8 Great WordPress Plugins - part II

In my last post I talked about the WordPress plugins that I had found essential to have on my new website.  Now I want to tell you about the other four.

5.  Blogger Importer
Once I've got my website up and running, it's going to make sense to transfer my blog there, too.  In one way, I'll be sad - I've been on Blogger for a long time and it's always suited me - but, on the other hand, it does make sense to have website and blog integrated.  I had thought that I would have to start the blog afresh but then I found this great plugin which enabled me, very easily to import all the posts from this blog, complete with comments. 

There were only a couple of problems that I found, and those were minor ones.  The 'labels' on Blogger were interpreted as 'categories' on WordPress and I had to demote them to 'tags'.  And all my draft posts were imported as though published and I had to change them back to drafts.  But other than that, transition was very easy.

I'm going to continue posting here until I'm really ready to go on the website, and then I'll let you know - and hope that you'll be kind enough to join me there.

6.  Column Shortcodes
The theme that I'm using does, I believe, have a template that offers columns - but no instructions as to how to find it or use it.  I was getting rather frustrated because I wanted columns - and then I found this great plugin.  It installs a button on your screen which, when clicked, offers you a choice of column widths.  It will only give you two columns but you can either divide the page in half, or into one third plus two thirds, one quarter plus three quarters and so on up to sixths.  And the narrower column can be on either the left or the right.

The joy of this plugin is that it's so simple - and I suspect that anyone with a little knowledge of coding could adapt it to do even more than it already does.  The 18 people who have reviewed it on the WordPress site have scored it a solid five out of five.

7.  Fonts
Having sorted out the columns, I then turned my attention to my text.  Try as I might, I could not get the size of font that I wanted.  Here again, the theme offered different font options but I could find no way of overriding the default setting when I wanted to.  And once more I was fortunate enough to find a really simple plugin which does exactly what I want it to.

Fonts installs a drop down menu from which you can choose the font style and the font size you want.  Easy.  I can't help wondering why something of that sort is not basic to every WordPress theme.  We've all been using MSWord and WordPress for so long that surely we now expect to be able to choose our fonts at the click of a button.  And, I would have thought, this was even more important when creating a web page than when writing a letter.

8. Standout Color Boxes and Buttons

I had a picture in my head of how I wanted to display some of my text but was having great difficulty working out how to do it.  I'm going to have several pages on the site which will be reviewing or recommending books, courses and the like.   And I wanted to be able to delineate each one clearly from the next.  Standout Color Boxes has solved my problem - and is rather fun, besides.  You can show your text in a box with either round or square corners, with a choice of several colours for the background.  It makes the page look attractive as well as producing the effect - well, almost the effect - that I was looking for.  Since I could find nothing else that did anything remotely like this, 'almost' getting the effect is pretty good.

It took me a while to find all these plugins (not least because it took me some time to realise that a plugin would probably solve my problem).  But the time spent browsing, downloading and testing (and I did reject quite a few) was, I feel well spent.  For a WordPress novice like me, plugins are proving to be worth their weight in gold.

8 Great WordPress Plugins

For the past few weeks I've been battling with my new website.  I'm new to WordPress and it's been a steep learning curve.  I have always used SiteSpinner to create websites in the past, but these were relatively simple affairs.  Persuaded that WordPress might be quicker and more versatile and, above all, might look more professional, I decided to give it a try.

I started off with a basic free theme and set up a website for my counselling practice.  Helped by an ebook - The WP Starter Guide - it took me a couple of days and I was really proud of the results.  So then I decided to set up a new website for my company, Sphinx House. 

Now one of the things that everyone seems to be emphasising these days is the importance of having a responsive theme.  In other words, it needs to have been formulated so that it looks good no matter how you're viewing the site - PC, mobile, tablet, whatever.  At first, I thought this meant having to pay for a theme but then discovered that there are loads of free responsive themes on the WordPress site.  (Something else that I'd picked up was that it's unwise to use free themes unless they're from WordPress or a well-established theme provider because as Alex Moss recently pointed out on Search Engine Watch "the code could contain anything, and could be harmful to your site both in terms of performance and security.")

