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Blog Group: General Articles (45 posts)
| 6 days ago |
General Articles
Cyber attacks happen every day and are probably more common than most people think. While many still have the image of a lonely hacker hunched over their computer fiercely typing to gain your information, for a while now everything has been run by automated programs, meaning that more people can be affected. Therefore internet security should be at the forefront of everyone's mind. With the increasing number of cyber-attacks and data breaches, it's important to take steps to protect your personal information and sensitive data. Here are a few tips for better internet security.
Passwords
One of the most important things you can do to secure your online presence is to use strong, unique passwords. Where possible you should avoid using the same password for multiple accounts, and make sure your passwords are difficult to guess. This is where a password manager can be useful so that you no longer need to remember the passwords for all your different accounts. There are a range of different password managers available (both free and paid for), so it's worth taking the time to find one that works well for you. Some of these will even create a random password for you to help increase the security of your account. If however, you would prefer to create a password yourself it should:
be at least 8 characters long
include uppercase letters
include lowercase letters
include numbers
include symbols.
Be email aware
We have all been told many times to not click on links or attachments that we are unsure of when we receive an email. This is because it is still a very popular method for cyber criminals to obtain sensitive information. These links could look official but actually be part of a phishing scam to get your details, or an attachment in an email could easily be a virus (if you ever see an attachment with ".exe" DO NOT click on it, mark the email as spam and delete it). Therefore, ensure that the sender is legitimate and double-check the link before...
| 05th March 2024 |
General Articles
A well-designed and informative website can serve as a great marketing tool, but unfortunately, it's not enough to have a website; you need to ensure your potential customers can find it. SEO is the key to achieving higher visibility on search engines such as Google and is critical for online success. Here we will introduce the basics of SEO, explaining the importance of keywords, meta tags, and quality content in improving search engine rankings and attracting organic traffic.
What is SEO?
So let's start at the beginning: what is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the practice of ensuring you have certain elements on your website to improve its visibility on search engines. Ideally, when someone searches for a keyword or phrase related to your business, you want your website to appear at the top of the search results, preferably on the first page. SEO involves a range of strategies and techniques that help search engines understand your website's content.
Keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases users type into search engines to find information, products, or services. To get started with your keywords, follow these essential steps:
1. Keyword ResearchStart by researching relevant keywords for your business by considering what your potential customers might search for. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you identify popular keywords for your industry and can be a great starting point.
2. Target the Right KeywordsOnce you have a list of keywords, you will need to pick the ones that are most relevant to your business. Your focus should be on long-tail keywords (phrases with multiple words) as they are often less competitive and more specific to what your user is searching for.
3. Keyword PlacementNow that you have picked your keywords, you need to use these naturally throughout your website's content. This should include the main body text, as well as your page titles, headings, image alt text, and meta descriptions, which wil...
miki boarer | 24th January 2024 |
General Articles
We use the internet every day, it has become so ingrained in our daily routine that even our household appliances use it, but have you ever considered the environmental impact of your online activities? The increasing use of the internet has led to a surge in demand for web hosting, resulting in higher energy consumption and carbon emissions. This has an impact on our environment, and so to address this issue green web hosting has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional hosting services. At WebBoss, we take pride in hosting all our websites using 100% green renewable energy. Here are a few reasons why we believe it's important to do so.
Energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction are major concerns for web hosting companies. Traditional web hosting relies heavily on energy-intensive data centres, which contribute significantly to carbon emissions. Internet usage causes around 3.7% of all carbon emissions, which is the same as air travel. Green web hosting providers prioritise renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power instead of using traditional methods such as coal for energy. By harnessing clean energy, these providers significantly reduce their carbon footprint, helping to combat climate change and promote a more sustainable digital infrastructure.
Conserving natural resources is critical in the context of conventional web hosting. This is because the technology used in web hosting, such as servers and networking equipment, requires a significant amount of raw materials. In contrast, green web hosting companies prioritise recycling practices and use energy-efficient hardware. This reduces the demand for new resources and minimises the amount of electrical equipment going to waste. By adopting these practices, web hosting companies align with the principles of a circular economy, which emphasises efficient resource use and waste reduction.
As consumers are becoming more aware of the ethical practices of the comp...
| 01st November 2023 |
General Articles
The holiday season is fast approaching, and now is the perfect time to prepare your online shop for the festive rush. With consumers on the lookout for unique gifts, a well-prepared online store is essential to make sure you can make the most of this lucrative season. With this step-by-step guide, we'll help you get your online shop ready for Christmas! Once your shop is ready, we've even provided a few suggestions to help with your social media to attract visitors and boost sales.
Step 1: Deck the Digital Halls
Before you can even start promoting your online shop for Christmas, you have to make your website Christmas-ready. Here's what you can do:
Update Your Website Design: This can be as simple as adding snow to your existing website design using the custom tag already available in the system, or changing more to suit your needs. Adding festive elements like Christmas banners, themed colours, and Christmas-themed product images. Remember to check your website's responsiveness for mobile devices (you can do this with the admin), so that you don't miss out on sales.
Optimise for Speed: A slow website can deter potential customers. Optimise your site's loading speed to provide a seamless shopping experience.
Step 2: Stock Up
Now that your website is looking festive, it's time to style your Christmas inventory:
Introduce Limited Editions: Everyone loves a limited edition product, especially at Christmas. Unique holiday-themed items can create a sense of urgency and excitement. For instance, a limited edition Christmas mug or ornament.
Stock Up on Your Bestsellers: While limited editions are fun, your most popular products will most likely still be your bestsellers, so make sure you have enough in stock to meet the demand.
Create Gift Sets: Make gift sets by bundling related products and offering them at a discounted price. For example, if you sell skincare products, create a "Winter Skincare Set" with moisturisers and lip balms.
Step 3: Spre...
| 08th March 2022 |
General Articles
We here at WebBoss Websites, strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine ordered by the Russian Government. This unprovoked attack has caused much destruction, and cost countless lives. So with new information released almost hourly, it's easy to feel unable to help or even know the right places to do so. To help make things a bit easier, we have been provided with a list of verified causes. So if you would like to help Ukraine, but are unsure of the best way, you can find several charities or causes to donate to at the below link.
https://helpukrainewin.org/
This website includes options for both armed forces and civilian causes. On top of this, you can even find information on attending a local protest, and how you can help keep news of the invasion in the spotlight via social media.
We hope this war ends soon. Until then, WebBoss Websites stands with Ukraine....
Oli Bird | 11th March 2021 |
General Articles
One of the most recently requested features for our eCommerce module was that of multiple and more flexible shipping options.
We are pleased to announce that as of version 3.6.6 of the WebBoss system, you can now create multiple and flexible shipping options to cater for all your needs!
How does it work?
The basic idea of the new shipping options is that you can create multiple different shipping options, all with different configurations, including restrictions.
When the user goes through the checkout process, the website will check all the available shipping options you have configured (based off of the shipping address, cart products etc.) and show buttons in the checkout to select which option to use, or if only one is available it will select that one automatically.
Stay COVID-19 safe with Click & Collect
One of the main new features is to allow collection, or “Click & Collect”, and to be able to create locations for this.
If you have a shipping option with the type set to “collection”, then the checkout process will allow to you choose between delivery and collection. When the user chooses collection, instead of entering a shipping address, they will choose a collection location, which can also be displayed on a map.
The checkout options if you offer both types
To configure your shipping options in your website admin, from the sidebar navigation, go to Modules > eCommerce > Shop Settings > Postage Settings.
The “Default” tab holds some general postage settings, and the basic settings to use if you’re not yet ready to use the new shipping options.
The main tab to use here is the “Postage Types” tab. Here you can create new options and click the “Configure” button to change the settings like the restrictions and free conditions.
