Matt Doyle | Elated Communications
Web and WordPress Development
This website has been going, in one form or another, for the past 22 years. That’s really quite a long time, as websites go.
First there was The Elated Web Toolbox, built in 1997 with my jolly good friend and business partner Simon and packed with freebies for webmasters such as web templates, free images, and web design and Photoshop tips.
[This article was updated on 7 June 2018 to cover Wordfence 7.1.]
Hundreds of WordPress sites get hacked each day. How can you make sure yours isn’t one of them?
Let’s face it: WordPress security is a big topic. It can also seem a little scary at first glance. There are so many different ways that hackers can break into sites. How can you begin to protect your site against all these attacks?
Well, you can stop worrying! In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install and configure a WordPress plugin that will dramatically beef up your site’s security, with very little effort on your part. The whole caboodle takes about 20 minutes to set up.
By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to relax, safe in the knowledge that your WordPress site is well-protected against those pesky hackers!
But first, let’s take a look at exactly how hackers do what they do — and why they do it.
[Read more…] about Wordfence Tutorial: How to Keep Your WordPress Site Safe from Hackers
Choosing a WordPress theme for your website is an important step.
Your theme controls how your site looks to your customers, but it also affects other areas of your site and business. It can make your site easy — or hard — to navigate. It can help — or hurt — your SEO. It can make it easy to add features to your site… or it can make it a nightmare!
Maybe you’re setting up WordPress from scratch and want to choose the right theme. Or maybe you don’t like your current theme and want to change to a better one.
But there are thousands of WordPress themes out there. How can you choose one that not only looks fantastic, but that is flexible, easy to work with, and has the features you need? Is your chosen theme secure and well-maintained, or is it plagued by bugs and security issues?
In this guide, you’ll discover all you need to know in order to pick the right theme for your biz. You’ll learn:
Once you’ve finished reading, you’ll be confidently browsing through some top-quality themes and picking the perfect one for your WordPress website.
[Read more…] about How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme for Your Business
Want to set up Google Analytics on your website? You’ve come to the right place!
Everyone says Google Analytics is fantastic for understanding your visitors, website, and online biz. But how the heck do you get started with it?
Maybe you had a go at setting up Google Analytics, but couldn’t get it working properly with your site. Or maybe it all seems too hard to even begin!
If this sounds like you, I’ve got you covered. In this tutorial I walk you, step by gentle step, through creating a Google Analytics account, linking it to your website, and testing it all works. You’ll also learn about stopping pesky Google Analytics spam, and find out what to do once you’ve set up Analytics with your site.
By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll understand the whole setup process and you’ll feel like an Analytics pro!
To keep things simple, I focus on linking Google Analytics with WordPress. If you don’t have a WordPress site, don’t worry — most of this tutorial still applies, and I’ve also included links that explain how to set up Analytics with Joomla, Wix, Weebly and more.
Ready to set up your Analytics? Let’s go!
[Read more…] about Set Up Google Analytics for Your Website: A Beginner’s Guide
So you have a WordPress site, and you know you should be backing it up. You know that WordPress backups are essential for keeping your site safe and secure.
You’ve heard about the free UpdraftPlus backup plugin and decided it to try it out on your site. Hey, good decision! UpdraftPlus is one of the world’s most popular and respected plugins for backing up WordPress sites.
But like all complex technology, UpdraftPlus can be a bit of a minefield. First you have to install it and work out all the settings. You need to link it up to your Dropbox or other cloud storage; set up schedules; and check it’s all working OK.
There are also tons of paid add-ons for UpdraftPlus. Are they worth it? Which ones should you buy?
Finally, if the worst happens and your site breaks, how do you use UpdraftPlus to restore everything and get it all working again?
You’ll learn all this — and more — in this tutorial. I’ll guide you through the process of installing UpdraftPlus; linking it to your Dropbox; setting up backup schedules; choosing add-ons; and restoring your site if disaster strikes.
By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll understand exactly how to set up and manage your backups with UpdraftPlus, and you’ll be confident that your WordPress site is nice and safe!
Let’s start by taking a quick look at UpdraftPlus’s features.
[Read more…] about UpdraftPlus Tutorial: How to Set Up Backups to Keep Your WordPress Site Safe
Your WordPress website is central to your business. If it disappeared tomorrow, you’d have a big problem on your hands!
That’s why it’s so important to have a full, working backup of your site. If the site crashes or gets hacked, you can restore it from the backup and be up and running again in an hour.
However, setting up WordPress backups can be confusing. How do they work? What do you need to back up? Where should you store the backups, and how long should you keep backups for? Which backup system should you choose, and how can you make sure your backups work properly?
This guide answers all of these questions. Once you’ve read it, you’ll understand how WordPress backups work, you’ll be able to choose the right backup system for your site, and you’ll be ready to start backing up your WordPress site safely and securely.
[Read more…] about WordPress Backups: The Ultimate Guide to Backing Up Your WordPress Site
Does the idea of selling eBooks online freak you out at all?
You know that eBooks can be a great source of passive income for your business. Perhaps you already have some awesome ideas for an eBook, or even have a finished eBook ready to sell.
But getting that eBook out there can seem daunting. How do you take online payments for the book? Do you need to set up a PayPal account? An internet merchant account? How do you keep people’s card details safe? How do you deal with accounting, tax, and credit card fraud issues? And once shoppers have paid for your book, how do you deliver it to them automatically?
So many headaches. And a few years ago, you would have had to deal with them all yourself. But not any more!
Thanks to amazing internet tools like Gumroad, you no longer have to worry about any of these issues. In fact, with Gumroad, you can make your eBook available for purchasing and downloading in just 30 minutes!
[Read more…] about Sell Your eBook on Gumroad: How to Do It in 30 Minutes
Site maps have been around for almost as long as the Web itself. They’re a great way to improve your website’s navigation and usability.
Although site maps aren’t used that often by visitors — around 7% of the time, according to Jakob Nielsen — a site map can really save a visitor if they can’t find what they’re looking for using your site’s regular navigation menu.
In this article you’ll explore the concept of site maps, look at some examples, and learn how to design and create a site map for your own website.
A blog is a website containing articles, known as posts, that are usually listed in chronological order (newest first). Originally, a blog (short for “weblog”) was a way of keeping an online diary, or of expressing your personal views. These days, there are blogs on practically every topic, from news and opinion blogs through to tutorial blogs, fan blogs, and product review blogs. If you can write it, you can blog it!
To add a post to your blog, you don’t need to code in HTML or use an FTP program. You just log into your blog, enter the text of your post, and hit a “publish” button. This ease of use has helped make blogs one of the most popular types of site on the Web today.
Another great feature of a blog is that anyone can easily comment on your blog posts. This helps to attract more visitors to your blog, and makes your blog posts more useful to readers.
So how do you start a blog? There are many options to choose from. This article walks you through some of the most common ways to create a blog, and helps you choose which type of blog is best for you.