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 I’ve seen a lot of things get really out of date because I myself, or a client will say “I’ll get to it when I do the other updates.”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.
Procrastinating – Self Employed
You’re self employed or you’re a business owner/contractor. Your pay/how much you earn per year is based on how much you work. I get it. It’s a lot of pressure and it can quickly clog your mind. Like two many people trying to go through one door, or like traffic on the highway, things come to a stop. It’s an overwhelming and hopeless feeling. It only goes away if things keep moving. Btw, are you procrastinating right now? Quick tip. Stop reading this and get to work. If you’re kinda burnt out or just overwhelmed, here’s what I do. Do you have an ipad or a smart phone? Put on a program you’ve seen a million times before and just muddle through it. Put on music etc. I prefer shows because it’s a habit I can maintain. And I just put something on and work until I’m less overwhelmed and more on top of things. There are probably better habits, but it works in those really rough times. I work from home, but I imagine in a traffic jam this is what people do. They don’t park their cars, they listen to the radio or call a friend and they move at whatever pace they can until the day is done or until the traffic subsides. No more reading, get back to work. Don’t even get up to get coffee or water and don’t read the news or go on youtube. You won’t find anything helpful online. Just rabbit holes. Go put on your music or your show and get to work.
