Ignite Web Conceptions

Our mission here at Ignite Web Conceptions is to design professional-level websites. That includes all of the things that come along with an aesthetically appealing design to keep your viewers coming back. Our clients consist of businesses, churches,...

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St.Louis Web Design | Ignite Web Conceptions

Ignite Web Conceptions offers St.Louis Web Design. We are a local company that prides ourselves on creating aesthetically sound websites.

Why does your organization need a website?

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New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/web-design-10-essential-wordpress-plugins-for-bloggers/

Web Design: 10 Essential WordPress Plugins for Bloggers

So you have decided to build a website because you love to blog?

The right plugins for your WordPress website can make the job easier for you and more pleasurable for your users. We all know the end-user comes first so if your user base can smoothly glide around your site zipping in and out of the pages they want, using the functionality that makes the experience so much more enjoyable you ought to be able to sleep easily at night knowing you have a good foundation built. If that sturdy foundation just so happens to make your work easier….well you know!

Some of the functionality you will need

Every blogger website needs users, so you will want an advanced and intricate user control plugin.

You will want to send out mass e-mails for fans and users alike so a newsletter plugin will be a must.

What blog wouldn’t be complete without a way to share your posts? Must have a social sharing plugin.

Will you have different roles for users? Peon, Viking, VIP, El Presidente? You will need a nice user roles plugin to accomplish that.

Along with these roles you will want to hide content from lower ranked roles and save the juicy stuff for paid members or whoever you choose, you will need a menu role plugin for that.

  So you get the point. Lets take a look at some basic yet essential plugins to use. Oh yeah….they’re also free!

#1 AllInOne SEO

“All in One SEO Pack Optimizes your WordPress blog for SEO”

  Of course you need SEO, this plugin will help you setup your blog to be as SEO friendly as possible. I use it on my personal site and am greatly please with it’s performance plus the extra free add-ons that that come along with. There is also a pro version that costs (as of right now) $39 then a $10 recurring monthly payment.

DetailsDownload

#2 MailPoet Newsletters

“Create newsletters, post notifications and autoresponders. Drop your posts, images, social icons in your newsletter. Change fonts and colors on the fly. Manage all your subscribers. A new and simple newsletter solution for WordPress. Finally!”

  A nice way to send newsletters. Easy to setup and easy to use!

DetailsDownload

#3 SumoMe

“Most blogs are designed for hit-and-run readers. People find your blog, read your article, and leave. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of those people subscribe or share your amazing post?

SumoMe provides the tools you need to grow your blog by engaging your readers. The features of this plugin will make it easy for your readers share your articles and engage in your community. Highlighter makes it easy to tweet about your article by selecting popular parts of your writing (like Kindle and Medium); ImageSharer makes it stupid simple to share your images (with a link to your post) on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter; while the List Builder tool in this plugin will let you create a fancy lightbox popover to build email subscriptions (for MailChimp, GetResponse, Aweber, or others).”

  Nicely built for a free plugin, allows your social share bar to float along side of your content which seems to be a rarity now a days for free social sharing plugins. Also works as an e-mail list builder.

DetailsDownload

#4 Nav Menu Roles

“This plugin lets you hide custom menu items based on user roles. So if you have a link in the menu that you only want to show to logged in users, certain types of users, or even only to logged out users, this plugin is for you.

Nav Menu Roles is very flexible. In addition to standard user roles, you can customize the functionality by adding your own check boxes with custom labels using the nav_menu_rolesfilter and then using the nav_menu_roles_item_visibility filter to check against whatever criteria you need. You can check against any user meta values (like capabilities) and any custom attributes added by other plugins.”

    Nice plugin for setting up menu links to be visable for everyone via “logged out”, or hide unless “logged in”, or even allow permissions to specific roles only. This comes in handy if you have content that is only meant to be available to paid users.

** Please note that Nav Menu Roles only hides the pages from the menu, the page can still be accessible to people who know how to search site structure. There are ways to better protect pages/subpages with regular WP options or other plugins. You can set the page to “private” under Publish>Visibility, which is a WordPress feature or you can use the this plugin in conjunction with the following plugin…

DetailsDownload

#5 Page Security by Contexture

“Page Security by Contexture International (PSC) lets YOU decide which users can access which content. Add users to groups, set granular permissions for content, and finally take control of your website!

Groups allow you to organize your users how YOU see fit, then use your groups to choose who can access posts, pages, custom content, or entire sections of your website. Create an intranet or a members-only area with just a few clicks, or build a subscription based system with automatically expiring memberships. You can even create multiple levels of security for powerful, granular protection of any sub-section on your site.

