Category: WordPress Tutorials

A complete list of WordPress tutorials for bloggers and WP enthusiasts. This includes WordPress settings, themes configurations and even WP security.

12 Most Important Tips To Improve WordPress Security
Recently. WPTemplate shared an infographic on WordPress security issue. The figures were shocking. Each year, thousands of websites are compromised and the figures keep increasing every year.

In year 2012, more than 170,000 WordPress sites were hacked and that’s crazy!

The million dollar question could easily be, “Are you doing enough when it comes to securiting your website security?”

Source: WordPress Templates

So, what you can do to improve your WordPress security?

Did you notice two of the biggest contributor to WordPress security are hosting companies and WordPress themes? And heck, most of thought that WordPress security has always associated with weak security password.

WordPress is one the biggest blogging platform in the world and thus, it is not something new that it is targeted by hackers every single day.

Being said that, you should not take WordPress security for granted and therefore, you should act now.

Yes mate, right now … by doing these easy steps!

1. Practice frequent updates

When was the last time you upgraded your WordPress or plugins? Usually, the latest updates are the one that has security patches or even newer features. If you have yet to get them updated, do it now. It wouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes.

At least, do it for the sake of your website security. Seriously!

2. Perform housekeeping and clean up on your website regularly

Safety first when it comes to website security

Do you know that it is best to delete or uninstall those unwanted plugins you have on your database? Yes, even though they have been deactivated, you should … and by all means remove them immediately. Having lesser plugins also provide a better website loading speed and not to forget, leaving a better experience for readers as well.

The main reasons is because there are many plugins which might pose a threat especially to WordPress. You have to remember that even though you might have deactivated them, they are still accessible in your website database.

3. Avoid using Admin username

This is the same mistake everyone does. You should never use Admin as your administrator ID. I know some WordPress sites advice users to create Admin username without any administrator access. For me, it is best to leave Admin untouched.

The first thing a hacker would try is to brute force login using Admin or Administrator ID. If you are using either one of those username, then you are basically making their life (of hacking) easier!

It is always best to have a mixture of words, symbols and numbers. Of course, you can further boost your WordPress security by adding capital letters as well.

4. Turn off membership registration

Proper ‘security check’ for members is vital to improve your WordPress security

Yes, I don’t allow open registration at all for my sites. Instead, I’ll manually add members myself. This is to ensure that I have complete control over security matters. Small security actions goes a long, long way when it comes to securing your WordPress site.

If everyone is able to register on your site freely, then you might have problem when you’ll find spam bots and potential hackers trying to break the website security.

I truly understand that adding membership manually might be a real pain but it is worth it for those who really cares about security matters. Of course, if you are running a big company, uses WordPress and has a full list of members, Premise might be the best WordPress membership for you.

5. Changing table prefix

This is one hell of efficient method when it comes to WordPress security. Better WP Security plugin makes it sound easy with just a press of a button. No, it isn’t that easy!

You got to learn how to change the prefix correctly or else, you are going to destroy your website … literally. I changed the last round and I accidentally ‘destroyed’ my theme. Ouch!

6. Backup, backup and backup

Nothing goes more important than backup … when it comes to website and stuffs. Lucky for you, there are some seriously good backup plugins and programs that work perfectly for WordPress. Why backup you may ask. Well, imagine you are being hacked or something bad happen to your site today. You can easily restore everything in a very short period since you have a backup file. What happens if you have no backup files? Then you would need to start back from scratch!

Real case scenario. Three months ago, I had several websites running and when ‘something’ bad happened to them, I practically lose hundreds of articles. Yes, I do backup but I only did once a month which is clearly, insufficient! However, it was good that at least, I still have a month old backup. If not, I would be doing everything from scratch … and for over five websites!

7. Security plugins could help

Hello, you’re being monitored.

Let’s say you are less geeky and need help with securing your website. There are WordPress security plugins such as WordFence and Better WP Security which could provide above average security features with just a few clicks of the mouse. Can’t decide which to use? You may find my review here, Wordfence vs Better Wp Security plugin.

Basically, these plugins will boost your WordPress security level and even provide you the well needed security notifications. Definitely worth a shot for those who prefer to be on the safe side.

8. Increase your security features with Content Delivery Network (CDN) services

Heard about Cloudflare and Incapsula? If not, you should definitely use one. Seriously!

Content delivery network or CDN could provide minimal security especially when you are using a free service. Well, some security is always better than no security right? No? 🙂

I always consider CDN to work very well especially when it comes to preventing Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and also improving the website loading speed. Personally, if you are using a CDN for security, Incapsula has a very good security background while Cloudflare is much better of with improving website loading speed (with some security features).

9. Know your WordPress plugins

We all talk about WP everyday.

Now, ask yourself a question. How much do you know about your plugins?

I used to download and try all types of plugins last time and without even bother to check the reviews. Now, I do check their reviews first and even a little bit of Google-ing before installing anything. Some malicious plugins could be hacker’s backdoor to your admin area and protected files. So, always have a good grip of what you are installing and decide if they are really worth the time (and your website security).

