Great NEWS!  If you haven't already taken steps to comply with Google's "Mobile-First Indexing" you still have time to get your website up to date!!  According to the Google blog:

Google has Extended the deadline of "Mobile-First Indexing" to March 2021, according to the article they released this past July.

"If you have a responsive site or a dynamic serving site where the primary content and markup is equivalent across mobile and desktop, you shouldn't have to change anything." ~Google Blog

At WebsiteForge, we only build websites that meet this standard.  If you are looking for a way to get your website or online store updated to meet the Google deadlines, please contact us right away!

"For the sites that are not yet ready for mobile-first indexing, we've already mentioned some issues blocking your sites in previous blog posts. Now that we've done more testing and evaluation, we have seen a few more issues that are worth mentioning to better prepare your sites"

And YES, Google is taking measures to BLOCK YOUR WEBSITE if you do not comply!  This is seriously important to understand as a business owner with a website or online store.

They have also added some new changes and updates to their requirements for "Mobile-First Indexing".  So even if you had previously made some updates and changes, be sure you are still complying with these standards.

Contact Us Today to get your website up to date!

2. Add an incentive to your site to get users to sign up and create an account.  the more users you have logged in and checkout out the site the more abandoned notices will go out and the higher conversion rate you will have.  I have seen many different incentives setup.  Anything from a free ebook when you sign up for some promotional pricing on the first order.  It is totally up to you, you probably know your clientele better than we do.  If you tell us what kind of incentive you are wanting to offer Remote Hands can get it set up for you.

3. Enabling Ratings can help too.  When people come to the site they often like to see feedback from other buyers.   Google, Bing, Yahoo and other Search Engines take ratings into account as a ranking factor when they crawl pages now. Article on ratings as a ranking factor.

4. Enable automated notifications to request your shoppers review the products they purchased.  This is a super common practice these days, and best of all you can completely custmomize the message you send to your shoppers either offering them an incentive to leave a review or appeal to the humanity of helping out others with their important feedback.  See more about how to set this up if you are a WebsiteForge customer here.

Contact Kevin Gannon today if you wish to talk about more ways to increase conversions and other ways to market your website!

(248) 349- 6281

1. E-commerce Advantage: Lower Cost

One of the e-commerce benefits is that it has a lower startup cost. Physical retail stores have to pay up to thousands of dollars to rent one of their store locations monthly. Also, they have several upfront costs such as store signs, store design, buying inventory, sales equipment, and more. Physical retail stores also have to pay staff to work and run each location. They may also need to hire security staff depending on the product value in the store.

However, with WebsiteForge annual costs for your e-commerce website can be as low as $1,188, cheap even when you compare to Shopify at $3,192 annually!  The WebsiteForge package is packed with Enterprise level features that don't cost you extra!  We're not here to nickel and dime ya, we want to help you succeed in your online venture.  Offering things like Free site reviews annually, free updates and upgrades that are automatically added for you to utilize, free assistance (Remote Hands and Unlimited FREE support) and so much more!

2. E-commerce Advantage: 24/7 Potential Income

One of the best advantages of having an e-commerce website is that it is always open for business! With your Facebook ads, you can attract someone at 11 p.m. or 4 a.m... Or like most WebsiteForge customers you can rank well organically and attract business for FREE from the search engines.   Most physical location stores are open between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. By being available at all hours, you can attract people who would normally pick up a product in stores, if the store were open. You can also attract those who may have odd work schedules or who don't have time to shop in-person. For a customer to order at night, you don't need to have employees working the night shift to ensure all orders get processed. You'll never need to hire a security guard either!

3. E-commerce Advantage: Sell Internationally

Next on the list of e-commerce benefits is that a new brand can sell to customers around the world easily. You have the ability to discover your audience whether they're in the U.K., South America, or neighboring countries. If you choose to dropship from Inventory Source which has a variety of manufacturers to choose from or perhaps you want to push your product out to a variety of places online, you can do that with the Go Data Feed Integration.  Both options available from WebsiteForge, giving our customers another advantage.

Contact Us Today to get your business online

The holiday shopping season is upon us.  It is estimated that $123 Billion dollars will be spent this holiday shopping season in E-commerce ALONE! According to Statista

That's approx. 17 Billion dollars more than last holiday season!  What are you doing to prepare to get a piece of that E-commerce pie? 🍕

If you haven't made a plan of action yet, that's ok!  We are here to help.  I've put together some questions to help you decide the best plan of action for your online business this holiday season.

✓ What are you going to feature on these super savings days? do you have a service you can offer a discount on?  Or perhaps you have a unique set of products you want to offer a discount and free shipping on?

✓ How you are going to inform your old customers and your new potential customers of this amazing offer?  We have several ways for you to make an announcement using our mass mail feature (FREE or put up a teaser graphic on your website luring people back on these days.  If you need help with either of these options and you are a current WebsiteForge customer feel free to contact support and we can assist you in getting this done.

✓ Are you going to offer more savings to users that sign up? Hint hint, we think you should!  Getting user data will help you with future offerings and building a customer base that will keep coming back.  We also have ways you can incentivize returning customers.

We optimize, and test, then optimize some more at no extra charge!

I've talked to some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts and read many recent articles and the resounding replies I get, sound a lot like this:

"People need to understand that it's now a ranking factor and if their site is slow then it's going to hurt them."

Here at WebsiteForge, we stay faster than our competition to make sure our Clients stay faster than their competition.

I strongly suggest that you use a 3rd party testing tool - like www.gtmetrix.com to compare your site VS your competition...

And as always, feel free to reach out to us if you are not killing the competition in speed.  There is likely a very simple solution to resolve whatever is delaying loading.

We did a recent test, using some data that was provided to us by our friends over at ShopBakersNook.com

They have a good working friendship with one of their competitors and have done many different tests.  Over the course of the last year and a half we have poured into optimizing and updating the core elements and coding structure for optimal speed and loading times.  And this is a great example of how it's really paid off!

3rd Party Speed Test:	Google Speed Test

 You might think, well great, so they test better.  Why does that even REALLY MATTER?

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO BE DOING ON YOUR WEBSITE:

Step 1. ✏️ Content Content Content! Add relevant content to your site about your products and services.  I wrote more about this last year and wanted to bring this post to light again because it is very very important for ALL websites.  If you get stuck on how to write good content you can also check out this article precisely about that! :)

Now that you have added all the content that will overly describe how awesome your business is and how well you do you.  we head over to the next very important key to having a successful website.

Step 2. 📈 Get and KEEP your visitors.  I wrote about this last week and earlier this year. Do you know why?  becuase it really is so very important to capture and utlize the traffic that you do have.  This is important whether you are a service based business or Ecommerce! 

Ok GREAT! you have now taken steps to add super power ⚡ content to your website, you have added all of our tips and tricks to capture and keep your existing visitors...what's left?

