Early 2020 I wanted to improve my blog translation, so that I could have a faster translation in multiple languages.

I decided to give it a try to Weglot, although at first I considered it a high price for just a blogger.

I bought the Pro version, since I wanted my website in Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and Italian.

Installing it was really easy and simple. I was amazed of how good was the translation.

It was fast and accurate, so in that side I was happy with Weglot.

The first challenges I encountered were that since I had around more than 50,000 words,  Weglot’s word count was limiting.

Also, it roles out the translated content depending on that amount.

Some of my content was not being translated, and in that case I had to contact their Support Service to have a faster outcome with the translation limits.

They set up some word count limits prevent an overage on the machine translation, something like that.

In terms of SEO, it was compatible with RankMath, so your Metadata is translated.

And also your HREF Canonical Tags are properly set up.

Another issue I found was that sometimes the URL control is not really accurate.

It might translate URLs that you don’t want, and even if you set it on the translation blacklist, it will translate it, and consider it into the words.

So you will have to ask again for their support.

Also, if you are focusing your website in too many text content, their word count would result stressfull, since there is no really good control on how much text is translated.

In terms of WordPress Translation, I recommend Weglot in the case that you are basically looking for a fast and accurate translation, want to translate to 1 or 2 languages, don’t want to mess up with your wordpress code, you have WooCommerce and if you don’t have time for translation.

To read more visit: Weglot Review.

Images are everywhere.

Images are needed.

An image say more than thousand words.

And I can keep going on on phrases that give the importance to images.

There are plenty of agencies and website developers who need image resources for their social media or websites.

Of course, you can find out free images out there, it would be just a matter of fact of typing in google and searching for creative commons results.

I have tried different image stock websites, and to say which one worth paying, which one are just worth mentioning and so on.

As a blogger, I need images for the thumbnails or any other area, but I would prefer to avoid having repeated images on it.

I have noticed recently the use of a business man picture that had appeared on different webpages and social media all across internet.

The abuse of image stock has its risks, and it would be that if you and your competitor have the same image stock website as database, than you can find out those ackward repetitions.

That is why I would recommend to choose different image stock websites to source your image needs.

From Pexels and Pixabay that are free, to subscriptions like Freepik,  Envato Elements, MonsterOne, Adobe Stock and Shutterstock.

Read more about the different image stock websites that can help you to create content.

Get to know more in Top 7 Image Stock Websites Free and Premium.

As a content creator, and having access to different royalty free music, I was curious to try creating a podcast.

Now that there has been a trend on creating podcast, I also jumped myself to it.

Podcasting isn’t a new thing, and for WordPress, it had the availability to add podcasts since its earlier versions.

But why is it that podcasting has turned out recently to become popular again?

Well, for sure Spotify has been a driver to “make podcasting great again”. 😛

There are different tools where you can upload your podcasts.

Going from Anchor, Spreaker, Breaker from Twitter, to building up your own RSS feed on your website and distribute it to the known distributors, such as Apple Podcast and Spotify.

There are different tools that a podcasters need for sure.

You may need a good microphone, a recording device, that could be your smartphone, laptop or if you are more high-end, then professional equipment, plus an editing software.

Of course, it will depend on your needs.

As in most podcasts, there is also another element that has been important, the music for podcasts.

It is sometimes needed the intro music for podcasts, to give that welcoming part to the episode, or also as background music to give an environment.

There are several websites where you can find different resources that can help you to find royalty free music for podcasts.

Some websites are for free such as Facebook Sound Collection, Youtube Audio Library and Pixabay.

Or even Anchor has music library integrated to ease your podcast editing.

If you want more of a different selection of music for podcasts, then there are subscriptions such as from Envato Elements and PremiumBeat that could help you find more music for podcasts resources.

To read more visit: Best Royalty Free Music for Podcasts Free & Premium

I am part of a family business that has run for nearly 40 years.

The business has mainly been “running as we always have done”.

And when it comes to the development and further improvement of a small business, the inner family fights start with the new generations ideas of “better ways of doing things”.

It is not a secret of family businesses, that some of its main struggles are the ideas that we, the second generation, bring up to the table so that the business can change for better.

Or at least, we the second generation, think those ideas are for better.

In my experience, change will bring up discomfort, specially for older generations, since they have been working for years in the same way, and it might take some time to adapt or they might even refuse the new ideas, even if you give projections on income increase or savings.

How many times have you heard, “if your business don’t adapt or innovate, it will get stuck or disappear”.

Probably, plenty of times.

One of the pain points that I have lived for sure in my own family business is the control of inventory.

We have used from manual scorecards to keep control, to later move on to the inventory management in excel.