Multiple Postage Types settings
If you’re using the collection option, you will need to create locations for customers to collect from, which can be done under the “...
laura db | 08th January 2021 |
General Articles
How the WebBoss.io eCommerce module can help with your January sales
With the madness of Christmas behind us, it might be time to think about those January sales and clearing out your stock room to make way for the New Year. Since we are also facing yet another national lockdown, it might be the right time to get your business selling online. With all of this in mind, the WebBoss platform is full of features that can really help you organise and showcase your online products. Here are a few ways that WebBoss can help you shift those sale items.
1. Discounted Products
Add discounts to your products to show your users the new and old price. This will encourage people to buy from you, if they can see the price difference or how much they are saving, they will be more likely to part with their cash. Within the system there is a really easy way to discount your products, in the ‘Special Offers’ section when you edit a product, you can keep the original price and add a discounted price, this will appear on the front end of your website to tell users the new discounted price of a product.
2. Image Overlay
You can also easily add an overlay to your products to really make them stand out and tell your users that there is a sale or discount on a product. In the ‘Special Offers’ section of the edit product page, you will have the option to write some text which will appear over the product image on the front end of your website for example, ‘30% Off’. This will really make the discounted product stand out. You don’t have to add this, however it can be really useful when you are trying to sell discounted products.
You can choose to use the default image overlay colour and text colour if you would like too, however there is a way of customising this if you would like to use specific colours. To do this go to ‘Shop Settings’ > ‘Display Settings’ > ‘Product Display Options’ and scroll to the bottom, here you w...
laura db | 23rd December 2020 |
General Articles
Top 5 Website Design Trends for 2021
Like most things, trends will come and go and this is no different for web design. Every year we are very excited to see what new design trends will be appearing and which ones we can incorporate in our own website designs. With this in mind, we have listed our top 5 favourite new web design trends, that we will hopefully be seeing more of in 2021.
1. 3D Design
Although this is something that is definitely not new and does reoccur each year, 3D Design seems to be getting more and more intricate as the years go on, making the most of the capabilities of modern technologies. Here we can see technology giant Apple really incorporating stunning 3D design elements into their website imagery.
2. Nature Inspired Design
Something that we don’t often see, but is slowly coming back into fashion for 2021, is nature inspired web designs. We can start to see the use of earthy toned colours, softer lighting and nature imagery this year in certain web designs, as demonstrated here by Green & Blacks Chocolate.
3. Organic Shapes
In previous years we have seen geometric shapes being very popular in web design, however this year we are going to start to see a lot more organic shapes being used within certain designs. These tend to be shapes that you would find in nature, similar to hills or mountains or steep inclines. These shapes are very useful to break up a web page and fluidly draw the reader’s eye to different sections. Here you can see how Android has used these organic shapes in their own website design.
4. Abstract Art Compositions
A big trend for 2021 seems to be artistic and abstract shapes. In previous years we have seen shapes like squares and circles being used in a simplistic and minimalistic way, however this year we are going to see these shapes being used in a much more abstract and artistic way. Web designers and artists will be using these in conjunction with photography, adding elements ...
laura db | 15th December 2020 |
General Articles
How to Add Google Analytics to Your WebBoss Website
With SEO and website tracking such a huge topic when it comes to digital marketing and running an online business, we know how important it is to be able to track and analyse the data and traffic being generated by your biggest marketing tool, your website. Google Analytics is one of the most popular and FREE tools that you can use to track and monitor user behaviour, user experience, device functionality, etc. It is extremely useful for your online marketing strategy and you can use it in many ways. However with all this being said, if you are newer to the world of online businesses and digital marketing, then it can be a little bit difficult to understand how your website and Google Analytics go hand in hand.
When it comes to your WebBoss Website, our development team are continually adding triggers to particular areas of the CMS such as the eCommerce module, so that your website can communicate more information to Google Analytics. Recently in our newest update we have added triggers to the Web Forms module, meaning that you can now track when people fill out a contact form or a sign up form. So all you need to do is add your Google Analytics tracking ID to your website.
How to Find Your Google Analytics Tracking ID
So if you haven't already, you will need to get yourself a free Google Analytics account. From here you will have everything you need to get started tracking your users behaviour on your website. Once you have set up your Google Analytics account, all you will need to do is find your tracking ID from your Google Analytics account and add it to your website. To find your Tracking ID all you need to do is:• Sign in to your Analytics account.• Click Admin.• Select an account from the menu in the ACCOUNT column.• Select a property from the menu in the PROPERTY column.• Under PROPERTY, click Tracking Info > Tracking Code.• Your Tracking ID is displayed at the top of the page.
Fr...
laura db | 01st December 2020 |
General Articles
New System Update - 3.6.5.
We are not your usual website design agency, here at WebBoss Websites we use our own platform, created by our in-house development team. WebBoss.io is the platform that all of our clients use and it is used by our designers to create beautifully bespoke, responsive websites. With this in mind, our development team are constantly updating the WebBoss.io system so that it is up to date and continually evolving.
The platform has recently launched a new update, version 3.6.5, which contains a few new features that will be sure to increase the performance of our client’s websites.
What is New?
SEO Tools – LazyLoad Integration
Google Analytics Trigger
Shop Catalogue Mode
CSV Options
Header Images
Business Information
SEO Tools – LazyLoad
LazyLoad is now something featured within the WebBoss CMS. LazyLoad is a way to optimise a website and decrease page speeds. The way in which this works, is by not allowing the whole page to load all at the same time, this includes images and content. It will mean that when the user accesses the webpage it will only load what the user sees, meaning that the page loads quicker because there won’t be as much to load all at once. This can be hugely beneficial to websites that contain a lot of large images that take quite a long time to load. This is also very beneficial for user experience, as it means less time for the pages to load and therefore reduces frustration and waiting times.
Although this seems like a very beneficial feature for SEO, our development team decided that our clients could have the option to enable this on their website, rather than including it as a standard feature within the CMS. This is due to the fact that clients may not want this feature enabled as it can delay the loading times of some images. This can also depend on the design of the website, as some images may need to display straightaway to the user.
In order for you to enable this on your W...
laura db | 13th November 2020 |
General Articles
Bean and Gone Theme Website Design
Business Identity:
Design is all about communication, so even for a templated design it's helpful to really think about what you're trying to communicate and to whom.
I liked the idea of having a trendy coffee shop, whose unique selling point was their high-quality coffee, sustainability focus and atmosphere, something you might not get at a chain coffee shop for example. I also guessed their demographic would be young professionals, maybe on a break from the office (back when we were allowed in offices). Their demographic would be used making online purchases and would be happy to order a coffee in such a way.
So, the key areas the design needed to communicate were:
The company would provide quality ingredients, with a heavy emphasis on sustainability and ethics.
A trendy young feel and atmosphere.
The Company would be privately owned rather than a large chain corporation.
Design:
I first thought about what the user would see when first loading the website. I wanted a nice striking image and a strong call to action to be the first visible section of the website, this would then set the scene for the user as they explored the website further. The image that I chose for this was a bag of coffee beans in a rustic sack on a deep brown background. The image is heavily textured and mood provoking, so it stands out nicely from the background and would feel more tangible to the user. I then had the one call to action over to the right, as that's where the user's eye would naturally move to next.
