What do you Need to Know about WordPress Plugins?

1. WordPress (WP) plugins are applications that add features to a WP website.

2. They give a website owner limitless business and career possibilities.

3. They function by allowing developers to add their own code to the existing WP code. This code will be stored in the directory that is open for all to use.

4. Adding them to a WP site is done by simply searching for a plugin in the directory and installing it.

 

When creating a blog in a hosting service like WordPress, surveys and other plugins can be confusing to use at first. However, understanding how these work is essential for you to build your ideal website. Here is a brief explanation to WordPress plugins and how they work:

 

What are WordPress plugins?

WordPress plugins are applications that add functionality and features to a WordPress (WP) website; they pretty much work like the mobile apps on your phone. The use of them started in 2003. The very first plugin began as a simple tool to create blogs in WP. Nowadays, thanks to new technological advancements, they are sophisticated and intelligently made. Truly, WP has transformed into a powerful content management system and application framework.

Currently, there are more than 48,000 available free plugins in the WP plugin directory, while thousands more premium ones are being sold by third-party developers.

What can they do?

These apps run on top of the WP software in order to allow user limitless possibilities in customizing their websites. Because of them, WP has become a popular hosting service for businesses because of its versatility. Numerous possible career purposes are fulfilled on the website; these include the following:

1. Running an e-commerce business
2. Posting advertisements for jobs
3. Building directories
4. Giving out digital coupons
5. Creating an artist portfolio
6. Creating a Wikipedia site
7. Broadcasting podcasts
8. Etc.

With all these possibilities, the WP community now has a catchphrase to answer someone’s website dilemmas – “there’s a plugin for that!” Basically, this means that a certain plugin exists in order to solve a specific issue. For instance, you can find various plugins that will help you improve search engine optimization, make performance more efficient, add forms and social media sharing buttons, create galleries, and many more.

 Essentially, plugins can be small with only one feature or large enough to be their own platform; with the latter possibly having their very own add-on plugins.

How do they work?

WP was created in a way that really allows freedom for developers to add their own code to the existing one. The interface of the existing code is easy to use and revisable for the user to twist them into his/her will and to add his/her own flavors and functions.

Developers can then store their changes in the WP database for others to use as well. These are then utilized along with content types, taxonomies, and custom fields in order to create plugins that can store different types of content on the website.

Every WP plugin that you choose to install is registered in the database and can be activated and deactivated at will. When you visit your site, WP will connect to the database, load the main software, and then load all of your plugins. All the code will be processed on the server and will be sent back to your browser.

How to find and install plugins?

Plugins can be found in the plugin directory or the Floating Social Bar. For the directory, simply click Plugins > Add New and type the name or purpose of the plugin you are searching for. A list will be displayed for you to choose from. This is the same when you use the Floating Social Bar to search. There is an option to review each plugin and once you’ve found the one you need, it is simply a matter of clicking Install Now.

However, you may not find what you are looking for right away because these searches will only show the choices that are for free – no premium plugins will be included. Keep in mind that it may be difficult for a first time user to decide which ones are essential. In such cases, you can refer to online tutorials and recommendations to help you out.

 

What are the common problems?

There are several common problems you need to be aware of when using these plugins. They include: 

• Plugins may work selectively

Unfortunately, WP plugins do not work all the time. For example, a plugin may function on a WordPress.com website, but not on a WordPress.org page.

• Plugins slow down CPU performance

You can never have too many plugins; but a poorly coded plugin can slow down your CPU’s performance.

• Outdated plugins

Some authors fail to update their plugins along with the updates of WordPress. Because of this, some plugins break.

• No support for free plugins

Chances are you will find a free plugin that can function just as well as a premium one. However, these often do not have customer support or warranties. Plus, the author may choose to stop updating them at any time. If you want assurance of smooth service and functionality, then paid plugins are the way to go.

Key Takeaway

It is true that not all plugins can be considered as competent. However, it is also important to note that there are several of them that can work really efficiently (whether they are premium or free). You just have to understand how they function. Hopefully, these guidelines listed above can assist you in your website endeavors.

What are the Top Reasons Why People Ignore Your Survey?

1. The purpose of the survey is unknown.

2. It is too difficult to answer.

3. The questions are irrelevant to the respondents.

4. The layout and overall design is not attractive.

5. The intervals of the surveys are too frequent and cause survey fatigue.

 

If you have a successful website on WordPress, then survey tools should be part of your everyday strategy for improvement. Using these tools is an essential practice in order to understand what the customers want and need, so that you can eventually satisfy them.

