Here are five of the most popular Task and Project Management plugins:

1. WP-Task Manager:  A simple and easy to use tool for managing tasks from within the dashboard, this plugin let’s you control permissions for others that you want to create a task list for. It is also a great tool for creating and managing a  task list for yourself!
   Learn more about WP-Task Manager.
2. CollabPress: One of my favorites, this task and project management tool provides an easy to read format and makes it easy for others to upload documents and files right to WP.  Assigning tasks to others is easy and, includes email notification.  Because it uses the already built in WP Users accounts system, it is super easy to provide access to others, at different levels. It works with WP Multisite!
   Learn more about CollabPress
   
3. Propel:  A simple and clean plugin that lets you work with projects from within your WordPress framework. Easy to install and use, it includes a feature that allows you to control access based on user lever. Like the popular Project Management application Basecamp, it allows you to show all projects to administrators while only showing projects to users, for which they are authorized.
   Learn more about Propel.
4. ToDo Plugin: This plugin is a  very simply way to create and manage a ToDo list.  You use it to send assignments to other then, you can check the status from within your dashboard.  Although a simple and clean tool, it does allow you to control the level of access for uses. A great tool for blogs that have multiple writers.
   Learn more about ToDo Plugin
   
5. WP-Project:  This plugin will give you the feel of some of the popular online task and project management tools like Basecamp, but, is completely managed from within WordPress. Features include tracking clients, tracking projects by clients, tracking tasks by project. One of the best features, is that it works with dynamic timer tracking software like Harvest.
   Learn more about WP-Project.

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social-networking

If you have a blog/website, you already know that you need to integrate Social Sharing into your site, to make sharing your content across social networks as easy and seamless as possible.  You probably also know that there are tons of options available and may even be a bit overwhelmed with the notion of having to choose, how to install etc.

Here are 4 of my favorite Social Share Plugins:

• Sexy Bookmarks/Sharaholic: Allows you to choose from over 50 social bookmarking sites, to include an icon that your readers can use to share your content. Icons can appear above, below or in both places, after every post. You can find this plugin in the WP Plugin directory and download it from within your dashboard.

• Smart Share: Places the links to Social Sharing to the left or right of your posts. Additionally, it inserts icons at the bottom of each post. This plugin is available only after you provide your email address to the developer at WP Beginner. You can see it in action at the left of this post.

• Social Share: Add various social share buttons to your site, with some customization. Also add Facebook activity feed to your site. Available in the WP Plugin directory so it can be installed from your dashboard.

• Tweet, Like, Google +1 and Share: One of my favorites (you can see it at the end of this post), this plugin allows you to incorporate the recently introduced Google +1 and Facebook Send links. It also includes an option to control the load time of your site, since adding plugins can sometimes increase load time to your site. You can download this great plugin from your dashboard, since it is listed in the Plugins Directory

Remember that including Social Share Plugins on your site is completely optional but, if you want to make it as easy as possible for your content to go viral, then you will want to find the ones that will meet your needs, and make sure that you include at least one.  When choosing, be sure to research the plugin to learn what the features are and, do some research to see if there are any complaints about the plugin, as it relates to your particular theme.

If you are not already familiar with installing plugins, here is a great tutorial.

Are you getting the most out of Content Syndication?

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Here is part 2 of my article, Search Engine Optimization for WordPress.

If you’ve read part 1,  you already know that WP comes ready to take full advantage of search engine submissions.  You also know that the first 4 things to remember are:

1. Good clean code
2. Content speaks
3. Create content with live searches in mind
4. Site content is reviewed first.

Following on part one then, here are the remaining 4 things to remember about SEO for wordpress, to ensure that you are maintaining  optimal search engine friendliness towards search engine spiders and crawlers, despite the customization:

5. Keywords, Links, and Titles: Search engines are not interested in how good looking your site is and do not consider it in the evaluation of your site. Instead what they do is place a value on certain words and combinations of words. Words found in  your article or post are compared to those found within your links and titles. You “score” is improved by the level of matching between the two.

6. Labels and words in your Links and Images: Even if your site does not have a lot  of written content but mostly images and links, there are places in which you should add textual content. Search engines look for alt and title in link and image tags and having keyword rich titles and descriptions in these attributes gives the search engines content to digest.

