Blogger vs WordPress Blog

You know rich text editors. They turn simple text fields into some type of text processing environment. Each WordPress blogger uses one, the TinyMCE, which is still standard in the world's most popular CMS. Quill is a more advanced member of the same species.

Quill's Project Website. (Screenshot: Dr. Web)

Quill 1.0: Open Source and Independent

After about two years, the open source project Quill has finally made it to the stable version 1.0. After this long development time, one of the positive results is the excellent documentation. Smaller and younger projects can barely keep up with that. Good documentation is crucial, especially in the open source area, as it is a common thing that previously very active contributors suddenly lose interest in the project and abandon it.

Quill is a JavaScript solution without any other dependencies, but with its own API. All you need to be able to efficiently work with Quill is located in the JavaScript file, which you integrate into your documents as usual.

How to Add Quill to Your Web App

To equip an element with Quill's abilities, add the following into your HTML:

1 <div id="editor-container"></div>

After that, you call the script on the element. This is how it looks:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 var quill = new Quill('#editor-container', { modules: { toolbar: [ [{ header: [1, 2, false] }], ['bold', 'italic', 'underline'], ['image', 'code-block'] ] }, placeholder: 'Compose an epic...', theme: 'snow' // or 'bubble' });

This is an example of what may happen when someone uses the element:

The Small Bit of Code on the Left Allows for the Result on the Right (and a Lot More). (Screenshot: Dr. Web)

As you can already see in the JavaScript source code, it is possible to modularly adjust Quill to the contained element the way you consider to be right. The individual function modules are integrated into the UI with speaking names. This way, your users get the option to format text in bold only if you added bold to the scope of functions.

Quill: Flexible Due to Its Own API

An API lets you create further function modules depending on your needs, and seamlessly integrate them into the UI of Quill. Maybe your web app has to be able to gather CAD drawings, or whatever. Generally, Quill does not need configuration. It works out-of-the-box just fine for most application cases.

Aside from expansion modules for features that Quill doesn't provide, you are also able to replace some of Quill's functions with your own, if the given ones are not sufficient. You should set up all modules as separate JavaScript files, but it is also possible to directly add them to Quill, although this isn't advisable when keeping simple updates in mind.

The option to expand or alter the feature scope of the editor is possible due to one of Quill's biggest unique characteristics; the DOM abstraction level Parchment. In the Quill blog, you'll find a detailed presentation of the abilities of Parchment. Learn how you could recreate the UI of the popular publication platform Medium.

You'll get a good feeling for the modern tool's flexibility when looking around on the project page's interactive playground, or by using Codepen.

The developers value the assessment that Quill is very consistent over all platforms, and always works the same way, even being fully functional on tablets and smartphones, as well as solely creating standard HTML. The entire input and output work via JSON.

Quill: Availability and License

Quill is available for the integration into your website via download, but it is also possible to embed it via a CDN ran on Amazon Cloudfront. The source code is available on Github. As it is an open source project, there are no limitations regarding using it. Thus, you can even utilize Quill for commercial projects under the BSD license.

Ioanni Mitsakis is front-end developer at a major European automotive supplier and responsible for the look & feel of their internal cloud-based apps. As his employer works internationally with distributed teams world-wide, a rock-solid development foundation is what Ioanni aims for. He better should ;-)

Source: Quill 1.0 – Better Rich Text Editor for Web Apps

Hello there! My blog post 'Spikes' was published on Sept. 22nd; however, the post before it called 'Flow' was published on September 6th. Unfortunately, Flow is showing that it was published on the 22nd, after Spikes. They both show on the site that they were published on the 22nd. How can I change the order back to its normal order, with Flow on the 6th and Spikes on the 22nd? I have no idea how it got rearranged in the first place. I think I did something on the APP version of wordpress but have no idea what.

Thank you!

The blog I need help with is memoryboxmom.wordpress.com.

Source: Wrong Post Date on my blog post

When starting a new blog, one of the first decisions you have to make is where you want your blog to live. In other words, step one is deciding what blogging platform works best for you and your blogging goals. Some of the big players such as WordPress Self Hosted (.org), WordPress Free (.com), and Blogger are extremely well known, but you might be surprised at how many other options there are.

Before you rush to a decision you might want to also consider Squarespace, Wix, Tumblr, LiveJournal, Weebly, TypePad, LinkedIn, or Medium. Don't overlook the lesser known options either including Postach.io, Posthaven, Postagon, Silvrback, and SVBTLE. And if you have any coding skills in your wheelhouse, you might want to check out Anchor, Tinypress, Drupal, Joomla, Kirby, Contentful, Jekyll, or  Ghost.

Woah…That's a lot of options, right? How do you make the right decision?

Well, first let's pull out the coding required options for now. We can tackle those another day. Now let's see how the remaining options compare.

Each publishing platform is built with a different purpose in mind. Some are meant to be completely customizable and supportive of growth, while others make it as easy as possible to get your thoughts and ideas published. Fortunately, that means that there is a blogging platform out there that will fit your needs, and to find out which one, we are going to look at six categories (Cost, Customized Features, Personalized Design, Monetization, Support, and Limitations) to help determine each platform's ease of use and flexibility for growth.

Cost (Platform, Hosting, and Domains)

Some blogging platforms include hosting either for free or a small cost, while others require you to purchase and set up the blog yourself. Having your own hosting gives you a lot more control on what you want to do with your blog or website, but it comes at a price. Choose your hosting provider wisely based on your needs for support, no downtime, and cost.

Whether you need to buy or can use a custom domain name is also a major difference between the blogging platforms. A domain costs about $10/year depending on what top level domain you choose (.com, .net, .org, etc.). Domain privacy is typically an additional cost.

WordPress.org

The platform itself is free to use, but you will need to purchase your own hosting and domain name. Hosting and domain costs can run you anywhere from $5/month on up.

WordPress.com

The platform is free and includes hosting. However, to get a custom domain name you need to get a WordPress.com plan, which starts at $2.99/month. Each plan comes with a free domain credit through WordPress, but if you want to use one you already own that will cost you another $13 per year. Without a custom domain your URL will be in the format BLOGNAME.wordpress.com.

Blogger

This one is also free and includes hosting. You have the option to use a custom domain that you can purchase through a third party for about $10/year.

Squarespace

Blog or website plans from Squarespace currently start at $12/month if you pay a year up front. This covers the platform and your hosting. Each annual plan also includes one free custom domain for the first year, but after that they renew for $20+ per year.

Wix

This platform is free initially and includes web hosting. In order to connect a custom domain, you'll have to upgrade to the cheapest of their premium plans for $5/month. Currently they have five plan options available costing up to $15+ per month.

Weebly

Basic use of Weebly and its hosting is free of charge, but you'll need to upgrade to at least their Starter plan at $8/month to have a custom domain for your blog.

Tumblr

Tumblr is absolutely free and includes hosting. You can add a custom domain, but you'll need to pick that up from a third party registrar for about $10/year.

For more free platform and hosting options, check out Medium, LiveJournal, and even LinkedIn. The platforms TypePad, Postach.io, Posthaven, Postagon, SVBTLE , and Silvrback all require a base fee that ranges from $4-50 per month.

Customized Features (Plugins)

WordPress.org

Yes, there are currently 46,712 plugins that you can choose from, and that is a number that will only keep growing. Anyone can develop one, and you can upload and use any custom plugin you'd like.

WordPress.com

There are no custom plugins available, but there are some built-in add-ons such as popular posts, Instagram feed, or a calendar.

