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Archive for the ‘Wordpress’ Category

Top Secret WordPress Features You May Not Know

November 23rd, 2021

Every WordPress release includes a lot of useful new features, but the sheer number of them may leave them unnoticed. Gutenberg is fully packed with tweaks and shortcuts. Many of these tweaks are hidden inside menus that you may not have seen before.  You’re missing out a lot if you’re not using these, as they can save your time as well as effort. From ways to save time while writing to small tricks that can transform the way, you use WordPress. Here are some unknown WordPress features you must know. These features are sure to revolutionize your WordPress Maintenance Services.

  • Writing Without Any Distractions

One of the toughest aspects of writing in WordPress editor is focusing amidst all of the distracting UI. You have the sidebar as well as all sorts of icon-filled toolbars. However, distraction-free writing mode is there to avert distractions.

It’s as easy as opening up Gutenberg editor and clicking the full-screen button in your toolbar. Just click it, and all that visual noise will disappear from your screen. It’s much easier to stay focused on what you’re writing in the full-screen mode.

  • Customizable Menus With Various Screen Options

One of the best features of WordPress is that it allows you to modify your website in multiple ways. On the other side, the sheer number of options can be daunting. You undoubtedly have a lot of features in your WordPress backend that is of no use.

Getting rid of all of this is as simple as checking a box in Screen Options. Look in the top right corner of your back end’s pages, such as your dashboard, navigation menu, and other sections containing a lot of UI components.

You can figure out a Screen Options dropdown. There, you can quickly deactivate the items you want to hide by clicking it. It’s highly helpful for personalizing the welcome page that greets you when you log in, but it may also be used to clean up other sections of the back end.

  • Sticky Posts

There is one major drawback to ranking your article chronologically. If a posting drops off the front page, it loses a major volume of traffic. Fortunately, you can pin posts to the top of your site and have visitors moving slowly to them forever. Open a post in the editor to pin it. In the right sidebar, you can see a Stick to the top of the blog tickbox under Status & visibility.

Check it, save it, and the post should now be at the top. You can also use this feature from your Posts list by clicking Quick Edit and choosing to make this post sticky. Remember to save it!

  • Read More Blocks And Page Break

No one enjoys reading a large block of text. So, it’s a good idea to break up your articles when they get too long. These two Gutenberg blocks can help in this.

At first, the Page Break block inserts a pause where you specify. It’s a superb method to add paging to your blog entries. You can add it by selecting the Add Block option and looking for Page Break, or simply typing in /page break.

Then there’s the More block, which includes a Continue reading prompt in places where only a portion of your post is visible, such as the homepage. It allows you to choose where the article ends. You can add the More block like any other block, or by just typing in /more.

  • Alter The AutoSave Time

WordPress autosaves every 60 seconds by default. This isn’t a concern for most people. However, others may experience a full browser lockup, making writing in the editor very difficult.

If you’re having trouble with this common problem, you can solve it with a simple function. Simply paste the following code at the end of your site’s file:

define(‘AUTOSAVE INTERVAL’, 800);

It will set the autosave value to 800 seconds. You can also change the value accordingly.

  • AutoClose Comments

Old blog posts can incur a lot of Spam and useless comments. As a result, many bloggers prefer to automatically close comments on old articles. WordPress has this feature built-in!  In the back end, Go to Settings, then choose Discussion and find other comment settings. You can choose to disable comments on specific blogs after a specific number of days. It’s far more convenient than doing it manually.

  • Change Media Resizing

You may have observed that WordPress resizes all of your images into three different sizes automatically. It’s useful for thumbnails, but it occupies a lot of space on your site. However, you can simply turn it off in Media options anytime.

In your back end, go to Settings, choose Media and find Image sizes. You will see the thumbnails, medium, and big-sized images here. You can adjust them accordingly. But, if you want to fully stop generation, just enter a 0 for one or all of the values there.

  • Responsive Page Previews

This feature can be hard to spot as the icons are small and out of the way, but it offers a major benefit while designing your site. Look for the three icons that mimic a computer monitor, tablet, and phone under Appearance and click Customize. When you click them, you’ll be able to see how your site will appear on various devices. This allows you to eliminate any issues before the public sees your updates.

  • Slash Commands And Keyboard Shortcuts

WordPress has an array of keyboard shortcuts that can quicker your work in the editor. However, they take a little effort to master. Once you learn them, you’ll reduce your time on small actions.

At first, WordPress supports all basic Ctrl commands like Ctrl+C to copy selected text that works across your browser and OS. There’s also Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+U to make text bold, italic, or underlined.

Gutenberg editor also works with slash commands. Rather than clicking Add Block and then looking for the one you need, you can just enter a slash’/’ followed by its name. However, classic editor users can also try these commands.

  • Alt+Shift+C – Center Aligned
  • Alt+Shift+D – Strikethrough text
  • Alt+Shift+O – Ordered list
  • Alt+Shift+U – Unordered list
  • Alt+Shift+M – Insert image
  • Alt+Shift+W – Distraction-free writing mode
  • Alt+Shift+1 to Alt+Shift+6 – Heading 1-6

  • Drag and Drop Image Uploads

Now here come these small but extremely helpful WordPress features. Normally while uploading images you would click the Upload button, and then slowly browse your PC to find out the file you want to upload.

But for those who keep their files in an easy-to-access location like desktop, here’s a better way. Simply visit the Media Library and drag the images of your PC and into your browser. This works much faster and saves your time. Moreover, while writing in the editor, you can simply drag and drop the image where you want it to be. WordPress will auto-upload and insert it.

