Guest Posts – and so she thinks

Speed Up Your Website With WP-Optimize

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 13:46:59 +0000

‘Speed Up Your Website Easily With WP Optimize’ written by Logo St. Marketing. Special thanks to Francesca Baker.

No matter how simple or complex your website may be, it is very important that it runs fast. This is because your visitors will probably bounce if your website fails to load within a few seconds. Having a faster website will also make your company look more professional. If your website runs slow then you are really hurting your brand. You do not want your competitors having faster websites which rank higher than yours, so let’s fix that straight away. Let’s show you how to speed up your website with WP-Optimize. Please note that this free plugin works with WordPress websites only.

The topics we’ll be covering in this article are as follows:

Setting up WP-Optimize
WP-Optimize Image Compressor
Enabling the Cache
Optimise JavaScript, CSS and Font Settings

Website speed is just one of several SEO tasks which is critical for appearing on the first pages on search engines. This video link explains how to install the plugin on your WordPress website and how to set it up for speed. Click here to watch the video.

Setting up WP-Optimize for high speed

Once activated from your WordPress backend, you’ll see ‘WP-Optimize’ appear near the bottom of the sidebar, on the left hand side of your screen. Please note you must have an admin account in order to configure the settings. Click on it and you will be taken to the ‘database’ screen. Here you can optimize several options either individually or in bulk. WP-Optimize enables you to remove any revisions and auto saves which builds up every time you update web content. You can remove out-dated junk files, spam comments etc and you can also optimise the tables in your database. You will also notice several options have a triangle with an exclamation mark. Personally I have never ran an optimisation for these options.

Once you have finished with optimising the database elements, click on the ‘images’ tab.

WP-Optimize image compressor

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you will some uncompressed images in your media grid. You can now select all images in simply compress them. However, I like to optimise and compress all images before uploading them onto the website. This feature is useful if you use stock images where they can be huge in size. Large sized images which are megabytes in size will slow your website right down. By rule of thumb I always aim for website images to be under 200 kilobytes in size at 72 dpi.

Enable The Cache Tab

Click on the ‘enable page caching’ button. ‘Purge Cache’ will appear in the top admin bar. This is very important for speed and we’ll get into more detail about purging the cache later on. If you have any other cache plugins installed, it might be a good idea to de-activate them because they might clash. Trust me, you will only need WP-Optimize for caching. Then click on the ‘Minify’ tab.

Within the ‘minify’ tab, click ‘enable minify’ button under ‘Minify status’ page. You will also want to process the HTML, Java and CSS files on this page. Minifying the Java and CSS files will greatly increase the speed of your website. However, you must take great care and keep an eye on everything you do here. You might want to back up your site before adjusting the Java and CSS settings because you could break things.

How To Optimise the JavaScript, CSS and Fonts Settings

Near the middle of the page, you will see a bar of tabs such as JavaScript, CSS, Fonts etc. Click the JavaScript tab and check that ‘Defer JavaScript’ is enabled. Depending on your WP theme this will cut your site’s Java usage by around 80%, thus greatly increasing speed. This will also increase and optimise your SEO score and server settings. Try checking the before and after the ‘Defer JavaScript’ settings using this free SEO tool called SEObility.

With the CSS and Font settings, this too will depend on your theme and fonts used on your website. Most themes should allow you to enable minification and merging of CSS files, but check after changing anything on these tabs. If something fails to load properly on your site, you can always go back and deselect any previous changes.

The final steps to speed up your website with WP-Optimize

Once you’ve completed the steps to speed up your website with WP-Optimize, click the ‘Save settings’ button. Then purge your cache by hovering over the ‘Purge Cache’ tab in the admin bar. The drop down menu will then appear. First click ‘purge cache for all pages’ then click ‘purge minify cache’. If done correctly with just a little trial and error involved, you should notice your site running much faster. You can also use plenty of the SEO checker tools out there to check SEO status.

DISCLAIMER: Logo St. Marketing and/or And So She Thinks Ltd are not responsible for any changes which may occur and you use WP-Optimize at your own risk. It is highly recommended that you safely back up your website before changing any software settings.

Guest post – What A Checklist Can Do For You

admin — Wed, 20 May 2020 07:23:58 +0000

Alexandra Franzen’s The Checklist Book covers the history of the checklist and why it remains to be relevant and effective today; the science behind the success of checklists, such as the instant satisfaction we feel when we put a check next to a finished tas; and how to create a basic daily checklist―and checklists for specific situations, like moving to a new city or navigating a divorce. Here in a guest post she tells us what a checklist can do for you.

In these especially challenging times, it’s so important to breathe, stay calm, and focus on the things you can control–rather than obsessing about the things you cannot.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, try making a checklist.

Checklists are like an extra storage tank for your weary, over-stuffed brain.

Research confirms that making a checklist can help you feel calmer and more focused, and can shift your body on a physiological level.

When you check off a completed item, this creates that oh-so-satisfying burst of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps you feel more positive, think clearly, and solve problems creatively.

