Here are my favorite five URL shortener's in no particular order. These are among the most popular URL shortener's out there, and they offer features like stats, tracking, and integration with some of the most-used Twitter dashboards.
Bit.ly is the most popular and one of the oldest URL shortener. It offers instant tracking, stats, and the ability to have vanity URLs that signify your brand (for example, we use mbist.ro for our parent company, Mediabistro).
Goo.gl is the official URL shortener from Google. It’s one of the newer URL shortener's on the block, but it’s becoming quite popular on Twitter. It allows you to track when your shortened URLs were created and how many clicks they’ve received.
This is the official HootSuite URL shortener, which can be used as a stand-alone shortener on the web, or while logged on to the HootSuite dashboard on the web or mobile.
This is the official TweetDeck URL shortener, which can be used on the TweetDeck desktop application, Android and Chrome (with support for iPhone and iPad forthcoming). Deck.ly allows you to write tweets longer than 140-characters and either display them within TweetDeck or link to them within another Twitter platform.
Su.pr is StumbleUpon’s official URL shortener. It allows you to syndicate content to StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter at the same time, suggests the best time of day to post, and allows you to schedule posts in the future.
The following 3 URL shortener's might not be ultra popular, but they deserve an honorable mention in this list for offering some innovative features (or just having a really cool name).
Every year, website design and user interface change slightly; 2018 is no different, with trends emerging in design, typography, and colors. To design a website that can compete with the millions of other similar websites out there, it is important to be aware of the newest styles and most popular methods. Here are some of the emerging website trends of 2018.
Broken Grid Layouts
Website designers have relied on grids to create organized, reliable websites. However, 2018 is bringing around a new layout that is taking over. Broken grid layouts blur the strict lines of normal grids, while still retaining some structure. Images and text slightly overlap and are mixed together on the screen more fluidly.
For example, the Dusko website has overlapping images with navigation tabs and text in various areas of the page, sometimes layering over multiple images.
Importance of Illustrations
Images have always been a central part of any website. They are usually more eye-catching that text so designers are encouraged to use them. 2018 designers are beginning to introduce a new type of image into their websites: illustrations.
Most website images are either photographs, product shots, or gifs. Though they are all appealing options, illustrations are becoming more and more prominent. Illustrators are becoming important parts of many website design teams, as their work is sometimes showcased on the home page.
Illustrations are also helpful with brand interpretation. If you take a photograph of a person and put it on your website, that person is a representative of your brand. With an illustration, you can have an image of a person be simply a human being, not someone specific that personifies your organization, a statement that can be risky for a website’s image. If visitors feel like you are targeting another type of person, they are less likely to stay on your website.
The Dropbox website utilizes illustration beautifully. The page has an image that is composed of half a photograph and half of an illustration, both of women. The result is an extremely intriguing, visually appealing image that immediately draws the visitor in.
Larger Variation of Shapes
For decades, website designers would solely use sharp corners, rectangles, and squares in designs. It provides a neat, organized look. However, 2018 websites are sporting rounded edges and more organic shapes. Twitter, for example, provides a box with rounded edges when someone is intending to compose a tweet instead of a rectangle.
All shapes are changing. Website designers are more freely using amorphous areas of color, bright diagonal lines, or a variety of other more organic patterns. Designers are also playing with perspective. For example, Stripe’s website is organized with diagonal lines and tilted shapes that give the visitor a unique visual perspective.
Many websites are also using flashing or bright colors. Though it can be extremely visually stimulating, it is a risky choice. You want your website to be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, some of whom may have sensitivities to flashing lights.
More Interactions and Animations
Interactive and animated websites have become extremely popular in the last few years. 2018 is intensifying the presence of these qualities. Many websites are full of animations. If designers use animation correctly, it can guide visitors to pay attention to certain things at specific times, thereby helping guide users to the appropriate content.
The Black Sheep Agency has a website designed so that when you scroll down, words are automatically highlighted. This keeps readers focused on the content because they are intrigued by the interactive qualities of the text. As you continue scrolling, bubbles pop up with pieces of information.
