Amanda Stockwell says, “There are no constants in digital. Customers demand change, marketing strategy shifts, and new products roll out — more quickly than ever. Yet many agencies cling to a traditional model of web development, taking 6-12 months to launch a final, “perfect” website. That’s no way to build a website that drives continuous growth, customer retention, and ROI. It’s only after those long months of design and development that you start to receive real feedback from customers and gain a better understanding of how users actually use the site. Rather than building... [...]

Jennifer Cedorchuk says, “The sheer volume of sales you experience during the holiday season could put you in a very different situation during tax season next year. There are several considerations you’ll have to keep in mind, such as an increase in revenue, locations where you or other staff members work, and potential exemptions. These tips won’t make up for advice from an accountant, but these are some things to keep in mind when dealing with sales tax. Know Where You’re Selling There are so many different taxes you’ll be responsible for this holiday season, from federal all... [...]

Lisa Isbell says, “When the time finally comes to tackle a website redesign, it’s difficult to contain the excitement. There are so many things you just can’t wait to have put into place! Then come the first steps to making it all happen. Excitement turns to fear and trepidation as you try to craft a plan and put together the resources to turn all of your lofty ideas into reality. Suddenly it begins to seem more and more like a home construction project: lots of advice from many sources; warnings about rip-offs, scams and slick tactics; choices for things that could go into,... [...]

News reports suggest that 30,000 Web Sites are hacked every single day. If that doesn’t scare you, then you must not be marketing in the real online world. That statistic shows it is only a matter of time before the crooks come after your site. The Internet has never been more dangerous than it is today. Even if hackers don’t successfully take over your web site, they can eat up a lot of your server’s time and that slows down your server for real visitors. Every single day, thousands of business owners wake up to find that their sites have been hacked and their business is at... [...]

Crooks and hackers are everywhere, it seems. One of our servers was attacked Monday. Fortunately, we were protected, and no harm was done. Are you protected? WordPress sites are especially vulnerable, and you need to take extra precautions to assure that no one can penetrate your defenses. There are several good security tools for WordPress, but one stands out: WP Site Guardian, which is brand new. The creators experimented with the other leading security tools to see whether they were up to the challenge of the exploits of current hackers. They found that even with the most popular security tools,... [...]

Kayla Wainwright says, “Online shopping is a favorite hobby of mine, mainly due to the convenience factor. Recently, I was shopping online for a new coffee table and found myself with a dilemma. I found a website that had a great assortment of coffee tables: different sizes, shapes and every color you could think of. They had it all. After navigating through the website for a few minutes, I realized finding the right one was going to be difficult. I was having trouble sorting through the different styles and began to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. I had great tables laid out on the page... [...]

Danny Wong says, “The loudest content medium out there has finally learned how to be quiet. In 2015, web design moved away from information overload to an aesthetic revolving around empty space and simplicity. Taking a cue from magazines, web pages are using large high-definition photographs and typography to lure in readers with eye-pleasing openers before revealing further content. This design is influenced by a new appeal to simplicity and by the need to cater to mobile web traffic, which is increasing every year. In the face of this push to cut away excess, here are 14 design trends... [...]

HubSpot team says, “Have you ever finished creating a website and loved everything about it? And then promptly began to hate it after attempting to actually view it online and it is painfully slow to load? Everyone is used to the common culprits, but there is one often overlooked perpetrator: render-blocking JavaScript. So now you are asking, what is render-blocking JavaScript? If we breakdown the phrase “render-blocking” into its parts we get render (to load) and blocking (to prevent); so we can deduce that this refers to JavaScript that is preventing a page from loading. JavaScript... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Yes, it’s a shamelessly epicurean roundup of some of the most ocularly orgasmic websites on the wider web. From ecommerce to agency sites, here are some of the most colourful or contrasting. You can view the sites for yourself by clicking the first image in each series. Lush Lush is a good place to start because white space is the hero here. It’s the delicious colouring of the toiletries, contrasted with large black and white typography and a black header that makes this such an enjoyable site to browse“. 10 eye-popping websites that use stunning colour... [...]

Here are some tough questions every online marketer needs to ask: • If your website gets hacked, how will you recover? • If your hosting company goes under, how will you recover? • If your server crashes, how will you recover? • If your hosting company give you poor support, how will you escape to a better host? In all these cases, you need a good backup of your website, made in advance, stored at an offsite location that you can use to restore your site to normal. Offsite is important. Don’t entrust your backup to the same server that holds you site. In a disaster, you... [...]