Tag: WP-Optimize

  • 8 Things Your Website is Missing

    8 Things Your Website is Missing

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on a link and decide to make a purchase, we will receive a commission. The price of an item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers. By using the affiliate links, you are helping support our website, and we genuinely appreciate your support.

    Your website is an incredibly powerful digital marketing tool. A well-designed website should build trust with your visitors, but a poorly designed website can often drive your potential customers away. Here are 8 things your website is missing that will help attract new visitors and keep them coming back!

    1. What Do You Do?


    2. Clear Navigation


    3. Interesting Headlines


    4. Content is King (Still)


    5. Original Images


    6. Call to Actions


    7. Easy to Find Contact Info


    8. Consistent Branding


    What Do You Do?

    This should come as no surprise, but visitors want to know what you do, and be able to quickly find information to help solve their problem. This can be a number of things, such as finding a product they like, learning about a new topic, or signing up for a subscription. Never assume potential customers know what you do, even if you think it’s obvious. You will want to clearly state what your company offers and how you can help THEM. Remember to keep your language customer-focused and use simple keywords that your target audience is likely searching for.

    Clear Navigation

    Your navigation is just as important as the content on your site. Don’t make visitors get lost in a bunch of sub-menus looking for information. List the most important information first and in a logical way that makes sense and is easy to follow. The more quickly someone can find the information they are looking for, the better.

    Interesting Headlines

    A headline is a natural attention-grabber and one of the first things a visitor sees when looking at news articles, social media, blog posts or search results. Headlines can not only be used for SEO, but also foreshadow what’s going to happen next. Not many people will read a body of content without first scanning the headlines to make sure it’s what they want to read in the first place. When creating a headline, include numbers, statistics, keep it brief, and make it as specific as possible.

    Content is King (Still)

    You’ve heard this a million times before – but that’s because it truly is king. Content is what will bring a visitor to your website searching for an answer. It’s important you are writing high-quality and engaging content that readers find interesting. Blog articles are a great resource – like the one you are reading right now :). Blogs also serve as a way to boost your SEO and build credibility. It’s best to write about topics you find enjoyable, as it will come more naturally and can be a fun way to engage your audience.

    Original Images

    Many people that first start out go to a stock image service and slap on some stock photos they find. It’s that easy right? Wrong! And worst of all, you now look like everyone else out there with the exact same images floating around the web. It’s going to take a bit more work, but it pays to be unique with your images! It’s okay to take some basic stock photos, then customize them to fit your needs, but make sure you are using your company branding so each image has an original look. There are plenty of services available online, including Canva, Pixelied, and Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark). If you are looking for complete customization, check out desktop software such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

    Our recommendation (Pixelied)

    Creating Stunning Designs in Seconds | Pixelied

    Pro Tip: Use an image optimizing plugin such as WP-Optimize, that ensures images on your site are properly compressed and optimized for both speed and quality to save on load times.

    Call to Actions

    So now that you’ve thought about providing high-quality and engaging content, you’ll want to include clear call-to-actions, or CTAs, starting with your homepage and throughout your website as needed. Getting visitors to land on your website is only half the battle. Now think about what it is you want them to do and give them an action to complete. Do you want more email signups? Do you want them to purchase a product or add something to their cart? Whatever it is, it needs to be clear and concise in a few spots throughout your page.

    Easy to Find Contact Info

    There is nothing more annoying than a visitor trying to get in contact with a company and coming up blank. It’s important for your business to have a human element because people want to be able to relate to you, before they can buy a product or build trust. Make your contact information easy to read and find by including a dedicated contact page or footer with an email, phone number and any social media accounts you might use to communicate with your followers.

    Consistent Branding

    An important part of building trust is making visitors feel comfortable when visiting your website. When you think of your favorite brands, chances are you can remember things like colors, typography, wording, images and logos. Most importantly, you probably remember how that brand made you feel. Consistent branding is about the experience, and whether or not the brand is successful, it’s going to illicit some kind of emotion.

  • 6 WordPress Plugins Every Small Business Needs

    6 WordPress Plugins Every Small Business Needs

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on a link and decide to make a purchase, we will receive a commission. The price of an item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers. By using the affiliate links, you are helping support our website, and we genuinely appreciate your support.


    If you’ve finished getting your website up and running, give yourself a pat on the back. The next step is making your site work for you. Here are six of the best WordPress plugins for business that will improve your site’s SEO performance and let you get back to the important things like getting new clients. Each of these plugins are free but may have a premium option that provide extended functionality.

    Yoast SEO

    Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

    Yoast SEO is a popular SEO plugin that takes the guesswork out of optimizing your site correctly for search engines. It’s critical that your website can be found by search engines like Google. Yoast SEO has a wealth of knowledge on their blog and guides you through the process of adding canonical tags, titles, meta descriptions, and much more!

    UpdraftPlus

    UpdraftPlus WordPress Plugin

    When you need a simple, but robust backup/restore solution, look no further. Updraft Plus allows you to back up your WordPress files and database manually and on an automatic schedule. Store backups on your web host via FTP, or in the cloud with services like Google Drive or Dropbox. Opting for the paid version gives you more options, including backup to more services and dedicated support. Check out this article for a full comparison.

    With a proper backup/restore solution like UpdraftPlus, you can rest assured that your website is protected from loss like web hosting failures, bad plugin or theme updates, server crashes and more.

    WP Mail SMTP

    WP Mail SMTP WordPress Plugin

    Many web hosting providers allow users to send/receive email using what’s called their “local mail exchange”. This just means that the same server in which you’re hosting your website, is also sending your email. Some deliverability problems can arise from this method. Where WP Mail SMTP shines is setting up your website to use an SMTP server such as Gmail, SendGrid, Mailgun, or another SMTP service to send mail. Ensuring proper email deliverability is critical for reaching your users and letting them know you are the person sending the email.

    WP-Optimize

    WP-Optimize WordPress Plugin

    From the makers of UpdraftPlus! Caching plugins are important for speeding up your website for SEO and providing a better user experience. This is especially true when using shared hosting plans, where your main goal is to keep costs down. WP-Optimize does an excellent job of compressing images, caching and minimizing CSS and JS files, and even optimizing your database tables. The final result is a highly optimized site that performs better in page speed tests and loads faster for your visitors.

    WooCommerce

    WooCommerce WordPress Plugin

    Does your business sell products online? WooCommerce and Shopify are the two most popular platforms for setting up your ecommerce store online. Shopify is a cloud-based solution, whereas WooCommerce is an addition to your current WordPress site. WooCommerce has a higher learning curve than Shopify, but it’s completely free to use and has endless customization with free and paid plugins and themes. However, if you are looking for a more ready out-of-the-box option, you might want to choose Shopify. If some technical know-how doesn’t deter you and you want a free solution, WooCommerce is an excellent choice for those running a WordPress site.

    Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR/CCPA

    Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin

    The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented on May 25, 2018. It explains the 7 principles related to personal data and privacy of EU citizens. Because of this, you may have noticed that cookie notices are everywhere, from small business websites to corporate companies. This plugin makes it easy to display a cookie notice to the user on how you handle their data.