Your car regularly gets tune ups. Your lawn gets mowed regularly. Your computer even needs a little help once in a while. What about your website?
Just like all of these, your website needs some TLC on a regular basis.
Many people assume that once the website is built, they can check that off the list and move onto other things. Your website will just sit there and make you money. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just like any other tool, it will rot and decay with time and disuse.
Here’s a few areas where regular maintenance is important.
Web Software
An outdated website a major security issue.
If you are using WordPress, you need to be regularly updating your software. This is crucial. WordPress is the most popular platform on the internet* (and for good reason), and this makes it a target for hackers. The crew over at WordPress are working around the clock to release patches and updates to thwart hackers but if you don’t update, you are not taking advantage of these patches and will be vulnerable. When it comes to outdated WordPress software, it’s not a question of if you are hacked, it’s a question of when you are hacked.
Even if you are not using WordPress, the languages used to write websites are fluid and regularly updated. As new technologies emerge, the old ones are deprecated or unsupported. Social media sites are notorious for changing their feeds (I’m looking at you, Facebook) rendering older feeds useless.
At the very least, your website should be looked at by a professional once a year. Every 6 months would be preferred.
Content
While I prefer that all of you are writing and adding new content regularly, that isn’t always feasible. If you aren’t, you should still go over your content once a year to revise or remove outdated content. Remove products you don’t sell anymore. Get rid of old news posts or events that are past. Nothing makes a website feel more stale than outdated content.
Check your Stats
It’s wise to regularly check into your analytics for any major changes to the flow of traffic or drops in traffic. Occasionally a Google algorithm change or the like can have a direct hit on your traffic and you’d want to be on top of that before it affects your sales. If you are doing regular digital marketing (hint – you should be), you’ll be doing this anyway.
Backups
Backups are like insurance. No one wants to think about them until they need it! While I prefer the automated backups, done through a WordPress plugin or the host, this isn’t always possible. I suggest monthly backups at the very least that are not saved on the same server as the website.
WordPress has a great plugin that takes automated backups that it will save on the server as well as email a copy (when possible). This saves the backup in two separate locations for double security. (Note: If we built your site, you may even have this up and running already!)
Spam
If you have a blog, it’s wise to regularly check for spam. Spam comments that got past the filter can negatively affect your SEO rating and should be removed.
Contact Forms
Check all contact forms! Recently I visited a website that had an email form on their site. When I went to send them an email, the form gave me an error and refused to send. What did I do? I went to a competitor. The contact forms on your site, as well as other basic contact info, are the main conversion points for new clients. They should be tested regularly to make sure they are still working. If you have an email form, make sure it is not going to your spam filter and is being properly handle on the receiving end.
Link Checks
It’s a good idea to check all links once a year as well. Websites are removed or change their name. Maybe you removed a page off your site and forgot about a link. No matter the reason, Google does not like broken links as it makes your site look inactive and out of date. Use a link checker such as this free one or this one to run scans on your site.
In summary, plan for a few hours of your time every few months revisiting the overall plan of your website. Go over all the content and make sure it still aligns with your overall goals. Secondly, budget for a few hours of time with a web professional to update software and fix any outdated code at least once a year.
Building a business can be hard work, and is often thankless. As many of you have experienced, it can take years before you even see some positives in the vast sea of challenges and struggles. Most businesses don’t make a profit for the first years, and the failure rate of new businesses is staggering. When I, Kristy Lee, found out I was nominated for the Emerging Leader Award, I was super excited and honored. And to be set apart as a Distinguished Honoree? That is just amazing.
Also happy to report that not only did we meet our annual sales goal, we have doubled our sales in the last 2 years! That is just incredible. I am so grateful for all the wonderful clients I have worked with in the last few years, and the progress we have made. Here’s to hoping for another great year!
We now have an office on Main Street Frisco. Next time you are driving through Frisco, stop by at the first building on the right when coming from Highway 9, the big blue one. We now have a cozy office suite in this complex. This space has been invaluable for meetings and working throughout the week. We are slowly adding furniture and making it into a cozy and productive work environment. Come on by and say hello!
Social Media Marketing has caused more than its fair share of whining amongst small businesses. They struggle with it. And I understand why. I struggle with it myself! It’s time consuming and draining and the return on investment can be difficult to measure. I thought I’d give you an inside look into my process, and share with you a few tips that have helped me keep up with social media.
Lists and Groups.
