Category Archives: Web Design Posts

A Complete Guide To Using CDN Services For WordPress

This entry was posted in Advertising, Content, Web Design Posts on by .

Web performance is essential for any eCommerce website. CDN is one of many convenient solutions to improve performance. Whether you are new to WordPress or you’ve been doing it for ages, you probably know about CDN. This is a powerful tool for WordPress sites, and SEO professionals consider it a must. Here is a guide to why you should consider using CDN services for WordPress.

What is CDN?

CDN refers to a content delivery network. They Are servers, also known as pops which are worldwide. CDN’s role is to host and deliver copies of your WordPress site. The content includes images, JavaScript documents, videos, and other data. These features make them very beneficial for your WordPress site.

Why are CDN’s beneficial for WordPress?

WordPress is a content management system and comes with a fair share of faults. For example, many WordPress themes are puffed and with a lot of security issues. However, CDN’s are not a permanent fix for load and speed, but you can use them to enhance your technology base. So if you want to improve and offer affordable SEO services, here are reasons why CDN is an excellent choice for you.

  1. Offers improved features for WordPress 

WordPress is prone to faults, but with the proper adjustment, you can make it secure.

2.Improves site speed for WordPress

The reason why WordPress users use CDN is to improve the site speed. The capability to deliver content closer to your website visitors is vital if you want to improve your web scores. In addition, most can take advantage of a file compression technology by google known as Brotli.

  1. Reduces downtime.

A lot of content delivery networks give websites uptime in case your primary server is down. It works by serving the latest reserve of your WordPress site to visitors until your servers come back. So now you are ready to install CDN.

 How to install a CDN for WordPress

Before optimizing, ensure your CDN is in place for WordPress. Here are simple steps to follow.

  1. Sign up for your CDN
  2. After signing for CDN, you get a new nameserver or a CNAME to add to your present registrar. Although most CDN’s work as internet phonebooks (domain name system-DNS) and require you to use their name server, some allow you to use a CNAME.
  3. When your DNS is propagated to your new CDN, you can start setting up your content delivery network.
  4. If your CDN has WordPress plugins, you should check the reviews and install them if it’s safe on your site. Now you’re ready to optimize your site.

How to optimize a CDN for WordPress

To enable your CDN to work for your WordPress site, these are the steps to make it speedy and safe

  •  Enable automatic WordPress optimization
  •  Enable Brotli
  •  Minify Html/CSS/JS
  • Secure WordPress login page
  • Block attacks instead of your login page
  •  Enable http2 or http3
  • Enable image optimization

CDNs are a powerful tool for WordPress sites, and you should use them in your web tech stack. During the setup, test your site speed before and after. However, monitor performance in your CDN platform and your website functionality. With all this, you are set to have a wonderful experience on your site.

Considerations When Choosing a Web Design Company

This entry was posted in Marketing, Web Design Posts on by .

Bad design hurts your business. If your pages are cluttered, has too many graphic elements, and unnecessary pages, you’ll lose potential customers before they even have a chance to find out what your products or services are all about. Improve their experience by hiring a web design company in Ventura to fix your site. The right one will make your pages mobile-friendly, clean up the visual clutter, and entice visitors to stay longer, increasing the chances for conversions and sales. Here are several considerations to factor into your decision.

Check out its site

Your hiring decision impacts your bottom line. Pick a bad firm and you could end up making mistakes and losing potential customers. If the company’s site is amateurish and lacks professionalism, look elsewhere. If the site is clean, simple, and easy to navigate, those are all signs that the firm knows what good web design is all about.

Browse through the portfolio

A lot of companies have online portfolios where they show samples of previous work. Go over those samples. Do you see anything you like? That may be a sign that the firm is a good fit for your project, Small Business Trends says. If you don’t like anything, though, be wary. Firms include their best works in the portfolio. If nothing impresses you, their style may not appeal to you. When you pick a web design team, experience and expertise aren’t the only qualities that matter. Fit matters too. If the work doesn’t suit the style of your business, think about moving on to other options.

