Looking for a Virtual Assistant? Try 247virtualassistant.com

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you have a successful business the last thing you often need is to spend time running a website or marketing your business via social media. However to remain at the head of your game having a website and being on twitter, facebook or other social media platforms is essential to the success of your business. We know these things take up valuable time but there is a solution – and that is to hire a virtual assistant.

One of the most impressive companies I have encountered is 24/7 Virtual Assistant. Whether you are looking for a Real Estate Assistant to help you post your listings, a Virtual Assistant to take care of updating your website / social media accounts or just a personal assistant to help you handle any personal tasks that you don’t have time for, these guys are here to help. One of the advantages is cost – it is much cheaper to hire a virtual assistant for a set number of hours each month than it is to hire someone locally – there are no national insurance payments, just the set fee for the plan you chosen (from 30 hours at $299 to 160 hours at $999 per month).

They will soon be offering web design service and, going by the strength of their current website, they may well be worthy of consideration. The sign up is exceptionally straightforward and you could have your own dedicated virtual assistant within 24 hours. Your assistant will be available via fax, email or telephone. So, if you do find yourself needing an extra pair of hands to manage your business or, in fact, personal life then consider checking out virtual assistant.

Filed Under: Freelancing Tagged With:

Looking for free website templates? Try Steves-Templates.com

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you are looking for free website templates you might want to pay a visit to Steves-Templates.com who offers free website templates and professional premium web templates. These templates are an ideal solution for those of you who are unfamiliar with web design and to designers that need a quick solution for a project. The free web templates offered on his site are original and are created from scratch by hand (rather than being reproduced from other sites across the web – so common on sites of this nature).

There are currently 45 templates online – which something which will suit most basic websites needs – from personal websites to websites for small business enterprises. There is, quite literally, something for everybody on this site. They are not your run of the mill churned out templates either – being both well designed and professionally put together, with some flash templates available for those in need of a site of this nature. If you are in the market for free web templates then do check steves-templates.com

If you need something a little stronger then you should check out their premium collection which are strong, well put together designs for any site – whether business or personal. At time of writing there are around 27,000 website templates in stock including CSS, Flash templates, Joomla, Magento, osCommerce, Zen Cart, Swish, WordPress and much more. Prices seem to be between $50 and $60 so ideal for those who are looking to putting together a website quickly and on a low budget.

Filed Under: Web Templates Tagged With: ,

Rank better with SEO Arbiter

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quite often people will invest a great deal of money in their website only to find it does not deliver as they had expected. This is because, generally speaking, the need for SEO has been overlooked. This is where companies such as SEO Arbiter come in. A high ranking position is essential to any website in order for it to be successful and, simply speaking, this is what SEO Arbiter deliver – SEO Services at an affordable price. We gave them a test recently with one of our websites and utilised their services, and received extremely favorable results.

You will receive no techno jargon on their website they simply offer to make it their mission to get your site in the top ten on Google, Yahoo, Bing and MSN. In this day and age this is a tall order – especially in highly competitive keywords. As a result there are a lot of companies out there who promise to get your site but very rarely deliver. Our experience proved to be favorable. They offered us a turn-key solution. In their initial meeting they took details of our requirements and then, quite literally, made it happen. No complex jargon and no techno-babble. All at exceptional value for money. Since the site in generally relies on high traffic numbers to be successful it was essential this requirement was achieved – after a short time SEO Arbiter had boosted traffic by numbers that just could not be ignored.

For quality SEO Services from a company who deliver exactly what they promise and ensure your site ranks in the top ten of major search engines check out SEO Arbiter

Filed Under: SEO Services

Black Friday Deals with Hostgator and Genesis

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Save a fortune in purchasing one of the greatest premium wordpress frameworks – Genesis

Since I discovered the Genesis Framework many months ago the vast majority of the sites I develop use this at their core. Its powerful and exceptionally easy to use. To celebrate black friday they are offering a deal – save yourself some money and purchase Genesis Framework today.

