Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
If you have a blog that runs on WordPress you probably already know that plugins make it easy to add new features and capabilities to your blog.
But with thousands of WordPress plugins to choose from, how do you know which ones you really need?
Well, I’m going to try to shed some light on which plugins you need to install on your blog, and which ones you should avoid.
First, let me explain which plugins you need to avoid, because that’s the really easy part… [Read more…]
Question from Oliver: I have a question about WordPress, Rick.
How long do you recommend that we wait before installing updates to WordPress and our themes and plugins?
I’ve seen different people make different recommendations.
Some say to install the updates ASAP right after they are released. Others say to wait a week or two to make sure there aren’t any bugs that could crash the blog.
What’s your opinion on this? [Read more…]
If you have a blog or website you’re surely aware of the importance of “white-hat” Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO).
After all, Google is a primary source of targeted traffic, which is the life-blood of any successful website.
Technical optimization (technical SEO) of a WordPress site is a term that perhaps isn’t used very often, but it’s very important. And if done properly, it can bring you very good results.
This term essentially represents various techniques that aim to increase the speed, stability, and responsiveness of the website, which ultimately leads to better Google rank, more traffic and better satisfied visitors.
If you’re a blogger you probably know that securing your blog with SSL encryption is now a must if you want your blog to succeed, for these reasons:
1 – Google has now started giving preference to SSL secure https pages in their search results.
That means all other things being equal, pages that have URLs that begin with https will rank higher than pages that begin with http.
Google has also begun displaying the URL’s of encrypted pages in their search results. That means it won’t be long before many searchers will simply skip over non-secure pages and visit the next available secure page instead. [Read more…]
If you run a blog, chances are you’re concerned about it getting hacked and infected with malware. And in this day and age, that is a very valid concern.
Hackers and scammers are constantly probing blogs for security holes weaknesses they can exploit.
If they happen to find one they can quickly gain access to your blog’s server and install malware that will turn your blog into a vehicle for distributing all kinds of nefarious code to the devices your blog visitors use to access it. [Read more…]