Dell D5000 Dock: Get Your Laptop Rid of Cables

Convenience and productivity have given rise to the development of better and even better technology over time. One of such inventions is the notebook docking station that helps your laptop transform into a powerful working station by having it connected to different peripherals— be it a printer, scanner or even a set up for dual monitor. The latest Dell D5000 Dock is one such utility device for your laptop.

Usually, a laptop doesn’t have too many ports to connect to different peripherals. Often, it has happened that users face certain constraints to work with the laptop and this is due to the lack of enough ports. Limitation of ports in a laptop has made the developers invent a docking station. This proves the saying, “Need is the mother of invention”.

Of course, it is a great thing for the users who would like to have the laptop used as a workstation. However, fragility became an issue with the wired docking stations. The cables are found to be fragile at both the connecting ends. This is a problem again!

Also Read: Android One Launched As The Cheapest Android Smartphone

How about a wireless docking station?

Dell has come up with a nice idea—it is about connecting the cabled devices to a docking station and establishing a wireless connection between the dock and the laptop by making use of a network adapter. The network adapter is based on IEEE 802.11ad standard, which is also known as WiGig. The wireless dock is named as Dell D5000 Dock.

Drawback

Certainly, it makes more comfortable and easier for the laptop users to use their laptops as fully powered workstations, but there is an inevitable drawback and it is the availability of the particular network adapter only with Latitude 6430u. You cannot buy it separately and except this adapter, you cannot make use of Dell D5000 Dock.

Yes, you got it right—you need to buy Latitude 6430u to make use of this incredible wireless docking station. Oops!

Dell D5000 Dock performance

The drawback of this docking station might have made you step back from taking any decision. However, you would be curious to know more about it. So, here is all that you would like to know.

Let us begin with the ports—it has three USB 3.0 ports, two video ports, one gigabit Ethernet and one 1/8-inch stereo jack. You will be disappointed, if you have an idea of watching copy-protected DVDs or Blu-Ray discs, as it doesn’t support HDCP.

If you have placed the Dell D5000 Dock and the notebook in the same room, then Dell claims to deliver the connectivity upto 10 metres of range, which has been found to be true. Playing games wouldn’t be impressive. Transferring files is slower when compared to the hard wired connection. In the long run, the comfort factor of wireless dock outweighs the transfer speed of the wired dock.

You will not have any issues in moving outof the room with your laptop in hand, as when you come back into the room, you will find your laptop trying to reconnect to the dock. So, you can resume your work from where you left.

Less appealing!

With all the advantages it has, it might fascinate the users to buy the Dell D5000 Dock right way. However, let us remind you of the fact that the docking station wouldn’t work without the network adapter, your docking station will not work and the adapter is only available with Dell Latitude 6430u. This fact makes it hardly appealing to the users. However, without this particular limitation, it would have been a great idea for the users to have this docking station at home. It’s always upto you to make the choice.

Web & Graphic Design Differences: What You Need To Know

For amateurs, web and graphic designing may sound the same. The basic features of both web design and graphic design are the same. However, professionals find stark difference in the two. This difference can be experienced as you work on various projects as a web designer. With the passage of time, the web & graphic design differences become more pronounced.

If you are curious enough to know what the real web & graphic design differences are or how to recognize them, the following points may serve your purpose.

A creativity difference:

Both web design and graphic design comprises of designing images and graphics. However, web designers are free to utilize the web (www) for creating typography. The incorporation of graphics is limited. This is because a Web designer needs to keep in mind that the website should contain light graphics that downloads quickly. They need to maintain the resolution of the graphics and the file size.

Also Read: Image Bit Depth and processing for Visual Devices

Graphic designers need to explore their creative side to prepare graphical output. Most of the times, graphic designers do not need to worry about screen resolutions. This is because the designs created by them are mainly put up on print. They also need not know anything about coding such as HTML, something which Web designers must have knowledge about.

The designs of graphic designers are rarely used in websites because of the high resolution. There are multiple features that can be summed up to as basic web & graphic design differences.

Font Size – This is one of the major components that contribute to web & graphic design differences.  Graphic designers, after designing a page can rest assure of the font size. This is because; the output of the graphic will be the same as that of input. Still, the texts need to be converted into the image format, technically said to “curve” the texts.

However, web designers can never ease on the component of font size. The designs on web pages differ according to the browser they are viewed on. Different browsers display fonts differently. Hence it may so happen that the web page that you designed so dearly and with much effort are all wasted.