Using the code THANKS at checkout (don’t forget that), you can save 25% off of anything you’d like at WordPress design shop, StudioPress.

1. Get the Genesis Framework for only $45.

2. Snag most Genesis / design combos for a song and save close to $20.

3. Wipe the entire shop clean and get the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package. Get Genesis plus every design they’ve made, plus every design they make in the future, and save more than $74 off the regular price and over $875 off the retail price — and that’s just the existing 43 designs!

All you need to do is use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save 25% on anything and everything at StudioPress.com.

This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011. Hurry up and claim your new WordPress theme before the code expires!

Thinking of moving webhosts – Now is the time.

Black Friday Super Sale from best host ever – Hostgator. Hosting from $2.48 per month, Reseller hosting from  $12.48 per month, VPS from $9.98 per month and dedicated servers from around $88 per month.

If you are moving from another host and are worried about transferring your site then worry no more – Hostgator will do this for you free of charge.

  • - Free Domain Transfer!
  • - Free File Transfers!
  • - Free Database Transfers!
  • - Free Script Transfers!
Filed Under: Wordpress Tagged With: , , ,

My 2nd anniversary with Hostgator

November 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Its exactly two years since I abandoned APTHost and relocated eleven sites to Hostgator. I thought I would write an update to earlier reviews

Over the course of the last two years I have had exceptional service and support from the Hostgator team – via live chat, their support system and via twitter. Granted there have been occasions when my sites have been down but each and every time this has occured Hostgator have been on the case almost immediately and remedied the issue. When the load of one of my clients site was exceptionally high they offered help and advice which enabled me to remedy the issue (with solutions I now operate on all my wordpress sites in order to keep them healthy, lean and ticking over well).

Support

As I have touched on above the support received has always been exceptional. The support ticket have always been responded to promptly with knowledgeable and helpful responses. I have received exceptional advice and support via the live chat system and, when needed, friendly support via twitter. They have always been on hand when required, which is as much as you require from any host.

Reliability

In all the hosts I have used over the years Hostgator has the award for reliability. There has been occasions when my sites I have been down but this has been rare and I could always trust Hostgator to address the issue as soon as aware. My previous host suffered days of downtime at a time owing to server issues – and this was the deciding factor in my move to Hostgator. Reliability is extremely important if the vast majority of your income comes from your websites!

Value for Money

With support and reliability assured you would expect to pay a premium for Hostgator but they are actually exceptionally competitive. As I have a large number of websites (both my own, friends and clients) I have a reseller account.

Reseller Plans start at just $24.95 per month – with 50GB of Disk Space and 500GB Bandwidth. For that you can host unlimited domains. They even offer your billing software free of charge (I utilise WHMCS which I think is exceptional and will, in time, be reviewed here seperately). My license came free of charge with Hostgator.

Some of my clients have their own account on Hostgator´s general web hosting and are, to date, exceptionally pleased with their level of service. Their webhosting plans start at $3.96 per month for a single site with unlimited webspace and bandwidth. Their business hosting plan for me is the most value – comes with the ability to host unlimited domains, has unlimited diskspace and bandwidth and a free private SSL and IP! – at just $10.36 per month.

If you requirements are more demanding check out their VPS Hosting from $15.95 per month and Dedicated Servers from $139 per month.

Green Credentials

  • - They have invested in Texas Wind Energy to help offset server emissions
  • - Climate Friendly, Wind Powered, Certified RECs (View Green Web Hosting Details)
  • - HostGator purchases certified Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s)

Overall

I am as happy with Hostgator now as I was in the first few months of moving to them. They combine excellent service and hosting at a price I can afford. They are the hosts I recommend to all my design and development clients not because I am an affiliate but because I firmly believe they are the best hosting company for their sites – if I didnt I would not utilise them myself.

 

Filed Under: Hosting Tagged With: ,

Studiopress Marketplace Themes

October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Genesis Framework by Studiopress is one of my favourite collection of wordpress themes available on the web. The basic framework is a powerful base upon which to build your own themes if you are so inclined but, if you arent, then there is a wide collection of ready made child themes to suit every single site you can imagine.

