How to Make a Chatbot?

I know what you’re thinking. It’s 2019, who the hell writes about chatbots? Aren’t they dead? Yes and no. I mean, this image in our head of chatbots as the next big thing is dead for good. We no longer believe that they will replace apps and some jobs.

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I mean, if Facebook can’t even make them work, what are we, mere mortals, hoping to achieve… So yes, the hype, the image, the mythology are dead.

What is not dead, however, are the bots themselves.

Companies can still benefit from using bots, and many do. However, the approach is different: bots are not replacing anything or anyone, they are complementing them. In this article, we’ll show you how to make a chat bot, offer tutorials on how to build a bot and give tips on creating effective chat bots in your environment.

How To Make a Chatbot Without Programming

If you want to make a chatbot, there are two main ways: you either use a bot-building platform that usually simplifies the whole process or you program the bot yourself. Let’s talk about platforms first.

Flowxo

Link: https://flowxo.com/product/flow-for-chat/
Flowxo is a chat-building platform that allows you to create bots without coding experience. Upon creating your first bot, a simple tutorial explains how the platform works. Basically, you develop your chatbot as a series of flows and triggers that specify how the bot responds to users messaging it. The most basic trigger is a new message:

In the above example, when a new message is received the bot will reply with either “Hello”, “Hi,” or “Hiya”. You can specify triggers for certain phrases and, consequently, specify a bot’s actions for those triggers. The bot can reply with either a message, a question, a card or some custom integration, e.g. linking to a Google Sheets document. And that’s basically how most chatbots are programmed, in a nutshell.

Flowxo supports multiple platforms: Facebook, Slack, Telegram. So you can create one bot flow and then export it to as many platforms as you need. What’s cool about Flow Xo is that it supports 100+ integrations with popular services like Linkedin, Buffer, and Intercom, to name a few.

Plus, you can unite bots from multiple platforms and, for example, broadcast to all of your users on Telegram and Facebook at once.

Mobile Monkey Chatbot

Link: https://mobilemonkey.com/

Previously known as ChattyPeople before the acquisition, Mobile Monkey Chatbot is a platform for creating chat bots exclusively for Facebook. It has a dashboard with relatively simple UI where you can create menus, triggers and have access to bot analytics.

Any user who interacts with this bot will appear in the ”Contacts” session of the dashboard. There you can get additional info about them, including a link to their Facebook profile. Another interesting feature is the ability to insert an HTML widget into your website (or any website you have access to, for that matter) that directly leads to a chatbot conversation. The widget will look like this:

Sceyt

Link: https://sceyt.com/

Sceyt chat API is an easy solution for creating your own chatbots, even if you’re not a coding expert. Sceyt can help you build interactive chatbots that can talk to people, engage with them, and provide a nice customer experience.

Here’s how it works: When someone sends a message, your bot can reply with a greeting like “Hello {FirstName}”, “Hello {FirstName}” or “Hello {FirstName}!” One of the best things about it is that you can write what your bot says according to certain words or phrases. It can send regular text messages, ask questions, share interactive maps, and even link to useful things like Google Sheets or things your customers are searching for.

SendPulse

Link: https://sendpulse.com/features/chatbot

A platform for all things marketing automation that combines an array of channels and tools to help marketers and small business owners create a cohesive marketing strategy. The front and center of the platform is a visual chatbot builder that allows users to create a GPT-powered chatbot for the social media platform or a messenger app of their choice. 

A chatbot for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Viber can also be combined with other channels like SMS notifications or promotional email campaigns that are also available on the platform. What makes SendPulse stand out from the competitors is also the fact that it has an integration with Open AI and users can power their chatbots with ChatGPT.

Xenioo

Link: https://www.xenioo.com/

Xenioo is another platform that allows you to create a chatbot. What’s great about Xenioo is the intuitive process of creating a bot, a so-called behavior tree:

Every interaction leads to a certain bot behavior, and you can create complicated trees of interaction and then see everything in an intuitive, graphical representation. You’re then able to publish your bots on almost every popular platform: Facebook, WhatApp, Slack, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and your own website. As many other platforms on this list, Xenioo also comes with a set of default bots that you can use as a template for your own needs:

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Xenioo also provides an API that you can use to call external services, although you might need to learn a bit about API keys to implement this feature. Thankfully, their blog has some tutorials on this topic.

Hubspot Chatbot Builder (previously Motion.ai)

Link: https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm/chatbot-builder

Popular in the past, the chatbot platform Motion.ai was recently acquired by Hubspot. All the intuitiveness of Motion.ai was preserved, however now it’s integrated directly into Hubspot CRM. This means, unfortunately, that you, can’t use the service outside of it.

However, if you are planning to make a chatbot an integral part of your sales strategy, that would still be a great option. Its deep integration with Hubspot marketing tools allows you to get details on leads, track sales with your bots and automate lead generation.

Chatfuel

Link: https://chatfuel.com/

Chatfuel is one of the most popular platforms for creating bots for Facebook Messenger. According to their website, 46% of Facebook bots are created using this platform.

The process of creating a chat bot is pretty straightforward:

You can set a “Default” message that will be used in an unknown scenario, a “Welcome” message to welcome new users and program buttons so that your users can choose their options.

