The Leokoo.com Weekly Curated Newsletter

Intro

Blessed Diwali to our Indian Friends, and yes, Black Friday is here in 2 weeks!

First and foremost, to all our Indian friends, Blessed Diwali!

In this issue, we look at some interesting topics such as why websites get hacked, the upcoming Google Core Web Vitals and marketing strategies if you are going to run a Black Friday campaign this year.

Rank Math Pro was launched a couple of days back, and yes, our WPStarters List of Black Friday Cyber Monday Deals for 2020 is up.

p/s: Would you like us to cover a certain WordPress topic? If yes, drop us an email and we will look out for it in our future curated newsletter issues.

News

WordPress Powered Almost Every Contest in the US Elections - PublishPress

Oh, the ubiquity of WordPress. While naysayers often predict the demise of WordPress, due to the rise of Wix and Squarespace, WordPress has dominated the US elections and is a proven winner.

Team WordPress, anyone?

Search Ad Spending is Growing in 2020 Despite Pandemic

This is an interesting but surprising bit of information, and definitely good news for those of us in digital marketing / website building business. As the pandemic rages on without any proven vaccine in sight, the world has moved to digital and it is proven via the rise in search ad spending.

Envato Passes $1 Billion in Community Earnings While Continuing to Aggressively Market Its Elements Subscription Against Marketplace Authors – WordPress Tavern

As Envato Elements grow into a prominent income stream for Envato, exclusive authors on the Envato marketplace feel the pinch and feel that the subscription service is cannibalizing their earnings.

Personally, I would advice WordPress authors on Envato to consider moving out. Though the initial phase will be hard, there are some successful transitions including Pippin of Sandhills and James Kemp of IconicWP.

Critical Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities Affect 100K Sites Using Ultimate Member Plugin

A vulnerability with the Ultimate Member plugin leaves more than 100 thousand websites at risk of being taken over. The process of recovering from a hack can be tedious and time-consuming.

Ultimately, we recommend getting a cloud WAF like Sucuri, WebARX or Wordfence Premium, to keep your mission critical sites safe.

Recommended Articles

Why WordPress Sites Get Hacked? - WebARX Security Blog

A timely article on WordPress Security from our favourite Cloud WAF provider, WebARX Security. WebARX dissects the common question, 'Why was my website, when I'm not famous nor rich?'

WebARX brings out terms such as SEO spam and malware in WordPress. Plus tips on how to prevent hacks. A must read if you are new to WordPress.

Google Core Web Vitals for WordPress: Everything You Need to Know

Beginning from May 2021, Google will start using Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. This means, if your site fails badly with Core Web Vitals, you will be losing out on organic traffic.

Check out WP-Rockets in-depth article on Core Web Vitals and how can you improve your site's performance and ultimately, have an advantage over your competitors.

BFCM 2020: 5 Ways to Promote Your WordPress Plugin or Theme Without Reducing Average Sale Price - Freemius

If you are a WordPress plugin or theme owner, BFCM 2020 represents a great time when sales rocket. But what can you do to improve sales if you don't want to reduce your selling price, especially in this pandemic period where finances are tight?

Freemius brings us some interesting tips which might be applicable to you.

5 White Hat Social Media Strategies That Actually Work

These days, you can't stay away from Social Media platforms. But what can you do to maximize your engagements and conversions without resorting to sneaky black hat stuff?

Read Social Media Examiner's guide on social media strategies that actually work. Some of these are new to us and will be adopted in our social media engagement on WPStarters.

p/s: Do join us at our WPStarters Facebook Group if you haven't yet

Profitable Tools & Resources

RankMath Pro Launches

RankMath finally launches their Pro and Business licenses at affordable rates. While the Pro allows unlimited personal sites, the Business license only allows 200 client sites.

However, with SEOPress Insights charging $99/year per site, RankMath Pro might make sense if you need advanced insights without paying for an SEO software. SEOPress Insights does come with Majestic SEO's scoring, which makes it valuable

Black Friday Cyber Monday WordPress Deals 2020

Be prepared to save big with our WordPress Black Friday Cyber Monday 2020 deals list.

While we already have 50 odd deals on our database, it will only be published over the next 2 weeks, as some deals require an NDA from us.