My Personal Guide to All the Best Features in Nicepage, Part 1
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the Digital Chowder blog. I'm Wayne, and this is the first of four posts and videos I will be doing about All the Best Features of Nicepage, my favorite website builder. This post will not be a how-to about how to use Nicepage. Nor will it be a review comparing Nicepage alongside other web builders. Instead, I will highlight some of my favorite features found in Nicepage.
This first post/video will address the Nicepage subscription plan, why I like it, and why it is a good fit for me. Then I will touch on the desktop app with Nicepage, giving an overview. Finally, I will discuss the options for publishing your website after designing it in the desktop app.
Nicepage Subscription Plans:
If you go to the Nice Page website and then to their premium page, you will see four subscription plans outlined. Each plan has two options: a subscription and a license. So what is the difference? With the license, you're paying a one-time fee to purchase the software; with that, you're getting one year of updates for the software. But beyond the first year, there will be an additional fee if you want any updates. I have chosen the subscription approach. With the subscription, you pay an annual fee and receive the software and all updates during the year. And it is ongoing.
When I started with Nice Page, I used the Personal plan since I only needed one website for my business plus a personal site. With the Personal plan, I could have as many as five websites. So that was quite adequate. But now I design websites for other businesses besides my own. So I need to use Nicepage for more than five websites. However, I don't need an unlimited number of sites.
So, let's jump over to the Elementor website and look at their plans to understand why the Nicepage subscription is a good fit for me. With Elementor, three plans start with the Essential plan, which is $59 a year. This plan allows you one website. If you jump to the Expert Plan, which is $199 a year, you are allowed 25 websites.
Now let's go back to the Nicepage website. Back there, the Business plan offers a middle ground between the Personal and Pro plans, which Elementor does not have. The Business plan for $129 a year allows me 50 websites and additional features. This is just right for me. I need more than the Personal plan offers, but I don't need all that the Pro plan provides. So the Business plan is the one I use. I would pay $199 annually at Elementor and only get 25 sites.
Desktop App:
The next feature I want to highlight is the desktop app with Nicepage. There is a desktop app for both Windows and Mac computers. If you're building a WordPress website, you also get a WordPress plugin; if you're doing a Joomla site, you get that one.
You can do the whole website on your computer before you import it to your WordPress website. But it is not required. Creating the site layout is the only portion of building a website that requires the desktop app. Once you have created a layout for your website, you can export the site to a zip file and install it as a WordPress theme. You can do the remainder of the design online. Or not! You can also build the complete site on your desktop before installing it online.
Once you have installed the design theme on your WordPress site, you can work back and forth between online and offline.
Once your site is online, you can edit it on the desktop or do it online, whichever you choose. I do both. I like to be able to do major edits on my desktop, knowing that when I do a save, it's not going to go public.
Next, let's look more closely at the desktop app.
You can check the video above to see what I'm talking about in the following comments.
As you view the desktop application listed in the left-hand column, you will see a list of your websites. Click the appropriate icon to open the site you want to work with. You can also delete a website you are no longer working with from this page. To create a new website, use the "New Site" button.
If you are creating a new website, you can start with a blank website and build the site from scratch, adding elements as you go. Or, you can use your graphics to form the bases of the site. Yet another option is to select a design template from the various categories listed. Once you choose a template, you can stay close to the template design or use it only as a starting point.
Publishing The Website:
When you are ready to export my website to an online host, I can click the "Publish" button. You can publish a temporary Nicepage-hosted site, an HTML format, or a WordPress theme.
The temporary "Website" option is quick and easy. Press the publish button to install the site on the Nicepage server. Then share the subdomain with a client for their review of the site. There is no configuration or installation or uploads to do to have a site looking like the one on your desktop.
Another option is an HTML site. This choice requires an FTP app to upload to the host server.
If you publish a WordPress site, use the output zip file to install in WordPress as you do with any other theme.
Conclusion
In this post, I have given an overview of Nicepage. In the next post, I will detail some of my favorite design features in Nicepage. Meanwhile, I encourage you to get a free Nicepage
download and try it. Then come back to the other posts for further help.
Project and task management software can help you keep track of all your tasks and projects to stay organized and focused. Here are 2 Great Project Management Apps for Struggling Solopreneurs.
But these are only tools that are no better than how you use them. Alongside these tools is the need for self-management. And only you can make this work, especially for the Solopreneur. No supervisor or team member holds you accountable for the tasks and projects required to succeed. You are the boss!
In this article, I want to highlight the importance of including project management tools in your tool belt and offer practical personal tips to help you use them best. No matter how good the tool is, it is only as good as the user.
Quit Getting Overwhelmed
Have you ever awakened in the night and couldn't get back to sleep because of an idea or undone task that took over your thoughts? As you may have found, a simple solution can be to make a note of that idea or task. Once the note is made, your mind is released from the thought, and you can get back to sleep. A daytime version of this is when we become overwhelmed or stressed from feeling there is more to do than we can accomplish.
The problem is that all the undone tasks and big projects are rolling around in our minds with no way to get a handle on them. There is no plan or organization—just loose thoughts running rampant through our heads. The same simple solution that helped you get back to sleep can also reduce stress and keep the overwhelmed feelings at bay. Organize those thoughts and make notes of a plan. With a written plan, you can get the ideas out of your head and tackle the tasks and projects one chunk at a time without being overwhelmed and stressed. The trick is to have a written plan. Until you do, your mind is not released. It is full of random thoughts.
