In 2007, I created a website for a client (who shall remain anonymous and shall be called “the client” throughout this post) in which I developed a custom content management system (CMS) to help the client advertise their services in an easy and manageable way.  In 2007, D3 Solutions was not heavily using WordPress and WordPress was somewhat limited for my client’s needs so a custom CMS was deemed the best fit for the client.  Recently, the client contacted me (I really haven’t heard from them in a few years) about a problem on the website.  After taking a look, I realized that the CMS was no longer meeting the needs of the client.  In this particular instance, the client wanted to add 10 photos when the maximum decided on at the time of development (in 2007) was 9 photos.  I also noticed that since 2007, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) had become a much bigger buzz word and the client’s site was no where near the expectations of current day SEO friendliness.  Furthermore, since browsers had changed so much in 6 years, the client’s website layout had shifted slightly with the change in browsers and needed some basic fixes to be in top shape again.  Finally, the site looked archaic.  The site radiated old glory and was in desperate need of a facelift to install confidence in the client as a current-day business instead of being past their prime.

So how did the client let the website go so long?  The major issue is that most small businesses do not have a web developer on staff.  It is the job of an on-staff web developer to keep the site up-to-date and make recommendations on when to upgrade.  On-staff web developers also make sure the website is continually evolving.  While D3 Solutions does offer website maintenance for a fixed monthly fee, this client did not take advantage of that service and therefore, they had no one to help them in this capacity.

So how does this apply to your website?  There are times that are easily pinpointed as good times to upgrade (the company brand changes, the company grows, the company service/product offerings change, etc), but there are other times that may not be so clear cut.  Here are some points to consider when deciding if your website needs an upgrade.

• SEO: does your site rank well on search engines?  In other words, if you search words that you want associated with your brand, does your company website show on the first page of the search engine?  In the case of another client, their website didn’t even show on the first page when their exact name was searched!  Upgrading their website and jazzing up WordPress’s builtin SEO capabilities helped this client’s SEO rankings immensely.  If your site doesn’t rank well, then it might be time for an upgrade.
• Look: do you have flashing text and frames everywhere?  Maybe not, but there are many website design issues that scream “OLD SCHOOL” and not in a good way.  Seriously, take a look at your site and compare it to your competition.  What design elements do they use that make them look modern and up-to-date?  In the case of the previously mentioned client, their website was 800 pixels wide (standard in 2007) which doesn’t mesh with current trends of fluidity (for a perfect website no matter how small or large the screen) and wider layouts.  Their menu bar and text size was also much too small for current trends.  Finally, their home page still sported a welcome message which is very passé!  New trends pull vital information from the rest of the site to the home page for quick access and showcasing services and products.  If any of these points ring true for your website, it might be time to upgrade.
• Update-ability: If you need to contact a web developer anytime you need to make a content change, then it’s definitely time to upgrade.  With WordPress, there is no reason why a client with zero technical know-how cannot update content on the website.  I always insist that my client’s pay for the custom training videos to teach them how to update the content on their website so they have the knowledge to do it themselves.  Even if you can currently update the content of your site, if you find it cumbersome and difficult to navigate and errors occur frequently because you forgot to cross your eyes and hold your breath before clicking “save”, then it is DEFINITELY time to upgrade.
• Audience: is your current website hitting your target audience?  This one is a bit trickier to monitor, but if you’re a service industry, it’s easier.  For example, using the client mentioned earlier, they have a very specific service that they offer.  This client could decide that they would really like to offer their services in more affluent parts of the city in which they serve.  Their current website does not attract these types of clients as they can tell by the people who walk in their door requesting their services.  The best way to attract this new audience is to upgrade their website and tailor the user experience, SEO and content for this new audience without alienating their previous audience.  Perhaps your audience hasn’t changed, but after a few years, you’ve noticed that your target audience isn’t coming to your website.  It may be time to upgrade and look at ways to bring in the target audience with a new website.
• Time: how many years has elapsed since you did a review of your website to see how well it is meeting your needs?  No matter how large or small a company is, every company needs to take time to analyze their finances and it should be no different for a company website.  Most of the time, a website is the face of a company – it is the first place people look when getting information on a company.  At least once a year, but preferably on a quarterly basis, major players in a business need to take an in-depth look at their website and how well it is serving the company.  Tools like Google Analytics can show where traffic is coming from, what people are searching for when stumbling upon the company’s website, what technology visitors are using, etc.  This is why D3 Solutions installs Google Analytics on every website we create.  If your site is more than 3 years old, it is definitely time to take a careful look at the website and access if it’s time to upgrade in order to better meet the needs of the company.