Continuing on the first page, above the fold, I wanted to communicate the company's identity, without overwhelming them with text or images; a nice clean and simple introduction to the rest of the website. The green curve then draws the user's eye to follow the page further down, if they haven't already clicked the call to action at the top. I used green as it's a colour that represents nature, as well as complim...
laura db | 21st October 2020 |
General Articles
Our New Business Information Feature Can Help Improve Your Search Engine Results
As you may already know, our sister company WebBoss.io is our proprietary content management system (CMS), that is used to build all of our customer websites and of course our own. Our development team are continually working to improve our CMS, so that we can offer you the most up to date, high quality features that will ensure your online business thrives. So with this in mind, our developers have been busily working on a new feature that could provide a huge positive impact on your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
You may have noticed that when you type in a company name or specific search term into Google, a variety of different search results will appear. A few years back, when you searched for a company or something similar, you only had the choice from a list of webpages that would appeared on the Google search results page. Back then it was incredibly important that your website appeared at the top of the first page, or that was the goal at least. However, now we are provided with a lot of different search options when we conduct a Google search. One of which is a rich result, which goes beyond just bringing up a webpage link on the search results page. This information is far more useful for the user and often includes images, telephone numbers, locations etc. When you are searching for something specific, often the information that you are looking for will be displayed in one of these rich results, making it far easier to find what you are looking for. You may have also noticed that when you search for a specific company, on the right-hand side of the search results is a box of information, this is called a ‘knowledge panel’. This type of rich result can be hugely beneficial to the user, as they can easily find exactly what they are looking for.
Is a Knowledge Panel Important for SEO?
Absolutely! A knowledge panel can be hugely important for your visibility on a s...
laura db | 21st October 2020 |
General Articles
Identity and goals:
The Stoneygate Eye Hospital, a private eye hospital based in Leicester, is a company that specialises in corrective eye treatments, including laser eye surgery among many other services. It was vital that the high quality work and professionalism of the hospital was reflected in the finished website. With this in mind, the main goals for the website were to provide the user with information about the hospital, the procedures and the surgeons; as well as providing the user with an easy way to book a consultation. Another challenge that would need careful consideration was the fact that the user could potentially be partially sighted and so accessibility options would need to factor into the website's overall design.
The main goals were:
· To provide necessary information to the customers.
· To provide users with an easy way to contact the hospital.
· To showcase the hospital’s professionalism.
· To have accessibility for visually impaired users.
The Design:
When the website design began, I needed to make sure that the website would be readable to the company’s audience, whilst also incorporating all of the brand colours. I chose to use the colours that were very contrasting to each other to create the titles and headings; this would ensure that it would be easier to read for people accessing the website who may be visually impaired. As such, I needed the titles to stand out well from the background and be very descriptive of what the text in the heading would contain. The most used headings took the form of dark grey text contrasting with a white background and then white/yellow text on a grey background to fulfil the contrast.
The Website Build:
Accessibility was going to be my main challenge when building the website, ensuring that the hospitals’ clients would be able to access the website was extremely important within this particular website bui...
| 28th September 2020 |
General Articles
Depending who you talk to, September may seem too early to think about Christmas, but as the country heads towards autumn and winter following strict regulations to help control COVID-19, now is the time to make sure that your business is ready for the long winter season ahead.
We have already heard reports about how COVID-19 has changed the way customers shop. As the landscape of the high street was already witnessing a rapid change, there are concerns that strict regulations to help reduce the spread of coronavirus could be the death knell of the high street as we know it. Those who depend entirely on a brick and mortar store may have found reduced opening hours and customer number restrictions have forced them into a corner with plummeting profits and the constant threat of redundancy. To these businesses, the message seems to be loud and clear, customers are moving online to shop to stay safe. If you are not already online, then the time is now!
For those who have an online presence, they may have found that over the past 6 months they have received more engagement and orders via their website. With this in mind, businesses should begin to consider how they will approach Christmas from behind a screen. While it may seem ludicrous to consider talking about Christmas in September, preparation now could help to ensure that you maintain your customer base over the winter months, while keeping in line with the current restrictions. For many businesses, it is normal to have considered your Christmas stock and how this will be displayed in your shop by this point, complete with Christmas decorations and a Christmas classics CD playing through the stereo and this can really help to instil the Christmas spirit into your customers. Unfortunately this year, it seems likely that shoppers will continue to shun shops in favour of ordering online. To keep your customers willing, your business needs to shine online as well as instore. If you already have your instore plan rea...
laura db | 08th September 2020 |
General Articles
Strong imagery can really make a website; if a website has clean, professional-looking images then this instils trust in the brand and encourages visitors to buy products or services. Website images can grab our attention and make us feel a type of way, not only will this improve your user experience, but in turn, can boost your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) by improving your bounce rate. If that's not enough, using the right images can improve your conversion rates, as people will respond well to a website that uses good quality imagery and may make your website seem more trustworthy and professional; therefore people may be more likely to use your Call To Action (CTA) buttons. However, not everyone has the budget to hire a private photographer to take beautifully framed, wonderfully lighted images for their website, so instead of relying on the same stock photography as everyone else, here are our 6 tips for taking perfect pictures yourself.
1. Understand your theme
Before you reach for your camera ask yourself "why am I taking these pictures?" While this may seem like a simple question, it is important that you understand the motivation for taking the pictures, and what message you want to portray to your visitors. For example, if you own a relaxing spa, you may want your images to really portray a message of tranquillity and relaxation. This could be clean white images showcasing some of your spa area, your massage table or products. You can use similar businesses to yours to get some inspiration for your own pictures, try and put your own spin on them though so that your pictures are unique. You could even use Google images for inspiration and paste some pictures into a word document, this way you can look back at them when you are ready to take your pictures. You may even want to use Pinterest for inspiration and pin some of your favourite looking images. Looking at professional pictures will give you a good idea of image composition, do you want your s...
| 25th August 2020 |
General Articles
At the beginning of the year, Apple announced that its Safari web browser would reject websites whose SSL certificate was valid for more than 13 months. Now with everything that has been going on this year, you would be forgiven for forgetting about this (or let's be honest, not even hearing about it until now) and feeling the sudden pit in your stomach, wondering if your website will start being blocked on certain devices.
The move proposed by the tech giant is part of their plan to ensure that the websites viewed on their browser are following the most up to date cryptographic standards, to help raise the bar of website security. The idea is that the more frequently your SSL certificate is renewed (within reason), the more likely it is to have the most up to date defences in place to protect user data. In comparison, an SSL that only gets updated once a year is more likely to have security risks. This is a move that was initially suggested by Google in 2019 but was voted down in the CA/B Forum (a voluntary group that is made up of SSL certificate providers, companies that develop web browsers, etc).
It is highly likely that proposals such as this will shortly be seen across more browsers, and is merely the first move in the newest push to improve website standards.
So in practice what will this mean for website owners? Well, Apple has stated that all websites with an SSL certificate that is valid for more than 13 months will crash on all Apple devices that use Safari as a browser. This could be a huge issue for website visibility as Safari is the second most used browser (behind Google Chrome in the first position), with 33.22% of users using Safari on both desktop and mobile. Potentially 1/3 of users will not be able to view websites with these long term SSL certificates. Not only could this affect your customers being able to visit your website, but in the long run could even start to drag your search engine ranking down!
The upside? This new rule...
laura db | 21st August 2020 |
General Articles
Here are 6 website myths you need to know about before owning a website in 2020
You may have heard a few of these before, but with the internet full of opinions and contradictions it can be difficult to know what is true and what is a myth. With this in mind, we have created a shortlist of some of the biggest website myths!
1. Websites are too expensive
While this may be somewhat true, you will get what you pay for and sometimes it will be worth the money that is spent on it. However, we suggest starting with something that is going to work well for you in the short term, and then as your business progresses, you may need extra bits and pieces adding to your website later on down the line. This is then when you can start to build up your website with extra functionality or custom features if they are necessary. If you decide to join us here at WebBoss, we can provide you with a low cost website to get you started, then you can choose to upgrade your website with bespoke features whenever you would like; we can be completely flexible to your needs. This will mean that you won’t have to make a huge commitment at first, you can slowly build up your website and if you realise that a website is not for you, then no harm was done and you won’t have wasted thousands of pounds.
Building a website can be expensive; however, there are so many low cost solutions on the market that can deliver a professional looking website for a very low cost. Our Low Cost Ecom website solution can provide you with any website that you need for a fraction of the cost.