Another powerful feature of Chatfuel is sequenced, which allow your bot to message users based on some actions they performed, e.g. signed up for your newsletter. Also, the platform has a built-in Template Marketplace where you can get bot templates from other users and, with a little tweaking, apply them to your own Facebook page.

Botsify

Link: https://botsify.com/

Botsify is a lot like Chatfuel, yet it has some advantages over it. First of all, it works not only with Facebook but also with Slack. Plus, it can be implemented on your website.

Another nice feature is recognizing the user’s input. For example, a bot can recognize numbers and perform some actions with them. That might be handy in case you want to accept orders via your bots, like “5 bananas” or something. Also, Botsify allows you to save user responses to a form – that might be handy if you’re gathering statistical data about your users and want to export their answers into a CVS form.

IMB Watson assistant

Link: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/watson-assistant/

This is perhaps one of the smartest out-of-box chatbots on this list. Though the interface may not be as intuitive as other, simpler solutions, Watson’s chatbot platform is by far the most advanced. Its core feature is Conversation Service, backed up by a neural network. In case your bot can’t interpret or process user input, it searches for answers from its knowledge base, like Wikipedia, or directs the question to a human advisor.

Watson-bot works with both Slack and Facebook. Built-in analytics will help you see where your bot struggles the most and which parts of its flow should be improved.

Gupshup

Link: https://www.gupshup.io/developer/flow-builder-bot-tool

Gupshup has a tree-bot-building workflow that proves very intuitive once you get used to it.

Even the most complex bots look much simpler when presented in that way. Also, instant preview enables you to see the bot from a user’s perspective in the same editor. Gupshup can be integrated with multiple platforms, including popular messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack) and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

What’s interesting is that the Gupshup service comes with a workflow for both non-programmers and programmers alike, with an ability to switch between IDE-view and tree-views in one click.

A few mentions:

Chatbot

Link https://www.chatbot.com
Nothing new here; stories, triggers, and interactions. However, the pricing is a little awkward – every conversation after the initial 1000 will cost you $0.01

Also, it says you can set up a bot within 10 minutes. LiveChat integration is a plus.

WotNot

Link: https://wotnot.io

The most marketable feature of this bot is the human hand-over – the ability to swiftly transfer the conversation to a real person in case your bot stumbles. Although this is not an uncommon feature, and it can be found in other platforms on this list, it’s nice to be reminded it’s there.

How to Program a Chat Bot

In this section, we’ll explore some options for people with a programming background.

Facebook Messenger Bot

Link: https://messengerdevelopers.com/

One of the reasons why there are so many commercial platforms for creating your Facebook chatbots is because Facebooks’s native documentation is quite… challenging.

Most of the work will be done on the console, and in order to set up a chatbot in Facebook, you’ll need to install dependencies, program responses and set up triggers–all via the code.

If, however, this looks simple to you, the documentation is thorough and has resources to get you started.

Microsoft Bot Framework

Link: https://dev.botframework.com/

According to Mindbrowser’s study, 41% of businesses prefer the Bot Framework. With direct Line REST API, the bot can be integrated with applications and websites alike. It’s also possible to integrate Microsoft’s voice service Cortana for speech recognition and Bing APIs for search. The Bot Builder’s SDK includes Nde.js SDK and .NET SDK. The framework also understands user intent, and LUIS can be incorporated for natural user language processing.

DialogFlow

Link: https://dialogflow.com/

This solution for building rich conversational experiences is powered by Google’s machine learning and is built on Google’s infrastructure, which means your bots can be easily scaled to many users. Machine learning provides an opportunity to understand a user’s intent using data acquired through Google services.

While you can create a conversational agent (bot) without any programming whatsoever, you need it in order to expand standard operations, e.g. add webhooks and multiple platform integrations.

SAP Conversational AI

Link: https://cai.tools.sap/
If you’re using SAP, then it’s useful to know that it has its own bot-building platform with extensive API documentation. Its SDK supports Python, NodeJS, Ruby, PHP, Android & Swift. Unlimited amounts of bots can be built using SAP’s proprietary NLP.

Unfortunately, you can’t use the platform outside of SAP products.

How To Make Your Chatbot Effective

Choosing a platform to build your chatbot and building the first version of it is an important step, and not many people go that far. But now that you have it, your journey has just begun.

It’s one thing to have a working chatbot and another to have a bot that works. Below are a few tips to make sure your bots bring you the most value possible:

Don’t Mimic Humans

According to research, 53% of people end a conversation when they feel a chatbot wasn’t smart enough. Yes, we’re quite far from bots taking our dogs out or educating our children on the dichotomy of good and evil. Nor should they if you ask us. However, that is precisely the point why people are so frustrated with bots! They simply see them as a crafty way of mimicking humans on the other end of your organization.

A chatbot is a tool. It can’t replace humans, it solves specific problems. People don’t expect much from pressing buttons on their phone, so they should not expect much of a tool that was created to fulfill a specific scenario. So, don’t mimic humans with your bots. Either construct the flow so they instantly give the vibe of a tool:

Or make sure you’re informing people that this is a bot talking to them:

Don’t be Derrick:

Provide Closure

We seek closure in everything – that’s how our brains work. So don’t leave your users hanging when your bot can’t help with something:

If you don’t have any human support to take over, ask for a user’s e-mail and make sure to indicate that they will be contacted after.

