Not Your Usual WordPress Themes Roundup

Multipurpose WordPress Themes are great for creating all types of websites but sometimes it’s more convenient and it saves a lot of time to use a ready-made theme that’s specific to your website requirements. Here are a few WordPress themes that are more than just your usual WordPress theme designs. Check them out:

Joglo – Woocommerce Real Estate Theme

Joglo Premium WordPress Theme is a modern real estate theme especially built for the real estate business. This WooCommerce enabled premium theme makes it easy to run an online realty company that can handle transactions like offering property for sale or home/apartment renting service. It has a sleek and dynamic design packed with features and functions like: Advanced Search where customers can easily browse any property filtered according to price, location, type or some other category or tag; Agents page listing agents names, description, and contact information; Responsive and custom layout; Property page with a contact form; and, Property detail page with map

Advocator: Professional Nonprofit Organizations

Advocator Premium WordPress Theme is primarily designed for non-profit, charity, organization, or advocacy related websites that aim to be interactive with their audience. This theme boasts of professional level accessibility and performance having been built using the Foundation 5 framework by Zurb. Key features include: audience can engage with you on mobile devices with ease, you can accept donations seamlessly, you can add Events for your organization, you can collect emails using Mailchimp, and if you’re a developer, you can customize super fast and efficiently.

Frisieur – WordPress Theme for Hairdressers

Frisieur Premium WordPress Theme is a fully responsive theme designed for hairdressers, hair salons, stylists, makeup artists, and similar professionals you need to set appointments with. This theme includes features and functions like: Working Appointment form, Approximate time with timepicker (compatible with two time types), Opening hours table, Google Map with geolocalization, and Working Contact Form, – elements necessary to booking clients online.

Pump – Responsive Wedding & Multi-purpose Theme

Pump Premium WordPress Theme is a Wedding Event & Multipurpose WordPress Theme all rolled into one. This super simple and yet fully functional responsive theme has endless possibilities not only for Weddings and events but even for business, corporate, or portfolio applications. This theme can grow with its users and convert into something else and adjust as the couple’s needs and interests evolve. It is also WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, and WPML ready.

WooCommerce Supermarket Theme – GoMarket

Woocommerce GoMarket Premium WordPress is a complete shopping solution for eCommerce owners. This theme includes 6 pre-designed stores making it easy to set up the store of your dreams. It features a
combination of Vertical Menu and Main Mega Menu to help customers navigate through the site easily.

7 Bestselling Unusual Themes for WordPress

There are some things that are truly unique and outstanding that they can’t help but stand out and rise to the top of the heap. Here are some of the best selling WordPress themes that owe their popularity to a unique niche that they fill.

X Theme

Dubbed as Themeforest’s most popular new product, this theme presents itself as the ultimate WordPress theme. The claim’s validity is backed by real world results and real time feedback from its satisfied users who have experienced the endless customization options available to its owners. While it offers a lot to those who want to dabble into the “nuts and bolts” of the theme, X also offers strong solutions for those who just want to get something up and running on their sites in no time. The theme has 3 predefined stacks that can be easily tweaked to give newbies and non-techies a “made by a professional” look for their websites. X offers features that have set the standard and raised the bar as far as WordPress themes go. Not surprising considering the experts who have given their inputs in the development of the theme not to mention the developer’s open ears to customer feedback. It is also not surprising that many already consider this as the last WordPress theme they will ever need.

Gymbase

This theme has been around for quite a while but remains a bestseller in its own right because of its special qualities. First and foremost it’s a Gym theme – unique and not like the rest. It addresses a viable niche market – the health and fitness market – where gym owners can easily create a website that can service players in this industry. Some of the useful features the theme has include: a timetable plugin included that allows members and visitors to plan the classes they will attend, Gymbase also displays the pricing for classes, features that allow updates for its members regarding upcoming classes, an easy to use admin panel equipped with a color picker to help you create your own custom look, and everything else you need to run a health and fitness website.

Academy

Designed to be a learning management solution for educational or training institutions to maximize the power and reach of the internet, Academy enables you to sell and share knowledge online. This theme gives you the platform to deliver classes and lessons to interested parties. Academy allows you to upload media content and documents as well as to encode quizzes and tests to check for your subscribers competency. You are also able to check the progress of your students, monitor the courses they take, as well as, administer payments. This theme is integrated with WooCommerce. Academy is an invaluable tool especially today, as more and more people turn to e-learning as a means of acquiring new skills and education.

