Industry Trends
Web Apps vs Smartphone Apps: The Iowa Caucuses
The United States is buzzing with the fallout of the Iowa caucuses. If you’ve been living under a rock, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) enlisted the use of a smartphone app to help with tallying the results of the Iowa caucuses. This app was responsible for reporting from over 1600 precincts across the state over…
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Sterner Stuff’s 2019 Favorite WordPress Black Friday Deals
Every year, US retailers offer huge discounts for Black Friday. Digital deals used to be reserved for Cyber Monday following Black Friday, but we’ve seen these deals start earlier and earlier as the years have gone on. There are plenty of WordPress-centeric deals already available for 2019. Here are some that are worth a look.…
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WordCamp US 2019
Every year, WordPress users from across the country gather for WordCamp US. While regional WordCamps happen across the country, WordCamp US is by far the biggest, attracting attendees, speakers and sponsors from across the country. This year, Sterner Stuff made the trip to St. Louis for the event. We take every advantage of opportunities for…
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2019 PHP Benchmarks – Why You Need PHP 7+
2019 is just around the corner, and with it comes Kinsta’s annual PHP benchmarking. You can check out their full post, or keep reading for a quick look at the stuff most important to WordPress or Laravel users. What is PHP and How Does it Affect SEO? PHP is the server language that powers popular…
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Google Chrome’s SSL Update
Still putting off an SSL, huh? Please Just Help Me Install an SSL! An SSL is the difference on your website between http and https. This horse is dead, but I’ll keep on beating. Here’s why you need an SSL: Establish greater trust between you and your users Rank better in search engines Have a…
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Capitalize on SEO and appear genuine in 2017: The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer
Every year, Edelman does a survey of people across the world to determine how much the average person trusts government, business, media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 2016 started strong, with respondents showing higher trust levels than at any time since the 2008 recession. However, after a rocky 2016, trust levels have dropped across the board.…
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6 digital resolutions for 2017
New year, new you. Or that’s what I hear. For business owners, the laundry list of resolutions is often inseparable from their business. “Reorganize the filing cabinet.” “Paint the ceiling.” “Be a little more hands-off this year.” While sorting out all the things you want to tackle in 2017, don’t forget about your business’s digital presence!…
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Snapchat group chat, and why you need user research
The latest update to Snapchat includes a feature that has a lot of people excited: group chat. This new feature targets folks who use the app as a primary way of communicating with friends, rather than something like Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts or traditional text messaging. Like those other apps, users can now set up…
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WordPress 4.7 brings video headers, PDF thumbnails
The WordPress 4.7 update just dropped, and it comes with a variety of great changes. Like most WordPress releases, 4.7 is named after a famous jazz musician. This time around, the WordPress folks celebrate vocalist Sarah Vaughan. Take a listen while you soak in the new features. Justify and underline removed from editor If you’re…
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Digital strategy—why do I need that?
If you don’t work in web (and sometimes if you do), it’s easy to think of a website as a gimme—you just build one, easy! Logo in the top left, menu in the top right, big, high-resolution image at the top and then some numbers that animate. Done. There are a couple of problems with…
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