Is your Website Mobile Friendly? Test it here!

What has Google said?

"Starting April 21st 2015, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal."

"This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results."

Why is Google making the change?

Love Google, or hate it, the search engine giant repeatedly states that it wants users to have a fantastic online experience. Hence, the update to Google’s algorithm places greater emphasis on users navigating easily on a mobile devices. Why? Because Internet use from mobile devices has been rising sharply year on year.

We know that the mobile web is growing, if not exponentially, then certainly rapidly. In light of that fact, Google’s decision seems fair and rational.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Any website that is deemed as not responsive will plummet in their rankings. Does this mean that you have to make your website responsive? No, you don’t, and Google doesn’t have to rank you... Google is not the Internet, but let’s face it, failing to rank well on Google is not a great way to run a successful website.

There are some obvious new restrictions, and some that aren’t so obvious: you cannot, for example, use software that isn’t commonly found on mobile devices, such as Adobe Flash, you cannot display text that can’t be read without being zoomed, you cannot force users to scroll horizontally & you need to ensure there’s adequate space between links.

What should you do?

The good news is, finding out whether to meet Google’s definition of mobile-friendly is easy.

Google have provided a useful tool that will check the responsiveness of your website in seconds:

If the site is responsive, Google gives you the thumbs up. If not it will tell you why not.

Contact us today or get a quotation or email us on ben@blabsolutions.net for more info.

How bad is it going to be?

Some people will notice no change, some will see their sites drop out of the rankings altogether.

And the impact on rankings will naturally depend on just how much mobile traffic you receive.

10 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Professional Website Designer

Your web site is the Internet face of your organization. You want to make it as professional and appealing to your target audience as possible.

10 Reasons why you should hire a professional website designer:

1. Saving you time – Hiring a professional gives you the benefit of hiring an expert who knows successful, efficient ways to create a web site quickly.

2. Making it unique – There are about millions, even billions of web sites on Internet. How are you going to make yours stand out? A professional designer is able to create a web site that is unique to your business, pleasant on the eye, have clear and easy navigation, load efficiently, and work properly in all the major browsers.

3. Making it easy to use – A professional web designer will keep your visitors in mind by making it easy for them to navigate and travel around the web site without getting confused.

4. Getting ahead of your competition – Having a professionally designed web site gives visitor’s confidence in your products and services. Competition is fierce of the Internet and first impressions are very important, your web site should shake hands and smile at your site visitors.

5. Communicating your message – A professional web designer is experienced in knowing how to communicate your message. Be it through the use of colors, fonts, graphics etc., a professional web site should convey a clear consistent, compelling message that represents your business.

6. Making it Search Engine friendly – One of the most important factors about a web site is its presence in the search engines. A professional designer will know how to design your site so that it is Search Engine Friendly.

7. The difference between home made and professional – There is a huge difference between a home made web site and a professional web site. Having a professional web site will provide you with a sense of security about your products and services that no home made web site can do. Who knows that extra sense of security will help you sleep better at night.

8. Making you the expert – A professional designer will know how to make you look like the expert in your field by suggesting resources, source material, news articles and content that will make your company look knowledgeable in its field of business.

9. Making you trustworthy – A good web designer will be able to find ways to convey your trustworthiness through the use of images or text. This lets site visitors know there is a real human on the other side that is worth doing business with.

10. Greater credibility – Having a professionally designed web site will enable your small business to compete with larger companies. A professional designer will be able to make a smaller company look like a larger company; therefore, giving small companies as much credibility as the large companies.

How to Get More Likes on Your Facebook Page

1) Fill out your Facebook Page with searchable information

To grow your number of Facebook fans, every section of your page should include content that's relevant and helpful, but also searchable. Remember: All of the content on your page will be indexed by search engines, helping you attract more fans to your page.

By no means should you go on a keyword-stuffing spree, but rather, spend time optimizing each section of your page with keywords appropriate for your business.

Once you’ve created your Facebook Page, make sure the about section of your page includes:

• An overview of what your business has to offer
• A link to your website
• Any other information that will help prospects understand your business better

2) Include Facebook Like Boxes on your website and blog

Making your Facebook Page as discoverable as possible includes promoting your Facebook presence using the marketing channels you already have, and removing any barriers for existing contacts to like your page.

