Last fall, the The Dr. Oz Show touted a “revolutionary” weight-loss supplementderived from an Indonesian plant call garcinia cambogia. And although the medical science community is still uncertain about the “breakthrough” diet claims, the over-the-counter supplement’s popularity has since exploded. But a new report shows that the majority of garcinia cambogia pills sold online or in stores contain only a fraction of the key plant compound listed on their labels.
ConsumerLab.com—an independent company that tests the quality and safety of health products—examined 11 of the most popular garcinia cambogia supplements, including several whose packaging untruthfully claimed endorsements from the The Dr. Oz Show. Six of those supplements contained far less hydroxycitric acid (HCA)—the plant’s alleged weight-loss component—than was listed on the bottle. In fact, one garcinia cambogia supplement contained just 16% of its advertised HCA. “Most [garcinia] products on the market don’t actually deliver what’s listed on their labels,” says Tod Cooperman, MD, president of ConsumerLab.com (see their full study here).
MORE: Your Simple 3 Day Detox Diet
Several teams of researchers have tried to identify whether the HCA in garcinia cambogia can actually help people lose weight. One 12-week study from Purdue University found overweight women who swallowed 1,200 mg of HCA daily lost about 55% more weight—8.2 pounds compared to 5.3 pounds—than women who did not take the garcinia cambogia supplement. But several other research efforts have failed to turn up similar benefits.
While the jury’s still out on whether garcinia cambogia-derived HCA can really help you lose weight, there are garcinia cambogia supplement options that will at least give you what you pay for. Puritan’s Pride ($22, puritan.com) and the Vitamin Shoppe ($14, vitaminshoppe.com) offer the least-expensive options that passed ConsumerLab.com’s tests. (Or go the natural route with these 25 best weight loss tips of all time.)
MORE: Are Your Vitamins Pointless?
Article source: https://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/a20462781/most-garcinia-cambogia-diet-pills-being-falsely-advertised/
For many web designers, finishing off a brand-new website for a client doesn’t mean the end of that relationship. Potentially, you may continue to work together in some capacity for years to come. Things like maintenance, repairs and maybe even a lucrative redesign could all be in the cards.
But in order to get to that point, you need to build and maintain a solid relationship. Even if there are no guarantees, it’s still the best way to ensure that a client will come back to you, year after year.
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Clients, of course, are all different. They each have different likes, dislikes and will vary in how they approach their business. While keeping that in mind, I think it is safe to say that there are some commonalities when it comes to building a relationship with them.
Here, then, are some things we can do to lay a strong foundation for a successful partnership.
Be Honest and Direct
One of the easiest and most universal ways to earn trust and respect is by speaking the truth. Lying, on the other hand, will only cause harm to a relationship. Just don’t go there.
In my experience, I’ve had much better outcomes when I have plainly said what needs to be done and a brief description as to why. Now, that’s not a license to abandon all politeness and decorum. But the more you talk circles around things, the more it can rub someone the wrong way.
Honesty is always the best policy, but brevity shouldn’t be ignored, either. This is especially important when discussing highly-technical issues. You’ll run into clients who really don’t understand all the technical jargon and don’t care to learn it.
In these cases, it’s best to simply get to the bottom line. For example, rather than explain all the technical reasons why they should keep their WordPress install updated, it’s more effective to communicate the end result (a potentially broken, insecure website, in this case). If they want to know more, you can always elaborate further.
Put it all together and your client will appreciate both your honest approach and your ability to communicate effectively.
Follow Up and Follow Through
We all need to prioritize our schedule. Oftentimes, the bigger the project (and client), the higher priority it is. It just makes sense.
But that doesn’t mean that you should ignore other clients or push them aside. If you’ve ever had a similar situation happen in your own life, you’ll know how frustrating it can be. So, imagine what a client feels like if they are continually left hanging.
This is where just a little bit of communication can make a world of difference. People will often be understanding if your schedule is jam-packed with work – as long as you let them know. Informing them that their request may be delayed a little bit will go over much better than failing to respond at all.
Then, it’s vital that you follow through with whatever you’ve promised. This demonstrates that, even if you can’t get to something right away, you can be counted on to get the job done. It’s actually a rarity in our world, so following through will make you indispensable in a client’s eyes.
Be a Resource
Some client relationships will be a bit sporadic in that you won’t hear from them very often. Still, it’s important to stay in touch with them, even during those lulls in work. And there are a few easy ways to do it.
Direct Contact
Being in direct communication with your clients helps to build that personal rapport. Consider reaching out once or twice a year via phone or email, just to see how things are going. Ask if they are still happy with their website and see if there are any potential changes they want to make.
Quite often, a client will have website-related items on their to-do list, but they get pushed to the back burner for whatever reason. Just the simple act of reaching out to ask can get the ball rolling.
And, don’t be afraid to make suggestions. For instance, clients who have older sites may be in need of some mobile optimizations. Take a look at their analytics and let them know how many mobile users they’ve had, and how to better serve them.