7. Popularity of Links: Although having a good site is important, it is more important to have good sites linked to yours. Search engines still give high ranking to links so at the end of the day it’s about who links to you.  You can check the number of incoming links your site has by typing link:www.yoursite.com into Google.

8. Good Navigation Links: A search engine crawls through your site, moving from page to page. Good navigational links to the various components on your site will allow a search engine to move smoothly from one page to another, following the connecting links and visiting most of your site.

You can review part 1 of this article here.  In the meantime, here are a few Search Engine Optimization tools for your wordpress stie that you can install and begin using immediately:

SCRIBE SEO (You can also  read my article about this application here).

ALL IN ONE SEO PACK

Thanks for reading and if you found this article useful or have any questions about the content, please leave a comment (http://yourwpdiva.com/search-engine-optimization-for-wordpress-part-2). You can also share this article using the social media tools I have installed at this site.

Did you know that there are easy to use plugins to help mange your projects right in your WordPress dashboard?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: 5 Task and Project Management Plugins

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SEO Chart

Did you know that WP comes ready to take full advantage of search engine submissions?

According to WordPress.org,

“its features and functions guide a search engine through the posts, pages, and categories to help the search engine crawl your site and gather the information it needs to include your site within its database.”

The basic WP platform includes several built in Search Engine Optimization tools. One of the best is the ability to create static permalinks.   Additionally, to further enhance your Search Engine submission to the engines, there are a lot of third party applications, called plugins, that have been developed for the sole purpose of making it easy to improve your Search Engine Optimization submission ranking.

Something to remember however, is that customizing your wordpress theme, adding various plugins, etc. may break some of the built in search engine submission friendly features.  One way to minimize this problem is in the selection of your theme. Be sure to check to see what the theme developers say about SEO before selecting.  To ensure that you are maintaining  optimal search engine friendliness towards search engine spiders and crawlers, despite the customization, there are 8 things to remember  about SEO for wordpress:

1. Good, Clean Code : Make sure your site’s code validates since having errors in your code can prevent a search engine from crawling your site successfully.
2. Content Speaks: Search engines can’t “see” your site but they can “read” your site. Although the ascthestics of your site might be important to you and to your visitors, what “speaks” to a search engine is the content. Make sure you have quality word content for a search engine to examine and compare with all the parts and pieces to give you a good “score”.
3. Create Your Content  With Real Live Searchers In Mind: If you are writing content that you want to be “found” in a search on the Internet, think about the what someone would type into the browser, the specific words and phrases, to find your information.
4. Site Content Reviewed First: A search engine visits your site and, in large pare, completely ignores the colors, design etc.  It just crawls through and gathers content and information. A great WordPress Theme is designed with the content as close to the top of the unstyled page as possible. Many search engines scan only the first third of the page before moving on. Make sure your Theme places the relevant content near the top.

Part 2 of Search Engine Optimization for WordPress will follow.  In the meantime, here are a few Search Engine Optimization tools for your wordpress stie that you can install and begin using immediately:

SCRIBE SEO (You can also  read my article about this application here).

ALL IN ONE SEO PACK

Thanks for reading and if you found this article useful or have any questions about the content, please leave a comment (http://yourwpdiva.com/search-engine-optimization-for-wordpress-part-1). You can also share this article using the social media tools I have installed at this site.

Want to see the next 4 SEO for WordPress tips?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: Search Engine Optimization for WordPress - Part 2

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I learned about another great WordPress Plugin that was just released, called Traffic Player.

While I have not purchased Traffic Player Plugin just yet, I have previewed it and am certainly leaning in that direction since it is just what the doctor ordered, if you want to create professional looking videos for your blog or website.

Take a moment to watch and you will see in the demo, it is extremely easy to use, and even a newbie can create high end, professional looking presentations from any existing or new videos.

There are two versions of the plugin and the reviews so far are very good.

The first version, includes the following:

• 10 Custom Premium Video Skins + No Skin Option
• Skins Automatically Resize Around Your Video Dimensions
• Selection of Custom Youtube Parameters: No controls, No Info, Centering, AutoPlay, AutoHide, HD
• Training & Support
• On-Going Improvements
• Personal Multi-Domain License

The second versions includes all of the above plus, support for Google Video Sitemap! If you are not familiar with GVS, then you will be glad to learn that search engines love videos and Google has given us another way to have them found in searches. Traffic Player makes it easier to get your videos noticed!

