Are You Tired Of Looking A The Same Old Tired Website?
When you visit other websites are you green with envy?
I get it! I love color, all colors, and when I come across a pretty new color palette or an amazing font comes across my desk I start designing in my mind automatically and before I know it I’m putting the changes on my own sites or those of my clients.
I’m going to tell you a secret…
I can trust you, right?
I don’t always practice what I preach! SSHHHHH! Don’t tell anyone, but I struggle with branding because I get bored so easily. You’ve heard me and a whole lot of other experts tell you that consistent branding is necessary for brand recognition, but nobody tells you that IT’S SO DAMN HARD!!!
I’m constantly experimenting and if I could spend my days making graphics I would. That’s my favorite thing in the whole world! Speaking of…Did you know my DIY BLOGGING/TRAVEL site WanderingWebDesigner is having a grand opening sale and now until Jul 31st you can get 30 custom graphics for $30!!! That is a hell of a deal 50% off of the regular price! Better hurry though this amazing offer ends 7-31-19. If you looking for web design tips, travel recommendations, or your just trying to figure it all out by yourself then this is the site for you!
Anyway, back to branding. I get bored easily so changing out designs for graphics or website graphics seems like a necessity to keep my business looking fresh and user-friendly. I love pretty pictures (can you tell) so whenever something catches my eye I have to have it. I have a fabulous subscription to Styled Stock Society where I get all of my images exclusively for this site. I pay a small fee once a year and every month I get so excited to see the new images in the library and there’s no limit. As you can see I’m a huge fan of the flat lay desktops.
The best place to find professional images, videos or music for your website or social media is Shutterstock. You’ll find anything you’re looking for from foodies to fashion. You can use free sites like Pixabay or Unsplash, but free doesn’t always cut it when you need to create consistent & professional branding. As a special gift to you, they are going to give you a 10% discount just for being a loyal reader! Use this link and bump your game up!
Best professional stock images on the market.
Choosing the right imagery & graphics is just as important, if not more important than copywriting, color palettes & font choices. When creating a brand you want your ideal customer to feel a certain type of way when they see your content. Let’s face it, today’s world moves at warp speed and we need to keep up. People no longer read, they visualize and scan so having the right imagery is really the only way we have to stand out and grab attention.
For example, I want my clients here on The Blogging 911 to feel confident & empowered. The way I accomplish this is by connecting the technology to run their businesses and setting up system automation to save time & money while giving their clients & customers great user experience. I work with mostly females because I love what I do so much & I want you to love what you do just as much. It’s life-changing. For me to be a success you need to be successful.
So, Why Is It The Perfect Time For A Re-Design You Ask?
Because when you purchase our design or branding package you don’t just get a fresh, modern look. You get the full experience where you’re in the driver’s seat to your own destiny. Right now, I’m throwing in a lot of Summer bonuses that don’t normally come with the design/branding package.
A full video tutorial teaching you how to use your new site + a Skype session to answer any additional questions. ($150 value)
You know that you’re building on one of the best website frameworks on the market thrown in at NO EXTRA COST! ($60.00 Value)
Your choice of child themes from StudioPress from my theme library (A $49.99 to $149.99 Value).
Things like SSL Certificates are always included. Provided by Bluehost.
You also get one full year membership to the website maintenance plan($149.99 value) so that you can use your new website knowing that someone is there to help, to answer your questions, to keep the site updated and backed up. To hold your hand through the whole process for A WHOLE YEAR!!! Who does that?!?
It’s like having an insurance policy for your website!
You won’t have to:
Worry about conflicting plugins.
Worry about backing up your site.
Worry about updating WordPress.
Worry about backing up your theme.
Worry about backing up your plugins.
Worry about optimizing your database on a monthly basis.
Worry about running a monthly malware scan twice a month.
If you’re new to WordPress you will receive a detailed video explaining the various parts of your new website and best practices when it comes to using it. Even if you’ve used WordPress you might like to watch it and maybe find out things that you didn’t know.
Another reason now is a great time for a redesign is because we’re in the Summer Slumps, those few months every Summer where people have nothing on their minds but spending time with family & friends, enjoying vacations, or just lounging by the pool! Get ready for the busy holiday seasons now. Create a plan from publishing new content to creating a sales funnel, email sequence or setting up a shopping cart & Facebook ads.
I only work with one client at a time so that I can give them a 100% personal service. So you better hurry, spots fill up fast! A re-design is more cost-efficient than a build because the foundation is already there which means it costs less & takes less time than a standard web design/branding package. Turn around is generally 2 weeks instead of the 4 to 6 weeks it takes to build out from scratch.
Pageviews always decrease during the Summer months.
Which means it’s a perfect time to freshen up that website, dust off the cobwebs, add a much-needed enhancement, upgrade your website security, or just move things around. It’s the perfect time to put a content marketing plan in place.
