Voice Optimized Content is all the Rage

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When it comes to online marketing and technology, the strategy behind the game is ever-changing. Just when my clients were getting the hang of SEO, as it relates to keywords and keyword phrases we find out that Voice search has exploded and effectively blown up the old digital strategy. Last year 20% of online searches were conducted through voice searches and that number is expected to skyrocket over the next two years.

Google reports that 55% of teens and 41% of adults are using voice search at least once a day. This means that people are now using long search phrases and full sentences to look for products and services online. Marketers need to adjust their strategy accordingly and think in terms of natural phrases as opposed to the 3 and 4 word keyword phrases that have been popular for the past decade.  In fact, research shows that search queries beginning with “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, and “how” have increased by 61%. That makes complete sense when we consider how one uses Alexa or Siri. The strategy is fairly simple in that the content on a website needs to provide the answers to questions that potential customers may be asking through a voice search.

Spring into Action

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The snow is slowly melting away but winter has left an indelible mark on the landscape. It is likely that your company website is also looking a little tired and could use a pick-me-up. Here are a few tips to freshen things up.

  1. Jazz up the content with fresh seasonal material. If you have a blog this is the perfect vehicle to use use. Nearly every business has a subject matter that is more pertinent at one time of the year than another. Take advantage of seasonal opportunities by freshening content and images so that visitors have something new to engage them when they visit your website.
  2. Is your SEO working for you? It’s easy to fall behind in Google standings. Did your competition pass by you in search results when you weren’t paying attention? Perhaps it’s time to mix up your keyword phrases and page titles so they better target your local market niche.
  3. Get Chatty.  Don’t be a wallflower on social media platforms – be an engaging conversationalist who adds value to the discussion. Be sure to include social media links on your website and blog posts. It will help you to build trusting relationships with customers.
  4. Mobile Compatibility. No more excuses – websites MUST be mobile responsive. If you don’t have a mobile responsive website it is akin to have a flip phone. Google punishes businesses whose websites are not mobile responsive you will lose money.
  5. Credibility. If old holiday ads are still on your home page it is time to tuck them away for next year. Outdated material, misspellings, and bad links are a turn off for visitors and your competitor is only a click away.

Once you’ve completed the spring dusting and cleaning your analytics report should perk up a bit.

Stock Photography VS the Real Thing

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The fact that 68% of American’s carry smartphones means that most of us have access to cameras 24/7 hence, business owners no longer have an excuse to feature dreadful stock photography on their website. Let’s face it, even simple photos that are taken with a camera phone offer a quality that surpasses the awful stock photos that litter the internet.

It’s a Fact: Real photos are better for your business.

Real photography is more engaging and, by nature, supports your business marketing strategy. Original photos tell a story that allows a business to stand out from the competition. Even if the physical space of a business doesn’t lend itself to slick imagery – a little creativity can go a long way. It may be local scenery or nature shots that bring personality to a website or photo of employees at work.

Whether a professional photographer is called in to do the job or a few simple photography tips are used in order to take original photos – the effectiveness of the website will improve ten-fold when the photography is upgraded. If all else fails, take the time to search for quality shots. Thankfully there are a number of photography websites that have emerged in the last few years that offer quality photos for free no less. An organic search on Google will call them up.

Website Must-Haves for the Hospitality Industry

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There are many things you need to think about when running a business in the hospitality industry to ensure you get consistent sales and build a loyal customer base. As well as ensuring you have good face-to-face customer service and that your business has a good look and feel to it, you also need to think about the technology side of things. These can range from all the pos basic features required to having an eye-catching and informative website. When building your website, there are a few things you’ll need to consider:

  1. Build a website on a CMS platform such as WordPress. The content on a website for businesses in hospitality will and should change on a regular basis. Whether it is a menu of services/food/beverage, a blog, upcoming events, or seasonal specials, the business owners must be able to readily make content changes.
  2. Menus must be live, current, and contain pricing. While it is acceptable to have a pdf link with downloadable menus, the menu itself should be nicely displayed on a page that loads easily and is as delicious as the services or food you are offering.
  3. Showcase your establishment with a photo gallery – whether a website visitor is interested in coming to your establishment themselves or they are considering purchasing a gift card, a photo gallery will make the decision-making process easier for the prospective customer. Carefully select images that showcase your establishment and tell the story of your brand. There is no need to overload.
  4. Be sure that a contact phone number is prominently displayed. As obvious as it sounds, there are many restaurants and spas that overlook this detail. The phone number should be visible and clickable on every page of the website as should the location of the business.
  5. A mobile responsive website is a must for any business in the hospitality industry. That means that the website will adjust itself on a fluid grid on mobile devices. A website should be clearly legible on every platform – whether it is an iPhone, an iPad, and Android, or a desk top computer. This not a mobile website that looks entirely different from your main website. A mobile responsive website is one website that works on multiple devices.

Best Practices in Website Design

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As in any industry, there are many business owners who discount the value of abiding by today’s best practices in website design. In fact, some of the largest companies in the world make that mistake, just take a peek at Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a Warren Buffet led company and see for yourself. The must-have standards that I am referring to are really quite simple.

  1. The company logo should be clearly positioned in the top left corner of the website. Research shows that it is the best placement location for visibility as users click through browser windows, especially on mobile platforms. Visitors expect the logo to be in this position and when that is placed elsewhere they are often passed over.
  2. While the “hamburger” navigation menu is a valuable space saver on mobile devices, nothing beats a fully exposed navigation menu on a desktop computer. It allows visitors to make mental shortcuts and to easily peruse the information on a website. Some web designers have taken to including the “hamburger” navigation on full websites and it is a mistake.
  3. The most important products and call-to-actions should be positioned above the fold with easy to read buttons to beckon users. Many visitors don’t scroll down beyond what they see on the screen. Keep it simple and forgo competing messages and other distractions. This is a key point when it comes to website design and development so really focus on this when you’re creating your website.
  4. As of 9 months ago, a mobile responsive website is an absolute must. Without a website that is built on a flexible grid that re-adjusts components to fit properly on all mobile screens, a business might just as well post a “closed for business” sign.

Certainly appealing graphics and compelling content will add to the success of the website. You should use your website as a platform to get your message across. Include all of the things that any potential clients would find informative and appealing; don’t leave anything out. Not sure how to build your website around this? If you don’t, then looking at somewhere like this website design jacksonville fl company could help when it comes to the process of creating a website that is unique and professional. In turn, this will help to increase your client base going forward. Who doesn’t want to achieve this? Of course, every website wants visitors, especially if it’s a business website. Whilst enhancing web design will help to increase traffic to your website, you need to consider whether or not your website will actually be able to perform under this stress. With more people using your website applications, it can begin to slow processes down, which will impact the performance of APIs. Due to this, it’s advised that companies consider getting API testing done to ensure their websites are prepared for more traffic. This is important, or websites could begin to crash.

They are all important things to consider when enhancing your website. Regardless of whether you hire professional help, or if you do it yourself – if a website meets the four criteria detailed above, they will have a fighting chance at success.

WordPress Editing Tip of the Day

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Recently a client asked me how she might easily add symbols and special characters to her WordPress posts.  While this is a question that may belong in the WP101 textbook, the answer was not on the tip of my tongue. A simple Google search told me that a special plugin was not necessary to accomplish this task. The tool is readily available on the WordPress editing dashboard.  Simply click on the “Kitchen Sink” icon in the toolbar in order to expand the available options as shown in the example below.

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This will expose the Special Character Icon which, when clicked, will open the associated panel. (As shown in the image below.)special_character2

To think how often I’ve copied and pasted these characters into position when they were at my disposal the whole time. Filed under: #Goodtoknow!

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Declutter your Website

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A website needs a seasonal cleaning just like a garage or a closet. Although the task may seem daunting at first there are a few rules of thumb to follow that should simplify the process.

  • Categorize material as trash or treasure and discard accordingly. For example, photos that are dated can be replaced and stale content can be refreshed. The old Facebook feed is no longer necessary as a simple button will do the trick.
  • Make use of negative space – a little breathing room is a good thing! It draws attention to the elements that matter and will more likely prompt a call to action especially for those viewing a website on a mobile device.
  • Remember the 80/20 rule. That is that 80 percent of the effect comes from 20 % of the causes. Which 20% of the content on your business website is the most important?
  • Reduce the number of navigation links and pages. The main navigation menu should have no more than 5 to 7 primary links. The bottom line – less is more.