But making a written plan for your tasks and projects is not the first step. It is the second step. The first step is to create a plan to plan.
The tyranny of the urgent: Are you familiar with the phrase "the tyranny of the urgent"? It refers to being tyrannized by urgent tasks that may not be all that important. But they are urgent, so we set aside everything else to do them. While it is true that we do not have control over some of these pressing matters, we can control many. How? By having a plan for our tasks and projects. Often what has become urgent is a task that we kept pushing back until there was hardly enough time to get it done. At that point, it has become critical.
The more we allow tasks and projects to go undone, the more urgency we will have. And the more we will be overwhelmed and stressed. Stop allowing less important tasks and projects to become urgent and take you hostage! When this happens, what is the first task to go undone? Planning!
Set Aside 60 Minutes
So, set aside 60 minutes, get away from interruptions, and make a plan. If you truly devote the 60 minutes to planning and remove all interruptions, I guarantee you will emerge from this time feeling like you had a mini-vacation.
So, how are you going to use these 60 minutes? What plans are you going to make? Here are some suggestions:
lan when & how you will plan. For your first 60-minutes session, you may need to spend more time on this than in subsequent sessions. When will you have another of these sessions? How frequently will you have them? Get some dates on the calendar. If you don't, this may be your last session.
dentify the three most important tasks/projects you face over the next three months. Determine the time frame in which each needs to be accomplished. Then go backward from those dates and schedule when you will lay out a plan for each task/project.
tart planning for the top priority task/project on your list. As time allows in this session, start planning for the first item on your priority list.
Each of these 60-minute sessions will vary, but I strongly encourage you not to exit a session without a date on your calendar for your next session. I suggest one of these 60-minute planning retreats at least quarterly. You may find it necessary to do so more frequently. Then, revisit your plans weekly. Each week, whether on Friday for the next week or on Monday for the current week, review your project and note what needs to be accomplished during the week ahead. If necessary, make adjustments to the plan and your schedule for that week to do what is most important. Not just what is most urgent.
What Is The Difference Between Projects and Tasks?
I have mentioned both projects and tasks. Is there a difference, or are the terms interchangeable? This is an important question. As you explore the subject online, you will find that the words are often used interchangeably. But this is not truly the case, nor do I use the terms interchangeably. A project is a big event or a significant element of making your business successful. Projects refer to all involved in carrying out that event or essential business element. On the other hand, tasks are the individual items that must be accomplished to complete the project. For instance, a project might be to have a booth for my company at a trade fair. That project involves many actions: register the booth with the fair administrators, decide what the booth will comprise, construct the booth, enlist people to man the booth throughout the fair, etc. Each action is a task, but the project is to have the booth for the fair.
Do I need both a project management app and a task management app?
This is another excellent question. A good project management app will include task management. Without task management, a project will never get off the ground. But will this cover all my needs in operating my business? My answer to this question is 'No.' Many will disagree with me, but our differences are less about what is accurate or best and more about how we prefer to work. From my perspective, a project management app is about managing projects but not managing all aspects of my business or my daily activities. I may have 2-3 projects at a given time, but I have many tasks to deal with during each day unrelated to any of these projects. I prefer a separate task manager into which I fold jobs both related and unrelated to my projects.
So, having determined that we need to have a regular time to plan and that it could be helpful to have both a project management app and a task management app., let's move on. We will proceed to discuss possible solutions for both of these needs. First, we will address a project management app.
Click Up Project Management App
As an example of project management tools, I will use
ClickUp. In the interest of full disclosure, as an affiliate marketer, I may receive credit should you sign up for the app.
So out of all the choices out there, why have I chosen ClickUp? First, I should explain that in recommending this app to you, I have shopped the project management market, chosen this app, registered an account, and used it as my tool. So let me explain why I chose it.
t is well suited for the solopreneur. Many of the apps I explored assumed larger businesses with multiple teams. I found them difficult to fit my planning process and implementation. Frankly, I found many to be confusing.
t has a logical, structured approach. This is a feature that makes the app easy to understand and use.
t has all the tools I need in one place. While I choose to go elsewhere for a task manager, I don't have to. ClickUp has it and sends a daily email listing incomplete tasks.
t has all the features I need free forever. Since this article is aimed primarily at solopreneurs, it is good to point out that the free forever plan allows an unlimited number of members or team members.
Here is a list of features that come with the free forever plan:
100MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Free Plan Members
Two-Factor Authentication
Collaborative Docs
Whiteboards
Real-Time Chat
Email in ClickUp
Kanban Boards
Sprint Management
Native Time Tracking
In-App Video Recording
ClickUp Overview
Now let's give an idea of how project management might work and, in the process, provide an overview of ClickUp. Of course, managing a project using a different app will have some differences, but the basics will be the same.
ClickUp hierarchies: ClickUp is built as a series of hierarchies. The first tier 0f this hierarchy is the workspace. A workspace represents your business or company and so will contain everything related to the company. Within your company or workspace are spaces. These are your projects. You can have an unlimited number of spaces (projects) in your workspace (company). Within a space (project), lists are created. Each list contains any number of tasks related to certain aspects of the project. So, for each project, you end up with several lists necessary to accomplish that project, with several related tasks in each list.