As a result, they will become content with your service, you will become trusted, and you will be much closer to success. However, the reality at the moment is that surveys are seen as intrusive. Plus, it can be difficult to get a visitor to answer one. The most probable reason for this is survey fatigue.

What is Survey Fatigue?

Survey fatigue is one of the latest issues marketers and researches face. This is particularly because everyone is jumping on the survey bandwagon; feedback tools have garnered a general negative perception due to how excessively prevalent they are in everyday life. Everything from websites to grocery receipts has them incorporated to their systems. Generally, it has become boring, tiresome, and uninteresting to people.

It is important to note that further subjecting your customers to survey fatigue has multiple negative effects for your website; and they are:

• Wasted resources on the research and execution of surveys.
• Inaccurate collection of data.
• Customer irritation and dissatisfaction with your website and its service.

Essentially, there two types of survey fatigue you must remember.

1. Response – This begins even before taking your survey. Potential respondents will choose not to answer your survey because of being overwhelmed with the overall requests for their feedback.
2. Taking – This is the type of fatigue that happens while the respondent is taking the survey; he/she abandons it without completing it.

Reasons Why Survey Fatigue Happens

There are a number of reasons why survey fatigue happens in the first place. They include the following: 

1. Over Surveying

As mentioned above, surveys have become more frequent and more prevalent. This, then, results to excessive surveying. Companies and websites have been littering the world with requests for feedback and the number of respondents, who are getting turned off with constant interruptions, is increasing.

To combat this, companies should enforce longer intervals between the surveys they are conducting. It is advisable for them to conduct them at least every month or every year. This is essentially because intervals that are too short can be seen as annoying, especially since there is a high chance that these surveys will be presented to the same people, who have already taken them.

2. Lack of Transparency

When people answer surveys, it is natural for them to want to know how their response will be used. In a situation where the survey conductor tells a respondent that their answer(s) may help them improve a service, the chances of them completing the survey is higher. On the other hand, not giving them the reason to take the survey won’t also give them motivation to finish it.

When a potential respondent considers answering a survey, these questions will usually appear in his/her mind:

• Why should I take your survey?
• How long will it take?
• How many questions does it have?
• What will happen after I give my answers?

These are the questions that you have to clearly answer for your respondents. If it’s possible to show results immediately after the answer(s) is given, then do it; a good example of this would be online polls. Such results will make the respondents feel like they made an impact and give them fulfillment.

3. Takes Too Much Effort

Wasting time is one thing, but wasting effort is another. This is usually a disappointment people face when they accept to take a survey, but it ends up being more difficult than what they bargained for. Online surveys not optimized for mobile are the worst sources of this. It is an irritation for people to have to deal with a pop-up questionnaire that they cannot easily tap the answers onto.

This is the main reason why websites or companies conducting surveys should make them as easy as possible for people to respond to them; and this includes optimizing them for mobile use.

4. Asking the Wrong Questions

The relevance of questions is also a factor. The more important a person finds a question to be, the more motivated he/she will be to answer it, which is why you must focus on questions that will help you and your website reach your goals. Keep in mind that asking irrelevant questions are a waste of time for both you and your respondents. In order to find out the right questions you should be asking, you must do the right research first and foremost.

Remember, if you can keep the choices concise and in multiple choice form, then you will get more engagement from visitors.

 

5. Not Considering the Respondents

Lack of empathy for the respondents and their convenience is a formula that will spell disaster for your survey. Website owners, such as yourself, must find out ways to make the layout, response options, questions, and overall design attractive and exciting for the target market.

In order to be aware if your survey is appealing enough, try answering it for yourself or ask some colleagues to do so. Ironically, getting feedback for your feedback tool can help you make improvements.

Key Takeaway

Surveys are essential part of the website-customer relationship. It is one of the most efficient ways for the two parties to communicate with each other. Mastering the art of this communication is the key to evolving your website.

As a blogger, a website survey tool is your best friend. This is a way for you to communicate and build a relationship with your audience.  The more you get to know your audience, the more you know what type of content satisfies them.

Blogs are Made to be Read

Believing in yourself as a brand is great. However, sometimes this can make a blogger blind. He or she could focus too much on blogging about topics that he just feels like writing about without worrying about the relevance of his content to his readers. This is a selfish practice for bloggers. It may get you traction in the beginning, but you will eventually lose it over time. Maintaining relevance is key to a successful blog and, to do this, you must understand your content core.