Recently Studiopress expanded their existing range of child themes by opening up a marketplace where developers from around the community sell their work. All of the child themes you find there are built upon the Genesis Framework and are documented and supported by the developers themselves – although they are not produced by the Studiopress developers team they do come with their seal of approval for being top notch.

Blingless Child Theme

Blingless Child Theme

Blingless is the perfect theme for the “micro-blogger” being both light and beautifully structured.

Its has a Tumblog-style design which is immaculate but, given the skills, would be easily customisable for someone with some skill in design.

Features: 4 color styles, 3 layout options, custom background, custom header, fixed width, theme options, threaded comments

 

Driskill

Driskill Child Theme

The beauty of Driskill is in its minimal layout which marries timeless design with current capabilities. Not only does it look great but it is fully scalable across all viewing platform, from mobile to desktop, without any additional work. It is one of the most flexible child themes I have had the pleasure of working with – being one of the most scalable.

Features: 2 color styles, 6 layout options, custom background, custom header, featured images, fixed width, responisive design, theme options, threaded comments

More child themes to come!

Filed Under: Wordpress Tagged With:

Gravity Forms for WordPress Reviewed

September 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you, like I used to, you use a variety of plugins or even create forms on wordpress the old fashioned coding way then you need to check out Gravity Forms. It is an exceptionally powerful plugin which allows you to create both simple and complex forms with an essentially drag and drop mechanism – potentially saving you hours of time either coding or working with some of the less user friendly plugins.

The fact is however Gravity Forms is so much more than a simple contact form plugin – it has a whole bunch of features which allows you to create simple forms easily but also allows for creation of guest posting forms (guests can post to your site without having access to the wordpress admin – and the post is held for review).

Creating Forms with Gravity Forms

With its super sleek interface Gravity Forms allows you to build forms in just the manner you want them – all you have to do is select the type of field from the side menu and drag it into place before filling out the details. Its so simple I firmly believe it is accessible and userable by even the most technically challenged (obviously basic blog management skills being required). Each field you chose comes with a handy bunch of settings which you can tweak to get the field to behave just the way you want.

My personal favourites are some of the easy to set Advanced Fields – Name, Address, Date, Website specifically. They are as easy to setup as standard fields – but thanks to the highly visual setup you can get a feel for how the form will look before you even publish it on the page or post. Whats more is the fact these advanced fields come predegined for you – so no complex programming is required to create address fields

The real topping on the cake for anyone with a site which accepts guest posts are the post fields – which allow you to setup a form which will effectively allow users to make entries on your site without allowing them into your precious admin area.  All you need to do is manually approve the submission!

Setting up Conditional Form Fields

Ever wanted to add conditional elements to your wordpress forms but lacked the know how? Worry no more with Gravity Plugin.

You can create a complex and highly elegant form with very little effort – thus saving you the vast amount of time better spent elsewhere.

So, factor in the complex email notification routing, the ability to allow guests to post to your site, a whole load of other features and addons, you have an extremely powerful plugin in Gravity Forms which is infinitely more than just a contact form creator.

Pricing

The only drawback is Gravity Forms is not cheap. Pricing range from $39 for a Single Site Support License, $99 for a Multi Site Support License (total of 5 sites) to $199 for an unlimited Developer Support License.

If you are single site owner then the price of the plugin is just $39.99 which, factoring in the amount of time this plugin saves you, is really superb value for money. But if you have multiple sites, in this case more than 5 sites, you have to pull together $199 which is a steap price. I am not saying the plugin is not worthy of this price tab by any means because, in all honesty, factoring in the amount of time this could save a developer or webmaster in form creation it easily pays for itself – but some, who like to keep costs low, may think twice at that price.

Personally its a plugin I would highly recommend despite its price tag. Given the amount of time it will save you in site creation it will easily pay for itself in a very short period of time and leave you free to concentrate on the more instrinsic details of website creation.

Check out Gravity Forms for further details and save yourself time and energy in the creation of your next website project.

