The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project recently released survey data on people and their cell phones. It’s probably no surprise to hear that adult cell phone usage has become virtually pervasive in the U.S. and according to Pew Research 83% own some kind of cell phone. Let’s focus on three data points from their research directly related to consumers and smartphone usage and then we’ll look quickly at possible strategies for your site.
 
Smartphone Research Data
 
In Pew Research’s telephone survey, conducted from April 26 to May 22, 2011 among a nationally-representative sample of Americans, they found:
 
1. That while 83% have cell phones, a little over one third of American adults (= 35%) own a smartphone of some kind.
 
2. 84% of those people use their phone to go online.
 
3. 16% reported difficulty reading something because the screen was too small.
 
Building Mobile Sites
 
It’s because of this very data we’ve been working on mobile sites OR what are actually mobile versions of an existing site. If you’re interested in developing a mobile version of your site or even just thinking about it, we feel focus on the most widespread user friendly experience possible is key. While 16% suggest difficulty, it’s likely most people’s experience isn’t great on a phone unless there’s direct access to core information. Other words, it’s possible [ if not likely] folks are looking for immediate gratification and in order to help it’s navigation to your most important content that is key.

1. Develop a front & center navigation very much like what you see in the image here.

2. Your site detects mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Android & Blackberry via the mobile browser used and serves up the mobile version instead of your regular site.

3. Visitors can always switch back to your regular site if they so choose, but to support better user experience in small screen based devices your mobile will show first.
 
If you’re thinking about mobile or any any form of site upgrade or redesign get in touch, we’d love to answer any questions or discuss neat new options.

And don’t forget to be in the habit of saving every so often too so that, in the event your web connection is ever broken – it happens folks!!, you still have all your work in WordPress not to mention in Word on your desktop. Pretty easy to use, so good luck with it… from Kinetic Knowledge!

Underestimating Service

I read something this morning about how, on the web, a lot of business people manipulate the marketplace with discounts or anything it takes to get into business… and to get your money. Consider that when you under-pay for services, the savings are likely only ‘in the immediate’. WHAT IS YOUR EXPECTED OUTCOME when you knowingly under-pay for service?

With sites, and the software used to build them, there are inevitably going to be bugs or problems. With third party application [i.e. plugins, widgets, etc.] integrations it makes it likely. Without reliable service to hedge that outcome, what is the cost to have one incident fix? Is it $100? $150? More?! What of the next one… and on and on it goes. Is your designer and/ or your host really providing support? The web is a fluid environment: the search engines & social networks your site cooperates, or even integrates, with are changing rapidly.

Do you have the software management & updating to keep up? Will anyone answer the phone in a pinch? Is there any Security? Is there any SEO? What happened to reliable & accountable service?

What Should Service Look Like? What Should Service Do?

Service should work to protect your time. Service should work to protect your money. Service should be a proactive advantage. How about this as a set of services?:

• Hosting & Storage
- DNS management
- Dedicated server , not shared hosting and not a VPS
- Servers configured for WordPress hosting.
- Server level PHP caching, as well as Apache and MySQL tuning specifically for a WordPress environment
- caching of (html) pages including compression, following Google best practice recommendations
- incremental off site backups, in case of hardware failure
- monthly, weekly and daily backups of all data including databases

• Tech’ Management & Advancement
- Constant monitoring of WordPress development
- Security releases deployed in a matter of hours, not days
- Regular plugin feature additions
- Full performance and security vetting for plugins and themes
- Major release planning for seamless upgrades

• Security
- unprotected sites get attacked, and they get hacked

• Instructional Marketing/ Advertising Education
- email, newsletters, videos and the benefit of our experience

• Important back linking
- white hat promotional efforts

• Customer Service, Accountable & Human
- we answer the phones and email every day!

Lots of companies build sites, but do they service them? Do they service you? Kinetic Knowledge handles it and you… on an ongoing basis. Affordable! We’d argue there isn’t a more reliable or crucial value than our ongoing support services in the marketplace! If you’re tired of bad to no service, get in touch!

