This month’s news also includes significant acquisitions, such as Awesome Motive’s acquisition of BuddyBoss and WP Engine’s acquisition of NitroPack.

Let’s dive into these updates and share key insights from this month’s WordPress news.

WordPress 6.6 Was Released With Exciting New Features

WordPress 6.6 is finally here, with new features and improvements to enhance your website-building experience. This update focuses on making your site editing smoother and faster.

The new Grid block allows you to create complex grid layouts easily, offering better control over your content design. You can adjust column widths, apply custom styling, and drag items across columns.

The update also introduces Section Styles and Mix and Match Style Variations. These features let you apply unique styles to different sections and combine design elements effortlessly.

We are particularly excited about the automatic rollback for the plugin updates feature. In our experience, many users were reluctant to turn on automatic updates because they were afraid of broken updates.

With 6.6, if an auto-update breaks your site, then WordPress will revert to the previous stable version. This ensures your site remains functional and secure.

Lastly, WordPress 6.6 includes performance improvements, better accessibility, and enhanced support for internationalization.

For a detailed walkthrough, you can see our WordPress 6.6 release post or the official WordPress 6.6 Field Guide.

BuddyBoss Joins Awesome Motive Family

BuddyBoss, a leading platform for building online communities and membership sites, has joined the Awesome Motive family of products.

This acquisition brings together two powerhouses in the WordPress ecosystem, promising to deliver even more value and innovation to users.

BuddyBoss is known for its powerful features, which allow users to easily create social networks and build online communities. With this acquisition, Awesome Motive plans to enhance BuddyBoss’s capabilities for even better integration with popular WordPress plugins and tools.

Syed Balkhi, CEO of Awesome Motive and WPBeginner, shared his excitement about the acquisition in the announcement post:

As a business owner, I have always believed that having control over your content and distribution is key to long-term success. This is why I believe adding a private community with premium content and a branded mobile app is going to help make your business more resilient in the long-term.

Syed Balkhi, CEO of Awesome Motive

This move is part of Awesome Motive’s ongoing strategy to expand its portfolio of products and services to offer comprehensive solutions to WordPress users.

WPBeginner Turned 15 Years Old

This month, we are celebrating WPBeginner’s 15th anniversary! Founded in 2009 by Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner has grown into the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve helped millions of users with tutorials, guides, and resources to build and improve their WordPress websites.

To celebrate the milestone, we ran a giveaway ($50,000 in prizes) and offered special discounts.

The giveaway is over and we’re currently selecting the winners. If you’re selected, you should have already received an email about it.

WPCode Launches Game-Changing AI-Powered Code Snippet Generator

WPCode, the best WordPress code snippet plugin, has launched a groundbreaking tool: WPCode AI.

WPCode AI lets you generate and modify code snippets with AI. All you have to do is describe what you want your snippet to do in plain English.

It automatically generates the code snippet so you can implement an additional feature to your site without coding yourself.

WPCode AI comes in handy if you’re looking to add custom functionality, improve site navigation, or integrate new features. It turns your commands into optimized, functional code in seconds.

WPCode AI integrates seamlessly with its extensive library of over 1,400 snippets. It also supports advanced features like smart conditional logic and auto-insert locations.

While WPCode AI is a premium feature, the free WPCode lite plugin comes with essential features to manage code snippets in WordPress.

Solid Backups Ends Support for Google Drive Backups

Solid Backups has announced that it will no longer support backups to Google Drive. This change affects all users using Google Drive as their main backup destination.

The decision to discontinue support is due to ongoing issues with integration and reliability concerns.

Solid Backups (formerly BackupBuddy) has been around for a long time. However, its aging code base would require a lot of development resources to keep up with Google’s API changes.

Users are advised to switch to alternative backup destinations supported by Solid Backups, like Dropbox, Amazon S3, or local storage options.

MemberPress Released Social Login Addon

MemberPress has launched a new Social Login addon. It aims to simplify the login process for users by allowing them to log in to WordPress membership sites using their social media accounts.