The Content Core’s Relevance

The content core describes topics that are relevant to you and your audience. When you begin blogging, there is only “the middle.” Essentially, this entails: what you do, what you offer, and what problems you solve as a blogger. Surrounding this middle (but not yet part of your core) is your potential audience and what they care about.

While it is alright to just write about you and your interests at the beginning, this is not the only thing you should write about. This will keep your content core the same and not spell success for your blog. To expand this, you must find out what your target audience wants and relate it to you.

Understanding Your Audience

The most effective way to get to know your audience is to use a survey tool. Here are key points that you must remember when conducting a survey. 

1. The Goal

The goal of a survey is for you to get new information about your audience. You may think you know them, but do you know the specifics? For example, you may know that your blog attracts mothers, but you may not know that most of them are 20-30 years old. If this is so, then creating content that is for mothers 40 years old and above will not be appreciated by majority of your audience and chances are, you are going to lose them.

Moreover, when it comes to specifics, you can study what makes your audience excited, what the newest trends are, and why they are on your blog. These are the data that you can capitalize on to evolve your content.

 To know the specifics of your audience, ask questions that will make you aware of their interests, age, family, friends, preferences, hobbies, etc. When you know these details about your audience, you can revise your marketing and content strategy to cater to them. 

2. Know Where to Ask

There is a business concept known as “social listening.” This is basically the monitoring of social media to see how your blog is perceived. With the help of this, you can identify potential problems with your content that you can confirm in a survey. It also shows you which social media platform your blog is most active on and where the most engaged users are. Inviting people from this platform to go to your website and answer a survey will definitely garner results. You may also see trends in your audience’s interests and problems. 

3. Build Personas

In the business world, a persona represents your ideal customer. For a blog, this is a general view of what your ideal visitor’s demographics, motivations, interests, and behaviors are. When you gather information from your survey(s), chances are you will come up with more than one persona. This is normal. Identify all the personas with meticulous detail and see how they all relate to each other. 

4. Put Personas into Action

Always refer to these personas on a regular basis, especially when you are looking to make new content and/or changes to your website. Doing this can point you in the right direction.

 However, pleasing these personas does not mean you have to change yourself. Your target audience reads your blogs because the branding, that is you, appeals to them. As a blogger, when it is said that you must cater to your audience, it merely means that your message just has to connect with them more efficiently. This could mean any of the following:

• Using a more understandable language, mood, or tone.
• Placing visual aids and infographics.
• Set up an easy to use navigation for your website.
• Choosing relevant topics.

Key Takeaway

Following these tips will help expand your content core and it creates a domino effect. This happens because you have to evolve who you are and what you offer in order to relate and cater to your audience’s interest. In other words, by getting to know your audience, you expand the middle of your content core and this gets larger. However, when this happens, the middle does not stop being surrounded by the audience. Essentially, you gain new audiences. If you see where this is going, then you know that identifying your audience is a process that never stops. You must practice doing this all the time in order to have a successful blog.

The quickest way to improve your website is to ask the visitors. They are the ones who use it so they are the ones who experience any inconveniences it may have. Thankfully, you can invite them to voice their opinions about it by using a WordPress survey plugin. If you successfully get them to answer your surveys, then you can get their customer feedback. This is one of the most important assets you can have when you own a website and here is what you can do with it:

1. Improve What You Offer

A business may know the products and services that they want to sell, but it is only the customers who know what they truly want to buy.

This thinking also applies for a website. For example, a writer has a blog. He may believe deeply in what he writes and his content actually has very good points. But if the way he writes it is grammatically incorrect and lengthy, then no one will bother to read it. He has the product his visitors want, but it does not have a good quality. Unfortunately, he will continue writing like this up until someone brings up his errors. This is where customer feedback comes in.

If said blogger has a survey plugin on his blog and he asks his visitors what he can do to improve, then he will be made aware of his mistakes. Mistakes are not meant to keep anyone down; they were meant to learn from. If the blogger uses this feedback correctly, then he can come up with a solution that can keep him and his visitors happy.

As a website owner, mistakes being pointed out to you should not trigger you to defend yourself. You should take these as free suggestions on ways to improve your content, product, and/or service.