Summer Website To-Do’s

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The lazy days of summer can be a great time for business owners to freshen up their website content before the fall season. Having a user-friendly and easily accessible website will certainly work in your favor so it is important that have you have just that. A complicated website can often put off visitors and you may miss out on crucial sales and website activity. Plus, with fewer people coming to your site, you might begin to rank lower on the search engine results page because it’s not being used. However, with the help of an SEO audit tool, you can encourage your site and its pages to rank higher on search engine results pages. In today’s climate, SEO is essential if you want your website to be a success so it’s something you must invest in if you want to be visible online. There are plenty of tools and resources that can be used to help you improve your SEO, or alternatively, reach out to a specialist who could help you. Here are a few ideas to put on your list that promise boost your ranking and help with SEO:

  • Update the Copyright information on your website or information that makes reference to ” … years in business”.
  • Double-check your business name to be sure that it is styled consistently.
  • Update products, services, bios, employee lists, directories, and contact information.
  • Freshen up portfolios, only include your best work.
  • Check for broken links.
  • Remove duplicate content to avoid being slapped by Google.
  • Add alt images tags, complete META descriptions, update page titles, and check for sitemaps to make the most of SEO.
  • Ensure Mobile Friendliness
  • Try writing a blog or two – both you and Google will like the results.

Five Must-Have WordPress Plugins for 2016

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WordPress is the most widely used content management system (CMS) in the industry. The platform was originally introduced as a blogging tool but, because of its pluginpopularity, it has morphed into much more. WordPress is a free, open-source platform but, the fact that it allows users to create, manage, and publish content in a highly stylized and interactive format makes it priceless.

Among its many perks, WordPress has hundreds of compatible plugins that add functionality to a website. From photo galleries to eCommerce solutions to SEO performance, WordPress is a viable web solution for most any business or organization.

Here are five plugins that are must-haves for all websites in 2016.

SEO All in One Pack

All in One SEO Pack is a WordPress SEO plugin that automatically optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines such as Google. This popular plugin allows users to set keyword settings, title settings, no-index settings, and webmaster verification settings.

Add to Any Share

Some level of social media participation is a must for all businesses today, and it is equally important to offer visitors the opportunity to easily share information from your website on their own social media pages. The AddToAny plugin offers sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, WhatsApp, and many more.

Updraft Plus

We’ve all suffered the horror of losing precious information. Updraft Plus is a backup and restoration tool that is easy to install and set up. The plugin offers complete backups; manual or scheduled to S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, FTP, SFTP, email, and more.

Wordfence Security

The Wordfence WordPress security plugin provides free enterprise-class WordPress security, protecting your website from hacks and malware. Wordfence starts by checking if a site is already infected. It performs a server-side scan of source code and then secures it and makes it 50 times faster.

Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress

This plugin displays Google Analytics reports in the WordPress Dashboard. It also inserts the latest Google Analytics tracking code in your pages. Tracking made simple.

Rock the Internet with a One-Page Website

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It used to be commonplace for companies to have what could best be described as a “Business Card” website – a single web page that provided visitors with basic contact information. These websites served businesses well when the internet was young and the competition was slim. One-page websites have made a comeback over the past several years but, like the internet itself, they have evolved to look and behave vastly different than their predecessors.

Today’s one-page sites are sleek and dynamic, showcasing all the important aspects of a business on a single page and begging for a call-to-action. Rather than navigating between pages, visitors are bounced vertically around a single page that deliciously showcases the products and services offered. These pages can be visually stunning and perfectly suited for mobile platforms where simple navigation rules.

Any business without a web presence today is isolating itself from a huge segment of its market niche. A simple one-page website might do the trick and, with the bones in place, the website could easily morph into something more as the business grows.

Here are the links to two websites that are rocking one page. While they both happen to be in the hospitality industry, one-page websites are suitable for any business particularly if they have lesser content to share.

Sugar Fire Pie One Page Website El Burro Mexican One Page Website

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