Don’t Quit 11 Jan 2018 2:31 PM (7 years ago)
I've had this poem below on my wall in some fashion for over 17 years staring me right in the face. I've carried it early on throughout my business endeavors to find inspiration when it all seemed to be crashing down or going against me. As I worked from my home office today, it just stuck out today from the wall.
It has always served as a reminder that things will go wrong in every facet of your life. It will appear daunting in it's struggles but it calls for a greater vision than what we can see set before us. A fortitude unlike no other that you can't pick up at a store for easy access and is really beyond your powers!
The true test is faithfulness in your repeated actions to preserver through life's twists and turns.
Thought you may enjoy as well.
Make 2018 a great year!
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.Life is strange with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure comes about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.By John Greenleaf Whittier
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Hosting Your WordPress Website With Confidence 10 Dec 2017 5:35 PM (7 years ago)
You'll find several articles written about “How to choose the best WordPress hosting” or “Best hosting for WordPress website” and come to the conclusion that they are all over the place! The opinions vary! What matters most in my opinion is hosting your WordPress website with confidence so you can focus on your business at hand. Having that piece of mind to know that if you need help… you have a strong customer service team available to help you through any related issues to hosting.
When looking for the best WordPress hosting, recommendations you may come across are based upon whom is going to pay the writer/site owner the most affiliate commissions if you choose to click their link and sign up for services recommended. Let's be truthful here… that is most of the posts on the interwebz these days.
Not So Good Customer Service Situation
About 4 years ago I experienced a situation where my hosting provider made a big change on their servers that severally disabled a few of my sites. I went into full panic mode after not being able to find the issue. After a long stretch on the phone, they were able to take care of me which provided relief but only after they pointed the finger at me for the problem. That didn't make me feel so great. The feeling of “omg, I really don't want to help this guy” vibe from the support agent was getting a bit old.
Since they fixed my hosting account it made me wonder if I did want to move to a new hosting company. After a little thought… I decided I didn't want to because of all the sites I had to move. The work was going to be super tedious. After a few more years I finally made the move away because enough was enough. My reality and needs of my online business needed to evolve. It was the best decision I have made for my online business and clients.
Questions to ask on WordPress Hosting
There are 2 main factors that have been important to me over the years outside of “Trust”.
- Will customer service be willing to help me if I have an issue?
- Will the hosting environment support and provide the latest technologies to help me succeed?
What features do you want?
Within your hosting environment if you are using a well coded WordPress theme and plugins, your site should be zippy right out of the gate with minimal lag time. There are a few ways you can enhance this to make it even faster but this will be the first thing once you've commenced the deal on signup.
- Free Auto SSL (also ability to pay for upgraded SSL's)
- Library of Scripts to install at your finger tips IE: WordPress
- Nightly Backups
- The latest database & cloud technologies
- Plenty storage space (and scalable on demand)
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Ease of use control panel (cPanel)
- Ease of integration for CloudFlare/ Railgun
- Malware scanning
- Optimal MariaDB and LiteSpeed Server technology (makes things faster)
- Latest releases of PHP (should be using PHP 7.0+)
- etc…
What Website Hosting Do I Use?
I use Q4 Cloud Hosting. They are a small boutique cloud hosting company in Kansas City focusing on small business websites and applications. The ease of use and customer service has been pretty awesome. They offer nightly backups (they only keep the 1 day's worth of backups rolling).
Thoughts & Suggestions
Make sure to pick a strong reliable theme framework along with reputable plugins when putting together your website within WordPress. The majority of issues can be tackled at this level for better site performance in conjunction with a well coded theme and plugins. I would suggest using PHP 7.0+ (set in cPanel) which has shown to decrease strain on your server substantially and can execute twice as many requests per second as the same platform running PHP 5.6 if using WordPress 4.1.1.
If you are using a hosting service like Q4 Cloud Hosting, they operate on LiteSpeed & MariaDB which is an optimal setup. You can use the LiteSpeed Cache Plugin within this environment to help increase site loading speed in conjunction with Cloud Flare. The Short Pixel Image Optimizer is a nice little plugin to help reduce the strain on your site when uploading image files by compressing without losing quality. This by default will help optimize your hosting environment.
Hope you found this informational.
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How to Fix Google Apps Account Already Exists Error 3 Mar 2016 10:59 AM (9 years ago)
There is a good chance if you land on my post that you have been trying to setup your Google Apps for Work account with your primary domain but ran into the “red letter notification of death”. That notification warning says, “That address is currently used by a personal Google Account. Use a different address for your organizational account.”.
Here lies the issue in my scenario… back in 2010 I decided to create a Youtube account with my main email address. Never thought different about it. Over that time Google has combined services where you have a central login. Then they migrated over where you can manage multiple Youtube Channels from one login. All stuff I am aware of and use for other types of accounts and client work. Recently I decided it was time to move my email from 1and1 (yes, I know… I was using the basic webmail). This was prompted because a few months ago I moved hosting companies to Q4 Cloud Hosting to the latest cloud technology. This was a great time to spend time working on my things and get it switched out.
