Tips Tuesday – WP 5.8 Update, Dump ShortPixel, Real Speed Tests, Huge DDoS Attack

Hello Happy Site Owners and Webmasters!

Tips this week include:

• It’s finally time to update to WP 5.8
• The What’s New in WP 5.8 tour is ready for you
• New Gutenberg Ninja tutorials are underway
• The Theme Speed Test post has been released
• See the newly revamped Site Audits page with all of the BB Hub Plus perks listed
• Videos in recipes SEO tests are underway
• One more reason to drop ShortPixel
• Why Google PageSpeed Insights uses a Moto phone on a Fast 3G connection
• Why BlogAid uses real-world tests for site speed – just like Google actually judges you on
• The future of e-comm trends to watch and how to get brand sponsorship now
• Shopify analytics are now in GA4
• How Cloudflare mitigated the largest DDoS attack in history
• Why you must secure all of your Smart devices immediately
• A peek into our future with Twitter’s BlueSky project

Listen to the Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Spill the Beans Livestream tonight

Do join us live tonight at 8pm ET / 5pm PT on the BlogAid Facebook Page. We spill the beans on this week’s news, breaking stories for the day too, and special info just for those who watch. And the replay is available here on this Tips Tuesday post later too. But the live party is so much more fun.

Replay

Who I Help

All BlogAid posts and tutorials are intended to assist business-minded, hands-on bloggers and webmaster designers who are serious about making money and who want to stay up-to-date with site changes. And our BB Hub is a private member site and Facebook group for my site audit clients that has lots of extra perks and support.

BlogAid Happenings

Woowee what a week! I’m celebrating getting caught up in a hurry on all projects that ran into serious delays this year!!

What’s New in WordPress 5.8

First, I do believe it is safe for most of us to update to WP 5.8 now.

See my post on what’s new first so you’ll be prepared.

I sent an email Saturday night to BlogAid News subscribers with update instructions.

Gutenberg tutorials being updated now

All this week I’ll be a tutorial making manic as I work down my list of Gutenberg tutorials to update in my Gutenberg Ninja course.

I’ll be sending emails to course members as I release new tutorials.

Theme Speed Test Post Released

Woot!!! I’m delighted to announce that the deep case study for theme speed summary post has been released!!

I tested:

• Astra
• Kadence
• Genesis
• GeneratePress

And the tests bear out what I’ve been telling y’all for a month or more.

Speed will not be the determining factor in which theme base is best for you to use.

They are all fast, and all recommended.

See the post for a bit more info on each theme to help you determine which one you may want to use for your theme revamp.

New Site Audits Page

I want to send a special thank you to Marcy Diaz of Amethyst Website Design for creating a new landing page template on BlogAid for my revamped Site Audits page.

And I want to thank Michelle Phillips of Codefetti for helping with the content editing and layout. 

The page now lists all of the extra perks and support you get in the BB Hub Plus membership after your audit.

Videos in Recipe Tests Underway

This week I’m hard at work setting up the sites for my volunteers to add content for both the WP Recipe Maker plugin as well as the recipe card in the Create plugin.

I’ll be diving into those deep SEO tests for adding videos all over and I’ll update the Video SEO Booster course with that info as soon as I can.

Site Services Update

My wait list for any site service is well into December now. 

So, if you want an audit, checkup, or migration, or any other site service before the year ends, now is the time to contact me.

That’s all the happenings from around here. Let’s jump into this week’s tips.

Image Tips

ShortPixel will start charging for image optimization

I saw a notice on a new site audit client’s site recently. 

And maybe y’all have already seen this as it’s dated May 10, 2021.

“Important change: starting May 10th, 2021, ShortPixel Image Optimizer plugin will charge one credit for each WebP image or thumbnail it generates. More info about this and the newly supported AVIF format in the ShortPixel Advanced Settings Tab.”

Folks, these image optimization plugins just don’t work that well, and even if they do, they require you to carry double the image load on your limited host disk space.