Nothing is too personal when it comes to website security!

10. The last level of security comes from you

Me? Seriously?

Yes this is true! Who is your best, most accountable and trusted watch guard for your website? It’s you for Christ’s sake! You got to be on your toes and at least, check on basic changes done that you should be worried about. Let’s take a simple example below.

I had Better WP Security installed on one of my niche website and every time changes are done to my site, I”ll receive an email notification immediately. Imagine small changes such as uploading an image to my gallery and it triggers an email notification. Good? Excellent I would say!

Thing is, you got to at least know what’s happening on your website. Well, you might not have the technical skills to know what to do but at least, you’re still able to alert your hosting provider or developer to check on that.

And when you think that are all …

Hold on there tiger! The above are 10 important security tips when it comes to WordPress and I still have two more under my sleeves!

11. Choose the right WordPress theme for your website

Do you know that 29% of security problems originated from using the wrong WordPress themes? There’s absolutely no denial that there are thousands of free WordPress themes out there. My personal advice?

Ditch those free themes for crying out loud! Jesus! Don’t you see it? These themes might have some codes inside which could compromise your security. Not all, but certainly, I know a lot of them who actually are!

I don’t get it … I really, really don’t get it on … you know … free WordPress themes.

If you are willing to buy premium WordPress theme, you have to be careful as well as not all themes are coded properly. Badly codes one will actually affect your website in many ways.

Here are two of the best WordPress themes I would recommend any day; Genesis Framework and Thesis theme.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of Genesis because:
- Genesis 2.0 says out with the old (XHTML) and in with the new (HTML5), and if you want your website to be future-compatible it needs to use HTML5
- Genesis 2.0’s support of Schema.org code — used by Google, Bing, Pinterest, and many others — allows you to incorporate microdata into your site’s code, further enhancing your SEO
- Genesis 2.0 has code that, if you can believe it, is even cleaner and more lightweight than ever before — which means less bloat and faster load times for readers
- Genesis 2.0 is responsive, and thus most of the child theme are as well
- Genesis 2.0 is backwards-compatible (which makes update a brief)
Don’t take my words for that. Check them out yourself and decide which is best using the links below:

Genesis Framework | Genesis Child Themes | Thesis Theme

12. The importance of hosting companies

Last but not least, the infographic provided by WPTemplate proved that hosting companies play a huge role in terms of WordPress security. With 41% of website hacks originated from website hosting, I bet the figure explains it all.

Personally, I know there are so many hosting companies that are offering cheaper than usual hosting packages. I totally get it that hosting is a competitive industry but have you ever thought that cheap hosting might not provide even the slightest security features for your lovely website?

Let’s take some ‘stats’ for example, shall we?
- Yoast SEO, Chris Brogan, Jay Baer and Chris Pirillo uses Web Synthesis hosting
- HTC, FourSquare, SoundCloud and Balsamiq uses WP Engine hosting
- Volkswagen, Samsung, Sony and dribbble uses Media Temple hosting
Now, does all these makes any logical sense to you?

The above are examples of big brands trusting their hosting companies. Do you see why they don’t go for cheaper corporate hosting? C’mon, give me a guess and I’ll wait! Yes, you got it right mate. It’s all about security.

When it comes to WordPress security, it is best to leave it to the pros if you have limited expertise.

Obviously, these brands are having a much bigger package but it doesn’t mean that you can’t join the big boys’ club. There are packages below $20 which could work very well on your budget and most importantly, a piece of mind 24/7.

You may be using a package say $5 per month but you have to do all the job and maintenance yourself. Simply by adding $15 a month, you would can leave all the maintenance work to the pros … for free.

With proper web hosting, you can forget about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on webmasters who will take care of your websites (no offence though).

Last time, I was with GoDaddy and then, moved over to HostGator. Even though I was happy with my money spend with them, I wasn’t too happy about the support. What can you expect from a $4 or less web hosting package right?

Again (and like what I always say), don’t take my word for it. Go have a look at their websites have to offer.

Recommended high end web hosting companies: Web Synthesis | WP Engine | Media Temple

You may also take a look at my review on why BlueHost is my top choice for affordable web hosting service.

Over to you…

If you think that SEO and all those blogging tips are important, think again. WordPress security is much more important nowadays. Thousands had done them wrongly and I certainly do not hope that you are one of them! Remember that hackers are always out there and you need to be ready for them.

Do you have any other WordPress security tips to share? If you do, drop me a comment below and let’s discuss it over.

**If you find this article interesting, I would be very grateful if you could share it using the red button below.
January 5, 2024
4 Fail Proof Ways To Successfully Create A Website From Scratch
Planning to start blogging and create a website? Thank God you came to the right spot! In this article, I am going to share with you how you can create a website from nothing to something with the help of the popular blogging platform, WordPress.

What is WordPress?

According to Wikipedia, WordPress is an open source CMS, often used as a blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL. Sounds complicated already? Don’t worry and as for now, let’s forget about PHP (what?) and MySQL (double what??).

