Website Design Solutions: WordPress
December 30, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 3 Comments
WordPress is quite possibly the best thing that has happened to websites since the Internet itself.
If you ask someone what WordPress is, there’s a good chance they’ll tell you that it’s a blog platform, but it’s so much more than that.
Since it first hit the web in 2003 as a blog application, WordPress has evolved into a fully functioning content management system. It stores your content, keeps it organized, and makes your website easy to manage and navigate. Best of all, it’s free.
For those of us who once coded websites by typing HTML by hand, WordPress is a monumental blessing. It doesn’t have the same restrictions and complications that programs like FrontPage or Dreamweaver present because it’s highly customizable and flexible enough that a website designer can take full control of the design and layout while simultaneously giving consideration to the actual content.
About WordPress
Most website hosting providers offer one-click installation for WordPress. That means once you’ve signed up for hosting, getting WordPress installed on your website is just a click away. Only a few, outdated hosting providers still require manual installation, which involves uploading the WordPress files and database to the server on which the site is hosted.
The code and files include instructions that tell a browser how to display the WordPress website on the screen. This is done through WordPress themes, which are templates that drive the design and layout of each site.
The content of a WordPress site is managed online, from the WordPress control panel, which is as easy to use as web-based email. From the control panel, you can compose pages for your site as well as blog posts, and add media including text, images, audio, and video.
WordPress Themes
Often, people are turned off when they hear words like “themes” and “templates.” But WordPress themes can be customized to the point that they don’t even resemble the original look and feel, and there are an enormous variety of themes available.
Most people want a completely original and unique website, especially if they want their business to stand out from the crowd, so it’s understandable that themes or templates don’t sound too appealing. However, there are a number of benefits to using these themes on a website.
For example, many themes have certain standardized components. A navigation menu across the top of a website, a clickable header, and sidebars are familiar to website visitors and make them feel at home. This makes any website easy to navigate and therefore more attractive to visitors.
Also, since the themes are so customizable, it’s entirely possible to strip down a theme and make it look completely different. You can even start with your own design, find a theme that loosely resembles it, and then tweak the theme to match what you had in mind. Or, you can choose a theme you like and tweak it until it has a look and feel that satisfies you.
Some of the available themes are premium, and these you must pay for. However, most themes are free. Many premium themes are available via license through designers who have purchased the right to customize and resell the themes. If you have considerable HTML and CSS skills, you can learn how to customize a WordPress theme quickly and easily on your own. And if you don’t have those skills, you can simply hire someone to do it for you. Chances are, it will be a lot cheaper than hiring a website designer to code your site from scratch.
Problems with Traditional Websites
Traditional websites, which are coded with HTML, present a host of problems and frustrations for business owners:
- If you don’t know how to code your own site, you have to hire someone to do it for you, which means every time you need to make a change or update (no matter how small), you’re reliant on someone else. And you have to pay for it.
- Large amounts of content can be difficult to manage, add to a site, and keep track of without some kind of content management system.
- Small changes to a site’s structure could be costly and time-consuming. For example, you may need to change your URL structure to optimize the site for better search engine performance. That could be tedious and expensive for a larger site that’s not running on any kind of database.
- Designing a site from scratch without a theme or template costs more than customizing a theme because it takes a lot longer.
- It’s difficult to switch designers once your site is up and running. Because a WordPress site runs on a theme, if your designer is unavailable or unsatisfactory, you can easily find another who can update your site for you.
WordPress Benefits
WordPress solves many of the problems presented by traditionally coded websites:
- Once your WordPress theme customization is complete and your site is launched, you (or any of your employees) can quickly and easily add content or make changes. It’s literally as easy as composing email.
- WordPress uses a database to manage all of your content, and through the WordPress control panel, you can view and manage that content with great ease.
- With WordPress, changing the URL structure, for example, is just a matter of renaming pages or categories, and that can all be done in a matter of minutes.
- Because the site’s design starts from a theme and most coding is done by amending the style sheet, a WordPress website will probably be a lot less expensive than sites rendered the old-fashioned way. The code is already there and it just has to be customized.
- Once your site is up and running, anyone with knowledge of WordPress and themes can make changes to your design or content. This can be done from within the control panel.
In addition to solving problems that traditional website design presents, WordPress offers a host of perks:
- Plugins like All in One SEO make keyword optimization a breeze, and are easy to learn.
- Other plugins make website management much easier. Google Analytics plugin automatically installs on every single page of the site.