If you have a website or blog, use Facebook’s various social plugins to get people to 'Like' your page without having to go over to Facebook.com.

While Facebook's Like Button allows users to like individual pieces of content on the web and share them on Facebook, the Like Box is designed only for Facebook Pages. The Like Box is a great way to leverage social proof to amplify your page. It displays your page's number of Likes along with the faces of some of your Facebook fans.

3) Invite existing contacts to Like your page

Chances are, you already have friends, family, and existing customers who would be more than willing to connect with your business on Facebook. All you need to do is ask. Whether in person, via email, or via Facebook, try asking for Likes and positive reviews. Just be cautious about over-promoting to uninterested connections.

You can also encourage existing connections to become fans by making it more likely that they'll see a suggestion on Facebook to like your page. How? You'll have to upload a list of emails to Facebook, and those from that list who are on Facebook will be made more likely to see a suggestion to like your page in places like "Recommended Pages." Your contacts who aren't on Facebook won't see this suggestion.

To upload a list of email contacts through Facebook, open the "Build Audience" menu (located at the top right of your Facebook Page) and select "Invite Email Contacts."

From there, you can upload a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per page -- and a maximum of 5,000 contacts at a time.

4) Invite employees to Like your page

People are more likely to Like pages that already have some sort of following, and your employees can help your business build its initial numbers. After all, they are your strongest and most effective brand advocates.

Ask them to like the official Facebook Page. Then, encourage them to share, Like, and comment on the content your team posts on Facebook, too. Employees who really want to share the love might include a link to your Facebook Page in their email signatures or on their personal social media profiles.

5) Incorporate Facebook into your offline communication channels

Have a physical storefront? Think about ways to encourage patrons to become Facebook fans. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Place stickers in your front windows promoting your page's name.
• Include your Facebook URL on your receipts.
• Run a promotion where customers who become Facebook fans on the spot get small discounts.

Market your business offline? Include links to your Facebook Page and other social media profiles on printed ads, flyers, coupons, catalogs, business cards, and direct mail assets.

6) Cross promote on Twitter and LinkedIn

Add a link to your Facebook Page on your business's Twitter and LinkedIn profiles (and your personal profile, for that matter). Tweet about your Facebook Page occasionally to encourage your Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections to stay in contact with you on another network.

Add your Twitter link to your Facebook Page, and occasionally tweet about your Facebook Page. Don’t stop with Twitter and Facebook; you could also cross-promote on LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. Just be sure that your cross promotions are sparing and strategic. You don't want to spam the other audiences that you've worked so hard to develop.

7) Post valuable content

The best way to increase your following on Facebook is by treating your fans like people and that means consistently delivering content that is valuable to them. Delivering value really comes into play with the content you create and share with your fans, and how you interact with them.

It's all about building long-term relationships with your Facebook fans. They might not remember one individual post to Facebook, but if they notice you consistently publish high quality, helpful, and relevant posts to Facebook, they'll think of you as a valuable resource.

So, how do you know what to publish? If you’re in tune with your buyer personas, you probably have a good idea what types of content your ideal customers like. If not, or if you just need some inspiration, consider spending a week taking note of the types of content in your own News Feed that compels you click, comment, or share. What inspired you? Use your observations to inspire future posts.

8) Be active

Getting more Facebook Likes isn't just about profile optimization and an initial push. To continue growing steadily, you need to maintain an active, ongoing presence.

Not only does this mean posting educational, insightful content on a regular basis, but it also means monitoring your presence and interacting with your fans. Ask questions, answer questions, and participate in discussions with those posting on your page. Find, follow, and build relationships with others in your industry. Create a presence worth following.

9) Use Facebook Ads to expand your reach

Growing your Facebook Likes organically is the best way to drive engagement and, ultimately, convert fans into customers. But if you have the budget for it, incorporating some paid advertising into your Facebook strategy can help augment the hard work you're already putting in.

Facebook offers a type of ad called a "Page Like Ad," which contains a CTA suggesting that users Like your Facebook Page. These ads can appear in users' News Feeds or in the ad column on the right-hand side of their web browser when they're on Facebook. Here's what a Page Like Ad looks like on a mobile News Feed:

If you’ve exhausted your existing contacts and want to reach people who don’t know about your page yet, but would be interested in hearing from you, you can use Facebook’s granular targeting capabilities to reach your ideal buyer persona(s) and grow your audience.