Make lists/groups of people you should interact with and watch. Twitter does this well and gives you separate feeds per group. This lumps your followers into smaller, more manageable groups and helps you compartmentalize your interactions. I use categories based on location or industry type.
Be consistent
Check in once a day for a few minutes. Don’t let it get behind! Social Media is fast and timely. If you aren’t staying on top of things, and responding to follows and messages in a timely manner, people will move on and forget why they were ever contacting you or who you are.
Scheduling
I had a client ask once how her competitor was posting so much. She had seen tweets of his from 10pm the night before and 3am that morning. “When did he have time to sleep?” she asked. Social Media Scheduling. That’s what he was doing. Scheduling apps such as Hootsuite or Buffr allow you to plan ahead with your posts so all you need to do is sit back and watch them go out.
I like to set aside a time once a week, and schedule my posts for the week. Yes, you will still need to check in throughout the week and interact, but the main bulk of the posts will already be planned out.
Mobile Apps
This one seems like a no brainer. Use apps such as Tweetbot, Facebook Pages, Instagram and the Hootsuite app to check your content and upload new content on the fly. This is especially helpful if you are using any sort of local content. Upload photos from local events as they are happening. Tweet about networking events while you are present. With social media being a whopping 34% of mobile traffic (source), we can assume that a few people will likely be checking in on their social media whilst at these events and you can interact with them and gain exposure when it’s relevant.
Content Curation
Once I’ve convinced a client that they should be posting on social media, the next question is invariably whatwhat should they be posting about. We call the process of developing content “content curation”. I talk more about this in a few other posts such as here and here so if you are a content marketing newbie, you might want to read up.
Here are two tools that I use on the regular for content curation on social media.
Bookmarking Apps
Bookmarking apps such as Pinterest, Pocket or even using the bookmarking in your browser can be a great way to hold onto relevant articles or threads that you may want to refer to later or post to your social media sites. I use Pocket, which has a convenient browser extension. With one click, I can save the article for later. Then when I go to schedule my posts, I can look over all that I’ve saved throughout the week.
Feed Readers & RSS Feeds
RSS feeders are great for content curation. You can follow other blogs or websites and bookmark articles that might also be relevant to your users. I use Feedly to set up feeds for myself, categorized by topic.
Social Media Marketing is always going to be something that takes work to be successful. It takes consistency, and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears. And there may come a time when you decide that it is not the best way to spend your time. That is okay too. You can hire someone to post for you, and even to write articles for you.
If you have any specific questions about social media marketing or have a website project in mind, give us a shout! We’d love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us an email.
Can I mobile app help you attract more visitors to your Colorado tourist destination? Can a mobile app help you engage your tourist and generate more business for your local businesses? Yes! We believe so.
Using apps for traveling is certainly not a new concept. Travelers have been using apps to develop itineraries, research different site seeing attractions, figure out where to eat lunch, and tell others about their experience since smart phones became the norm.
But does your tourist attraction need that?
Let me guess. You have a website. You have Yelp. You have Trip Advisor. Maybe you have Google My Business. But are these enough? The first question I would ask is how are you getting people to these sites? Good SEO goes a long way for educating a traveler of their site seeing options. But that still requires them to go out and look for it first.
What if they could find all they needed in one place, without navigating multiple websites, without googling and without the uncontrollable (and let’s face it, often disastrous) variable of review sites?
With a mobile app, they can. Tourists can download one app and find everything they need to know about your town or tourist attraction. You can attract and engage visitors. All with one quick download.
Here’s features only available with a mobile app:
1. Push notifications: Send out notifications directly to the phone. You can even time notifications with a particular location so the notifications are timely and relevant.
2. GPS: Load specific maps for itineraries or trails and guide users along the path.
3. Easy Photo Sharing: Tap into the strength of an image by using the built in camera to take a photo, add your own watermark or logo and allow the user to share on social media sites.
Of course, you still can also share your unique story, allow users to review you, offer coupons and deals, give suggested itineraries and much much more. The possibilities are endless!
If you are starting or have started a business, then you will need to know about branding. Branding is the visual message that represents (or doesn’t represent) your business. It includes your colors, fonts, your logo and any other visual material. It should be versatile, consistent, attractive and memorable. It should attract your target market and should speak about who you are and what you do.
When beginning this process with a client, I often ask them a series of leading questions to help them work out the basic message of their branding. Often, a potential client has never thought about their message. (And if you have a business, you do have a message.) But how can you clearly communicate that message without knowing what you are trying to say?
