy hints and tips.

You can blog about absolutely anything that interests you - fashion, beauty, food, travel, technology, a house renovation project, anything at all

PICK YOUR PLATFORM

There are a number of websites to help you set up a blog and wordpress.com is one of the easiest.

You just need an email address to get a free account. The site provides a template for the look, so all you have to do is choose a blog name, which will also be the website address.

Then you can start blogging - a support section on the site guides you through it one step at a time.

POST REGULARLY

A successful blog is one that's regularly updated. That might mean daily or weekly, but try to set up a schedule you can stick to. You want your readers to be able to rely on you and know if they pop by at, for example, 10am on a Friday, they're going to be able to read something new.

SPREAD THE WORD

Use websites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to build up a following for your blog. Create a network by following other bloggers.

ENGAGE WITH READERS

As your audience grows, you will find readers comment on your posts - you should always take the time to reply to build your following. 

Source: Make this the week you... Start a blog! Tricia Cusden, the founder of beauty blog Look Fabulous Forever, has some advice

Back in January, Maha wrote about her use of Hypothes.is, a collaborative web annotation tool that works within your web browser. As Maha explains, this tool gives readers who are all assigned the same readings a choice: they can "do these readings in isolation, or they can read them in asynchronous collaboration with others who had read and annotated them beforehand; they can learn from what others have been saying about those reading." Hypothes.is has a great many potential uses for educational and research environments.

Yesterday, Kris Shaffer, of the University of Mary Washington Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, announced that he's created a Hypothes.is plugin for WordPress. (Long-time ProfHacker readers know that we're big fans of WordPress here.) In his announcement, Kris explains that his new plugin, called Hypothes.is Aggregator, "will allow WordPress users ― bloggers, teachers, and students alike ― to collect their own annotations, annotations on a topic of interest, or annotations from/about a class, and present them in a page or post on the WordPress platform." The instructions couldn't be simpler, and the possible applications look promising:

Many instructors already use hypothes.is by assigning a reading that students will annotate together. Hyopthes.is Aggregator makes it easy to assign a topic, rather than a reading, and ask students to find their own readings on the web, annotate them, and tag them with the course tag. Then Hypothes.is Aggregator can collect all the annotations with the class tag in one place, so students and instructors can see and follow-up on each other's annotations. Similar activities can be done by a collaborative research group or in an unconference session.

I've yet to give Hypothes.is a try, though Maha's post from earlier this year heightened my interest, and Kris' new plugin is giving me ideas for class activities next semester. I plan to spend some time this summer experimenting.

How about you? Have you been using Hypothes.is? Are you going to give this new WordPress plugin a try? What's been your experience? Do you prefer other web annotation tools? Let us know in the comments.

[CC-licensed Flickr photo by vickysandoval22]

Return to Top
Source: New WordPress Plugin for Hypothes.is

5085362

Greenland reached 75 degrees earlier this month, setting a reported record for warmth in June — but one science blogger provided data that casts doubt on the claim.

Using official data from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) Paul Homewood of the blog Not A Lot Of People Know That, found that while April in Greenland was indeed the warmest on record. It was only .2 degrees Celsius above the next warmest April on record, 1953 — long before global warming or CO2 emissions were an issue. Homewood explained that April 2014 and 2015 were "two of the coldest [winters] on record." A fact seemingly lost on those claiming record warmth.

Further, using the charts Homewood provides in his piece, it shows the 1930s were just as warm for Greenland as today. For reference, the 1930s were a historically warm decade, as pointed out by National Climactic Data Center.

"The top five years for setting record maximums were all during the 1930s." Steven Goddard writes in 2012 for a piece published by his website stevengoddard.wordpress.com, "No year this century even shows up in the top fifteen. Last year didn't even make the top sixty." What Goddard is referring to is the number of record daily high temperatures recorded in a given year.

Homewood also shows that while there are two sets of data for temperature readings at the Nuuk weather station, The Weather Underground — which originally presented the finding — chose to only use one in their assessment; the one that read higher. In the picture Homewood uses, it shows wild temperature fluctuations of up to seven degrees Celsius happening at ten to the hour every hour.

It is worth noting that Homewood uses "non-adjusted data" for his research. There are two sets of data for temperature readings: the adjusted, and the actual temperature record.

