I’ve had this idea rattling around in my brain for a while, and decided that 2018 is the year to make it happen. What’s the big idea, you ask? WordPress Weekend Projects! The idea behind WordPress Weekend Projects is to provide a series of bite-size tips to enhance, secure, or optimize your website. I know that …
Your website is only as safe as your last good backup… Thanks for checking out my talk at WordCamp Lehigh Valley. I am passionate/slightly neurotic about backups, mostly because I’ve seen lots of cases where bad things happen to good websites because they don’t have a good recent backup of their site. Enjoy the slides, and …
I was at a business growth workshop one time and was asked by a professional photographer at the end of it, “With all of the DIY website builders available these days, do I really need to hire a professional website developer?” I spun the question around and said to him, “Well, with all of affordable …
1 – Not making regular backups. Even if you correct all of the things listed above, your website could still get hacked. Or your webhost could crash. Or you could update a plugin or theme that breaks your site – nothing’s infallible. Having current backups will help you recover more quickly in the event that …
As part of their continued effort to make mobile internet usage more user-friendly, Google changed their search algorithm to penalize pages that have “instrusive interstitials,” which refers to popups and popovers that cover the majority of the visible area. “They can frustrate users because they are unable to easily access the content that they were …
“Do I really need an SSL certificate for my website?” This is one of those questions that I’m hearing a lot more often from my clients. Typically, they’ve heard a rumor or something from a friend of a friend and are confused about it all. Strictly speaking, the only time you need an SSL certificate is …
According to a recent report from Pew Research Center, 77% of all American own a smartphone. When they first surveyed smartphone ownership conducted in 2011, that percentage was only 35% – that’s a fairly significant jump in only 6 years. An August 2016 blog post from Search Engine Land state that Google reports indicated that …
The Genesis Framework is one of the most popular for WordPress. They have a ton of great-looking child themes just waiting for you to add your own creative flair and create a fantastic website. I’ve even used them for some clients as a starting point for their site. One of my favorite “hidden features” of …
If you have a WordPress site, you may have gotten a notification from your website or your hosting company when there’s an update available for WordPress. Many people ignore these update notifications. Here’s why you shouldn’t. Security It’s important to keep your website software updated to help prevent security holes that could allow unauthorized access …
Sitemaps are useful for your website for a number of reasons, but mostly to help search engines find all of the fabulous content on your website. While it’s possible to create an XML Sitemap by hand, there are several handy tools that make it easy for anyone to create a sitemap for their website. Below …
I encountered an odd thing a couple of months ago that I wanted to share in case you, too, encounter this odd thing. What is the odd thing? Squished/sideways pictures. I am the webmaster (big surprise) for my Toastmasters club. I was sent some photos to post on the site. Which I did through the …
Would you drive a car without insurance? Would you buy a home without insuring your investment in it? Most people would answer “No.” to these questions. Yet, when it comes to a website, especially a business website, so many people take no steps to protect the investment they have in their site. Even if you …
Choosing a theme for your WordPress site is a decision you should spend a little time with. While it is easy to change your theme without rebuilding your site, if you change your theme often, it can confuse visitors who may have gotten used to the banding and feel of your previous theme. So how …
It’s Spring. Spring is finally, officially here in the US – yay! And with it, all the rain. But that’s okay – because I have an activity that you can do whethers its rainy or not in your part of the world. I’m talking about Spring Cleaning for your Website. Really? Yes! Your website is …
Website Domains All websites need two things to exist and be easily accessed – a domain & hosting. I often see people get these confused, or think they are the same thing. They’re not. The best analogy I’ve found for explaining it is to compare it to building a new house. To build a new …