Use Analytics

Many chat bot-building platforms (almost all of them) provide analytics in some way or another:

Don’t neglect those. The bot should constantly evolve with your customers. With analytics, you can track the most bizarre requests and those that most often leave your bots speechless. Yes, your bot is very stupid at first and it will probably frustrate some customers. Don’t make the number higher – use analytics and polish your bot, so the next customers will be more satisfied.

Know Your Niche

Chatbots have been around for a few years now, and most people (and your potential customers) have probably experienced talking to them. That also means that some industries have developed best practices for certain scenarios and people are getting used to those as well.

For example, support bots usually perform a human handover if they can’t address a certain issue, or at least direct a person to a company F.A.Q.

Bots in the e-commerce sector are expected to perform standard operations like creating orders and tracking them.

You can even visit specific websites with hundreds of ready-to-use bots and use them as either inspiration or guidelines for your own scenario.

So if you’re just started using chat bots, it’s a good idea to see what other best players in your niche are doing and make sure your bot is at least doing the same basic things.

How to Secure Your WordPress Theme and Plugin Code?

Do you own a website? Above all, which system are you using to manage your content? Supposed you are using WordPress to operate your site, then you are not exempted from online attacks as much as WordPress is a robust system. You need to be equipped with knowledge on how to keep your site secured always. WordPress system requires a professional approach and that is why Java developer salary is high.

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However, we are living in an era where even online content is at risk of falling into the hands of unwanted people, aka hackers. For this reason, there are proven tips that once put in action, you are able to run your website for ages without having to worry about such attacks. And if you are out there dreaming of being a developer, follow your heart because Java developer salary keeps increasing due to the demand in the field.

Most hackers all over the world keep working on how to crack down sites run by WordPress relating to other content management systems. Suspicious codes, login attempts, and SQL injections are the ways through which hackers target a WordPress website. A poorly selected theme can also be an easy way for hackers to access your website. So, ensure you get the best theme from trusted sources for your website.

Tips to Secure WordPress and Plugin Сode

Deactivate PHP Error Reporting

Such errors help a lot when a website has issues. You can resolve a problem instantly using such areas. Activating error log in can produce the information so valuable to the code. In many cases, the hacker tracks the origin of the error for them to access the structure of the website. So, when the website is in the hands of the hackers, your site is at risk. That is why you need to deactivate PHP errors.

Countercheck the Plugins List

Most entry-level developers often add many plugins to a WordPress site thinking that they will stabilize the site. In the long run, most of the plugins become irrelevant or stop functioning as required. Some of them become weak, giving hacker’s easy time to access your site. Because of this, it is important to analyze your plugins before using them. Above all, keep checking the plugins regularly and maintain the ones needed while you delete the unnecessary ones. However, remember that deactivating a plugin implies that it can be used later on while deleting a plugin implies getting rid of it completely with all the data. In this case, the best option is to delete unnecessary plugins to avoid issues with hackers.

Be Cautious When Amending the Roles

In different areas, like a lead generation agency, a WordPress developer can always amend user roles such as editor, subscriber, contributor, admin, and author. Any newbie in the WordPress system should focus on the mentioned roles only. However, if it is a must you amend user roles, then remember to install trustable plugin then be cautious when changing the roles.

Authenticate Data for WebForms

Web forms enable you to interact with targeted end-users though they can be harmful to your site. A hacker can access your site by injecting malicious code into a box found in the web form. Supposed the malicious code is validated in your site, expect more harm such as running unnecessary ads to altering with key information of your site. To avoid such problems, always install plugins for data validation.

Deactivate File Editor

WordPress theme is at risk of experiencing attacks coming from the file editors. The moment the hackers get access to the files, they can temper with the details included like deleting important information or even changing the files. That is why you should deactivate the file editor to keep your account secured.

You can deactivate the file editor by installing a MalCare security plugin. MalCare will help your site in many ways, such as:

• Scanning, protecting, and cleaning your web
• Disabling file editor
• Prevents doubtful operations

Do Not Use Nulled WordPress Templates

There is a saying that goes, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The same can be applied to nulled templates and plugins.

There are thousands of nulled plugins and templates all over the Internet. Users can download them for free via various file hosting or torrent files. What they don’t know is that most of them are malicious or contain links from black search engine optimization methods.

Avoid using nulled plugins and templates. This is not only unethical but also harmful to your WordPress security. You may end up shelling out on a developer to clean your site.

Update the WordPress Plugins and Themes Regularly

Lack of themes and plugin updates is an easy way for hackers to access your site. Each moment developers notice a weakness in theme or plugin; they should update it with immediate effect.

Failure to such updates weakens your site and this places the site at risk.

Note: You can only update themes and plugins with an active file editor. This implies that you can enable the file editor once you need to update themes and plugins then, later on, deactivate it for the security of your site purposes.

Activate Two-Step Authentication

Two-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your login page. After confirming the username, there is one more step that must be completed. You are probably already using two-step authentication to access email, an online bank and some accounts containing confidential information. Why not use it in WordPress?

Although it may seem tricky, enabling a two-step authentication in WordPress is very easy. All you need to do is to install the two-step authentication mobile app and configure it for your WordPress.

