We have a lot of Updates to talk about today from 3 of our Plugins, plus some other news as well.  Daniel and the Development Team have been going crazy and have been pumping out updates like there is no tomorrow.  Thanks to current customer feedback and requests we have been able to find and fix a lot of small bugs and also add some very nice upgrades to our plugins and I am sure all of this is going to make life easier for you and hopefully more profitable too.

 

Social Deals Engine Plugin and Extension Updates

We have finished off some small bug fixes with the Social Deals Engine and also have completed some key Extension Updates for the Social Sharing Discount Extension and the Discount Coupon Codes Extension.

In the main plugin we have added a Shortcode icon to the WordPress Post/Page Editor so you can now add Deals to pages and Posts in different ways using Shortcode insertion.  We also added an image resizer which will help make your images look better when added to your site.  The image resiser will adjust the width of your images automatically, but you still need to look at the height of your images.  I highly recommend making custom images for all of your Deals so they are the same exact size.  We recommend using 400 pixel wide and 600 pixel wide images as a base and then adjust to what looks best in your theme as everyone uses different widths in their content and widget areas.

In the Social Sharing Discount Extension we added the ability to “Like” a Facebook Fan Page to receive a discount so you can have your Fan Page liked versus just the Deal page.  We are currently working on adding Pinterest to this Extension as well.  In the Discount Coupon Codes Extension you now can use Custom Coupon Codes for each individual Deal.  Previously you could only create Discount Codes for the entire site.  Now you can customize this on a deal by deal basis.

Here is the official change log:

Main Social Deals Plugin:
= Version 1.0.1 (2013-05-30) =
Added Shortcode list with pop up window
Added category shortcode
Fixed image width issue
Fixed css issues
Fixed some bugs

 

Social Sharing Discount Extension
= Version 1.0.1 (2013-05-30) =
Added Fan Page “Liking” to get an additional discount

 

Discount Codes Extension
= Version 1.0.1 (2013-05-30) =
Added option to limit a Discount Code to one or more Deals

 

A major update is currently being worked on for the Social Deals Engine.  We are working on the Templating System which will allow you or any 3rd Party Developer to create new Extensions for the plugin and we are working on a major integration with WooCommerce so WooCommerce users will be able to create Social Deals with any product in their WooCommerce Product Catalog.  We have also begun our initial workup on an Amazon Affiliate Extension for the Social Deals Engine which we do not expect to be ready for over a month, maybe longer depending.

 

*Note:  The Social Deals Engine is still not available for sale individually here on WPSocial.com.  It will be available in another week or so as we make the changes outlined above.  You can get the full Social Deals Engine Bundle with 7 Extensions as a part of the WP Social Developer Bundle.  You can get more information about the Social Deals Engine in our blog post here.

 

Social Member Lock Plugin Updates

This plugin just keeps getting better and better.  You already can send your Facebook Members Updates to their Facebook Profile Wall with Social Member Lock, but now you can also send them Notifications as well.  There was another plugin released recently which had this as its main selling point.  We were asked about it and our first thought was “Social Member Lock can do this already and has done it for over a year”.  We were wrong though as not all Wall Posts also add notifications for users depending on each user’s settings. Now though, Social Member Lock has the notification feature as well.  So now when you post Updates to your Members Walls on Facebook, they will also receive a Notification to check it too.

We also have added a key Upgrade which will allow you to integrate Social Member Lock into different Membership Plugins and be used for different things like Guest Posting more effectively.  You now can Customize the “Role” your Members receive when Connecting with your site.  If you want to associate these Social Connected Members with a Contributor Role or a Membership Role from another plugin; you now can do this easily.

Here is the official Change Log:

= Version 2.0.1 (2012-05-31) =
* [+] Added ability to send Facebook Notifications
* [+] Added option to select a user role for the connected Social Media Users
* [*] Fixed optin issue
* [*] Fixed design issues

 

SEO Booster Pro Plugin Updates

One of our best plugins keeps getting better and better.  We have added Social Signals tracking for your blog to the WP Social SEO Booster Plugin.  Now there is a new menu item in your WordPress Admin Menu for the SEO Booster called “Social Statistics” which will allow you to see how your Posts and Pages are begin Socially shared via Facebook, Google +1, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.  All you have to do is select the Post Type you want to see your Stats for, the time frame, and even the Category, and then Click on the Update button and it will show you your Social Metrics for the services listed here and how many Social Shares you have for each and your overall total for each individual post, page, and custom post type on your blog.  You can also download a PDF or CSV file of your statistics for use with Clients or any other need you have.

We also added the new Twitter Card for Products which Twitter added to the Twitter Card API.  If you are not using Twitter Cards with the SEO Booster, then you need to start.  We are seeing a huge amount of response from using Twitter Cards on our site here at WPSocial.com.  Previously we never noticed much traffic from Twitter, but since we implemented the Twitter Card functionality we are now seeing constant traffic from Twitter show up in our Analytics.

We have removed the Kraken Image Optimization feature from the SEO Booster due to constant issues with the Kraken API.  We are now working to add the Yahoo Smushit Image Optimization feature to the plugin as a replacement.

Here is the official Change Log:

= Version 2.1.0 (2013-05-31) =
* [+] Added Social Statistics
* [+] Added Export functions (PDF & CSV) for the Social Statistics
* [+] Added Twitter Card Type for Products
* [*] Removed Kraken Image Optimizer because the Kraken API had too many issues

 

Coming Soon

We have a few things we are working on as always, but one of our projects which is nearing completion is our new WP Social Poster Plugin.  No this is not the plugin of the same name found here.  Our plugin is much different and isn’t based on any rebranded PLR plugin of the same name.  We expect it to be done shortly (in the next 2 weeks), but it does not have any formal release timeline associated with it.  We developed this plugin mainly as a Bonus for our current customers who have purchased more than 1 Product from us, but we are also going to make it really easy to get for Free initially for anyone who wants it (more info on this later).  Once it has been available for a little while we might actually sell it here on WPSocial.com, but we haven’t decided yet.

Daniel and I have been working on our new front end Knowledge Base.  We are moving all our Tutorials and Videos to the front of the site here to make them easier to use and easier for us to Update.  We want a more interactive Knowledge base and you will be able to Comment on Knowledge Base entries to ask questions and add your own input.  This is going to take awhile to implement, but I was able to finish about 90% of the SEO Booster Knowledge Base yesterday.  We are getting there.

Daniel has another Update for the Social Review Engine he will be releasing soon.  Maybe even sometime still today, but as of the time I am writing this it has not been completed, but do not be surprised if you see an update notification in WordPress for it soon.

That’s all for today.  I hope you enjoy the Updates!