The Importance of YouTube & How To Generate More Traffic

YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. A Google product is the number one video-sharing website with 4 billion visitors making a search daily and 60 hours of video uploaded every minute.

Now SMBs must consider these two facts – uploading and marketing videos on YouTube helps to give your content visibility in both the platform YouTube as well as in Google Search. Thus, it increases your possibility to drive more traffic to your website.

The YouTube channel serves as the hub for companies’ video contents allowing them to present product, service or mission to a platform that has a unique 800 million visits each month.

How is YouTube going to amplify your content visibility?

• Currently YouTube have over 300 million active users that are almost equivalent to the total US population. With 60 hours of video uploaded every minute, it can be a great tool to reach out to and gain profit from this huge market.
• People love to listen and watch more than reading out information. Thus, YouTube videos are engaging. They are entertaining and present information in an interesting and creative way.
• YouTube serves as the link to your website. It is the gateway to increased traffic. It is a well established website where you can tap the power of YouTube and funnel more visitors to your site.

Let us get into the details and find out how you can really use YouTube for your good?

1.Develop YouTube Visibility

Well, more than ten thousand videos are added to YouTube each day. If you have kept YouTube untouched and did nothing to increase your visibility in the past few years, then your videos will be buried in YouTube.

How will you increase the brand visibility via YouTube?

• Use a descriptive Video Title and add words that include words, which is more searchable. Use long tail specific keywords. For example, “how to prepare for a customer care executive interview” or “5 ways you can improve your speech skills”.
• Tag the location of your video: this helps Google include your brand in their SERP and index your video in Google Maps and Google Places.

2.Grow Your Network

Uploading a video is a great way to spread the word for your brand and this can be through building a network. Convince people to subscribe to your channel and once they subscribe, uploads will be fed to their profiles.

How will you convince them?

• Ask people to subscribe at the end of your video with a call to action button
• Ask viewers to click on the links (website of social media accounts)
• Respond to viewer’s comments
• Post your videos in social media sites
• Create high quality original videos

3.Brand Your Page

Branding is an important factor and many features to brand your YouTube channel are free. Customize the background of your channel, display social networks and create a custom header to mark your presence in YouTube.

How can you brand your page in YouTube in the upright manner?

• Uploading a custom background is the testament for your official presence at YouTube. Make sure your YouTube channel preserves simplicity, high quality and highlights the brand with feasible features.
• Highlight the social networking channels, blog or websites. The latest upgrade in YouTube gives you ample opportunity to display other online options of your company.
• Custom banners and layouts to improve user experience, but unfortunately this comes at a cost compared to other free optimization suggestions. If you’re a non-profit organization then you can take the free option or else you have to explore the payment option.

4.Descriptive Playlists in Trend

Playlist helps to organize videos on your channel in groups based on the topic of your choice. Playlist helps to increase the visibility of your channel content.

How do you optimize your playlist for better visibility?

• Start grouping the videos of a similar topic into the playlists. It is the common behavior of the users to watch another video of the same content right after they view one on that topic.
• Start using keyword-focused titles for your playlists.
• Make sure to use a keyword focused description for the playlist you organize for your brand.

When you have something to prove to the audience that you have features to present your brand as unique, they will keep viewing your videos. Update your channel regularly to keep the momentum intact. So speed up your YouTube activity!

Website Ranking. What is SEO, Exactly?

What is SEO, Exactly?

The goal of foundational SEO isn't to cheat or "game" the search engines. The purpose of SEO is to:

• Create a great, seamless user experience.
• Communicate to the search engines your intentions so they can recommend your website for relevant searches.

1. Your Website is Like a Cake

Your links, paid search, and social media acts as the icing, but your content, information architecture, content management system, and infrastructure act as the sugar and makes the cake. Without it, your cake is tasteless, boring, and gets thrown in the trash.

2. What Search Engines Are Looking For

Search engines want to do their jobs as best as possible by referring users to websites and content that is the most relevant to what the user is looking for. So how is relevancy determined?

• Content: Is determined by the theme that is being given, the text on the page, and the titles and descriptions that are given.
• Performance: How fast is your site and does it work properly?
• Authority: Does your site have good enough content to link to or do other authoritative sites use your website as a reference or cite the information that's available?
• User Experience: How does the site look? Is it easy to navigate around? Does it look safe? Does it have a high bounce rate?

