Need WordPress help? Join our November 10th Meetup at 6 PM PST for open Q&A, news, and real-world discussions with the WordPress community. Free on Zoom — all experience levels welcome. (Read more…)
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Once a forgotten purple robot from a 1987 electronics catalog, Widget’s been upgraded with AI and a new mission: helping small businesses learn how to use technology more effectively. Meet Brass Ring Web Design’s newest (and quirkiest) team member — a robot with a past and a purpose….(Read on…)
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WordPress is free… but mess with the name, and you’ll hear from Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress. The Automattic CEO is cracking down on trademark misuse, sparking outrage, support, and a whole lot of confusion. Is this about protecting the community—or tightening control? The Verge uncovers the story behind the brand battle that’s rocking the WordPress world….(Read on…)
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Think WordPress is too complex? A new user survey may surprise you. Most users actually say it’s easy to use—yet many still fall into a costly plugin trap. Whether you’re just starting or managing multiple sites, there’s one mistake you might be making right now. Curious? You’ll want to read the full breakdown.
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With over two decades of WordPress experience, I’ve built everything from high school projects to high-traffic business websites. I’ve personally tested countless hosting providers and seen firsthand how speed, security, and support can make or break a site. That’s why I created this comprehensive WordPress hosting guide—to help you find the best option for your needs.
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It may be tempting to delay updates, but updating WordPress is one of the best things you can do to protect your site. Regular updates boost security, improve performance, and keep everything running smoothly. In this post, we cover why updates matter, the risks of falling behind, and simple best practices to stay safe and current. (Read on…)
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Background Corvette Museum delivery project…an oldie, absolute goodie. Ray Ehly Jr. (now a good friend) reached out to me via an IT buddy with a dream I couldn’t resist: help him celebrate the Corvette’s (and his own!) 50th Birthday—by custom-ordering a top-of-the-line Z06, taking museum delivery in Bowling Green, KY (home to both the plant and the museum), and then hitting every state in the union…one big loop. (Air and sea for Hawaii and Alaska, then back behind the wheel.) The car even spent two weeks on the museum floor before he picked it up. The Situation Total soup-to-nuts. Ray
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Exciting news from Brass Ring! I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined the REC Innovation Lab (Regional Entrepreneur Center) as a web design and digital marketing mentor and coach. In this new role, I’ll be working with the student entrepreneurs of this dynamic startup incubator to help them present themselves effectively online…
The REC Innovation Lab is much more than just an incubator. It’s a thriving community that fosters collaboration ..(Read on…)
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Automattic, the company behind WordPress and Tumblr’s owner, said it is moving the microblogging platform over to WordPress.
Verizon Media sold Tumblr to Automattic in 2019, with Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg describing the microblogging platform as “on-ramp” to his company’s other products.
“I’m excited about that on-ramp as well as to bring a younger demographic and young people into WordPress,” Mullenweg said in 2023. (Read on…)
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Here’s how small business owners can effectively implement artificial intelligence into their workflows, with practical tools and strategies for success.
If, like many small business owners, you’re not sure about AI tools or how to implement them, these options offer a smooth path to increased efficiency and business insights. (Read more…)
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Backing up your WordPress site is a simple process. With just a few steps, you can ensure that all of your website’s content and settings are secure and easily restorable in the event of a system failure or other unexpected issues.
Why do I need to back up my WordPress website?
Backing up your website is essential for protecting against data loss in the event of a system failure, malicious attack, or other unexpected issue. With regular backups, you can be sure that all of your content and settings are…(Read on…)
Starting in April, senders of unwanted mass emails to Gmail users will begin to see message rejections increasing unless they abide by new Gmail email sender guidelines, Google warns.
New Rules For Sending Mass Email To Gmail Accounts
As an article I published on Forbes on last Tuesday made clear, new rules are coming into place to protect Gmail users from unwanted mass emails. At the time, it was reported that some… (Read on…)
Keep your business safe by maintaining a secure Wi-Fi network, using strong passwords and updating software regularly.
Cybersecurity is important for everyone, and businesses are no exception. 61% of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) were victims of cyberattacks last year and 87% of IT ‘decision makers’ claim they experienced two or more successful attacks in the past year.
Cyberattacks leave not only businesses vulnerable but their employees and consumers as well. Luckily, there are ways to keep your business safe from. cybersecurity threats. (Read on…)
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Making a website accessible means building a platform that maximum people can share and find reliable. That’s why WordPress Accessibility is so crucial.
More than 45.8% of websites across the globe will be powered by WordPress in 2023. The figure was 43.2% in 2022. Whether you want to create a simple or complex website for your business, WordPress can create the most trusted, versatile and user-friendly platform for your business goals… (Read on…)
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New artificial intelligence functions for MAPs can do everything from generating personalized content to optimizing campaigns.
Like much marketing technology, many marketing automation platforms (MAPs) are being enhanced with new AI-powered features.
