Huge-IT Forms plugin for WordPress – review

Hello friends,

In this post I will make a review of another great plugin developed and supported by Huge-IT which is called Forms.

What does it do?

It is an elegant, yet powerful solution, that allows you to add custom forms to your WordPress website with minimum effort. But that’s not what’s most important here! You can add a variety of different forms. Let’s assume that you have a restaurant and you want to allow your clients to make reservations using your website. Well, just add Huge-IT forms to it, activate it and make some quick adjustments and then start serving these reservations. Simple as that!

You are selling something online and need the shipping address of your customer? Huge-IT Forms is here for you once again. Or maybe you want to gain anonymous insights on your website visitors? Decide which fields you need, add them to your form, and then start gaining information.

How to use the Forms plugin?

I have already said that you need to install and activate it first and then make some simple configurations. You need to know that this plugin is also available in different versions. The free version however might be more than sufficient for most websites. You can always upgrade to some of the paid plans in order to add more power to your forms and what is most important – receive high quality support.

You can get the plugin from the usual places – WordPress.org or you can add it from the plugin panel in your dashboard. Forms is also available from the official website of Huge-IT. In fact you can purchase one of the paid version from it.

Once you have activated the free version of Forms you will get a standalone menu in your WordPress dashboard called “Huge IT Forms”. Hover your mouse on it and you will be able to see different sub-menus.

For example the Huge IT Forms sub-menu will provide a list of all your forms with the possibilities to:

• Search for forms;
• Edit forms;
• Delete Forms;
• Add new forms;

If you decide to add a new form then you can choose a pre-made configuration for your form. For example if you need a Subscribe form you can click on that tab and you will get the needed fields. You can also change them by applying drag & drop, adding new pre-made fields of adding simple fields that you can configure manually for your goal.

When you are done you need to select the theme of the form (the free version is limited to 5 default themes and you cannot add additional ones). Then save the form and get the shortcode that you have to place on a post/page that will be used to display your form. And that’s it!

What about other options?

You are right! There are indeed some more options that are quite important and you need to configure them. Don’t worry – it’s simple. Get to the General options. There you need to:

• Add your form settings:
  • name of the email sender;
  • email of the sender;
  • captcha public key;
  • captcha private key;
  • choose whether to save the submissions to the database or not;
• Email to administrator settings:
  • choose whether to send email for each submission or not;
  • enter the administrator email;
  • enter the message subject of the email;
  • define the content of that message;
• Define the form messages for various events – for example what should be displayed if the message is successful;
• Email to user settings:
  • activate or deactivate the functionality;
  • enter the message subject;
  • enter the message content;

In the “All submissions” tab you can monitor and manage each submission to each form that you have integrated into your website.

And that’s it friends! Now let’s talk about the pro versions.

They allow you to add more themes to your forms which is actually very important as you want them to fit flawlessly into your theme’s design and you also want them to be noticeable. This is really important as it will increase the user friendliness of your WordPress website and it will predisposes the visitors to actually fill in the forms.

The Pro version offers you huge amount of design options under the Theme Options sub-menu. You can basically define the most suitable theme of the form by:

• Setting Form Block Styles options;
• Setting Labels Styles options;
• Defining the Textarea Styles;
• Choosing the Input-Text Styles;
• Adding suitable Checkbox Styles;
• Applying great Selectbox Styles;
• Choosing Input-Radio Styles;
• Adding File Uploader Styles;
• Button Styles – this actually very important as a great button will serve as a call-to-action. You can add icons, colors, etc;
• File Uploader Styles – also very important with many great sub-options;

You can even modify some of the 5 default themes that are included in the free version. This will save you time if the desired changes in the design are not too big. Just click on one of them and the same design options will appear in front of you!

This is great, especially if you don’t know CSS & HTML.

Finally the Pro versions allow you to manage newsletters. There is a tab called “Newsletter Manager” and in it you can configure:

• Which forms should receive the newsletter;
• Number of emails in one flow;
• Interval between mailings;
• The subject of the newsletter;
• The content of the newsletter;
• The email addresses that should receive the newsletter;

So now I turn to you, friends. What do you think of the “Forms” plugin? Would you install it on your WordPress website and what forms would you integrate? Share all these and anything else you want in the comments section below. Also such great solution needs to be shown to your friends, so that they may benefit from it as well, right? In this case, please spread the word of this post in social media.