I am so looking forward to using this great tool as I am in the process of creating more video tutorials for this and my other website over the coming months.

Do you know that WordPress comes ready to take advantage of SEO?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: Search Engine Optimization for WordPress - Part 1

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Tapestry Theme - A Tumblog-Style Theme for WordPress

When WordPress released version 3.1, one of the features was the Post Format.

As described by the WP developers, “A Post Format is a piece of meta information that can be used by a theme to customize its presentation of a post. The Post Formats feature provides a standardized list of formats that are available to all themes that support the feature. “

Since using every format of  the Post Format feature is not mandatory, not many themes have taken advantage of this great addition. In fact, new formats cannot be introduced by themes nor even plugins. Instead, ” the standardization of the formats provides both compatibility between numerous themes and an avenue for external blogging tools to access to this feature in a consistent fashion.”

So, what does this all mean? If you are using a  theme that supports Post Formats, you can change how each post looks by choosing a Post Format from a list of radio buttons.

That is why I am so excited that StudioPress, one of the more popular developers of WordPress Themes, recently announced the Tapestry Theme, which supports this new feature.

Everyone takes pictures and now-a-days nearly everyone writes stories and opinions. With the advent of the easy upload sites, likely, many of us make videos, and a regular part of our online experience is to link to cool stuff all the time.

The new premium WordPress theme Tapestry from StudioPress takes everything you make online, and makes almost perfect, absolutely beautiful sense of it.

Specifically, according to WordPress, with the upgrade and the use of a theme like Tapestry Theme, it is easier for you to choose to make the following kinds of posts:

• aside – Typically styled without a title. Similar to a Facebook note update.
• gallery – A gallery of images. Post will likely contain a gallery shortcode and will have image attachments.
• link – A link to another site. Themes may wish to use the first <a href=””> tag in the post content as the external link for that post. An alternative approach could be if the post consists only of a URL, then that will be the URL and the title (post_title) will be the name attached to the anchor for it.
• image – A single image. The first <img /> tag in the post could be considered the image. Alternatively, if the post consists only of a URL, that will be the image URL and the title of the post (post_title) will be the title attribute for the image.
• quote – A quotation. Probably will contain a blockquote holding the quote content. Alternatively, the quote may be just the content, with the source/author being the title.
• status – A short status update, similar to a Twitter status update.
• video – A single video. The first <video /> tag or object/embed in the post content could be considered the video. Alternatively, if the post consists only of a URL, that will be the video URL. May also contain the video as an attachment to the post, if video support is enabled on the blog (like via a plugin).
• audio – An audio file. Could be used for Podcasting.
• chat – A chat transcript

Take this awesome Theme for a drive then get ready to take your blog site to the next level!

Are you struggling with the selection of a theme for your WordPress site?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: 10 Steps To Selecting A WordPress Theme - Part 1

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So, what’s a small business owner to do???

Thankfully, the folks at Scribe SEO have the answer and I am so glad I found it just when I was at the brink of throwing in the towel on a few of my online ventures!

Scribe SEO is an easy to use premium WordPress plugin that promises to do the following:

• optimize your content faster
• help you choose great keywords, every time
• encourage reader engagement
• help you build quality back links
• increase your target traffic

I can personally attest to how Scribe SEO delivered on these promises as my stats have continually improved with every Search Engine Opitmized post I create using this tool.

More specifically, the Scribe SEO plugin helps you by doing the following:

• showing you the language searchers and potential targets is using
• revealing targeted keywords to match your content
• providing suggestions for tweaking your content
• providing suggestions for back links
• showing  you in real time how your content stacks up

With Scribe SEO, you will become a better writer and more importantly, your content will gain better ranking among the search engines.

To learn more about this great plugin, check out the video below (load video here if not displayed) and please feel free to provdie your feedback using the comments section below.

See you in the Blogosphere!

Are you looking for ways to add eCommerce to your WordPress site?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: 10 e-Commerce Plugins For Your WordPress Site

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e-Commerce for WordPress

Many of my clients used to use many different platforms, independently of WordPress, to sell products online. However, that trend is changing as it continues to become easier to integrate e-Commerce into WP, given all of the great applications now available. There are literally hundreds of shopping cart solutions, both paid and unpaid, that can be integrated directly into your WordPress site, either into your posts or your pages.

