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Best WordPress Plugins to Boost Your Business Site’s Performance

Most corporate websites are extensions of real-world businesses that want to create an online presence. In the real world, these companies most likely have real-time tools and metrics in place to determine how the business is doing at any given point. Reports and analysis are part and parcel of normal operations as is marketing campaigns and feedback. Does this apply to the company’s online presence?

The online address of a company serves as a virtual business card cum portfolio cum marketing tool which the company can use to expand their reach. It is not unusual for business owners to expect that the same measurables to be derived from their corporate website. The ability to track, measure, and analyze data extracted from online activities is one of the key things a business owner needs to be able to do to be able to asses the effectiveness of the corporate website.

Here are some of the best WordPress plugins and tools you can use to enhance the efficiency of as well as measure the viability your business website.

Site Security and Backup

iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security)

iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security) gives you over 30+ ways to secure and protect your WordPress site. On average, 30,000 new websites are hacked each day. WordPress sites can be an easy target for attacks because of plugin vulnerabilities, weak passwords and obsolete software. iThemes Security works to fix common holes, stop automated attacks and strengthen user credentials. This plugin hides common WordPress security vulnerabilities, preventing attackers from learning too much about your site and away from sensitive areas like your site’s login, admin, etc. iThemes Security works to protect it by blocking bad users and increasing the security of passwords and other vital information. This plugin monitors your site and reports changes to the filesystem and database that might indicate a compromise, works to detect bots and other attempts to search vulnerabilities, and makes regular backups of your WordPress database, allowing you to get back online quickly in the event of an attack.

WordPress Backup to Dropbox

WordPress Backup to Dropbox keeps your valuable WordPress website, its media and database backed up to Dropbox in minutes and on a regular basis. Simply choose a day, time and how often you wish your backup to be performed and just wait for your websites files and an SQL dump of its database to be dropped in your Dropbox account.

Wordfence Security

Wordfence Security is a free enterprise class security plugin that includes a firewall, anti-virus scanning, cellphone sign-in (two factor authentication), malicious URL scanning and live traffic including crawlers. Wordfence is the only WordPress security plugin that can verify and repair your core, theme and plugin files, even if you don’t have backups. Key features include: real-time blocking of known attackers, two factor authentication used by banks, government agencies and military world-wide for highest security authentication, includes a firewall to block common security threats like fake Googlebots, malicious scans from hackers and botnets, block entire malicious networks, etc.

Site Statistics and Analytics

Google Analyticator

Google Analyticator adds the necessary JavaScript code to enable Google Analytics logging on any WordPress blog. This eliminates the need to edit your template code to begin logging. Google Analyticator also includes several widgets for displaying Analytics data in the admin and on your blog. It supports Universal (analytics.js) and traditional analytics (ga.js), includes an admin dashboard widget that displays a graph of the last 30 days of visitors, a summary of site usage, the top pages, the top referrers, and the top searches, supports outbound link tracking of all links on the page, including links not managed by WordPress, and many other features to support Google Analytics on your site.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Google Analytics for WordPress plugin allows you to track your blog easily with lots of metadata, views per author & category, automatic tracking of outbound clicks and pageviews. This plugin uses the asynchronous Google Analytics tracking code, the fastest and most reliable tracking code Google Analytics offers. It features simple installation through integration with Google Analytics API where its as simple as authenticating and selecting the site you want to track. You can also easily connect your Google AdSense and Google Analytics accounts.

Site Content Management

Editorial Calendar

The Editorial Calendar plugin makes it possible to see all your posts and drag and drop them to manage your blog and gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.

Zedity™ The Easiest Way To Create Your Content

Zedity™ is an innovative Editor to create your posts or pages amazingly easily, quickly and hassle-free with no technical skills required. It gives you total flexibility and unprecedented possibilities to create any desired design, as easily as if done on a piece of paper. Key features include: content in posts and pages that scale down accordingly to your responsive layout, additional content boxes (color box, document box, HTML5 box), audio and video embed capabilities, snap and alignment positioning, and so many other features.

WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache plugin creates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. Performance enhancement features include: Generating static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog, Minify HTML (decrease the size of page), Minify Css (decrease the size of CSS files), All cache files are deleted when a post or page is published, Enable/Disable cache option for mobile devices, Leverage browser caching which reduces page load times for repeat visitors, etc.

SEO

WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin, designed and developed by WordPress Consultant Joost De Valk, is the most complete WordPress SEO plugin that exists today for WordPress.org users. It incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions and more to XML sitemaps, and loads of optimization options in between.

