Happy Halloween! I don’t have any scary articles for you today but I do have 5 interesting articles for anyone who owns or manages a WordPress site. Oh, and the last article is about Midjourney which is an online platform for making your own AI-generated art, like this ghoulish jack-o-lantern. Have a spooky day…
This week’s 5 WordPress topics:
- 8 Helpful WordPress Analytics Plugins That Aren’t All Named Google Analytics
(Beginner)
Google Analytics really is an amazing tool and besides the GADWP plugin mentioned in this article, you can also check out the free Monster Insights plugin (just search for it within WP). Some people are adverse to Google so prefer other analytics solutions but if you’re trying to align with the #1 search engine, doesn’t it make sense to use Google Analytics? There are some other great solutions though and the top one, especially if you don’t need all the complexity, is WordPress’s own Jetpack. There are other great alternatives here that include heatmap, additional reporting, business insights, and more. - How to Password Protect Your WordPress Site: Every Method (Intermediate)
Looking to lockdown your whole site or part of your site? This article has you covered, whether you’re looking to password protect your whole site, a directory, a page, products, posts, or even part of a post. For the site password protection, this article will cover how to set it up within their hosting but they also include a plugin approach. Password protecting an individual page, post, or product is a built-in visibility option with WordPress and all the other levels to lockdown your site can generally be achieved with a plugin. - 15 must-read tips on managing client expectations (Beginner)
If you run your own web design business, are a freelancer, or just work with clients then this article is a must read and will save you tons of headaches, money, and time – if you follow these tips. The foundation for most of these tips though is clear communication. On the tip about pricing, another option for larger projects is to set an up-front discovery budget that’s either a bank of hours, or just hourly, to work with the client to explore and define the overall scope. I’d also like to note that if a client is scared away when you provide realistic expectations, you don’t want to work with them anyways! Also check out this article for more tips: How to Set and Manage Client Expectations in Web Design. - A Gutenberg Tutorial for Beginner Developers: Create Your First Block Plugin (Advanced)
OK, time to get into the code a bit. This article starts off with instruction on how to set up your development environment first with NodeJS. It then shows you how to configure, register, and then customize your block. This is a simple Hello World example but will hopefully get you started as you write your own block. - How to Get Started With Midjourney AI — Create Astonishing AI Art Now
Midjourney isn’t the first AI-powered image generation tool but it’s a lot easier to get started with and use, produces some amazing art, and has both free and paid plans. Midjourney uses Discord, a messaging app that you can download or access in your browser, to let you send commands to the AI that tell it what you want it to create with plenty of options. The free tier gives you 25 images and as you create your own images, you can also see what others are creating as well. There are paid plans as well including a $30/month unlimited plan. Make sure to check out the tips and tricks in this article. There’s also a link to an artists cheat sheet (it’s mind-blowing) that is worth checking out. Also, here’s the official getting started guide from Midjourney.
What do you think of Midjourney and the idea of an AI being able to generate art on the fly? There’s only going to be more AI solutions like this over the next couple of years and decade – what else will AI be able to do? And at what benefit and/or cost?
I’m personally excited by the advancements and want to note that this AI is mimicking our ingenuity and creativity. As long as it remains as a tool to help our productivity and communication, I see it as a net positive.
Photo by Robert Harkness on Unsplash
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