Personally, I know that making a checklist helps me feel more steady, strong, and grounded during turbulent times. Checklists are good medicine.

Here are a few checklist ideas and downloadable templates for you. (All of these templates are free. Enjoy.)

Working from home? Here’s a checklist with suggestions on how to set yourself up for a calm, focused, and successful workday.
Got a bunch of unexpected free time? Maybe a project got cancelled, your shop is temporarily closed, or a trip has been postponed. Instead of panicking, try to use your time purposefully. Here’s a checklist of different ways to use your free time productively–and strengthen your business or career.
Feeling stuck? A checklist to help you finish a project you’ve started.
Need to find more clients and line up some work? A checklist full of marketing ideas, including lots of ideas that don’t involve social media. Because social media is optional, not mandatory.
Tired of endlessly scrolling on your phone? A checklist to help you reduce screen-time, create a healthier relationship with your devices, and create more quiet and space in your day.
Want a fresh approach for planning your day? Here’s my personal method for creating a Daily Checklist, which I do every single night before bed. (I make tomorrow’s checklist *today* and print it out in advance.)
Lots more checklist templates here: including a Self-Care Checklist, Workout Checklist, and others.

Take good of yourself. One tiny step (and one tiny checkmark) at a time.

Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus // 2013 best of

admin — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:49:00 +0000

Best of 2013 by Jamie Malcolm – follow him @mylittleforts
Eagerly anticipated and didn’t disappoint. A throbbing behemoth of noise and euphoria all sloshed around making a cocktail with a multitude of explorable layers. The elation harnessed into a CD/MP3 is at times unfathomable.

Cut Copy – Free Your Mind // 2013 best of

admin — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:47:00 +0000

Best of 2013 by Jamie Malcolm – follow him @mylittleforts
I don’t usually mention or reply to famous people on Twitter, but upon listening to Free Your Mind (in possibly the worst situation and surroundings imaginable – an early morning slushy commute to work) I felt the need to. I wanted to express my joy at them fully understanding the history of dance music and how to touch on the influences and implement them into an album in 2013. This really wasn’t a new revelation as they’ve toyed upon this magic in all of their output dating back to the mid 2000’s, but felt they really excelled with Free You Mind. It’s so refreshing to hear especially with so much of general radio output being cluttered by a regurgitative cycle of overelaborate and unimaginative nods to that genre by the likes of David Guetta, Tiesto and other various cronies.
After a near ten year story of missed opportunities and bad luck i’m finally getting to see them live in 2014 and can’t wait.

Money – 2013 Shadow of Heaven // 2013 best of

admin — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 09:42:00 +0000

Best of 2013 by Jamie Malcolm – follow him @mylittleforts
This really is a thing of grandiose and rousing beauty. Heady ideas and themes act as a base for swaying grooves and tender vocals. If they had decided to go the EP route and have that contain the first six tracks then I’d be content for music to just end.

Vondelpark by Vondelpark // 2013 best of

admin — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:40:00 +0000

Best of 2013 by Jamie Malcolm – follow him @mylittleforts
Mightily soothing and did an unreal job caressing my minds malaise at the time. A true case of personal audio catharsis. Really one of those situations when something fits your mood perfectly.
Have done my fair share of trawling around for reviews (from both well known and more niche places) and nobody really shares my high admiration. Maybe that’s a positive as I can see it as being something compiled for my enjoyment only? It’s like I ticked the ‘ultimate edition’ box on their (for the purposes of the piece totally invented) Kickstarter – and they made it for me and me only.

