I'm a big advocate of small businesses learning about online marketing. I believe knowledge is power and I feel it is best for companies to understand fundamentals so they can manage some or all of their marketing in-house. If they can't manage marketing in-house, this knowledge will help them better manage their freelancers or outside consultants. This month I held a boot camp for an organization in California and I was reminded of this philosophy and why it is so critical. My training ... Read More
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Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads from the Week of March 18th
There is so much that goes on each week in our world of WordPress, web design and SEO that I thought it would be a great idea to roundup the "best of the best" articles from around the web each week. In this first roundup, you'll find news and information from tools to help with responsive web design to thought provoking SEO tips and strategies. WordPress and Website Design 12 Helpful Tools For Responsive Web Design - Responsive web design is important, but there is more to it than just ... Read More
The last 48 Hours Taught Me Website Usability is an Adventure
This week we launched a redesign of our website and for me it was a valuable lesson in the importance of website usability. I originally initiated this project so we could make sure our website was capable of serving the ever growing mobile market. Our client websites were all responsive, but we had yet to take the time to make our own website mobile friendly. I completely underestimated the value of a redesign so I was taught a very valuable lesson in the process. Good Usability is Backed by a ... Read More
What Carrie Bradshaw Taught Me About Marketing
This week I had an epiphany. I realized that I learned quite a bit of my marketing knowledge from Carrie Bradshaw. Carrie, the lead character from Sex in the City, was one of the most popular TV characters back in the 90’s. She was as smart as she was interesting. And while I didn’t know it at the time, Carrie knew marketing. Carrie also knew branding and blogging and design. Had she been a real character in this decade, she would have been a natural expert in the world of internet ... Read More
Setting Up Your Marketing Offensive Line
This week I’ve been working with a great client on a four day SEO boot camp. It has been fun and a change from my normal routine. As part of this boot camp we’ve been talking about defensive and offensive techniques for online marketing. When I started my firm in the heart of the recession, I thought that was a rough ride. In the world of SEO I look back at 2011 and 2012 and think that timeframe was an even rougher ride. I was never penalized and my clients weren’t penalized either, but I’ve ... Read More
SEO is Like Milk and Cookies
When I think of SEO, I think of milk and cookies. Pretend you're back in preschool and on the carpet at reading time. You remember - the bright colored rug full of red, blue, and green colors that has a distinct smell of Play-Doh. Now think about what you were instructed to do by your teacher? What will ultimately bring the best reward? You were most likely told to sit nice with criss-cross applesauce legs, keep your hands in your lap, think about those around you, and simply follow the ... Read More
An Easy Button Can’t Deliver Good Marketing
In our theme support forums I’ve recently had a few people ask for one click theme installation and set up. This means they want to be able to click a button to install a stock WordPress theme and to set up their website to look exactly like the theme demo. I honestly had not thought of this and I was surprised people wanted it. I’ve pondered this concept over the last few weeks and I’ve realized I’m 100% against it. It goes against everything I believe in and I don’t feel it is inline with ... Read More
Your Ducks and Our WordPress Design Equals Success
In the land of WordPress, top web design firms are busy. I mean really busy. WordPress usage has grown so rapidly that the really good WordPress designers are in high demand and so busy that many have full project schedules. For us designers, it’s a beautiful thing. For our potential clients, not so much. If you’re considering redesigning your website in WordPress, you’ll need a solid team to help execute the project. Because of the increasing demand, finding and retaining someone of quality ... Read More
WordPress: The Warp Core of the Internet
The college student in me was in love with Star Trek: The Next Generation. The professional in me is in love with WordPress. Because of this, whenever anyone talks about the WordPress “core”, my mind always jumps back to episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m not at all a science geek, but I so loved this show. I know part of this love was due to the idealism illustrated by creator Gene Roddenberry. The show presented a future life where disease was limited, food effortlessly ... Read More
Selecting the Right WordPress Hosting Provider
With each new web design client I am asked the same question – what WordPress hosting provider should I use for my new website? As with most things in life, I have pretty strong opinions on this subject. Contrary to what many people may believe, WordPress hosting providers are not all the same. There are hidden gems waiting for discovery and hidden nightmares that should be avoided at all costs. Cheap Hosting Companies Deliver Cheap Performance When I founded the company years ago, I assumed ... Read More
