Service Update – August 2018: Managed WordPress and Social Media

As promised, the updates are still coming through to make these services better and provide more convenience to you and your site visitors.

Added features to Managed WordPress (Hosted)

Customer using the Managed WordPress service (Advanced/with Hosting) are receiving a few new additional site features – Hummingbird, Auto-saved form data, and Offline status indicator.

Hummingbird is being installed by default on all new sites, and will be added to all existing Managed WordPress sites. Hummingbird provides multiple tools to further optimize your site and increase page load performance. A fast-loading site is great for everyone, right? If you see this plugin pop up your your installed plugins list, we’ve already taken care of your site for you.

Auto-saved form data allows site visitors to continue filling out any form on your website after their browser closes unexpectedly or they go offline. Any data entered into your form that would normally be erased upon reloading the page will be saved for future completion. Since nothing is saved on your server (it’s all locally on the user’s device), there isn’t a compliance issue to worry about.

The Offline status indicator lets a site visitor know that their device has lost an internet connection to help explain why certain links may not be functioning as expected. A status bar at the top of the page on mobile browsers will inform the user that it is attempting to reconnect, and once they’re back online will show a temporary “Back online” message that disappears after connection is restored. This is great for sites and web-apps that require an active internet connection as mobile coverage isn’t the best in our area.

Managed Social Media

As more and more businesses join Facebook, Twitter, and the like, we understand that a lot of online traffic will come from these platforms. Making a good impression on potential customers is essential, and usually requires a dedicated position to manage these pages and respond to messages. Our new Managed Social Media service takes care of everything – we spruce up your page, make sure your branding is consistent, and keep your customers engaged. Whether it’s a set number of posts per month or just responding to any incoming messages to keep your “Response Rating” up, we’ll make sure your business is represented well online.

For more information about this service, check out the Managed Social Media page under the Services tab on this site, or reach out at any time to see how we can help you on your social platform.

Progressive Web Apps

While WordPress is one of the most-used content management systems for businesses online, it doesn’t always provide the best experience for mobile users. Over the past year, I’ve been working on optimizing all of the sites using our Managed WordPress service to provide that awesome mobile experience you expect – and now it’s getting better.

Progressive web apps are sites that optimize performance and provide additional functionality for mobile users. In fact, you can have your website appear on a smartphone home screen and look and feel like a native app. Without getting into all of the details, I’ll just say that this is still a work in progress and will soon be an option for all new and existing Managed WordPress sites. If you’d like your site to be bumped up on the PWA update list, let me know and I’ll prioritize those who’d like this added right away. I also have some demo sites to showcase what features you can add for mobile users – you’ll see exactly how much more responsive your site can be on a mobile device.

More Dashboard updates

If you saw the “Dashboard Update – Summer 2018” post, or logged into your WordPress back-end over the last month, you’ve noticed that your admin interface looks cleaner and provides a lot more information about my services, your subscriptions, and more. I’ve added a bit more details about your bill status, what is offered in your plan, as well as a How-To section if you’re interested in making updates on your own. Like everything else, this will be updated periodically to add additional functionality and convenience for your site. As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, comments, or concerns – and let me know if there’s something I can add to make your life easier.