Step 3. 💨 Speed and Mobile Compatibility. Yep, I said it.  If your website is not yet responsive.  You need to do it NOW.  Google has announced another algorithm change being released in JULY 2018 that speed IS a bigger ranking factor.  And the SEO community has been talking about it.  So you may ask why does having a responsive site mean it will be faster.  And this is a great question.  In and of it's own it does not mean it will be faster.  With WebsiteForge when you have a website designed or re-designed our team KNOWS that Google factors speed and we pour our experience into creating the fastest and most user friendly design we can.  We have tools that help us offer you the fastest initial load times as well as optimizing images for faster loading. You can see in this previous post that our client's site ranked better and loaded faster than a major competitor!

Now that you have followed steps 1 - 3 you can start watching your sales increase like our other clients that have followed these best practices steps.

If you would like an estimate for a site re-design please contact me.  Or if you would like a site review, we can evalutate your site and let you know if there are any features that your site may benefit from using.

There are 2 pieces to really improve sales from existing traffic.

1. Capture your audience.  

2. Communicate with the people that are ALREADY on your site!  This means:

a. Get people to sign up!

Whether you offer a free guide to something amazing that is relevant to your site, or a subscription to your blog...whatever it may be.  There are many many ways to get people to sign up on your site.  Find the way that works best for your ideal target clientele.

b. Setup an abandoned cart notice!

For e-commerce, one of the best ways to increase sales is to reach out to those that have already been pondering a purchase on your site.  The abandoned cart notice does just that.

c. Send offers!  

Whether it's an offer to subscribe to your awesome blog or some sort of promotion on your website...OFFER IT!!!  They won't think about you unless you intentionally become a thought in your audiences minds. You don't have to have an e-commerce site to take advantage of the traffic that is already on your site!  If you don't have a blog, you should really consider starting one.  There is a really good article here about how to decide what you should blog about.

Now, if you are having traffic issues on your site (traffic is low) I've written an article previously about ranking either with paid ads or Organically.  Check out the article here.  We can also evalutate your website with you to discuss ways that you can improve the traffic on your site.  Feel free to contact us to schedule a time we can review your site with you and offer up some FREE suggestions on your website.

Outside research from Narvar has revealed that the modern retailer needs to look carefully at the quality of the communications experience they are providing before and after the "buy button" is pressed.

"Customers Judge their online shopping experiences in large part based on how retailers communicate with them after they click the 'Buy' button.  And the more thoughtful, intuitive, and personalized the communications are, the better."

The study also found that millennials and baby boomers strongly believe that fast and direct communications about an order are the number one factors in securing their loyalty.

Key findings:

• Millennials are 20% less likely to contact a retailer via email than baby boomers and are five times more likely to use live chat on a website

• Fast and direct communications about an order are the number one factors in winning the loyalty of millennials and baby boomers - that's over things like retailers sharing recommendations and product reviews

• Millennials are the age group least likely to want to be contacted by a retailer over SMS

Did you know you can customize(personalize) your automated notifications about orders to your customers?

There are some really helpful variables listed in this help article that can help you personalize your communications with your clients.

In this help article, you can see how to customize the invoices and order related notices that your customers receive.  If you have not done this already I strongly recommend doing so.  It can mean the difference between a 1-time customer and a repeat customer!

These days there are so many ways to stay in touch with your clients.  You have Email, Text, Phone calls, Live Chat, and so many other ways. 

1. Recover Abandoned Carts

2. Target, Re-market, and Upsell to previous customers

New Customers vs Existing Customers:

It's 68% more expensive to acquire $1 from a new customer than it is to upsell current customers (forEntrepreneurs)

You can see a general overview of the mailer here.

3. Announce your new products

Did you know you can setup automatic notices to go out, not only to your customers, but to Facebook and Twitter too!?!  This is a great way to inform your customer base and new potential customers about the items you have.

4. If you don't want to offer coupons offer STORE CREDIT!

It's hard to think of a group of buyers that are more likely buyers than your existing customer base that has had an abandoned cart... 

Imagine walking through a store and picking up an item, reading the items details, maybe even putting it in your cart or trying it on.  For whatever reason you take it out and put it back on the shelf.  Now, what if an employee, approached you with a 10% off coupon - not available to other buyers - but simply because you were carefully considering buying it but had not yet done so...  I think it's safe to say, for a good number of people, that might be enough to get you to buy.

Now imagine your website management software gives you a FREE tool to reach those buyers...

You can stop imagining now because WE DO!  WebsiteForge offers you a free customizable Abandoned cart notice.  For WebsiteForge clients, you can contact support or take a look at this step by step guide on how to enable and configure your notice.

Increase your conversion rate by motivating customers to recover their abandoned carts. Send automated cart reminders, easily customize email template and offer coupons to encourage your visitors to come back to your store.

•     Use customizable sending schedule
•     Add info about the shopper's cart they abandoned
•     Track sending history
•     Add a coupon code to incentivize your buyers

See what some of our customers that have taken advantage of this free feature have to say about it:

Shane Merem

Now keep in mind there could be some junk in this area that bots cause.  We are going to overlook those and focus in on items that could be real customers doing a search on your site and not finding what they are looking for (if you do happen to carry the said item or offer that service)

I have received permission from our friends over at ShopBakersNook.com to use their data as an example.

 So if we look at the screenshot above you will see "Keywords" in blue links.  These are the keywords that were searched on your site, that resulted in 0 (Zero) results.  There could be some legitimate reasons for this.  For example, you may stop carrying an item and now it is no longer found on your site.  (That's fine, and this is the appropriate response that should be seen)

However, there may be users looking for things on your site that often spell things differently than you do.  You can see on line item 2 here the search for "Coloured Sugar Sprinkles".  I know for a fact they carry colored sugar sprinkles, but they do not spell "coloured" that way.  We have a fix for you!

Head on over to the "Full-Text Search Settings" area.  If you have not set up a full-text search as a 404 be sure to check out this article on setting it up!

In this area, you can add Synonyms.  this will help you taylor your search results to your users needs.  Adding in the synonym "coloured=colored" will make them mean the same thing.  You can also add in other variations that you can think of that users may accidentally type in. 

Now you can see a whole page full of results when I search for "Coloured Sugar Sprinkles"

The "Zero Search results" area data get's wiped out every 4 days.  You can have a report emailed to you every 4 days so that you have records of this data and can update your synonyms whenever it is convenient for you.

If you see data in your zero search results area and you are not sure what it means, you can contact us at any time and we can help you out!!!

What is Mobile-First indexing?

"Mobile-first indexing means that we'll use the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking, to better help our – primarily mobile – users find what they're looking for."

WebsiteForge.com Tell Me More → How to Write Simply Amazing Text for Your Website When it comes to writing text on your website, it can be hard to know where to start. The good news is, we have a quick and simple guide! Simply answer 6 important questions on your website to guarantee your visitors will know exactly what you do and why they should choose you. Tell Me More Stay up to date with our latest news & features

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Auto-shipping allows customers to schedule delivery of products (like a product subscription) — on a recurring basis. This allows businesses to generate repeat revenue without any additional marketing expense, or customer service effort.