Fundify

Fundify is the first WordPress theme designed for crowdfunding. This enables you to have a websites in the likes of Indiegogo and Kickstarter where parties can setup campaigns to raise funds for causes they support. Fundify allows you to setup campaigns for a fixed amount of money where supporters are only billed if the minimum target amount of the campaign is reached. Alternatively, the theme also enables flexible campaigns where whatever amount pledged is collected. Fundify also allows you to administer rewards to those who support your causes. The theme integrates with Paypal and easy digital downloads which makes it convenient for supporters to finance causes and advocacies that appeal to them.

Knowhow

With knowledge and information being an important commodity nowadays, it is not surprising to find a knowledge base theme in this list. What makes Knowhow special is that it enables you to setup your own knowledge base with ease and convenience while maintaining the privacy and control of information not available on public Wikis. You can list your content in the form of an FAQ. Knowhow also allows users to search by question or by topic which makes searching more convenient. Not your ordinary WordPress theme.

Jobify

Globalization and the internet have made the job market more competitive. Jobseekers have a need to display their resumes online so they can get the best jobs available. In a similar fashion, employers need to get the best talent available. Jobify is a job exchange solution used by top companies like dropbox to acquire the best talent globally. Employers can subscribe to your site for posting privileges. Jobseekers can post their resumes in response to job postings. This theme integrates with WooCommerce and Contact forms plugins to give you the best in payment and input management.

Nick Roach’s Elegant Themes Review

Updated: April 12, 2021 – 2021 is nearing the middle of the year, and now is a good time to update one of our most popular articles here on Blogging Experiment. For several years we have been singing the praises of Elegant Themes, and 2014 is shaping up to be no different. In a day and age where companies and websites come and go, Elegant Themes has not only stood the test of time, they have continued to innovate by creating massive value for their over 250,000 customers! In the following article, we’d like to give you a detailed overview of just why we call Elegant Themes the Best Deal in WordPress!

After all, having the right WordPress Theme is crucial to your websites’ success. It’s kind of like the study that showed how people looking to buy a home can make up their mind within 8 seconds of walking in the door whether they like it or not – by not giving your visitors the right first impression (your design) – you’re literally inviting them to hit the back button.

The Dilemma

As a blogger your focus should be on content. Blog design is important, but when you think about it, do people go to Craigslist because it looks pretty? Absolutely not. They use it because they’re the best in the field.

Since we’re not all Craigslists, we must merge the design and content aspects together in as seamless a manner as possible. You want to have a nice looking design, but you most likely are not strong in design itself (much less coding that pretty design). You want a unique, impressive look that conveys professionalism and passion about your craft, but you’re probably not an expert at usability (how “usuable” your site is to visitors). And finally, you want to do all this in the cheapest, most cost effictive way possible (nothing wrong with that).

Elegant Themes

Have you ever spent any length of time browsing around countless free wordpress theme sites only to be left feeling unsatisfied? Does it seem like most of the free themes are … well … free for a reason? Where are all the best wordpress themes? After going through these motions for a period of time, I decided to take a look at some premium wordpress themes to see if they were really that much better than the free ones. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Nick Roach’s Elegant Themes, and that changed everything for me.

I knew I could hire a web designer to create a nice looking website as I’ve done countless times in the past. But at $800 to $3500/pop, designers can be expensive. I was interested in finding a nice looking design that I could learn to tweak and modify myself to make it more personalized and customized to my liking.

As a website and blog developer, I am frequently developing new sites, and aside from the content itself, I want each design to be unique and professional. Enter ElegantThemes.

Elegant Themes Premium WordPress Theme Club

Forget $200 to $500 like many other premium theme clubs, for $69…YES, $69 – members get unlimited access and unlimited use to all of Nicks’ premium WordPress Themes. To date there are 80+ elegant WordPress Themes.

I’m going to get out of the way and let Nick’s design speak for itself. As you will see, these are top notch designs that would normally run you several thousand dollars a piece (I’ve researched hiring a good WordPress theme designer, and that is the going rate – typically the floor of their going rate).

