Posts Tagged wordpress

WordPress Website Hosting and Maintenance for 2023

WordPress Website hosting and maintenance for 2023

For Connection Group Hosting Customers with WordPress Websites:

It’s that time of year when we talk about WordPress website maintenance plans and WordPress and website hosting. 

WordPress is a popular solution for small business websites for a few key reasons:

1. Ease in website content updates – editing or adding new text, photos, etc.

2. Multitudes of free/inexpensive plains that allow for custom features.

3. Availability of security and functionality updates for WordPress, themes, and plugins

Now…. the cons of WordPress. 

1. WordPress CMS and themes have a shelf life. Code becomes outdated. Decreased functionality and increased vulnerabilities occur. 

2.. Adding more features, and functionality can make updates more complicated for the novice user.

3. Due to its popularity, frequent updates are required to keep websites safe from nefarious hackers.

Definitions:

Website hosting is the storage of your website pages and content on servers that are accessible to the World Wide Web.

We offer website hosting specifically optimized for WordPress.  

Website Maintenance is the upkeep of those files. 

The WordPress hosting plans we offer do not include any form of maintenance, otherwise, we could not keep them at $20 per month. The fee covers the space on the server so your customers and prospects can access your website from anywhere in the world. We do offer optional WordPress website maintenance plans for our website hosting customers.  Please also see a previous blog entry ‘What’s the Difference Between Website Hosting and Website Maintenance” for more detailed comparisons. 

There are two kinds of website maintenance that we offer.

1. Backend Website Maintenance – this includes regular (monthly updates to themes, WordPress versions, theme updates, updates for plug-ins, and backup of your website.

2. Content Updates – this includes adding new copy, photos, pages, blog entries, or other information to your website. 

Although both types of maintenance are recommended the most important for your website’s health is number 1, to maintain the backend.  Although not critical for security, regular content updates help you score extra points with search engines. You also score with customers who are looking for the most current information. 

We receive desperate calls throughout the year from customers who have not updated their plugins and they discover:

  1. Their website is completely down and has an error when visitors go to it. (100% of these calls happen right after sending out an important proposal or new campaign.)
  2. There are photos or text on their website that they did not add (they have been hacked.)
  3. Features stop working because the code is outdated and will no longer feed/communicate with other features.

This happens most frequently with websites that are three years or older. However, it occurs anytime there are security compromises on plugins or themes – no matter the age. When WordPress, plugins, or themes have not updated for a couple of versions (say you are on WordPress version 5 and the current version is WordPress 8.2) there is a higher likelihood of incompatibility issues with add-on plug-ins, etc. when you get around to making updates. Updating regularly can avoid this. 

If your website is older than 3 years you want to start budgeting for a refresh.

Consider how many system updates your phone or computer has had over three years. Code gets outdated whether you’re watching or not. Maintaining the back end monthly will help extend its life. However, at some point, a refresh will be in order. Websites three years or older should get a refresh. Websites older than 5 years likely require a complete revamp. Design style and features also become dated quickly. Using a 3-5 years timeline will help keep everything current.

DIY WordPress Website Maintenance: 

Updating WordPress website elements is not hard. Often it is a click of a button. Make sure you cross your fingers though! Sometimes a quick click and you’re done. Other times one update affects other features and disables them, or the entire site. This is another reason why we do not recommend automatic updates. If you want to do your own updates please schedule a time to do them every month and put it on your calendar. Following are some resources for DIY WordPress website maintenance. Google more if you encounter issues.

Update WordPress Versions: WordPress Versions don’t happen frequently, they will be noted on the backend of your site when you log in. We also recommend holding off a week or so before your do a major WordPress version update. This will give the WordPress plug-ins time to update to the most recent version. Allowing the plug-ins to update will ensure they continue to be compatible.

Update WordPress Themes: (look for the name of the theme creator in the backend of your website. Going to your original theme creator’s website can make this even easier.) 

Update WordPress Plugins

Plug-ins need to be updated most often. Make sure you check the live site once you update one. Look at everything. You may not realize the interrelationship between plugins and how one plug-in update can disable another one. 

If you ‘hope’ to do the updates yourself and by March you realize you haven’t done any, reach out. We want to help our customers keep their websites functioning optimally. When we get your desperate call asking why your website is down and we’re booked out for two weeks we want to cry for you! Seriously! Don’t do that to us – or yourself! Keep your site optimized. If you know you’re never going to get around to the updates, ease your mind and save us stress! If we host your WordPress website get your monthly maintenance locked in today.  Complete the form and indicate if you need backend maintenance or both backend and content updates. We’ll send you the current pricing and get you started once we receive your order.