For example, say a website sells protein powder. For gym members that drink a daily protein shake, their protein-powder packages usually last about 30 servings, or roughly one month. Instead of running out of protein and having to reorder at the last minute, “auto ship” enables customers to determine when they want their protein shipped — such as every 30 days. That way, they get a steady supply without running out or having to remember to place their order every month.
 

Products offered through an autoship program ideally should be those that are consumed within one month so that when the next month arrives, another subscription of the autoshipped order will be needed.

Autoship can also be used to ship a series of products over a period of months. One could be shipped item A this month, item B next month, item C the following month, etc. Collectible products, wine, books, home décor items, clothing… all of these items that would not be ordered identically each month could be ordered through an Autoship series program.

Autoship can be used to provide representatives with new products. As products are introduced periodically (perhaps monthly or quarterly), representatives who signed up for the new product subscription could receive these items first before they are available for standard orders.

AutoShip is available as an Ala Carte feature with your WebsiteForge basic manged service fees and hosting.  And is included with the Advanced hosting package.

What is WebsiteForge.com?

WebsiteForge.com is an easy to use professional ecommerce web design platform that allows you to build, manage and edit your informational or ecommerce website. Most importantly, the site not only saves you money when it comes to building a website that truly helps draw in traffic, but they also help you create a website that functions the way it should to help draw in financial means so you can become profitable. Not all hosting sites that offer free or small fees for building one are capable of offering these assets.  No experience needed.  But experienced users too, will enjoy the familiar tools and control that comes from our expert mode.

What are some of the assets WebsiteForge.com offers?

Some of the assets WebsiteForge.com offers are:

• Specific websites built particularly for your needs and business
• A very easy to use Content Management System (CMS)
• A professional project manager that helps ensure your website is designed and setup properly to draw in traffic
• Custom graphic designs tailored to your personal or business needs
• Unlimited access to bandwidth and customer support when help is needed
• Automatic and unlimited website updates to ensure your site is always running the way it is design too
• The professional ability to have your website setup with search engine optimization
• Most importantly uniqueness, which is essential for drawing in traffic to your website.

Why is uniqueness important to your Company's website?

To your website's visitor, your website is the face of your business.  Consider a successful company like Apple.  Whether it's their stores, products, websites, even their packaging - they all share Apple's unique styling.  That uniqueness and consistency, if designed professionally, makes your products and services feel more dependable and on a higher level.  Whether intentionally, or sometimes (sadly) un-intentionally - your website's design let's consumers know who you are as an organization.  It's wise to consider, the Designer making cookie cutter designs, hoping their design will be purchased and used by many different websites - at NO point did they have your company in mind.

How can you contact WebsiteForge.com?

If you would like to build a professionally unique website that attracts new viewers and keeps your business or profession growing you can contact WebsiteForge.com by calling 1-888-558-2446, or by visiting their website.

It's quick and easy to enable the option for your clients to have a saved shopping cart in the WebsiteForge system!   This feature is so nice for those users that like to take their time with their shopping experience.  They can save the cart come back later and checkout with ease.  According to Kissmetrics, having this option on your website can help reduce shopping cart abandanment.

There are many reasons users will add an item to the cart and come back later.  If you are not offering this feature there are plenty of your competitors that are and most likely they are closing more sales because of it.  With this option and the Automated Abandoned Cart Email you are going to be a power house in reducing your abandoned carts for sure!

Our Remote Hands service is like no other!  Think of this as a personal assistant for your website.  You submit your needs to our Remote Hands team and we handle the changes for you for FREE!  That's right.  We include this service with your website.  1 hour a month of this service and if you don't use it, the time will roll over and accumulate! No more paying programmers to make simple website changes.  No more phone tag with Bob in his mom's basement so you can save money on your programming fees.    Remote Hands is like a concierge service for your website.  You make a request for some changes and the team does it for you. Of course you can edit your site at any time with our incredibly easy to use CMS (Content Management System), however most businesses become so busy that they prefer to just send over changes and updates to our team to handle for them.  We can even make suggestions on tools or utilities that will enhance your experience and your customers experience on your website.  When our clients were asked about why they use the Remote Hands service we heard feedback like this.

 See more about Remote Hands here.

"I love the Remote Hands service because I just don't have time to make the changes I need." 

 Roger R.

"WebsiteForge Exceeded my expectations with their Remote Hands service! I would recommend this service to everyone"

Bruce O.

 "I've really enjoyed the Remote Hands service, it really takes the pressure off of me.  And the suggestions from the staff have always been very helpful in making my website offer a better experience for my clients! :) "

Sarah H.

Protecting your website against theft is now considered mandatory for website owners. This is especially important for websites which are "content heavy" - pictures, graphics, video, etc. A lot of companies don't even offer this option, and if they do you need to buy a special add-on or upgrade.   As in the "bricks and mortar" world, there is no 100% guarantee against online theft but there are many things you can do to protect yourself and your website.

Most theft online occurs is because it is "easy" to do it. Just like leaving your front door open or your car unlocked, if you make it simple for thieves they will take advantage of it.

At WebsiteForge we offer copy protection for FREE!  It's easy to enable and is available to every client.

I can summarize this whole post in 1 word. Speed.

But I want to offer you a more detailed explanation of how important speed is, and why we are the unfair advantage for your website vs your competition.

Google on many occasions has emphasized how they value speed and show preference to sites that load quickly. (this isn't new, it's been something they've announced and place more and more focus on in the past few years.  They announced yesterday that this is going to play an even bigger factor for mobile search queries than it had in the past (effective in July)

Do you have questions about your website?  Feel free to contact us to discuss your website's performance.

*NOTE: This is not a boost in the rankings for being fast -- but rather a penalty for those who are not.  We speedtest every new website and responsive redesign.

Need more proof? 

See below here, Shopbakersnook.com is a client of ours that works really hard on their site.  In a speed test comparison with a HUGE competitor Wilton (you know the cake pan manufacturer...a GIANT in the industry)

Our client NOT ONLY out speed tests them...But also beats them in the search engines NATURALLY (not paid)

Your Business Website Is Likely Ignoring up to Tens of Millions of people!

How are businesses ignoring nearly 20% of the population in the United States? Most websites, including business websites, are not designed to meet the American Disabilities Act (ADA) / 508 compliance standards. When your website is corrected to meet disabled-friendly standards, meaning ADA / 508 compliant specifications, you're opening your business to wider audience.

WebsiteForge offers several options for you.  Feel free to contact us to see what your options are.

Bing Search Results	Google Search Results

 Paid results are basically advertisements. The images above illustrate the visual differences on a search page when you rank organically and when you pay for Ad space.  Let's talk about paying for a space first. 

This option can really vary depending on what time of day you want to show up,  what your audience is, what keywords you want to show up for etc...  I've seen clients pay $10 a day for a space and they felt they got what they needed out of that.  I've seen clients pay $10,000 a day to get the traffic they felt they needed.  Every situation is different, the competition for every area is different.

If you would like to have a consultation done to discuss the best plan for your company goals please feel free to contact us.  We will schedule a time to go over your existing plan and your goals.  If you are interested in hiring us to help you reach your company goals.