- Still more plugins make the site attractive to visitors, especially when your site includes a blog.
- WordPress tells you which other websites are linking to yours.
- Using categories and the blog feature, you can generate categorized blog posts or articles, which is a great way to communicate with your customers, connect with other professionals, demonstrate your expertise, establish credibility, build transparency, and generate content that will help your site perform well on search engines.
Website Design Solutions and WordPress
Of course, there are plenty of other content management systems out there and WordPress is not appropriate for all situations. Mammoth sites might need a more powerful (and costly) system. WordPress is ideal for small to medium sized websites and may even be appropriate for some large, content-oriented sites.
One of my favorite things about WordPress is that it allows you to grow your site so easily. I can continually add content, and WordPress handles it seamlessly. I don’t have to keep track of all my files, file naming conventions, folders, and directories. WordPress handles all that for me.
I also appreciate being able to update my site from any computer with an Internet connection as well as from my mobile phone. That definitely comes in handy.
What is Web Content?
December 27, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 2 Comments
There’s a lot of talk on the Internet about web content. You should have it. It needs to be good. You can share it, market it, and sell it. Manage and maintain it. Have a plan – develop it. Use it to build your business. Use it to succeed.
Plenty of people sell web content and related services. You can hire a web content writer, developer, or manager. You might bump into web content consultants, specialists, or experts. You may even happen across someone who creates and then either publishes or sells web content as their entire business model.
But what is web content, anyway?
Defining Web Content
Generally speaking, web content is anything that you find on the web. It can include text, images, audio, and video.
In the early days of the Internet, which weren’t so long ago, web content was extremely limited. You could share files, but it took a long time for them to transmit. Text and light images comprised most of the content online.
Today, thanks to high-speed internet access and ever-evolving technology, web content has grown to include high-definition (HD) video, streaming audio, and clearer, crisper images, including photos. Innovations in web programming are constantly changing the way we build and access web content, and it just keeps getting better, broader, and more accessible.
Your Web Content
So, if web content is everything on the Internet, then which portion of that is yours? Is your web content limited to the contents of your own website? What about your social media presence? Your emails? The message boards you frequent?
In short, anything online that serves to represent you (or your company) in any way, shape, or form, would be construed as your web content. This is not limited to the material on your website. If you upload a video to YouTube, that’s your web content. Your photo and bio, and your entire Facebook page is also your web content, as is any message you leave on a forum or any comment you leave on a blog, and of course, any tweet you post to Twitter.
Basically, if it’s on the Internet and it can be tied directly to you, it’s your web content.
That doesn’t mean you own it, however. Let’s say you write an article for a well-known blog and they accept it, so you get a publication credit. That’s your web content, but it also belongs to the blog where it’s published. Specific details about the (copyright) ownership of the material may vary, depending on the publishing contract between writer and publisher.
You may also have some web content that the public cannot access, such as password-protected sections of your website, friends-only access to your social media networks, or private networks (intranets) not accessible except through internal, secure means.
Why This Matters
Understanding what constitutes as web content is important for anyone with an online presence for several reasons:
- For marketing purposes, it’s helpful to understand the many places where you can publish web content and therefore promote your work.
- Conversely, be wary of misrepresenting yourself or poorly representing yourself. If it’s online, people may find it, and if it casts you in a negative light, that could mean trouble for you and your business.
- Once you know what web content is, you will begin to understand that though it’s simple by definition, it’s complex in its capacity. There is no end to the ways in which web content can be created, shared, and used.
Anyone with an online presence, and especially those who use the Internet to conduct business, would do well to protect their own web content and keep a sharp eye on how the web is used to represent one’s work or business.
Web content is a wondrous thing. What used to take days or even weeks, now can be accomplished in just a few minutes. Want to watch a video? Listen to a song? Read an article? Chances are, you can find what you’re looking for online in a matter of moments.
This means that for professionals, the marketplace has expanded, and so has the marketing field. You have countless new opportunities to promote your product, but there are also countless new ways in which you can get yourself into trouble – either by not having a solid plan for web content, or no management system in place.
In future articles, we’ll talk about web content development and management, and discuss why having a plan and maintenance method are essential to online success.
Introduction to SEO Copywriting
December 25, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 6 Comments
When I first started working as a website copywriter, I knew relatively little about search engine optimization (SEO). I understood that keywords open the door to search engine traffic, but I didn’t realize just how much effort was involved in successfully finding and implementing those keywords using SEO.
