Choosing a good WordPress Host
Collective IT Solutions has worked with numerous WordPress website Hosts, for quite a few years even. We admit, there are many good hosts out there and you may select yours for various reasons. But if you are new to WordPress, looking to save some money or just want a good WordPress Host that takes care of a lot for you; we strongly recommend www.siteground.com.
They are inexpensive and offer a lot of features for you that other hosts do not offer. They also offer good support if you need it and they can brag about a significantly high website “Up-time.”
If our clients need a new WordPress Host, we always recommend www.siteground.com. No one has been disappointed.
Small Business – Why Should I use Social Media?
Here is a good article that explains some of the benefits of utilizing Social Media to Advertise / Grow your business. It seems like an overwhelming prospect to many, but it doesn’t need to be. Free Advertising with a potential large reach to new customers – sign me up!
If you’re really overwhelmed by using Social Media, you can hire a company such as Collective IT Solutions, Inc. to assist you. You can even decide on your budget together and that is how much time will be spent. . . Try it out for 3-6 months and decide if it meets your needs. If not, spend a few hours each week yourself posting on the best Social Media Accounts for your business!
The biggest benefits of using social media for your small business
The True Cost of WordPress Maintenance
When working with WordPress Website clients, I always try to include a Maintenance package in our signed contract. Many of the clients are all for it and see how it can help. Some clients don’t see any need for it. And sometimes, clients feel they can do it themselves (which is a great option in my opinion if they are willing to take the time and gain the knowledge to do so!).
Here is a decent article by EfficientWP explaining these 3 types of support you can have on a website:
None
Hire Someone
Do it Yourself
Is your website mobile compliant?
Check out these interesting statistics showing how the internet continues to be accessed more and more on a mobile basis. In 2019, the internet will be accessed on a mobile basis over 63% of the time. Wow! Be sure your website is up to date and mobile compliant!!
https://www.statista.com/statistics/284202/mobile-phone-internet-user-penetration-worldwide/
Reality Bytes: Second Annual Generational Study Reveals How Gen Z Behaves, Buys & Builds Online
Great Article by WP Engine confirming what most of us already knew / suspected! But it’s interesting to read about:
Reality Bytes: Second Annual Generational Study Reveals How Gen Z Behaves, Buys & Builds Online
Gutenberg – WordPress 5.0
Well, it’s finally happening. WordPress 5.0 will be a very big update and it’s being released 12/6/2108. This is a great article by WordFence that explains what I’ve been trying to tell my clients for months now: WordPress 5.0: How and When to Update
- You can use a classic editor for a few years if you do not want to use the new editing features. The new editor will have a learning curve for end users, but it should offer some improvements as well as some frustrations.
- If you have older or abandoned plugins, there is a chance they will NOT work with the new WordPress 5.0 and that could have serious effects on your website. This should hopefully be solved by locating the out of date plugins and finding new ones to use instead.
- If you have an older WordPress template or a customized template that was not kept up to date, your site may no longer work correctly. It is impossible to tell how until you update to WordPress 5.0. The solution for this is to use a new template (which will be difficult if you had one customized).
Good luck WordPress Users! Feel free to contact Collective IT Solutions if you need help!
Contact Collective IT Solutions
We decided to keep Collective IT Solutions’s website simple and to the point! We can help you create your website taking your wants, needs and budget into consideration. We specialize in small business WordPress websites.
We are very good at explaining things to our customer so they understand and we do not try to talk the “IT Talk” that can get confusing.
We have been working with WordPress Websites for almost 15 years, both creating them and enhancing them. We also have considerable experience working with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media. Please contact us to set up a meeting.
Using WordPress? Make sure you’re prepared for Gutenberg
There are many articles and rumblings on the internet currently regarding Gutenberg, WordPress’s “in the near future” new Editor. Some reviews are good and explain the intentions of Gutenberg. Some are better and point out what will not work with the new WordPress updates and what features will be improved due to the new updates. And some reviews are just telling you what a horrible change this will be since many older plugins / themes will no longer work correctly.
To learn about Gutenberg, I think it’s important to begin with the Source – wordpress.org. Here’s a great article introducing and explaining the new Editor:
https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/
Will your current WordPress plugins will all work correctly? Here is an excellent resource that many Users contribute to: Gutenberg Plugin Compatibility Database. Not all plugins have been tested, but this is a good start. Next, you can use a staging server to test out your current websites and install the Gutenberg Plugin.
No matter what anyone is staying, this will obviously be a big change for WordPress. As a long time User / Designer / Developer of WordPress I must admit I’m nervous about a seamless integration for many websites.
Not Sure About Bitcoin
Thank you Manta for an educational article about Bitcoin. Digital Currency is becoming more popular. Maybe we could all benefit from fewer financial institution fees? I’m not 100% sure about security yet, but I’m sure many (including my husband and sister) would claim this is more secure than the bank . . . I suppose time will tell how many people will adopt Bitcoin.
What the Heck is Bitcoin?
What WordPress Plugin Needs Does my Website Have?
This is an interesting question. Of course, based on your website and the purpose of your website, your WordPress plugin needs may change / be different. We do, however; feel there are some plugins everyone should consider. There are usually free versions of said plugins if you are just starting out. But if you want / need even greater features, you might want to pay for the plugin.
Paid or Unpaid Plugins strongly recommended by CITS:
- Forms – don’t try to write you own as there are many free plugins already available for use.
- Image Optimization / Image Display – This will really help the speed of your website pages and is strongly recommended.
- Gallery – If you plan on using a lot of images, there are many plugins that can help you organize / display them nicely.
- SEO – If you want to appear higher up in a Browser Search, some of these free plugins give you all the tools to help make this happen.
- Social Media – In today’s electronic world, social media has exploded. If you Post regularly on WordPress and use a plugin to auto transfer the same post to multiple social media locations, you will create a lot of important /useful links to your website.
- Caching / Site Optimization – Again, this will really help maintain the speed and operation of your website.
- Backup – This is one of the biggest ones we recommend. Make sure if you make website changes or updates and things “break” you can always restore the site form a backup.
- Security / Malware – you never know when your site might be hacked or utilized for malicious purposes. Be sure to take an offensive role and put security measures into place before this occurs! The level of security you site requires can dictate if you need free or paid security plugins.
Let Collective IT Solutions determine your needs and recommend the proper plugins for your website.