WordPress 5.6 Is Available

WordPress 5.6 Is Available

Dec 17, 2020

WordPress 5.6 is Available to Download

WordPress 5.6 was released for download and installation on December 8, 2020. On today’s episode of the WP Wednesday Podcast we’ll talk about what’s in the release, and why you should, or should not install it.

WordPress 5.6 is Available

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

WordPress 5.6 Features

  • New Blocks
    Layout more complex pages easier with more flexible layouts of images, content, color and more.
  • Auto-Updates for WordPress
    In previous releases plugins and themes were available to auto-update, but in 5.6 you can now set the full WordPress core to update automatically. To be totally honest, I’m not a fan of this feature, especially if you run multiple websites. I like to know what updated when, so if something breaks I know what was changed. So tread lightly on auto-updates and MAKE YOUR BACKUPS!
  • New Base Theme – Twenty Twenty One
    All new major WordPress releases feature a new base theme, and every new base is usually significantly better than the last. So I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in this new one.
  • Beta Support for PHP8
    New versions of WP run well on supported versions of PHP including 7.x. But 5.6 features more support for the newly released PHP 8. But many hosts don’t have PHP 8 available yet, and finding themes and plugins that work with the new code may be problematic, so be careful with live sites.
  • jQuery Updates
    Some Javascript updates were made in WordPress 5.6 that can cause some breakage in site features. I use WP Rocket to optimize my site, and had to disable an optimization feature “Remove jQuery Migrate” which was said to increase site speed. But my theme, DIVI by Elegant Themes had some modules that no longer worked.

There are more features and bug fixes that can found on the WordPress.org websites on version 5.6. While I do support upgrading, do it while you have time to research, backup your site, and be ready to either restore that backup or troubleshoot possible issues that may emerge.

Good luck and happy WordPressing!

What are your thoughts on upgrading your WordPress site? Send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Today’s News Links

WordPress 5.6 is Available

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Fonts In WordPress

Fonts In WordPress

Nov 25, 2020

Using Fonts in WordPress

Most websites have images. Some have videos. Others have database connections, feeds from other sites, shopping carts, and others item.

But it’s fair to say that EVERY websites has fonts. From the classic Times New Roman, to newly launched fonts like Shapiro, fonts are text stylings used to display written text on sites.

There are many ways to edit font types but today we’re going to talk about how you can add or change the fonts on your site.

Fonts in WordPress

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Fonts in WordPress are a great way to stylize your website. Changing the font can make a site look very corporate or newsy, or fun and light. Therefore fonts can make a site hard to read or amateurish, so choose wisely.

Most sites use primarily two fonts, one for headings, and one for body text. There are often other fonts used for beneath images, advertisements, and other special cases, but two is the base number needed.

Need some suggestions on font pairings for your site? Check out Font Pair to see fonts paired together and how they will look in WordPress.

Finding Fonts

There are hundreds of fonts in WordPress available online for free or at a very low cost.

Make Your Own Font!

A site called Font Squirrel will take a font you own, upload it to the application, and edit to your needs. Add tails to letters, increase the boldness,

Use the Fonts in WordPress

Once you’ve decided on which fonts will work on your site, it’s time to implement them. There are many ways including CSS, themes and plugins.

  • Themes Some themes already have a customizer in their options to set default heading and paragraph fonts. This makes selecting and changing them extremely easy, as you only have to edit in one place and it should universally change the pages.Of course if any changes were made inside a page they may still hold the values. I use the DIVI theme and changing fonts sitewide is very simple, and using a visual builder it’s quick to see a change in both font style and size will affect the site.
  • Plugins Like setting a font in WordPress in the theme customizer, plugins offer an easy way to change fonts sitewide. Most will interface directly with Google Fonts and other depositories to bring in the fonts and other styles.
  • CSS The most powerful, the fasted loading time, and maybe the most difficult way to adjust your fonts is through CSS. CSS is some instructions on how your WordPress and other site display text, images, page width, navigation and many other options on the site.