2. My website will appear at the top of Google as soon as it is live
This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) comes in and although websites can be optimised for SEO before they go live (meta descriptions, alt tags, keywords etc.) this may not guarantee that your website will appear high on a search engine for a specific search term. It can take you months to start to climb up the ranks on Google, n...
| 19th August 2020 |
General Articles
An often overlooked area of marketing for small businesses is understanding your target audience. In the excitement to launch a new business or even a new website, things can get missed. Or perhaps you are testing if your side hustle could become your new full time, and want to see if there is any interest first before diving in deep. Either way, knowing your audience is vital to sustaining your business. It allows you to market your product or service in a way that appeals to them to encourage them to become customers. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when you are trying to understand your audience.
Who is your target audience?
Sometimes there can be a slight difference between your current audience and your target audience. For example, a new business may create a Facebook page and invite all of their friends to "Like" it. However, their friends on Facebook may not be their target audience, and any engagement with posts can be due to existing relationships rather than proof that your marketing is working effectively. Knowing who your target customers and audience are will help you to focus your content so that you reach the people your product or service is targeted towards. Once you are up and running for a while, you will be able to use social media to ascertain who is interested in your business.
What problems or desires does your audience have, that your product/service fulfils?
Where does your product fit in solving problems or fulfilling desires? As it will not be suitable for everyone, who does it suit? This means fulling understanding your product or service as well as your audience. If you haven't already, take some time to think about the Unique Selling Points (USPs) of your product and the way it solves a problem for your audience. A common mistake when defining a business's target audience is being too wide; instead, you should try to narrow down your audience as much as possible, as this will help to make your marketing more effect...
| 05th August 2020 |
General Articles
Making time to ensure you have regular blog posts added to your website might seem like another thankless chore in the long list of things you need to do, but do it right and it could open your business up to more visitors, more engagement, and most importantly more customers. Not quite convinced? Here are our top 5 reasons why you should be blogging about your business.
1. It shows your expertise
By regularly writing blog posts about your area of business, visitors are able to see that you are genuine and know what you are talking about. This helps to instil trust in your website visitors, which in turn increases the chances that they will turn into customers! Try to pick relevant topics that your target audience are interested in and focus on creating quality rather than quantity of blog posts, and let your knowledge shine through. This could be anything from a quick DIY blog for using or repairing a product, or even a review of a new product you will be selling. Not only will this increase the trust in your business, but could help to get visitors excited for new products or services!
2. Attracts visitors to your website
Blogs are perfect to share on social media to help bring visitors to your website and therefore your business. Resharing content and posting pictures of products and services are perfect for social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, but if you would like to add a bit of variety to your social media posts, then blogs can work wonders. By sharing your blog post on social media, you are encouraging visitors to your website where they can find out even more about what you offer. This helps to encourage visitors towards conversion to customers.
3. Fresh content looks good to visitors and search engines
Especially with local searches, posting and sharing blogs regularly tells your customers and potential customers that you are still active. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to tell from an online search if a company is sti...
laura db | 28th July 2020 |
General Articles
If there are so many free social media channels out there that do pretty much everything I need for my business, why should I have a website? Do I need a website?
The answer is yes, you should definitely have a website and we are going to explain why.
Visibility/ SEO
While creating a Facebook page may seem familiar, easier and more cost effective than creating a website, you must understand the limitations that go along with just having a Facebook page. The main limitation is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Naturally, you will want your business to be found by as many people as possible, however, due to the way in which search engines rank websites, a website is going to be favoured by search engines over a Facebook page. Often a website will be pushed to the top of a search engine results page before a Facebook or any other social media page.
This is hugely important if you want your website to be visible by your target audience, as Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day. Meaning that if your online presence is small and you are only using Facebook, you could be at a huge disadvantage when it comes to visibility. With that being said however, Facebook has 2.6 billion monthly active users and so with this in mind, you will definitely have a decent chance of being found on Facebook. However, if your competitors have a website, they are more likely to be found on the search engine results page by your target demographic, therefore decreasing your chances of being found by people searching for your product/ service. That doesn’t mean to say that you should only have a website though, as having both a website and a Facebook page can be hugely beneficial for brand visibility, as it can double the chances of your business being found online.
You may think that using Facebook is the more cost effective route to go over a website, as websites can be quite a costly investment, depending on what you need from it. However, Facebook will require a lot of ...
| 08th July 2020 |
General Articles
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) may seem like a minefield to many, especially as there are no guarantees in this constantly moving field. With this is mind, there are some basics that remain steady regardless of updates and changes to search engines. Keywords are a prime example of this, and understanding your keywords can make all the difference to your website and its visibility. Not only can it help your search engine ranking, but it can also make it easier for visitors to quickly navigate your website.
As a little research can help to organically improve your website's ranking, it can be well worth the time spent on it!
Rank Tracker
ranktracker.com
This downloadable software cleverly combines 23 different keyword tools into one, making your keyword research start to look a lot less daunting. By doing this, it is not only able to provide you with useful examples for keywords, but can show you the best place to put your keywords and even provide location based keywords. Not enough? Rank Tracker didn't think so either as it will allow you to easily switch between desktop and mobile keyword rank tracking, to better understand how to use your keywords effectively. Add on top of this automated reports and the ability to compare your ranking with your competitors, Rank Tracker is definitely worth a look if you would like to keep your SEO in house.
Google Ads Keyword Planner
ads.google.com
We would definitely be amiss if we didn't include the search engine giant Google. Not only is Google the owner of the most popular search engine, but it also has a wide range of online products that can help you to improve your search engine ranking and customer engagement. Google Ads Keyword Planner is a perfect example of this, actually creating an ad will cost but if you use the product just for research, you will benefit from the wealth of knowledge that Google can provide. While this can be used for general research, it is best utilised for finding which keywords you shou...
laura db | 06th July 2020 |
General Articles
Owning a small business is hard work, especially with what is currently going on in the world right now. We understand that a lot of businesses are eagerly wanting to get back on their feet after this roller coaster ride we have all had to endure this year. So to help small businesses weather the current storm, we have added a new product to WebBoss Websites, which will make it even easier for small businesses to get online. It is called Low Cost Ecom and is one of our most affordable website packages, providing you with a whole range of features and benefits to get your small business up and running again; you could even be making sales online within 14 working days of your order. All you need to do is register your interest, choose your theme and then we can begin.
What makes Low Cost Ecom different to other website builders?
That's a good question! Most website builder sites will only offer you basic functionality, but Low Cost Ecom comes with a full online shop with up to 250 products, a contact form, the ability to order online (perfect for table service, collection or delivery!), a newsletter creator, SSL, and is fully Gift Aid compliant! If that's not enough, then the built in GDPR module will help to simplify the collection, storing and deletion of personal data in line with both GDPR and NHS Track and Trace guidelines. As you may have heard, restaurants and pubs are required to collect and store customer data for a period of time for Track and Trace safety measures.
As this is a necessary step in the fight against COVID-19, we have added some features to our Content Management System (CMS) that may aid pubs, restaurants and many other businesses during this time.
Track and Trace
This is undoubtedly one of the most daunting elements for a lot of businesses, with many of them asking the question, 'How are we going to obtain and store data for NHS Track and Trace?' With this in mind, we have added a ‘Track and Trace’ page to our platform, this page ha...
laura db | 24th June 2020 |
General Articles
Which Social Media Platforms Should Your Business be Using?
Social media is definitely a very useful tool when it comes to marketing, not only are they free but they are extremely useful for businesses who wish to grow in the online market. Along with a website, your business should definitely be on social media to take full advantage of any online avenues available, the further your business can reach the better. Facebook has over 1.69 Billion users globally, while Instagram boasts over 1 billion monthly users, illustrating that these social media channels host a huge proportion of the available market and so as a business owner, they are definitely the place to be in terms of reach and visibility.