I’d love to talk to you about your ideas, dreams or wishes! Need something other than web design? Need to connect analytics or maybe set up an email sequence? Check out the shop over at WanderingWebDesigner.com
Right now I’m offering a web design/branding package for over half off the usual pricing! This is for established websites only.
Get a consistent, beautiful new look that will be shared across all platforms.
Have you been dreaming of carving out a brand for your products or services that will turn sales on autopilot!
You better hurry!
I don’t know how long I can afford to keep this pricing!
$500
*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase I will earn a small commission. It will in no way affect your pricing.
If you updated your website in the past few weeks you should have seen WordPress 4.9.6 and with that update came brand new privacy features to correspond with the GDPR updates that became law recently. I thought I would take this time to point out some of these new features.
Comments
Logged in commenters will be given a choice whether their name, email, address, or website information is saved in a cookie on their browser.
Privacy Policy Page
Site owners can now designate a privacy policy page. This page will be shown on the login and/or registration page.
Data Export
Site owners can now export a .ZIP file containing a user’s personal data, using data gathered by WordPress & plugins.
Data Erasure
Site owners can erase a user’s personal data, including data collected by participating plugins. Site owners also have a new email-based method that they can use to confirm personal data requests.
Maintenance
95 updates were made in this latest WordPress update. Here are some of the highlights:
The word “mine” has been added as a filter in the media library.
When viewing a plugin in the admin dashboard, it will now tell you the minimum PHP version.
TinyMCE has been updated to the latest version 4.7.11
The first thing you have to decide is whether you want images or photography? These are two totally different things. Do you need a stock photo of a landscape or a girl on a beach? Or are you working on branding as a whole or maybe you want a uniformed, polished look. There’s a big spectrum between free and paid and so many choices. I can get lost for days at some of the sites below. I use both free and paid.
I’ve fallen in love with the photography of Wonderfelle media. That’s where all of these gorgeous new images came from. It’s a subscription and I paid $45 for six months. That’s like $7 and some change a month. I don’t mind paying that for this much pretty! It makes me smile every time I look at it.
The new theme is by Restored 316 and it’s called the Market Theme. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Restored 316 WordPress themes. I’ve used several of their themes and they are so customizable! This one, though, is by far my favorite. It’ll be around for a long time.
I’m addicted to photography. I only want to look at other people’s work, though, my photography skills are nada, zilch, nonexistent. I’m the one who ends up with 16 pictures of the ceiling and only one blurry picture of half a grandkid. (true story!)
So let’s get right to it!
There are four basic types of photography licensing and you should be aware of which one the image you are using requires. I cannot stress enough Read The License Terms Before You Use The Image!
Creative Commons – There are 7 Creative Common licenses.
Attribution – means that the owner allows you to distribute, remix, tweak and build upon their work, even commercially as long as you credit them for the original work.
Attribution (Noncommercial) – Same as attribution, but you can’t use them commercially. You can use them in a blog post, but nothing that you could sell.
Attribution No Derivatives – same as Attribution, except you can’t make any changes to the original work. You can use the image in a blog post or product, but you won’t be able to crop, rotate or change colors on a photograph with this license.
Attribution-ShareAlike licenses – This licenses let you remix, tweak and build upon the original work for commercial or non-commercial purposes as long as you credit it AND license your new creation under the same terms. This means that if you wish to share your new work, like say a free ebook, it must carry the same license.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – The most restrictive CC license, meaning you can use the creative work with attribution, but you can’t use it commercially and you can’t alter it in any way.
Zero – The least restrictive CC license. It means that the owner of the work has waived all rights and you are free to use the image as often and however you wish, however you like, with no attribution.
What this means for you as a blogger: Creative Commons images are great for bloggers because they are monetarily free and you can use most of them in blog posts, ebooks and products. Just be sure to give attribution each time you use one and be careful about where you use a noncommercial image. You won’t need to attribute images with a CC Zero license.
Public domain – Images or works in the Public Domain mean that their intellectual property rights have actually expired, been forfeited or are inapplicable. Images are free to use whenever and wherever you’d like.
Rights Managed – You pay for an image based on how many times and how many places it’s being used and/or viewed. Because of these restrictions and the high cost, it is not feasible for a blog or website.
Royalty Free – Means that you don’t pay a royalty for each instance that you use the image like you might do with Rights Managed images. Once you’ve purchased a royalty-free license, you can use the image multiple times with no time limit. There are some restrictions, however: you can’t use it in a template and resell it, for example. What this means for you as a blogger: Royalty Free images can be inexpensive and are great for blog posts, web ads, videos, ebooks and digital products without attribution.
How Do You Know If Images You’ve Already Used Are In Violation?
Tineye to search for it. Tineye allows you to upload an image or enter the image URL (right-click the image and select “Copy Image URL”). A list of websites, including stock image sites using the image, is returned.
Sites for images
Free images
Pixabay – All images and videos on Pixabay are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required.
Unsplash – Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos. Subscribe to their newsletter and get a photo pack delivered right to your inbox.