There are two significant animation and interaction patterns that are appearing: scrolling rates and page transitions. Some designers are creating websites where images will move as you are scrolling. For example, Anna Eshwood’s site has the images float up as you scroll past them. Page transitions are animations that happen when you leave or enter a page.
Through interactions and animations can be extremely effective, they can also be overwhelming. It is important to avoid using them too much because it may make users frustrated or anxious.
Floating Navigation Menus
A standard part of most websites is a navigation bar cemented at the top of the page. However, designers are starting to create websites with floating navigation menus. The menu is slightly detached from the top of the window and floats a few centimeters below. The intent is to give the user a feeling that navigation is a universal topic that will stick with you throughout your experience on the website.
More Multimedia Long-form
Writing long pieces is often exhausting, so the thought of incorporating sounds, videos, and images in proper places among the text is unappealing. However, some designers are now taking the time to break up chunks of text with relevant videos, images, or sounds to make it more interesting for viewers.
CNN, for example, has a feature on global warming that includes multimedia strategies. Words are centered in the middle of the screen while, simultaneously, sounds play in the background and a video of a natural element plays. The words are still clear and easy to read, but it is significantly more intriguing because there are so many factors involved in creating a sense of global warming.
Focus on Diversity and Inclusion
Social dynamics and discrepancies have taken the forefront in all aspects of society, including web design. Many web design teams are realizing the importance of wording or images of race and gender representation. For example, people are re-visiting how many options for gender they offer on menus or other areas of their site. 2018 is bringing with it a new awareness of how each website is portraying race, gender, sexuality, religion, and other social and cultural aspects of the world.
Switch from Text to Video Is Continuing
On websites everywhere, publishers are switching to video. For example, Facebook and Instagram offer stories where people can start live videos, almost identical to Snapchat’s strategy.
Though video is becoming more significant, it is important to remember that text is still the foundation of all websites. The text is the ideal form of online communication because:
It’s cheap
It’s quick to produce
It’s still the primary format of communication on the internet
Varying Fonts
For years, web designers only used a handful of fonts out of concern that websites would become overwhelming, unprofessional, or give the wrong idea. 2018 re-designs, however, are accompanied by varying fonts. The internet is now covered with a wide array of different fonts and styles.
Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Adobe are also creating something called variable fonts, which enable a new format for designing text. This gives you the ability to design a single font that behaves like multiple fonts.
Improving Mobile Functionality
Mobile devices continue to grow in prominence. Many people use their cell phones to go online more often than computers. However, some website designs have trouble translating to mobile devices, leading things like images and videos to either not load or to load incorrectly. 2018 websites are making an even more active effort to ensure that the design is compatible over multiple devices so that people can access the website in many different ways.
Online advertising with Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is one of the most effective ways to reach new customers and grow your business. However, before you can get started, you’ll need to know how to use AdWords effectively in order to maximize the return on investment from your advertising spend and avoid making mistakes.
What Is Google AdWords?
Google Ads (AKA Google AdWords) is the online advertising platform owned and operated by Google. It is also the largest and most widely used online advertising network in the world, and millions of businesses advertise online using Google advertising to reach new customers and grow their business.
Advertisers who choose to use Google AdWords can target users across two main networks – the search network, and the Display network. The search network refers to pay-per-click advertising, in which advertisers bid on keywords that are relevant to their business and have a chance to display their advertisements to users who enter those keywords into Google as part of a search query. Pay-per-click advertising is also known as paid search.
The Display network offers advertisers the option of placing visual banner-style advertisements on websites that are part of the Display network. The Google Display Network reaches approximately 90% of global internet users, a vast potential audience.
Although both search and display advertising campaigns are managed via Google AdWords, the term “AdWords” is typically used to refer to the search network. Digital marketers usually refer to the Display network by its own name.
How to Use Google AdWords: Info-graphic
The below graphic outlines a proven road-map to AdWords success in eleven steps. If you're new to Google advertising, follow these tips!
How to Set Up a Google AdWords Account
Before you can start advertising on Google AdWords, you’ll need to set up an AdWords account. Setting up a new AdWords account is easy, and takes just a few minutes.