Does an inventory management in excel is effective in the long run?

I don’t think so, but it was the quick and low cost solution for a small business to have control on the inventory.

If you are looking for how to do your inventory management in excel, here the team and I, created this article where you can learn about inventory management and how to create an inventory management in excel.

But I would also recommend you, that if you are planning to digitize your business and improve your inventory control processes, then analyze the use and implementation of an ERP System.

I tell you a bit more of my experience.

I needed a solution that helped me with a Point of Sale system, to keep track and control of inventory on an easier way, but also a system that was also connected to an e-commerce platform.

Therefore, here in Mexico I decided to use Bind ERP.

As a small business, Bind ERP was an affordable solution that I started to use.

In just a matter of 2 weeks, I set up all the nearly 170 products of the branch store that I am in charge, and in one week I built up the Shopify store to showcase online the products of my store online and on social media.

Now, everytime I receive new inventory, make a sale or change up the price of a product, the ERP system updates automatically as well on Shopify and Facebook Shop.

As a small business, there are already affordable ERP solutions that can help you have this integrations and help you to save time on updating your Excel Spreadsheets everytime you do a sell, or also to save time on the uploading and managing of products on your e-commerce store.

So I would recommend, if you prefer to still save up costs and keep using excel, create your inventory template.

But if you are like me, that besides just managing your business locally, and also want to have an e-commerce platform that helps you on the digitalization of your business, then go for ERP systems like BindERP (if you are from Latin America), Odoo & Quickbooks that also have integrations with WooCommerce and Shopify.

Read more in: Inventory Management in Excel.

One of the things that I didn’t like about WPML was the amount of work, and copy paste that I have to do if I wanted to translate content.

The easiest and cheapest way to translate content with WPML was using Google Translator and copy the text to the translation manager.

That was time consuming and a repetitive work.

Therefore, I went out to try Weglot, a fast and accurate multilingual translation plugin.

But after testing Weglot, I noticed that the plugin could be expensive to maintain for me due to the amount of written content that I have in my blog, and also I wanted to have at least 5 languages.

5 languages multiplied by the number of words that I had in my website, made me reach pretty soon the word limit of the Weglot’s Pro Plan.

I faced myself into the decision, paying more for another Weglot’s plan or go back to WPML.

Paying almost €2000 per year was not an option.

I changed back to WPML and I noticed that WPML was starting to improve their automatic translations.

Couple months after I changed, they announced a big deal for the WordPress Automatic Translations, Deepl arrived to WPML.

Deepl is a german based service that has a pretty accurate translation, better than Google Translator.

For now Deepl has a few number of available languages they could translate.

For WPML automatic translation you have to pay an extra fee depending on the credits that you use.

WPML automatic translation is based on credits and not in the word count, as in Weglot.

Actually, it may sound as word count, but there is a technical difference.

The difference relies that with WPML you can have more control in which content you will spend your credits, and which translation service will you use for it.

For example, Microsoft translation costs 1 credit, Google translations costs 2 credits, and Deepl translations costs 3 credits.

So, you can choose which translation service you want to use and how will you spend it.

In that, WPML has more control than Weglot, nevertheless it is worth mentioning that it is still time consuming, but way much better than in the past.

I wanted to get deeper into the price comparison between Weglot vs WPML, I’ll try to get the exact price of a word, of course if I am not wrong.

In the monthly Weglot Business plan, you pay $23.38 dollar for 50000 words, which is $0.00046 per word.

In the yearly Weglot Business plan which gets cheaper, you pay $233.77 per year, which per month is $19.48 for 50000 words, which is $0.00038 per word.

In a monthly payment for up to 100,000 WPML credits you pay $17, which if you use Deepl 3 Credits, that means it is 33,333 words, which is $0.00051 per word.

As you keep using higher number of credits in WPML, the price gets lower.

Nevertheless in that comparison Weglot shows better price per word.

The big BUT cames when Weglot establishes a Word Limit, and in WPML when you pay again for the credits you have new credits that you can use to translate new content.

Actually there is no word limit in WPML.

And even so, for now I am using free Deepl Windows Plugin to have a faster copy-paste of selected phrases, and combining the automatic translation.

Read more in Deepl and WPML.

If you have decided to turn your online business or startup into a multilingual WordPress website, then I will recommend you WPML, but of course there are some questions to do to you first to really say go for it.

WordPress is one of the most useful content management system to create websites.

There are multiple forms to create websites, and there is no perfect solution to do it.

WordPress is one of the most known and also easy to use, therefore it has been the preferable platform to use.

As a business, we all have endlessly heard, you must have a website or you don’t exist.