3. What Search Engines Are NOT Looking For

Search engine spiders only have a certain amount of data storage, so if you're performing shady tactics or trying to trick them, chances are you're going to hurt yourself in the long run. Items the search engines don't want are:

• Keyword Stuffing: Overuse of keywords on your pages.
• Purchased Links: Buying links will get you nowhere when it comes to SEO, so be warned.
• Poor User Experience: Make it easy for the user to get around. Too many ads and making it too difficult for people to find content they're looking for will only increase your bounce rate. If you know your bounce rate it will help determine other information about your site. For example, if it's 80 percent or higher and you have content on your website, chances are something is wrong.

4. Know Your Business Model

While this is pretty obvious, so many people tend to not sit down and just focus on what their main goals are. Some questions you need to ask yourself are:

• What defines a conversion for you?
• Are you selling eyeballs (impressions) or what people click on?
• What are your goals?
• Do you know your assets and liabilities?

5. Don't Forget to Optimize for Multi-Channels

Keyword strategy is not only important to implement on-site, but should extend to other off-site platforms, which is why you should also be thinking about multi-channel optimization. These multi-channel platforms include:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Email
• Offline, such as radio and TV ads

Being consistent with keyword phrases within these platforms will not only help your branding efforts, but also train users to use specific phrases you're optimizing for.

6. Be Consistent With Domain Names

Domain naming is so important to your overall foundation, so as a best practice you're better off using sub-directory root domains (example.com/awesome) versus sub-domains (awesome.example.com). Some other best practices with domain names are:

• Consistent Domains: If you type in www.example.com, but then your type in just example.com and the "www" does not redirect to www.example.com, that means the search engines are seeing two different sites. This isn't effective for your overall SEO efforts as it will dilute your inbound links, as external sites will be linking to www.example.com and example.com.
• Keep it Old School: Old domains are better than new ones, but if you're buying an old domain, make sure that the previous owner didn't do anything shady to cause the domain to get penalized.
• Keywords in URL: Having keywords you're trying to rank for in your domain will only help your overall efforts.

7. Optimizing for Different Types of Results

In addition to optimizing for the desktop experience, make sure to focus on mobile and tablet optimization as well as other media.

• Create rich media content like video, as it's easier to get a video to rank on the first page than it is to get a plain text page to rank.
• Optimize your non-text content so search engines can see it. If your site uses Flash or PDFs, make sure you read up on the latest best practices so search engines can crawl that content and give your site credit for it.

8. Focus on Your Meta Data Too

Your content on your site should have title tags and meta descriptions.

• Meta keywords are pretty much ignored by search engines nowadays, but if you still use them, make sure it talks specifically to that page and that it is also formatted correctly.
• Your meta description should be unique and also speak to that specific page. Duplicate meta descriptions from page to page will not get you anywhere.

Title tags should also be unique! Think your title as a 4-8 word ad, so do your best to entice the reader so they want to click and read more.

How to gain your first fans to your Facebook page

The temptation might be to share your Facebook page right away with all your Facebook friends. Not so fast. Take a moment to think strategically about your plan and to seed your page with content so that it looks inviting and engaging when visitors do stop by.

Publish three to five posts before you invite anyone.

Then try out one of these strategies to get to your first 100 fans.

Invite your Facebook friends

Facebook has a built-in feature to tell your Facebook friends about your page. Click on the Build Audience link in the top right corner of your page, and choose Invite Friends from the dropdown.

You can then pick and choose which friends you’d like to invite, and you can drill down into specific sections of friends, filtered by location, school, lists, and recent interactions.

Once invited, your friends will receive a direct message with an invitation to your page. You won’t have a chance to edit the message they receive.

Invite your coworkers

One of the best sources of social media promotion for your company could very well be your coworkers. Ask everyone who works with you to like the page and—if willing—to recommend the page to any friends who might be interested.

Promote your Facebook page on your website

Facebook offers a full complement of widgets and buttons that you can add to your website to make it easy for website visitors to like your page.

One of the most ubiquitous plugins is the Facebook Like Box. With the Like Box, you can show faces of those who like the page and even the posts that you’ve recently published to your page.

Promote your Facebook page in your email signature

One of the most visible places you might find to promote your page is in your inbox. Edit your email signature to include a call-to-action and link to your Facebook page.

