Product Reviews
This morning at
Ideas Orlando, the WordPress Orlando Meetup held a talk and called it “WordPress in Business”. In this talk there were a few talking points that were mentioned that I notated below. I was unable to post all of these on the
MeetUp page as the text exceeded the comment limits so I created this post for the notes. Please feel free to share where needed.
Hosting Provider Suggestions
- Host Gator
- Digital Ocean (cloud based)
- SiteCore
- SiteGround (inexpensive shared hosting for starter users)
- Pagely (high volume of traffic)
- GoDaddy (WordPress specific hosting)
Food for Thought:
A good idea to note is that hosting providers do not make changes or updates to your website. When you get to a point of making money with your business/website consider hiring an agency that will monitor and maintain your hosting services for your websites.
Plugin Suggestions
- Pretty Links
Shrink, beautify, track, manage and share any URL on or off of your WordPress website. Create links that look how you want using your own domain name!
https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/
- Gravity Forms
Advanced Forms for WordPress Websites Just Don’t Get Any Easier than Gravity Forms
http://www.gravityforms.com/
- Member Mouse
MemberMouse is an easy to use WordPress membership plugin that allows you to sell products, subscriptions and memberships, setup a password protected member’s area, offer 1-click upsells and downsells, manage customers, automate customer service, track critical retention metrics and more. No matter where you’re starting from, MemberMouse has the power you need to maximize revenue and get your business running like a well-oiled machine.
http://membermouse.com/
- WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free, powerful WordPress eCommerce plugin. With the extendability of a huge catalog of commercial themes and extensions we have all the tools you might need to get your shop running.
http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/
- Shopify
Online shopping cart software
http://www.shopify.com/
- Sharesale
ShareASale has been in business for 15 years, exclusively as an Affiliate Marketing Network. Our technology receives accolades for speed, efficiency, and accuracy – and our reputation as a fair and honest business is well known within the industry. We encourage you to browse around our website and learn more, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
http://www.shareasale.com/
- Commission Junction
Affiliate Marketing
http://www.cj.com/
- Click Bank
Entrepreneurs everywhere use our powerful online and mobile e-commerce platform to build a vibrant business across popular lifestyle categories. We believe in cultivating a new generation of digital entrepreneurs and helping them transform their passion and expertise into top-selling digital products and affiliate marketing programs to achieve financial happiness. Our solutions, combined with top-rated client support, help you grow and maintain every part of your business. Making money online has never been easier.
http://www.clickbank.com/
Tips and Ideas
- Amazon has tips and reports about website speed and why it is important to your website conversion rate and more.
- Look into CDN options like CloudFlare or JetPack. (Content Delivery Network) This will make your website load much faster by utilizing distributed content processing.
- For video hosting you can use Amazon S3 hosting, YouTube, or Amazon. http://aws.amazon.com/s3/
- To check your web page load times check http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ or try
- Google Page Speed Test https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
- Set up email filters (Gmail)
- Hire a virtual assistant for your repetitive tasks and saving more time each day to dedicate more to yourself or to the core parts of your business
- Advertising on Facebook is really the most effective once you start paying for ads. Even at a small daily rate.
Suggested Reads:
Great source for asking questions or finding answers about WordPress:
Product Reviews
This past weekend I got to work with some really talented photographers for the first time. George from D&D Photography and Jimmy from Clickr Photography. I’ve done a bunch of photo shoots before but never at a beach. While I will have another blog post about my props, lenses, settings, and things I’ve learned, for now I wanted to share this short compilation video that George put together of us all out there. Enjoy!
Product Reviews
1.No Down Payment
You should receive half of the agreed upon price up front. This is a fair way to do business with all of your clients.
2.No Contract
You should never start a job until you and your client have both signed a contract on what is expected of you. Wether your job is to design a brochure or design a simple flyer, be sure to get it in writing.
3. Borrowing Ideas from other designs
Your future as a graphic designer depends on your reputation. Under no circumstance should you “borrow” another persons ideas because you like them. This can lead to legal problems. Be safe, be original.
4.Not staying Relevant
You must always keep up with the latest trends, software, etc. Always make sure that your software is up-to-date.
5.Poor Communication
Not staying in touch with your client is the number one mistake most graphic designers make when first starting out. Your client should be able to reach at all times; this means by phone, e-mail…whatever.
Product Reviews
I must admit that this 7 min video is one of the funniest I’ve seen in a while when it comes to project team meetings. If you’re in the design industry, chances are you’ve had a meeting like this or maybe even a few.
As the design contractor, it’s mainly your job to put together the people, resources, and stakeholders and ensure that everyone is not only going t meet expectations but be on the same page. This is a challenge that only gets harder if you’re not a strong project manager. Yea that’s one of the many hats you have to wear in this business, didn’t you know?