Renaming Your Personal Google Account With New Username AKA New Gmail Address
So I venture down the rabbit hole to sign up. Things were moving along and then I get hit with the error. I venture over to my Youtube account and I go ahead and add a “Gmail” address to my account. I did this by simply selecting from the dropdown on the top right where you can select other Google Services. I picked Gmail. A notification walked me right through it all.
I had never did anything else under my main email address with that Youtube account other than my channel. My thought here was if I make my main domain a secondary because the new free gmail address would become your new login that this could fix the problem. Of course I knew that I have to verify my domain with Google but it was worth a shot, right? That didn’t do the trick exactly. I still received the same error upon signing up.
I Don’t Want To Use Another Email Address To Signup
My next concern was if I didn’t use my main email address on signup and I was ONLY paying for one account for $5/mo…. would I be wasting it on an account? Silly me, of course I knew I could create an alias as mike@ but I didn’t want to use xyz@mydomain.com for my main account. So I made a quick post on Google’s Forum… BOOM.. quick response but I was still a bit hesitant. It seemed all complicated and here I am dealing with my business email and I knew email was still flowing in during this brief down time.
(TIP: Before you switch email hosting providers… backup your email but setup a forward address before you change the MX records and/or while DNS is propagating… you can still get stuff while the process is being done. You have to give the internet worlds a chance to catch up.)
Guys, it’s pretty easy. If this scenario where you OWN the domain and YOU created that old login using a personal Google Account… it will seem like a no brainer after you get it all set up.
Solution For Account Already Exists Error – Google Apps
I went ahead and used not_main@mydomain.com email for signup. I went through the setup process and verified my domain like a boss. Then, I simply clicked on my one email account > Rename user > Popup takes place then select what I wanted to begin with… VIOLA, it Worked! Then the email I used on signup became an Alias. You can check your “Alias's” under the Account section in the screenshot as you see below. It will give you all the deets!
Google tells you that the next time you use your main domain address to log into that service, that it will make you create a new user name (gmail account address). In my case, I did this previously so when I logged back into my Youtube channel.. it was all golden. For you though, you may have to do this step post Google Apps setup and domain verification.
After all this I had to step back a bit and laugh because it was way easier than anything I read on a forum. I felt some lucky soul may come across my post here and feel it was helpful to them.
Thanks!
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How to Backup Email Moving to New Hosting (Gmail – POP3) 28 Feb 2016 3:11 PM (9 years ago)
Setting up Gmail to check and/or backup email using POP3 when moving to new hosting is a viable option that most sometimes overlook. If you are currently using Google Apps, Outlook365, or another email hosting company, this may not apply to you but wouldn’t you agree backing up your email is important just in case something happens? Using Gmail’s options under Settings > Accounts and Import > “Check mail from other accounts (using POP3)” will give you a way to do this. This article will address a simple way of getting that setup and how to do that.
TIP: The best method if you have a current cPanel account is to go to your Dashboard > Backups > and then backup your entire cPanel account. Most new hosting companies can take your “cPanel profile” backup and import it which could save you a lot of setup time besides moving/pointing domains.
Some other thoughts to note before we jump in here. Even if you are not moving to a new hosting company, this is a good common practice to put into place. The ideal person for this would be if you are using the standard server email that comes with your cPanel hosting plan. (Meaning to get a “copy” of it somewhere else pretty quick) You could always set up a mail forward of the same account but some cPanel accounts/ hosts don’t like this as it creates confusion on if it needs to deliver to your inbox or simply just forward it only. Be cautious as this doesn't always fly.
*There could be a novel written about this subject but I am choosing to keep it short.
Video: How to Backup Email with Gmail POP3 Settings
(Link to Video for my RSS & Email readers)
Email Account Settings Needed Before You Backup & Start
- Email address and password of account you want to import
- Your hosting providers email settings for POP3 with unsecured or SSL/TLS (secured connection)
- A existing Gmail address or create a new Gmail address just for backing up purposes. All free accounts come with 15gb of storage which is plenty of space for the common person using email.
- A few minutes of time.
Setting up Gmail to Check Other Email Using POP
- Open your Gmail account and look over to the top right for the “Cog Wheel”. Select that and go down to Settings.
- Click on tab called “Accounts and Import”.
- 4th row down, find “Check mail from other accounts (using POP3):”
- Click on “Add a POP3 mail account you own”
- A pop up will occur asking you for the email address that you’d like to import… type that in
- Next, enter your username (full email address of the above mentioned account you are importing)
- Enter Password
- The “POP Server” address normally will default to “mail.yourdomain”. If you are using the basic Unsecured connection… generally this address will suffice but check with your hosting company for details. If you are
- wanted to use an encrypted method (SSL/TLS) then this Server address will look different).
- Port: 110 for unsecured connection or 995 for SSL/TLS connection.
You will find 4 checkboxes below the Username, Password, POP Server, and Port settings.
- The first one is “Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server.”. CHECK (I always like to check this because I want to ensure I have record of the email left on the server.)
- Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail. (This will be used if you have selected Port 995. Otherwise… just keep it simple and don’t check)
- Label Incoming Messages. CHECK (This is a nice way to keep your inbox organized and it creates a nice visual effect when you are scanning your email…. let alone just an easy way to know who sent what to what email address.)
- Archive incoming messages (Skip the Inbox) – This I never do because I want to be able to look at the email coming in. I generally don’t go check webmail but do all of it through my gmail accounts).
Next hit “Add Account >>” and a new screen will pop up. This will be asking you if you want to be able to SEND email using this address as well.. Yes or No. For my demonstration purpose here, I will say to click “No”. If you select yes then you will need outgoing mail server instructions which isn’t too hard. Check out my video here.
On the same “Account and Import” page you will now find that it is “fetching” mail to be pulled into your account. Gmail will check every 30 minutes and will pull in 200 emails at a time. So keep that in mind if you are moving over a lot of email that it could take a few days. In the end, this is all worth it as you will be keeping a back up of everything.
My goal was to keep this pretty short and sweet. Let me know if you have any questions!
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A Little Rambling On Story Telling… 15 Nov 2015 4:54 AM (9 years ago)
Telling your story to motivate an audience or customer to buy your product can be a unique challenge at times. You look at big brands that have flourished to become mega successes and wonder how did they blossom into what they are today? Of course it looks so easy now that they've been successful and have all that money in the bank for whatever endeavor they want to pursue to magnify and continue to resonate their brand in the minds of consumers worldwide.
Your story can have the same impact.
Persevering
You look at Apple and the foundation that was set to bring personal computers to the masses that were sleek, less parts, and more efficient than then present day models. Then you have Mircosoft whom saw the opportunity to provide an operating system bundled with other computers. Each of these companies leaders had a compelling reason that motivated them to take bold chances such as Job's securing a 250K credit line or Gates promising to deliver a concept before they had even started it.
This same attitude of persevering can be relayed to all levels of employees. Each employee is the face of your company and has the ability to move business or utterly damage the story of your product. Are you effectively communicating this with the people involved with your company? Have you created your “story” to communicate this to your customer?
Over time your story will evolve but at the heart… it never really does change.
Not A Salesmen?
Thought I would share this…
Recently I was told by an employee of a call center that “I'm customer service, not a salesman.”. Their response was because they didn't feel they needed to ask potential questions to really find out where that customer was at in the buying/ decision making process. They were just order taking.
Customers buy for THEIR reasons, not yours but your story can heavily influence the outcome.
Of course, we could easily take this section and make it into a “sales 101” talk but the point needed here besides some sales training would be… do your employees feel compelled in you and your products story to overcome objections in getting a customer happily involved?
Just Asking Questions
Telling your story to your potential end user starts with simple things like questions to start the conversation. Your job is to connect to your audience. It's not a one sided ordeal. Asking the right questions can give you favorable results. Asking the right questions is important but your “purpose” must be clear and concise with how you impact people with your product/ service. Being clear and concise will naturally take care of some objections.
Tell people how this has impacted your life and why you were led to become so passionate about it. You personally have never purchased anything that you hadn't to some level made up your mind you wanted or needed. When you've encountered that person or company, you stated you had an interest and they simply provided you additional information that you in return formulated a firm belief to help you move forward to become happily involved.
Your customer feels the same way. Your story's impact can have a similar outcome.
Little Red Wagon Story
It's not about if your product is far superior than the next guys or if it is the shiniest object, it's how does your STORY penetrate the minds of those you encounter? Does your brand make a quick impact? Do you think if Jobs or Gates down played their ability in the technology market that they would have propelled business the way the story unfolded? Nope. People would have acted differently if their stories were not “sold” with strong compelling conviction in solving “x” problems. These are great examples but to the more traditional person, developing your “Little Red Wagon” story to get people emotionally involved will overcome a lot of objections.
I think of another example, Dollar Shave Club. From the first time I saw Mike Dubin's youtube video, I was sucked in with his swagger and uber confidence that his low cost razors were just as good if not better than those “big” guys. Just his humor alone was right up my alley with his slight sarcasm. Using DSC myself, I'd agree with that sentiment. Would you think if Mike wasn't confident in his story of how we've been trained that expensive is always better and that there are no real alternatives in shaving…. if his company would be as successful? Absolutely not! Mike's story was told in a humorous and memorable way that people related to. He's recruited you and I to become social activists for razor blades!
Now go slice like a ninja, cut like a razor blade!
Do You Have A Story?
Do you have a story that you can keep focused and pointed while inserting your personality? I think the main key is being humble yet sincere when you tell it. People know when your not being sincere.
I was told a long time ago that there are typically 2 things that are happening in life that you can count on (well.. besides taxes and death!).
Your either being sold or you are selling someone.
This applies to all areas of our life and not just at “work” or a “job”.
If you have a product to sell, your number one job is to create a “story” that people can identify with. Asking pointed questions in a non-confrontational manner leading your customer to realize what their true reason of needing your product does for solving their problem and yours! If a consumer has a need and you're offering a way to fill that need, void or pain in their life, wouldn't you agree that if you show that consumer how your product will make things better or easier in their life that it will solve their problem?