Zeke Hausfather of juditchcurry.com explained in a July 2014 piece why scientists adjust data in the first place, "Nearly every single [weather] station in the network has been moved at least once over the last century, with many having 3 or more distinct moves." Hausfather goes onto explain,"Most of the stations have changed from using liquid in glass thermometers (LiG) in Stevenson screens to electronic Minimum Maximum Temperature Systems (MMTS) or Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS). Observation times have shifted from afternoon to morning at most stations since 1960, as part of an effort by the National Weather Service to improve precipitation measurements. All of these changes introduce (non-random) systemic biases into the network."

Always on the ready to tell climate skeptics that a singular event does not represent climate, the alarmists seem all too happy to do just that here.

"Weather is to climate what one pitch is to an entire baseball season," Richard Stuebi wrote in an article published by The Huffington Post in 2011.

Homewood wrote in a Friday article, "In any event, the whole idea that a day's weather proves ;climate change' is preposterous."

Joe Romm of Think Progress wrote in an article published Wednesday that Greenland was "shockingly warm" using "land surface" temperature data. There's just one problem with that according to Homewood: "There are no weather stations in the interior of Greenland."

"Observed by satellites uniformly around the world, land surface temperatures (LSTs) are not the same as air temperatures." NASA Earth Observatory (EO) noted in an April piece, "Instead, they reflect the heating of the surface by sunlight, and they can sometimes be significantly hotter or cooler than air temperatures."

So land temperature data is expected to show different temperatures than what the air actually is, as land soaks up heat from the Sun.

One scientist has a natural explanation for the warmth in Greenland though. Santiago de la Pena, a research scientist at the University of Ohio said in the April piece published by NASA's EO: "A high-pressure weather system sat over the ice sheet through most of April. The system caused temperatures across Greenland to spike,"

Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter.

Any tips or info? Email Craig at [email protected]

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

Source: This Science Blogger Found Data Showing Greenland Didn't Set Record Warmth

Back in January, Maha wrote about her use of Hypothes.is, a collaborative web annotation tool that works within your web browser. As Maha explains, this tool gives readers who are all assigned the same readings a choice: they can "do these readings in isolation, or they can read them in asynchronous collaboration with others who had read and annotated them beforehand; they can learn from what others have been saying about those reading." Hypothes.is has a great many potential uses for educational and research environments.

Yesterday, Kris Shaffer, of the University of Mary Washington Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, announced that he's created a Hypothes.is plugin for WordPress. (Long-time ProfHacker readers know that we're big fans of WordPress here.) In his announcement, Kris explains that his new plugin, called Hypothes.is Aggregator, "will allow WordPress users ― bloggers, teachers, and students alike ― to collect their own annotations, annotations on a topic of interest, or annotations from/about a class, and present them in a page or post on the WordPress platform." The instructions couldn't be simpler, and the possible applications look promising:

Many instructors already use hypothes.is by assigning a reading that students will annotate together. Hyopthes.is Aggregator makes it easy to assign a topic, rather than a reading, and ask students to find their own readings on the web, annotate them, and tag them with the course tag. Then Hypothes.is Aggregator can collect all the annotations with the class tag in one place, so students and instructors can see and follow-up on each other's annotations. Similar activities can be done by a collaborative research group or in an unconference session.

I've yet to give Hypothes.is a try, though Maha's post from earlier this year heightened my interest, and Kris' new plugin is giving me ideas for class activities next semester. I plan to spend some time this summer experimenting.

How about you? Have you been using Hypothes.is? Are you going to give this new WordPress plugin a try? What's been your experience? Do you prefer other web annotation tools? Let us know in the comments.

[CC-licensed Flickr photo by vickysandoval22]

Return to Top
Source: New WordPress Plugin for Hypothes.is

Image credit: Caio Resende/StockSnap.

So you want to start a blog?

Nowadays anyone can create a blog in a few simple steps. Blogging is an incredible marketing tool and can even become a great source of income. However, if you would like to build a successful and profitable blog, you need to set yourself on the right path.

Here are ten things you should know before you jump into blogging.

Blogging takes time and effort

Before getting started, ask yourself why you want to start a blog. If your goal is just to make money online, honestly blogging might not be the best choice for you. There are hundreds of ways of making money online and blogging is one of the harder ones.

It requires a lot of hard work and takes a long time to grow your audience. It is pretty disappointing if you publish your first post and nobody reads it, but you need to undergo these awkward moments. Do not expect the results immediately.

Successful bloggers are patient enough to keep working on their blogs for a long time. It's tough, but they know it's worth it.

