Blogging Tips Archives - Page 27 of 36

Q&A: Is Hostgator a good web host for a WordPress blog?

Posted on February 20, 2018

Question from Caitlyn D.: In 2009 I started a book blog on WordPress.com. I blogged just for fun at the beginning, but then I started making some pretty good money from affiliate commissions.

I read an article a few days ago that said I should move my blog to my own domain if I’m serious about making money. Well, I am.

That same article also recommended that I use Hostgator to host my blog. I’d like to have your opinion about them. Do you recommend them for hosting a WordPress blog?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

ATTN Bloggers: You MUST enable SSL Encryption on your blog(s) before July 2018!

Posted on February 12, 2018

I’ve been sounding the alarm about the need for bloggers to enable SSL encryption on their blogs for some time now, and the time window for getting it done is closing fast.

All the major web browsers are now labeling any non-encrypted page with a form on it as insecure, and Google is planning to completely drop the hammer on insecure sites in July.

The folks at Google have just announced in this post on their Chromium blog that they’re planning to release Chrome 68 in July 2018.

That post also states that that new version of Chrome is going to mark every page with a URL that starts with http:// instead of https:// as an insecure (and thus dangerous) page.

That means starting in July your blog’s traffic will likely fall off the edge of a cliff if you haven’t enabled SSL encryption on it by then. Here’s why: [Read more…]

How to hide the title of a widget in WordPress

Posted on February 10, 2018

One of the things that makes WordPress such a powerful blogging platform and CMS is the ease with which we can use widgets to do wonderful things with our sites.

We can easily give our widgets a title in order to help the reader better understand what they’re seeing at any given moment, but what if we don’t want a particular widget to have a title?

By default, we can leave the title field of a widget blank, however there will still be a blank space where the title would normally be. But we can use a nifty WordPress plugin called Remove Widget Titles to completely hide the “Title” field. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I stop receiving trackbacks when I link to my own blog posts?

Posted on January 28, 2018

Question from Margaret B.: I have a very active WordPress blog and I publish anywhere from 7 to 10 new posts every day.

I do a lot of inter-linking with my posts and every time I link to one of my own posts it generates a trackback. I don’t like that because it clutters up the comments stream.

I know I could simply disable trackbacks altogether but I’d rather only disable them for links to my own posts. Is there a way to do that?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

ATTN Bloggers: Your blog’s traffic will plummet in 2018 unless you install SSL encryption

Posted on December 18, 2017

I’ve been sounding the warning about the impending doom of unencrypted blogs for months, and now it’s crunch time.

Word to the wise: You need to install SSL encryption on your blog right now if you don’t want to endure a drastic reduction in traffic in early 2018.

Why do I say that, you wonder?

Well, the following things will soon begin to happen if your blog doesn’t have a valid SSL certificate installed and properly configured: [Read more…]