Long gone are the days when WordPress was merely a blogging platform. By now it’s a full-fledged content management system used by millions of websites and powers a healthy chunk of the Internet. Consequently, the number of people whose employment somehow revolves around WordPress is also steadily increasing. From hosting providers, to technical support, to *cough* WordPress bloggers—more and more people around the world make a full-time income from the platform. And it pays off. Just look at this developer from Pakistan who is building a three-story house for his entire family after selling just one WordPress theme. In fact, web designers and […]
WordPress Security: 13 Steps to Make Your Website Bulletproof
Let me just say it: WordPress is awesome. Millions of people have flocked to the platform and use it in their daily business. However, there’s a dark side to the growing popularity of WordPress: Because it powers more and more websites, the number of hackers and other shady individuals who target WordPress is also steadily growing. As a consequence, security is an increasing concern for all WordPress users. Yet, at the same time, it is a much neglected topic, because, quite frankly, many find it boring. You know what else is boring? Health insurance. But just like WordPress security measures, you are glad […]
SEO in-depth: Understanding and optimizing the WordPress robots.txt
When it comes to SEO, most people have a decent understanding of the basics. They know about keywords, and how they should show up in different places throughout their content. They have heard of on-page SEO, and have maybe even given WordPress SEO plugins a whirl. If you dive down into the nitty gritty of search engine optimization, however, there are a few rather obscure pieces of the puzzle that not everyone knows about—one of them being robots.txt files. What are robots.txt files and what are they used for? A robots.txt file is a text file that resides on your server. It contains […]
Buffer, the only social media automation tool you need
Are you active on social media? What am I talking about, of course you are. Even my mom is on Facebook now (Hi mom!). If you own a website, and I assume you do, there is no way around it. However, is it just me or does it often feel like social media is running your life rather than the other way around? I mean, it takes a lot of time and effort, doesn’t it? At least, if you want to do it right (which I assume you do). Having a meaningful presence on social media means that you actually […]
University of you: How to learn online marketing (for free)
So, you wanna be an online marketer? Build websites, rake in traffic, make money, am I right? Yet, maybe you are not sure where to start. Is there a course you can sign up for? Will your local college be able to help? Well, quick question: Do you know anyone who has a university degree in digital marketing? How about WordPress? How about how to run a website? Coming up empty? Me too. But how then does anyone learn online marketing? How do you get educated on how to run a successful website? Is there a secret school somewhere that […]
40+ resources to find free stock photos for your WordPress website
Is there a way to start an article of this kind without the stereotypical “they say a picture is worth a thousand words” kind of thing? I guess not. Well, at least I snuck it in without going for it directly. Anyway, there’s no denying that visuals are pretty important when it comes to web content. Being confronted with a full page of uninterrupted text can turn away even the most promising prospect. And that is because humans are highly visual creatures. In fact according to this graphic, visual information is processed 60.000 times faster within the human brain than […]
How to avoid plagiarism on your blog or website
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Yet on the Internet, some people take this type of compliment way too far. Copied content runs rampant online. Getting someone else’s work onto your site is as easy as pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. Why bother writing your own article when somebody has already done it and better? However, these are really the extreme cases. Copyright infringement and blatant content scraping like that are in the realm of spammers, black-hat SEOs, and other dubious individuals that people like you and me want nothing to do with. Yet, even as honest, hard-working bloggers or […]
An in-depth guide on how to integrate Mailchimp into WordPress
We have all heard it before: “The money is in the list.” Building a thriving list of email subscribers is one of the cornerstones of a successful website. Despite being a slightly older form of digital communication, it remains one of the most important ways of staying in touch with your audience. Forking over your email address is a huge sign of trust from the side of your visitor. It gives you direct access to their inbox, a coveted sanctuary for most, making it likely they will actually read what you send them and come back to your site. It’s no […]
Plugged in: A Review of qTranslate X
“Plugged in” is a reoccurring feature on Torque that aims to take a closer look at different plugins each week. If you have any suggestions for plugins you’d like to see reviewed, write us at [email protected]. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? My first ever article written for Torque was this one: 4 ways to turn WordPress into a multilingual website. As the name suggests, it describes how to display any WordPress site in more than one language. In the article I also mentioned a plugin which had been among my absolute favorites for a long time: qTranslate. […]
15 WordPress hacks busy bloggers will love
“I don’t have time.” “I’m too busy.” “I would love to but. . .” If you recognize yourself in the above sentences—Congratulations!—you are running a blog or website and have discovered that, as rewarding as it is, it also requires a lot of work. Who knew that creating something that you are proud of, or pouring your heart and expertise into a project, or sharing amazing content takes more than half an hour out of your day? It’s mind blowing, isn’t it? The bad news is: That’s just how it is. To create something worthwhile, you will have to put in […]
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