Jai Paul – Jai Paul // 2013 best of

admin — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:25:00 +0000

Best of 2013 by Jamie Malcolm – follow him @mylittleforts
The Jai Paul story is a strange one. He’s officially released 2 songs in 7 years, with the first reportedly only down to his brother unleashing it to MySpace in 2007 because it just had to be heard. That song ‘BTSTU’ has since been separately sampled by two of the biggest artists in the world (Beyonce & Drake) the other track ‘Jasmine’ was just recently selected to be on the prestigious soundtrack to GTA V. So not bad going from a guy from Rayners Lane and with 1 tweet to his name.
After an apparent biding war he signed a deal with XL in 2010 with seemingly little pressure to release material. Rumours started to spread in early 2013 that he was going to retire an enigma and would never return. Shuffle forward to roughly 2:00AM on April 14th and this ‘album’ was uploaded to Bandcamp. Nine months later and still so many questions remain. Did Jai upload it himself? Did XL upload it without Jai knowing? Was it uploaded by a laptop robbing thief? Was this tracklisting the original plan for the album? How can something including samples from Harry Potter, Gossip Girl, Tomb Raider, KC & Jojo, Michael Caine and the beeping of a shutting tube train door be so incredible?
It clearly doesn’t have the XL polish, so i’ve always seen it as an audio sketch book. Ideas are unfinished, background fuzz is present throughout and there are multi second silences at the end of some songs, but by not being a audio nerd none of this has effected my enjoyment a single iota. What’s special to me and many others is that most comparisons don’t quiet fit. He appears to simultaneously straddle the past, present and future.
Track 2 aka Str8 Outta Mumbai is undoubtedly the biggest smorgasbord of ideas, sounds and genres to be released this year. It starts with a recording of a duo of DJ’s introducing a track by John Paul, the other corrects him ‘Jai Paul.’ This perfectly acts as a knowing wink to us from Jai of his enigmatic ways. The song has a killer combination of upbeat fun, spacey vocals and a crazy Bollywood sample harkening back to it’s use from hip hop producers such as DJ Quik, Dr Dre, Just Blaze and Timbaland in early 2000’s. The thumping drum claps on 10,000 along with the cascading synths (that I’ve spent all year unsuccessfully trying to figure out what they remind me of) are reminiscent of The Neptunes in their producing pomp. The way they fade to the background at points to highlight the vocals is such a simply beautifully technique. The audaciously odd reinterpretation of Jennifer Page’s 1998 pop gem Crush is another highlight. His style is transplanted and bolted onto it and the lyrics take a sultry modern twist. The mini riff near the conclusion feels plucked from what a Michael Jackson and Prince collaboration from 20 years ago might sound like. It’s all audaciously paired with a reverbed woodblock of all things. Jasmine is a pulsing odyssey that glides around effortlessly and perfectly suits a nocturnal neon lit journey across London. Genevieve scuttles around your ear drums in a vast array of directions – none of which you expect. Loads of ideas (audio tangents?) are being hurled around and all of them stick. All Night is a bonafide slow jam that magically pulls memories of abundant romances into your synapses. The album ends how it all started for him with BTSTU, a juxtaposition of juxtapositions. Harsh and angelic vocals spread over a beat that gets crazy and shrinks down to nothing at times.
I’m kind of indifferent as to what happens next. He and his brother Anup are obviously such talented guys and I would I love to see some new material and how all this would translate to a live environment. If this is the end and nothing new ever arrives i’m more than happy to enjoy Jasmine on a night bus home with a beaming London as a backdrop or stroll through an crispy autumnal park arm in arm with someone with All Night emanating from my headphone splitter.
I have compiled 16 pieces of digital artwork to represent each song on Jai Paul. See it here.

Fearless Vampire Killers – Live At Cockpit, Leeds

admin — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:35:34 +0000

Having watched a couple of their videos online and read the odd review it seemed that Fearless Vampire Killers were both receiving a range of reviews and creating a range of music, this was going to be an interesting one. In the more intimate (sweaty) surroundings of Cockpit Room 2 the small crowd was slowly growing but it was clear that Fearless Vampire Killers were still going to have to produce something fairly special to get the crowd anything like excited before the headliners, Madina Lake, took to the stage for their farewell tour.
The band set to with a frontman I didn’t recognise from the videos (Laurence Beveridge) but who produced a great variety of songs, demonstrating the bands ability to vary their approach. I would say the first few songs were more melodic than what I might have expected from a band like this and the crowd certainly seemed to respond by getting into the music and singing along. As ever, smaller bands tend to attract a hardcore following but FVK genuinely had the room going at several points, me included. A totally unexpected cover of Phil Collins’ Easy Lover was well received as was the bands own material such as Hang Low.

Not far into the set there was a frontman change to the more familiar face of Kier Kemp and the mood got a little darker, the music heavier and the crowd, after a small dip, a lot livelier. ‘Could We Burn Darling’ set the place alight and as the room filled up, the band really began to build an atmosphere and presence that had seemed at first almost nervy. This all came to a head with a fantastic rendition of their new single All Hallows Evil which has already been an online hit. Certainly FVK did not throw themselves around the stage as much as some bands I have seen but it was nice to note they focussed instead on the music they were playing and getting the technicalities of what was sometimes a complex and challenging set right.

FVK have received great critical acclaim in many magazines including being nominated for two Kerrang awards in consecutive years and headlining the Red Bull stage at Download festival 2013. Having had the pleasure to meet frontman Kemp after the gig, it was the unashamed passion of the band which really shines through both on and off stage. Their unique approach which stretches to a 334-page book giving a background story to much of their music is a unique example of this and comparisons to MCR and Panic! at the Disco are more superficial than meaningful. FVK have created new sounds, new literature and dare I say it, a new genre which mixes everything from SteamPunk to metal in one, waistcoat-clad package. Long may it continue!

John Linkins

Festival Finder

admin — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:59:25 +0000

Stuck for which festival to go to this summer? Check out this hugely useful interactive tool to help you decide. Created by thetrainline it allows you to select your favourite artists – and reveals the perfect festival for you.

Click image to open interactive version (via thetrainline.com).

50 words on…Wild Nothing

admin — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:51:00 +0000

Wild Nothing – live at The Scala, March 21st

by Jamie Malcolm

Glided effortlessly over my expectations with a blissful display of dreamy pop. Not entirely sure the reasons why, but lyrically it was much more optimistic and jovial that I had previously thought. They managed to magically conjure up the feeling of a hazy late summers day in the middle of the coldest March in 60 years.