Some Good Notes on Improving Server Reponse Time
Here’s an interesting article on improving server response time. Dreamhost, the company I host with, tends to have slower server responses (when compared to the other top wordpress hosting companies), but you can basically get it down to zero using this information. https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/215300867 I enabled the following in W3 Total Cache: Opcode Cache Database Cache Object Cache That got the response time down to virtually nothing. Previously I had been using Autoptimize to make life easier. it also seemed to have better compatibility, but W3 continues to deliver better and was worth the risk. The riskmay mainly be with how much I try to optimize though. not all the blame is on W3 for past issues haha. I also removed cron jobs from the site and put in a manual one in Dreamhost so that the site isn’t checking for jobs to do on every load. I also removed Google Fonts. Always a good thing to do. I also condense all js and css into one single thing. This results in fewer calls to external resources (which makes sites very slow on mobile) and near 0 response time from the server (which is very important for every single resource called). You can check this out too: https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405149325332 It didn’t make as big a difference. Be warned, enabling all these caching things can sometimes cause problems. I stick with Elementor Pro for just about all my website need so it minimizes the risk of conflicts with other plugins (because I don’t need as many plugins).
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope you all have/had a happy Thanksgiving! I’m very thankful for everyone I get work with!
Google Page Speed Insights
Google Page Speed Insights has a cool new feature as of October 27th. Now not only do you get a speed/performance score, you also get a score for Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. If you click on any of the scores that they give you for those categories, you can see a list of things that are recommended, along with links to learn more! So you can basically look at what is recommend, fix some of it yourself and improve your user experience and likely your Google ranking.
Stay Active
There’s more to this than meets the eye when it comes to websites. I’ve found that constant improvements are a great way to actually get stuff done. I’d say it’s probably even faster than just trying to save up or make time to do it all at once. In the case of websites though, Google likes to see that you are active. There are actually services out there that will tell you which pages would be best to update based on how popular they are and how long it’s been since you’ve last updated it. I’m not saying publish junk of course, but try to make constant changes to your website and improve it little by little. I’ve seen a lot of things get really out of date because I myself, or a client will say “I’ll get to it when I do the other updates.” Something that helps with this process though is keeping things simple. You don’t need a website for every service you do. A page, yes, but a whole other website or some system that adds to the things you need to keep an eye on… No. There are exceptions, but a general rule is to keep it simple. That helps with security too.
Infected WordPress Cleanup
Even though it goes without saying that we can clean up your site, we are now officially launching a cleanup service. So if your wordpress site has: Been infected by malware Hacked BLACKLISTED BY GOOGLE!!! Is at risk of being broken into We can remove the malware, install premium antivirus on the server, change your IP address, get a new review for you site in Google and McAfee (to remove blacklist), secure your site, set up a firewall, change all the internal, change your database password and hashes/salts, restore lost content, and/or recreate your website FRESH with advanced security features and auto-updates. Call or email for pricing.
Now Accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum for Partial Payment
Just a quick update. Blue Avispa is now accepting partial payment in Bitcoin and Ethereum for website projects. You can now pay up to 50% of a website project in Bitcoin or Ethereum. Other crypto currencies will be considered. Please be sure to contact us for any questions.
Changing Your Domain Name Without Ruining Your SEO
I’ll cut to the chase. Dreamhost, one fo wordpress’ recommended hosting companies (and my personal favorite so far) wrote a great blog on how to change domains and not destroy your SEO. https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/domain-change-seo/ If you don’t need to change your domain, DON’T! You’ll notice they say that you will REDUCE the amount of damage done. You’ll still probably have a dip in traffic. If you can bear that in the short term and if in the long run it’s better to change domains, go for it. If not, just don’t change your domain. If you change your domain name, follow their advice. Make sure you forward all necessary URLS and pages. Make sure you update all your social media links to your site and then notify Google through Google Search Console. If you don’t use Google Search Console… I don’t even know what to say apart from “you should get it!” It’s by far one of the most valuable SEO tools you’ll ever have. I use it almost exclusively.
What Now?
What now? What’s important? I was going to write some stuff about crypto currencies and markets etc., but then I looked over at my nearly 4 year old daughter… Though I’m trying to recession proof the businesses of the people I work with and put in place plans to force ahead and grow through the recession so they don’t come out in the same state they entered into the recession, but honestly, work burnout is a real thing. Making bad decisions is a real thing. I just finished a blog post for crypto investing (according to me) and though it’s a great time to buy, there will be a lot of times to buy over the next year more than likely, so don’t go all in just yet. Pace yourself (my opinion). I’m increasing the amount I invest in all areas I can, including my business because it’s a good time, but I’m stretching it out over a year at least. I haven’t put all my chips on red. I put them all on “be reasonable and hang in there” haha. That is of course with a plan to grow that I actively work on nearly every day. Make sure you invest equally in all aspects of your life and business. I have a business counselor, a counselor counselor, I still study things and learn and I have a financial advisor. I also have general counsel for general decisions. So what to do now? Don’t panic, try to invest steadily in all aspects of your business (including yourself) and keep pushing forward.
Bitcoin Mining
Well, now I’ve done it. I’ve gone off the digital deep end. I’ve gotten into crypto currencies… I get it, I’m a bit late to the table, but I’ve done the unthinkable and partnered with some good friends/work buddies of mine and we’ve started a Bitcoin mining company. Well… We talk about it at least. We’ve started a site, which you can see here: https://www.bitminingbros.com/ where we talk about Bitcoin and crypto things and how you can get started, then we even help you get started! We’ve taken all the mess out of it. Very shortly we’ll be talking about PhilCoin so head on over there and stay tuned!!!
Moving Forward When Your Uninspired
I always tell my clients it REALLY doesn’t matter what you write about. The last thing you want is for your work to become a chore that you avoid. Sometimes though, it’s unavoidable. The solution, I think, is to push through. I know sometimes (personally) that it’s tempting to think you’ll have a change of heart or a revelation and you’ll go off in a new direction and have great success, but I’ve found and many other have as well that perseverance is key to winning the race. According to J. Paul Getty, he often bought oil wells that other had given up on. All he’d do is drill just a little bit further and hit oil. People would often give up when success was just around the corner. Today, I had no idea what to write, and I still don’t really, but I knew I had to write something. So here I am writing because really, I just have to. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but I’m hopefully helping form a habit that will lead to more success. Honestly over the past few years I’ve had a great deal of success. Sometimes I just have to push through work and personal problems even when “my hearts not in it” and through all of that things are undoubtedly much better. I can barely keep up with things now. So keep walking. Keep blogging. “Un-slumping yourself is not easily done” as Dr Seuss says, but it can be done.