Blogger

Yes, there are custom plugins available but not quite as many as WordPress.org. They don't quite work the same way either. Instead of being naturally combined with the base platform, you have to manually copy code into an HTML/JavaScript gadget.

Squarespace

Yes, custom plugins are available to be integrated into your site. Just like WordPress, pretty much anyone with coding skills can create one and you have the flexibility to add any of them to your site. However, WordPress definitely still wins on quantity.

Wix

Yes, there is a very limited number of custom plugins available. Most customizations are really widgets that will require you to copy and paste code into your site.

Weebly

No, Weebly doesn't have any custom plugins available. You can find code samples and drag-and-drop widgets for your sidebar.

Tumblr

No, there aren't any custom plugins, but there are a few Tumblr extensions.

Personalized Design (Themes and Templates)

WordPress.org

Yes, there are thousands of themes available. Some you can find directly through WordPress for free, while others can be purchased from third party developers. Anyone who has coding knowledge can create a WordPress theme. Feel free to customize with CSS.

WordPress.com

Yes, there are hundreds of themes to choose from. There are fewer than WordPress.org because you are limited to free non-third party themes. You will not be able to modify CSS or other code unless you upgrade your plan.

Blogger

Yes, there are a few native Blogger templates or you can upload and use a third party one. You can also customize your site with CSS.

Squarespace

Yes, there are a few template options and it's super easy to set up. However, you have limited access to the code for customization.

Wix

Yes, there Wix has a couple hundred professional templates to choose from as well as a Drag & Drop website builder. However, there are limited customization options and it may be challenging to change templates at a later date.

Weebly

Yes, there is a limited number of themes plus a Drag & Drop website builder. However, the blog layout is fixed with the latest 10 posts displaying on one page.

Tumblr

Yes, hundreds of themes are available. While some of them are free, many cost a small fee.

Monetization and Advertising

WordPress.org

You are welcome to sell as many ads as you want or join advertising networks. Affilitate links and sponsored content is also permitted.

WordPress.com

You cannot sell ads on your site. If you upgrade to the Premium ($8.25/month) or Business ($24.92/month) plans, you can use the native WordAds program. However, you are still not able to sell ads of your own.

Blogger

Since Blogger is a Google product it plays well with Adsense, but you are also able to add advertisements of your own or from another ad network.

Squarespace

There are a few e-commerce tools built in that allow you to sell products and accept donations on your site. However, there is a 2-3% transaction fee depending on your plan. You are also able to sell ads on your site or sign up for a third party service like Google Adsense.

Wix

Plans come with native ad integration and e-commerce tools, so it's a great option for small businesses. However, you may need to purchase a higher level plans for access to these tools. You can also add custom ads to your site or utilize Google Adsense.

Weebly

There are native e-commerce tools built in, so if you have a plan to launch an online store or sell services this might be a good option. However, you can only use these tools with an upgraded plan and Weebly charges 3% and limits your products unless you upgrade to the Business plan for $25/month. You can add ads of your own though or use third party ad networks.

Tumblr

There is not currently a program in place to sell ads on Tumblr. However, they are working on a partner program that should be ready soon.

Support and Troubleshooting

WordPress.org

You are responsible for the upkeep of your site. This means making sure it's up to date, creating backups, handling spam, and keeping your site optimized. Your hosting provider may be able to help with this for an additional cost or you may want to hire a web developer for help. WordPress itself has community forums for support and you may be able to get phone or chat support from your hosting provider.

WordPress.com

You don't need to worry about backups, spam, optimization, updates, or any site maintenance. If something goes wrong it is out of your hands, but you won't have to keep up with your site on a regular basis. Email and live chat support is not included in the free plan, but community forums are completely free.

Blogger

You are able to export your blog under "Settings" > "Basics" to keep a backup. However, you don't have to worry about general site maintenance. Although if you do edit HTML or CSS code, you are responsible for any issues. The help forum is available to all users in order to get help from the community. However, the individual customer support is very limited.

Squarespace

Squarespace creates a second backup of your content on standby servers. They also manage all the website upkeep. Additionally, Squarespace provides 24/7 customer support.

Wix

You are not able to externally backup a Wix site, but you will also not have to worry about keeping it up to date. Paid plans include premium customer support. Otherwise, they have community and forum support.

Weebly

You can download a zip file backup of your site. However, it does not include blog posts, which isn't very helpful. Otherwise site maintenance is taken care of by Weebly. Community forums plus chat and email support are available for all plans. You can upgrade to get customer support over the phone.

Tumblr

There isn't currently a way to back up a Tumblr blog, but rumor has it that it's being worked on. Support is available through email though you won't get an immediate response.

Limitations

WordPress.org

While there aren't too many limitations, there can be a bit of a learning curve and it's not free to get things up and running.

WordPress.com

The free version is limited to 3 GB of storage space. 13 GB of storage is available for $8.25/month or unlimited storage space for $24.92/month. Unless you upgrade your plan, your blog with display text ads to non-WordPress users. You can remove these ads for $2.99/month.

Blogger

Google owns Blogger and they have the ability to shut it down at any time (remember Google Reader?). It actually hasn't seen a major update in a long time, so many experts are wary that it might not last much longer.

Squarespace

Customization can be difficult as there is limited access to code. It's primarily geared towards static pages rather than logic driven ones.

Wix

You'll have a limited ability to customize because there is no access to code. Storage and bandwidth limits depend on the plan you choose. The free version and the lowest paid level also display Wix Brand Ads.

Weebly

There is a fixed blog layout, so no real customization. The free version displays Weebly Ads. You can get rid of those by upgrading plans. There is no site search on the free plan either, which is super important for blogs! Storage is limited to 500 MB unless you upgrade.

Tumblr

This platform isn't typically viewed as professional, so if that is your goal you might want to look elsewhere.  Tumblr is also more geared at visual content, so text heavy content isn't really supported.

So which one do you pick?

I'm a big WordPress.org fan and it is my overall top recommendation. It's a great option if you are looking to create a blogging business and want to leave room for customization and growth.

However, WordPress.org does require a little bit of extra work beyond just writing and taking photos for your blog. If you aren't prepared for that and don't want to pay someone else to do it, I'd recommend taking a look at WordPress.com or Blogger.

If you currently or might eventually have an e-commerce site complete with an online store, I'd suggest focusing on Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace. However, WordPress.org is still a potential option.

And if your priority is ease of use and ability to get your thoughts and photos out there quickly, start with Tumblr.

What questions do you have about these platforms? If you're already blogging, which platform did you choose and why? Why questions do you have for Jessica? 

Jessica Shipman is a bargain hunter, food lover, and software engineer figuring out how to be a pet parent for the first time. She shares her journey with her two dogs Ralph and Luna on her blog Beagles & Bargains. After getting an Ivy League degree and hands on experience on a corporate web development team, Jessica has decided to change things up. She has recently launched jessicashipman.com to make web technology easy and accessible to bloggers and small business owners. Stop by for free tips or to learn more about her reliable web development consulting. 

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Source: Starting a New Blog? How To Choose the Blogging Platform That Is Right for You

Variety.

A famous expression states, "Variety is the spice of life." It's true.

Are you familiar with enough blog post format variations to prevent your readers from getting bored and moving on to other blogs?

After all, the post I wrote at the end of 2015 How to Create Blog Content Your Readers Will Love– Guaranteed, explained if you are to keep your readers engaged in your content this year, you need a variety of blog formats.

This post will explain how you can do just that using a free popular tool called SlideShare.

In Your Blog: 7 Tips to Stand Out in the Crowd my guest author advised mixing up your content or you will "leave the majority of your readers out in the cold".