Ask questions

Before you dismiss the company, though, reach out and ask them whether they have any experience working on a project like yours. They may have someone on the team who can execute the designs in the styles you want. Talk to them and ask. If you pick a reputable firm, they may come up with an arrangement that will suit you. Give it a try.

Consider the basics

Don’t forget to go over the basics. How long has the firm been in the business? Does it have any credentials? Who are the firm’s clients? Are you in good company? Do they have several clients in the same industry as your firm? Dig into the data and learn more about the firm’s reputation and track record. Are there legal complaints against the firm? If the firm has an excellent reputation and a track record for delivering excellent client solutions, then it deserves your business, the Business2Community says.

Read the reviews

Positive reviews are a good marker for a reputable company. But don’t just be satisfied with a high rating. Go over them and note down details that stand out. Do clients mention outstanding employees by name? What were some of the issues that they encountered? Are these recurring problems? What were they happy and unhappy about when it came to the firm’s services? These questions will help you figure out the right firm for your web design needs.

 

A Look at the June 2019 Core Algorithm Update

This entry was posted in SEO, Web Design Posts on by .

As many businesses are likely aware, Google released a broad core algorithm update last month that has had incremental effects on Google rankings and web traffic.
The update was announced on Google’s SearchLiason Twitter account on June 2, only giving users a 24-hour notice. The update took about 5 days to roll out. However, these updates have historically taken a week or even longer to fully balance out, so you may see quite a bit of variability in your rankings.
Google has performed updates like this before, usually every few months. However, this is the first update that has ever been announced prior to an official launch, and by Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan himself via Twitter.
While Google claims the update is no more drastic than previous ones, it offered notice with the understanding that these updates can cause spikes and downfalls in web traffic that can affect the livelihood of businesses.
Although there’s not much anyone can do to avoid a potential hit from a Google update, knowing about the update in advance can prepare you for a dip in traffic and explain why your ratings could suddenly change so drastically. This can be especially important information for social media, digital marketing, and SEO companies like us, because our clients depend on us to deliver reliable web traffic that increases steadily and is somewhat predictable.
While we can’t explain specifically why your rankings and web traffic may have sizably spiked up or down, we can offer you the following information in regard to the update:

What is a Broad Core Algorithm Update?

Google is continually striving to make quality content as easily accessible as possible and does this by making continual tweaks to its algorithm to prioritize this content.
These tweaks quite likely revolve around the concepts of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T), an acronym that is often prescribed as the path to recovering from a Google update (Search Engine Journal).
However, sometimes Google’s algorithm updates are about improving the relevance of user’s search results, which may indirectly affect your business rankings. Google also aims to give previously under-ranked pages a chance to hold web traffic, which inevitably pushes other content to the lower end of the results page.

How Can My Website Recover?

If you did experience a sizable downswing in web traffic or rankings since June 4, it’s likely due to the Google algorithm update. While this doesn’t offer you a prescription for how to recover your previous rankings, it will at least justify that there’s not necessarily anything wrong with your website that caused the sudden downswing.
Keep an eye on your web analytics and search console over the next few weeks to see if your website naturally recovers. While there’s nothing tangible and specific you can do to improve your rankings, Google, as always, vaguely recommends that you just make your site “better.” However, in reference to this update in particular, their advice is not to do anything about it at all.
These updates are called “broad” algorithm updates for a reason—it’s a continual process of Google becoming smart at picking out items like weak links and duplicate or spammy “click-bait” content. But this doesn’t mean that you’ve done anything in particular to result in any changes post-update. It may be that your site is no longer considered “relevant” to Google. But rather than trying to figure out why your site isn’t relevant; you might investigate why other sites are.