To set the fonts and other properties in CSS you will need the following
1- Downloaded font files, or in some cases have code from a depository (like Google Fonts) which can provide an “@import” instruction to pull the files needed in your CSS page/site.
2 – Access to edit the WordPress files to bring in the fonts through CSS. Sometimes this will be a custom CSS file. Other times it will be a specific file in the WP theme. Find out where to change on your page.
3- Sometimes changes to fonts can be made in the header.php file. Place the font import in the <HEAD></HEAD> portion of the HTML.
4- If you host the font files locally, the “@font-face” CSS command can be used.

See more ways and even get specific CSS and HTML code to add fonts in WordPress by visiting this article on WebsiteSetup.org

WORDPRESS NEWS FOR EPISODE 120

  • WP Beginner – How to Change MX Records For Your WordPress Site

MX Records are where your email is directed. Often times it is the same server as the web host, but more advanced sites use an ARecord host (website), and MX Record host (mail) at different locations. This article gives some great instructions on why, and how, you would change the server records.

bit.ly/33gzObT

  • WP Lift – How to Optimize Cumulative Layout Shift on WordPress

This one might be slightly advanced. If you’ve been using page scoring sites like GTMetrix or Page Insights lately, you’ve probably noticed one of the big items listed as a negative is Cumulative Layout Shift.

It’s when the code is loading and the site layout flashes as images, videos and other content fall into place on the site. It can be distracting, but there are ways around it. If the site loads quickly it may not be an issue, but if you’re concerned about this the page gives some great ideas on how to minimize the shift.

bit.ly/372ixV3

UPDATE : You can use legacy reporting from GTMetrix ( https://gtmetrix.com/blog/how-to-test-with-legacy-gtmetrix-reports/ )F

  • Search Engine Journal – WordPress 5.6 Guidance on PHP 8 Compatibility

The most recent version of PHP (7.4) doesn’t reach it’s projected EOL (end of life) until Dec 2022, so if you’re running near the most recent version everything should be fine… for now. But if you like to live on the technical edge, PHP 8 is starting to roll out and WordPress 5.6 will be compatible in beta form, meaning running it on a production website is risky at best.

There are bound to be issues with the core, and almost certainly will be with themes, plugins and even custom code. So implement at your own risk.

bit.ly/360IFQC

 

Fonts in WordPress

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Online Learning Opportunities

Online Learning Opportunities

May 13, 2020

Learning A New Skill In These Weird Times

This weird time has us looking to fill time that used to be spent going to movies, out to dinner, in longer in-person meetings or other recreational activities. 

So, with that free time, maybe it’s time to learn some new skills. 

On today’s BeBizzy Break Podcast we’re going to talk about some of the most popular online apps and websites. 

Learning A New Skill Online

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Online Course Websites

Coursera – https://www.coursera.org/

  • Huge selection ranging from business, health, computer science,

MIT Open Courseware – https://ocw.mit.edu/

  • Free courses from MIT professors and other educators
  • Business, energy, engineering, arts, math, science

EdX – https://www.edx.org/

  • 2500 courses from 140 institutions
  • Computer science, language, engineering, humanities, business

Stanford, Yale, Berkley and many more highly regarded institutions also have online opportunities. Search and check them out.

Programming/Technical

Other General Learning

 

What are your favorite places for online learning? Send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Learning A New Skill Online

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Adding Notifications to Your WordPress Site

Adding Notifications to Your WordPress Site

Apr 3, 2020

Adding Notifications 

Sometimes you need to get specific information out to your customers like operation times, newsletter signups, new product lines, or even business sale or closing messages.

There are many ways to do this, and also many things to consider when you’ve decided to move forward. On today’s Episode 111 of the BeBizzy Break Podcast we talk about Adding Notifications to your WordPress Website.

Adding Notifications to Your WordPress Site

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

What To Consider Before Adding A Notification

On the surface, adding a notification to a website sounds simple. I need to tell people something, add a popup…

But given there’s so many ways to do this, and so many options, it’s important to consider a few things before you move forward.