I hope you find this information useful.  If you need any assistance in deciding whether to upgrade your website, please contact us for a free quote and assessment.

• Why do you need a new website?  (Hint: If you currently have a website, what problems does your current site fail to answer?  If you don’t have one, what services will the website provide your users?)
• Who are the potential users of your website and what will they do on your site?
• List 3-5 websites that you like and give a few reasons per site why you like it.
• What is your budget for this website? (Hint: you may have no idea, that’s okay – just give a reasonable guess or leave blank)
• What is your timeframe for the website? (Hint: most small-medium websites can be reasonably completed in 2-4 months)
• Please list, as best as you can, what pages your new website will have.  (Hint: Contact Us, About Us, Services, Portfolio)
• Please list, as best as you can, what functionality your new website will have.  (Hint: mobile friendly, contact form, photo gallery, shopping cart)
• What staff will be involved in the process of building the new site?
• Who is your online competition (if any)?
• How much time per week can you spend updating your site and responding to inquiries generated from the website?
• Are there any business systems that must interact with the website? (Hint: e-commerce site will pull items for sale from the catalog database, the contact form must export into Excel)

While this many not answer all the questions, it will give you a good working start and ensure you’re well on your way to an amazing website.

Please let us know how we can help you build a WordPress site for your business or non-profit!

In order to use this plugin, I had to create a custom app in Facebook.  This was fairly simple, but hard to figure out all that was required and where things were located.  So I thought I’d give a quick tutorial on how to do this for those of you who are curious.

Step 1: Setup Facebook Application

1. Go to: http://developers.facebook.com after logging into Facebook.
2. Click on “My Apps” on the top menu bar
3. Click on “+ Setup New App“
4. Type in the App Name
5. Agree to the terms and click “Create App“
6. Enter the security code correctly on the next page

Step 2: Edit App Settings

1. In the About edit settings, at a minimum, fill out:
   1. Description
   2. Contact email
   3. Privacy Policy URL (while not required, it’s a good idea) – see this article for more information
   4. Terms of Service URL
2. In the Web Site settings, fill out:
   1. Site URL
   2. Site domain (This field is important.  If you leave this field blank, the buttons for sharing and logging into Facebook to leave a comment on your WordPress web site will not work.)

Step 3: Install WordPress Plugin

1. After logging into the Administration panel of your WordPress site (please note, this is only for self-hosted WP sites), go to Add New under the Plugins menu.
2. Type “Simple Facebook Connect” into the search field and click “Search Plugins“
3. Click “Install Now” under Simple Facebook Connect
4. On the resulting page, do not click “Activate Plugin”.  Instead, go to the section that lists already installed Plugins (i.e. Plugins listed under the Plugins heading)
5. You will see a large list of Plugins that start with SCF.  These are all the plugins you can utilize, but you must start by activating “Simple Facebook Connect – Base“
6. Under the Settings page (after activating the plugin), click on “Simple Facebook Connect“
7. This is where you will input the settings that the main app page contains i.e. API Key, Application Secret, Application ID
8. Click “Save Changes”

This is an important note, if you utilize SCF – Share Button or SCF – Comments or any number of the other plugins that create a button on your posts, you may find that the button does not show even though the code is there.  The reason for this is you left out or incorrectly typed the URL of your WordPress site in the Facebook App settings.  See Step 2, Web site Settings -> Site Domain.  Also note that if you’re using an older version of the commenting features of WordPress, you may need to manually insert the code for SCF – Comments to work properly.  You will find the details on what you need to do near the bottom of the page under a header title “Special note about the comments plugin” on the SCF plugin’s website.