Consider this response to her advice:

I'd love to try a video or slideshow but, well, a little hesitant about it from…. fear Any suggestions on how to learn how to do one? From Cathy Chester

Jam and Jazz, also known as The Fuzzies, are here to explain how you can use SlideShare as an alternative format to a traditional blog post.

What is SlideShare?

SlideShare is a free tool used to present slides in a visually appealing manner. After making the slides, you embed the presentation in your blog post. Since most readers understand the content better by looking at pictures, this tool clearly can help bloggers empower their readers more effectively.

According to recent statistics, 400,000 new SlideShare Presentations are created each month. Why so much interest?

Jam and Jazz, take it away:

How to Use SlideShare to Be a More Effective Blogger

By Jam and Jazz

Every now and then I've been checking up on the updates made by WordPress. I love learning about some of its current and new features and figuring out how I can make use of it for improving our blog's content. One of my recent discoveries was the use of SlideShare!

SlideShare, according to WordPress, "offers users the ability to upload and share publicly or privately PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and Adobe PDF Portfolios." 

Its purpose has been stated, but how does it exactly benefit me as a blogger? A lot, I must say!

For example, ever wanted to blog about all of your adventures accompanied by the photos you've taken but can't pick a favorite shot?

Perhaps you want to share your thoughts through meaningful presentations but don't want to lengthen your post with too many images? How about showing process shots of your works in progress?

The possibilities are endless! So how can we incorporate SlideShare in our posts?

Well…

There are two ways we can go about it: 1. Through WordPress

 Some of you might not know, but WordPress offers bloggers the opportunity to present their gallery as a slideshow. It's actually pretty simple. Just follow this tutorial:

Step 1: Choose multiple photos you want to post in the Media Library to create a gallery and click Continue.

Step 2: The layout would automatically suggest Tiled Mosaic but you can easily change that by clicking the drop down menu and choose Slideshow at the bottom-most selection.

Your presentation should look like this afterward. If you want to display your photos randomly, simply check the box for Random Order. Lastly, click Insert and voila´!

You have created a SlideShare presentation!

2. Embedding existing SlideShare presentations.

 Now, what if you don't have your blog on WordPress? Or what if you already have an existing presentation and want to share it with your other social networks? Well, you can achieve this by adding slideshow presentations through your own Slideshare:

Step 1: You may sign up to SlideShare through your LinkedIn account or by signing up using Facebook (I would suggest to signup using LinkedIn personally since I prefer separating my personal social media account with my professional one. But if you prefer Facebook since it is more convenient, then, by all means, sign up with it. There's no right or wrong way of doing it anyway.). In our case, we decided to register as an organization.

Step 2: After signing up, you might want to personalize your account settings by clicking the top rightmost icon and choosing Account Settings.

Here you can customize your profile and connect your other social media profiles if any.

Step 3: Upload your content! At the top of the menu that is beside your Account Icon, there is an orange button that says, UPLOAD! Upon clicking it you get to the page where you can manually upload your content or simply drag it from your files folder and drop it on the screen to start uploading. It can be Powerpoint Presentations, PDF files or Microsoft Word and Open Office Documents with a maximum file size limit of 300MB.

Step 4: Share your work! Now that you have your content online all you have to do is share it with the world! Start by going to the video you want to share then Click the Share Button.

Upon clicking it, you will be given the option to share it through your other social media accounts or by embedding (copying and then pasting) the links given to your web blog!

And that's it! You're on your way to sharing what you've learned to the world or simply telling a story you are passionate about. The possibilities are endless and with SlideShare; everything just got a little more interesting!

Thanks again, and we hoped it inspired you to try it out for yourselves.

Admin Blogger's Commentary:

Advantages to Using SlideShare

Your bounce rate will improve. Since people are looking at your slides, they will stay longer on your blog post.

Your site might take longer to load if visitors to your blog have to wait for all the photos to load. If you embed a SlideShare presentation, that problem is alleviated.

Most people on earth are visual learners who can only absorb information by looking at a picture. Slide presentations are made up of pictures.

Looking at pictures take less time than reading text, so your blog will be more appealing to readers in a rush.

Testimonials and Strategy

Slideshare is considered a valuable resource for bloggers.  Flora Runyenje recommends SlideShare as one of the top six free tools bloggers should use.

Lorraine Reguly is a strong advocate of using SlideShare.

SlideShare is a great platform that has thousands of viewers. By adding SlideShare presentations to your blog posts, you will tap into a brand new audience for your content. Just make sure that you provide clear links within your SlideShare for viewers to click on so they then can be brought to your blog! (To do this, create a PowerPoint presentation first, then upload it to SlideShare. Remember to also add the HTML embed code to your blog post for extra effectiveness and SEO!)

Conclusion

In conclusion, we greatly appreciate Jam and Jazz for explaining how to use SlideShare so we can have variety in how we present our content to readers.

Please share on your blogs and social media, so other bloggers can learn about this tool.

What is your experience with SlideShare? Are you already using it? Is there another visual presentation tool you would recommend? I look forward to your views in the comments section.

Then, go show Jazz and Jam some blog love and visit their blog, Start The Fuzzies.

Would like more free blogging tools?

Click here to get your own downloadable PDF of my free blogging tools list.

Related Posts:

89 of the Best Free Blogging Tools That Will Save You Time Blogging

How to Easily Use a Free, Popular Photo Editing Site: PicMonkey

This is How You Spruce Up Your Visuals with 3 Free Tools

6 Ways You Can Save Time Blogging, Technology You Should Know

How to Create Infographics…

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Source: 1 Popular Way to Be a Better Blogger with Slideshare

My daughter asked WordPress to send me an invitation to be able to edit her blog, called Hautecancer. I wanted to try reversing the order of her posts, especially to make sure the one she wants to appear at the top (which is now at the bottom) gets repositioned. But I am confused: first, I seem not able to do any editing. The way this is set up for me (as 'editorchico') I think you expect me to start my own blog.

The blog I need help with is hautecancer.com.

Source: Editing my daughter's blog

It dawned on me this weekend while doing a little WordPress "housekeeping," that I had not thanked my followers in a while. This post is meant to do just that, and to update you about my blog and related activities.

September marks my fifth year on WordPress. Carolyn's Nonprofit Blog began on the pages of NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Network back in 2010, on a no-longer active group blogging page. In 2011, I moved my posts to WordPress and over the past five years I have continued to refine existing articles and to post new thoughts. This blog began when I lived in San Antonio. I moved to Austin in 2013, and I continue to blog, of course.

I have reorganized the blog in some key ways:

The menu of primary articles is now accessible at the very top, in a drop-down menu listing. I have updated most of my main articles with new links and comments to keep the discussions fresh and contemporary. And, there is a new article focusing on techniques helpful to those nonprofits seeking to improve their credibility and to secure larger donations, "Growing New Shoots: Back to Basics Brings Big Results."

Posts such as this one (to which you have subscribed), are now found in the right hand margin under, "Recent Thoughts." Stationed below that section is a "search box" where you can find more of my posts dating back to 2013.

When not writing a blog post on WordPress, I often share my visual interests on Carolyn's Tumblr. Visual blogging is something I enjoy, a break from traditional writing. You might also follow me on Instagram, where I am fairly active "reporting" events I attend. Shown at the top of this page is an Instagram of a sunset taken from my new backyard in South Austin, with a quote from the Over app.

Last year, I finally launched a Facebook page for my business. You can find it by following the link. I have been active privately on Facebook since 2009, but finally decided to "go public" with a separate page for those seeking professional information and updates.