Basically WordPress is a blogging platform and is one hell of a famous one indeed. Many bloggers including Darren Rowse from ProBlogger (who also wrote How To Earn A Six Digit Figures), Ana Hoffman from TrafficGenerationCafe and Kristi Hines from Kikolani to name a few. And yup, even I am using WordPress.

Hold on!

What makes me different from them? They are really famous bloggers and me? Just an average Joe trying to become a better blogger.

What you should know about creating a website?

Planning is an important when it comes to creating a website

1. Planning, planning and more planning

Well, you can start a website without much effort nowadays thanks to technology. However, please don’t jump straight into creating a website. If you want to create a website, then start planning right now.

Take a piece of paper and a pen of course…I’ll wait.

Now, let’s say you have both of that already. Start jotting down what you have in mind on what your website is going to be all about. What you are doing here is brainstorming.

What? Brainstorming?

Yes! Many bloggers, including me jump right into creating a website. This means like finding a name, hosting package and bam! Install WordPress. I will explain more after this.

Trust me, that is a wrong move. If you want to create a website and make it grow, start having plans. Work out your plans and think not only carefully but critically on how you want to build your website.

2. Finding a good website name

There are many debate in this topic until date. Some says getting Exact Match Domains (EMD) while others say it doesn’t matters anymore. Now, which side of the fence are you in?

Personally, having an Exact Match Domain (EMD) name would be a better choice. It adds a little (yes, very…very little) SEO advantage over to unique domain names. Don’t bother much about it since websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo doesn’t really bring any face value but yet, they are doing very well when it comes to popularity.

A good website name should also be easy to remember, short and as descriptive as possible to leave a great impression on readers. For the length of the domain, try make it less than 15 characters long.

Again, I am just giving suggestions and you can clearly see websites such as TrafficGenerationCafe has a whopping 21 characters but yet, they are doing very well on search engines.

You can start finding and register your domain names with these registrars:
3. Finding a good hosting package

The biggest question I ever asked myself is, ‘Is it worth getting a cheap hosting package?’ and the answer is no! Most hosting companies practice overselling and this means that they are loading their servers with ‘˜more than what they can take’.

Choosing the right web hosting company to host your website is extremely important

This leads to bigger issue in the future where these servers might be overworking and thus, making your websites offline unintentionally. Well, what you can expect when you are paying like $5 per month right?

There are hosting companies such as Media Temple, Synthesis and WP Engine which charges more than $20 per month but they guarantees excellent uptime and a round the clock support.

If you are a novice blogger or webmaster, you can always seek a lower and cheaper hosting package first before moving over to a bigger and more secure hosting company. At least, this will be easier on your pocket and wallet.

When it comes to choosing a web hosting company, I would highly recommend using HostGator as they offer 24/7 support over the phone, email and even live chat. Something that I can’t live without.

4. Create a website – Final stages

By now, you should have all the information needed to create a website. Maybe, you are even more proactive and had even purchased a domain. Good for you!

Simply point your domain to the right name servers and within minutes (some hosting companies take up to 48 hours) the website will be up.

This is where you should login to your own cPanel (some call it hosting homepage) and start installing WordPress. Installation of WordPress usually takes less than 10 minutes but I know one hosting company that takes an hour just to install WordPress.

Efficient? Go figure!

What are you waiting for?

I am going to leave it to you first at this time being. Remember to bookmark this topic and come back for more (which I will be adding more articles in the next few days). Remember that even though to create a website is easy, maintaining a website is tougher than what you think!

Like this article? Comment below to get free backlink and at the same time, take the opportunity to share with me your ideas!
December 21, 2023
Three Love Hate Factors Which Affect Website Load Time
As a blogger and webmaster, I am obsessed with it comes to speed up website load time. In fact, who doesn’t right? Do you know that websites that has good loading speed score well on search engine page results? Maybe I just took it to another level. Anyway, over the past few days, I managed to speed up my website with these three main components:
- Minify
- Gzip
- Combine CSS
Before you proceed reading the rest, ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you know what it takes to build a website that loads fast?
2. What is the importance of a fast loading site?
3. Are you doing enough in terms of optimizing your lovely website?
Not too techie to do website optimization? This article is going to blow your mind away. So, bookmark this page or share with your friends as I am sure you would need this somewhere down your blogging career.

As for the record, I am not interested to hire a SEO or a website developer for the matter. Therefore, Google was my closest ally that I could get without paying a fee. After some searching, I decided to use only two tools which are ySlow and GTmetrix to measure the speed of my website.

Note: ySlow is integrated in GTmetrix and therefore, you may use GTmetrix only.

What are the three things that affect website loading speed?

What did I do to reduce my website load time?

Before solving any problem, you need to know where the problem lies. According to GTmetrix, I am having serious load issues on several parts which are:
- Combine external CSS
- Avoid CSS @ import (there is no space between @ and import)
- Gzip compression
- Minify CSS
Just a side note: If you are very interested to know more about CSS, I would recommend you this: HTML and CSS – Design and Build Websites.

Honestly, having this four issues was already a big headache and I was affected with slow loading speed and super low score for ySlow.