Picjumbo – Free stock photo site created by designer & photographer Viktor Hanacek in 2013. It all started when any regular stock photo site didn‘t want his photos due to lack of quality. Two years later people downloaded more than two and half millions images from this site.
Gratisography – Free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects.
Flickr – Not every photo on Flickr is available for you to use, even with attribution, so it’s best to find images using Flickr’s Advanced Search.
Stockphotos.io – A high quality site for public domain and Creative Commons photos.
Tineye – A simple shortcut to finding photos in a specific color palette. When you choose the color(s) you’d like to have in your image, TinEye will gather images straight from the Creative Commons images on Flickr. Choose up to 5 colors and even adjust the percentage of each color.
Stockpholio – It doesn’t take you to Flickr to download the images, you can download them directly from the site AND get the HTML code with the credits. It makes downloading images much faster.
Photopin – Free photos for bloggers & creatives. You can download the images in several sizes without having to go to Flickr and there is HTML code available to cut and paste for attribution.
Wikimedia – Media file repository that makes media content (images, sound and video clips) in both the public domain and Creative Commons freely available. Because it’s a Wiki site, anyone can copy, use and modify any files as long as the terms of each is followed.
Europeana – An online collection of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections. There are many items here that are also in the Public Domain.
Photogen – Photos for commercial and non-commercial use. Categories range from business, agriculture, technology and arts to nature, travel and food and drink (plus more).
Freephotobank – FreePhotoBank is a free stock photo site. Feel free to download pictures (up to 2048 pixels, Creative Commons licence) but don’t forget to link back to FreePhotoBank !
Freefoto – Images in many different categories can be used for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons license for non-commercial, no derivatives, attribution license. For a fee, images can be made available for commercial use and in high resolution.
Freestockphotos – Owned and copyrighted by Daniel Speck. Mostly nature and travel images.
Photoseverywhere – A free stock photo site specializing in travel-related stock photos.
Burst.Shopify – A new free stock photo site that covers just about anything.
Pixwizard – There are nearly 100,000 images on the site that are completely free to use (without attribution), about 20,000 of which are exclusive to us and can’t be found anywhere else.
Free Templates – Looking for free templates for your next project? Find everything from brochures to tickets are available on this site.
Crowdsourced Stock –
Fotopedia – Many photos here are available under the Creative Commons license, but you have to read the caption on each photo very carefully. If the caption says “Photo: ” and then shows the little CC in a circle icon, then click on that to read the license for that one photo.
Photober – Photos are all available for both commercial and personal use.
Patternpictures – A free photo site that provides mostly photographic backgrounds and textures, but also a lot of travel-style photographs.
The Open Photo Project – The Open Photo Project is a photo sharing platform created in 1998 by Michael Jastremski. Contributors have offered their images free of charge under terms of Creative Commons licensing.
Dotspin – A social sharing website for where you can upload and either sell or share your Instagram and Twitter photos under a Creative Commons license.
Morguefile – Photographs that have been freely contributed by many photographers for use in creative projects. You may use them for personal or commercial use.
Stockvault – This site has free images just be sure to read the terms of use before using any of them.
Photographer Owned Stock
Lime Lane Photography – Kellie is the photographer/blogger behind Lime Lane and although she sells many photographs, she also shares a few for free. All photos are meant for blog posts.
Picjumbo – Viktor Hanácek adds free photos to PicJumbo every day.
Splitshire – Free stock photos for personal & commercial use.” Daniel Nanescu is an Italian Web & Graphic Designer and Photographer that shares his own photographs to use free for both personal and commercial use.
Superfamous – Dutch interaction designer Folkert Gorter shares his incredible biological, aerial and geological photography on this site.
Imagebase – Imagebase.net is a collection of vectors and photos of people, objects, urban, nature and travel, mostly taken by David Niblack. Images can be freely used for personal, commercial, non-profit, artistic, or creative purposes.
Function Design Blog – Liam McKay has offered to share 4 volumes of his hi-res photos. You have full permission to use them however you see fit.
Subscription-Based Services
Stockunlimited – I paid $49 for lifetime access through SumoApp. I use it constantly and it has a wide range of photos available to use.
Wonderfelle Media – This subscription runs about $10 a month or you can save more by paying for several months upfront. Amazing feminine styled photography that you can use anywhere. Receive free images for signing up for her newsletter.
Haute Chocolate – Another subscription-based photography site that has stunning feminine styled photography. Runs about $75 for three months. Receive free images by signing up for her newsletter.
Shay Cochrane – Beautiful photography bought in bundles or individually. Great for branding. Sign up for her newsletter and get your first image free.
Canva – Canva provides tons of free images. Some require purchase, but they are always $1.
Adobe Stock Photos– Tons of images. Subscription costs $29.99 a month with your first month free.
Stock Free Images – The largest web collection of free images. 1,607,385 images royalty free stock photos and illustrations.
