Images are everything when it comes to a good blog post. Images add visual interest, add to the story or compliment the story you are trying to tell. Images can break up the "wall of text" and help the reader actually read all the way through your post. Images are good! Here's how to properly …
Blog
What does BLOG stand for?
It might seem a little strange, but after I launch a new client website I subscribe to their blog. I want to see what they are writing and how they are using it. I read everything in my feed reader and I can usually zip through several hundred (really) posts in a short period of time. One of my …
New Years Resolutions For Your Website
I've had this post planned for a while but every year it just doesn't feel right unless it's the first day of the year (or in this case the first biz day of the year. That's kind of funny as I'm not a big maker of resolutions and even if I was I have always felt that you don't wait for a starting …
How to write a “basic” post in Gutenberg
In this post I’m going to show you how to write what I see as a “basic” post using the Gutenberg editor found in WordPress 5.0+. I’ll cover from start to finish what you’ll need to do using just the simplest of techniques. What is a “Basic” post? Good question. I’ll suggest that most of …
Understanding Gutenberg
Warning: I'm going to be writing, videoing and maybe even podcasting a lot of posts in the coming months on the topic of Gutenberg. It's the new editor inside of WordPress 5.0. You can follow all the "gutenberg" related posts here. While I wanted to dive right in and start the in-depth …
WordPress 5.0 (Gutenberg) Drops
"Drops", "pushed", "launches" - choose your lingo. The fact is that like it or not, you are going to wake up and there's going to be a new version of WordPress ready for you to update. Or maybe your site will auto update. Or maybe you heard about this and fearing the worst you've installed an Anti …
Understanding DNS
Let's use this post as a bookmark of sorts. You really don't need to know this, I just want to be able to point clients here when I need to for reference. That said shouldn't we all keep on learning new stuff? What is DNS? This is a great place to start. You've seen the acronym in your …
How to properly do lead capture
Ok, I know that sounds kinda of lame for a title but bear with me - I'll make it way less salesy. Let's start with this. Fill out this form, please. Yeah. Right. You see, simply asking for your email address is pretty much going to be a No Go, no matter what our relationship is. Heck, I …
How to do EVERYTHING in Gutenberg
I'll keep saying it - there's a HUGE change coming to WordPress. If you have a site that I built, I've also included a section in the backend titled "Need Help?" In it you'll find a variety of helpful videos that will walk you through most anything you need to do on your site. Here's what that …
Plugins: When to update and why
When it comes to WordPress, I generally see two different kinds of site owners... The ones that never (ever) update their site. We're not talking about updates like posts or pages, we're talking about the updates to WordPress core, Themes and Plugins. I've logged into existing sites (not …
A FAQ on making your site Secure, SSL and https
So last week I had a wonderful question from a past client on making her website secure. Ok, truth be told, it wasn't as in-depth and thought provoking as you might be imagining. It was more like Yeah that was literally, it. In case you were wondering, I answered that "SECURE" wasn't a …
350 Words
All to often I'm asked the simple question. How many words should I write? I guess I buried the lede with the title on that one, eh? Well, actually I didn't. Because 350 words isn't always correct. If you want a quotable snippet, Your post should be the minimal amount of words …
Free SSL Certs
If you haven't figured it out yet, there's almost always a cost to FREE, not necessarily a monetary cost but a cost none the less. Free Advice usually isn't the best advice - right? Free TV (your local broadcast) comes with commercials - right? Free WiFi usually comes with an ad screen from the …
There’s a storm coming
First, let me preface this and that I officially don't like bringing up negative things. I'd much rather focus on the positive - but when everything is rolling along fine you just don't pay attention. I get it. I do the same thing. But there's something coming, and coming very soon, that is going …
Getting back to blogging
First of all - I apologize. The months of June and July were crazy busy. Not that that is an excuse but to be perfectly honest, there's only so much work I can get done in a day and my first priority has to be to my paying clientele. Hey, I even stopped riding my bike except for the weekly group …
How to get rid of all politics on Facebook
Facebook is many things to many people. For some it's a way to connect with friends and family and see what's going on in their day to day lives. For others it's a marketing platform - "Hey look at me, I have something you might want to buy!" (and I think that's ok) For other's it's a …
Would a new theme help my SEO?
A client of mine asked if changing the theme on their website would give them better SEO. Everyone wants to rank better in Google, right? I know. I buried the lead with the header image but maybe the more important part is the WHY. I discuss that in the podcast and down …
How to “properly” build a WordPress Website
Spoiler Alert: There's no way we cover this in two short minutes. The good news is that in these two minutes I'll give you things to think about that you would have never considered. The other good news is that I'm almost done with a huge "How To" that will be perfect for the DIY …
Secure or Not Secure?
When you are building a new site these days all the cool kids are building their sites "Secure". What does SECURE mean? Should you build your site SECURE too? That's a great question for today! Record a Better Intro than Lesley! Back when, all sites were not secure. Everyone had …
What’s the difference between a Domain Name and Hosting?
I just had a great conversation with someone who wanted to start their own site. They got the info that it was WordPress.org that they wanted to use (which is right) so they went over there and downloaded the software. That's when the confusion started, "What do you do next with the …