Technology-to-English Translator
and WordPress Peace of Mind Provider
If it’s been awhile since you last updated WordPress, you may be several versions behind instead of just one. Here’s how to check : Look in the “At a Glance” section of the home page of your WordPress dashboard for…
Are you seeing a message at the top of your WordPress dashboard, telling you that a new version of WordPress is available? Complete with a command to “Please update now.”? The “please” softens it a bit, but it’s still a…
9 must-have features that will keep your website flexible, online, and always available If a web host you’re considering does not meet these criteria, don’t even think about signing up for a hosting account. Any web host you’re considering for…
If your website uses WordPress, you should definitely take advantage of the automatic updater. If your site is set up correctly and using the automatic updater, it’s already updating itself, and sending you a confirmation email each time this happens.…
In all my WordPress how-to posts here, I’ve never covered how to actually install WordPress. I haven’t taught any classes that cover WordPress installation, either. Why would I leave out something so obviously needed? Well, partly (only partly!) because you…
If you haven’t been inside your WordPress dashboard for awhile, you may be confronted with multiple update notices when you log in. You probably have a handful (or more) of plugins that need updating, and perhaps your theme or theme…
This post was sparked by a question I received from a client who is working his way through Site Setup Kit, my complete guide to building a unique website. Check out Site Setup Kit today. Have you ever wondered why some…
Here’s a quick way to fix one of the most common errors when updating WordPress — plus reassurance that it’s not your fault. Let’s say you follow my advice to update to the latest version of WordPress. You log into…
On this very blog, I’ve written up instructions for using WordPress Backup to keep copies of your website files, and also for using WP-DB Backup to back up your database (both types of backup are essential). But what to do…
Last month, AWeber released its official WordPress plugin, so their customers can now install web forms on WordPress websites without copying-and-pasting bits of code. In short, adding a sign-up form to your sidebar just got a lot easier. As a…
I’ve heard this question a few times recently. Although I do have a list of plugins that I recommend for most new WordPress sites (more on that in the next post), I’d like to go back to first principles and…
I just updated my original How to install a wordpress plugin post with a couple of new screenshots for newer versions of WordPress. Also, it’s now Part 1 of a series on WordPress plugins. I’m playing around with a blog-post-series…
WordPress has a built-in ability to assign both categories and tags to your blog posts (but not pages — this is one of the important differences between posts and pages). So, what exactly are categories? What are tags? What are…
Broken Link Checker is a tremendously useful plugin, one that I include with all my WordPress installs. It does exactly what its name suggests: Checks your blog posts and pages for broken links (automatically, in the background) and lets you…
This post is part of my WordPress Essentials Toolkit — a collection of the most important basic steps to maintaining a WordPress site. Get a free copy of this helpful 28-page PDF by subscribing to my Weekly Web Tips! I’ve…