The below questions are meant to get the creative juices in your head moving. They will help you put into words that message.
1. Who is your target market?
Who is your average client? Where do they live? How old are they? Are they retiring and thinking about visiting the grandkids or are they in the “sleep when you’re dead” phase of life? Do they have excess money to spend and want luxury or is the bottom line the only line that matters?
2. What problem do you solve for clients?
What need to you fill? What question do you answer for them? Are you providing the security and stability of your experience? Are you adding adventure and fun to their life? Or are you meeting a basic existential need in their life such as food, water and clothing? If so, what makes your product different from the competitor across the street?
3. Does your client know they need you?
This one is just as important, although often forgotten. Some needs like food and water are obvious. Everyone needs to eat at a restaurant at some point. Other wants, like a new technology or adventure, require some education of the clients. You need to show them why they need or want your service or product.
Think of this as your branding homework. Answer these questions for yourself and see if your current branding fits your answers.
If you’ve used WordPress at all, most likely you’ve had some experience with WordPress’s wealth of plugins. According to one source, there are nearly 30K plugins with one new plugin an hour.
These plugins extend the functionality of WP well beyond its original design and make its capabilities nearly unfathomable. While, I’m not foolish enough to say that WordPress can do everything, WordPress can do a lot. In fact, 74.6 million sites are run by WordPress. That number is staggering.
Plugins make this possible. Plugins took WordPress from a simple blogging platform to one of the most popular CMS’s available today. And all open source!
Not all plugins are created equal
So how do you make use of the wealth of plugins? If you’ve ever tried sifting through the plugin repository, you know that finding the right plugin can be a daunting task. Many are poorly documented, poorly written and straight up broken. (Plugin developers do NOT like me saying this.) When I am choosing a new plugin, on average I go through 4-5 plugins before finding one that works. I have little patience with them.
Here’s a few things I’ve learned about picking out a plugin.
1. Read the negative reviews. When I’m reading reviews, I go straight to the negative reviews. It may be a bit of a strange habit, and you do have to weed through a bunch of ranting people, taking their words with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, there is often grains of truth mixed in there. The negative reviews help you see what issues people have run into and learn from their experiences.
Secondly, avoid plugins with no reviews. These plugins are either untested, or worse, so bad their reviews were wiped out.
2. Read the documentation and install directions If a plugin dev, cannot even bother to write decent install directions, avoid avoid avoid.
3. Check the last update date Is the plugin still being actively maintained? Does the developer have a presence in the forums? While no developer should be expected to provide carte blanch support for free, it is crucial to the success of a plugin that is actively maintained and updated along with the regular WP updates.
4. Follow WordPress bloggers Hacking vulnerabilities, new plugins and other WordPress news will be first reported on the WP blogs. Keep an eye on these and you will be in the know.
5. Move on! Don’t be afraid to move on to the next if one plugin is not meeting your needs. The competition is steep for plugins and there are plenty to choose from. Don’t waste time with bad plugins!
Plugins Pitfalls
1. Having too many plugins. Each plugin has it’s own source code and will make calls on the server to pull in their files. This can add up quick and slow down your website. Deactivate and delete plugins that you are not using.
2. Not updating Updating protects you from common hacks and insecurities. Update often. Most hacking issues come from outdated sites or outdated plugins. Take advantage of the developers security precautions!
3. Not doing the research On rare occasions, plugins can contain malicious code and be the source of security breaches. Do your research on a plugin before installing.
I, Kristylee, am super stoked to announce that I will be attending WWDC, Apple’s Developer Conference in San Francisco. If you know anything about this event, you know that tickets can be hard to come by. I was lucky enough to win a ticket this year. This event will bring together some fantastic programmers and big names in the mobile technology world.
The event is 4 days of brain stuffing, learning about all the new things Apple will be releasing as well as the changes to their software that relate to developers.
On that note, we’ve got a new mobile app coming that will help you access this blog a bit better! Stay tuned!
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Technology Options for Small Businesses
KL will be teaching an event with the Northwest Colorado SBDC at the Dillon campus of CMC. Technology Options for Small Businesses will focus on the different applications that you can use to streamline the processes of your business.
We’ve got a few other speaking engagements through the summer, so stay tuned! Lots of fun things and big changes coming to KL Creative and LadyBits Dev!
2 days ago, WordPress released what they called a “critical security release” for all previous versions. This new release patches a vulnerability that was found in the commenting of WordPress which would allow a potential hacker access to your site.
