People ask me all the time for recommendations on premium WordPress plugins, and I often have nothing to say. With people like Chris Pearson, Sean Jackson, and Tony Clark as partners, if we want WordPress to do something it doesn't, we build it.

Many times the things we build for ourselves end up becoming products and services for you, like Thesis, Scribe and the upcoming Premise. If we have a need for it, we figure odds are you do, too.

Luckily, the premium WordPress market has matured to the point that excellent developers are building things we happily buy rather than build. Gravity Forms from Carl Hancock of Rocket Genius is one such product, and that's why I'm doing my first ever WordPress plugin review for you – I'm that impressed.

What is Gravity Forms?

In their own words:

Gravity Forms for WordPress is a full featured contact form plugin that features a drag and drop interface, advanced notification routing, lead capture, conditional logic fields and the ability to create posts from external forms.

Got that? How about once more in English?

Gravity Forms

Basically, Gravity Forms is software that makes WordPress way better by allowing you to empower people to send you any sort of information, and even publish directly on your site in certain circumstances. The plugin adds a "Forms" section to the left sidebar of your WordPress admin area, from which you can quickly access the multitude of things Gravity Forms allows you to do.

Let's look at four of those things:

Contact and Support Forms

The most basic use of Gravity Forms is your general contact form, which just about every WordPress site has or needs. Whatever the reason people need to get in touch, Gravity Forms makes it easy.

Gravity Forms

But it's the versatility of what you can do in terms of contact and support forms that makes even this seemingly mundane use of forms exciting. You can create any variety of form, collect any array of data, allow for file uploads, set up notifications to route to different email addresses based on rules you define, and place the form on any page or post at the click of a new button that shows in your posting interface.

So think about it. Instead of a lead generation call to action that requires the click of a link to reach a form (2 steps), you place the form itself at the bottom of the post. Conversions go up when the number of steps go down.

Plus you can include hidden fields that transmit data like IP address, use conditional form fields that appear only if the preceding responses are a certain value, dynamic pre-population of form fields, and lot of other stuff that opens a world of possibilities beyond the boring old contact form.

Surveys and Polling

That versatility goes way beyond contact and support forms. Gravity Forms allows you to quickly build surveys and reader polls with open-ended text fields, drop down menus, checkboxes, numerical fields, and multiple-choice questions.

Gravity Forms

You can create lengthy reader survey forms in minutes that provide feedback on a regular basis. Even cooler is simply popping in a quick multiple-choice poll at the bottom of your post for instant data in a format that in many cases will be more useful than free form blog comments.

And don't forget the conditional form fields. If someone chooses a certain option from a drop down or multiple-choice question, you can then ask follow-up questions based only on that response. Pretty cool functionality that you usually have to buy separate survey software to get.

Guest Post Submission

Guest posting is one of the best methods of building quality back links for bloggers and other content creators. The win for the publisher, of course, is additional quality content from other sources, but it can become a management pain to keep up with the submitted content, much less format it and post it.

Gravity Forms

With Gravity Forms, you can create a guest post submission page that allows regular and prospective guest writers to "post" outside of your WordPress admin area. You create a form that contains all the regular post fields (title, image, body, excerpt, category… you can allow all or just the areas you want), and the content submission become a draft post inside WordPress.

You get instant guest content organization while also reducing the normal workload that accepting guest posts involves. For many busy bloggers, this feature is worth the price of admission alone.

User-Generated Content

Okay, here's where things get really interesting. Using the exact same functions that allow you to accept guest posts, you can allow user-generated content on your site that goes way beyond comments. Or you can build a review, Q&A, or wiki-style site using nothing more than WordPress.

Gravity Forms

This is an amazing site-building breakthrough in my opinion. For example, using Thesis and Gravity Forms, you could build a local restaurant review website without writing a single line of code. The layout of the site and the user posting mechanism would all be built point-and-click, drag-and-drop from inside your WordPress interface.

