In today’s increasingly media-driven world, it’s more important than ever to maintain a vibrant online presence – and one of the best ways to do that is through informational videos. You can use these videos to promote your business, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website. But what kind of videos should you create? Read on for five great ideas!

The Importance of Video for Your Marketing Strategy

Video is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses today. Luckily, if you want a video background to bolster your marketing campaign, there are plenty of resources out there to help – and plenty of reasons to take advantage of them! After all, not only can top business videos drive awareness and engagement, but they can also boost SEO and conversion rates.

Incorporating the right video marketing ideas for small businesses is essential for any company that wants to stay competitive. And there’s no better time to start than now. With video consumption on the rise and technology becoming more accessible, there’s no excuse not to get started with video marketing!

#1. Profile Videos

A profile video is a great way to introduce yourself and your business to potential customers. You can use this type of video to give an overview of your company’s history, products or services, and company culture. These videos are typically two to three minutes long and posted on a company’s website or social media channels.

There’s no shortage of creative corporate video ideas for describing where your business comes from and what it’s all about. Get with your team to brainstorm, and don’t hesitate to create a few short business videos that you can release one at a time.

#2. How-To Videos

How-to videos allow you to show off your expertise and build trust with potential customers. These videos can teach viewers how to use your products or services, complete a project related to your industry, or answer frequently asked questions. They’re usually three to five minutes long and can be hosted on your website or YouTube channel.

#3. Behind-the-Scenes Videos

Behind-the-scenes footage is an excellent way to give potential customers a sneak peek at what goes into running your business. These types of videos can showcase your manufacturing process, office space, or team members in action. Behind-the-scenes videos generally run for one or two minutes, and they’ll make a nice addition to your website and social media channels!

You might be surprised at how interested your customers are in your processes. Research work video ideas from other successful businesses, and make a plan for showcasing your operations.

#4. Branding Videos

Branding videos are ideal for creating a consistent identity for your company and promoting your products or services. These videos can be used to introduce your brand to potential customers, explain what sets your business apart from the competition, or highlight your company’s values.

You can host these videos (usually 60 seconds to five minutes) on your website, social media channels, or email list. A bit of online research will reveal a wealth of branding video ideas!

#5. Vlog (Video Blog)

One of the best ways to create video content is through a video blog or vlog, which is when a creator regularly posts videos about their life or work. Vlogging can help you:

• Connect with your audience
• Share your unique perspective on your business
• Build brand awareness and create an online presence for your business.

Here-s another benefit — since vlogs are generally more informal and less polished than traditional marketing videos, they can show off your personality and connect with potential customers on a more personal level. Research top business video blogs by successful companies, entrepreneurs, and influencers, and make a list of potential team video ideas for your first vlog.

How to Add Videos to Your WordPress Site

Fortunately, the WordPress block editor makes it easy to add video content to your site. Here are a couple of helpful articles:

• 5 Methods to Embed Videos in Your WordPress Website
• Common Gutenberg Blocks

If you want to embed a video that you’ve uploaded to your media library, just add a Media/Video block.

Or, if you’ve got a video hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or any of a number of other social media channels, choose the appropriate source from the Embed group of blocks. (There are over 30 Embed blocks, including TikTok, TED, Videopress, and others that host video.)

Conclusion

Incorporating any of the video ideas above can help move your brand (and business) forward. Remember that consistency is key, so when you’re creating any type of video, consider the intended audience and the overall tone of voice for the video series. Your informational videos should engage customers, build trust, and leave a lasting impression!

WordPress Building Blocks starts at ground zero and helps you build a WordPress site from the ground up — one building block at a time. Questions? We’d love to hear from you!

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy

• How to Add a YouTube Video to Your WordPress Post
• Can You Promote a Website on Instagram?

The post 5 Informational Video Ideas to Help You Promote Your Business appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

Image via Freepik

Optimizing SEO on your WordPress site is the cheapest yet most effective way to drive traffic, increase the site’s visibility on search engines, and level up your overall marketing strategy.

If you’re under the impression that optimizing SEO is a long process, don’t get discouraged just yet.

In a nutshell, you only need to do two things to optimize SEO for your WordPress site:

1. correct technical issues
2. create SEO-friendly posts. 

When you cover those two bases, you’ll see that SEO works wonders for your site.

Keep in mind that optimizing SEO is not a one-night battle, so you need some time to adjust and continue improving your content. 

Without further ado, let’s dive into the list below to find out how to optimize your WordPress site for SEO.

Get the Basics Right

#1. Fix your WordPress visibility settings

The first thing you need to do is check your WordPress visibility. Due to the built-in option on WordPress, it may hide your website from search engines.

First, open your WordPress settings and go to the admin area. Click on Settings / Reading, then scroll down until you see Search Engine Visibility.

You’ll find a checkbox that says “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.” Make sure it’s unchecked. Remember to save your change by clicking Save Changes.

#2. Make sure the URL structure is SEO friendly 

Having an SEO-friendly URL structure is vital to optimizing your SEO. However, some people may be confused about the difference between friendly and non-friendly SEO.

