Tips Tuesday – HTTPS, PHP, WHM, Site Upgrades To Do Now
Hello Happy Site Owners!
Tips this week include:
- Interview with Scratch to Published client Tara Dusko and her new site
- New BlogAid Today Livestream Recap post
- Splitting Multiple Sites into cPanels on WHM Hosting Webinar
- New HTTPS Content Policy Security Header for sites with ads
- Update on Bluehost and free SSL certificates
- Updates on the top 10 reasons not to use free HTTPS conversion
- Update on the 2nd wave of HTTPS conversion clients underway
- 4 non-optional site upgrades you must do right now
- The new PHP education pages from WP.org
- Comment from Matt Mullenweg on how the Gutenberg text editor will impact the WP ecosystem
- Major snag with WP using Facebook’s React Code and what that means for us
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Watch the Live Recap and Breaking News
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BlogAid Happenings
Scratch to Published Client Interview
Sunday Sept 3 at 7:30pm CT
(Link coming soon)
I’m delighted to have the opportunity to chat live with Tara Dusko of Teach Without Tears on Sunday. Tara first came to me for a site audit on her fashion site and we had a discussion on what she does for a living outside her blog, which is teach 3rd grade.
We found all kinds of money in a site based on that and she signed up right away for the Scratch to Published classes and started creating her new site.
She began getting traffic and engagement the day after launch and is well on her way to a profitable site.
So do join us on YouTube Live and hear what the process was like for Tara and how fun immediate success has been.
New BlogAid Today Livestream Recap
As a site owner and webmaster or designer, it’s imperative that you keep on top of breaking news and the kind of tips that keep you ahead of the curve and your site successful so it can make money for you.
And that’s what my BlogAid Today videos are all about.
I broadcast live on Facebook and upload to YouTube. So please subscribe to both so you get the news as it happens.
And to ensure you haven’t missed the most recent hot stories and tips, I’ve created a new round up post of them from the past week. Check out what’s up that could make all the difference to your site.
I want to thank video marketing expert Lou Bortone for his Go Live Every Day in August challenge that helped me make a priority of getting my green screen setup going. It’s working for catching more eyeballs and keeping more folks informed.
I also want to thank my visibility mentor Denise Wakeman for always reminding me to repurpose my content so that all of my followers see it, and new peeps get a chance to see all this great, free info I post too.
Going Live on Instagram
Speaking of Denise, I started her free 5 day challenge Monday for getting started with Instagram. That’s the 2nd goal I had for going live every day in August, so I’m thrilled to have help with getting my feet wet on a new platform.
I never could figure out a way to make Instagram work for BlogAid, but I can see that it will be a perfect fit for my carving site. So, very excited to learn about it and plan to start with my BlogAid account there for this challenge. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a way to make a go of it with BlogAid too. Denise is full of helpful ideas for that too.
Split Sites into cPanels with WHM Webinar
I’d like to remind all of my webmasters about the upcoming webinar this Thursday Aug 31 on how to split multiple sites under one cPanel into their own cPanels in a WHM Hosting account.
This is the third and last webinar in this series and is only available to full Webmaster Training members.
cPanels in WHM Webinar Replay
I would also like to remind everyone who attended the last WHM webinar on how to create cPanels in WHM Hosting accounts that I’ve split up the replays and extended access to them for one week.
Webmaster Training Discounts
The hefty discounts on Webmaster Levels 1&2, and then Level 6 still expire on Aug 31.
So, get in on this sale now, whether you can attend the webinars are not because the replays will be there for members.
And Level 3 has all you need to know about converting sites to HTTPS too.
That’s why Level 6, with all the tutorials is such a bargain, not to mention our pot of gold Facebook group with designers and webmasters helping each other.
This is the training that you can’t get elsewhere and pays for itself on your very next job that you couldn’t get without it.
Need Help Getting Your Clients on HTTPS?
If you’re a designer and all this HTTPS stuff is out of your wheelhouse and you want to stay focused on design, no problem!
Contact me to partner up to get your client’s sites converted.
They will never know I’m there. I’ll be working with you directly on it.
New HTTPS Content Policy Security Header for Ads
I’m delighted to have found a new way to add a Content Policy to HTTPS sites for those who run ads from ad networks on their sites.
Every now and then a random HTTP ad will get thrown in. And that will give your page/post a mixed media warning.
