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  • WordPress Page Builders: The ONE Comparison No One Ever Talks About

    WordPress Page Builders: The ONE Comparison No One Ever Talks About

    WordPress Page Builders are created for one reason and that is to help website developers, bloggers and WordPress owners to quickly build pages on WordPress quickly and efficiently. However, there’s one thing that many page builders software that don’t talk about—how to decide which WordPress page builder to use?

    “Hear me out for a second. I love WordPress Page Builders and I had purchased nearly all of them and I had learned something major in it. Carry on reading this article (takes you less than 5 minutes) to learn more.

    Reginald Chan

    Do you know that no two page builders are created equally? For starters, WordPress Page Builders are usually known as WordPress website builders—they allow you to create WordPress website layouts without a single line of code (no coding skills required).

    Here’s where everything get a little fuzzy especially for beginners. We tend to use WordPress Page Builders to build blog posts as well!

    If this is the case, this is what you need to know (really, summary style).

    List of WordPress Page Buildes (summary)

    Fastest WordPress Page Builder

    Thrive Themes is the best and highly voted page builder for WordPress. Easy to use and highly affordable, this page builder is excellent for those who wants to build high-converting pages in just a few clicks.

    Cheapest WordPress Page Builder

    Divi Theme is the clear winner here with pricing structure. It offers yearly and lifetime licenses. In a long run, you save more money with Divi than any other WordPress page builders in the market.

    Best WordPress Page Builder for Beginners

    Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress website builder that allows you to build anything and everything under the sun. This is one of those website builder plugin that offers a limited and free builder plugin.

    Best WordPress Page Builder for Advanced Users

    Oxygen Builder is one of the best WordPress Page Builders that I had personally used. If you are looking for a completely bloat-free WordPress frontend editor, this is the best that you can ever get when it comes to bloat-free WordPress Page Builder. While Oxygen is a powerful builder tool, knowing HTML and CSS are essential to build beautiful website designs with Oxygen.

    Best WordPress Page Builder for Agencies

    As a freelance WordPress developer in Malaysia, Beaver Builder is one of my favorite WordPress page builder tool when it comes to building a WordPress site. It loads super fast and doesn’t come with huge bloatware like many of its competitors.

    WordPress Page Builders to build Pages

    If you are looking to build pages and WordPress homepages, the best option would be Divi. Divi comes with thousands of pre-made templates and that you can easily import to your WordPress site. Plus, there are many different layouts that you can use with Divi.

    At this point of writing, Divi offers the most pre-made templates available for download compared to any other WordPress page builders.

    WordPress Page Builders to build Posts

    If you are looking to build posts and landing pages, the best option would be Thrive Themes. Thrive Architect comes apart of Thrive Themes plugins and this is by far my favorite WordPress post builder. More importantly, Thrive Architect comes with over 250 pre-made templates and you can easily use it to build beautifully crafted blog posts that convert!

    Apart from that, don’t forget that Thrive Architect is the ONLY WordPress builder that doesn’t lock your content (making it gilberish) upon uninstalling it.

    List of WordPress Page Builders (with features that matters)

    Thrive Themes

    Thrive Themes is one of the most popular WordPress website builders in the world. This is a suite that contains 9 different plugins and the popular Thrive Themes Builder. This WordPress website builder allows you to create EVERYTHING from pages to crafting custom blog post layout. When it comes to WYSIWYG frontend editor, Thrive Themes excels far better than any other of its competitors.

    Thrive Themes comes with over 276 ready-made templates and the full suite comes with website theme and essential plugins to make your blog stand out from the crowd.

    Thrive Themes is also fairly affordable with either 1-time payment for plugins or monthly subscription for the full suite. For the best value-for-money option, subscribing to Thrive Members ($19 per month) is one of the best options for website owners.

    Divi Theme Builder

    Divi Theme Builder is a full suite just like Thrive Themes. It allows you to build everything without the need of a single line of code. Divi is easy to use but this software will add significant bloat to your WordPress site, affecting the loading speed in some way.

    Apart from that, there is no website builder tools that provide new and free website layouts on a weekly basis … except for Divi. All of these website templates can easily be imported directly to WordPress and you use them almost instantly.

    Divi comes in two pricing—yearly plan ($89) or lifetime ($249). All plans come with unlimited usages and therefore, it is one of the best value-for-money option for WordPress owner.

    Elementor

    Elementor is the only page builder plugin that offers free account. It is one of the most popular WordPress website builder that allows you to build anything and everything under the sun. Elementor is a fun WordPress page builder tool that allowed me to build many sites from scratch, quickly and effectively.