One reason for this is the need to improve personalization and drive it to all parts of marketing. A recent survey shows 73% of respondents — both consumers and business buyers — expect companies to…(Read on…)
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Gemini is Google’s latest large language model, which Pichai first teased at the I/O developer conference in June and is now launching to the public. To hear Pichai and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis describe it, it’s a huge leap forward in an AI model that will ultimately affect practically all of Google’s products. “One of the powerful things about this moment,” Pichai says, “is you can work on one underlying technology and… (Read on…)
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NASA has removed the beta label from the new nasa.gov website, which was launched on WordPress, replacing Drupal as the CMS. After a lengthy process, which required 18 months of active web development, data migration, and content building, NASA has emerged with modernized flagship and science websites, showcasing the innovation and discoveries that have defined the agency for more than 65 years…(Read on…)
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I’ve now taken the procedure I follow in reviewing sites and converted it into a tool…available free…to help small business owners to improve their online presence by diagnosing and fixing some of the most common website fails.
For some time now, I’ve been performing website audits for business clients in order to help them determine whether they’re getting full value from their website investment. (Read on…)
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WordPress powers almost 43% of all websites and not all of them are in English. In fact, the number of non-English websites is on the rise, with 56% of WordPress sites being created in languages other than U.S. English. This shows there’s a huge opportunity for going multilingual and translating your site in multiple languages.
But getting started can be confusing, even for experienced WordPress users. (Read on…)
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After an in-depth performance analysis earlier this year revealed that translations can impact server response times, WordPress contributors proposed half a dozen technical solutions for consideration to improve performance for the ~56% of sites that use translations.
Performant Translations, a feature project by the core Performance Team, is now available as a plugin on WordPress.org. It incorporates some of the proposed solutions and speeds up translations by converting .mo files to .php files, allowing them to be parsed faster and stored in OPcache. (Read on…)
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Online visitors are pretty savvy and will judge your whole business by what they see in the first 3 seconds, and right now, you have to ask yourself the question: “are my visitors responding well to my logo and branding?” Logo design is tricky ground because people love their logos and I never like to offend, That said, respectfully, logo may not be the most important thing on your website, but it needs to look top notch so logo design should be an important consideration in creating and/or the continuing success of your business. (Read on…)
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According to a 2021 HubSpot State of Marketing survey, 50% of small business owners say generating qualified leads is their primary digital marketing goal. But generating leads is a top challenge for 41% of content marketers. So, For the growth of a small business, understanding how to generate qualified leads should be a top priority.
While large businesses can speed up the process using special software for generating leads, small businesses with limited budgets can only rely on… (Read on…)
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It’s a mistake because rebranding is always a mistake. Even if your brand is called Wanker or the Certified Union of National Transcribers, you keep your original name. The only reason you ever rebrand is because you have to for legal or ownership reasons, cf. Accenture.
It’s a mistake because Twitter is throwing away brand equity. While the debate rages over distinctiveness and differentiation, no one doubts that a significant – and possibly dominant – aspect of brand equity is derived from a brand’s ability to be recognised by its target market and to come to mind in buying/user situations. When you rebrand you lose all of this…(Read on…)
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One of the most pivotal innovations that artificial intelligence offers small businesses is the ability to change the rules of engagement — a more level playing field. And its adoption in this size category has been stunning: According to Unbounce’s recent Break Free: The State of AI Marketing for Small Business report, approximately 30% of small and medium-sized businesses are leveraging some form of artificial intelligence.
One overriding challenge, however, is that implementing (Read on…)
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WordPress’ Recommended Hosting page is a hotly contested piece of online real estate, and has recently come into focus again following the removal of SiteGround from the listings. When the change was highlighted during a recent Meta team meeting, Audrey Capital-sponsored contributor Samuel “Otto” Wood said, “Matt asked me to remove SiteGround because… (Read on….)
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AI companies including OpenAI, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Meta Platforms (META.O) have made voluntary commitments to the White House to implement measures such as watermarking AI-generated content to help make the technology safer, President Joe Biden announced on Friday.
“These commitments are a promising step but we have a lot more work to do together,” Biden said. (Read on…)
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Google is testing a tool that uses AI to write news stories and has started pitching it to publications, according to a new report from The New York Times. The tech giant has pitched the AI tool to The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal’s owner, News Corp.
The tool, internally codenamed “Genesis,” can take in information and then generate news copy. Google reportedly believes that the tool can serve as a personal assistant for journalists by automating…(Read on…)
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When many of us hear how AI will change the world – particularly digital marketing – our thoughts (and occasionally fears) drift towards how big organizations will use machines to do the work of legions of copywriters, designers, and other content creators.
Large corporations with equally large customer bases and competitively driven content needs are looking to sophisticated AI systems to generate content, and process and analyze data to stay ahead.
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Even with the threat of a recession in the next year, companies should prioritize marketing to stay ahead of competitors. In fact, marketing spending is on the rise—now is not the time to back down. Cost-cutting shouldn’t be the strategy driving your annual marketing budget—you won’t meet growth goals this way. Instead of crafting marketing initiatives based on cost, focus on proven effectiveness.
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With TikTok accounts, Instagram Reels and beyond, the age of video content is now. How often do you see a video ad pop up on your social media while browsing your preferred platforms? You might not even process the advertisements anymore and keep scrolling.
A video ad likely catches your attention every once in a while, but why?
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