Also note that I had some trouble with the Share button in Safari.  Putting the following code in the wp-config.php file of WordPress took care of the issue:
define('SFC_SHARE_USE_XFBML',false);

I will leave it up to you to install other SCF plugins that you want to utilize, but you may find that you want to automatically post the feed from your WordPress blog onto Facebook.  Another plugin I found useful for this feature is WPBook.  To install, search for the plugin in the directory.

Setting up WPBook Plugin

1. Once the plugin is installed and activated, you will go to the WPBook settings listed under the Settings heading.
2. Here you will use the API and Secret codes you used for SCF from the main Facebook App page.  Once you have those keys in place, click Save and then you will have more options for editing the plugin settings.  Please note, for this Plugin, you will need a canvas URL for the app you created.  This can be set under Edit Settings -> Facebook Integration and type in a name in the field for Canvas Page
3. Go through the various settings to figure out how you want to post to your wall or to a group wall or the like.
4. If you want to import Facebook comments to your WordPress blog, you’ll need an Infinite Session Key.  Once this key is created, you put it into the settings page for the WPBook plugin.  To get the key:
   • Login to your own facebook account.
   • Browse to: http://www.facebook.com/code_gen.php?v=1.0&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY (replace YOUR_API_KEY with your app’s API key) Click through the simple instructions on the page. After that, you’ll be provided with a one-time code like 5P4I8D.

So there you have it.  It’s fairly simple, but there are a lot of steps to work through.  Hope this helps you integrate Facebook into your WordPress site.

A colleague recently told me about a study LL Bean conducted inadvertently.  After doing some research, LL Bean noticed that they had NO orders from the catalog so they decided to cut down on the amount of catalogs they were sending out.  When they did this, internet sales dropped drastically.  Upon further research, they realized that internet sales spiked when the catalogs were mailed.  The customers where flipping through the catalogs and then going online to order.  I can relate to that.  There is no replacement for flipping through a catalog full of shiny, colorful pictures.  I can view 15 outfits on one page of a catalog that would take at least 3 clicks of the mouse to view online.  I can dog-ear the pages that really interest me and leave them in a convenient location for my husband (although, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t picked up the jewelry catalog I left by his chair).

So being a web person, you might expect me to jump on the ebook/emagazine bandwagon, but I just can’t – yet.  There is something I’m really excited about, though.   This same colleague shared with me how he gets Wired on his iPad and how he can touch the photos and they become videos or 3D photos.  This is a great use of the technology.  Instead of converting the magazine into a PDF and throwing it on an iPad,  Wired has made an interactive magazine that is only available on electronic mediums.  This same idea can be used for textbooks in schools.  It would make learning coming alive for the students.  This makes me ALMOST want to run out and buy an iPad – almost.

But for now, I’m happy with my stack of magazines sitting next to my favorite chair and most of the friends that come over and flip through them are too.

http://www.expand2web.com/blog/why-use-wordpress-to-power-your-small-business-website/

1. Choose narrow terms when selecting keywords for your website – even go local by adding your city if possible.
2. Do research into how often your keyword is searched for and how many listings come up.  You want to select keywords that are searched for often and that do not produce a lot of listings.  Fewer listings equals a higher ranking for your website. (Research is made easier with SEO tools, try http://www.seotoolset.com)
3. Don’t get hung up on your corporate name or brand unless you’re Starbucks.  Try to use keywords that apply to what you do, not who you are.
4. Use the top SEO tools to narrow down keywords for your website (try http://www.seotoolset.com).
5. Create a Sitemap with all your pages and posts listed (if you use WordPress, there are a number of plugins that make this easy).
6. Use keywords in headers, links, meta and image tags.  Repeat the keywords as much as possible without losing readability.  Keywords are given more weight the higher up on the page they are located, so use them often towards the beginning of the page and use them in your TITLE.
7. Submit your site to directories (DMOZ is the largest)
8. Submit your site to local search engines (http://www.trulocal.com, http://www.citysearch.com, http://www.superpages.com)
9. Use landing pages that are specific to the keywords used.  For example, if your keyword is “custom website”, have a page on your website that the user is directed to with information on that keyword.  Don’t send your users to your home page for every keyword.
10. Don’t use images if you can use text instead and the same goes for Flash.

Try it out: http://www.google.com/trends