This may be because it was opened in some other browser. For web designers, it is suggested to stick to conventional fonts in your site rather than using offbeat fonts.

Screen Size – For a graphic designer, this aspect is much simpler as their designs are mostly published in hardcopies. They are aware of the particular size of the display and can design accordingly.

For a web designer, designing becomes a bit difficult, as the screen size is not always known perfectly. A web designer designs for a website. These web pages are accessed through different devices of varying screen size and resolutions. Hence web designers have to keep this variable screens in mind. This can therefore be regarded as one of the major web & graphic design differences.

Controlling Layout – Designing Graphic layout is simple. Shifting of fonts, images or graphics can be done with graphic designing tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and others.

Web designs however, have a more complex process of structuring web page designs. Also the tables and HTML do not allow easy changes.

Continuity – The work of a graphic designer ends when a graphical design is finally out on prints. For a web designer, designing and improvement of a web page goes on. Minimal twist and turns are continuously put in to improve the website.

File Size – File size is an important aspect of web & graphic design differences. Graphic designers need to make the graphical image look beautiful and attractive. Hence they have been given the liberty to implement their own creativity.

Web designers are restricted to keep the web page designs light, incorporating impressive designs at the same time.

Color – Color formats form yet another point of web & graphic design differences. Graphic designers often face a problem while printing out their designs. The font colors on the machine and on print often varies a few notches.

This is because the designs on PC are on RGB mode while the prints are made on CMYK mode. This error can be rectified while designing if the graphic designer changes the mode of color input to CMYK from the default RGB.

Web designers do not face any such problems as whatever color mode they use, it is always online.

Why Should You Use Twitter & Pinterest Analytics Report

It has only been a month since Twitter opened its analytics platform to all. It has been a welcome gesture for the marketers who value data validation in their process of decision making. This new analytics report from Twitter is simultaneous with the news from Pinterest that its new interface has opened its treasure of data as well to the businesses.

Social sharing of your content

The most appropriate validation of your content can be measured through the interaction your content meets when shared on social media. It is also measured by the resonance it creates among your target audience. The number of people viewing your posts can help you know what your target audience prefers. This will help you plan a better business strategy.

Also Read: Facebook Trending Topics Taken Cue From Twitter

Twitter Analytics

It has been several months since Twitter introduced analytics report options for its users. The recent rollout of a more robust version on the same platform has opened up new features. The interface offered by Twitter is highly user friendly. It provides enough information about your brand so that you can get a clue about how your brand is being approached and liked by people.

The interface will feed you with reports about your performance over the last twenty eight days. The overall performance of your brand is determined on month-by-month basis. You can have a graph showing you the difference between your brand’s performance in the current month and in the previous month.

Another interesting part about the graph is that it does not just offer you impression rates for a period but you can also watch your brand’s performance on days-of-the-week basis. Tools such as Tweriod, Followerwonk, and SocialBro had so long been the source of these data. However, Twitter analytics report now helps you have all the answers you need in order to analyze and interpret the performance of your brand.

What is important here is the depth of insight provided by these. You can complement these data with the data offered by the likes of SocialBro in order to get a deep understanding of the data. Knowing these helps you choose an effective time of the day for publishing your content and sharing reminders.

Tweets

One of the strongest aspects of the analytics report by Twitter is that it offers you information in ‘Tweets’ and ‘Tweets and Replies’. You can download the data in order to view it. When you have already downloaded the data, you can do anything you want with it. You can choose to sort it by Engagement, Impressions, or by individual interactions like Retweets or Favorites.

The Impression data will give you an idea of when you can post. Similarly, you can use any column to get the list of tweets your brand has received. You will know what your audience opines about your brand.

Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest interests most brands. Pinterest analytics report allows you to view what visitors like in your profile. It will also let you know what the visitors to your website have saved from it. You are provided with a new set of data about the audience which helps you know and understand what your audience really wants from your brand.

The new platform for analytics report offered by Pinterest is huge. However, in order to access data you are required to have a business account on Pinterest. The process of conversion is easy as you would be asked to do that when you are signing up. When you have signed up already, you will have to wait for twenty four hours in order to feed in the data. However, when the data is fed in, you can use it in a number of different ways.

Two of the key sections are those of Profile and Audience. Both these sections give you a good insight.