The old motto of “motion creates emotion” can be applied in the circumstance above. If a customer takes time to engage with your brand, “motion” has been started. With that motion you can create emotion by asking logical questions or pointed compelling reasons in your story to engage that customer to move forward.
Few items to consider in preparing your story:
- What is your vision? Start coming up with a few sentences.
- In five words or less, can you shorten your vision or ideas to make it clear & concise?
- Develop your perfect “customer”. What do they look like? Name all the details like age, income, where they live… etc.
- Continue to ask who, how, when, where, and why regarding your product or service. Can you answer all these quickly without a long explanation?
- Put yourself in your customers shoes… what are concerns and objections you have when you purchase or use products in the real world? What turns you off/on?
- Take all the above and develop your “Little Red Wagon” story. This will be your message your want to convey.
I had so many thoughts on this post and could easily have went in several directions. Mainly, it is just a rambling because we sometimes lose track of our sense of purpose when communicating our company, product, and life story to others.
Later.
The post A Little Rambling On Story Telling… first appeared on Michael G. Stults.
The Impact of Your Call To Action In Email Marketing 1 Sep 2015 12:38 PM (9 years ago)
The impact of your Call To Action (CTA) in your email marketing efforts is so vital in today's marketing world. Email marketing serves as just one tool out of the arsenal that we have to maximize the opportunity to further gain the attention of our customer but also convince them the time is now!
The crowded market place everyday forces us as consumers to make quicker decisions on what we want to learn more about or instantly disregard. Competing to gain our customers attention is so critical yet a very difficult job to accomplish. All industries use common terminology yet their Call To Action has drastic differences to the value of that company.
Call To Action Has To Be Clear & Concise
Recently I signed up for a newsletter for an online eCommerce luggage company. My eyes instantly start looking at the element structure on what is important for myself when I open the majority of marketing emails. This one just stuck out to me and I felt I would do a quick post about it.
Few things that I look at:
- Does it have a good image to text ratio?
- Is the hero image too big? If so, did they compress the image or slice it up?
- Is there alt text included to give me some idea what this is all about?
- Does it have a clear & concise call to action?
- Does it effectively tell me what this is about without scrolling down?
- How does it look on my mobile phone?
- Was the subject line open/click bait and does it pertain to the message inside?
- Did they send it from a “persona” or just plain company name?
These are just a few items as a marketer that I am paying much attention to. I am a bit jaded because when developing my own email campaigns I am trying to achieve a compelling call to action with a reasonable, realistic, and to the point message without setting the campaign up for spam disaster. It is becoming more challenging everyday for marketers in the position of creating campaigns.
Email Newsletter Example
What I noticed first in the email above is the red “e” in the company logo and the black backpack right underneath. The next element that caught my eye was the “yellow” Risk Free satisfaction seal. For me the red “e” had caught my attention long enough that I totally at first overlooked the “45%” in red to the right of the black backpack. The sharp contrast of the yellow seal really stole the show for me after my below the fold scroll. The combination of blacks/grays/white didn't lead my eyes to a place that I could quickly decided what I wanted to do with the email.
What was your first thought?
The email itself has valuable information and meaning. Shoot, I mean… a TSA Friendly bag? Can a brother get an amen?
A hold up for me was the image heavy hero being a 563 x 713 punch in the junk for the load time that jolted my attention from the start. I actually almost closed the email and then deleted because of this. The call to action to me was lacking. I wasn't quite for sure what I needed to do next. I guess if I was hot and heavy for a bag I would naturally just click through but it still was missing some substance of a big button underneath the black bag like “Claim 45% Off with Free Shipping Now” or “Choose Your Color of Backpack Now”. The ideas are of plenty here.
The school of thought is “motion creates emotion” so by getting them to open your email, to clicking on a link, then going to your website you've already created the illusion of momentum leading them one step closer to choosing their final backpack. Maybe even getting them started in your remarketing/sales funnel.
After The Click
With all respect, ec-bc has much competition in the market place to sell their goods online. It is a crowded market place for this type of product (luggage). Each consumer has already decided if they want to purchase or not. For me, I am not going to easily drop $75+ on a bag without doing some heavy research first. I have a feeling that there is a portion of the population just like me doing research before making any purchase of this nature. I would suspect that an ec-bc customer needs to be “branded” and marketed to several times before a purchase is made.
People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it and what you do serves as the proof of what you believe.
Simon Sinek ~ Author
Another question that stirs in my mind is the “TSA Friendly” bag. It is the first time I've ever heard of this. Then again, I am not an active “luggage” shopper. For other products, what makes them different than their competitors? Why would I purchase a bigger ticket item when I could go locally to touch and feel it to come to a conclusion if I want to spend money? I feel like there is an education process to help sell me on why. I think consumers probably are thinking very similarly. They may currently do this but I have not experienced yet to say in all fairness to the company here.
So, as a marketer… how do we overcome those challenges?
Marketing Ideas
I had some ideas that came to mind. I understand that some companies may be strapped with time therefore the ideas are plenty but the execution is the issue due to resources/time.