WordPress 3.9 – Jimmy Smith

If you haven’t updated your WordPress version yet, now would be the perfect time to do so. WordPress has just released WordPress 3.9 and as it has been tradition, this release was named after another music legend, jazz organist Jimmy Smith.

As was posted in a previous article, WP 3.9 includes many refinements that will improve the multimedia experience of both site owner and site visitors. Check out the features below:

WordPress 3.9 Key Features

Improved visual editing

The updated visual editor has improved speed, accessibility, and mobile support. You can paste into the visual editor from your word processor without wasting time to clean up messy styling.

Edit images easily

With quicker access to crop and rotation tools, it’s now much easier to edit your images while editing posts. You can also scale images directly in the editor to find just the right fit.

Drag and drop your images

Uploading your images is easier than ever. Just grab them from your desktop and drop them in the editor.

Gallery previews

Galleries display a beautiful grid of images right in the editor, just like they do in your published post.

Do more with audio and video

Images have galleries; They’ve added simple audio and video playlists, so you can showcase your music and clips.

Live widget and header previews

Add, edit, and rearrange your site’s widgets right in the theme customizer. Preview your changes live and only save them when you’re ready. The improved header image tool also lets you upload, crop, and manage headers while customizing your theme.

Stunning new theme browser

WordPress 3.9 comes with the beautiful new theme browser – Twenty Fourteen.

(source: WordPress.org News)

WordPress 3.9 is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard.
ETA: WordPress 3.9.1 update is now available

15 WordPress User Errors That Make You Look Silly via Copyblogger

This infographic courtesy of Copyblogger is too good not to share. Whether you are a veteran blogger or just a beginner, we all make mistakes. The great news is that you don’t have to make the same mistakes anymore. Check out the errors below and see if you are guilty of any of them. We are curious to know your scores, so don’t be scared to share. Have fun!

Like this infographic? Get more WordPress publishing content from Copyblogger.

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.

Are You Ready For WordPress 3.9?

Andrew Nacin, lead developer of the WordPress Web Publishing Platform, recently announced the release of the first beta of WordPress 3.9 and it is available for testing in anticipation of its release in April 2014. Here are some of the goodies added:

Widget Management -For those of you who have discovered the ease and beauty of the WordPress Customizer, you are in for a treat. WordPress 3.9 introduces the Widget Customizer. This new features allows you to edit, rearrange, and even add new widgets LIVE in the preview pane. This feature can be activated using the Widget Customizer plugin (still currently being developed). This plugin allows you to edit widgets and preview changes in the Theme Customizer, with a control for each widget form in sections added for each sidebar rendered in the preview. No more blind editing.
Updated TinyMCE – the software powering the visual editor, to the latest version. Expect cleaner markup and the new paste handling — if you paste in a block of text from Microsoft Word, for example, it will no longer come out terrible. This one is exciting.
Galleries now receive a live preview in the editor. Upload some photos and insert a gallery to see this in action
Drag-and-drop images directly onto the editor to upload them.
Improved editing images in post. Easier to make changes to an image (edit, crop, rotate) after you insert it into a post.
WP 3.8?s beautiful new theme browsing experience brought to the theme installer.
New audio/video playlists.

Just a few more weeks and this version will be out. If you can’t wait that long, sign up to be a tester and get a headstart from the rest. You can download the beta version for free on the WordPress dev site. Happy testing!

WordPress dot Org Plugins You Might Have Missed

WordPress dot org has some powerful plugins that you might not have discovered yet. Check out these cool plugins that just might be the solutions you have been looking for. Some of these plugins are still in the draft or development stage as of this writing.

Admin Color Schemes

The Admin Color Schemes plugin brings some personality to your WordPress site with 8 new extra admin color schemes. If you want to add some fun and pizzazz to your WordPress backend for that not so formal look, check out this cool plugin to create the color scheme that matches your personality.

WordPress Importer

The WordPress Importer plugin will import the following content from a WordPress export file: posts, pages and other custom post types, comments, custom fields and post meta, categories, tags and terms from custom taxonomies, authors, etc. The importer also has a couple of filters to allow you to completely enable/block certain features. Take note though that if your exported file is very large, the import script may run into your host’s configured memory limit for PHP.

Debug Bar

The Debug Bar plugin adds a debug menu to the admin bar that shows query, cache, and other helpful debugging information. This plugin is a must for WordPress developers. This plugin tracks PHP Warnings and Notices to make them easier to find when WP_DEBUG is enabled, and mysql queries are tracked and displayed when SAVEQUERIES is enabled. This plugin is extremely helpful for theme and plugin developers, just make sure that plugin is installed correctly.

