wordpress

Using WordPress as a Platform to Generate Leads and Sales

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news, tips and trends. With technology and techniques developing daily in the new decade ahead, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

We believe WordPress ranks above all the rest as a hosting platform. The open-source CMS platform works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, and is ideal for generating new leads and boosting sales. Below are a few ways WordPress can help you network better, get your site up to scratch and allow you to create new business opportunities.

Contact

Make sure your contact information is up to date, you can display your details and a map to your location using the contact form and map widgets. This makes it much easier for potential clients to be able to get in touch with you and see if your location is within reach if travelling.

SEO

WordPress offers a good deal of SEO support, in the form of tools, plug-ins and guides. These can help you optimise your site personally for search engines. Yoast SEO is a particular favourite amongst users, providing excellent content and SEO analysis and helping you track your performance.

Social Icons

Making sure your website uses icons that easily connect to your social media is also a must. Social media is one of the most highly used search tools when discovering a business or service. Social media widgets help create options to directly link you to your Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites.

CTA Buttons (Call To Action)

A ‘call to action’ button is always helpful in giving your clients an extra push to view certain areas of your site, particularly if you want to draw attention to a particular page or sale within your business. These buttons are also useful for adding “Buy Now” or “Search Now” buttons allowing customers to browse and purchase from your site with ease.

Testimonials

Having a testimonials feature on your site is a great way for potential clients to see reviews of your business. WordPress has excellent widget features that can create visually creative ways to present customer reviews instead of having an endless page of lengthy, written testimonials.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce platform specifically designed for WordPress used by entrepreneurs worldwide. The entirely customisable platform is an extremely popular tool for businesses both large and small, making selling online a breeze and allowing you to create online checkout systems for all experience levels.

4 ways to maximise site security and prevent hackers without impairing UX

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s the latest updates, design tips or marketing tactics. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we pride ourselves on making sites that are both manageable and secure.

Following the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws (GDPR) which began May 25, everyone has gone a bit security mad, and businesses seem to be packing their site with security options that aren’t often necessary. This can in turn lead to problems with the speed of your site as well as making it easier for hackers to access your web page details. Our aim is to help you understand security options for your site clearly, allowing you to cut through the confusion and get to grips with the lingo, making it that little bit easier. Obvious options to take such as ensuring that your software is always up to date and backed up, are implemented by most. Below however, are a few simple steps you may not know about which may help pin down some good ways to make your site secure, without putting off customers to your site.

 

Restrict Your Plug-ins

We know it’s tempting, but try not to overload your site with various security plug-ins. Do your research, and pick two or three at most that do the job efficiently. Too many plug-ins will slow down your site and leave it vulnerable to hackers trying to access your private data. Researching what security plug-ins work the best and comply with GDPR regulations is the best way to establish this. It’s easy to be tricked by advertising telling you you need all sorts of different plug-ins, but ultimately many will end up doing the same thing, and it’s easy to find just a couple of plug-ins that will cover your site securely.

 

Use reCaptcha

When accessing a site, most of us know how frustrating it is having to declare we’re not a Robot… However, using reCaptcha does comes with a lot of benefits. It’s extremely helpful in protecting you from up to 95% of spam and data hack attempts. One downside is, using reCaptcha can have the potential to slow down your site. It’s a bit of a double edged sword. There’s both pros and cons to using it, but overall we feel the benefits outweigh any of the speed issues that may or may not crop up.

 

Implement Two-Factor Authentication

This method of security has become much more popular recently, especially with larger businesses and sites that hold especially personal data. For those who aren’t sure what this means, it’s pretty much the same as having to show two forms of ID when confirming your identity. In this case it will usually take the form of a password, and a personalised security code sent by text message to your phone. You’ll then be asked to submit this code on the website. Two-Factor Authentication can help significantly reduce the likelihood of hackers being able to impersonate your identity and log in to any accounts or personalised info.

 

Add a Concealed WP Log In Page

Most hackers will try to get into your site through your WP log in page or dashboard.