Transfer the Website to a More Secure Hosting

Perhaps this bit of advice may seem strange, but statistics show that more than 40% of WordPress sites were hacked due to security holes in the web hosting account. The number should encourage you to consider migrating WordPress to more secure hosting. A few key facts to keep in mind when choosing a new hosting:

• If this is shared hosting, make sure your account is isolated from other users and there is no risk of infection from other sites on the server
• Hosting has a function of automatic backup (backup)
• The server has a third-party firewall and a scanning tool

Back Up Data As Frequently As Possible

Even the largest sites are hacked, despite the fact that their owners spend thousands on improving WordPress security.

If you follow best practices and have used our tips, you still need to backup your site regularly. There are several ways to create a backup. For example, you can manually download the site files and export the database, or use the tools offered by your hosting company. Another way is to use WordPress plugins. The most popular are:

• Vaultpress
• BackUpWordPress
• Backupguard

You can even automate the process of creating and storing WordPress backups in Dropbox.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to get your WordPress website secure for productive and effective performance.

Best cyber security practices for freelance designers

 

Freelance designers are exposed to a range of cybersecurity threats on a daily basis. Here’s a list of the best cybersecurity practices for freelance designers.

Remote work and freelance opportunities have increased significantly in the past few years. According to statistics, more than 13 million freelancers joined the industry between 2017 and 2022 in the US. Currently, the total number of freelancers in the US is over 70 million, and it’s expected to reach 90 million by 2028.

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Technological advancements have made it easy for people to work from anywhere while effectively maintaining excellent communication with clients. But this new trend has also provided cybercriminals and hackers with many opportunities to target freelance designers, be it apps, UX, web, or graphics.

That’s why freelancers need to abide by the best cybersecurity practices to maintain their professional reputation.

Whether you’re a freelance designer or working in any other field, you can use the tips listed below to minimize the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack.

Invest in secure data storage

You can either store your data online or offline, and to keep it secure, you should consider investing in secure data storage.

Online (cloud storage)

Most freelancers need to work with sensitive client data. The easiest way to store and manage that data (and anything and everything related to your work) is to use cloud storage, as it allows you to edit, share, and synchronize project files seamlessly.

However, not all cloud storage services are completely safe, and using a vulnerable one means that the data stored in it can be stolen or corrupted. Therefore, you must invest in trusted, fully secure, and reliable cloud storage.

Although popular cloud storage services, such as Google Drive and OneDrive, are generally very secure, you can use specialized solutions which are made with security as the top priority in mind. A few examples of such services include Sync, Tresorit, pCloud, Mega, and IceDrive.

Offline

If you also store your work-related data on your personal devices, such as a laptop, desktop, phone, or tablet, make sure that you keep that in an encrypted form.

Most renowned operating systems, including Windows and iOS, have built-in functions to encrypt the data that you store.

You can also invest in hardware-encrypted storage devices to secure your work-related data. It’ll also help you take backups of your important data regularly so it can be recovered in the event of data loss due to unforeseen circumstances.

Use a firewall/antivirus

Many cybercriminals create and implement malware and viruses to commit cybercrimes. Not only do they use them to corrupt data, but they can also use this strategy to steal your sensitive information, such as credentials of your freelance or payment account.

So, it makes sense to use a firewall and antivirus to detect and remove viruses and malware. Whether you’re using Windows, iOS, macOS or Linux, you should enable a firewall and install a well-reputed antivirus protection solution on the computer that you use for freelancing

Some of the best antiviruses available that you can use are Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky. These ones have integrated firewalls that will work as a second line of defense to protect your device from cyberattacks.

In addition, you should also use an antivirus app on your smartphone if you use it for work. According to statistics, 70% of people use antivirus on their computers, but only 24% of people have some sort of antivirus tool on their smartphones.

However, the same report suggests that viruses affect both computers and phones at similar rates. Therefore, you should use an antivirus app on your smartphone as well. All the antiviruses mentioned above have a smartphone app for both iOS and Android.

Send and receive payments only through trusted payment platforms

As a freelance designer, you’ll need to accept payments from clients located in different places. Make sure that you choose reputable payment platforms with a secure payment gateway for this purpose so that you can accept payments without a hassle.

Don’t make the mistake of moving your conversation and work out of the marketplace, such as Upwork and Fiverr, and don’t accept payment from an unknown platform. Be especially careful when using email or other messaging apps to chat with clients or to submit work. That’s because it’ll increase the risk of becoming a victim of a cyberattack and getting your credentials, design work, and even payment information stolen.

PayPal, Wise, and Payoneer are some well-reputed and trusted platforms that you can use. If you need to use a new platform, consider using the following tips to make sure it’s safe and secure.

• Research the platform: Look for reviews and ask for recommendations from other freelancers or business owners.
• Consider security: Read about the platform’s security measures to find out what protocols they’re using. Make sure that platform uses encryption, fraud protection, and two-factor authentication features.
• Understand fees and terms: Read and understand the fees associated with using a payment platform, as well as any terms and conditions.

It’s also advisable to offer clients multiple payment options, such as a credit card, debit card, online transfer, and bank transfer. This can make it easier for clients to pay you and can also help protect you in case one payment method is compromised.

