The Digital Product Blueprint Tech Tools...

The Digital Product BlueprintTech Tools Training

Setting Up A (Fast, Secure, SEO’d) Blog

Overview

Essential Goals Of Your Blog/Website:• Speed - for user experience, and for SEO• Security - against hackers, and failures/errors• SEO - To maximize organic traffic to your site

Goals of This Training

• Set up your wordpress-based website• Configure core functionality• Add security measures (backups, hacker-proof)• Optimize for performance / speed• Set up to maximize on-page SEO

Not Goals of This Training

• Website Design• Setting up landing/sales pages and list building• Content production / marketing• Learning to be a WP tech ninja coder person• …coming in a later Tech Tools Training

The irony is…

• Ideally you won’t do any of what you’re about to learn.• Unless you are the “tech department” for your

business - This is the perfect work to outsource and/or automate

• But at least you’ll know what your techs should be doing for you….

Preparation

• Useful to set up some accounts before getting started• wordpress.com - API/Id for Akismet/Jetpack• Amazon S3 - Media storage and delivery• gravatar.com - Brand yourself!

How Wordpress Works

Setting Up Your Hosting and Domain

Set Up Hosting and Domain

• Get a domain name• Get a hosting account• If different providers, modify DNS to connect

domain to hosting server


Get a domain name:• Popular domain registrars:

• godaddy.com• namecheap.com


Various Types of Hosting• Shared• Semi-Dedicated / Managed VPS• Dedicated• Managed Wordpress


What kind of hosting do you need?• Less than 25,000 visitors/mo … shared• Less than 100,000 visitors/mo … VPS• More than 100,000 visistors/mo … Dedicated• Ideal “middle ground” : managed wordpress

hosting


Shared Web Hosting Providers• Siteground.com• InMotionHosting.com• LiquidWeb.com


Managed Wordpress Hosting:• Tends to be pricier but…• All the stability, security and speed issues taken

care of for you; plus all the regular backups and maintenance updates

• A preferred solution if you can find the budget


• WPEngine.com• WebSynthesis.com• LightningBase.com• LiquidWeb.com• Pressidium.com

• Pressable.com• Godaddy.com

Managed Wordpress Hosting Suggestions:

Install and Configure Wordpress

Install Wordpress

• Easiest: 1-click install from cPanel using Fantastico or Softaculous

• Manual Installation : Download from wordpress.org and follow “famous 5-minute install” instructions:https://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress#Famous_5-Minute_Install

• Suggest install into it’s own folder, not top level domain

Configure Wordpress

• Edit wp-config.php file• Edit admin dashboard settings• Select a theme

Select A Theme

Select A Theme

• Buy only from known, trusted and reputable sources• Make sure it’s responsive / mobile-friendly - Not only

for user experience, but also for SEO• https://www.google.ca/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

• http://www.studiopress.com/responsive/

• Keep theme updated to avoid security vulnerabilities

Theme Resources

• Default wordpress themes• studiopress.com• solostream.com• woothemes.com• elegantthemes.com• themeforest.com

Theme ResourcesVisual Composers & Page Builders• optimizepress.com• thrivethemes.com• beaverbuilder.com• Elegant themes, Divi• Velocity Page

• Dynamik for Genesis• X - The Theme• Visual Composer

Install Plugins

Install Plugins

• Only use plugins from known and reputable sources: either in the wordpress.org plugins repository, or it’s a premium plugin

• Keep plugins use to a minimum - use only the ones you need — plugin bloat can degrade performance and open security vulnerabilities

• Keep plugins updated to avoid security vulnerabilities

Install Plugins

• When choosing from wordpress.org plugins repository, select the plugins that:• Have the most downloads (at least 5,000)• Have at least 4 star reviews (from many reviewers)• Have been tested with the latest version of WP• Have been updated within the last 6-12 months (sooner

is better)

Secure Your Site

Secure Your Site

• Best practices:• Remove admin user• Change default table prefix• Use long, unique

passwords (password managers are handy/necessary for this)

