Blog

All your links and passwords, too. Guess how many clients don’t have access to their own websites? More than you’d think. And even if you never log in, this is important information for every website owner to have, because sometimes this happens: Whether it’s a WordPress issue, a misplaced semicolon, a plugin incompatibility, or simply […]

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Maybe you can use a tip from some hawks. For the last several years, we’ve had Red-Shouldered hawks around (see photos – these are the actual hawks living here this year.) This year they are building a nest in our yard. We can see it from our living room – I can also see it […]

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Heads up – Google Analytics is changing, and we all need to change with it. If you are already using Google Analytics on your site, you may need to make some adjustments so your site keeps tracking after July 1, 2023. I have seen things that say if you didn’t do this in March 2023, […]

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It’s quite a ‘site’ to behold.  Quick poll: Which version of PHP is your WordPress site using? __ What’s PHP? __ Huh? PHP is the scripting language that lives behind the scenes in WordPress (and other) website platforms. It’s software, and, like any other software, there are updates and patches and security releases over time.  […]

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Day after day I’m more confused Yet I look for the light through the pouring rain… So this song came up on the radio the other day and it reminded me – It doesn’t matter what it is, or how easy anyone else says it is, or how easy it’s supposed to be, if you […]

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Have you ever needed a pizza form?  Last month I was asked to help out with streamlining a school lunch pizza ordering system, that seemed to rely on a series of spreadsheets and PDFs and Google docs and abaci. As part of the solution, I was looking at forms and ways to have the web […]

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So – if you read part 1, you may recall that having relevant page titles and meta descriptions on your web site pages can help boost your SEO and search results. But you still need to know what words to put in there! The short answer is, put in words that your customers will use […]

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(Is that good or bad? I think it’s good.) When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was “Carry on, Mr. Bowditch” by Jean Lee Latham.* It tells the story of Nathaniel Bowditch, who grew up in Salem, MA, in the late 1700s, in the time of tall ships and the spice trade.  […]

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So I had to make a pie. My Pie Poll called for apple. Though I am practically surrounded by cookbooks, my pie-making history has not been the best so I headed online. When you put “pie” (or any search) into Google, a few things happen.  First it checks domain names for your search term(s). So […]

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It’s almost the end of the year (how??), and like everyone, I am trying to get a head start on my 2023 – stuff – and encouraging my clients to do the same. As you plan your website needs for January and beyond, here are a few things to think about: Do you need a […]

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In part 1, we talked a little about the importance of having smaller images on your website. Here in part 2, we talk briefly about how to do it. There are two areas you may need to make smaller, and depending on your editor, you may see different numbers or terms. 1 – the image dimensions/area […]

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Not long ago, a client asked me to take a look at their home page and see if I could figure out why it was loading slower. I did, and, I did. I found a 42mb photo (that is way big!) loaded into the top banner area. They had loaded in a photo from a […]

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Here at RPS, we wear many hats. I personally wear several on any given day. And on any given project – our extended team is wearing even more. The Design hat.   Custom code hat. WordPress hat. Development hat. Maintenance hat. Client Service hat. Red Sox hat (maybe not this season…) SEO hat. The “Just make […]

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Are you and your WordPress site ready for 2023? If you are still relying on the Classic Editor plugin, you may not be. When WordPress 5.0 (also known as Gutenberg or block editor) launched in late 2018, the Classic Editor plugin became one of the most popular plugins available. This plugin let you ignore the […]

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Have you ever had an older phone and the operating system updated (intentionally or accidentally) and things started not working quite right or not working at all?  That’s similar to what can happen with an older or outdated WordPress website when updated without care.  Wonkiness. From pages not loading properly to missing styles to no […]

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So last week I talked about having too much stuff. This week – let’s talk about keeping your stuff updated. There are three parts to keeping WordPress updated. WordPress core, any themes, and any plugins you are using.  If these updates aren’t done regularly, you can easily get a few versions out of date – […]

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Old themes, old plugins, giant images, even entire old site versions can all be taking up too much space on your website’s server, and that server can become a hoarder if you’re not careful. And after a while, this can become a problem in a couple ways.  First – sheer volume of files can put […]

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As someone on the sharp end of website development, I interact with a variety of web hosting companies. And over the years I’ve narrowed it down to a few I prefer to work with, and that I recommend to my clients. The reasons are simple – security, support, and features that save me time – […]

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If you have a new-ish wordpress website, the best thing you can do to keep it safe and running smoothly is to it keep it updated.

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At RPS, we make your website work the way you need it to work—for you and for your business. 

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