Content Management

BuddyPress 10.0.0 for WordPress Released

BuddyPress 10.0.0 "La Pino'z" is the first major release of 2022 for the WordPress plugin. BuddyPress is a plugin to build online communities and includes features such as user profiles, groups, activity streams, notifications and can be integrated with the WordPress plugin bbPress to enhance community forums.

Highlights of new features and significant changes in BuddyPress include:

The Online Accessibility Pandemic

It’s becoming increasingly clear that online retailers are losing out on billions of dollars in revenue because their websites don’t meet the needs of disabled shoppers. Unsurprisingly, more than two-thirds of disabled online customers click away from sites they find difficult to use, despite the total spending power of this market in the UK hitting £17.1bn [$23.3 billion USD].

This isn’t something that will just automatically improve as technology advances. In fact, the problem has become worse in recent years, as businesses shift to digital it exacerbates the difficulties that many people have.

socPub: Relaunching CMS Report and having fun at the After Work Pub

It make take awhile but when I make a mistake I will eventually admit and correct the error of my ways. Half a decade ago, I turned my back on supporting niche websites and focused all my effort in creating a new multi-topic website which you now know as socPub. As counter-intuitive that it sounds, the more diverse and interesting topics we published under this website, our number of loyal visitors to the website decreased in numbers. I found this analysis to be alarming and discouraging.

End of Life for Drupal 8

This is old news but I thought still worth mentioning. Last month Drupal 8 reached its end-of-life. This means that all versions of Drupal 8 core and Drupal contributed project releases that are compatible with only Drupal 8 have been marked unsupported and are no longer supported by the Drupal security team.

Drupal 8.0.0 was first released on November 9, 2015. The last version was released on November 17, 2021. With the end of life approaching, I also updated my two websites from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9.

My Lack of Blogging in a Pandemic

Blogging has always been a way for me to express myself creatively as I hide away in my home office for "me time". Unfortunately, the COVID-19 Pandemic changed all that with my day job requiring maximum telework which in turn transformed my creative personal space into a remote office that work owned eight hours a day. For my mental and physical health, once those work hours are up I have made the conscious decision to walk away from the computer. I now find it more necessary to find something else to do that doesn't involve screen time. This shift in priorities unfortunately reduced my writing time.

New study: Amazon wins biggest share of Google results in Apparel, Beauty, Sporting Goods and Health eCommerce

Berlin / San Mateo, November 23, 2021 – Amazon.com (9.7%), nordstrom.com (8.0%) and adoreme.com (5.0%) are first, second and third for the share of organic search results on Google’s first page when U.S. shoppers search for Apparel. In the Beauty sector, amazon.com (17.3%) is ahead of ulta.com (6.9%) and sephora.com (5.1%), while in Furniture the top three are wayfair.com (15.3%) amazon.com (11.3%) and homedepot.com (10.7%).

How to Assess Your Content Management Efforts and Improve Tenfold

Your content offers users a glimpse into the heart and soul of your brand. When it’s on-point,  you establish yourself as an authority in your field and become the first one people turn to when they have a related question. As a result, your brand becomes the best known source to solve customer pain points. 

HubSpot's State of Content Marketing report found 82% of marketers used content to promote their brands. Content marketing saw a whopping 70% increase from the previous year. With more consumers shopping online, digital marketing has become more important than ever before for brands wishing to remain competitive. 

Bryan Ruby: My 31-Day Blogging Challenge

Life has a way of distracting us from our goals. Four years ago when I decided to retire CMS Report, I did so in the hope for opportunity to find a new voice in my online presence. It didn't work out so well. Instead of being more creative in my writings, I spent more time maintaining the nuts and bolts to my websites and publishing other people's articles than I did expressing my own thoughts and ideas. I know for many of you, you find yourself in a similar predicament.

Local SEO Best Practices for B2B Marketing to Take Your Company Forward

B2B leaders tend to focus on only a handful of marketing and lead generation tactics due to the nature of the industry – when you’re marketing to other businesses, personal contact and recommendations matter. Many of us in the B2B field know that one of the best ways to sell our service is to open a direct line of communication with a decision-maker in another company, but if we only rely on personal connections and emails, we are wasting ample marketing and CRO opportunities. If you want to excel at B2B marketing, you need to focus on the best digital marketing practices, and that means investing in local SEO.