Tech & Tools

Brass Ring Joins the REC Innovation Lab Startup Team!

Brass Ring Joins the REC Innovation Lab Startup Team!

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 and mutual support among student founders, associates, mentors, advisors, and the broader academic team… (Read on…)

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WordPress Web Help, Mon. Oct. 14, 2024, 6pm PST, Report from WordCamp Portland!

WordPress Web Help, Mon. Oct. 14, 2024, 6pm PST, Report from WordCamp Portland!

Do you have a WordPress question, problem, or challenge? Or perhaps you’re an expert eager to share your knowledge and experience? Our WordPress Web Help Meetup Group (1237 members) is a great way to get FREE WordPress help from qualified experts and other users in the WordPress community.

Brendan O’Connell, WordPress Pro and regular at our Meetups will be attending WordCamp Portland and will bring us a detailed report of his experience including products, tips, resources, etc….(Read on…)

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Tumblr Is Moving to WordPress

Tumblr Is Moving to WordPress

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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AI for Small Business 101: How to Get Started

AI for Small Business 101: How to Get Started

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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How to Back Up Your WordPress Site

How to Back Up Your WordPress Site

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 secure and can be quickly restored in the event of a disaster.

(Read on…)

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New Mass Gmail Rejections To Start April 2024, Google Says

New Mass Gmail Rejections To Start April 2024, Google Says

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 senders of mass marketing emails had started to receive error messages relating to some messages sent to Gmail accounts. (Read on…)

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Business Internet Safety Guide

Business Internet Safety Guide

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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The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Accessibility, and How it Can Boost Your Platform

The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Accessibility, and How it Can Boost Your Platform

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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How AI-Powered Features Are Revolutionizing Marketing Automation Platforms

How AI-Powered Features Are Revolutionizing Marketing Automation Platforms

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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Google Launches Gemini, the AI model It Hopes Will Take Down GPT-4

Google Launches Gemini, the AI model It Hopes Will Take Down GPT-4

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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Why NASA Chose WordPress for Revamping Its Flagship Website

Why NASA Chose WordPress for Revamping Its Flagship Website

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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17 Fixes For Why Your Website Isn’t Performing

17 Fixes For Why Your Website Isn't Performing

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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How to Translate WordPress (Ultimate Guide)

How to Translate WordPress (Ultimate Guide)

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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Performant Translations Plugin Now Available on WordPress.org

Performant Translations Plugin Now Available on WordPress.org

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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How to Generate Qualified Leads for a Small Business: 3 Easy Tips

How to Generate Qualified Leads for a Small Business: 3 Easy Tips

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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6 Ways Small Business Owners Can Get Their Employees to Use AI

6 Ways Small Business Owners Can Get Their Employees to Use AI

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 Contributors Demand Transparency and Objective Guidelines for Listings on Recommended Hosting Page

WordPress Contributors Demand Transparency and Objective Guidelines for Listings on Recommended Hosting Page

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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OpenAI, Google, others pledge to watermark AI content for safety, White House says

OpenAI, Google, others pledge to watermark AI content for safety, White House says

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 An AI Tool That Can Write News Articles

Google Is Testing An AI Tool That Can Write News Articles

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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How Can Small Local Service Businesses Use AI To Improve Their Digital Marketing?

How Can Small Local Service Businesses Use AI To Improve Their Digital Marketing?

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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5 Principles To Follow When Allocating Your Marketing Budget In An Uncertain Economy

5 Principles To Follow When Allocating Your Marketing Budget In An Uncertain Economy

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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Video Marketing In The Age Of Constant Content: How To Make An Impact

Video Marketing In The Age Of Constant Content: How To Make An Impact

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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How to Get a Free SSL Certificate (and Why Google is Forcing You To)

How to Get a Free SSL Certificate (and Why Google is Forcing You To)

(SSL’s have become more than a good idea…they’re just about “musts” with SERP implications. Here’s a good article from 2017 that still holds up. – Edward) By Colin Newcomer – Jan. 9, 2017 – Elegant Themes Blog Does the idea of improving your search engine rankings and offering your visitors better security sound like something you’re interested in? What if I upped the ante and told you it wouldn’t cost you a penny? SSL certificates secure your website’s connection and boost its rankings in Google. And now, thanks to services like Let’s Encrypt, you can actually get a free SSL certificate

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WORDPRESS ALERT:
Fast Secure Contact Form Plugin Removed By WordPress Due To Serious Security Issue

WORDPRESS ALERT: <br>Fast Secure Contact Form Plugin Removed By WordPress Due To Serious Security Issue

Greetings, all… One of the most popular WordPress forms plugin, the Fast Secure Contact Form plugin (which has been the standard for all Brass Ring Multimedia websites for years) has been removed from WordPress’s favorable status and listing quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Unfortunately, this was due to the actions of a nefarious individual who recently purchased the plugin from its creator…a fine developer who created, supported and evolved it for many years. We have been at risk since June when ownership changed. WordPress has now removed the plugin from its downloads and issued a “clean” version. The clean version will

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10 Things Your Small Business Can Learn About Marketing from Apple (INFOGRAPHIC)

10 Things Your Small Business Can Learn About Marketing from Apple (INFOGRAPHIC)

Building a universally loved brand without engaging in price wars against competitors is not easy. But one brand that has achieved this seemingly impossible feat is Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Behind Apple’s phenomenal success lies its strong product portfolio and design standards. But the company’s unparalleled marketing strategy has also played a crucial role in ensuring it stays on top of its game. According to an infographic created by web design company, The Website Group, Apple’s winning marketing strategy provides lessons for small businesses. by Shubhomita Bose In Marketing Tips You may READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE on Small Business Trends website The company created the infographic

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27 Amazing Online Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses With Low Budgets, by Neil Patel

27 Amazing Online Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses With Low Budgets, by Neil Patel

I love small businesses. As a small business, there are many opportunities for growth with a smart marketing strategy. But you’ve probably noticed a problem. Most of the marketing tactics out there are expensive! A simple Facebook or Google ad campaign can cost tens of thousands of dollars. So how can a small business use online marketing without the massive budgets of multinational corporations? I’ve launched a few startups of my own, and I can tell you exactly what works. Here are 27 free or very inexpensive ways to market your small business online. By Neil Patel…you can read the

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8 Ways Technology Is Improving Your Health

8 Ways Technology Is Improving Your Health

  We hear all the time about how technology is bad for us. Since the introduction of computers, we spend more time sitting at a desk than moving around at work. We have created this sedentary lifestyle that is causing havoc in our overall life. BY KAREN REED Managing Editor at Positive Health Wellness, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 What if I were to tell you that technology has produced benefits? Would you believe me if I said that technology is good for your health? Most of you wouldn’t look at first. Well, you may be able to think of a couple

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