Since search engines do not like slow websites, I was determined to spend the whole day even days to get this resolved, without the help of any paid services.

Yes, I was just that determined!

Something I got to add to all WordPress users

I am using WordPress and I always do. There are probably hundreds of WordPress themes out there and choosing the right one is more than just important.

The right WordPress themes are usually:
- Very clean in coding works
- Build in SEO features
- Ready to use out of the box
- Offer customization where the sky is your only limit
- Unlimited support when you face issues with your themes
It doesn’t matter if you are running a corporate, e-Commerce or a simply website…you need a good WordPress theme and I can only recommend you two which are the best premium WordPress theme I ever seen; Genesis Framework and child themes by StudioPress and Thesis themes by DIYthemes.

I am using Genesis Framework and it really help me to reduce my website load time. This is my website load speed after I did several website optimization and I do not use any Content Network Delivery.

Pingdom Tool is a great tool to measure website loading speed

Searching for free help as much as possible

I didn’t have what it takes to do it fast and I wasn’t sure if I can do it correctly. My first spot was getting help from my hosting provider. Of course, it wasn’t that much of a help really with the reply that I had a huge external scripts which was well over 50k bytes and many external script files.

Even though that wasn’t much of a help, I roughly knew something was wrong in the script. Just an assumption of course!

With the data provided by GTmetrix, I decided that I could Google and solve the problem (one by one).

Solving Avoid CSS @ import

Honestly, I had no idea what this was. I had a look at style.css and tried to find what was wrong. I saw the term @ import and I read what it was. It was actually importing fonts for every request to load my page. Head over to my Homepage and check the different fronts available on your screen. Yup, that’s it!

Just follow the below steps to solve the @ import issue.

Original:

@ import url(“style.css”)

Replace to:

<link rel=”style.css” href=”style.css” type=”text/css”>

See the style.css above? Change them according to the original URL for importing.

Sounds very easy right?

Minify CSS files to control your website load time

I Google-d around and found out about minifying CSS files. I was using W3 Total Cache and I thought it had done what it was suppose to be. However, there are some files which cache plugins are not able to minify.

I read a lot about minify and in short, minify means combining and merging codes to be small in side. The lesser and shorter the code is, the faster your website will load. Enough said.

I headed over to my Style.css (Appearance > Editor > Style.css). This is a risky procedure and thus, you could access style.css through your cPanel which is safer. In case of any mistake done, you could easily revert the changes.

There are many online minify tools that you can use for this matter. You can use anyone which you can find on Google or use this: CSS Drive

Copy down your the whole script or any part of the style.css that you want to minify. Then, paste the code in the box and press compress. New codes will be available once the screen refresh and paste it on your style.css (you should override the old setting). Refresh your website and see if it loads up correctly.

Reduce website load time by compressing external CSS files

If you had understand the concept behind the above action, you are going to understand this completely. What you did was minify just one CSS file. Now, choose as many related css files and then combine all into one.

Tip: You may skip this as not all css files can be merged together

How to enable Gzip compression on WordPress?

Enabling Gzip compression will help to speed up the website loading time and reducing the bandwidth required to load your site. To do so, head over to your .htaccess through your cPanel and paste the below code into the script.

<ifModule mod_gzip.c>
mod_gzip_on Yes
mod_gzip_dechunk Yes
mod_gzip_item_include file .(html?|txt|css|js|php|pl)$
mod_gzip_item_include handler ^cgi-script$
mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/.*
mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/x-javascript.*
mod_gzip_item_exclude mime ^image/.*
mod_gzip_item_exclude rspheader ^Content-Encoding:.*gzip.*
</ifModule>

Save the file and reboot. You should notice a faster loading time now for your website.

Was that I did to speed up my website loading time?

Nope, I did more than that. I even have W3 Total Cache plugin and Cloudflare working together to boost my website speed. Not only that, I even have a subdomain which perform as a cookie-free domain to serve static content to my main site.

If you want to follow my steps, you can click on the links above and they will bring you to complete, step by step guides in speeding up your website.

To ensure that you had done everything correctly, refer back to GTmetrix and check on the scorecard. You should probably see a huge improvement compared to the previous one.

My website scored a pretty nice score at the end of this whole process with loading speed of slightly below 2 seconds and scoring A’s for both Google Page Speed and ySlow.

Do you want to speed up your website effectively?

This whole process could take your about an hour to three max to finish it completely. Share with me your scorecard and if you have any other tips, do tell us as well using the form below.

Like this article? Please help me to share using the red button.
December 21, 2023
Build WordPress Themes Using Dynamik Website Builder
I bet you all know that I am a huge fan of Genesis Framework and I even wrote a neutral article comparing Thesis Theme and Genesis Framework which you can find it here, Thesis Theme vs Genesis Framework.

It has always been my dream of creating my own genesis child theme but honestly, I am no developer and all those CSS, HTML and codes really make me crazy at times. I got to admit it. I am also pretty sure that happens to you as well especially for those who are novice in web developments and blogging industry.