My Pinterest page has always been casual in focus, but for some reason it has a very high readership. Join me there! I have a board with articles about philanthropy and key issues our sector faces called, "Nonprofit News Now!" You might enjoy checking-in on that, as well as some of my other boards (warning: personal and professional interests are shared on Pinterest). Those who signed-up to follow Carolyn's Nonprofit Blog when I was still living in San Antonio will notice a "San Antonio" board. I loved living in that city and have shared some of my Instagram images.

Regarding my volunteer work with NTEN, I am co-organizing a Meetup, the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Club Austin #NPTechClubATX. If you are in Austin, please join us. Most all programs are free, of course. And, my thanks also go to NTEN for sharing my thoughts on technology adoption in the workplace on NTEN Connect last May. Follow the link to read it.

For a more extensive list of my online presence, please follow this link. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much for your interest in my blog and my work. It means more than you know. Very best wishes for a successful fall!

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Source: Thank You for Following Carolyn's Nonprofit Blog | An Update

"All the education in the world is worthless," wrote an 18-year-old blogger for A Boundless World, "if you never unlock what makes your heart beat." He asserts that passion, determination, and a positive attitude equal success. This story of passion captures readers and raises a question for communications directors in school districts. If students and communities can easily share what they are passionate about in their lives (via Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, or Posterous), will they share stories about school?

Changing expectations for how we share heroic narratives have implications for school district administrators who feel pressured to representchange to a wider audience as positive, enabling, and encouraging. Our classrooms, our schools, and our districts are defined by the stories the community tells about them. School districts may garner better results when they empower educational communities to share the compelling, everyday stories. Here are five tips for K-12 educators, communication professionals or not:

1. Engage Your Audience with Content About, and Featuring, Them

Content that's been prefabricated and written in third person is lifeless, but that which is authentic, transparent, and open about success (as well as failure) will be read by your constituents. Start your social media with a story and integrate multimedia such as text, audio, and video. Blend all of it in so that your audience can choose their preferred media. The multimedia portions can be downloaded and put on iPhones and/or Android devices. This is a great way for students, community members, and staff to find out what is going on from others in their organization.

2. Make Content Sharing Easy

Press releases on a website just do not work anymore. Traditional websites that can't be subscribed to using RSS feeds or that don't allow email subscriptions are dead sites. Many web users just aren't taking the time to come back to those sites, instead preferring to subscribe to content that will come to them via Feedly, Twitter updates to their phone, and more. Use a blog (e.g. WordPress) and add plug-ins that make it easy for people to share your content with others. Teach others to use tools like Medium.com, Flipboard, YouTube, Touchcast, and Microsoft Sway to create, share, and respond to content online.

3. Create a Content Calendar

In your district, there are many wonderful things happening that your community wants to know about. Unfortunately, providing print copies of short articles via email do not allow you to explore and share everything great that is happening; however, online, you have an unlimited number of pages and a global audience. Why not create a social media content calendar that enables you to map out what you will be sharing with others online? Take it another step forward, and invite your "audience co-creators" to speak and discuss what they would like to see on a content calendar. The dialogue process can be powerful as you begin to hear voices that previously may have gone unheard.

4. Define and Build Relationships

While it may not be popular to follow your local news reporters via Twitter, it is critical that you do so. You can raise their awareness of the content that you are sharing about your school district. While they may want to focus on the negative, you can mitigate the effect of their tweets by building a relationship of trust and integrity through the stories you share about your district, your campus, and your classroom.

5. Make Offline Content Available Online

Every speaking engagement and every meeting is an opportunity to share your ideas via social media. Avoid the mistake of creating content solely for online or offline audiences. When you create offline content (e.g. a conversation with parents at the morning coffee meet-n-mingle with the principal), take the time to write about it, maybe even debrief a parent in a one-on-one conversation. "What did you think about our morning coffee meeting? How did it impact you?" Take the time to share what you're doing online.

A Final Point

Educators must be more proactive in spreading the word about all of the amazing things we are doing with and for our students to innovate teaching and learning. Encourage your staff and students to learn how to appropriately use social media tools to share their own stories of passionate engagement.

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Source: Five Tips for School Social Media Success

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as well as free SEO tools, can be quite an intimidating subject for new WordPress sites to tackle. Being the new kid on the block, you're constantly on the lookout for anything to boost your Google rankings, and it's easy to fall into the trap of buying expensive courses or services that ultimately provide minimal returns.

The good news is that there's no need to heed the call of snake-oil SEO salesmen, especially when there are so many outstanding free SEO tools that can have a positive impact on your rankings – as long as you're willing to take a little time to learn their ins and outs.

In this post, we've assembled a collection of five free SEO tools for WordPress (and otherwise) to help improve your Google rankings, including our advice on how they can help you climb the ladder to the very top of search queries. Let's get started!

Best free SEO tools for WordPress

Pingdom Speed Test is a simple tool that enables you to measure exactly how long your site takes to load – down to the millisecond. Just enter the URL of the site you want to test, pick one of the available server locations, then sit back for a few seconds while it produces a detailed report.

Aside from load speeds, Pingdom will also compare how your site stacks up against their database and archived tests, and provide you with a list of performance insights you can put into action to improve your metrics:

Now, you might not care too much about how fast your site loads as long as it's quick enough, but search engines do. So, if you want to boost your Google rankings, even shaving a couple of milliseconds off your page speed might just be the ticket to get there.

As far as WordPress goes, there are lots of ways to help improve your page speed times, and we recently covered ten of them in a two-part series: 5 Quick Wins to Speed Up WordPress Load Times and 5 More Quick Wins to Speed Up Your WordPress.

The Chrome DevTools is a suite of web development and debugging tools built right into the Chrome browser. They include an elements panel (which enables you to manipulate your site's CSS and see how the changes look in real time), a console that provides you with real-time diagnostics, and a networks section with insights regarding your site's performance, among many others.

However, our primary interest lies with the Chrome DevTools dedicated to providing page performance and loading speed insights. To gain access to these free SEO tools you must first install Google Chrome, then head to the site you'll be testing. Right-click anywhere on the page, select the Inspect option, and once there, click on the Network tab. Finally, press the F5 key to begin your first test:

Once the test is complete, you'll be presented with a list of every single request made to the site and how long it took to complete, as well as an overall loading time. This list will show you which elements need to be optimized, but the usual suspects tend to be images, CSS, and JavaScript. We covered image optimization in a previous article, and both CSS and JavaScript can be easily dealt with too, by pressing a suitable plugin into service.

When referring to Alexa, we must make a distinction between its free Site Overview service and its premium marketing stack, which only offers a short free trial period. Since we're talking about free SEO tools, we'll be focusing on the former and how it can help you improve your Google rankings.

Alexa keeps track of your site's global and countrywide rank using its own algorithms alongside historical data, which enables you to see how your performance progresses over time. The Site Overview also breaks down the countries your visitors are coming from, which is useful from a geo-targeting perspective:

Most importantly, you'll be shown a rough outline of your top performing keywords in search engines. Using this data, you can decipher the content that's performing well, then use the information to either schedule more related posts for your WordPress blog, reinforce low performers with better content, or simply retire shoddy keywords.

The Google Keyword Planner enables you to obtain search volume data and historical trends for the keywords you choose, analyze how much competition there is for them, and dissect information on related keywords organized according to relevance:

With this data in hand, you can quickly select highly performing keywords and build your WordPress posts around them. These keywords can also be used in conjunction with the Yoast SEO plugin to help improve your Google rankings.

Google Trends is a powerful free SEO tool all by itself, but it shines when used alongside the Google Keyword Planner.