To put it simply, a friendly SEO URL contains words that refer to the content, so visitors can grasp right away what the content is about. For example, this URL is pretty meaningless: yourdomain.com/?p=372. But changing the URL to yourdomain.com/seo-friendly-urls actually tells the reader (and the search engines) what the page is about.

To change your URL structure across your site, navigate to Settings / Permalinks. From the list of Common Settings, choose Post name, then click Save Changes.

#3. Choose WWW or non-WWW

What’s the difference between https://www.yoursite.com  and https://yoursite.com for your site URL?

Just the www. . . but search engines consider those two URLs to be different websites, so choose one and stick to it to optimize your SEO in search engines.

If you’re wondering which one is better, there’s no definitive answer. Many SEO experts say that both URLs work equally and there’s no advantage for either one — as long as you use it consistently.

#4. Choose an SEO plugin

There are two most popular plugins for WordPress to optimize your SEO game: All in One SEO (AIOSEO) and Yoast SEO. Both options are free to use.

AIOSEO is a more popular one since more than 3 million websites have been using it to handle their technical SEO optimization. (However, this site uses and recommends Yoast.)

#5. Use XML sitemaps

Some plugins, like AIOSEO and Yoast, provide XML sitemaps to its users. An XML sitemap refers to a formatted file that includes a list of pages on your website.

An XML sitemap will help search engines to crawl and find your site quicker. When your site is more visible to search engines, it will affect your site rank positively.

Optimize Content Performance

Once you have the technical issues covered, your next job is to create SEO-friendly content regularly. You may need to do keyword research relating to your niche so search engines can easily find your site.

Other than that, make sure to add tags and categories to each piece of content you post. The tags must include keywords, which can be in the form of single words or phrases (long-tail keywords). Many experts say that implementing long-tail keywords is beneficial to competing against bigger websites.

You should also maximize your SEO strategy by developing an internal linking habit. Internally linking your pages or posts can increase the website’s authority. You can do this in the editing process prior to publishing your post.

Promote your content

The more people that see your content, the more likely it is to rank well in search engines. Promote your content through social media, email marketing, and other channels to get as many eyes on it as possible. From e-commerce to even blockchain games, companies rely on social media channels to engage their audiences.It’s one of the most effective ways to get your content seen by more people. 

Make sure to share it on all of your social media channels, and encourage others to do the same. When promoting your content, it’s important to be creative and think outside the box. This is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to share your content and reach a wider audience.This will help to improve your site’s ranking and keep visitors coming back for more.

Conclusion

Adjusting SEO on your WordPress site will take some time to work properly, so asking for instant results after tightening some loose bolts is pointless. You need to keep on creating SEO-friendly posts and publish them on a regular basis to drive more traffic and increase your site visibility on search engines.

Make sure to fix your WordPress settings to make your SEO work maximally. One final tip — improve your site speed and optimize your site security. Then leverage social media to share your posts so they can generate more traffic to your site.

Top Image via Freepik

Author

Andre Oentoro

Founder

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video production company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order). 

Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email/Gravatar: andre@breadnbeyond.com 
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro

The post How to Optimize Your WordPress Site for SEO appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

Guest Post by Joshua Reeves

Are you a blogger, or do you have a YouTube channel? Do you want to promote your YouTube videos by adding them to your WordPress website? We can help!

Video embedding to the WordPress website is an uncomplicated process with a lot of benefits. It:

• Increases the engagement and visiting time of the audience
• Makes your website interactive
• Has a significant impact on the site’s SEO optimization
• Improves the user experience

When your content includes video, readers will get more interested and discover different ways to engage with it. Moreover, your blogs will attract users who prefer watching videos rather than reading the text.

You can also add a part of your video by trimming the video using video trimmer tool.

In this article, we’ll cover different methods that you can use to embed videos on your WordPress website, specifically YouTube videos.

Before we get started learning the methods to embed videos, let’s first understand some of the top tips for creating a professional-looking video.

Video Creation Tips

• Choose the genre and the idea for your videos
• Create top-notch content to record your videos
• Use the right gadgets to record videos
• Record the videos in proper lighting
• Do the video editing using reliable tool
• Discard the unnecessary part of the video, using a video trimmer

How to trim a video easily

5 Common Methods to Embed Videos in WordPress Website

Once you are ready with your video-making process or have already uploaded one to YouTube, it is time to embed your video to your WordPress website. We will walk you through the different methods to do so with detailed steps:

If the video is stored locally on your computer

1. Open the WordPress post or page
2. Select the Video block from the Media blocks option and upload your video
3. You can also use stock video images and insert your recently added media files. You can also add alt text for Search Engine Optimization.

If the video is already on YouTube

1. Open YouTube and copy the URL where your video is present in YouTube
2. Open the WordPress page or post
3. Select the YouTube Block from the Embed blocks option, and paste the YouTube URL to embed the video in your post.

If the video is on YouTube, using classic editor

Use this method if you like WordPress Classic Editor (which you should be moving away from as they don’t plan to support it much longer. Time to get familiar with Gutenberg, folks! But if you’re still a die-hard Classic Editor user, here are the steps to help you out with this process.)

