WebsiteForge has been working with Martial Arts studios and dojo's across the country to help drive business to their dojo.  Here is some of the feedback we've received from our TDK Dojo clients on benefits they immediately noticed when using WebsiteForge vs their old host.

🥋 Easy to edit content editor -  Our content editor is an easy click and add content editor, so you will spend more time with students and parents and less time working on your website!

🥋 Fully customizable Forms - Our forms can collect as little or as much info you want and need to move things forward.  They are easy to edit and are very flexible to meet your TKD studio's needs.  Including a contract style option that allows you to add a digital signature that is legally binding!

🥋 Full HTML Access - This makes it super easy to embed content on your site from anywhere like Youtube, to sites that have custom live chat widgets!

🥋 Social Media integration - get the word out quick, with one post about upcoming events and classes at your Martial Arts Dojo and Taekwondo studio.

🥋 Location-specific SEO marketing -  Our team has over 15 years of SEO and Marketing expertise and we know exactly how to target and attract your new clients to your dojo.

Read More...

Often people think I only need XYZ service to make my website work.  But when most people try to get a decent looking website up using a cheap hosting option they deeply regret it, often times they quit the project they started, or end up losing thoursands of dollars hiring different "Specialists" to just "make it work like they want".

You don't want to find a storage unit to park your car in and never touch it again...You want a pit crew you can count on to keep your business engine running smoothly.

This is what sets WebsiteForge apart.  We don't piece together random elements from 20 different coders to try and just "Make things work".  We have in-house Designers, Programmers, Project Managers and tech support so that you get the very best option for your business.

We are your unfair advantage, here's another reason why:

WebsiteForge's Managed Services Broken Down for you...

Our monthly managed services are so much more than "just hosting".  It's an all in one bundle of savings that no one comes close to offering!     WebsiteForge offers an incredible monthly package that includes Hosting AND Services:

Monday Google made it official, they are "Mobile-First indexing".

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."

Designing a website that doesn't involve a cookie cutter template design starts with choosing the right website designing host. One that allows you to design a unique website that is pleasing not only to the eyes, but enticing to viewers is WebsiteForge.com.

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.

We are your unfair advantage, here's another reason why:

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.

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.

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!