Death By Stock Photos – Subscriptions start at $15 and go all the way up to $180 per year. Get free images by signing up for their newsletter.
Graphicstock – Enjoy unlimited downloads of royalty-free photos, vectors, and illustrations. $49 a month or $99 for a whole year.
There is no way that I could include every single photo website, but these are the main ones. If you have more please feel free to add them in the comments below.
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I talk about website maintenance ALL OF THE TIME! Why? Because I spend A LOT of time fixing things that could have easily been avoided with proper website maintenance.
This got me thinking…I know you love your website.
I mean come on it’s the child that doesn’t talk back, doesn’t forget to put gas back in the car, and NEVER asks for anything! So you want to take care of it!
The reasons you’re not maintaining your site:
You love paying people like me to fix things.
You have way too much money and have to find ways to give it away.
Your website is “special” and never requires maintenance.
You don’t have time.
You don’t know how.
The first two reasons…I can’t help you, but my PayPal account is Rena@theblogging911.com!
The third reason…every website requires maintenance. It doesn’t matter what theme you use, what plugins you use, or even who designs it. It has to be maintained to stay safe, secure, and running optimally.
You don’t know how to maintain your site properly! This must be it! So today we’re talking website maintenance.
First, foremost, & MOST IMPORTANT is having a good backup plugin. I prefer either Updraft Plus or Dropbox, but there are other options as long as you choose ONE of them…and actually, use it!
Backup your site before making any changes. How often should you back up your site?
Well, it all depends on how often you post, but definitely, every time you make a change, add something such as a plugin or theme. I backup my site and those that I maintain twice a month. I use the 1st & 15th. Using the same days every month helps me to remember easier. I always know that on those two days I am maintaining websites.
Second, you are going to want to update anything that needs it. You can always find those updates at the top of your dashboard. Just click on the circle and it will take you to your update page. Here you will be able to update WordPress, themes, or plugins.
After doing all of your updates, and by the way I start from biggest to smallest (meaning I update WordPress first, then any themes even though you should only have the theme that is activated saved, and all plugins that require the updates). I also never update more than three plugins at a time.
Next, I go to SETTINGS>>OPTIMIZE DATABASE & DELETE REVISIONSand optimize all databases which will also get rid of any revisions (which add up quickly) and all spam comments.
After all of that is finished I check to make sure my site doesn’t have malware. I use Sucuri or Wordfence and I have to be honest here after some recent changes to Sucuri (you have to go to their website now to check your site) I prefer using Wordfence because I can check for malware right inside my dashboard.
I also do a front end visual check to make sure that my site looks as it should after the updates and if anything needs my attention.
If it’s the first of the month I also check site speeds by going to GT METRIX which is a free service. All you have to do is enter your URL and hit ANALYZE. I also head to “BROKEN LINK CHECKER” and check for broken links. They also have their own plugin, but I find it kind of bulky and can sometimes conflict with other plugins.
Have you ever thought about what would happen if you were to become incapacitated in some way? Maybe you’ve gotten sick or been in an accident whatever the reason, what would happen to your online business, Facebook groups, or your website?
Would all of your hard work go down the drain within weeks, leaving your readers wondering what in the world happened to you? Sponsored posts have gone unwritten, affiliate earnings abandoned, subscriptions canceled for non-payment and the list goes on.
The effects could be felt for months, even years to come. As a caregiver, I have to worry about these kinds of things all of the time. Not my website, but my life in general. Who can take over in case I can no longer do it. What happens if I get sick or hurt?
There has to be a safety net in place long before that emergency happens or everything you’ve worked for could just disappear. Believe me, I know this first hand. If you haven’t read my story check out my About Page In my personal & business life I use a book called Cellphones Don’t Work In Heaven written by Mark C. Pope & Beverly R. Thompson. It’s a wonderful book and talk about a story! Whew, watch this video! The book covers every aspect of your life, but as a blogger or online business owner, we have another layer of need that just isn’t covered.
So the first step is to make a plan & I’m here to help!
What Is Considered Critical Website Information?
How To Gather Your Information
Picking The Right Person
Instructions
Free Downloadable Critical Website Information Guide
What Is Considered Critical Website Information?
I define this as anything needed to keep your website/business up and running. Everything from your website login credentials to the course you bought. Everything on the list may not be critical, but it’s nice to keep track of everything in one (two, or ten different places). I keep one online and one in my file cabinet.
Website Url and login credentials
Email (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
Email service provider (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc.)
Web hosting
Media storage
Scheduling tools
Analytics
Affiliates
Your social media platforms
Creative Subscriptions
Premium plugins or extras that will need to be renewed
Posting Schedule
Instructions
How To Gather Your Information
Make a list, make several in fact, but start off with sections such as:
Your website, Social Media, Advertising & Analytics, Scheduling, and Other. You can use any system that works, but remember to include EVERYTHING so it may take you several days/weeks to get it all together. For instance, media storage would include things like Dropbox or Google Drive, but also Evernote, Onedrive, etc. A little bit here, and here, and there. It adds up.