While it is free to sign up to these channels, if you want to use them successfully they can demand a lot of your time. Depending on your budget for ads or boosting your posts, or even if you are wanting to build an audience organically, you will definitely spend a large amount of time on this. So it is very important that you choose the right platforms that are going to truly showcase your business in the best possible light.
So Which Social Media Channels Should Your Business Invest Time into?
This may depend on quite a few different factors. So first ask yourself these few questions:
What type of business do you have?
Is your business quite creative or is it more practical?
Are you selling tangible products or are you selling a service?
These considerations will help when deciding on which social media channel to focus on, as each have their own features and benefits when it comes to promoting a business. We have listed four major social media channels that we consider useful for a business.
Pros of Using Instagram
Instagram is a great platform for businesses who have a creative flair. For example, photographers can truly showcase their photography skills on this platform. However, you don't need to be a photography genius to succeed, as it can...
| 22nd June 2020 |
General Articles
It is easier than ever to create a website yourself without ever speaking to another person using freemium platforms such as Wix, Squarespace and Wordpress.com. These options can work wonders for small businesses, or those just starting out, but what happens when you out grow the free website, or worse the hidden fees start to eat away at your hard earned profits? You could always just upgrade your package to the next level and hope for the best, or you can find a web designer or web agency, like WebBoss Websites, to design and build your website for you. This can be a scary step, so here are a few questions you should ask before buying a website to make sure that you have all the information you need and don't get taken for a ride.
Do they understand what you want from your website?
You might already have an idea of how you would like your website to look, or you might just know what you want your website to be able to do for your business. Either way it is the designer's job to create a realistic version of your vision based on your description. To do this the designer will ask questions to make sure that they have all the information. They may also make some suggestions and give advice on what could work best for your website based on your needs.
How big is the team?
This can be a difficult decision. With a single person, you will get to know the person working on your website well and this can be beneficial, especially if they are also dealing with your hosting and website management. However, what happens when they go on holiday and your website is only showing errors? You don't have the support you need to keep your business running effectively online. So it is worth finding out the size of the team that will be working on your website. Here at WebBoss Websites you will always have your own dedicated website designer, who is supported by a team of experienced designers and developers to help create your website. Once your website is live, there is ...
| 22nd June 2020 |
General Articles
When you get a new website you may see web design and web development listed separately on the quote. While they may seem very similar it is important to understand the difference between the two, and why both are vital for the proper working of your website.
So what is the difference between web design and web development? The simple answer is that the design is purely how the website looks, and development is how the website works and is built. However, in practice it is rarely as simple as this, and the skills of the person creating your website are likely to be wide ranging, especially if your hire a freelancer or a small company. The size of the company is important as the role of designers and developers is largely dependent on the structure of the team. Larger companies will tend to have separate design and development teams, allowing designers to create the design of the website in a program like Photoshop, and then pass it onto the development team to build as a website. While someone working freelance will often do both the design and build of the website.
For example, here at WebBoss we have our design team, who work alongside the development team at WebBoss.io, and as we are all usually working within the one room, the teams work seamlessly together. Our teams have knowledge of both design and development, and this allows us to blend the features together to create a beautifully finished product.
Usually the designers will begin websites using Photoshop, this allows them to easily add or edit different elements that make up the whole design, such as colours, layouts, and fonts. Once the design has been signed off by the customer, the designer will start to implement the design for the website. As we use the proprietary WebBoss.io system the majority of the website build is complete, allowing the designers to add their design quickly. For freelancers using an open source platform such as WordPress, they will usually begin the process in the same way, b...
miki boarer | 10th June 2020 |
General Articles
Facebook has seen its fair share of controversies in recent years; from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to failing to stem misinformation on it's platform. Despite this the social media firm, who boasts a net worth of $657.49 billion, has continued their aim of social media domination by purchasing the popular gif hosting and creation site Giphy. Announced on the Facebook blog on 15th May 2020, this may seem like just another business transaction, but to many in the industry it is creating waves as Facebook begins to command a large portion of the market. Back in 2012 Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion, shortly after this Whatsapp joined the family. By 2018 this meant that Facebook owned the top 4 most download apps and a host of other technology firms resulting in a huge monopoly.
So what does the $400 million acquisition of Giphy mean for its users, and for other technology firms that integrate with it? At the moment Giphy integrates with a wide range of systems using its API (it is even integrated in the Page Editor of the WebBoss System). While Facebook's announcement suggests that Giphy should continue to work as it currently does, and there are plans for even better integration with Instagram to allow users to find and use gifs in their posts more intuitively. As approximately half of all of Giphy's traffic comes from Facebook owned apps, this should bode well for the app users as better integration can only improve the service provided.
However, companies in direct competition with Facebook are more than a little weary of the new owners. It is common practice for online businesses such as social media platforms, software developers and even just website owners to track the way that people use their platform. This provides useful data that can be used to improve the service that they provide, and it is this that is the cause for concern for Facebook's competitors such as Twitter, Snapchat and Reddit. As Giphy is already integrated within th...
laura db | 03rd June 2020 |
General Articles
Is building a website yourself better than having a website professionally built?
Deciding to buy a website can be quite a stressful time and whilst you are doing endless amounts of research into the best website builders or website companies, you may find yourself asking the question, do I build the website myself or do I get it professionally built? So what is the best way to go? Well there are definitely some pros and cons of both, but it will all come down to capabilities, functionality, budget and time.
What type of website do you need?
The best way to determine whether building a website yourself or having a website professionally built and designed for you, will depend on what is needed from your business website or what you will want from your website personally. Are you looking for just a brochure website, with very minimum functionality but with basic business information? Or are you looking for a website with eCommerce functionality or a Blog feature? All of this will depend on what option is best to go for. However, you may think that a simple website will be easy to DIY and you may be right, but don’t forget about your own capabilities. For example, do you understand how a website should be designed to really show your unique brand persona and give the ultimate user experience? Or what about the technical side of creating a website such as: SSL certificates, hosting, domains, email servers etc? Your website will be your number one marketing tool so it is vitally important that you get your website right to ensure your brand is perceived in the way you need it too.
DIY Website builders
Website builders such as Wix or Squarespace for example, can offer you the chance to create and design a website yourself, and they will often be fairly priced for what you get. This is usually seen as the first port of call and can help get your online presence started relatively quickly. However, these website builders will often be limited to templates or t...
miki boarer | 03rd June 2020 |
General Articles
While nothing will beat the end product of a professional graphic designer, sometimes your budget wont stretch that far. Although I would always recommend paying a professional to design and create your website, there are so many great tools out there that you can use to create gorgeous engaging content with no training at all. These can be great to post on social media, meaning your budget can stay small while your following gets bigger! Here are a few of our favourites.
Canva
A simple drag and drop software available as a mobile app or an in browser app, with hundreds of free templates. Sign up takes less than a minute and then you can choose a template to edit or create from scratch. With a wide range of fully editable templates you can quickly create high quality posts for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube thumbnails. For most small businesses the free version should be enough as you have a wide range of templates available, and with no limit on downloads you can create to your hearts content.
https://www.canva.com/
Adobe Spark
Available online and as a mobile app, Spark will allow you to create sleek designs and even video, making your posts even more engaging to your followers. While some of the templates can be slightly tricky to fully customise, if you are looking for a quick way to create professional looking content for your social platform, Adobe Spark is definitely worth a look. One of the greatest selling points is being able to create animated videos within the free package, meaning you don't need to learn any fancy editing software to create custom animated videos for your social account or adverts!
https://spark.adobe.com/
Snappa
Similar to Canva and Adobe Spark, Snappa is a graphics editor designed to help make creating graphics for social media and marketing quick and easy. As sign up requires minimal information you can be up and going in less than a minute (...
laura db | 26th May 2020 |
General Articles
“Google to move all websites to mobile-first indexing by September 2020!”
Google have decided that all websites will be moved to mobile- first indexing by September 2020, something the tech firm have been in the process of since 2016. However, it is only this year that they have ironed out all of the kinks so the transition will be as smooth as possible.