In hindsight, I entered the SEO copywriting niche almost by accident. Back then, I provided general copywriting services for online and for print. As I settled into my new found profession and increasingly focused on web content writing, I noticed that I was receiving more and more requests for “keyword articles.”
The premise was simple: Write an article (or ten) and use a particular keyword or keyword phrase a predetermined number of times. Some clients wanted the keyword to appear five times in an article. Others specified that the keyword must appear in bold, headings, italics, or near the beginning of a paragraph. Often, the keyword also had to be included in the title.
These assignments made me curious, so I started researching SEO to better understand my clients’ goals. After realizing how SEO could positively impact traffic to a website, I started testing SEO copywriting on my own sites, and finding the endeavor successful, I eventually added SEO services to my repertoire.
What is SEO Copywriting?
SEO copywriting is the practice of writing material for online publication that uses keywords strategically in order to attract traffic from search engines. The most targeted search engine is Google.
Ideally, extensive research is conducted to determine which keywords are a good fit for the website to which you want to draw traffic. This should be done before the SEO copy is written.
Also, there should be a strategy for implementing the keywords not just in the copy, but in the website’s code.
Understanding Keywords
Many business owners request written copy for their website and when asked about keywords, they just list keywords off the cuff, without truly understanding that in website copywriting, a keyword is more than a word from the dictionary that relates to your website or your business.
For example, a restaurant owner might suggest the keyword “food.” I don’t even have to research this keyword to know that it’s highly competitive, and it probably would be impossible for a small business to rank on a search engine for this keyword. Also, it’s extremely nonspecific. Folks searching for “food” could be looking for a grocery store, recipe, or dietary information. In fact, I’d guess it’s quite unlikely that a searcher looking for “food” is actually seeking a restaurant.
Keywords can’t be pulled out of thin air, and website or business owners should never make assumptions about keywords. Take an entrepreneur who calls herself a beautician. She’s attached to that title and requests it as a keyword in her site without doing any research. Would she be interested to learn that the keyword “beautician” generates about 110,000 searches per month through Google alone?
How would she feel about her keyword choice if she learned that “hairstylist” gets 165,000 searches a month? Or if she were to discover that “hair stylist” (two words) gets 368,000 searches?
Imagine her surprise when she finds out that “hairdresser” is searched 823,000 times a month.
Which keyword should she use?
Keywords, SEO, and Assumptions
It’s easy to assume that the beautician should target the keyword “hairdresser” because it gets the most searches. However, a good SEO continues to ask questions.
- How competitive is the keyword?
- How much research, copywriting, and other resources will it take to rank for this keyword?
- Can my business handle the amount of traffic that this keyword could potentially draw?
A large chain of salons might have the budget and resources to hire an extensive SEO campaign in the tens of thousands of dollars. Such a chain could also handle the number of customers that a massive campaign could attract.
However, an independent, self-employed beautician may prefer another strategy. It could be more beneficial to rank high for a beautician-related keyword that gets a lower number of searches and for which it will take less time and resources to achieve high rankings. This is especially true if she is intent on remaining independent and cannot handle a clientele roster that numbers in the tens (or hundreds) of thousands.
The Art of SEO Copywriting
The actual practice of SEO copywriting involves writing copy that contains keywords. This is neither as simple nor as straightforward as it sounds.
A good copywriter knows that the first priority is to create copy that compels. That means understanding the primary intent. Should this copy incite website visitors to buy a product? Encourage them to hire someone for a service? Register for membership? Click to another page?
Compelling copywriting is clear and easy to read. It speaks to the target customer and it is concise. Usually, it’s formatted to be scanable. Often, it’s balanced with descriptive and interesting images (or video).
Keywords have to fit into good copywriting, and this is tricky writing. If you build copy around keywords, then the copy will be keyword-driven rather than customer-oriented. A talented or skillful SEO copywriter knows how to work keywords into great copy, much like a chef works herbs and spices into a gourmet recipe.
Hiring an SEO Copywriter
The goal of SEO copywriting is to increase a website’s rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). A professional SEO copywriter understands this and wants her clients to succeed.
A good SEO copywriter may or may not provide keyword research and other SEO services. Some copywriters only do the writing. However, any professional SEO copywriter has a thorough understanding of how SEO works.
When you hire a copywriter, you may already have a list of keywords. Perhaps you hired a professional SEO and just need someone to write the copy. Or maybe your site has been optimized for some time and now you just want to update the written content.
