site maintenance + performance

We made it through the year (barely?). I chose to close my laptop lid + enjoyed two weeks with family — the dogs really — and my favorite heated blanket. If you also took some time off + you’re diving back in, let’s tackle your annual site care tasks. I recommend giving yourself 3 hours to tackle all of these things. If that sounds like way more time than you have to spare, remember that you can have tiny blue orange take care of all of these things (+ more)….

It might feel as though the holiday season is eons away, but it has a way of creeping up on me every year, and I know I’m not alone! If you’re like tiny blue orange, your business isn’t as holiday dependent as a clothing store. Yet no matter what industry you’re in, there are a few things you can do to prep your WordPress site early. Update Everything You’re hopefully updating your plugins, themes + WordPress every month, or at least every quarter when I give you a gentle nudge….

The quality of your website hosting can make or break your website. Humor me for a second, well a few seconds. Count to five in your head or out loud. Choosing the wrong hosting for your WordPress website can make visitors wait at least five seconds every time they try to load a page on your website. Five seconds may seem like an insignificant amount of time. In real life, it feels like not much time passes at all. However, it’s a crucial time if you’re looking to generate leads…

Before I dive into things I hate seeing in WordPress, I wanted to know if you’ve created your press page yet? I asked back in April + noted that I also didn’t have one of these pages. Holding up my end of the bargain, here’s my in-progress press page. It’s not my favorite site page, but it’s now painfully easy for me to point folks to a spot where they can grab a photo, bio, or reminder of how to spell my name. Speaking of being “in-progress,” I really hate…

Roughly half of the visitors to the average small business website use a smartphone or mobile device. For some industries, this can be even higher. While you might not hire a web developer while browsing your phone, looking at a new fitness facility or clicking through FB ads are more often done on phones over laptops. A website that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices will lead to an annoying experience for your visitors. They’re not going to stay on your website if it’s hard for them to use. Over…

There are plenty of reasons why it might be time for you to switch WordPress hosting companies, but what about upgrading? Sometimes these might be the same thing — you could upgrade WordPress hosting as you move to a new host. But there are times where WordPress users simply need more as their site grows. Since upgrading almost always means an increase in cost, it’s important to know the why before you invest. Time to upgrade WordPress hosting Each hosting company can have different plans + services, but the concept…

A client reached out to tiny blue orange for some help with the layout of their site. After talking, we quickly realized there was a much bigger issue to solve first — their hosting drama. It was clearly time for them to switch WordPress hosting companies + you might be wondering if it’s time for you to do the same. Negatively impacting your site health The biggest red flag that your hosting company is holding you back can be seen right in your WordPress dashboard. Head to Tools > Site…