We've added a new feature I think you may like!

We now have an automated notice option for abandoned carts.  It's easy to setup and configure. See here

Increase the conversions by offering a discount for those that have abandoned cart!  Sometimes just a simple message letting people know they forgot to finish the checkout process is all that is needed. 

Don't leave your shoppers hanging...let them know you are happy to keep their business.

6 Traits of a Successful Website

1. SEARCH ENGINE RANKING, Where does your website rank?

  93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
– Search Engine Journal

If you don't know, it's a good idea to find out, ASAP. Ranking is important because of the two main jobs a search engine has:

1. Crawling and indexing the seemingly endless amount of web pages, files, videos, and news that forms the internet's rich world of content.
2. Providing answers to the most frequently searched terms or questions from sites it deems credible.

Search engine ranking is influenced by a variety of factors including how old your site is, what kinds of links you have to related outside sources, relevancy of the content on your site, and so much more. In fact, Google relies on around 200 different factors when determining your site's rank. Unfortunately, even though you're the website owner, you have no control over these!
 

2. LOAD TIME, Is your site taking too long to load?

47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less, and 40% of people will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
– KISSmetrics

The truth is: load time can affect your bottom line. Time has to be on your side when it comes to how long it takes your site to load – on mobile, desktop, and laptop devices. Something that seems so small can make a big difference in terms of how users interact with your website or if they move on to someone else. Sometimes slow loading time is caused by added third party scripts or large image files, which can be fixed relatively easily.

 

3. MOBILE OPTIMIZATION, What does your website look like on a mobile device?

 62% of companies that designed a website with mobile in mind saw increased sales.
– Econsultancy

This trait is extremely important. A responsive site is developed, designed, and optimized so that it functions efficiently on all types of mobile devices. Navigation has to be easy, design elements should be simplified for better usage, content will flow for mobile consumption, phone numbers and addresses are clearly visible/functional, and calls to action are tied to a form or email address for quick communication. How your site responds to mobile users is also important so you can please Google and get more organic search traffic.

4.CONVERSION, Do you have an easy-to-use website with clear calls to action?

50% of potential sales are lost because users can't find information, and 40% of users do not return to a site when their first visit is a negative experience.
– Forrester Research

Remember the last time you visited a site that was really bad? The design was totally outdated and so was the content. We'd be willing to bet you didn't even take advantage of the offer that brought you there in the first place or find the information you were looking for. Successful conversion (or getting people to do what you want) starts with having clear, concise, calls to action. Just remember to keep it simple. Don't make a potential patient have to jump through hoops to reach your office, because chances are they won't. Make sure your site navigation is straightforward and uncomplicated.

5. CURRENT ANALYTICS, Are you taking a look at what kinds of users are coming to your site and what they're doing?

90% of business managers believe analytics have the ability to improve sales, and another 62% report they believe analytics can increase sales by more than 20%.
– KISSmetrics

Having the power to review and do something about your website's user activity is definitely something you need to be doing if you don't already do it. It's crucial so that you know what's working, what's not, and what changes you can make to mitigate these issues.

6. LEGIBLE FONT SIZES, Are you making your site easy for users to read?

Although 12 px has been a standard for some time, 16 is the newest standard for easy reading on websites

- Google

To ensure readability, the font size on your website needs to be, at minimum, the browser default size of 16 pixels (100%). These days you may see your style.css have the pixel setting first then a rem size for modern browsers. Font sizes for websites run small if they are more than a couple of years old. Most people have heard 12 points is great for websites. Actually it was pixels, but you get the idea. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the recommended size for a while now.

Your website is not a book; 12 points looks great for a book because you hold it fairly close to your face. Computer monitors and mobile devices are frequently held further away so that a 12-point sized font is too small for a website.

 3 Key Business Basics

1. Build an audience
This is where many businesses miss the mark. You put together a beautiful website with all the right plugins, widgets and opt-in boxes. You follow all the steps, but the money doesn't come because you have no audience.  We touched on this briefly in our "Holiday Preparedness Checklist" article regarding Social Media.  Here are some different ways.

There are many ways to build an audience and quickly:

• Be a guest on a podcast. Every morning, Radio Guest List will deliver to your inbox a list of shows looking for your expertise.
• Guest post on blogs. There are blogs that get millions of visitors each month.
• Get exposure from large author sites. If you can be interviewed or write for sites like Entrepreneur or the Huffington Post, you get exposure to millions of potential leads and customers. Writing for these websites builds authority, grows your social media presence and leads to sales. Here is a podcast episode that walks you through how to do this.
  

2. Learn About Your Competition

Chances are that you are not about to take on Google, Ford, or Wal-Mart head on. However, you still need to be aware of your major competitors regardless of their actual market share. This includes both direct and indirect competitors, because this is where your ideal customers likely hang out.

Search engines offer tools that let you customize alerts and trend watches that keep you in the loop.    With time, you should be able to build up a strong list of websites that will key you in on your industry's inside information.

A good article here: Best Competitive Keyword Research Tools


3. Differentiate Yourself to Stand Out and Get Noticed

We live in a very busy world, getting bombarded by thousands of marketing pieces every day.  How are you ever going to stand out? How is anyone going to notice you?

You need to differentiate! Unfortunately a lot of businesses copy each other plainly because they think "the other guy" has got it all figured out, but most likely he or she hasn't!

A lot of businesses just blend in rather than carve out their own uniqueness.

So rather than copying anyone else, how about doing things differently, doings things better! Or shall we say "disrupt" since it seems to be a very fashionable word at the moment. Either way, all you need to do is blow your customers' mind with your awesomeness.

It's not just about getting noticed; you need to find ways to get noticed by the right people.

I've got two other great questions for you to get you started with this one. Someone smart once said that the quality of life depends on the quality of questions… or something like that.

So here goes.

Ask yourself "What's the frustration in my industry?".

Think about what people are frustrated about when working with someone in your industry.

Let me give you an example. A common frustration in service based industries is that the service people often arrive late on the job. So one of my clients who is an electrician decided to create a "we are always on time" guarantee. If any of his electricians arrive late for a job, the client gets $50, even if he or she is only one minute late. It didn't take long for his business to create an awesome reputation!

The second question to ask yourself and others is "What would make working with a <insert your industry> irresistible?"

You'll be surprised by how many great ideas you will get from your clients and friends!

How about we set a challenge? Ask ten people in the next ten days and then implement the top three best ideas.

Did you take the challenge?  What did you find out?  Comment below!

3 Ways you can generate more business for FREE

1. Increase Lead Generation and Customer Engagement with Email Marketing

According to MarketingCharts.com, email is the most effective digital marketing tactic, the one that delivers the best ROI and the least difficult to execute. Start a customer newsletter that offers timely information about the business, special promotions or an inside look at the company. This helps build a community with your customers, and it keeps your product and business on their minds.
Entrepreneurs don't need to pay an agency or marketing consultant to develop an email campaign either.  You can do it yourself for free with the built in WebsiteForge Mass Mail Feature!
 

