Archive for May 1, 2014

The Five Greatest Strengths Of MODX

MODX Strengths

Although it might not rival WordPress in terms of popularity, MODX is nevertheless one of the most widely-used content management systems in the world.  Perhaps the primary reason the latter doesn’t eclipse the former is tied to ease of use. MODX tends to be a touch more difficult to use than WordPress, which is one of the simplest no-fuss platforms online.

Of course, proponents of MODX claim that the initial difficulty curve is more than worth it when stacked against the sheer power and freedom it offers them. Is this true? Just what is it that makes MODX such a formidable CMS? Read more

Why You Should Only Have One Focus Keyword

Focus Keywords

One thing that virtually every SEO plugin of note shares in common is that they only allow one focus keyword per piece. More than once, I’ve heard folks question the reason for this. Wouldn’t it be better in the case of a piece with a wide range of topics to add multiple focus keywords?

No, not really. Read more

What Your WordPress Theme Says About Your Blog

WordPress Shirt Logo

The theme is arguably the most important element of a WordPress blog. It’s the first thing users will see when loading in, and will impact their perceptions before they even start reading. The impression a theme leaves on a blog’s readers will determine how they view the blog, what they think of the content and, ultimately, whether or not they’ll come back.

What a lot of authors don’t realize is that a theme accomplishes much more than making a first good impression. By studying how a blog is laid out, it’s entirely possible to accurately judge the author’s personality, what they generally write about, and the sort of content they produce. In certain rare cases, it may even be possible to discern an author’s industry. Read more

Five More Absolutely Essential WordPress Plugins

WordPress Plugins

One of the most formidable aspects of WordPress as a platform is the immense degree of customizability its diverse selection of plugins affords a blog owner. Unfortunately, no two plugins are created equal, and it can often be difficult to decide what’s worthwhile. How’s a blog owner to know what they should and shouldn’t install?

It all starts with knowing what sort of functionality you’re looking for – what types of plugins does your blog require to shine? Read more

Maximizing Your Exposure On WordPress

Content may be king, but it’s nothing if you don’t know how to promote it. Even if you write the best, most enticing and most shareable post in the world and update your blog regularly, it means nothing if people aren’t aware it exists. In order to truly drive traffic to your blog, you need exposure. Obtaining it is a dual process of promotion and optimization.

We’ll start with the latter. The best advice I can give you here is to install a plugin like All-In-One SEO. Although it won’t do all the work for you, it’ll greatly simplify the optimization process, and make it considerably easier for you to deal with Meta tags and title optimization. Scheduling is one thing you’re going to have to do yourself – personally, I’d recommend that you update your blog in the morning, as t traffic is usually highest around 11 AM. You’ll also need to figure out your focus keyword (think of this as the primary topic of your post). More than just site and keyword optimization, however, you should also practice topic optimization. Read more

Is A User Created Content Site Possible On WordPress

Although WordPress is without a doubt the best blogging platform on the market, how suitable is it if you’re looking to create a site based on user-generated content? It’s an odd question, to be sure, but it’s one that’s been at the back of my mind for some time now. Is WordPress usable if you’re creating a content hub rather than a simple blog?

The short answer is yes – just look at WPeddit if you’ve any doubts. The long answer…yes and no. It’s complicated. If you’ve got the right plugins and enough programming knowledge, you can use the WordPress platform to design just about anything. The problem with that, of course, is that this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s well-suited for the task. At the end of the day, there are plenty of software platforms specifically designed for user-generated content, it could save you a great deal of trouble to simply use one of those. Read more

Five WordPress Plugins No Blog Should Be Without

Perhaps the most powerful element of WordPress – and likely one of the primary reasons it’s the most widely-used blogging platform in the world – is the diverse selection of plugins available to its writers. One might consider that diversity to be one of the platform’s weaknesses, too; the sheer volume of different plugins available can be downright overwhelming, particularly to someone new to the platform.

Thankfully, if you know what types of plugins your blog needs, the process becomes far less daunting. It then simply becomes a matter of knowing the best plugin in each particular category. Today, we’re going to look at a few such addons. We will likely as not revisit this topic at a later date with a new set. Read more

Six SEO Tips And Tactics To Keep Your Website On Top

When I first started writing, the very concept of Search Engine Optimization sort of made my head spin. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t really know why I needed it. “I’m a writer,” I thought. “I’m here to write things, not market them!”

What I didn’t realize at the time was that those two basically amounted to the same thing. If you’re designing content – any content – for the web, you need to tweak it so it’ll show up in search engines. I can provide you with a bit of SEO advice – both on-page and off – to help you along in that regard.

