The 25 Best WordPress Plugins

WordPress is a beast of a Web publishing platform. Since its 2003 debut, WordPress has been downloaded over 60 million times, and powers 22 of every 100 new active domains in the United States according to the company. WordPress' popularity and ease of use spawned a rich plugin ecosystem that gives users the ability to improve, display related articles that will potentially interest readers, track RSS feed traffic, credit authors in new ways, and much more. Read more on PCMag.com

Social Business Success Requires Looking Inward

Focus as much energy on how your employees, partners, and shareholders experience your business as you do your existing and prospective customers. Retailers know exactly what scents, colors, and music to use in their physical environments that facilitate an experience that drives sales. Industrial designers spend time trying to evoke an emotional response from the users of a product. Read more on InformationWeek.com

Good Practice: Advertising in Cyberspace

Advertising on the Internet continues to develop. It is inexpensive and measurable, interactive, sometimes fun, and can be viewed anytimie, night and day. Use it to reach new markets locally, nationally and globally. Make your website a promotional tool in its own right, so that it acts as an interactive brochure. Advertise on others' sites perhaps with banner adverts, which are the main advertising vehicle on the Net, or animated or static adverts, often found on search engine sites which, if clicked on, lead viewers directly to your site.

5 Brilliant Creative Campaigns That Used Instagram

Instagram has amassed over 100 million users since it first launched and although there are no advertising options on the platform yet, what we are seeing are a bunch of brands getting involved with their own creative campaigns. The level of creativity here is amazing considering the fact that there are so few features to play with, but the real world examples show that with enough creative thinking, you can engage with a large number of consumers. Read more on Simplyzesty.com

You Design It, They Do It

What if someone came to you and said, “I’ve designed this great website, but people don’t stay on it. Why?” How would you respond? Would you ask them whether they have done extensive A/B testing? Would you recommend testing the usability of the website? People like to test a number of metrics to see why people are not staying on a website. I think sometimes we spend so much time focusing on analytics that we throw common sense out the window. Don’t get me wrong—analytics are a powerful tool for improving a website. But often the problem is right in front of your face. Read more on Smashingmagazine.com

Get Organized: Leave Your Job, Not Your Data

The economy lags. Business dries up. Your position isn't all that secure. If you were to be laid off today or quit your job unexpectedly, what would you do with the contents of your computer before you left the organization? How would you get your contacts information from Outlook, or grab all your personal files, and make sure you don't leave any stored passwords in your browser? Read more on InformationWeek.com

6 Reasons iOS 6 Jailbreaks Will Be Tough

Glory hounds hoping to jailbreak Apple's newest devices won't have an easy time of it. Security experts detail the challenges. Waiting for a jailbreak for the latest iOS 6 devices such as the iPhone 5? You might have to wait a while. Jailbreaking your iPhone is now legal in the United States, even if Apple has historically discouraged the process. With Apple's release last month of iOS 6, iPhone hackers have, of course, set their sites on jailbreaking the new OS. So far no automated jailbreak is available for latest-generation iOS devices that run iOS 6. But software hacker Grant Paul claimed, to All Things Digital, that he'd jailbroken an iPhone 5 less than 24 hours after its release. Read more on InformationWeek.com

How to Spot Facebook Scams

Chances are high that you’ve been a victim of a Facebook scam, and you may not even know about it. Late last week, the Naked Security blog posted an alert about a scam claiming that Facebook would begin charging for its services and promising a way to continue using Facebook for free. The scam has been around for years, but people keep clicking. Now that Facebook has crossed the 1-billion-member mark, it will only continue to attract cybercriminals looking to make easy money off of an irresistibly large user pool. Here’s how to spot a possible scam on Facebook and where to go to find out the truth. A quick fact check could save you and your friends from getting ripped off by Facebook scammers. Read more on Mashable.com

6 Ways to Add Twitter to Your WordPress Site

Do you have a blog? Chances are you have a Twitter account, too. Twitter and blogging (or running any type of business website) go hand-in-hand. We use Twitter to drive traffic to our websites. We invite our website visitors to follow and engage with us on Twitter. One feeds the other and vice versa. Many experts agree that WordPress is the best way to power your website, especially if you operate a blog. I can go on and on about what makes WordPress great, but let’s stick with its one outstanding benefit: There are so many great ways to integrate Twitter with your WordPress website. Read more on Mashable.com

iOS 6: 5 Things That Disappoint

Apple's new mobile operating system offers some much-needed improvements, but plenty of things still need polish. Apple made some great improvements to iOS 6 with its Photo Stream syncing, Safari syncing, Facebook integration, and Do Not Disturb. Unfortunately, Apple didn't go far enough in revising some apps, and falls completely on its face with others. Here are five things about iOS 6 that Apple could have done much, much better - Read on InformationWeek.com

Facebook Rolls Out 'Want' Button in Retail Test

Facebook on Monday confirmed what's been speculated for months—that the social networking giant is actively trying out additions to its arsenal of business-friendly interactive tools for users, including a so-called "Want" button.The company is currently engaging in a "small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products through a feature called Collections," Facebook said in a statement emailed to PCMag. Retailers involved in the program are Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com, the company said. Read more on PCMag.com

10 Must-Have iPhone Apps

When my shiny new iPhone 5 arrived, I didn't port all my apps to the new device. I saw the blank slate as an opportunity to start over, spring clean if you will, a chance to load my iPhone with only the most essential apps. It wasn't easy to decide which of the hundreds of apps I would reload onto my iPhone, but it did force me to determine which apps I actually use heavily and rely on day to day, versus the ones I can't seem to let go of, despite the fact that I hardly ever open them. Read more on PCMag.com

Get Organized: 20 Tips for Working from Home

If you're lucky enough to be able to work from home either occasionally or full time, you're probably fully aware of the benefits. And if you want to keep those benefits, you'll need to stay organized by keeping on top of a few best practices. This list of tips and best practices is divided into two parts. The first part is for people who work from home full time. Most of the suggestions apply to both the self employed and those employed by some other organization, although a few tips are slightly more relevant to the latter. Read more on PCMag.com

Good Practice: Selling on Value

Consider selling on value rather than price. Price-based sales pitches atract price-sensitive customers who are already in the market for what you are selling. A value-based pitch can woo customers who did not realize they needed your product.

Quality Investigation in Website Design

During the process of website design there are several methods used to determine whether a given website fulfills its functions and expectations of the users. The most popular are: quality investigation, especially focused interviews and individual extended interviews, and functionality testing. They are carried out during various phases of website design.

10 Free Ways to Market Your App!

Most people think that successful mobile apps get magically downloaded millions of times within days of launching. Think again! Just like any other business, website, or idea, you need to have a solid marketing plan to promote your awesome new mobile app if you want it to be downloaded. Unfortunately, most people also seem to spend every last dime they have on developing their app, and are unfortunately left with a very small marketing budget. This is the exact reason why I’ve compiled a list of tips to help you kick start your marketing campaign on the cheap! Read more on Mobile.tutsplus.com