Without further ado, here are some of the premium WordPress themes from Elegant Themes:

Nexus WordPress Theme

Nexus Features:

Magazine style
Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Nexus Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Nexus Theme, and we’ll list you here.
Language Mastery

More Information On Nexus From Elegant Themes:

Demo Nexus

Vertex WordPress Theme

Vertex Features:

Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Vertex Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Vertex Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Vertex From Elegant Themes:

Demo Vertex

Fable WordPress Theme

Fable Features:

Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Fable Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Fable Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Fable From Elegant Themes:

Demo Fable

Foxy WordPress Theme

Foxy Features:

eCommerce
Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Foxy Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Foxy Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Foxy From Elegant Themes:

Demo Foxy

Explorable WordPress Theme

Explorable Features:

Location based directory
Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Explorable Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Explorable Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Explorable From Elegant Themes:

Demo Explorable

StyleShop WordPress Theme

StyleShop Features:

eCommerce
Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the StyleShop Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the StyleShop Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On StyleShop From Elegant Themes:

Demo StyleShop

Fusion WordPress Theme

Fusion Features:

Responsive design
Unlimited color schemes
Secure and valid code
Complete localization
Browser compatibility
Perpetual updates
Unparalleled support
ADVANCED: ePanel theme options
ADVANCED: shortcode collection
ADVANCED: page templates

Example Site(s) using the Fusion Theme (Showcase):

Email us if you are using the Fusion Theme, and we’ll list you here.

More Information On Fusion From Elegant Themes:

Demo Fusion

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Is Your WordPress Site A Target For Hackers?

Online security is a priority website owners should take seriously. How many of us use the same password not only for multiple sites but for other personal information like bank accounts, billings, credit cards, etc.? General website information is available via Whois.com and displays information such as your email address. To the determined hacker, this single piece of information could lead to a chain of personal information tracking and could lead to more devastating consequences aside from identity theft. The epic hacking of Wired’s Senior Writer, Mat Honan, that dissolved his digital life is a reality check that whatever goes online (and even offline) can disappear in a matter of seconds.

Another security challenge is having multiple authors and contributors to your WordPress website. Granting access to users should be managed with a built-in authentication system to filter out unauthorized or unregistered users from accessing not only your resources but also premium information not open to the public. Installing necessary precautions and different levels of security checks can be helpful in creating deterrents to possible security hacks.

Here are some useful tools you can use to protect your site from being compromised.

LastPass – PassWord Manager

LastPass is an award-winning password manager that saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. Download and setup is easy and can be done in minutes. Once you’ve created your account, LastPass prompts you to save new sites as you browse – so you’ll never lose another password. After saving a website’s username and password, LastPass will autofill the login when you return to that site. No thought, no typing, no work required – LastPass does it for you. LastPass allows you to share access to multiple users securely. This security tool also helps you address other password management concerns and security threats like keylogging, etc.

UpDraftPlus – WordPress Backup

UpdraftPlus simplifies backups and restoration. Backup into the cloud (Amazon S3 (or compatible), Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace Cloud, DreamObjects, FTP, SFTP, SCP, WebDAV and email) and restore with a single click. Key features include: Site duplicator/migrator: can copy sites, and (with add-on) move them to new locations; backups of files and database can have separate schedules; large sites can be split into multiple archives; database backups can be encrypted for security; and download backup archives direct from your WordPress dashboard, among many.

Clef – 2 Step Authentication Mobile App

Clef is a free replacement for usernames and passwords that makes logging into your WordPress site easier and more secure. It is a mobile app that replaces usernames and passwords using your smartphone. This security tool lets any site recognize their users based on their phones, instead of anything they have to remember or type. Clef puts secure cryptography in the hands of every user and frees you from having to remember any passwords. Once you sign in to one WordPress site using Clef, you can sign into all of your Clef-enabled sites with a single click. And once you sign out of the app on your phone, you are automatically signed out of all your WordPress sites.

Google Authenticator – WordPress Plugin

The Google Authenticator plugin for WordPress gives you two-factor authentication using the Google Authenticator app for Android/iPhone/Blackberry. You may already have the Google Authenticator app installed on your smartphone, using it for two-factor authentication on Gmail, Dropbox, Lastpass, Amazon etc. The two-factor authentication requirement can be enabled on a per-user basis. You could enable it for your administrator account, but log in as usual with less privileged accounts. It also works on WordPress installations that have several users aseach user has his own Google Authenticator settings.