WordPress.com, Blogger, Medium and Tumblr, these blogging platforms are all free and very easy to use. However, as long as you go for a free blog you do not own your blog, which means there are some limitations and lack of control.

If you want a cool web address, more design flexibility, larger storage or more monetization opportunities, a self-hosted WordPress blog is still the best bet. You can start a self-hosted blog by buying a hosting, domain name and installing WordPress. All of it will cost you around $50-150/year. Jamie Spencer wrote a comprehensive guide on how to start a blog including choosing a domain name, hosting and installing WordPress.

Once started, you might need to spend more money on other things to get more traffic and increase engagement. Below are some of the investments you can make for your blog.

Design customization

Custom development

Ads, marketing promotions

Better web hosting

Hiring other writers

A/B testing

Software

It is crucial to decide what you write about and stay focused on that niche. There are already a lot of blogs. You'll have to figure out how to make your blog stand out from the crowd. Choose a topic you are passionate about and do not expand it too broadly.

Define your target audience. Get a clear answer to the following question. Who is going to read your blog? Identify their needs, interests and concerns. It will help you come up with good topics to write about.

Content marketers and pro bloggers are often faced with an argument 'Quality vs Quantity'. Quantity matters to increase and maintain your traffic, but you should still focus on quality over quantity.

If your readers get value from the information in your articles, they will engage and become your regular audience. On the other hand, nobody will like your blog if you publish shallow and uninformative articles.

It is not enough to write a great post and wait for people to find it. While your blog is new, nobody will find your articles through search engines. Then how can you get traffic? You need to be proactive.

One of the best ways to get noticed is to use social media to promote your posts. You can even buy traffic by creating ads on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

It is OK to share the same content more than once, which is one of the easiest ways to drive more traffic. But just be careful not to be a spammer. Kissmetric mentions great tips about how to increase your traffic through social media.

Thanks to the powerful blogging platforms, HTML and CSS knowledge is no longer necessary for everyone. It is possible to customize themes and plugins without having a look at any code.

Still, a basic understanding of HTML (and CSS if possible) can surely help professional bloggers and non-tech marketers. Once you are familiar with these skills, you will be able to edit the appearance of your articles by hand or even fix simple errors on the blog.

You can easily start learning online for free. For instance, Codecademy, Code School and Khan Academy are offering free video courses about HTML fundamentals.

Learning basic search engine optimization (SEO) is a fundamental and very effective way to drive traffic to your blog. Traffic from search engines is the key to growth. SEO is very complicated but even knowing a few tips can make a huge difference in the long run.

Moz offers great articles about SEO, you can check their beginner's guide here.

Learn about copyright issues

What do you do when someone steals your content without permission? It can happen to anyone at any time.

You should learn how to protect your articles and images. At the same time it is critical to educate yourself to prevent becoming a "content thief" unintentionally.

Here is a useful article on WordPress.com about how to reduce the risk of content theft.

The blog design can influence how readers perceive your content. It can seriously make or break the first impression. If your blog is ugly and hard to read, then sure nobody will read it.

Google's algorithms are prioritizing mobile-friendly sites. Research by Smart Insights reveals that people are now spending more time on mobile devices. Make your blog mobile-friendly and responsive to ensure you create a pleasurable reading experience for your audience and reap low-hanging SEO fruits.

Always be yourself. By being authentic and real, you can build trust with your audience. People buy from people they trust. It takes years to build trust and just a matter of minutes to ruin it. Be open and interact with your readers. Be the first one to admit mistakes and apologize.

Today, anyone can start a blog. However, it's not for everyone. Most of the new bloggers give up too early.

At first writing might be painful and will take a lot of time to finish just one article. But if you keep writing content you are passionate about; you will gradually get used to it.

I hope you find this article helpful to prepare yourself before taking the first step starting a blog.

Source: 10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Blog

WordPress has changed the way we build websites. What started as a simple blogging tool in 2003 has turned into a leading CMS powering 26.4 percent of all websites in the world. This can be partly attributed to the five-minute install WordPress is so famous for, and partly because Wordpress is being used in so many different niches.

From entrepreneurs to freelancers, WordPress is being used by just about anyone to create any type of website you can think of. Whether you want to build a blog, a news website, a sales page or a corporate website -- you can use WordPress in one-way or another.

One of the main reasons this diversity in application has been possible is because of the enormous number of premium WordPress themes now available in the market. You can find a theme to turn your WordPress powered website into a coupon site, a magazine, a landing page, a portfolio, an e-commerce store or your company website.

