Resources

Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category

New Features Of WordPress 3.0

For the longest time WordPress has been the go-to blogging platform. The open-software is not only free, but also extremely easy to setup, customize, and maintain.

The one criticism of WordPress when compared to its peers (i.e Drupal, Joomla) is the lack of content customization from within the admin panel. If you are a designer it doesn’t really matter, but for others this poses a serious problem to using WordPress as true content management software.

Thankfully, many points of criticism have been addressed in the latest version, WordPress 3.0, which has taken big leaps towards becoming a full fledge CMS. Below are some key new features:

Custom Post Types – Easily create unique templates for various types of content.
Menu admin – Now users can easily manage navigation bars directly through the Wp-admin panel – change order, names of links, and easily create advanced drop-downs.
Background/header admin – Users now have the ability to quickly change the header and background images directly through the admin panel.
New template files – Templates can easily be created to address specific authors, tags, and single posts.
Multi-site management – Manage multiple Wordpress installs from one admin.

If you already have a build of WordPress installed, then you should be able to easily update from within the admin panel. Others can check out their hosting panel or go directly to wordpress.org.

And like always, if you need help installing WordPress 3 on to your website, then let us help.

Building A Website Reports

I was going through some of the older reports created by ASANT Media. I thought some people might still find them useful and have uploaded them on SlideShare.

While some of the ideas are outdated now, the concepts are still the same. Also, there may be some broken links in these reports.

Report 1 – Site Starter

Report 2 – Banking of Adsense

Report 3 – Building an Email List

What You Need To START A Website

We generally have 2 types of clients: those looking for a redesign of their existing site and those who need a website from scratch. If you fall in the ladder group then listen up – below is a list of items you will need to create a website and should have before hiring any designer.

Web Hosting – Sounds like a no brainer, but, believe it or not, many people have no idea what web hosting is or how to go about getting it.

Simply put, web hosting is your site’s home. It is where all your files are stored. As technology improves the cost of hosting is quickly getting cheaper and cheaper, and major differences among competitors generally comes in the form of 3rd party services that are offered. See our recommended web hosting services.

Domain Name – Every legitimate business needs their own .com. Without it, the only way to visit your website is by remembering its IP address. Nowadays, many web hosting services offer a free domain with purchase, so be on the lookout for those deals. Why you need an unique business name.

Depending on how big you expect your website to be, consider purchasing .net and .org versions of your domain name as well as any short-forms or alternate representations of your doman name. It could save you from potential copiers down the road.

By ensuring you have these items before meeting with any designers, it could save money and should make the whole web design experience much smoother.

How To Create Your Own Business Cards

I’ll make this real simple… If you have any type of website, then YOU NEED a business card. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a lengthy conversation about my work, and then a couple hours later people already forget the URL. Even if they don’t forget, they might misspell it, miss a “the,” or use a .com when it is a .net.

By having a card with your site URL on it, it will not only help people remember what the URL address is, but it will also increase the chance of people actually going to your site.

When it comes to getting your own business cards, it can be somewhat of a tricky process. Not because it is hard, but many of these printing companies usually lure you in with something like “250 cards for free,” but by the end of the process the cards actually come out to $50.

(more…)

The Ultimate Video Setup

I think it safe to say by now that video content is where the world is heading. It is only a matter of time before Google comes out with some technology that allows it to crawl the actual video for search engines.

You may have also noticed that many marketers are ditching the traditional long drawn out text box for video.

I have been recording videos for sometime now for my various sites and projects, and people have been asking me what equipment I use. So here you go…

1. Video Recording – When I am actually recording myself or some scene I use a Sony video camera that I just happened to have. Many people might recommend to find the best camera out there, but, to be honest, as long as the content of the video is good and people can tell what is going on, then there is no need to rush out and get the best camera yet. Once you start making some money, then you can go out and get a good HD camera.