Phoenix AZ web design blog

6 easy tips to supercharge your website

  • By Ian Shere , on December 27 2018 10:02
  • 7 min read

New Years' resolutions are a great thing... IF you carry them out. As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (probably) wrote, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"! No plan is bad, but a plan that's never put into action is just as bad.

This New Year, make a resolution to get your website really cranking; and it's not hard to do! In my years of browsing I've seen some pretty horrible, and some pretty awesome, websites. Sadly, I've seen more of the former than the latter. Ever been to a site and thought, "Wow! That's a really cool looking website!" but been unable to find what you want? That's not uncommon. And there's some good reasons for this, but more on that later...

How do I supercharge the website experience for my visitors? 

Google is now placing some pretty heavy emphasis on how users interact not only with your website, but with the results on the SERPs. That's RankBrain and you NEED to understand it and what it's looking for! You can find out more on Neil Patel's article. Or dig deeper into RankBrain here.

Aside from RankBrain, there are really 2 other ranking elements - content and backlinks. And while you have

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Follow-up for Power Networkers

  • By Ian Shere , on December 10 2018 09:54
  • 2 min read
I have to admit, I can be bad at following up after a networking event. Kind of dumb really. I invested, at the very least, the time and gas to go there, but don't follow up. Now sure, I may have been the most interesting person there, but probably not! It's very likely I'll have made some connections - now what? File those cards and wait for the phone to ring, right? Wrong! Now it's time to start work.

Firstly, you should have jotted some notes on the cards you received so you can follow up intelligently. It doesn't make a good impression if you get their spouse's name wrong in your follow-up. So, secretly, write notes on the backs of their cards so you can accurately remember details.

Prior to the event, plan your follow-up. Diarize your follow-up schedule so you'll have no excuse to procrastinate in taking action. Your follow-up period should be no more than a week for your first contact. Start off with a simple email. Thank them for their time and try to find something interesting to share with them. It could be a white paper, or an article which is relevant to them.

Depending
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Braveheart on life

  • By Ian Shere , on December 07 2018 15:10
  • 2 min read
In the classic, but alas, factually incorrect film "Braveheart", on the eve of his execution William Wallace utters a very stirring line, "Every man dies. Not every man really lives." And Mark Twain said, "Sing like no one's listening. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. And live like it's heaven on earth!"

But do we? Do we truly live or are we just going through the motions of life? Do we fail to act because we're concerned about what others might think? Life should be full of adventures, love and laughter, and here are some ways to make it so.

1. Learn the value of everything and also learn that they will never be with you throughout your lifetime.

2. Do things now. Is there something you've always wanted to do, but haven't. Don't make the mistake of waking one day and realizing that there's no time left to do it.

3. Always tell your family members and friends that they are important to you and you love them. Never leave a loved one after an argument without reconciliation - there may be no time to do it later.

4. Do random acts of kindness. It
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8 simple website tips for 2019

  • By Ian Shere , on December 06 2018 11:48
  • 4 min read

Happy New Year (almost)! I know it's a cliche sort of thing, New Years resolutions. I also know that most of us end up breaking all our well-meaning promises to ourselves. This year, along with the weight loss, exercise, make-more-money resolutions, resolve this one; 

"I will work on my website to make it more effective this year!"

The world is online more and more, which means your website is competing, online, with more and more sites. This means your site needs to be at its best to just keep your head above water.

Make sure your site is up to date. Frequently I'll go to a site that is still using Adobe Flash animations. Folks, this is outdated technology. Not only will it not display on any of my browsers as I have it disabled by default, but it won't show on Apple products like iPhones and iPads. Then I'll see "Content coming soon" or "Under construction". Yikes! Or I'll view their blog and the last post is 6 months ago, or a year, or YEARS! This lack of maintenance tells your customer you don't care about your online business card. What will they infer about your care of

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