After quite a lot of research and trial and error, I opted for the Suffusion theme which seemed to be very versatile.  Well . . . it may be, but at my level of knowledge, I'm finding it hard to implement a lot of the features which, apparently, are incorporated in the theme.  And I've found myself getting frustrated by not being able to achieve the effect that I want - either because it's not there or I can't work it out.  But - hallelujah - I've discovered that, if I look hard enough,  I can usually find a plugin to do what I want.  So I thought I'd share with you my top eight plugins.  And I'll start with four which, actually, have nothing to do with design but which seemed essential.

1.  Google Sitemap Plugin
Google states that "creating and submitting a Sitemap helps make sure that Google knows about all the pages on your site, including URLs that may not be discoverable by Google's normal crawling process".  So it makes sense to have one.  And the plugin makes it easy to construct.  This particular plugin has been downloaded over 200,000 times and has an approval rating of 4.5 out of 5 from those people who have reviewed it.

2.  404 to Start Plugin
I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on 404 pages that just tell you 'page not found'.  Far nicer are those that offer a little apology or make a suggestion as to how you might find the page you're looking for.  This plugin allows you to divert all 404 errors to a page you have created specially.  It's been downloaded nearly 60,000 times and has an approval rating of 4 out of 5.

3.  Cookie Warning Plugin
 This is absolutely essential if you live in the EU and want to keep track of your site statistics.  Since May 2012 it's been illegal (if you're in the EU) to collect statistics on your website by using cookies - unless you get the site visitor's consent first.  Now, way back in April of last year, I wrote about how I preferred StatCounter to Google Analytics, on the grounds that it was much more accurate.  (Incidentally, it was only last week that I came across a post on Social Media Today which was looking at the inaccuracy of Google Analytics.)  But, whichever analytics system you use, if you're in the EU, you've got to ask permission.  When the Cookie Directive first came out, I wrote about this and mentioned that someone had brought out an 'EU Cookie Directive Plugin'.  However, the one I have chosen to use on my new site (the Cookie Warning Plugin) is a lot more popular (22,000 downloads) and has an approval rating of 4.9 out of 5.

4.  UpdraftPlus Backup Plugin
I'd only being working on my website a short time when a message appeared to say that a new version of WordPress was available to download.  Having read that it's important for site security to have the latest version, I clicked the button and was reminded to back everything up before upgrading.  How was I to do that?  I found instructions and was delighted to read that I could do it via a plugin.  There was one that sounded good but (as I always do) I read the reviews before downloading.  All the reviewers liked the plugin but (fortunately) one commented on the fact that this was just a backup and not a backup and restore facility.  So I looked further and discovered Updraft.  This excellent plugin not only backs up the site very quickly but, if necessary, will also restore it to its previous state.  With 175,000 downloads and an approval rating of 4.8 out of 5, I suspect that it's the best backup plugin around.

To be continued . . .

Advice From the Buddha On Setting Up a Business

At first glance, the title of this post may seem a bit bizarre.  After all, what can an Indian ascetic, who died 2500 years ago, tell us about business?  Yesterday, I would have asked that myself.

But I've been reading a book on transpersonal counselling, called "Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis".  It's a compilation of essays, one of which is by Buddhist teacher and author, Jack Kornfield.  And, in it, he describes what are known in Buddhism as the five hindrances.  The Buddha taught these in relation to meditation practice but, as I read, I realised that they apply just as well to business.

Kornfield writes: "The first is desire and wanting.  The second is its opposite, which is aversion - anger and dislike, judgement and fear . . . The next pair is sleepiness, dullness, and lethargy . . . and their opposite, which is agitation and restlessness of mind.  The fifth is doubt, the part of the mind that says, "I cannot do it. It is too hard . . . Morning is not a good time.  Maybe I should do something a little more entertaining . . ."