So that client sites offer the most ‘marketing mite’ possible, we’ve been adding useful WordPress plugins with educational support as a part of our Standard Monthly Service.

In January we decided to focus on social sharing. Why Social Sharing? If you’re NOT familiar with how powerful the possibility of your brand being broadcast from any one of your pages out to any visitor’s ‘social network circle of influence’ is, its high time you take notice. Given the added power in Google & Bing’s recent admission that Twitter & Facebook have an effect on your search rankings, it should be a requirement of any WP install… custom or not!

WordPress Management Services & Social Sharing

The problem is there are literally 100s of social sharing plugin options in the WordPress directory. And while we’ve used random amongst these for different clients, it was time to focus on something that made this simple and readily available to everyone. Where do focused business people find the time to go through them all, not to mention vet for favorable features, performance and security? And then there’s configurations, which are ultimately managed via trial and error? We decided to look for an option clients could easily customize to their liking. We chose a combination of two share plugins to offer the what appeared to be the most relevant set of options. We then created an instructional video to support:

Social Sharing Explained

Anytime a visitor clicks [i.e. Facebook likes or shares, Re- Tweets, Diggs, etc., etc.] a share icon, typically positioned at the very bottom of your pages or posts, your content and YOUR BRAND is essentially pushed to that visitor’s friends, followers and / or circle of influence. That’s right – that visitor’s click just promoted you to an entirely new audience! The fact that a visitor driven action can SIMULTANEOUSLY promote better search engine rank for your content [because it creates a search engine measurable back link on that persons social account] makes it doubly important to your organic advertising visibility.

What Is Your Site Doing To Support you?

With custom WordPress there is lots to do… BUT worthwhile when a networked web offers an unlimited opportunity to broaden your visibility online! If it’s not about building a unique & visible online brand, traffic and the conversion of more leads … than why even spend any time and money online? And have a look at our Standard Monthly Services… there isn’t a more reliable or crucial value in the marketplace!

To All Those “Top Ten WordPress Plugins You Must Have” Lists Out There…

Ultimately, we feel that publishing these lists can be irresponsible. Why? Partly because what ‘the list publisher’ has in her own environment [WP version, existing plugins & customizations] is likely different from what [you and] everyone else has. Mostly because we employ well over a 100 different plugins across hundreds of WordPress sites, AND ALL with varying needs. Years of experience show that … one person’s plugin list virtually never fits all sites! Beware: an immediate plugin upload may actually lead to a lot of trouble.

Drilling Down On Plugins & Individual Business Needs

Folks, there are lots of popular plugins, but popularity doesn’t translate to success or even *a good option in a particular environment*. And not every plugin is germane to every site. Resist disinformation! When we’re only partly informed OR EVEN misinformed by others, it’s often because special interests are at work… maybe even to confuse us.  Is the source a developer of something on the list? Is the source promoting herself as a ‘for hire consultant’? Who knows and they may be comletely credible, but the key is *you* know what specific functionality *you* need, and to find the *right* solution. It’s not about popularity; it’s about the long term value that supports your visitors and that improves your business!

While WordPress.com’s free option supports lots of plugin communication, for when a plugins’ new version may be available [and a click option to update too], your custom site may not. So, it’s relevant to take a deep breath and consider:

• that it’s really tough to keep up with all that information;
• that it takes time to maintain each plugins’ productivity & compatibility;
• that in your environment [= existing plugins, framework, third party widgets, customizations, WP version, etc.] if something does break it will require fixing;
• that plugins are often abandoned by their designers;
• that you may need to research a substitute AND ALSO
• what your time is worth?

Service Will Save You Money!

In our daily work flow, we see sites break. Why? There are many reasons, but mostly it’s due to third party applications and plugins… or the wrong combination of the two. Go see the WordPress.org support forums, which are routinely littered with pleas for help. Often those come from users of a ‘one click’ upgrade option [for WordPress updates]. In most cases, installed plugin compatibilities haven’t been carefully vetted. Soon thereafter, a site is down. In many cases, the fix requires help … and that costs money.