While being forward focused and putting mobile first, Google have stated that your website may still be crawled with the traditional desktop Googlebot after the update has taken place, but most of the crawling will be done by their mobile smartphone user-agent, meaning that your website may be crawled more than usual.
So what is Mobile-first indexing?
Mobile-first indexing just means that when Google are indexing your website for the search engine results page they will be analysing the mobile version of your website first, rather than the desktop version. That doesn’t necessarily mean that if your website doesn’t have a mobile version that it won’t get indexed on Google, but it will put you at a huge disadvantage when Google rank your website. This is due to the fact that the majority of Google searches are now performed on a mobile device rather than a desktop and as some desktop websites have different amounts of content and different layouts than the mobile version, it makes sense that Google will index the mobile version first. This has been in the works for many years but it is only this year that Google will update their algorithm to mobile-first indexing by default.
Currently, Google actually already rank around 70% of websites through mobile-first indexing, however the remaining 30% will need to be moved over to the new process which is why this process has taken so long, as mobile first indexing was first mentioned by Google back in 2016. The process of moving over from desktop-first indexing to mobile-first indexing has taken four years and only now is it nearly ready to be a default f...
| 12th May 2020 |
General Articles
Social Media is a Great Resource that can Help Build Your Brand Online
Social media has been the saving grace for some smaller businesses during lockdown, proving yet again that having a strong social media presence can be vital. If you are not yet convinced here are 5 benefits of having a strong social media presence.
1. Reaching Your Audience
Social media has become a part of people's everyday routine, and as most users will sign in to their accounts at least once a day, chances are that your audience is already there, ready and waiting to see your content. Regular posting of good quality, relevant content can make it easier to reach your audience and even convert them into customers! What's more, the statistics connected to a social media page or account will help you to better understand your audience. You can then use this to help shape your content so that it will be useful and entertaining for your followers. The statistics will also allow you to look into when your followers are on your page so that you can set your posts to go live when they are most likely to see it.
2. Easy Communication
Finding your audience is only step one, the next step is starting conversations. Good communication is key to getting your brand out there and this is where social media can really shine. You can easily interact with your customers on an individual level, or as a whole, helping to build trust in your brand. In contrast to traditional marketing, social media allows for a two way conversation, which means that you can get feedback from customers. So take time to reply to any comments that your customers may leave and to answer any questions, this includes customer service and reviews. Never ignore a chance to interact with your customers; even constructively replying to a negative comment positively can help!
3. It's Cost Effective
Let's be honest, this is important for businesses big or small, (and especially in the current climate) being able to spend less while s...
miki boarer | 08th May 2020 |
General Articles
As we have all done our bit and stayed home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, we have spent more time online. While this may have helped to wile away the hours as we lose track of time and wait patiently to be told that we can safely venture outside and begin work once again, it has also created an opening for fraudsters. Cyber criminals have been taking advantage of peoples concerns about the coronavirus and using it to scam people out of money and data. The boost in online criminal activity has caught many people out. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, part of the City of London Police, have stated that in April scammers defrauded over £1.6 million from victims in the UK, with some of these even pretending to be suppliers of medical PPE.(1)
While there are countless ways that fraudsters can try to scam you, there are some simple steps you can take to help make sure that you can identify or steer clear of getting caught in their trap. But first things first, what are the most common types of online scams?
Phishing
This is traditionally through email, but there has been a rise in phishing scams being sent in text or messaging apps. These will usually try to evoke an action from you by scaring you or making you nervous, so that you feel that you need to act on the message, and act quickly. For example a popular one is that your TV licence, or streaming service is about to run out and you need to follow the link to renew. Instead of taking you to the TV licence or streaming service website it will take you to a replica and use your information once you have entered it. This is the main method used during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the general public and businesses.
Malware
Malware is a contraction of malicious software, and it can work in many ways such as locking your device, stealing and deleting all your data and even using services that may cost you money. For malware to work, it needs to be able to run on your computer.
Ransomware
Thi...
laura db | 30th April 2020 |
General Articles
Why Should You Have a Digital Business Card?
As we are all aware paper is being used less and less throughout our lives, whether that be cheques, money and even business cards. With social media making business networking so much easier, it's more important than ever to ensure that there is one place with all your information. A simple one page website is the perfect digital business card and is the perfect solution to helping you be found online. For this reason we developed our Business Card Website package, a small, budget friendly website that will help to bring in new customers, and allow current customers to quickly and easily suggest your services to their friends and family, all for less than a cup of coffee a month!
Our beautifully designed digital business cards, have been specially created to offer a variety of styles and colours to suit an array of different business types. Using these specially designed templates, are the ideal way of quickly and affordably communicating your services to your customers. You can even use social media to share your new website to make it even easier to find!
With a fully editable format, you can update and change your digital business card with ease, this differs from the traditional business cards which once printed cannot be changed or updated. On a printed business card lots of information can look too cluttered as you are often limited to a smaller amount of space, but a digital business card will allow you to add much more detail to effectively communicate your brand.
Our digital business card website will not only give a sleek and professional look, but they are fully interactive and can include many different ways for your clients to contact you. You will be able to add in your business number and contact email address which, when clicked will either call you or open up a mail client so the customer can contact you with the least amount of hassle possible. All social media links can be included to give ...
Miki | 28th April 2020 |
General Articles
With the lockdown still in full swing it is more important than ever that your business can be found online. As many close their doors, reduce hours or work solely online both Google and Facebook have introduced news ways that you can keep your customers informed of your business changes.
Facebook
Facebook has recently updated its settings so it now allows you to amend your trading hours or services if you have been affected by COVID-19. This is a simple change that you can do on desktop or mobile:
Go to Page Settings (this is just Settings if you are on your business page on a desktop) and select Page Info.
Scroll down the page and just underneath your opening hours is a news section called Temporary Service Changes.
Here you are presented with 3 options 1) No Changes, 2) Temporarily Closed, or 3) Open With Service Changes. If you select option 3, you will also be able to specify how your services have changed from either Online Services, Delivery, Pickup or Other Changes.
Once you are happy with your selections click Save Changes and this will update your Facebook Page.
This will help to keep your customers up to date regarding the services you are currently able to provide.
Google
If you would like to be able to reach not only your current customers, but potentially new customers Google has added new sections to their Google My Business accounts so that you can display this information when you appear in search results. With this new section you can add a notice to let customers know you are still open and even add special offers for products to help drive sales.
We found that the easiest way to update these were to sign into your Google My Business account on Chrome and then search your business. Here you will get the options to edit your business information, create a post, add a photo, ask for reviews or create an advert.
If you click on Edit Info a pop up will appear and give you the options...
laura db | 26th March 2020 |
General Articles
Web Hosting? DNS? CMS? SSL? What Does it all Mean?
Buying a website can be a very confusing process! You may have heard your web provider talking about web hosting, website software or Content Management Systems (CMS), website content and design, domain names (DNS) or SSL certificates and each one will often come with its own price tag. It can all get a bit overwhelming and we can understand why.
Here we have broken down a few of the website build steps to really help you understand what each of the sections mean and why they are important. A website build could be compared to the process of building a new home. You may think that the first step of a house build will be deciding on how you would like the design to look and how different areas will function. However, before you have even decided on the design of the house, you will have already decided on where you would like your new home to be situated and you may have also decided on a name, this is all very similar to how a new website will be set up.
Web Hosting
This may not be the first thing you think of when you decide to get a website, however think of web hosting as the plot of land where your house will be built. When your website goes live, you will buy a small area on the internet where your website and all its content will be stored, this is referred to as web hosting. The actual area that the website will be stored is called a web server, the server will allow your website to be visible on the internet and will ensure that all of the content and changes that are made to your website are saved and stored. Most website companies will often offer web hosting services, as they will provide server space for your website so that you don't have to worry about it. The web server will work in conjunction with your CMS system, whether that is WebBoss.io, WordPress or something similar. Just like the plot of land is crucial for building a house, so is web hosting. Web hosting is simply just a way of storin...
laura db | 20th March 2020 |
General Articles
Serenity Welfare work tirelessly to offer comprehensive and bespoke support packages for children and young people experiencing family and community exclusion, while in the care of local authorities in the UK.