Free Website Audit: Everyone Deserves a Great Website
The new year is upon us and its time to get ready for a successful 2013. We're kicking the year off by offering our website audit for free to website visitors. This fifteen page report will assist you in evaluating if your website ready for the year ahead. Why Perform a Website Audit? We believe in the power of the Internet and we believe anyone can turn their website into a profit center. It just takes a little introspection, some knowledge of web design and SEO, organization, and a lot of ... Read More
It Takes a Village
If you read my blog posts, you might already know about the small Northern Michigan town where I grew up. I moved to this town by choice when I was eleven. My grandparents and my aunt and uncle were kind enough to take me in, guide me, and prepare me for my adult years. This small town and my extended family raised me. It was the village approach and looking back, I know I was blessed. This community of 1,884 people (yes you read that correctly) was my home. And even though I didn’t move ... Read More
WordPress Plugins – Be Smart About The Ones You Install
One of the great things about WordPress is the ability it gives us to extend the capabilities of the core software with plugins. The official WordPress Plugin Directory now has nearly 23,000 plugins. That's an amazing amount of extra features we can add to our websites. However the old adage is still true: with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately there's a lot of junk in those 23,000 plugins. You can bog your site down to a crawl, expose your site to hackers or even worse if ... Read More
2012 Was the Year WordPress Grew Up
As I ponder this last year one thing stands out more than anything else. The year of 2012 will be know as the year WordPress grew up. WordPress didn’t just become a big kid, it became a major player in the world of website design. This realization makes me incredibly exited to see what the year of 2013 will bring for the entire WordPress community. If you’re not personally drinking the WordPress kool-aid already, you might be thinking I’m just pushing what I know and sell. Not true. There ... Read More
Medical Websites: Physician Heal Thyself
I remember landing my first real job and having my first insurance card. I was not only proud of my accomplishment; I was thrilled that I had health insurance. That may sound strange, but I did not have medical insurance for much of my childhood and for the years I was in college. Being able to go to any doctor I wanted was more than a treat. It was fantastic! I was equally excited the first time I realized the power of the internet and I could see it had the ability it had to change the ... Read More
Hans is Now Responsive!
Hans is now responsive! I repeat – our very popular real estate theme is now responsive! Yes it is worth repeating, because this has been a hot topic of conversation in the Web Savvy Marketing camp. For months we’ve received tons of emails and forum posts asking about the migration of our popular fixed width theme to the new responsive format. All of us are thrilled to say the day has finally arrived. The process took a bit longer than we expected, but it is finally done. Migrating an ... Read More
Do What Makes You Happy
The Little Theme Store That Grew Up Late in 2011 Chris Cree (you might know him from his rock star support in our forum) suggested we launch a theme store. Being the overly opinionated and bullheaded woman that I am, I quickly dismissed his idea. After all, inside my head I kept thinking “we build custom WordPress themes - we do not sell stock themes.” Chris, knowing me like he does, just waited and brought up the idea again at another time. When I ignored him a second time, he retreated but ... Read More
PressNomics: People Are the True WordPress Core
Last week Chris held down the Web Savvy fort, while Debbie and I headed off to Arizona for a WordPress conference called PressNomics. Since this was the first conference of it’s kind, we had no idea what to expect. We just knew we wanted to be part of this new WordPress event. We were not disappointed. The conference was announced months ago and I bought a ticket within an hour or so of the event launch. No speakers or agenda had been posted and I had no idea who from our community would be ... Read More
16 Tips to Review Before You Buy WordPress Themes
How many buyers perform thorough WordPress theme reviews prior to narrowing down their shortlist of template options? A lot less than one would think and buyer remorse is greater than it should be. What criteria should be considered by purchasers before they buy WordPress themes? Buying a theme should be an informative decision and not one based solely on emotion or esthetics. We theme developers, and our themes for that matter, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. From new theme creators ... Read More
Rocking the Music World with WordPress Websites
The music industry was once a place of creativity and expression. This world of pitch, rhythm, and sound has morphed into a world of independence where artists can produce music without labels and where marketing and self-promotion is within the reach of every artist. Artists are now free to boycott major brands, interact with fans via Twitter, and promote their gigs via Facebook. The negative side of this new found independence is the old misperception of “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”. ... Read More
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