This add-on was needed due to the growing demand for more convenient login options. Users often find it challenging to remember passwords, fill out login forms, or recover lost passwords, leading to frustration.

In some cases, these difficulties can even cause users to abandon the signup process altogether.

MemberPress aims to help site owners retain and engage their members by allowing them to use their existing social media credentials.

Social logins help improve the user experience and, by eliminating barriers to entry, can lead to higher membership sign-ups and engagement.

This feature supports popular networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and WordPress.com and is available to MemberPress Pro users.

WP Engine Acquires NitroPack to Boost Site Performance

WP Engine has acquired NitroPack, an all-in-one SaaS solution for improving website speed and performance metrics, including Google’s Core Web Vitals.

NitroPack, used by over 219,000 websites, is known for its intuitive automation, which enhances page load speed with little to no technical expertise required.

This acquisition strengthens WP Engine’s suite of web technologies, adding more power and flexibility for customers.

Heather Brunner, WP Engine’s Chairwoman and CEO, highlighted that “NitroPack’s integration will replace multiple optimization tools with a single powerful solution, driving significant performance improvements.”

The acquisition comes after the successful introduction of Page Speed Boost. This feature uses NitroPack’s technology and has already shown significant improvements in Core Web Vitals scores for WP Engine customers.

In Other News

• MonsterInsights launched the Date Comparisons feature to provide deeper insights into your website’s performance. It allows users to compare their Google Analytics data across different time periods to track marketing campaigns, seasonal trends, and website updates.
• WordPress Performance Team released the Enhanced Responsive Images plugin. It automatically optimizes image sizes for faster loading times, improving overall site performance.
• Google URL shortener goo.gl will stop working on August 25th. We recommend using the free Pretty Links plugin to build your own custom link shortener using WordPress.
• Uncanny Automator 5.9 now lets you connect your WordPress site with Notion, Campaign Monitor, and the Kadence theme. Uncanny Automator is the #1 WordPress no-code automation tool. Try the free version here.
• Mark Ashton launched Vendbase, a new platform designed to make WooCommerce store management easier through advanced data visualization, streamlined management tools, and real-time analytics.
• Kestrel Acquires CheckoutWC: This acquisition aims to improve the checkout experience for WooCommerce stores by integrating Kestrel’s innovative features.
• InstaWP Adds Support for the Duplicator Plugin: This update allows users to easily clone and migrate their WordPress sites using the Duplicator plugin.
• WP Mail SMTP launched SMTP2Go integration. The most powerful WordPress SMTP plugin continues to get better by ensuring that your WordPress emails are always delivered to users’ inboxes.
• WPExperts Acquires Honeypot for Contact Form 7: This acquisition aims to improve spam protection for Contact Form 7 users.

That wraps up this edition of WPBeginner Spotlight.

We would love to hear your thoughts on how to improve and expand this column. Also, if you have any newsworthy items you’d like to see featured next month, please let us know.

Feel free to send us your suggestions or leave a comment below about what you’d like to see in future editions.

We’ll be back next month with more WordPress news and updates. Thank you for being part of our community!

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post WPBeginner Spotlight 02 – Plugin Acquisitions, New Releases + More WordPress News first appeared on WPBeginner.

Most content optimization tools are simply too expensive for small businesses or offer very limited features to their users.

This means that website owners either have to invest hundreds of dollars per month in premium SEO platforms or don’t have the information they need to actually improve their content.

That’s why I asked my team at All in One SEO (AIOSEO) to build an affordable, all-in-one SEO platform for bloggers, marketers, agencies, and small business owners.

Today, I am excited to announce SEOBoost, a powerful and beginner-friendly all-in-one tool for improving your search rankings and getting more organic traffic.

Our goal is to make it easy for you to research, write, and optimize content from a single hub.

Create Detailed Topic Reports and Content Briefs in Just a Few Clicks

Before you can start out-ranking the competition, you will first need to understand what makes their articles work.

This is where SEOBoost’s topic reports come into play.

Just go to Topic Reports and enter a target keyword, region, and language. Once you click the ‘Create Report’ button, SEOBoost will put together a comprehensive topic report in just a few moments.