- Maybe a series of Tips on how to do research when looking for luggage or backpack. Use an email drip campaign after an optin since most customers won't buy on first crack. Also a way to leverage the difference in your company.
- Try taking the prospect/customer to a Landing page using Unbounce vs going straight to your site. Control the site content dynamically based upon product series or single product. From there you can pre-pop the checkout page on your site to keep the distractions low.
- You could also use this in your Adwords campaign by popping your keywords into the page by using PHP includes. This approach greatly enhances the customers perception because the words are matching on certain places on the landing page.
- Quick video showing how featured bag works
- Video of showing how easy it is to go through TSA. I think this would be awesome to see some type of example. Maybe convince a customer who has benefited from this to do something in depth.
- A follow up auto responder based upon how far I got into the process. Targeted remarketing based upon where they have fell off in the sales funnel.
- Linkedin Ad targeted to all business travelers or targeting certain keywords. Develop your company “blog” on Linkedin.
- More customer testimonials
The ideas are endless really. I always try to find a reason to be different when the situation presents itself.
Email Marketing Call to Action Best Practices
Here are few QUICK tips to keep in mind while developing your next email campaign.
- Attempt to have the call to action in the top half of the email (at least one).
- Use alt text to further support the desired action you want the consumer to act upon. Keep aware of “trigger” words for spam. Keep to min.
- Pay close attention to your brand's color & font scheme and how you should use naturally offsetting colors to support your button/images.
- Keeping emails to a minimum information wise. Use your website as a landing page to promote the message further (we all need more information).
- There is a chance where you need to be more conversational in your email text. This will vary depending upon your industry and goals so keep that in mind.
Wrapping up
ec-bc seems to be a good company with an ambitious goal. I am sure that in the future the emails will evolve as all marketing campaigns typically do. We are constantly bombarded with evolving tasks that sometimes cloud our way of executing. That could be the lack of leadership and direction needed on a reoccurring bases to keep everyone focused or just simply the pressure of making a sale, clouds our judgement on sticking to the basics of effective marketing.
Take care!
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How to upgrade PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.5 in WordPress – 1and1 30 Jun 2015 8:25 AM (9 years ago)
[Video] One of the most visited articles I've written on my site has been “How to upgrade from PHP4.0 to PHP5.0 in WordPress using 1and1.com hosting“. I wanted to give you a quick update since things seem to change quite a bit over time online. Keeping your PHP version up to date is critical to many popular web applications we run such as WordPress and WordPress Plugins.
1and1 has continued to update their user interface/control panel. So below is a quick way to manually update your php version for all your websites especially for WordPress. Sometimes you just need a quick visual to give you confidence in getting it accomplished.
I have been using PHP version 5.2 (I know… please forgive me) on this server for a few years or more. I decided I better get that updated to version 5.5 which is the recommended PHP version out at this time. Shoot, you can even go to PHP 5.6 but keep in mind that most WordPress plugins and other softwares you may be using… could be behind a bit. It is always a good reminder to make sure you check your software on what the current recommended PHP version is before any changes.
Some hosting companies automatically update this and others give you a bit more power.
Upgrading to PHP version 5.5
PHP 5.5 offers a more stable environment with higher performance. Sounds great, right? Like… what in the world does that mean to the average web connoisseur? Probably not much. It really is the “engine” that drives the bus in A LOT of web development. PHP is a “server side scripting” and as of 2013 had been installed on over 240 million websites according to the ol' Wikipedia on what is php used for.
Backup That…
(For some reason, a song comes to mind.) As usual… back up your web properties or software you may be using before you do anything. If you need a good backup solution for WordPress, visit BackupBuddy or BackupCreator. Both do a great job and I currently use both.
[Get Started] How to Upgrade PHP version in 1and.com Dashboard
Essentially you have just have a couple of steps to take once your logged into your account. 1and1 appears to have taken away the “global” setting for all your web properties and have made it an individual choice. This is good because you may be running a software that requires it to be stable at an older version and you have the power to choose for each.
- Log into your dashboard with 1and1.com
- Find “Hosting” section (left side about half way down) and select “PHP Settings”
- You'll find all your properties. Select “Set PHP Version” button for each property
- Choose which version by selecting the button underneath the column (Pray to Jesus while you wait to update… jk)
- Bada bing, bada boo.
Link to Video: https://youtu.be/LUF35ExfI4U
Your main dashboard at 1and1.com
Select which website property you want to update
“Use PHP 5.5” button out of your options
I hope this has helped you. If I can be of any assistance, please reach out!
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The post How to upgrade PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.5 in WordPress – 1and1 first appeared on Michael G. Stults.Related posts:
The Most Flexible Coming Soon Plugin for WordPress 2015 21 Apr 2015 9:31 AM (10 years ago)
SeedProd Coming Soon Plugin
Have you found yourself in a situation where you're building a WordPress website on a live domain yet you don't want the whole world to see your “progression”? Maybe you have some extended maintenance to do? I'd tend to think most people have encountered a project that is going to take more than a few minutes but you just don't want to risk the world wide web seeing the disarray in the meantime. Look no further for the ultimate coming soon and maintenance plugin, SeedProd.