And I suspect that I'm not the only person who, trying to set up a business, has met all those hindrances time and time again.  We start with an idea and a desire to make something of that idea, to be successful, to make money.  We really want to get on and do it.  But, unless we're very lucky, there will be parts of the process that we don't enjoy . . . the long hours of work, perhaps, or the way it impinges on our family and social lives.  There's the anger that arises when something goes wrong - when Google bans us from adwords, or Twitter suspends our account, or we spend money on an advertising campaign that falls flat on its face.  And there's the fear of getting it wrong - of being banned, of getting suspended, of losing money.

So the enthusiasm wanes and the work becomes an effort, particularly the routine stuff that's so important (such as writing regular posts for our blogs and updating our social media accounts).  A whole day can go by and, at the end, there's the feeling of 'I haven't really done much today' which adds frustration into the mix and contributes to the dullness and the lethargy.  But at the same time, aware of the fact that we seem to be treading water, we can become agitated and restless.

And, finally, comes doubt.  Why did I ever start this in the first place?  I can't do it.  It's too hard.  I don't have the skills.  And I'm bored.

Of course, you may be wondering whether, in relation to business, desire is actually a hindrance.  When practising the Buddhist way of non-attachment, of course it is.  But in business?  And yet, I just wonder whether concentrating too much on that desire to succeed can be counterproductive.  Because if the desire is too strong, every little setback will become a major hurdle, rather than just part of the learning process.

The Buddha's answer to the hindrances when they arise during meditation practice is to recognise them for what they are and to 'let them go'.  If we get too caught up in the hindrance - be it desire or aversion, lethargy or restlessness, or doubt - it just compounds the problem.  So perhaps, here too, the answer is to recognise them as being a normal part of the process and to accept (again, as the Buddha taught) that everything changes.  I realise that it's not always the same tasks that I find boring. Because I'm frustrated today, it doesn't mean that I won't find a solution to the problem tomorrow.  And finding that solution may help me to find other solutions further down the path.

But perhaps the thing that I find most encouraging is to know that the frustration, anger, fear, restlessness, lethargy and doubt that seem to arise regularly as I plug away at building my business, are normal.  That these feelings and emotions are not mine alone but have been felt over the centuries by countless people trying to achieve their dreams.


Photo by hde2003 on http://www.sxc.hu

Why Knowing Yourself Might Be the First Rule of Successful Business Building

For the past few months I have been busy.  Very busy.  As is my wont, I have been trying to do more than I can fit into the time available.    Eventually the penny dropped that I would just have to rationalise my work in some way or I'd never get it all done.  So I sat down and looked at what exactly I was doing with my time.  And it was enlightening.

I was spending a huge amount of time on social media - posting, scheduling tweets, replying to other people and, of course, finding stuff to post about and interesting links to post.  And I rather enjoyed this part of it.  But once I started looking at it, I realised that I could automate far more than I was doing.  So why had this not occurred to me before?  Reluctantly, I accepted that, firstly, it was because I'm a workaholic and, secondly, it was because I'm a perfectionist.

The way I was doing things, I was getting the satisfaction of working long hours and of making sure that everything was exactly the way I wanted it, down to the last full stop.  The result was that I was making very poor use of my time in terms of what I was achieving.  I needed to accept that perfection wasn't necessary.  There's a well-known saying in psychotherapy about parents - that they don't need to be perfect, just 'good enough'.  If I could persuade myself to be happy with 'good enough' for the less important work, I could do more - and, probably, the work that really mattered would be of a higher standard because I would have more time for it.

So I automated a few things . . . and (being a perfectionist) spent the first few days checking them frequently to ensure that they were all working well.  In fact, some of the things I'd automated seemed to work better that way than when I was doing them manually.  And when, last weekend, I came down with a bug and took a couple of days off work, it didn't take me forever to catch up with everything once I was better.

Now, as a counsellor, I am aware how much understanding themselves can help my clients.  But I'm only just realising how important it is in all aspects of our lives.  I suspect that the people who really get to the top in business are those who know themselves very well.  They know where their strengths lie - and also their weaknesses.  Perhaps it doesn't hurt, every now and again, to do a SWOT analysis on what we're doing - looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats affecting our businesses.  If I'd done that earlier, I might have got more done in the time available!