This new security header puts a stop to that and keeps everything HTTPS while not blocking the ad too.
Webmasters, I’ve already updated the SSL Security Headers tutorial for you with this and I’ll be contacting my HTTPS conversion clients with an easy tutorial for you to add it yourself once we finish all the testing on it.
Bluehost Offers Free SSL Certificates
This week I also updated my post on which hosts offer free SSL certificates.
Most EIG owned hosts like HostGator and Bluehost do not. Well, that’s changed in the past couple of months.
Bluehost began offering free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates earlier this summer. And I guess something didn’t go well with that because they did a complete switch very recently to SSL certs from Comodo.
I called them to verify and the SSL cert is not being auto issued like at other hosts who are well ahead of the curve on this.
You have to request it via your control panel.
Then they send you an email confirmation.
Then they begin installing it.
I’ll get my first look at it live this week as I convert a client who is on Bluehost and can’t afford to leave right now.
They also have low-cost paid SSL certificates from Comodo too, if you sell things on your site and need the insurance, but I know most of you don’t. So, get the free one, it’s fine.
Bluehost Doesn’t Allow Full Security Measures
Now, this new free SSL from Bluehost will get you through the Oct deadline with Google.
But, Bluehost doesn’t allow all the security measures I use, including one super, duper important one that blocks access to the file that protects the rest of the files that hold the keys to your site’s kingdom. That’s huge.
And, Bluehost is slow on speed.
I know many of you purchased a multi-year package with them and can’t afford to leave. So, take advantage of the new free certificate, but do plan to move to a better host about 2 months prior to renewal.
Top 10 Reasons NOT to Use Free HTTPS Conversion
I’ve also updated the post on why you’ll regret using free HTTPS conversion.
If you let your host do it, you’re stuck there.
Every host has their own duct tape / chicken wire way of doing this.
The minute you need to move to a new host – POOF goes your HTTPS status.
That includes restoring your site from a backup to a new host too.
Your site has not actually been converted to HTTPS.
All of your links are still HTTP.
And have fun with that migration copy not breaking in the new host environment, or them knowing what to strip out from the old host.
2nd Wave of HTTPS Conversions Underway
I’ve completed the first round of the HTTPS conversion requests wave since Google made the announcement that the Chrome browser would begin displaying a big fat NON SECURE warning for any non HTTPS sites that were collecting any type of data.
Data that will be flagged includes:
- Emails for optins
- Contact forms
That’s going to pop just about every site owner I know.
I’m already sending emails out to folks on the conversion waiting list and onboarding about 2 at a time every few days as we move through the process and get folks started on their pre-conversion checklist.
So, if you’re on that list already, we’ll definitely get you squared away before the Oct deadline.
If you haven’t made your request yet, there’s still time if you get in soon!!
I’m expecting to stay booked through at least mid Oct with this, as I’m betting that some site owners still haven’t heard the news and there will be a whole new wave after the penalty hits.
Site Audits Really Pay Off
I’m really looking forward to this next batch as the overwhelming majority are previous site audit clients. Their sites are all squeaky clean, secure, and performing well.
Plus they are educated site owners, know what’s going on with their sites, and the bulk of their pre-conversion checklist will already be done because they gathered all that info during the audit.
This is where the investment you’ve already made in your site really pays off.
We’ll be flying through your HTTPS conversion.
And that’s going to save you a bunch of money and time!
4 Non-Optional Site Upgrades You Must Do Now
I hope you saw my post from Monday on the 4 site foundation upgrades you’ve got to do before the end of the year so you’ll be ready for what’s coming next.
The 4 upgrades are:
- PHP 7
- HTTPS
- Security
- Speed
Every entity associated with sites is beating the drum on all these items.
Those entities include:
- Host providers
- WordPress
- Cyber Security Institutes
- Ad networks
That last one may surprise you. Yep, even Facebook is considering the load speed of sites linked in the news feed. If you’ve got a slow site, they will lower the Reach on it. Other platforms may follow suit on this too.
I expect Pinterest to be the next big one to do something like this, as they are arm-in-arm with Google these days.
That’s all the news from around here. Let’s jump into this week’s tips.