A flexible and customizable  Shopping Cart plugin can help you easily integrate an online store into your WP website or blog.  Most of these are so easy to use  that you can literally have an operational store in just a few minutes.  Some are very basic while other shopping cart plugins allow you to take your online business to the next level.

Before making a selection of which Shopping cart plugin to use, be sure to read all of the details so that you know all of the corresponding tools you might need. (like a merchant account with paypal, authorize net etc.)

Here are 10 of my favorites that I think you should consider using:

1. Simple PayPal (free)
2. YAK (free)
3. WP e-commerce (free)
4. Google Checkout (free)
5. Ecwid Shopping Cart (free)
6. Shoppers Press
7. Cart 66
8. Storepress
9. WordPress eStore
10. Foxy Shop

1. SIMPLE PAYPAL –  WP Simple Paypal Shopping Cart allows you to add an ‘Add to Cart’ button on any posts or pages. It also allows you to add/display the shopping cart on any post or page or sidebar easily. The shopping cart shows the user what they currently have in the cart and allows them to remove the items. It can be easily integrated with the NextGen Photo Gallery plugin too.

2. YAK is an open source shopping cart plugin for WordPress. It associates products with weblog entries (in other words, posts), so the post ID also becomes the product code. It supports both pages and posts as products, handles different types of product through categorisation, and provides customisable purchase options (cheque or deposit, basic credit card form, basic Google Checkout integration, standard PayPal integration, PayPal Payments Pro, and Authorize.net). YAK requires PHP5 to work correctly.

3. WP e-Commerce – The WP e-Commerce shopping cart plugin for WP is an elegant easy to use fully featured shopping cart application suitable for selling your products, services, and or fees online. WP e-Commerce is a Web 2.0 application designed with usability, aesthetics, and presentation in mind.

4. Google Checkout - Easily add Google Checkout shopping cart buttons to any post. Google Checkout provides a shopping cart tool that allows webmasters to use a javascript shopping cart. Drop a tag into any post and this plugin will place the “add to cart” button and the price into the post.

5. ECWID – Ecwid is a free full-featured shopping cart and an e-commerce solution that can easily be added to any blog or Facebook profile. It offers the performance and flexibility you need, with none of the hassles you don’t.
“Ecwid” stands for “ecommerce widgets”.

6. Shoppers Press - (more than a plugin) ShopperPress is a fully featured shopping cart theme for WordPress, suitable for selling all types of products, services, and digital downloads online. Includes 20+ store designs, unlimited installations, lifetime free support and upgrades! ShopperPress is a turn-key ready “out of the box” shopping cart solution. You simply install, select your template, add products and your ready to start accepting orders.

7. Cart 66 – Cart66 makes it easy to turn any WP website into a money making, e-commerce store. Once you start using Cart66, you may want to create more stores. All of the licenses include the same, full featured version of Cart66 and professional support. If you plan to use Cart66 on multiple websites, we have created multi-site licenses that will save you money.

8. StorePress - StorePress is a premium WordPress theme, fully coded and packed with scripts that will allow you to transform your WordPress blog into a veritable e-commerce virtual store. Start affiliate stores, or promote affiliate products with this great premium WordPress theme.

9. WordPress eStore – In a Nutshell… this sleek WordPress shopping cart plugin allows you to sell any form of digital products and services from your wordpress blog securely with complete automation. What I mean by complete automation is that once you set it up the whole process (The buying and the delivering of the product without revealing the real URL of the product) works on its own.

10. Foxy Shop - FoxyShop is a complete shopping cart solution for WordPress. This plugin connects to FoxyCart’s excellent shopping cart service and will allow you to manage your inventory from a WordPress backend. FoxyShop is designed for complete flexibility so that WordPress developers can use the plugin’s helpful library and sample code to quickly configure and implement almost any shopping cart solution.

See you in the blogsophere!

Are you looking for plugins to enhance the SEO for your site?

[Post Update] This question is answered here: Scribe SEO Plugin for WordPress

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If you have been creating content on the internet for a while, you might remember how easy it was back in the day when you could add “Subscribe now” or “Free Newsletter” on any website and build a huge subscriber list. Those days are gone and today you simply cannot approach building your subscriber list the same way you did even just three years ago! Instead, you must have a vision and plan a strategy, because people are more reluctant to join yours or any list for that matter, much more than ever.