WordPress Front-end Editor

The WordPress Front Editor plugin is a simple and easy to use plugin that allows you to navigate between the front and back end where you can access more advanced options such as custom fields, edit content, etc. This plugin is still in the development stage.

WordPress Front Editor

Tumblr Importer

The Tumblr Importer plugin allows you to import posts, drafts, and pages including media side loading (for audio, video, and image posts) from a Tumblr blog into a WordPress blog. It correctly handles, post formats, does background importing, and will not create duplicate imported posts.

Blogger Importer

The Blogger Importer plugin allows you to import posts (published, scheduled, and draft, comments, and categories (blogger tags) from a Blogger blog then migrates authors to WordPress users.

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 Plugins For Video

Video is a powerful tool to draw people to your site. Today’s audience is so accustomed to visual stimulation that the use of video has become one of the fastest, if not the most effective, ways of communicating to a wider audience. Hence, it is already a necessity for websites to be multimedia friendly and capable of handling all types of multimedia content, especially videos.

Check out these WordPress video plugins you can use to create more visual interest to your website.

Advanced Responsive Video Embedder

This simple and lightweight plugin lets you embed videos from many providers with full responsive sizes via URL or Shortcode (clean and easy shortcode syntax). You can show videos as thumbnails and let them open in Colorbox. The Plugin has a set of customization options to embed the video exactly as you like which includes custom URL parameters. You also have options to make the videos as unobtrusive as possible to keep visitors on your site.

YouTube Plus

This plugin allows you to upload content to your YouTube account and easily embed content straight from your WordPress dashboard. Upload new content to YouTube, delete old content from your YouTube account, get other YouTube users videos and even track your YouTube analytics right from the WordPress dashboard. You can also delete content from your YouTube account right from the WordPress dashboard. No need to leave your blog to go remove videos from YouTube. The built in validation makes sure that only you can delete content from your YouTube account. Through the YouTube Plus analytics section you can track important YouTube analytic information for the 25 most recent uploaded videos. The analytics section comes with a fully interactive world map and tons of metric information displayed in tables.

Video Embed

This plugin is a smart and easy way to add responsive HTML5 Video gallery and Video player to your WordPress Site. The plugin adds a Video gallery tab to your admin menu, which allows you to enter Video Title and Video source items just as you would regular posts. Also added setting page “Smartvideo Settings” under “setting” menu to set the height and width of your video player.

Video Thumbnails

Video Thumbnails makes it easy to automatically display video thumbnails in your template. When you publish a post, this plugin will find the first video embedded and locate the thumbnail for you. Thumbnails can be saved to your media library and set as a featured image automatically. This plugin also supports custom post types and custom fields. Additional features include maximum image sizes, more powerful bulk scanning options, a customizable upload directory, and support for popular video services like YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Dailymotion, Google Drive, etc.

JW Player for Flash & HTML5 Video

The JW Player WordPress Plugin enables you to embed Flash and HTML5 audio and video, plus RTMP and YouTube streams, on your site using JW Player 6. This plugin allows for easy customization and embedding of Flash and HTML5 video using the JW Player in your WordPress posts. It provides support for all of the JW Player 6 configuration options, including custom watermarks, HLS/RTMP streaming and VAST/VPAID advertising.

WordPress News: It’s AutoMATTic!

It’s been an exciting journey for WordPress in the last decade. Who would have known that its scope and reach would expand to its current proportions? And it is unstoppable. Currently powering over 21% of the Internet with big brands running WordPress under the hood, this powerful open source software continues to improve and become more relevant to the demands of this digital generation.

Taking over the helm of the WordPress ship from former WP CEO Toni Schneider is its 30 year old founder, Matt Mullenweg. Matt and Toni have actually been working side by side in running Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and the open source project, WordPress.org. Together, they have steered the company to where it is today. They are currently switching jobs with Toni heading up product development and Matt taking over the executive position.

Today we’re announcing publicly that Toni and I are switching jobs — he’s going to focus on some of Automattic’s new products, and I’m going to take on the role of CEO. Internally this isn’t a big change as our roles have always been quite fluid, and I’ve had some recent practice filling in for him for a few months last year when he was on sabbatical. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Toni over the years and I’m looking forward to putting that into practice.

(source:ma.tt)

““The power of the web is not in centralization, it’s not in closed systems or anything like that,” he said. “It’s in its open nature and that’s what allowed it to flourish for the first 10 or 15 years.” He added that Automattic has always been “sort of like a Proctor & Gamble” with multiple brands working under one, and suggested that new products will fit under that model while adhering to those principles about the open web.”

(source:techcrunch.com)

Congratulations, Matt and Toni! Here’s to more exciting things up ahead for WordPress!

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