All In One WP Security & Firewall

The All In One WordPress Security plugin is a comprehensive, user-friendly, all in one WordPress security and firewall plugin for your site. It reduces security risk by checking for vulnerabilities, and by implementing and enforcing the latest recommended WordPress security practices and techniques. This plugin uses an unprecedented security points grading system to measure how well you are protecting your site based on the security features you have activated. Protect against “Brute Force Login Attack” with the Login Lockdown feature. Users with a certain IP address or range will be locked out of the system for a predetermined amount of time based on the configuration settings and you can also choose to be notified via email whenever somebody gets locked out due to too many login attempts. Monitor/View the account activity of all user accounts on your system by keeping track of the username, IP address, login date/time, and logout date/time.

As always, check for compatibility before installing any plugin or tool. And don’t forget to backup your site as well.

WordPress Resource : Free Icons

The Internet is a great resource for anything and everything – for free or for a fee – especially if you are into web design. Don’t break the bank just yet if you are just dabbling into web design and it is not a professional thing for you yet. Check out these high quality design elements and incorporate them into your projects:

Metrize Icons

Metrize Icons is a free collection of 300 metro-style icons for designers and developers. The bundle also includes Metrize Font Icons and the necessary scripts for compatibility with IE7 and the complete character map. This icon set is perfect for your apps or web projects. You may use these icons for both commercial and personal projects and customize them any way you like. All Icons, WebFont and Updates are Free.

Dashicons

Dashicons is a new feature that slipped into the admin side of WordPress with the recently-released 3.8. This feature gives plugin developers a nice set of pre-made and pre-loaded icons to use. Using them in your WordPress custom post types is as simple as adding a parameter to your register_post_type() function.

Genericons

Genericons are a free, GPL, flexible vector icons for blogs embedded in a webfont and are designed to be clean and simple keeping with a generic aesthetic. It can be used for instant HiDPI or to easily change colors on the fly. It includes: Social icons(Skype, Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Pocket), New generic icons (heart, lock and print), New editing icons (code, bold, italic, image), and New interaction icons (subscribe, unsubscribe, subscribed, reply all, reply, flag), among others.

400 Hand Drawn Icons

400 Hand Drawn Icons Set has been provided by Freepik.com exclusively for the readers of Blog Oh! Blog. These are free to use in your personal and commercial projects and are provided in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format and can be easily used on any website.

Free Line Icons from Elegant Themes

This free line-style icon set from Elegant Themes ships with a total of 100 different icons and is a re-mastering and expansion on their previous Divi Icons. The new set has been re-created at a new size and line-weight, and 50 new icons have been added as well! The download package includes the vectored .AI and .SVG files, as well as 32px and 64px .PNGs.

Free eCommerce Icon Set

This set of 33 flat e-commerce icons were exclusively designed and created for Smashing Magazine by the team at Responsive. The icons are ideally suited to e-commerce projects and include many popular payment providers, including Bitcoin. The icons come in different-sized PNGs (32 × 32, 64 × 64, 128 × 128 and 256 × 256 pixels), and the set includes Photoshop and Illustrator files containing all of the icons. Released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, freely available for private and commercial projects.

Enjoy these free graphic design resources and share your projects with us.

Five Drag and Drop WordPress Plugins To Try

The drag and drop feature has become one of the most popular features in WordPress themes lately. We remember how everyone clamored for responsive themes and multiple slider options. Now it’s all about drag and drop. Below are some of the available drag and drop plugins in the marketplace today.

Visual Composer

Visual Composer for WordPress is a popular drag and drop page builder plugin that will save you tons of time working on the site content. Take full control over your WordPress site. Add columns, rows and choose from 40+ predefined elements divided in logic groups with single click, by using intuitive and handy UI. Then simply use your mouse to drag elements around to re-arrange them. You can also use your creativity and skills to extend Visual Composer with unique elements by using the developer API. Outstanding features include: intuitive drag and drop interface, object oriented code, template system, responsive grid, custom post types, WordPress user access support, 40+ built in content blocks, and so many other features. Create totally unique websites with no programming knowledge required with Visual Composer.