WordPress websites primarily all have a universal login URL of /wp-admin/ making it extremely easy for hackers to go directly to your log in page and use brute force cracking to hack your page. This is a trial and error form of hacking used to decrypt passwords and other types of log in details. To prevent this from happening, you change your URL to something more personalised using plug-ins such ManageWP. It allows you to customise your log in URL to something harder to guess, an easy example being /my-concealed-login/ but you can change it to whatever works best for your business. It may seem like a bit of a hassle, but doing this has the potential to stop almost 100% of hackers accessing your page.

 

5 of the Best WordPress Themes for Creating a Portfolio

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news, tips and trends. With technology and techniques developing daily, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

Our design team believe WordPress ranks above all the rest as a hosting platform. The open-source CMS works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, and is ideal for showcasing portfolios and products. Having a portfolio that’s professional, visually captivating and clearly showcases your work is vital for your business to achieve success and gain interest from new clients. So below, we’ve hand-picked some of the best WordPress themes for putting together a high end portfolio, that will grab your audience’s attention and gain you new clients and sales.

 

Oshine

Creates beautifully fresh and contemporary portfolios with 12 unique layouts to choose from. Comes with access to over 500 fonts, colour choices, shortcode modules and so much more. Oshine also supports a large variety of plug-ins, including WPML, BuddyPress and Gravity Forms. A great choice if you’re looking for a stylish and modern way to display work visually.

 

 

Adios

A great theme that’s easy to use, extremely fast loading and is ideal for those working within the creative industry. An elegant and artistic approach to portfolio design, you’ll have access to hundreds of fonts, colour choices, layout elements and designs and you’ll be able to use a variety of great options for animation. Adios allows for superb compatibility with all devices and browsers, and will ensure your site is noticed worldwide.

 

 

Art.

Perfect for colourful, chic and customisable design, this theme comes with a coding-free content builder for ease of use. Ideal if you’re looking for an artistic and simplistic portfolio design, it’s packed with beautiful layouts with drag and drop options, fashionable headers and plenty of options for blog posts. You can also create stylish home sliders to showcase large images, and with SEO by Yoast you’re sure to have plenty of great options for getting noticed in search engines.

 

 

Kalium

A sensationally designed theme for those looking for a cool and contemporary twist to showcase their work in style. With numerous options for layout, images and blog posts, this WordPress theme also includes Revolution Slider, allowing users to display work through slideshow. You’ll be able to personalise the slides and create your own unique animations and visual effects too.

 

 

Studio 8

Rated as one of the best WordPress themes on the market, Studio 8 has a superbly sophisticated and stylish design. Beautifully fast and responsive, the theme provides great portfolio options to businesses of all backgrounds. You can upload custom headers and access built in short codes to make editing and designing easier. Known for creating attention-getting websites, this theme will help put your portfolio on the map.

 

 

5 Brilliant Social Media Plug-ins for WordPress You May Not Know About

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we’re constantly striving to make sure we’re ahead of the game when it comes to having the most up to date tech and web knowledge. When it comes to digital marketing and social media, it’s important to fully take advantage of social media platforms, plug-ins and widgets to allow you to achieve greater sales potential and expand your following. Below we’ve compiled a list of what we believe to be the best in social media plug-ins for WordPress to give you a helping hand in getting started.

 

Social Snap

This social sharing plug-in allows you to increase engagement and take control of how well your social media performs. With over 30 social networks to choose from, you can place share buttons wherever is easiest, be it a floating side bar or via short-code or widget. You can also use animations and colour coordinate your layouts. Insights are easily available to track web traffic and you have the option to control how your social media posts look on any device.

Social Warfare

Great for speed and won’t slow down your site, Social Warfare has been specifically built by marketing and web developer experts. Although more limited in how many media platforms you can access, it’s an extremely well designed and powerful little plug-in. You can display how many times your content has been shared, pin images, use analytics to track your progress and use short codes to place social media icons anywhere you choose.

Add to Any

Increases traffic and works alongside over 100+ social media platforms, so this is the one for you if you’re connected to a huge variety of media channels. You can access share counters and floating share buttons, use email sharing and customize appearance. There’s also great analytics integration, with simplistic support for WooCommerce and other eCommerce platforms too.