I even came across a great writing on how to build Genesis child theme from scratch thanks to Bill Erickson from Art of Blog. I read that article probably 20 times now and trust me when I tell you that it is extremely well written. If you want to have a look at that, you can check it out using this link.

What is the best web building tool?

Bill recommended to use a child theme as base and customization can start from there which is a hell of an idea indeed. However, I was more tempted to build something from scratch. Yes, I want the WordPress theme to be unique for me only and I am well aware my limitation on those coding works.

Then, I found the light in the tunnel when I came across Dynamik Website Builder. At first, I was very skeptical on the idea and I thought it could just be another lame website. Sorry Dynamik team for that! I read through about Dynamik Website Builder and was highly considering to get it. Bear in mind that I had just got myself Scribe Content Optimization and I wouldn’t want to burden my financial in just one month. You can read all about it here, Scribe … The Best Content Optimization software developed by CopyMedia team.

*disclaimer: I am not paid to promote Dynamik Website Builder nor I have plans to promote it. This is written fairly on my own experience and if you would purchase Dynamik Website Builder using my affiliate link, I would be more than happy and drop me a line so that I can thank you personally!

Without much delay, let’s see what Dyanamik can offer, shall we?

What is Dynamik Website Builder?

Dynamik offers complete tool to design WordPress and Genesis Child Themes

Dynamik website builder is WordPress design tool which help both novice and experienced developers (and bloggers alike) to create their dream themes for WordPress.

Dynamik Website Builder features:
1. Complete homepage control with 49, 1-click home page configurations
2. The ability to put anything and anywhere using Custom Widgets and Content Areas without limitation
3. Complete control and flexibility in terms of website theme designs
4. 1-click option to activate or deactivate responsive WordPress theme
5. Instant activation on front-end website which makes customization easier than just plain easy
6. Choose from 165 webfronts (all included!) for your WordPress theme
7. Fast, efficient and clean codes for your WordPress blog or website
8. Dynamik runs on Genesis framework which is one of the best WordPress framework in the world
Hold on there amigo! 8 reasons are not enough to make Dynamik the best WordPress theme builder. Here are 3 more reasons to which makes Dynamik Website Builder a great choice! It also provides:
1. 1-click lifetime upgrade
2. Lifetime support
3. Use Dynamik Website Builder on unlimited websites including your clients’ ones
Tempted yet? This is what others got to say about Dynamik Website Builders

“I’ve always wanted to offer clients the option of having their sites built in Genesis, but didn’t really want to step headlong into PHP to be able build the sorts of designs and layouts I like to offer. Now, with Dynamik for Genesis, I can put together fully customized sites in very little time using the hundreds of design options that are built in and ready to go. I can easily add content areas to different pages to give sites much more depth than those that just run the same structure, sidebars etc throughout. With all this power and flexibility, no need for PHP coding, AMAZING support, and a built in real-time front-end CSS builder for those that want to push things further, Dynamik has to be THE stand-out child theme for Genesis. I couldn’t be happier with it.” – Ben Pyman

“I love Dynamik! I am not a developer or designer, but Dynamik is so much fun that it has turned into a hobby for me. It may sound nuts, but sometimes I pretend that I have clients and then I build websites for them. Everything is just so fast and easy. On top of all the fun, is that by way the options are presented, the CSS builder and forum, I have learned a lot. Long live the mighty Dynamik!” – Junior Atoms

Dynamik Website Builder for Genesis is a great way to build a custom theme

And I head over to the Dynamik Website Builder pricing page instead…

I asked myself, ‘Seriously?!’ when I saw the price. It is an one time payment of $79.95 and it’s mine forever. That wasn’t really good as I felt it is a bit expensive for my taste. I did a quick calculation as well as I might be buying several child themes from StudioPress the next few months ~~(yup, I did not purchase the famous StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package yet and only bought Genesis Framework and a few child themes according to my liking)~~.

As for the record, I had recently purchased StudioPress All Theme Package recently and it is rocking great. You can check them out here; Pro Package offers over 40+ Professional Themes.

It doesn’t need a PhD education level to tell me that buying Dynamik Website Builder could actually save me more money in the long run. This is very important for those who do not want to spend a lot of money on WordPress themes or have a very absent minded like me. One point taken and thank you.

At the same time, I also noticed the big fat advertisement saying that it offers a full 30-days money back guarantee as well. If you read a few of my review posts, you will notice that I tend to try out products which are offering money back guarantee. Well, I just need to be on the safe side right? Another point taken!

How Dynamik Website Builder looks backend?

Here are some print shots of what it looks like on your WordPress admin area. Easy to configure and most adjustments can be done using drop down buttons. crazy huh?

Master and general settings for Dynamik Website Builder

Enable and disable the responsive designs with just one click of the button

Developers are able to export or important all your settings and templates between websites

Dynamik Website Builder Review – My take

Install it is fairly easy as I am already running on Genesis Framework. You need Genesis Framework to run with Dynamik and if you have not gotten it yet, you can check out my affiliate link here.

A guaranteed 30-days money refund – Excellent!