Thank you and see you soon, friends!

WPtouch Mobile Plugin – review

Hello friends,

Ever wondered how to pass Google’s criteria for mobile-friendly WordPress websites? Well basically you have two options:

1. A responsive theme;
2. A mobile theme;

Both will serve for you right, however having a responsive theme is the best option since it requires less additional configuration. But sometimes your non-responsive theme is just too good to replace. That’s why there are several mobile themes that come in the form of a WordPress plugins. They will allow you to pass the mobile-friendly rules and keep your current theme. The disadvantage of such choice is that you may need to configure the mobile-theme additionally and also it may differ in terms of design and branding from your non-responsive theme.

But if your target group of visitors are not using mobile devices to browse the web, i.e. you don’t consider mobile traffic as your main acquisition traffic source then a mobile theme with a suitable design will suit you completely. It will allow you to continue to target your main traffic sources and also to be present on mobile as well.

In this post I will make a review of one of the most popular, free and easy to use WordPress mobile themes – WPtouch Mobile Plugin.

What does WPtouch do?

Well, the short answer is – everything mentioned already above. WPtouch Mobile Plugin will allow you to keep your non-responsive theme while adding an elegant mobile one that will be displayed only on mobile devices. It is extremely simple, yet stylish and also 100% easy to use. WPtouch Mobile Plugin is fast and reliable and will allow your mobile visitors to browse your website without any concern.

The plugin makes sure that your WordPress website will pass the mobile-friendly test. According to the wordpress.org page of WPtouch, it is actually recommended by Google. This plugin will provide a fully functional mobile suite for every WordPress website! You will keep your SEO rankings (and probably increase them if you keep creating awesome and unique content) and you will also gain a great amount of mobile traffic as well.

OK, I’m convinced! How to use WPtouch Mobile Plugin?

Once again everything begins by installing, activating and configuring the plugin. The configuration options are available as a stand-alone menu item in your WordPress admin panel menu (the Dashboard). Clicking on it will allow you to adjust WPtouch Mobile Plugin to your specific needs.

The options are grouped in five tabs:

• General – where you will find the general options;
• Devices – here you configure the plugin for the different devices and user agents;
• Menu Settings – options on the mobile display of your WordPress menus;
• Theme Settings – images, colors, etc;
• WPtouch Pro – this tab presents the professional version of the plugin and it allows you to activate it by entering your license information;

Let’s start with the General tab.

Here you can enter the mobile site title – ideally you will keep the title you have entered while installing and configuring WordPress. Then you will be able to choose whether or not to enable or disable the theme for mobile visitors. This is handy since you will be able to configure WPtouch Mobile Plugin without worries that your visitors will see a broken mobile theme that is in a process of configuration. Once you are done you need to enable the plugin so that it can be used properly.

In the General tab you can configure the landing pages. There is a drop-down menu that will allow you to choose where your mobile visitors will be redirected when visiting your domain. The options are:

• WordPress Reading Settings – keep everything according to your current theme settings;
• A specific page – you will be presented with all WordPress pages and you can choose one of them that you have especially configured for a landing page for your mobile website view;

As you know each contemporary mobile device can zoom in or out while browsing. In a fully optimized for mobile usage website this option is not needed as the text will adapt to the screen size of the devise and thus it will be 100% readable. However if you feel that your visitors might need to zoom while browsing your mobile theme, WPtouch Mobile Plugin provides you with an option in the General tab that will allow you to turn on this functionality.

There are two more options – one is to choose whether to support WPtouch Mobile Plugin by adding a link in the mobile theme’s footer. The other is the language of the theme and it admin panel. You can allow the plugin to auto-detect this option or to choose a specific language.

In the Devices tab you can choose whether to enable WPtouch Mobile Plugin for:

• iOS;
• Android and Chrome;
• BlackBerry Browser;
• Firefox OS & Mobile Browser;
• Windows Phone (IE);
• Opera Mini Browser;

You can also type in additional user agents and add them to this list.

In the Menu Settings tab you will be asked to configure your WordPress menus first and then choose to configure whether the parent items should be displayed as links (or not) and also whether to use menu icons.

If the latter is enabled you will be presented with a list of different icon sets and you can choose which one to install and use for your mobile view.

You can also upload and use custom icons if you want.

In the Theme Settings tab you can upload a header image. You can also add search in the header and then you can adjust the mobile theme’s colors – background, header and menu, links, post/page headers.