SeedProd offers the best coming soon plugin for WordPress on the market today. Yes, I'm bias because I've used this plugin multiple times over the past couple of years. There is no doubt that you want the Pro version if you are serious about your branding and WordPress development. It is my go to for new websites I start. It is one of my best investments I've ever made for website development work. Multi-dimensional is the best description because of how it is packed with feature rich options that can be used with any level of knowledge from a true “beginner” to an “expert”. I love this PLUGIN!
While others are looking for a coming soon WordPress theme, this handy plugin will give you more flexibility. It should be strongly considered for it's wide range of features. Especially if you are doing a site launch and need to capture email optins quickly. Before we dive into the plugin a bit more, I want to share insight about the company and Founder.
John Turner – SeedProd
The Ultimate Coming Soon Plugin Founder, John Turner – SeedProd
I had the opportunity to catch up with the Founder of SeedProd, John Turner. He was very kind and generous with his time. I felt that my readers would enjoy understanding the passion that John has and why SeedProd is truly a must “Needed” plugin on any site you own. John has a real entrepreneurially mindset with goals of additional products. Frankly, the customer service and personable response I had received really hit a positive with me and inspired this post.
Q: What prompted you to create this product and what fueled your desire initially?
Initially I created a plugin to put up coming soon pages to test ideas before building my next product. I had no idea that would become my product at that time until I released the initial version for free and it got a great response.
Q: What obstacle was the most challenging in the beginning?
I had been trying to build products and a business for over 10 years. The Coming Soon Pro plugin had great initial tracking and I knew I had something. I just had to learn how to market the product and continue to build the features that users were requesting.
Q: What single feature do you get the most feedback on from your customers?
The most comments I get are on the plugins flexibility and ease of use. It's easy for someone new to WordPress to use but also comes with advanced features for developers and agencies.
Q: What is next?
I'm continuing to listen to the feedback of customers and have a 404 page planned for release in the late Spring of 2015. It allows you to collect leads on your 404 pages. Soon after that I have a general landing page plugin. One of the most requested feature is the ability to create multiple page in the Coming Soon plugin.
Coming Soon Plugin Features
A list of features that I like about this plugin (not all inclusive):
- The ease of use on getting started
- Mobile Ready & Responsive (Googles Latest update – mobilegeddon)
- Sweet video background option (Youtube, Vimeo…)
- Ability to add your email provider for optins
- Highly customizable (your own HTML & CSS)
- Social aspect (sharing buttons)
- Plays well with all WordPress themes
- SEO optimization built in
- Add tracking like Google Analytics
- Quick Maintenance mode
- Themes & Landing Page Mode (latest update)
- BEST of all – Access controls such as limiting client view (they can view your work bypassing the coming soon page)
- The awesome background images you can use to make a stark impression!
- Save your work (export to use on another site to configure)
How SeedProd Works
It is a super simple concept. You install the WordPress plugin via the plugins interface (your typical approach on installing plugins). Active SeedProd. Then just active the “mode” you want. Then BOOM…Your visitors will see the coming soon or maintenance mode page –> Logged in users will see the real site –> Clients can be given an optional bypass URL to view the site in progress.
Developing WordPress Websites
This is an invaluable tool if you are developing sites for your clients. So many times your work is coming together but you need the client approval before you spend too much time on an aspect or direction you're going. We all have been there. You can use the Access Control feature as a way to gain final approval before launching it live. There are handfuls of scenarios that you can imagine this coming in handy for. Honestly, this was the NUMBER ONE feature that triggered me to buy a licensed copy. You will want the Pro Version.
Video Review of SeedProd Coming Soon Plugin
Video link: [ SeedProd Video ]
Customer Reviews On The Best Coming Soon Plugin For WordPress
Wrapping Up
John and his company have an awesome product with the coming soon plugin tool. It is so much more than just “another plugin”. Make sure to check out the company a bit more, review the pricing options, and give them some love on social media and follow for future product updates! Customer service is important which I found extremely attractive when investing in a premium product. Make sure to sign up for his newsletter to get some freebies!
I appreciate John taking time to answer a few questions!
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The post The Most Flexible Coming Soon Plugin for WordPress 2015 first appeared on Michael G. Stults.Related posts:
Extract Valuable Insight From Google Analytics With Quill Engage 16 Mar 2015 1:15 PM (10 years ago)
Raise your hand if you've ever had information overload looking at your Google Analytics? For all marketers the toughest part about having so much data at your fingertips is how do you process it and put it in an easy to understand format for those whom you may have to share this with. For others, how do you find a way to streamline your time and efforts to make decisions based upon your analytics if your not sharing it with anyone else? Business never sleeps but unfortunately your human.
Organizations of every size struggle with getting true insight and actionable information from their website data. Quill Engage provides instant analysis in the form of easy-to-read, written reports that empower people to do their jobs better. ~ Stuart Frankel – CEO
Quill Engage by Narrative Science from Narrative Science on Vimeo.
Meet Quill Engage
Quill Engage is an easy way to extract valuable insights from your Google Analytics data, powered by Narrative Science's patented artificial intelligence engine, Quill.