2. Use Social Media

It's free, easy to get started and offers a massive network of potential customers.  The hard part is increasing your followers without wasting your precious time.  Make sure you focus on value over volume.  Identify the social channels that reach your customers best.  I've linked some good articles here for each of these platforms, take some time to determine your ideal market and use the platform that reaches them best. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn.

WebsiteForge has integrations setup for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  If you would like assistance in utilizing these features please feel free to contact Support

The goal is to provide your followers with something that's useful, interesting and shareable. Start small, post a few times a week and learn who your audience is. Once you have an understanding of who's consuming your content, and what they're interested in, you can start ramping up efforts.

 

3. Stand on the Shoulders of your Customers

Satisfied clients can be a business's best marketing tool. Actively engage pre-existing clients through PR, social media and email.

For example, pitching your business and a satisfied customer to a writer can be mutually beneficial for both parties. This tactic generally leads to a more compelling story and a stronger relationship between you and your customer. Once you have a customer army of spokespeople, let them share positive experiences and tell your company story for you.
Marketing a small or new business is extremely crucial to a company's success but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to invest a huge chunk of capital into it. Savvy, frugal entrepreneurs can find products and services that can help increase visibility and drive customer acquisition – without spending any overhead.

You can offer incentives as well for your existing customers to promote your products or business.  The E-commerce module has a virtual wallet option, you can offer free VW dollars per referral or a Gift Certificate this not only helps your current customers want to repeat business it will bring in new business. 

For non eCommerce sites you can advertise discounts on your services for future services rendered.  These are great ways to spread the word about your business at a very low cost.

Have you started any of these practices? if so leave us some comments below and tell us about your experience!

The 3 U's that you get with WebsiteForge

1. Unlimited Bandwidth

To really understand how this benefits you, you need to ask the question "What is Bandwidth?"
In its most basic definition, bandwidth describes the level of traffic and amount of data that can transfer between your site, users, and the Internet. When you are looking at web hosting companies this is often one of the more overlooked features. Failure to estimate the bandwidth needs of your website could produce an underperforming website, additional charges.  Websiteforge uses 5 Tier-1 OC-12 Backbone Connections with Unlimited Bandwidth - It's like recruiting the "Fantastic Five" of internet connectivity.

2. Unlimited Pages and Content

This feature is huge!  You may not realize how many pages you end up wanting to have on your site.  And in our system you don't have to "budget" pages.  You get an unlimited number of pages FOREVER.  I hear a lot of people say things like "I need a simple 1 or 2 page website" 9 times out of 10 those people end up with about 30 page websites.  Because when you realize the benefits that come with having quality content on your website it only makes sense to populate your website with as much relevant content as you can to make your website an authority on whatever product or service you offer.  And when you have the option of unlimited pages why wouldn't you?

3. Unlimited Products and Categories

This is another HUGE benefit!  You can have 300,000 products or 3.  There are no extra charges for offering more products on your website!  You also get unlimited storage for your products!  When you have a complex system with thousands of products, you will most likely also need to have a large number of categories.  NO PROBLEM, we got you covered!  Have as many categories as you like.  We don't limit you, we want your business to be your main focus, not tedius things like tracking how many products, pages, or categories you are allowed to have.

Have you had to count out pages before?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

Weekend Homework: Increase your website's Ranking (SEO)

Follow these suggestions, and watch your website rise the ranks to the top of search-engine results organically.(meaning, without paid ads)

1. Publish Relevant Content

Quality content is the number one driver of your search engine rankings and there is no substitute for great content. Quality content created specifically for your intended user increases site traffic, which improves your site's authority and relevance.

Identify a keyword phrase for each page. Think about how your reader might search for that specific page (with phrases like “Become a Dog Trainer in Michigan,” “Dog training certification courses,” or “Michigan Canine Certification Programs”). Then, repeat this phrase several times throughout the page—once or twice in the opening and closing paragraphs, and two to four more times throughout the remaining content.

Don't forget to use bold, italics, heading tags, and other emphasis tags to highlight keyword phrases, but don't overdo it.

Never sacrifice good writing for SEO. The best pages are written for the user, not for the search engine.

2. Update Your Content Regularly

You've probably noticed that we feel pretty strongly about content. Search engines do, too. Regularly updated content is viewed as one of the best indicators of a site's relevancy, so be sure to keep it fresh.

3. Metadata

Metadata is the content that the Search Engines use to identify a page.  You should insert metadata, or information about the contents of your page for every page.

• Title Metadata
  Title metadata is responsible for the page titles displayed at the top of a browser window. It is the most important metadata on your page.  In the "Page Settings" you can add your "title" wich is the Metadata Title. (Click image to enlarge)
  
• Description Metadata
  Description metadata is the textual description that a browser will use in your page search return. Think of it as your site's window display—a concise and appealing description of what is contained within, with the goal of encouraging people to enter.
  (Click image to enlarge)
  
• Keyword Metadata
  Keyword metadata are the search phrases that people type when they want to find your page. You'll want to include a variety of phrases. However, don't get greedy: if your list becomes excessive, the browser may completely ignore the data. As a general rule, try to keep it to about 6-8 phrases with each phrase consisting of 1-4 words. A great example would be "Dog Training, Canine Certifications."

4. Have a link-worthy site

Focus on creating relevant links within the text. Instead of having “click here” links, try writing out the name of the destination. “Click here” has no search engine value beyond the attached URL, whereas “Dog Certification Course Outline” is rich with keywords and will improve your search engine rankings as well as the ranking of the page you are linking to.

5. Use alt tags

Always describe your visual and video media using alt tags, or alternative text descriptions. They allow search engines to locate your page, which is crucial—especially for those who use text-only browsers.

These are only a few of the many methods for improving your search engine ranking.

Have you tried any of these techniques to boost your website Ranking? Are there others you've found success using? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

3 E-Commerce Tricks to Boost Website Conversions

1.Webmaster Tools

• Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
• Add a "new property" and use the https://www.YourDomain.com version of your webite to create a new property. (and make sure you are verified with Google)
  
• Add Sitemap for the new property

2. Google Analytics

• Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ login and go to "property settings" and make sure you are using the HTTPS version there as well.(the below screenshot is located under "Admin", and "Property settings". in your Google analytics account)
  

You can also add your site and update the sitemap on Bing as well.

Didn't secure your site yet? You should...

Click here to learn more

I am going to list out things in the order that the search engines make them relevant.

1. Responsive
If you have had the "mobile" site in the past you should know that the search engines (and most users that shop on their phones) consider this to be hard to use and outdated.  To understand more about responsive please visit our Responsive Explanation page.

2. Secure
Securing your website is going to be very incredibly important in the coming months to shoppers and the search engines.  Please don't ignore this.