Hold a contest

Facebook contests can be huge for gaining likes on your page. One of the best apps for creating a contest is ShortStack, which helps you create custom campaigns to drive Likes to your page (or email capture or fan engagement or any number of different ideas you might have).

What to post and when to post it

In general, there are three main types of posts you’re likely to publish on your Facebook feed:

• Photo/video
• Text update
• Links

As mentioned above, posts with photos garner 37 percent more engagement than posts without photos.

Definitely make visual content a huge part of your Facebook strategy.

As far as the frequency with which to post, Facebook’s algorithm changes have made research into the topic rather difficult. Publish more frequently—as often as you have fresh, compelling content to share.

Here are some highlights:

Use admin tags. Sign off as your page. This is a great way to increase how viral you are because it increase the amount of places people have to click on your post. This will mean your post gets more clicks/interactions overall and you get ranked higher on Facebook’s formula. The picture below shows an example of an admin tag.

Ask questions. Create posts that are designed for involvement—and by this I don’t mean “share if you agree!” Ask actual questions, and give replies to people’s responses.

Post more often, but don’t spam! Most business pages hardly post one thing a day, and then if they do that, it’s usually about themselves. You want to post content every three hours, 24/7. Make sure this content isn’t about yourself either.

Posting often, as much as every three hours—might seem like a daunting task. You certainly don’t need to have the same frequency as he suggests, but rather I think there’s value in his advice to make your posting schedule consistent.

Social media scheduling apps like Buffer help make this easy by letting you schedule posts ahead of time. You can add to a queue so that your page always has fresh content being posted automatically on schedule.

Ideal length and timing of Facebook posts is another area you might want to experiment with.

Market research has determined that the best time was to post late in the day, after work hours.

Similarly, they also found that posting on off-peak days of the week was best. Posts on Sundays receive 2.72 interactions and are 25% more effective than a post on Wednesday.

As far as ideal length, brand studies on Facebook have found that shorter posts were better. He measured engagement of posts, defined by “like” rate and comment rate, and the ultra-short 40-character posts received 86 percent higher engagement than others.

How to tell what’s worked and what hasn’t

After sharing posts, you’re likely to want to know how they did. Your social media management tool would figure to have some built-in analytics that can help you better understand how your posts performed. Here’s a peek at what the Buffer for Business analytics look like:

You can also gain a huge number of stats and numbers from Facebook Insights.

Once you’ve shared several pieces of content to your Facebook page, you’ll see an Insights tab at the top of your Facebook menu, between Activity and Settings.

At the top of the Insights page, you’ll see your Page Likes, Post Reach, and Engagement stats for the week, along with a comparison to the same stats from last week.

Another neat area to check is the demographic information on the people who visit and engage with your page.

Click on People from the Insights menu, and you can drill down into demographic information of your fans, the people reached by your posts, the people who engage with your post, and the check-ins you receive at your physical location.

Here’s an example from Buffer’s page insights about the people reached by our posts.

One of the newest features of Insights is the “Pages to Watch” section at the bottom of the page. You can add other pages that you want to monitor—a great way to grab some competitor research and take inspiration from the way that other pages market themselves.

To add a page, simply click on the Add Pages button at the top of the section.

Search for the name of the page you want to watch, then click to add it to your watch list. Once a page has been added, you can click on the name of the page from your Insights dashboard, and you’ll see an overview of their best posts from the week.

Even more tips – What would you recommend?

I came across so many great Facebook page tips while researching this article. I couldn’t fit them all in! Here are just a couple more that slipped through:

• Reply to all comments with either a response or a Like.
• Tag other people and pages—especially your community members—in your posts.
• Consider adding your first name as a signature to the posts you write.
• Repost the evergreen content from your blog, regardless of the original date of publication.

Why Choose a Freelance Web Designer?

Working alongside a freelance web designer gives you that personal one-to-one service that no large company can offer.

There are many benefits to working with a Freelance Web Designer. When I'm working on a project, I will be the main point of contact at all times avoiding any communication delays that might occur with larger companies. Freelance Designers like myself often work from home which means you avoid paying large overheads.

I won't try to sell you expensive Content Management packages if I don't think you need one. With open source projects so advanced these days, 99% of websites can be created using existing CMS platforms such as Wordpress and Joomla.