Related: 25 Reasons Your Business Should Switch to WordPress

Checkout these 10 premium themes for WordPress that you should look out for in 2016. These themes offer a wide range of functionality and flexibility which goes to show exactly why more than a quarter of all websites are made using WordPress.

1. SociallyViral.

When industry leaders like ViralNova use a premium theme, others take note. SociallyViral is popular for being the theme used by ViralNova.com to reach $400,000 a month in revenue. With numbers like that, anyone would want to replicate their success by "taking inspiration" from their content, their writing style, their catchy headlines, and their website design.

It is a good thing then that they used a premium WordPress theme from MyThemeShop that can be bought by anyone with a few bucks to spare. With features like easy social sharing and a style that inspires social shares -- your next post is all set to go viral.

2. StoreFront.

StoreFront was created by the same team that brought us WooCommerce, it is quickly becoming the theme people want to use for their WooCommerce shops. This theme is tightly integrated with many popular WooCommerce extensions. It is also developer friendly which explains the number of skins available to make this theme really your own.

3. Flights.

Whether you are a freelancer or an agency -- customers would want to see your portfolio before they decide to hire you. What better way to create a portfolio than this WordPress theme that not only helps you present your work -- it adds a touch of creativity to your website as well. Flights comes with multiple layout options and a cool video header section to make your prospect's eyes pop.

4. Spooner.

If you are looking for a restaurant theme -- you can safely stop right now. Spooner offers a unique layout complete with clean typography and a reservation system. Also worth noting is the drag-and-drop homepage builder that is a breeze of fresh air for any DIY enthusiast.

5. Business.

Yet another feature-rich theme from MyThemeShop that is perfect for a corporate or agency website. This theme is best for companies that want to have a matching blog along with their corporate website. Features like multiple layouts, WooCommerce support, unlimited color combinations, and a clean responsive layout make Business theme a must-have for serious web designers and business owners.

Related: 7 Ways to Optimize Your WordPress Website

6. REHub.

With special emphasis on community features like user reviews, BBPress support, and options to be used as an affiliate portal -- REHub can easily be classified as a theme that is going to make it big in 2016. For starters, you get four entirely different types of styles with this theme and each style serves a different niche.

You can use the theme to create a website that earns via AdSense, affiliate links, or by selling your own products. As you might have guessed, it is fully compatible with CSS and even extends the functionality of WooCommerce by integrating with Easy Digital Downloads plugin. So, even if you plan on selling digital products, this theme has got you covered.

7. Vantage.

Want to create a directory for local businesses but don't know how? We can safely say we have all been there. Directory websites can be hard to setup especially if you aren't familiar with coding. Vantage theme was launched to change that notion.

You no longer need to know coding or spend days to create a directory website. Vantage theme is really easy to install and to setup. It has a lot of tools and comes with robust options panel to not only customize your website, but monetize it too. You can let visitors claim their business listings and pay you for featured slots.

8. Listify.

Yet another directory theme with special emphasis on design and layout. You can use Listify to build a restaurant directory, car directory, hotel directory, real estate directory or just about any listing website you can think of. This theme comes with a reservation system as well and integrates neatly with Open Table, Resurva, Guestful, WooCommerce Bookings, for automating the process of reservations.

Related: Priceless Words From the Founder of WordPress

Listify is SEO friendly and user friendly. It is responsive which means the theme has a great interface for different screen sizes. Just like Vantage, this theme lets people claim a listing on your website, make an appointment, save a listing etc.

9. Extra.

Extra is another great choice for bloggers and online-publications. It's powered by the Divi Builder, the flagship product of ElegantThemes, giving you the ultimate flexibility to create diverse categories, homepages and story-driven posts that will keep your visitors engaged and coming back for more. Extra is a versatile theme, which can be used for multiple purposes. When you are hard-pressed to choose a multi-purpose theme that should deliver -- get the Extra WordPress theme.

10. Athena.

Modern layouts with parallax scrolling done right are hard to come by. Even harder is getting a free theme like that with SEO friendly code, 600+ icons, WooCommerce support, full-width slider, and animated callouts. Athena theme is a combination of all these and more. It is a multi-purpose theme with layouts for freelancers, photographers, businesses, restaurants, bloggers, musicians and creative agencies. Moreover, it is available on WordPress.org so you can rest assured that the code is properly audited.