  • How often should I present the message – most of these options have ways to limiting how often a user sees the message. The most popular are once per user session, once per day, once per week, or simply… once. How often would be managed by what the message is, the importance of the message, and the duration.
  • Should I open on all pages, or limit viewing – Does your message need to be seen by every visitor to the page, or it important only to blog viewers, or contact us visitors?
  • How intrusive should it be – Will a standard popup get the job done, or can you just have a footer notification. Or is it so important that it needs to be full-page?
  • Require User Interaction – Does the visitor need to interact with it with a Call-To-Action (CTA), or will a simple accept or close button work?
  • How long should you leave it up – In the case of the COVID outbreak, the office closures will be mostly dictated by the government, but if it’s seasonal hours, or specific instructions, make sure you have someone who knows to remove it.

Ways to Display Notifications

There are many ways to display notifications to website visitors. The most popular include : 

  • Notification Bars – These are usually stuck to the footer of a website and will stay there until acknowledged with a click to close. Uses include notification of privacy policy, a change in store/office hours, and moderately important messages. One of the more popular plugins is WPFront Notification Bar. 
  • Popups – You’ve seen popups for years. They are on almost every website you visit trying to get you to subscribe to newsletter, acknowledge privacy policies, and in the case of COVID-19 showing hours or other information. Use this method carefully when you determine how often it needs to be displayed, how large it is displayed, and what information is requested. There are hundreds of popup builder plugins available, find the one that fits your needs.
  • Edit Your WordPress page – If you want something a bit more permanent or embedded in your website you can just add it on your home age in a row or module. This takes a bit more work, but can be a little bit less intrusive to visitors but still be seen. 

Adding a notification to your website can be as easy as just saying you want one and picking a way to do it. But, by putting a little thought into it before you implement you can find a better, more effective way of projecting your message. 

What are your favorite ways of displaying notifications to website visitors? Send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Adding Notifications to Your WordPress Site

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

Mar 26, 2020

Where Do You Start On A Redesign

One of the critical parts of website research is what you do, and maybe more importantly, what you do NOT like on how a website looks and works. Often clients refer to competitors when they point out these likes and dislikes, which is OK, but can force these clients into a corner.

But I would encourage you to look outside your competitors, and even your business classification for inspiration. Find a look that is user friendly, modern and gets your business and culture across to your clients.

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Sites To Inspire

Apart from just surfing the web looking for inspiration there are places dedicated to inspire design. Here we’re going to list five sites that can provide some layouts, functions and tones for your potential redesign.

Again, it’s important to look past the content and to see the design, the layout and even some of the plugins that can be implemented into your site when it’s time to discuss a redesign or initial launch. This can save DOZENS of hours of redesigning and tweaking layouts in the long run. Don’t forget to look at and discuss fonts, heading and text sizes, colors, image sizes, social media feeds, calendars and anything else you think you need.

#WPWednesday – WordPress 5.4 

WordPress 5.4 scheduled for launch 3/31/2020 with several “block editor” improvements. Not sure an update during these turbulent times is a good idea, but the updates include :  

  • Several “block editor” improvements
  • Social Icons block – allows easy insertion of social media profiles (FB, TW, IG)
  • Buttons block – allow adding more than one button per line
  • Better background color options for blocks
  • Drag & drop an image to the Featured Image section. Great for social sharing and blog images.
  • Select text in a block and change its color instead of changing the entire block
  • Fixed mobile toolbar on mobile

As always, run backups and take other precautions before you run the update. Good luck!

What are your favorite ways to be inspired on a website redesign? Leave them below, or send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Great Website Hosting : InMotion Hosting

Great Website Hosting : InMotion Hosting

Dec 23, 2019

Choosing Your Website Host is Critical

There are so many pieces to a great WordPress website. The WP version, PHP, theme, plugins, images, content, videos… all contribute to the website’s performance.