In any case, both an SEO copywriter and a client should understand that SEO is not as simple as plucking keywords from one’s vocabulary and then casually applying them to written copy.
The Top 5 Business Blogging Essentials
December 24, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 15 Comments
Business blogging isn’t fast or easy. You have to master the writing, command your audience, and grasp the technology. Upload images and download plugins. Moderate comments and manage posts. It’s a ten-man job, there’s only two hands on the helm, and chances are they both belong to you.
If you’re lucky, you’ve got a partner or an assistant and you can spread the workload around a little. Otherwise, it’s all yours. So you grease up and get down to business churning out blog posts and moderating comments like a freight train barreling down a steep, slippery slope.
And what a slippery slope it is. I know, you’ve got your hands full. With a business to run and blog to maintain, who has time for the details? But there a few core essentials that every blogger should master, even if business blogging is simply a means for you to drive your online marketing efforts.
1. Master WordPress
Do you just log in, write a post, hit publish, and then go about your merry business? WordPress needs your attention. After all, it houses your blog. Like any home, it requires care and maintenance. A few quick tips:
- Always stay upgraded to the latest version of WordPress. Otherwise, stuff might break and your blog or website will not be secure (in other words, a hacker could get in).
- Fill in those fields. The tags and categories aren’t there for show. Make sure you don’t have a bunch of uncategorized posts and use your tags for Google’s sake.
- Check your dashboard. Don’t you want to know who’s linking to you? Don’t you think you should head over to their place and show a little love? Okay, if you’re a big shot blogger, maybe not. But if you’re a big shot blogger, why are you reading these tips? Plus, your dashboard provides a summary of how many posts and comments you’ve acquired to date, stats you should be aware of.
2. Embrace Plugins
Don’t neglect your plugins. There’s a reason a little red blurb pops up to let you know that your plugins require maintenance. When you see that red blurb, it means your plugins are jumping up and down, waving their arms in the air and yelling “Over here! We need your help!”
If you’re using the latest version of WordPress (see number one above), upgrading your plugins takes about two clicks and just as many seconds.
Don’t have plugins? Get some immediately. They’re there to serve a purpose – to make your blog run more efficiently and effectively. My favorites are: All in One SEO Pack, CommentLuv, and of course, the plugin nobody can live without – Akismet. Actually, there are a lot more but that’s a whole ‘nother post.
3. Track Traffic
If you don’t know how many people are visiting your blog, then how can you know whether it’s bringing in more business? Knowing how many visitors you’re getting on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis is how you will determine whether your business blogging efforts are paying off.
Some key stats to check:
- Unique visitors – how many individuals visited your site
- Pageviews – how many pages of your site people looked at
- Top landing pages – how people are entering your site
- Referring sites – who is sending traffic your way
- Time on site – how long people are hanging around
Where you do get this information? There are several options for tracking traffic, but I prefer Google Analytics (it’s free and easy to use).
Make sure you always keep the purpose and goal of your website and blog in mind when you analyze your stats. Lots of traffic won’t do you any good if your visitors aren’t buying whatever it is that you’re selling. In other words, don’t be misled by hoards of traffic.
4. Draw Traffic
The other day a friend and I were having a little chat about our blogs and when she complained about her statistics I asked her what she was doing to draw traffic. Her response: “What do you mean?”
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it now and probably again later: If you build it, they will come, but first you have to tell them about it.
If nobody knows about your website, how can you expect them to visit? If the only keyword you’re ranking for on Google is your name and you’re not famous (yet), how do you expect people to find your blog? The opportunities for drawing traffic are limitless but first you’ve got to make it a priority. Whether you use an ad campaign, social media, or word of mouth, you’re going to have to put a little effort into attracting a crowd.
5. Inform, Educate, and Entertain
None of this matters if your content fails to tickle readers where it counts. Every single person with an internet connection could visit your site but if the content isn’t compelling, all that traffic won’t do you one bit of good. A decent design helps and a spectacular one might push you over the top, but nothing beats good writing. This is especially true for business blogging because readers expect professionalism in a business blog.
Start by planning out your posts in advance. Schedule some brainstorming sessions so you have a nice big pile of ideas for topics. Then, write some killer headlines. Make sure your content has value – offer insider tips, free but valuable information, and a hearty laugh.
Don’t forget to establish your voice. That would also be the voice of your company, which is one part of its image. Are you clever and dry? Is your company image gritty or sleek? Develop a voice that is in line with your brand. And if you don’t have the time, skill, or interest, then hire a professional writer to do it for you.