This report will show you a bunch of different data for the highest-ranking competitor articles, including:

• Average word count
• Readability level
• Keyword frequency
• Images
• Title length
• Outbound links

Plus, this data is grouped in a table so you can easily see the stats of the highest-ranking posts and add their headings directly to your topic brief.

Another handy feature is that SEOBoost grabs the most relevant user questions from social platforms like Reddit and Quora.

This can help you see what regular users are actually looking for and answer those questions in your content.

As you go through the different reports, clicking on the suggested keywords and headings will instantly insert them into your content brief on the right side of the screen.

This makes it super easy to build a content brief without manually adding any content yourself.

Then, jumping to the Content Brief tab in SEOBoost lets you see a complete overview of all the information you’ve added.

Under the ‘SEO Suggestions’ tab, there is also a handy table with SEO recommendations that gives you a quick overview of what your article needs to rank.

Clicking on the ‘Optimize Content’ button will then take you to the content optimization screen.

Optimize Your Content for Better SEO Rankings

SEOBoost makes it extremely easy to optimize your content for your chosen keyword because it automatically pulls all the data from the topic report you created.

Then, you can start writing straight into the editor or paste your content.

On the left, you can see an overview of different scores for your content, while the panel on the right shows you specific errors that you should fix within your content.

For example, SEOBoost might recommend adding missing keywords, increasing the number of words in your title and/or article, or adding headings from your topic brief.

SEOBoost also lets you leave comments within the user interface, which is great for the editors on your content team.

Run Easy-to-Understand Content Audits

Not sure why your content isn’t ranking well on Google? SEOBoost makes this easy with detailed content audits.

All you have to do is go to Content Audits and enter your article’s URL, target keyword, region, and language.

Once you hit ‘Create Report’, SEOBoost will start instantly analyzing your content with the help of AI.

It will then show you a bunch of different reports for how your content compares to top-ranking competitors for word count, readability, title length, and more.

These visual graphs make it very easy to see where you compare to other websites.

All of this data is also highlighted in green, orange, and red so you can easily see where you need to improve.

Wondering which keywords are missing from your content? You can easily see them at the very bottom of the content audit report.

This allows you to find content gaps and better optimize your content for the right search intent.

Easily Collaborate Across Your Content Team

SEOBoost’s content management feature is a huge time-saver for content marketing agencies and bigger teams.

It lets you set up content campaigns that are made up of smaller projects to work on.

Then, you simply need to pick the target keyword for each project, choose a publishing date, and assign it to a writer and reviewer.

This automatically creates a chain of tasks for both the writer and reviewer, from creating a topic report all the way through to approving and publishing the content.

Team members can then quickly see the next task they need to do in their SEOBoost dashboard.

For example, clicking on the task below will take you straight to the interface where you can create a topic report.

Our tool also allows you to upload your own images to a shared media library or pick stock images.

This can make it even faster and easier for your team members to create their content.

All you have to do is go to Content Management » Media Library. From here, you can upload new images or browse the library of stock photos.

Try SEOBoost Today

I am excited about the content optimization features available in SEOBoost, and we are always looking for new ways to improve it.

SEOBoost is already available for all users, so please give it a try and share your thoughts in the comments below. You can also sign up for a 14-day free trial.

We’re truly building something special here. If you have ideas on how we can make SEOBoost more helpful to you, please send us your suggestions.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of WPBeginner, and we look forward to continue serving you for years to come.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

The post Introducing SEOBoost by AIOSEO: Content Optimization Made Easy first appeared on WPBeginner.

Most event calendar plugins are either way too simple or overly complex. That’s why I acquired Sugar Calendar a few years ago.

Today, I am excited to announce that we’ve completely revamped Sugar Calendar from the ground up (free version here).

With Sugar Calendar 3.0, we’ve completely reimagined how the plugin works. Now, managing events & ticketing in WordPress is easier and faster.

About Sugar Calendar

Sugar Calendar has been one of the most beginner-friendly event calendar plugins for WordPress. My friend, Pippin Williamson, created the plugin 12 years ago with a goal of making a simple event management & ticketing plugin for WordPress.