[Image by tzunghaor http://primandras.hu]

More Thoughts on Split Testing - or Why I Think Internet Marketing is an Art , Not a Science

A month or so ago I wrote about a split test that I'd conducted with my newsletter and how it had left me feeling rather confused.

I was talking about this recently with a friend and he told me a similar story.  This man, like me, is into internet marketing.  He has several Twitter accounts that he uses to try to get people onto his mailing list.  Like many internet marketers, when someone follows him on Twitter, he sends a direct message offering them some e-books.  The message gives a link to his website where the visitor is invited to give his or her name and email address in exchange for the books.

Because the website link is quite long, he uses Tiny.cc to shorten it.  A couple of months ago, it occurred to him that, if he were to use a different shortened link for each Twitter account, he could test different messages and see which got the most conversions.

He arbitrarily divided his accounts into three groups and wrote three different messages.  After a few weeks, he checked how many direct messages he'd sent out with each link and how many clicks each one had received.  The results were interesting, but not in the way he had been hoping.

In the first group, account A had had a larger percentage of clicks than account B or account C and the difference was statistically significant.  Similarly, in the second group, there was a statistically significant difference between the results of two of the accounts.  And yet, comparing the top converters in each group with each other, the difference was not significant.  And this was the same for the lowest converters.

So what are we to conclude from this?  We could use the quotation frequently attributed to Mark Twain about 'lies, damn lies and statistics' and say that 'statistically significant' doesn't necessarily prove anything.  Or we could say - as is certainly the case - that every single person who was sent a direct message was an individual and, as such, could not logically be expected to act in the same way as anyone else.

All we know is that the people who clicked the links were interested in internet marketing.  And we have to assume that a fair proportion of the people to whom the messages were sent were also interested, because they had decided to follow my friend.  But here we run into the first difficulty.  My friend follows about 30 new people a day.  He tries to pick people with similar interests but it's impossible to be sure.  Some of the people who follow him may just be following back because that's what they do, rather than out of interest.  We can assume that anyone who decides to follow him (without first having been followed) must do so because of interest in his tweets.  But, even here, we cannot be sure that they would want the e-books.  They may, themselves, be established marketers or they may have downloaded a large number of e-books and not have time or energy to read any more.  Or, of course, they may not read their direct messages.

Looked at like this, it's little wonder that the results were confusing.  And it's the same - indeed, it must be the same - in any situation where individual choice is concerned.  If 100 people watch a movie, it's unlikely that all of them will enjoy it equally.  If 90 per cent love it, it will be a runaway success . . . but the other 10 per cent may hate it. 

What all this has proved to me is the vital importance of not losing sight of our target audience.  What is it that they (or, rather, most of them) want?  Can we understand their motivation?  If they're not buying our products is it necessarily because we've written a bad sales letter?  Or is it because they've already got a similar product, or can't see the need for the product - or even that they've not got the money available to spend on it?  Whether they open our emails and whether they buy our products depend on many factors and I think we need to keep this in mind.  What works one day may not work the next.  Obsessing overmuch about split testing may, in the end, be counterproductive. 



Photo:  Iconfinder.com, designer: http://ivancoyier.deviantart.com/

The Value of Images

I've been wondering why on earth I've never added images to this blog before now.  I suppose there are several reasons.  The first is that, when I started blogging, I didn't realise how easy it was to add a picture.  The second is uncertainty about what sort of pictures I could use to illustrate the subjects I'm writing about.  The third is just the problem of finding pictures that don't cost a fortune.

The lovely picture here is by someone whose screen name is Lurdeza and I downloaded it from Stock XChange to use on my recently-built counselling website.  For me, it evoked exactly what counselling is about - someone walking from the shadows into the light.  And, on the practical side, what made it even better was that the photo was free.

In the last few months I've discovered a number of sites offering free images - and the quality of many of them is outstanding.  As well as Stock XChange, there's Stock Free Images and Wikimedia Commons - and I've even found the odd useful image on Microsoft Office Imagery.