But even if everything is optimized as much as possible, if your server isn’t performing, the site will still not serve as quickly as possible.

I’ve tried many server hosts in the last decade, and my favorite so far is undeniably  InMotion Hosting.

InMotion Hosting

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

A Little About InMotion Hosting

Joining me on the BeBizzy Break Podcast toay was Robert Hood, Assistant Product Line Manager for both WordPress and Dedicated Hosting.   

InMotion Hosting is a hosting company based in Virginia Beach, VA. They do have satellites in Los Angelas and Denver.

Support Is a Focus for InMotion

  • Agents are trained by agents who have been on the support floor for months, even years.
  • Agents are continuously trained to support new issues or to better handle customer requests.

Some technical info

  • All hard drives are Samsung SSDs
  • Intel-based CPUs
  • CentOS operating systems. No Windows support at this point. 
  • Redundant, secure server locations in Los Angelas and Virginia.
  • Caching – NGNIX
    • NGNIX is a proxy-cache, so the site is served from memory instead of the hard drive. 
    • NGNIX can be turned on or off.

What Are People Looking For In A Server Host

  • Price
  • Technology
  • Support – they are there 24×7, 365 days.
  • Uptime, as for most hosts is 99.9% uptime goal.
    • Dedicated staff of support people watching the server environment at all times controlling 

Hosting Types

Hosting is similar to where you live. 

  • Shared Hosting – Apartment. Communal system sharing resources like water, power, trash. You are dependent on everyone else on that server to be responsible for bandwidth and malware.
  • VPS Hosting – Townhome. Technically connected, but your own water, power, privacy, etc. Your site can still be dependent on others being responsible, but you are insulated a bit.
  • Dedicated Hosting – Private home. You have control over basically everything. You have your server resources, your bandwidth, etc.

Support Types

  • Basic Support
    • Available 24×7 – 265
    • Handles almost 95% of the issues you encouter
  • Advanced Product Support (Robert used to be the manager of this support team)
    • Junior system admins
    • Higher degree of training
    • Assigned to VPS-3000 customer or dedicated box
    • They have resources available to help, but generally an agent owns an issue from start to finish; no hand-offs.
  • Paid Support Teams
    • WTR Team – Website Transfer Team
      • Get some time with that when you spin up a new server
      • Available at later times for more transfers
  • Managed Hosting Team
    • For-hire system admins
    • Bye per-hour or subscription programs 
    • Help with setup, custom configuration, advanced issues.

My experience with InMotion Hosting has been incredible. They are competitively priced, have updated technology, and superior support. If you’re looking for a better host for your WordPress site, InMotion Hosting is my recommendation. 

Where are you hosting your website? Leave it @BeBizzy on Twitter!

InMotion Hosting

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Speeding Up Your WordPress Site With WP-Rocket

Speeding Up Your WordPress Site With WP-Rocket

Dec 19, 2019

What is WP Rocket?

WP Rocket is a caching and optimization plugin that takes the code, content, images, videos and other pieces of your website and finds a faster way to present them to your website visitors. That can be storing them on their computers or on a CDN (content data network). It can be combining or moving CSS and javascript files to minimize the time spend processing the code. It can be reducing the number of calls made off the server to Google or other sites.

WP Rocket does all of this, with about ten minutes of setup and a few bucks. Speaking of a few bucks… if you want to purchase WP Rocket, go to bebizzy.com/rocket and get started today!

WP Rocket

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

How Can WP Rocket Speed Up My Website?

There’s only so much you can do technically to increase your website speed. Load times are based on server response times, bandwidth, hard drive speeds… and then it’s down to the software. 