Social Icons by WPZoom

A 5 star rated plug-in that supports both Skype and WhatsApp with over 80 social media platform choices to share from. You can edit over 400+ customised icons with FontAwesome integration. The plug-in has easy to use drag and drop options to help you position your sharing buttons across your site. There’s also newly updated colour options to help alter and mix and match the colour schemes for your social media share buttons too.

ShareGrapes

Easily customisable, ShareGrapes also has over 80 social networks you can access for your site, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. With multiple design options for sharing posts and links to social media, the plug-in comes with easy to use guides and help to get targetted traffic to your sites. It’s mobile compatible too, which means you won’t find the layout of your posts and share buttons suddenly changing when switching devices.

 

10 Free WordPress Marketing Plug-ins That Are A Must Have For Your Business

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s design, branding, SEO or marketing. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we know exactly how to get you there. We’re huge advocates of WordPress, and we believe they have the tools to really launch your brand towards profit. Below is a list of 10 of the best WordPress marketing plug-ins that are a must have for your business site.

With WordPress you can take away the hassle of creating lengthy marketing plans, by using their plug-ins to create new strategies and interact with others at the press of a button. They’re ideal whether you’re a small, local business or a nationwide company and there’s plenty to choose from. We’ve narrowed down what we think will help you the most.

Jetpack

Great design, marketing and security features. Comes with customisation tools, mobile integration and options to edit CSS. You can also access SEO and Ad tools, and monitor your stats and statistics to see how well your site is performing. There’s also security extras for spam and malware protection.

Yoast

The number 1 plug-in for SEO, Yoast gives you complete power over how you use and access site breadcrumbs, with great tips and templates for title and meta descriptions which you can edit and alter for better branding and snippets in Google and other search engines.

WooCommerce

An open source e-commerce plug-in for WordPress, WooCommerce lets you sell both physical and digital products online, with ease to use shipping and payment options including BACS and PayPal. Adaptable for both developers and beginners, it’s perfect for store owners, whether your business is large, small, local or worldwide.

WPReview

This little plugin helps you create reviews or testimonials with ease, without any problems loading your page or alterations to site speed. You can create reviews with a choice of using stars, percentage or a point rating. It also includes support for translation, WPMU, Google rich snippets and unlimited colours.

Google XML SiteMaps

Rated as the best ever WordPress plug-in, Google XML SiteMaps helps improve SEO and allows search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo to index you site more clearly. This makes sure your business is on the map when it comes to web traffic and will help move you up in search rankings.

Editorial Calendar

If you need a bit of help getting yourself organised when it comes to posts and marketing, the Editorial Calendar is a handy extra. You can create helpful schedules for when you want your posts to be published, with easy to use drag and drop features and an easily visible calendar to help you keep track.

W3 Total Cache

This plug-in aids website performance and boosts download times through content delivery network (CDN) integration and is recommended by web developers and web designers worldwide. It vastly improves conversion rates, and in turn helps boost your rankings on Google

Google Analytics by MonsterInsights

If you’re wanting to link your WordPress site to Google Analytics to manage site conversions, this plug-in by MonsterInsights is the way to go. It shows you stats, site performance and how easy people are accessing your webpage and products. You can access the Google Analytics dashboard inside your WordPress dashboard also.

Envira Gallery

Envira is a “drag and drop” photo gallery plug-in, great for sites that are using a lot of hi-def photography or product images. Envira will ensure your images will look great on all devices whether it desktop, mobile or tablet. There’s also great options for watermarking your work, creating video and slideshow galleries and linking with social media platforms.

Popups by OptinMonster

OptinMonster helps you grow your email list and get more subscribers with pop-up opt-in forms, templates and email marketing services. Take your pick from forms, floating bars, slide-ins, sidebars and more, this nifty plug-in is compatible and works alongside many popular email marketing sites including Mailchimp, Aweber, MailPoet and many more.

 

GDPR and The Launch of WordPress 4.9.6

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s trending tech news, the latest updates, design tips or marketing tactics. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we pride ourselves on making sites that are both manageable and secure.