Are you like me and get hit with shiny object syndrome sometimes? I’ll admit this, but only to you. I sometimes all the time sign up for great services or cheap offers *shush don’t tell my husband!* with all of the greatest intentions in the world and then after chasing two-year-olds, following mom around shutting doors and turning off appliances, working on my clients work, working on my own business goals, plus cooking, laundry, bills most of the time I’ve forgotten by bedtime. Wait, bedtime what’s that? I have courses I’ve bought and never had time to open them up. Tomorrow never comes and pretty soon your inbox rivals your local library in quantity.
I also have two pretty cool tips that can help you keep control of the number of companies allowed into the prime real estate that is your email. The first one is a website called deseat.me. Enter your email address and you will see a list populate with every company that you’ve given your email address to and some that you may not have. Then it gives you a link to go in and delete the account if you choose.
As you can probably guess my email can sometimes get overwhelming. Trying to keep up with several different threads at once confuses my poor damaged brain. (I think that’s why I struggle so much with Facebook! My brain can’t keep up with it.) My friend Nesha from NeshaWoolery.com asked a question in her Facebook Group the Shelancers if we had a plan if something happened to us. It got me thinking about it A LOT I mean face it “we aren’t spring chickens anymore”. She also gave me another hot tip when she shared the tool unroll.me
It will change your life! You sign up for a free account and it will gather every single thing that you are subscribed to. Seriously, every newsletter, every subscription, and roll it up into one big newspaper or magazine. You have the opportunity to unsubscribe from multiple accounts, keep the ones that you want, and have the rest rolled up into one email delivered once a day or even once a week at whatever time you choose! How awesome is that!
My inbox is now full of the people who should be there…my clients. I can still get the newsletters I want. It just keeps them from coming one after another and creating that overwhelmed feeling I mentioned earlier.
Picking The Right Person
Picking the right person is a trickier matter. You need someone who is both trustworthy & tech-savvy. Maybe you already have a webmaster or V.A. and that would be the perfect option. They already have all of the information right at their fingertips. They should still have a contingency plan in place or you will be playing catch up from the very beginning.
If you don’t have access to an admin or web tech then you are going to have to train someone to literally be you in case of an emergency. I chose my daughter not only because of the top two reasons above but she’s the only one close enough to me that even knows how to turn a computer on and log in! I kid you not! My husband can operate two computers; an ATM and the self-checkout at Walmart.
Keep in mind that they are going to probably be flying blind so hitting them with everything that has to be done in your everyday online business life will most likely have them throwing up their hands in sheer brain overload.
Think of it this way. When an ambulance gets to a wreck they triage the situation. Who is in the most danger or hurt worse. So figure out the bare minimum that can be done to maintain your space and all of your hard work. Teach them starting with the most important and work your way down. At first, I would keep it to your top 5 most important things. Do it for a week at a time and have an alternative. You can always add more in small doses if you have someone willing to go above and beyond. You will owe them big time when all is back to normal for sure!
Just remember THE BARE MINIMUM, they will go back to the real world eventually. Teach them to maintain it, keep it safe, and keep it from having that abandoned feeling some sites whose creator has just ghosted…
Instructions
Not only should you leave a detailed list of exactly what needs to be done, but you should also schedule some time to show them step by step how to maintain the basics of your website and your business. Use visuals such as calendars or even maps. Blog post→ → Facebook → → Instagram. Whatever works!
Keep your content scheduled AT LEAST a week in advance. I’m not always successful at this, but I do try. I’ve started using “batch days”. I’m sure you’ve seen or heard these words in the last few months. If not, it means to set aside a certain day every month or week to create. One day for content, one day for graphics, or one day for scheduling social media. That way you can stay ahead of the game and if you use the same day every month or week you will never run out!
My problem is trying to think of things that will bring you true value. I know how valuable your time and inbox are and I want you to feel that it was worth it every single time you click that button!
Speaking of value, (see how I did that?)
I’ve done the hard part for you! I’ve created the 13-page download
to create your very own
Critical Information Guide
A place to keep all of that new found knowledge in one simple place.
Print it out, but it in a binder, and keep it in a safe place.
It not only gives you peace of mind, but it feels like a fresh start. Clearing out the old and making room for the new. I want to add that I keep a paper copy of the Critical Information Guide, but I also keep an online version as well. I use LastPass, if you haven’t tried it check it out. Sometimes you just need to see the password, but it’s locked deep in our computer’s memory banks and all we get are ***************. It’s easy with LastPass, also free! It’s a Chrome extension so it’s simple to set up! If you struggle coming up with strong passwords try this free tool by TheBestVPN.com. You can generate strong, unique passwords by simply clicking a button and it’s also free!
That’s it for now!
*This post contains affiliate links. I will earn a small commission of the Cell Phones Don’t Work In Heaven.
