2015 is just flying by. Seriously, how is it already June? I wouldn’t believe it, but my allergies and the calendar all seem to agree (*meh*). The month of May has been full of quite a bit of WP awesomeness, and we’ve compiled another news round-up with WordPress goodies from around the web.
Ready to dive in? Then let’s do this!
This Month in WordPress
WordPress Security Release
Nothing significant to report here, but it’s always good to know that the team and developer community behind WordPress is always on our six.
These seemingly small but ever important security updates are what help keep WP chugging along like the well-oiled machine it is intended to be.
The 4.2.2 update will clean up some cross-scripting vulnerability issues. If you haven’t done so, be sure to backup your site and update to the latest version of WP core.
Beta for a Better Divi
The 13th of the month brought an exciting post from Nick about Divi 2.4. In his post, he turned to you guys for suggestions on what you would like to see in the upcoming update.
Well, you guys dove right in with a seriously impressive 1000+ comments on his post, and he and the team read every single one.
Better yet, they listened! Moreover, now, Divi 2.4 is going to be open for Beta Testers next week. If you’re a serious and active Divi theme power user, then feel free to go here to apply as a tester.
The Growing Trend of Transparency Reports in the WordPress Market
In the past few months, quite a few WordPress related service providers have been sharing their income with the community in what are being called Transparency Reports. (You can view an example here.)
These reports now seem to be a growing trend in the WP community, and judging from the heaps of shares and comments that each of these reports receive, people appear to love them.
Is this kind of transparency a good thing for business? What do you guys think?
Automattic + WooCommerce = More Awesomeness to Come
You’ve likely heard about Automattic purchasing the popular theme shop, WooThemes this month. The exact figures of this purchase have not been plainly stated, but there is a report that Automattic bought the company for somewhere around a cool 30 million.
Not bad for a theme shop started by a few guys in different parts of the world less than a decade ago.
Though many were quite surprised by this recent acquisition, there is an air of both excitement and concern regarding it. Rest assured, the team behind WooCommerce aren’t going anywhere.
Their talent will be joining the ranks of the other masterminds at Automattic, and they’ll be working together to further the awesomeness of WooCommerce, Sensei, and WordPress.
It should be interesting to see how things will go regarding WooCommerce and Sensei in the hands of Automattic. Personally, it would be great to see more tutorials and documentation for extending the functionality of WooCommerce in particular, but that’s just me.
What about you guys? What would you like to see happen with WooThemes in the hands of Automattic?
Highlights from the Elegant Themes Blog
- WordPress Developers: How to Nurture Winning Client Relationships | You may have noticed a new writer here on Elegant Themes. We’re happy to have Tom Ewer on the blog this month, and this post will not disappoint. If you’re a WordPress Developer, then this article is for you.
- The Future of Content Creation in WordPress | Tom brings up some interesting points and questions about WordPress as a Content Creation platform.
- Basic Guidelines for Figuring Out Your Web Design Salary | Nathan always manages to pump out some great posts, and this one rocks the block. Life as a freelancer can be tough, so it’s important to charge what you’re worth. What are you worth as a freelance web designer? Figure it out here.
- How to Test Your WordPress Website for Responsive Design | Google now uses Mobile Responsiveness as a ranking factor in mobile search results. If you’re not sure if your site is responsive, then you’ll want to figure that out ASAP. Tom walks us through how to test your site for responsiveness.
- SendinBlue Review: a Genuine MailChimp Alternative? | MailChimp is great for many reasons, but some of us want an alternative to the popular email marketing solution. SendinBlue is newer to the game, but it has some features that easily pit it against MailChimp. Which one is better? Read this post to help you figure it out.
- A Look Into The Future Of Web Design: Where Will We Be In 20 Years? | When I saw that Nathan was going to be tackling this post, I thought, “What a brave soul.” However, as I suspected, he did an excellent job of exploring this topic. Check out his post and add your thoughts to the comment section.
