Will The Plugin Work?

Think Twice Before Installing A WP Plugin.

I’ve had more than enough problems with WP plugins. They can happen at any time but especially when there is a WP update and the plugin is not updated to work with the new WP version and stops functioning properly.

Sometimes it continues to function and does what it was created for but it can interfere with other functions of your site that have nothing to do with the function the plugin was intended for.

For example I had a plugin for Google Analytics which after a WP update disabled the setting of my site which allowed links to open in a new window. After that WP update all links were opening in the same window in spite of the WP settings to open in a new window. After deactivating and deleting the offending plugin the problem was solved. But it was a long and hard time to find out what was causing the problem.

Plugins for WP are a two edged sword.

Plugins of course can do an incredible amount of good and are of great help. But sooner or later they are very likely to create problems. The recent one is one that I haven’t been able to solve yet. Nothing I’ve tried so far worked. That includes about 20 to 30 minute chat with a WP specialist company’s wizard. All his ideas and suggestions were unhelpful. The last thing he suggested was that I subscribe to their paid service and that they would solve the problem for me. Needless to say, I didn’t pull out my credit card.

So what is the current problem I’m experiencing with a plugin now?

I’ve tested so many like plugins and none of them seems to work properly now.

One worked initially until I used its settings to exclude the like button from the home page and a couple of posts.

The exclusion worked but it became permanent. When I wanted the like button to show in the places where I excluded it from, there was no way for me to do it. In the settings it failed to show the 3 places from which it was excluded so I couldn’t put the settings back to having the button show on the home page and the couple of posts.

I thought that by deactivating the plugin and installing a different like plugin the problem would be solved. But alas, it was not. In spite of making sure that the settings don’t exclude the home page and the posts which were disabled with the previous plugin, the like button still wasn’t showing in those places.

My next step will be contacting the creator of the like plugin I have installed now to see if they can help.

If they do I’ll be sure to let you know. If I find a solution to this I’ll write about it here, updating this post.

Please comment and share your views on this and on WP plugins in general. What issues have you encountered with WP plugins?

Smart phones can be and are used sometimes as internet marketing tools. It’s kind of exciting that the new BlackBerry phones are finally arriving. BlackBerry is now the new name for the company that makes them too. No more RIM or Research In Motion. BlackBerry is a cool name that stems from the famous keyboards and their shape with small buttons that looked like the fruit used on the classic first mobile phones made by the company.

The new BlackBerry smart phones Z10 and Q10 are here and soon to be available to be purchased widely.

Look at the picture of the Z10 with 4.2 inch screen for which there is already available a screen protector for less than ten dollars.

Will people buy them in large enough numbers to strengthen the company and make it regain some of the lost market share?

I personally think so but some people think that the opposite will happen. Watch the video below to witness a discussion on this subject. It’s not just opinions either. Some facts you may not know are revealed inside the video too.

So what do you think about the discussion and which of the opinions expressed there do you lean towards?

For those of you who haven’t yet watched the video, I have a request: Have a look at it. Even if you favor the iPhone, the Z10 actually has almost the same size of screen as the iPhone 5 (just 0.2 of an inch longer) and it looks a bit similar, or if you dig the Samsung smart phones with their increasingly larger and larger screens, there is something in the video about your gadgets and the companies that make them too.

After watching the video or even if you skipped doing that, not so cool behavior LOL, what do you think will become of BlackBerry?

Will they do much better than just survive, will they barely survive and be bought by another company or will they slowly disappear from the scene?

Leave your comment and expand on why you think what you think will happen.

Then like the post on Facebook, tweet it and google+ it and bookmark it so that more people will find it and join the discussion.

Authored by Vance Sova

Facebook has been talked about a lot lately, even in mainstream media, mainly because of its public offering and consequent drop in market value. But aside from investing and stock market speculation, is there any real value when it comes to using Facebook for marketing, advertising and list building or lead generation?

Most people view and use Facebook as a tool to keep in touch with their friends and family and can quite easily figure out how to use it for that purpose. To use Facebook for marketing and for business is not that easy. A lot more knowledge and skills are required that don’t come intuitively. It can be a long process figuring everything out.

Creating a good looking fanpage for example can be quite consuming. It is much easier and faster to use a fanpage template.

An excellent source of fanpage templates has been inside a social media course focused around Facebook which I have mentioned in some of my past posts, for example in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+? post.

Now, for a very limited time, most likely no longer than up to October 19, 2012 or the end of next week, there will be free fanpage templates available at one of the promotional pages of the course site. Update: The free templates are no longer available, they were available till about November 03, 2012, a bit longer than anticipated but the opportunity of getting them for free is irretrievably gone.

Sorry if you came here too late to take advantage of that great offer.

As of November 17, 2012 there is a different kind of limited offer which will give you the whole course at half the regular price. I suggest that you take it now as it too will expire soon.