Building a project: When preparing for a project, I start by creating a space within my company workspace. Let's say I plan to have a booth at a trade fair.
The first stage will be to plan the project working within the space I created for the project. Within the project space, several tools help with planning and monitoring the project's progress. Here are some of the tools:
Board on which I can view all lists and tasks on one screen.
Calendar to reference the overall time frame and when tasks need to be completed.
Gantt chart to display a timeline of starting & stopping dates for assignments.
Box, which gives an overview of all pieces of the project.
Mind Map to visualize your Workspace Hierarchy or create your own free-form Mind Map for planning and organizing projects and ideas. As ideas are added, they are each mapped to other elements of the project, allowing a visual of how the project ties together.
Workload allows you to see your team's capacity if you are working with a team. You can see who is over or under-assigned and reassign tasks accordingly.
Whiteboard: Collaborate, brainstorm ideas, solve problems and get work done quickly.
For this first stage, I will start with the whiteboard to brainstorm ideas for the project. With several ideas, I will outline a plan. Then I will move on to the second stage of the process.
Second Stage: In the first stage, I brainstormed to form the nature of my project and outlined how it would operate and what it would accomplish. In stage two, I want to bring the project to life. This is where I break down each piece of the project into actions. First, I break it down into sections. For my fair booth, the sections could be:
Determine the message & graphics
Identify vendors & contractors to provide materials and labor
Design & construct the booth
Move the booth onsite & set it up,
Make accommodations for the booth operators
Etc.
Around each of these sections, I will create a list and the tasks necessary to accomplish that section within each list. I will also assign these tasks to a timeline for when each should be started and completed.
Third Stage: The third stage is the implementation of the project. As a solopreneur, this is all on me. If I have been realistic in the second stage, I have not assumed more responsibility for myself than is reasonable. Without a team, I will have to contract out what I can, leaving my role primarily to that of project manager. That in itself will be plenty. So as project manager, I will set aside time daily to monitor the project pieces using the tools made available by ClickUp. What tasks have been checked off? What tasks are currently underway, and what is their progress? Will upcoming tasks be able to start on time? If not, what is needed to get them going? These are some of the questions I need to raise daily to keep the project on track.
This project is just one example of using a project management app and of the ClickUp project manager. There are many other project management apps out there. If ClickUp is not for you, find one that fits how you work and the nature of your company.
ClickUp User Plans:
- Free Forever: This plan is said to be for personal use, but solopreneurs should be well-served using this plan. While there are a few differences between this and the paid plans, the allowed storage space is a big difference.
Unlimited: ($5 per member / mon) This is said to be best for small teams.
Business ($12 per member /mon) Best for mid-sized teams
Business Plus ($19 per member /mon) Best for multiple teams
The word to notice in these plans is the word 'teams.' If you are a solopreneur, there are no teams, again emphasizing the sufficiency of the Free Forever plan.
Next, we will consider a task management app.
Todoist Task Management App
Todoist promotes itself as "The world’s #1 task manager and to-do list app." And PC Mag contributes to that image with the pronouncement, "Todoist is the number one to-do list app.” The app's excellence in managing tasks led me to choose it for personal and business use. While emphasizing its excellence at managing tasks, its business plan is geared for teams and has project management features. If you find a project management app such as ClickUp to be overkill for what you need to do, Todoist Business might be what you need. It will provide shared lists for teams allowing collaboration on projects which may be the primary feature you are looking for. At $6 per user per month, it is affordable for a small business.
Todoist User Plans:
Free: For starters
Pro: ($4 /mon) For power users
Business: ($6 per user /mon) For teams
So why would I choose ClickUp for project management instead of Todoist? The same features Todoist lacks in project management are the main features I want. That is project envisioning and planning. If tracking all the tasks related to a project is all I'm looking for, Todoist does an excellent job and would be my choice. But I want more. And I can get it for free from ClickUp.
At this point, I may have you confused about why I even use Todoist. I have used Todoist for years and have been pleased with its functionality. But more recently, I began to feel the need to better plan and stay on top of my projects. I started looking for a project management app and selected ClickUp. But unless I also use Todoist, I find a gap in keeping up with my tasks. Though ClickUp does a great job of keeping me on top of my project-related tasks, I have many other non-project-related tasks. I still need to stay on top of these. So I find it works well for me to blend the two. As I review my project tasks for the week in ClickUp, I include those I need to do each day in Todoist alongside other non-project tasks. Then I have them all together and can prioritize the whole list each day.
How do you choose?
As you weigh the pros and cons of these two apps, ask yourself the questions: do I need both or just one, and if one, which one? As you consider these questions, here are a couple more questions to help. Am I in more need of managing projects or tasks? If you find that you need project management more, you might consider whether using a task manager would also be beneficial.
Regularly review Your Projects and Tasks
If you haven't already guessed, I am inclined toward being organized. I don't like being tyrannized by a constant urgency of tasks. That doesn't mean I enjoy planning. I don't. But I enjoy it more than I enjoy being stressed.
If you are a solopreneur, as I am, you don't have a team around you to cover the areas in which you are not strong. So if planning is not your forte, you will likely have to step up and do something you don't enjoy or feel capable of doing. For this reason, I have offered some of my practices in planning in hopes of being helpful. But even if you find my methods unhelpful, I believe you will find help with a Project Management App to give you direction and structure for your planning.