Aqua Page Builder

Aqua Page Builder is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create an unlimited number of template variations for use in your WordPress themes. It follows the same user interface used by the Menus & Widgets admin pages – making you feel right at home with the UI. Similar to the Widgets &amps Menus, Aqua Page Builder features the drag and drop interaction to build its templates.This free open source plugin blends seamlessly with the WordPress admin interface making it familiar and easy for users to get used to it. Aqua Page Builder was also designed to reside on a completely independent page, instead of cluttering the post editor. The idea was to offer the freedom to build content outside of the editor, and use it anywhere they like at all. The “template” doesn’t have to be a complete page at all, it can be part of a page that can be re-used on a unlimited amount of pages/post they like.

Themify Builder

The Themify drag & drop Builder for WordPress helps you build any page layouts with a live, frontend preview. Layouts are completely responsive, and what you see is what you get. Easily create complex grid layouts by dragging and dropping on Builder’s intuitive user interface. Content can include static text, images, videos, sliders, galleries, tabs, maps, etc. or dynamic content, such as posts, menus, and even sidebars + widgets. It works on desktop, tablet, and mobile. The Builder comes with any Themify theme as part of the Themify framework. You can also purchase the Themify Builder plugin to use in a non-Themify WordPress theme.

Elegant Themes Builder

The Elegant Themes Builder is a plugin that provides some incredible tools for structuring the content on your page. These tools were previously only available in our Convertible theme, but now they have been added to a new plugin that will work with any theme. The plugin creates a visual drag-and-drop canvas where you can add, arrange and re-size advanced elements on your page. This builder appears below the normal text editor when you create a post or page, creating a unique canvas for each. The builder allows to you quickly create columns, sliders, tabs, buttons, toggles, boxes and so much more. This plugin will work with any theme, not just Elegant Themes but is can be purchased if you are an Elegant Themes member.

Page Layout Builder

Page Layout Builder plugin is a Drag and Drop Page Builder – Layout Builder – Content Builder for WordPress. Building custom WordPress page layout using Page Layout Builder is as easy as dragging-and-dropping. No need to learn HTML or find a coder/designer to change a page layout, modify sidebars, etc. You can directly use more than 3000+ widgets from wordpress.org to place anywhere inside your page content. Modules like sliders, galleries, images, drop-down menu, progress bar, timeline, testimonials, message box, warning box, notification box, loop for custom post type, post loop with various templates, sub-pages, heading, regular html etc. are currently under development. This plugin is available in the WordPress plugin repository.

Play With The Code Using These WordPress Code Editors

Majority of WordPress users hate messing with code. But, there are those, (developers, but certainly not limited to) who can’t get enough of it and consider spending countless hours of coding simply child’s play. Here are some of these code editing “toys” you can try to get your fill of code poetry heaven.

Shift Edit

This online editor allows you to: access files from various sources (FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, Google Drive, or Amazon S3), autocomplete code for HTML tags, CSS and PHP code assist, highlight syntax errors and automatically fix them, do live editing and see realtime updates as you tweak your code, step back to a previous version of the file, open and save files when using the chrome app.

“The online IDE is one of the final frontiers of apps ported to the web. I would like to be able to develop from any computer or operating system and have the same experience without having to install software or configure anything.” – Adam Jimenez (founder)

Codeanywhere

Codeanywhere is a code editor in a browser with an integrated ftp client, and all popular web formats are supported (HTML, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and XML). It lets you code from anywhere, without the need to bring anything along with you. Just log on to Codeanywhere with any computer or smartphone, and all your servers (FTP, SFTP and Dropbox), files, everything is waiting for you, even the files you left open will be open when you login again. Key features include: syntax highlighting, code folding, smart indentation, full internationalization, displays line number, word wrap, code indention (Tab key), unlimited undo/redo, etc.

BluePen Editor

BluePen Editor is a PHP-powered CSS editor that can be installed to any static or dynamic website and makes live CSS editing possible. It’s an online visual CSS editor and a “must have” web developer tool which makes a difference in styling online content: it runs in a browser (it’s an online application), it makes you see the changes immediately (Real-time editing), it’s a stylesheet editing software (CSS styling).

Advanced Code Editor

Advanced Code Editor enables syntax highlighting in the integrated themes and plugins source code editors. This plugin supports PHP, HTML, CSS and JS. Effectively edit your themes or plugins when you only have access to a browser, by enabling syntax highlighting in WordPress integrated source code editors. Other features include: mixed language syntax highlighting, smart search, full screen editor, multiple undo and redo, ajax create/delete file, ajax create new directory, auto format and indenting code, and so much more.