What you learn from Pinterest analytics report

The new analytics platform of Pinterest will let you know the boards and Pins that people love most from your profile. It will help you know what people are actually saving from your website. You will get to know exactly who constitute your Pinterest audience- all particulars about their gender, location, and their interests. The new Pinterest analytics report will also let you know the devices your audience is using when they are pinning your stuffs.

Knowing your audience better will help you share the items accordingly so as to get the best response. The data helps you get a complete picture of what people want which will help you woo your target audience. It will help you come up with a more appropriate pinning strategy. You will also know the brands that are followed by your audience. This helps in content targeting.

There is another additional aspect of Pinterest Analytics. It will help you learn the effect of adding Pin It button on your website that leads to the referral of traffic from Pinterest.

So, get ready to plan your business better as you have your Twitter and Pinterest analytics to help you out in the process.

Free Tools To Create A Mobile Website

Creating a mobile version of your Website may sound an extremely difficult task to accomplish. However, in actuality, this need not be the case at all. You have today, ready-made tools available to help you create your mobile website in minutes. While many of these tools are available for a nominal fee, there are also those which can be used absolutely free of cost. Yet others offer you the option of going for a free basic package.

Some of the best free tools to help create a mobile website are:

iWebKit

iWebKit offers a very simple framework to develop your own basic app for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can use this tool effectively even if you have just a little working knowledge of HTML.

However, it is not as user-friendly as some of the other mobile website creation tools. You will need to read the user manual and gain a thorough understanding of the same before venturing out to work with this tool. In any case, this is suitable for beginners, as it offers all the required instructions and is also available free of cost.

Also Read: The Right Platform For Your Mobile Website

Mippin

Mippin is yet another useful and free tool to help you create a mobile version of your Website. This is best suited to work on an RSS-powered site. It can be manipulated to be compatible with over 2,000 mobile handsets and gives quick results as well. The biggest advantage that Mippin offers you is that it gives a free basic analytics report and also lets you make more revenue by way of mobile advertising.

Mobify

Mobify runs on a freemium model and offers a user-friendly and intuitive GUI or graphical user interface. This tool helps you create your website in just a few minutes. Better still, Mobify comprises its own Mobile Commerce platform that is designed to work especially faster and more effectively for e-stores running on the mobile web.

The basic package is available to you free of cost and offers you enough scope to work around manipulating your mobile domain. Though the paid package is rather steeply priced, it does offer you several more benefits over the free package.

Mobilize by Mippin

Mobilize by Mippin is a free and useful WordPress plugin, which effortlessly displays the contents of your WordPress website on mobile devices. Once you install and activate this plugin, it will automatically redirect visitors who access your site from their mobile devices, to the mobile version of your website. Not only that, all your photos will be automatically scaled to fit the dimensions of a mobile phone and videos converted to the 3GP format.

Wirenode

Wirenode is a tool used by several leading establishments, such as Nokia, Ford and so on, to develop mobile versions of their own Websites. The company offers a free plan, comprising a user-friendly editor which you can use to setup a mobile site. This tool also offers you free hosting for up to 3 mobile websites and gives you analytics reports, statistics and more. The paid version of this tool runs free of Wirenode advertisements.

Zinadoo

Zinadoo is an excellent tool to help you build your mobile Website. It offers you web as well as mobile widgets, plus its text and email services, which you can effectively use to promote your Website, both online and offline.

The most interesting part is this tool enables you to assign Google keywords and tags to your website, also uploading videos to it using Zinadoo’s own Mobile Video service. Additionally, you also get complete access to Zinadoo’s online business directory and Mobiseer, which is a Web 2.0 service for tagging and sharing favorite mobile Websites.

Simple Tools For Link Development And Content Creation

For a website, the most critical element is its content. It includes the information and data that visitors can see once they visit your page. Content creation is done keeping in mind a target audience who would benefit from them. Linking the web pages is a challenging task that the SEO analyst undertakes. Exchange of links with sites having high page rank helps in boosting the rank of your site as well.

Link development

Link development is a part of SEO that helps in increasing the relevance of a site. Increase the popularity of your site as you develop links with various other websites. With higher reference visitor, you gain more of your follower base. It allows Google spiders to crawl more into your sites boosting its page rank. Link development, however, is a challenging task for an SEO analyst. Below are a few tools that assist in link development.