When Serenity Welfare transferred their existing website over to the WebBoss.io system back in 2018, they decided to keep their original design. However, as the company grew and developed over the years, they decided that a new design would better reflect their company's ethos of providing, amongst other things: support, empathy and inspiration.
With this in mind, the focus of the design was to create a friendly and inviting online space, reflecting the nature of the company brand. It also had to be attractive and easily navigated for their target audience, to ensure that they could easily find the relevant information. As their main target audience is large government bodies, such as local authorities, a clear introduction and page structure was essential. So the aim was to carefully balance a friendly design with clear concise information in a naturally flowing format, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the message conveyed on each page, without needing to read large amounts of text.
To achieve Serenity's vision, a mixture of geometric shapes formed the base of the design. The main emphasis lay on soft shapes such as circles and ovals, to create a feel of a free flowing customer journey down the page. The circles were used both to highlight images and add another dimension to the layout, while buttons were displayed with soft curved corners and a light shadow to draw the eye in to the calls to action. Waves were utilised for the header images as their curved lines add depth allowing the headers to standout. Waves also helped to break up sections of text on each page, making each section unique and easy to digest. In stark contrast some vital information, such as the range of services provided, are displayed in colourful angular...
laura db | 05th February 2020 |
General Articles
Our designers' top 5 picks for the hottest website design trends for 2020!
Many website designs that will be popular in 2020 have been popular for a few years, however there are some new and exciting trends to come for 2020. We have listed our designers' top 5 trends that could potentially be incorporated within their website designs this year. Website design trends can really make a difference when it comes to how your audience are viewing your website, keeping your website design up to date can give it a fresh new look, keeping your target audience intrigued.
Retro Colour Schemes
Shadows and Floating Elements
Hero Video Headers
Outlined Typography
Dark Mode
Retro Colour Schemes
Retro Colour Schemes is the first on our designers' list of top trends for 2020. A trend of the past could well be a trend for the future, with many brands taking on a more retro style and feel for their websites. In 2020 we could well be seeing more retro colour schemes and styles making their way to web design, with brands like Gucci and Adidas giving us all the retro feels within their colour schemes and image styles. With statement colours and vintage style images, giving a real throwback effect and we love it. As you can see Adidas have incorporated some bold and retro typography within their design which they have contrasted on a bold solid colour background, giving off this very nostalgic feel. We haven’t completely lost Adidas to the past, as they have only incorporated a few of the elements within this design trend on their website and have mixed this with some more up to date trending design features, such as hero video headers, which we will come on to later.
Visit Adidas
Visit Gucci
Shadows and Floating Elements
We can also start to see many web designs incorporating floating and drop shadow effects, this adds a 3D aspect to the layout and an interesting layered design, taking away from the typical 2D grid style and adding a freer flowing, scattered...
WebBoss Design | 03rd February 2020 |
General Articles
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about how visible a website is when using a search engine. Google, Yahoo! and Bing are all popular search engines who will use a series of algorithms to promote the most relevant websites in the search results, when a user is searching for a specific term. A website owner will benefit from being listed on the first page of the search results, as it allows consumers easy access and navigation to a website. SEO is made up of a collection of factors that search engines will take into consideration when they rank your website.
How to get your website visible to search engines
Keywords
Links
Secure Website
Mobile Friendly
Reputation
Page Speed
Overall
Keywords
Keywords are an important aspect of SEO, however they are not as heavily relied upon as they used to be. Search engines will take other aspects into consideration, such as how trustworthy a business is and whether they have expertise in their industry. Keywords are still important though, and they should not be overlooked.
So how should you use keywords for SEO? Let’s break it down:
Page Titles
A page title is the name you give to your page when it is created, this is the name that will appear in the search results and should appear in the URL. This title should briefly outline what the page is about; here you can use a short formation of keywords that are relevant to your page’s content. Each page on your website should have a unique page title.
Page Headings
Page headings differ to page titles in that they are the heading at the top of your page's content, this may not necessarily match the title of your page. For example, your page title could be 'Home' but the heading on that page could be 'Welcome to WebBoss Websites'. Your page headings will be seen by search engines in the code, so it is worth thinking about your page structure when you are creating content. Heading 1 (H1) is your main page heading, you may not...
WebBoss Design | 20th January 2020 |
General Articles
Ian Hodge specialise in fieldsports and shooting equipment, they have proudly built the business up over the years and are now the most prominent sporting gun shop in Cornwall.
The main website design was a joy to create, as the business already had a clear brand image. It was fun to work with them to create a clean and responsive website that would help to achieve their goals. The most complex task in producing the website was designing and implementing the Gun List page, as this page was originally externally sourced and was presented as a very long and basic list. Not only was this page not mobile friendly, but also displayed a very small font that was difficult to read even on desktop. The challenge was not only to transfer the data from the original web page, but also how to best present the information. Each of the 558 guns on the list were added to an easy to edit stylised format, that displays the gun Make and Model followed by images and some basic information. This helps to make the shopping experience simpler and more enjoyable. To help boost the page from a SEO perspective, a 12 item limit per page was added to help reduce the page loading time. Not only does this improve page speed (which in turn can help with search engine ranking) but it would make it less overwhelming for the user and breaks down the number of items shown on each page. Lastly, a filter option was added at the top so that users can quickly search or filter for the products they are interested in, this would offer a better user experience and help to increase visitor to customer conversions.
Ian Hodge Logo Recreation
Alongside the new website it was requested that we recreate their logo. This was a simple task as the original logo already existed, so from this the design process was pretty straightforward; firstly we needed to source an image of a pheasant, which was then edited as a PNG file. Working with the pheasant image as a PNG meant that it could be dropped ...
WebBoss Design | 08th January 2020 |
General Articles
Torbay Medical Practice contacted us to create a film to help raise awareness for cervical screenings also known as smear tests. This is an importance issue for the practice as an ever decreasing number of women are getting this check-up. According to the NHS 1 in 3 women do not attend cervical screenings because of ‘embarrassment’. With a total of 3,200 women being diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, this is a worrying statistic they were keen to counteract. A regular cervical screening highlights the early stages of cancer and it therefore becomes much more preventative and treatable.
Our Videography Process
So, armed with these statistics, we arranged a meeting with the Practice Manager, Rachael Lankshear, and a few other nurses to discuss how they wanted to create a film that would demystify the process and encourage individuals to attend their screening. We concluded that the best way to express this would be to open the video with a funny clip, with the intent to draw in the viewer and hold their attention until the end, before leading into a range of nurses explaining what could be expected on the day. The focus was on removing some of the misconceptions surrounding cervical screening and encouraging a “no judgement” safe zone for all undergoing the screening process. Finally the video would end with a call to action and contact details, so that viewers could contact them easily.
Following the meeting, the storyboarding process began. This allows us to plan the shots one by one to ensure that we are following the story that Torbay Medical Practice wanted to tell. Once the first draft had been sketched, this was sent back to the nurses to gather their ideas. From this, the nurses created the script as they best know and understand the information that needed to be shared. After this we arranged another meeting, so that we could discuss the current story board. This resulted in us making a few changes before creating a filming sche...
WebBoss Design | 16th December 2019 |
General Articles
Are you struggling to keep your website’s content updated? Or are you hoping to boost your website’s traffic? A blog can be a great way to do both, as Google will really favour websites that are kept up to date. Blogs are also a great way to produce in depth content on a website, which will be favoured by search engines. Blogs can also be an ideal way to drive traffic from your social media channels, such as Facebook, back to your website which could potentially improve your ranking.