You have the option of creating your account using an existing Google account, or you can create a new account specifically for use with Google AdWords. Then, you’ll specify some basics for your account, such as your location and time zone. Finally, you’ll set up billing details, so Google can accurately bill you every month.
For a full guide to setting up your AdWords PPC account, read this PPC University lesson.
How to Use Google AdWords: Optimizing Account Structure
Once you’ve set up your AdWords account with Google, it’s time to think about how to structure the AdWords account itself. A logical account structure can have a dramatic impact on several crucial PPC metrics, such as Quality Score. Ensuring your AdWords account is structured properly has many benefits, including:
Making your account easier to optimize and maintain
If you’re only planning to run a single campaign, your AdWords account structure will likely be quite simple. However, if you intend to run multiple campaigns simultaneously, or plan to do so in the future, it pays to consider optimal account structure from the outset.
The ideal AdWords account is structured into individual campaigns, each of which will have its own ad groups. In turn, each ad group will have its own keywords, unique ad text, and landing pages. The figure below illustrates how an account should be set up for optimal performance:
There are several ways you can structure an AdWords account, depending on your needs. For example, you can structure your AdWords account based on the structure of your website, by the types of products or services you’re advertising, or by geographic location, if your business operates in several individual markets.
For more information on how to structure your AdWords account, read this lesson at PPC University.
How to Use Google AdWords: Understanding Keywords
Now that you’ve set up and structured your AdWords account, it’s time to examine the fundamental building blocks of what makes AdWords work – keywords.
As their name implies, keywords are key words or phrases that users enter into Google when performing a search to find the information they need. AdWords works by allowing advertisers to bid on keywords that are relevant to their business so that their ads are shown to users when these keywords are entered. Advertisers bid on keywords, rather than “buying” them outright, because AdWords functions in the same way as an auction to ensure that not only advertisers with the largest budgets can succeed with PPC.
For more on the AdWords ad auction and how the AdWords system works, check out this info-graphic.
Keyword Research for Google Ads
Before you can bid on keywords, you need to know which keywords are worth bidding on. This is determined during the keyword research phase.
There are many different ways to conduct PPC keyword research when launching a new AdWords campaign, and WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool is an excellent starting point.
Simply enter a search term to begin, and WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool will generate a comprehensive list of keywords related to the original. You will also see data for the relative frequency of the related keywords, the search volume (using data from both Google and Word-stream, as well as the keyword’s competitiveness.
Word-stream Advisor, our PPC and social media advertising management platform, also features a comprehensive suite of keyword research tools that enable you to find new keyword ideas, identify keyword niches, find negative keywords to exclude from your campaigns, and much more.
Sign up for a free, no-obligation trial of Word-stream Advisor today to see how Word-stream can help you grow your business with paid search.
How to Use Google AdWords: Writing Compelling Ads
Once you’ve identified the keywords that are relevant to your business, all that’s left to do is write compelling, persuasive text ads that simply beg to be clicked.
Although Google AdWords offers a wide range of diverse ad formats, text-based PPC ads form the core of AdWords. Writing ad text is a particularly challenging task, not least because of the space restrictions that advertisers are subjected to. You only have very limited space to craft a compelling message that speaks to your prospective customers and persuades them to click on your ad.
There are many elements to consider when writing PPC ad text. Your choice of language is crucially important, and can have a dramatic impact upon the tone of your advertisements. Some ads leverage emotional responses such as fear or even comedy to tempt visitors to click on them, whereas others capitalize on special offers to make their ads more compelling.
For more on how to write clickable ads that convert, check out these resources:
Ad Text Optimization: How to Improve Your PPC Ads
7 Ways to Write Super-Effective AdWords Ads (with Real Examples)
5 Psychological Tricks to Exploit in Your PPC Ad Copy
If you’re pressed for time or looking for a starting point for your ad copy, you can also download 288 PPC ad copy templates from this blog post, which includes everything you need to get started writing your own unique, compelling ad text.
Evaluate the Strength of Your Google AdWords Account
Taking the time to regularly adjust and optimize your account is one of the most important things you can do as a paid search advertiser. However, even if you’re doing everything right, it can be difficult to know just how well your campaigns are performing. That’s why Word Stream created the AdWords Performance Grader.
