Blogging Tips Archives - Page 3 of 28

ATTN Bloggers: Chrome is now flagging non-https pages as ‘Not Secure’ right in the address bar!

Posted on June 12, 2019

If you’re a blogger and your blog hasn’t yet been secured with SSL/TLS encryption you need to get that done ASAP!

Back in December 2017 I wrote this post warning bloggers about the need to get their blogs encrypted before Google started actively penalizing non-secured sites.

Well, that day has come…

Google recently rolled out an update to their Chrome browser that causes it to now flag unencrypted pages as “Not Secure” right in the address bar!

Up until recently it was widely understood that only sites that collected credit card data or other sensitive visitor information really needed to be encrypted, but Google has changed that by deciding to clearly mark non-encrypted pages as “Not Secure”.

To show you what I’m talking about, I took a partial screenshot of a web page that I knew to be unencrypted at the time I began writing this post (the site has since been encrypted): [Read more…]

13 tips for building and maintaining a fast loading and secure WordPress blog

Posted on June 8, 2019

There’s a strong consensus among those in the blogging world that WordPress is hands-down the best blogging platform out there.

It’s ease of use, amazing flexibility and natural friendliness towards search engines makes using WordPress a true no-brainer in my opinion.

But that being said, it’s extremely easy to build a WordPress site that’s cumbersome to use, irritatingly slow to load and inherently insecure if one just throws a bunch of “pieces” together to create their blog.

And as you might imagine a slow loading and insecure blog tends to drive away visitors in droves, keep your pages from ranking well in the search engines and make your blog susceptible to hackers.

On the other hand, it’s actually pretty easy to build and maintain a WordPress blog that loads very quickly and is (more or less) immune to hacking attacks if you know how to go about it. Here are a few tips that can help… [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I embed a Youtube video in a blog post and make it start playing at a specified place?

Posted on June 4, 2019

Question from Brandie G.: I recently started embedding Youtube videos in some of my blog posts and I have a question about it.

Sometimes I want a video to start playing at a specific place instead of at the beginning.

Is there a way to make that happen? I know if there is you’ll be able to tell me.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Blog stats: The differences between Hits, Page Views and Visits

Posted on June 3, 2019

Many new bloggers take a look at their blog’s traffic stats and become confused while viewing the stats for “Hits”, “Page Views” and “Visits”.

Even worse, they often become more confused when they see other bloggers/webmasters bragging about how many “hits” their sites receive every month.

If you find all of this traffic terminology confusing as well, I hope to clear it all up for you in this post. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I change the author of a blog post in WordPress?

Posted on June 1, 2019

Question from Carla G.: I have a WordPress blog and a while back I read your post explaining why we should write our blog posts using an “Editor” account instead of the “Administrator” account.

I set up a new account with the Editor role as you suggested and I’ve been logging into that account to do my writing ever since.

Yesterday I happened to notice that my old posts still have the Author name that corresponds to the Administrator account that I no longer use when writing my posts.

I tried to change the Author of one of those old posts to my other name and I can’t find a way to do it anywhere on the “Edit Post” screen. I know there has to be a way to do it though.

Can you tell me what I need to do to change the Author name on my old posts?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]