Time to kick your imagination into high gear. And Gravity Forms allows you to do much more than what I've highlighted in this review.

Lifetime Support and 25% Off

I bought Gravity Forms with my own money for my own personal use, with no intention of promoting it. As soon as I understood how powerful it was, however, I asked Carl Hancock if we could become a marketing partner.

Carl said sure, but he also told me that they were changing their support offer as of April 1, 2010. The original deal was Gravity Forms came with lifetime support at no extra charge, but they were changing to an offer that limited the initial support period to a year, beyond which you'd have to pay more to continue to get support.

I asked Carl if he would consider extending the deadline to May 1st so I could get you all in on the better deal. Carl again said sure. Then because I'm a ~~slacker~~ busy person, I missed the May 1 deadline too… and had to plead for another extension.

Carl not only said sure once again, he threw in a 25% discount for Copyblogger readers who use a special promo code.

So here's what you do:

Go to the Gravity Forms website and explore all the features and details.
Select the plan that's right for you – the 1-site, 5-site, or Developer option.
Use the promo code LIFETIME when you check out.
Get this done before May 8, 2010, or the deal goes bye bye.
Do a happy dance.

Seriously, I think you’ll get a lot of value out of Gravity Forms.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and wants you to know that Thesis + Scribe = SEO Made Simple. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

17 Easy Steps to Brilliant Blog Posts

Posted: 03 May 2010 07:16 AM PDT

image of child's blocks forming stair steps

You know what I've discovered? Most of the people writing about blogging are experts. Funny thing, that.

These expert bloggers have been doing it for a while and they have thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of subscribers. The best give lots of free stuff away that's actually worth reading, and we know we're standing on the shoulders of giants when we follow their advice.

And all that's good. Don't get me wrong.

But when I first started blogging about six months ago, I struggled to find a succinct summary all in one place. I spent a full day online giving myself an MBA -– Masters in Blogging (Advanced). I subscribed to this, downloaded that, printed out something else, read everything I could without my eyes becoming permanently crossed.

Because I couldn't find what I needed — a straightforward checklist-style guideline to getting started as a newbie — I put my own together.

Does a newbie have anything to teach you?

I know what you're thinking:

What does this Jill person know about brilliant blog posts? She’s just getting started herself.

I'll readily confess my own lack of experience. My knowledge is growing (subscribing to copyblogger is helping), but my confidence still lags behind what I'm learning.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I reckon there might be a few others who are in this same boat. And it's to these newbies (and maybe some more experienced bloggers who are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of info about How To Blog So your Bank Balance Explodes) that I write today.

I broke it down into 17 (relatively) easy steps, so you can find everything in one place. Use this post checklist-style, to start writing the kind of content that attracts links and readers:

Four factors to remember before you start to write

Write a draft headline. You'll come back to it at the end, and it may very well change and evolve. But a basic proposition and a compelling hook will help guide your content.
Make sure you have one idea per post. My first draft post had about 47 ideas in it. This turned out to be a good thing. Once I got it through my camera battery-sized brain that my post was too complex, I then had 47 possible posts, which should keep me going for about six months. But I did have to trim that first post (and every subsequent one) down to One Idea. When in doubt, leave it out.
Make sure you know your purpose. What are you trying to accomplish with this post? Are you hoping to sell a product? Get referrals? Attract links? Be bookmarked on Delicious? Get lots of attention on Twitter and Facebook? Disclose some irrelevant personal information to a bevy of strangers? (The first five are recommended, the last one should be undertaken with extreme caution.)
Who are you writing to? Come up with an ideal reader, with a full set of personality characteristics. This is a person who loves what you do, buys everything you sell, and tells everyone they ever meet about you and your site. Write to that person, whether fictional or real. My ideal reader is Carolyn, who happens to be a real person who lives in Boston. When I write, I imagine it's a (semi) personal note from me to Carolyn.

