Hello Happy Site Owner!

Tips this week include:

• Kadence AI live review
• If a theme’s featured image auto placement is an issue
• What will be in the new Squoosh tutorial coming soon
• Why you need a consult before creating a new member site
• Time running out on DKIM and SPF record updates
• Issues with the latest Astra / Spectra theme update
• How a site pivot consult is paying for itself
• New Metrics reports going into beta testing
• Content Revamp workshop series starts this week
• Significant updates to the Custom Cron Creation tutorial
• Why you need to be a person who helps another person – and help to do that

BlogAid Happenings

This past week has been a test to see how many plates I could keep spinning.

There are constantly updates with all the site-success things I cover for us. 

But they tend to come in as one big thing a week. However this past week it seemed like everything I cover had a major update, or something to check into.

That happens at least a couple of times a year and it makes things a little chaotic. 

But, I’m caught up with a little help from my friends.

Thankful for Partners and Clients

I’m so grateful to have a server admin, webmaster designers, and educated clients who help me keep on top of everything that changes via their reports on it and via consults. Here are a few examples from this past week.

Testing Kadence AI

One of the things that I did a deep check into this past week was Kadence AI so I could make a presentation for Tips Tuesday Plus subscribers and other paying peeps this week, more on that in a moment.

And I’m so thankful to have been able to consult with Michelle Phillips of Codefetti on this topic because she follows all Kadence development closely.

Theme Auto Placement of Featured Image

During audits I can see how images are impacting page load time. And on one site we found an issue with the theme auto placing the Featured Image at the top of the post in a fancy way. I consulted with Michelle and also webmaster designer Marcy Diaz of Amethyst Website Design to help determine the problem because this was on a Genesis theme, and Marcy specializes in those.

We found that in general, that featured image placement is okay on most all themes, it’s just that this one had a slightly different way of doing it, and it can be tweaked to fix the issue.

New Squoosh Tutorial on the Way

But, having this image discussion was very timely because I’m in the process of making a new tutorial on using Squoosh, which is my favorite image optimizer.

The video I’m using in that post now was made by one of my Webmaster members. It’s good, but I want to include a bit more info about how you lose your new Progressive render and modern format by the way you embed images in your site, and other such related things.

New Member Site

I’m totally thrilled that another one of my clients is moving from just blogging and into her own products. And that will be a new member site.

However, a consult is always needed prior to doing that because we have to check if the current hosting can handle it. Member sites and on-site stores are heavy on resource usage and may require a different hosting package to allow for a sub-domain if you want to put it on a separate site, which is usually the case.

Plus, the current security settings would have to be tweaked for it to run too.

And, most site owners don’t know how memberships can run, or which platform is best to use for them, or how to get and retain clients, or do upsells or such.

That’s where a consult helps you find more money in the whole thing – both in saving money on the setup, and making the most money in the membership too.

More DKIM and SPF Record Updates

One of my clients received an email from the CRM tool she uses stating that some of her email records needed to be updated.

We asked Dustin Hyle at Iridium Hosting about it and sure enough, in his domain email service he had already added those records for this client when she moved to Iridium.

And that has been the case for all my clients.

While all other site owners are panicking or having to buy a course and take the time to figure out how to do these updates, and hope to heck they are right, we’re calmly going about our business because we took care of this issue 3 years ago and have been enjoying the benefit of better email deliverability all this time.

Astra / Spectra Theme Update

My clients know to read the changelog on plugins and themes prior to an update, especially when it comes to all things Astra / Spectra related.

And I’m grateful to the client who reported in our Facebook group that the latest theme update also required adding a bunch of directives to one of theme files on their child theme to be backwards compatible.

In other words, the update may break some sites.

We are fortunate to have Michelle Phillips of Codefetti to check into an easier way for us to do this change that will not involve a site owner having to get into theme files and possibly bork something.

Our Village at Work

These are just a few examples of the Hub at work, which is a special support program for my site audit clients.

They check in with me before making any change to their site so I can help remind them of the security or speed setup or other related items that this change affects.

We don’t want anyone finding out the hard way that some simple change borked something else that was not top of mind for them.

And we get reports of changes and new tools that affect other site owners, so folks don’t have to chase around trying to find the critically important info they need to be able to keep on top of things.

And we have trusted partners that can advise us and help us find the easy, and best way to do things.

It takes a village.

And I am so grateful that my peeps have a place to turn to that has info they can trust and they are no longer listening to the bad advice from non-techie site owners in other blogging groups.

Site Services Update

The wait list is still running about 2-3 weeks. 

If you have a site audit checkup due in February, please get your request in now.

If you’re ready to get your site fast and secure before spring, now is the time to get your site audit or get a migration/audit combo to get on better hosting while you’re at it. That combo saves you a LOT of money and makes the whole process seamless.

How a Site Pivot Consult is Paying for Itself

A couple of months ago a new client contacted me to help her pivot her site to a new focus.

She’s niching down into a real money maker.

We made a plan, including a whole new content silo and set of conversions.

She’s been making new content like crazy while she learns Gutenberg and loving it.

Now she has created a whole new homepage all by herself with all the right info and CTAs in all the right places.

We’re about to swap out her existing homepage that is full of widget-ready areas over to this new blocks-built page that will be super easy for her to edit as she grows.

