Web Design and Small Business Marketing Blog
How Can I Stop Contact Form Spam?
Giving customers and prospects a way to reach out via your website is non-negotiable. Heck, that’s probably the major reason your business has a website in the first place. But, if you have a contact form on your website, you may be receiving an insane amount of spam messages. These are awful. They’re obnoxious and can make it difficult to recognize real people trying to get in touch with your business. Luckily, there is a way to significantly cut back on the amount of spam messages you’re receiving through your website. It’s called reCAPTCHA.
8 Questions to Ask a Web Designer Before Hiring Them
As web designers, we have a standard list of what questions we should be asking a client before we get started on a new project. What are your goals? Who are your top competitors? Who’s your target audience? What problems are you having with your current site?
But what about you as the customer? What questions should YOU ask to ensure you find a designer not only that you can trust to do a great job but have an enjoyable working relationship with? Provided you already have many questions of your own, relevant to your specific needs, here are an additional 8 questions we think are a good idea to ask before hiring a web designer.
What Is Mixed Content and Why Does It Matter?
We were recently working on a website created by another agency when we noticed that the “Secure” lock icon wasn’t displaying in the browser’s URL field. The site definitely had an SSL certificate installed, and was loading over HTTPS. So why wasn’t the “Secure” message showing? Mixed content turned out to be the culprit. As it happens, websites that have SSL certificates installed often do display a mixed content error message. When mixed content errors are present, the “Secure” padlock won’t display. This article will explain why that happens and how to fix it.
How to Reach Your Target Audience
So you have a general idea of who your perfect customer is, but are still struggling to reach them. You know your product or service would greatly benefit them, and just need to somehow get the point across. Here’s how.
9 Quick and Easy SEO Tips that Get Results
Optimizing your website is an ongoing process, and includes lots of little ordinary things that, when combined, should work together to give you great results. We know that learning the do’s and don’ts of search engine optimization can be overwhelming. Our advice is to start small. In this article we share our top SEO tips, all simple enough for anyone to implement, but can have a tremendous impact and should render great results.
How to Find a Web Designer that Really Cares
We’ve all been there.
We’ve all dealt with the pushy salesperson who tried to convince you that you really needed something. They come in all forms; mechanics, landlords, car salesmen, and even doctors. Do these people really care about you, or are they simply trying to milk you for every dollar you’re worth?
5 Color Palettes to Use on Your Next Design Project
Need a little design inspiration? Whether you are about to start and design a brand new website or just need to give an existing site a little refresh, we are here to help! We’ve created 5 kick-ass color palettes for you to use on your next project, along with what makes each one of them so special. So go ahead and scroll through the color schemes below, get those creative wheels turning and let us know what you think!
How to Build an Online Presence without Blowing Your Budget
There is a vicious cycle that several small businesses fall into. They need advertising to gain customers (and money), but they need money to pay for that advertising. Luckily, online tools are now available. Allowing small businesses to step away from traditional forms of marketing and advertising. In fact, companies that build an online presence often see more reward than those who pay big bucks to target larger, less specific audiences. What can you do to build your professional presence online without breaking the bank? The majority of advice that follows is 100% free.
Where to Find Free High Quality Stock Photos
We often get asked where to find free, high quality stock photos for websites. Photography can make a good site look great, so it’s important to select engaging imagery. We’ve put together a list of our five favorite websites for free stock photos. Each has its own strength, and most don’t require attribution in order to use images, which is awesome for making a website look professional while keeping costs low. Check out our list of free, high quality stock photos for websites below!
Why Does a Website Say “Not Secure”?
You may have noticed that your browser now marks certain websites as “not secure”. Why? Are those sites dangerous? Are they compromised? Should you stay off of them? Maybe you’re wondering why your own website is showing the “not secure message”. Why does a website say “not secure”? The reason is actually pretty straight forward. Still, it can be hard to find simple explanations of why certain sites display that message. The goal of this article is to explain that to you in the easiest way possible.