Your Web Presence Series #3
Continuing the four part blog series to help give you some basics for not just being safe online but also to ensure that your web presence is what you want it to be.
Hope you are having a good day and not completely overwhelmed by the information provided in our previous posts “Real Marketing For Organic Growth PT 21 – Time To Discuss Your Web Presence Part 1 Section 1 and 2” We are trying to make these blogs informative but not overwhelming, so if you are feeling a bit frazzled remember to take a breath and if need to give us a shout out.
So let’s recap our previous posts we covered security and choosing the right web hosting for your needs. They covered a comparison of hosting options, basic requirements for hosting accounts (SSL, Emails) and benefits behind some of these additional Security add-ons (Firewalls and CDN). In this installment we are going to talk about other website and some common concerns.
Web Design
This one seems like a no brainer right? You have either purchased a domain name or are using a platform that has given you a subdomain. The domain / subdomain very plainly says who you are or what you offer, (personalizedmarketing.info) marketing personalized to you. People come to your site and are immediately given more information about why they should choose you. No or you’re not sure? Well then maybe it’s time to reconsider your site.
Since we have worked with several authors, we are going to use them as a reference. When you go to an author’s website, the first thing you expect to see is what new book they have out, then their banner, author picture or another relevant image that connects them to their work. Third, you expect to see some information about what type of books they write and a welcome message from them. Some chose to have blog feeds on their homepage others their most recent releases. Both of these work, it just depends on who the author is and what they feel is most relevant to them.
You might then find some information about what events they are attending and how to enter either giveaways, newsletters, or contest. Then at the bottom, you should always find copyright information protecting the material on their website. Ultimately, the homepage is a landing page that should engage us enough to continue through to different pages. The top general pages often include: Home, About or Bio, Books, Reviews/Interviews/Guest Events, Blog and Contact. Sometimes you see other items like friends or reader areas. The main pages gives us yet again the Who, Why, When, Where, and How of the author and their site.
- Who – are they?
- Why – read / follow them?
- When – new book releases and events?
- Where – can you find them, their books, events attending or hosting, navigate them on the web and in person?
- How – to contact them, buy their books, keep up with their news, visit them either online or in person, become a bigger fan?
These 5 questions are some of the most important questions that the author’s website should address but it must do it in a manner that is appropriate to the content and the devices viewing it. Have you noticed that when you view the product information for an item on Amazon, the word count is higher for a Computer but significantly less for a phone? That is because there is only a certain amount of room before the phone user has to scroll to read more. This area is considered HIGH value and only really great “HOOKS” should go there. The same is said for your website. If you do not address these questions before a person has to start scrolling than most likely they are not going to stick around long enough to hunt the answers.
Responsive?
So your content looks stunning on your computer but when you visit your site on your phone or tablet you suddenly go “huh, why do I have to scroll left or right?” “What happened to my color choices?” “Where did my images go?” “What’s up with the navigation link?” or the ultimate … “That looks nothing like my website!” Many don’t know but WordPress Themes and some plugins do offer mobile versions of the website, however they are basic mobile templates and probably have very little to do with your design. Some of these basic templates allow adjusting and others require a paid service to do the adjustments. The best way to know if your website looks right on mobile devices is to view it on one. The emulator inside of WordPress customizer does not always give an accurate view and you could find yourself with a mess.
If using WordPress choose the right theme to start with. Make sure it is responsive, parallax and has good reviews as well as support services. You can also have someone design a theme or create a child theme for you, just make sure that it includes a clean and clearly beautiful version of your site on any device. HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap websites also can be very lovely and can be designed to be responsive as well. You only have to make sure the right coding is being used and do not use programs that add outdated or heavy code to your site.
In our final week, we will cover social networks and blog sites. I know we these blogs are giving you quite a lot of content to read and several things to consider. We are here to help; we have several service packages that are tailored to what YOU the client needs based on YOU alone.
If you have a suggestion for a topic then please send us an email, we may chose to do a series about it.
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