Source: Top 10 WordPress Themes for Entrepreneurs

The person claiming credit for the hack of the Democratic National Committee has started a blog to brag about it.

"Worldwide known cyber security company CrowdStrike announced that the [DNC] servers had been hacked by 'sophisticated' hacker groups," the self-proclaimed hacker, "Guccifer 2.0," says on the new WordPress blog. "I'm very pleased the company appreciated my skills so highly … But in fact, it was easy, very easy."

"Guccifer may have been the first one who penetrated Hillary Clinton's and other Democrats' mail servers. But he certainly wasn't the last. No wonder any other hacker could easily get access to the DNC's servers," the author said. "Shame on CrowdStrike: Do you think I've been in the DNC's networks for almost a year and saved only 2 documents? Do you really believe it?"

Stay abreast of the latest developments from nation's capital and beyond with curated News Alerts from the Washington Examiner news desk and delivered to your inbox.

Sorry, there was a problem processing your email signup. Please try again later.

Processing...

Thank you for signing up for Washington Examiner News Alerts. You should receive your first alert soon!

As evidence, the hacker provided copies of an opposition research file the DNC had compiled on Donald Trump, as well as screenshots of a donor list. "DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said no financial documents were compromised. Nonsense! Just look through the Democratic Party lists of donors!" the hacker wrote.

Other documents the hacker posted include files on other GOP presidential candidates, a list of prospective donors, and a potentially confidential document from Clinton's term as secretary of state marked "secret," though it was not the same official stamp that the federal government places on documents. The author said he also gave "thousands of files and mails" to Wikileaks and added, "They will publish them soon."

It was revealed on Tuesday that the DNC's servers had been infiltrated by hackers for more than a year. Officials at CrowdStrike attributed the activity to two groups known as "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear," which are both linked to the Russian government.

In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said he believed the DNC hacked itself. "We believe it was the DNC that did the 'hacking' as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader," Trump said. "Too bad the DNC doesn't hack Hillary Clinton's 33,000 missing emails."

Also from the Washington Examiner

Controversies that — despite all of the conventional wisdom in the world — haven't stopped him yet.

By Jacob Clarke

•

06/16/16 6:07 PM

Top Story

Senator first said the president was 'directly responsible' for the shooting, but quickly backpedaled.

•

06/16/16 4:01 PM

Source: Alleged DNC hacker starts a blog, posts stolen files

Your website serves as the digital storefront for your business. If it doesn't look appealing, load quickly or even have a mobile version, customers are going to keep walking. Many small business owners rely on their website to bring in a steady stream of leads and educate potential customers on what they offer.

Related: 5 Steps to Take to Start Your Small Business Blog Today

However, when it comes to designing and developing a website, most of those same small business owners think they can't have all the bells and whistles that larger businesses have. But that's not true. Why? Meet WordPress.

WordPress is a free platform that powers the back end of your website. It's commonly referred to as a "content management system" because of its ability to let you easily create and organize all of the pages and media you upload to your site.

Interested in learning why it's the best option for your small business' website? Keep reading . . .

1. You'll be able to start using your website as a blog.

If you're using a separate website to host your blog or, worse, have no blog at all (at least yet), switching your site over to WordPress will quickly solve that problem. Not only is the software incredibly easy to operate (adding new pages/posts literally takes seconds), but it's the perfect platform for blogging about your small business.

Simply set up a page on your site dedicated to your blog (just call it "blog" or some catchy name that plays off your brand). Then you can start adding posts to that page. A blog is your easiest and most effective way to continuously add new content to your site and keep customers up-to-date with your business.

2. WordPress constantly updates itself for safety and security.

Instant updates mean you can be confident your website's security is always up to date and aligned with the best, most current policies. While some other content management systems might require you to manually check for updates or may be slack on performing maintenance, WordPress does the work for you.

You can sleep soundly knowing that your site will automatically update, and knowing, too, that WordPress will keep working to better its system and make things more secure for users and visitors.

3. WordPress is open source.

"Open source" simply means that developers are able to contribute to WordPress' software in the form of plugins, themes and updates. How does that benefit you? The system is constantly improving and getting better, and a new addition doesn't cost you a cent. You can reap all the benefits of these improvements without paying for them.

Related: With Open-Source Software, You Don't Have to Start From Scratch

4. WordPress is SEO friendly.

SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to the idea of making your website more searchable by engines like Google and Yahoo. While mastering SEO can take some investment of time WordPress offers ways for business owners to optimize their site in the easiest ways possible. Check out the free Yoast SEO plugin, which shows you step-by-step how your content ranks and where there's room to improve.

