There's been a lot going on in the past two weeks: livestream tickets for the WCEU are available again, Google is changing the security notices in Chrome and the GDPR coming into force has led to some absurd actions. We also have six "last-minute" GDPR measures for your email marketing and introduce you to our new data protection feature for Raidboxes customers - the WP Session Eraser.
What the GDPR means for your email marketing
After weeks of uncertainty, frustration and despair for many website operators and entrepreneurs, the time had finally come last Friday: the GDPR came into force. But don't worry, this doesn't mean that you have to stop sending your marketing emails completely. In her guest article, Vivien Beischau from Newsletter2Go reveals six measures and tips to help you make your email marketing GDPR-compliant and avoid fines.
GDPR-compliant with our WP Session Eraser
In light of the GDPR's basic principle of data minimization, you should store as little personal data as possible. We help you to implement this principle in your WordPress sessions. With our WP Session Eraser, you can define the interval at which your users' session data is deleted in your Raidboxes dashboard with just a few clicks.
WordPress
Follow the WCEU from your sofa at home!
WordCamp Europe 2018 will take place in Belgrade from June 14 to 16. A regular ticket costs a fair 40 euros and includes entry for both conference days - including snacks, drinks and lunch - plus Contributor Day and afterparty. If you can't make the trip to Serbia or are only interested in selected sessions, simply register for a free livestream ticket.
WordPress is only suitable for small websites? As if!
Unfortunately, outside of the WordPress community, you still come across the misconception that our favorite CMS is only suitable for blogs and small websites. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples to convince doubters otherwise. Our colleagues at WPLift have compiled a list of 21 well-known brands and companies that use WordPress.
Security
"Bye bye!", green lock
Google has announced that it will no longer display the green "Secure" security notice on HTTPS pages in Chrome from September. However, the recently introduced "Not Secure" for HTTP pages will not only remain - it will even be highlighted in red from Chrome 70 onwards. "Users should expect that the web is safe by default, and they'll be warned when there's an issue", writes Chrome Security Product Manager Emily Schechter in the Chromium blog.
Business
The GDPR cabinet of absurdities
The General Data Protection Regulation has driven us all crazy in recent weeks. The great general uncertainty and panic has now taken on bizarre proportions for some companies, associations and website operators and has led to questionable GDPR measures, blunders and ridicule. Our colleagues at Heise Online have some entertaining examples of such GDPR absurdities.
Performance
Meta descriptions are getting shorter again
After Google recently increased the maximum length for meta descriptions, there is now a new change according to our colleagues at Yoast: "While Google showed snippets with long meta descriptions (around 320 characters) in the past few months, the snippets are now back to their old length (between 150 and 170 characters)". If your snippets are over 155 words long, you should shorten them again, advises SEO expert Marieke van de Rakt.