This comes on the heels of several other vulnerabilities found in a whole list of popular plugins. They known plugins are below:
Jet Pack (Many hosts preinstall this plugin for you!)
All In one SEO
WordPress SEO
Google Analytics by Yoast
Ninja Forms
Revolutions Slider (This plugin comes prepackaged with a lot of premade themes so you may not be aware that you are using it. It’s security flaw was released earlier in the year, but is quite nasty and still prevalent.)
WP-E-Commerce
Gravity Forms
Broken-Link-Checker
Multiple Plugins from Easy Digital Downloads
UpdraftPlus
WPTouch
Download Monitor
Related Posts for WordPress
My Calendar
P3 Profiler
Give
Multiple iThemes products including Builder and Exchange
The vulnerability uses a WordPress function to access your site. While security teams checked the majority of the popular plugins, they were not able to check all. Likely this list is not exhaustive.
What can you do?
1. Update All Plugins. If you are running any of these plugins, update immediately. In fact, you should update all plugins whether they are on this list or not. You can do so within your WordPress backend under the tab called “Plugins -> Installed Plugins”. Any plugin that is not a custom plugin should be updated.
Note: If you have done any SEO on your site, you are likely running Yoast and All in One SEO. They are the two most popular SEO plugins. If your site is hosted on the KL Creative servers, these plugins have already been updated for you (by your friendly WP elves).
2. Update WordPress
You should also update to the newest version of WordPress. To find out if you are running the newest version of WordPress, click on “Dashboard” on the top left navigation. All the way on the bottom right corner of the page it will tell you your version number. The most current release is 4.2.1. If you are not running 4.2.1, you should receive a notice along the top asking you to update. If you do not, but the version number is still wrong, give us a call and we will take a look for you for free.
If you have any questions about the updating process, give us a call and we would be happy to take a look for you.
If you’re reading any tech news, you know that WordPress has been subject to a number of hacks and security issues in the last few weeks. Being in the limelight as one of the most popular CMS’s available puts it into the target scope for hackers.
Hacking happens, that is true. But most of the time, hacking can be avoided by making yourself a more difficult target. Here are a few tips you can do to keep your site more secure.
Update, update, and more updating
This is the biggest cause for insecurities. WordPress and its plugin developers are very serious about security and release updates to fix them on a regular basis. If you do not update your site, you are making yourself a target for hackers by not taking advantages of these known fixes. Insecurities will happen. Updating covers you from the majority. Nearly every case of hacking I’ve seen has involved an outdated website.
Strong Passwords and Username
We know memorizing passwords is hard. Nonetheless, having every single password be your birthday is just asking for trouble. Passwords should never contain dictionary words, should contain a number or extra character and should not be repeated. This is good practice and is not limited to WordPress.
Along the same lines, make your username something other than admin. This provides another layer of security besides your password. There have been instances in the past of WP sites being hacked using the username “admin” and common passwords because they were not unique enough.
Avoid Free or Cheap Premade Themes
On occasion, a free or remade theme can be prepackaged with malware! Even if it is not, they are less likely to be secure and contain quality, secure code. If you must purchase a theme, buy from an established, reputable company. Make sure to read the reviews for the theme you want, as well as other themes they sell.
Viruses on your Computer
If you computer is infected, your WordPress site can be as well. If anything you own or any service you use has been hacked recently, you should change all passwords everywhere to be on the safe side. Run a virus scan on your computer as well to start with a fresh clean slate.
Hosting
When you are on a shared hosting account (and most of you likely are whether you know it or not), one insecure site can be hacked causing all the sites on that shared server to be hacked. Don’t just choose the cheapest or even the free hosting. Choose a server that is reputable, that is doing scans for malware themselves and that can help you if you do get hacked.
If you can get a managed server, that is even better. Many of the reputable hosting companies will force update plugins known to be insecure and notify you after. It’s nice to have someone looking out for you!
These simple things will strengthen your site and you should avoid being picked off as an easy target for hacking.
Google’s newest algorithm change and what that means for you.
Did you know that 80% of small business websites are not optimized for the mobile device?
This is the first time I have ever written about a Google algorithim change. This is because I believe this one is of particular importance. If you’ve read anything of mine before or been in one of my classes, you know that I’m constantly banging the drum of “mobile, mobile, mobile”. A few years ago, I would ask clients what their mobile traffic was and whether or not they thought they needed a site optimized for mobile devices. I no longer ask this question. It is no longer “optional”. Having a mobile optimized site is relevant and necessary.