Related: Top 7 Things You Don't Know About SEO

5. WordPress is no newbie.

This CMS is swimming in familiar water. It's been around for more than ten years so it's safe to say it's a sure thing. While WordPress (like any CMS) isn't perfect, it's pretty much problem-free. Over the years, its engineers have had time to work out those little kinks and improve, aging the system into a timeless CMS that all levels of web developers have come to love.

6. Coding for WordPress is standard for any web developer.

A lot of small business owners hire a web developer who then builds a complicated website that no one else can manage. That's all well and good if you never need to change your website again -- but that's rare.

One of the reasons WordPress is so great is that it's become such a popular choice any web developer knows how to code for it. Whenever a problem pops up that you can't fix, or you decide to redesign your website's look, any developer will be able to get the job done.

7. Having a WordPress website puts you in good company.

Yes, WordPress is "every guy's CMS." That being said, its capabilities extend far beyond the basic ones; and some of the biggest companies in the world use WordPress to power their sites. How big is "big"? The New York Times, Mashable, TechCrunch, and Inc. (to name a few).

WordPress is great for small businesses because it has everything you need to create a visually pleasing, fully functional, scalable website, and it also offers endless possibilities if your business or budget grows down the road.

Related: Priceless Words From the Founder of WordPress

Wrapping Up

Whether you're just starting out as an entrepreneur or your small business is growing like a weed, you want a website that grows as you do. WordPress gives you that option.

Source: 7 Reasons You Should Redesign Your Small Business Website in WordPress

WESTERLY — From the time she was a little girl, Melissa Kenyon Mowry had a knack for writing. Her teachers, noticing her talent, encouraged her to keep writing, and her parents enrolled her in creative writing classes at the Westerly Library.

She won a statewide writing contest when she was in grade school, served as editor-in-chief of the "Barker," Westerly High School's student newspaper, and majored in journalism at Northeastern University.

From this section:Statue faces water once again after park restoration

But it wasn't until her son, Chase, was born that her passions collided and the stay-at-home mom found her voice.

Motherhood, it turns out, was just the inspiration Mowry needed to re-connect her with her calling — motherhood and the need to share her story with other moms.

On Thursday at 6 p.m., Mowry will share the culmination of her two-year writing journey at the launch of her first book, "One Mother to Another: This Is Just Between Us," at the Savoy Bookshop and Café.

Inspired by the blog she started when she found herself struggling with the new-mom blues, she calls the book "a collection of raw and relatable stories about motherhood."

She's already received advance praise for the book from her legion of followers, including from several local moms who laud her for "capturing every essence of parenthood," and for her "wit, charm and intellect."

"This book has made me laugh and cry," said first-time mom Amanda Williams of Westerly. "In every single section there is something I can relate to. It is raw, real and emotional, just like being a mother."

"She is the mother all moms hope to become: honest, true and real," said Kelly Mills of Ashaway.

Mowry, now the mother of a second son, 10-month-old Samuel, vividly remembers the moment that she sat down to write. It was a cold, March morning, and her husband (and high school sweetheart), Adam, had just left for work.

It was her first day home by herself with her newborn. Lonely, and feeling isolated, she turned on her computer, created a WordPress account and started to write a blog.

The words began to flow as she poured her emotions onto the screen.

She called her first post "Mom Guilt: There's Pretty Much Always Something You Should Feel Bad About," a "tongue-in-cheek commentary" about how the moment she became a mom, she began to "feel guilty about every little thing under the sun."

"I had a very special idea of the kind of mom I was going to be," said Mowry with a laugh. "We were always going to sit down to eat together at the table, the kids were never going to sleep in my bed."

It turns out, she added, "you have to let go of rules. There's the type of mom you think you'll be and then there's the type of mom you become."

Not that she was seeking validation, but if there was ever a shadow of a doubt that she following the right muse, Mowry received near-instant feedback, something she found "rewarding and intoxicating."

"Here I was pouring my thoughts onto the page as a form of therapy, having no idea that anyone else felt the same way," she said. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I am not alone.'"

Mowry has been writing ever since.

Today, she has 8,000 followers on her Facebook page, and has contributed to such popular online sites as The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, BonBon Break, Mamapedia, Coffee + Crumbs and Mamalode.