Also Read: Difference Between SEO and SEM – What You Must Know

1. BuzzStream – One of the top link development tools, it is mostly used by the SEO analysts globally. BuzzStream performs through research on the scope of prospective link development. It promotes the website’s presence making it more visible in the search results. This benefits the page rank of the site as traffic through the inbound links increases.

2. Ahrefs – With a user friendly interface, this link development tool provides you with a vast link of updates. This you can invariably use in your content creation. With most trending keywords at your disposal, your site is sure to generate higher traffic. Link development with quality sites is possible if you have quality content.

3. Peek by LinkRisk – This paid link development tool provides you with the option to search through keywords. Peek works with a complex structure that filters your search rigorously. This minimizes your search result. With more targeted filters, there is potentiality for link development with sites having higher rank.

Peek comes in four different charge plans. The minimum plan charges £149 per month where a maximum of 3 users can use the tool. The Platinum plan charges £1,999 for 100 users per month.

4. FAQ Fox – The name is enough to describe how this tool works. Once you enter a word or phrase for search, this tool immediately goes through the websites collecting trending information on keywords relating to the searched word. It analyses the most trending questions that users ask relating to the keyword and answers they get.

You can understand whether users are satisfied with the answers. Recognize what the users really want to know. Include those in your blogs. If your blogs are appreciated, it would help in link development as its traffic would increase.

5. ContentGem – In order to develop links, it is important for you to stay updated about the most trending keywords. ContentGem keeps you informed. This link development tool analyses content providing you with articles and keywords that are relevant to you. The tool works automatically once you register, updating you with emails on issues of relevance.

ContentGem charges $9 to $49 each month, the range varying according to the usage. The highest charge plan provides you with real-time keyword and phrase suggestions. If you have the basics right, it becomes easy for you to develop links.

Content creation

For content creation, there is a range of online tools you can choose from. These tools are great if you wish to create content that is visually arresting. Here are some tools that you can use for content creation.

1. Word2CleanHTML – This is one of the best tools for content creation. Designed for drafting blogs, this tool supports writings and fonts in Microsoft, Evernote and Google Drive. It converts word document to HTML codes. These codes can then directly be put in the CMS platforms.

2. Awesome ScreenShot – This extension by Chrome provides you with another awesome tool for content creation. It offers a number of elements that you can apply on any image you wish to use. The most interesting feature of this extension is that it gives you three types of screen shots.

You can select one for your use. You can capture image of the particular screen you are viewing. The extension also lets you capture the entire page that you are viewing. You need not scroll through the entire page. You can also capture screen shots for only a selected part that you feel is important.

3. Skitch – This free app from Evernote helps in developing your user interface making it more visually appealing. Skitch can be used to point out elements in the content that you might want to change or rectify. The best thing about this tool is that you can use it in any of your device be it a PC, tablet or a smartphone.   

4. Canva – Canva is a design tool that provides you with a huge range of templates that aid in content creation. Most of these templates are free to download and can even be customized to put in textual or graphic contents that you want your web page to display. However, for premium templates, Canva charges a nominal fee of $1.

5. Ubersuggest – If you want your writings to have maximum visit, using an analytical tool is advised. Ubersuggest is a free analytical tool recommending the trending keywords. Keeping your keyword in place, it searches for related phrases that are close to the ones placed by you. This is a great tool for content creation as it provides a great boost to your content.

How Would You Build WordPress Websites Efficiently?

Having your own website is no more a luxury. Get all the tools and resources at a very low cost and you don’t have to start looking for professionals to develop your website from scratch. Just make use of the wonderful WordPress – a flexible tool that lets you create your own blog site and static websites that you can manage online. Here are the steps that allow you to build WordPress websites.

Register your domain name

Good domain names are scarce. So get your domain name registered as quickly as possible once you think of setting up your own website. Choose a name that is catchy and easy to remember. Also consider the legal issues else you might be sued for copying trademark. So once you have registered your domain name move on to the next step.

Also Read: Guide To WordPress Website Development For Beginners

Host for your website

You can always settle with a free website. But remember that free has its own terms and conditions. Free websites may lose out on a lot of opportunities and search rankings. So get a web host which suits your service model and pay only for the disk space and bandwidth that you use.

There are so many web hosting companies available in the market today. So finding one at the right price won’t be difficult. However, you need to check the limitations, company and pricing to get it working the way you want. Some WordPress specific hosting providers are Page.ly, ZippyKid, WP Engine and outstanding SETUP.

Configure your name server if it does not come with the hosting package.

