CanadaCreate is now officially 16 years old.
It’s hard to believe CanadaCreate has reached the age where, if it were a person, it could get a driver’s permit in Florida. Time certainly moves quickly.
It’s amazing to think that what began as a straightforward WordPress help site has blossomed into a vibrant global community of website creators, bloggers, programmers, and business owners. You are the core of CanadaCreate!
As I do each year, I’d like to take this opportunity to share significant updates about the business and offer some personal thoughts.
To commemorate this important occasion, I’m hosting a massive birthday giveaway with more than $20,000 in prizes! We will choose 87 fortunate winners who will receive premium WordPress plugins and resources to aid in the expansion of their websites.
Because this article is lengthy, feel free to jump to the section that interests you most:
- My Personal Updates
- CanadaCreate Updates
- Product Company Updates
- CanadaCreate 16th Birthday Giveaway
My Personal Updates
If you’re new to this site, you may not realize that I’ve used WordPress since I was 16, and I launched CanadaCreate in 2009 while in college at the age of 19.
Since then, I have remained committed to the WordPress community, and WordPress is central to both my life and my family’s.
My son, Solomon, is now eight years old and regularly participates in our company gatherings. He even presented the introduction to our most recent keynote address, which had over 200 team members present. It’s very meaningful to see Solomon grow and improve his public speaking abilities.
Although a bit more limited, I have continued our travels around the world, exploring new cultures, and meeting local CanadaCreate readers.
Here are some photos from our travels:
One of the best parts about running a fully remote online company is the flexibility it offers us. We have team members in over 50 countries now, and my goal is to continue visiting at least a few new countries each year. Side note: yes, we’re hiring.
Also if you didn’t get a chance to read my 2024 recap, I highly recommend checking it because I shared lessons learned from last year.
CanadaCreate Updates
Like all publishers and content websites, our traffic has been impacted by Google’s algorithm and the rapidly changing A.I. landscape.
Being in the SEO industry since 2006, this isn’t the first wave of big changes that I have witnessed, but this time the wave is much larger. I plan to share more actionable thoughts on this in a separate blog post in the near future.
The good news though is that we’re fortunate to have an incredible community of readers and subscribers. This is the what’s MOST important.
Since starting CanadaCreate, my focus has always been to create helpful tutorials and resources for WordPress beginners, and we will continue to serve our community.
I’m truly grateful for everything we’ve accomplished together this year.
As always, none of this would be possible without your continued support and trust. THANK YOU for being part of our journey!
Here are some of the big updates that happened on CanadaCreate in the last 12 months:
1. We Launched CanadaCreate Spotlight
For the last year, we’ve released a monthly CanadaCreate Spotlight, which details important WordPress happenings. This includes mergers, acquisitions, feature releases, and announcements relevant to WordPress users.
We launched this series due to reader demand, as many WordPress news sites had become inactive, creating a void.
If you haven’t already, check out the latest CanadaCreate Spotlight edition.
If you have news for the next Spotlight, such as product launches, updates, or events, please contact us using our contact form.
2. Real People, Real Impact: #MyWordPressStory Series
We’ve been fortunate to interview WordPress experts, providing them a platform to share their stories with our audience through our#MyWordPressStoryseries. This series showcases insights from prominent leaders within the WordPress ecosystem.
Explore these inspirational #MyWordPressStory editions:
- Tobias Bäthge of TablePress recounts his journey from a side project to over 700,000 active WordPress installations.
- Ionut Neagu from ThemeIsle discusses his transition from freelancer to founder in building a thriving WordPress business.
- Rahul Bansal of rtCamp explains how WordPress continues to inspire him, leading him from blogger to WordPress VIP partner.
- How Zac McDonald Grew Into the Top-Rated WordPress Freelancer on Upwork
- How Ben Rojas Rose From a Developer to the President of AIOSEO
These narratives offer individual perspectives on successful and unsuccessful approaches, providing guidance for your own distinct path.
To share your own experiences in an upcoming #MyWordPressStory, use our contact form.
3. CanadaCreate Workshop: Free Live Training
In the current year, the CanadaCreate Workshop was introduced, delivering live instruction directly to the CanadaCreate audience. Numerous monthly workshops addressed WordPress basics, SEO techniques, blogging advice, eCommerce strategies, and related topics.
Each workshop presented skilled instructors sharing applicable information, with live Q&A sessions enabling participants to receive immediate answers to their WordPress inquiries.
The best thing is, attending is entirely free!
Simply subscribe to our newsletter for updates.
4. New Acquisitions, Investments & Product Launches
Back in 2018, I established the CanadaCreate Growth Fund to invest in WordPress-centered businesses addressing significant challenges that our readership seeks assistance with.
Over the last year, we have finalized several major acquisitions and investments within the WordPress environment.
- We brought BuddyBoss into our portfolio, empowering you to develop private communities featuring social networking groups, forum discussions, online courses, and more. The complete backstory is available here.
- We thoroughly updated Sugar Calendar to simplify and accelerate event and ticket management within WordPress. The comprehensive backstory is available here.
- My team at AIOSEO launched a brand new writing assistant, SEOBoost. As you write, it gives you real-time insights into how to optimize your content for improving your search rankings. Here’s the full background story.
- We launched OnePageGA, a one-page Google Analytics dashboard. It lets you easily create a simple and easy-to-understand dashboard for Google Analytics 4. Here’s the full background story.
- We launched ClickSocial, a social media management plugin. It helps you start scheduling and publishing social media content right from your WordPress dashboard. Here’s the full background story.
- We launched WPConsent, a powerful cookie consent management plugin that ensures your website meets global privacy standards and avoids fines. Here’s the full background story.