In 2021, I acquired the plugin as part of a larger deal that brought Easy Digital Downloads, AffiliateWP, WP Simple Pay, as well as Sugar Calendar to the WPBeginner family of brands.

With the latest Sugar Calendar update 3.0, we’ve completely redesigned the plugin from the ground up, prioritizing your productivity. You’ll find a fresh, modern look and an easy-to-use layout that will make you wonder how you ever managed events without it.

Let’s explore these new features:

New Admin Area: Creating Events Made Easy

Sugar Calendar’s brand-new event plugin management dashboard makes it easy to add new events to your calendar. If you need a refresher, you can quickly find links to the documentation.

All the options you need to set up events in WordPress are organized in a streamlined way.

Here are a few options you’ll find in our WordPress event builder:

• Duration: Easily assign a start and end time for your event.
• Recurrence: Make the events recurring on the calendar if you want.
• Location: Display an interactive map with Google Maps pointing to the event’s location.
• Tickets: Manage ticket sales for both virtual and in-person events right from your WordPress site.
• Details: You can add relevant event details either with the classic editor or block editor. Your preferred editor can be selected from the plugin settings.

After setting up events in the event builder, you can publish and embed it on any page of your site.

This allows your users to add events to their calendar of choice, such as Google Calendar / Microsoft Outlook / Apple Calendar, or even download the event as an ICS file.

Organize Events Into Calendars Like Never Before

If you host multiple different type of events, then you need an easy way for users to find the event type they’re looking for.

For example, churches often host different event types, like small groups, fundraising events, bible study, virtual sermons, etc. Businesses, on the other hand, also host different types of events, such as conferences, webinars, consultations, and more.

Since attendees for each event type are often different, it makes sense to organize a separate calendar for each event type that you offer.

With Sugar Calendar, you can easily switch between calendars, choose your preferred view (monthly, weekly, daily, or list), and even filter events by date. Alternatively, you can search for a specific event using the search bar on the right.

Drag-and-Drop Calendar Blocks to Show Events

Sugar Calendar makes it easy to add events to any posts or pages in WordPress.

It comes with 2 Sugar Calendar blocks.

1. Events Calendar

Display your events in a clean and attractive calendar view.

Within the block options, you can configure which calendar to display, customize accent colors, and select the preferred view – whether it’s weekly, monthly, or daily.

When published, this block enables users to toggle between different calendar views on the front end, ensuring a personalized experience for every visitor.

2. Events List

With the Events List block, you can display your events in a summarized list.

This block is the best choice if you only want to highlight events from the upcoming week.

Unlike displaying the entire calendar, the list block doesn’t take up a lot of space on the page to display the events.

Sell Event Tickets without a Hassle

The Event Ticketing addon allows you to manage ticket sales for both virtual and in-person events right from your WordPress site. The plugin lets you process the payments with Stripe.

We also have a seamless WooCommerce integration that you can use as well. It allows you to enable a standard WooCommerce checkout experience for selling tickets.

More Features That Make Sugar Calendar Standout

Below are a few features that you’ll love about Sugar Calendar:

• Automate Workflow with Zapier: Connect to over 7,000+ apps to streamline your event management processes.
• Frontend Event Submission: Integrate Sugar Calendar with a form builder plugin and allow users to submit events directly from the frontend of your site.
• Calendar Feed Subscription: Enable visitors to get event updates directly to their personal calendars on Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and more.

Try Sugar Calendar Today

I am excited about the improvements we made so far with Sugar Calendar.

I am also extremely pleased with the community response so far, as everyone is loving the new features.

This new release is already available for all users, so please give Sugar Calendar a try and share your thoughts by posting a comment here.

You can also get started for free by installing the Sugar Calendar free plugin from WordPress.org. This free version provides all the essential event management and calendar features to get you up and running.

The journey doesn’t end here. If you have ideas on how to improve the plugin for your needs, please don’t hesitate to share them here.

As always, I am thankful for your continued support and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

The post Introducing Sugar Calendar 3.0: Events & Ticketing Made Easy in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.