    While the free version offers some level of customization, the paid version (Elementor Pro) unlocks the full potential of Elementor as a page or post builder.

    Beaver Builder

    On the surface, the Beaver Builder tool looks very promising with a higher price tag. The true power of Beaver Builder comes in the page builder features. Beaver Builder offers powerful WordPress design solution, along with multiple keyboard shortcuts that make website development way faster.

    Also, Beaver Builder comes with a nice truckload of ready-made templates (which is awesome) and I love their pricing structure. Beaver Builder pricing starts at $99 (with 50% on renewals) and all plans come with unlimited website usage. Website development agencies and freelancers will be able to make the most out of this due to the unlimited usages (so no extra cost per website).

    Oxygen Builder

    Honestly, Oxygen Builder may not be one of the best option for you if you have limited knowledge in HTML and CSS. However, Oxygen Builder is one of the most powerful ones in the market if you know exactly what you are doing. It makes website development really easy with the different and clean elements. 

    Apart from that, Oxygen Builder is extremely bloat-free which makes it an excellent choice especially for those who are serious about website loading speed.

  • Remote Working Made Easy

    Remote Working Made Easy

    Working remotely is becoming more popular, and in some cases, a requirement. This means that many companies are learning how to enable their staff to work from home – and produce almost identical results to office based working. 

    The global work culture has shifted in recent years, and there are more online businesses and freelancers than ever before. What does this mean? 

    There are now a plethora of services and tools to help us maximise our working hours and our output. 

    Here are some ways that you can make your remote working life easier to manage. 

    Systems & Software

    If you manage a team, then this responsibility falls to you. While you might have access to a working laptop, high-speed internet and the files you need. It would be wrong to assume that everyone has the same access. When it comes to files and data, then a cheap VPS is the ideal solution. A collaborative and secure way to work in a team. Zoom or Google Meet are both great options for group meetings. Make sure you equip your team with the tools they need. 

    Communication

    Following on from the last point. Keeping in touch both in a group and on a one-to-one basis is essential. Much of how we communicate is by reading body language and tone of voice. We need to work harder on remote chats to get those across. You should have meetings scheduled once a week to keep everyone on track.

    Goal Setting

    Have clear weekly and monthly goals set so that everyone knows what they are doing. Collective goals mean that your team will all want to do their best to meet the targets and expectations. 

    Expectations

    A remote team will usually consist of a range of people. Some will be morning people, others will be night owls. And while you won’t have too much control over their working hours, you can set expectations. You expect them to be around for group calls, checking in with emails and delivering their work on time. Be clear. 

    Structure

    If you are new to working from home or have had an online home business for a while, you still need structure. Routine is still essential. A considerable perk of working from home is the ability to work around other parts of your life, but some routine is necessary. Without that structure, you will find tasks take longer (Parkinson’s Law). You will not be able to give defined hand-in dates and may need to rush. Create a good routine as soon as possible. 

    Rest

    There is a temptation to burn the midnight oil, wake up very early and get started again. The enthusiasm is impressive, but you will burn out. It is essential to set yourself some rest breaks during your working hours too. Pomodoro timers will give you focused periods of working and designated breaks also. Use the breaks to hydrate and walk around. 

    If you find that you get stuck on something, then use the opportunity to take a more extended break. 

    There is a particular dedication and discipline that comes with working from your own home. Once you have the basics laid, running a home business, or managing your team from home is a rewarding experience. 

  • Common Business Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

    Common Business Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

    As much as we all learn from our own mistakes, sometimes it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others. By so doing, you avoid the agony of having to learn the hard way. This is especially true in the world of business, where a simple mistake could spell doom to a venture you worked so hard to see up and running. 

    In other words, a business can stumble and fall from a simple bad decision, a miscalculated risk, or a mismanaged crisis:

    Working with friends instead of business partners

    Don’t mix business with pleasure! This saying has been with us since time immemorial and it’s true to the core. Starting a business with a friend can be quite stressful, especially if one partner is committed to it and the other has another priority commitment on the side. It can come with a lot of misunderstandings, especially where one party is giving a 100% commitment to the business while the other is mostly absent and wants an equal share of profit and equity.

    Failing to utilize contracts

    Whether you’re in the service industry or your business deals with a certain line of products, it is crucial to understand the importance of contracts. When hiring employees, contracting suppliers, and even recruiting new clients, contracts will always help build better relationships, show commitment, enforce discipline, and streamline processes. In a recent comprehensive online guide on this particular website, a carefully created contract provides clear details about the responsibilities of each party signing the agreement. At the very least, your contract template should include work description, pricing, payment schedules, due dates, and the “out” clause. Contractual agreements are essential for any business serving a wide range of clients and failing to use them is a mistake businesses can easily avoid.