This is a nice tool I've been using for several months that helps me pull together data in a nice understandable report for many properties. I can choose to have it sent to me weekly or monthly. The bonus part is… they include a downloadable word document which is very helpful. They are incredibly nice people as well! They LOVE FEEDBACK. You can reach them here: quillengage@narrativescience.
Currently Quill Engage only works with Google Analytics but I am sure like most technology companies offering a service, if enough people request something in particular… they'd be willing to see where they need to fill a need. Your site needs to have a minimum of 20 visits during the previous 2 cycles (weekly or monthly) for them to populate your report and determine the metrics to show you your report. Signing up and logging in is very straight forward. Your login will be whatever email/pass you use to log into your Google Analytics account and you will need to grant authorization to access your account.
Snapshot of Email Report
Benefits of Quill Engage
- Easy to setup
- Easy to login after account set up
- You get 10 profiles for free
- Weekly & Monthly Reports Email to you (multiple emails can be set up to receive)
- Downloadable data & analysis
- Helps you understand your Google Analytics data
- Friendly staff
Quill Engage Dashboard & Reports
As you can see in the screenshot.. it is pretty straight forward. You can easily add or delete email accounts who receive this information. Nice to be able to send one to your clients and one to yourself to keep on top of that information. You can easily view past reports that are archived and view the latest report. Quill makes it incredibly easy to use their system so you can focus on what matters most in your business.
Quill Engage Dashboard of All Google Analytics Properties
Your dashboard will list all your Google Analytics properties to easily make adjustments.
View Quill Engage Previous Reports and Archives
Your PPC Campaign With Adwords
What I love most about the report I receive for each property is I can quickly see what my change week over week to a monthly view on my Adwords spend (if you've synced your GA to Adwords), where people were engaged most, where I am leaking traffic, and a good mix of additional data that is provided. It's like they essentially summarize your whole Google Analytics for you in this pretty essay! If you run any PPC, you know the value in helping streamline information in real time to make decisions. For larger PPC campaigns you possibly are using other tools that you are looking at this on a daily basis. From a strict SEO perspective as well, Quill Engage allows you another set of eyes to interpret your data in an easy format to read. I could probably write another blog post on this part of it alone!
I just look at it this way… can you beat free in this situation? Most companies when they start to grow change their model from free to paid accounts but I have no earthly idea if that is their long term vision or not.
So don't hesitate… Head on over and sign up to start using this great service today!
Make sure to follow them on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest upgrades to the product!
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How To SetUp Branded Domain Name With ZOHO Email (Alternative to Google Apps & Outlook.com) 2 Mar 2015 8:21 AM (10 years ago)
[Video & Screenshots] I've found that many are still searching for alternatives on how to use your branded domain for email. The giants in the game like Google Apps are no longer offering a free account (some still have a grandfathered account) and also Outlook.com (domain live manager) ended that party last summer. ZOHO Mail has been the quite little engine in the background that stuck to it's core competencies offering a suite of products to individuals and small businesses a like. Their free account is free of Ads and offers 10 inboxes (5gb ea) and the ability to tie in other programs like their CRM, Calendar, and Password Storage – Vault.
ZOHO email is pretty easy to set up and I've done this for a handful of people when they are looking for more products and flexibility than using their hosts email servers. One could argue that mixing your hosting and email together is a recipe for issues down the road because if one goes out… they both do. Not like that has ever happened to anyone I knew before…. hrmmm.
I have a quick video on how to set up ZOHO. Due to time, I wont' be able to step you through each registrar out there but will try to give you a few screenshots to help. I'll use for my video Hostgator / cPanel which is a common “look” amongst most hosting/registrar companies. The concept is the same no matter what company you have.
How To Set UP ZOHO Mail Video
I recommend to watch the video first and then back fill with any information below. 
Link: http://youtu.be/Af52zIjbGdQ
Overview:
- Sign up with ZOHO
- Add your domain
- Confirm you own your domain
- Change MX records to ZOHO
- Add SPF record (TXT) entry to your domain
- Start Using inbox.
Getting Started With ZOHO Email
Sit back and crack your knuckles as we dive into getting started with Zoho. First you will need to have your domain name you want to utilize picked out and ready to go. This assumes you've made the purchase of that domain and it is sitting there like “pick me.. pick me”. HA —-
Log into your domain manager or cPanel with the company you picked like Godaddy, Fatcow, Bluehost, Hostgator, 1and1 and etc… This will look different depending on your domain registrar you've chosen. In my video, I've covered Hostgator / cPanel quickly to show you where you can find the MX records.. HAVE THIS OPEN IN A NEW TAB READY TO GO. We will come back to this.
Choose Sign Up Page At ZOHO
As seen below, choose the “Free” Plan and continue to the next page.
Zohomail.com Sign up page
Add Your Domain Name to ZOHO
Select the first box and type in your domain without the “www” in front. Then hit “Add Domain”.