While the planner enables you to identify potential future keywords for your content, Google Trends provides you with hard data concerning keyword interest using Google's vast database of search histories. You can even use the tool to compare interest in multiple keywords at once, and break down the regions for which they're most relevant:

Historical trends can be an influential factor when determining the viability of keywords. For example, did you know that interest in WordPress themes usually peaks each year around January and February? A savvy WordPress blogger would heed this data and schedule a theme roundup around that time.

Conclusion

To boost your Google rankings, you'll need patience and perseverance. You won't see results overnight, even if you're doing everything correctly. That being said, if you arm yourself with these free SEO tools – and have a willingness to see the job through and choose the right keywords – reaching that coveted first page spot might only be a matter of time. Let's recap the five tools:

Pingdom Speed Test: For analyzing your site's speed.

Chrome DevTools: For obtaining more detailed performance data.

Alexa: Great for all-round ranking and keyword information.

Google Keyword Planner: A great tool for researching keywords.

Google Trends: A simple tool to refine your keywords using historical trends.

Are there any other free SEO tools that you would recommend to other WordPress users? Share them with us in the comments section below!

Source: 5 Free SEO Tools for WordPress to Boost Your Google Rankings in 2016

This entry was posted in General Security, Wordfence, WordPress Security on September 22, 2016 by mark   8 Replies

At Wordfence I'm really proud of the team we have. Our team are all amazing people who work hard every day to help secure WordPress websites. A few months ago we published the first installment in a series of posts where we introduce you to a few of the incredible people who work here and give them an opportunity to share with you a bit about themselves, how they became interested in information security and some of their knowledge.

Today's interview is with Panagiotis "Pan" Vagenas, a security analyst at Wordfence. Pan is known for discovering vulnerabilities in Easy Forms for MailChimp, WP Fastest Cache and All in One SEO Pack among others. Besides Pan's public contributions, he has made significant contributions internally at Wordfence to our research and our products.

As you know, Wordfence runs as a completely remote working team. Most of us are based in the USA and we also have team members in Sweden and several other countries. Pan is based in Athens, Greece. When Pan isn't discovering security vulnerabilities and doing security research, he is a passionate motorcycle rider who loves exploring high mountain roads and steep hills.

What attracted you to information security?

I love solving problems, so information security seemed to me like the ultimate problem to solve. I also care a lot about online privacy, love breaking code, I like cryptography and of course I saw WarGames at a very young age.

Besides that I believe that what we do in information security is protecting real people's lives and that intrigues me a lot. So who doesn't want a job like this one?

Can you describe some of your early adventures when you started playing or working with information security?

Back in the 90s we had these dial-up modems that dial a number and connect to a server. They were servers that were like forums and/or chatboxes and this was where all the cool kidz were hanging around at that time. So I was trying to connect to a server, but that required a username and a password. Fortunately there was this chatroom that anyone could connect before getting in the subscribers area so it only took a macro. Unfortunately it didn't take long before my telephone number got banned.

Why did you become interested in the WordPress space?

Some years ago I had this project involving an e-zine and I was looking for a platform that would be flexible, extensible, secure and easy to code with. So I had to try this WordPress thing that I had heard so much about and it seemed like a perfect fit for the project. I guess programmers can fall in love with a program (after all code is poetry) and this was love at first sight.

You have developed a reputation for finding zero day vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins. Can you talk about how you choose which plugins to focus your energy on and your process for finding 0 day vulnerabilities?

There are some cases where I have found a vulnerability as part of an investigation into a hacked website. Frequently I hit a tag in the plugins repository and choose plugins that look interesting. After that I review the code and use several tools to quickly test specific things, like injectable JS code in parameters, fuzzing input and things like that.

I think the biggest advantage I have in this is that I understand pretty well how WordPress works. This allows me to easily spot mistakes developers make which could lead to a security issue. In the WordPress community a lot of people are contributing in a wide variety of ways. This is my way of contributing – always working to make this community more secure, or at least less vulnerable.

In the past few months you have started focusing your energy on big data analysis to find new threat intelligence. Can you talk about some of the things that you're able to do with this new approach?

This was a real revelation for me. Analyzing our attack data gives us the ability to have true insight on what and how the bad guys are doing what they do. By analyzing attack data we now effectively have a real-time feed on new malware and 0-day vulnerabilities.

We process a large number of malware files every day. We are always working to close the time gap between a new malware appearing in the wild and getting a rule deployed that protects customers from attacks using that malware.

We examine and analyze millions of attacks every day in search of 0-day vulnerabilities. Doing this we always stay updated with latest attack techniques and vulnerabilities, used in real cases. This gives us the ability to verify that our firewall is protecting our users from all known vulnerabilities, build new rules and to extend the protection we provide our customers.  It also means we contribute back to the community by giving a heads up about vulnerable products and by publishing research.

What do you think is the biggest threat for WordPress site owners currently?

Unpatched code. Either in core, plugins or themes. By 'unpatched' I mean outdated code that is being used on a website where the site owner has not updated to the newer version with a security fix. Outdated code is the biggest threat a site owner faces.

Fortunately in most cases this is an easy problem to solve. WordPress has an integrated update system which makes updating a website as easy as possible. Security updates in core are now getting auto-updates if this isn't disabled in a website, and we've seen some plugins and themes getting auto-updates for security releases.

How has Wordfence evolved since you joined the company 6 months ago?

For several years now Wordfence has been doing a great job, so I suppose this was a fast moving train before I got onto it. When I first came on-board our firewall wasn't yet released. And then there was the firewall! I seriously believe this was a huge milestone.

And then there have been all those excellent professionals joining us. Now we are de facto the leader in WordPress protection, site cleaning and hack recovery.

I feel like Wordfence is moving so fast towards becoming a leader in the security industry that I consider myself really, really lucky to be joining this train.

Do you see a future where WordPress is a secure publishing platform?

I believe WordPress is getting there. There is no such thing as total security, but WordPress is a mature platform taking security seriously and is thoroughly checked by many security researchers. I think this, combined with Wordfence is what it takes to have the most secure CMS out there.

Did you enjoy this post? Share it!

Source: Interview with Security Researcher Pan Vagenas

Travelia is clean content focus Multi-Concept Blog, Portfolio And Easy Digital Downloads WordPress Theme. It has a Powerful admin panel, Intricate development and a pack of essential features really makes Travelia stand out. Travelia is suitable for any kind of blog, multi-author, easy digital download, shop, personal, travel, hobby, Photographer, Traveler, fashion, food, lifestyle and tutorial blog etc. Installing and customizing this theme is very easy. All required information's are provided in the documentation.

Homepage Variation & Pages

10 Blog Homepage with

Good Appeal with Contact Page

AJAX Portfolio Page Layout

According to the authors Portfolio Page

6 Category Page Ready

According to the authors post archive page

Archive Page & Search Page Ready

Full Width Single Page

Awesome About Me Page

Unique 404 Page

Language Compatibity

Multi-langual, WPML Ready

RTL Language Ready

POT File included

SEO Features

Clean coding and well stractured for SEO friendly theme

Visual appeal create readers atraction

SEO optimized theme

Portfolio & Shop Features

Create your own shop with Travelia

Easy Digital Downloads help you to sell your digital products

Awesome Portfolio option to add your as portfolio as a Free, Premium file or Only show up portfolio only

Show according to the authors portfolio Page Option

Theme Option Features

Customizer ready theme

Section control with Drag and Drop features with Customizer

All most customize everything with customizer

Awesome dashboard option

Customize everything with dasboard option panel

Mega Menu ready with 4 type of custom style

Menu Icon and image adding features

Menu ready for logout user and login user

5 Type of hover animation

5 Type of Header Style

1600+ Mega Menu Icon

Others Theme Features

Cross-Browser Compatibility Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, IE9+

100% Responsive

Font Awesome Icons and Custom Icon (retina ready)

Supported google fonts API

SASS (CSS) file included

Custom Image logo

Built with Bootstrap-3

Unlimited Color

Easy to customize

Both Static And Custom Widget Ready

Social share links

Show or hide Footer widget

Google Map included

Custom Favicon

All Post Format

Redux Drag And Drop Section Control

12 Custom Widget(With Adsense friendly Ads widget)

12+ shortcode support (with Facebook and Twitter status)

Supported Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud And self-hosted audio and video

Contact form built with Contact Form 7 plugin

Author info box below each article

Ready for latest version of WordPress.