  • Mark Themes And Plugins As Favorite

While looking for WordPress themes and plugins, you may not have seen the button located below or near the download button i.e. a heart-shaped icon. Click it, and you can mark plugins as well as themes as favorites that you want to use again later. Then, when you log in to your WordPress admin page, you’ll find the full list there.

  • Widget Accessibility Mode

Drag and drop are widely considered the simplest and easiest way to explore a UI. However, for some people, the drag and drop motion can be challenging.  Luckily, WordPress comes with a lot of in-built accessibility features.

Just navigate to Appearance, find Widgets, and click on Enable accessibility mode in the top right corner. In place of dragging and dropping, you can just hit the new Add button present next to each widget. You can then insert and place the widgets where you want by selecting them from the dropdown menus.

  • Quickly Add Links

Manual hyperlinking is a small but tiresome effort. Thus, WordPress has come up with a method to speed it up. You can try it, just copy a link into the clipboard, select the text you want to link, and then paste in the URL. It’s as simple as that

In place of swapping the text with your link, the selected text should instantly become your anchor text. However, you must remember to set up your options such as opening the link in a new window, etc.

The Bottom Line

There are a lot of beneficial yet easily overlooked features in WordPress. If you want to master WordPress and make using it much easy, you must learn to access all of these features conveniently. Some of them, such as keyboard shortcuts, distraction-free writing, and quick link adding, can entirely transform the way you work on WordPress. These secret features can just make WordPress user-friendly and customizable. You can either learn how to use these features or hire renowned WordPress Maintenance Services like Clap Creative for a better experience.

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Categories: Wordpress

Why Should Site Owners Conduct Regular WordPress Security Audits?

November 16th, 2021

Get to know about WordPress Security Audits. WordPress is a very famous CMS that has been around for several years. It is used by many professional bloggers as well as website owners to create unique online publications. The WordPress code is relatively easy to understand and can be customized to meet the unique needs of each post. However, a WordPress site can be protected from the risks of insecure coding with the help of reliable WordPress Support and Maintenance Services.

What’s The Need For Regular WordPress Security Audits?

WordPress security issues can occur at any point during the life cycle of your site. Whether your site is just getting started or it has been running for several years, there are always threats that can pose a serious risk to the integrity of your data as well as the security of your website. Thus, it’s necessary to carry out periodic WordPress security audits.

Regularly conducting WordPress audits is beneficial as it helps to catch issues before they become severe. By removing WordPress errors before they become worst, you can make sure that your site will keep operating at max efficiency. A WordPress site that is consistently patched for security issues is less likely to be attacked by hackers. However, they can use flaws in your site to gain unauthorized access to your info. So, by removing WordPress security vulnerabilities before they lead to a security threat, you can make sure that your website remains secure at all times.

Companies offering WordPress Support and Maintenance Services often provide support for all types of WordPress websites. If your site is new or if it has only been a few months since you last conducted an audit, it may be best to hire a WordPress consultant to handle all of your technical support needs. These consultants are highly trained in WordPress as well as familiar with the most critical WordPress issues that may occur.

What Kind Of Threats Can Occur?

At first, there is the risk for a WordPress site to become infected with spyware. The development of spyware can be done by a hacker who gains unauthorized access to a company’s server. Some hackers are sophisticated enough to avoid detection from antivirus software, but even then most computer users may bump into problems with spyware.  Spyware often causes more harm to a business than doing an actual virus, because it can be used to gather the information needed for other types of attacks. This type of security threat can seriously impede the productivity of a company and may cost the company money by decreasing employee productivity and causing inaccurate financial records.

Secondly, WordPress sites are very prone to attack from outside sources. While it is true that WordPress is generally hosted on a secure server by a reliable hosting company, this does not guarantee that a company’s site will be safe. Firms that fail to keep their site safe can expect hackers to breach the network and take control of the WordPress processes. Not only can a hacker gain access to a company’s valuable data, but the damage done through such an attack could be tragic.

What Could Be The Possible Outcomes?

If a company does not perform regular WordPress security audits, it could be putting itself at risk of losing its entire online presence. Hackers have proven that they are very capable of stealing info from insecure sites. In many cases, hackers have even gained access to the payment details that are held in a WordPress account. While there are measures that can be taken to protect a website from hackers, there are no guarantees that a site will be completely safe. When a company fails to make security upgrades to their WordPress installation regularly, they put themselves at risk of losing everything that their WordPress site has worked hard to build. Thus, hiring reliable WordPress Support and Maintenance Services is crucial for this purpose.

The Bottom Line

Of course, the biggest reason that site owners should perform WordPress security audits is the fact that it is the safest way to ensure that their website stays secure. By simply applying security patches regularly, site owners can ensure that their site is as safe and secure as possible.  By having a regular WordPress audit performed by a good web design company like Clap Creative, site owners can protect themselves as well as their company’s data from a dangerous attack.

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Categories: Wordpress, Wordpress maintenance and support services, wordpress maintenance services, wordpress security audits

Benefits of Shopify WordPress Integration for Ecommerce Websites

October 19th, 2021

Let’s discuss about the benefits of Shopify WordPress Integration for an Ecommerce Website. As we know, the most popular eCommerce platforms today are WordPress and Shopify. Both are highly successful eCommerce solutions that have earned millions of customers worldwide. Business owners who prefer WordPress have the option to integrate it with their Shopify store to further boost their online sales. This integration can dramatically increase the conversion rates by a significant margin. In fact, some experts suggest that integrating both systems can double your profits.