    Falling in love with an idea

    Successful entrepreneurs understand that business is not always roses and unicorns. It has highs and lows, yes and no, and stop and go seasons. Things don’t always go as planned, but challenges are taken up positively. If an approach fails to work, you can always go back to the drawing board, restrategize, and flex up to pursue your business goals. The lack of flexibility is something entrepreneurs can easily avoid.

    Ignoring intellectual business property

    Each business is unique in its own way, from the trademark to the logo, name, company trade secrets, and copyright, among other things. These are intangible aspects and assets of the business, but are equally important. As a proprietor, you are advised to be original in your property to avoid prosecution for infringing other people’s property that might be protected by the law. It’s also important to have your intellectual assets patented or copyright-protected where possible.

    Doing it all on your own

    Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it sure wasn’t built by a single person. In business, you will need different people to perform different tasks and come through for you when you get stuck. Some entrepreneurs go solo just to slice the expenses, but once you take this route, it’s only a matter of time before the responsibilities start overwhelming you. After all, the size and success of a business are measured by the number of its employees! To add to this, it’s also important to always ensure you’re recruiting the right talent into your business. Don’t make the mistake of hiring the wrong people!

    Inadequate funds

    Entrepreneurs start businesses with great zeal, energetic to expand their business over time. Somewhere in the middle, however, many of them end up losing their focus once the money starts trickling in. Money is the leading cause of failure and success. Improper management of funds is something you can easily avoid using various measures, including having a budget and sticking to it, ensuring proper bookkeeping, staying on toes with accounting, which brings us to the next important point.

    Ignoring accounting

    We invest in businesses for the money and it loses meaning when we get too comfortable to keep records of accounts. Accounting helps entrepreneurs understand business patterns, and gauge whether or not the business is making progress, stagnating, or losing. It makes no sense to run a business, you cannot account for. Proper accounting will help expand your business to greater heights, so don’t make the mistake of ignoring it.

    Ignoring market research

    Before setting up a business, it pays to conduct lengthy research about the products or services you want to offer, gathering opinions and thoughts from your target market and other players in the industry. It will help you to determine whether you are offering what is needed and not just what you think is needed.

    Finally, as long as you’re in business, it’s best to take advice, opinions, and ideas but make the decisions. It also pays to encourage constructive criticism from customers, investors, lenders, and mentors. With the above few pointers in mind, it can be easier to maximize the success chances of your business.

  • How To Easily Connect To Your Instagram Audience

    How To Easily Connect To Your Instagram Audience

    Instagram is a popular platform where you can make a brand and attract an audience. How people respond to visual content is a variable that made Instagram popularised among the masses. With useful and authentic content, you can attract an audience and engage them. Many businesses have seen the potential of Instagram for marketing potential. It is a platform that can let anyone gain instant popularity with other users, of course, using the appropriate content! Additionally, hashtags have evolved into something vital if you want to emphasise your campaign. 

    Whether you have a personal Instagram or you use it for your business, having an audience and engaging with them is essential. Here are some of the ways to easily connect with your Instagram audience.

    Public Profile

    Making your profile public will make it accessible to consumers and to a potential audience. Experts behind https://linkinbio.xyz also recommend the use of multiple links in your Instagram profile to provide your followers with other platforms where they can reach you. This approach will not only help you connect with your followers but will provide an avenue to expand your audience as well.

    Study your Followers

    Analysing your audience is one of the first things you should perform. When you know information about them, you can use these as a basis for your content, captions and hashtags. There are various tools available for studying statistics about your followers. The metrics in these apps aid in determining if you are effectively connecting with your audience or if you need to rethink your strategy. 

    Engaging Content 

    Always aim for interesting and authentic content. People follow your account because they would like to learn more about your interest, ideas, your mission, your products or services. And the best way to showcase these is through the content that you share. You can perceive what captivates your audience by observing which posts gain more comments and likes. Contemplate on what is included in those popular posts as compared to other contents you shared. 

    When selecting multimedia content, choose those that exhibit your ideals or which reflects your brand in a more personal manner. For a business, it also helps to insert images of employees and includes an encouraging phrase. Furthermore, ensure that your photos or videos are clear and of high resolution. 

    Related Content: 19 Best Instagram Follower Trackers (2021)

    Captions

    Say more about your photos with a creative and attention-grabbing caption. Some people may not know the reason behind the picture you posted. Thus a short, simple, yet effective caption will engage your audience.