And if you are aiming to build up a startup, then a website is just the first milestone.

Once defined that you want to use WordPress, and that you also want to reach international customers, there are multiple multilingual plugins to international customers.

I have a post in my website that I talk about the different multilingual WordPress plugins.

If you are considering to dedicate time to the translation, or have a multinational team of translator, then WPML could be an option as a multilingual plugin.

WPML is an easy to use plugin that has helped me to turn my website into a multilingual WordPress Website.

I focus on content creation, and I have a big word count, therefore that has been the main reason to choose WPML.

If you are a Startup that is going to focus on content, then go for it. Since you might need no limits on your word count.

WPML is improving its automatic translation with Deepl, therefore it is now competing better against the other translation plugin that I also recommend, Weglot.

When to use Weglot, rather than WPML?

If your startup is a Woocommerce Website, I would recommend better Weglot, since Weglot doesn’t get involved too much with your code.

This reduces the risk of some problems between the plugins.

Although Weglot also has its negative aspects, that you can read more about in my WPML vs Weglot.

Read more in: How to create a multilingual WordPress site for your startup with WPML.

When it comes to SEO, Shopify is not my favorite e-commerce platform.

I started to use Shopify, because I needed a quick solution to showcase my furniture products with social media, and that also was connected to my ERP system.

Shopify gave me a fast integration between the platforms that I use.

Living at the border with the US, also requires to have my website content in english.

I found Translation Lab app, and it seem quite similar to WPML for WordPress, but I was not planning to dedicate time on the translation as I do for my blog.

I needed a good and reliable Shopify translation app that could help me to have some of my content in english.

Therefore, I decided to install Weglot Translate app.

With Weglot Shopify app was really easy and fast to translate the first page content.

Weglot does all the work at the instant, and the translation is very accurate.

If you are aiming to translate to just one or maximum 2 languages, I do recommend Weglot.

As I have mentioned in WPML vs Weglot, Weglot has its advantages and disadvantages.

But since Shopify is a more rigid platform with a lower number of apps in comparison to WordPress, Weglot is mainly the best translation app for Shopify.

WPML is not available for Shopify.

And in terms of content, Shopify is quite limited to be very creative.

But if you are already using Shopify and need to translate your products, then go for Weglot.

You will save time and get accurate translations.

Read more in: Weglot Shopify, the best way to translate your online store.

Local SEO is one good strategy for small businesses to aim for SEO.

You already have a niche, your city.

In contrast to an International SEO Strategy, that is broader, Local SEO is a niche oriented strategy.

With Local SEO, local businesses have the opportunity to rank faster on Search Engines, since they are only competing with their actual local competitors.

Why? Because when it comes to certain types of services that are merely aimed to be offered on a local basis, websites that have a Local SEO Strategy can come up first.

The differentiation of a local service is already given, the place.

No person from Germany would be searching for a local service such as plumbing in Mexico. Or even from all around Mexico, people from southern states would be searching to solve their plumbing problems and wait a norther plumber to come.

But how does local businesses can take advantage on SEO, and how they can improve their websites so that Search Engines start to love their sites?

Well, there exists services that give support on Local SEO services.

What you should consider before hiring a Local SEO agency?

Ask first for proven results, or also what is the strategy that a Local SEO agency would follow to achieve results.

I do recommend a mix of Youtube and Website Local SEO content mix.

This way local businesses could showcase just a few of their services or products and could start appearing on local search results.

As well, don’t forget that business directories such as Google Local Business are a free tool that can help you appear online for free.

Plus, it is important for local businesses to get REAL Reviews. There are many new services around the internet that can offer paid reviews, just to give your local business a “look of success” on Google Reviews. This would just hurt your future reputation, and you actually ask why are customers not coming.

There is already a Google Local Guide Community around the world, try to contact people who would give a real and honest review, remember that some ways to improve is to listen what is been working good, and what is working bad.

There is a kind of a sort not written ethic code between the real envolved Local Guide Community to write their review as they feel it, but of course there are some higher levels who sell their opinion, so that their badge appear on the business review.

So to sum up my tips on Local SEO:

1. Create localized content for Youtube and your Website.

2. Add your business to Google Local Business.

3. Get real review, or contact Google Local Guides and ask them for a honest review.

Read more in: How to do Local SEO and support small businesses online growth.

As a blogger, once you keep walking on this path, one big question that arisses for the website builders is, which Hosting is the best one for WordPress?

The thing is, that as you start, you have no clue to decide which WordPress hosting to choose.

There are hundreds of different hosting service providers, that all offer and say to be the best one.

Well, just reading their websites is not the best way to decide.

They all proclaim to have fast connection, good prices and so on.