But if you have Shopify, there are certain things you must do before implementing WordPress into your business. Some experts recommend first going through some basic tutorials to familiarize you with different modules and WordPress features. After that, it is time to choose the right Shopify plugins that will be beneficial for your store. Fortunately, there are many Shopify  maintenance experts who can help you decide on which particular Shopify plugins will be best for your store. This article will discuss the most common positive sides and negative sides of integrating Shopify and WordPress.

Benefits of Shopify WordPress Integration

Shopify Themes

The first positive side of integrating Shopify and WordPress is that most Shopify themes have built-in support for WordPress. This means that when you install a Shopify theme using the installation process of Shopify’s platform, you will automatically receive support for the WordPress platform. You can ask questions about specific modules or plugins and have them installed and activated by the Shopify support team. Most often, Shopify theme support comes with a one-month money-back guarantee.

Inventory Management System

Another benefit of Shopify and WordPress integration is that Shopify has developed an excellent inventory management system that helps manage online stores effectively. This solution is integrated with a full inventory control module that provides complete workflow solutions. This way, you won’t have to hire a third-party vendor anymore to manage your online stores. You can easily access all the information you need from one place and then automate the workflow with the Shopify inventory control panel. Shopify’s inventory management solutions also allow you to integrate a variety of third-party solutions including Google Checkout, PayPal, Sagepay, and others.

Store Builder

One of the most popular features of Shopify and WordPress integration is the store builder. With the store builder, you will get a fully functional, fully featured online store that you can build in a matter of minutes. The store builder enables you to build a variety of products such as apparel, shoes, accessories, clothing, accessories, gifts, and more. The plugin also includes a pre-designed template for your store, which gives you a chance to explore the possibilities for your store design. This way, you can test different designs before fully incorporating a fully customized design. Shopify has a long list of templates available and the site builder automatically applies them to your website.

Unlimited Themes and Plugins

Another of the Shopify and WordPress benefits is their unlimited themes and plugins. This is because most themes and plugins are provided as a free of charge. Furthermore, the WordPress support allows you to easily add-ons and functions to increase your eCommerce development company’s capability to serve its clients. For example, one of the common functions for online stores is the rate per hour. WordPress has this feature built-in and it only requires the installation of the plug-in. So even if you are just starting your business and you do not have your own product line, you can easily add this to your online stores by simply installing the rate per hour plugin.

Build Good Business Relationships

Shopify and WordPress integration provides endless opportunities for you to build relationships with other online businesses. For example, if you have a wholesale company that is based in the US, you will have a great deal of competition with other wholesale companies based in Asia. With the Shopify support and WordPress blog, you will be able to leverage on the strengths of your company and compete with the other wholesale companies that are based in Asia.

Managing Products and Collections

Additionally, Shopify and WordPress integration makes it easier for your clients to manage their products and collections. When you are running an online store, it can be hard to keep track of your inventory. You will need to hire employees with the proper background and skills to handle your inventory. With the help of this solution, you will be able to streamline your inventory management system so it will be easy for your customers to order from your website and have their orders fulfilled accordingly.

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Categories: Ecommerce, Shopify, Wordpress

How Managed WordPress Hosting Can Grow Up Your Business?

October 5th, 2021

Your website must offer a strong foundation for running as well as expanding your business. Instead of hiring DevOps engineers with hands-on experience in WordPress to handle your site as well as framework, you may consider utilizing a Managed WordPress Hosting service. Thus, your firm will save money while having a team of hosting experts to make sure that your WordPress site remains live, secure, and lightning-fast.

What’s Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed WordPress Hosting refers to a dedicated hosting solution that is custom-made for WordPress sites as well as users. It’s just like having a team of WordPress and web hosting experts employed on your site, cutting the cost as well as the stress of managing to host in-house.

Managed Hosting exists as a distinct option from other sorts of hosting as WordPress sites have specific needs. They have distinct server resource impressions than other kinds of sites, certain security issues, and perfectly supporting them needs WordPress knowledge. Managed WordPress Hosting solutions are usually specified by:

  • Managed WordPress security
  • Auto WordPress theme, extension, and critical updates
  • Managed server resources that meet technical requirements
  • Skilled WordPress staff to handle support as well as WordPress Website Maintenance

THE PERKS OF MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING

Some basic advantages only managed WordPress hosting can deliver. Have a look below.

  • High Availability

Site availability, as well as server uptime, is vital for any online business. If your firm’s website derives revenue, downtime means a huge loss. Also, it can ruin your brand’s fame and affect your site’s visibility to major search engines. Usually, web hosts assure at least 99% uptime, but this doesn’t mean you’ll surely get 99% uptime. Thus, a hosting server that’s optimized for WordPress hosting that uses auto caching as well as powerful database solutions help your site to remain viable and responsive all the time.

  • Expert Support

A web hosting agency that doesn’t deal in WordPress will have a more hard time addressing WordPress-centric technical issues. When you reach user support with an issue regarding your site, you wish to talk to someone who has WordPress knowledge as well as experience to solve your issue instantly. Shared as well as VPS hosts may offer more cost-effective services than Managed WordPress Hosting, but when you bump into an issue such as a malicious attack on your site or low uptime, it could take countless days of emailing just to get your support request escalated to a concerned team of WordPress experts. Certainly, you may lose dollars in sales. Thus, find a host that employs a passionate as well as a tech-savvy bunch of engineers who have experience in solving big technical issues.