You can also adjust the typography options by enabling a Google font pairing designed for this wonderful theme.

In the Theme Settings tab you can also configure the featured slider and what posts to display in it. This is awesome since most modern websites include sliders and here you are actually presented with an fully operational solution for your mobile view.

You can also configure your WordPres blog options and enable social sharing links. The latter can be configured in terms of location and color scheme.

Then you are presented with an option to enter your social media profiles and display them in the mobile theme. Finally you can configure the theme’s footer and add custom CSS if needed.

In the WPtouch Pro tab you will find out what are the benefits of purchasing a Pro license:

• Customizable Themes;
• Extra Features;
• Extensions;
• Support;

You can also activate your WPTouch Pro version by entering you account e-mail address and the product license key and then click on the “Activate” button.

In the beginning of the WPtouch Mobile Plugin’s options there is a button called “Preview Theme”. By clicking it you will find out how your website will look like on mobile.

In the end of the options panel there is another button called “Reset Settings” that will restore everything to its default state.

So there you have it, friends! WPtouch Mobile Plugin provides a fully functional mobile suite for your non-responsive WordPress website. Would you use it? Share your thoughts, questions or any feedback in the comments below.

See you soon friends!

Custom login page for WordPress

Do you intend to allow new user registration for your WordPress website? In this case each of your users will have to pass through the default login screen before they reach their dashboard.

Well it is stable and efficient, but let’s be honest – it looks boring. And now face the fact that each WordPress website has this very same login screen. This might be confusing for new users and also it might seem unprofessional to the old and more demanding ones.

So the only possible solution is to change the default WordPress login screen to something that will make you stand out from the crowd. Something unique that will express the true idea behind your website and will predispose the users to gladly login and use it. You do want this to happen, right?

So here are some absolutely great solutions to achieve this without any problems: (PS: They are FREE!)

BM Custom Login

Let’s start with something small but extremely efficient. This plugin will allow you to create a beautiful custom login page with a background and color settings of your choice. All you have to do is install and activate it and then go to “Settings” -> “Custom Login” to make the desired changes to your login screen. When you are done you just have to click on Save and that’s it! Now it’s time to enjoy your new login screen.

A5 Custom Login Page

OK – now to the heavy artillery of the solutions for an outstanding custom login for WordPress. This plugin is the first of them. It provides multiple options and settings and thus you will be able to add custom logo, custom background colour and also apply different CSS effects on your new login screen. The results are just awesome and this plugin will eventually allow you to copy an entire stylesheet into it so that you will have the ultimate freedom regarding the design of your login page. With the current options of you will be able to style it according to your needs and furthermore you will be able to redirect the different WP user roles to different pages after logging in. Absolutely great!

WP Custom Login

But what if you do want something different but in the meantime you want to keep it simple and clean? What if your perfect vision for a custom login page is the form added as a part of your theme’s design? Well this easy to use plugin is the right tool for the job. If you are one of those users who want to include the footer and the header of their WordPress theme for the login page, then you are definitely going to love using WP Custom Login!

Sexy Login

Do you want your website to be sexy? Well you do have to tweak your design a little bit in order to achieve this. And since the login page is part of this design you have to make it look sexy as well. So here is the ultimate solution for this purpose. The Sexy Login plugin will create a widget for your WordPress and you can place it on a custom page that will have the design you desire. This tool is ideal for websites that would like to avoid the default login page. Sexy Login uses AJAX and jQuery effects. But in case your visitors are using javascript-disabled browsers, the plugin is equipped with a fallback mechanism for them.

My WordPress Login Logo

But what if you only want to use your logo on the default login page instead of the WordPress logo? Well here is the plugin for you! Simple and efficient. All you have to do is add the URL of the logo in the settings for this plugin and then log out and enjoy it. Bear in mind that this solution has not been recently updated, but there are no negative reviews regarding its functionality.

But what if you want to allow your users to login by using their social media profiles? Then simply install and activate the Social Login plugin.

It will allow your users to comment and login with social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Paypal, LinkedIn, Instagram, OpenID, VKontakte, Google, Yahoo. With this plugin the login option is placed on the registration page, the login page and in every comment form. And when we are speaking of a custom brand design – Social Login allows you to add your own logo.