CDNs and optimized code definitely help but eventually you’re down to leaning on more involved 

Features

  • Basic setup was done in about 10 minutes.  Advanced setup, configuration and testing can take additional time, but all options are pretty much toggled on/off.
  • Page caching
    Really decreases page load time by serving up indexed and cached items.
  • Preloading
    Because the crawler simulates a visit to preload the cache, the indexing of your website by search engines is instantly improved.
  • Sitemap loading
  • GZIP Compression
    WP Rocket compresses HTML, CSS, javascript and other code to optimize it by decreasing the size.
  • Browser Caching
    Modern browsers can look for the same photo, video, HTML code and other pieces of a website faster locally that it can sending requests to a website. WP Rocket helps optimize that.
  • Database optimization
    WP Rocket helps clean up databases and make them run more efficiently.
  • Google fonts
    Decreases the requests for unused fonts by only grabbing what is needed to properly display on the site.
  • Remove query strings from Static Resources
    Improves load time and testing scores by removing query strings from CSS and JS files.
  • Lazyload images and videos
    Images and other content doesn’t load until it becomes evident the visitor wants or needs them.
  • Defer Javascript
    Load JS files at the bottom of the page unless necessary elsewhere. This speeds up the page by not loading code before visible items.
  • CDN
    I have mine connected to my Stackpath CDNs, but Cloudflare and other URLS are easily inserted in the settings.
  • Works with eCommerce

Pricing 

All pricing for WP Rocket is on an annual basis to keep updates and support access. You could allow the plugin to lapse, but as WordPress, PHP versions, your themes, your other plugins and more advance the plugin may not work as intended and also become a security issue.

  • $49 for one site
  • $99 for three sites (annual)
  • $249 for unlimited websites

Some other features

  • Works for multi-lingual sites
  • Works in multisite environments
  • You can turn on and off features to connected users with a simple toggle button
  • All features of the plugin can work on mobile without additional programming or configuration.

Support is email support. Only sent one ticket but got a response in about two hours, which is decent.

If you’re looking to speed up your WordPress site, I can’t recommend WP Rocket enough! Head over to https://bebizzy.com/rocket and get signed up.

Do you use WP Rocket or another caching pluging? Leave me comments @BeBizzy on Twitter!

WP Rocket

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

My Favorite Apps and Plugins – Episode #100!

My Favorite Apps and Plugins – Episode #100!

Dec 11, 2019

We made it! Episide 100!

I’ve always hoped we would reach this milestone, but it seemed so far away. But here we are, the 100th episode of the BeBizzy Break Podcast!

On today’s podcast we will discuss the apps and plugins I use on a daily basis for general business, WordPress and podcasting. 

BeBizzy's Favorite Apps and Plugins

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Links to previous podcast posts on my favorite apps and plugins.

Favorite Applications/WP programs I use on a daily or weekly basis. You, or someone you work with or know, may find some of these very helpful. 

Keep in mind a few of these may be affiliate links… it won’t cost you any more, but I will make a few dollars off the referral, so thank you!

General Apps

WordPress

Podcasting Gear

We’re always looking for new and different plugins and applications to test and review. Have one? Leave them below, or send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

BeBizzy's Favorite Apps and Plugins

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Time To Check If You Own Your Digital Real Estate

Time To Check If You Own Your Digital Real Estate

Oct 10, 2019

Do You Own Your Digital Business Real Estate

Your business probably has a domain, email addresses, SSLs and ton of other places you live your digital life. But do YOU have control of them, or does another company or employee own it?

Own Your Digital Real Estate

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

There are several things you should own in your digital life. Among the main reasons for having control of this is when it needs to be renewed, YOU get the notice and can choose to do the update or not. What you should “own” is : 

  • Domain – your domain is your home. It is where your customers are looking for information, so make sure you have leased the domain and are the administrative contact.
  • Social Media Accounts – social media is getting more prevelant in your life, for better or worse. But it’s where many people live on the internet, so if you are posting and driving traffic from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, create the account yourself and have control of it.
  • SSLs – If you are using an SSL, and you should, again lease the SSL yourself instead of through your host, developer or other company.
    WordPress Plugins – Many websites lean on plugins to achieve certain tasks. Not renewing the plugin can cause the site to lose functionality.
  • Email Accounts – Whether you like to admit it or not, companies rely more on email than phone calls. Know, and own the location that hosts your email. Get admin rights as well.
  • Google Analytics Account – did you know Google Analytics accounts and information are not transferable? That’s right… if your previous developer or marketing team created the GA account there’s a good chance if you ever want to move it or take control of it yourself you get to start over. So create your own account and move now.

