Starting in April 2015 Google wanted your website to be more mobile friendly and if it wasn’t they started penalizing non-mobile friendly websites, on their search engine, when visitors searched from a mobile device. (Google article here) “The search engine already promotes sites that work well on mobile devices over ones that don’t, a change introduced in April 2015”. In typical Google fashion, they are signalling that they will be taking mobile search even further…very soon. Google will be switching from a desktop focussed index to a mobile-first index. “Google is fully splitting its search index into two distinct versions: a rapidly updated …
I originally posted this article 7 years ago. It is still key and still ignored by many organizations. There is a reason CONTENT management systems (CMS) have taken over the web. In fact over 25% of all new websites are now built with WordPress CMS. When a business owner hears that we specialize in WordPress websites, they begin asking questions. Does social marketing work, how do I get on the first page of Google, what’s new? Someone recently asked me what the most important thing about a website was. I naturally answered “content”. They just looked at me strangely. But THAT …
What I’m about to tell you, you already know at a certain level, but as a business owner you sometimes forget how important they are. I am talking about doing the basics that keep visitors from leaving your website. Businesses are so focused on having a cool website, that they forget to execute the basic first steps. Step 1: Make sure your website loads quickly. (added bonus – Google rewards faster loading sites) Imagine you are looking for something specific on the Internet. You put a search string into Google which provides a large list of relevant search results. You see a local …
WordPress has become one of the most common platforms for websites and accessibility-ready WordPress themes are a positive new trend in that growing market. Almost 25% of websites are now powered by the popular CMS (Content Management System). With it’s increasing popularity has come a focus on the accessibility of those sites and that’s great news. Thankfully, for the past few years, a team of dedicated volunteers has been driving the improvement of both the administrative back-end of the platform along with the themes that are available for site owners. In fact, there are now almost 100 accessibility-ready WordPress themes …
It used to be that we would get frantic calls: “My web designer has gone out of business … help!” The seasons have changed and the current call of the wild, from those business owners that like to live dangerously, seems to be like this: “My free (or purchased) website theme isn’t working for me. Can you help me with it?” We don’t work with template themes (free or purchased) for a variety of reasons. In the past, we have tried to work with themes that include excess code and plugins that cause security issues. Hacking to work around the …
Sharing information on social media networks and blogging have become increasingly popular in recent years. In the past we have talked about Social Media Communication and Online Marketing, but in this post we’ll talk about the reasons to add a blog to your website. 4 reasons to add a blog to your website: It’s a way of keeping your audience aware of news and changes in your industry. You have lots of knowledge to share and sharing your knowledge in a blog can help position you as an expert in your field. This will add to your credibility and encourage customers to do …
And another call comes in. They all seem to be the same lately. Caller: Hi, I was referred to you by a mutual colleague. I /our agency recently built a website and it’s ready to launch. We discovered that we needed the site to conform to AA web accessibility standards. Can you check the site for us and tell me what would it take to make it comply? Me: It’s always best to put the chocolate chips in the cookie before baking them (shout out to Billy Gregory for that gem). Caller: (nervous chuckle) Good analogy. Me: Have …
1. Small-town customer care: It’s the little things that count Remember what it was like to call a company and get a live person you actually wanted to talk to? That’s us. Have a problem? We’ll fix it fast. Working with a boutique web development firm like CMS Web Solutions gives you some immediate advantages. Our goal is to ensure our family of clients feels looked after. You can ask us about whether mail addressed to your business is spam (and you do) and we are always happy to assist. We advise you when your email account is sending spam and …
The iPhone launched in 2007. Since then it’s incredible how quickly mobile phones have become a part of our lives. So what’s next? In the last year, technology related to speech recognition has had major breakthroughs. The accuracy keeps getting better and it will only improve. And as it does, more people will stop typing and simply ask their smart phones questions. Apple just released a new Apple TV with voice search. Others will follow. Speak recognition technology in automobiles will improve as well. We will become more comfortable speaking than typing. Trends show it’s growing. As a …
We often get asked “How often should we re-design our website”? It’s not a simple question to answer. Rule of thumb: every 2 to 3 years Because building websites is our business, we see the trends and make recommendations for rebuilding. In general, you should redesign and rebuild your website every 2 – 3 years. It’s often tough to get around to working on your own projects i.e. the shoemaker has no shoes, and we understand this even with our own website. However, with a website being a key part of most businesses – for marketing, operations and communication – …
