Hi friends ππ»
Two topics this week:
- A quick and urgent warning for anyone running a WordPress site β please read!
- Take a look at the shiny β and more importantly modern and functional β new website launched for the National Leadership Consortium for Development Disabilities!
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β οΈ A warning for WordPress site owners
If your organization's website runs on WordPress, you should be aware of a recent and dangerous vulnerability that needs your attention.
Security researchers discovered vulnerabilities in WordPress Core late last week, and on July 17, WordPress released patches that should be applied to all impacted sites as soon as possible.
If your website receives regular updates automatically from your hosting company or developer, you should have nothing to worry about. Here's a summary of the affected versions, and which version number contains the patch:
- WordPress 6.9.x is affected by both vulnerabilities and is patched in 6.9.5.
- WordPress 7.0.x is affected by both vulnerabilities and is patched in 7.0.2.
- WordPress 6.8.x is affected by one of the vulnerabilities and is patched in 6.8.6.
- WordPress versions prior to 6.8 are not affected.
If you are worried that your website may have been impacted because it wasn't updated quickly enough, contact your web hosting company or your developer to learn more.
βCheck this article from Wordfence for more details.
And for anyone rushing to point to this as another example of why WordPress sites are risky β yes, part of the tradeoff of choosing a more powerful website technology over the limitations of a Squarespace or Wix site is the need to invest in website management from a knowledgable provider!
If you don't have a trusted provider supporting you in managing your WordPress site, this is a good reminder to make sure you have the support you need.
β¨ Case Study: A Modern New Website for a National Leadership Training Organization in the Developmental Disabilities Field
The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities (NLCDD) is dedicated to developing leadership at all professional levels in the intellectual and developmental disabilities field.
When we first talked about creating a new web presence, the NLCDD team were working with a very dated website composed of static HTML files, where every edit required a change written in HTML. The website was not responsive, making it hard to use on mobile devices, and the navigation was cumbersome. Information was buried, and the team knew a modernization project was long overdue!
On the previous site, every edit was made in a static HTML file. Check out the before picture below and you'll see what we were working with!
βYou can read a full case study with details about the process here. Deliverables included:
- Custom WordPress content types for Events, Resources, and People that power displays across the website
- No negative impact on SEO for content migrated from the retired website
- Resource Library to house NLCDD publications and reports
- Integration with Campaign Monitor email marketing platform
- Detailed service inquiry and intake forms
- Analytics data that tracks download frequency for resources and form submission conversion rates
- Added Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Cookie Policy, and a cookie consent management platform
- Comprehensive library of staff training materials, in video and written format
This wasn't just a solo effort. NLCDD worked with the talented Jordana Merkin at Voice for Good on refreshing copy and messaging strategy for the organization.
And Maria Guerriero at Germinate Creative jumped in to develop a new brand direction for NLCDD. We started from the existing brand palette, updated the logo for improved readability (itβs a long name!), and provided a set of icons to use across the three major service areas.
βCheck the case study to learn more, or go explore the brand new NLCDD website here.
Until next time β¨
β Ed Harris (your digital strategy guide)
β
π€ Have a question?
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