In 60 seconds or less, the AdWords Performance Grader performs a comprehensive audit of your Google AdWords account. After securely logging in to your AdWords account, the AdWords Performance Grader will evaluate the strength of your account based on crucial PPC metrics including:
Mobile optimization
Landing pages
Wasted spend
Click-through rate
Text ad optimization
No other free tool provides as much unique, individualized insight into your Google Ads account performance as the AdWords Performance Grader. To see how well your account is performing, and to identify areas in which you can improve, try the AdWords Performance Grader for free today.
The design, look and feel of your blog determine how you will retain your audience. It also determines how your visitors will perceive your blog. The very first impression of your blog on your visitors matters most as it is the major factor that determines whether your visitor will develop an interest in your blog or not.
You might have a good content on your blog; but without a good layout and design that will give a very good user-experience, you have a greater chance of losing your visitors. So, in order to make your blog (blogger) more appealing to the eyes, here are some sites where you can download free blogger templates. The arrangement below is based on my own assessment and preference. There are no particular criteria for "ranking" the following sites. And also, there is no affiliate with any of the sites listed below.
1. Gooyaabi Templates:
GooyaabiTemplates.com provides the best, free, premium blogger templates that will enhance and improve the look and feel of your blog. The site provides powerful templates with instructions on how to install them in your blogger.
2. My Blogger Themes
MyBloggerThemes.com is the second on my list. They provide unlimited numbers of free blogger templates and give you responsive and Adsense-ready templates which you can choose from wide categories of templates to suit your purpose.
3. SoraTemplates
SoraTemplates.com provides both free and paid versions of responsive, perfectly designed blogger templates. Their templates are beautifully designed and are mobile friendly and responsive. SoraTemplates also provide custom designs - you can contact their team to design a customized blogger template that suits your need.
4. W3layouts.com
At w3layouts, you can download and experiment with wide categories of blogger templates for free. For you to be able to remove the backlink, you have to make a payment for as little as $10. Their free blogger templates are available for free. However, you have to retain backlinks to their website. Click here to learn more about W3Layouts.com
5. ThemeXpose
If you're looking for classic blogger template that suits your taste, ThemeXpose.com provides free templates which you can use. Their templates are available both in free and paid version. With the paid version, you will be able to remove the credit link. However, if you want to use their templates for free, you have to keep give credit back to them.
6. Pro Templates Lab
ProTemplatesLab.com provides top notch professional blogger templates which are available at both free and paid version.
7. All-Free-Download.com
All-free-download.com provides a large variety of resources for download - Free Vectors, Free Photos, Web templates, Free icons, Free PSD, Free fonts, Free footage, Wallpapers, PS Brushes, PS Patterns, PS Styles, and much more...
8. Hongkiat.com
Hongkiat provides information on blogging and technology. They have a list of 40 free blogger templates. Although, I have not tested any of the templates described. You can check it out to see if there are any of the templates that can work for you.
9. DeluxeTemplates.net
DeluxeTemplates.net provides totally free blogger templates. There are different categories of templates ranging from Tech to fashion, games, music, travels, etc.
10. LovelyTemplates.com
LovelyTemplates.com provides free templates not only for blogger but for WordPress as well. There is a wide range of free and premium Wordpress and Blogger.
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A good free WordPress theme can turn even the most ordinary of websites into something spectacular. At the same time, a good free WordPress theme directory can make finding that perfect theme easy. This list of the best places to download free WordPress themes will help get your site a new look in no time.
You'll find a wide variety of free WordPress themes that all have a different style to them and different features to make your website look just the way you want. You can search on these websites to find WordPress themes with a certain number of columns, responsiveness, photo or text heavy, a certain color, and a wide variety of other factors.
There are thousands upon thousands of free WordPress themes below, so take some time finding the one that will work best for you and your website.
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WordPress.org
Hands down, the best place to find free WordPress themes is WordPress.org. You’ll find over 2,000 themes in every color of the rainbow.