I’ve been creating lots of cool new things for the resource library and I wanted to share the latest one with all of you. Below are 135 terms that every blogger or small business owner should know. I’ve tried to think of as many as I could, but there is no way of getting it all.
If you think of a term that isn’t included and I’ll add it to the list. I hope it comes in handy for you! You can find this and other great resources in downloadable form by signing up for my weekly newsletter. I accidentally sent two emails out this week and I wanted to apologize for that.
I’m working on the best days and times to send it, but right now I’m sticking to Saturday morning right after my post is published. That’s it once a week. I know how it is to have an overrun email. I have two of them…okay three, four…Next Saturday we’ll be talking about stock images. Does, don’ts, and where to find them.
A
Above the fold – A newspaper term the refers to the top half of a website.
A/B Testing – Testing of an advertisement, sales page, or piece of content by creating alternate versions and seeing which ones visitors respond to the best.
Admin Bar – A floating bar that contains useful administration screen links such as add a new post, see pending comments, edit your profile etc. It can be extended by plugins to add additional functionality, for example, SEO and more.
Affiliate marketing – A way for bloggers to monetize their sites by special links to other website’s products or services for a fee.
Alexa – An analytics website often referred to when comparing websites against one another. Provides a ranking and information on traffic, audience demographics, and inbound links.
Algorithm – The formula that determines how a blog’s pages or posts ranks within a search engine’s search results.
ALT. TAG – AKA: Alternative tag/Alternative text/attribute – The field tied to an image for the purpose of describing an image. An alt tag is helpful to both users and search engines should the image not fully render. Alt text is a word of phrase that describes an image on the web.
Anchor text – Used to anchor a URL to some text on a web page. When users view the web page in a browser, they can click the text to activate the link and visit the page whose URL is in the link.
API – Aka Application Programming Interface. The set of programming instructions and rules by an application that allows other applications to communicate with it.
Avatar – An avatar is a photo, graphic or image that represents you across blogs and other social-networking sites. This is not required nor used by all and is sometimes displayed within the profile or comment sections.
B
Backend – The part of the website where authorized users can modify content.
Backlink – a link one website gets from another website. Backlinks make a huge impact on a website’s prominence in search engine results. This is why they are considered very useful for improving a website’s SEO ranking.
Bandwidth – The amount of traffic and data that is allowed to occur between your web site and the internet.
Blog – a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual or group of people.
Blogger – 1. A person who blogs. 2. A free blogging platform owned by Google.
Blogpost – An individual post on a blog.
Blogosphere – The community of all blogs and bloggers on the Internet.
C
Category – One of the predefined taxonomies in WordPress. It is used to sort and group content into sections.
Click-through rate – The number of times an ad is clicked on.
CMS – This is short for content management system. It is a software program that allows you to add content to a website more easily.
cPanel – A web-based hosting control provided by many hosting providers to website owners allowing them to manage their websites from a web-based interface.
Child theme – A sub-theme that inherits all of the functionality of its parent theme. Child themes are a safe way to modify a WordPress theme without actually making changes to the parent theme’s files. See also theme, parent theme.
Conversion rate – The percentage of visitors who convert visits or page views into some type of action, such as signing up for a newsletter, or purchasing an e-book.
CPC – Aka Cost-per-click. The amount earned each time a visitor clicks on an ad.
CSS Stylesheet – Aka Cascading Style Sheets – A style sheet language used to define visual appearance and formatting of HTML documents.
CSV – A type of file that stores plain-text data (such as newsletter subscriber information) made up of records and fields. Each field is separated by a comma or tab.
D
Database – A structured, organized set of data. A software used to organize and store data. WordPress uses MySQL as its database management system.
DNS – Aka Domain Name System – A system that points a domain to a physical IP address. The purpose of DNS is to use easy to remember domain names for websites instead of their numeric IP addresses. It also enables website owners to change their web hosts without changing domain names.
Domain Name – A name used to identify a website on the internet.
Default theme – A default theme allows you to display the front-end of a website. It is the first theme that you see when you first install WordPress. It can then be changed to any theme.
Dedicated hosting – Web hosting packages that provide a dedicated server with dedicated resources to a single client. Ideal for WordPress websites with a large number of visitors.
Dofollow links – Allows google (all search engines) to follow a link and reach your website. Giving you “link juice” and a backlink. If a webmaster is linking back to you with this link both Search Engine and Humans will be able to follow you.
E
Editor – A pre-defined user role in WordPress. An individual with editor roles can write, edit, publish, or delete blog posts. They can also moderate, approve, and delete comments.
Embed – To place content from another website within your own blog’s post or page.
Evergreen – A type of post that does not date quickly, and is therefore as relevant today as it will be in years to come.
Excerpt – An article summary with a link to the whole post.
F
Facebook pixel – a piece of JavaScript code for your website that enables you to measure, optimize and build audiences for your ad campaigns.
Favicon – A small graphic, typically your logo or other representation of your website that appears in a browser’s address bar, favorites or bookmark lists. In HTML it is referenced as the following rel= “shortcut icon”, and should be saved or uploaded as favicon.ico.