And ladies and gentlemen, last but not least – the ultimate login page redesign weapon: Erident Custom Login and Dashboard

This is the top rated plugin for customizing not only the login page but the WordPress dashboard as well. You can add your logo, change the images, the background colours – you name it! With Erident Custom Login and Dashboard you can just let your imagination go wild!

With this plugin you can brand your website completely and thus make your users feel right at home. But it also works for its performance and thus it is now faster and better.

You get  CSS options to change the background, solutions for a custom logo upload and form design. The plugin provides two unique features and they are the jQuery Colour Picker and a tool to change footer text on the admin dashboard.

So this is it friends! I hope that you will find the most suitable free WordPress plugin for your new login page design among these ones.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Integrate custom mail server/service for WordPress

Are you planning on sending e-mail newsletters? If this is the case then you have made the right decision since this is an extremely efficient marketing channel and it would be a shame not to use it.

However using the default mail server for your website might be a bit of a problem.

Why? Because you might overload it or get a negative spam score and thus you won’t be able to send any more e-mails whatsoever. Let’s not forget the delay problems while sending the e-mails. In other words – using the default mail server for regular e-mails (such as registration e-mails) is rather OK but when it comes to mass e-mail sending (such as newsletters) then you better find a better solution.

And such solution is the usage of a custom mail server or service. And in this post I will show you how to achieve this in WordPress.

But before I do this, let’s have a look at the beautiful external newsletter services such as Mailchimp and consider their usage for a moment. You won’t need to change your WordPress mail configuration, nor worry about the risk of being marked as a spammer. All you have to do is to create a MailChimp account, drag&drop the components in order to create a beautiful newsletter design and then send it to your subscribers. Extremely fast, easy and safe.

There’s even a WordPress plugin that allows you to add subscribers to your MailChimp lists from your WordPress site, with ease. It is called MailChimp for WordPress. It integrates subscription forms on your website in order to gain the needed subscribers. When a user subscribes the system redirects them to a custom “Thank you for your subscription” page. You can even use Contact Form 7 and other WordPress plugins to improve the integration.

Easy, right?

But I assume that this might not be the thing that you are looking for. Then perhaps you might want to try out MailPoet in order to create perfect newsletters straight from your dashboard. Yes, this is possible and it is also extremely easy. Have a look at the article in TheCMSPlace that I have written about MailPoet and how to use it for efficient e-mail marketing campaigns.

In the linked article you will notice the option to choose between an external/custom mail server or the default mail server. When you enter the settings for an external service (such as Mandrill) all of your newsletters will be sent via this server and your own will be safe.

But this applies to the functionality of MailPoet only. If you want to use a custom server for all your e-mails then you might want to consider installing WP Mail SMTP.

This WordPress plugin will allow you to configure a SMTP based service or mailserver that is different than the mailserver for your hosting. This happens by reconfiguring the wp_mail() function to use SMTP instead of mail(). WP Mail SMTP also creates an options page to manage the settings. It is located under the main “Settings” menu in your WordPress dashboard and is called “Email”.

In it you can set the following options:

• The outgoing e-mail name and address;
• Set WordPress to use SMTP for mail sending purposes instead of the default PHP mail() function;
• Set the SMTP host and port;
• Choose between SSL / TLS encryption;
• Select whether to use SMTP authentication or not;
• Set a username/password for SMTP;

So the only thing left to do is to choose a custom mail server or service, right? The great news is that there are some really good services for the task at hand. Below you will see some of the most commonly used ones:

• SendGrid
• Mandrill
• Mailjet

Most of these services provide free and limited e-mail sending. This is simply great since you can try them without spending any money and if you are satisfied then you can purchase a paid plan. Also speaking of payment – there are different models for example: pay as you go, payment plans, etc. Just find the most suitable one for you and use it with WP Mail SMTP.

Share your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to mention you favorite custom server/service for e-mail sending in WordPress.

See you soon friends!

MailPoet – the powerful way to send newsletters

Hello friends,

In this post I will present you one extremely powerful and yet easy to use WordPress plugin that will allow you to get e-mail subscribers, create newsletters and of course send and track them.

This powerful solution is called MailPoet.

As usual you need to install and activate the plugin. Then a new section will appear in your dashboard. It is called MailPoet. In it you will find 4 subsections – Newsletters, Subscribers, Settings and Premium.

Let’s start with the Settings subsection.