Want More?
When it comes to business blogging, there’s a never-ending list of tasks to do. Even though these are the essentials, they’re easy to neglect, and often go unattended by small business owners and hobby bloggers who get caught up in other, distracting activities. Sure, there’s a lot more you can do for your blog and for your entire website, but if you don’t stay on top of the core action items, those extras won’t matter a whole lot. The pro bloggers know this and tend to their blogs with due diligence. You should too.
Scribizzy offers a range of blog services to help small business communicate with customers and market their products and services on the web. Want to learn more? Get a quote online.
Before You Hire a Website Copywriter…
December 22, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 2 Comments
You Say You Want Web Content Writing
When you’re doing business online, it’s essential that your written content is fresh, compelling, and written specifically for your target audience. Good website copywriting can make or break a website. It can turn a casual visitor into a loyal customer or convince a shopper to buy.
Hiring a professional to do your website copywriting is a pretty good idea but what if copywriting is not the service you really need?
Tell Me What You Really Want
I get requests from clients all the time for website copywriting projects that aren’t copywriting projects at all. Here are a few examples:
- How much will it cost for you to rewrite my home page? I need to get more traffic to my site.
- I’d like to get a press release published on several major media sites. How much will that cost?
- People who visit my site aren’t buying my product. Can you review my site and give me a quote to rewrite all of it?
Before you hire a website copywriter, you need to do one simple thing: identify your primary objective.
Now, Let’s Figure Out What You Need
In the examples above, written content was not necessarily part of the business owners’ true goal. Let’s take a closer look at each request.
How much will it cost for you to rewrite my home page? I need to get more traffic to my site.
You don’t want a new home page; you want more traffic. A freshly written home page might help you get more traffic, but this request has more to do with online marketing and search engine optimization than it does with website copywriting.
To draw traffic, you usually need to do one of three things. First you can pay for advertising or use search engine marketing (SEM). Second, you can find ways to get links to your site from other sites. Finally, you can optimize your site so it draws people who are looking for your product or service using search engines. This is called search engine optimization (SEO).
Note that search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) are two different things.
SEO in particular is closely linked to website copywriting because the copywriter must use keywords in the composition of the text. However, SEO is its own field of study, and I’ll talk more about what SEO is and how it can help you get more traffic in an upcoming post.
I’d like to get a press release published on several major media sites. How much will that cost?
Every time I get this request, my first question is always, “What’s the news?” And the answer is almost always “We want to tell people about our site.”
A press release is a news item and is usually a time-sensitive announcement. If your website sells eyewear, then a press release probably isn’t right for you unless your sunglasses allow people to travel through time or your spectacles give a wearer the ability to fly. That’s news!
You can create news, of course, and then a press release will be entirely appropriate. Running a major promotion or special could be newsworthy. A new product or website launch may also be newsworthy.
Interestingly, this request isn’t really for a press release. Like the first request, what this client actually wants is more traffic. There are a lots of ways to get traffic and a press release is only one of them.
People who visit my site aren’t buying my product. Can you review my site and give me a quote to rewrite all of it?
The real question being asked is this: why aren’t people buying my product?
It may have nothing to do with the written content and everything to do with the type of traffic the site is attracting. Or, maybe it’s not so much that people aren’t buying – they just haven’t found the site at all.
What you want to know is:
- How many visitors are coming to the site?
- Who is visiting the site? Where are they coming from?
- Why aren’t they responding to the call to action?
When people aren’t buying your product or hiring you, the first thing you ned to do is check your traffic statistics to see how many people have stopped by. Your stats should tell you how long they stay on your site and which pages they read during their stay.
Next, you want to know the source of the visitors. Are they coming in through links? Social media? Search engines? Maybe the traffic you’re getting isn’t your target customer base.
For example, let’s say you’re a florist named Kate Tomlin and you grow your own lilies, so that’s the flower you feature most on your site. Due to the combination of the words “lily” and “Tomlin,” you often get search traffic for “Lily Tomlin.” In fact, you get a lot of it.
Rewriting your home page is not going to make these visitors buy your lilies because they’re not looking for flowers, they’re looking for the actress Lily Tomlin.
When Website Copywriting is Appropriate
A really good website copywriter should be able to tell you if you’re ready for copywriting services and many web content writers provide SEO copywriting and a host of services that are designed to help you get more traffic or increase sales.
At least, that’s what I do.
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