How to use the new WordPress block editor
Should you switch to the new editor? Isn’t it hard? Isn’t it limited compared to the Classic Editor? Read the post to find out!
Best WP Rocket settings for bloggers
In a previous post, I explained why I highly recommend the WP Rocket caching plugin for WordPress bloggers. It can make a huge difference in your site speed (and perceived speed), which will give you a big boost for your SEO and also make your visitors happier. A blogger client recently asked what the best…
Adding Administrators or Users to Your Blogging Accounts
Instead of sharing your own usernames and passwords with us, adding us as administrators is the most efficient and most secure way for us to work together. That way your passwords are safe, you don’t have to change them, and in many cases the actions we take can be tracked back to us…so we’re all…
Start Outsourcing so you can level-up your blog
There is A LOT that goes into a blog business. 99% of the time, it’s way more than we realized before we started our blogs. In the beginning, you have to do the job of probably 4 or 5 different people all by yourself–because you’re not making any money yet to pay someone to do…
How to edit a menu in WordPress
Editing your WordPress menu is TOTALLY something you can handle yourself, no need to learn to code or hire someone. There’s a video and written instructions below and you’ll see how easy it is to add pages, categories, sub-menus (drop downs), blog posts, and even links to your menu.
How to Make Reusable Blocks in Gutenberg
Reusable blocks are one of my favorite features of the new WordPress editor. They can save a ton of time and can be used for so many things. This post is about ways to use and how to make reusable blocks in WordPress. But what is a reusable block? It’s a set of elements you…
How to update plugins without breaking your blog
Updating plugins can be a little nerve-wracking, especially if you’ve had a problem before. Ideally, you click the update button when you see it, and your blog only improves. That’s not always how it works though. Updating could do something as small as losing the functionality, to as big as the dreaded “White Screen of…
How to prevent your own pageviews from showing in Google Analytics
If you’re using Google Analytics, you probably already know what a massively helpful tool it is for bloggers. But when it’s recording your own views, it can totally skew things (and either make you think you’re suddenly super popular, or that your visitors have really weird reading habits…). Either way, it won’t leave you with…
What is FTP access and why does your developer need it?
Your website–just like all of the internet–is made up of pages of code. Those pages get filed into folders so we developers can keep everything neat and tidy. It’s your internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, hopefully not Internet Explorer) that translates those thousands of lines of code to an interactive and good-looking website. So to…
My #1 plugin to speed up blogs
For bloggers who want to go pro (or already are), site speed is HUGE. And it’s one of the things I’m asked to help with on blogs weekly. There are SO many factors that go into site speed, and I plan on blogging about a lot of them, but I wanted to start with my…
How to add categories to your blog
Categories are super important to your blog. Unfortunately, almost nobody tells that to new bloggers (especially those “Start a blog in 20 minutes!” posts). Special side-note request since I can’t help it: please don’t ever start your blog in 20 minutes. Take a proper amount of time, do research, and plan before you dive in…
The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Don’t care about details? Skip to the 2 second summary. It’s a little tricky to understand at first, but I’m going to try to make the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org easy. Let’s start at the beginning. Forget about .com and .org right now and let’s talk about WordPress alone. What is WordPress? WordPress itself…
Black Friday Deals to Upgrade Your Blog
Guys. Does your blog need any upgrades? 4 of my very favorite website and business tools are having huge Black Friday sales. And I may be jealous if you get to take advantage. Here they are (and they are affiliate links): SiteGround If your site is slow, if you’re having security issues, or are just…
How to add meta tags or tracking codes to your blog
At some point, you will receive a meta tag or tracking code that you will need to add to your blog. If your site is built on the Genesis framework, as all the ones I build are, adding that code is super-easy. In your dashboard, just hover over “Appearance” then click “Customize.” In there, scroll…
How to get rid of “The post appeared first on”
You got your RSS feed set up (woohoo!). But when you test it, there’s a line at the bottom that says “The post appeared first on” It shows in your MailChimp emails, MailerLite, in feed readers. And it’s annoying. Mostly because you can’t where it’s coming from. So where did the text come from? The Yoast…
The easiest way to display a series on your blog
A blog series is a great way to build engagement and create repeat visitors for your blog. What exactly is a series? Remember how TV shows used to occasionally end an episode in “To be continued…”? And then you couldn’t wait until next week to see what happened? Each episode was still an episode, but those…
The Best Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers
UPDATE: While Tasty Recipes is a fine plugin, I do now definitely recommend WP Recipe Maker over it. While it’s still not quite as easy to set up, there are SO many more options for customizing it, and the customer service is AMAZING. Plus, there is a free version you can get started with. Before…
How to change your DNS information
Before I tell you how to change your domain name’s DNS info, I want to give you a quick explanation of what it all means. That way what you’re doing will make sense and if the particular company you’re using does things a little different than my instructions, you’ll be able to figure it out…