Within minutes, I felt that I was on Thesis Blank Theme and I told myself, maybe and I mean maybe, I did the wrong choice. Starting from scratch was pretty hard and I wasn’t prepared. Instead of starting and trying to ‘˜give it a guess’, I decided to download Dynamik Website Builder manual and flash read on it. Yes, just reading things I think I want to know about. Haha lazy me!

It certainly sounds easy on the manual and I bet it could be a bit hard in reality. Duh, why bother when I still have 29 days on the clock for refund right?

Unlimited designing abilities for WordPress themes

Dynamik Website Builder offers endless possibilities in terms of customization

The next day, I told myself I am going to build my own WordPress theme one way or another. And after 3 hours figuring out and doing customizations, I have created my lovely theme! Clean and minimalistic as what I truly wanted. I knew at that moment that I have yet to unfold Dynamik Website Builder full potential yet.

Why? Simply because I created a full and complete theme with custom widgets and stuffs without touching a single CSS code! WOW!

Over the days, I was changing my themes from fonts colours to width sizes. Yes and I changed it over the next one week. It was amazing, really. I don’t know if there is more words to describe it but really! I am far more than just impressed.

Creating WordPress themes is easier than ever – Dynamik Website Builder

I am not planning to make this post too long and therefore, let me sum up a few things here. If you want to create a brand new and unique WordPress theme without wasting too much time, then you should get Dynamik Website Builder like me. Just to share, this site is using Dynamik Website Builder and damn I am loving it so much.

So, the biggest question is, ‘Are you ready to take website designing to the next level using Dynamik Website Builder for Genesis?’

It doesn’t matter if you are not yet convinced (what?!) but it’s okay. You can check out their website (Catalyst Theme) using this link and see for yourself as well. Moreover, no harm visiting their website right?

Like this article? Please help me to share using the red button.
December 21, 2023
Genesis Framework vs Thesis Theme – Best WordPress Theme
When I first started up this website, my first thought wasn’t about creating a good website. My thought was not choosing a good theme but instead, I wanted to find the best WordPress theme from scratch (or at least, I try to create one).

Yes! Good WordPress themes have many effects such as website loading speed, SEO abilities and even, attracting readers to come back for more! Of course, I am fully aware that I have so many WordPress themes to choose from. However, I need more than just a good WordPress theme; I need a great WordPress framework!

Sounds like I am over my head? Enjoy this short video below and find out the advantages of using premium WordPress themes.

Back in my head, I knew that to create a great theme from scratch, I need to use the best WordPress framework in order to create my masterpiece.

Personally, I have been in this blogging industry for a few years now and I know when it comes to the best WordPress themes and frameworks, only two WordPress themes will make it through.

Drum roll please…

Genesis vs Thesis – The Best WordPress Theme

A good WordPress framework will allow bloggers and developers to create excellent themes

On the left corner, we have Genesis Framework and child themes driven by the mighty StudioPress team!

On the right corner, give a warm welcome to Thesis Theme and Framework created by famous, Chris Pearson and his DIYthemes team.

I know! This two have been in a long battle until today! Crazy huh?!

So, if you are very interested to make your own web design, I am pretty sure either one of this (or both WordPress themes) will be more than just a great start for you.

Now, I had a fair time with both the themes and allow me to share my personal opinion on both. At least, it could assist you when you’re making you ultimate choice.

Genesis Framework and Child Themes

Genesis framework offers in build SEO features and is extremely user friendly for bloggers

For starters, Genesis framework is very solid for those who are looking to build or modify themes according to their liking. For bloggers who are not tech-savvy like me, creating a WordPress theme using Genesis framework is pretty easy.

Lots of documentations and what makes Genesis a worthwhile investment are as below:

Genesis framework is search optimized

Genesis has inbuild SEO features which is ready out of the box

Genesis framework has turn-key designs

Being unlimited is all about Genesis framework

It would take you about a day to a week to master what Genesis has to offer … that’s if you want to create and understand completely what Genesis is all about. What makes Genesis different from the rest (even Thesis framework) is because it plays with many ‘˜hooks’.

Okay, don’t bother what it means for now but the ‘hooking’ ability makes Genesis framework a very unique feature for bloggers and web developers.

So, what is Genesis Hook?

Genesis Hooks makes customizing your WordPress framework easier. What it actually offers is the ability for developers and bloggers to customize their sites without needing to find the specific code or area. Don’t get it? See below!

If you are thinking of changing the meta settings etc? Just look for genesis_meta.

If you are thinking of changing the side bar, just look for genesis_sidebar.

Yes it is indeed pretty simple for developers and for newbie bloggers, it could take a bit of time to learn about it. However, Genesis hooks really bring blogging and web development to a whole new level. Trust me on this when I say that once you understand how Genesis framework works, it is going to offer you endless possibilities of customization in blog template. Period.

Many premium and free Genesis child themes are available

Genesis child themes on the other hand is like the outlook of the template. For those who prefer buying a pre-made WordPress theme (here’s the collection of themes in a very beautiful gallery) instead of doing one from scratch, you can do so by at StudioPress website. For people who want more customization, StudioPress also has a market place where you can seek for reputed developers to design WordPress themes for you.