Don’t Blame Yourself

It may sound cheesy, but it’s not your fault and you may not have done anything wrong at all. While you’re learning to improve your website, Google is simultaneously earning to improve its algorithm, and still makes occasional mistakes. You may have been high-ranking before and justifiably so but for whatever reason, Google’s new algorithm is reading something incorrectly or has changed the rules of the game altogether.
Influential websites like Daily Mail (a leading UK news website) and CNN.com (a news website) have been affected by the algorithm change, which should tell you something about how confusing and widespread algorithm updates can be. Google rankings are never set in stone—which is a double-edged sword.
Rather than waste your time and energy trying to pin down why Google’s new algorithm is punishing you, just focus on improving what you can going forward. While the update may be done rolling out, only time will tell how it will adjust over time – after all, Google is busy operating numerous data centers and servers around the world. While the update only took about five days to launch, it’ll probably take far longer for its effects to really become clear.
Google maintains that part of their goal with algorithm tweaks is to benefit webpages that have been previous under-rewarded. While this may not be intended to hurt higher-performing pages, it may do so temporarily. As lower-ranked pages move up a few placed on a page, your previously high-ranked page may move down a few notches.

Keep Vigilant

In the meantime, keep an eye on your web analytics and search consoles, continue making edits to your online pages for user-friendliness and accessibility, and as always aim to create original and informative content.
Google’s updates are not always about removing spam. Sometimes they are just aiming to increase the relevance of user’s search results. Although this may affect your rankings, it’s ultimately better for the world of SEO and content because it will make it easier for you to reach your target audience and for them to find you. Additionally, pages that have previously been ranked lower but had great content may now have the opportunity to shine.
This won’t be Google’s last update, so regardless of how it may have affected your web traffic, you can expect to see more changes. The goal is not to have to play a game to get your website to score well organically. And as Google moves closer to that reality, our strategies for SEO and web design will have to adapt.
If you have concerns about being penalized by this past month’s Google broad core algorithm update, get in touch with us today. SeoTuners is well-versed in white hat and organic SEO services and strategies, authentic custom link building, and web design that can help boost page rankings, build the authority and visibility of your website, and drive traffic organically. No matter what changes Google makes to its broad core algorithm, we’re confident we have a solution to keep your business relevant on the web. Contact us today and boost your company’s web exposure.

Choosing a Web Design Company: 5 Things to Consider

Finding someone to build your site is easy. Finding the right person for the job, though, that one takes a bit more time. While there are quite a lot of options out there, you’ll want to be careful when you hire a web design company in Ventura. If you want a bit of help in choosing a site design partner service, then make sure you look for these five things.

Credentials

What are the firm’s qualifications? What does the firm and its team bring to the table? It’s essential to find someone with the technical skills to help you out. That’s why asking about experience and training is a must. However, credentials are only one consideration out of the five. You’ll need to factor in the rest before you pick a firm that’s loaded with qualifications.

Portfolio

A website design firm that has a slew of credentials will no doubt have a portfolio ready for your review. Take a look, the Small Business Trends says. Do you like what you see? Which works represent the elements or style that you want to see in your own site? Does the portfolio show you the range of services that you can ask for if you hire the firm? These are just a few of the considerations you’ll want to

Customer service

When you pick a web design company in Ventura, get a sense of its customer service. Call and ask for a consult. Or email them about it. How fast did the firm reply? Were they attentive to your questions? Do you feel like they tried their best to provide you with answers that can help you make the ideal choice for your business? Or did you feel like they were rushing to get you off the phone? That should be enough warning for you.

Alignment

Choose a website design firm with goals that are aligned with yours. For instance, some companies offer a maintenance package. That means you can leave the maintenance and monitoring as well as upgrades of the site to an online digital marketing firm. That gives you more time to focus on the core needs of your business, so your operations don’t suffer a slump or hiccup. When you find a company that has aligned its goals and processes with your organization to provide you with the help and support you need, choose that firm. They’re ideal for long-term business partnerships.