And more…

Sources and Credits

I've used the following images, icons or other files as listed.

WORDPRESS PLUGINS & LIBRARIES

Redux Framework – https://github.com/ReduxFramework

TGM-Plugin-Activation – https://github.com/thomasgriffin/TGM-Plugin-Activation

CMB2 – https://github.com/WebDevStudios/CMB2

JAVASCRIPT / JQUERY PLUGINS

bootstrap.js / bootstrap.min.js / Core Bootstrap 3 – http://www.getbootstrap.com

owl.carousel.js – Item Slider Script – http://owlgraphic.com/owlcarousel/

jQuery.appear.js – For jQuery appear – https://github.com/morr/jquery.appear

Fitvids – For video – http://fitvidsjs.com/

modernizr – for html5 and css3 – http://modernizr.com/

SmoothScroll – https://github.com/galambalazs/smoothscroll

Jquery – http://jquery.com/

CSS PLUGINS

bootstrap.min.css – http://www.getbootstrap.com

Jquery – http://jquery.com/

FontAwesome Iconshttp://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/

Best Price| | Preview

Source: Travelia – Multi-Concept Blog And Portfolio WordPress Theme (Blog / Magazine)

I teach media arts, and am trying to get my (college) students to post to our class blog, which is at a wordpress.com site. I have invited them all as authors. I am the admin. The students who have never used WP before are posting fine. However, the students who have their own wordpress sites are having a hard time, because when they try to post, they are only given the option to post to their own sites.I tried inviting myself at another email address, and when I log and click the "+" to add a blog post, I'm given a simple dropdown menu to select which blog to post to. However, the students are evidently not seeing this dropdown menu.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

posted by betsbillabong to Computers & Internet (1 answer total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
Source: Help my students post to my course Wordpress site

danroo 32 mins ago WordPress 41 Views

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Source: Daisy – Product Landing Page WordPress Theme (Marketing)

This is a step by step tutorial to show how to make a professional blog with the self-hosted WordPress platform using Hostgator which is one of the top WordPress hosting companies in the world.

wpgravity

Admin

posted on 4 months ago , updated on 4 months ago

1. Choose your plan

Installing a WordPress blog is easier than it looks and hosting costs are minimal.

There are thousands of hosting companies but based on my experience, I recommended Hostgator. They are in this business for a long time, they are cheap and very professional.

Hostgator has three packages:

The Hatchling plan

With this plan you can host and create 1 blog, 1 domain name is included and unlimited disk space. This plan is the most economical but you can only host a blog, to create more blogs in the future you will have to upgrade to the Baby plan. There are 6 payment options:

1 month at $10.95 per month.

3 months at $10.95 per month.

6 months at $10.95 per month.

12 months at $4.48 per month.

24 months at $3.98 per month.

36 months at $3.48 per month.

The Baby plan

With this plan you get a free domain and you can host all the domains and blogs you want without restrictions. With this plan you can have also a Private SSL ($150) and a dedicated IP ($4/month) The plus plan also comes with 6 payment options.

1 month at $11.95 per month.

3 months at $11.95 per month.

6 months at $11.95 per month.

12 months at $5.98 per month.

24 months at $5.48 per month.

36 months at $4.98 per month.

The Business plan

1 month at $16.95 per month.

3 months at $16.95 per month.

6 months at $16.95 per month.

12 months at $6.78 per month.

24 months at $6.38 per month.

36 months at $5.98 per month.

With this plane the dedicated IP and shared SSL are included.

2. Install Worpress

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms around for good reason. It is easy to install and features an attractive, user-friendly interface.  At Hostgator, you can install WordPress through Quick Install powered by MOJO Marketplace or manually.

In the following tutorial, we'll cover the QuickInstall route for a WordPress self-hosted installation. It's a bit easier than a manual installation, and it only takes a click or two!

Log into your cPanel. In the Software/Services section, click on the Quick Install icon: In the left menu, under Popular Installs, click WordPress, then click Install WordPress.

Complete the form that appears with the following details.

The Base Domain for your installation.

The sub directory you would like the site to load from, if desired.Example: Should you wish your WordPress URL to be mydomain.com/site instead of just mydomain.com. Your site will always display this extension if you enter one.

For Admin Email, enter an email address where you want the admin password emailed to. Make sure this is a working email address.

For Blog Title, enter the name of the website. This is what will appear in the header as the name of your site.

For Admin Username, enter your preferred user name.

Your first name.

Your last name.

Click Install WordPress when you're ready to proceed.

A progress bar at the top of the page will let you know when installation is complete. Once complete, you will be able to start working on your WordPress site. Check your email for your WordPress username and password as well as a link to your WordPress dashboard.

You may also find your credentials by clicking View Credentials in the bar at the top of the page:

Note: If you recently changed your name servers or DNS records, it is possible that you will not be able to access your new WordPress installation until the domain propagates. This could take up to 24 to 48 hours.

Source: How to Create a Blog with Hostgator

1. ThemeForest

ThemeForest.net is an online center for selling and purchasing templates and themes for the websites. This means that customer support for each theme is provided by the developers that created the theme and not ThemeForest.  However, the themes and templates of the other websites are also available on the platform of ThemeForest.net. 

Most themes cost between$30-60

2. Theme Trust

Theme Trust offers 10+ responsive WordPress themes.  All themes come with access to support forums and knowledgebase.

Each theme costs $59 (one-time fee).

3. TemplateMonster

Template Monster is one of the most popular template providers on the net, offering literally tens of thousands of templates for almost any type of website imaginable. Whether you're working with WordPress, Joomla, Magento or another platform altogether, this provider promises to meet your needs. Can Template Monster live up to that promise? 

4. Mojo Themes

Mojo Themes offers 60+ responsive WordPress themes.  Their themes are added to their marketplace by individual developers. This means that customer support for each theme is provided by the developers that created the theme and not Mojo Themes.

Most themes cost between $39-49.

5. AThemes

AThemes offers 28+ responsive WordPress themes. You'll have access all 28+ responsive themes plus 80+ other premium WordPress themes. Customer support is included with your membership. 

SINGLE THEME $49 - 12 months access to one theme

DEVELOPER $99 - 12 months access to all themes and new releases

LIFETIME $199 - Lifetime access to all themes and new releases

6. Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes offers 20+ responsive WordPress themes. You'll have access all 20+ responsive themes plus 80+ other premium WordPress themes. Customer support is included with your membership. 

Personal Membership: $39 per year

Developer Membership: $89 per year

Lifetime Access: $249 one-time (no annual fee)

7. WooThemes

WooThemes.com is a web based market place for the WordPress themes, template and plugins. The products of WooThemes.com are particularly designed for the ecommerce websites. WooThemes offers 30+ responsive WordPress themes. Most of the products available at WooThemes.com are for free of cost but it also deals in the commercial product as well. 

All themes come with access to support forums, tutorials, and videos. 