3. Updated Content
Please take the time to go through your site and put relevant items on the home page for the coming months. As you walk into a grocery store, hardware store, lighting store...you name it!  They have changed the store layout to appeal to the season.  While I know not every website is a retail store, I do know most websites services changes and the seasons change.  And products change as the seasons change.  Be mindful of what your shoppers are looking for.  Feel free to contact support or schedule a 1 on 1 FREE training session to go forward with updates.  (NOTE* If you have Remote hands time this is a GREAT way to use it! )

4. Social Media
If you haven't already started using the Social Media integration (that is FREE and built into our system) you should!  One of the best ways to do this is to Blog.  There are many ways to use a blog to increase traffic to your website.  Feel free to Contact support to get ideas on how to setup your blog if you don't have one already and ways to capitalize on the blog feature.

5. Speed

Speed is a bigger factor than most realize.  We offer FREE ways to improve speed.  One of them is the Google Pagespeed service.  If you don't have this enabled for your site feel free to contact support and we can enable it for you.  There are also some other ways that involve some work from you, but may be more than worth the effort. 

Clients that have put all of these factors as the most important factors for their site this year vs last year have seen revenue, and traffic increases.

Click here to opt out.

There are others and if you're up to it, use them! Build your social media following, use your social media accounts to get the word out about your business and any promotions you're running.

Make sure your social media accounts include your web address in your account profile so people know where to go for more info about your business and where to purchases from you.

By using your social media accounts this way, you'll be increasing traffic to your website which is a powerful signal to the search engines that says your website is relevant.

If you need assistance getting integration setup between your site and the social platforms please feel free to contact us we will assist you! :)

2. Don't hide what makes you unique!  Use that thing that does set you apart as a major point on your site.  If you have a unique product or service make a big deal about it!  If you offer an awesome shipping policy (Free shipping or flat rate) make a big stink about it!!! Blog about it.  Let people know!  If you offer awesome customer service, let people know that.

3. Don't use poor quality images. 
This seems like a basic thing that may even be common sense.  But I see it EVERY DAY!  A website that is " just looking to get online" and they take pics of their products or services with their phone.  DON'T DO IT!  There are ways to get better images and not break the bank. 

These are of course just 3 simple rules to follow.  Please contact me for a more thorough analysis of your website and for ways it could be improved.

Contact me today for more info. 888-558-2446 x 212

Are you offering a deal this Cyber Monday?  And if yes, how are you advertising it?

Making sure your website is ready for sales is a great idea.  Run through your site and attempt to checkout on several devices and make sure it flows well and is easy to use.

It's not too late to get your site mobile friendly!  If you have not done this YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON SALES!

Don't be stuck with one of those hosts that limits your sales!  WebsiteForge gives you Unlimited Sales, Unlimited Products, Unlimited Bandwidth and MORE!

HUGE Google Search Engine Change Coming In MAY!

Is Your Website Ready?

IF your website is NOT mobile friendly it will be hurting in the search results more than it has been in the last year!

The bottom line here is that if you are not offering a good mobile website YOU ARE LOSING MONEY.

In order to attract Customers, your business needs to be found. Don't put your business in jeopardy by disappearing from search results. Now that's not being alarmist, that's the plain truth.

Making the Google Gods happy, is like having your business listed in the Yellow Pages 30 years ago.

See the plain truth from Google in their announcement below:

If you have not taken steps to make your site mobile friendly or RESPONSIVE then now is the time to take ACTION!

We have solutions for your website that range from FREE (if you are an existing customer) to building a custom repsonsive design...with some options in between.

Call today if you are not sure or Email me

888-558-2446 x212

Click here to opt out.

WebsiteForge has integrated with the Amazon Seller Marketplace. (this allows you to port your products from Websiteforge over to Amazon and sync orders)

The users that have tested this integration have seen approx. 30% sales increase in only a matter of a few weeks.  Only integrating SOME of their items over to Amazon.

Depending on your products and what is being sold currently on Amazon your results may differ.  Amazon Seller account required for integration.

Companies that would most benefit from the integration:

Companies selling popular items

Companies selling unique items

Companies selling rare items

Companies that can sell items for less

Contact me today!

And start selling your products on Amazon.

*This feature is included with the Complete eCommerce Business Package (new website build)

Click here to opt out.

The stats
 

• According to several online stats, 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• 79% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations
• 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews. (iPerceptions).
• Site visitors who interact with both reviews and customer questions and answers are 105% more likely to purchase while visiting, and spend 11% more than visitors who don't interact with UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index).
• Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer).
• According to many online sources, reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales.

Did you know that your WebsiteForge website already has a built in feature for you to use product reviews?  See these videos on adding reviews to your site.

If you have an information website and you would like to get more leads off of your site for your services.  Blogging about your services and allowing people to review those blogs can do the same thing for you!  (I also strongly recommend putting testimonials up about your services and products) Here is a helpful video about blog reviews. 

Have you ever emailed a client post purchase and asked for a review?

Contact Support if you would like assistance in setting this up.

Ever wonder what you're missing out on?

WebsiteForge adds new features on a regular basis. 

Some features are applied automatically system wide.  

Some features require you to add them to take advantage of them...

We want to help you identify the best ways to take advantage of the features that we offer.

Email our Recommendations team and we will take a look at your site and make some recommendations just for your website!

If you have Remote Hands, most features we recommend can be implemented by the Remote hands team.  They just need to be notified that you wish to implement the feature.

Also be sure to sign up for new notifications from the manual site for regular updates on new features.

THIS IS FREE, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT TODAY! :)

I get asked this question ALL THE TIME!  Let's make it as simple as possible without all of the technical jargon.    A responsive website RESPONDS TO YOUR DEVICE.   A Responsive Website adjusts itself, wrapping text and images, navigation or entire sections of content to fit whatever size device is viewing it.

 This replaces the need for separate pages served for mobile devices only.  Rather the same website is served to all devices and optimized for all devices.

This method saves the need for two websites, and or managing separate "mobile version" pages.  The responsive design method is recommended by Google and will receive favorability in the search engines - giving you a valuable advantage over your competition.

This means that if your are on an Ipad, Galaxy Tab, or Note a responsive website detects NOT ONLY that you are on an Ipad, Galaxy Tab, or Note (or any tablet) but it ALSO detects what direction the Ipad, Galaxy Tab, or Note is (wide or tall) and can display content based on that information. 

You can witness an example of this in the video below. You can also check by going to www.websiteforge.com on your Desktop, then on your smartphone or other mobile device..

Does your Website Look Great On All Devices?

You may think..."I just sell this...or I just do that" with my website.  Thinking that your site is not "big enough" to need to do this is a mistake.  This is the industry standard.  You will at some point need to move to a responsive design.  Why not now?  Why not beat out your competition and provide the absolute BEST experience on all devices for your customers?

You can get more info about responsive sites here.

If you are ready to take your website to the next level, please contact me today!

888-558-2446 x212

Mandi D.

Website

Is your website READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

Christmas is the busiest shopping season of year (as if you didn't already know!)