Filed Under: Wordpress Tagged With:

Do you have WordPress on Yahoo Small Business Hosting?

July 6, 2011 By 32 Comments

For sometime now we have known WordPress would be abandoning support for anything prior to PHP5 and MySQL 5. Effectively this means if you are still with Yahoo Small Business Hosting who, believe it or not, still run PHP 4.3.11 and MySQL version 4.1.14 you will not be able to run the latest version of WordPress. The latest version of WordPress requires PHP version 5.2.4 or higher and MySQL version 5.0 or higher.

When questioned about their ETA on delivery of a more current PHP and MySQL they simply said they had no immediate plans as their current version meets the needs “of the vast majority of their customer base”.

Therefore, if you wish to remain current with WordPress, then I would strongly suggest moving to a host who actually moves with the times, keeps their servers current and provides the most secure environment for your site. Maintaining a dated version of WordPress on an already dated server is a recipe for disaster in my book.

What choices do Yahoo users have?

You have two choices before you:-

1. You can opt to stick with Yahoo Small Business Hosting and remain on your current version of WordPress.

Personally I consider this tantamount to offering any malware distributor a VIP pass to the inner workings of your site. You may as well put up a “All hackers welcome here” sign and have done with it.

WordPress 3.2 comes with a much steeper security update than previous versions – it is the most secure yet. Even so the more out of date your platform is, the more vulnerable your site is to hackers.

Personally I side with Wisniewski’s advice on this “If your host doesn’t meet WordPress’s new requirements, it is time to ask some serious questions about their security procedures to ensure your site remains secure.”

2. You can opt to stick with Yahoo Small Business Hosting and nag them to upgrade.

You can pin your hopes on an update or take a more proactive stance and take your case to social media. Its the only way you will get an answer but, lets face it, Yahoo have had their clients nagging them for updates for sometime now and they still didnt respond. They are not in any rush to update now I assure you.

3. Find yourself a decent host with 5.2.4 or higher and MySQL version 5.0 or higher

Its the one I would choose. There are just too many drawbacks with Yahoo Hosting for WordPress.  Get yourself a decent host.

Personally I adore Hostgator. I use them for all my sites so, whilst I am biased in their favour and am an affiliate, I would not recommend them if I didnt think they were the most awesome hosting company ever. Believe me I´ve tried a lot over the years.  I´ve been with Hostgator over two years and, to date, am happy with the services provided. But there are other hosts – all I would recommend if you do consider following the more logical path of a host switch is to check them out thoroughly before you move. Make sure they offer you the latest PHP and MySQL – and, if you are inexperienced, ask if they´d willing relocate your site for you. Some, like Hostgator, do either free of charge or for a small nominal fee.

UPDATE:-

I have received a notice via twitter from YSmallBizCare. You can switch to PHP 5 but, as yet, no word on MySQL 5.0

@thestyledragon Your account comes with PHP 4 by default, however you can upgrade to PHP 5 using the instructions at http://t.co/M3XW54d

So there you have it folks Yahoo Small Business Hosting has finally joined the modern age and upgraded their hosting to PHP5

To switch your account to run a different version of PHP:

  1. Visit the Create & Update tab of your Web Hosting Control Panel.
  2. Click to open the Other Site Building Tools module.
  3. Click PHP Version to visit the PHP Version page.
  4. You’ll see two buttons, with your current PHP version selected. To switch to the other supported version, click that version’s button.
  5. Click Update to save your changes. The PHP version associated with your account will be changed automatically.

I questioned Yahoo further regarding their MySQL 5 status and here is what they had to say

“@thestyledragon We’re working toward ensuring our customers can run WordPress 3.2, and this includes upgrading to MySQL 5.”

Essentially there is no ETA on this so Yahoo users can expect MySQL 5.0 when they get it. It has widely been circulated WordPress would no longer support the older PHP and MySQL versions yet, before the release, Yahoo did nothing. This is despite knowing a lot of their customers utilised the platform. It seems Yahoo Small Business really is one of the most backwards thinking hosts I have ever encountered.