If there comes a point where you're looking for something that goes beyond my realm of knowledge in a certain area, I have a number of people I regularly work alongside. This means you have all the advantages of working with a large company whilst keeping the cost down at the same time.

HTML5: What is it?

When Steve Jobs refused to allow Flash on iOS devices, he argued that HTML5 could do everything Flash did.

He wasn't being entirely honest - the reality distortion field was strong that day - but ultimately Apple won and Adobe didn't; HTML5, not Flash, is the technology that's transforming the web. So what exactly is it, and what does it want from us?

What is HTML5?

HTML5 is the latest version of Hypertext Markup Language, the code that describes web pages. It's actually three kinds of code: HTML, which provides the structure; Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which take care of presentation; and JavaScript, which makes things happen.

What's so great about HTML5?

HTML5 has been designed to deliver almost everything you'd want to do online without requiring additional software such as browser plugins. It does everything from animation to apps, music to movies, and can also be used to build incredibly complicated applications that run in your browser.

There's more. HTML5 isn't proprietary, so you don't need to pay royalties to use it. It's also cross-platform, which means it doesn't care whether you're using a tablet or a smartphone, a netbook, notebook or ultrabook or a Smart TV: if your browser supports HTML5, it should work flawlessly. Inevitably, it's a bit more complicated than that. More about that in a moment.

What does HTML5 do?

We've come a long way since HTML could barely handle a simple page layout. HTML5 can be used to write web applications that still work when you're not connected to the net; to tell websites where you are physically located; to handle high definition video; and to deliver extraordinary graphics.

When will HTML5 be finished?

HTML5 is an evolving standard, so it's a bit misleading to talk about when it'll be finished. What's important is that HTML's features - such as the aforementioned geolocation, web apps, video and graphics can be used now, provided your browser supports them.

Do I need an HTML5 browser?

You've probably got one already. All of the big name browsers - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera, Mobile Safari and Android's browser - support HTML5, but they don't all support the same things.

Firefox generally supports the widest selection of HTML5 features, with Chrome and Safari following shortly afterwards, but as we said HTML5 is an evolving standard and the latest versions of each browser more than cover the basics.

What's the problem with HTML5 video?

The HTML5 standard supports video, but unfortunately nobody could agree on which format(s) to support - and that means that different browsers support different HTML5 video formats. There are three main ones: Ogg Theora, which is supported by every browser bar Internet Explorer (Safari support requires a manual installation); H.264, which is supported by everyone but Firefox; and VP8/WebM, which is supported by everything (although Safari and IE require manual installations). In January, Google announced that it would eventually remove H.264 support from Chrome. If you're thinking "blimey, that sounds like a right mess," we'd agree with you.

Will HTML5 replace Flash and Silverlight?

In some ways it already has: iOS devices don't run Flash, and many video websites have either moved from Flash to HTML5 video or at least offered HTML5 as an option. However, as HTML5 doesn't include digital rights management (DRM) technology to prevent copying, many content owners prefer proprietary, DRM-friendly formats such as Flash or Silverlight. For example, UK video site LoveFilm is dropping Flash - but instead of HTML5, it's moving to Silverlight.

Although Adobe has announced that it will stop developing the Flash Player for mobile devices Flash is also used for considerably more than just showing video, so it's not going anywhere in a hurry.

Everything you Need to Know About WordPress

What is a CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System. It’s a piece of software that allows you and your team members will be able to edit, add to and manage your own content on a site. Additionally, in the future you can assign roles to people at other companies allowing them quick access to do the same. This can include web page text, images, blog posts, videos, podcasts, blog comments and more.

Why is a content management system important and why do you want one?

Personally, after learning html and CMS the next step I wish I would have learned was how to not only get my sites into a CMS, but also how to maximize it’s use (to save me time, and to increase my ability to market myself and my company). How’s that you say? Well…

Opening an FTP program, editing HTML, making sure things are formatted, and then uploading the changes takes a LOT of time. Even for those of us that are technically savvy will save countless hours over the long haul by putting our sites into a CMS (and if you’re working with clients, you’ll save even more).

Even if your content is perfect at the launch of your web presence you will no doubt want to make changes as you go. You may change the terms of your offerings, add or eliminate products or services, switch keywords, change the target market you are focusing on and more. Plus if you have done any research into website design, SEO and Internet marketing you already know that regular, fresh new content is what the search engines thrive off of and can play a big role in where you show up in search results.