Blogs and Newsletters
While less personal, sending out blog posts and newsletters to existing clients can serve two purposes. First, it keeps your name fresh in their mind. Second, it’s an opportunity to inform them about new services you’re offering, industry trends or other items they need to know about.
The best part is that you don’t necessarily have to go all-out in this area. It doesn’t have to be particularly in-depth or frequent. Just put something out there once in a while. You may be surprised at how much feedback you get.
Of course, while you’re spreading some knowledge, you might as well share it on social media as well.
Webinars
Hosting a webinar for a group of clients offers the best of both worlds. You get to make a personal connection while also dropping a bit of knowledge on something that matters to them. Best of all, you don’t have to leave your desk!
Your subject matter should be focused on things that have an effect on at least a segment of your client base. One recent example of this would be the WordPress Gutenberg editor, as it was bound to have a large impact.
But you can also focus on other matters that relate to your client’s business. Subjects like email marketing, increasing conversion rates or how to read usage statistics are always popular. Regardless, the interaction can be very beneficial for everyone involved.
Show That You’re in It for the Long Haul
In all, this is about both doing the right thing and demonstrating that you are there for your clients before, during and after you’ve built their site.
Most of the time, this will be an effective means of building loyalty and keeping them on board. Of course, there will always be some losses along the way. But being honest, trustworthy and a resource of information will help you build and sustain great long-term relationships.
The post How to Keep Clients for Years to Come appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.
I've had the domain leftontheweb.com for ages. It's been with me since 2004. However, since I recently got a brand new .dev domain, I decided it was time for a change. Since I can't even remember how I came up with the old name, it's time for a change. A new name that is easy to recognize, easy to remember and easy to link to me.
The new domain name for this blog is:
skoop.dev
It only makes sense to switch to this domain. Skoop has been my nickname for as long as I have access to the Internet. And since my main occupation is still development, this switch makes sense.
Now, to find interesting topics to blog about again...
One of the truly cool and powerful features of WordPress is the ability to run a Multisite network. Install WordPress, create a network and you’ll be able to manage any number of websites within just one place.
Each website within that network can have its own users, themes and plugins. As a super admin, you have a wide range of control over what is and isn’t allowed for those sites. For example, you can set things up so that sites can only choose from a limited selection of pre-installed themes or plugins that you deem acceptable.
That makes multisite perfect for grouping together any number of sites within an organization. Large companies, educational institutions or like-minded communities can leverage this tool to bring several related factions under one big umbrella.
Naturally, the WordPress developer community has been on board with multisite for a number of years. As a result, there is a large selection of handy multisite-specific and compatible plugins to add all kinds of different functionality. Today, we’ll introduce you to some selections that we think are among the most essential.
While it doesn’t have a large userbase, Broadcast is one of those plugins that offers something really useful: The ability to share content across multiple sites on the same network. This is perfect, say, for a retail store that has a site for each one of its physical locations. Plus, there are a ton of commercial add-ons that offer compatibility with popular plugins, along with other desirable functionality.
WP Security Audit Log works for all sites, but could be of particular interest to multisite admins as well. The plugin provides an easy way to keep track of all changes made to sites throughout your network. What’s more, super admins can delegate access to event logs and settings across other user roles – or block everyone else out. Either way, you’ll stay on top of who’s doing what.
Attempting to troubleshoot user-related issues on a busy multisite network is difficult. With User Switching, admins and super admins can easily switch between any user account. This allows you to see things as individual users do and will help track down problems more quickly.
Not everyone needs comments. And trying to manage them on a large network of sites is a bit like herding cats. Disable Comments lets you shut down comments (even the mere mention of them) on both the front and back end of your install. Alternately, you can block only specific post types if you wish.
If you need to quickly replicate an existing site in your network, NS Cloner will do the trick. The plugin will copy virtually everything from the target site, including theme settings, plugin configurations and content. In the right situation, this could be a huge timesaver.
Inactive Logout can be very useful if your network has a lot of users who need to access the back end. Invariably, someone is always leaving themselves logged in for hours at a time – even when they’re not at their computer. The plugin can be set to log out inactive users after a specific period of time, helping to mitigate an unnecessary security risk.
Looking for a way to easily communicate with network site admins? When you network activate LH Dashboard Notes, any notes you create as a super admin will automatically show up on the dashboard of each site in your network. This is a great way to keep users informed about upcoming maintenance or other need-to-know info.
Maybe the Classic Editor is far from a multisite specialist. But it does offer some key features for super admins. First, it offers the ability to turn off the block editor (a.k.a. Gutenberg) network-wide. Alternately, you can leave things up to individual site admins. This option allows each site in the network to use the content editor they feel most comfortable with.
Multiple Possibilities
There are a number of real advantages to opting for a multisite network rather than using separate WordPress installs. The biggest may be that administration is much more efficient, as everything you need can be accessed from one place.
And with the added boost provided by the plugins above, you can tweak a network to better match your workflow.
The post 8 Essential Free Plugins for WordPress Multisite appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.