Let's go over some TO DO's to get your site Ready for Christmas:

Pass the Google Mobile test (I know you are sick of hearing this, but we wouldn't keep telling you if IT WEREN'T IMPORTANT)

Optimize your sites content so that when users are searching for products or services that you sell they can find you in the search engines (Contact me if you are interested in having some Search Engine Optimization done on your site)

Get some Fresh Images for your website(we can make new images for you, new banners etc...Contact me today to see your options.  If you are a Remote Hands customer we can do this for Remote Hands time.  If you are not a remote hands customer its easy to start just contact me or support to upgrade today)

Get an updated website or Fresh look for your website(Remote Hands customers you CAN apply your Remote hands time toward this.  Contact me today if you have been thinking about an update for your site)

"Google Merchant Center" integration - Its free! (Contact Support to get this setup today)

Free website analysis. Contact me to go over your website with you in a 1 on 1 call where I can make some suggestions and recommendations for your website based on current trends.(this option needs to be scheduled in advance)

Click here to opt out.

1. Have you ever shopped from your smartphone or tablet?

2. Have you tried to use YOUR own website on your phone or tablet?

3. Have you tried to use your own website on any OTHER phones or tablets? (it is usually best to try your site on an apple device and Android to be sure it looks as you desire on both devices)

4. Was your site easy for you to use on those devices?

A study done by Google on smartphone uses, shows that 80% of smartphone owners shop on their phones. (according to readwrite.com)  THAT IS HUGE!  And that study does not include the number of tablet users.  Online sales are projected to hit 1.4 TRILLION dollars in 2015.  Online sales in the US have increased steadily by 10% each year since 2009.(according to cscstatistics) All of that to say, even if you have not shopped online...most people have.

You can check the traffic on your site to see how much is from mobile traffic.  In the video below I will show you how to check it, and what important numbers to look for.

Now that you understand WHY having a mobile compliant website is important you have to ask yourself how can I make sure my website design is very mobile friendly?

If you don't know if your website design is mobile compliant, please feel free to contact me and I can scan your website.

If you DO know your website is not mobile compliant, but you are confused about your options let me take a minute to explain.

NOTE: AS OF APRIL 21ST 2015 GOOGLE HAS CHANGED THEIR ALGORITHM IN THE SEARCH ENGINE.  IF YOUR SITE DOES NOT MEET THEIR GUIDELINES OF A MOBILE FRIENDLY SITE, THEY WILL NOT SHOW YOUR WEBSITE IN THEIR SEARCH RESULTS.  This change will only affect how your site shows up in searches done from a mobile device.  It could affect how your site is ranked as a desktop site. Google has hinted toward showing sites that are both mobile and desktop compliant (responsive) some favoritism. )

There are 2 ways that Google is calling your site "mobile compliant":

1. A custom Mobile Website (explained below)
2. A Responsive Design (explained below)

A custom mobile website is a separate site that is built to be mobile friendly. (usually with less information than your desktop site)  This sites content is usually maintained separately from your desktop site.

A Responsive design can detect the device viewing it (whether it is a mac, pc, ipad, Android tablet, Iphone, or Android phone) and it will adjust the site to fit the device best.(shown in the image in the beginning of this article)

As a WebsiteForge customer you automatically get a FREE mobile website.  It DOES need to be configured and setup to display content in a format that makes sense to you and your customers.  Feel free to contact Support to get this started if you have not already.

Just passing Google's test should NOT be your motivation for updating your website.

When a customer goes to your site, you should want to provide them the best experience they can get to ensure that they not only shop with you or choose your services.  but that they Recommend you, and keep coming back!

If you are interested in having a custom mobile site built, or a responsive design done please contact me.

888-558-2446 x212

There is a new Google update arriving TODAY April 21, and this time around it is a large one that's pretty important for every website owner to know about. This particular update focuses on mobile content and mobile access for searchers, and if your website is not mobile-friendly, it is likely to suffer some serious consequences.

In this blog, I'm going to look at the top ways you can prepare your content for this mobile update, helping you stay on the good side of Google so your site doesn't get de-ranked in this big major update.

11 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR CONTENT READY FOR MOBILE USERS

Here are the top ways to make your mobile content phenomenal for your readers AND satisfy Google's new update.

1. You MUST have a mobile friendly site. This is also called “responsive” or a “Custom Mobile Website.” If you have not contacted us about getting your mobile site ready, or converting to a responsive design you need to, I'm serious: pick up the phone and dial us right now. You, my friend, need a mobile site. (888-558-2446 x212)

Why?

First, because Google is claiming to de-rank ALL sites that are not mobile with their update. I don't want that to happen to you.

Next, let's actually think of the viewer's experience. When people view content on their mobile devices, they don't want to have to squint when reading it. You don't want to make your font overly large from the beginning, but you do want it to be a decent size to be viewed on a mobile screen. However, you should also make your content easy to make larger. If you have a smartphone or tablet, think about a time you needed to see the page clearer – you use your fingers and zoom in to make the font and content larger. This is what you want your content to be able to do, and it needs to be able to be easily zoomed in without distortion of images, videos, or text. You can make your site mobile-friendly. (For free, JUST CONTACT US)

2. Responsive Vs. Custom Mobile Website: Two Options For Your Website. A great way to prepare your content is to make sure you already have a conversion plan in mind and use one that will benefit your site. There are two different ones, Custom Mobile Website and Responsive Design. Mobile Friendly website is built just for mobile devices.  Content for the mobile site would be managed separately from the desktop version of your site, and responsive can help adapt to all sizes of mobile screens. Doing my research, it looks like responsive seems to be the better method. It is cheaper(in the long run), and Google also prefers it, according to Search Engine Land. Responsive design allows for you to use proper SEO for your mobile site, and gives you the opportunity to reach a wide range of people no matter their device or screen size. While Custom Mobile Website seems like it would be preferable, it does not account for larger devices like tablets.  Responsive designs will immediately adapt to future devices(according to hubspot).

3. Always Monitor that Your Website's Navigation is Easy and Stress-free. This is important whether it is on your desktop site or mobile. Navigation is a big part of user experience (UX), and you want to make sure UX is top notch. Google has already implemented UX into its algorithms, and it will be even more important once the mobile update is live. UX incorporates many facets from the usability of your site to the content you've written, and navigation is a big part of usability. Make sure it is easy for your customers to navigate on your mobile site to help make a better UX for all involved. This will help rank with Google and help you keep bringing clients back to your site from their smartphones or tablets.

4. Create a Mobile App for Your Business and Website. An excellent way to get your content to adapt to mobile and have an excellent mobile presence is to not only update your site, but also to create a mobile app. Mobile apps are a great way to get your company out there and make it more visible to your clients. Once they download it, it will be there on their phone, being a constant reminder of your business and services. It can also help you stand out from the competition, especially in industries that don't focus too much on mobile marketing. If you have been considering a mobile app, give us a call and we can help you.  Did you know we can build your mobile apps?  Call today to learn more. 888-558-2446 x205

5. Consider Using QR Codes for Products. You know those funny looking square, pixelated boxes you see on products and coupons? Those are QR codes and are great ways to link offline content to a mobile device. It can allow people to access deals on products or share information about a product after they've received it. QR codes are excellent for marketing, and you can do many things with them from engaging your clients to giving more product information, and many other awesome marketing ideas.