1. Copy the embed code of the video you wish to embed in WordPress
2. Open the Classic Editor and click on the Text tab in the upper right corner
3. Paste the code that you noted in Step 1
4. See the changes by clicking the visual tab

Using iFrame

This method permits you to customize your video on the post or page as per your choice. It’s for more advanced WordPress users. The beginning steps are the same, whether you’re using Gutenberg or the Classic Editor.

1. Open your YouTube video and click on the Share button, available above the Subscribe button
2. Click Embed
3. Iframe Code and a few option boxes. Use the first box to embed the video starting at a specific time. You can play and pause the video to adjust the time as per your requirements.
4. Other boxes allow you to add player control, such as volume, fast forward, play/pause.
5. Copy the Iframe code
6. Gutenberg: You’ll need to use a plugin like Simple iFrame. Select it from the Embeds collection of blocks and follow the prompts.
7. Classic editor: Switch from Visual to Text Editor and enter the code you previously copied.

Embed a video in a widget

You can embed videos into your sidebar, footer, or other areas of your site using widgets.

1. To see your available widget choices (they will vary, depending on your theme and plugins), navigate to Appearance / Widgets in your Dashboard.
2. Select the area where you want to place the video, then click the + button. Add the video block just as you would within your content area, depending on whether your video is saved on your website or is uploaded to YouTube.

Optional Plugins to Display Your Videos

As always, be cautious about adding plugins as they can slow down your site. If video is a big part of your content, consider these:

Smash Balloon YouTube Feed: Automatically embeds all the videos on your YouTube channel.
YouTube Subscribe Bar: It fetches the count of the subscribers on your YouTube channel and adds as social proof to encourage more users.
Lazy Load for Videos: It loads the video image only on the page load without affecting the speed and the performance.

Conclusion

It is very easy to embed video in the WordPress website. You can do so by following any of the methods described above. The main difficulty is making the videos. Today, videos have taken over the internet. They are created for events, ads, demos, social media, promotions, and much more.

Video production may seem a challenging task, but using the perfect idea, notch-higher content, and a reliable video editing tool lets you create an excellent video to upload on social media.

It is also necessary to remove the unnecessary parts from the video, which can be trimmed using any trimming tool. Promotion is also an essential part of video making.

Embedding video on your WordPress website is also the right option to promote your channel, products, or any services you offer. Use the methods we’ve shared in to embed your video and run promotions.

Joshua Reeves

Marketing Manager, InVideo

InVideo is a video creation platform with 1 million users in 190+ countries. 

Other Articles You’ll Like

• How to Add a YouTube Video to your WordPress Post

The post 5 Methods to Embed Videos in Your WordPress Website (Video Creation Tips Included) appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

The time is past when a speedy website was just good to have. Today, it can make or break your site. Did you know 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load? Besides this, page speed is important for WordPress sites for other reasons as well.

What causes your website to slow down? What can you do to improve your website speed?

The rest of this article has answers to all these questions. Let’s get started.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

What is Page Speed?

In simple language, page speed is the amount of time it takes to load an entire webpage on the user’s browser. Also known as website speed, it is measured as the time taken to load the page on a user’s device.

Why is site speed important?

Here are four reasons why website speed is important:

#1. Google search rankings

Page speed is important in SEO. As early as 2010, the Google search engine started giving importance to website loading time. Faster loading websites were ranked higher on the Google search results page.

A fast-loading website with a higher search engine ranking attracts more traffic from Google, which in turn leads to better engagement and conversions.

#2. Conversion boost

Online customers love to interact and transact with a fast website, and it’s especially important for an eCommerce site. Retail giant Walmart has recorded a 2% improvement in conversions for every 1-second reduction in page loading speed. The same is true for any non-eCommerce website.

#3. Bounce rate

According to Bing, even a 2-second delay in page loading can result in a 4.3% drop in revenues and 3.75% fewer clicks. In other words, page speed can directly influence the bounce rate or the percentage of users exiting the website without performing any activity. Google says that the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases by 123% if page load time goes from one second to 10 seconds.

#4. User experience

Slow-loading websites directly impact the end-user experience, and as a result, their perception of your brand and business. With mobile browsing on the rise, a majority of online visitors say they are unlikely to return to a website if they have previously experienced slow loading speeds.

Now that we have discussed why site speed is important for your online business, let’s look at the factors that influence your website loading speed.

5 Factors Affecting Page Speed

Many internal and external factors can influence your website loading speed. Here are 5 of the most common factors.

#1. Your website has malware

If your WordPress site has been experiencing slow loading for some time now, it is likely to be infected with malware. Many malware variants like spam redirects, WP-VCD malware, favicon virus, etc; are difficult to detect and can damage target websites over many days. These can overload your web server and slow down your website.

A high-quality malware scanning tool like MalCare can help in detecting and cleaning malware on your WordPress website. Additionally, since it runs the scan on its dedicated servers, there is no load on your server and therefore, no chance of your site further slowing down.

#2. Web hosting

Choosing the right WordPress web host is crucial for quality speed and performance. Based on the type of website content and traffic flow, you need to choose the right type of hosting. For instance, a shared web host may be economical but may be insufficient for handling large volumes of traffic. On the other hand, a dedicated web host provides better control over website speed and performance.