It’s easy to find what you’re looking for at WordPress.org because you can browse the featured, most popular, and recent themes in just a click. Plus, you can search for themes by color, the amount of columns, features, and subject.
Small but easy to see thumbnails let you quickly find and open a full-screen preview of themes you want to get a closer look at.
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FreeThemeLayouts.com
FreeThemeLayouts.com has a small selection of free, refreshingly simple WordPress themes. These themes are well designed and would work for a lot of different types of websites.
There’s a search function at FreeThemeLayouts.com as well as a sorting option so you can view see the oldest/newest WordPress themes first, the most popular of all time, or the most popular of the last three months.
Run your mouse over a WordPress theme and you can see a larger preview image. The Demo link below each theme opens a full page example of the WordPress theme so you can get a real life example of how it feels.
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Free WordPress Themes 4 U
Free WordPress Themes 4 U currently has over a thousand free WordPress themes. Anywhere from 10 to 20 new themes are added each week, and you can use their free subscription service to stay updated.
You can click on the category tags beneath a theme’s thumbnail to find others that match the same properties. There are so many possible categories to choose from that it'd be impossible to describe all of them here, but they are listed in full here.
The most popular categories yesterday, this month, and all time can be seen on the side of the website so you can download the best free WordPress themes too.
Free WordPress Themes 4 U lets you customize the theme options for their themes as well.
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FreeWPThemes.com
Instead of searching through tons of bland and boring WordPress themes, FreeWPThemes.com does it for you and then links to the best ones on their site.
There are over 2,500 free WordPress themes here that you can either browse through manually, search for by keyword, or filter. Filtering shows themes that have 1/2/3 columns, specific colors, been marked under a particular category (Finance, Restaurant, Blog, etc.), and those that have its sidebars on the left, right, or both side of the page.
Be default, the list of WordPress themes at FreeWPThemes.com are sorted by newest first, but you can change that and view the themes by those that have been on the site the longest.
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WPExplorer
Though there are only a few handfuls of free WordPress themes at WPExplorer, they do look very clean and elegant, one of which may be exactly what you're looking for.
These free WordPress themes are all on one page and don't take long to look through, so there aren't any filtering options available. Each theme can be previewed in a full page of its own so you get the actual feel of how the theme looks and works.
You must login to download these themes. Registration is free.
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JustFreeThemes.com
Over 500 free WordPress themes can be downloaded at JustFreeThemes.com, all without having to log in to any sort of user account. These are clean themes that will look brilliant for any website.
Something I like about this website apart from the others in this list is that each theme is given a single rating out of 10 that's an average rating among the theme's design, speed, support, code quality, and customization ability.
This rating system means you can view the top 10 WordPress themes on a single page, but you can also search themes by keyword.
There's a free email service you can sign up for at JustFreeThemes.com that notifies you once a week of last week's best free WordPress themes.
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Blog Oh! Blog
At Blog Oh! Blog you won’t find a ton of free themes among the ones you have to pay for, but the free ones they do have look great. These are bold, original designs that are easy to customize.
There isn’t a search function so you’ll have to browse through all of them to see if there are any you like.
Like the other websites in this list, a demo is available for these free WordPress themes so that you know exactly what you're downloading before you get it.
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FabThemes
FabThemes advertises its free WordPress themes as having no junk code, and you can download them instantly without logging in.
The themes can be browsed by most popular or by the date they were added. There's also a Collections section to see WordPress themes for weddings and other specific themes. The Types category shows themes related to news, food, lyrics, and more. You can browse these themes by color too.
Like most of the free WordPress themes site in this list, FabThemes lets you see a live demo of the theme. There's also a way for users to vote and comment on the themes, so you can see those details for each theme too.
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Site5
Site5 is another website with free WordPress theme downloads. But unlike several of the websites above, Site5 only has one page of just a few dozen themes.
Though the theme selection is small here, you can filter the results by categories like Community, Event, Portfolio, Blog, or Business.
In addition to opening a full demo of the themes, each one also has its own changelog section so you can see how the theme has improved over time.
While you can download a theme's XML content without creating a user account, you must register for a free one at Site5 in order to download the free WordPress themes.
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