2. Measure Customer Satisfaction

 With a survey, visitors can not only voice displeasure, but also satisfaction. You will get a mix of these two and they will help you create a meter that measures how well certain pieces of products and services are doing. An effective way to get this measurement is to use a rating system. Once you know which products and services are doing well, you will know where you can focus your improvement efforts.

3. Improve the Experience

 The overall experience of using your website must be top-notch. If it isn’t, then your potential buyers, visitors, or viewers might not even bother to try and find what they are looking for on your website.

 When it comes down to it, improving customer experience means making sure that your website is user-friendly. It needs to be fast, pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, among others. With a website like this, old visitors will keep coming back while new visitors will be pleased.

This is the reason why many startup websites go through a beta phase first. It is their way of telling the customers that they can voice out their opinions and they will be ensured that the final product is a website that they will truly enjoy and want to keep visiting.

4. Improve Customer Retention

 You may be able to provide a satisfactory product or service once, but you have to be consistent in doing so. Even though it can get repetitive, you should always ask your visitors if they are satisfied with your product/service. This way, you can always address any inconsistencies immediately.

Inconsistencies in quality are a turn off for anyone. You may have frequent viewers, but you may lose them if you don’t always shell out the quality content that made them stay faithful to you in the first place. In fact, they may turn to another website that can offer them both quality and consistency.

 

5. Make Decisions to Evolve

Too many websites, and even businesses, make decisions on hunches. Owners may see a trend and jump to capitalize from it right away without proper data. These often end up as really bad decisions.

Data is knowledge and knowledge is power. The best data/power you can get is the information you collected from customers, or in your case, visitors. By using your visitors’ feedback, you can realize the next step you must take.

By now you know that feedback provides you a measurement of how well or how horrible you are doing. This is what should drive all of your decisions. If you are doing horribly, then improve. But when you are doing well, you do not stop; you strive to evolve. Ask your customers what they think could be the next big thing you can do with your website.

 

6. Identify Your Endorsers

If you use customer feedback to do the actions mentioned above, then you will see nothing but positive feedback from your surveys. But when this happens, the chances of evolving your website do not stop. Keep catering to what your visitors want and keep doing this consistently. Eventually, you will get so much positive feedback that you will land a potential endorser.

 This endorser does not need to be a celebrity (although, that would be really good for your website). He or she just needs to be someone who is very impressed with the work that you’ve done and who is very willing to give you high marks on the survey. When they gave you this, thank them personally. Let them know that you appreciate their appreciation. From there build a good relationship with them and eventually, they will tell people about your website. It’s free marketing. Who knows? They might just talk to the right people in the right places.

 

Your visitors’ opinion is the most powerful asset that you can have as a website owner. Don’t fear it; embrace it.

With millions of bloggers in existence, it is difficult to stand out from the rest. Luckily, with some intelligent methods and the use of some WordPress survey plugins, you can increase your readership.

Be Smart About Your Content

Creating quality content is, obviously, essential to attract readers. However, being able to market your content is just as important as the content itself. Once you are sure that your content has top-notch quality, here are a few strategies you can do to market them:

• Evergreen Content: When you say the content is “evergreen,” that means the content is not sensitive to time and is relevant even months or years after it is published. With such content, people will always be constantly searching for it, which means you will have a steady flow of new readers visiting your blog all the time. An example of an evergreen post is a “Greatest Actors of All Time” list, whereas a “Greatest Actors of 2008” list is irrelevant nowadays.

• Attention Grabbing Headlines: In a world where media is consumed quickly, there are a lot of people that only read the headlines of shared blog posts. Because of this, an attractive headline is essential to encourage people to click on the link to read your blog. It would be a shame to have your well-crafted blog ignored just because of a lackluster headline. If you feel that this is what your headlines are like, then experiment to find what catches the attention of readers.

• Newsletters: Invite your faithful readers to sign up for a newsletter. With a database of emails of interested people, you can send them weekly or monthly emails of your best content at that time. This will ensure that they are well updated and satisfied by having a supply of great quality blog posts to read on a regular basis. Doing this will build your reputation as a consistent and reliable blogger.