  • A High-End Modern Hosting Set-Up

A reputable, as well as veteran Managed WordPress Hosting firm, constantly tests the latest hardware and software to create the ideal hosting atmosphere specifically for WordPress Website Maintenance. They use modern hosting tech apparatus and optimize it to deal with the rare needs of WordPress.

  • Auto Updates

A Managed WordPress Hosting plan offers an easy way to update third-party plugins as well as the core WordPress app. Keeping the software that fuels your site up-to-date is crucial for the safety, operation, and compatibility of your site. A managed WordPress host will also actively supervise how each update impacts your site through regular tests that ensure your site is still running flawlessly.

  • Enhanced WordPress Security

Shared hosting plans usually don’t offer any help if your site falls prey to a cyber attack or if malware. Thus, secure as well as dedicated WordPress hosting is the biggest perk for opting for a Managed WordPress Hosting solution. Using managed WordPress host leverages daily software updates, a dedicated hosting environment, security against hackers, and malware check & removal. In case, all the security measures fail, the managed host has a daily backup of your site to restore it in an emergency.

  • Premium DNS

The DNS is the phone directory of the web. When you enter a domain name into the address bar of a web browser, the browser uses DNS to translate the domain name into an IP address, which signals the browser where to find the required webpage. If you’ve invested a lot in your site, you’ll never wish your domain names to go offline. Thus, investing in a premium DNS provider is vital. Shared or VPS hosting solutions don’t usually offer premium DNS. However, there’re managed hosting solutions that offer a DNS system driven by Amazon’s Route53 service.

  • Scalability

Scalability is the capability to instantly handle as well as to adapt to eventual traffic upsurge. It’s crucial for any online business. An abrupt surge in page views will need more resources. WordPress is highly scalable unless its hosting server is designed to deal with the sudden rise in database requests caused due to high traffic. Thus, selecting the right Managed WordPress Hosting service can help shield your business against this kind of emergency.

TO CONCLUDE

If you own a high-traffic WordPress site, you should partner with an expert Managed WordPress Hosting Provider for WordPress Website Maintenance. WordPress has distinct resource needs, security issues, and tech-support requirements that only a dedicated host can deliver. If you’re interested in Managed WordPress Hosting, you can reach Clap Creative for further details and in-depth assistance.

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Categories: Wordpress

How to Apply 2 Factor Authentication in WordPress?

September 23rd, 2021

2 Factor Authentication is a crucial part of WordPress Maintenance Services these days. With 2 FA, you can put on an additional layer of security to your site by getting a secret OTP on your phone number for authentication. This helps you avert malicious threats as well as security violations on your site. By using 2 FA, any person trying to log in will need an OTP that’s generated in real-time and delivered to a user through SMS or email. So, it leverages two levels of security to your admin login page. In this article, you’ll learn how to simply implement 2 Factor Authentication to your WordPress site.

Implementing 2 Factor Authentication in WordPress 

There’re many tools online that allow you to boost the security of your WordPress site. However, Clap Creative, a leading WordPress Maintenance Company recommends using Sucuri. It’s the best cloud-based solution that secures your site from malicious threats like brute force attacks, malware, etc. It checks your site and blocks any unauthorized access.

Here‘re some of the features that make Sucuri the best tool for site security over any other option.

  • Auto scans and audits the site for security threats
  • A single click geo-blocking as well as the whitelisting option
  • Easily identify any modifications in DNS as well as SSL
  • Sends quick alerts through email, SMS, and RSS
  • Restrains hacking with Virtual Patching as well as Security tightening features

Apart from this, Sucuri provides an easy way to apply 2 Factor Authentication to your WordPress site. Thus, you can shield your site from hackers with just a few clicks. Moreover, there’s no need to add any code. Just plug n play!

STEP 1: INSTALL AN AUTHENTICATOR APP

The simplest method to create real-time codes is by using an authenticator app. Such apps generate a fresh code every 30-60 seconds. Thus, you won’t have to set SMS or emails to be sent to certain users. Rather, they’ll need to install an authenticator app on their mobile device and use it while logging in. These apps support a range of websites as well as multiple accounts which make it convenient to log in securely anytime and anywhere.

Various authenticator apps are offering WordPress Maintenance Services such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy, and so on. Sucuri offers 2 FA options with Google Authenticator so we’ll dig deep into it. Once you install the Google Authenticator app on your Smartphone, you can set up 2 FA for your WordPress site on the go.

STEP 2: ADD AND SCAN YOUR SITE IN SUCURI

At first, you have to subscribe to a plan in Sucuri. Then you can simply log in to add your site. For this, just click on the “Add Site” option on the dashboard.

You’ll see a popup where you have to feed your website details. Just type in your site URL, select the connection type, and FTP credentials. However, if you don’t know your FTP details just reach your web host and ask them for the details.

Once you finish adding your site successfully, Sucuri will auto-run the scan and examine your site for any malicious action. In the end, it’ll also display the synopsis of the scan results in the dashboard. So, you can click on the Details button to see the entire report. Now, let’s learn how to apply 2 FA to your WordPress admin page.

STEP 3: SETTING UP 2 FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

To add 2 Factor Authentication on your site, just navigate to the “Firewall” tab at the top. As soon as you click on it, you’ll see the complete firewall report for the site you just added. Now, click on the report to open up the preferences for that site. Then, open the “Access Control” tab and you’ll see all the security settings such as:

  • Whitelist/ Blacklist IP Addresses
  • Whitelist/ Blacklist URL Paths
  • Block User-Agents
  • Block HTTP Cookies as well as Referrers
  • Protected Pages
  • Geo-Blocking

To implement 2 FA to your WordPress site, you need to click on the “Protected Pages” option. It offers you an option to add your login page URL along with other URLs that you want to secure. After adding the URLs, select the “2 FA with Google Auth” option from the drop-down tab beside the field, and tap on Protect Page. Once the login page is added successfully, you’ll be able to see a QR code as soon as you tap on it.