Update 14 August 2011

I recently questioned Yahoo Small Business Hosting and requested an update on this issue for those of you still struggling. Their response was as follows:-

“We are working to upgrade MySQL as soon as possible, but we currently do not have an ETA.”

So, effectively, they are still no further on and Yahoo clients who operate WordPress are currently running vulnerable versions on their sites as a result. Very poor planning from Yahoo on this issue.

Update 15 November 2011

You should now be able to upgrade your MySQL to 5.0

We’ve updated the Small Business platform to support MySQL 5. If you’re using a database with your site or store, we recommend that you upgrade now to take advantage of better performance and enhanced features.

In order to migrate to the latest version of MySQL, you will also need to make sure you’re running PHP 5.3.6 or above. To find out which version you’re running and to upgrade, visit the Create tab of your Web Hosting Control Panel. (more here)

Filed Under: Hosting, Wordpress Tagged With: ,

Thesis for WordPress Reviewed

July 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

Before I begin this review of Thesis I have to admit to a certain degree of bias. I have, for sometime now, been utilising Genesis – a framework which I recommend most heartily and absolutely adore utilising. With this in mind I approached Thesis wondering if it could possibly live up to its own hype and Genesis… I also have an additional confessional. I haven´t bought a copy of Thesis – a client of mine, seeing my review of Genesis, and thinking he could persuade me away decided to let me have a play on his site. I was intrigued.

The Hype

The Thesis Theme framework is a premium template system for WordPress that is designed to serve as the rock-solid foundation beneath any kind of website.

Over 37,534 people rely on the airtight SEO, incredible design flexibility, and lightning-fast loading times that Thesis provides.

The hype is only equaled by its reputation and strong fan basis who swear no other framework will do for them. I know how much of a passionate advocate I have become of Genesis so, naturally, I was curious to see if this framework really was all it was meant to be.

Working with Thesis

Like Genesis the principle lesson to be learned is to stay away from the core code. Treat it like a distant friend who backs you up and strengths you, but you do not ever touch. This is because one of the strong advantages of these frameworks is they are constantly being refined and improved upon. To edit the core code would be to lose your changes during the next update. The following video, from their site, clearly introduces the way simple edits can be made to the design without actually digging in and editing any real code.

As you can see from this video a lot can be changed within this framework without any real coding knowledge – certainly a framework for any budding Designers whose knowledge of coding isn´t as strong as it could be.

If you want to take your designs a little further than the options page allows there is another alternative for you. You can opt to utilise a custom stylesheet or you can resort to the use of hooks. These hooks allow you to make your own additions to the framework  and gives you the ultimate flexibility. Granted this aspect really is for more advanced users who have knowledge of coding – although their are some plugins which simplify the process (OpenHook plugin being just one example).

Working with Thesis v Genesis

The billion dollar question. I firmly believe it comes down to your preference. I encountered the Genesis Framework first at a time when it was more in line with my budget and my expectations. I am more familiar with Genesis and I like the system of working with child themes in order to develop sites according to my own requirements. Whether it is because I have come to Thesis after using and falling in love with Genesis first or not, I don´t feel Thesis is for me yet. The options page is fabulous and makes simple customisations extremely easy – and I like the idea of adapting the design via the use of hooks… BUT I prefer the child theme configuration of Genesis.

Value for Money – Genesis v Thesis

[table style="dark" highlight="true"]
[thead]
[tr]
[th align="left"]Framework – Package[/th]
[th]Thesis – Developer[/th]
[th]Thesis – Personal[/th]
[th]Genesis – Framework Only[/th]
[th]Genesis – Pro Plus[/th]
[/tr]
[/thead]
[tbody]
[tr]
[td align="left"]No of Sites[/td]
[td]Unlimited License[/td]
[td]One Site License[/td]
[td]Unlimited Sites[/td]
[td]Unlimited Sites[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td align="left"]Cost[/td]
[td]$164.00[/td]
[td]$87.00[/td]
[td]$59.95[/td]
[td]$299.95[/td]
[/tr]
[/tbody]
[/table]

Essentially Thesis has two purchase options. If you only have one site then you only need to purchase the personal option which will allow you one live website and one localized development server. If however you have multiple sites and/or are a Developer then you do need to purchase the Developer´s package at $164 – this permits you to use Thesis on an unlimted number of websites.