- Local SEO: How Should You Approach It? | Ranking your site for local searches requires implementing a few tactics that are different than ranking with “normal” SEO. This post walks through a few ways to help your site rise through the ranks.
- How to Sell Your Products Online With ‘Sticky’ Stories | I’m a pretty big fan of Bob Dunn, but it wasn’t until this post that I had a chance to read anything by Judy Lee Dunn. Judy’s post is awesome (as is her rather funny author bio) and touches on what a Sticky Story really is and how to accomplish it.
- Ways to Make a Living with WordPress | Do you think making money from WordPress is just for developers? Think again. Rachel McCollin dives into the topic and explores the depths of the WP world and who can turn a profit from the famous CMS platform.
- A Beginner’s Guide To WordPress Website Maintenance | Time to take it back to basics. Tom touches on six important points to focus on when maintaining a healthy website.
- How to Tame Your WordPress Dashboard Like a Jurassic World Velociraptor Trainer | Dinosaurs and WordPress? Yes, please! Brenda gets a bit down and nerdy with the WP dashboard and shows you how to tame it.
- How to Create a Duplicate Menu in WordPress with One Click | Need to duplicate a WordPress menu, but want an easy way to do it? Then check out this post.
- What to Do When You Need Help with WordPress | Let’s face it — we all need help with WordPress at some point. But when you do, where should you go? Who do you ask? Matteo with Codeable gives a few ideas for troubleshooting that issue.
- 14 Content Marketing Tools That Will Double Your Search Traffic | Out of all the SEO and Online Marketing posts that I’ve read this month, this one was by far the best. Obviously, there is no magic button for gaining more traffic to your site, but Neil’s post here covers some tools that come about as close to that as possible. If you’re going to read anything today, read this.
- How to Boost Your Ecommerce SEO With a Few WordPress Tweaks | SEO is important for every site, including e-commerce stores. Catalin’s post covers some of the basics for boosting your SEO efforts on your online store.
- 3 Content Tweaks to Increase Your Blog Traffic without Spending a Penny | Love ProBlogger? Then you’ll love this blog post about how a few simple tweaks could boost your blog traffic.
- The Local SEO Strategies & Tools 20 Experts Rely On | Local SEO may have SEO in the title, but it’s a whole other ball game. Thankfully, Matthew was able to round up some great tips and useful tools from 20 Local SEO experts.
- Guest Posting for SEO: Still Valuable or Not? | Since Google has rolled out her updates and doled out her punishments on those who break the rules, many worry that Guest Posting will get them slapped with a penalty. However, Guest Posting isn’t old hat and can still be used for SEO when done correctly.
- How to Write Blog Content Like a Boss (Step-by-Step Process) | I’ve only recently stumbled across Will Blunt’s blog, Blogger Sidekick, but this post was too epic to not share. In this post, Will breaks down how to find ideas and create content for your blog — like a boss!
Wrapping It Up
June is nearly here and we have some great stuff coming your way here on Elegant Themes.
Did you find a great article this month that we’ve missed? Any type of article you would like to see up on the blog? Be sure to share it with the community.
Article Thumbnail by Author issumbosi via Elegant Themes
Hey Ariel,
thanks for including my blog post here 😉
On WordPress security release, it is good to remember that WordPress now has an auto-update feature. Nice themes by the way!
i have printed most of your articles… when i am in the bus going to my work, that’s what i read 😉
Really very useful article !
A lot of important information and articles in just one post.
Very useful and time-saving.
Thank You !
Thank you..
I’m really really excited about the Divi update! I am also really appreciative of all the great content you guys have been posting up on this blog. I signed up based off one of your pop ups and after receiving your daily post updates to my email inbox it got me thinking. I absolutely hate pop ups and newsletters but I love the content so I don’t mind……. That inspired me to implement my own system and focus on delivering a value to my readers in every email. This is just a thank you for everything you guys do!!!
Will
Editor
PS what commenting system is this? Im using Disqus but so far haven’t had great results.
The standard WordPress comment system.
Cool way of knitting the scattered pieces of information on one single platform! 😀 (y)