Use protection when using public networks

Due to advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, hackers don’t really need to perform all the dirty work by themselves. Instead, they develop AI-powered bots that scour the internet to find vulnerable devices to break into.

Using a public network makes your device vulnerable and works as an open invitation for these bots. So, avoid using public networks whenever possible and set your device so that it doesn’t automatically connect to any public internet connection it finds.

But if you really need to use public hotspots, ensure your protection before connecting to them. The first thing that you should do is enable the firewall and double-check to see if your antivirus is running.

It’s also important to install a VPN tool, such as Surfshark, or Perimeter 81 on your device. It’ll route your device’s IP address through a server located in some distant area to hide your physical location. It’ll make it harder for cybercriminals to reach back to your device.

In addition, a VPN will also encrypt your online data transmission to make it nearly impossible for hackers to steal sensitive information.

Keep your software updated

Keeping your software updated is an important step in protecting your personal and financial information online. Software updates include security patches that help protect your device from the most recent malware, viruses, and other types of cyber threats.

Here are a few tips for keeping your software updated:

• Keep everything up to date: Make sure to update all of your software, including your operating system, browser, antivirus, and any other programs you use regularly.
• Enable automatic updates: Many software programs have the option to enable automatic updates, which can help ensure that your software is always up to date.
• Check for updates regularly: If you don’t have automatic updates enabled, then check for updates regularly. You can usually do this through the software’s preferences or settings menu.
• Install updates quickly: Install updates as soon as they become available. This can help protect you from any potential security vulnerabilities.

Use strong passwords and manage them properly

Passwords work as the first line of defense to protect your freelance and payment accounts. Therefore, it’s vital to create strong passwords that can’t be broken.

Here are a few tips for creating and managing strong passwords:

• Create complex passwords: Complex passwords include a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters, such as !, @, #, or $.
• Use long passwords: Longer passwords are stronger and more secure as compared to shorter ones. Therefore, you should aim for at least 12 characters if possible.
• Avoid using personal information: Don’t use personal information, such as your name, address, or birthdate, in your password.
• Use unique passwords for each account: Use a different password for each of your accounts to help prevent unauthorized access if one password is compromised.
• Use a password manager: A password manager, such as LastPass and Dashlane, can help you generate and store strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts and manage them in a single place.
• Enable two-factor authentication: Two-Factor Authentication, aka 2FA, requires an additional step, such as a code sent to your phone or an email, to log in to your accounts. This can help prevent unauthorized access, even if someone has obtained your password.

Manage access rights

Access rights management ensures that each person has access to only those resources that they need to perform their job effectively. It’ll come in handy if you’re working with a team of freelance designers.

Let’s suppose you have three different projects, A, B, and C, to work on, and you have stored data related to them in your cloud storage. Then, you create three different teams, X, Y, and Z, one for each project.

If team X is working on project A, they won’t need access to data of projects Y and Z. In such a scenario, you’ll need to manage access rights so that each team can view and use only the data they need.

If you work alone, then managing access rights will mean that you don’t share sensitive information of your clients and the credentials of your accounts with anyone. Only you need access to this information, and no one else should know anything about it.

Keep up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity threats/scams

It’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity threats and scams to help protect yourself and your clients and stay ahead of potential threats.

Subscribe to newsletters

There are many newsletters and industry publications, such as Gartner and Security.org, that cover cybersecurity and provide updates on the latest threats and scams. Subscribing to these can help you stay informed and aware of what to look out for.

Follow cybersecurity experts

Many cybersecurity experts and organizations share updates and information about threats and scams on social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Following these accounts can also help you stay informed.

Participate in cybersecurity events and training

Attending industry events and conferences can provide an opportunity to learn about the latest threats and scams from experts and network with other professionals in the field. Plus, it’s also a good idea to participate in cybersecurity training programs.

It’ll help you stay up-to-date with the latest threats and scams and improve your knowledge and skills in the field.

Final words

Prioritizing cybersecurity is critically important to protect your work-related data as a freelance designer. While technological advancements have made it easy for us to work from home as freelancers, it has also opened many new doors for cybercriminals to commit crimes.

Keep yourself informed about online security and stay up to date with the latest security best practices to ensure that you are taking all necessary precautions to protect yourself and your clients.

How to export an SVG illustration from After Effects?

Quite often, we need to export a single frame from After Effects (AE) and edit it in Illustrator. Illustrator requires vector images, while AE only supports the export of rasters. In this brief tutorial, we’ll show you how to quickly export an SVG image from AE.

What is the standard way of solving this problem?

Before we found the way that we’ll show you below, we used to export the required frames from After Effects to PNG or JPEG and then manually copied them using a graphic editor. That was very exhausting, and the results were not 100% identical to the originals.

Sometimes we did it another way: we exported an animation fragment to HTML or JSON. It was OK for cases when an illustration was intended for posting on a website. But if an image required editing, again, we had to copy it from scratch.

Together with Icons8 team of animators, we were looking for a way to simplify this process, and eventually, we found it.

Alternative way of exporting an SVG file from After Effects

After a series of trials and errors, we discovered the easiest way of exporting SVG files from After Effects. It requires the Bodymovin plugin and an online file converter.