Some digital items are not critical or even beneficial to own yourself. Things the you can “own” but it’s ok for your marketing or technical team to own as well are: 

  • Admin access – Many relationships are known to be “over” prior to announcing it’s done. Having admin access to the site, or at the very minimum READ access, will allow you to download the files and databases in advance to something catastrophic from happening.
  • Hosting – it’s unusual for many small companies to lease their own server space since it can be expensive and put the management back on you as the business owner to handle when it goes down needs updating or has other issues.
  • Google Ads – Most of the time Google Ads are managed by marketing teams and can be accessed by the business owner and the marketing agency.
  • Social Media/Review Management – Admin access can be given to marketing teams or management companies, and it can also be revoked just as easily.

With “owning” these pieces of your digital  comes some great responsibility. If you choose to log into ANY of these items, make sure you do not make changes unless you are prepared for the possible issues. In many cases data and files may not be backed up and if deleted or edited it can be costly, or even impossible to recover.

I’ll use this to issue my standard warning of back up, back up, back up. Own your backups. Save your backups. Download and backup your social media posts and other info. Keep your email server backed up. 

Backups are normally portable and in an emergency you can set up a new server and site in days, not weeks. But if you don’t “own” your domain you are relying on someone else to point towards the new host, which can be an issue. By owning it yourself you still may need help but you just need to find THAT person instead of relying on a negative relationship to accomplish the task. Own your own digital real estate.

Own Your Digital Real Estate

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Comments or No Comments on WordPress?

Comments or No Comments on WordPress?

Aug 14, 2019

ShouId I allow comments on my WordPress website?

It’s an ageless question. Leave comments turned on in every page of my website, only leave them on the blog posts, or turn them off everywhere?

There are pluses and minuses to all varieties of answers, but on today’s episode of the BeBizzy Break Podcast we talk about should you leave them on, how you can protect yourself if you do, and how to remove them if you don’t.

Subscribe to the BeBizzy Break Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. 

Some Things To Consider About Comments

In short, WP comments is feedback, positive or negative, left by visitors to your website. Usually they are at the bottom of the page and while they can many time require some data provided by the commentor, it doesn’t always provide a way to communicate with the person making the comments outside the page.

On the plus side, comments are a great way for your visitors, customers and readers to leave a message about the content. That usually involves something positive or negative, a response back to a current comment, or a general comment about the site or author. These comments can serve as a “social proof” to other visitors that you have an engaged community and might prompt a newsletter signup, frequent visits, or even a sale.

However, the negative side of comments are distracting at best, and damaging at worst. Un-monitored  commenters can be aggressive, even threatening, at times. Comments can be very negative about the content, the author or the company hosting the page. SPAM commenters can come in and offer their services or products in the comment thread to supplement or replace the products offered on the page. Images and language can be used in the comments that could potentially be abusive, even illegal, if not monitored or combated.

So, you can see while comments can be a valuable way to increase reader engagement, sometimes they really should be turned off for the protection of the website owner, and the consumers of the content.

How Can I Protect My Comment Stream?

There are several things you can do to protect your website from malicious comments. 

  • Require an account with verifiable email addresses before commenting : This will sort out the low hanging fruit of people who do not want to be found after making negative comments. These folks don’t have “burner” email accounts and fake names, so supplying actual names and contact info can sometimes be enough deterrent.
  • Put a comment filter in place like Akismet : Akismet will look for obvious signs of spamming and put these comments in a held state waiting for approval. Then the admin (or you) can go in and either approve or reject. If rejected, you will have the option to block all from this user/IP.
    Version:4.1.8
    Requires:4.6 or higher
    Compatible up to:5.6
    Released:20 October 2005
    Downloads:185183261
    Last Updated:06 January 2021
    Ratings:
    4.7
    (4.7 star out of 5)
    Download Link:Click here
  • Use a comment system like Disqus : Moving away from the standard WordPress commenting system and use a system like Disqus will allow users to use the same information across several websites. So just logging into the Disqus system and making comments speeds up the process.