The advantage Genesis has over Thesis is you can simply chose to purchase the framework without child themes for just $59.95 and utilise it on any number of sites. This includes support. If you wanted you can then purchase individual child themes at $24.95 per theme or buy the framework with all themes included for $299.95

Support Options

To be entirely fair on both of these two framework promoters I cannot honestly review their support. I have no reason to utilise it. I can say both of them do offer support included with the purchase of their frameworks and reviews show they are both exceptional value for money.

The Conclusion

In the end, although I loved Thesis, I would always consider Genesis first and foremost my framework of choice. Its powerful and exceptionally easy to work with. Maybe this is because I came to this framework first in much the same way other Developer´s came to Thesis first and therefore prefer it. We often opt for the one we are more familiar with and used to manipulating to our own ends. That said Thesis is one hell of a powerful framework and I am not adverse to purchasing the Developer´s license for future projects – its ultra fast, SEO friendly and easily customisable.

If you want an exceptionally powerful framework upon which to build your own design then I would definitely recommend either of these two frameworks. The final choice of which I would say is down to your own preference – whether you prefer adapting child themes or making adjustments through options/hooks. The choice is yours! I had a very limited time with Thesis and would consider trying it again at a later date when time and finances permit! You never know, given enough time to fully learn the ropes I could become a convert…

Filed Under: Wordpress Tagged With: , ,

WordPress on Fasthosts.co.uk Review

June 29, 2011 By 4 Comments

I recently was given the task of transferring a clients very simple wordpress site onto fasthosts shared hosting. Since this really is a very light weight site on the Genesis framework I expected no issues at all. It works fine on its current hosting with its few, very lightweight, plugins.

I was wrong to expect no issues. It seems fasthosts really needs to be thinking about a name change – or at least be more upfront about their security measures which effectively prevent a straightforward host to host transfer of files.

I encountered numerous white screens during the several attempts I made to install WordPress on their hosting. First I attempted to transfer the files and database as one would during a normal host to host transfer. Didn´t work.

Then I attempted a fresh install a few times with no plugins and default theme. Didn´t work.

Their one click install means your domain has to be pointed at their hosting before you can utilise it – effectively if you have a site live you can expect downtime. But owing to their “certain security restrictions” you have no real choice but to use it because it would seem installing wordpress from scratch is near to impossible owing to their php error reports being disabled.

Not only this but the support team were unresponsive to support tickets and had a “lump it or leave it” attitude to the setup of their shared hosting.

When I finally did receive a response it was only to my rant like spouts on the very public forum of twitter. They indicated they had certains security restrictions in place and, because of this, they would recommend installing via One Click Install.

Oh, really?

So, unlike every other host on the face of the planet with a decent environment, you cannot simply transfer the files of an active and perfectly functioning site.

For this I would have to basically re-create the site from scratch AFTER the client has updated his DNS for his domain. Thus resulting in significant downtime.

Very professional fasthosts. Remind me never to consider you for hosting any of my clients sites.

So, if you are considering fasthosts for your wordpress site my advice is this – don´t.  Not only have I wasted several hours of my time attempting to move this sites client into Fasthosts hosting but we are actually no further forward – the client doesnt want downtime for his site, with obvious reason, and the perfectly functional files which work on every single host they have been on, wil not install on their hosting.

All I can say is thank God I have Hostgator. Zero issues with WordPress and absolutely superb support.

Update 1 July 2011: Finally got there in the end but I stand by my original review of fasthosts. The issue could have been resolved far quicker and easier if they didnt handicap their clients with a control panel and setup so slow and tiresome it can only be matched by their support, who are equally slow and tiresome. So from this point of view they belong well together.

Filed Under: Hosting, Wordpress Tagged With: ,