Warning! Before you start, make a backup copy of the project. This will prevent your hair from getting grey after you accidentally save and close the project without keyframes.

1. Delete unnecessary keyframes

Move the playhead to the first frame of the timeline and delete all keyframes.

If you need a frame from somewhere in the middle of the timeline, you should place the keys only on this frame and move them to the beginning of the composition. One property can have one key only.

If you keep unnecessary keyframes After Effects will export any random frame from the project.

2. Check the layers

Make sure that you have no cropped layers. If you do, stretch the layers to the borders of the composition.

Also, disable the layers with Alpha Matte and use a regular mask.

Otherwise, the result might differ greatly from the original.

3. Adjust Bodymovin settings

Install the plugin. In Bodymovin, go to Settings and select the Demo export mode.

Click Save.

4. Export

Select the save path and click Render. The file is saved in HTML.

5. Converting HTML to SVG

I checked dozens of online converters to find the best one for the task: image.online-convert.com is way more accurate and stable at converting files than others. Other services either produce a result that looks very different from the original or fail to convert the file at all.

Open any browser and go to image.online-convert.com. Then go to Convert to SVG.

Upload the HTML file and click Start conversion.

6. Your SVG is ready!

Download the file and make sure that everything is OK. As a rule, you’ll have to adjust the artboard size, as it is often downsized during conversion (for example, an image of 1000×1000 becomes 600×800).

Conclusion

The described way of exporting SVGs from After Effects saves a lot of time. It helps convert the required frame to vector format with 100% accuracy and without any special skills.

As for limitations of this method, in my view, it’s two things: incompatibility with Alpha Matte and the fact that the artboard size is reduced after export. However, these limitations are nothing compared to the necessity of drawing the whole illustration from scratch.

Best 12 Tips To Improve Your WordPress Website for Higher Rankings

 Today, WordPress is the most popular content management system on the internet. In case you’ve also chosen it for your website, here’s the big set of tips on how to optimize it for better performance.

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WordPress powers more than 60% of the websites in 2020. To ensure your site ranks higher on the search engines, you have to implement various WordPress SEO tactics. Let’s look at the twelve best ways to boost the rankings of the WordPress site on the search engines.

Choose the Right Hosting Provider

Your PHP hosting provider has an important role in your SEO. Since Google takes loading speed into account when ranking sites, you need the solid wordpress hosting that improves your website’s performance. If your host is slow, no matter how much you optimize your website, you won’t see any significant results (in terms of loading speed).

With slow loading speeds, your site will measure poorly in other ranking factors, such as bounce rate, average time spent, and pages/session. All of these metrics will influence how your site ranks in search engines.

As your page load time goes from one-second to three-second, the probability of bounce rate increases to 32%. When the load time further increases to five-second, the possibility of the bounce rate rises to 90%.

Your host also affects the downtime of your site. If your website is slow, contact your host to know the reason behind it. If they’re unable to justify (such as you’ve hit the limits of your allocated resources), then the chances are their servers are slow.

It is always a good idea to go with one of the best WordPress hosting providers as they provide impressive speeds with little to no downtime.

Tip: Choose a hosting provider that uses SSD drives for better performance.

Speed Up Your Website

Choosing the right hosting provider is the first step towards improving your website speed. There are other things as well that you must do to boost your loading speed.

The following tactics can help you speed up your website.

• Minimize HTTP requests: When someone visits your website, their browser makes HTTP requests to download various elements of the page, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets. You can minimize the HTTP requests by merging scripts and styles in one file or removing unnecessary ones.
• Use Asynchronous loading: When you use asynchronous loading, you tell the browser to simultaneously load all the elements on the page. Use plugins like Async JavaScript to activate asynchronous loading.
• Reduce the size of images: Visuals bring life to your content, but they take up a lot of space. Therefore, it is crucial to optimize all the images on your website. Make sure you use the right image format. Also, run your image through a compressor before uploading it to reduce the file size.
• Use a CDN: As the distance between your visitors and server increases, the page speed will decrease. Content Delivery Networks (CDN) store a copy of your website in various data centers located in different places. They serve the webpage from the nearest server, thereby reducing load time.
• Deactivate or uninstall plugins: If you are not using certain plugins, it is best to uninstall them. They take up an overwhelming load on your server, thereby reducing page speed.
• Reduce plugins usage: Some tools like Mailchimp and SEMrush offer their services as a plugin for WordPress users. To reduce the server load and increase site speed, it is best to use their cloud apps. You can then use tools like Automate.io to connect all the cloud apps in one platform, so you won’t have to switch between websites all the time.
• Leverage caching plugins: A cache is a temporary storage area. By leveraging caching plugins, you can store a copy of a webpage (already visited by the user) in their browser, thereby reducing the load time. Plugins like W3 Total Cache can help you enable caching on your website.

Publish Well-Researched Quality Content

Well-researched and high-quality content is a must for every website. It demonstrates that you’re an expert in your domain and know what you’re doing. For instance, if you’re educating people on financial matters, you must ensure that all the views and opinions you publish on your website are factually correct and skillfully performed.