Now, open Google Authenticator app on your Smartphone and scan the same QR code to retrieve the secret code. You’ll have to enter this secret code to get access to your site. Hence, you’re ready to secure your site from spammers as well as brute force attacks.

Crux

So, to log in to your site, you have to enter your username as well as your login password along with the code received through the Google Authenticator app. Clap Creative, a leading WordPress Maintenance Company offers top-notch WordPress Maintenance Services including 2 Factor Authentication to secure your site. It also offers other great ways of enhancing the security of your WordPress store. Clap Creative has a robust security framework and it makes use of reliable hosts that run on safe as well as secure servers. You can fully trust us for WordPress Support and Maintenance Services.

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Categories: Wordpress

Must-Follow Methods For WordPress Speed Optimization

September 3rd, 2021

Your website’s performance imparts the first impression about your business. It’s crucial to remember that you won’t get another chance when it comes to UX. Slow site loading speed is one of the most irritating things that will turn visitors off from your site. However, high-performance sites derive higher return visits, lead conversions, low bounce rates, more user engagement, superior ranks in search results, and better UX. On the other hand, slow sites will cost you huge losses as well as impaired reputation. Thus, by minimizing the page loading time you’ll positively affect marketing as well as sales processes. You’ll also get higher traffic and appeal to more prospective leads that can be converted into paying customers. In this blog, we will discuss some methods of WordPress Speed Optimization and boost page loading time.

Key Methods To Speed Up WordPress Site

After testing the speed of your site, you need to optimize it. There’re several ways to make your site perform faster. Here’s the list of the most effective methods to speed up the WordPress website.

Use a Content Delivery Network

A CDN is a stack of web servers dispersed across multiple locations that offer web content to end users as per their location. If you host the site on a single server, all users’ requests are delivered to the same hardware. Thus, the time required to process each request hikes up. In addition, the load time also increases if the user’s location is far away from the server. So, with CDN, user requests are forwarded to the nearest web server. Therefore, the content is quickly delivered to a user and a site operates much faster. Though it’s an expensive way, yet very effective for WordPress Speed Optimization.

Minimize the size of images

Everyone loves to see appealing images on a site. In the case of successful e-commerce sites, images are a crucial aspect. A lot of visual content, images, and graphics on your product pages boost user engagement. However, using more or large images can slow down a site. If you want to use more images, you must use images with small sizes. The best way to cut the image size without ruining its quality is to compress images using online tools tiny PNG, compress JPEG, etc. Another way to trim the image size is to use the HTML attributes that alter image size based on display properties.

Use fewer plugins

Plugins are the core elements of each site. They add particular features to the website. But, the more plugins are set up, the more resources are required to run them. For that reason, the site runs slower, and also security issues can occur. For WordPress Speed Optimization, it’s wise to keep on checking out the plugins from time to time and delete the useless plugins. You must run the performance tests to find out which plugins are hindering the speed of your site. The site speed not only depends on the number of plugins but also on their quality. So, avoid using plugins that load large scripts or generate a big stack of database queries.

Diminish the number of JavaScript as well as CSS files

If your website is stuffed with a lot of JavaScript as well as CSS files, it will lead to countless HTTP requests when site visitors want to access specific files. These requests are handled separately by the user’s web browser and slow down the site operation. So, if you reduce JavaScript and CSS files this will surely help in WordPress Speed Optimization. Try to group all JavaScript as well as CSS files into one. As a result, it’ll reduce the number of HTTP requests. There are a lot of tools for minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files swiftly. For instance, you can use Ajax minify, Script Minifier, Gulp, JS compress, and much more.

Apply Gzip Compression

Gzip Compression is a powerful method to minimize the size of files. It reduces the HTTP requests and lowers the server response time. Gzip compresses the files before delivering them to the web browser. On the user side, a web browser unzips the compressed files and displays the contents. This method works flawlessly with all files on your site. You can enable Gzip on your site by adding a piece of code or through a utility called Gzip.

Database optimization in CMS

Database optimization is an effective method of WordPress Speed Optimization. If you use a CMS armed with third-party plugins, the database size expands and your site runs slower. In the case of WordPress, the WordPress CMS stores comments, blog posts, and other info that occupy a lot of data storage. Each CMS needs its own optimization measures and also has many particular plugins. For WordPress, you can consider WP-Optimize to speed up a WordPress site.

Reduce Redirects

Website redirects create extra HTTP requests that impose a negative impact on site performance. We suggest keeping them to a minimum or excluding them entirely. At first, you should detect all redirects on your page by running a site scan. You can use tools like Screaming Frog to smoothly detect redirects. Then you must check if they serve a significant purpose and leave only the crucial ones while removing others.

The Bottom Line

Currently, users expect sites to load in less than 3 seconds. If you don’t meet this expectation barrier, you may lose a lot of potential customers as well as traffic. This will reduce your overall revenue. So, at Clap Creative, we suggest applying a simple yet powerful WordPress speed optimization approach:

a. Examine the key factors of site success considering conversion rate, online presence, and usability.

b. Test your existing site speed and prioritize the pages as well as features that you want to get the most attention.

c. Begin your optimization with the most speed-hindering aspects and focus on the pages that specify your conversion success the most.