Plus when you delete them, they leave all manner of orphaned files, folders, and database tables behind.

This is the stuff we clean out during site audit fixes.

And I show you a whole other way to do image optimization prior to upload, plus why not to use WebP images.

Speed Tips

Mobile phones and site speed

Ever wonder why Google uses a Moto phone on a Fast 3G connection for Google PageSpeed Insights?

See this post from the nice folks at Infrequently.org who put together a global use set of data for us.

And globally, that super slow setup is the baseline.

Folks, the Moto phone lags way behind in speed compared to iPhone, so does Android.

That’s why BlogAid uses a variety of testers for site audits, including the paid version of GTMetrix that allows me to test on an iPhone with a speedy wi-fi connection – you know, like most of your site visitors use.

And keep in mind that Google makes no use of that PageSpeed Insights report either.

They use the feedback from your real visitors. 

Ecomm Tips

Future e-Comm trends to watch

The nice folks at Social Media Today have a great infographic you need to see on the current e-comm trends.

Selling via social is hot – especially with videos.

Folks, if you want to get paid for brand sponsorship, social video is where the money is.

Brands do not want to sponsor written posts now.

I’ve got clients so covered up in sponsorship offers that they can’t breathe.

There’s more money in doing this than in just having ads on your site.

Shopify analytics reports in GA4

Do you have a Shopify store?

If so, did you know there is a new analytics report for it in GA4?

Go check it out

Security Tips

Cloudflare mitigated largest volume DDoS attack in history

Holy cow!!! Cloudflare just stopped the largest DDoS attack in history, by handling 17.2 million requests per second.

That’s 3x more than any previous DDoS attack.

I want to thank fellow webmaster Larry Snow for the heads up on this news.

Secure all Smart Devices

Folks, that huge DDoS attack was carried out by every device connected to the internet that the hacker could grab.

That includes the Internet of Things (IoT), like your:

• Cell phone
• Wifi router
• All Smart devices – TV, thermostat, security system, printer, refrigerator, and more

Be sure that you secure every device you have connected to the internet or your router.

These things get hacked all the time and they are used in DDoS attacks like this.

A Peek into Our Future

Twitter’s BlueSky protect gets new lead

Y’all have heard me report in recent Tips Tuesdays that I have been looking around at what is happening outside of WordPress and our sites.

And, you know that I’ve been keeping a close watch on cryptocurrency – and no, I don’t mean trading BitCoins. It’s way bigger and broader than that.

In fact, I would call it a mindset revolution.

The whole point of cryptocurrency is to decentralize it and put people in charge of their finances directly, and out from under control of large banks and financial institutions.

That core decentralization trend has made its way into social media too.

Back in 2019, Twitter launched the BlueSky initiative.

The goal is to both standardize social media and to decentralize it so that end users are back in control – not the algorithms of a few huge platforms.

BlueSky never gained any traction, but it might now.

Twitter has named Jay Graber the new lead for BlueSky.

Graber is heavily involved in the cryptocurrency world and she has a clear vision for where she wants to take this thing, though she has not shared what that is publicly yet.

However, she has drawn up their private map for it and they are actively recruiting the talent to make it a reality.

I’ll be keeping my eye on this for us.

But what I can tell you now is this whole Millennium generation’s way of thinking is going to take over the world.

It’s all about sharing in community property, and taking responsibility for your role in it.

Cryptocurrency is just one visible aspect of it. Eco Friendly is another aspect of it.

And I believe that BlueSky will be another.

Wrap Up

That’s a wrap for this week’s Tips Tuesday.

Gimme some love!!

Please leave a review of this podcast on iTunesor wherever you listen to it. And thank you to all who do!

Share this post with all your blogger buddies and blogger groups to support all the free info and help you get on BlogAid – and help your buddies too!!

Subscribe to all BlogAid Posts via email so you never miss anything!

Be sure to visit BlogAid.net for more tips and resources and I’ll see you online.