Blogging Checklist for SEO
Here are 4 very easy and simple tips to keep in mind when you are creating blogs.
1. Who are You Creating Your Blogs for?
Ensuring you are targeting the right audience is going to be hugely important if you are hoping to encourage engagement on your posts. Perhaps these are existing customers, or maybe you want to target investors. Try thinking about what your business is good at, what makes you an expert in your industry? You can use this to create content that is heavily focused towards your target audience. Try and write in depth blogs that your company is very knowledgeable about, this will come across well to your audience and may even increase brand trust. Not only that but writing in depth industry information may even boost your position on Google as you will appear to have expertise in your industry.
2. Use Keywords in Your Blogs
Using natural keywords throughout your blog posts will make it much easier for people searching for the information you’re providing. Long tail keywords are probably the best to use for this, as they are a formation of important keywords that should make sense as a sentence. From this, you can start to think about how your audience may search for your information, will they search for a question? This can be the base for your long tail keyword formations. Try and include these questions as your main titles as these will get picked up by the search engine. Don’t be afraid to incorporate the same k...
WebBoss Design | 11th December 2019 |
General Articles
Regardless of whether you already have a website and are looking to refresh your design and content, or if you have just decided to take the leap into the online world, these small changes and considerations can make your website go from drab to fab!
1. Get Your Website Professionally Designed
This is probably the biggest and most important tip on this list! The look and feel of a website can play a huge part in getting your users to trust your company and brand. Your users will appreciate a polished and professional looking website that exactly reflects your brand’s personality. Getting your website professionally designed will ensure that the website style and structure has been made with your target audience in mind. If you buy a WebBoss website, our professional designers will work with you one on one to ensure that your website design looks exactly how you want it!
2. Make Your Website Relevant
What benefit does content have if it’s not relevant? There's no use in talking about something that has nothing to do with your company/ industry. In fact, this could even negatively impact your position on Google, so be sure to make everything relevant and unique to you or your business.
3. Use Keywords
When you are including relevant content on your website, you should be naturally including relevant keywords on your pages. However, you can go one step further, by ensuring that your keywords are highly specific to your company, this will help to boost your position on Google. A quick Google search on similar products and services can give you an idea of the types of keywords that your competitors are using, you can note these down and try and incorporate them in your own product names/ descriptions or within your page content. Google Ads Keyword Planner is also a great way to find highly searched for keywords that relate to your products and services.
4. Be Consistent with Your Branding Colours
Chances are, if you are already an established business yo...
WebBoss Design | 09th December 2019 |
General Articles
Diana and Derek started to let student accommodation 20 years ago and have enjoyed meeting many students along the way, during this time they believe they have built up a very good understanding of the types of accommodation that students are looking for. Student Lets Plymouth were using Plymouth University’s website to advertise their properties, but the university had stopped external companies from being able to advertise student accommodation on their website. Plymouth Student Lets needed a website that would replace this.
Our Web Design Process
The challenge was to create a website that would appeal to their demographic whilst ranking highly for SEO. In order to do this, we set out to create a website where searching for a property was a very clear call to action, as well as having secondary information on the site like an interactive map of Plymouth in order to be more relevant for Google searches.
The client had good images of the location, properties and rooms, so we designed the website with a strong focus on imagery. We created a very striking header that showed the Smeaton Tower as this is such an iconic landmark in Plymouth. The client didn’t have any branding colours, so we decided to use the red of the tower as a highlight colour throughout the website, which helped tie in the design and overall look of the website. We repeated the tower in the footer in a vector format, we also included one of their properties in the same format, this added a friendly and approachable feel to the website. We also included a slider of testimonials to add a trustworthy aspect to the company.
Overall, the client was happy with the design and has decided to run some PPC campaigns with Reach PLC, to direct people to the new website. They are going to use the SEO tools that are included within the WebBoss system to tweak the website themselves, however they are thinking of using one of our SEO packages to really help boost their rankings, as they are ...
WebBoss Websites | 29th May 2018 |
General Articles
As you may or may not know, new General Data Protection Regulations are being implemented as of 25th May. This will mean that businesses will have to comply with new regulations and if they fail to do so then there are serious penalties in place. WebBoss have created a new, easy to use module to ensure that your website complies with the new GDPR rules.
Double opt-in for newsletters
When your users sign up for a newsletter, they will receive a confirmation email before they are added to your mailing list.
Data requests
New form where users can request a copy of the personal data you hold for hem or they can request their data to be removed in the admin. You can review these requests and action them with a single click.
Cookie policy generator
Generates the cookie policy for you.
Privacy policy generator
Provides resource links to receive templates and allows you to edit within the text editor.
Terms & conditions generator
Similar to the privacy policy generator, this provides resource links to receive templates and allows you to edit within the text editor.
For more information on GDPR
What the new regulations mean in 1 minute [infographic]. https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EU-GDPR-new.jpg
For more comprehensive information on the GDPR regulations, see the Information Commissioner's Office website...
Phil Mayne | 05th April 2018 |
General Articles
Preparing your business for an eCommerce platform can be stressful. With a little preparation and organisation, we can help you get back on track and ahead of schedule. Working alongside our team of designers we have gathered all of the information you need to keep on top of your workload.
Organise your products
This is something that can benefit all businesses, organising all of your products into a CSV (Comma Separated Value, think spreadsheet) file. If you want to make life easier for you further down the line, it's worth putting the work in now to get this in place. A simple start for your CSV could be to title your products, price your products and write a description. With this in place, you can simply import your products without having to create each individual product.
Good image management
Preparing product images ahead of time can really help speed the process up and your website will reap the benefits. Make sure that your product images are good quality. Having image sizes less than 250 pixels (at a minimum) could result in a pixelated shop front. Alternatively, having images that are over 1200 pixels wide is overkill and will result in pages that are weighed down with large file sizes. Prepare and label your images descriptively (name of the product or product type are good choices) so that they are ready for when you import your products into your new shop.
Choosing the right payment gateway
Using WebBoss as an eCommerce platform means that you have the choice of a payment gateway. We have partnerships with companies such as Allied Wallet, Barclaycard, Worldpay and PayPal which all fit seamlessly into the system. You just need to create an account with your gateway of choice. Aim to tackle this early on as accounts can take time to process and set up.
A Secure eCommerce solution
WebBoss prides itself on its QMS ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified secure platform. We don't rely on third-party plugins for solutions, all of our development is done ...
WebBoss Design | 04th April 2018 |
General Articles
Responsive/Property Management/Design
www.rodorlettings.co.uk
Our Approach
Estate agent websites are used by a large variety of people from all walks of life, but they all have one objective in common, they are there for users to view property. This means the design and build should be accessible and clear with an easy to navigate interface across all devices.
With Rodor Lettings we were approached to deliver a responsive and contemporary re-design for their website, with the added functionality to post new properties and search for existing properties on the market.
Our main objectives for this project was first and foremost to create a design that was easy to use. This meant lots of call to actions, navigation that would allow users to get where they need in just a few steps and for there to have multiple ways of contact. And for this to translate into a functioning property management application.
Homepage Design & SEO functionality
Getting the right hierarchy on the homepage is important for any website as part of a successful design. For a business like Rodor Lettings, we need to make sure that there are good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) practice and a clear navigation for users. Having good SEO practice here will help local users find Rodor Lettings higher up in the Google rankings. Our call to action carousel allows for a way to display navigation but in more detail which will help with SEO focused headings as well as giving a new user some more vital information. Alongside navigation, we have prioritised ways of getting in touch with Rodor and for a quick and simple search function of their properties on the market.
Overall the design follows a contemporary responsive aesthetic utilising the Rodor Lettings branding. Users can access and navigate the site easily across a range of devices.
Problem solving with WebBoss
As well as an easily navigable site, at the core we needed it to function as an estate agency site. The ability for Rodor ...