Following the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws (GDPR) which began May 25, WordPress have made some important updates to privacy and maintenance options for site users. GDPR requires businesses or web page owners to be clear and upfront about how they’re using, collecting or sharing your personal data. It also means users have more choice and control over how their data is stored and shared.

Due to this, WordPress have decided to release WordPress 4.9.6 – the Privacy and Maintenance release. Features that can be found within the update include automatic changes to the comments section where users will be given options to whether their details will be saved on the browser. You can now also create a privacy policy page using a new default menu feature on the WordPress dashboard.

Although allowing for a speedier process, WordPress still recommends to add the privacy policy manually to the footer on each page of your website also. Webpage owners can also export or erase a clients data and send automatic requests asking for permission via email. WordPress have also created a handbook that guides you through privacy policies when using plug-ins which you can learn more about here.

95 other updates and modifications have been included in WordPress 4.9.6. including:

  • “Mine” included as a filter in the media library.

  • When displayed in admin, plugin-ins will now show the minimal PHP version required.

  • New PHP polyfills for forwards-compatibility and proper variable validation have been added.

  • TinyMCE updated to newest version (4.7.11).

Take a look at the WordPress site here to read up on the more in depth details on all the updates included.

 

Get the Party Started and Celebrate the WordPress 15th Anniversary on May 27th

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we love all things WordPress. It’s free, open source, available in 69+ languages with over 50,000 plugins. I mean, what’s not to love? Over the years the popularity of WordPress has grown immensely. W3Techs reports that WordPress now powers over 30% of sites on the web. And it’s no wonder when they have such great extras on offer.

On May 27th, WordPress with be celebrating its 15th anniversary of WP’s original release, and they’re holding a worldwide party, which you’re all invited to. To get involved, check out the WordPress 15th Anniversary website and find out whether there’s a party you and your mates can tag along to nearby, and RSVP to the event.

If there isn’t, then why not get cracking at setting one up yourself? Brighton has a huge creative network when it comes to design, and whether you’re a developer, copywriter or graphic designer, we all have one thing in common – we’d all rather swap a day at the office for an afternoon spent in one of Brighton’s many beer gardens. So why not get involved and get posting about your very own WordPress Birthday Party.

You can even get yourself some special 15th anniversary WordPress swag. In tribute to the anniversary, WordPress have added a money off code CELEBRATEWP15 to get 15% off all accessories till the end of 2018. So whether you end up hosting your own WordPress party, bake a WordPress cake or even just get your hands on lots of cool new merch, make sure you get posting using the #WP15 hashtag online to help celebrate WordPress worldwide.

 

7 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress to Host Your Website

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web developments and web design trends. Our job is to seek out the best in high quality web hosting, security and SEO awareness. When it comes to choosing a platform for your hosting, WordPress ranks higher than any other hosting service. Below are our 7 reasons why WordPress is top of the leaderboard.

Deciding on a platform to host your website is one of the first points to consider when getting started in creating a new or updated site. The platform we think ranks above all the rest is WordPress. This open-source CMS works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, ranging from e-commerce to blog based designs. Still not convinced? Well here’s our reasons why…

It’s popular

WordPress sites account for over 25% of sites on the web, with 1.1 million new domains being created every 6 months. The incredibly popular platform is even available in 62 different languages, making it accessible to businesses worldwide.

It’s beginner friendly

WordPress is easy to use, even if you haven’t had much experience. It allows you to add pages, blog posts, text and widgets at the click of a button. Even if your site is being professionally designed, it will be easy for you to make additional changes or touch ups yourself.

You’ve got access to tons of Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress guarantees access to a huge variety of themes and plug-ins compared to other sites. No matter what your business or blog, they have themes to suit all. From Jetpack, Yoast, Revslider to Woocommerce and Mailchimp, there are so many options to help improve your site.

It’s highly secure

WordPress core software is highly protected and comes with access to great plug-ins such as Wordfence to give you extra defences alongside firewall and malware scans. WordPress also offer plenty of guides and tips to keep you secure savvy.