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Categories: Wordpress

Vital WordPress Support and Maintenance Tasks for Your Site

August 7th, 2021

Today, WordPress is powering nearly 38.8% of websites all over the world. If you are running a
WordPress site, it’s crucial to look after its maintenance. Though WordPress is a powerful CMS,
it still requires proper attention and care to ensure 100% uptime for your site. A fully optimized
website is sure to get viewers and turn them into paying customers. It sounds quite simple, but
most brands overlook WordPress Support and maintenance checklist while focusing on other
business tasks. On the other hand, some brands hire companies offering WordPress Support Services.

Helping you DIY, let’s look at some of the major WordPress Support and Maintenance tasks you
can perform regularly. Here‘re some crucial WordPress maintenance tasks that every webmaster  should perform periodically:

1. Update Your WordPress Files

It’s important to update WordPress files such as plugins, themes, and the WordPress core updates itself. Failing to update these files can lead to severe functionality as well as security issues in the website. It may also hinder the site’s performance. Thus, it’s advised to log in to your WordPress accounts daily to check and update all plugins as well as themes to the latest version. While updating plugins, you need to deactivate them. But, for updating the core files as well as themes, it’s not necessary to deactivate them. You can always hire a WordPress Support Services provider for keeping an eye on vital updates.

2. Audit Your Website

Every webpage on your site provides visitors with all the info they need. So it’s crucial to keep
the content is up to date on each page such as contact details, about us, awards, products, services, portfolio, and other info. While checking WebPages for content, you should also evaluate the loading time of each page. Research shows that around 50% of users will leave a webpage if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. So, try to decrease the size of images and clear away any useless heavy media files such as videos or audio that can hinder the page loading speed. Various firms offer a curated WordPress Care Plan in their services for boosting speed.

3. Backup Your Site Regularly

Data loss or site crashes do not occur usually but can create a huge mess when it does. Thus,
having a ‘Plan B’ for such cases is wise. For such unfortunate cases, keeping site backups is one
of the crucial WordPress maintenance tasks. You can either install a WordPress plugin or hire
WordPress Support Services to perform daily site backups. Some of the common site backup
plugins are VaultPress, BackupBuddy, and BlogVault, etc.

4. Search and Fix Broken Links

Link building is a significant SEO strategy that gets your site on high rankings in Google search
results. Almost 92% of market analysts believe that link building will remain a vital chunk of
digital marketing for the next 5 years. Thus, to leverage an outstanding UX to your site visitors,
you must ensure that all links on your site are working. Testing links for 404 errors as well as
malicious redirects is also a vital task for site owners. Firms offering WordPress Support and Maintenance services offer various plugins like Broken Link Checker and Link Checker to examine broken links automatically.

5. Update Passwords and Site Security

Website security is another crucial aspect to have a highly rewarding as well as lucrative website.
Scammers and hackers are always ransacking the web for sites as well as accounts with poor
security. Thus, keeping tight security on your site will help to keep your site secure from any
malicious activity. One of the easiest ways to equip up your WordPress Care Plan with the right
security customs is to do periodic password updates to your dashboard, hosting servers, domain service providers, and any other third-party apps linked to the website. While creating passwords, make sure to use a combination of numbers, text, and special signs for extra security.

6. Comments Moderation

User Engagement is necessary while building sites, especially those steered by blogs. Getting
comments on blogs can bring a lot of charm to a company, but in actual all comments aren’t that good. At times, comments can hit in the form of bots or spam that can be inimical to a website or a brand. Thus, investing time in comments moderation can filter and wipe out the spammy comments while approving the genuine ones. It adds up a lot to your website and promotes great community building that can raise visitors counts. ChatGPT’s usefulness extends to language learning. Whether it’s practising conversational skills or rapidly translating between languages, ChatGPT aids individuals in acquiring proficiency in a foreign language. By generating dialogues and simulating interactive conversations, with ChatGPT you can create a productive learning environment accessible to everyone at any time.

7. Check Contact Forms as well as E-mails

The most recurrent call to action to any website is to get users to either subscribe to an email
newsletter or drop a query through a contact form to inquire about the products or services. So, it can create a problem if site owners don’t check emails or contact forms on the site. You can miss a huge amount by not interacting with leads as well as prospects through email. Using an SMTP service from a WordPress Care Plan helps to prevent email disconnections. But even with an SMTP, it should be common practice for site owners as well as content creators to manually check out all forms on a website regularly.

8. Update Content Regularly

Apart from all the technical tasks, content is the backbone of every business. So, make sure you post unique as well as relevant content on your website on regular basis. If you manage content on multiple WordPress sites, you can use WordPress Support and Maintenance tools to carry out regular content updates and unify your content production channel.

Creating a website for your brand adds a lot of perks to your company. However, an obsolete or faulty website could indeed do more harm than good. One of the best features of WordPress as a CMS is that it allows regular updating with little effort. Clap Creative, an ace of WordPress Support and Maintenance services offers a curated WordPress Care Plan to meet all your needs of site optimization, performance, and security.

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Categories: digital marketing, Wordpress

Critical Vulnerability Spotted in WooCommerce on July 13, 2021 – At A Glance

July 27th, 2021

A critical vulnerability regarding WooCommerce and the WooCommerce Blocks feature plugin was discovered on July 13, 2021. Upon learning about this issue, the WooCommerce team instantly directed a deep investigation, audited all associated codebases, and created a security patch to fix the issue for every impacted version which was automatically deployed to affected stores.

