Here is a synopsis of what’s new in WordPress 3.3, from WordPress.org:

For Users
Experienced users will appreciate the new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, the new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and the new Tumblr importer. We’ve also been thinking a ton about what the WordPress experience is like for people completely new to the software. Version 3.3 has significant improvements there with pointer tips for new features included in each update, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface. Finally we’ve improved the dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablets with better touch support.

For Developers
There is a ton of candy for developers as well. I’d recommend starting your exploration with the new editor API, new jQuery version, better ways to hook into the help screens, more performant post-slug-only permalinks, and of course the entire list of improvements on the Codex and in Trac.

And here is a great video highlighting the coolest new features:

To download WordPress 3.3, update automatically from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your site’s admin area or visit http://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/.

Please contact us anytime if you require assistance with your WordPress upgrade.

“My site doesn’t show up in Google when people type (specific words). Why not?”

Matt Cutts is Google’s ‘main man’ when it comes to SEO.  Cutts is a senior Google employee who specializes in the quality of search results at Google.   In this video, Cutts answers the question, “How can I rank higher in Google’s results?”:

A system like WordPress makes it very easy to edit your site’s content, and therefore follow Cutts’ advice.

Here is an example for a client of ours, who is a Personal Trainer focusing on the Abbotsford and Vancouver markets.    The client’s goal was to rank high for such phrases as “Abbotsford Personal Trainer”, “Abbotsford Boot camp”, and others.

• We recommended the client add their key phrases to the titles and text on the homepage of their website.   It is important that the keywords appear in the natural context of the content.
• We recommended the client have a reasonable amount of content on the homepage itself – for search engine purposes. The content should be written with the SEO/search engine goals in mind.

Further recommendations included adding additional content to the site, for example:

• Creating a Blog component to the site, where the client can post fitness tips, etc. That type of regularly updated content is excellent for SEO, and WordPress allows you to add such content very easily.
• Adding media, such as video, to the site will help as well. Uploading video YouTube and adding descriptive text containing your keywords will also help with SEO.
• Newsletter – by starting a newsletter containing articles and content relevant to your niche, you will drive traffic to the site as well.

• Do you have specific issues with your site that you would like to resolve?
• Or are you looking for a new or more efficient way of doing something special?

Read More

From WordPress.org:

On July 12, 2011, WordPress 3.2.1 was released to the public. This is a maintenance update.  For version 3.2.1, the database version (db_version in wp_options) remained at 18226.

More details about the maintenance update can be found in the announcement news post, on the WordPress Version 3.2.1 Features page and in the change log.

To download WordPress 3.2.1, update automatically from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your site’s admin area or visit http://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/.

Please contact us anytime if you require assistance with your WordPress upgrade.

• Launch of a new default theme: Twenty Eleven
• Full screen “Distraction Free” post editing
• A faster and lighter WordPress core
• A refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typhography, design, and coding

This issue has been posted by Matt Mullenweg at WordPress.org:

WordPress 3.2 has been released on July 4, 2011, the same date where US celebrates its Independence day . This was another free software that released and published around the world as an update in your dashboard and a download on WordPress.org

Version 3.2 is the fifteenth major released of WordPress and comes in four months after 3.1 was released, which actually just passed the 15 Million download mark on the same date where 3.2 has announced and published. This is evidence of the fast growth of WordPress development in the community.

The main focus of this release was making WordPress faster and lighter.  You will notice that when you log in, 3.2 has a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typhography, design, and code behind the admin. If you are going to start a new blog, you will appreciate the full HTML 5 Twenty Eleven Theme. This is to fulfill the WordPress  plan to replace the default theme every year.  You can now start write a post  from a redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, the personal and special feature of this released.  All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing.

There are number of improvements in this released, not the least of which is the streamlining enabled by the previously announced plan of WordPress in retiring support for PHP4, older versions of MySQL, and legacy browsers like IE6, which allows us to take advantage of more features enabled by the new technologies.  The admin bar has a few additional shortcuts to your commonly-used actions.  On the comment moderation screen, the new approve & reply feature speeds up your conversation managment.

For your first update after 3.2, you will notice that only updating the files will be going to change with each news release instead of every file in your WordPress installation.  This will make your updates significantly  faster on all hosting platforms. There are also some addtional fun new theme features shown off by Twenty Eleven, like the ability to have multiple rotating header images to highlight all your favorite photos.

You can update immediately from the Dashboard → Updates menu in your site’s admin area.

Please contact us anytime if you require assistance with your WordPress upgrade.

From WordPress.org:

On June 29, 2011, WordPress 3.1.4 was released to the public. This is a security update for all previous WordPress versions.

This release fixes an issue that could allow a malicious Editor-level user to gain further access to the site.  Version 3.1.4 also incorporates several other security fixes and hardening measures.

Download WordPress 3.1.4 or update immediately from the Dashboard → Updates menu in your site’s admin area.

Please contact us anytime if you require assistance with your WordPress upgrade.

From WordPress.org:

On May 25, 2011, WordPress 3.1.3 was released to the public. This is a security update for all previous WordPress versions.

For version 3.1.3, the database version (db_version in wp_options) remained at 17516.

To download WordPress 3.1.3, update automatically from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your site’s admin area or visit http://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/.

And please contact us anytime if you require assistance with your WordPress upgrade.