Develop Content That’s Dressed To Impress; Use Keywords Sparingly Read more

Should You Host Your Own Videos Or Use An Established Platform?

It’s no secret that we’re a highly visual society. There’s just something about video that intrigues the average user to a far greater degree than the written word ever could. I’m not going to get into the reasons behind this fascination, nor am I going to go on about the advantages video has over other content formats; instead, all I’ll say is that a properly optimized video has an incredibly high chance of going viral, potentially elevating a brand to new heights.

Creating your video is only the first step in achieving this level of brand awareness, of course. The next thing you’ll have to do is upload it…and that’s where you’ve got a decision to make: do you use an established platform like YouTube, or host it on your own website? I’ve compiled a list encompassing the primary strengths of each approach, to help you decide which one is right for you.

Why You Should Host Your Own Videos

It Will Provide You With Direct Traffic: If you implement and host a video on your own, every hit your video gets represents more traffic directly to your site. You’ll be able to capture and analyze that traffic, and if that video is shared enough, it could potentially bring up the rank of whatever page it’s hosted on. This will also have the added effect of making back-links more valuable and increasing your keyword rankings.

You’ll Enjoy More Conversions: However strong your call to action is, it’ll be all the stronger if you’re directly hosting your video. With fewer steps to conversion, more users are likely to listen to your pitch, meaning more sales or inquiries for you. Contrast this to a platform like YouTube, where users aren’t particularly likely to click through.

You’ve More Control Over Your Video Content: This is probably the strongest argument in favor of hosting your own content: you’ve complete control over the content of your video. You won’t need to worry as much about frivolous copyright claims, and you’ll be able to permanently link to it in whatever fashion you want. It’ll also make it considerably easier to incorporate your own analytics and user tracking. The freedom to design your own player further means you can tailor it to your site, making things look much crisper and more professional.

Your Videos Are Harder To Steal: One of the big problems with video sharing sites in particular is that they feature open embedding. Even if you disable it, there exists a myriad array of tools designed to rip videos straight from their source. If you’re self-hosting, it’ll be much more difficult (if not next to impossible) for any competitors to pull this off.

You Won’t Need To Worry As Much About Competitors:  On most video sharing services, there’ll be a ‘related videos’ feed next to your upload. This feed might well contain videos created by your competition, meaning you could easily lose viewers (and potential leads) to competitors. Self-hosting handily eliminates this problem.

Why You Should Use A Sharing Platform

You Needn’t Concern Yourself With The Technical Side Of Things: Video sharing platforms and hosting services are appealing primarily because they’re easy to use. Whereas hosting your own video requires you to be fairly tech savvy, hosting on YouTube, Metacafe, or Vimeo is as simple as hitting “upload” then moving on to optimization and promotion.

There Are No Hosting Costs (Or Issues): Hosting your own video can be a costly burden, particularly if it goes viral. Depending on what you’re hoping to do with your site, it might simply not be worth the money. Again, this is something you don’t need to worry about with hosting services; at the very least, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee (which will still be lower than the server costs).

You’ll Get More Exposure And Attract More Viewers: Attracting viewers through video platforms is inherently easier than trying to draw them in with self-hosted videos. Exposure for such videos tends to be extremely limited when compared against the degree of exposure gained by tapping into a sharing site’s existing user-base. Plus, if you’re using YouTube, Google tends to favor its own products.

Your Video Will Load Faster: As a general rule, you’re never going to be able to optimize your site to the degree that it’ll load faster than one such as Dailymotion. Given that most users aren’t likely to wait around if your video won’t load, self-hosting can be risky.

You’ll Have Access To Greater Video Functionality:  As a general rule, established platforms will let you do a lot more with your videos than self-made platforms (even if you will have less freedom). Uploading on YouTube, for example, will give you access to Google’s suite of video analytics and management tools along with easy embedding, 100% uptime, and single-click social sharing. If you’re self-hosting, these are all features you’re going to have to implement yourself.

 

AHosting Announces Optimized MODX Hosting Platform

Hudson, FL, February 24, 2014 – AHosting, a hosting company that specializes in providing optimized hosting for content management systems, has announced the introduction of hosting plans designed to make the most of the popular MODX content management system. AHosting’s MODX hosting plans include one-click installation, unlimited storage and bandwidth, and managed backups.

MODX is the content management system for sites that need more flexibility and control than applications like WordPress can provide. The open source CMS and web framework provides a powerful solution for businesses that require complete control over their content and design. MODX implements full segregation of content, appearance, and logic, allowing developers to create bespoke sites that conform closely to the specific needs of their clients. Read more