I’ll give you an example for that last point. After the enormous success of her memoir eat pray love, Elizabeth Gilbert was harassed and harangued to write another best seller that millions of readers around the world would want to read. (And as a platform for a movie that Julia Roberts would want to star in.)

No pressure there.

Gilbert says that she tried for months to write that book, and failed. She threw her first attempt at Committed away because she was trying to write to the millions and it just wasn't working.

She ended up writing the book for a small circle of women who know, love, and support her. The millions who ended up buying and reading the published book came later.

So, to sum it up: come up with a solid headline, for a post based on one idea, with a clear purpose, and for a single ideal reader. Now you're ready to start writing this sucker!

Eight idea sparks for more compelling content

Here are some tried-and-true techniques that can help you write stronger posts. Try igniting one or more of these idea sparks when your fingers are on the keyboard but your brain is drawing a blank.

Make it eye-friendly. If you use them wisely, a nice bunch of fascinating bullets is a great way to break up your copy and make it easy to read.
Embrace the list post. Building a post around a numbered list is still one of the strongest ways you can organize content. If you're skeptical, take a look at those "popular posts" to the right. See a few numbers in those headlines?
Examples and stories. What has your own journey been? What light bulb moments have you had? Where do the themes you write about show up in the everyday? (Seth Godin is the master of this; study how he does it.) And how does this relate to what you do and to the products/services you are selling?
What are you reading and watching? Articles, news stories, research papers –- all good stuff to refer to and comment on, drawing a connection back to what you do.
NEWS FLASH! Is something in your world new? Have a project launch in the works? What about a speaking gig or workshop you are running? Perhaps someone well-known in your field is coming to town? You can use your own news flashes or "borrow" other people's, they both work.
Interviews. Who's fascinating to your readers and willing to give you some time? Ask them some good questions, write their responses down, then wrap it all up with a jazzy conclusion.
Challenges and bugbears. What's bothering you or your (potential) customers? Offer input to help them with their real or imagined problems, or talk about how you overcame something on the dark side.
Who do you admire? Pick a famous person and write about the link between something about them (their work, their interests, their charity appearances, their drug rehab story of pain) and how it relates to your own work.

Five last things to check before you post

You’re nearly done! You've created some killer content (well, it just about killed you, anyway), so now it's time to wrap up.

Let's finish off with some style! Five quick things to remember here:

Hyperlinks. Linking out is an important part of developing relationships with other bloggers, and it's also helpful for SEO. Try to include a hyperlink about every 120 – 200 words.
Make your last paragraph sing. Give us a call to action (tell us what to do), make us an offer we can't refuse (and put a ticking clock on it), or reach a surprising conclusion.
Come full circle back to your title. Does it need any tweaking to reflect your content (your one idea, your clear purpose, and to speak to your ideal reader)? Is it compelling? Is it something your readers will want to bookmark, link to, and share?
Do a final check for structure. How does the post look on the page? Have you broken all that text up so it's easy for us to read?
Say something about yourself. You know, it could start with "About the Author:"

How about you — what’s on your own personal “checklist” for creating brilliant posts? Let us know in the comments.

Want more easy steps to online marketing success? You’re in luck — Copyblogger has a free online newsletter to help you with that. Click here to find out more about it.

About the Author: Jill Chivers is a quick study. Since starting her blogging career six months ago, she has made many fine mistakes. She intends to use this terrific checklist to improve her own blog posts. From her home base of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, Jill presides over her new online business, which helps her customers resolve tricky problems of all kinds.

Top Articles on Internet

Monday, May 3, 2010

Top Misc Content on Internet

Top Misc Content on Internet

What is Gravity Forms?

Contact and Support Forms

Surveys and Polling

Guest Post Submission

User-Generated Content

Lifetime Support and 25% Off

Does a newbie have anything to teach you?

Four factors to remember before you start to write

Eight idea sparks for more compelling content

Five last things to check before you post

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