PSC is created to be simple, yet powerful – and is designed to integrate seamlessly and intuitively with WordPress. If you know how to use WordPress, you know how to use PSC.”

    Basically this is an amped up version of Nav Menu Roles. Great for the bigger blog that needs allot of custom user permissions for special content.

DetailsDownload

#6 Captcha

“The Captcha plugin allows you to implement a super security captcha form into web forms. It protects your website from spam by means of math logic, easily understood by human beings. You will not have to spend your precious time on annoying attempts to understand hard-to-read words, combinations of letters or pictures that make your eyes pop up. All you need is to do one of the three basic maths actions – add, subtract and multiply. This captcha can be used for login, registration, password recovery, comments forms. There is also a premium version of the plugin, allowing compatibility with BuddyPress (Registration form, Comments form, “Create a Group” form) and Contact Form 7.”

    Who here likes spam accounts flooding your site? Don’t get me wrong, I love getting an e-mail notifying me of a new user….until I see the user name and e-mail. This is a good way to weed through all of the spam bots that try to register on your blog. They have allot of different translations available also. The premium version is a paid version that will run you approximately $10 and provides integration for BuddyPress and Contact Form 7.

DetailsDownloads

#7 Custom Login

“Activate the plugin and customize your WordPress log in screen. Use the built-in and easy to use settings page to do the work for you. There’s no need to understand CSS at all! Now featuring a HTML, CSS & jQuery box for advanced users to up the customization!”

    This is a great plugin for replacing the original WordPress admin log in. Unlike other login plugins this one actually allows you to customize the log in section. They do have a premium version that will cost you $40 per site.

DetailsDownload

#8 Akismet

“Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet Web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.”

    Everybody dislikes spam comments in their blog. They make the site look run down, they are annoying and they are bad for SEO. There is nothing worse than having your bloggers be bothered by the likes of spam, a spammy site gets a bad reputation. Also, these spam sites are usually low page ranked sites with black hat links to some of the worst places on the internet. Do you really want your website linked to them? Nope…Akismet can help with blocking the spam comments made in posts.

  **If your site has allot of spam bots continually registering you will more than likely need to use some more methods

DetailsDownload

#9 WangGuard

“WangGuard is the most advanced and effective active page registration security system in existence, operated via WordPress, WordPress Multisite, BuddyPress and bbPress 2.0. If you are a developer, you can create a system for your own CMS merely by using our API. The secret of our success is that we have recently begun to treat Sploggers or unwanted users as viruses.”

    This plugin is great to use if you don’t enjoy manually deleting hundreds of spam bot accounts on a weekly basis. Much more effective than Captcha and reCaptcha methods. It does start out slow but as you build your blacklist the spam registrants will start to thin out.

DetailsDownload

#10 W3 Total Cache

“The only WordPress Performance Optimization (WPO) framework; designed to improve user experience and page speed.

Recommended by web hosts like: Page.ly, Synthesis, DreamHost, MediaTemple, Go Daddy, Host Gator and countless more.”

    Simply put, page load speed effects your SEO. Google, wanting the best for the end users, know that people like instant results. So in this case the closer to instant your pages load then the better Google will like you. This plugin does a good job of that.

DetailsDownload

In conclusion, if your not a die hard coder like allot of us you can install plugins to get the functionality that you need on your blog. Choosing the correct types of plugins that will give you a good fundamental foundation for your blog can make the world of a difference when it comes to getting users to return time and time again.

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/reasons-for-using-a-professional-web-design-company/

Reasons for Using a Professional Web Design Company

Have you become a business owner? Then it is probably time for you to build your website so you can cater to customers all around the globe. All successful businesses these days have effectively created and designed websites that aid a business in marketing to their clients and getting access to them. Even though creation of a website has become quite simple these days with the introduction of “easy to use software”, it is better for a business if they use the services of experts for coming up with a beautiful and useful website design, which can promote their business.

There are lots of businesses that aren’t willing to spend their money on hiring a company for designing their website. This is due to the fact they aren’t sure of why they should go to the trouble and expense. There are a variety of reasons why using the services of a professional company is a sound alternative and some of them are:

1-    First Impressions Matter

Every business should bear in mind that first impression may indeed turn out to be the last impression as far as a website is concerned. While it is not difficult for anyone to make a website these days, making it in a way that pleases your target audience is a whole other matter. Every decision made by a business will end up reflecting their brand. A website will determine how visitors and potential customers view the business’s ethic, its expertise in the industry and its commitment to work. This means that a potential client will judge a business against its competitors by looking at its website. A business needs to send a clear message about its brand and aims so quality work is needed.