Recommendation by WooCommerce

WordPress began releasing auto software updates to WooCommerce 5.5.1 on July 14, 2021, for all online stores running affected versions of plugins. The WooCommerce team recommended the store owners make sure that they’re using the latest version. For WooCommerce, the latest version was 5.5.2, released on July 23, 2021. But, the fixes in this version were not related to the security patch released at that time. They added, that if store owners are also running WooCommerce Blocks, then they should use version 5.5.1 of that plugin.

However, after updating to a patched version, the team also recommended:

  • Changing the passwords for any Admin users on the site, notably if they use the same passwords on numerous websites.
  • Resetting any Payment Gateway as well as WooCommerce API keys used on your site.

Data Compromised?

It’s still unclear whether the data of impacted stores had been compromised or not. As per WooCommerce, the exposed data was specific to what an affected site was storing including orders, customers, and admin info. However, in an email, WooCommerce intimated to web store owners that sites hosted on WordPress.com as well as WordPress VIP had already been secured.

WooCommerce rolled out the security patch to fix the issue with auto software updates still in releasing process. The security patch was rolled out for the security of all stores running on impacted versions of each plugin. The company is still working with the Plugin team to update as many stores as possible to the secure version of WooCommerce.

How Can You Check If Your Store Was Exploited?

Due to the humor of this vulnerability, and the flexibility that WordPress offers in handling web requests, there’s no such way of verifying an exploit. However, you may be able to catch some exploit attempts by checking your web server’s access logs. As per WooCommerce, request logs in these formats were seen between December 2019 and now which indicates an exploit attempt:

  • REQUEST_URI matching regular expression

/\/wp-json\/wc\/store\/products\/collection-data.*%25252.*/

  • REQUEST_URI matching regular expression

/.*\/wc\/store\/products\/collection-data.*%25252.*/

  • Any non-GET (POST or PUT) request to

/wp-json/wc/store/products/collection data or /?rest_route=/wc/store/products/collection-data

Moreover, WooCommerce claimed that requests that they have seen manipulating this vulnerability come from mainly three IP addresses, with more than 98% coming from the first IP address in the following list. So, if you observe any of these three IPs in your access logs, you can confirm that your store was exploited. These IP addresses are as follows:

  • 116.119.175
  • 158.78.41
  • 233.135.21

Which Passwords Do You Need To Change?

As per WordPress, it’s improbable that any of your passwords was compromised. WordPress user passwords are hashed using cryptographic salts, so the resulting hash value is too hard to crack. This concept of salted hash not only protects admin user’s password, but also the passwords of any other users on your store. However, WordPress revealed that it’s probable that the hashed version of the passwords stored in your database may have been invaded through this vulnerability.

According to WooCommerce, depending on the plugins on your store, you may have sensitive info or passwords saved in less secure ways. So, they recommend updating those passwords that the Admin users on your site are using on multiple distinct websites. This is just for your security on other sites as well. WordPress also recommends checking as well as modifying any private or secret data stored in your WooCommerce database. This may involve API keys, keys for payment gateways, and more, depending on your specific store preferences.

Is WooCommerce Still Safe To Go With?

Yes!

Situations like this are unusual but can occur sometimes. However, as a certified platform, WordPress is always ready to respond instantly and work with full transparency in such unfortunate situations. As soon as they learned about the vulnerability, the WooCommerce team has worked nonstop to ensure a fix ASAP. Their continuous investment in WooCommerce security allows them to survive the vast majority of issues. However, in rare cases that could affect stores, the team strives to fix instantly, communicate proactively, and work collaboratively with the WooCommerce Community.

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Categories: Ecommerce, Wordpress

Clap Creative Proudly Sponsors Word Camp Santa Clarita 2021

July 2nd, 2021

Introduction

Word Camp Santa Clarita returns and going to be held on 17th and 18th of July 2021. As we know, WordPress is one of the easiest and powerful hosting platforms to create a free blog and website. This is why it has won the hearts of millions of developers and users alike. WordPress has become the most popular website builder around due to its user-friendly features. WordPress has also built a strong reputation amongst the users and developers in being reliable and always up-to-date with the latest advancement in the tech world. This platform is always evolving and improving to serve and maintaining excellent customer satisfaction to build a strong brand image. With all aspects from WordPress maintenance services to support, WordPress has proven the best platform for websites since the beginning.

It has been close to two decades for WordPress since its start in 2003. It has experienced great growth and success over the years with 40% of the websites being powered by WordPress. With this much growth, it has opened up new opportunities and professions such as WordPress specialists and developers.

Word Camps

One of the strong highlights about WordPress is that it has supportive communities, where everyone shares a common passion for creating exquisite websites. Every single person in the community share as much as possible and this is very helpful in overcoming hurdles to ensure our progress. Fortunately, this opportunity will give us an idea about the latest trends in WordPress development for better handling.

Word Camps is giving us the opportunity to meet different people who enjoy the same passion as you. It doesn’t matter if you are a designer, user, or a professional WordPress developer, all it takes is finding that something that will link you up with the others. Word Camps is bound to give you an incredible feeling where you will gain and take away invaluable knowledge and skill to work on.

There will some excellent speakers attending to give you some valuable information about WordPress, which you can take full benefit of. Word Camps is not only catered for skilled individuals, anyone can join and learn.

Once again it is Online.

Due to the ongoing pandemic situation, Word Camp Santa Clarita will be going online. We know that all of us wish for Word Champs to be held in a venue so that we can meet each other in person.