Contrary to what many people believe, the reluctance is NOT because they’re afraid of SPAM. (Although you should have an  anti-spam policy on your blog or in your communication with your subscribers). Nor is it because they’re paranoid about their email being sold. It is NOT even because they don’t know you.

So, what accounts for the hesitation? It is, I believe,  more because they’re AFRAID.

• Afraid of not receiving what you promise.
• Afraid of receiving too many emails outside of what you promised.
• Afraid of receiving emails that are not highly-relevant to what you promise on the blog, and so on.

However, some online marketing experts suggest that the biggest reason why visitors won’t join your list  is because you are likely offering/promising the same old stuff that you can find all over the internet. How many times have you seen an opt-in form saying… “Free Blog Updates”?  It is so common these days and there is often no visible added value. And how many times have you seen a Free PDF/eBook report’ offer?  Less often!

The point I’m trying to drive home here is this and listen carefully because your blogging success depends on it:

• If you want to build your list just like the pros
• If you want to build trust with your list
• And if you want to make money from a combination of blogging and email marketing, then here’s what I suggest that you do:

1. Step #1. Talk with fellow bloggers [I suggest you connect and communicate with bloggers outside your niche as well] who are already successful list builders and if possible, interview them on SKYPE, by phone or via email. This way you’ll no doubt learn some great shortcuts and some “secrets” that will help you get where you want to go, faster, easier and better than any other methods out there.
2. Step #2. Be sure to actually implement the tips you gather from your communication with these pro bloggers. Have one or two bloggers as your mentors. However, be careful not to get caught up with too many, since learning from different sources might do more harm than good, and actually confuse you.
3. Step #3. Start building your list. DO NOT POSTPONE FOR ANY REASON. Do not wait for anything to be perfect. Start getting your first subscriber and include a strategy for making your first sale. The rest will follow.

And now, if you have a WordPress blog and want to put your list building on steriods, you should check out this plugin – Subscribers Magnet  - it’s proven to rapidly build your email list by using the technology in some unconventional and unique way. It’s unobtrusive and highly impactful. Watch the video on the page to see it in action.

Learn How To Not Only Double, But Triple And Even Quadruple The Number Of Subscribers To Your WordPress Blog – Without Getting Any Additional Traffic.

See you in the blogosphere!

Do you know that there are thousands of e-commerce WordPress plugins available for selling online from your WordPress site? Stay tuned for my next article about some of my favorites.

[Post Update] This question is answered here: 10 e-Commerce Plugins For Your WordPress Site

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AWEBER,  one of my favorite email marketing applications, just announced the release of the API (Application Programming Interface) and WordPress Web Form Plugin. Sweet!

So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that this new application  allows you to connect your WordPress site/blog with your AWeber account, letting you place lead capture forms on your self-hosted WordPress blog with just a few clicks, and without having to copy any code.

Instead of having to log into your account to get code for your form, once the form is created, using the new widget, you can insert your from right from within any of your sidebars. After you’ve installed the widget, simply drag and drop web forms that you have created in your AWeber email marketing account into your blog, without having to log into your account or copy and paste anything!  

All you need in your account is a completed web form. The best part?  You can choose from any web form that exists in your account, which means you can use the widget on all of your blogs, with just a single account.

Here are the steps to install the widget on your self-hosted WordPress blog: (be sure you have created the form in your AWeber account first)

1. On the left side of your panel, click on plugins (you can see a tutorial on how to install plugins here)
2. Select add new
3. Enter Aweber Web Form Plugin in the search field
4. Once the plugin shows up in you list ( be sure is is the one that lists the creator as Aweber) Select Install
5. Select Activate
6. Go to Settings
7. Select Aweber Form
8. Follow instructions to get your API code
9. Enter code into field
10. Go to Appearance on the left panel
11. Select Widgets then you will see a panel with all of your widgets listed
12. Drag the Web Form Widget to the sidebar where you wish the form to appear
13. From the drop down menu in the widget, select the form you wish to display
14. Click save and you’re done!

How easy was that? Now that it’s easier than ever, you should check all of your blogs now and be sure you have forms added to each one.

Are you using Auto-responders to build a relationship with your readers?

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