2-    They are the Professionals

Just like a business specializes in their industry, a web designer is an expert in his. They are technical gurus and artists all rolled into one and have the capability of translating the vision of a business into its website. St. Louis web design services are fluent in the techniques of search engine optimization and can use them for ensuring that the website of a business has a high ranking in search engine results. They will be eliminating all issues such as that of browser capability and ensure that the website works with all browsers for providing the website with maximum exposure.

3-    There is a Business to Run

One of the most important reasons why it will be good to hire for creating and designing wordpress web design is the fact that it allows the owners to focus on other areas of the business. If it is a new business, there will be a lot to focus on and neglect in any area can prove to be very costly in the long term. When the task of website design is handed over to the experts, the owner can pay attention to areas that are more in line with their skill set and make their business stronger and better.

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/is-your-website-mobile-friendly/

Is your website mobile friendly?

With cell phones being used pretty much everywhere it’s to no surprise that the percentages of users browsing the internet and buying products on cell phones are increasing fast. Even older folks are taking the time to figure it out because it’s that convenient. You’ll want to make sure your website designer creates a website that is mobile responsive along with functioning.

  Check out these statistics and see for yourself

  63% of phone users use their cell phone online.

Of the 70% of shoppers who used a mobile phone while in a retail store during the holidays, 62% accessed that store’s site or app and only 37% of respondents accessed a competitor’s site or app.

80% of smartphone owners want more mobile-optimized product information while they’re shopping in stores.

24% of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site over Thanksgiving & Black Friday up from 14.3% in 2011.

Cyber Monday sales up 30% and mobile sales up 96% since 2011.

Mobile searches related to restaurants have a conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting within the hour.

25% of consumers engage in online shopping only via mobile

57 percent of consumers will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. Similarly, 40 percent of consumers will go to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience

  It seams throughout history marketing ones business has evolved with the times. From mass produced flyers and brochures, to paid newspaper ads and T.V. commercials, and now the internet. Then, with the invention of the internet, there was sub-sections created; Websites, Social Networking, Pay-Per-Click plus a few more. All different ways to market your business online. Now we have “cell phone marketing” coming into the picture at a very fast rate. According to all of these statistics it’s evident where the future of business marketing is heading.

The question remains, does your business have a website and if so is your business website mobile friendly?

Nations PC Solutions

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New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/how-do-you-advertise-your-brand/

How do you advertise your brand?

Coming up with a marketing plan

In today’s business world there are a million and one ways to market your brand. You can advertise with a website,social media, newspaper ad, phone book, T.V. commercial, radio, and the list goes on and on and on.

Advertising is like cooking a meal when your hungry. You can choose a quick meal with instant results like putting a couple hotdogs in the microwave. It may not taste the best but it can the job done. On the other hand, the slow cooked meal like a steak and lobster with potatoes plate. The meal may take longer until you get to eat it and your mouth may be watering the whole time waiting for results, but when it’s done you’ll be glad you went that route.

  What is a brand?

In short, a brand is the emotional connection people have towards your organization. For example, when we make friends we look for the people with strong integrity, kind, fair, funny, etc. In a way those characteristics are ideal for what we look for in a friend but also in a “brand”. A strong brand inspires trust, loyalty and a sense of excellence. Without it, an organization cannot stand out from the crowd. And of course the more you stand out from the crowd the more your noticed which in turn means more profits!

    Points to consider

So the most logical question I can think of would be, “what’s the best advertising for my brand?”

To answer that would be different for everyone but a few things to consider would be:

What does your brand do to create income (Service offered, Product sales?)

Where are you located  (Busy city, Suburbs, Two hours from civilization?)

Where is your market   (Local, State wide, World wide?)

There are more key points to every business but these 3 here are the most important to me. Some points only the business owner himself would know after being in business for awhile and getting a feel for his customers and how they found his company, etc.

Almost every brand will need multiple forms of advertising to increase sales. But most brands will have different results from the different forms of advertising.

Being able to incorporate these aspects into a marketing plan is the difference between a brands success and failure.

  Putting the points into the right perspective

So, if my brand is a small one store company that sells a product to my local community like a discount cigarette shop for example. I would not get a lot of bang for my buck if I were to advertise on a local T.V. commercial because most of my customers will be centrally located around my shop. Most people won’t drive past a couple stores that offer the same quality product that I do. Also, the cost for a T.V. commercial is probably not going to excedd the amount of extra sales I receive. So in this instance I’m limited to advertising in my local community. Maybe a community news magazine or something of that sort.