Good luck and maintain.

Are You Embarrassed to Share Your Company Website With Prospects??

Embarrassed to Share Your Company Website With Prospects

 

Recently I spoke to one of our favorite customers, Life Coach Jamie Lightner, about how the new responsive WordPress website we designed for her was working. We were in a group of other women business owners when I asked the question. Jamie’s response to my question actually made most of the women laugh out loud. She said she loved it and mostly she was happy not to have a website she was embarrassed by anymore! Jamie has an authentic sense of humor that is never lost on the crowd.

However, she explained further that the statement was sadly all too accurate. The free DIY website she built when she started her coaching business over 6 years prior really was embarrassing to her. Her experience, her services and programs, and the technology had all outgrown that initial DIY website solution. Of course, as the chosen website design firm I was happy to know how much our new website design has helped her in such a short amount of time. I knew when we started the new website design, organization and updating of content would help her prospecting and for her current clients. What I didn’t consider was the emotional impact the newly branded website would have.

Some of the reasons you may be embarrassed to share  your company website:

 

  1. Life coach, Jamie Lightner responsive website designOutdated design that looks like it is from another decade
  2.  Broken links that prompt 404-page errors
  3.  Confusing navigation that doesn’t lead the visitor where they intend
  4. The website isn’t responsive and is hard to read on mobile devices
  5. No clear calls to action
  6. Outdated services, products, or promotions
  7. Staff members listed who are no longer with the company
  8. No clear brand messaging or visuals
  9. Competitiors websites are modern and have valuable content
  10. The information doesn’t present current level of expertise
  11. …more…

It was rewarding for me to hear Jamie express that her decision to update her DIY website to a professional website design was the best business decision she has made. She now confidently shares her website URL with prospects and customers and she has quickly realized a return on her investments.

 

Want to Love Your Website Again?

Schedule a 100% free, no-obligation 15-minute consultation.

We’ll visit your website while on the call, talk about your goals and offer some insight. Even if your website is embarrassing right now, we can make it shine again – we promise. Let’s Connect

 

I’d like to say the conversation about being embarrassed to share your company website ended there.

It didn’t. Total transparency, I had to share my true confession that Connection Group also found ourselves in that same predicament.  (Obviously, I was feeling pretty safe with this particular group of women business owners!) My confession didn’t receive a laugh like Jamie’s did. The reaction was more surprise, “You? But your company excels at website design and development!”

After being in business for over 20 years our website has experienced many iterations, much revamping, some re-dos. Remember Flash websites? Yes, as cool as all the moving text and dancing graphics were, there was little to no ROI on that website design technology – and we did it in-house!  But, I digress from the point of my story…

Although we have over 20 years of experience in website design and have one of the most talented responsive WordPress developers leading our team our website was sadly outdated. It wasn’t because we didn’t have the talent, or the desire, or the budget, our reason was we didn’t have the time. We were living the proverbial ‘the cobbler’s children have no shoes’ saying. If you are a small business owner you may relate to our position. Basic business principles taught us customer orders, customer service, and billable hours come first.

We now liken our marketing to putting our own oxygen masks on first – before we save others.

Although we were allocating time for brainstorming, re-branding, targeting key audiences, and content planning, the new website was not given the priority it deserved. In the midst of the planning, COVID hit and our existing and new customers needed us even more. Of course, along with the rush of orders, there was the unknown. In addition to the customer projects we were also being proactive and responding to RFPs that we felt were a good fit.

I will never forget the late night preparingto post our RFP response to a web portal. I made the mistake of checking how many other branding firms had submitted responses. To my dismay, that particular RFP had 64 submissions, 64! To further add insult to injury I decided to check out my competition. I definitely needed to put my oxygen mask on after that! For over an hour I perused modern, sleek, contemporary websites that shone bright like diamonds. Talk about being embarrassed to share your company website with prospects! Ugh! It was too late (literally and figuratively) to do anything about it at that point, so I submitted the RFP and went to bed.

In the end, we did rank pretty high in the selection – because our credentials, experience, and cost were competitive and our proposal rocked. However, what I gained was the insight that taking care of our brand needed to be a higher priority. Never, ever may we make excuses or neglect imprtant components of our branding and prospecting ability.

