Social Media

Here’s my takeaway from WordCamp Boston 2015, July 18-19.

Website Design Trends

Color

Still popular are bold and bright colors: red, green, blue, orange and yellow. This summer pastel colored sites are beginning to appear.

Dimension

Flat design is still trending. Anything showing depth, such as web buttons with shadows and highlights are out…for now.

Back to the Future

Simple, one column design is making a fast comeback, meaning no sidebars or any visual distractions that might take away your reader’s attention.

Marketing 101: How to get people to come to your website

Bobbie Carlton of Carlton PR and Marketing says to think of your website as a circus.

In the early days of Barnum & Bailey, an advance man would come into town to put up posters and billboards. He also bought advertising to control the message 100%.

When the big day finally arrived, box cars would pull into the train station and the elephant parade would begin. Lumbering through town and toward the ‘big top’, any mishap, such as an elephant trampling a flowerbed, would likely receive front page headlines, adding further promotion  to the event.

And the ring master? Today, think of social media as your megaphone where you announce one website ‘attraction’ after another.

Your Home Page is not what it used to be

“The Home Page has started to die,” commented Jesse Friedman. If people find you using search (i.e. Google, Bing, Yahoo!) they are more likely to be taken to another page on your website — the page that answers the problem or question they typed into their search bar. Typically this is a blog page, and not your Home Page.

Solution?

1. Think of every page as your Home Page.
2. Provide great content that provides value to your readers.
3. Make sure your tags, categories and meta descriptions are powerful enough to lead people to your website…see below — Tips on where to use your keywords

Using the Yoast SEO Plugin to the fullest

Tips on where to use your keywords

• Once, in your title
• 1-2 times in your meta description
• In your H1 & H2 tags

Other tips for SEO

• You need at least 300 characters on a page for Google to search your page
• Your title tag should be not more than 40-60 characters in length
• 156 characters for your meta description

Is your website’s mission to raise money for your non-profit organization?

Michael McWilliams says a good non-profit website has:

• An engaging homepage
• Clear navigation
• Up to date information
• Simple language
• Images and media (video) to tell the story
• Quick access to critical information for supporters and stakeholders

A great non-profit website:

• Relates to its audience
• Generates a powerful first impression
• Makes the mission clear
• Connects solution to problems
• Has an elegant navigation: smooth, reliable, and gives the viewer confidence to continue to explore
• Has a bold call-to-action on every page
• Offers useful infographics
• Is current and urgent
• Works well with social media
• Uses media appropriately (video and/or audio)

Want a faster website?

Large images and fancy fonts slow websites down. Why should you care? (1) Visitors will not stick around if they have to wait, and (2) your visitors don’t want to waste precious mobile data minutes: FYI: over 50% of all web searches are used on a mobile phone or tablet, and mobile usages increases each year.

How to speed up your site?

1. Resize your web images to fit your website.
2. Use no more than two specialty fonts — specialty fonts are those that are not included in your WordPress install, such as those you might add from Google fonts or Adobe Typekit.

GoDaddy® Managed WordPress Hosting

My biggest take-away was a change in my “stinking thinking” toward GoDaddy® as a WordPress hosting provider.

GoDaddy® was an event sponsor. As fate would have it, earlier in the week I spent time on the phone and in a “chat” with techs on the GoDaddy® customer support team — 4 different times for two different clients.

In the past, if my client had a WordPress site hosted on GoDaddy®’s servers, and the site went down, or I needed help migrating a WordPress site, the only response from their technical team was, “We don’t support WordPress.”

All that has changed with GoDaddy® Managed WordPress hosting. Not only do they fully support WordPress, they also provide the same great customer service (phone and chat) many of my clients really love.

Me too! So, when I saw the GoDaddy® event table, I made a beeline to tell them of my recent experience with customer support. I also told them about Lori, one of my website clients, who refused to take my advice and change from GoDaddy hosting. In fact, she said it was “non-negotiable.” Reluctantly I followed Lori’s direction in 2014. Turns out, GoDaddy® had decided to change their “stinking thinking” nearly two years ago by providing the type of service WordPress customers needed. I’m so glad I listened to Lori — can’t wait to show you her new site!

If you want your hosting, your domain name, and email all under one roof, you now have another great option with GoDaddy® Managed WordPress hosting.

Go forth and prosper!