The first tab is the “Basics” tab. There you need to define the Company info (for a corporate website) and the e-mail notifications – i.e. on which e-mail should they be sent to, on what occasion, etc. Then you have to set the sender name and e-mail address and after this you have to determine whether your visitors can subscribe from the comments or when they are creating their accounts (if you allow account creation of course).

Then come the first newsletter specific settings. MailPoet allows you to set unsubscribe links, set the unsubscribe page that the visitors will be redirected to upon that and the most important option for each HTML newsletter – the link to view it in the browser in case there is a problem opening it from the e-mail client.

Then head to the “Forms” tab. You can create a form to allow subscriptions to your newsletter. Each form can be integrated using a shortcode, php code and iframe. For most of the cases the shortcode option will be sufficient.

In the “Signup Confirmation” tab you are allowed to set whether you want to have signup confirmation or not. My advise is to allow this setting. This means that now you have to write your confirmation e-mail message and then choose the page that the visitors will be redirected to upon confirmation.

The “Send With…” tab is very important. You need to choose the mail server that you want to use for the newsletters. My advise is to select an external solution.

Then you can set some advanced settings in the “Advanced” tab and in the “Add-ons” tab you can enhance the functionality of MailPoet by installing additional features (for example WooCommerce add-ons).

Now to the Newsletters subsection.

There you can create your newsletter design. It is extremely easy as MailPoet allows you to utilize the WordPress visual editor for each section of the newsletter and the rest is a matter of simple drag&drop. Each newsletter can be standard or automatic and you can send it to specific lists. These lists of subscribers are set within the Forms tab in the Settings subsection.

When you create the design of the newsletter MailPoet will allow you to send a sample one to an address of your choice. If you are satisfied then you can send it to the desired list of subscribers and of course track the open rate, click rate, unsubscription rate, etc. Most of the tracking options are for the premium version of MailPoet.

During the newsletter creation you can make once again changes regarding the sender info and the reply-to address if needed.

Ok – now to the Subscribers subsection.

There you can see the name and e-mail of each subscriber and the list that they are subscribed to. You can also check whether they have confirmed or not the subscription and in case of a problem you can confirm it for them (always ask for permission before you proceed with this step). You can also unsubscribe users and delete them. One very important functionality of MailPoet is to allow you to edit and import lists and subscribers. Extremely useful especially if you have gained e-mail addresses via different plugin or solution.

Now to the Premium subsection.

There you will be presented with the even more powerful premium features of MailPoet. For example in the free version you are allowed to send newsletters to only 2000 subscribers. This limit is removed in the premium version. Also regarding the tracking options – the premium version of MailPoet allows you to gain even more insights about the actions of the subscribers when they receive your newsletter. This is vital for your e-mail marketing strategy!

Also speaking of SPAM – the premium version of MailPoet allows you to get your spam score in 1 click while you are designing your newsletter thanks to the popular in-house tool of MailPoet called mail-tester. You are also presented with the possibility to add a DKIM signature to your newsletters to increase their deliverability.

On the Premium subsection you will find all the necessary information about the premium version of MailPoet as well as its pricing.

In conclusion I’d like to say that MailPoet is a must have plugin for each WordPress website. It is fast, easy to use and extremely powerful. Even the free version is sufficient enough for a small blog or recently started website so you should really consider it.

You can share your thoughts on MailPoet in the comments below. Please spread the word about this post in the social media and have fun using MailPoet.

See you soon friends!

Facebook for business explained

Facebook is a great way to promote your content but you have to know how to do it the right way.

The first major thing you have to consider is that Facebook is constantly changing. What works for you this month can prove useless the next one. You have to learn to adapt and know this –Facebook are playing the game for the money. When you create a Facebook page you don’t have direct access to the people who liked your page. Facebook is just renting them to you. This means you can be kicked out any time without any warning and you can’t do anything about it.

How Facebook ticks?

Every time when you write with one of your friends, Facebook counts this as an interaction called edge.

The more you interact with your friends– send messages to them, like or comment their posts  – the bigger your edge rank with them gets. Basically it means that if Friend A with whom you interact frequently and Friend B with whom you interact rarely post a picture in the same time, you are going to see first the picture of Friend A. Because you interact more with Friend A, Facebook considers him more important to you. So we can say that this is some kind of a competition.

Most of the people using Facebook constantly like pages, photos, statuses and etc.  This means that the competition for their Facebook feed is greater.

Facebook gives priority to your friends. Very little of the Facebook pages that the users had liked are showing in their feed. We have to consider as well that the edge rank decays over time. So you can’t rely on old and frequently circulated content.

