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Behind the Scenes: How I Build Websites
One of my favorite clients — no, I won’t name names this time — just gave me the green light to start building her new website. I love kicking off a new project because it’s a chance to either help a brand new business grow or create something that will improve an existing business. Every single new site I build kicks off the same way, with me looking over the design files for any questions, hiccups or details that will need some flushing out. Did you think that I was
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Worlds Colliding
Do you ever get that feeling of your worlds colliding? It can be a soft bump up against each other or an explosion + subsequent fusion. My Gemini self is used to duality + I often notice synchronicities pop up in my daily life, but lately I’ve felt this bigger (more cosmic, if you will) feeling of two of my worlds coming together. And let me tell you, it’s really beautiful. To explain a bit more – two of my worlds, which I’ve always held fairly separately, are my work
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How to Improve Your Mobile Site
Roughly half of the visitors to the average small business website use a smartphone or mobile device. For some industries, this can be even higher. While you might not hire a web developer while browsing your phone, looking at a new fitness facility or clicking through FB ads are more often done on phones over laptops. A website that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices will lead to an annoying experience for your visitors. They’re not going to stay on your website if it’s hard for them to use. Over
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2024 Ins and Outs
Well folks, we’re a month into 2024 + I’m personally enjoying the longer days + this incredibly mild weather (hello outdoor running + goodbye treadmill…at least for now). I’m upping my carbs as I up my running miles +, as always, fully enjoying it. My second favorite candy season is upon us (conversation hearts, anyone?) + all this good has me reflecting more deeply on what’s in + out for me this year. Let’s start with ins: I plan on fostering more pups while also fully enjoying my current foster,
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Check Your Links
A couple weeks ago, I launched a site facelift for a client. After I coded the site, another member of the team imported blog posts + added team member bios. One of those blog posts had a broken link that wasn’t discovered until launch day. It had been broken on their old design for at least 2 years (if not longer) but was caught + resolved on launch day thanks to the free tool I’m going to share with you. For many of us, keeping users engaged is the first
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A Business That Empowers
If tiny blue orange was a human, it could drive. That’s right, 16 years of owning this business + 12 years of being my own boss while building the career + life I’ve wanted since I was young. Working for myself in a creative field was always the plan. I grew up watching my dad as a self-employed architect + absolutely loving what he did. The way he approached his career appealed to little Alison + I made it my goal to follow in his footsteps, in some ways at
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Running + Websites
I recently ran a half marathon. I actually ran several over the course of this year + none have been exactly the race I expected. This most recent race had some sharp turns, lots of inclines + a delayed start thanks to a train. Despite all these hurdles, I still PR’d by over two minutes, + a sub-two hour race is definitely within reach. I’m taking some time off from running races over the winter, but this experience had me thinking not only about running, but also about websites. What
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Add search to your WordPress website
Have you ever stumbled upon a new business or site that seems like it might change your life? When I was training for a marathon last year, I found Jane on Instagram + quickly worked my way through the mountain of blog posts she had available to endurance runners like me. Some of our site traffic has been with us from the start. But more often than not, they are newer + don’t know all of the content you have available. Which is why having a search option + clear
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How to fix a broken WordPress plugin
Keep this post open when you’re running updates because that’s the most common time for WordPress plugins to break. Whether it’s a slow server or tackling too many plugin updates at the same time, sometimes the update process times out (stalls) + files don’t fully load. When that happens, plugins don’t work as expected. That’s when you need to fix your broken WordPress plugin to get your site functional. Step 1, disable the broken plugin First, if you can see the plugin in your Installed Plugins list, you’re simply going
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The hidden cost of WordPress plugins
What so many bloggers + website owners don’t realize is that their plugins might be costing them customers. That information can be more valuable than the up front cost of the WordPress plugins you choose to use. What’s the harm with adding plugins? I’m not even talking about the heated debates that most website owners get into on social groups… What I am talking about is the countless plugins that make your site slower than molasses in January. If you didn’t know, that’s really slow. And when your site is
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Check that you have these 404 page essentials
It doesn’t matter whether you have a funny, simple, or extensive error page on your site. Ditching these 404 page essentials could leave your site visitors so frustrated that they leave your site behind. That’s because a 404 page isn’t something you want visitors to land on. Usually they find it due to a dead end. That could be through a mistyped URL on your own content, a page you deleted on accident, or a link on social media that shouldn’t be out there. When users land on your error
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What to do with spam WordPress users
This post will cover what to do with spam WordPress users, but also users that you simply don’t recognize. Most of the time they are junk accounts that were made due to a security vulnerability. However, there are a few instances where those accounts aren’t bad news for your business. Here’s what to do with them instead. How to check for spam WordPress users Whenever you log into WordPress, it’s a great idea to scan your users list. The most important type to review would be Administrators. If you have