Use SEO

Search engines are the number one source of information nowadays and the optimization of it, or SEO (Search Engine Optimization), has become one the most sought out methods of marketing on the web. Basically, SEO is the practice of smartly using keywords, external links, and keyword-related content on a website to make sure that it ranks higher on an SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Being able to use SEO correctly will guarantee success for your blog or any other type of website. However, with millions of other bloggers and website owners also using SEO, how can you make sure your blog isn’t buried by the completion? The answer is long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are phrases with three or more keywords. Having such keywords for your posts is important and can lessen your competition because they are less broad. For example, if one searches for “gourmet restaurants by the beach,” fewer pages will appear on the SERP rather than when one searches for “gourmet restaurants.” Also, users in general look for something in particular when using a search engine and will use long-tail keywords to do so. Thus, if a user searches for “gourmet restaurants by the beach,” and you have a blog that talks about and contains those keywords, then that person will be able to find your blog faster. With the right long-tail keywords, you become more accessible to potential readers.

To be able to find the most efficient long-tail keywords for you to use, simply use a search engine.

Type in the broad term of the topic you wish to write about without hitting the “enter” key. The search engine will use its auto-complete function and suggest subtopics for you based on what you typed down. For example, if you type “gourmet restaurants,” what will come out on the auto-complete function is “gourmet restaurants in the Philippines” or “gourmet restaurants Silang Cavite”. These are potential long-tail keywords. Take note of these.

Then hit the “enter” key with the broad topic to start a search, which will lead you to the SERP. Going to the bottom of the SERP will bring up the related searches of your term, which will also be long-tail keywords. Take note of this as well.

Input these suggestions on a keyword planner website and you will be able to see which one is the most searched by users on the web. Once you find the perfect long-tail keyword, you can create a blog about it. Doing this means that you are creating the supply to a big demand on the web.

Remember to also ensure that you place the keywords in the first paragraph of your blog as well. This is an SEO technique to rank the blog higher in the SERP of the keywords.

Hunt Down Your Audience’s Nest

Trying to promote yourself on all available platforms might be good, but it can be quite inefficient. It is actually more efficient to know which social network your content will fit in. Why would you promote your nerdy blog in a fashion website? Instead, try to promote it on a forum or website that is related to it. Now this can very broad as well since there are millions of nerdy websites out there. However, it is important for you to know the particular sites where you have to promote to. You can do this by using analytics plugins.

By using analytics plugins, you can find out which websites are your “referrers.” These are websites (which aren’t search engines) that contain links to your website. When people click on this, they increase the traffic on your website. This is called “referral traffic.” By being able to find out which referrers give you the most referral traffic, you also find out where you can focus most of your marketing and promotion. This is efficient because you will be able to market to people who are already interested in your topic. Just make sure you have a good headline to draw them in.

Speed and Mobility

As said earlier, the world moves fast and so should your blog. If your blog doesn’t load fast enough, then it will drive away readers because they don’t get the quick information they are looking for. They will exit your website and find another place where they can get it faster. Use a speed insights tool in order for you to find out how fast your blog takes to load. These plugins also provide you feedback on how you can improve your loading speed.

People also want information on the go and, therefore, on their mobile phones, which they can take anywhere with them. Studies show that the modern user spends at least three hours a day using a mobile device. In these three hours, they are consuming information. If you optimize your blog for mobile viewing, then you attract people to view it during these times.

Scratch Each Other’s Back

Everyone is looking to gain more traction for their blog. Instead of competing, you could help each other out. This could be done through an SEO technique called Guest Posting. This is the act of creating content for another blog or website.

Guest posting is useful because of the following:

1. Influence: Posting good content on someone else’s blog adds to their value, which builds your relationship with them. This is advantageous to you because bloggers are largely influential on social media. If they speak highly of you, then it builds your influence, which then leads to more readers.
2. SEO: When guest posting, it is courteous for the hosting blogger to link their audience to your blog as well. From what was discussed earlier, this makes the host blogger a referrer which will increase your referral traffic.
3. Audience: Basically, you get to speak to the audience of the other blogger. If done right, you could make his/her audience your audience too. But you must make sure your guest posts add real value to the content of your host blogger to do this.

Guest posting is a two-way relationship; “scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” Being that, guest posts actually have plenty of advantages for the writer; it is considered courteous to allow the host blogger to create a guest post on your blog as well. Doing this allows them to build their influence, SEO ranking, and audience as well. In order to have a successful blog, you cannot practice crab mentality; you must be willing to help another in order to be helped in return.

 

At the end of the day, you may produce good content, but if you aren’t intelligent with the way you manage your blog, then your words will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. Study and practice these five tips to get your voice heard!