Read: What kind of WordPress hosting is best?

#3. Page size

The page size is defined as the file size of a web page when downloaded. The higher the page size (or file size), the more time it will take to load. We recommend that you keep your average page size to less than 5MB in file size.

Why is page size important? Page size needs to be optimized as it can directly impact the loading speed, mobile phone searches, and even your web hosting costs.

#4. Number of installed plugins

If you are running a WordPress website, you may likely have installed many third-party plugins to improve its functionality. The problem is that not all plugins are optimized for fast loading. Hence, the more WordPress plugins that you have, the slower you site will likely load.

#5. Too many ads

Online ad impressions can contribute to your website revenue but will also influence its loading speed. Too many ads or unoptimized ads can cause performance issues on your website, causing it to load slowly on any device. As a corrective measure, limit the number of online ads on your website or include ads only from trusted ad networks.

How to Check Page Speed

Fortunately for WordPress sites, you can check your page speed using a variety of free tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, and GTmetrix. All you need to do is to enter your website URL into any of these tools. Apart from calculating your page speed, these tools can also detect why your website speed is low, and how you can overcome the problem.

How can you increase website speed? Let\’s discuss this in the next section.

How to Improve Page Speed on Your WordPress Site

Let\’s look at 7 effective ways of improving your page speed.

#1. Choose a quality web host

A high-quality web host is your best bet for delivering high and consistent loading speeds for your websites. Shared web hosts are no good for optimized loading speed, as they share your website with other websites on the same web server. Instead, opt for a dedicated web host or hosting company like Siteground.

#2. Use a caching plugin.

Used for the temporary storage of website content, caching can improve page loading speeds by loading your webpage elements quickly on the user\’s browser. For WordPress sites, you can install a free caching plugin like W3 Total Cache that uses caching to improve your loading speed.

#3. Remove unnecessary plugins

Minimizing unused or inactive plugins on your WordPress installation can increase the size of your website and overload your server resources. Take stock of all your installed plugins and retain only those that you absolutely need for your site. Additionally, install your WordPress plugins only from trusted third-party sources or repositories, since these are more likely to be built for speed.

#4. Optimize images

Large or oversized website images can add to loading time. The larger the image size, the more time it takes to load on any device. Optimize each website image to reduce its file size without compromising its quality. For WordPress sites, you can utilize an image optimization tool like WP Smush or Pixlr to reduce your image sizes.

#5. Use lightweight themes

WordPress themes can make your website look more appealing with elements like UI components, background images, icons, and widgets. However, on the flip side, heavyweight themes can increase the page size, thus reducing its loading speed.

As an alternative, opt for a lightweight theme like Astra that is built for fast loading on any device.

#6. Clean up the WordPress database

In addition to your website, you also need to optimize your WordPress database for faster loading. This means reducing the overall size of your database by regularly removing old database tables or outdated information, spam comments, fake user accounts, and even unwanted plugins and themes.

#7. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Page speed can be reduced if the visitor is physically located far away from your web server location. A CDN can help in faster content loading and delivery by serving your content from the nearest location to the visitor. You can opt for popular CDN services like Cloudflare or MaxCDN.

Wrapping up

Whether you’re just starting with WordPress or have a website with a steady flow of visitors, you only stand to gain from a faster website. The best part? As you’ve seen in this article, it’s a lot easier than you think.

Make sure you use a reliable host, install a light theme, optimize images, and keep your database up to date. Use plugins judiciously and invest in those that improve your site’s performance, such as security plugins that keep your website malware-free, or caching plugins that improve load speed.

Are there any other measures you recommend to keep your site light and fast? Let us know in the comments below.

Akshat Choudhary

Akshat Choudhary has always prided himself on his ability to teach himself things. Since starting BlogVault, Akshat has transformed his side project into a profitable venture that is scaling new heights in the Indian startup space. Being a member of the WordPress community for almost a decade, Akshat is keen on understanding the areas where users struggle. Akshat’s core belief behind building any product is making sure the end user doesn’t need assistance and to assist them in the best possible manner if they do.

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy

• How to Know if Malware is Infecting Your WordPress Site
• 3 Ways Managed WordPress Hosting Will Save You Time
• How to Prepare Images for Your WordPress Site (it’s not hard!)

The post Why Page Speed is Important for WordPress Sites, and How to Improve It appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

Do you know what happens when somebody hacks your WordPress site and infects it with malicious code (aka, malware)?

Usually, when hackers infect your site with malware, there’ll be subtle signs to indicate that something’s wrong. From abnormal spikes in website traffic to customer complaints about external redirects or pop-up ads, you’ll get many cues to act quickly — if you’re paying attention.

Let’s see them in more detail below.

What happens where there’s malware infecting your WordPress site?

Here are six things that definitely signal something’s up with your WordPress site:

#1. Compromised user experience and performance

The most coveted element of any WordPress site is the user experience it provides. Once the view of your visitors changes, this affects your site’s reputation and trust factor permanently. Any special services or original content you offer at this point will not make a difference to a customer impacted by malware.