Content Management Systems Technical

There are a few things you should know about the technical details of each content management system you work on or implement. Personally, for general web publishing (you have pages, and a blog) WordPress is my defacto CMS. It’s simple, extremely search engine friendly, and has a ton of extensions/plugins that you can add to increase the functionality of your site instantly. However, even wordpress has it’s quirks, and once you select a program like WordPress it’s time to learn all about it.

WordPress started as a simple blogging platform back in 2003. Since its introduction only a few short years ago, WordPress (WP) has blossomed into a winning content management system (CMS). So what are your actions once you create a website?

The functions of WordPress seem to be endless, as more and more people are harnessing it’s power for template designs, blogging, corporate websites/blogs and so much more. You’d be crazy to go against its ballooning online audience and argue that WordPress isn’t here to stay.

If you’ve ever looked for a CMS platform you understand the complexity of finding a simple CMS that actually works and isn’t full of bugs or fatal error messages. Finding a CMS platform system capable of adapting to your growing needs is also a must. This is exactly why so many individuals have chosen to use WordPress as their CMS.

Benefits of Using WordPress as a CMS

Simple Interface:

The WordPress platform offers a simple user interface when it comes to other content management systems. After logging into WP you’ll arrive at the dashboard. The WordPress dashboard allows you to change many elements of your website without having to know a line of code. You can change/edit images, pages, posts, content and a variety of other features fairly quickly. Check out the logged in WP dashboard below:

User Friendly:

WordPress is extremely user friendly. Other content management systems boast about their endless list of features, but more often than not, they are extremely complicated to use. WordPress however, is easy to adapt to without any needed support. To add a new post to your blog/website you’ll need to create a new post, customize the URL, upload/edit content and “update” the page, which will push it live on your site. Check out this process below:

Web Library:

WordPress has an extensive web library of templates and plugins. Templates are used to change the look and feel of your WP website. Often times you can download a variety of free templates online that can meet a variety of your needs. Plugins are another great feature that allow you to add specific elements to your WP platform. If you do a search for either WordPress templates/plugins you’ll be able to peruse the extensive list of templates/plugins.

Online Community:

Even if you do run into problems when you’re setting up the WordPress platform, don’t worry. WordPress has a very strong and tight-knit community ready to help you out. All you have to do is run a simple search to find answers to all of your questions.

It’s Free:

You don’t have to pay for the WordPress platform. The only time you will ever have to pay for anything is if you decide to create a custom WP template. Typically you can hire a third party web design firm that specializes in WordPress, with you want a unique/customized template.

It’s Evolving:

WordPress is a CMS that’s going to change with your business. WP has one of the largest online communities that’s dedicated to making this platform work for you. These individuals are constantly striving to push the limits of WordPress, provide users with a platform that’s capable of evolving to meet future expectations and needs.

The Beginners Guide To Joomla

Have you ever wanted to create your own website, but not confident that you have the skills to create one yourself?

MakeUseOf is proud to announce The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Joomla which is now available to download for free.

Thanks to this 40+ page guide, you can easily create your own, professional website within minutes. This guide will teach you how to use Joomla CMS and create your own professional websites.

This guide will walk you through everything from why to choose Joomla and how to install it on your webserver to how to design and customise your site to your liking.

Once you’re finished with the guide you will know enough to be able to get your very own website up and running.

 

1. Introduction

Joomla is a great Content Management System with a lot of flexibility and with an easy-to-use user interface that a lot of people get intimidated about when they realize how many options and configurations are available. This manual is meant to serve as a guide to Joomla’s basic features and help you install and start your first Joomla website.

We have all been beginner users at some point, so I hope this guide helps answer some of the questions you might have.

1.1 What is a CMS (Content Management System)?

A Content Management System is a series of programming pages connected to a database that allows one to retrieve information from that database in the form of content. Sounds complicated? You’ve used one more often that you think.

Have you ever updated your Facebook page or created a blog? Have you ever bought a book from Amazon.com or bid on something on eBay? Have you ever read The New York Times Online or checked something out on Wikipedia? All of these sites work with a type of Content Management System.

The ones we will be focusing on are ones that allow you to manage your own website from a simple interface, to creating your own pages and menus without the need for knowing how to program yourself.