Cost

How much is the cost of the firm’s services? Look for a service provider that offers website design assistance at a price you can afford. That doesn’t mean you should always choose companies that offer the lowest rates or prices possible. After all, if anything is too good to be true, then it probably is. You’ll want to reconcile cost with value before you decide.

Conclusion

Use these considerations to help you make a smart and sound hiring decision. With excellent website design, you can attract and win over more clients to your pages, increasing your sales and returns.

How to Evaluate a Web Design Company by Its Portfolio?

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Bad design could be killing your business. If your website design is much too cluttered, confusing or simply wrong, then that’s not going to inspire confidence in prospective clients and partners. Hiring the services of a competent and reliable web design company in Ventura can change that.

One of the first steps you need to take is to take a look at the company’s portfolio or sample works, the CIO says. Here’s how to use what you find to help you arrive at a sound hiring decision.

Do you like what you see?

Appeal is a factor. If you don’t like the design, you won’t bother to go much further with the selection process. If you like it, though, determine what elements work for you. Do you admire the designer’s use of colors? Do you think the same style or vibe will work for your brand? Pinpointing the elements that you liked will help you figure out the kind of results you want from the designer.

How is the content presented?


When you evaluate a site, it’s important to consider how the content is presented, the Search Engine Journal says. The same idea applies when you look for a web design company in Ventura. If you’re checking out the company’s portfolio, be mindful of how the content is presented on the pages. Is the written content too thin to add any real value to the pages? Keep in mind that while visuals attract people, the right content can make them stay. If there’s a bit of a gap there, then talk to the firm about it. if they can’t deliver the quality of output you want, then rethink your hiring choices.

Is the tonal quality spot on?

 

The best designs are often tonally right. That means the design is reflective of your brand and business. Think of the Apple site. Without seeing any logo or branding, you’ll immediately associate the clean lines and spaces with the firm. That’s the same kind of tonal quality you’ll want for your pages. If the tone isn’t consistent with your branding and messaging, that’s going to create a disconnect, one that could confuse your audience and leave them thinking they’re better off going elsewhere.

Does it help with your goals?


Why do you want to hire a web design service? Do you want to upgrade your pages? Do you want to re-brand your business? Do you plan to launch a new line of products or services? Determine your goals and find a team that can come up with a design that’s going to support and move those goals forward.

Mistakes in web design

4 Website Redesign Mistakes that Destroy SEO

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Find how to avoid the top website redesign mistakes with tips from leading website development services

The main idea behind every website redesign project is the purpose to exceed current search engine optimization (SEO) factors. All you need is a faster-loading website, relevant and better-looking for your branding campaign. This is facilitated by a website structure that helps capture leads by being easy to navigate and further find valuable information effortlessly.

Ultimately, you want your site to attract, convert and retain more leads and customers. And your website development services, Ventura should be aware of it. The worst website redesign mistake your SEO services provider can make is to create a site that performs worse than the previous version.

The Simple Website Redesign Mistakes that Destroy SEO

 

Here are some you’ll want to avoid right from the beginning to maintain your SEO advantage.

1.     Not Auditing Current SEO Elements

 

Failure to conduct an initial SEO audit means you and your website developer cannot retrace what worked (and to what extent) and what did not before and after the development phase for comparison. Make sure you maintain high performing elements intact. Also, keep note of elements such as image names, keywords, long-tail keywords, SEO plugins, and high-quality links on well-performing website pages for reuse after the development phase.

2.     Removing/Changing Pages or Page URLs

 

Changing or removing pages or website page URLs (domain names) without redirecting them to relevant landing pages disconnects the site from search engines, leading to decreased indexing, visibility, and website traffic.

If you have a large website, permanently redirecting all of its pages to the new one, it can be tough and time-consuming. Instead, conduct a 301 permanent redirect for the most important landing pages such as the homepage, services, about and testimonials pages.

3.     Focus on Adds

 

Most redesigns focus on adding more features instead of functionality. For example, you do not want to just focus on good looks at the expense of loading speed. Depending on the level of expertise your choice of Ventura website development services offers, adding more website features, especially aesthetic ones, often compromises a website loading speed, ease of navigation, and more essential functionality.

