Does your website need a refresh or do you need a new website?
It looks old. It makes your brand look uninspiring. You don’t like to send the link to prospective clients anymore.
Technology and especially web design is moving so fast that the longevity of a website rarely reaches ten years. If it’s more than ten years ago, then go ahead and give it a fresh coat of paint.
So how do you make an informed decision?
Here are 4 key questions that you need to answer when considering a website refresh: [Read more…] about Four Ways to Update Your Website
Responsive Web Design
How To Write for Mobile and The 50 Percent
How to write for mobile has everything to do with this discovery.
We no longer read content online. We scan it.
With over 50% of American adults now using smartphones, it’s likely you will have just as many mobile visitors to your site as desktop ones. Write all your content as you would for your mobile site. If it looks great on your mobile, then it will look great on all other devices.
The F-shaped reading pattern we knew about on desktops is a thing of the past. On the small screen, there is no single area that needs to be optimized. The viewer may start on the left, but really is looking everywhere on the screen.
“We don’t read online, we scan. We don’t read online like we read books. Our attention span is very short when browsing websites online. We have a tendency to scan the text and jump from one section to another and read-only headings or just first sentences of a paragraph,” explains Rafal Tomal.
Understanding how people read on a mobile device – Write less for more impact. Provide a clear, concise message by shortening phrases.
- Make enough room between the sections so you clearly see when to stop.
- Start every section with a short heading.
- Follow the heading with a short intro paragraph or subheading that summarizing what the section is about.
- Use a clear typographic hierarchy.
- Make your fonts large enough,
- Break up large amounts of content into small chunks (use space between paragraphs, bullet/number lists, quotes, icons, illustrations, photos).
- Write short sentences
- Put your key messages before your marketing hype.
- Think Hemingway. Use simple words and phrases.
Habits Differ Based on The Device
Mobile users typically use their devices to solve problems or gain information throughout their day, whereas desktop users are typically in their offices or homes. Remember. Nothing is more daunting to your visitor than a massive block of unformatted text.
Check your content on a smartphone to see how it looks and find ways to improve it.
Resources: How To Create Mobile-Friendly Content
The Versatile Business Pro WordPress Theme
Looking for a business website theme that has it all? Lots of customizations and even a video header. The Business Pro WordPress theme may just be your answer – elegant, bold, and built to turn prospects into customers.
Built on the Genesis Framework, Business Pro is the result of valued customer feedback, feature requests, and years of Genesis theme development experience.
It is a smart choice for creative agencies, service providers of all shapes and sizes, and even brick-and-mortar businesses that want a contemporary look and feel online.
And, as an added bonus, the team at SEO Themes built in additional schema.org microdata to help search engines understand your content.
Here is everything you get with Business Pro:
Custom Colors: Business Pro provides custom color settings with transparency/opacity options, giving you even more control over your theme’s colors.
Hero Image or Video: Upload your own video or a YouTube URL for the background. Each page can also have its own hero image by simply setting a featured image.
Widget Columns: Create your own front page layouts with easy-to-use widget column classes.
Beyond Optimized: Extensive schema microdata implementation to ensure search engines understand your content and business. This new form of optimization is one of the most powerful, but least-utilized forms of SEO available today. Boost your website in the search engine result pages (SERPs). More about Schema Microdata.
Lightbox Gallery: Show off your work with the built-in responsive lightbox gallery shortcode.
WooCommerce: Fully integrated with the world’s most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin WooCommerce.
Masonry Grid: Business Pro includes a masonry portfolio and blog that looks great and works on all screen sizes.
Testimonials: Display your best customer reviews with the easy-to-use, search-engine-optimized Genesis Testimonial plugin.
Google Fonts: This theme uses minimal, super fast loading and great looking Google Fonts for the fastest performance.
Fully Responsive: Needless to say, this theme looks great and works at any screen size on any device.
Fixed Header: Enable a fixed header easily by adding one line of code to your theme.
Templates & Layouts: Custom page templates and layouts provide plenty of options for displaying your content.
Try the demo here ==> 
SEO Tools Automatic with StudioPress Sites
Can a saavy web maestro like you imagine building a website with all of the SEO power tools automatically built in?
Well, now you can … only with StudioPress Sites where every site includes SEO functionality. No more wasting time seeking optimization tools all over the Internet.
Here are nine reasons I know you’ll love the the Sites SEO package:
Superior Uptime and Speed
Sites uses a minimalist hosting stack that is specifically configured for the unique hosting demands of WordPress combined with the Genesis Framework. That adds up to world-class performance.
And search engines like it when your pages load faster — because you’re delivering a superior experience to your visitors.
