Is your website mobile friendly? No? Read this now!

responsive website design

Mobilegeddon has Arrived!

On Tuesday, April 21st, Google implemented one of its biggest changes to its mobile search ranking algorithm and the potential impact is so big that it has been dubbed “Mobilegeddon.” Early estimates say there may be as many as 40% or more of the current top websites that are not responsive (mobile friendly) who will find their website traffic plummet. In a recent statement, Google said it is making this change because it wants consumers to

“…find content that’s not only relevant and timely, but also easy to read and interact with on smaller mobile screens.”

Today, over half of all searches done on Google originate from mobile devices and that number continues to grow as more people spend more and more time on smartphones. It’s always been a good idea to have your website be responsive in order to reach the most users, but with this new change in how Google processes search requests,  you absolutely NEED this important capability. to help your website appear higher in the results. Those who delay updating their sites are guaranteed to lose search traffic.

How do I know if my site is mobile friendly?

Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test Tool to test your home page, your blog, sales pages, and any other important pages.

Did you pass?

Yes, whew! Great, you are ahead of your competitors. Carry on!

No, darn it. If your site failed, you need to update it NOW!

Ack! I failed the test! Now, what do I do?

You’re not up a creek without a paddle; you have a couple of options.
You can change your theme to a responsive one, locate and install a specialized plugin, or schedule some time to talk with me to help discover YOUR best solution to get ahead of your competitors and claim more traffic.

Need a new website? Need a makeover?
Want to talk about your ideas and goals?
Contact me today!

Authors should NOT have a book website!

Wait! What? Create your Author website today!Wait! What?

Have you written a book? More than one book? Then, here’s my advice to you…DON’T build a website for your book.

I can hear you now, “What? Are you nuts?”

Nope! What I mean is that you shouldn’t have a website just dedicated to one book, but an AUTHOR website that includes all of your books, signing events, words of wisdom (a blog) and anything else you’d like to include.

Make sense?

Hold on, now I’m going to contradict myself here…just a wee bit.

It IS good business to buy the domain names that represent your individual book titles. I know sometimes titles are really, really long, but try to choose a domain name that’s as close as possible to the actual title. THEN, when people search on the book title, they’ll find you!

Does this make sense, too?

But, wait, there’s more! The domain name for each book doesn’t need to have any content on it at all; it should simply redirect people to your main website where all your books and other goodies can be found.

Now, I can hear you saying, “Redirect? How do I do that? It sounds hard.”

Don’t worry, you have some easy options…your hosting company can do it for you OR your friendly web site consultant <grin!> can show you how OR we can do it for you.

Got questions?

Need help designing, organizing, and building your authoring empire?

Let’s talk!

How to Speak WordPress

What the heck are you talking about?A Glossary of Common WordPress Terms

A glossary of common WordPress terms is a handy tool to have on hand when you talk to your website consultant or developer. Here are some of the most common.

Theme: A theme is a set of PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript files that together create the functionality and look of your website.

Child Theme: A child theme is based on a pre-existing theme, but changes it in various ways. Creating a child theme is much less time consuming than writing a theme from scratch. It has the further advantage of not needing to be maintained by your original developer over time. When the parent theme is updated or fixed, so is your child theme. It is therefore important to base it on a reputable and well maintained parent theme.

Templates: The PHP files in your theme create the layout of a section of your site. There is a template that creates the home page, for example, and others that create the sidebars, footers, individual post views, etc.

Pages: Pages are the ‘static’ elements of your website. They contain information that is not often changed and that give the visitor the basic information about your website. “About Us’ and ‘Contact’ for example are pages. Pages are usually accessible from the navigation bar. They don’t have categories or tags associated with them.

Posts: Articles that you write over time and that appear in a ‘feed’ are posts. In the feed you will usually see excerpts of your posts in chronological order. Clicking on one of them will show you the post in its entirety in a new view. Posts can be organized in categories or by tags.

Frontend: The frontend is what the visitor will see when visiting your site.

Backend, Dashboard, and Administrative Area: These various terms are used to refer to the area where administrators and authors create the contents of a website. You have to be a registered user and have the right kind of access privileges to see this section of the website.

Mockup: Designers create realistic mockups of sections of your website to simulate what the eventual site will look like. Any changes in design should happen when the mockups are reviewed and before the design is implemented in the website.

Widgets: Widgets are readymade pieces of code. From within the WordPress administrative area (Appearance -> Widgets), they can be dragged into a sidebar, footer or custom widgeted area. There are a variety of widgets available in WordPress by default, such as a list of pages, a list of categories, recent posts, or a list of links. There is also a text widget that allows you to add text or an image to your sidebar. There are many more widgets available as plugins.

Plugins: Plugins add functionality to your website. They may consist of a single file or consist of many files that act in concert. Plugins reside in the plugins folder and can be updated and activated from within the plugins section of the administrative area of your site.

What other WordPress words would you like to know about?