Install WordPress

Get started with creating your website by installing the WordPress package. It is originally a content management system that you can build WordPress websites with the advanced features. But before you venture out to build WordPress websites there is a checklist for you:

• A mysql database
• Latest WordPress version
• Uploading your files and starting the installation.

Configuration

A dashboard menu on the left side lets you make changes to the settings and preferences for the website. Change your Tag Line and configure your login name and profile settings. Modify and update the website contents from defaults to your own customized options.

Set up your widgets and verify the changes in the frontend of the website. Mentioned below is a list for configuring features to build WordPress websites:

• Akismet activation
• Comments
• Permalinks
• Gravator

Select a design theme

Make your site look professional and classy by adopting from the thousands of design themes and appearances WordPress offers. Increase your traffic without spending thousands on professional designers. You can also build WordPress websites with WordPress themes from these places:

• Theme forest
• Woothemes
• Studiopress

Choose your themes with great design based on your needs and make sure they are compatible and have a valid HTML and CSS.

Plugins

Extend the functionality of your website by mashing it up with the plugin extensions that WordPress gives you for assistance. Plugins provide you with endless features like blocking of spam contents, creating a sitemap, backups, contact form and securing your site from security threats.

Maintain your website

Make your site secure by keeping it up to date and remove the WordPress version from the site’s header. To strengthen your vulnerabilities avoid using wp_ as prefix for database tables. Show no information about the admin details anywhere in the site. All this can be done with the help of security plugins.

Create a homepage and separate pages for ‘about’, ‘contact’ and ‘services page’ and update your content regularly.

Marketing

Finally, after you have built your website there is one more thing left to do which is marketing. When you are about to build WordPress websites, you are provided with some inbuilt SEO functionalities through broadcast of every addition you make to your website.

3D Printed Car: The First Of Its Kind In History

The most recent breakthrough in 3D printing means that even cars can be printed now. The Local Motors’ Strati 3D car was printed live at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2014. Strati is the result of the 3D Printed Car Design Challenge thrown by the crowd-source automotive firm, Local Motors. It was announced in the month of June that the car’s designer, Michele Anoé (Italy), had won the challenge.

There happens to be a long standing relationship between Local Motors and Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) that runs the International Manufacturing Technology Show, according to Kate Hartley of Local Motors. “Two years ago, the team at AMT invited Local Motors to build the company’s first crowd-sourced vehicle, the Rally Fighter, over the 5-day show “, Hartley further maintained. He also stressed on the bringing out the 3D printed car.

Also Read: Prospects Of 3D Printing In The Manufacturing Industry

Local Motors claims that Strati is the world’s first 3D printed car, although the 2010 Urbee is one of a number of projects that might also stake a claim to that title. Local Motors argues, however, that the Urbee used only 3D printed panels and features, whilst relying on a standard internal structure. Every part of the Strati that isn’t “mechanically involved,” it says, is 3D printed.

The company also claims that it is the first completely 3D printed car in history. It is for the first time that the main portion of a car has been printed in one piece using direct digital manufacturing. Mechanical components, like battery, motor, wiring and suspension, were sourced separately from a variety of suppliers and installed by the Local Motors team.

The company says that the build process for Strati has three phases. First, the body is printed using a Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine from Cincinnati Inc. & Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Subtractive manufacturing is then carried out using a computer numerical control (CNC) routing machine. Finally, the printed portion of the vehicle is assembled with the additional components over a two day period. This 3D printed car takes 44 hours to print, 1 day to mill and 2 days to assemble, making a 5 day build process in total.

“The Strati was designed by our community, [will be] made in our Microfactory and will be driven by you,” says the CEO of Local Motors, John B. Rogers Jr., in a press release. “This brand-new process disrupts the manufacturing status quo, changes the consumer experience and proves that a car can be born in an entirely different way.”

A 3D printed car could eventually take any shape, with designers turning CAD files into reality with a turnaround time – and price – unheard of in traditional manufacturing. Rogers figures the raw material to print a two-seater in carbon-reinforced plastic costing about $2,200.

The completed Strati was fully functional and was driven for the first time on the morning of Saturday, 13th September. The company says that this would be a milestone in the history of 3D-printed car and other vehicles.

Six other concepts were chosen for their originality and innovation as runners up. Their innovative features may also be integrated into the 3D printed car. These include:

ISF : Amongst the runners-up, the ISF (Internal Strut Frame) concept uses vertical interior struts to support the outer-most surfaces, to save weight whilst providing a rigid structure.