Today, I am proud to see our new website doing its job. Like Jamie, I too appreciate the ease in updating it with the new front-end editor, the clear brand focus, and imagery we have developed. We took our time to hone in on the services that we do best and we have simplified the navigation and content to make it clear to our customers and prospects. Would we have won that RFP if this new website design was in place earleir? I’ll never know, either way, I know I always want to honor our brand, our abilities, and show our expertise. I want to proudly post our website everywhere and know the information is up to date, attractive, and fully functional on all screens.

So, that’s our story. What about you? Are you embarrassed to share your company website? If so, don’t wait any longer, I promise you, your competition isn’t waiting. Connect today, we’re happy to craft a professional, responsive website you will be proud to share and update for years to come. 

Stay connected!

Hurry and reserve your 15-minute slot today!

Commit to starting the new year strong. All of our websites come with step-by-step training. You and your team will know exactly what to do to keep your website up-to-date.  Let’s Connect

How Do I Start My Small Business WordPress Website Design?

Before marketers or advertisers start any advertising or brand campaign they start with the 5 Ws. These basic problem solving and information gathering questions set a framework for small business WordPress website design and development too. Matter of fact they come in handy for a lot of life choices. In this post, we will focus on using them for website design planning.

Let’s start with the Why

The first ‘Why’ is why do you need a website? Why do your customers want to work with you instead of your competition? What are the differentiators that set your company apart? Clarify a value proposition for prospects and customers to connect with.

Begin to compile evidence of this expertise. Include all the content that proves your claim throughout the website.

  • marketing and website plan diagramtestimonials
  • awards
  • client list
  • reviews
  • certifications
  • quantitative facts

The What is the Website Format and Function

What type of website do you need for your business? Are you selling products online? What style do you want for your website? What type of content will be included? What features need to be included? Have you looked at different WordPress themes that are suitable for your industry? Some themes are industry-specific and include plugins that are targeted to increase functionality based on the needs of your company such as calendars, easy to edit contact forms, woo-commerce shops, and more.

As You Begin to Research Themes and Styles Consider the Who

In marketing speak, who is your specific target market? While planning your small business website, think about who it is intended for. Who will benefit from the content on the website? Who do you want to attract to the website?

Determining the Who, in the beginning, will help you select the appropriate website style and the tone. If your website is meant to reach professionals as a business to business service the colors, features, and tone will be very different than if you are a company needing an e-commerce website selling kids pay supplies.

Where Does the Information Go?

The ‘Where’ gets into the actual design and flow of your small business WordPress website design. As in all design, your website layout needs to consider eye flow. When a visitor lands on your website what do you want them to see first? Where will you place key information so the visitors see the most important information first? Placement of website elements, including calls to action, contact information, photos, and videos can either help guide the visitor or confuse them.

sample xml sitemapPlacement and flow considerations also include the website navigation. The goal of your website navigation interface is to maximize usability. When you know what information and media you want to include, begin to categorize it. Select no more than 6 categories for your main navigation. Once these main categories are defined start placing your content on pages under the main sections and quickly a site map will begin to develop.

For more robust websites with a lot of content and pages, there are additional options for website navigation built into the user interface.

Optional navigational schemes include:

  • Hierarchical navigation systems – The primary navigation system that allows users to navigate within the site using levels
  • Global Navigation – serves as the outline and template to allow users ease in maneuverability throughout the site
  • Local Navigation – helps visitors in a specific area of the site (often referred to as sub-navigation)
  • Adaptive web navigation – Personalized website experience based on a user’s browsing pattern in order to find relevant information more quickly and efficiently

Considering all aspects of navigation in advance allows for more efficient experiences for visitors to the webpage.

Moving Deeper into the Website Content Leads us to the When

The goal of every successful website is to lead the prospect to action. Whether it is a step by step funnel, a short contact form or a quick chat option the goal is to encourage visitors to act and act now before they are distracted by another cat video alert. Calls to action (CTAs) with a sense of urgency are key here. In some instances, you may want to offer limited-time specials. Other times offering a lead generator such as a free download or a 15% coupon with your next purchase will capture their contact information right away. This helps to stay connected with every website visitor even if they don’t purchase or contact you on the first visit.

Lastly, We Get to the How to Begin a Small Business WordPress Website Design

There is a couple of considerations when we look closely at the ‘How’ question.