Most themes cost $79 (one-time fee) or you can become a member for $399 (first year) + $150 each year

8. MyThemeShop

MyThemeShop is a top-notch wordpress theme club, best for the SEOs who are concerned about getting a theme with ultra responsive layout, schema.org implemented semantic markup and lightning fast site speed at an affordable cost.

Price: $45/theme with lifetime usage

9. Themify

Themify has several free themes options, including their Basic, ITheme2, and Koi themes.  Both the free and premium plans use the same builder. But, the premium themes come with quite a bit more pre-programmed design elements. With the free theme, you have to take the time to customize all that yourself, making the setup quite a bit more complicated and time consuming. Also, the free themes do not include a year of free updates and support as the premium themes do.

Free

Standard ($79 a year) — all themes.

Developer ($99 a year) — all themes and Photoshop files.

Master ($139 a year) — all themes, Photoshop files, and plugins.

Lifetime Master ($399) — lifetime access to everything.

10. InkThemes

InkThemes.com is an online market place for quality of themes that will make you able to promote your business, portfolio, and brands. The quantity of themes available at the InkThemes.com is although low but it is said to be the provider of premium and professional level of themes and templates. InkThemes.com has divided its sections into the products of free themes and paid themes. Both are available for the apps, business, and popular themes. 

Single Theme Starts From $59

All Inkthemes $147

All Themes And Plugins $247

11. WPEden

WPEden.com is the online collection store of free and premium themes and plugins for WordPress. WPEden.com is the online marketplace of awesome themes and plugins for the WordPress. The themes available at the platform of WPEden.com are designed for the various websites in which the most popular are corporate, ecommerce, retail, wiki, review and much more. From the theme section of WPEden.com, you can even search for free themes as well. 

Get complete access to our entire collection of 80+ items only for $55 1st year, from next year, $35 per year only!

12. StudioPress

StudioPress offers 15+ responsive WordPress themes. Your theme will come with the Genesis Framework which will make it easier for you to customize your theme and give you some additional SEO benefits.

StudioPress's themes are added to their marketplace by individual developers. This means that customer support for each theme is provided by the developers that created the theme and not StudioPress.

For $100 (one-time fee) 

13. ThemeSnap

ThemeSnap.com is the handpicked themes provider of the WordPress and Drupal. This online digital marketplace provides the WordPress themes, Drupal themes, CSS & HTML based templates and various other products to make your online business successful. Simply choose any theme or template that suite to your website requirement. Simply move to the website ThemeSnap.com where you will see the categories in the arrangements of Drupal Themes, WordPress themes, Joomla themes, HTML/CSS and PSD work. 

14. WPZoom

WPzoom have Premium WordPress Themes with a solid and flexible Framework, with a variety of functional themes to choose from: Business, Portfolio, Multimedia, Magazine/News like Compass Theme, Foodica and so on. WPzoom themes have pretty reasonable prices according to the actual market, compared to other WP premium themes. More all 40+ Themes!

Individual Themes $69

All Themes Package $149

15. CreativeMarket

CreativeMarket.com is a web based buying and selling center for finding the themes, plugins, skins, add-ons. The products for the websites available at the platform of the CreativeMarket.com are being designed by the creative designers of the CreativeMarket.com. It is the platform of ready to use thousands of themes, plugins and skins by the creative designers. A lot of themes available at CreativeMarket.com bears no cost at all. 

16. Dessign

Dessign offers you two options to buy their theme, you can buy individual themes for $39 or you can go for all the themes which will cost you a one-time fee of $99 which is the best deal because you get access to all the themes created by Dessign with lifetime update.

17. WrapBootstrap

It is an online marketplace for exploring and buying the premium templates and themes from for the Bootstrap. At the platform, you can buy and sell the themes and templates. The digital data available at the platform of Wrapbootstrap.com can be explored in the range of business & corporate, portfolios, resumes & CV, e-commerce, components, blogs & magazines, WordPress and various others. You are going to enjoy a lot of fun from the platform of Wrapbootstrap.com. 

18. Organic Themes

The sixth theme provider on our list, Organic Themes, currently has over 47,000 customers. Obviously, it is a well known name, which is perhaps most famous for its Structure theme.

Sadly, the pricing model is too confusing: there is no direct page explaining the details of club membership (such as what you get, what you do not get), and if you click on the Club Membership link, it simply takes you to checkout.

 Individual themes for $69

Developer Pack: $249

19. Tesla Theme

Tesla Themes live up to their name by being bold and innovative in their design, and go one step further by being highly affordable and offering great support. Their WordPress themes look different from ordinary website designs in many ways, including their use of color, fonts and layout, without sacrificing usability. All their WP themes are responsive and can be customized from the options panel to suit a variety of needs including business, ecommerce, technology and niche content websites.

Tesla offers all their themes in a club package that costs little over the price of a single theme, and they release an average of two themes every month, so their club options are lucrative for agencies and individual developers alike.

Tesla Themes Standard Club$49 - All current themes

Tesla Themes Developer Club$69 - All current themes with PSD files.

20. ThemeFurnace

ThemeFurnace has almost 7,000 customers and their themes were downloaded over 250,000 time. ThemeFurnace is a WordPress themes club providing high-quality themes which can be easily used by anyone. ThemeFurnace focuses mostly on themes for personal websites and business online presences. The prices are decent, the built-in features are great and there is support for any buyer. The WordPress themes collection by ThemeFurnace is outstanding thanks to their clean & beautiful design and their efficient & user-friendly handling.

Theme Club, $49 – all the themes

Developer Club, $99 – In addition to Developer Club

Lifetime Club, $199 

21. Fantero.com

Fantero.com is an online digital marketplace for the creative web designers and graphic designers. Right at the platform of Fantero.com you can buy and sell the websites products like templates, themes, script, graphic material and various others. 3D stocks are also the part of the database of the Fantero.com. Millions of digital products are the part of the Fantero.com. In the section of web templates, Fantero.com deals in the selling and buying of website templates, HTML, PSD and WordPress themes.…

Source: Top 21 Most Popular WordPress Theme Providers.

This is a step by step tutorial to show how to make a professional blog with the self-hosted WordPress platform using Hostgator which is one of the top WordPress hosting companies in the world.

wpgravity

Admin

posted on 4 months ago , updated on 4 months ago

1. Choose your plan

Installing a WordPress blog is easier than it looks and hosting costs are minimal.

There are thousands of hosting companies but based on my experience, I recommended Hostgator. They are in this business for a long time, they are cheap and very professional.

Hostgator has three packages:

The Hatchling plan

With this plan you can host and create 1 blog, 1 domain name is included and unlimited disk space. This plan is the most economical but you can only host a blog, to create more blogs in the future you will have to upgrade to the Baby plan. There are 6 payment options:

1 month at $10.95 per month.

3 months at $10.95 per month.

6 months at $10.95 per month.

12 months at $4.48 per month.

24 months at $3.98 per month.

36 months at $3.48 per month.

The Baby plan

With this plan you get a free domain and you can host all the domains and blogs you want without restrictions. With this plan you can have also a Private SSL ($150) and a dedicated IP ($4/month) The plus plan also comes with 6 payment options.

1 month at $11.95 per month.

3 months at $11.95 per month.

6 months at $11.95 per month.

12 months at $5.98 per month.

24 months at $5.48 per month.

36 months at $4.98 per month.

The Business plan

1 month at $16.95 per month.

3 months at $16.95 per month.

6 months at $16.95 per month.

12 months at $6.78 per month.

24 months at $6.38 per month.

36 months at $5.98 per month.

With this plane the dedicated IP and shared SSL are included.