Tip: You need to buy Genesis framework first in order to have the child themes working.

Genesis is pretty flexible and thus, many developers have actually moved over to Genesis. Still not convinced? This is what Mashable said:

Mashable calls StudioPress the “best of the best” among WordPress premium frameworks.

Famous people who are using Genesis framework for their websites:

Famous bloggers who uses Genesis Framework for their sites

At the moment, Genesis framework is sold at $59.95 with unlimited support and updates. Genesis child themes are sold between $24.95 to $44.95. If you are a developer or handling multiple websites, you might want to consider going for the Professional version which offers unlimited upgrades and all past and future themes Genesis can offer.

Genesis Pro Plus All Theme Package is an excellent choice for developers and serious bloggers

How can I buy Genesis Framework or Genesis Child themes?

Head over to these links if you want to buy Genesis Framework, browse through Genesis Child themes or even purchase the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package.

Not yet make up your mind? Don’t worry!

You can check out StudioPress Community Themes if you want to see what other themes freelance developers are developing with the Genesis Framework.

If you purchase from StudioPress, you are entitle for a 30-days money back guarantee in case if you want to have a refund. Zero commitment and absolutely risk free if you ask me.

If you are a developer or running several websites, you can have a look at Genesis Pro Package which offers all child themes and lifetime of update.

Thesis Theme and Skins

I wasn’t and will not be one sided to Genesis! I had personally used Thesis 2.0 (no experience in 1.x though) for several websites of mine as well in the early stages.

Now, what I can say about Thesis theme?

Thesis theme … honestly … is very, very good. At times, I believe it is that slight better (really narrow win) over Genesis framework. I knew about Thesis few years back but since I am already with Genesis, I wasn’t bothered much.

Since I was able to play with Thesis (bought the Professional package), I was pretty impressed with it but not at first.

When I first saw the promo, I thought I had hit the goal mine. Not really. I hit … the other side.

Thesis 2.0 was released recently and it offers many advantages over Genesis framework. The list as follow below:

Easy way to deploy and tweak your WordPress themes

Drag and drop feature

Thesis boxes and packages

Build in SEO features

Just like Genesis framework, Thesis framework has boxes and packages which works like Genesis’s hooks. DIYthemes do not offer free or skins for sale which means, they are selling the framework by itself only. Of course, if you are buying the bigger packages such as the developer’s package, then you will get several free skins.

Thesis 2.0 theme is used by many well known figures such as Derek Halpern

I know you might be worrying now as you have no coding skills and knowledge. Don’t worry as Thesis 2.0 is pretty easy to configure (after you figure it out) and there are many developers who are willing to work with Thesis framework.

When it comes to mastering the Thesis 2.0 techniques, I would say it took me about a week as well to understanding how everything works. And for the record, Thesis theme works completely different from Genesis!

What makes Thesis 2.0 stand out against Genesis framework at this point of writing is because Thesis framework loads a fraction faster than Genesis. And when I mean a fraction faster, it only means about 1/10 of a second faster.

Important? Go figure!

As for the record, Thesis does not come with any skins for the standard package. However, if you purchase either the Plus or Professional package, then you will get some free skins along the way.

Thesis framework might be costly but it is one of the most popular web building tools for developers

Now, let’s talk about Thesis theme pricing and how to buy Thesis theme?

You can gets your hands on Thesis theme and framework as low as $87 with a one year support which is called Thesis Basic. Of course, there are also Thesis Basic Plus which is $164 that comes with two extra skins and Thesis Professional which offers two skins and some Thesis boxes. Not to forget, Thesis Professional is a package which offers lifetime support and upgrades.

You can easily get Thesis themes and skins about $20 to $80 each. Well, of course it depends on the website though.

If you are interested to buy Thesis Framework, you can visit DIYthemes official website.

Why I decided to use Genesis Framework and not Thesis theme?

A few facts about me before I tell you why:
1. I am super particular with my themes and I want the theme to be developed my way!
2. Since many modifications will be done overtime, I need to find a theme where modification can be done easily.
3. I don’t have much time to work on my themes and therefore, I need the themes to be done fast!
4. I am always thinking of how to reduce my spending and therefore, a cost efficient framework would be great.
Do we have anything in common as of the above?

Reason 1: Genesis framework is easier to configure for a novice developer

Now, both Genesis framework and Thesis theme fairly easy to configure. Don’t get me wrong as I am not a WordPress developer and all those CSS, HTML and codings really give me the headaches. However, I took some time learning them before I was able to use both without problem. I choose Genesis over Thesis theme simply because the time configuring Genesis is way faster than Thesis in my opinion and experience.

Reason 2: Genesis framework is cheaper

At the same time, Genesis is slightly easier on my pocket since I could just purchase the framework and develop my own WordPress theme. Well, a good debate which I asked myself is that the differences is very small. Though having a slightly cheaper investment is better, the biggest advantage was the lifetime upgrade and support offered by StudioPress.

