Hello Happy Site Owners and Webmasters!
Tips this week include:
- WordPress 5.4 rolling out today
- Why you must see my post on what’s new in WP 5.4 so you won’t be thrown for a loop next time you go to the editor after you upgrade
- Why there will be an insane amount of updates to the Gutenberg Ninja course
- Why we’re taking a 3 week break instead of 2 from the DIY SEO live workshops
- The new crazy livestream video I did on a live shop build, and asking for advice from you about it
- A new post on why hotlink protection doesn’t actually stop scrapers from stealing images right off your site
- Why YouTube is streaming in standard definition by default now
- Why more folks are getting into video streaming now
- 2 new courses for Genesis design
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Replay
Who I Help
All tips, advice, and suggestions in this, and all BlogAid posts and tutorials, are intended to empower DIY site owners who are not on hosting that is restrictive in what you can and can’t do with your site and hosting setup.
BlogAid Happenings
This past week I’ve been butt in seat, head down, doing client work for all of the end of March projects.
I’ve only had a couple of clients on my wait list postpone due to their revenue reversals.
But, I’m also getting in new clients left and right and am now booked almost solid through April.
I’ve got several clients who contacted me back in February or early March who have renewals at SiteGround coming up in early to mid April and they want to migrate to better hosting combined with their regular site audit checkup. That’s going to save them money.
So, I’m working as hard as I can go on the currently open projects to ensure we hit those deadlines and get them moved before their renewal hits.
Way more changes to WP 5.4 than expected
This past week I also started my tests on the latest beta release of WordPress 5.4, which should roll out to the public today.
I’ll have more for you on that in just a bit.
But wanted to say they are WAY more changes to it, including way more Gutenberg changes, than anyone has been reporting.
That means I’ve had to do a lot more research and testing to even make my What’s New post and video about it.
And that also means I’ll have to update way more Gutenberg tutorials than I had planned too.
DIY SEO Workshop break extended
For all of the above reasons, I need to extend our live workshop break for the DIY SEO course another week.
I just can’t get all of the hard migration deadline client work and Gute tutorials done, and make the new workshops for keywords and ranking completed in the next week no matter how many hours I put in.
So, we’re looking at March 17th for resuming the live workshops.
I also hope this break allows folks more time to adjust to their new normal and get caught up with the 8 workshops we’ve already done too.
I know it’s been hard for many of you to find the time and energy to work on your sites for the past couple of weeks at least.
And maybe a little break like this will help.
When we resume we’ll be doing the 2 new workshops on keywords and ranking, and then we start our super deep dive into on-page and content SEO, plus how to do a content audit.
And that will take us into summer.
I did something different with video builds – again
Last week my body was just aching to get up from my desk and do something physical.
I had a super easy build to do in my workshop for putting my drill press stand on wheels.
So, I livestreamed the entire build on my Heartwood Art Facebook page.
The problem was that it streamed rotated 90 degrees, as I had my phone turned in landscape.
You have to lock your mobile device orientation and then flip it to landscape to watch it. And of course you can’t do that on desktop or laptop at all.
I knew that might be a problem when I started streaming, but I didn’t have time to research it and do anything about it. So, I just went for it. I figured some folks may want a little different kind of streaming entertainment.
I see other folks stream to Facebook in landscape.
Do any of you know how that’s done?
I have an iPhone 11, if that matters.
So please help me out if you know.
That’s all the news from around here. Let’s jump into this week’s tips.
WordPress Tips
WordPress 5.4 releases today
I don’t know when the release will hit.
Sometimes they wait until later in the evening.
There were 5 release candidates for this version.
That means for the last month they have done nothing but bug fixes.
I hope they’ve got them all, but I would suggest you still hold off for a few days before updating.
And be sure you take a backup first!!! See this backup checklist.
New in WordPress 5.4: Ultimate Guide
You’ll most definitely want to see my post and video on what’s in the WordPress 5.4 release, especially if you use Gutenberg.
One of the shocker things you’ll see the first time you go to the editor, no matter which one you use, is that the distraction-free writing setting is now turned on by default. You’ll wonder where your left admin sidebar disappeared to.
And if you use the Gutenberg editor, you’ll most definitely want to see all of the new goodies.
Updates to Gutenberg Ninja tutorials
There were a few surprise changes to the Gutenberg editor in WP 5.4 that will immediately invalidate every tutorial out there.
I’ll be updating my Gutenberg Ninja course with all of the new features.
But, I’ll also have to update several existing tutorials with at least notes about some of these surprise changes. And some tutorials will have to be completely redone as just one thing moved or changed and that will make the current tutorial confusing.
So, I have a LOT more tutorials to update than I had planned and I’ll roll them out in the course as quickly as I can get them made.
I appreciate your patience with it and I’ll be sending an email with more details to all course members on the updates, as well as a whole section that will be coming out of the course, as the way one of those specialty block suite plugins works has now been completely invalidated.
Don’t worry, I gave y’all a warning not to use that plugin for anything other than layout ideas. So, no harm done with things currently on your site.
Security Tips
Stop Image Scraping: Why Hotlink Protection Doesn’t Work
I know this is not what most of you want to hear, but it is the truth.
Hotlink Protection doesn’t stop bots from scraping images off your site.
Bots who are scraping your images don’t rely on the manual way of alt-clicking the mouse and downloading an image.
And that’s the only thing that Hotlink Protection deters.
Go read my post on how these scraper bots make easy pickings of grabbing your site images in bulk and what you can and can’t do to prevent it.
Streaming Tips
YouTube Streams in SD by Default
Due to record-high streaming by folks at home with too much time on their hands, or as a way to entertain the kids, the internet is choking.
It just can’t handle all that extra bandwidth.
YouTube is doing its part to help by streaming in Standard Definition (SD) by default.
You can elect to stream in HD, but you have to click the setting to turn that on.
More folks getting into video streaming
I’m seeing more bloggers trying video and live streaming now – and it’s paying off.
It’s good right now for your clients and followers to see and hear from you.
Plus, Facebook gives your livestreams more reach than any other type of post.
You can easily stream from your webcam or phone.
Just try it.
It doesn’t have to be a polished presentation.
Maybe do a heart connection short clip to check in with your peeps.
I’ve been livestreaming more into my Facebook groups these days with an inside scoop on what I’m seeing in the industry and the opportunities coming for when this over.
Plus, it’s a great way to invite folks to let me know how I can help them more too and see what they need right now.
Webmaster Tips
2 New Genesis Design Courses
If you have never designed in Genesis, or you want to up your skill level, long-time Genesis designer Carrie Dils has released 2 new courses on LinkedIn Learning.
If you already have a LinkedIn Learning subscription, these 2 courses are included for free.
Or, you can purchase them a la carte.
Wrap Up
That’s a wrap for this week’s Tips Tuesday.
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