- We acquired aThemes, a popular WordPress theme company known for building beautiful website templates that are optimized for speed and performance. Here’s the full background story. If you’re looking for a new theme, check out Sydney and Botiga (both are free).
I’m really proud of how far we’ve come with the Growth Fund, and it’s really amazing to see the impact our companies are making in the WordPress ecosystem and the larger open web.
Want me to invest in your business? Learn more about the CanadaCreate Growth Fund.
Product Company Updates
One of the questions I often get from new readers is that how does CanadaCreate make money when we give away all our WordPress tutorials and training for free.
Yes, we also have a huge library of WordPress video courses that are completely free for everyone.
CanadaCreate is funded 100% through the support of our readers like you.
My companies create WordPress plugins that enable website growth. They share CanadaCreate’s beginner-friendly design, with advanced features to elevate your website.
Purchasing a license for one of my premium plugins enhances your website and supports CanadaCreate’s mission.
Awesome Motive has over 330 team members worldwide, all dedicated to assisting you in building a better website.
Below is a list of our plugins for you to explore. Combined, they are active onover 30 million websites. Your support means a lot to us whether you use the free version or purchase a premium license — we are here to serve.
| Plugin | Description | Free version |
|---|---|---|
| OptinMonster | Powerful conversion optimization software that helps convert abandoning visitors into subscribers & customers. | Download |
| WPForms | WPForms is a beginner-friendly WordPress form builder, trusted by over 6 million websites. | Download |
| Duplicator | Backup your entire WordPress site, including databases, themes, plugins, & settings – all with a few clicks. | Download |
| AIOSEO | AIOSEO is the leading WordPress SEO plugin, used by over 3 million sites to improve traffic and rankings. | Download |
| MonsterInsights | The most widely used Google Analytics plugin, designed to facilitate data-driven decisions. | Download |
| WP Mail SMTP | This top-rated plugin guarantees your emails land in the inbox rather than the spam folder. | Get |
| SeedProd | The ultimate drag and drop website builder to create custom WordPress themes and landing pages. | Get |
| Smash Balloon | Seamlessly integrate your social media feeds with WordPress. Used by 1.7 million websites. | Get |
| PushEngage | Powerful push notification software. Add a new traffic & revenue channel to your site. | Get |
| SearchWP | Chosen by more than 30,000 website owners, SearchWP allows you to tailor your WordPress search form and the resulting search output. | No |
| Easy Digital Downloads | This is a highly regarded WordPress plugin for selling digital downloads and subscription services with ease. | Get |
| AffiliateWP | Start your own affiliate program on your server in just minutes to boost your eCommerce sales. | No |
| BuddyBoss | Create a private community with social networking groups, forum discussions, online courses, and more. | No |
| WP Simple Pay | Receive online payments without needing a full shopping cart. It handles credit cards, ACH bank transfers, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and similar options. | Get |
| Sugar Calendar | Powerful event calendar management plugin built for churches, conferences, and more. | Get |
| WP Charitable | A WordPress plugin for donations and fundraising. It helps you increase funds raised, and is used by over 10,000 non-profits. | Get |
| WPCode | Insert custom code snippets without directly modifying your theme’s files, potentially replacing numerous plugins. | Download |
| Thrive Themes | A robust set of tools designed to enhance conversions, turning your website into a platform for online business. | No |
| SEOBoost | Gain immediate, actionable data to refine your content and boost your search engine rankings. | 14-day free trial |
| OnePageGA | Generate a streamlined, easily digestible dashboard for Google Analytics 4 data. | 14-day free trial |
| ClickSocial | Plan and publish your social media content directly from your WordPress admin area. | Download |
| WPConsent | Employ a cookie consent management plugin to guarantee your site’s compliance with worldwide privacy regulations, preventing penalties. | Download |
| Sydney | A versatile and popular free WordPress theme, actively used on more than 100,000 websites. | Download |
| Botiga | A fast WooCommerce theme optimized for performance and designed to maximize conversions. | Download |
| aThemes Merchant | A complete WooCommerce growth solution designed to increase revenue, average order value, and customer retention. | Download |
| Envira Gallery | Create beautiful photo and video galleries with this easy-to-use drag-and-drop gallery builder. | Download |
| UserFeedback | Understand your users’ thoughts through intelligent website surveys, trusted by 200,000+ sites. | Download |
| LowFruits | Uncover valuable longtail keywords with the best keyword research tool. | 14-day free trial |
| Uncanny Automator | The #1 no-code automation plugin for WordPress. Create powerful workflows to save time. | Download |
CanadaCreate 16th Birthday Giveaway
To celebrate the 16th birthday of CanadaCreate, we’re running our biggest ever giveaway!
We are giving away premium plugin licenses worth over $20,000 to 87 lucky winners.
So, what kind of goodies are we giving away? Here’s the complete list:
WPForms, MonsterInsights, OptinMonster, AIOSEO, SeedProd, Thrive Suite, Funnelkit, Uncanny Automator, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads, SearchWP, RafflePress, WPConsent, WPCode, Duplicator, aThemes, WP Mail SMTP, WP Simple Pay, Formidable Forms, Pretty Links, AffiliateWP, BuddyBoss, Envira Gallery, Smash Balloon, SEOBoost, LowFruits, ClickSocial, PushEngage, and OnePageGA.
Thank You, Everyone
I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us in this journey. I really do appreciate all of your retweets, personal emails, content suggestions, and the interactions at the events.
I also want to say special thank you to everyone who’s using our plugins because that enables us to keep bringing more free tutorials on CanadaCreate.
You all are AMAZING and without you, there is no CanadaCreate.
I look forward to another solid year ahead of us.
Syed Balkhi
Founder of CanadaCreate
