Google Authorship. Have you seen it before? It’s fairly new but occasionally you will see a small photo next to a google result. This is Google Authorship. Basically, this is a verified link between your website content and your Google+ profile.
If you have a blog, you may have heard about content scrapping. This is when another blog, unrelated to yours, will repost your content with, or occasionally without, your permission. Blogging takes work, no question of that. So likely you don’t want people stealing it. Verifying the true author of a post allows users to trust the content, while building up a brand name for yourself.
Not only does it give your blog posts a google stamp of approval, it will make your result stand out! Photos capture your eye in a way general text cannot. Why not have photo branding as well as text-based branding?
Google tells you exactly how to do it in an article here and when you have finished, you can preview it here. Keep in mind that it may take time to go into effect and they don’t guarantee they will show the photo.
As you may know, I am a huge proponent of WordPress. Not only do my clients love it and find it easy to use, it is almost limitless in functionality. With the right skills or custom templates, you can do almost anything.
I’m not the only one who thinks this. WordPress is one of the most popular open source systems around today. The dark side of using an open source system and one as popular as wordpress is that there are new security issues arising every day. It becomes a target. Hackers are developing new methods to bypass security and use your blog or website to serve up spam ware. This spam ware can wreck havoc on your web server, your computer as well as disrupt or ruin your website. If left unchecked, your website may be wrecked beyond repair.
WordPress’s security team is working around the clock to serve up fixes and block these constant attacks. But…you have to update to get them! Spammers specifically look for websites that haven’t been updated as they are easier to hack as well as they are more likely to be unattended.
Because of this, I always recommend regular updates to your WordPress site. For recent versions, this can be done with one click right from your dashboard. Or you could have a WordPress pro do it for you to ensure that nothing goes wrong and there are no incompatibilities. Either way, it’s crucial that you keep your website secure and WordPress updated.
You’ve probably heard it all before. I know I’m starting to feel like a broken record. MOBILE MOBILE MOBILE. The point of this post is not to convince you why you need mobile. Instead I’d like to talk about a few things to consider when looking at your site from a mobile perspective. What we are looking at here is “how does the user experience rate or in some cases, degrade when looking at your site on a mobile device?”
Function over flash. This is one fact that there is just no getting around. Mobile phones will have slower download speeds and with the data limits many people have on their phones, your mobile site must be quick to download and download gracefully. Do you have flashy image banners or animations? Lots of different colors and fonts. People don’t want that on a mobile site. One of the biggest pitfalls I see is when clients want to keep the desktop “wow factor.” Mobile users don’t want to be wowed. They want to get in, get what they want and get out.
Fat fingers. With the introduction of touch screens, the way we “do internet” has drastically changed. Instead of an easily navigable mouse on a large screen, we have fat fingers on small real estate. Are you buttons easy to find and click? How often do you “mispress” a link or button, only to have to refresh the page and wait all over for it to download? Nothing with frustrate a user more than being able to see what they want and not be able to get to it. Buttons should be at least 40px by 40px, with plenty of room so that you don’t accidentally hit another button.
Flow. Ask yourself what is absolutely necessary for a mobile user. What content are they more likely to be needing if they are on a mobile phone or tablet? If you have a restaurant or storefront, they are more likely to be looking for contact info or directions, instead of browsing your online store. Let’s feature this content and put it higher up on the page. Let’s get rid of zoom! Can you imagine it? A mobile world without zooming! One can dream.
So how did your site rate? Unless you have optimized your site for the mobile device, it is unlikely you were able to navigate your site frustration-free. Now imagine you had never seen your site before. How would your site rate for a first time user?
Mobile optimization is a method of building a website that not only works on a desktop with traditional screen sizes but also is specifically optimized or built to work well on a mobile device. Mobile device may be a smart phone or a tablet.
Why do you need mobile site?
The trends are going that more and more people are looking at your site on a mobile device, tablet smart phone, somewhere around 30%. The mobile device has a different real estate, unique technology and specifications that aren’t found on the desktop. Often times a desktop site either won’t work at all on the mobile device, or is difficult to use. For example, you are looking for a phone number and you have to have to zoom or go through a series of steps to find it. You don’t want to make your users hunt for the info they need.
Responsive web design.
Responsive Web design is a buzzword as of late within the web design community. What this means is that the website detects the screen size of the device you are using and offers a series of rules based on that screen size. The content of your website rearranges itself accordingly. Maybe three columns on a larger screen becomes 1 long column or the font size changes for smaller screens. Certain content can be highlighted or removed if you are on a device the size of a mobile phone or vice versa.