And Google’s algorithim proves this.
Beginning April 21st, Google will roll out a new algorithim that add mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. As of now, it is a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I assume that to mean that sites that are not optimized for the mobile device will not be shown in searches made on a mobile device. Now add that to the fact that about half of searches occur on a mobile device, as well as the fact that mobile searches are much more likely to lead to conversion, and we are talking a significant loss in conversions/traffic. (Read about this more in detail here.)
Google will also be attempting to index mobile app data (when you are signed in to that app) and show mobile app data in search results. I’m interested to see what the practical application of this will be. This will effect less of you, but does indicate a shift in how indexing works and what the future of SEO looks like. (Read more about that here.)
So what does this mean for you and your website?
Well first thing you should do is check whether or not your website is considered mobile friendly. You can ask Google that using their Mobile Friendly Test. This free tool will analyis your website and give you a ranking.
If you are part of that majority, we can help! Give us a call and meet up with one of our experts to discuss how we can make your website up to Google’s standards. Our free project consultations will help you figure out the next steps to ranking well and outpacing your competition.
Well, that’s a question keeping many a marketer up at night! But we can start here: Search Engine Optimization. Here are 4 SEO basics that you must know to get your website ranking and rating well.
The Meta Title tag, also known as the title tag, is a tag within the code that defines the particular page you are visiting. It is not visible on the front facing part of your website and is in the code only. Google uses this as the title in their search results as well as a big fat clue to what this page is about.
Title tags should be aroud 50-60 characters in length. They should contain keywords and be unique for each page. They are also often used in social media sharing.
What is a Meta Description tag?
The Meta Description tag is used similarly to the Meta title tag. It differs in that instead of a short 50 character title, it is a paragraph of text. They are shown in search engine result below the title. They are generally 150-160 characters and will truncate if they are longer than that.
Interested to find out what your title and description tags are? Well, you can look in the code. To find the title tags in the code, you need to view the raw HTML of the page. Your browser should have a “View Source” link. Use this and look for the words between
Both the title and the description tag should be different for each page. This broadens your searchability. If you have more than one keyword in the title or meta tag, put them in order of importance.
What is a Meta Keyword Tag
This tag has fallen to ill repute in the last few years. Nonetheless, we still usually add it to our pages. This is just what it sounds like: a list of all relevant keywords for each page.
This April, Google is rolling out a new algorithm that will rank a website’s mobile friendliness. As of now, it is a “yes” or “no” answer. Nonetheless, this is setting a huge presendence in how important mobile website optimization is.
It’s important to understand how a search engine works when looking at your site from their perspective. Search engines are bots that scan the internet, reading the source code of each page they can find. They are not able to scan images, Adobe Flash animation or video. The main source of your ranking will come from the text based content on the page. This is a common mistake that I see. Your website should have at least 300 words of content on the page, particularly the home page.
SEO is marketing for your website. These 4 elements are the basics to put your site on the map but SEO doesn’t stop here. Just like any marketing, it should be hand tailored to your business or website. We can help with that! Schedule a time to sit down with our SEO experts and talk about how to improve your website’s conversions.
An outdated website a major security issue.
It’s a good idea to check all links once a year as well. Websites are removed or change their name. Maybe you removed a page off your site and forgot about a link. No matter the reason, Google does not like broken links as it makes your site look inactive and out of date. Use a link checker such as this free one or this one to run scans on your site.
I had a client ask once how her competitor was posting so much. She had seen tweets of his from 10pm the night before and 3am that morning. “When did he have time to sleep?” she asked. Social Media Scheduling. That’s what he was doing. Scheduling apps such as 
Bookmarking apps such as Pinterest, 
Using apps for traveling is certainly not a new concept. Travelers have been using apps to develop itineraries, research different site seeing attractions, figure out where to eat lunch, and tell others about their experience since smart phones became the norm.
Here’s features only available with a mobile app:
Beginning April 21st, Google will roll out a new algorithim that add mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. As of now, it is a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I assume that to mean that sites that are not optimized for the mobile device will not be shown in searches made on a mobile device. Now add that to the fact that about half of searches occur on a mobile device, as well as the fact that mobile searches are much more likely to lead to conversion, and we are talking a significant loss in conversions/traffic. (
This April, Google is rolling out a new algorithm that will rank a website’s mobile friendliness. As of now, it is a “yes” or “no” answer. Nonetheless, this is setting a huge presendence in how important mobile website optimization is.