WordPress maintenance: 12-step monthly checklist to keep your site secure and running smoothly
Keep on top of your WordPress maintenance with this 12-step monthly checklist to improve your website’s security, performance and speed
WordPress 6.0: What’s new in this release?
WordPress 6.0 was released this week, containing more than 500 enhancements and 400 bug fixes with a focus on improving the writing and designing experience. Let’s take a look at what’s new and improved in the second major release of 2022. New with full-site editing As discussed in my round-up about WordPress 5.9, FSE (full-site…
WordPress 5.9: What’s new in this release?
Since the introduction of Gutenberg in WordPress 5.0, the team have been working on phase two of the roadmap focusing on Full Site Editing (FSE), Block Patterns, Block Directory and Block-based themes. And with WordPress 5.9 now on the way, we’re finally going to dig into those new features in the customisation phase. There’s a…
WordPress 5.8: What’s new in this release?
WordPress 5.8 was released this week, it’s the second major release of 2021 and comes with nearly 300 new features, bug fixes and improvements. It also combines a number of Gutenberg releases and takes us one step closer to Full Site Editing (FSE). In this article, I’ll dive into what to expect when you update…
How to remove the “uncategorised” category from your WordPress or WooCommerce site
When you first start using WordPress, you may notice that your posts default to the “uncategorised” category automatically. If you made your may to Posts > Categories, you may also have noticed that there’s no way to delete it from the list. This post will show you how to remove the “uncategorised” category and set…
WordPress not sending emails correctly? Here’s how to fix WordPress email issues
A common issue among WordPress users is they suddenly find that their websites are not sending emails correctly or at all. You may have noticed that you are not getting admin notifications, that your readers or customers are not getting email notifications, or you may have installed a contact form plugin that doesn’t seem to…
How to add a custom widget area beneath blog posts in WordPress (without a plugin)
This post will show you how to add a custom widget area below your post content so you can easily insert a call to action for your products or services, a subscription form for your newsletter, an affiliate program, social media icons, author bio or anything else you can think of to the footer of…
How to automatically update your copyright year in your WordPress footer
Are you still manually changing the year in your WordPress footer? If so, did you know there’s a quicker and easier way to dynamically show the date in your footer? The method described below will automatically show the current year in your copyright footer. For this, we need to edit your theme files. Before we…
A look at Google’s New Web Stories Plugin for WordPress
Wait, Stories for Google?! Yes, you heard that right! How we consume content has certainly changed over the years with social media growing in popularity. Now there’s a new way to stand out among the millions of blog posts published every day called Google Web Stories. What are Web Stories? Web Stories are a free,…
Automatic updates for WordPress plugins and themes – should you use it?
Plugins are an essential part of WordPress, giving us the ability to extend the functionality. It is best practice to be selective with the plugins you add, and ensure that all plugins and themes installed on your site are kept up to date. One of the main reasons a WordPress site gets hacked or infected…
Fix the HTTP error when uploading images on WordPress
As a WordPress user, every so often you may come up against one of the common errors. One of which might be when you’re uploading an image or media file to the WordPress media library. This may even randomly happen, even if you haven’t done anything differently. There are several reasons why this error can…
WordPress version 5.5 or 5.6 broke my site, what now?
WordPress 5.5 was released this week (August 2020), bringing us a number of new and improved features including UI improvements in Block Editor, a new Block Directory, Block Patterns and default lazy load images. Despite the recommendation for developers to get ready for this update, it still caught many developers by surprise. And because of…
50+ WordPress plugins across 10 essential categories
One of the major advantages to having a self-hosted WordPress (wordpress.org) site is being able to access over 50,000 plugins in the WordPress Plugins Directory and hundreds more premium plugins available all over the web. Plugins allow you to easily add extra functionality to your blog without having to manually code it yourself. Here are…
How to install and test self-hosted WordPress locally on your computer (using MAMP)
There has been so many emails in my inbox during this pandemic asking about how to go about setting up a new WordPress site to test a new idea. Installing WordPress on your computer allows you to try out ideas privately without needing a domain or web host or putting your site online for the…
Want to turn your WordPress site into an e-commerce store? Here are 3 plugins that will add shop functionality to your site
Are you looking to build an online store using WordPress but not sure how to go about it? It can be overwhelming trying to figure out the best option to get started with. So here are three of the most popular e-commece plugins available for WordPress users. 1. WooCommerce WooCommerce [affiliate link] is one of…
How to add a widget area above your WordPress blog posts
The space above your blog posts is a great place to add a blog menu, an email optin, a featured post, an ad or simply an image. This tutorial will show you how to add a widget area to above your posts on your blog page so you can place any widget you want to…
35 things to do after installing WordPress
You’ve chosen your domain, purchased your hosting and installed WordPress. You’ve logged in and made it to the WordPress Dashboard. Now what? While it’s tempting to go straight into creating content, working through this checklist will have your site setup correctly, which will benefit you when it comes to usability, speed, SEO and keeping your…
How to disable fullscreen mode in Gutenberg WordPress Editor
WordPress 5.4 introduced fullscreen mode as default for the Gutenberg editor. That means every time you open a post or page, it is shown as fullscreen without your WordPress Admin Menu or Bar. While this distraction-free mode can be useful in some cases, some users may find it confusing and want to go back to…
Complete guide to moving from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress without losing Google rankings
Do you currently have a blog on Blogger which you’d like to transfer to self-hosted WordPress? Although there are a couple of upfront costs and may be a slight learning curve, I highly recommend WordPress.org – it gives you more control, more options and opens up a world of possibilities for growth. What is WordPress.org?…
How to properly move from WordPress.com to self hosted WordPress.org
Have you made the decision to move from WordPress.com to the self-hosted version of WordPress? I highly recommend WordPress.org over WordPress.com. There are a couple of upfront costs but in the long term WordPress.org is definitely worth it – it gives you more control, more options and opens up a world of possibilities for growth.…
Fix the critical error on your WordPress website
It’s likely at some point in your journey with WordPress, that you’ll come across the dreaded critical error. There has been a critical error on your website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions. Learn more about debugging in WordPress. I know – terrifying. But don’t worry! Your site is not lost and…
8 ways to speed up your WordPress site
Not surprising as a fast-loading site improves user experience, increases your page views and helps with your SEO. According to research by WPengine, a single second delay in page load speed can lead to 11% fewer page views, 16% decrease in customer satisfaction and 7% loss in conversions. Other research by Neil Patel shows that 47% of…
Web Host Providers for WordPress users [affiliate links]
Performance, security, reliability and cost are among the top factors when deciding where to host your blog or website. There are a number of good hosts available these days and even more average hosts, it can get really overwhelming when trying to decide who to choose. Here’s a breakdown of web hosting options in 2020…
Just moved to self-hosted WordPress? Here’s what you need to know
Self-hosted WordPress or wordpress.org is known as a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is a software that allows you to easily create, edit, organise and publish content from a simple interface. If you’re thinking about going with WordPress then I’d recommend self-hosted over wordpress.com, as it gives you full access and is very customisable.…
Category: WordPress
WordPress how-tos for bloggers covering updates, news, plugins, themes, development, speed and security.
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