Hacked sites infected with malware are bound to slow down as the server resources are diverted by the hackers to hacker-controlled domains. We all know that today’s viewer has a limited attention span (from 12 seconds to eight seconds), so a slow website is, bad for business.

#2. Unwanted ads and external redirects

Another issue that usually comes up is pop-up ads which are completely unrelated to the original content of the site and malicious in nature. They’re usually external redirects to other sites that trick the user into buying something or clicking other links that install viruses and/or malware on their systems.

These kinds of pop-up ads are due to hackers inserting malicious Javascript or iFrame resources. When the site loads, it takes double the time to load because of this malware, thus testing the customer’s patience and can simultaneously cause possible loss of sensitive information.

#3. Cryptocurrency mining

While we may all be familiar with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, some of us are less familiar with the concept of ‘mining.’ As these currencies gain traction, people have recognized crypto as a way to invest and get quick returns.

Therefore, hackers who are in the know about crypto install cryptocurrency miners and associated malware. So, every time the WordPress site loads, they use it to mine (think of dig, but virtual) cryptocurrency. If your site suddenly slows down without any obvious reasons, it may indicate the presence of mining malware.

#4. High usage of resources

Another thing that happens when there\’s malware infecting your WordPress site is that your site\’s server resources shrink.

As hackers snatch your server’s resources in terms of space and efficiency, your site is left with none. Hackers will ensure that they’re using your assets to their advantage, resulting in a slowed-down site for you.

For example, some hackers use multiple sites as a front for attacking other sites. Since using a single site can detected and blacklisted easily, the hackers use multiple reputable sites.

They also use a large amount of disk space, as hackers may have to store a large amount of malicious files. Even if you’ve a unlimited hosting plan, there’s a limit to the space you’re provided. Adding these files will make it difficult for you to add your authentic content.

Since they only use your resources and the most visible impact is a slowly loading site, most of us don’t suspect anything. However, look out for signs like your site becoming unavailable for some time because it’s being used for malicious activities.

#5. Spam emails

A strong indication your site’s been hacked is when your customers complain they’re getting a lot of spam emails. Around 60% of the internet traffic can be attributed to such spam emails. After the spam starts, even your own emails end up in the reader’s their spam folder, making them miss important information.

How do email servers detect spam emails? They’re on the constant lookout for IP addresses of servers that are blacklisted or keep sending spam emails. So, hackers work around this and search for clean IP addresses to send their spam emails. Usually, your host provider finds out something’s not right and warns you about it. By then, you may already have been blacklisted by search engines and suspended by hosts.

#6. SEO spam

Also known as pharma hacks, hackers fill your WordPress site with SEO spam that redirects users to other sites featuring illegal merchandise and medications. These spammy keywords often trick your users into getting infected by malware or installing viruses on their systems. Eventually, you’re at the risk of getting blacklisted by Google.

These are only a few ways of how WordPress sites generally get affected after malware is placed. If you’ve identified that your website is suffering an ongoing attack, read the WordPress malware removal guide for step by step malware removal. If you come across anything suspicious that isn’t on this list, do let us know in the comments below!

Ankit Pahuja

Marketing Lead & Evangelist at Astra Security

Ankit Pahuja

Marketing Lead & Evangelist at Astra Security.

Ever since his adulthood (literally, he was 20 years old), he began finding vulnerabilities in websites & network infrastructures. Starting his professional career as a software engineer at one of the unicorns enables him in bringing “engineering in marketing” to reality. Ankit is also an avid speaker in the security space and has delivered various talks in top companies, early-age startups, and online events.

Follow Ankit on LinkedIn

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• WordPress Security, Malware, Bad Plugins and Careless Theme Designers
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The post How to Know If Malware is Infecting Your WordPress Site appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

One effective way of making content engaging is by adding visually appealing content (images or other media) in between the text.

Want to know how important visual content is?

Your audience remembers 80% of what they see, and only 20% of what they read.

But There’s a Catch…

You can’t just add many images on your website page and expect the time-on-page to skyrocket. You have to make sure that the pictures you choose are rich in quality

But this paves the way for another problem, i.e., high-quality images are usually heavy in terms of size. A heavy image contributes to an increase in website load time. And for those of you unaware, an increase in the website load time leads to a boost in the bounce rate.

Website Load Time and Bounce Rate: What You Need to Know

Let’s start this off with a relatable example.

Imagine a random internet user looking for a dinner recipe. Upon searching for it on Google, they come across the top results. Interestingly, you have written about the same recipe, and your blog happens to be among the top results.

Impressed by the SEO title, the internet user decides to check out what you have to offer and clicks on the page link.

But guess what? The recipe page you have published is packed with high-quality images of large sizes. Even though your webpage looks fascinating, it takes forever to load.

Since users are impatient, after a couple of seconds they’ll decide your page isn’t worth their time. Off they bounce to check out a different link.

So, what good is a visually appealing page if no one is patient enough to let it load?

It’s time to reconsider your strategy.

According to Google, the bounce rate increases by 32% if the page load time increases from one second to three seconds. The bounce rate goes up by a whopping 90% when the page load time goes up from one to five seconds.