This week I’d like to talk briefly about how and why you should edit your own website. This post is not about DIY websites. (Read a good article about those here.) DIY websites often cause more hassle than they are worth. What I am talking about is hiring a professional to create your branding, website and then train you how to update it!
Here in Summit County, many of the local businesses do 2 for 1s during the off season. This is a way to generate business for themselves during a relatively dry period, as well as a time for the locals to enjoy the many perks of living in lovely Summit County. This past week, I wanted to go out to dinner. I looked at 5 separate restaurants to see who had 2 for 1s or what mud season deals they were running. Not a single website had any info! I am sure some of these restaurants had mud season deals but not one advertised on their website. I could have of course called up the companies. Did I? No, I went somewhere else.
So how do you edit your own website? WordPress. WordPress is a content management system that allows you to edit your website without any coding! We will build your website within WordPress’s internal structure (this part requires coding) and build it so all you have to do is log into wordpress to update posts, blog, change advertisement banners, add products, add images and galleries or news updates. The possibilities are limitless and will add immeasurable value to your website and its effectiveness!
But I’m not very good with computers you say? Do you use Facebook? Twitter? Google? It’s no more complicated than either of those and functions similarly and there are scores of online tutorials!
Secondly, we will train you how to use it. You will receive a word doc with step by step instructions on how to make any changes to your site. You will also receive a phone or in person 2 hour training session! Lastly, we provide support for you should you run into any problems or have any questions. We will make sure that you are comfortable editing your website. Here at KL Creative Design, we like happy clients!
Call us today to discuss how your website can work for you!
Watch our YouTube video about how to edit your own website!
Branding can be a daunting task for business owners, especially if you are less than design savvy. When deciding how to visually present your business, it usually seems to come down to “well I like the color green?” Here’s something you need to know when branding your business: Your website is not for you. It’s not about you or what you like.
Your website is for your clients.
Color can impact mood and behavior and is a form of communication onto its own. When branding your business, you will need to choose a color scheme that best represents your business, as well as appeals to your target market.
Here a few of the common colors and what concepts they represent.
Blue: trustworthy, success and security. Blue is most often used in banks and financial services.
Green: organic, natural, money, new
Red: love, passion, strength, aggression and danger
Yellow: bright, energetic, joyful, warmth
Orange: friendly, creative, courageous, youthful
Purple: authority, quality, sophication
Pink: youth, happy, playful
Black: dramatic, mysterious formal, classic
Gray: respect, stability, practical
Brown: earthy, organic, conservative, reserved
White: light, goodness, purity, innocence
Tan: conservative, neutral, grounded
Every day it seems I see another commercial for a free or cheap do-it-yourself website. While I understand why small business owners would go this route, I often find the ads a bit misleading. In this post, I’d like to discuss the pros and cons of the free DIY website services.
Pros of free website services
The most obvious pro is the price tag. There is no getting around the fact that websites cost money and hiring a professional team to make it costs money. The DIY website service’s main marketing point is the price tag, or lack there of. It costs nothing but your time and effort.
Another tick in the pro column would come from your effort. You might learn a few things about websites as well as how to edit your own! Adding a new skill is never a bad thing, nor is being able to edit your own website.
For many small business owners, it can be difficult to acquire the budget they need for their website, so the two above pros are all they need to hear. But there are a few other things you should know before you dive on in.
The cons of free website services
It requires nothing but your time and effort, and a lot of it. If you are the type of person who likes learning new things and is somewhat tech savy, you have a fighting chance of getting a website together. While they advertise as being “just a few clicks” that is generally far from the truth. Expect there to be a steep learning curve and to put a lot of your own personal time into it. As a small business owner, your time is valuable and often limited. Keep in mind that you will need to invest a large chunk of that time into learning and building the website service.
Secondly, you are often limited on what you can do. Just a week ago, I had a meeting with a client using a free service who for whatever reason could not get a particular image to move to the center of the page. Couldn’t do it. You are often limited to a set of pre made templates and cannot stray from those. Along the same lines, your options for Search engine optimization are limited as well. There are going to be things, coding wise, you just can’t do. If you are the type that “wants it how you want it” this could be a frustrating process.
I’m sure all of you understand the basic idea of you get what you pay for. This proves true in this case. To sum it up, plan on a lot of time and some frustration if you choose this route. For some, it may be the only route, which is fine as well. Having a web presence is usually better than no presence at all.
In our previous post, we talked about a few questions to ask yourself before building a mobile app for your business. A mobile app takes lots of planning and marketing before, during and after. Now that you’ve committed to a mobile app and you still think it’s a good idea, I’d like to discuss some ways a mobile app can help your business.