So, with all these great images around, why would anyone want to pay for photos?  Well, of course, even with the vast selection available, sometimes it's very difficult to find exactly what you want.  For example, when I was making a PowerPoint video to advertise my book Say Goodbye to Sleepless Nights, I had great difficulty finding a decent photo of someone looking tired.  Also, it has to be said, the top image websites (such as iStock Photo) demand very high quality and levels of expertise.  I was looking at the iStock Photo requirements the other day.  First of all, you have to read the manual (which is quite technical) then you have to answer questions on it and, finally, you have to submit three examples of your work.  I suspect that not everyone who applies is accepted!

So, as with everything else, I think it's horses for courses. If you have a project that needs high quality photography, it's worth paying for the best there is available.  But if you just want the odd photo for your website or your blog, there's plenty of good stuff out there. It's important, of course, to read the small print.  Some images are only free for non-commercial use.  Mostly, even if free, they require an attribution.  And, having read an article recently about the problems that arose when the copyright holder changed the licence on one of his photos, it seems worth keeping a record of when you downloaded each image.

Sometimes clipart is more appropriate than photos for what we're doing and, just recently, someone told me about two sites  - IconFinder and FindIcons - that offer neat little drawings of everything from calculators and piles of coins to fruit and flowers, plus buttons, arrows, ticks, crosses and the like.

The final question, of course, is whether it's all worth it.  Do images really make a difference?  Well a recent experiment showed that, if used on a sales page, images would increase the conversion rate by a hefty 62%.  And, to me, this suggests that, rather than being distracted by the images, people are more likely to be drawn into what is written.  So, from now on, I think you can expect to see more images here!

Following Your Passion

You're going to have to trust me on this one, because I can't remember where I read it or who said it, but a while back I read a quote from a respected internet marketer.  And he said that all the really successful internet marketers of his acquaintance had followed their passions.  They hadn't set out to find a way to make a great deal of money, they'd just done something they loved doing.  And, that way, the long hours of work involved in getting a successful business off the ground weren't a chore but simply a way for them to get more involved in the subjects that really interested them.

I've been thinking about this recently because I've started on a new project, quite unconnected with internet marketing.  I'm setting up a website around a subject that has been a hobby of mine for a good number of years and I'm finding all the research and the work involved quite exciting.

And one thing that I've become aware of is that it's much more fun than the work I've been doing (and am still doing) in the field of internet marketing and social media.  Now, don't get me wrong, I find internet marketing very interesting and challenging . . . but I'm not passionate about it the way I am about this hobby.  I wouldn't want my waking hours to be filled with internet marketing and nothing else . . . whereas the hobby?  Well, perhaps.

So is it a mistake to work in a niche that you're not passionate about?  No, I don't think so.  But I suspect that it makes it more difficult to stick with it.  On the other hand, there may be problems with working in a niche that one is passionate about.  I remember talking to a friend who is an antique dealer and she told me that the most difficult thing she found about the business was stopping herself from keeping everything she bought.  She had a fine collection of antiques herself but every time she bought something beautiful for her stock, she was tempted to add it to her collection rather than selling it.  So she had to keep reminding herself why she was buying a piece.  Similarly, if we're following our passion, we need to keep our eye on the ball - remember why we're doing what we're doing.  If it's just for our own entertainment then it's fine to spend hours reading interesting articles and researching stuff that doesn't really take us any further.  But if we're basing a business on it, passion isn't enough.  There's got to be discipline involved as well.

But even then, we could run into trouble.  Another story from the antiques world springs to mind.  Some years ago I was watching the Antiques Roadshow on television.  A chap had brought along a huge copper item . . . I think it was a Victorian boiler or something of the sort.  He had a small collection of these and was hugely proud of this one.  The expert said he'd never seen one like it and had no idea what sort of value it had.  To which the owner replied "Of course, it's a collector's item, isn't it."  The expert smiled and said "Well I've only ever met one person who collects these - and that's you."  No matter how passionate we are about a subject, if we're the only person interested, there's no way we can make a business out of it.

So to anyone starting out and thinking about which niche to choose, I offer the advice that many have given before me: go with your passion, remember your goals, and check that you've got a potential audience.  If you do that, chances are that you'll have fun  . . . and you could well be successful too!