There is a Solution:

No, the solution isn’t to rely on low-quality images. An ideal solution for reducing the loading time of a web page while ensuring it boasts relevant images is by optimizing them.

In 2021, WordPress alone powers about 40% of the websites. So, the optimization method we will be discussing here will be in regards to a WordPress website.

Typically, you should keep the image file size under 100Kb if your goal is to make the page load faster. But simply compressing an image wouldn’t do the trick since it would most likely result in the image losing detail.

This is why we wouldn’t recommend using WordPress image-compression plugins for optimization purposes. Because at the end of the day, you need a good-quality image too.

So, we hit the web and began our search for easy ways to optimize an image before uploading on WordPress without impacting its quality. And after thorough research, we found a quick and easy way to accomplish the task in two simple steps.

The first step involves upscaling a low or medium-quality image into a high-quality one. Then, this high-quality image is subjected to image compression without significant loss in quality.

We’ll use these two tools:

1. AI Image Upscaler by StockPhotos: An efficient image-upscaling tool that allows you to enlarge an image by 2x for free.
2. Simple Image Resizer: As its tagline reads, this tool allows you to “Resize image without losing quality!”

Let’s go through an example to explain the process, shall we?

Step 1: Select the Image you want to Upscale

For this example, we have selected the photo of a toddler. This image has a resolution of 1000 x 750 pixels, and its size is 46.4Kb.

[NOTE: To see the original image sizes, click each image in the article.]

Step 2: Upscale the Image Using the AI Image Upscaler

Now that we have our low-quality image available, it’s time to upscale it. But before that, there are some features of the tool in question that you should know about

• AI Image Upscaler supports JPG, PNG, WEBP & BMP formats.
• The free version of this tool allows you to upscale an image of up to 2000 x 2000 pixels.
• It relies on AI to ensure that the upscaled image isn’t a blurred or distorted version of the original image. It adds the right detail to sustain the image quality.

After upscaling the image in our example, its resolution is now 2000 x 1500 pixels, and its size is 190 Kb.

Here’s the upscaled image:

As you can notice, the image’s size has increased and it looks much better than before.

In case you’re curious, here’s a before-and-after comparison.

Step 3: Resizing the Image using Simple Image Resizer

Now, all you have to do to make your image ready to be uploaded on WordPress is bring the file size under 100Kb without affecting the quality. This is where the Simple Image Resizer tool can help us.

Simply add your picture and compress the image by, let’s say, 60%

Then, download the image. Here’s the resized image:

This resized image is just 57.5Kb in terms of size and boasts a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. As you can see, the resulting image has retained most of the detail found in the upscaled version. This is exactly what we were looking for.

And in case you are wondering, the entire process from downloading the image to upscaling and then resizing it took us barely a minute or two. Isn’t that amazing?

Conclusion

It’s high time for you to launch your WordPress website and tell your story to the world

However, due to people having a short attention span these days, it’s essential to keep them glued to your content. To achieve this, we recommend the use of visual content.

However, heavy image files often cause the page to load slowly, prompting visitors to ditch your website. This is why you should optimize an image before uploading it to WordPress.

We hope that this article did an excellent job explaining to you a fast and easy method of acquiring good-quality images that don’t slow down your website.

Ivy Attie

Ivy Attié is a content manager, researcher, and author in Stock Photo Press and its many stock media-oriented publications. She is a passionate communicator with a love for visual imagery and an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge. Her background is in communication and journalism, and she also loves literature and performing arts.

Other Articles You’ll Like

• How to Prepare Images for Your WordPress Site (it’s not hard!)
• How to Add an Image to Your WordPress Post

The post How to Upscale and Optimize Images Before Uploading on WordPress appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

I’m going to make this short and sweet.

This announcement is not a new thing.

Back in 2014, Google announced that, in their search results, they would prioritize mobile responsive websites.

After all, they want to provide the best results possible, and if someone is searching on their phone or tablet, they should see the results that are most relevant for them at that moment.

Over 50% of web users today access the internet from a mobile device. The numbers of users who only use a mobile device to go online is significant and growing.

So, back in November, 2014, Google announced they would factor mobile responsiveness into search rankings.

Fast forward six years, to 2020.

Google has been gradually prioritizing mobile sites in search, but in 2020 they planned to show only mobile responsive sites in search results. Because of the pandemic, they rolled back the date for implementation, to the end of March, 2021.

If your site is not mobile responsive, it won’t show up in search. Period.

Take a minute — or two — to let that sink in.

Google won’t index desktop versions of websites — only mobile versions.

It’s been a gradual rollout. All of my sites were switched to mobile first search a couple years ago.

What will that do to your site traffic? If you get any visitors from search, you know it will hurt you.

Fortunately, the solution is simple: if your site isn’t mobile friendly, find a new WordPress theme that is, and switch to that theme.

I recommend themes from StudioPress and Astra. All will provide a mobile responsive, mobile friendly site for you.

Here’s a brief tutorial on how to switch from one theme to another.

Articles You’ll Like

• How to Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Responsive
• Mobile Responsive WordPress Themes — More Important than Ever

The post Your Site Isn’t Mobile Responsive? You REALLY Don’t Want to Pay This Google Penalty appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

Here’s what’s new in version 5.6.