To that end, I invite you to check out one or both of these apps. Here are links you can use for that purpose:
WordPress has two excellent drag-and-drop page builder plugins for WordPress in Elementor and Nicepage. Both have several fantastic features. Both are great picks for creating WordPress sites. So, which one should you use?
As a user of both WordPress builders, I must inform you that I have already decided. That said, I'll go through both objectively and share some reasons why I chose Nicepage. To level the playing field, I will also disclose that I am an affiliate for both Elementor and Nicepage.
So, with disclosures out of the way, we will start by looking at some objective features of both Elementor and Nicepage.
Page Builder VS Theme Designer:
One of the benefits I liked about Nicepage is that it's not only a page builder but also a theme creator. However, on the Elementor website, you'll discover a theme builder feature. So are they able to create WordPress themes as well? The answer is yes, albeit in two very different manners.
Installing a desktop program on either a Windows or Mac computer or an online builder is where Nicepage begins. These are independent applications that aren't connected to your WordPress site. You start by creating your theme using a variety of templates and styles in these apps. Templates are full-page layouts on which you may build your theme's design. The designs inspire the page's block arrangement. Once you have designed a theme, you export it from the program and install it in WordPress, just like any other theme. A plugin is included in the archive file that must also be downloaded and installed in WordPress.
Elementor does everything from within WordPress. Once the plug-in is installed in WordPress, you can build a theme. If you are using a free version, you will need to install the "Hello" theme and use the theme builder tool from within the page builder to modify theme elements, such as the header and footer. A template feature is installed for building a theme if you are using a pro version of Elementor.
Elementor gives this description regarding its theme builder: "'Builder' might be a confusing word in this case, but historically, it has become a standard part of the design vocabulary. Just as page builders are page designers that work in conjunction with your theme, the Elementor Theme Builder is a tool for building a new design framework that changes the look of those areas of your theme that have traditionally been off-limits to page builders."
Website Designs:
Another advantage of Nicepage is that it is more than a WordPress theme designer and page builder. The themes created with its desktop or online applications may not only be exported as WordPress themes but also as Joomla templates. Furthermore, they can be exported as an HTML5 website.
Comparison of Features:
Now let's focus on page building and compare features between Nicepage and Elementor.
Responsive & Mobile Designs
Elementor and Nicepage are both responsive and mobile-friendly. In other words, their designs adapt to any screen size - including mobile displays - and respond quickly. Both provide Desktop, Laptop, Tablet views, and Mobile screens in portrait and landscape mode. Once you've created a desktop version of a page, you may switch to any other screen sizes to see how it appears and make any needed changes. The majority of the time, all that is required is a few modifications to this view, such as repositioning page headers on the page or centering images. Elementor and Nicepage are equally capable in this area.
Both offer drag-and-drop design capabilities, which is another common feature between them. Find the feature you want from a list in the left column of your design page and drop it on the page layout in either program. You may then freely position and resize the element as desired. In addition, you may easily customize the colors, backgrounds, and other properties to your liking.
(We independently select these products — if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.)
Video Demonstration
Here are two short videos demonstrating their features to give a feel for the differences between the two builders.
If you view both videos, you'll find that the technologies employed are pretty similar. Regarding page creation through drag and drop, both products work similarly. The different ways elements may be positioned and modified within the page blocks influenced my decision to use Nicepage. Elementor's manual handling of position, sizing, and modification tools in the left column can be time-consuming. At the same time, Nicepage's mouse use for all these functions on the design page is more efficient. While this distinction might seem minor, it significantly impacts how quickly you can achieve your desired look and do so without spending hours in front of your computer.
Elements
Nicepage claims over 300-page elements, and while Elementor does not give a number, a browse through available features appears to be very similar. Elements might be broken down into:
Design elements - These include such elements as Headings, elements for layout, images, text editor, buttons, texts, colors, fonts, etc
Function elements include forms, menus, sliders, social media integration, etc.
Both offer a free edition. As you might expect, these free editions have certain restrictions. The limitations affect the number of websites on which you may use your license and specific features. So let's look at them side by side:
Elementor:
Free Plan - The free version is limited to one website, 50 editor widgets, and no theme building. A few other limitations exist, such as no eCommerce or form builders.
Essential Plan - For most of those reading along, this version or the free version will be the only version in which you will have any interest. You are not designing multiple websites. Only the one you need for your business. This plan is $49 per year and allows for one website. It comes with 100+ editor widgets as well as the theme builder. It also has more website kits and designer themes available. Plus, it has eCommerce, a popup builder, and a form builder.
There is also the Expert Plan, the Studio Plan, and the Agency Plan. While there are a few more differences than this, the primary difference is the number of websites with which they can be used.
Nicepage:
Free Plan- The free starter pack allows you to create the site, export it, and test most options. The number of grids, blocks, colors, etc., is limited in the free version. There is no limit to how long the free version is available.
Personal Plan - The cost of this plan is $59 per year. This plan gives free updates, five sites, 10,000+ Page and Block designs, 200 block layouts, 25 Grid styles, and 1 Modal Popup.