Aeroblade : Like the Internal Strut Frame concept, Aeroblade also uses structures held vertically to support outer surfaces. This multi-layered design helps overcome the difficulty encountered in 3D printing while bridging horizontal gaps.

3DPCX : Another selected design, the 3DPCX, has a span like a bridge support down the center. Along with sweeping structural supports the 3DPCX is an open and airy vehicle.

Supernova : The Supernova incorporates angular design elements as part of the overall structure. These design elements are also reflected on the interior making it look functional and lightweight.

Mirage : Mirage took out an innovation award for incorporating layers to create 3D printed crumple zones. It demonstrated a unique take by also including manufacturing and safety factors into the design.

E-Spider : Rounding out the finalists is the e-spider. Looking like a cross between a dune buggy, a smart car, and a Lotus Elise, the e-Spider has an innovative roof design with integral body support structures to also allow it to double as a convertible.

From Blogger To Medium – Evolution Of Blogging Sites

Technological advances now deliver information, discussions and stories on the digitized screens of our devices. These informational sites known as blogs, publish the stories and write ups. These blogging sites generally belong to an individual. Sometimes even a group of individuals contribute in a blog.

In the recent times multi-blogger sites have surfaced. These blogging sites accept works of various people and edit it professionally before posting them on the websites. These people belong to various sections of life and provide their expertise on their field of work.

Initially, a blog was used as an online personal diary. People included the events of everyday life in the blogs that they wrote. The beginning of online diary, open for everybody online, was initiated by Justin Hall of Swarthmore College.

Also Read: Five Amazing Ways Of Sharing Blogs On Social Media

Blogger – Though the term “blog” was coined by Peter Merholz, it was first used by the co-founder of Pyra Labs, Evan Williams. With the word he commenced one of the first multi-user blogging sites called the “Blogger”. Blogger is a free blog publishing website. It gained immense popularity as it was one of the first tools of its kind.

Blogger did not have stringent policies regarding blog publishing in other host servers. This was possible through the FTP (File Transfer Policy). However with Google’s acquisition of Blogger, blogs were no longer allowed to be published in host servers.

Google’s acquisition of Blogger proved beneficial for blog writers/bloggers. Google made the use of some features of the publishing tool free of charge. Blogger charged users for utilizing the features. After removing the charges Blogger gained more popularity. Google later incorporated Picasa and Hello. Inclusion of these tools allowed bloggers to post images along with their textual blogs.

Google’s acquisition improved the quality of Blogger significantly. It has become one of the most reliable blogging sites with new template editing tools, label organization and Web feeds.

Twitter – After Blogger was acquired by Google, Evan Williams left it. He went on to develop a new microblogging site in collaboration with Noah Glass and Jack Dorsey.

Twitter was initially the brainchild of Noah Glass. It was then called Odeo and was launched as a podcasting service for the public. However, with Apple’s iTunes launching at the same time, Odeo could not gain much publicity. Founders decided to change the name and Twitter was officially launched on 21st March 2006. Since then Twitter has become one of the most popular blogging sites sharing users’ thoughts, suggestions and news events of the world.

Twitter kept on improving, increasing and expanding over the years. This microblogging site has been open to users’ suggestions, the hashtag (#) being the perfect example. The concept of hashtag for improved and filtered search was suggested by Twitter user Chris Messina. With Twitter’s user number increasing in gallops, investment started pouring in huge volume too.

In the year 2010 Twitter opened up for advertisement. This provided a platform for both small and large businesses to promote their products and ideas. With the inclusion of Vine a couple of years later, Twitter allowed videos to be posted on its blog site. With Twitter going public, it has grown and evolved a long way since its days as Odeo.

Medium – Evan Williams went innovative with the idea of blogging sites and introduced Medium along with Biz Stone. This was founded in the year 2012. Evan William the co-founder of Twitter wanted a multi-blog site that would include quality write ups.

Medium has evolved in these couple of years as a social blogging platform. Blogs are contributed by both professional as well as non professional bloggers.

Tumblr – A social network and microblogging site, Tumblr was founded by David Karp. Similar to Twitter in its features, Tumblr allows users to post graphic and multimedia contents. These contents are the blogs that are displayed on the site. Users can post their own blogs and also follow others’ blogs.

