So, here's the dealio. It's easy to go crazy when it comes to WordPress Plugins -- you can make your site do cartwheels and expand its functionality to the moon and who doesn't want that? The problem is, not all plugins are well-coded (even the ones you pay $ for as I found out the hard way) and...

Should you use SquareSpace, Wix, or WordPress? There are a lot of feature-rich and affordable website solutions these days that allow you to build beautiful websites for your business without knowing how to write a single line of code. But, it can be challenging to decide which platform to choose...

This week Google announced that after 15 years, they plan to evolve the "no follow" link attribute. If you're a blogger and you're participating in affiliate programs or doing sponsored posts, you know that the "nofollow" attribute allows you to safely link to external sites without losing good...

"Pogo-sticking" is a term I hadn't heard until recently, but as soon it was explained to me, I instantly knew that I'd been making some innocent but potentially impactful mistakes with my blog content (affecting my ability to rank on Google). So I did a little digging and want to talk about the...

This question comes up a lot: "How do you present testimonials? Should I create a testimonials page or put them in different locations on my website?" Website testimonials are most powerful when they're placed in close proximity to your marketing claims and back up what you've promised. This not...

Since you've landed on this page, you already know that SEO traffic is the holy grail of traffic and you want more of it. You also know it's all about choosing and using keyword phrases strategically and using them correctly in your (high-quality) content. Using keyword research tools is a vital...

Every business blogger struggles to create consistency; we get stuck wondering things like "what should I write about?" and "how long should my blog posts be?" rather than doing what we really should be doing: writing blog posts. The key to bringing order to this chaos is to create a content mix....

The following post was written by the brilliant Hristina Nikolovska of SEOTribunal “Get a website,” they said. “You’ll get loads more business,” they said. “It will be easy,” they said. Well, we’d love to know who “they” are and be able to give them a stern talking to. In the early days of the...

Over the last few months, I've been fine-tuning a new service offering: testing it out on beta clients, ironing out all the kinks, and creating a well-oiled process I feel confident about. So when it came time to write the sales page copy, I thought I had all the pieces I needed:  WHAT it is, WHO...

It's a question every website owner has, "How do I drive traffic to my website?" Paying for traffic (advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, et al) isn't feasible for most business owners I know who are bootstrapping their brand and don't have thousands or even hundreds to spend....

Optimizing your images for seo, social media, and Pinterest is an often-overlooked detail that can make a big difference to make sure your content is discoverable in search. First, let's clarify what it means to "optimize images"... There are a few factors that go into creating a great social...

I'm a frugal business owner and I use a ton of free tools to run my business, but when it comes to getting the maximum results from the content I create (with the limited time I have), I rely on the premium plugin Social Warfare Pro to help get my blog content shared on social media. For $29/year,...

Your ABOUT page is likely to be your second-most visited web page: it's where your site visitors decide whether or not you're the perfect person to help them and whether or not they like and trust you too, so getting it right is much more important than most people realize. It's also one of the...

One of the most common questions I get from my small business web design clients is, "Should I add a blog?" I always worry a little when this comes up because a lot of business owners don't understand how much work there is to it. On the other hand, blogging is one of the very...

If you're planning to DIY your brand and build your own website, it's important to use the right tools so you can be efficient and smart with your budget. Some of the links below are affiliate links but some of them are not. For example, tools like Canva and Squarespace don't have affiliate...

When people tell me about their online struggles, one of the first questions I ask is, "What do you know about your site visitors?" And pretty much 100% of the time, they answer, "I have no idea." Every small business owner who depends on their website to work hard for them to attract clients...

One thing I've noticed about many one-person business owners is that they often plan their websites still in "job mode." They set out to trade in their former big boss for lots of new little bosses (clients), so their websites wind up reading like a super-fancy digital résumé. The problem is, if...

I hear this one a lot: I need more traffic. Okay, we all need traffic. Lots of it. But if clients aren't signing up, what you think is the problem (not enough traffic) probably isn't the problem. Here's the truth: traffic's easy to get. You can buy as much as you need at "the traffic store"...

We all make a dizzying number of choices every day, from deciding which toothpaste to buy to which Facebook posts to click on. An abundance of choice seems like a great idea because it means having the freedom to do and have what you want, but... Too much choice leads to a phenomenon known as...

Let's talk about how you can empower your website for better conversions and turn it into your hardest-working employee--whose job it is to build awareness and trust, generate leads, increase sales, and help you grow your business. Launching a website is a blast, it's exciting and hopeful―but...

As we prepare for 2017, AMP is one of the biggest issues concerning your website on the horizon, especially if you're a blogger. Because more people are searching on mobile devices than desktop now, Google's looking to provide the best user experience possible. Enter: AMP. Defining AMP in plain...

From time to time a potential client comes to me after having a bad experience working with another web designer. I mean, I've really heard some horror stories y'all: money flushed down the drain; a website they've paid for but isn't serving them; domain names held hostage after the relationship...

What factors cause people to believe the information they find on the web? How will your site visitors know whether to deem you credible and to trust you? Let's see what research has to say about it establishing credibility online... First, a little story about how one...

"Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design; it's decoration." — Jeffery Zeldman Most business owners who need a new or improved website start the web design process somewhere in the middle: rather than getting clear about their business goals and their customer, or...

Looking at people’s websites is a big part of what I do for a living. I can almost always spot areas that, if improved upon, will lead to better results (including my own website, believe me...). But talking to other people about their websites is a touchy business... unless they've hired me to...