New Updates to PLUGOLA
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under site news, technology, updates
Well, we’ve been working hard on a bunch of new updates for PLUGO.LA and we are finally finished; at least with this round of updates. This work went on WAY longer than scheduled, but we wanted to be sure that these new features were functioning correctly. There are still plenty more new features coming to the community, however, for now, let me show you what we have added. Get ready to be able to spread your music and be compensated like never before!
Single Tracks/Pages:
We’ve always had this feature, however we really spruced it up and made it much more useful. Before it was just a page with basic functions and one track sitting in a big, clunky media player. After a few months of really analyzing some of the more popular social media sites, we did a slight re-design of these pages and developed a new single-track media player. The pages have been completely optimized not only for the major search engines, but also for the major social networks (ie: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.) and bookmarking sites.
Our new, embeddable single-track media players were designed to easily fit into ANY blog or web site without taking too much room. We kept it plain and simple as to not distract from others’ designs and layouts. More advanced users will be able to edit the size and background color for a flawless fit.
Along the bottom you’ll notice clickable links that will either lead to this track’s page, where downloading/purchasing information is displayed; or a quick and easy way to share these tracks on other networks and web sites. The artist’s profile photo is thumbnailed and links directly to that artist’s profile page for additional music, videos and/or info. No more guess work for potential fans wondering where to find you and your music. Don’t forget, we’re also set-up for video distribution, as well:
The downside here is that we really haven’t figured a good way to present these single-track pages to you and the public. For now, they can be best accessed in the “Top 10″ section on the PLUGOLA’s front page, or from the “Audio” and/or “Video” pages, accessed by clicking from the top navigation.
Digital Store/ Media Player Overhaul:
There have been a lot of changes since we developed the original Plugola Player (media player/digital store widget). The design isn’t much different, but just about everything else is. Most importantly, we have developed and added a brand new shopping cart/e-commerce system. Any user can now select and save tracks from multiple albums/artists if they wish, and after a selection has been made, a notification will display indicating content is waiting in their cart. All content can be saved in the shopping cart if a user decides to return another day to continue their purchase. Before any purchases can be made, all payments details must be completed in members’ secure “Account” section.
On the front-end of the Plugola Player, we have rearranged it’s layout a bit to be less confusing and more user friendly. You may have noticed that we’ve put more emphasis on the individual tracks and the artist that it belongs to. We also have removed the “Plug” (or affiliate) option from the Player, since these options are more apparent in all members’ “Account” sections, and it won’t confuse anyone when it comes time to download their selection(s).
Sharing:
Now you can practically share just about everything from Plugola on all your favorite web sites and/or other profile(s). For this, we went to outside sources to ensure that any content sharing is completely user friendly and as easy as a mouse click or two. We chose two well-known and trustworthy sharing applications, where none of your personal login info will be saved. For profile sharing, we have added the Tell-A-Friend app. You can share your favorite profiles through any email service, bookmarking site(s) or any number of social communities. We applied the very popular Gigya app for all content sharing. Gigya has their own apps for all the main social media web sites, where any of our media players can easily be embedded with very little effort on the user’s part.
Purchase Options:
We have always accepted credit cards, but on this update we have also added the option of using PayPal instead. Artists outside of the U.S. have informed us that PayPal is the preferred method of online payments. Using PayPal instead of our e-commerce system will not allow the same luxury of our one-click purchasing, however we want to give you as many options and appeal as possible.
Other Changes:
There have been a few smaller changes we made that we also wanted to inform you about, too.
- All music and videos are now set to stream full-length clip by default, after upload. If artists decide to change their settings, they have the option of full or 30 second clip in your “Account” section.
- All mp3s and videos now have a minimum price artists must charge. Don’t worry, we kept it very low ($.20/mp3 and $.50/video) We had to do this in order to cover our own operating and processing costs, but we have also given our artists the tools to help promote themselves. This doesn’t mean that you do not have the option to give your music away for free. Again, in the artists’ “Account” section, artists may set any one of their songs to ‘Promo’ and grab their download codes in order to distribute them for free.
- Basic actions, email alerts have also been added. This feature is still in the rough stages, but basically you will get an email alerting you that another member has sent you message or has added you as a ‘friend’. We will also be adding ways to opt-out of this feature soon, so please bare with us if you are not a fan of this. However, it should not be a bother at all.
- We made a few functions optional that were not before. They are so minor I’m sure you will not even notice.
We’re also in production with some new instructional videos on how to get the best results from Plugola. So please be sure to check back soon!