1.2 About Joomla

Joomla is a platform based on PHP and MySQL which was created in 2005 by a team of open source developers. It currently has 200,000 community users and contributors. Joomla is free to anyone who wants to download it and use it to create a website. It is also open to anyone who wants to create extensions and templates.

The most current version of Joomla can be downloaded from here.

1.3 Why Joomla?

There are three main free CMSs available today, and endless other less popular ones. The most popular Content Management Systems available are: Joomla, Drupal andWordPress.

The differences among them are quite significant, although they are basically meant to do the same thing – to help you create and manage your website. There have been many heated arguments between the Joomla and the Drupal users over which one is best. As someone who has used them both, my take is that they each have their good and bad points.

Joomla

Pros:

• Joomla is usually easier to get up and running and tends to have a quicker learning curve.

• Joomla tends to have better looking templates and a friendlier community, even towards beginner users.

Cons:

• Joomla’s code can be messy at times and loading time tends to be longer because of that.

• Its architecture limits how many levels of sub categories can be created.

Drupal

Pros:

• Drupal has a more flexible infrastructure, allowing you to create multiple sub-categories and with more advanced user features.

• Fast loading time and reasonably clean code.

Cons:

• Longer learning curve and usually a longer install to launch time.

• Although the community is supportive, there is less tolerance to new users and people asking very basic questions.

Basically, they are both excellent CMSs and which one you choose should depend on your particular needs and willingness to work through each CMS’s individual problems.

Also pay attention to what modules and themes each CMS has as you may require one that is not on both platforms. It is best to weigh up the pros and cons of each CMS before you go ahead and create your website.

WordPress is different in many ways. WordPress truly is built to serve primarily as a blogging platform. It also has a large community and flexibility to evolve beyond a simple blog, but it works best as a delivery medium for always changing material exactly the way blogs are supposed to be. That being said, you can create nice websites using WordPress that are not blogs.

What is OpenCart and What Are Its Benefits?

OpenCart is an online resource that was built to make life easier for merchants and customers to interact. Based in an Open Source environment, this shopping cart solution gives you to ability to have your business be search engine friendly with a user interface that is welcoming and inviting. If you’re an online retailer, you’ll likely need shopping functionality on your website, and OpenCart is one option to help you and your customers complete the shopping tasks easily. Whether you are a small brick-and-morter boutique, a drop-shipper working out of your basement, or a large ecommerce shoe seller, OpenCart can fulfill your online sales needs.

Here are a few benefits that come from using OpenCart:

• Plugins. The OpenCart system offers you a wide variety of plugins. The newest edition of the free version offers you about 1,500 plugins, which helps you customize your website to meet the needs of your business and your customers’ needs as well.

• Support. The OpenCart community is pretty substantial. You’ll have access to technical support for those sticky questions that you just can’t seem to get answered. There are community forums where fellow OpenCart users and some skilled programmers are always happy to give you input, as well. Found a bug? There is a quick and easy way to report it on the OpenCart website so you can submit a ticket and get back to whatever you were doing in no time.

• Script. The script architecture for OpenCart is based in a popular program called MVC (Model-View-Controller). Because of the popularity of this script foundation, there are plenty of folks out in cyberspace that are familiar with this script, which gives you optimal access to help when needed. This script is also XHTML compliant.

• Server Resources. Because OpenCart doesn’t necessarily have as many built-in features as some of its competitors, it is far less strenuous on the server systems that power it. Adding just a few plugins shouldn’t affect the speed and efficiency of your OpenCart website much at all. Adding tons of plugins to your site could, eventually, weigh on the speed and efficiency that you and your user’s experience, but having just a few basic features makes the use of OpenCart speedy and easy.

• Dashboard. OpenCart’s administration is particularly easy for new users to understand. The admin panel is neat, clear, and easy to understand and manage. For newbies, these are all important factors to getting your shopping cart site up and running. The user-friendly nature of this program extends from the admin dashboard to the experience of your consumers.

• Cost. Thanks to the Open Source platform from which this program was born, you can download and use OpenCart free of charge. For most small business online stores, the initial out-of-the-box version will work just fine, and that version will cost you nothing! Add-ons and plugins that you’ll probably want to add to make your site its very own come with a minimal fee for most of the modifiers.