Smart Tips to Drive More Business from Excited Holiday Shoppers
Prep Your Site and Marketing Plan Now for the Holiday Shopping Season! It’s now more than a week into October, which means we’re well on our way to the smell of pumpkin pie drifting in from the kitchen, hanging stockings and singing carols (for those who celebrate these holidays). But it also means that if you haven’t started planning for ‘tis the season and holiday specials, you’re already trailing behind many other businesses. Consider the fact that spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation, Kathy Grannis, told CNBC that 40% of consumers plan to start shopping before Halloween. So you need to get on the ball now. Today. Start Getting the Word Out Now Don’t wait until a week…
Benefits of Switching to PHP7
The loading time of your website is important. Maybe more important than you realize. Every fraction of a second counts when it comes to the likelihood of visitors sticking around or losing patience (and trust) in your site and moving on. And that’s one of the biggest reasons to consider upgrading to PHP7 – An increase in pure script-reading speed (up to 2x as fast as 5.6) that can boost performance of dynamic sites using CMS platforms like WordPress. And it’s not just your visitors that you need to impress with loading times. It’s also search engines like Google. Google knows people don’t and won’t sit, even for minutes or seconds, waiting for a site to load. It’s not…
Delete a WordPress Plugin – There’s More to Uninstalling Than You Think
WordPress is an amazing easy to use CMS and the most popular one for many reasons. However, if you don’t keep your themes and plugins in check, it can evolve into a resource hog. Having unnecessary plugins (and themes) can also pose a security risk. So it’s important to clean house from time to time. But when you do, remember that there’s more to safely uninstalling plugins than just clicking deactivate and delete. Deactivate the Plugin This part is pretty simple and you’ve probably done it a hundred times (unless you’re brand new to running a WordPress site). Simply click Plugins on the admin dashboard (normally found along the left hand navigation area). Hover over the plugin you…
Starting a Website – How to Get Your Domain and Hosting Ready to Go
What did you do that last time you wanted to go do something specific in town? Unless you already knew exactly where you were going, chances are you picked up your phone and Googled it. Right? Even if you knew for sure where you were going, there’s still a good chance you did that to check the hours or other specifics. The same applies for buying something. Even if you knew exactly what you were buying and where you you were buying it from, you probably checked to make sure it was available or if there were any specials you could find. That’s just the way it is today. And exactly why having a website for your business is…
Windows Server 2008 or 2012? Keep These in Mind When Choosing the OS for Your Server
Whether you’ve decided you need a VPS or dedicated server, the operating system you choose to use will be the backbone of everything you do on it. Windows servers are typically easier to manage if you’re new to running your own server. But even after you’ve decided Windows is what you want to run on it, there’s still more to decide. Customers often ask what the difference between Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012, so that’s what this article will help you with. Mostly, we’ll look at the many advantages that come with 2012. Because really, there are only a few situations where 2008 is used over 2012: You need to run software that’s written for 2008 and…
Using SVG Images on Your Site: The Good and Not so Great
What is SVG? You’re surely familiar with the image formats JPEG, GIF and PNG. But do you know about SVG? SVG stands for scalable vector graphics. Unlike some of the other more common image types that are defined by pixels, SVG files are vector based using XML syntax. They display perfectly no matter what resolution they’re being viewed at, which can make them an ideal image format for use on the web. However, there are also reasons you might want to think twice before using it. How does it differ from PNG, JPEG? PNG, JPEG and GIF are known as raster graphics. These graphic formats are pixel based. This means they’re composed by a grid of many colored…
Get the Most Out of Using Free Stock Images for Commercial Use
Why you should always use images If there was one relatively simple thing you could do when you’re writing a blog post to garner more shares and keep visitors on your blog longer… you would do it, right? Well there is. It’s using images in your post. Not just any old free for commercial use stock photo thrown in there, but images you put together that are relevant to the content that surrounds it (and optimized so they don’t affect your site’s loading time). The visual appeal of your post (and your entire site) has an enormous impact on how visitors feel about your business. It can make them want to stick around or it can send them…
Take Control of Your Etsy Business by Moving to Your Own Site
Etsy can be a wonderful place to sell your handmade goods, but if you’re serious about your crafting business then you should have your own website. If you think it’s too expensive or too difficult… or simply not worth the hassle, I very much encourage you to read this article. It’s not as difficult as you may think. It’s not going to cost a lot. And it’ll help you expand your audience and grow your business. Why not rely solely on Etsy? Etsy is great for testing the waters. But beyond that, there are many reasons you should create your own site with your own brand. Here are the main reasons why… Their site – Their terms…
How Anyone Can Create a Staging Site for WordPress
Do you run your site on WordPress? When a new update is available, do you click the convenient update button in your dashboard? If so, this will help you understand why that’s about as smart as playing with fire. If your business depends on your website, you’re putting your business at risk. Instead, you should consider setting up a WordPress staging environment (And of course, always have backups). WordPress is one of the most user-friendly content management systems that’s ever been developed. It allows just about anyone to create and manage their own site without a lot of time investment or a steep learning curve. Everything can be managed and updated right there in the dashboard, including WordPress…
Why Small Businesses Should Consider Venturing Into Chatbots
Businesses are always competing for our attention and trying their best to keep up with the ever-growing changes in technology. While some (somehow) still struggle to grasp the importance of mobile or even using social media effectively, others are pulling way ahead. They’ve moving into the era of conversational commerce, or uh, chatbots. The stragglers will continue falling behind if they don’t’ catch up fast. Instant messaging and chatbots is where you should be heading if you want to be one of the ones that pull ahead. 80% of Oracles’ survey respondents, consisting of high level sales, marketing and strategy officials, say they’re already using chatbots or plan to by 2020. What is a chatbot? Chatbots are…