WP Editor

WP Editor is a plugin for WordPress that replaces the default plugin and theme editors as well as the page/post editor. Using integrations with CodeMirror and FancyBox to create a feature rich environment, WP Editor completely reworks the default WordPress file editing capabilities. Using Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) to retrieve files and folders, WP Editor sets a new standard for speed and reliability in a web-based editing atmosphere.

Better File Editor

This plugin replaces the boring, clunky, and difficult to use theme and plugin editor with a full-featured code editor using the Ajax.org Cloud9 Editor. Adds line numbers, syntax highlighting, code folding, and lots more to the theme and plugin editors in the admin panel.

The Missing Ingredient in Your Content Marketing Strategy

We live in an age of automated scripted responses. Customer service isn’t what it used to be. If you dialed for help nowadays, you’d get more or less an automated cookie cutter response to press 1, press 2, press 3, press the # sign, or dial 0 to talk to a customer service representative. If you are lucky, you get to talk to a real in-house customer service representative. If not, you get redirected to a call center agent from another side of the globe with a ready-made spiel to “answer” all your questions and “help” you with all your concerns. We’ve somehow lost that human touch in the midst of all this great technology.

Even web content can seem cold and clinical – distant, especially when the only end goal is to increase traffic and page rankings. Keyword stuffing. Readers are smart enough to sense whether you are truly serving their needs or you are simply dishing out self-serving, ego-centric content.

Ever read a status, a tweet, an update, or a headline, that made you click the link to read more? Irresistible. Something must have struck a chord – an emotion, a memory, a feeling, an idea, or maybe an experience that resonated with you or even provoked you, that made you connect with whatever you were reading.

This is the kind of response you want from your audience. It’s the first step. Your goal is to take them beyond being engaged. You want your readers to be involved – to be in dialogue with you. To see you as a reliable, relatable persona they can depend on. An authority figure – reachable, available.

What is empathy in relation to content marketing?

A formal definition of Empathy is the ability to identify and understand another’s situation, feelings and motives. It’s our capacity to recognize the concerns other people have. Empathy means: “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” or “seeing things through someone else’s eyes.”
(source: Mindtools.com)

People need to KNOW they are important. They need to FEEL they are important. They need to know that you are listening to them, and that they are not just merely some page view statistic to help you rank. They need to know that you know how it feels like to walk in their shoes. Once they know that you are listening to them, then they will pay attention. They will listen. They will subscribe. They will buy. Empathy with your audience is the impetus that will determine whether your readers will come back again and again.

Think about how popular brands like Nike, Dove, or Volvo “speak” to their audience through their ads. Nike inspires. Dove boosts self-esteem. Volvo is all about safety. These brands add that human factor in their messages that people can connect to. These brands have successful messages that make their audience feel that they are THE priority.

Seth Godin put it so succinctly in his blog,

The simplest customer service frustration question of all:

“Why isn’t this as important to you as it is to me?”

All brands have a commercial agenda. However, your goal is to make your brand have a “heart”, so to speak. Empathy. It sounds like some amateur psychological runaround BUT it is the missing ingredient you need to add to the whole content strategy. True, content is king, truer still, the audience, is its ever demanding queen.

Tips on How to Build Your Authority Site

Building a high ranking authority site is two-fold. Not only do you aim to make your domain rank well but you need to make sure that you also work on the individual pages of your website. This means that as you continue to add quality content to your site, in tandem with your SEO efforts, both your domain and page authority should be progressively increasing in both rank and authority.

There are a few things you need to make sure happens on your website as you slowly build your way up. Here are some tips on what you need to do:

Increase user time on site by:

using strategically located video – video usually located in the middle of the post tend to make readers go through the whole post as opposed to one located at the top.
placing related links in the middle of the content – notice how many of the mega websites have links to related articles sandwiched within the main post
using scrolling galleries where the user does not have to leave the page – eg. Mashable

Post high quality content regularly. In Google’s eyes, high quality content = high quality site. What counts? Here are Google’s guidelines:

Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
How much quality control is done on content?
Does the article describe both sides of a story?
Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
Would users complain when they see pages from this site?
(source: Google Webmaster Central)

Go social. Increase your website’s visibility by building and expanding your social network. Be creative in creating post/social network headlines and give people a reason to share your content. Target virality.

Try these tips and see how it works for you. We’d love to hear your stories on how these have helped. Do share.

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