Other plans include the Business plan for $129 annually, the Pro plan for $199 a year, and the Ultimate for $349 a year. Each of these plans will increase the number of sites, page & block designs, grid styles, and modal popups. Again, the Personal Plan is sufficient if you are only interested in designing your business site. Should you need more than one site for your business, the Personal Plan will allow this.
Conclusion:
Both plugins offer similar functionality, so choosing between them depends on your needs and preferences. If you’re looking for a simple page builder with fewer options, then Elementor might be better for you. However, if you’re looking to build complex pages with many different elements, then NicePage will likely be a better choice. It will excel in giving you:
The ability to try out your ideas on the fly.
Allow you to modify elements in minutes.
web design 3.0 features
1,000s of designer web templates
A responsive design that looks great on any device
In this article, I will highlight Snagit Capture and Screen Recording features.
Snagit is a powerful screen capture and recording software that helps users quickly and easily capture their screen or record videos of screen activity. With its extensive suite of features, Snagit makes it easy to take screenshots, annotate images, draw professional-looking graphics, and record videos with audio.
With this article, I will only cover some of the features of Snagit. There are too many to attempt them all. I have been using Snagit for over 20 years, and in that time, I haven't used them all myself. Occasionally I will come across a new feature and wish I had already been using it.
My primary purpose in this article is to demonstrate Snagit's capabilities for those uninitiated about Snagit. Therefore, I will not demonstrate advanced features or provide a "how-to" of specific features.
Taking Screen Captures with Snagit.
Left Column
This image shows the main window of Snagit. This window is our starting point. We will work our way through the features from left to right. Starting with the left column, we will talk about the type of capture we will take.
Type of Capture
There are three choices:
All-In-One - If you select all-in-one, you will wait until later to choose whether to capture an image or do a video capture. After activating the capture process and selecting the area, you can choose whether to do an image or video capture.
Image - Choosing an image capture from this window will limit our capture to a single image. The image capture also provides several options as to the area to select for the capture.
Video - Again, choosing a video from this window will limit the capture to video capture. It will also show other options to be selected, such as using the webcam to include our image in the capture and recording audio with the video.
Center Column
Moving from the far left column in the main window to the center column, we have three choices if we take an image capture.
Capture Selection
The first choice is the area we will select. Notice the drop-down menu in the image. Only a few of the options are visible in the menu, but they include the following:
Region - Choosing a region allows us to drag the mouse over the area we want to select.
Window - This refers to an active window open on our desktop. It may be a word processor or another available app.
Full Screen - Everything on the desktop will be included in a full-screen capture.
Scrolling Window - This capture option will cause the active window to automatically scroll to the bottom of the page, capturing the whole rather than just the initially visible portion.
Panoramic - A panoramic capture is similar to a scrolling window. In contrast, you will select a portion of the page width and then scroll as far down the page as you wish using the mouse. This process will capture everything within the width of your selection and to the bottom of your scroll.
Grab Text - With grab text, a section of text on the screen is selected and then converted to editable text.
Choice of Effects
You will see the effects drop-down menu in the image to the right. Only a portion of the possible effects is visible. Effects include a border, shadow, edge, etc. SnagIt includes the selected effect in the final capture.
Share Capture
Again, a drop-down menu will list numerous choices to share the capture. These include:
Screencast - A cloud storage service of SnagIt.
Word
PowerPoint
Google Drive
Dropbox
Evernote
Many more
To summarize, you can choose an image or video capture, the area of the screen to capture or the entire screen, an effect to add to the image if desired, and an option to share the capture.
What To Do With The Capture
We are now ready to address the right column. Once you have made a screen capture, what will you do with it? Your choices include:
Preview in the Editor - This choice will automatically send the capture to the SnagIt Editor, where you can remove unwanted portions of the capture or make additions and enhancements.
Copy to Clipboard - Using this choice; you can paste the capture wherever you choose.
Activating A Capture
Now it is time to start a capture. We have three options.
The hotkey - Notice the image highlighting the hotkey setup. The hotkey can be whatever combination of keys you want unless that combination is already in use. Below the capture button, you will see your current hotkey. Mine is the print-screen keyboard key. If you press the capture button, you can change it to the combination of keys you want to use.
Press the big red button that says "capture."
From SnagIt Editor
Video Demonstration
Please watch the video below for a demonstration of the SnagIt features we have discussed. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Words would never explain using the SnagIt Editor or a screen recording video. But the video will provide a demonstration.
Conclusion
So as you can see, Snagit is a powerful and versatile tool for capturing, recording, and editing screenshots. It's easy to use with a range of features that make it perfect for professionals who need high-quality images or videos and casual users who want something quick and straightforward. With its hotkeys, capture widget, Snagit Editor presets, and more - you can easily create beautiful graphics in no time!
This demonstration may have made you interested in checking it out further. If so, use this button for a free SnagIt download. You will receive a 15-day free trial. Using SnagIt is the best way to decide if it is a good fit for you.
Why might you choose WPMU DEV for Your WordPress Projects? First, let me ask, “What is your approach to using plugins for your WordPress websites?” If you’re like me, when I first got acquainted with WordPress, my use of plugins could have been better organized. I’d seek a plugin to fill whatever my current need happened to be. My preference was for free plugins.
In time, I had an array of plugins beginning to have conflicts and JavaScript errors. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the problems arising and the time it took to find solutions.
