With WordPress version 4.3, a new feature called “Formatting Shortcuts” was introduced. WordPress formatting shortcuts works a lot like a markdown editor where you can add formatting as you type without having to add from the toolbar later. We have created a cheat sheet infographic to make it easier for you to take advantage of this feature. A few notes to help you out:
Remember to put a space after each shortcode to make it activate. For example: *(space)content
Heading 1 is not available as a shortcut. Only H2-H6
The formatting happens as you type. Once you hit the space bar, the visual editor will show the correct formatting.
There are other WordPress formatting shortcuts you can use, but the ones used below seem to work the best are the easiest to use.
When choosing photos for your website, you have three choices:
Use Your Own Photos (but it’s hard, time consuming and can be expensive).
Buy Stock Photos (but they are expensive and scream “that’s a stock photo”) .
Steal Photos from other sites (you know you’re not supposed to do this).
So what are you left with? There are a few great sites that have free stock photos (without the dreaded fake stock photo look). These resources actually have photos with style and great visual impact.
Unsplash
Unsplash is my favorite place to get free stock photos that don’t look like stock photos. There is a good selection of nature, technology and other visually compelling images. They add 10 new stock photos every 10 days.
Sample Images:
Little Visuals
The selection at Little Visuals is not as large as Unsplash, but there is still good quality. Most images are landscapes and nature focused but there also good textures and machinery shots.
Sample Images:
picjumbo
picjumbo has a vary wide selection of stock photos. There are photos of current technology, which can be useful on sites with a more modern edge. Good categorization makes this site easy to find the photo you need, although you will have to dodge the ads.
Sample Images:
New Old Stock
When you are looking for images that have a true vintage feel, New Old Stock is the place to go. All photos are old enough that the rights have expired and they are free to use.
Sample Images:
Picography
Picography has a good selection of travel and scenery images. They are very high resolution, which can come in handy for those full screen parallax sections on your new site.
Sample Images:
Where do you get your stock photos?
https://wponcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/stock.jpg212711Kevinhttps://wponcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/wponcall-dark.pngKevin2014-11-05 12:00:232019-01-16 12:53:00Free Stock Photos that Don’t Look Like Stock Photos
Today, we will take a look at what User Testing actually is, how you can run your own user testing for free, and how we used it to improve our own site.
What is user Testing?
Who do you ask when you want honest, unbiased feedback on your website or business? Do you ask family, friends, colleagues or partners? The problem with all of these choices is that they want to make you feel good about what you are doing.
What you really need is anonymous, unfiltered feedback from a person that has no idea of who you are or what you offer.
That is exactly where user testing comes in.
User testing is having an unbiased, uninformed (about your product) person navigate your site and give real insight about what they think of the flow and value proposition of your website. A complete stranger will sit down and record a screen capture with narration of them navigating your site and answering specific questions. See below for an actual example.
How do I test my own site for free?
Peek, by the company User Testing, is a service where you submit your website address and three hours later, you are given an actual video of a random person navigating your site. They will evaluate what works and what doesn’t and even give their opinion on your business model and pricing. You can do up to three tests for free each month.
Peek is a free service with no strings attached. The company “User Testing” uses Peek as a way to advertise their premium offerings (longer testing and demographic targeting).
What We Learned from Our User Testing
After hearing about Peek, we immediately ran 3 free tests. Here are the actual videos we received and what we took away from each one:
The first test we got back was not the most helpful, but was still constructive. The tester had never heard of WordPress before, so it was hard for her to understand what my site was about. It did make me realize that my main headline on my homepage could be more clear about what we actually offer. The review motivated me to change my headline from:
WordPress is Hard. We Make it Easy.
to
Unlimited WordPress Website Support
The second test confirmed that my headline change was a good one, as she understood what we offer more quickly. This reviewer did not have a good understanding of WordPress either, but seeing her navigate the site was still informative.
This reviewer was the most insightful as she had some understanding of WordPress. The biggest takeaway was how my pricing page was setup. I had a package for $39, which caused confusion about the whole product offering. Because of this, I rearranged my pricing page to really focus on our main offering at $79 per month.
Have you used user testing on your website? What takeaways did you have?
https://wponcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/peek.jpg212711Kevinhttps://wponcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/wponcall-dark.pngKevin2014-10-21 16:06:552014-10-21 16:06:55Get Real User Testing on Your Site, for Free