Convenient Keyword Research
Sites comes fully loaded with a built-in keyword research tool that you use right from WordPress. This enables you to uncover the language your target audience actually uses (the search data doesn’t lie), which is exactly the language you need to be using in your content.
Using the language of your audience creates audience engagement, which in turn sends signals to Google that your content can be trusted and ranked well.
Patented Content and Site Analyzer
You know you need to optimize your site for humans first. But beyond that, there are some technical factors that can make an important difference. How do you know if your website and your individual pages are on the right track?
Sites has patented, built-in analyzers that give you a page and site score, as well as smart suggestions right there on the screen for changes you can make immediately.
Don’t wait, and don’t guess. The SEO tools in Sites take the guesswork out of technical optimization.
Mobile-Responsive Design
You’re already aware that mobile-friendliness is a must-have, not a nice-to-have. Search engines are unlikely to even give your site a second look if your design isn’t optimized for a pleasant and intuitive mobile experience.
This is why all 20 Genesis theme designs included with Sites are mobile-responsive, meaning they adapt to whatever device the visitor is using. Your page looks just as good — if not better — on a smartphone as it does on a desktop.
Built-in Influencer Outreach Tools
Getting backlinks from authoritative websites remains one of the best ways to improve your search rankings, but it’s not easy to do. You have to identify the right websites and establish the right relationships — a research process that can be lengthy.
Sites reduces the headache by helping you discover who else has the audience you want to reach, and by helping you identify relevant social media conversations — all from your dashboard. This way you can focus more on the outreach, and the benefits of outreach, than the painstaking research legwork.
Enhanced Security Defenses
Every website is under a constant threat of being hacked. Such is the world we live in these days. And it can be scary. But the last thing you want to do is bury your head in the sand — because you can lose the trust of visitors and search engines
if your site gets hacked.
We use a four-tiered defense strategy that delivers a rock-solid frontline defense designed to maximize security without negatively impacting performance. You need both elements built into your site if you want peace of mind and strong long-term SEO, and Sites delivers.
Support from Real Online Publishers
Sites was created by internet entrepreneurs, professional bloggers, revolutionary designers, and maniacal WordPress and Linux gearheads of Rainmaker Digital. They eat, sleep, and breathe web traffic.
This highly experienced team can help you with any questions you may have regarding your site’s SEO — usually based on first-hand experience. You won’t find a support system like this anywhere else. If you find yourself struggling with SEO, the team is at the ready.
Learn more about StudioPress Sites here
New Realtors’ Digital Marketing
Though not exactly a novel technology back in 2009 when everyone was online, the Internet has changed everything for home buyers and for realtors.
In 2017 many savvy, online home buyers now can create a short list of specific properties that pique their interest, culled from sources like Homes.com. There’s still plenty of need for agents and brokers, but in many ways, their main focus has evolved. They are no longer the sole information providers and curators. Their skills as experts, negotiators, and facilitators are in as high demand as ever.
In other words, the new homebuyer is already pre-sold before he picks up the phone and calls a broker. He knows what he wants already, in some cases the exact property, certainly the neighborhood, always the price range.
Vienna, Virginia realtor Doug Francis defines the new strategy perfectly for realtors both in the design and focus of his new real estate website. He notes: “Today’s smart digital marketing strategy needs to be geared towards becoming an industry resource, to create unique opportunities and gain new clients by being helpful”
Doug goes on to explain that while everybody is talking about social media, your website really needs to be the core of a strategy to demonstrate your professional experience through articles and helpful information.
“Facebook is for advertising, but consumers turn to Google for answers and searching for professionals who they can hire.”
Be sure to check out Doug’s stunning Genesis WordPress website at www.dougfrancis.com built on the Minimum Pro Theme.
87% of buyers use online resources and 75% select a real estate agent or broker to work with.
Buyers who utilize online resources during their home search are significantly more likely to also use an agent.
75% of senior home buyers go online to search for a home.
Nine out of ten Millennials turn to the internet and eight in 10 use mobile devices or apps to help with the home-buying process.
Millennial buyers and sellers use at least three online resources; one in four use five or more online resources.
Millennials scrutinize more agents, asking friends and family about their experiences with agents and reading online reviews more than other generations.
60% of buyers evaluate an agent’s local market knowledge.
89% of new home shoppers use a mobile search engine at the onset and throughout their research.
31% of home shoppers who take action on a real estate site are ages 25-34, surpassing all other ages.
75% of senior home buyers go online to search for a home.
[Source: Zillow.com]
Resources:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collections/zero-moment-truth.html
The Digital House Hunt: Consumer and Market Trends in Real Estate
Give Marcia a call at 561.906.3436 to help you build a website that captures homebuyers’ attention and closes the sale.