If you use WordPress staying in tune with the changes or new developments is critical if you want your website running at it’s maximum potential. Today we’ll share our top WordPress news sites and blogs that we use to stay on top of what is happening in the WordPress world.
These sites are a prime example of some of the sites we’ve setup in our Listening Engine.
Below you’ll find a quick overview, the types of content you’ll find, links to each site and it’s RSS Feed, some social accounts and finally some of the top content we like from each site.
These sites cover a range of issues that anybody who uses WordPress would be interested in. From beginning tutorials, how-to’s, security updates, to the latest plugin and theme releases. So let’s jump right in:
WordPress Tavern
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WordPress Tavern is a site focused on all things WordPress. They also cover BuddyPress, bbPress, and any project under the Automattic umbrella (creators of WordPress). WordPress Tavern is a warm and inviting community where those interested in the software can hang out with fellow WordPressers to engage in enlightening discussions. This really is the go to site for the latest news on WordPress from official news, security issues, and information on WordCamps.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 28
Content Type: Primarily news type posts and notifications about securtiy.
Top Posts We Like:
- Plugin Developers Demand a Better Security Release Process After WordPress 4.2.3 Breaks Thousands of Websites - While this post is a little old it highlights how if you follow WP Tavern you’ll be in the know on the latest security issues.
- Tackling Depression in IT - In this post they broaden outside the typical WordPress news and talk about an issue developers or others in the IT field often experience.
- How a Crowdsourced Code Snippet Library Can Boost Your Open Source Project - This post is more developer focused and talks about how open source is important.
While many of the posts on WPTavern focus on developers and development issues it’s still a good site to follow for anybody that uses WordPress. You’ll be sure to be notified of the latest developments and major security issues.
Torque.io
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Torque is a news site featuring all things WordPress. They focus on informing new and advanced WordPress professionals, users, and enthusiasts about the industry. Torque focuses primarily on WordPress News, Business, and Development, but also covers topics relating to open source and break-through technology.
Torque made its debut in July 2013, at WordCamp San Francisco, and has since produced valuable content that reflects the evolution of WordPress, both as a platform and a community. Torque is a WP Engine publication, though maintains complete editorial independence.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 30
Content Type: In depth guides, tools, tips and advice posts. Also some commentary on WordPress and the marketplace.
Top Posts We Like:
- 42 must-have blogging tools for WordPress bloggers - Good roundup of tools to help you blog more. This is also a prime example of a post that you could do for your market or niche. Instead of blogging tools are there a round up of tools or resources that your market would find valuable?
- An In-depth Guide to Using WordPress SEO by Yoast - A really good tutorial post on how to use one of the top SEO plugins
- A Google Analytics Tutorial For Beginners And WordPress Users - If you are mystified by analytics check out this post
- The real issue with ThemeForest - Some thoughts on the ongoing issue with premium marketplaces, licensing, and the personalities involved.
- Changes to EU VAT Legislation: How It Impacts WordPress Users - This post shares some insight into what the value added tax means for you and users of WordPress.
As you can see Torque provides a good mix of tips, advice, and commentary surrounding WordPress and the WordPress community.
WPLift
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Wplift was founded in September 2010 by Oliver Dale, the founder of Kooc Media, to help people with WordPress by providing tutorials, theme roundups, plugin guides and general WordPress news. Since then the blog has grown exponentially & now reaches hundreds of thouands of WordPress users each month.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 19
Content Type: Tutorials, tips and tricks, premium plugins & theme reviews.
Top Posts We Like:
- How To: Create Internal Linking Structures in WordPress to Improve Your On-Site SEO - A really good post providing advice on how to properly internal link your site. This is probably one of the biggest overlooked aspect of any link building strategy.
- 8 Killer Tips and Tricks To Skyrocket Your Productivity in WordPress - Who doesn’t want to be more productive? This post shares some little known tips to help you get more out of your time using WordPress.
- Free and Premium Options for Cloning and Duplicating a WordPress Website - Might not need it now but when you do here are your options.
Another solid site covering how to use WordPress, top tools, and all around good advice for any blogger or content marketer.
WPBeginner
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WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).
They really do a good job of creating a mix of beginning tutorials but also mix in some advanced topics as well. All of their content is top notch and easy to follow and understand.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 21
Content Type: Tips and advice on how to use WordPress. Also, they do a good job of sharing what’s new in each release of WordPress.
Top Posts We Like:
- 19+ Free Google Tools Every WordPress Blogger Should Use - Many of these are little known tools as well.
- 9 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use - Please just pick 1 or 2 don’t run all 9.
- How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings - If you’re still using Blogger now is the time switch.
- 8 Proven Methods to Promote Old Posts in WordPress - Awesome advice and one to take to heart.
- 21 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools For WordPress Users - Good roundup of social tools specific to WordPress
If you’re a beginner in WordPress this site should be on your reading list. They provide high quality tutorials and spot on advice on setting up your, plugins, and themes.
WP Mayor
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At WP Mayor specializes in WordPress plugins, themes and service reviews, but they also have tutorials, news and opinion pieces from time to time.
