Kayla I. Shown-Dean's Blog, page 33

Need a Website Fast? Let Us Do It For You

We get it. Life’s to-do list seems bottomless, and maybe building your own website isn’t anywhere near the top of it. And yet your business needs it. Yesterday, if possible. Your audience, your customers, are waiting. 

If you’re in need of a professionally designed, budget-friendly, mobile-optimized website to showcase your business, product, or service, consider Built By WordPress.com Express. 

Click here to get started.Tell us a little bit about your business.Select a design from our catalog of themes (or let us choose the right one for you!).Provide your content, including your logo and any images. Sit back and relax!

Our in-house experts will build the site for you, all in four business days or less. The cost is $499, plus an additional purchase of the WordPress.com Premium plan. 

We’ve built sites for professional bloggers, local service professionals such as roofers, a surfing school, consultants, attorneys, nonprofits, churches, restaurants, even an online sports streaming network. If your primary goal is to tell the world about your project or business, or maybe you have a long wish list of things you’d like your website to do and just need a head start, Built By WordPress.com Express was created just for you. 

We can’t wait to delight you.

Yes! Build my site for me!

Here’s a Look at Our Favorite New Patterns

Since we launched Patterns in 2020, we’ve been steadily adding to our library of prebuilt Block templates for you to easily make your site stand out even more. There are now over 260 Patterns that can be inserted into your pages and posts in just seconds.

If you’ve never used Patterns before, you can access them by hitting the “+” button at the top left of any page or post you’re working on. From there, you can do a few things:

Use the search box to search for a term like “Header,” “Subscription,” or “Link in Bio” and select from the results Or click on the “Patterns” tab and use the drop down menu to explore the top results across various categories Or click on the “Explore” button to bring up our entire library of Patterns, organized by category

Here’s a quick demo that shows how to add an image gallery using the new Pattern explorer:

We’re always adding more Patterns, month by month — we’ve added over 45 new ones since July! — and we can’t wait for you to see some of the fun designs coming up. Think of them as an ever-growing library of sophisticated slices of web design you can customize and add to your posts, pages, and Block themes.

Below is a quick look at some of our favorites from the year so far.

If you use a lot of images in your posts, we have numerous options for you. There are some great Patterns for galleries, portfolios, and even product listings.

You can find these in the “Gallery” category.

The adage “good things come in small packages” holds true with some of our smaller Patterns that take up less real estate. It all depends on the nature of your website, but a Pattern for donations on a non-profit site or call to subscribe on almost any blog can make a great end for a post or page.

Find these in the “Subscribe” and “Earn” categories, respectively.

And finally, simply exploring some of our bolder Patterns can provide inspiration on working with color, type, and images on your site!

Patterns are an incredibly useful resource in your website design toolbox. Customize, experiment, and take advantage of them whenever you can.

If you need help with Patterns, click here for a more detailed guide.

And be sure to let us know in the comments how you’ve used Patterns on your site and any ideas you have for new ones. We’re always working on more!

Grow Your Audience with Microsoft Start

We’re all looking for ways to grow our audiences for our sites. Sometimes, we change our content to optimize it for search engines (here’s a shameless plug for our new SEO course). Other times, we find ways to reach new people, such as using tags so our blog posts show up in the Reader. 

Now, WordPress.com creators are getting access to an all-new tool to increase their audience. 

Originally released as Microsoft News, the revamped Microsoft Start is a global news and information feed that currently syndicates content from over 4,500 premium publishers to about a billion people! In an effort to expand and diversify this network, Microsoft has started an exclusive pilot program — and is looking for 500 highly qualified, independent creators in the U.S. to apply. 

Yes, this means you.

Using the Microsoft Start plugin to connect your site to the platform, you’ll be able to build your brand and gain exposure by delivering your content throughout Microsoft Start’s ecosystem, which includes MSN, Bing, and Microsoft Edge. Additionally, you’ll be able to earn ad-sharing revenue via the platform, as well as 100% direct support through readers and your affinity links. Creators on the Microsoft Start platform act as their own syndicator and will maintain 100% ownership of their content. Even better, previously published posts can be repurposed as evergreen content using the built-in WordPress.com feed functionality. 

Do you qualify?

Desired applicants are reputable topic specialists publishing content at least 5 times per month. Priority will be given to the following genres: food and drink; travel; health and wellness (which includes nutrition and fitness); relationships; parenting; demystifying science and tech; career and personal finance; the craft of writing; and DIY how-tos. Ideally, you also have an archive of at least 25 blog posts.