One day, while looking for a better solution for image optimization, I came across a recommendation for Smush. Smush is for image optimization. The advice included Hummingbird for site performance. Initially, I saw them as individual plugins, but then I learned they were just two of a covey of plugins that WPMU DEV provides. As was my practice, I began using the free versions. But when I decided to upgrade Smush to the pro version, I learned that by upgrading this one plugin, I had access to the whole line of pro plugins offered by WPMU DEV.
Besides doing blogs for my affiliate website, I also developed WordPress sites for small businesses and organizations. While researching and experimenting with various plugins, I was also looking for a unified package I could offer my clients. Also, I can manage all the sites I host.
I had found that with one company and was on the way to making this my website management system for all my clients. But after I came across WPMU DEV, I changed my mind.
Why I selected WPMU DEV
So, what changed my mind? Well, it was the usual: quality and price. Beginning with quality, I knew Smush and Hummingbird have name recognition for quality products, and I liked what I saw in working with those two plugins. Initially, I assumed they would be out of my price range, at least for what I’m willing to work with. But this was not the case. So when I considered upgrading Smush to the pro version, I learned that for the price of what I was paying for the lowest level backup with the other company, I could have the pro version of every plugin that WPMU DEV offered just for the price of that one plugin.
And guess what? There are no conflicts. They all work together. My website runs faster and smoother than it ever has. But this was only the beginning. I considered what I paid for backup, security, contact forms, SEO, and other plugins. When I compared the combined cost of those apps to the one price I was required to pay for all plugins by WPMU DEV, I was blown away.
Furthermore, I considered the cost of multiple websites. I got all the pro plugins for $7.50 a month for my one site. I paid $5 per month for the basic backup with the other company. If I were to add more websites, it would cost me $12.50 a month for three sites. This would allow one license for my site plus two clients. And I would share the cost with those clients. If I were so inclined, I could also add a small surcharge.
This monthly fee for three sites gives access to all pro plugins for all three sites, plus a dashboard. I can monitor each site from the dashboard, check if they are down, update plugins, check analytics and security, and make backups or site recovery. I can also use their tools for client billing and reporting.
If any of this piqued your interest, keep reading. In the remainder of the article, I will give an overview of the various plugin features. Even though I’m an affiliate marketer, I don’t receive any benefits if you should sign up with WPMU DEV. I want to help readers find quality services for their websites and small businesses.
WPMU DEV Hub
You can see the WPMU DEV “Hub” in the displayed image. I have websites linked to all three of the licenses with my subscription. I get an overview of the activity from the Hub for all three sites. I hover over the corresponding icon to check any feature and get a report. Moving from left to right, I can check the following:
Available updates
Security
Performance
SEO
Backups
Uptime
Analytics
Reports
Client billing
And link to the client admin panel.
WPMU Features
Based on what I see when I glance at the sites listed in the Hub, I may take a closer look. First, I must click on the website I want to explore. This opens a dashboard for that site. This page gives us a more detailed summary of all the features we glanced at on the Hub.
I may not need to go further, depending on what I see here. Even if there are no performance or security issues, I often move on to a detailed page for a feature, so I might check my settings or take a closer look at the data.
For this article, I checked the uptime details for the website I’m reviewing. Because I noticed a few dips in response time over the past week, I selected the detail page for uptime. From this page, I can see the times when the drops took place, and if I choose, I can compare it to other issues that might result from the low response time.
I can also see one downtime during that period of one minute. However, the uptime average for that week was 99.98%. A score that is within the promise of the hosting service and could even correspond to a maintenance episode.
I also noticed on the dashboard page there were two failed audits under SEO. After going to that detail page, I learned that the failures have to do with a missing image alt and an uncrawlable link. So I fix these issues.
While on the SEO detail page, I noticed some other details needing attention, though they were not causing alerts.
These examples show how the WPMU DEV website management helps me monitor and maintain client websites. The examples I used with Uptime and SEO could also be applied to: Plugin updates, Security, Backups, Performance, and Analytics.
WPMU DEV Plugins
Here is a complete list of WPMU DEV plugins:
Smush Pro – User’s choice, award-winning, and benchmark tested – The best image optimizer plugin for WordPress.
Hummingbird Pro – Everything you need to get your site running super fast.
Defender Pro – Regular security scans, vulnerability reports, safety recommendations, and security tweaks for WordPress.
Hustle Pro – Grow your business and audience with this super easy, super slick email opt-in and marketing plugin.
Forminator Pro – Drag and drop WordPress form builder plugin with interactive polls and quizzes for increasing user engagement and building a following.
SmartCrawl Pro – Boost your PageRank and drive more traffic to your site with little effort and simple configuration.
Snapshot Pro – Make and schedule incremental backups of your WordPress websites and store them on secure cloud storage.
Branda Pro – White-label WordPress branding for both the front and back end of your site or network.
WPMU DEV Dashboard – Instant access to brilliant support and one-click plugin and theme installation.
Shipper Pro – Shipper Pro moves WordPress websites with one click, from host to host, local to production, development to live, and top to bottom, without using FTP.
Beehive Pro – Customizable Google Analytics dashboards, statistics, and reports for WordPress and Multisite.Integrated
Video Tutorial – Complete, quality, always up-to-date list of unbranded WordPress training videos.