So take a break from the work you’ve been sorta working on at the moment and enjoy this as comedic relief for a few minutes.
Special thanks to my friend Zaid (@sbsxaid )
Product Reviews
With the latest trend in social media forums, a strong social media strategy is a must in 2014. But in order to develop that strategy, you first have to start with the most widely used social network tools available to you. Techinforgraphics.com designed this awesome infographic highlighting the new and fresh approaches to how we consume content and engage in the digital space.
Those of us who live and breathe social networking like air are well aware of these new digital sharing tools. But just in case you aren’t, here’s the CliffsNotes on Snapchat, Pheed, Line and Vine.
Snapchat is a mobile photo and video sharing service available for both iOS and Android devices. Videos range from 1-10 seconds, and photos remain viewable for that same length of time. The cool thing is that before sharing, users have the option of annotating clips with text and marker tools to add fun and artistic design elements. One of the most disputed and widely known aspects that many teenagers like (and those looking to erase the breadcrumb trail to their deeds) is the self-destruct mechanism that can be set by the sender to erase the message contents within seconds of you viewing it. And as a result, there are big discussions happening about how Snapchat is used for and may contribute to unrestrained sexting and bullying.
Pheed is like your personal life channel that holds video, audio, live events and text “pheeds” to your undying following. It appears to be a robust version of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook all rolled into one. Since it’s roll-out, it’s become increasingly popular with musicians and celebrities. So if you love the fishbowl life, this is the social network for you.
Line is a new communication app for your cell phone that allows you to make free calls and send free text messages without restrictions. So you can talk to local and far away friends and family, and even hold business meetings. So it seems to be another version of Skype but perhaps a bit more refined.
Vine, created by the folks at Twitter, lets you record and share six-second of looping video clips. It works as a mobile app that captures and uploads your images to share with friends and family. Vine captures and shares brief content much like Twitter, but a little longer than Snapchat. It also has a scrollable feed of all your friends’ vines on the homescreen to keep up with what they’re posting. Although fun for kids, I’m not really sure of the benefits for adults using it.
Call to Action: What do you think about these social network tools?
Product Reviews, Web Design
We understand that in the business world, having a website enables your organization to reach a larger audience at a marginal cost and in 2014, it’s an absolute must. But what about God’s business? Many people don’t think the two are related (or maybe that they should be), but they are. We are a digital and mobile device generation! Most of our kids have them right along with us and sometimes even before us! We want and often need accessibility to ease our busy lives, hearts and minds as well. Since the goal of most church ministries is to evangelize the Word of God and promote biblical teaching and doctrine, a website is a wonderful and essential way to do just that. In this blog, I submit the Top 5 Reasons of why your church needs a website, as well as the ways it can contribute to the higher calling.
1st Stay in touch ~ For most churches, they limit their “marketing” to handing out Sunday bulletins or posting newsletters on the bulletin board to keep members informed of meetings and publicize events. However, many of your members may forget to pick up a bulletin or lose it sometime during service and miss out on key information. By having a website, you can post that information and so much more with just the click of a mouse day or night. Therefore, a website is a great interactive way to stay in touch with your members , whether they’re at home or on-the-go with a mobile device.
2nd Casting a larger net & being fishers of men ~ In 2014, it’s imperative to reach out and impact the the world for the kingdom of God in as many ways as you can. We see this in the diversity of music – contemporary, traditional and even Gospel Rap. If His Word is not intended to “return to him void,” then use this medium coupled with faith to accomplish the goal. A website can also provide you with a wonderful opportunity to let others know what your church is all about and what they can gain from attending your services or joining.
4th Championing the cause ~ If there is a particular area of focus for your church, let’s say in eradicating homelessness or missionary work in other countries, a website is a great way to let the world know and solicit others assistance. Many large organizations (such as World Vision) utilize their website to bring a greater awareness to the causes they champion, while offering ways to be a part of a mission or collect donations online to assist those efforts.
5th The lost sheep and those in need ~ If one of the primary purposes of the church is to help people, then a website is a fantastic tool to do so on a global scale. There are people in this world that are hurting, who may be at a point in their lives where they need encouragement or may be in real, desperate straits. What a great testimony of kingdom work you’ll create by extending yourself beyond your physical address to someone in another state or even a different country. You can offer inspiring messages, videos, music and other helpful products such as books and inspirational home accessories.
The Wrap Up: If the sky is the limit and the ultimately desired destination, why not embark on this journey of faith for your ministry and church? If you believe that the bible was written by man and inspired by God, is it possible that the internet can be used as a tool to reach out to the hedges and highways for His purpose?
Send me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this tool for growing your ministry.