The same rules as the ones mentioned above are applicable for Facebook pages with one tiny annoying exception- you are actually outgunned in this game. Your Facebook page posts are not equal to the posts from the Facebook users. This means that if displayed at all your content will be displayed in the end of the feed of the people who liked your page.

So if you want your content to be seen by users who have liked your page you have two choices: providing good quality content and Facebook advertising.

Does high quality content matter?

There is one really annoying advice that you have been constantly given. Post original and high quality content. With great regret I have to agree with that one. If you want people to like your content and to interact with it by giving likes, writing comments and etc., it has to be very good. This way you can achieve an organic engagement. And more importantly you can form a group of passionate followers.

Sadly, in most cases great content is not the only precondition for success. In most cases you have to combine good quality content content with Facebook advertisement.

Facebook’s advertisement and promotion options

Facebook advertising is the way of Facebook saying “we own these people and you have to pay in order to have access to them”. So yes, in a way Facebook own us. Maybe someday they will become too greedy for their own good but we will see what the future holds. Although you have to pay for it, Facebook advertising is relatively cheap and offers great ways for targeting. After all, Facebook knows your interests just like Google stores every search query you make. This way you can target your audience more precisely according to their interests and hobbies.

Paying for Facebook likes?

Let’s say you write a blog or you own an E-commerce website. You can target users interested in the things you offer. My advice to you is: choose your audience carefully and don’t ever buy Facebook likes. Facebook has an inbuilt option for promoting your website. With great regret I have to inform you that it’s a waste of money. – Why? Because there are thousands of people from some Third World countries receiving payment for simply hitting the like button. As a consequence you get people who don’t care for your content and they are lowering your engagement and reach. Facebook considers these metrics when you post something on your page. The lower they scores the fewer people your content is being shown to.

There are websites offering real likes but you have to consider that they are affected by the same “fake like plague”. The results are the same and even worse as if you were using Facebook’s promoting option. You are paying more for something you can do yourself.

In summary, we need high quality content for great engagement, as well as determination and a budget for Facebook advertisement.

A piece of advice: Facebook is a great tool for advertisement but you need to develop all your marketing channels at the same time: Google, Google+, Twitter, Youtube etc. This way if you lose one of your networks you can still remain in the game – shaken but still alive.

Understanding Facebook and promoting your content on it

Understanding Facebook

As the world’s largest social media network, Facebook is being subject to a lot of competition. The news feed is limited and it isn’t possible to display every post from every page a user follows. Facebook uses an algorithm to determine what content to make visible in a user’s news feed. It’s a complicated process and not all of the elements that form the algorithm are being brought to public knowledge. The elements already known include the following:

·        The post type (text, photo, status, link, etc.)  the user finds the most interesting

·        How much engaging is the post to the audience

·        Posts being reported as spam or being hidden by the user

·        A user’s interaction with Facebook ads

·        The Internet speed and the device of the user

EdgeRank

EdgeRank, the original news feed ranking system, used by Facebook is still a part of the present news feed algorithm.

Every friend’s action on Facebook appears in the newsfeed. Facebook calls these actions Edges.

EdgeRank is the algorithm that ranks the Edges and displays the ones scoring well.

Why should I care?

Facebook ranks all stories according to their EdgeRank score. The stories with the highest score appear at the top of the user’s newsfeed. If according to the algorithm a status update is boring to a particular user, that status update will never be even shown to him.

How does EdgeRank work?

The EdgeRank is unique to each user. The algorithm was revealed at Facebook’s 2010 F8 conference. It consists of the following 3 elements:

1.     Affinity score

2.     Edge Weight

3.     Time Decay

Affinity Score

The Affinity Score calculates how connected a particular user is to the Edge( the action). It takes into account 3 things:

1)    The strength of the action

2)    How close is a particular user to the one who took the action

3)    How long ago did the action take place

Two users, interacting with each other on Facebook have different affinity scores relative to one another.

EdgeWeight

Each action has a different weight, reflecting the efforts required for the action. The actions include liking, clicking, commenting, sharing, tagging and friending. Apart from clicking, every action creates a potential story. The principle of the EdgeWeight is simple: the more interested in the content a user is, the more effort he or she puts into a specific action, connected to that content. That is why commenting is worth more than liking and liking is worth more than clicking and posting photos and videos, instead of links scores your story higher. Simply viewing a status update in your newsfeed does not include any form of interaction and does not count toward the affinity score.