Another example would be a home business that sells candles. The local market would be a good start. But why stop there? Say there is a population of 50,000 in my local market, with a well built website I could potentially expand my now seemingly little local market to a much bigger nationwide market.

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

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Website Design and Development

We provide website design and development using the Word Press CMS. Fully customizable, makes the options almost limitless and the impression on your viewers can last forever.

After you have made the decision to have a website created for your cause, the next step is to gather information about your project. Do you sell products and want to sell them online also? Do you have a small construction business that you want to have a web presence? Do you want to start a blog? We take the gathered information and build a website that best suites your needs based on your project. After we have got the layout of the website and everything built we move on to content and images. Content is very important for a number of different reasons. One example is that your potential viewers tend to go/return to websites that have well written articles, descriptive information and, that stand out from the rest. Images are pretty self explanatory =) . Once the website has been built and the content is in place we sit back and watch the magic happen.

Our client base is businesses, organizations and individuals looking to establish a web presence with a user-friendly way to update and manage their site content.

Richard Nation 636-633-6083 nationspcsolutions.com

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/how-can-a-website-work-for-you/

How can a website work for you?

The big question is ” why do I need a website?”

There are many reasons as to why a website would be good for someone. Whether you’re a huge sports fan that wants to let the world know it with a blog, or a business that wants to get in on the internet marketing train, chances are there’s a way that a website could benefit you.

  The Big Sports Fans

There are many sports teams out there that have a big fan base. The St.Louis Cardinals for one, good old “Cardinal Nation”. When there is a big group of people who are interested in the same thing it creates a demand for a certain niche. Whether a person would want to create a fan blog just to have all of the other fans to hang around with, share videos and pictures with, or to tell the inside scoop on your favorite players. It’s also not uncommon for a website owner to try and make a little money while they are spending their extra time doing what they like. Team memorabilia or other items can be sold on your website, also most websites of that sort will have a donations link. That way by the end of the year you may be able to have your hosting payed for and even have a profit for yourself.

  The Small Business

In today’s world, marketing is half of the equation for the successful business. There was a time when people could advertise to the local market through their local newspaper or neighborhood newsletter, and it worked! And to a point it still can work, however the problem with that is more and more people are leaving the printed press (newspapers and phone books) behind at an alarming rate. Where are they going? The internet, which leads them to a search engine, which then leads them to a website.

Websites are a good way to gain local business of course, but alas, a way to reach people all over the world. Depending on the type of business you’re in, this could be a huge part of your companies growth and success. Imagine a business that sells hard to find car parts. Of course, they’re more than likely do well in their local market, but now with the capability to sell parts nation wide or even world. The point being, the sky’s the limit if a business has a seemingly unlimited amount of customers vs the now seemingly small local market.

    Let us build your website

Written above are just a few of the many many reasons to have a website built for you. If you’re ready, give us a call!

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/website-design-and-development/

Website Design and Development

We provide website design and development using the Word Press CMS. Fully customizable, makes the options almost limitless and the impression on your viewers can last forever.

After you have made the decision to have a website created for your cause, the next step is to gather information about your cause. Do you sell products and want to sell them online also? Do you have a small construction business that you want to have a web presence? Do you want to start a blog? We take the gathered information and build a website that best suites your needs based on your cause. After we have got the layout of the website and everything built we move on to content and images. Content is very important for a number of different reasons. One example is that your potential viewers tend to go/return to websites that have well written articles, descriptive information and, that stand out from the rest. Images are pretty self explanatory =) . Once the website has been built and the content is in place we sit back and watch the magic happen.

Our client base is businesses, organizations and individuals looking to establish a web presence with a user-friendly way to update and manage their site content.

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

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Windows OS, Software troubleshooting and installation services offered

Getting blue screen errors? Windows giving you problems? Need to update your current Windows?

Not sure about which software to use? If you want to buy software or need assistance with your current software,

we are here to accompany your needs.

Nations PC Solutions

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New Post has been published on Nations PC Solutions

New Post has been published on http://nationspcsolutions.com/pc-laptop-hardware-troubleshooting-and-repair/

PC, Laptop hardware troubleshooting and repair

Computer problems does not always mean you need to buy a new computer. Many issues can be resolved by troubleshooting to find the culprit, then simply replacing the hardware with an equivalent piece or an upgraded piece. This process can save you money and in today’s economy, the most economic choices are important.

Nations PC Solutions