In this week’s roundup of the most helpful blog posts from around the web, you’ll find links to excellent tutorials about website security, search engine optimization (SEO), e-mail marketing, and website essentials. Click on each headline to access the full article.
SECURITY
How to protect your computer and data in case disaster strikes
I desperately needed this 10-step tutorial and I suspect you will, too. The checklist details the following:
- Get a Dropbox account
- Set up your emergency scenario
- Generate a system report
- Make a hard copy of your computer’s specs
- Install Prey and/or Undercover
- Start using a password manager app
- A trick to help you remember passwords
- Generate secure passwords (this is really, really important!)
- Lock your computer (I always do this when I travel with my laptop)
- Back up, back up, back up!
10 steps to a secure WordPress website
The last thing you want is for your website to get hacked. Jerod Morris outlines 10 practical tips every WordPress.org site owner should do to make your site more secure.
SEO
A breakdown of all your website’s traffic sources
If Google Analytics mystifies you, this article by Corey Eridon provides a no-nonsense overview of what Google’s measurement tools mean:
- Organic search
- Referrals
- Social media
- Email marketing
- Paid search
- Direct traffic
- Other campaigns
How to use your domain name with Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail
If you love using a free email service, but want your return address to display as the more professional-looking you@yourwebsiteaddress.com, here’s a quick tutorial from Daniel Scocco of DailyBlogTips for how to do it.
How to make your email open and click-through rates skyrocket
When you go to the trouble of creating an e-newsletter, you want people to open it… and read it. And click the links in it. This article from Kissmetrics suggests how often you should consider sending out emails to different levels of subscribers.
WEBSITE ESSENTIALS
How to speed up your WordPress site
Even if you have a fantastic website, if your page doesn’t load fast enough, visitors might leave before they see your website design. This article by Eugen Oprea covers several helpful things you can do to increase your site’s loading time.
What you need to know to pair fonts well
The bane of many self-designed websites is fonts. Too many fonts. Ugly fonts. Fonts that clash. If you are typography-challenged (as apparently, millions of us are), you must read this article by Amber Leigh Turner immediately.
12 must-have free fonts you should have in your collection
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