There is, without a doubt, an unprecedented time in 2020. Well, actually, maybe not. But, we all know that it was the most unusual year in at least 100 years.
We used the words “uncertain times,” the “new normal,” Covid-19, and other buzzwords to describe this year.
Coming into the year, I had the idea I would attend the first WordCamp Tulsa. My friends in the WordPress Meetup in Tulsa were preparing for the first one, and I wanted to be there to greet them.
By March, we knew something was different. WordCamp Asia was canceled.
Major events across the globe were being canceled. The National Basketball Association halted its season. College athletics in the United States canceled the remainder of their season.
At this point, we began to realize that we’re in a worldwide pandemic. And that changed the entire narrative for 2020.
Public-facing businesses such as restaurants had to adjust on the fly. Many in my town focused strongly on takeout and delivery.
Suddenly, businesses who had not pursued a digital presence had to consider doing so.
Thus, as digital marketers, we became the frontlines for many businesses, including our own customers.
Today, we are taking a look at the year in review, the year 2020. Buckle up.
Q&A interview articles
We had three of the Q&A articles, and I am very pleased with them. We started the year off by learning more about productivity from Rob Cairns. The next month, we learned more about Ben Townsend.
In the Spring, we learned more about accessibility with Colleen Gratzer. As we rolled into late Summer, we visited with Donata Kalenaite of Termageddon. Termageddon has created an extension to use with MainWP.
We rounded up the Q&A articles with Leanne Mitton, MainWP user, Janessa Tran of eLighup, and Janice Sheilah of WP Feedback Pro.
Rounding them up
In the past few years, we have had several roundup posts. Mostly we focus on what is happening in the world of WordPress and digital marketing.
Here are some of the more interesting of 2020.
Elementor raises $15M, future of WordCamp is in limbo and more in this month’s roundup
Elementor is one of the top page builders in the WordPress world. They caught the attention of everyone when they raised $15M. Various WordPress influencers offered speculations about the company’s direction when the word was announced about the funding.
World of WordPress: WP Feedback launches summit, WordCamp goes virtual
When Covid became a problem for everyone, various entities scrambled to adjust. WP Feedback created and launched a virtual summit in April and early May. Additionally, WordCamp San Antonio was the first to offer a virtual conference.
With more of the world using Zoom, another new term emerged. ZoomBombing happened when uninvited attendees crashed a Zoom session with the intention of disruption.
September 2020 World of WordPress includes acquisitions
In this roundup, we discussed a couple of acquisitions and a new element to WordCamp Austin. MotoPress added to its arsenal when it acquired Gutenix, a Gutenberg-focused WordPress Multipurpose Theme.
Additionally, iThemes acquired Restrict Content Pro from Sandhills Development.
Other articles of note
Several other articles were published at MainWP.
MainWP Support Updates
In October, Dennis Dornon (the MainWP head honcho) made a rare appearance discussion updates to MainWP Support. He announced that MainWP is now using HelpDesk to manage support tickets.
How to Disable Automatic Plugin and Theme Updates on your Child Sites
With the release of WordPress 5.5, the platform added an automatic update for plugins and themes. Most of us in the MainWP kingdom want to control that aspect of our client’s sites.
Sebastian published this article detailing how you can disable that feature using a snippet of code and the Code Snippets Extension.
How to remove the iThemes Security Plugin Created Database Tables
Plugins can create tables in your database that are not removed when the plugin is removed. Sebastian wrote this article to show you how to remove those tables created by the iThemes Security Plugin.
3 No-frills tips for writing more engaging content that grabs your reader’s attention like a Wonder Woman movie
I am sad to see companies writing content that is not engaging. This article helps business owners with three tips that will make their content much more engaging. Three areas to pay attention to are your introduction, writing as like speak, and citing sources to give authority.
Page Builder and WP Agency Summits take place in October
During the fall, we had a couple of summits for the WordPress industry. First was the Page Builders Summit hosted by Nathan Wrigley, Anchen le Roux. We highlighted the upcoming summit in early October.
Jan Koch returned with his WP Agency Summit one week after the Page Builders Summit. The back-to-back summits were a little hectic as many of us were involved, but it was nice to connect to someone across the globe.
Should you have Black Friday Deals for your product or service?
This was the question I set out to ponder. At this time of year, starting with Black Friday, we will see a plethora of deals to get new users to buy their products.
The article’s idea started with a post in the MainWP Users Group by Dennis Dornon from MainWP.
I highlighted some articles that were mentioned in the Facebook group post and offered my own thoughts.
Historically, there has been no Black Friday Sale for MainWP, and I chose not to do one for my own product. Many of us, undoubtedly, took advantage of some kind of sale.
Wrapping it up
One of the things I like to do is be creative with articles when I can. I really enjoy doing the interview articles. In 2021 I want to do more of those with MainWP customers.
Thanks for being a reader of the MainWP blog! I hope you have a safe holiday season and a Happy New Year!