If you’re interested in applying, Microsoft will sweeten the deal by paying 500 accepted candidates a $100 bonus upon publishing regularly for 60 days. (To qualify, candidates must submit their application by 11:59pm PDT on Sunday August 28, 2022 and enter “WordPress” as your referral.) Please note that there are terms and conditions all participating publishers must agree to in order to work directly with Microsoft Start. This opportunity is not an affiliate program between Microsoft Start and WordPress.com; it’s simply a special, limited-time opportunity we’ve helped to leverage for WordPress.com creators.

Apply Now

New Design Superpowers for You to Leverage

One of the most exciting things about WordPress is that it’s constantly improving. In fact, did you know that Gutenberg releases new functionality and improvements every two weeks?! There have been a number of really cool and powerful capabilities rolled out over the last few months that give you even more control over the design of your site and your content. We wanted to take a minute to highlight some that we’re especially excited about.

Note: These updates are most relevant to those of you who have a block theme activated.

Use Your Featured Image in the Cover Block Borders in Layout BlocksSee What Margin vs Padding Actually DoesPatterns Are Easier to Find and More Convenient to UseLeveling Up the Query Block Notable Mentions Use Your Featured Image in the Cover Block

Over the last few months the Gutenberg team has really powered up the cover block and its ability to leverage the featured image set in your post/page. Not only can you do that when creating new content, you can use it in your templates too, making it easier than ever to make your featured image a bigger part of every post.

Borders in Layout Blocks

You now have the ability to add and customize borders in the columns, row, stack, and group blocks. Use them for subtle dividers or go nuts to create some fun retro drop-shadows. This is a great way to make different sections on your site stand out!

See What Margin vs Padding Actually Does

I’ve been working in the web space for a long time and I still get confused with how padding and margin will impact my layout — especially when there are multiple layers of blocks involved! You will now see exactly where the change is being applied as you adjust your settings.

Patterns Are Easier to Find and More Convenient to Use

Gutenberg 12.7 brings patterns front and center to help save you time and energy. Why recreate a layout block by block when you can start with something more complete? Take advantage of all of the great patterns the WordPress.com designers put together for our customers or maybe consider adding a pattern of your own to the WordPress.org pattern directory.

Leveling Up the Query Block

The Query Loop has grown a lot over the past few months. Not only can you filter by different authors or taxonomies, but you can now filter to show all content under a parent category. This is perfect for creators who create different types of content or jump between drastically different subject matters. It’s really the ultimate block for displaying a collection of posts and it just keeps getting better.

Notable Mentions You can now customize and display text on your social icons. We’ve made it easier to transform your content into different blocks without losing the work you’ve already done. Your new buttons will keep the design settings you already applied, preventing you from having to re-apply the settings for every button you add.

This is just a small subset of new features released over the last few months. Let us know what you think in the comments and feel free to share your favorites!

New Tools for More Successful Editing Adventures

Spacing in Galleries Lock Those BlocksDid You Notice the Table of Contents on This Post?Spacing in Galleries

You now have the power to control how much space lives between your images at the horizontal and vertical level. This allows you to create a variety ways to present a collection of photos. You can even eliminate all of the space to give it a collage effect.

Lock Those Blocks

Have you ever accidentally messed up a block or pattern? While there’s always some comfort in knowing you can “undo” most accidents, there’s a new/better way to prevent them from happening in the first place.

You can now lock blocks from within the editor or the list view. This makes it easier than ever to protect components, sections, or even full layouts.

Within locking you can choose to prevent them from being moved or to prevent them from being removed. You can also look forward to the ability to lock “inner blocks” which would make it easier to lock any number of blocks you have set up within a layout block like the group, row, or stack blocks.

Did You Notice the Table of Contents on This Post?

That’s right, it’s finally here. The table of contents block automatically updates as you edit your content, giving your users a direct path to the content they are most interested in.

What other features have you discovered that make creating and editing content easier for you? Share your tips and tricks in the comments.

Hot Off the Press: New WordPress.com Themes for August 2022

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Below you’ll find the six newest themes that we’ve added to our library, giving you beautiful options for a product showcase, photography portfolio, travel blog, or whatever else you can dream up.

To install any of the below themes, click the the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then simply click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or, just click here:

All WordPress.com ThemesPendant

Pendant is an elegant product-focused theme. The default styles feature serif headings and a dark background, contributing to a sophisticated style. It features a set of sleek block patterns such as a hero section with a large image, a styled grid to display information about your team, and multi-column layouts to display products.

Heiwa

Heiwa is a clean and elegant theme. Its sophisticated typography and clean look make it a perfect match for a business producing visual products.

