Starglider Systems BlogRecently I decided to give out an extra to STG Picture Merge users if they Liked our Fan page – Extra filters.
It was so easy to do so using Static HTML (the Facebook app), that I just had to mention it here. I had looked at a couple of other ways, but they all looked like they'd take a ton of time.
With Static HTML, you can really get it working on a few minutes. Recommended.
Mailchimp just launched some extra customization options for their automated video conversion.
That certainly saves times compared to getting a snapshot of the video (which at least I can get with pixel precision with Ashampoo Snap, so I don't have to actually edit it), uploading and using the image for the link.
It also supports converting videos out of RSS feeds – which is conceptually useful for me because both this blog and my personal blog are automatically e-mailed through their RSS feeds, without me doing anything.
I have also just changed the feed to this new server.
http://wpmu.org/googlyzer-for-wordpress-puts-the-power-of-google-analytics-in-your-admin-dashboard/
Wouldn't it be great to be able to access your WordPress site's Google analytics right from your dashboard? Well now you can with the Googlyzer plugin. This sweet tool makes it super simple to view key Google analytics within your WordPress[…]
Interesting article on how to get more data from your subscribers on MailChimp.
What I liked about this idea is that you get the advantage of minimal initial form fields – this increasing completion – while still asking for the data later with minimum extra work.
Google has recently started using Authorship – with rel=”author” on a link – to add author information to search results.
This really adds a nice dimension of trust and familiarity, as photos are also displayed, and the author info can work across any number of sites.
It is very easy to add on WordPress (or anywhere) – just add a link to your Google Profile with ?rel=author added on your profile's Bio box. For example, mine is
<a href=”https://profiles.google.com/102503450010826329059?rel=author”>Google+</a>
See the general instructions on Google Answers.
Please note that there was another system that used rel=”author” as a separate attribute. Google still recognizes this, but I imagine that a lot of CMS and comment systems didn't allow for the attribute, so they decided to simplify the system.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFb6Y-UJUI]
If you want newsletter plugins for WordPress, you can find a whole bunch of them, with many different levels of quality and features.
One new plugin released recently is e-Newsletter by WPMU, which are well know for the quality and range of their WordPress plugins.
e-Newsletter has some great features, including professionally designed newsletter templates, unlimited groups and subscribers, tracking, and more.
Pretty cool. If you are looking for a way to send newsletters from WordPress, you should check it out at WPMU.
Pros: Easy to install and use, nice features, good support.
Cons: Not free. It uses your own host to send the e-mails, so the deliverability might be inferior to professional services. Plus your own host might have limits on total e-mails per month or hour. But that is a problem shared by pretty much all newsletter plugins for WordPress, or any self hosted solution.
Because of those reasons I personally use MailChimp myself.
Very interesting SEO article about Actual vs Standard Bounce Rates , and how search engines can tell the difference.
The basic principle here is that even if someone spends several minutes reading your page, if they don't click elsewhere in your site it is a standard Bounce. But if they click on to your page and back to the search engine a few seconds later, that is an actual bounce.
Most analytic packages won't make a distinction between the two situations, but you can still look at the average time on the page.
I have been putting off making new tutorials/demos for STG FolderPrint Plus, but the old one was from 2003, and it really showed.
So this is the new flash basic demo , made with Instant Demo, as usual.
I've also posted a version to YouTube:
I intend to add many more videos in the future, showing other features of FPP as well as other programs.
The Unbounce Blog has yet another interesting article, this time on How To Create Social Landing Pages.
I particularly liked the idea of Testimonial social proof – setting any good comments about your brand on Twitter as a favorite and displaying them on a widget on your page. This way any user can verify that your testimonials come from real people.
The 20% increase on Tweets after explaining how they will be placed is pretty useful information, too.
The Unbounce blog has an interesting new article about Third-Party tools and conversion . The article suggests that the Google +1 button (please click mine!) can add up to 2 seconds to a page load.
That, combined with another bit of data – 1 second extra page load could decrease your conversion rate in 7% – means you might want to think hard before adding any external tool to your pages.
They also suggest a way to use A/B testing to figure out the cost/benefit of using any tool.