Looking Back: My Business Journey Through Interviews

Janet Barclay smiling in a recent photo

Every so often, I like to take a step back and see how far I’ve come. Recently, I stumbled across a blog post where I was interviewed back in 2009, and it sparked an idea: what if I gathered all the other interviews I’ve done over the years? Going through them turned out to be…

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Managing a Small Association Website

When I launched a local networking group for virtual assistants in 2008, I didn’t expect I’d also become its tech department. But here we are nearly two decades later, and I’ve learned a lot about what not to do when managing a small association website. If you’re in charge of a small group or association,…

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Is it time to break up with your hosting service?

Breaking up is hard to do. Whether it's a romantic relationship or one with your web hosting service, one of the hardest things is knowing when it's time to call it quits.

Using a web hosting service is a lot like being in a relationship. Things usually start out great. You might have bad days sometimes, but if the issues aren’t too serious, you can work them out, and if all goes well, you’ll be happy together for a very long time. But when the bad days…

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Protect Your Website – and Your Business – from Fines or Lawsuits

Today I want to talk about something vital yet often overlooked: Privacy Policies, Terms of Service, Cookie Policies, and consents. If that sounds like the least exciting part of running a website, you’re not wrong—but it’s incredibly important. Why You Need to Care About Website Policies 1. Your website is collecting (and sharing) personal information.…

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What’s with all the plugin updates?

WordPress plugin updates broke my website

Remember when you logged into your WordPress site to make a quick change and a bunch of plugin updates were available? You didn’t have time to deal with them, so you just did what you logged in for and went on your merry way. The next time you logged in there were even more. So…

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How to Create a Captivating Blog Page

Sample blog page from Your Organizing Business

Blogging may not be for everyone, but you can’t dispute the benefits that a blog brings to your website and your business. Millions of blog posts have been published offering tips on writing compelling blog posts. I’ve written quite a few myself! But have you ever stopped to think about your actual blog page? That’s what…

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WordPress Backups: Protect your site with confidence

Of all the items on the WordPress Technical Audit Checklist I posted recently, a good backup system is by far the most important. Even if you miss a security update and something terrible happens, if you have an up-to-date backup, you’ll be able to restore it with minimal downtime and expense. To help you choose…

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How Healthy is your WordPress site?

When I tell people that I work exclusively with WordPress, they’re sometimes surprised or even concerned. “Isn’t it very insecure?” they ask. “Not really,” I explain. Sure, nearly half of all websites are powered by WordPress, which makes it an attractive target for hackers. But just like anything valuable, good maintenance practices will provide protection…

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