WP Mayor was founded in 2010 by Jean Galea, a WordPress developer and digital nomad. Since then, the site has grown and so has their team. Jean has been joined by his wife Alyona and cousin Mark. They also have have a number of content contributors.
Much of what WP Mayor covers ranges from the latest releases of WordPress to little know corners of WordPress plugins and themes. They also dive into development issues from time to time.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 23
Content Type: Tutorials, WordPress setup and advice, step by step tutorials you can use.
Top Posts We Like:
- 10 Strong Reasons Why WordPress Is Good For Small Business Websites - Spot on insight on why WordPress is a great platform of choice for any type of website.
- WordPress Security – Beyond WordPress Security Plugins - An important issue and one you shouldn’t overlook. There is some pretty good often overlooked security advice in this post.
- Where to Find WordPress Plugins (apart from the .org Repository) - Another good post on finding little known plugins or tools for your site.
- Sidebar vs. No Sidebar: What to Choose for Your Blog? - The age old WordPress debate, which one wins?
- Unique WordPress Tips and Tricks You Never Knew About - Another gem specific to WordPress and highlights even more why WP Mayor is such a great resource.
WP Mayor does a really good job of always providing top notch advice and value in each and every one of their posts. They also tend to release content that’s unique or from a unique perspective. Another site that if you’re using WordPress should be on your notification list.
CodeinWP Blog
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The team at CodeInWP focus exclusively on WordPress. They work primarily with agency partners or freelancers such as who act as a remote development team. In addition to that they provide some spot on content centered around WordPress.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 8
Content Type: Reviews, tutorials, and advice posts
Top Posts We Like:
- The Best WordPress Shared Hosting Providers in the World [By the Numbers + INFOGRAPHIC] - Good infographic on shared hosting.
- 30 Experts Share: The Top *Non-Obvious* WordPress Plugins That’ll Make You a Better Blogger - Good hidden gems in here.
- If You’re Not Offering This as a WordPress Freelancer/Agency You’re Leaving Money on the Table - This advice is good for not just WordPress freelancers.
- Writing About WordPress? Here’s Where to Get Your Statistics From - Some interesting stats on WordPress.
- 11 Ways to Speed Up WordPress - Speed is important and this post has some really good advice.
WP Superstars
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WP Superstars is a professional review site that aims to become your go-to resource. They state that their ultimate goal is to simplify WordPress and make your life easier while enabling you to create more successful websites and blogs. They look at the top themes, plugins and hosting packages on the market. They also provide actionable and easy to follow tutorials along with essential WordPress tips.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 4
Content Type: Tips, guides, lists, and tutorials
Top Posts We Like:
- The Complete Guide To WordPress Permalinks - A post about one of the foundational elements of WordPress.
- How To Create An Ebook From Your Blog Archives - An indepth tutorial on how to use Pressbooks.
- The Beginner’s Guide To WordPress Child Themes - Ever wonder what a child theme is? Here’s a good beginners guide.
- How To Publish Your Content From Google Docs To WordPress - Not sure why you would want to do this but this post did get our ideas spinning.
Pro Plugin Directory Blog
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Pro Plugin Directory is a directory of premium WordPress plugins. It’s a place to find plugins with a price tag.
The official WordPress.org Plugin Directory has over 35,000 plugins and is very useful but it only lists free plugins. Thousands of premium WordPress plugins have been released in the last 10 years. Finding them is not always easy because they hasn’t been a directory like there is for free plugins.
The purpose of Pro Plugin Directory is to make finding premium WordPress plugins as easy as it is to find free plugins. Let’s say you want a form plugin and are curious about professionally developed and supported options not found on WordPress.org. You could come here and click on the forms category to get the complete picture.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 1
Content Type: plugin post, plugin tips, themes, how to’s
Top Posts We Like:
- Blogging Tips from the Publisher of 14,719 Articles - Some very spot on advice from a very prolific author
- The 7 Things Your Premium Plugins Must Deliver - Great advice and some we take to heart.
- Pros and Cons of the Freemium Business Model for WordPress Plugin Developers - Good insight and discussion on the freemium business model for devs.
While they don’t publish often when they do their content is spot on.
WP Garage
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Ran by Miriam Schwab, CEO of illuminea, this site focuses on what they learn from helping companies create and optimize their web presence with comprehensive blogging and social media strategies.
While they don’t publish often when they do it’s typically really good content that keeps you informed on what’s happening in the WordPress world.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 1
Content Type: technical advice posts, WordPress dev advice
Top Posts We Like:
- How to remove the permalink base from a Custom Post Type slug - A bit technical but spot on advice on how to make this happen.
- Recently Active plugin tab in WordPress – little noticed, little understood - Short but gives you a nugget of insight into a really handy WordPress feature
- Dynamically add a hidden page URL to Gravity Forms in WordPress to see which pages are generating the most leads - this post is a prime example of the unique insight WPGarage provides
WPKube
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WPKube is an online WordPress resource which focuses on WordPress tutorials, How-to’s, guides, plugins, news, and more. Founded by Devesh Sharma, the main goal of this site is to provide amazing information on anything and everything WordPress.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 15
Content Type: tips, tools, advice, and general wordpress advice
Top Posts We Like:
- Best WordPress Plugins: 40 Experts Share Their Favorite Plugins - A good round up on on plugins from some thought leaders
- 7 Ways You Can Make Your WordPress Sidebar Work Harder - Here’s another great post on getting the most out of your sidebar.