Add Your Domain To ZOHO
Account Signup Details With ZOHO
Enter your details of First Name, Last Name, Your desired email account address (“”name_goes_here””@ yourdomain.com), Password, (pick one that is strong with upper and lower case followed with a combo of numbers and symbols), Contact Email (Use an existing email you can check like a personal one…gmail, aol, outlook), and lastly show that you are human by doing the elementary school puzzle. Click on you agree to terms and conditions then the “Sign Up” button. It's like a stop sign… you can't miss it!
ZOHO Account Details Registration
Details Confirmed
Once you've reached this step you should be go to go so you can proceed to verify that you have ownership of the domain you've “signed up”.
Confirmed sign up details at ZOHO
How To Verify Domain Ownership
You have a few options here. CNAME record, TXT record or HTML File.
I find the quickest way is to download the HTML file ZOHO gives you. Log into your FTP of where you host your site and create a file “zohoverify” and put that file in that folder. Once you've done that…hit this link which will be UNIQUE to YOUR situation (they will give it to you exactly as I've shown in the video): www.yourdomain.com/zohoverify/verifyforzoho.html
Zohomail html (courtesy of ZOHO)
If you don't have a hosting account then you will need to either do the CNAME or TXT verification method. Don't worry, ZOHO provides the exact values and I am confident that you can follow along to introduce those to your domain to verify.
If you choose CNAME then ZOHO will provide you what the name below should be. Essentially this is what it will look like.
Zohomail CNAME (Courtesy of ZOHO)
txtverify (Courtesy of ZOHO)
Name/ Host/ Alias/ CNAME: zb********
Value/ Points To/ Destination/CNAME: zmverify.zoho.com
If you choose to do TXT method then you will add this unique value given to you: zoho-verification=zb*****.zmverify.zoho.com
HostGator cPanel adding CNAME or TXT Records
Update MX Records
Once you've made your way to that section in your cpanel or command center, you will select your domain and find the “MX Records” sections. By default your registrar will have theirs populated and your mission is to simply delete the couple (usually 2-4 records exist) they have and replace with ZOHO's MX records.
A word of patience to tell you; it will take any where from a few minutes to a few hours for the interwebs to propagate these changes once you've saved them. So my advice is be patience with the process and change.
Want to check your MX records? Go Here: http://mxtoolbox.com/
MX Entries for Hostgator
ZOHO MX Records
Host | MailServer Name | Priority
@ | mx.zohomail.com. | 10
@ | mx2.zohomail.com. | 20
Hostgator cPanel adding New MX Records
GoDaddy Manage Domain (dashboard look)
Change MX records, TXT, CNAME Godaddy
General Concept Instructions to change the MX records
This is from ZOHO. They said it best!
Follow the steps below to change the MX records for your domain. The terminology used here is generalized and may vary according to your provider.
- Log in to your domain registrars web portal.
- Launch the ‘DNS Manager'/ ‘Domain Management Page'/ ‘DNS Control Panel' for your account, which lists all the domains you have registered.
- Locate the option which specifies ‘MX Records'/ ‘Email Servers'/ ‘Email Settings' (Consult the help pages of your provider or get support from the registrar).
- If you have any existing entries, remove those entries.
- Locate the option to add new record and select that.
- Specify the ‘Name'/ ‘Host' as ‘@' or leave it ‘Blank'.
- Specify the Value as ‘mx.zohomail.com' for the first record.
- Select the priority to 10 or any lower number as supported by your registrar.
- Follow the same steps to add another MX record for your domain.
- Only the MX records provided below should be listed, to ensure correct email delivery to your domain.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
Record name: v=spf1 mx include:zoho.com ~all
Steps to add SPF TXT record in GoDaddy domain manager:
- Log-in to your domain manager.
- Click on your domain.
- Under Total DNS, click Launch.
- Click Add New TXT Record.
- Enter the TXT Name and TXT Value “v=spf1 mx include:zoho.com ~all” as shown in the image below.
- Click OK.
Set up Custom URL For Email
Go to your where your domain registrar and you will want to add a CNAME record. (ZOHO's Help) Most cases they have already added one for you if you choose to use their email servers (referring to your domain registrar or hosting company).
Typically the record looks like “mail.yourdomain.com” or “webmail.yourdomain.com”. If one exists… just simply update the “Alias” to “business.zoho.com” and hit save. Give it a try and when you type in your custom URL… it should take you to a custom login page from ZOHO. If you've added your company logo… it will show up as well!
Host name: mail
Alias: business.zoho.com
SMTP Settings for Domain (for phone or desktop email client)
So if you are using an outside inbox to check and send email like Gmail or Outlook on your computer or phone… you will need these settings right here:
SSL
- Outgoing Server Name: smtp.zoho.com
- Port: 465
- Security Type: SSL
- Require Authentication: Yes.
- Email address should match the email address/ aliases of the account & password.
TLS
- Outgoing Server Name: smtp.zoho.com
- Port: 587
- Security Type: TLS
- Require Authentication: Yes.
- Email address should match the email address/ aliases of the account & password.
Now you should be on your way of setting up additional inboxes, forwards, groups, and etc within your zoho account.
I hope this has proved to be useful and that it can be of value to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to respond and get your pointed in the right direction.
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