2. Install Worpress

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms around for good reason. It is easy to install and features an attractive, user-friendly interface.  At Hostgator, you can install WordPress through Quick Install powered by MOJO Marketplace or manually.

In the following tutorial, we'll cover the QuickInstall route for a WordPress self-hosted installation. It's a bit easier than a manual installation, and it only takes a click or two!

Log into your cPanel. In the Software/Services section, click on the Quick Install icon: In the left menu, under Popular Installs, click WordPress, then click Install WordPress.

Complete the form that appears with the following details.

The Base Domain for your installation.

The sub directory you would like the site to load from, if desired.Example: Should you wish your WordPress URL to be mydomain.com/site instead of just mydomain.com. Your site will always display this extension if you enter one.

For Admin Email, enter an email address where you want the admin password emailed to. Make sure this is a working email address.

For Blog Title, enter the name of the website. This is what will appear in the header as the name of your site.

For Admin Username, enter your preferred user name.

Your first name.

Your last name.

Click Install WordPress when you're ready to proceed.

A progress bar at the top of the page will let you know when installation is complete. Once complete, you will be able to start working on your WordPress site. Check your email for your WordPress username and password as well as a link to your WordPress dashboard.

You may also find your credentials by clicking View Credentials in the bar at the top of the page:

Note: If you recently changed your name servers or DNS records, it is possible that you will not be able to access your new WordPress installation until the domain propagates. This could take up to 24 to 48 hours.

Source: How to Create a Blog with Hostgator

My plan is to reduce my blog padronel.net drastically by eliminating the entire chapter "DE OTRAS FUENTES" (+12,000 posts).

However, if I export the remaining posts —that is, the entire chapter "DE MI COSECHA"— the resulting file will be a lot greater than the 15 MB allowed for importing to WordPress.com.

So, I've 3 question about:

1) Is there any tool that allow me to export from WP.org and import into WP.com —where I already have padronel-wordpress.com blog with the categories I want to keep—, all the padronel.net remaining stuff —posts, comments, total visits per post, and whatever be exportable—?

2) Is there any tool that allow me to that but category by category?

3) If answer to the two above questions is NO, what the solution would be for me?

The blog I need help with is padronel.net.

Source: Migrating my blog from WordPress.org to WprdPress.com

Planning to set up a blog or a site without all the hassles of going into the technical aspects?

Don't have the knowledge of coding or don't want to waste your time in learning the coding to set up a blog for you.

Then you must install WordPress for your Blog or Website. If you are not a user of WordPress then you must read this post of mine that why you must be using WordPress for your website or blog. And if you are wanting to go with WordPress in India then there is the best Hosting provider which are specialized in WordPress hosting, so I am here with a review about that. The Dockerized WordPress hosting solutions from MilesWeb are designed for everyone – from the non-tech savvy to the advanced user. This will help you to Setup your blog in minutes and start publishing your posts. It's as easy as signing up and providing your details. MilesWeb delivers value-for-money plans that maintain the perfect balance between reliability, speed, quality on one hand and affordability on the other.

Why is MilesWeb WP Hosting Different?

Here are the main reasons why you will find MilesWeb's WordPress hosting solutions to be different:

Pre-installed Plugins – You don't want to mess around with different plugins. There are pre-installed  essential WordPress plugins that ensure total security and proper functionality for your blog or site. You will not have to bother about installing anything new for the basic functionalities.

Isolated Account – Don't worry about other users hosted on the server affecting your site or blog. Your site will be fully isolated from them.

Managed WP – MilesWeb manages everything. All you have to do is focus on developing your site or blog to achieve your goals. Leave everything else related to hosting management to MilesWeb.

Latest Updates – The hosting provider also installs the latest versions of WP. The update will take place automatically and you will not have to search around for the latest patch.

Backup – MilesWeb performs a daily backup. It is also extremely easy to restore the data as and when required.

Professional Themes – You can also choose from thousands of attractive and unique WP themes to make your site or blog stand out.

MilesWeb also runs malware scans to detect and block attacks even before they occur. Not to forget that the hosting company uses branded server hardware (RAID) which further ensure the highest possible reliability.

In simple terms, MilesWeb takes care of everything except your site's content!

So what are the WP hosting plans offered by MilesWeb?

There are three Docker-based WordPress hosting plans on offer. All provide the fastest SSD storage, free dedicated IP, and SSH/SFTP access for single site hosting.

Classic Plan – It offers 14GB of SSD storage and 1.75GB RAM, powered by a 3.5 core processor. This plan is suitable for those with maximum 50K monthly visitors.

Enterprise Plan – This WP hosting plan from MilesWeb is for those who expect a maximum of 100K monthly visitors. It is powered by 3GB RAM and has 24GB SSD storage and a 6-core processor.

Infinite Plan – This plan has 34GB of SSD storage space, 4.25GB RAM, and an 8.5-core processor.

The Classic plan starts from as low as $6.80/mo.

Additional Value

There's more the MilesWeb's WP hosting that makes it stand out.

Technical Help

Most potential bloggers and business owners are worried about the technical aspects of WP hosting, which prevents them from starting their blog/site. MilesWeb's technical team will take care of everything. Setting up your site/blog is as easy as anything. However, if you face any challenges, all you have to do is to contact their technical support.

Free Migration

Many people feel tied down to their current WP hosting provider. MilesWeb provides a simple solution to this problem. They offer free WP migration so that you can easily and seamlessly move from your current hosting provider to MilesWeb. Their team takes care of everything without charging you anything extra.

State of the Art Data Centers

MilesWeb has its own state-of-the-art server infrastructure in the US, UK, India, and Europe. Branded servers using the most advanced technologies are used which help in ensuring the fastest possible load times. This includes the W3 Total Cache, which eliminates the need for additional caching plugins.

According to MilesWeb, the following features further increase reliability, speed, and security:

It ensures network available 100% of the time when planned/emergency maintenance is not required.

Manned data center systems ensure total safety and security.

Power backup and HVAC systems further enhance functioning and reliability.

MilesWeb data centers are located in the most secure and politically stable countries and areas in the world. These locations are:

Atlanta, United States

Brooklyn, United States

London, UK

Bucharest, Romania

Nasik, India

Besides, advanced electronic security systems are used for monitoring access. This also includes a motion detecting security cameras. Security officers patrol their data centers. Some of the main features of the security and safety systems of their data centers include redundant power sources, N+1 redundant HVAC, multiple network carriers, smoke detection systems, and diesel generators.

Customer Support

MilesWeb has a dedicated Technical Support department. They are available 24x7x365 without any holidays or break. If you face any technical issues, you can instantly get in contact with technical team via multiple modes including:

Live Chat

Email

Help Desk

Toll-Free Phone

Besides, there are respective departments that handle your sales, billing, and abuse related queries and complaints. It has professional and experienced customer support teams who are not only highly dedicated, they are also courteous in their approach – something difficult to find in this highly technical industry.

Conclusion

MilesWeb's WordPress hosting solutions are affordable while also being of high-quality. Reliability and speed are the most important factors in this industry, and this hosting provider stands out due to its premium-quality server infrastructure. With such an infrastructure, it sounds more than reasonable that it has a guaranteed uptime of 99.95%.

MilesWeb's WP hosting solution is also backed up by the anytime money back guarantee. So if you don't want to continue with the plans at any time, you can ask for a refund. The company offers a refund after deducting the charges for the number of days of use. It's difficult to find another WordPress hosting solutions provider that offers such a perfect match of quality and affordability.

Source: MilesWeb WordPress Hosting Review: The #1 WordPress Host in India