1. Auto Updates

The first change you should be aware of is the new auto-updates feature.

You’ve been able to let WordPress update itself automatically for minor updates. Now you have the option to auto update major updates as well.

This is the type of feature that can easily come back to bite you in the butt. Think of it as the WordPress version of whether you prefer to drive a standard or automatic transmission car. . .

On the one hand, it can look like a big help — especially if you’re not good about maintaining your WordPress site and keeping all your plugins, themes, and WordPress itself current with the latest version.

On the other hand, with major updates, there are things that can go wrong. Badly coded plugins and themes can cause conflicts that blow up your site, and a hosting server that’s not providing the minimum requirements (which may change with a newer version of WordPress!) can cause all sorts of problems.

If you’re updating manually, you can see it and revert immediately back to the previous version. If it’s happening automatically, your site could be a mess for a while before you’re even aware.

Fortunately, for this kind of update to happen automatically, you have to proactively select it.

My advice is, don’t.

If you’re not sure what your auto-update settings are, it’s easy to check.

• Log into your WordPress dashboard
• Select Dashboard / Updates
• On the page displayed, you’ll see your current version. If it’s 5.6, it will tell you whether auto-updates are enabled.

• For more information, click the dropdown Help menu in the upper right corner of the page, then select Auto-updates. (Click the image below to expand it.)

Note that if you host with Siteground, they will automatically update WordPress for you whether you want them to or not. However, you can select the time frame for that to happen – from Immediately to 72 hours. Choose 72 hours. That will give you time to go in and take care of it yourself.

2. More Block Flexibility and Patterns

Block patterns were introduced in the last update, and they’ve been expanded and refined.

They’re now divided into categories, so you can select from Buttons, Columns, Gallery, Headers, and Text. Expect to see more of them going forward.

3. Video Captioning

Those who add video to their posts or pages now have more options for adding captions or subtitles.

4. New Theme, Twenty Twenty-One

Included in WordPress 5.6 is a new theme. Twenty Twenty-One is built to take full advantage of the block editor, and complies with international accessibility standards.

It also provides you with an inviting range of preset, pastel colors, or you can select your own color palette.

5. Geeky Stuff

Application Passwords Risk

WordPress 5.6 allows external applications to request permission to connect to a site, and to generate a password specifically for doing so. As security company Wordfence points out, this could give access to malicious applications.

If you use the Wordfence plugin, this capability is turned off by default. If you’re using All in One WP Security & Firewall, you can turn it off by going to WP Security / Miscellaneous, then click the WP Rest API tab.

Add a check next to Disallow Unauthorized REST requests, and Save.

Note that if you’re using Contact Form 7, or other plugins that rely on those REST requests, they’ll malfunction if this is checked.

Some PHP 8 Support

WordPress is moving toward core support for PHP 8 — it’s not there yet. As of now, the minimum version of PHP required to run WordPress is 7.4.

jQuery Updates

If you find your site looking strange after updating to version 5.6, it may be because of changes to jQuery. WordPress advises that “If you find issues with the way your site looks ( e.g. a slider doesn’t work, a button is stuck — that sort of thing), install the jQuery Migrate plugin.”

That’s it! Have fun with the new version of WordPress!

The post Update to WordPress Version 5.6 Now appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

It includes lots of minor changes, and several important ones that are worth noting.

In keeping with their history of naming updates after jazz musicians, WordPress version 5.5 is known as “Eckstine,” after jazz singer Billy Eckstine. (Don’t know who he is? I didn’t either, but he’s a great singer and apparently plays the trumpet as well. Here’s a little clip for you. . .)

Here are a few of the major changes that are now part of WordPress.

Faster Page Load Times

“Lazy load” is a way of loading images as they’re about to show up on the page or post, as the viewer scrolls. It speeds of load times, which provides a better UX (user experience) for your readers and makes Google happy, too.

Until now, you needed a plugin to make lazy load happen. Now it’s just part of WordPress. So If you’ve not added any plugins for lazy loading, you should see an improvement to page load speeds.

However, if you are using a plugin like Lazy Load, or if you’re hosting on Siteground and have lazy load enabled in their SG Optimizer plugin, you may want to keep them. That’s because they may offer a more advanced functionality.

Test your page load time in at Pingdom or GTMetrix with your current setup. Check image-rich pages, and also pages with embedded videos.

Then disable the plugin and test again. Use whichever method gets you better results.

XML Sitemap to Help with SEO

Again, many of you may have installed a plugin to generate an XML sitemap. Yoast SEO and Google XML Sitemaps are two of the better ones.

If you’re happy with those plugins, go ahead and keep them as they’ll do a more complete job. But if you’ve been lacking a sitemap until now, you should see a traffic boost from the sitemap that’s now built into WordPress 5.5.

Security: Automatic Plugin and Theme Updates

First, let me say that if you’re not updating your plugins and themes on a regular schedule, you’re creating security vulnerabilities.

Auto-updating is a great idea, but it can be a double-edged sword.

That’s because, if it’s happening behind the scenes, you may not be aware if your site gets messed up during the process. Plugins are notorious for not playing well with each other, and theme updates can sometimes break things as well.