• Protect wp-config.php and .htaccess files

• Backup regularly• Disable source file editing• Keep wordpress, themes

and plugins updated

Secure Your Site

• Good news —• Many of these best practices are handled by

security plugins like:• iThemes Security• Wordfence Security

Secure Your Site

• To secure your site, let’s use:• Cloudflare.com• iThemes Security• Sucuri monitoring plugin• Optional/Recommended: SSL Certificate

Backup Your Site

Backup Your Site

• This may be the most critical component of your website/blog security and stability strategy

• If you have backups, you can recover from error, failure, malware or hacking with minimal impact

• Without it - you could lose everything in a matter of minutes (don’t think it can’t happen to you)

Backup Your Site

• Suggest using UpDraftPlus Wordpress Plugin• Very flexible and saves to your cloud storage

(google drive, dropbox, S3, etc)• It’s free, but over 1M+ downloads and great

reviews makes it an “easy yes”

Backup Your Site

• If you’re using iThemes Security plugin, your other backup option is “Backup Buddy” from iThemes

• It’s a premium plugin, but reasonably priced and integrates nicely with iThemes Security

• For a fully automated SAAS, consider vaultpress.com

Backup Your Site

• Connect to your preferred cloud storage destination, and automate backups of both your site AND your database

• Backup frequency depends on volume of activity on the site (monthly -> weekly -> daily as activity increases)

Optimize Performance


• Your host will be a main component of your site performance - choose wisely

• Choose well constructed themes and plugins, and keep them updated

• Use a cache plugin• Use a CDN (Content Distribution Network)


• “Better WP Minify” or “AutoOptimize”: Minimize file sizes (don’t need if using Cloudflare)

• “WP Smush" - Optimize your images• “Use Google Libraries” for fast fonts/scripts loading• “WP Optimize” - Keep your database clean• “W3 Total Cache” - creates static copies of dynamic files• “Cloudflare” plugin - “talk" to your cloud flare account.• Keep your plugins under control Plugin Organizer


• Test your site’s performance and improve using:• tools.pingdom.com• yslow.org• gtmetrix.com• https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Optimize SEO

Optimize SEO

• Good on-Page SEO can be a great help towards high search engine rankings

• Two parts: (a) the research and (b) using the research to SEO EVERY page and post you publish.

• Both are mundane and take time - but worth it if you want to build your search engine visibility and build free traffic streams to your website/blog

Optimize SEO

• Key things to do to optimize on-page SEO:• Optimize each page/post for ONE keyword or phrase• Use the keyword or phrase (keep the phrase intact) in:

• Page title, description and Meta tags• Article title and article headings (H1, H2, H3…)• Throughout the article - especially in the opening paragraphs• Filenames and Alt Tags

Optimize SEO

• Wordpress (Yoast) SEO plugin will enforce the optimization of each page/post you write (Assuming you know the keywords you’re optimizing for, of course)

• Google XML Sitemap will index your site in a way the search engine robots can easily read; and is useful for submitting to Google Webmaster Tools

Optimize SEO

• Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) will generate links to other pages on your website, increasing time on site and page views

• Optional/Recommended: Use SSL on your site• Broken Link Checker - search engines mistrust

web sites with broken links

Add Analytics

Analytics

• Google Analytics by Yoast• Tracking Code Manager• Google Analyticator (for adding UA code)• Insert Headers and Footers

Other Useful Plugins


• Auto Terms of Service and Privacy Policy• Akismet• P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler)• Duplicate Post• Redirection or Pretty Link Lite


• Shortcode Ultimate• TablePress• Maintenance Mode• Widget Logic• Revision control


• Click to tweet• Pinterest Pin it Button for Images• Digg Digg or MashSharer


• Periodically watch the wordpress.org plugins repository for new releases and those gaining in use and popularity (good reviews)

Summary

Summary

• Learned to:• Install and configure your wordpress-based website• Install and configure core plugins• Add security measures (backups, hacker-proof)• Optimize for performance / speed• Set up to maximize on-page SEO• Add analytics tracking• A review of generally useful plugins

Summary

• Covered a LOT of ground• Review repeatedly as needed• Play - Pause - Do• Consider outsourcing!• Get your site online and start publishing!

Questions

Thank you!

The Digital Product Blueprint Tech Tools...

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