Reason 3: Genesis framework offers unlimited support and availability of Child themes

I could easily buy one the framework and have 50 years of support while Thesis 2.0 only offer one year support and upgrade. Of course, you can earn unlimited support when you purchase the professional package.

Don’t forget, I could also save a lot of money since most of Genesis Child themes are sold at a very low price. For developers, I would highly recommend Genesis Pro package which offers life time support, upgrades and all past and future themes free for download. And yes, a 1-off payment method.

Reason 4: Long term investment and savings

With simple maths, I knew I was saving up more money when using Genesis framework compared to Thesis framework.
Are you using any of frameworks on your blogs or websites? Talk to me and let’s share our experience. Maybe I could learn something from you as well!

So, what is your decision? Are you going for Genesis framework or Thesis theme for your WordPress blog?

Does this article clears your doubt in terms the best WordPress theme? Tell me what you think using the comment form below.

Still not convinced of using premium WordPress themes? Listen my short podcast, Advantages of using premium WordPress themes or using SoundCloud below:
December 21, 2023
Guide For Dummies: How To Setup Your WordPress W3 Total Cache Correctly?

W3 Total Cache is one of the world’s most renown cache plugin for WordPress and you are probably finding the best setup guide for WordPress W3 Total Cache right?

Before that, let’s see what W3 Total Cache actually is and how it functions. It provides close to everything you would need to make your website load blazing fast but most of the time, these settings could be very misguiding and complicated for bloggers and even new website developers.

In this guide, I am going to try my best to provide you a step by step guide in setting up your W3 Total Cache. This post is a little lengthy but trust me, it will definitely worth your time especially when you are going to get the best setting for your W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin.

Here’s the slide which I had created thanks to SlideShare (for those who want to avoid reading the wall of text) ~ Enjoy!

Setup guide for WordPress W3 Total Cache

Firstly, head over to the plugin page and search for W3 Total Cache. Very easy and very straight forward right?

Setting up your W3 Total Cache the right way

The famous W3 Total Cache setting tab

1. You should be able to see a new tab labelled as Performance on the left side of the screen on your WordPress dashboard. Click on that.

2. Next, you will see the Dashboard for W3TC and this gives you a general outlook of the plugin. You see the option to select General Settings and select that. General Settings works as a master switch for W3TC. You can enable or disable a certain option with just one click of the button.

3. On the General Settings page, scroll down a little and you will see Page Cache.

Page Cache: Enable

Page cache method: Disk: Enhanced

You do not need to press save at the moment. I will explain to you after this on why I rather save later than now.

4. Scroll down more and you will see the Minify option.

Minify: Enable

Minify mode: Manual

Minify cache method: Disk

HTML minifier: Default

JS minifier: JSMin (default)

CSS minifier: Default

5. Next is Database Cache option.

Database Cache: Enable

Database Cache Method: Disk

6. Scroll down a little to Object Cache.

Object Cache: Enable

Object Cache Method: Disk

7. To the next option, Browser Cache.

Browser Cache: Enable

8. For CDN settings, you may disable it first.

Setting up W3TC plugin could be time consuming but it will make your website load at blazing speed

9. Reserve Proxy disable, Cloudflare settings disable, monitoring disable, miscellaneous disable and debug disable all. Now, you may save all your settings. After saving it, W3TC will ask you if you would like to clear the cache which you can select yes. The reason to save once you have done the whole page is to avoid inconvenience. You may save one by one but it is totally a time consuming process.

10. Select Page Cache on the left of the screen.

You should enable cache front page, cache feeds, cache SSL and don’t cache pages for logged in users.

Cache Preload: Enable automatic prime

Update interval: 907

Page per interval: 7

Sitemap: http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (change your domain to your own site name)

Save all settings and you may ignore the rest of the options on that page.

11. Select Minify button on the left.

Enable rewrite URL structure and for HTML minify settings, select enable, inline CSS minification, inline JS minification and line break removal.

As for JS minify settings, select enable, before (combine), after (minify) and before (combine). Enable preserved comment and line break as well.

As for CSS minify settings, select enable, preserved comment and line break removal.

Go for save all settings again and clear the cache.

12. Now, select Database Cache button on the left

Enable don’t cache queries and save the setting.

13. You can exclude Object Cache as nothing needed to change there. Select Browser Cache instead.

Under General, enable everything except do not process 404 errors.

Under CSS & JS, enable all the options there. The only changes you need to do is change the value of expires header lifetime to 31536000 seconds.

Under HTML & XML, enable everything as well.

Under Media & Other Files, enable everything and set the value of expires header lifetime to 31536000 seconds.

Finally, save all settings and clear cache if needed.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE ALL DONE!

You can basically forget the rest of the options for now. These settings should serve you well with or without a Content Delivery Network. You will notice your site gets loaded up faster than usual. Remember to clear all the cache at least once to make everything stays for good.

And for the record, I have tested these settings on various websites now and all of them are giving them very good response time. Certainly hope this works well for you as well and good luck.

If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the red Google+ button below?

December 21, 2023