4.     Block Search Engine Crawlers from the Work-In-Progress Site

 

Allowing search engine crawlers to crawl your unfinished site will cause the finished site to decline in ranking as the crawlers consider it duplicate content, of secondary importance, and thin content.

To avoid this, block search engine crawlers from accessing your development stage website content with no-follow and no-index instructions. Use Google’s Webmaster Tools guidelines on doing that under “Crawler Access”

Avoiding these basic website redesign mistakes will help you maintain your SEO advantage even after making major changes to your current website pages. Ultimately, you’ll want to choose the website development services Ventura has to offer if you prefer professional Ventura SEO services’ help in making the essential changes or recouping the lost SEO advantages.

10 Great Design Tips for Your Small Business Website

This entry was posted in Advertising, Web Design Posts on by .

If you want to take your small business website to a higher level of precision, performance and overall presence, here are 10 top design tips that you should follow closely:

  1. Shine a Spotlight on Your Navigation Links: You may not have an index filled with website links, but you at least need to emphasize the navigation links.
  2. Place Your Best Content at the Top: Make sure that your highest quality content is not buried within an extensive list of pages and blog posts.
  3. Avoid Excessive Clutter: Use white space wisely and creatively within your website as an engagement tool. Cluttering your website with excessive content and images will repel customers more than attract them.
  4. Invest in a Responsive Web Design: Responsive designs allow you to cater to desktop and mobile device users without the need for separate websites – ensuring that anyone can access your site.
  5. Invest in High-Quality Branding: Like a traditional storefront, your website is the face of your business within the digital realm. Make sure it looks professional, orderly and approachable.
  6. Create High-Quality Content: Whether you invest in the services of a web design company in Los Angeles and Ventura that specializes in content development or you handle the task on your own, make sure that you regularly post engaging articles and blog posts within your site.
  7. Focus on Fast Loading Times: Studies show that customers abandon slow-loading sites within the first 4-5 seconds. Make sure that this does not happen to your site.
  8. Study and Master the Art of SEO: Ensure that you at least follow the basic principles of SEO and avoid being penalized by Google for keyword stuffing, buying links and other black hat practices.
  9. Integrates Calls to Action: Your website is to inform and engage your customers. Make sure that you strategically place Calls to Action throughout your website to show your customers what they need to do after they receive the information.
  10. Do Not Hesitate to Ask for Help: You may feel as if you can handle it on your own, but quickly realize that it is overwhelming to care for it alone. Fortunately, you can invest in the expertise and guidance of a professional web design company in Los Angeles and Ventura to lighten the load and help you generate quality results.

 

Why You Need to Focus More on Page Speed?

This entry was posted in Content, Penalty Updates, SEO, Web Design Posts on by .

Speed is the reason why people take Interstates over back-roads, shop at convenience stores instead of supermarkets and skip commercials with a DVR remote instead of watching them in real-time. Most consumers want to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as they can, which is exactly why your website’s page loading speed is critical. A web development services agency in Los Angeles and Ventura would tell you that “less is more” – especially if it allows you to quickly convert your short-term guests into long-term customers.

Delayed Page, Lost Customers

It has been proven by numerous studies that delays in page loading times lead to abandoned online shopping carts and dissatisfied customers. One study shows that 47 percent of consumers expect websites to load within a maximum of 2 seconds, per Business 2 Community.

The same report claims that 40 percent of consumers will leave a webpage if they must wait longer than 3 seconds for it to load completely. The “it’s worth the wait” concept clearly does not apply in this scenario, especially if they are able to leave your website and get what they want from your competitors’ site instead in a fraction of the time.

