Author: Sel

5 Group Buying Sites to Stalk

group buyingGroup buying sites are becoming a popular online destination for many shoppers. The range of offers and deals mean that consumers can save on a number of different products and experiences. If you are looking to find a new online site where you can access a plethora of discounts, you should visit the below sites and start saving money – there’s something for everyone in all of these.

Parents Deals

Parents Deals is a website that offers discounts for people who are on the way to, already started, or have growing families. The site offers savings on products from brands that they trust and recommend for parents with no tipping point, like Groupon or LivingSocial.

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4 Little Known Facts About Startups in the USA

Are you dying to join the growing ranks of startup companies? If you are, you’re definitely not alone! Most startups are much more about hard work and dedication than instant riches and world-wide renown, but break-out companies have been able to prove that there’s always an exception to every rule.

Groupon's Today Deal

 

If you’re truly passionate about your vision for the future, you just might be the Twitter or Groupon of the future. Before making your final decision to start down this path, consider these  4 little known facts and trends:

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8 Basic Yet Necessary Tools or Plugins for your Site

website pluginsThere are many basic, yet overlooked, tools and plugins that you can add into your website arsenal to add functionality and intention to your business or personal site.

While these are a totally different beast than going the advertising campaign way, there’s still something to be said for having an extremely functional and user friendly site for brand recognition.

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Startups To Watch in 2011

The most successful startups are able to stay a step ahead of their competition by analyzing the current trends to predict the next hot application that will captivate the public.

One way to get a few ideas of where to go with your new business venture is to take a look at recent successes. Here are some examples of recent startups that stayed in touch with the average user to create exceptionally usable products:

Easy Photo Sharing with Instagr.am

instagram

The ability to share photos is almost as popular as the ability to share music online. However, it can be a pain to post those cute baby pictures on a host of social networks and check each site for comments.

With Instagr.am, you can take pictures, apply filters, and publish them all over the net. Instagr.am is quickly going viral as it attracts about 100,000 new users each week.

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User Interface Design: Some Simple Tips

podiumUI design can be a big hit or miss. Often times we try to go for form over function, without really thinking about what the user wants and need.

Sure, flashy flash websites are awesome, but what happens when the load time is 30 seconds? What happens when a user comes to your site and watches the flash intro, but loses interest and doesn’t proceed any further because they weren’t on an informational landing page?

What happens when you launch contests that have confusing and dizzying design where the user can’t understand what to do or where to go?

Let’s take apart a website that recently launched a user powered tournament. They have a very unique tournament system- not replicated at this moment by any other site- that allows users to vote on matchups through 6 rounds of voting- til they get to the final round.

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9 Must-Have WordPress Plugins

wordpress pluginsWordPress is the standard content management system for millions of websites, because there’s no web development platform that’s as user-friendly, valuable, and adaptable.  If you haven’t heard of WordPress before, learn about how WordPress can make your website more manageable.

Once you get the basics from managing a WordPress website, you will figure out that WordPress plugins make the world go round. No really, they do. If you have a WordPress blog you understand the importance (and OCD habits) that come with picking the perfect plugins.

Here’s a list of 9 must-have WordPress plugins.

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Host yourself: Don’t leave your digital space in someone else’s hands

hosting yourselfWhen it comes to running a small business or blogging about your recent travel adventures to Spain, anyone who works online understands the need for speedy and effective Internet hosting service.

While the quality of various hosting companies can vary widely, having 100% up-time is very important for the business or individual to stay productive. For some, having a web hosting company to take care of all of their hosting needs is viable, but for others who want more control over their systems and a more secure environment, they may opt to host their website or page themselves.

This is preferable also in case there are needed changes, customized settings or implementing features that are more suited for their business model or personal taste- often times this can save money because you won’t need to consult the company who set you up in the first place.

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4 Tips for Increasing PPC Conversion Rates

ppc marketing for beginners

[This is a guest post from Selena Narayanasamy. Follow her at @esvienne.]

PPC, or pay-per-click advertising is a hugely successful concept (originally) from Google. Pay only when an interested visitor clicks on your ad. The system allows for an incredible amount of control compared to other advertising mediums, and can be tweaked to perfection (if you are willing to spend some time on it).

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The biggest challenge of PPC marketing is to maximize ROI – and as such it has developed into a science. Besides keyword targeting and ad copy, there are a number of additional factors that can be tweaked to increase PPC conversion rates:

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