Now, let's look at actual mobile content improvements you can make:

6. Create Different Lengths of Content. When it comes to the content length wars, longer content is always the best idea for your long-form blogs and resource pages. Research shows that people prefer longer content because they love getting in-depth information and often feel a longer piece is more trustworthy.

However, when it comes to mobile content, you want to have varying lengths especially on your main pages to let people choose the length they want to read. Short content is easier to consume on mobile because many people are reading while on the subway or bus for their work commute or while they are on lunch.

You don't want to make all content short, though because readers might still read a longer piece on their mobile device, and you will still have desktop traffic.

7. Repurpose Longer Content into Mobile-size Bites. Obviously, you will want to keep writing your lengthier content, so what can you do to make it easier to consume for mobile users? A great way is to repurpose larger content into smaller pieces. This can be in a series of shorter blog posts, breaking the larger piece down point-by-point, creating infographics, podcasts, or making video content based off of it. If you want to go the blog route, you can always start a blog series that aims to focus on shorter content. This can help direct your mobile users to those blog posts and your desktop readers to the lengthier piece if they prefer. Giving people options is a great way to help broaden your reach, engaging more people than ever.

8. Focus On Using Images and Videos for Mobile Users. Images are a big part of web content, whether on social media or your website, and they are just as important for mobile users. They can help provide a connection for the reader, and, if you use infographics, can help create excellent content. Videos are much the same and provide people with the ability to watch a story or idea while on break instead of reading. Make images and videos available to your clients, giving them a better chance at consuming your content while on smartphones and tablets.

9. Make it Easy to Share Your Content on Social Media. The one thing about having mobile content is that it is much easier for a person to share on social media. This is simply because they are already on their mobile phone and just a finger-tap away from accessing Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social channels. Because of this, you need to make sure you have social sharing buttons clearly defined for your readers. This will make it significantly easier to share your content as soon as they've read, listened, or watched it.

10. Use Social Media. If you weren't sold on whether or not social media was important for your business, now is the time to realize it is. When people are on their mobile devices, chances are their browsing through their social media timelines be it Twitter, Facebook, or another social channel. This means that you have a prime chance to reach out to them while they are browsing and share relevant articles, as well as your web pages and blogs. This can increase your site engagement, as well as help your articles get shared more. Yes, people can share your content directly from browsing your site, but they might be more willing to do so if they were already on the specific social channel.

Finally, one last tip I thought I'd throw in (although everyone probably knows this by now):

11. Don't Use Flash (Ever)!!!Flash can be okay on desktop sites because computers are able to process and download Flash data quickly. Flash data on mobile is tricky, however. First of all, many mobile devices don't use or support Flash for various reasons. Secondly, if the device does support it, it will still take a while for it to download on the phone. You don't want your page to take too long to load when people access it, but especially when it comes to your mobile site. Just think about when you use your smartphone to access web pages – you probably get a little fidgety the longer it takes to download, even if it is only a few seconds longer than normal. Your clients will feel the same way. Avoid using anything that requires flash to have a better mobile site and give your clients a better experience.

PREPARE YOURSELF: GOOGLE WANTS YOU MOBILE, 4/21

Call us so Google doesn't de-rank you on 4/21: I'm serious! 

Click here to opt out.

We've integrated a new feature called: "Sitelinks Search Box"

With Google sitelinks search box, people can reach your content more quickly from search results. Search users sometimes use navigational queries—typing in the brand name or URL of a known site—only to do a more detailed query once on that site. For example, suppose someone wants to find that video about the guilty dog on YouTube. They type YouTube, or you-tube, or youtube.com into Google Search, follow the link to YouTube, and then actually search for the dog video.

The sitelinks search box removes that extra step: a query for youtube displays a site-specific search box in the sitelinks section, so the user can immediately search for that guilty dog video without having to click through to the site.

You can enable this feature in your "Full Text Search Settings" area.

Feel free to contact support if you need assistance setting this up.

I wanted to tell you about a new feature that you have at your fingertips.  Its called the layout builder background image.

It can be used to put a border around products, categories, or even images in an Advacned Gallery.

First you will need to make, purchase or have a designer make the image you desire for this.  Once you have the image you can go to your layout builder for your E-Commerce Module's, Item list frame, or Advanced Category list frame.  Or the layout builder for your Image list and click on "Layout Settings".  Then Specify the image you wish to use for your layout background.  Be sure to save and preview before you publish.  So you know it will appear on the site.

Here are some examples of this being used currently:
http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/20141030_14525810.png
http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/20141030_1455113.png


http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/20141030_1487751.png
http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/20141030_14841162.png

Feel free to contact us in support if you would like assistance in getting this setup.

You can now have Categorized sub-menu's.
http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/2014826_14514725.png

Simply create a "Header" item, and every item you place below that will appear under the header.  Add another "Header" and that will appear as a new column.(on the preview/live site) and every item you place after the second header will appear in the second column.  And so forth.
http://support.websiteforge.com/custom/screen/2014827_91055921.png

Let us know if you have any questions on this.
Http://Ticket.websiteforge.com

Here is an official list:

Flash for IOS - Now you can provide an alternative HTML (Image, Video, Etc) for a flash frame.  Since IOS (Apple mobile devices) do not play flash.  You can automatically swap it for something else when viewed by these devices.

Multiple Coupons - Now you can optionally DISABLE the ability for a customer to redeem more than one coupon code per order.  There is a checkbox that you can use to prevent multiple coupon codes.

Trace Forms - Look at your "Submitted Data" in your Feedback Forms area.  You can now look and see how a visitor found your form.  Including the search term used to land there.  Look for "View Visitor Path".   I will also have this info added to the emailed copy of the form submission soon.  

Trace Orders - View your order list and look for "View Visitor Path" on each order.  You can see how the customer found your web site and the full path before checking out.

Login "Tab Button" behavior - We changed the login box so that when you click the "TAB" key. It jumps to the next appropriate field.

Tracking Abandoned Carts - Some of you already know.  You can now view all abandonded carts in your "Visitor Tracking" area.  Just use the drop down to choose "Abandoned Carts".

"Direct FTP access to Template" - I'm a little nervous to announce this one.  For those who would like to develop their own templates.  Or modify their own templates.  We CAN provide direct FTP access to your TEMPLATE.  You must, of course, know how to code HTML and follow our "Template Specification" guideline.  Also any fixes or restores needed are at your own risk and cost.  That being said.  HTML savvy people can try this advanced access to the Website Forge system.

"Mobile Version" - Just a reminder that we can enable a "MOBILE FRIENDLY" version of your website with just one click.  Contact support to test it out.  90% of the time - this automatic conversion works perfectly without changes.  You can of course modify the mobile view if you wish using the normal tools.

Sitemap Upgrades - There are always many google sitemaps upgrades going on.  Recently we made some modifications to help Bing grab your sitemaps file.  This "Google Sitemap" file is now really a universal file for all SE's.

Those are the highlights.  Please provide your questions and comments!!

Shane Merem

Website Forge

www.websiteforge.com