It will improves your rankings

WordPress genuinely has the ability to help you rank higher in search engines. “WordPress” is searched 2,740,000 times every month, making it one of the highest searched keywords on Google. And WordPress has plenty of great SEO plug-ins and built-in features to optimize each page on your website.

It’s known for its great support

Need help? WordPress has a great technical support team on hand to help with any customer queries you may have. Their engineers offer first rate customer support and quick fixes to any technical issues, and you can access their support services easily online.

No.1 for media

If you’re wanting a website that can handle a multitude of different media content, WordPress handles images, audio, video and plenty more with ease, making it simple to upload and insert content when writing a post or a page.

Web News: WooCommerce 3.2 Updates

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest web trends, software and programs. With technology and techniques developing daily, we’ll make sure you’re getting the latest info on what’s happening in the world of web.

 

Many of our clients manage their online business through platforms such as WooCommerce. WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin, its intentional use is for either small or large businesses to create an online selling platform using WordPress. This Autumn, WooCommerce have been updating their latest version, offering a bunch of improved applications and extensions. Below is a list of current optimisations that have been finalised:

 

  • Improvements for coupon options and management of extensions

  • You can now apply discounts to coupon orders without having to do it manually

  • Alerts are sent for new updates on WooCommerce and other extensions giving you the option to download immediately if using outdated versions

  • An easier “unified shortcode” when itemising various products on your webpages

  • A new filter enabling you to simply browse your extensions and identify which are ‘Active’ on the webpage

 

Although the changes may appear small, they offer some nifty adjustments to help run the platform simply, creating smoother running for both developers and clients.

 

10 Of The Best Tech and Web Design Email Newsletters To Subscribe To

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web news. With our latest research, we’ve compiled a top ten list of what we believe are some of the best web design email newsletters to subscribe to, packed full of helpful tips, tutorials and freebies to get you going in all areas of design.

If you’re looking to get your hands on the hottest web development, coding and design news, subscribing to these email newsletters will leave your inbox filled with the best info, resources and design inspiration from masters in the world of tech.

The Download – A newsletter that appears daily in your inbox curated by MIT’s Technology Review. It’s one of several of MIT’s technology review and aims to offer a complete low down on what’s going on in the tech world.

Recode Daily – A round-up of the best news and trends relating to both tech and business. Signing up grants you access to articles and podcasts on what’s trending in areas including Commerce, Social media, Enterprise and Mobile and info on any upcoming events.

The Webdesigner Newsletter – Created specifically for developers and designers, the Webdesigner targets those wanting access to handy resources and plenty of free stuff. Top subjects include UI, HTML, Typography and help with design inspiration.

Hacking UI – An extremely useful product design and front-end development newsletter, dishing out articles, podcasts & master classes. Covering everything from VR, UX Photoshop and general web design.

Web Tools Weekly – If you’re searching for the latest info on tools for front-end developers, the Web Tools newsletter will be just the thing for you. This weekly newsletter offers tips and tutorials, and an inside guide to the latest apps, scripts and plug-ins.

Sidebar – Designer, developer and entrepreneur Sacha Greif’s daily newsletter showcasing her 5 favourite design articles, interviews and resources of the day. Helpful info on UX design, image freebies, CSS help, design program guides and general news in the world of web.

wpMail – A free, weekly WordPress Newsletter for general WordPress users with a handful of WordPress news and articles featuring SEO tips, themes and plug-ins.

MasterWP – Another weekly newsletter from WordPress, this time aimed at professionals who are proficient in all things WP. Every Wednesday get your hands on a variety of artciles, apps, tools and extras that will make life easier for WordPress pros.

DevTips – A collection of weekly developer tips from front-end developer and expert Umar Hansa. Those who sign up will get a developer tutorial or tip sent to you as a gif. Great for info on CSS, JavaScript, network issues and UI.

Frontend Focus – A once a week bundle of the best front-end news stories, tips and tutorials. From HTML, CSS, WebGL, Canvas, browser tech and more, the newsletter also includes the latest job vacancies in the tech industry if you’re currently looking for a career or new job as a developer.