That ONE Plugin

Before we jump into this week’s issue, can I ask you a quick question?

When it comes to your website right now, what do you think is the biggest constraint?

Yup… I’m asking so I know how best I can help you guys.

So, if you would… hit that reply button and lemme hear from ya. 😇

OK, let’s dive in…

The Danger Of “All In One” Web Hosting

Some of the popular web hosts out there are what I call “all in one” hosting. In other words, they offer a one-stop-shop for everything including buying domains, managing DNS, hosting email, web hosting… all of it.

Such companies are Siteground, Bluehost, Hostgator and numerous others.

These companies are convenient to newbies. But, there is a danger there. One such example of that danger was recently posted on Facebook…

In this case, she lost access to her own domain’s DNS because she had cancelled her hosting with Siteground. And this kind of thing isn’t uncommon. Some of the things that make it harder to switch hosts are:

• Buying your domain through your host, meaning you have to transfer domains to another registrar
• Managing your DNS through your host, meaning you need to move all the DNS settings elsewhere
• Managing all your site’s email with your host, meaning you’ve got a bunch of email accounts to move

And all of this just ties you at the hip to your web hosting provider. Meaning it is much harder to move even if you want to.

So, while many of these “all in one” hosts kinda suck if you ask me, some don’t. For instance, I think Siteground is perfectly fine. Some others as well. However, just because they offer all that stuff doesn’t mean you need to use it.

Here are my recommendations:

• Do not buy domains via your web host. Use a separate registrar. Personally, I like using Namecheap.com for that.
• Do not manage your domain’s DNS settings with your web host. Either do that at your registrar or use Cloudflare. Personally, I use Cloudflare for all of that.
• Do not host your email with your web host. Keep it separate. Personally, I use FastMail.com for my domain-based email. Many prefer using Google. Up to you. But, don’t run your email through your web host. Read: How To Separate Your Email From Your Web Hosting

Use your web host… for hosting your website. That’s it.

This makes it not so complex to switch hosts if you choose to do so. That’s better for your digital sovereignty.

It also means you can’t be cut off from core services too easily. And lastly, it also means you can use services which are better suited to their jobs. A web host doesn’t necessarily make them good at email. So, use services which are suited to the job you want them to do.

WordPress Quick Bits…

xCloud Hosting Launches Blueprints. xCloud really is developing fast and quickly solidifying why I think they are outflanking Cloudways now. They just launched Blueprints. Now, this one is going to be most useful to people like me who work with a ton of WordPress sites, but Blueprints are basically pre-configured WordPress installs that you can deploy. And you can make your own, of course. So, for instance, I could spin up a pre-configured membership site with the right plugins and set it as a Blueprint. Then, spin it up for a client with a few clicks of a button. Really cool!

BuddyBoss Gets First Update In 2024. BuddyBoss put out an update video for the Q1 update to the platform. The update includes a revamped activity feed, ability to turn off notifications & comments selectively, a “view more” option on comments plus some performance improvements. Will be interesting to see what those performance optimizations are… because BuddyBoss sure can be a performance drag. But, it remains the best community option for the WordPress platform.

FluentBooking 1.3 Released. At this point, I don’t understand why any WordPress site owner would want to use something like Calendly when FluentBooking exists. It really has matured well so far. Version 1.3 brings some new features such as pricing based on meeting length, Paypal integration, an improved Gutenberg block for embedding multiple event types from the same host, a new rescheduling trigger for FluentCRM and much more. I’m still waiting on the front-end blocks for people to self-manage their upcoming appointments, but looks like that is on the Roadmap.

FluentBoards Beta 0.61. They’re working on a new product called FluentBoards. It is a light-weight task and project management tool for WordPress. Think of it like Trello inside of WordPress, but tightly integrated into FluentCRM. This is going to be cool, since you can assign tasks as part of automations, based on Fluent Forms submissions, etc. And then track those tasks to completion using a Trello-style board. I’ll keep you informed. Right now, you need to have an active FluentCRM license to access the beta. And there’s a decent chance this becomes a Pro-level addon for FluentCRM instead of a standalone product. We shall see.

WordPress 6.5 Was Pushed Out. Last week, WordPress 6.5 was finally pushed out into the open. At this point, a lot of you have probably had your sites updated by now and overall, it seems like a fairly painless upgrade. I’ll be making the rounds on Concierge clients this coming week to ensure all are using it and everything is running great. Here’s a landing page featuring the hot points of version 6.5.

WordPress .com Launching Local WP Solution. This one will be interesting to watch. The team behind WordPress .com is coming out with a new local development tool called Studio. You will be able to work on WordPress sites right on your own computer. Right now, one of the easier solutions is LocalWP. Will be cool to see what they come up with. Right now, all you can do is join the waitlist.

Woo Goes Back To WooCommerce. Due to Google’s recent algorithm changes making the rebrand difficult, Woo .com is going to be changed back to WooCommerce .com by the time the next 8.8 release comes out. Honestly, I don’t think they should have changed it in the first place.

One Plugin That Replaces Many

Lot of times with WordPress, we end up installing a lot of little plugins that do certain functions that are seemingly small. But, we feel bad about adding so many plugins. We always hear to run as few plugins as possible for a faster site (although how many is too many might be different than you think).

There’s a cool plugin that I began using not too long ago. It is another one of those “swiss army knife” kind of plugins that just does so many things. While it has a free version, the Pro version does even more. And I bought it.

That plugin is Admin and Site Enhancements (or ASE).

This plugin is modular and lightweight, yet the 60 modules built into it could replace a LOT of other plugins.

Let me roll off some examples for ya…

• Set up custom post types and taxonomies (replacing CPTUI or ACF)
• Content duplication (replacing something like Yoast Duplicate Post)
• Media Categories (replacing something like Filebird)
• Media Replacement (being able to replace images in the Media Library)
• Code snippets manager
• Customize the columns in your backend tables (like Admin Columns)
• Admin menu organizer (hide and/or reorder items from your admin menu to clean up the backend of WordPress)
• Put your logo on your WordPress login screen
• Changing the login URL
• Maintenance mode (so many people run a separate plugin just for this basic function)

You get the idea. It does a lot.

BTW, one of my favorite functions is the “Hide Admin Notices” one… which takes all those annoying notifications that plugins keep inserting into the admin panel and HIDES them into a little dropdown.

Check out the features here.

Best thing is, the pro version is quite affordable and they even have lifetime pricing, too.

I’m not promoting this one to you., I have no affiliate relationship with them. I just happen to think this is one of the more useful plugins in my arsenal. And you may end up agreeing.

If you’re a Concierge client, this plugin is part of my agency toolbox. So let me know and I can install the Pro version for you if you’d like to use it.