I am not a full web developer engineer, but certainly I have learned what has worked and what has not worked among the different WordPress Hosting Services.

I will talk about Godaddy vs Siteground vs Kinsta vs Cloudways, since those are the hosting services that I have used. Of course there might be another good and better services, but probably at different prices.

When I started in this WordPress Blogging world, I started with Godaddy.

Godaddy has been one of the most known services for domain and hosting for websites.

Godaddy had also very cheap hosting services, and as a small blogger this might be one thing to consider, the price.

But eventually, as I kept learning, and as I kept knowing more about WordPress, Godaddy hosting was really slow.

It was getting frustrating, the speed that I was achieving. So eventually I searched for more wordpress hosting reviews, and found about Siteground.

I bought Siteground 3 years GoGeek plan since it was offering multiple website hosting, email hosting and they had a good discount. I think it was during cyber-monday.

Godaddy vs Siteground, it was easy to win the fight here by Siteground. With Siteground, my website increased in speed, and I hosted more WordPress websites on it.

I started to use Elementor on my website and that affected my website speed. The good thing of Siteground was that most of their Customer Service Tickets resolve pretty fast any issue, or they guide you.

That is one of the best things I consider about Siteground, Customer Service.

Eventually, I learned about what was the meaning of shared hosting, and how this can affect your speed.

Many cloud services were starting to become popular. Plus, also listenting too much about Google Cloud Platform made me to have the desire to try Google Clouds Platform for WordPress Hosting.

Since I am not any high tech guy, going into GCP was a bit confusing, and there were some Youtube tutorials that showed you how to use Google Cloud for one Year for free.

Even Google Cloud Platform website recommended the managed services for WordPress, WPengine and Kinsta.

I liked Kinsta website, it seem a good service. So I choose to try the first simple plan that costed around $30.

The WordPress website speed was fast. And even to consider that I didn’t have it properly optimized, but for sure it could have even better numbers.

I was happy with Kinsta, until I got to know their business.

Kinsta counts the number of visits that you have on your website. If you exceed the number of visitors they will charge you. Of course, this will make you to consider jumping into a bigger plan.

The thing is that I didn’t like that in that number of visits, Kinsta also take into account Bots Visits so this was a really pain in the ass.

You have to pay for fake visitors. So I would say that don’t go for Kinsta. As I noticed this, I contacted their support, and of course they helped me to reduce the number of bots visits so that they are not taken into account. Eventually my website exceeded the number of visitors month after month, so I dropped Kinsta and went back to Siteground.

To read full story visit: Godaddy vs Siteground vs Kinsta vs Cloudways

I was being curious on using Cloudways.

I have read many Cloudways reviews and many recommendations through Facebook groups.

I was using Siteground and I wanted to change my shared WordPress hosting to a dedicated WordPress hosting.

I saw some Youtube Videos by WPCrafter that recommended Vultr in Hiqh Frequency through Cloudways, since it was a cloud-based WordPress Hosting Service at a low cost.

The starting plan offered 1GB RAM, Processor 1 Core, Storage 32GB and 1TB Bandwith for $13.

So it seem to be a good offer, and I decided to give it a try.

The results of changing my Siteground Host to Cloudways with Vultr High Frequency are these ones.

As you can see, stated by Gtmetrix, my website improved in better seconds.

And I have to say, my website is not really optimized. My following steps are to look for a WordPress speed optimization service that helps me to improve my numbers, and reach less than 1 second.

But in terms of the First Contentful Pain from Siteground to Cloudways the difference is of 1.5 seconds, which it is a good result.

There are some blocking resources that I still have to fix for the Homepage that are affecting it.

But so far, I have noticed also better loading times on the backend, specially because I use plugins such as Elementor and WPML, which are not really known for improving speed. Actually, their codes slow down your WordPress Website, but they are easy and useful to use.

In terms of setting up WordPress in the Vultr High Frequency of Cloudways was really easy.

Probably the DNS configuration from Godaddy to Cloudways took a bit of time, until the change of IP address updated, but it was quite simple.

Cloudways has a migration service, but I actually used a Backup plugin to save all my files from Siteground, and then uploaded them again when I was already in Cloudways.

Quick and easy, Cloudways so far hasn’t showed me any complication, and their support team solved my only problem, that was about a WPML folder that was not able to been changed.

For now, I do recommend Cloudways with Vultr in High Frequency to have a fast WordPress Cloud Hosting service at low cost.

If you want event more speed, you could also try Google Cloud Platform or AWS through Cloudways, but they have a higher cost.

Read more in Cloudways Review 2021 | The Fastest and Scalable WordPress Hosting.