As a matter of fact, people browse the internet to find some valuable information. Therefore, it is essential to write on topics that most of your target audience is looking for online. The best way to find the most searched phrases is by using Google. Open Google, enter your seed term (a broad phrase in your niche). You’ll see a few suggestions.

For example, when I typed “optimize the website” on Google, I saw various suggestions.

Then, click on the search without changing the phrase. You’ll see tons of results. Scroll down, and you will see a section “people also ask”. Click on any of the results in that segment, and it will start expanding. That’s a great way to find what people in your niche are searching the most.

Use tools like Ubersuggest to find keywords with low difficulty that you should use in your content.

Bonus: Make sure you write the content for your audience. For example, if you are writing content for beginners, try to avoid technical jargon as much as possible and use simple language. However, if you are targeting experts, avoid talking about the common industry terms that they might already know and focus on advanced tactics. This will make the reader stick on your page for longer.

Optimize Your Content’s Title and Heading

Optimizing your title and heading is yet another great strategy to improve your website’s ranking in search engines. It involves writing titles that tell Google what your page is about and influences users into clicking on it.

Follow title tag optimization best practices for better results.

• Include your target keyword in the title.
• Create a title tag between 60-70 characters.
• Use your brand’s name in the title.

Also, use header tags throughout your content to make it more readable and crawlable for search engines.

As a rule of thumb, you should use only one H1 tag per page and a hierarchy of H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 underneath that.

You can change the header tags via the drop-down menu within the WordPress editor.

Secure Your Site With SSL

Google considers HTTPS as a ranking signal. Google says, “security is a top priority for Google.”

Another reason why securing your site with SSL is important because it can act as frontline warriors against cyberattacks. In 2017, Equifax saw a breach that exposed the data of their 148 million consumers.

Remember, SSL won’t make you foolproof from cyberattacks, but it can significantly reduce the chances of data theft.

You can buy an SSL certificate from your domain or hosting provider. Major domain name registrars, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Bluehost offer SSL certificates.

You can also purchase an SSL certificate from third-party websites, such as SSLs.com and Digicert.

Additionally, use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to further strengthen your website’s security. WAF can protect your site against top web application security risks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and remote file inclusion.

Optimize the URL Structure

Your URL structure is what users see in their address bar when they visit your website.

One of the biggest benefits of optimizing your URL structure is that it gives the visitor and search engines an idea of what they can expect on the page.

Some examples of good URLs are:

https://www.example.com/optimize-your-wordpress-site/
https://www.example.com/how-to-boost-website-ranking/

Some examples of bad URLs are:

https://www.example.com/?p=1234
https://www.example.com/archives/567

Notice the difference between both types of URLs. In the first one, a user can guess what they will see on the page just by looking at the URL text. In the second one, the URLs are unrelated to the content, and no one can guess what the page is all about.

Another benefit of optimizing your URL structure is that you can integrate keywords in it, improving your chances of ranking higher in search results.

You can change your URL structure by going to Settings and then Permalinks. Choose the post name option to change the URL structure to reflect your content’s title.

Structure Your Website Appropriately

A website often consists of different parts, such as blogs, products, and feature pages. The site structure deals with how these elements are grouped, linked, and presented to the visitor.

When you structure your website appropriately, Google will be able to index your website faster, and visitors will find what they’re looking for.

You probably have articles on your site that are on the same topic. Without a decent structure, you would be competing with yourself for a high ranking.

Sort your blogs into categories and tags to structure your website properly. Sorting will help you manage content by topics and enable users to find the content they are looking for. If you sell products, make sure they are arranged in the right categories.

To add/edit the category to a post, click on Writing under Settings.

Use the Tags box on the right-hand side of the screen to add or edit tags to your site.

Improve Internal Linking Structure

An internal link is any link on one page of your website pointing towards another page on your site. Internal links help search engine crawlers find different URLs on your website.

Another benefit of improving your URL structure is that it gives your visitor more reasons to stay on your website for longer. This, in turn, improves the average time spent on site and reduces the bounce rate.

One of the best ways to improve the internal linking structure is by adding the URL in between your content.

This example from Moz indicates how you can add internal links between your content.

Texts in blue (meta robots and robots.txt files) are the links pointing towards another page within Moz. You can also use plugins like Contextual Related Posts to display related posts at the end of the article, just like this.

Install The Right SEO Plugin

One of the reasons why WordPress is popular is that there’s a plugin for almost everything, and search engine optimization is no exception. Choosing the right plugin for SEO can help you make your website search engine friendly.

The most popular SEO plugin for WordPress is Yoast SEO. If you are skeptical about paying first, try the free version of Yoast SEO.

Yoast SEO allows you to optimize your content for keywords, edit meta descriptions, check the readability, and preview how your content will look in Google results.

Yoast SEO also ensures your technical configuration (robots.txt, sitemaps, and .htaccess) is on point.

Other great SEO plugins that you can use on your WordPress site are:

• All in One SEO Pack
• The SEO Framework
• SEOPress
• Ahrefs
• Rank Math

When choosing an SEO plugin for your WordPress website, analyze the features, and check which one best fits your business needs.

Tip: Use only one SEO plugin on your WordPress site. If you use multiple plugins, each will try to override the other’s setting, thus creating confusion.