WPMU DEV Support
I want to conclude with a comment about WPMU DEV Support. Support is always an important factor, along with the price and the quality, when selecting a product. Before investing heavily in a product, I want to know if I will receive help should I need help with the product.
With WPMU DEV, the answer is a yes. I give it an A+ rating. This is my response to the help I received when setting up the Snapshot plugin for backups. It needed to be fixed with my site.
I began by making contact through chat. The chat agent spent a couple of hours with me seeking the solution. When we were unsuccessful, he elevated the issue to technical support, activating a support ticket before we signed off. It was also necessary for me to give wp-admin and FTP access.
By the next day, the backup was working, but they had also made some changes in the plugin to make it work. Changes will be reflected in the next update. I was asked to create a staging site to allow further debugging so they could find and implement a fix in future releases.
View Video
You can view a video of the article for a more hands-on presentation.
Conclusion
Thank you for joining me in this article about WPMU DEV and its all-in-one monitoring system. If you found it helpful, please leave a comment below. Let me know what you think and the questions you have. I would love for you to share any ideas for future articles.
Need help with SEO? Most of us do. SEO is probably outside your skill set list if you are a small business owner managing your website. And then, how high a priority in your budget can you allow for SEO costs?
I learned about Ubersuggest early in my pursuit of an affiliate marketing website. I found it to be a welcome partner. In this article, I want to share with you the benefits I have found using the Ubersuggest SEO tools. In short, Ubersuggest is a powerful digital marketing tool that can help you optimize your website, analyze your competitors, and manage campaigns more effectively.
It can help you with valuable keyword research, giving you keyword suggestions and insights. With this data, you will be on your way to meeting your SEO goals. So, keep reading as I delve into many of its features that can help meet those SEO goals.
How I Got Started With Ubersuggest
I have an affiliate marketing website that is about nine months old, and I am still trying to get traction with SEO traffic. As I prepared to launch my site nearly nine months ago, I was looking for tools I could afford to help with keyword research. But the tools I needed were expensive, so I initially settled for free tools. There were better choices than this, though.
Finally, I came across Ubersuggest. I am trying to remember how it came to my attention. As I explored the service, it was not only affordable but offered much more than I would have expected for the price. As I begin this overview, I want to start with the Ubersuggest subscription plans. Then I will go on to highlight some of the features that Ubersuggest.
Subscription Plans
The subscription plan is shown in the image below. As you can see, there are three plans: the individual, the business, and the Enterprise. I chose the Individual Plan for $29 a month. I will get into the plan’s features when I discuss the Dashboard.
The individual plan allows one domain, whereas the Business Plan allows seven domains, and 15 domains come with the Enterprise. And, of course, the number of searches and other allowances also vary with each plan. About five months after subscribing to Ubersuggest, a lifetime plan was introduced. This plan added even more value to the subscription.
Paying $29 a month amounts to $348 a year. At $290 for a lifetime plan, I’m paying less than I was per year on the monthly plan. And the lifetime is a one-time payment. If you want more features than this offers, you can add them at $5 a month per feature.
Ubersuggest Dashboard
As you would expect, the dashboard provides an overview of information from several different features. So, for instance, it displays SEO issues such as blocked pages and broken links. We also are given items to optimize, such as keywords with more significant potential for specific pages.
Further down, we see the organic traffic. Increasing organic traffic is a big goal. If you are new to this, organic traffic results from Google searches, whereas direct traffic may come from anywhere.
I was excited when my organic traffic began to exceed direct traffic. Now I’m seeing keywords ranking in the top 10 search results. You will see those in the image below.
I now have two keywords that are coming in, in the top three now, two that are coming in in the top 10 and then 15, and the top 100 and so forth on-page SEO score gives me my score. And then down here, I can click and go. Well, check out some of my competitors, which I’ll not go into now.
Rank Tracking
Moving on to Rank Tracking, we see more details about keyword search results. For instance, my average search position is shown, and there is more detail on the ranking keywords. Ranking pages are listed along with their search position, volume, and difficulty. This information can be used to capitalize on the content ranking well.
Chrome Extension
The next feature is the Chrome extension. Using this tool, we can learn SEO statistics for any webpage we load in our browser. In the image below, we see the chrome extension displaying information on the neilpatel.com website.
On the Domain Overview tab, We can see the organic keywords, organic month traffic, domain authority, and backlinks. We can also view keyword ranking. Clicking on the Keyword by Traffic tab, we see a list of keywords, their volume, and their position. Using the corresponding tabs, we can view Backlink information and SEO analysis.
The extension is a great tool to use while browsing similar or competitive sites to your own
Site Audit
To continue down through the sidebar menu, the next feature to explore is the Site Audit. Your website will be crawled weekly using this feature and return an audit report. You can initiate an on-demand crawl using the “Recrawl Website” button.
In the image above, you can see that my last crawl was on January 23. My report from this crawl shows an on-page SEO score of 77, an organic monthly traffic of 52, an organic keywords count of 113, and 19 backlinks. As you can see, there is much room for improvement. Based on those numbers alone, I need to work hard at backlinks, keep tweaking on-page SEO scores, and keep up with keyword analysis and strategy.
Next, I could focus on the SEO issues discovered, such as pages with low word count, pages with duplicate meta descriptions, and pages with no H1 headings. From your own experience, you will know that addressing such issues is a never-ending task.