And she already has a whole marketing schedule ready to show off this new focus, and the right customer journey to take folks on once they click over to her site too.

She also now sees the problems with her older theme that is not easy to manipulate and is not ADA compliant at all.

She’ll be getting a new one down the road, but we were able to use what she has and get her in the new money as quickly and easily as possible.

That way the consults will pay for themselves.

And she’ll have the money to keep going with her revamp of a migration/audit combo so she can leave that expensive managed hosting she is on now and get her site truly fast and secure.

Then she’ll do the theme revamp and she’ll already know exactly what she wants that will contribute to her conversions and time on site.

It has been an absolute delight for me to work with a business-minded site owner who totally gets why what I’m telling her works, and someone who puts butt in seat and gets her parts done.

I’m so proud of the total mindset flip she has made so that she now clearly sees the roll of her site in her business and how to make it work for her and make her money.

Invest in Your Success

Folks, the pivot and revamp I just shared with you is not an isolated example of a success story.

This is normal for my clients, especially those who come in for a consult.

In just an hour they have real clarity and a plan that will make money.

They know exactly what they need to do and exactly in what order, and how to do it.

Get on a call with someone who has helped a wide variety of clients succeed and someone whose clients stick to for years because they are making more money and staying out of panic doing it.

New Metrics Update

This past week I did another live preview with two of my clients and one of my vendor partners to show them the new Looker Studio reports package I’ve been working on for the last couple of months.

And I am so excited that I’ll get to create these reports for these two clients so we can get real-world feedback on them.

Both clients have a blog. But one also has a Shopify store and the other is doing well on YouTube.

They are both super excited about how easy it is to see how their content is trending on GA4, GSC, and the other platforms.

It’s not enough to just get a static snapshot with your metrics. You need to know what’s rising and falling too.

And you need to know if those clicks are just hit and runs or if folks are sticking around on that content and converting.

And you need to be able to ask questions of specific posts or trends over various time frames and get answers without having to jump to multiple reports to gather the info.

That way you can make good decisions about what actions you need to take with your content.

I’ve got a couple more things to tweak from feedback we got in the live session, and a few tutorials to make. Then I’ll be building them out for these clients.

I’ll keep you posted.

DIY SEO Happenings

Content Revamp Workshop Series Starting

Speaking of metrics, last week in the DIY SEO course we did a workshop on importing your Google Search Console metrics into Google Sheets.

And then we added a few super simple functions so that we could compare changes in:

• Position
• Impressions
• Clicks

Boy, was that eye opening for a lot of folks!!!

Seeing the trends helped them get answers from their metrics on posts that were rising and falling.

And, it helped point out posts that were perfectly fine, but Google may have removed from a section on Page 1.

More than anything, site owners quickly realized that you have to look beyond the surface of the metrics.

Going deeper showed that there was nothing wrong with the post.

Too many site owners take wild guesses and start tweaking on their posts when that’s the very last thing they need to be doing. 

And making changes without being truly informed borks your SEO even more.

So, get in the DIY SEO course and get informed so you can stop taking wild guesses and stop making even more mistakes with your content.

Webmaster Happenings

Custom Cron Tutorial – Significant Update

Lately I’ve been having fits with creating custom cron jobs on sites.

So, I came up with a new order for making them that involves clearing the database of old, piled up crons and transients first. And then ways to test that the new cron is running properly.

The Webmaster Training tutorial for creating custom cron jobs has been revamped and includes everything needed to do all 6 steps, in order, so that you won’t be frustrated by your new custom cron job not working right.

If you’re a designer or VA who creates or caretakes sites for others, this training has been created just for you so you can learn about all the speed and security things on the backside of sites.

Content Marketing Tips

Be a Person Who Helps Another Person

The nice folks over on ProBlogger have a series of posts that I believe is truly helpful right now.

Google has a new focus on ranking content that is “people helping people”.

And AI content and avatars are pushing some folks to want to hear even more from a real person too.

This series on ProBlogger is all about that.

• The Importance of Being Useful
• The Importance of Building Community
• The Power of Being Personal on Your Blog

Go have a read of each one, and be sure to see the related content at the bottom, as the well is deep on this topic over there.

AI Tips

Kadence AI Live Review

Last week I scared some readers by lambasting the recent Kadence AI launch livestream.

I couldn’t believe that they did yet another ill-conceived demo of the product that didn’t clear up anything for me about how this thing works, who it’s for, or exactly what the intention is with them creating it.

So, I dove into my own test of the latest version to see if I could figure it out.

And I did.

And I want to show you what I found, including:

• The one and only thing this was made for
• How to access it – including the fact that it may already be on your site
• The steps they require you to take without telling you why
• What it can and can’t do
• The issues this will create for designers
• The questions they still haven’t answered

Even if you don’t use Kadence products, you’ll want to know what’s going on, as I believe most all WP premium themes will be going this direction too.

I’ve invited the following folks to a live review of Kadence AI this Thursday:

• Tips Tuesday Plus subscribers – get on the list now and you’ll see the invite in the member area
• Site audit client Hub members – sent an email
• Webmaster Training members – sent an email

And there will be a replay available later too.

But I hope you will attend live so you can ask questions in the moment.

Plus, I REALLY want to hear your feedback as I’ll be reaching out to Kadence about this, and I want to include your questions and concerns too.