Add Context to Your Content Using Schema Markup

Schema markup is an additional piece of code that adds context to your content. It helps search engines better understand your content and makes your listings more attractive. As a result, you increase the chances of ranking higher and improving CTR.

Your WordPress theme might already have a schema installed. Use Google Structured Data Testing Tool to find if your site has schema markup. If you don’t have a schema installed, then you can use the Schema plugin.

Acquire Backlinks From Authoritative Websites

Backlinks are the links from other domains pointing towards your website. When a lot of sites link to the same page or website, it gives a signal to search engines that your content deserves to be on the top of the SERPs.

However, make sure that the links you acquire are contextual and from high-authority sites.

For example, if your content is about dogs and you are acquiring backlinks from sites that talk about monkeys, these links will be of no use.

If there are too many links from spam websites, it’ll do more harm than good to your SEO.

These methods can help you acquire backlinks from authoritative websites.

• Publish in-depth guides about various topics in your industry.
• Send cold emails to bloggers in your niche.
• Guest blog on popular websites.
• Compile a list of statistics related to your industry.
• Discover unlinked mentions of your brand. Reach out to the webmasters of the website and request them to convert the mention into a link.

Optimize For Mobile-First Audience

Optimizing your website for the mobile-first audience has become more important than ever. Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor when displaying search results on mobile devices.

As of April 2020, 53.81% of overall web traffic comes from mobile devices. By not optimizing your website for a mobile-first audience, you risk losing a lot of traffic (and customers).

For WordPress users, the best way to optimize for a mobile-first audience is by choosing a responsive theme.

Using plugins is yet another way to optimize your website for mobile devices. Plugins like WordPress Mobile Pack help you convert your website’s content into a progressive mobile web application.

AMP Project is another plugin that can help you enable AMP (accelerated mobile pages) compatibility on your website, increasing page load speed on mobile devices.

For WordPress users, the best way to optimize for a mobile-first audience is by choosing a responsive theme like the Total WordPress theme.

Final Thoughts

Getting your website on the top of the search results helps increase organic traffic and generate more leads. Make sure to pick the right host, select a responsive theme, speed up your website, and install an SEO plugin. By implementing these strategies (along with others in the list), you’ll start seeing significant improvement in your website’s rankings.

Best Tips to Improve Your App Icon Design

 

Every app needs a beautiful and memorable icon that attracts attention both in the app store and on the home screen. At the same time, an app icon should be helpful for your user — it’s meaning should be recognizable immediately.

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What does it take to make a user-friendly icon with perfect aesthetics? It’s not that hard, here are three simple rules to follow:

1. Design a Recognizable Icon

Icons must first and foremost communicate meaning. People shouldn’t have to analyze the icon to figure out what it represents.

Your icon is the first opportunity to communicate, at a glance, your app’s purpose. When you design an icon for your app, keep in mind a very important moment: icons communicate ideas using metaphorical associations — user associates an icon with a certain object or action — and if that object or action isn’t immediately clear to users, the icon simply doesn’t work. Thus, it’s simply essential to make your icons clear and intuitive:

• Don’t use abstract icons, since abstract icons rarely work well. Users can’t rely on previous experience to figure out the meaning behind the icon. The Game Center icon is a great example of this problem. An icon is a group of colorful, glassy-looking circles. It looks nice, but people usually wonder what this icon means.

What does the Game Center icon mean? How does it relate to gaming?

• Do. A safe bet is to use icons that easily recognizable by users. There are a few icons that enjoy mostly universal recognition from users, such as icons for home, print, magnifying glass, envelope. For example, Gmail app icon uses an envelope, which is universally associated with mail.

An image of an envelope says “mail”

2. Strive For Minimalism

Find an element that captures the essence of your app and expresses that element in a simple shape. Remove all extra details that aren’t essential for your icon.

Most designers want their app icons to look great. But sometimes designers go overboard and give their icons too much specific detail. Such details may cause visual noise that hinders people and affect UX:

• • Don’t include nonessential words that repeat the name or tell people what to do with your app, like “Watch” or“Play,” or promotion-only information such as “Free.” Use words only when they’re essential or part of a logo.

Don’t repeat the name of your app, because the app’s name appears below its icon on the Home screen.

• • Don’t include photographic details, because they can be very hard to see at small sizes.

Don’t include photos or screenshots.

• Don’t use 3D perspectives on app icons. Using 3D perspectives and drop shadows can make icon hard to discern.

A balance in detail is important in making your icons clear and intuitive:

• When you’re using a concrete object for your icon, only pick out the few common characteristics all objects like that share and omit the rest.
• Design an icon with a single, centered point that immediately captures attention and clearly identifies your app.

Do. Sun and cloud are the only characteristics needed to tell users that the icon means ‘weather’.

3. Test Your Icon Against Different Backgrounds

Icons should be legible against their backgrounds.

Designing recognizable and minimalist icon isn’t the finish of the entire process. As well as for any other UI object, post-design testing of the created element is the must-do. You can’t predict which wallpaper people will choose for their home screen, so you need to see how it looks over different photos:

• • Don’t make icon merge with the background. In the example below “Stocks” icon is barely recognizable against the dark background.

• Don’t make icon clutter the background — avoid transparency, make sure your icon is opaque.

Try your icon on an actual device with a dynamic background that changes perspective as the device moves.