It’s in these and countless other scenarios when good service is crucial, and likely at a much lesser cost. We provide a pretty nice set of them, aimed at both enhancing and protecting a businesses’ presence online. We actually monitor plugin development with the above scenario in mind, and we always have a “plan B”. In the unfortunate case a plugin is abandoned, we implement the alternative solution. When upgrading WordPress to its newest version, service includes checking compatibility with existing installed plugins. We do the homework, research the changes and, if there’s a concern, test in a sandbox before deploying live on your site. And that’s just some of it!

Are we bias? Sure, but the goal is always to eliminate any difficulty possible for clients. The goal is long term value that supports visitors and that improves business! We know how important your brand is online; we want to protect it! Have a look at what is the most reliable and crucial set of ongoing WordPress support services in the business… including plugin management & support

Getting WordPress Updates Done Right!

• Several compelling new features have been added through the 3.1 update, including:
• An “admin bar”, giving access to popular admin pages. This includes when you are viewing the front facing site, assuming you are logged in.
• A new lightning fast linking work flow search capability. It makes linking to existing content you’ve written as well as making it easy to find & then share relevant past content with visitors, dead simple! When using ‘anchor text’, it’s also very beneficial from an SEO standpoint.
• There is a streamlined writing interface that hides many of the rarely used panels allowing you to better focus on writing [easily added back if you prefer by checking the 'screen options' menu in the upper right].
• Numerous bugs were also squashed in the release. In fact, over 800 internal WordPress issues were closed as a result of the release.
• And then less obvious changes in this release are some behind the scenes updates that allow for better management of the administration.
• With these updates it’s huge community effort, over 180 people contributing code.

“I have been using the new NJSA Multi-User Business Network and my Winston affiliated site since December to post jobs and staffing articles. Winston Staffing has made over $12,000.00 in fees. In fact, fees already generated from new candidates will pay for the service for the next 20 years!“

Using WordPress, engineer a low maintenance / high value site platform for New Jersey Staffing Association [NJSA] members to advertise their New Jersey- based Jobs. Simultaneously, help to raise both individual member and NJSA visibility online.

Secondary Challenge:

Considering the NJSA is run by incredibly busy volunteers, develop a solution that requires neither a large dollar nor time commitment.

Solution:

Build a ‘Multi- User Business Network’ that offers all association members affordable personalized sites with publishing, a site platform the NJSA can automatically aggregate jobs they’ve published too and also a means to automatically push all jobs out [to job boards, like Indeed.com / SimplyHired.com, social networks, like facebook & linkedin, and the search engines]. That solution = http://www.njjobsnews.com!

Member Traffic:

• In The Assurance Group’s 1st 30 days, 1000 page views / 3.63 pages per visit! Top Drivers included Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Indeed.com and NJjobsnews.com.
• Three weeks in and McKeon Grano sees an almost immediate 785 page views. Indeed.com, LinkedIn, Google, NJjobsnews were top drivers.
• Bryant Staffing saw 4,307 page views / 1,121 unique visitors / 3.84 pages per visit! Top Drivers included Google, Indeed.com and NJjobsnews.com.
  Status:
• And more association members coming into the business network based upon excitement shared by those early to the program, making it a rich environment & primary destination for New Jersey jobs!

Association Member Success Stories:

• ”Job listings that I post on my Kinetic site appear on Indeed.com, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn ‘auto-magically’! The additional exposure to my network is invaluable and the process is so easy.” – Kathy Warren President Bryant Staffing
• “We started using the NJSA Blog aggregator earlier this year and have found it to be an excellent tool for us – well worth the nominal subscription fee. We are now able to post open positions and relevant articles in one structured location. Having our posts aggregate to the NJSA site, and ultimately to Indeed and SimplyHired (for job postings), makes this a compelling tool for us.” – Jamie Schwartz, President & COO, Haley Stuart Group
• “I have been using the new NJSA Multi-User Business Network and my Winston affiliated site since December to post jobs and staffing articles. I can now post all of my counselors jobs, both for direct hire and temporary positions for any skill set and location, without picking and choosing because of the extra costs. The Business Network gives me unlimited postings to Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com. Winston Staffing has made over $12,000.00 in fees. In fact, fees already generated from new candidates will pay for the service for the next 20 years! I highly recommend this to all NJSA members to join the Network and increase activity to push NJSA member jobs to the top of the Search Engines.” Mike Gallo CPC , Vice President Winston Staffing

Content & WordPress SEO?