Don’t be an April Fool…backup your stuff today!

keep calm and backup<listen to the voice of experience>

Losing your files is way more common than you’d think. Ever lost or have your phone, camera, or tablet stolen? That counts. Your stuff could have been saved with a backup. One small accident or failure could destroy all the important stuff you care about.

March 31st is World Backup Day.

BACKUP YOUR FILES NOW!!! I mean it!

And don’t just do it once a year.

Monthly, weekly, daily…back it all up!

Create your own app!

create-your-own-appConduit Mobile has a great solution to many people’s desire to have their own app. They’ve created a fun web-based tool that will add as much or as little functionality as you like.

I played around with their web-based creation tool today and was really happy with my results. It’s a simple tool for individual publishers to make apps out of their content and is aimed at larger blogs and businesses like restaurants, musicians, events, etc.

If you have a simple blog or are just starting out, you should do a cost/benefit analysis before you jump in. Actually, you should ALWAYS do one before adding something new. (Yes, I know I don’t practice what I preach…)  😉  If you don’t bring in enough to cover the monthly fee, put this one on the back burner until you are.

It’s a great solution for a quick and easy custom app for iPhone (5, 4S, 4), iPad, Android, and HTML 5. The developers are also working to add Windows Phone to the list. They’ve thought of everything!

Conduit Mobile has three levels of subscription. The free level is only for 5 users and if you’re planning to grow your business in 2014…that’s not for you. The next level is $39 a month and includes their branding on the app. The third level is $99 a month and includes the removal of their branding (aka ‘white label’) as well as the ability to change the content hosting to your own domain.

PS – I didn’t finish my app yet, so don’t go looking for it…I have to do my own cost/benefit analysis!

 

WordPress 3.8 has arrived!

WordPress has gotten a facelift!

Release 3.8, led by Matt Mullenweg, had 188 contributors and brings a fresh new look to the entire admin dashboard. Gone are the overbearing gradients and dozens of shades of grey — welcome to a bigger, bolder, more colorful design!

The slick new Twenty Fourteen theme arrives along with the upgrade. Turn your blog into a magazine with a grid or a slider to display featured content on your homepage.

Here’s a short video with some highlights of the new features from the good folks at WordPress.org:

Have you upgraded yet? I’m here to help!

Send me a tweet @RampantWebDezn, IM me on Facebook, or send me an email.

You ‘can’ go farther!

go farther

The words we speak and write on a daily basis can be very powerful. With them each of us has the ability to motivate, inspire, teach, mentor, and support.

A mentor once advised me to put more of myself into what I do and say and I will start to enjoy what I do more and more every day. This helped me realize how important it is to seize opportunities to show others who I am and to speak up.

What words of wisdom have you received or given?
How did they affect you?

Come to our free Introducing WordPress class

WordPress teacherAre you brand new to WordPress or just want to see what all the fuss is about?

Come to this free Introducing WordPress class!

It takes place on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Auburn Library, 1102 Auburn Way South
Auburn, WA 98002.

This free 2-hour mini class is for those who are brand new to WordPress.
It focuses on installing WordPress, setting up the dashboard, adding essential plugins, and more.

Limited spots available! RSVP now!

Not a beginner?

If you’re already playing around with WordPress, but need a little more in-depth instruction or extra help, consider taking our 2-hour “Up and Running with WordPress” mini class or our full day (with lunch!) “WordPress Intensive Learning Day” for more specialized help with setting up and customizing your own WordPress web site. See more here.

Contact us for information on these classes or for a private session.

Nominate Your Favorite Podcasts Now

Podcast Awards

Now is the time to nominate your favorite podcasts for the 9th Annual Podcast Awards. http://podcastawards.com

The awards ceremony will be held at the New Media Expo (NMX) 2014 conference in January.

Here are a couple of great podcasts that I listen to regularly:

What are some of yours?

Does it Seem Like You’re Working ALL the Time?

Hey, you fabulous entrepreneur, you!

Have you noticed that when we are in business for ourselves, business often just comes up ‘whenever’ throughout the day? It feels like we’re working ALL the time.

One thing you can do to combat this chaotic schedule is to develop specific ‘office hours.’ When you determine the times you’re not available, turn off your business phone (if it’s important, they’ll leave a message!), turn off your business email (or ignore it if that’s not possible), and step away from the computer (you can always go back and do your personal stuff later…take a break!).

The key to planning your office hours to is to ask yourself, “When is the best time for me to be focused?”

You might be more productive in the morning, afternoon, evening, or late at night. You might also have home and family and other life responsibilities at certain times during the day. Use these as a starting point to help you set a standard routine and see if you can stick to it. You can always change it – that’s why you’re an entrepreneur, right?

If you already have set office hours – how’s it working out?

Watch this video where success coach Tiffany Peterson talks about time management for entreprenuers in the summertime. Don’t focus on the word ‘summer,’ though. The same principles can be applied all year round.