WordPress Tips
WordPress.org to Add New Page Educating Users on Benefits of Upgrading PHP
If you’ve been following Tips Tuesday for a while, you might remember me telling you about WP devs putting together a new committee on the future of PHP in WP. Well, they are putting together a new page to educate site owners on the benefits of upgrading to PHP 7.
They are also considering putting a nag notice at the top of WP admin pages to help more folks become aware that they need to do this. Betting they got that idea from Yoast, as he has a similar nag in his SEO plugin, or at least he did for a while.
And, they are currently accepting posts from 3rd parties with instructions on how to update to PHP 7. I’ll be submitting my posts for that.
READ: How and Why to Switch to PHP7
How Gutenberg Will Impact the WP Ecosystem
– from Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg – the cofounder of WP, put in his $0.02 comment on this WPTavern post about how the upcoming changes to WP are going to impact the entire ecosystem.
Specifically, he addresses how the new Gutenberg text editor is going to get the ball rolling on this.
Gutenberg will impact:
- Theme designers and developers
- Plugin developers
- End users
- Hosts
I’m not sure now it will affect hosts, but we’ll see. Maybe the ones that offer managed WP hosting and support.
But, he left out one huge segment of the ecosystem – all the trainers, like me and folks at WPBeginner and other large tutorial heavy sites.
In fact, all these huge changes to WP are going to be such a big impact on training sites, that earlier this year I closed the BlogAid Site Success Courses member site from new purchases.
I still let full training clients in the back door.
But those tutorials are naturally going to sunset when all of these WP changes start happening.
I have plans for moving some of those tutorials over to the new BlogAid Learning Center where the DIY SEO course is now.
And it’s where I’ll be doing workshops on Gutenberg and all other WP changes that will come after it.
And these changes are going to knock a whale of a lot of Udemy and Lynda courses, and even YouTube videos dead too. Those are supposed to be lifetime subscriptions as well, but betting they just go fallow and don’t get updated. Those instructors will just do what I did and close the course to new purchase and then make new courses.
I only hope they don’t get as many flaming emails over that as I did from folks who don’t seem to get that the course creators have to eat and lifetime subscription models make everybody lose their shirts.
One other comment Matt made on that post was about Gutenberg saying “if it works” will have a major impact on WordPress’ market share and the developer ecosystem.
And that leads us to the last piece of news this week.
Major Snag with WordPress Using Facebook’s REACT Code
You may remember several months ago I reported in Tips Tuesday that the new WordPress rebuilds will be on Javascript. And there was pretty intense debate on which JavaScript base language they would pick.
The frontrunner was React.
But, Facebook holds the license on that and there are a BUNCH of developers who are already uneasy about using it, as it has some nasty reputation instances attached to it.
So, WordPress asked the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) to get involved and try to negotiate a compromise on re-licensing the open source part of React.
Apache is the software that runs on most host servers, affecting billions of site owners.
But, as reported in a nice WPTavern article about it, Facebook won’t budge.
What does all this mean for me and you and the future of WP development into this new glorious future they predict for it?
That remains to be seen.
Here’s a quote from the WPTavern article that captures the predicament WordPress is in over this.
“It’s not clear how this decision will affect WordPress, as the project has yet to announce which JS framework it will be adopting for core. Automattic is heavily invested in React, having built Calypso and Jetpack’s admin interface with it. WordPress’ new Gutenberg editor is also built using React, as the project’s chief contributors are employed by Automattic. The company’s legal counsel has said in the past that they are, but other companies in the WordPress ecosystem may not be as amenable to having the framework included in core.”
So, the folks at Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, has already dug themselves into a pretty deep dependency hole with React.
The rest of the devs out here in the real world have a lot more flexibility. And many of them are washing their hands of React at this point.
So, there is definitely trouble in paradise with the new Gutenberg text editor already in the works. The hope was that more plugin and theme devs would jump on board with it to create styles and functions to take WordPress to the next level of an awesome drag and drop type builder.
But, with devs jumping ship on tying their work to the React base of Javascript, we’ll see how many of them stay in the game, and if this dooms Gutenberg related development to only the core WP devs.
I have no idea what this means for current plugins that tie into Facebook or the React coding any plugin may be based on.
I’ll be watching for that and will keep you posted.
If you hear of anything, please do let me know.
Wrap Up
That’s a wrap for this week’s Tips Tuesday.
Find these tips helpful? Share them with your peeps!!!!
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