Search engines have a protocol, based upon a couple hundred legendary signals, for prioritizing and/ or ranking content. Client experience proves [ see 10,000 page views in Santa Clarita CA ] that consistent well formed content is as important a signal to search engines as any, but WordPress software matters too! Per Matt Cutts, Google Search Quality team, “WordPress takes care of 80-90% of SEO mechanics.”

Why WordPress?

WordPress is unique software for designing sites because it’s not only well- suited to an ease of content creation and editing, which attracts more spider visitation, but for it’s markup, which supports it! What Cutts was acknowledging was that with more & deeper crawling, one’s pages are much more likely to index more key words & key phrases … leading to better overall SEO.  Assuming  your WordPress site  is hosted, updated and [it's technical configurations are] managed properly, it can remain a competitive advantage for the long haul … in a web environment that always evolves.

Tips To Further Enhance WordPress SEO … for the layperson

• Changing Permalink structure to automatically include the title of a post and possibly a category or even a date of post.
• Title Optimization, making sure to place key words early in the title helps to tag the page and improve the permalink.
• Image tags, adding Alt Tags and titles to images helps to search optimize those images adding a whole other level to your site’s SEO.
• Meta Descriptions, while most meta data is ignored by search engines, an excerpt summary, may be picked up for it’s use in the search result snippets, descriptions you see in search results beneath the link you see in the result pages. When done well they can lure searchers to you from the crowd, so use them to their potential.
• Anchor Links, linking to relevant internal posts enhances SEO, particularly in descriptive text phrases. Soon an internally focused search app’ will be an in- text function of client editors.
• Promote & Drive Subscription, not only because the subscriber count is a search rank signal, but because the more often people read your content the more likely it is they’ll backlink, bookmark, tweet and share with their friends, family and circles of influence!

We custom build, design, host, manage and in some cases engineer WordPress for businesses all over North America. Interested, please give us a call!

Related Posts:

Top 10 Reasons WordPress is Important For Your Business!

Is Open Source software an advantage versus Proprietary software?

Understanding WordPress

WordPress.com, WordPress.org – What Does it All Mean?

For building sites we swear by WordPress, but let’s provide steps & standard process for building good business sites… in this case ‘The Kinetic Knowledge Ultimate’.

• Initial Interview: gather strategies, differentiators, target market, goals and a general idea for the site’s framework.
• Set up project in project management program.
• Post Initial interview results.
• Develop framework mockup [wireframe] with ideas for element placement.
• Onboard Interview: get clients’ approval on the framework, gather client logo files, colors, navigation, elements AND any other design requirements.
• Post onboard interview results.
• Set up standard to- dos, milestones and timeline goals for completion.
• Gather desired URL, Registrar and DNS information.
• Create Development site on appropriate install.
• Install chosen framework.
• Begin to customize framework for client branding.
• Configure for no [search spider] crawl.
• Add design specifications, coloration, fades, etc.
• Configure Meta Title and description.
• Activate appropriate plugins, configure each.
• Custom modify footer content.
• Configure posts signature.
• Create necessary pages.
• Create either a static, blog posts or static with blog summary driven home page. 
• Configure upper navigation, including any drop down menu options.
• Add/configure necessary widgets.
• Confirm/ configure add-on packages.
• Gather Google account.
• Set up Feedburner account and configure feed Standard. 
• Gather/configure social media accounts.
• Create user account(s).
• Configure site settings (comments, permalinks, open it to spider crawling, etc.)
• Configure DNS.
• Set up Google Analytics tracking code, webmasters, feedburner ‘Subscribe via email’ and custom search.
• Review for de-bugging or fixes.
• Assign user name and password.    
• Check site in browser [IE8, Firefox, Chrome and Safari] on a PC and Mac
• Set up client training on all site features & a crash course in ‘best blogging practices’.
• Notify accounting for monthly services.
• Launch the site.