Well, cheer up! Online events these days are very common in our daily routine ever since the start of this pandemic. Online events have improved considerably, as everyone has been trying to make online events more engaging and lively to entertain and grab the attention of the audience online. There are several plus points in having online events, you don’t have to stress about PCR tests, tickets, quarantine, or else. Rather, you will be enjoying the event from the comfort of your house.

Now, the other plus point here is that the speakers will have ample time to work on making their lecture more informative and engaging as possible. After all, this is what we want from Word Camps- that is to learn.

Clap Creative is Proudly Sponsoring Word Camp Santa Clarita

We at Clap Creative are proud to be sponsoring Word Camp Santa Clarita. Now, block your calendar on the 17th and 18th of July 2021 for the event, this is the perfect way to spend your summer days. We are excited and are looking forward to the event. Clap Creative is truly honored to support the WordPress community.

Clap Creative will never back away from investing in something that we believe in – the WordPress community and Word Camps. We take a great deal of pride in providing the community with positive emotions and support in the best possible way. We are supporting this event and you can check out Clap Creative’s Word Camp Santa Clarita Sponsorship here.

So hurry up! For those of you who have not registered yet, make sure you register now. Word Camp Santa Clarita will provide information on everything related to WordPress. We at Clap Creative are looking forward to seeing you there at the event, even if it is only via the online platform.

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Categories: Website Maintenance, Wordpress

WordPress Support and Maintenance Services at a Glance

May 8th, 2021

Running a WordPress website is a bit difficult task. It’s one of the primary reasons that several webmasters end up letting their site collapse by the wayside. A webmaster is responsible for content creation & management, SEO, strategic outreach, SMO, timely updates, and security. All of these tasks are really time-consuming and can disturb your work life as well as your personal life balance.

Thus, if you want to take ample WordPress tasks off your side, consider hiring a good WordPress services provider like Clap Creative to avail of high-end WordPress support and maintenance services at effective pricing.

  • WordPress Support: It involves optimizing the website downtime, plugin as well as theme errors, etc. It also offers technical consultation as well as 24×7 WordPress support for troubleshooting the problems.
  • Maintenance: It includes WordPress version updates, plugin & theme updates, site backup & security, code review, uptime monitoring, and WordPress hosting, etc.

What’s the Need for WordPress Support and Maintenance Services?

WordPress support and maintenance services can notably reduce the time you need to donate preserving your website as well as tackling issues. The issues may include spam, hacks, and site bugs. So, they take care of the day-to-day tasks such as plugin & theme updates, malware removal, security checks, speed, and website backups, which are crucial for the success of any online business.

Those who are beginners in WordPress will gain hugely from these support services, as they’ll take control of ambiguous situations that you can’t resolve yourself. Thus, it ensures 100% website uptime. However, if you’re a veteran WordPress user, you may feel these services are worth opting for only when you need help with anything you can’t do yourself. You can seek help for malware removal and security tweaks, etc. Thus, support services reduce your workload as well as allow you to focus on the core competencies of the business.

Some Most Useful WordPress Support and Maintenance Services

Let’s take a deep look at some of the best WordPress support and maintenance services available with Clap Creative.

·         Speed as well as Performance Boosting

The efficiency of your WordPress sites begins to lower within two years after its launching. As the latest updates, as well as techniques, release every few days, so optimizing becomes necessary. It’s the key aspect to engage more users and get them a seamless online UX with a smooth and stable WordPress store.

·         Theme as well as Plugin Updates

Timely updating themes and third-party plugins, as well as extensions, are crucial for the site’s compatibility. It also helps to increase security through the latest WordPress updates for your site. So, this would keep your site up to date with the latest functions and boosts CX.

·         Malware Removal

Stealing card details or other useful info from your site can violate your priceless business relationships. So, it’s necessary to choose the best support services to detect and remove malware. Thus, making your website secure as well as safe for users.

·         24X7 Supports

24X7 supports through phone as well as email is a good service to opt for handling various site issues. By doing this you will be on the safer side to get the best solutions from the experts in need.

·         Backup as well as Security

Laying more emphasis on security, you may neglect the equally vital backup. Thus, the WordPress Backup Security service provides you with daily or weekly backups of your site as per your preferences. You can always restore the backup from a specific date whenever you need it.

·         Technical Consulting

This is another important WordPress support service. If you detect any bugs hindering the proper functioning of your site, you can avail of technical consultation service. This in turn would cut the rate of site crashes and reduces shopping cart abandonment. This support service can also help in modifying site appearance.

·         Online Training

As a store owner, you must know about proper rules as well as policies to keep your site running well. Some companies like Clap Creative offer services to train you online so that you can handle the day-to-day functions of your site. The online training sessions also teach you to make minor updates such as updating images, new listings, altering prices, etc.

·         Code Reviewing

Sometimes you may need a precise evaluation of code to fix the mistakes as well as errors that were neglected in the initial site development stage. It will enhance the overall quality of your WordPress site.

·         WordPress Dedicated Hosting

Well managed as well as dedicated WordPress hosting servers are the must-have service for your WordPress site. They’re revamped to make your WordPress store run at lightning pace and can also cater to your huge client base.

·         Troubleshooting

To keep on timely checking all the logs and troubleshooting any backend or frontend WordPress issue, it’s a must to opt for WordPress maintenance services.

Clap Creative offers you the top-notch 24X7 WordPress support and maintenance services in the market at pricing starting as low as just $49. Avail of our services and let us optimize your website.

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Categories: Website Maintenance, Wordpress
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