Vivre

Vivre is a bold, opinionated blogging theme, heavily inspired by fashion and lifestyle magazines and websites. With large heavy sans-serif paired with a light elegant serif font, it sets the tone to a refined, content-focused reading experience.

Antonia

Antonia is a theme for selling products with the help of payments block. With its clean, modern, and elegant layout, Antonia is a brilliant choice to showcase your products and sell them.

Appleton

Appleton is a portfolio theme with a clean layout, designed to help you showcase your images with minimal distractions. Whether you’re an amateur or a professional photographer looking for a canvas on which to display your work, Appleton is an excellent choice.

Meraki

Meraki is a light and elegant travel blog theme designed to document your adventures. Whether you’re a seasoned globetrotter or an aspiring explorer, Meraki will make a perfect destination for sharing your stories and photography.

Stay tuned for more updates about new themes, patterns, blocks, and other exciting product updates! And be sure to click below to take a look at the entire showcase of themes we offer:

All WordPress.com Themes

Changes to Our Pricing Plans

Our philosophy has always been one of experimenting, learning, and adjusting. As we began to roll out our new pricing plans a couple of months back, we took note of the feedback you shared. What we heard is that some of you missed the more granular flexibility of our previous plans. Additionally, the features you needed and pricing of the new plans didn’t always align for you. This led us to a decision that we believe is the right call.

Returning to Our Familiar Plans

Starting today, we’re bringing back our Personal, Premium, Business, and eCommerce plans – in addition to the free plan. Here’s what that looks like: 

For more details, view plan information here.What This Means for You

For many of you, this doesn’t change anything. If you’re on a WordPress Pro or Starter plan, rest assured that you’ll remain on that plan. Your feedback matters more now than ever. We’ll continue listening. Our broader goals of simplifying website building and managed WordPress hosting will continue behind the scenes,  and we’ll be sure to communicate any future updates as they become finalized. In the meantime, and as always, we welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Publish Blog Posts to Your Telegram Channel Automatically With JetpackWP Bot

With the JetpackWP Bot for Telegram, you can now automatically share blog posts from any Jetpack-powered WordPress site (including any site hosted at WordPress.com) directly to a Telegram channel. This free tool saves time sharing content to Telegram, where readers can subscribe to read your posts just as easily as they would via email or social media.

How to Create a Telegram Channel and Set Up JetpackWP Bot 

Content publishers can create a Telegram channel, invite JetpackWP Bot, and set it to follow their blog. The bot will then update the channel with new posts as they’re published in real time. Start by opening the app and clicking the pen icon in the lower right corner of the left-hand panel:

Add members that you would like to participate in your channel. Then, give your channel an image, name, and description:

Now, add JetpackWP Bot as an admin to the channel. Click the channel name at the top, then click the pen icon in the upper right corner:

Next, scroll down to Administrators, click the person icon in the bottom right corner, and search “jetpackwp”:

Review what the bot can do as an admin, then click the checkmark icon in the bottom right corner:

Once the bot has admin access to the channel, it’s time to follow your blog (or any other Jetpack-powered blog that you’d like to follow in your channel). To do this, type /follow and the URL of your desired blog:

Now, the bot will automatically share new blog posts with the channel. If you’d like to curate content from other Jetpack-powered blogs, you can do that too by using the /follow command. If you’d like to see a list of all followed blogs, unfollow blogs, or reset the bot, there are additional commands you can use:

/unfollow [URL]: Stops notifications for the blog specified in the URL./reset: Unfollows all followed blogs./following: Shows a list of all followed blogs.

For additional information about how to use JetpackWP Bot, visit our support page.

How to Add a Telegram Social Icon So Readers Can Subscribe

Once your Telegram channel is set up and JetpackWP Bot is active, add a social icon for Telegram so your readers can subscribe. Here are two different methods you can follow.

1. Add a Telegram Icon to Your Header or Footer With a Widget

From your WordPress website’s dashboard, click Appearance > Widgets, then select Social Icons:

Search for “telegram” to find the correct icon:

Visit your Telegram channel and click the channel name at the top. Find your channel URL and copy it:

Return to your WordPress website dashboard, open your Social Icon widget block, and paste the URL for your Telegram channel:

2. Add a Telegram Icon to a Page or Post Using the Social Icons Block

Alternatively, you can use the Social Icons block to place a subscription icon anywhere on your site. Follow the same steps from the previous section to snag the URL for your channel. Then from your dashboard, choose the page or post where you’d like to place your icon, and choose the Social Icons block: 

Use the search bar to find the Telegram icon and add your channel URL: 

That’s two methods that will make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your Telegram channel. Share the news with your audience and watch your channel grow.