Moving on down the report, I want to check site speed. This, too, can be an ongoing effort to keep the site speed as high as possible. Every new post or major edit threatens to impact the speed.
Three concerns are targeted with site speed:
Load Time is “The time it takes for the page’s main content to load.” This report shows a load time of 2.50 seconds which needs improvement but is on the borderline of great. Last week’s report showed great. Keep in mind that the server response during the speed test will have an impact. My next post will address site speed more as I review WPMU DEV WordPress tools.
Interactivity is the “total time a page is blocked from responding to user input, such as mouse clicks or screen taps.” This report shows excellent interactivity.
Visual Stability – “How much your page layout shifts or jumps while it’s loading.” The report gives a great response.
Keyword Research
Let’s move on to keyword research. This may be the main area in which you’re interested.
Keyword Overview
Enter a keyword, such as “meal delivery,” for an overview of the results you might expect with that keyword. Here is what we get:
A search volume of over 60,500
SEO difficulty of 75 out of a hundred
Paid difficulty is 56
Cost Per Click (CPC) is $14.18
These numbers provide an overview. Let’s go down to “Search Volume” and get the volume trend for the past year. This keyword peaked in August and dropped down the next month. It looks just at the start of an upward trend in December.
Keep going down the page, and next is “Keyword Ideas.” This list gives a whole list of other forms of the keyword. For instance, based on meal delivery, other ideas include “food for delivery near me” and “food with delivery.” With each picture, you see the trend and volume.
While “meal delivery” has a possible volume of 60,500, “food with delivery near me” has a potential of 1.5 million. You can see how this tool can be beneficial.
Moving along. The following section is “Content Ideas.” This can be particularly helpful if you blog. Using the initial keyword, “meal delivery,” this section lists content using that keyword along with estimated visits and backlinks. If you decide to go with one of the keyword ideas, enter it in the search at the top of the page and look at the keyword and content ideas.
Keyword Ideas
Next on the left sidebar menu is “Keyword Ideas.” This is similar to the “Keyword Overview” we just discussed. But it takes a slightly different approach.
Here you can enter three keywords at one time and search. The result will be a comparison of results for the three keywords. In addition, you get a list of keyword ideas, including their search volume. You can drill down further by clicking on “search results” for a select keyword idea and get a list of URLs using that keyword idea.
Keyword Visualization
Continuing down the left sidebar menu, we come to “Keyword Visualization.” This is yet another approach to keyword research. Enter your keyword and search. The result will be a large circle showing keyword variations, including words such as what, which, are, why, how, etc. By hovering over each item in the ring, you can see the data for that keyword. Notice the image below.
The visualization image can be exported and is shown here:
Traffic Overview
Skipping a few features in the sidebar menu, I will move on to Traffic Estimation and Traffic Overview.
This feature allows you to analyze the keyword results on your website. Enter the URL of your website and search. The first output will be the same statistics you saw on the dashboard. Organic keywords and traffic. Next, you see a graph of your organic monthly traffic for the past year. You will see an image of this graph above.
I launched my website, digitalchowder.com, in April of 2022, so there is no data for the first five months of 2022. June shows two organic visits, July has 6, and August drops back to 2 visits. Beginning in September, the number started to climb dramatically, and since October, is showing slow growth.
As you review your organic traffic in this way, you can identify factors that may have contributed to growth or decline. Unfortunately, with traffic analysis, we are always looking in the rearview mirror. We are still waiting for immediate results for the adjustments we make. It is about three months later that we see the outcome.
AI Writer
Finally, I’m jumping down the sidebar menu to “Labs” and, under that, to “AI Write.” This is one of my favorite features, probably because I blog.
There are several tools of interest with the AI Writer. For instance, you can enter a keyword you want to rank for using the Meta Title tool and get a list of possible meta titles suitable for that keyword. You continue by doing the same with the Meta Description and Headline Generator tools. Other tools include:
Paragraph rewriter
Answer a “People Also Ask . . ” Question
Product Description Generator
Listicle Generator
Related Hashtag Generator
I often use the feature at the top of the page, which is to “Create New Page.” This feature combines the Meta Title and Description, plus the Headline Generator, all in one process. The result is an outline for a post. You start by entering the keyword for which you want to rank. Then select the title from several you are given, choose a description from several options, and finally, select as many of the headings you want from a list.
Next, turn the writer loose and it will write a document using all those elements, including a paragraph under each heading. If you check the search results in the left sidebar, you will find a list of the web pages from which the data was gathered. With this, you can do further research for your post.
View Video
You can view a video of the article for a more hands-on presentation.
Conclusion
So this has given you a preliminary glimpse of Ubersuggest. You now have a good overview of Ubersuggest features without registering for an account. Here is a link to go over Ubersuggest and sign up for a first-hand trial of the SEO research service.
As mentioned above, in my next article, I will give an overview of WPMU Div. This WordPress site management service offers an array of plugins covering everything from SEO to backup protection to security measures. Plus, it allows one to manage one or many websites at once.
Check back at DigitalChowder.com frequently for information on various topics related to digital resources for Home and Small Businesses. On the Home page, you will find a list of categories for subjects in which you may be interested.
Please leave comments in the section below, including topics you wish I would address in the future.