[Sidebar: If you are still a bit unsure about what a mobile app is, read this post about the difference between mobile apps and mobile websites.]
A new platform
Mobile apps are written in an entirely different language than websites, and released on their specific platforms. Google Play sells android apps. The App Store sells iPhone apps. This is an independent platform for marketing your business that unless you have a mobile app, you can’t get on.
Along those same lines, you can now advertise in the mobile market. People spend an average of 2 hours and 7 minutes on their smartphones, in apps, a day. 2 HOURS. Wouldn’t it be awesome if some of that time was spent on your business? With a mobile app, you can now capture some of that time.
But how do you capture that time?
Solve a problem or make it easier to interact with you
Pre-order your takeout. Reserve a table. Check in for your flight. All of these are ways that mobile apps make your life easier and allow customers to interact with the business in question digitally. They ease the transaction between client and business. What are some speed bumps to communicating with your clients? In what areas are clients distracted or lost along the way? Are you constantly answering the phone with the same question over and over? Perhaps a mobile app can help ease that transition and provide info to your clients at a quicker and more efficient rate.
What about building customer loyalty by offering deals on your mobile app only? Look up account info on the mobile app. These are just a few ways to keep people coming back to your mobile app, and not going to your competition.
Advertise directly to your client base
We all know it takes marketing to get downloads of your app. But once you have, that benefit is immeasurable. Now you have direct communication with your client base. You are literally at their fingertips. Using push notifications (you know those little message boxes telling you when you have a text message, missed call or reminder? Yes those), you can communicate with your users about upcoming sales, new products or features. The possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that you have a direct line to your clients, and with nearly 3 hours a day spent on their smartphones, you know they are receiving your messages!
“I received an email about the expiration of my search engine registration. Should I pay this bill?”
I get questions about these kind of emails all the time. Often they are spam and scammers trying to get a few bucks out of you! But let’s do some research first just to be sure.
Let’s look into your domain name and figure out where it is registered. Most likely you registered your domain several months or even years ago so it’s best not to just rely on your memory. Go to the website, www.whois.com and type in your domain name. This should show you all the contact info about your domain. Even if your contact info is made private, it should show you what company the domain is registered with.
Now look at that email again. Is it the same company? If not, it is spam! The domain registrar (who you paid to purchase the domain) is the only company who you are required to pay. Anyone else is usually offering fake services and trying to scam you!
But just to be doubly sure, let’s break down the services they are offering. According to the email, they were providing “submission and search engine ranking for domain owners.” Submission to what? Search engines? The same search engines who are constantly crawling the internet looking for sites? While it is useful to submit your site when you first built it or when you make major changes, this is not something you need to pay for or something that you need to do a regular basis. SCAM again.
Let’s look at the second part: Search Engine Ranking. This term is pretty ambiguous. Every website receives a google page rank wherein google ranks your website. This happens for every website whether you know it or not. Again it is not a service you need to pay for or renew.
So now that we have decided that the email is spam, what do we do about it? Nothing. Just ignore it. Spam email is an unavoidable evil. The best defense is learning how to identify spam and what to do about it.
You’ve got your mommy bloggers. You’ve got your angry critics. You’ve got your free-spirited travel bloggers. What about blogging for your business? Now before you freak out and tell me you have nothing to say (we will get to that as well), let me tell you how blogging can help your business.
Fresh content and a pretty face
Everyone knows google loves fresh content. Google wants to know that there are real people behind the curtain. Is anyone home? One way to do that is to continually update your website. Blogging is a great way to do this.
Along the same lines, blogging adds a personable element to your site. Instead of a faceless corporation, you are a real person who they can connect with.
Keywording
Secondly, blogging is a great way to add content and incorporate keywords into your site’s content. Write a blog post and add in some searchable terms. Add search keywords to your title, tags, content and photos. Each blog post becomes a landing page or entry way for people to find your website.
Grabbing the tire-kickers
Thirdly, blogging will set you up as the expert in your field. Every business gets tire-kickers. By teaching your audience a few things, you present yourself as the expert on the subject. When they are prepared to purchase, you will already be on the forefront of their minds.
Have I convinced you that a blog would be helpful for your business? Still worried about what to talk about? Well let’s discuss that. Chances are you know a few things about your business industry. Put that experience to work! Talk about some issues in your business. Highlight a new product. Do a product comparison. What about tutorials on how to use your products? Let your users blog for you and share user experience stories. More and more people are turning to the internet long before purchasing. Blogging is a great way to capture the lead in advance. If you don’t, someone else will!