How Can Telegram Help Publishers Reach Your Audience?

Telegram is a fast-growing instant-messaging service with more than 700 million users worldwide, and is one of the top-five most downloaded apps in the world. That’s a massive potential audience that uses the app to stay in touch with friends and follow their interests.

Messaging apps are also less noisy than social media platforms and other content distribution channels. This means it’s easier for readers to focus on your content with fewer distractions.

Start Sharing Content With JetpackWordPressBot Now 

With JetpackWP Bot, it’s easier than ever to take advantage of this popular service to engage your audience, build your community, and increase your traffic. Get started now.

Purchase Yoast SEO Premium Directly on WordPress.com

We hear every day from you — our customers — that helping people discover your WordPress.com site on search engines is a top priority.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Yoast SEO Premium is now available for purchase on WordPress.com! 

Not only is it easier than ever to purchase this powerful plugin on WordPress.com, but you can choose a payment cadence that’s best for you — we offer both monthly and annual pricing (though you’ll save money over the long-term with the annual plan). 

Yoast SEO is already the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress, with over 13 million active installs. While Yoast SEO is awesome, Premium is the real deal, for these reasons:

Yoast SEO Premium is a time-saver — In the free version, you still need to do much of the work yourself. Yoast SEO Premium comes with tools like the redirect manager and internal linking suggestions that can save you a lot of time.Makes doing site maintenance easier — Have you ever forgotten to redirect a page you deleted? No more! Yoast SEO Premium automatically does this for you. And if you’re unsure about which page to update next, the stale content finder and SEO workouts help you work on the most important things first.Helpful tools to build a great site structure — Links within your website are important for SEO. The Yoast SEO Premium plugin comes with several tools to help you improve, like the internal linking blocks, orphaned content finder, and internal linking suggestions.Advanced language analysis that makes writing more natural — Premium’s innovative language analysis supports over 20 languages! It not only looks at the exact match of the focus keyphrase you enter, but also at all the grammatical forms, synonyms, and related keyphrases of that word.Optimize your posts before sharing them on social media — Premium lets you preview how your post will look when shared on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.24/7 access to Yoast’s world-class support team — Available in English and Spanish.Free access to all Yoast SEO academy courses — Learn all about Yoast SEO, SEO copywriting, keyword research, structured data, and many other topics related to SEO.

How to Purchase Yoast SEO Premium Without Leaving Your Site

Purchasing this plugin right from your WordPress.com dashboard is simple.

On the plugins page, search for “Yoast”; click on the product card for Yoast SEO Premium, and you’ll be directed to this detailed product listing page. When you’re ready, click the “Purchase” button in the top right of the product listing page. Your purchase won’t be final until you confirm your payment method and details on the following page. The plugin will be installed automatically.

Purchase Yoast SEO Premium

Currently, plugins are only available on certain WordPress.com plans. In the near future, we plan to expand the option to more plans. Read more about what the future holds.

Share WordPress.com Blog Posts to Telegram With WordPressDotCom Bot

Ever wished you could share new blog posts to a Telegram channel automatically?

If so, then great news! Starting today, you can follow any WordPress.com blog within Telegram by using WordPressDotCom Bot. Now, you can easily get real-time updates from your favorite bloggers in specific channels, group chats, or DMs, right in the app. All with just a few clicks.

Sharing WordPress.com Blog Posts Made Easy

Whether you want to follow your favorite blogs or share your own posts, the WordPress.com Bot has you covered.

Start a new channel and invite readers to follow you there. Or automate sharing with an existing channel and add value for your friends and followers. Here are some ideas for inspiration:

Keep up-to-date with writers you don’t want to miss.Share the latest shots from your family photo blog with friends and loved ones.Spark conversation about your hobbies and interests in a private channel.How to Use the WordPress.com Bot for Telegram

There are two ways to set up WordPressDotCom Bot: 

Visit https://t.me/WordPressDotComBot and click on Send Message. Or invite the bot to a channel or group by adding a new member and searching for WordPress.com

From there, here are a handful of commands you can use:

/follow [url] -This will follow the blog specified in the url/unfollow  [url] -This will unfollow the blog specified in the url. No more notifications of new posts will be sent./following – This will show a list of all blogs followed./reset – This stops following all blogs via the Telegram bot.

Best of all, WordPress.com Bot shows off your post thumbnails. Take a look at this preview example:

Try WordPress.com Bot for Telegram Today

WordPress.com Bot is free to use. Try it now.