There are always moving parts in this process; however, each of the above must be acknowledged and checked off as the project ensues. If so, for in the event someone is unavailable, others on the team can step in and answer client questions,  continue the project and/ or trouble shoot. There’s often a great deal of additional feature & design customization. For instance, real estate professionals often need MLS Search enclosures. For Staffing & Executive Recruiters Kinetic brings job application database setup, configurations & automated job board feeds. If it’s a business network, there are member template site builds, member on boarding … for retailers there are shopping carts and on it goes. The bottom line is, the process has to be documented and accountable or the site will lack all the important incremental advantages. We’ve learned a lot over the years, but more  recently we’ve even added better accountabilities & documentation systems because there’s never enough.

So, there you have some detail for standard process in building good business sites… focused on a client goals! Add optimal hosting and comprehensive ongoing services and you’re really adding value for a client!

Related:

What Do Agents And Brokers Need From Their Site?

WordPress.org is a free, open source web software that anyone can download and install on their web server. There is no paid support for hosting services inherent to the .org site. It is maintained and developed by the WordPress open source community, with a handful of “core contributors” who decide what makes the cut on updates, when to release, etc. However, it’s fairly meritocratic, and no one is paid to do the development. Likewise, hundreds of other volunteers contribute code, offer free help in the forums, release themes and add-on plugin features. Certainly there is the SaaS (Software as a Service) model, and most of the developer’s day job includes managing and customizing WordPress in the commercial world, but at the end of the day this is an all volunteer effort.

WordPress.com does offer a free version of their product. A basic blog with a wordpress.com URL. It is a company (Automattic Inc.) started by one of the original developers of WordPress, the open source project. They are however a business, and have a model where they charge for additional services and extended support. They also employ some server level customizations to accommodate the fact they have 26 million users running sites spread out over 1000′s of servers across the globe. Certainly they have business relations where they can offer some services not part of the open source project, and have developed some of their own custom features. However, at it’s core, it’s still running the same basic software that is freely available for download from WordpPress.org. Likewise, some employees of Automattic do contribute code back to the WordPress.org project and may be part of the “core contributors”, however most were doing so long before Automattic was formed.

Here at Kinetic, we use the open source WordPress.org software. All of our sites run it. We manage our own dedicated server that has been tuned specifically for this software and it’s supporting web software and do not host outside sites running software that might be detrimental to the performance or visitor experience of our clients. We too deploy custom functions and code to provide features specific to our clients, as well as some of the free and premium add-ons available from the community that have been fully vetted for security and performance.

Recently the trademark for WordPress was transferred to the WordPress Foundation, which can confuse the situation a little more. WordPress.com, the business entity, was grandfathered in that transfer, however no other business or site can use the trademark of WordPress legally in their business name, logo or URL. Only non-profit sites meant to promote the open source project and it’s endeavors. Hopefully over time this will help alleviate some of the confusion.

Ultimately what this means is that yes, you can get a free blog at WordPress.com–with an example URL of example.wordpress.com, or can download WordPress the software for free from WordPress.org, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can have a free site for your business. Unless you are capable with sites and hosting, hosting, support, customization & design – they all cost money, regardless of the underlying platform. Using an open-source project such as WordPress for the underpinnings of your site certainly does reduce or eliminate development costs of that part of the equation. Rather than paying high costs for a custom solution that requires on-going development and maintenance, you can affordably focus your investment on the things that help you get your message out and ultimately grow your business. This is what Kinetic Knowledge focuses on and is our ongoing goal – for the platform to get out of the way, let us do the heavy lifting, and allow you to focus on your core business.