    Ask Questions

    One of the best ways to connect with your audience is by asking them questions. Ask them how they are feeling or request for their opinions. You may also post a photo and then inquire how they feel about it or ask for their impressions. And when your followers ask questions or comment, it is also expected for you to respond. In this way, you can lead the conversation and show your appreciation for their support. 

    Share Exclusive Information

    Strive to post for new and unique content that your audience will only receive from your channel. If you have multiple social media sites, attempt to vary the materials you post and adjust it depending on the platform and your audience. In this way, you will engage your followers on topics unique to your channel.

    Another thing you can do is to obtain something that will set you apart from other similar businesses or from the millions of Instagram users. Offer something valuable to your followers. You may provide your audience with simple tips on your speciality. For food bloggers, short cooking suggestions that are posted daily will ensure the return of your followers. 

    Use Trending Topics and Hashtags

    Take advantage of the topics currently being talked about and use it accordingly to state your ideas and mission. Use hashtags and generate unique ones to complement the trends. You also need to be quick when creating hashtags. You won’t believe how quickly people share and read on the topics posted on social media and having a unique and catchy hashtag will ensure that you get noticed!

    Challenge your Followers

    Stimulate your audience and invite more followers by asking them to participate in a challenge. If your challenge is enticing, this technique will expose your channel to more people and might even start chatter about you. When people participate in the activity, it is polite to acknowledge them, like their photos or comment too.

    Managing your Instagram audience is quite challenging. But if you know how to engage with them, you’ll definitely retain your followers and increase your audience as well. Just ensure that you have a profile that is public for ease of searching and following you. Pattern your posts according to the interest of your audience and supplement it with captions and hashtags. You can also engage your followers by using trending topics, asking them questions or even giving them a challenge to work with. Lastly and more importantly is the act of commenting and responding to your followers. Show them your appreciation and notice the growth in your connection with them!

  • 6 Factors to Ensure a Successful Business

    6 Factors to Ensure a Successful Business

    There are about 600 million entrepreneurs in the world today and all of them aim to achieve sustainable success. However, statistics also show that more than twenty percent of small businesses are not able to continue after its first year of establishment. This goes to say that putting up a business is not easy. The idea of a successful startup would entail a lot of things and if you miss even just one of these could make you lose your chances of being a successful entrepreneur. But, what are the factors that help ensure a successful business? Read further to find out. 

    A Good Website

    A good website can do wonders in every aspect of your company’s digital marketing strategy. To say that your site needs a great web design would be an understatement. It has to serve your company’s purpose of putting up a website. Whether it is for generating leads, building your business reputation, or for sales and aftercare, everything has to be done right to ensure you get increased profit and revenue.

    The best thing about having a good website is that it increases your chances of making sales opportunities. This is because a website will also increase your company’s availability to make sales. You can offer your products and services and make sales on a 24/7 basis. 

    High-Quality Services and Products

    One of the best ways to measure business success is the number of satisfied customers that your company caters to. This can only be possible if your services or products are of high quality. With top quality products or services, chances are high that your first-time customers will become repeat customers. Not to mention the fact that they will also serve as your most reliable influencers. By telling their friends about the value of your business, your network of customers will grow exponentially in no time. 

    To ensure that companies deliver what their advertisement claims, they must build more than just good products. They have to create products that will surpass customer satisfaction. Companies, may it be small or big, should have the commitment to make sure that flaws during the process of product development must be eliminated.

    A Well-Laid Marketing Strategy

    Whether your company caters to your target audience’s wants or needs, keep in mind that these may change with time. This is one fact that your marketing people have to keep in mind when formulating strategies. But, despite these changes, your marketing strategy has to convey a consistent message. This message will then be relayed to your social media networks and any other advertising channels. Besides, since it is consistent with your company branding, your target audience will not be confused or misled. 

    An effective marketing strategy will help companies gain an edge over their competitors. It is through effective marketing strategies that products and services are developed to have the highest profit-making potential. It also helps businesses to optimize their utilization of available resources so that a clear sales message will be relayed to its target market. 

    A Solid Network

    Having a solid network of like-minded business owners can enormously help you expand your audience reach. By networking with these people, you can easily grow your business. This is so important, especially if your company is still in its infancy. You can ask help from these people about letting your products and services be known in their market as well. It is through networking that businesses will be able to acquire new leads.

