Classic Blog • @maheshone

The Fantastic Ten Tools (Free) To Skyrocket Your Productivity

February 10, 2016@maheshone

As a student, a professional, a business person, or a freelancer --- you might want to remain productive all the time. And, as you probably know, there are a bunch of tools and apps on the web that can make you super-productive. Of course, I've already published a handful of 101 listicles featuring productivity tools, marketing tools, social media tools, browser extensions, etc. but the problem is they are all huge lists. And I obviously haven't tried all of them personally as my goal was to find and list the best of the best tools (in each category). So today, I am sharing with you my favorite productivity tools and apparently they're the tools that I can't live without. And no, it doesn't include any social networks, or instant messengers, or messaging apps, or even any paid tools. Just ten free productivity tools --- and it's for anyone and everyone. That's it! And I'm calling it: "The Fantastic Ten".

Over 101 Blogging Resources (Tools & Apps) To Streamline Your Workflow

February 2, 2016@maheshone

It’s true, every blogger would have a list of their favorite blogging tools, and I have one too. The other bloggers might not have published one but trust me it exists. Because "bloggers can't live without tools!". Seriously! Here is a list of my blogging resources and it includes my favorite internet tools, software, and apps. Well, some of them may not be directly related to blogging or it may not be even an essential. However, I have listed it here because I believe I ended up using it only because I own a blog. Makes sense, right? One more thing. These are my personal favorites and it may not be the best option for you. But you can always explore my Blogging Tools 501 (or what I call the, The Blogpreneur's Swiss Army Knife) for a comprehensive list of blogging resources you will ever need.

My Favorite Internet Tools, Software & Apps

I have made sure that only the ones that I'm using currently (daily or occasionally) is listed here. And the best thing is that most of them are free, forever. Anyway, I have highlighted the premium services (plus its pricing when possible).

The Web Hosting Handbook: Everything (Almost) You Need To Know

January 12, 2016Handbooks, @maheshone

There are a ton of web hosting companies on the web and countless web hosting comparisons, reviews, coupons and deals of those hosting companies also exists. And almost all of the bloggers recommends at least one web hosting company of their choice. The problem is, the web hosting provider recommended by 'Blogger A' could be the worst rated hosting company by 'Blogger B' or vice versa. Again, a good percentage of the bloggers or the "best web hosting reviews and ratings" are biased. For instance, HostGator.com is among the Top 10 Web Hosting Companies (actually at #2) by PC Magazine in 2015 and its Editor Rating is EXCELLENT (Screenshot) --- when it's easily one of the worst rated host in 2015. And recently I noticed that an 'award-winning' blogger was promoting a Black Friday deal of a web hosting company that he otherwise loved to hate. Then again, there are bloggers who is hosting their website with 'Host A' but they are promoting 'Host B'. You know why? Affiliate commissions. Period.

Web Hosting: Everything (Almost) You Need To Know

Today, I just wanted to give you my personal perspective about "web hosting". And no, I'm neither going to write an individual review of a host nor going to recommend a specific host. Instead, my goal is to discuss several aspects of web hosting plus compare some of the most popular web hosting companies (with a price comparison chart). I believe you can choose a web hosting plan by yourself once you go through the entire article. I have organized the article into different sections to make it more readable and here you go:

What You Need To Know About... --- Click To Scroll

10 WordPress Settings & Features That You Should Know [Level 3.0]

December 22, 2015@maheshone

Level 2.0 was all about two menus: Settings and Tools. And today we are moving on to Level 3.0: WordPress Themes and Plugins. Do you know what makes themes and plugins interesting? Both of them are developed by third-parties.

Image Credit: Flickr

The idea of this article is to explain what different WordPress theme and plugin settings means to me and you. First things first. There's every chance that you will come across few terms like WordPress Framework, Child Theme (also known as Skin), and WordPress Hooks to name a few. So let us just explore those terms before getting started.

WordPress, Themes, Framework, Child Theme

WordPress is like the engine of your car, WordPress Framework is like the frame and body of your car, and a Child Theme is like the paint job done on your car. A decade back there was no such thing called WordPress Framework or Child Theme because then it was all about WordPress plus a Theme. That is, we install WordPress on our web server and install a theme of our choice. That's it. In the past few years, WordPress has evolved and became more popular with a developer base like never before. So, it led to the rise of WordPress Frameworks. That is, WordPress theme makers started building a foundation (known as a framework) for their themes. And it means all the themes developed by a theme maker has the same core features (in terms of design, security, SEO. etc.). It also enables developers to easily create a child theme (or a skin) for a specific framework without having to code from scratch. WordPress Hooks lets you change the default functions or add your own functions without changing the core WordPress files. You can go here to learn more about it (if you're not a coder then I hope it won't make you sick).