    Version:3.0.19
    Requires:4.4 or higher
    Compatible up to:5.6
    Released:28 August 2008
    Downloads:3778134
    Last Updated:11 January 2021
    Ratings:
    2.8
    (2.8 star out of 5)
    Download Link:Click here

  • Employ monitors or admins : No one has time to monitor website comments if the site is large and doing well. For smaller, less visited sites you can see every comment, respond and remove as necessary. But if the site grows, you will have to employ or recruit some people to help out. Often these are frequent commenters who volunteer or can be trusted, but occasionally you will have to pay for professional help. 

How Can I Turn Comments Off?

I’m a fan of turning comments off. I simply don’t have the time, or the desire, to look through every post, comment, article and page to look for valuable or damaging content. So I turn them off with a plugin for my website, and my client’s websites.

  • WordPress settings has a toggle to turn off “future” comments : This works great if you’re building a new site and don’t have any comments. But if you do, the old comments will remain
  • Disable Comments Plugin : simply my go-to comment killer plugin. This be installed and activated, then configured to turn off all, none, or some of the comments on the site. Want comments only on blog posts, not pages? Easy. Want to kill all of them? Even easier.
    Version:2.0.2
    Requires:5.0 or higher
    Compatible up to:5.6
    Released:27 May 2011
    Downloads:9728516
    Last Updated:10 December 2020
    Ratings:
    4.7
    (4.7 star out of 5)
    Download Link:Click here
  • Disable Comments and Delete Comments Plugin : A fairly new plugin that does the same thing more or less as the earlier disable comments plugin. Quite simply, it just deletes and disables all comments.
    Version:
    Requires: or higher
    Compatible up to:
    Released:01 January 1970
    Downloads:
    Last Updated:01 January 1970
    Ratings:
    0
    (0 star out of 5)
    Download Link:Click here

Comments can be a great way to measure engagement, have visitors promote or provide critical analysis of your content, and even allow pingbacks and other shares of the content. But they can also be a drain on resources, especially time, and even be distracting or abusive to your other readers. Use them with caution, put failsafes in place, and if it gets unmanageable, turn them off before they become damaging to your and your website. 

Have any questions or suggestions on website comments? Leave them below, or send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Subscribe to the BeBizzy Break Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. 

GET IN TOUCH

Phone Number

(701) 214-6271

Email Address

info@bebizzy.com

Mailing Address

PO Box 448
Mandan, ND 58554

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Tech Changes in 2020

Dec 23, 2020

2020 Forced Lots of Technical Changes 2020 was weird. There. I said it.  The past nine to twelve months has change the way many of you work and live. Commutes, water coolers and being interrupted by a co-worker walking around have been replaced by video meetings,...

WordPress 5.6 Is Available

Dec 17, 2020

WordPress 5.6 is Available to Download WordPress 5.6 was released for download and installation on December 8, 2020. On today's episode of the WP Wednesday Podcast we'll talk about what's in the release, and why you should, or should not install it.WordPress 5.6...

Fonts In WordPress

Nov 25, 2020

Using Fonts in WordPress Most websites have images. Some have videos. Others have database connections, feeds from other sites, shopping carts, and others item. But it's fair to say that EVERY websites has fonts. From the classic Times New Roman, to newly launched...

What Technology Do I Need to Manage WordPress?

Nov 18, 2020

What Do You Need To Manage WordPress? WordPress lives entirely online. The wp-admin portion of a WP site allows the admin to manage everything from one spot. On the admin you can create posts and pages, add media (images, videos, audio and documents), add/manage...

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