WinningWP
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WinningWP is an award-winning blog with the aim of exploring WordPress-related techniques and resources, disseminating helpful information, and providing useful tips and insights to anybody and everybody with an interest in WordPress (.org).
Run by Brin Wilson, a self-proclaimed WordPress enthusiast from London, WinningWP is a collaboration between professional creatives, coders and web designers from around the globe, who each contribute a wealth of knowledge and expertise on a range of different WordPress-related topics.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 6
Content Type: comparison posts, example posts, round up posts.
Top Posts We Like:
- Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting – How To Choose The Right Service
- 50 Great Examples of Incredibly Famous Brands Using WordPress
WPShout
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Fred Meyer and David Hayes pilot this vessel that is WPShout. They are WordPress developers, contributors, and enthusiasts. They publish weekly in-depth WordPress tutorials on the site and they link out to cool WordPress stuff elsewhere on the web most weekdays.
This site is a good mix of unique content and curated content for any blogger, content creator, or WordPress enthusiast. We’ll worth a follow and checking out on a regular basis.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 20
Content Type: Weekly tutorial, curated content on wordpress
Top Posts We Like:
- Child Themes, the Template Hierarchy, and One Sanity-Saving Hack - If you’ve often wondered what child themes are and how you can take advantage of them, this is one post that helps. On a related note, if you are looking to customize your theme always start with creating a child theme, usually this is the smartest approach.
- What “Namespaces” Mean for WordPress Developers - Another development focused post but it’s something that even a non-developer can grasp and appreciate. Namespaces actually do have an opportunity to reduce many of the conflicts that plague WordPress themes and plugins.
WPMU DEV
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WPMU is the largest premium WordPress site on the web. They provide advice on setting up WordPress, reviews on new themes, plugins, and related services. You’ve probably heard of them from many of their premium plugins but their blog is also filled with great WordPress tips and advice.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 25
Content Type: reviews, tutorials, howto’s, product announcements
Top Posts We Like:
- The Ultimate Mega Guide to Speeding Up WordPress - a really good guide on steps to take to make your WordPress site faster. If you run a WordPress site speed should be one of your top priorities. This post goes in-depth on how to speed up your site in multiple ways.
BobWP Blog
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Since 2008, Bob has taught thousands of people in groups and individually—online and in real life. Bob is all things WordPress and he has a knack for explaining even technical subjects so even a newbie can get it. His content goes broader than just WordPress covering tips any blogger or content marketer should implement.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 8
Content Type: howto’s, advice posts, tutorials
Top Posts We Like:
- 8 Simple Ways to Get Your Readers Through Your Content Faster - Awesome advice.
- Clean Slate Blogging: How to Write a Post Your Readers Will Remember - Another great post with awesome advice you can implement right now.
- Basic WordPress Security Steps - Some advice on the bare minimum you should put in place to have a secure WordPress site.
Tuts+ WordPress Code Category
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From humble beginnings in 2007 with some tutorials on freelancing and Photoshop, Tuts+ has expanded to a network of 15 educational blogs, each with their own brand, website, and editorial team. This subcategory of Tuts+ is all about WordPress and contains tons of great tutorials and advice.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 27
Content Type: Tutorials
Top Posts We Like:
- Combining WP_Query With the Main Query - Technical but highlights the quality you can expect from this site
- Using Tools for WordPress Development - Insight into what tools to use for WordPress development.
WordPress - Search Engine Journal
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If you’re into digital marketing I’m sure you’ve heard of Search Engine Journal. Their content is great but they also have a category with specific content just for WordPress. One thing to note is the category is sponsored by LinkPatrol.
Search Engine Journal was launched in 2003, SEJ is unique in its community-based approach to search marketing content. Virtually all of our contributed articles come from real online marketing experts, both independent and in-house.
Search Engine Journal spotlights the important trends, news, strategies and personalities in the industry. We make it easier for the interactive-marketing community to collaborate and innovate its way to success.
Publishing Frequency: Last 30 Days Content ~ 72
Content Type: News, Tips, advice, insight all centered around WordPress (with a heavy bent towards search and SEO)
Top Posts We Like:
- The Art of Influencing: 29 Tactics to Get What You Want From Others by @LarryKim - While not WordPress specific this is spot on advice for marketing.
- Five Elements Your Website Must Have to Increase Sales by @sejournal - Conversion is the key, here’s 5 tips on improving conversions.
- How to Optimize Images For SEO by @michielheijmans - Another often overlooked important aspect of SEO.
- Why You Must Include LinkedIn in Your Content Marketing - We’ve dived in with this and would agree with many of the points here.
The WordPress category from SEJ does provide some spot on advice and while not always WordPress specific still a high quality site to follow.