New Facebook features usually have a higher EdgeWeight. The intent behind that is to promote the features to the users.

Time Decay

The time of the interaction is another key component of the algorithm. If a user interacts with someone a lot, but not so much lately, the influence of the user’s affinity score starts to decline. In short: the older the story gets, the more it loses points. Facebook measures this by multiplying each action by 1/x, where “x” is the amount of time since the action took place.

When a user logs into Facebook and visits his newsfeed, among the stories posted most recently, the ones with the highest score appear. So, a status update made by a user will show up on the newsfeed only if it has a higher score compared to other newsfeed stories that happened at the same moment.

How do I check my EdgeRank score?

Facebook keeps this algorithm a secret. Instead a user can measure the effects of EdgeRank by checking how many people he reached. Since the engagement impacts the EdgeRank, the user can also measure the engagement that he or she gets with the help of a Facebook analytics tool.

Since there is no such thing as general EdgeRank score, each user has a different affinity score with a page.

Facebook Changes

Last June Facebook announced they would be limiting organic news feed impressions for brands, so as to provide users with a “higher quality content” in the news feed. The social media believes that users don’t want to see this promotional content in the news feed. This applies to organic content only, not ads. Facebook defines any of the following as being promotional:

1.     Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app

2.     Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context

3.     Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads

Manipulative practices such as like-bating (posts that ask fans to complete specific actions) and posting spam and frequently circulated content are subject to restrictions, as Facebook updated their news feed spam algorithm. Another tactic that Facebook banned in 2014 is the like-gating. Many pages like-gate their content by requiring users to like pages before they can gain access to special content.

How to promote my content

Many marketers rely on Facebook reach to measure whether their efforts are paying-off.  Reach is the number of  Facebook users who see a page’s published post – and it’s been steadily declining in 2014 due to Facebook algorithm changes. Business that are new to Facebook assume that the majority of fans see their posts and it comes as a shock when they realise that’s not the case.

Things you have to avoid:

Buying fans is not a good business tactic. First, they don’t add real value and second, a little or no engagement to a page with numerous fans is a signal to consumers that they are fake. The less of engagement also means that Facebook will be less likely to display your content by making it visible to/ for the real fans.

• Avoid “click-bait” text.This refers to post that are heavy in words like “Click here”. This may reduce your reach.
• Avoid posts containing appeals encouraging people to take a specific action or purchase something.
• Don’t overpost or underpost. Content should be posted on a regular basis and not more than 2 or 3 times a day.

Things that will help you:

• Post content that leads to high engagement. Businesses should post as much original content as possible. Low-quality posts diminish the overall organic traffic. When you’re posting content with low engagement rate, it serves as a signal to Facebook, saying “My fans don’t find that interesting enough.”
• Include an image, link or video with your post. Do so in order to make the post more interactive. It is proven that 40% of users will respond better to visual images.
• Post at non-peak times. At times of the day when little content is being shared, your posts will be more visible.
• Add a call to action for increased likes or shares. If you want more likes and shares encourage fans to like and to share your content.
• Engage your community with questions

Facebook Insights

Using Facebook Insights can help you learn more about your audience. It’s a proprietary analytics platform with different data sets.  Facebook Insights consists of five metrics: Likes, Reach, Visits, Posts and People.

Likes show how many people have liked your page within a given time frame. It also provides information on the number of people who “unliked” your page, as well as on the proportion of paid versus organic likes.

Reach is indicative for the number of people who have seen your posts. It also displays metrics like comments, likes and shares, indicative for the engagement of the audience.

Visits gives you a breakdown of which pages (tabs) were visited (i.e. timeline, likes tab, custom tabs, etc.) and also which referring sites (external) brought people to your Facebook page.

Posts provides an analysis of your content by using indicators (metrics) such as post type, engagement of the audience, total reach and time of the day.

People gives information on the demographics of your audience according to their gender, spoken language or location. It also compares people reached versus people engaged.

Facebook Insights gives brands a complete picture on the performance of their page.

It is important for brands to create online communities and to connect with their target audience through social media. However Facebook does not foster free promotion regardless of the quality of the content or the level of engagement of the audience. Paid ads and sponsored posts are a good option for promoting your content. With Facebook advertisement you can target your ads specifically to the audience that is interested in your content and services.