Featured Image – Aka post thumbnail – A WordPress theme feature that allows theme developers to add support for using a representative image for posts, pages, or custom post types.
Feed – RSS standing for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary – Provides users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it in RSS reader or via e-mail.
Filters – Functions that WordPress uses to pass data through. Allows developers to modify the default behavior or a specific function. Functions used to filter data are called hooks.
Fluid Layout – A layout that uses proportional values as a measuring unit for blocks of content, images, or any other item that is a part of a WordPress theme. This allows the web page to stretch and contract relative to the user’s screen size.
Footer – The bottom portion of a web page that usually includes the Copyright notices, links to privacy policy, credits, etc.
FTP – Aka FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL – An internet protocol used to transport files across the internet from one computer to another
FTP CLIENT – A software that runs your personal computer and allows you to transfer files from your computer to and from your web server.
Functions.php – Aka theme functions – A template used by WordPress themes. It acts like a plugin and gets automatically loaded in both admin and front-end pages or a WordPress site.
G
GPL – Aka General public license/GNU GPL – The most commonly used free software license. This software can be freely used, modified, and redistributed by anyone.
H
Header – This is the top part of your blog, and appears before any pages or posts. Headers generally include items such as logos, taglines, and navigation menus, which are meant to set the tone or theme of your blog.
Header widget – Usually the widget area to the right of the logo or header.
Heat map – A map of your blog, showing which areas of a specified page are clicked on the most, usually represented using colors where one color indicates a high number of clicks while another represents a low number of clicks.
Homepage – The main page of a website.
Hooks – Aka webhooks – Functions that can be applied to an Action or a Filter.
.htaccess – A configuration file read by the server. It is able to override many server configuration settings and can be used for authorization, cache control, website optimization, and URL rewriting.
HTML – Aka Hypertext Markup Language – The language used to write webpages.
Hyperlink – Clickable content within a web page that takes the user to another page, website, or within part of the same page.
I
iFrame – An inline frame used within a web page to load another HTML document inside of it.
Index(ed) – The process by which search engines find your content and then make it available to users by storing it and displaying it in search results.
Inner wrap – What sits behind your posts and sidebar.
IP address – A unique string of numbers that identifies every computer that’s connected to the internet.
J
Javascript – A program running language implemented in browsers to allow client side scripting on the user end. It allows web developers to allow dynamic elements to your websites such as a slider, display alerts, buttons, popups, etc.
jQuery – a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript.
.jpeg – An image file format used to compress information within a photo or picture. The most widely used.
K
Keyword – A word or concept of great significance. A word that acts as the key to a cipher or code. An informative word used in an information retrieval system to indicate the content of a document.
L
Landing page – A dedicated page on a website created with the intention of converting visitors into sales leads or e-mail marketing subscribers for a particular product or database list.
Loop – PHP code that displays WordPress posts.
M
Malware – Short for malicious software. Code or scripts designed to disrupt software or collect of information such as passwords.
Media – 1.A tab in your WordPress admin sidebar which is used to manage user uploads such as images, audio, video, and other files. 2. Any image, literature, audio, or video.
Meta Keywords – The most popular and well-known element describing the content of a web page. Search engines realized that this piece of information was often inaccurate or misleading and frequently lead to spammy sites. As such this tag is no longer followed by search engines.
Meta tags – A comprehensive term that is comprised of meta titles, descriptions, and keywords. These three items are referred to as meta tags. The tags are elements that provide information about a given web page, most often to help search engines categorize them correctly.
MySQL – A database management system that is used by WordPress to store and retrieve all of your blog information.
N
Navigation Menu – Aka Primary navigation, menu, Sub navigation, or footer navigation – A WordPress theme feature that allows users to navigation menus by using the menu editor found in the admin dashboard. Users can add posts, pages, or custom links to a navigation menu.
Niche – A subset of a market.
Nofollow link – A link attribute which prevents links from being crawled by search engines. As a result, no SEO credit gets passed from one page to another.
O
Open Source – A term used to describe a computer program with their source code available for everyone to study. WordPress is an open source software and anyone can use, change, and redistribute its source code.
Outbound link – A link that points to an external website or webpage.
P
Parent theme – A theme that is declared parent by another theme (child theme). Allows users to make modifications to larger more robust WordPress themes by creating a child theme. See also theme, child theme.
Parallax – A web design trend that involves the background moving slower than the foreground when scrolling, giving a 3D effect.
Permalinks – The permanent URL of a individual piece of content on your WordPress site.
PHP – A programming and scripting language to create dynamic interactive websites.
Pingback – Allows you to notify other bloggers that you have linked to their article on your website.
Plugin – A piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to your WordPress website. They can extend functionality and add new features.
.png – An image file type that unlike JPG doesn’t lose quality when editing. Usually, having a transparent background.
Podcast – A digital file available for downloading to a media player (such as an iPod) or computer.