Update September 04, 2017: This course is no longer available for sale to new buyers. To provide a product on how to use FB, the links have been changed.

The course with lifetime access is a bargain at its full price anyway so don’t despair too much if you don’t catch the half price offer. (the offer ends on November 30, 2012).

The good news is that when you purchase the full course the templates will still be included inside it at no additional cost.

The course is packed with information and will teach you everything you need to know about Facebook and how to use it for marketing and business. That includes list building and lead generation. There are step by step videos, templates and everything you may want to and need to know about how to use social media and Facebook to their full potential.

Armed with the knowledge and skills you can gain from this course, you will be able to make Facebook and social media work for you. Like anything, it needs to be used to its full potential. But when it is, you will never need to buy another social media or Facebook course because the course is being constantly updated. It is alive and not finished and done as many courses are. I know because I have bought it.

I recommend that you check this product on how to use FB.  Click here.

Good luck.

Leave your comment about what you think about the usefulness of social media and Facebook when it comes to marketing and list building.

If you already have a Facebook account, please do give this post a like too.

.

Authored by Vance Sova

Is Google Turning Into Social Engine?

There are subtle and rumored signs as well as obvious signs that Google is rapidly becoming a social engine. It will be the biggest social engine of all when everything falls into place.

If you are involved in or interested in internet marketing, it’s important for you to read on. If you haven’t read my post Social Engine Optimization-Social Media Search Engine Optimization-SMEO do so now. Then come back here to read about the obvious signs, the subtle and rumored signs of Google going social and get a few tips on internet marketing interaction.

Obvious Signs of Google Turning Social

The obvious signs are both fairly old – YouTube and fairly new – Google+. YouTube and Google+ are social platforms. While YouTube has been around for years it has recently started changing it’s look and tens of millions of dollars are going into making it even more social and interconnected with other social media sites. Google+ is still very new but it has already forced Facebook to be more proactive and even a little bit more pro business.

Subtle, Rumored Signs of Google Going Social

The internal and hidden workings of Google have always been kept secret and mysterious and perhaps rightly so. Things like the algorithm keep on changing to make it virtually impossible to fool the system.

But smart people don’t want to fool Google. Smart people want to do what works.

What works is sticking to the rules, honesty, good content and increasingly, this is the rumored part, interaction.

It seems that Google is now placing a lot more value on your interaction with your readers. In the past it had some value in Google’s eyes and it usually meant comments on your site or blog.

The value of comments is now much higher but that’s not all.

It appears that Google now also values highly your interaction through social media like Google+, YouTube and Facebook as they are connected to your site or blog.

Nobody is going to be able to conclusively prove this unless Google goes out of their way and makes a statement confirming it. They may never do that.

When you look at the signs mentioned above and how Google is in the process of integrating things like Google+ and YouTube with it’s new design into the mix you can’t but conclude that things are getting more social.

Update January 11, 2012: Yesterday a blog post appeared on Google’s blog that is announcing Google Search Plus. That is as obvious a sign of Google going social as you can get.

Internet Marketing Interaction Tips

Engaging your readers and your audience has always been a good idea and it has always worked.

Now there are more ways of doing it than ever before.

Comments on your blog are very important and will always be. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. The importance of comments is growing steadily. One tip about comments that many ignore is that in order to interact through comments you need to reply to comments your readers post and keep the conversation going.

Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Twitter and other social media interaction is getting more important and valuable each day now.

Have you been resisting using Google+, Facebook etc. ?

If you use them, do you know how to use them fully, taking advantage of everything they can do for you?

I couldn’t believe it when I read a comment somewhere in which a person was astonished that there are actually courses on Facebook and Google+. To them chit chatting needs no instruction.

There’s a lot more that can be done with social media than chit chatting, of course.

Is every possible way of using them for your business, whether you are an internet marketer or a conventional brick and mortar operation, clear to you?

Unless you’ve devoted a lot of your time to figuring everything out for yourself and keep at it to stay up to date, it’s very unlikely that you know how to use Facebook, Google+ and other social media to their maximum potential.

This is why courses are popping up all the time, especially on Facebook, fan pages and so on.

People need help to be able to use them quickly, properly and fully for their businesses.  Most of these courses are helpful but I find that they are usually leaving out some important  things and sometimes too many. Most of the courses aren’t being updated and often are obsolete as soon as they come out.

Are you currently taking a social media course or thinking about doing so?

What’s your opinion about Google turning into a social media engine?

Respond in the comments section and then like this post on Facebook, Google+ it and tweet the post to share it with others. Be social media and social engine friendly.

P.S. I’ve used a different text spacing for the Internet Marketing Interaction Tips part of the post. You are kindly requested to comment about which spacing you prefer after you answer the questions above. Does the larger spacing make it so much easier for you to read the text that you don’t mind having to do the extra scrolling? I listen, read and pay attention to what my readers prefer to see on my blog so please make your preference known.

.

Authored by Vance Sova