Raising Your Awareness of Loaded Content

Another key reason why you should pay close attention to your page speed is it will help you monitor your loaded content effectively. Most delays, freezes and website crashes are caused by an excessive amount of data trying to load at the same time. If your pages have a lot of integrated media, embedded images and videos and social media links, all these content items can quickly clash against each other – fighting over the same bandwidth to an extent where nothing gets done. While designing the site, you may think that all this loaded content is a perk. However, you will soon discover that it is not as advantageous as you think when you realize that not many people are sticking around long enough to access it.

Conclusion

It is true that you should want to present quality content on your company’s website. However, you also need to find a balance between quality content and expeditious loading times. In order to engage your target audience, it is very necessary to make it narrative over descriptive.

Website Maintenance How to Close a Site For a Day

This entry was posted in Penalty Updates, Web Design Posts on by .

There are always times – dire times, but these exist for everyone – when a website needs to take a few hours or days of me-time. That’s not so much personal time, as it is maintenance time – time for you or your webmaster to make important changes, fix graphical errors and grammatical mistakes, use a Penguin recovery service from SeoTuners, update outdated information and generally polish the website up to be a bit better than it was yesterday.

One way or another, simply disappearing off the face of the Earth or cutting off all information on your site is a bad idea for two simple reasons: 1.) you’ll alienate visitors by presenting them with absolutely nothing when you’ve promised them content, and 2.) Google will still crawl your page if you’re not careful, and rank you according to your nonexistent, downed page.

To avoid that and make sure you get a clean, temporary break without majorly affecting your overall traffic numbers or your ranking online, take the following steps:

Get Your 503 Right

The HTML 503 error is a rather common one you may have encountered several times throughout your surfing life, and it specifically refers to an “Unavailable Service” as per Lifewire. Be sure to offer both some type of interstitial or temporary maintenance site (and perhaps a pop-up) and a 503 error.

End Crawling

In your site’s robots.txt file or through a robots meta tag, you should be able to add a quick clause that tells Google there’s nothing worth crawling here at the moment as per Google. This is down through a “disallow” directive in the document itself.

Announce the Maintenance

For regular users of your service, there’s nothing quite like unannounced maintenance. Most people can live with being slapped with a 503 on a nonessential service as long as they get a succinct and rational explanation through Facebook or your mailing list.

No matter how you choose to announce the maintenance, it’s important to do so at least about a business week in advance and with the right explanation – regular maintenance, site update, etc. As long as you keep your customers in the loop and Google happy, taking your site off for a day shouldn’t hurt you at all.

What are the Major SEO Steps for a Website Relaunch?

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Relaunching a website after a temporary absence or restructuring carries vastly different SEO needs than launching a new website. It means that all of your previous SEO will be affected, and may have to be thrown out and started again from scratch. Search Engine Journal found that some companies lost 60 to 70 percent of their search traffic after a redesign, numbers which are difficult and expensive to build up again. This is why for this purpose, it is especially important to find the right Los Angeles and Ventura internet marketing company who can bring in new visitors and redirect your existing visitors. These are the steps that they will use, which you can begin making yourself before your campaign even starts:

  1. Audit the Old Site

It may seem strange to look over your old website with a fine toothcomb, but it is an important part of making your new website successful. Look into what parts brought in high traffic and which ones didn’t. Are there any areas that could be improved in your new site? Your Los Angeles and Ventura internet marketing company can use this data to make your new site even better than the previous one.

 

  1. Inbound Link Analysis

A useful job your SEO firm can perform is an inbound link analysis. Inbound links are an especially important part of SEO that you want to avoid losing if you can so it is best to know which sites are still linking to your site.

 

  1. Think SEO

Moz says that the reason many websites fail after a redesign is that the creators didn’t put SEO into consideration when designing and building it. If you already have content that is bringing in high numbers of visitors, copy it over to your new site. Don’t forget to redirect all of the old URL’s so that search engines will know where your content has moved to. Redirecting your SEO is much better than starting it all over again.

 

 

Using these steps will ensure that your SEO and website traffic remain stable and you can gain strong numbers from day one of your relaunch rather than losing out on the visitors you worked so hard to gain.