Popup – A form of online advertising displayed in a smaller window that appears upon visiting a site, or performing an action (such as submitting details). May include an ad, encouragement to sign up for a newsletter or enter a competition.
Post meta – Aka custom fields – Allows users to add additional information when writing a post.
Post slug – The user-friendly and URL valid name of a post.
Post status – Allows users to set a workflow status in WordPress. The 8 default statuses are:
Published
Future
Draft
Pending
Trash
Auto draft
Inherit
Primary Menu – See Navigation Menu
Q
Quickpress – A compact post authoring displayed on WordPress admin dashboard. Allows users to quickly create posts without opening the full featured post edit screen.
R
Redirect – An alternative URL used to direct a user to a different location. A 301 permanent redirect is applied when you change the URL of a page.
Responsive theme – A theme that provides optimal user experience across various devices and screen resolutions.
Robot.txt – A text file which allows a website to provide instructions to web crawling bots.
RSS – See feed.
S
Screen options – A button located at the top right corner of your WordPress admin area. Screen options menu shows options to configure the view of that particular page in the admin area.
SEO – Aka Search Engine Optimization – The practice of optimizing a website for better representation of search results.
Shared hosting – Web hosting service plans where multiple websites share the resources of a large web server.
Shortcodes – Little bits of code that allow you to do various things with little effort.
Sidebar – A widget-ized area in WordPress to display information that is not part of the main content.
Sitemap – A public directory to help users easily access pages of your website. This is a page on your site where you tell users about key pages of your website by listing them in an outline format and then linking to those internal pages. This makes your content easier to find by users including search engines.
Slider – A slideshow added to a web page.
Slug – See post slug.
Spam – Unwanted user content
Splog – A blog created for the sole purpose of linking to other associated websites.
SSL – Aka Secure Sockets Layers – Encryption protocols used on the internet to secure information exchange and provide certificate information.
Static front page – A dynamic blog-style front page. Used to show customized content.
T
Tag – A predefined taxonomy that is smaller in scope and focused on specific topics.
Tagline – A short phrase or sentence, like a slogan, describing your blog or your mission.
Taxonomy – Used as a way to group posts and custom post types together. See categories, tags.
Template – Defines part of a web page generated by a WordPress theme.
Text editor – 1. A computer program for editing code. 2. One of 2 post edit screens. This one requires you to manually add any formatting like italics, alignment, and spacing using HTML.
Themes – A collection of templates and stylesheets used to define the appearance and display of a WordPress powered website.
Theme editor – Located at Appearance<Editor in the WordPress admin dashboard. Allows you to modify WordPress theme files.
Theme framework – Refers to a code library that is used to facilitate the development of a theme. Also considered a parent theme. See parent theme, child theme, theme.
Theme options – A page in the admin area that allows users to modify theme setting without modifying theme files or touching any code.
Thumbnail sizes – Any images can be defined as thumbnail sizes. Once a new size is chosen then WordPress will generate a copy of each size. It only applies to new images, not to ones previously uploaded. Use regenerate thumbnails for older images.
Trackback – A method of notifying a blogger that another blogger has written something about their blog post and linked to it.
U
Updates – Informs users when a new version of WordPress, themes, or plugins becomes available.
Unique visitors – An analytical term that represents the number of visitors who visited your site during a certain time frame.
URL – Aka Uniform Resource Locator – The addresses of individual pieces of information that can be found on a web page. Images, posts, pages, document.
URL Shortener – A tool that creates a shortened version of a URL.
User roles – Defines permissions for users to perform a group of tasks. Editing, publishing, etc.
V
VPS Hosting – Aka Virtual Private Server Hosting – Allows each hosting account to be as its own machine with its own resources and operating system.
Visual Editor – One of two edit screens inside of WordPress. It is a WYSIWYG editor which means what you see is what you get. However, the content shows up on your display is exactly the way it will be when it is published.
Vlog – A video blog.
W
Webinar – An online seminar, workshop or presentation.
Web server – A computer containing software for hosting a website.
Widgets – A small block that performs a certain function. In WordPress, you drag and drop the widgets of your choice into the predetermined widget areas.
Widget areas – Certain areas of your WordPress website that allow you to display custom contact in predetermined spaces according to the theme.
WordPress.com – A proprietary blog hosting service provider. It is not related to WordPress.org While it uses the WordPress.org core there are certain limitations to it. Offers limited theme support. NO plugins allowed.
WordPress.org – An open source CMS software. Allows you to create customizable websites. Offers full theme support. Plugins allowed.
Wp-config.php – One of the core WordPress files. It contains information about the database including the name, host, username and password.
Wrap – Sometimes considered the background it is the area behind your content.
WYSIWYG – Stands for What You See Is What You Get. This refers to what’s being displayed in your post editor corresponding with what appears when the post is published.
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.
There may be an issue with the Instagram Access Token that you are using. Your server might also be unable to connect to Instagram at this time.
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