Elissa Englund of Westerly, the event manager for the Savoy, said interest in Mowry's book and Thursday's scheduled appearance has been unusually strong.

"Melissa has an amazing group of fans who support her," said Englund. "This should be a really fun night both for moms and book-lovers in general."

For those close to Mowry, her accomplishment was a natural progression.

"Melissa loved writing at an early age," said Mowry's dad, Keith Kenyon, an assistant principal at Nauset Regional High School on Cape Cod. "She had an excellent vocabulary combined with a great imagination that she could turn into wonderful words and stories."

"I am thrilled that Melissa has been able to combine her passion for her children and motherhood and her passion for writing," said Mowry's cousin, Leanne Liguori Noonan, a mom and a teacher at Bradford Elementary School. "She's always been an amazing and talented writer ... I still have a letter she wrote me when I was in college ... it continues to inspire me."

Noonan said the cousins were "fortunate to have amazing grandparents," who "above all else instilled in us the importance and value of family."

It's a sentiment her cousin expresses "so eloquently through her writing in an honest and heartfelt way," added Noonan.

Mowry, who lives in the Dunns Corner section of town — in the very same house in which she and her sister, Ashley, grew up in and shared a bedroom — sat in her back yard one morning last week, with her younger son, Sam, sitting contentedly on her lap, and her older son, Chase, balancing on one arm of the blue Adirondack chair.

What she hopes her readers will experience while reading her book, she said, smiling broadly, is a feeling that they're sitting next to her on the sofa, sharing stories and sipping a glass of wine.

Perhaps the highest praise for "One Mother to Another: This Is Just Between Us," comes from the woman who brought Mowry into this world.

"I love, love, love it," said Mowry's mom, Westerly native Judy Liguori Kenyon. "It will make you laugh, it will make you cry ... and every mom will be able to relate."

nbfusaro@thewesterlysun.com

Source: Blog for new moms leads to first book

While anyone can blog and there is no barrier to entry, if you conduct all blog activities in a professional manner, it can boost your business. It needs to have a plan, and needs to be integrated with any other communication, plus be authentic.

A blog provides a platform for you to share your views and knowledge, and to communicate with the public at large. For the uninitiated, it is a type of website or part of a website that can be maintained by an individual. Through this dialogue you may make good contacts and develop a more recognised profile.

I regularly recommend this platform to leaders in establishing their own brand and in boosting the company brand. If you write about your area of expertise, you could instantly or eventually become more influential in your industry.

A blog can be thought of as a quick and easy online journal or diary, and can be used to elevate your ranking in search engines.

Consider how you could blog - should it be merely in your industry perspective, or could you allow a successful part-time pastime or sport to pique the interest of possible visitors and readers?

Be clever. Write well, reflect your personality and invite a reaction. Develop dialogue first and then ensure that you develop a relationship with your audience.

Remember to make yourself distinctive in the world of information overload. Think of the eyes looking at your writing, and then aim to be:

Impressive

Informative

Interactive

The setting up of a blog is easy, and so is the maintenance. Do not be intimidated – starting a blog is simple. There are easy options such as WordPress. Once you are on the website you would simply register and follow the instructions the website provides for setting up your blog – it tells you step by step what you need to do.

Post regularly and use visuals effectively.

Remember:

Regular entries or commentary can be graphics, text, images and links.

It is interactive so you may respond to comments.

It can be personal or corporate.

Internally it can enhance communication and the company culture, and externally can be used as part of marketing.

Always consider your target market – who will be reading your blog and what perceptions you are creating for your personal brand.

Jenny Handley is a brand, high performance and leadership specialist who offers individual consultations and team workshops. For information on Jenny's books and courses visit www.jennyhandley.co.za. Follow Jenny on Twitter: Jenny_Handley and Facebook: Jenny Handley Performance Management.

CAPE TIMES

Like us on Facebook

Connect with us on LinkedIn

Source: Boost your brand with a blog

No online marketing strategy is complete without the component of social media. If you are running a blog or a small business website on the WordPress platform, it is quite easy for you to incorporate social media marketing in it. WordPress provides you with hundreds of social media plugins these days that can provide your visitors with a better and improved experience. The choice of social media plugins will depend on the social networks you frequent, the kind of content you offer and the best placement and look of social tools that complement the design of your website. From richly featured to simple, here are the best WordPress social media plugins for 2016:

Social9: This WordPress social media plugin can be immensely useful in helping you grow and engage your audience, gaining insight on how the content is being shared and monetizing traffic. You can access related content display, customizable share buttons as well as social analytics through this plugin.