    Strive to lengthen your list of contacts that will help you open doors for many business opportunities. Make sure to maintain professionalism when communicating with your network. Keep in mind that entrepreneurs would love to help their fellow businessmen, but they would not like someone who would be frequently badgering them for any business opportunities.

    Having the Right Team

    Having the right team, which consists of people who are willing to work together towards achieving your business goals is such a great company asset. You may hire individual employees who are geniuses in their own fields, but if they refuse to work together as a team, then having them in the company in the first place would be useless. Hire great talent with the right attitude and then compensate them well.

    Their insights will largely help you lay the groundwork for having a highly productive team that is capable of working together. They should be able to cooperate and communicate well within a neutral atmosphere where trust and respect also exist. As for business owners, once they are assured that they’ve got the best team they should get out of their way. Tasks have to be delegated and give their team more autonomy as this will serve as one powerful motivator.

    Strong Management Skills

    Managing a business is certainly not a simple child’s play. You need to possess good, if not stellar, management skills that will make you capable of bringing your business to the ladder of success while wading through lots of challenges and complexities. It is not enough that you have the experience, but you should also know how to show to your staff how to get things done in a way that you will be able to reap your desired results. With strong management skills, business owners will be able to position themselves as effective leaders and great problem-solvers in any difficult situations that may arise.

    Never get tired of finding ways to bolster your team and your company revenue will follow suit. Always possess a supportive attitude to inspire your team to work for the common goal. Most of all, note that aside from the 6 factors mentioned in this article, there are also many other ways to help your company become successful. Also, before you even claim that your business is already successful, you have to clearly define what are your measures of success. Most of all, don’t rest on your laurels. Keep improving so you can survive and you don’t get left behind by the competition.

  • Significance of an Online JSON Editor

    Significance of an Online JSON Editor

    Advancements in technology have blessed us with tools that can help us to perform our duties more efficiently. Similarly, there are many programming languages and scripting formats used to manage multiple desktop and web-based applications. We all know that XML is considered as one of the most useful languages to transmit information between a server and a web-based application. However, this language has a serious drawback, which is its complex structure.

    Fortunately, now we can use an alternative of XML language that works exquisitely fine on almost all browsers and is capable of storing information over the web. The Json online ((JavaScript Object Orientation) gives data a human-readable style that is capable of transferring data between a server and an application. This format has become popular among professional programmers and data managers due to its small and compact size. It is also easy to manage a JSON code. You can use an efficient online JSON editor for making changes in a JSON code without any hassle.

    An efficient JSON editor helps you make changes in a large JSON text file without any trouble. This web-based tool enables you to easily add objects, remove some additional arrays, or unnecessary values quickly within a blink of an eye. Furthermore, you can edit your JSON code without disturbing your code’s format by using a competent JSON editor online.

    Now, before we discuss the need to use an online JSON Editor, let’s find out the significance of using JSON format to store information over the internet.

    Advantages of JSON Format

    If you are a programmer, then you must have an idea that JSON is much simpler than XML because of having fewer attributes and grammar, which also makes it easily manageable. However, JSON files often have a huge text that makes it challenging to deal with; that’s why it becomes inevitable to use an efficient online JSON Editor. This online tool allows you to validate, beautify, change, or add more objects in a text. The main reasons for using JSON instead of XML are discussed below:

    Simple Syntax

    One of the biggest reasons for using JSON code instead of XML is its simple structure. The JSON code is more straightforward to use, and has fewer values as compared to XML.

    Easy to learn

    It is also simple and easy to learn JSON due to its straightforward and unambiguous structure. You don’t need to follow any hard and fast rules to work on this data exchanging format.

     Light Weight

    Another main reason for its popularity is that JSON is shorter, faster, and quite lightweight as compared to all other formats like XML. So, you can easily say that JSON is much better than XML when it comes to exchanging information data over the web.

    Why should we use an Online JSON Editor?

    If you think that it is tough to create or edit a JSON code, then you are wrong. You can use an online JSON Editor to make changes or produce a JSON code. There are tons of JSON Editor tools available over the web. You can select any of them according to your requirements. The following features must be observed in a JSON editor before settling down for a single one.

    An efficient online JSON editor provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to make changes in your JSON code without any hurdles.

    You don’t need to install an extension or software on your device to use a free JSON Editor online.

    A competent online JSON editor doesn’t disturb the formatting of your code while making changes in it.

    To Sum Up

    A useful JSON editor lets you make changes in your JSON code without disturbing the formatting and provides you with a super-friendly interface that assists you in editing your JSON. Using an online tool for editing JSON allows you to make changes in your JSON code anytime and from any part of the globe.