If you know yourself well enough to know you’re never going to do your WordPress site housekeeping by updating plugins, themes, and WordPress itself on a regular basis, auto-updates could save you from some security issues. Just be aware they’re not 100% trouble free. . .

WordPress 5.5 gives you granular controls to specify what should (and shouldn’t) be on the auto-update list.

Block Editor Changes

Of course, there are additions and changes within the block editor as well.

The first thing you’ll notice is purely visual — the icons displayed in the top toolbar, and in the controls for individual blocks, look different. They’re still in the same places, and they perform the same functions, they just have a different look.

Block Directory

Now, when you click the add block plus sign, you’ll see something different.

You’ll first see a few of your most used blocks. To see more, click the Browse all link at the bottom. That will open up a sidebar on the left.

Notice you have three tabs: Blocks, Patterns, and Reusable.

As you scroll down, you’ll see block categories, but they’re not all the ones you’re used to — they now include:

• Text
• Media
• Design
• Widgets
• Embeds
• Additional Blocks added by plugins

You can add your Most Used blocks back by going to the 3-button menu at the very top of the page, and then selecting Options.

Click the Pattern tab to see styles and layouts for buttons, columns, galleries, and more.

In the Reusable tab, you’ll find all the reusable blocks you’ve created.

Inline Image Editing

This version of WordPress adds tools to let you do some basic cropping, rotating, and zooming your images directly from the editing block.

Preview Button

Here’s another change you’ll notice quickly.

When you click the Preview button, you’ll see a small popup. It gives you the choice of previewing on a desktop, tablet, or phone simulator, and there’s also a choice to open it in a new tab.

While this would be very helpful, I’ve not been able to get it to work. Documentation from WordPress says it currently only works on large screens, so I’m not sure what the issue is.

Of course, there are lots more changes that you’ll never notice because they’re behind the scenes. These are the important ones for now.

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy

• WordPress Blocks: What Are They (And Why Should You Care?)
• Common Gutenberg Blocks: They Don’t Have to Be Scary
• Why WordPress?

The post What’s New in WordPress 5.5 appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.

And you’re paying for it in reduced (or nonexistent) traffic. Because Google ranks on the basis of mobile first. I’ve written before about why you should pay attention to mobile – you’ll find those articles here, and here. (To see all the articles that talk about mobile responsiveness, check out this list.)

Back in 2013, I wrote an article about using a plugin to create a mobile responsive header for your WordPress site running a StudioPress theme.

That was then, this is now, and absolutely nothing about that original post is applicable in 2020.

What’s In The (Mobile Responsive) Header?

The header includes your logo or site title, tagline, and primary navigation.

Eight years ago when I started this site, headers were mostly full width and took up a good portion of the screen at the top of the page. Here’s a screenshot of the WordPress Building Blocks homepage in January, 2014.

Notice how the header area – the two navigation bars and site title – take up about 1/3 of the vertical space at the top of the screen. That was typical at that time.

Today, in order to accommodate mobile, that’s all changed. Logos are much smaller, and a site’s header area is relatively small. In the homepage for Big Brand Systems, for example, the header occupies only about 1/6 of the vertical space, with a hero image on the homepage using the rest of the screen space.

The header here consists only of the Big Brand System logo and the single line of navigation.

What do these look like on a phone screen? Well, back then, my homepage looked like this.

Obviously, the homepage was not mobile responsive back then (although my header was!). Today, of course, the site is completely mobile responsive.

WordPress today, especially with the Gutenberg block editor, is built to be mobile responsive. There’s absolutely no excuse for having a header that isn’t.

Start With the Theme

To make sure your header will adjust to accommodate viewing on computers, tablets, and phones, start with the theme.

Choose a theme that is:

• HTML 5 ready
• Mobile responsive
• From a reputable designer

Follow the theme designer’s instructions for uploading a header image of the correct size. A well developed theme will provide that information within the Customizer. To find it, navigate to Appearance / Customizer / Site Identity. You’ll see the dimensions there, or may appear when you click the Upload logo button.

If you don’t size the logo image correctly, it may be cropped, or it may appear out of proportion. The best way to make sure your logo looks the way you want it to is to size it correctly for the theme you’re using, before uploading it.

Once you’ve uploaded a properly sized logo image, your well chosen theme takes care of the header’s mobile responsiveness and you shouldn’t have to do a thing.

If you’re not sure how your header looks on a mobile device, there are several online tools that let you view your web page the way it shows up on different devices. One I like is Responsive Design Checker, which lets you choose specific devices and screen sizes to view.

If you’ve uploaded a correctly sized logo and it’s not displaying properly in different devices, switch to a theme that is genuinely mobile responsive. In 2020, nobody should need to jump through hoops to make that happen.

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy. . .

• How to Plan and Carry Out a Site Redesign
• How to Design Your WordPress Website to Attract (the right) Buyers
• Anatomy of a Web Page (and why you need to understand it)
• 7 Simple Ways to Revitalize Your Website in the New Year

The post How to Create a Mobile Responsive Header for Your WordPress Site in 2020 appeared first on wpbuildingblocks.com.