Floating Social Media Icon: You can make use of social media widgets or get social media icons to appear automatically with this plugin. It offers you over 20 icon themes for your WordPress website and it uses PHP code or shortcode for displaying social media icons anywhere on your site.

Ultimate Social: With this plugin, you have the freedom of choosing over 25 social buttons along with 20 display locations. Ultimate Social also features multiple skins, fan counts, color control, multiple languages and more. The multiple integrations include BuddyPress, Jigoshop and WooCommerce.

Monarch: This social plugin allows you to choose which social sharing networks to display amongst the 20 it offers. Any number of available networks can be added and arranged for providing your visitors a customized collection of sharing options. You are offered with six different fly-in triggers and automatic pop-up.

OneLogin SAML SSO: This WordPress plugin provides single sign-on through SAML and enables users to get one-click access to their accounts from identify providers such as OneLogin. Passwords are eliminated by this SAML plugin as it lets users sign into WordPress with their LDAP or Active Directory credentials.

Jetpack: A range of tools are offered by Jetpack as nearly two dozen plugins are installed with just a simple click. Some of the features provided by this plugin include social network distributional tools, widgets to display networks and social media icons. The makers of WordPress.com, Automatic have created JetPack.

WP Social Sharing: Attractive responsive social share buttons are added by WP Social Sharing and this includes Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Xing and Pinterest. These can be added to WordPress media, page, posts or anything else. The large responsive buttons are displayed using CSS3.

Social Media Feather: The purpose behind introducing this plugin is to offer lightweight WordPress social sharing and following that will not add any unnecessary burden on your users or your site. You can easily incorporate modern-looking and nice share profiles and share buttons links to your pages and posts automatically and quickly.

You can install any of these social media plugins on WordPress for enhancing functionality.

Source: Best WordPress social media plugins to work with in 2016

Like all adventures, the transition from traveler to travel blogger never goes exactly as expected. One minute you're opening your brand new, shiny wordpress account, daydreaming of the day someone will actually pay you to gallivant around the globe...

The next, you're up to your neck in editorial calendars, social media, and editing content.

You already love to write and travel, so what could change? Everything, as a matter of fact.

1. "Travel" is no longer synonymous with "vacation"

Completely unplugging or going off the grid is no longer an option when you need to post updates to your blog and social media. Trips are fuel for content, not just for relaxation.

2. You think of social media followers as real friends and not just numbers

Because without them, you'd be out of a job. Plus, the world is much smaller than you initially realized and you never know who you'll run into.

3. Friends and family can't decide whether you're crazy or their own personal travel agent

Not that you mind either title.

4. You start subconsciously categorizing other foreigners into "tourists" and "travelers"

It's not that you're judging ... quite. You just remember the days of scrambling to wait in line for overpriced sites before you realized that the best travel is often spontaneous, and slow.

5. Any last degree of introverted shyness evaporates when you're solo in a new place

If only your shy, high school self could see you now: initiating conversations with interesting strangers and loving every minute of it.

6. You become an expert selfie photographerWhile exploring solo, you invent ingenious ways to document the experience. Which may or may not involve very precariously balanced situations with plenty of outtakes.

7. You consider buying you buy the blasted selfie stickYou may have laughed at them before, but suddenly the appeal is all too great to resist. If a picture's really worth a thousand words, you'll find a way to get that posed, Instagram-worthy shot.

8. Free Wi-Fi becomes a top accommodation priority

Never mind free breakfast, amenities, or jacuzzi access. If they have a reliable internet connection, you'll book the room.

9. You have friends around the world

You recognize that the beauty of travel lies not only in the destination, but in the people you meet along the way. Your best stories and most cherished memories are with those who shared your adventures. Because, let's face it, nothing creates a bond quite like running from an elephant in Tanzania, dancing through a Nicaraguan downpour, or hiking the deserted Celtic countryside.

10. You're never completely at home anywhere

A part of your heart will always remain with the people you met in some far off land. Despite this curse of perpetual wanderlust, you wouldn't have it any other way.

This post was first published on Take Me With You, where part-time travel bloggers learn to turn their wanderlust into profit. Launch your professional travel blog in five days with the free Travel Blog In 5 ecourse.

Source: 10 Things That Happen When You Transition From Traveler to Travel Blogger