Tumblr was launched in February 2007. And within the next two months it entered into paid advertising and became one of the most popular blogging sites. With the rising popularity of Tumblr, Yahoo! acquired it at $1.1 billion. Tools like the Dashboard, Queue and Tags, allow the users to easily post texts and graphics in the blogs without much complexity.

The dashboard provides users with many features including liking blogs posts, sharing blogs, posting of videos, texts and images etc. But unlike Twitter, Tumblr allows users to design and create websites. The dashboard with its unique tools and features allows you to create and design beautiful websites.

The Dashboard has been reformed in the years. It does not feature follower count any longer. It is Tumblr’s attempt to move away the focus of the bloggers from follower count which might hamper the blog posts or quality.

Tumbler has changed the background of the site to dark blue. This is mainly to make the posts more prominent. These posts are all displayed in white. Tumbler developers have also changed the highlight section from the earlier bright green to a soothing dark blue.

WordPress – WordPress originated as a tool to design and develop blogs and websites. The tool is mainly built on PHP and MySQL. WordPress is a free content management system. It was first developed as a branch of b2/cafelog. Developers Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little released the first version of WordPress in the first half of 2003.

Ever since then WordPress has been used by more than 60 million websites.

One of the most popular blogging sites, WordPress, appeared at a time when bloggers used other DIY web designing tools like Movable Type. With some modifications made in the licensing policies, its users shifted to the simpler and free WordPress. With this WordPress took over other open source CMS platforms becoming the leading tool for open source blogging and CMS.

WordPress commenced its function in the same structure as that of b2/cafelog. However, after a year, developers made WordPress search engine friendly. This was a boon to the bloggers as searching for a website became easier. The tool was also simplified which made its installation and upgrading easier.

In 2005 with the 5th version updated, developers incorporated some new tools. New plugins were added along with the static page feature. These plugins allowed bloggers to engineer attractive websites which are tailored according to their desire.

WordPress has also included additional features. The user can build websites easily and use attractive themes and templates. Some of these themes and templates are free while others are paid. WordPress also allows users to input their own customized themes.

In 2010, an Application Programming Interface was included in the CMS. This created a new default theme and a simpler user interface for admin. With each updates, developers created a more simplified and improved version of WordPress. With the gradual growth of WordPress users and the introduction of smartphones, responsive version was introduced.

The latest version of WordPress launched recently was named Benny. With it WordPress brought some new updates. The Smart Media Management allows to surf through the media uploads.

Embedding the URLs by copy and paste procedure makes the process easy. It also includes a support list of embeds in the official website. The textual contents of blogs or websites can now fit perfectly with Automatic Content Fit. The searches for plugins are in visual and hence are quicker and easier. So there is enough reason to for WordPress to emerge one of the most used blogging sites.

Conclusion – With the passing of years, each of the blogging sites, be it microblogging or website designing, has evolved. Some have become social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. Others are dedicated DIY website development tools. The contribution of Evan Williams in the origin and development of blogging sites or platforms is immense.

Professionals showcasing their work online find these blogging sites truly helpful in promoting their work. Bloggers now have the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas as well as their knowledge to help others. From just an informational post, these blogging sites have now converted into interactive platforms for the post-contributors as well as the viewers.

Best Social Platforms To Promote A Startup

A constant marketing struggle has always been there in reaching the target audience effectively through marketing. The 21st century has brought startups so many cost effective and efficient ways to communicate to an audience that not understanding social media is less expected. To avoid crisis, there are some of the best social platforms you need to get familiar with.

 

LinkedIn – LinkedIn was social before even social was social… if that makes sense. LinkedIn was behind Facebook in terms of launch date, but in the forefront in terms of social media innovation for businesses. Simply put, LinkedIn is the Facebook of the business world.

The entire site was built around the focus of business-minded professionals having the accessibility to network with other business-minded professionals. This is one of the social platforms that have grown to make its users able to join groups relative to their industry. They can enter into discussions similar to their industry and even recruit qualified employees within this platform.

Also Read: Facebook Trending Topics Taken Cue From Twitter

The newsfeed on LinkedIn has wonderful industry specific articles to cultivate new ideas for your startup, or learn about other entrepreneurs that share like-minded interests.

Pinterest – Studies show that consumers spend more time looking at photos than reading articles regarding current affairs, businesses, products etc. Finding a platform that is based primarily on visual imagery is a must. Pinterest is one of the social platforms that allow for strong visual presentations promoting a startup and its products.