9 WordPress Settings & Features That You Should Know [Level 2.0]

December 2, 2015@maheshone

WordPress is a jungle. Seriously. When I first planned to write this series of WordPress posts, the idea was to get some essential WordPress topics published on my blog so that I could link to it from related blog posts and can supplement few upcoming blog posts as well. And then I realized it's not easy. I mean, it became a struggle to keep it short and simple as there are a lot of things surrounding even a tiny WordPress option or a menu. It's kind of difficult to decide what to include and what not to. So, make sure that you take enough time and explore each feature/settings by yourself --- especially if you have zero experience with WordPress. Now as you might have already imagined, this is the second part of my WordPress Settings & Features That You Should Know series. Just in case, if you missed the first one, here you go:

Don't Miss: 12 WordPress Settings & Features That You Should Know [Level 1.0]

I split this series into 3 levels as the idea is to explain all the WordPress settings that you see when you first login to your WordPress-powered site. Today, I've picked only two settings and it's all about two menus (and its submenus). There's every chance that you won't have to visit these menus often as they're like "set and forget" kind of options. And do keep in mind that you shouldn't play with these options unless you know exactly what it does to your WordPress site.

12 WordPress Settings & Features That You Should Know [Level 1.0]

December 1, 2015@maheshone

WordPress has two flavors, WordPress.com (the free hosted version — like example.wordpress.com) and WordPress.org (the self-hosted version — like maheshone.com). WordPress.com is a version of WordPress.org that is hosted by Automattic. WordPress.org is the self-hosted version of WordPress which means that when we install the WordPress software on our web server, we own it and manage it.

Don't Miss: WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: The Ultimate Comparison

I will be focusing on WordPress.org, and yes, this blog is powered by WordPress.org and is an example of the self-hosted version of WordPress. When it comes to WordPress installation and setup, I (probably you too) have noticed a ton of WordPress tutorials and guides that says how to start a WordPress blog in 10 minutes or even 5 minutes. Basically, it's all about how to buy a domain name, web hosting plan, and install WordPress. The reality is that it doesn't work that way as there are a lot of other things that you should know and do after installing WordPress. It's not really true if someone tells you that blogging on WordPress is easy, and not complicated. Because starting and maintaining a blog takes time, effort, and some money too. Of course, you can start a WordPress blog in less than 5 minutes but it will only look like this and never like this.

The 13 Best Google Chrome Extensions I Can’t Live Without (Plus 13 I Can Live Without)

October 9, 2015@maheshone

Google Chrome is much more than just a browser and that's how it became the web's favorite internet browser. And it was perhaps the first cloud-integrated web browser. That is, everything you do inside Google Chrome was automatically synced across all your computers (and today mobile devices as well). And there are literally hundreds of thousands of Google Chrome extensions that can make this super-browser even more powerful.

Don't Miss: Productivity Tools: The Fantastic Ten To Skyrocket Your Productivity

The good thing is, there must be an extension to make Chrome work the way you want. For instance, I often end up accidentally close a pinned tab. So, I can install an extension called Lock Tab to prevent it (I'm not using it though). The only problem with Chrome is that... it's so resource hungry that it eats up your computer's memory (RAM) in a big way. So make sure that you don't overload your browser with a ton of add-ons or extensions. It will not only slow down your computer but also make it a mess as most of the Chrome extensions can access your browsing history (or much more). So it's always a good idea to install only the trusted ones. Today, I have sorted some of the best Google Chrome extensions and apparently they are also my personal favorites.

13 Google Chrome Extensions I Can't Live Without

Here's a quick reminder. It's really impossible to come up with a definite list of Google Chrome extensions as its selection depends upon a person and his/her nature of work. For instance, if you are a gamer or a graphic designer then you may not find much helpful extensions. But if you are a blogger or even a writer then you would find at least few of them helpful. That's why this is a list of my favorite extensions. And I have divided the list into two: the first 13 are the ones that I can't live without and it's enabled all the time. And the next 13 are the ones that I activate on-demand --- that is, when I want to do something with it. If you're looking for a comprehensive list then check out: Top 50 Google Chrome Productivity Extensions and Top 30 Google Chrome SEO Extensions.