As a business owner you can insert ideas about your product in a way that inspires creativity and a ‘DIY’ mentality into its vast pool of users. Pinterest is a site heavily devoted to the female demographic, which coincides nicely with the research that shows women having a predominant buying power within a household.

Instagram – There is no such thing as too much. With other social platforms (apart from Twitter) the idea of how much is too much when it comes to social media posting is still up for debate. With Instagram you can post as frequently as you want and it is totally accepted within the digital world. Instagram is a platform that allows you to post images of new trends/products and incorporate your brand or logo many times throughout the day. It is also easy to link your company URL within your profile page for easy access for consumers.

Facebook – OK – you can assume most people are on it. In turn, you can expect your reach (or the amount of people with the ability to see your information) will be astronomical. Reach is synonymous with the highly acclaimed marketing term “word-of-mouth”. Facebook in particular is awesome regarding “word-of-mouth” because of the newsfeed. The newsfeed on Facebook can essentially be coined as the new age word-of-mouth or referral process.

If you have a fan linking your business’s Facebook content, you can assume that your fan’s entire friend pool also have visibility into your page, again making your reach astronomical. It is important to note that Facebook isn’t about selling your product. Facebook is one of the social platforms that help you build your brand and show your customers how social you can really be.

Twitter – Although we completely adore Facebook’s potential as a tool for startups, the Facebook and other social platforms tend to be more of a “respond later” network. Twitter is amazing for a different purpose. Twitter is all about “real time”, and allows and encourages instant feedback from its users. With the use of ‘hashtags’ a startup can easily see what is trending at the moment via this social platform and if it makes sense, hop into the conversation.

Disney Still Rules Halloween Keyword Ad Spend

With Halloween just round the corner, everybody is busy ordering their favorite Halloween costume. And if you plan to dress up as your favorite Disney avatar, you would definitely find some lookalikes. A research conducted by AdGooroo said Halloween Keyword Ad Spend was highest for Disney. This is a hint toward the fact that Disney costumes are still the most sought after in Halloween. The search was mainly for Text Ads and Product Listing Ads.

The study conducted by AdGooroo found that 31% of all Paid Search was for the famous Disney character costumes. This study included only desktop and tablet searches. Mobile searches were not included in this rating.

Also Read: 12 Stunning Street Art & Graffiti From Around The World

It was recorded that the Halloween keyword ad spend was around $2.9 million over Disney costumes only in the US. This amount included not only the traditional Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Jack Sparrow but also various superhero characters like Wonder Woman, Spider man, Captain America to name a few. Below is a table by AdGooroo on the top Halloween Keyword Ad Spend on various characters.

Apart from the table, there are other characters that have scored highly in the Halloween Keyword Ad Spend. Most of them were inspirations from superhero characters that have been recently filmed in Hollywood.

Frozen – The character of Elsa from Frozen pulled in the maximum Keyword Ad Spend. It was recorded that keyword specific search with the terms “Frozen” and “Elsa” single handedly pulled in around $550,000 and $385,000 respectively in Ad Spend.

Wonder Woman – The costume of Wonder Woman, the only female superhero in DC comics, had the next highest Halloween Keyword Ad Spend. Just 3 keyword specific searches resulted in a total ad spend of $119,000. For the Product Listing Ad the Ad Spend was $77,000.

Halloween is now “Sexy” – “Sexy” Halloween costumes were the next most searched Halloween Keyword Ad Spend after Disney and related characters. It indicates the fact that Halloween still remains a romantic festival. Ad Spend on sexy-specific keyword summed up to $67,000. Traditional avatars commonly associated with the term ‘sexy’ had nearly $42,000 Ad Spend. This included Bond Girl, Jessica Rabbit and Playboy Bunny to name a few.

Top Marketers – For Paid Search Text Ad and Product Listing Ad Spend, Costume Express and Buy Costumes were the leading online stores. The total Halloween Keyword Ad Spend by Costume Express summed up to $322,000. Following it, Buy Costumes made a total ad spending of $237,000. Amazon, the ecommerce giant, ranked seventh among the online-stores in selling the highest number of Halloween costumes.

Conclusion – The study reported that the top advertisers spent nearly $1.5 million in the month of August and September on “Halloween” and Halloween related keywords. Text Ads had more Ad Spend than PLAs. Amazon is the only company that has no PLA budget. This suggests that marketers are more inclined on putting higher budget on Text Ads than PLAs.