Screen cap of a WordPress back endHow includes the securing of your domain name and choosing where your website will be hosted. Also the actual building of the pages uploading the theme and website content to the webserver. When choosing website hosting make sure you select a WordPress hosting plan that offers fast page load speeds and also helps to keep your website secure. For over 20 years Connection Group has chosen to work with Network Solutions for our customer domain registrations and we use Liquid Web for our small business WordPress website hosting. There are many companies offering these services. Choose one that is reputable and make sure you track the name and the URL of the companies you are working with and note your login credentials.

The other ‘How’ is the actual building of the website. The beauty of a small business WordPress website design is that you don’t have to be trained in website code and development to build it yourself. There are many WordPress website design tutorial videos on YouTube, local community education courses, and colleges that offer WordPress design classes.

small business website under developmentIf you are an entrepreneur who hopes to build your own company website I suggest starting on YouTube with some introductory videos. If the videos are easy to follow and you are starting with a small website, answer the questions above and begin your build-out. If you require a website that is more complicated or if the website design tutorials are confusing save time, money, and sanity and hire a professional WordPress website design firm.

Connection Group provides small business WordPress website design and development and we offer training once it is complete. We help you get to the business of running your business by doing the heavy lifting of building the entire website for you. Then when you need to make updates or edits you can choose to do that in-house without additional cost. Our goal is to lighten your workload and create a website design that contributes to the success of your business. Give us a call, we’re available for a consultation and we’re always here to assist with making critical updates for you as needed.

Most Common Questions of Website Design Bids and RFPs

1. Difference between hosting and maintenance.

Many understand the main difference, the innuendos are what cause the cost variable.

  • For large content management system (CMS) based sites you need individual (not shared) hosting.
  • Host server speed and reliability are the next considerations.
  • Although your Small Business, City, County or Government website may not have large traffic volume normally, you may have an increase if there is a storm or a major event that drives people to the site all at once. It needs to handle that. Most professional bidders won’t be working with a personal server in their home office. There may be some clarification needed once you get down to the chosen few bidders.

    2. Design Development Platform (WordPress, Drupal, Custom CMS, etc.)

    Big debates on this one.

    • WordPress is the most recognized, so is the most likely to have features desired now and in the future. Also if there is an issue there are many local experts to fix or update and not have to hit the budget hard.
    • Drupal – is a strong CMS, it is a good program. Some of our clients have found it is not as easy to learn. There are also not as many developers available resulting in higher pricing and harder to find experts.
    • Joomla! – We don’t see as much about this one anymore but it is still out there – not as many developers supporting it as previous.
    • Custom CMS – Many developers can build their own CMS. Before we embraced the simplicity and ease of updating of WordPress we also did so. However, the code is proprietary, and if something happens to the developer or someone else has to step in, it can get costly to pay someone to decipher what the original company did. The other caveat is if you want to move away from it, you are starting from scratch again. With WordPress and Drupal you can move to a new template, a new host, a new developer, and you can do as little or as much as you want. You don’t have to start all over.

    There are other free CMS systems such as WIX, Weebly, Chamilo. Dotclear, Serendipity, Typo3.. etc. Typically these systems are very basic. They are great for individuals or small businesses with little to no budget, but hopefully are not recommended by any responders for your Small Business, City, County or Government website RFP.
    We are partial to WordPress, we have chose it as the best CMS for our customers for over 10 years and have not regretted it due to its ease of use (front and back end) and high level of customization.

    3. Maintenance – look for clarification on this line item.

    Maintenance can be a developer/designer posting every meeting, street light out, etc. or just updating software and maintaining backups. There is a wide range. When you are closer to the chosen few RFPs or bid responders, make a list of what you think you are going to need (example: Updates, File Back-up). You may find some for the maintenance estimates include more than your Small Business, City, County or Government website needs and there could be a considerable cost savings per year.

    We are happy to answer any questions when we bid on your website project as are most designers and developers, so don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.

Regular WordPress Website Maintenance

regular wordpresswebsite maintenance-no-hackers!

Responsive WordPress website designs are an affordable, versatile  solution for small businesses seeking a new or updated website they can update themselves. Those who already have a WordPress website know that WordPress works great on many levels. The biggest concern with choosing a WordPress website and managing it yourself  is that the regular WordPress website maintenance is often neglected.

wordpress feature random falling snowWordPress software is updated by WordPress programmers regularly. As any software, some updates are minor and you may not detect a difference on your site. Other updates are more robust. Some WordPress website updates offer new web functionality or a couple just-for-fun features, like falling snow in Winter. You can choose to implement all the new features or just  a few. What is most important in each WordPress update is the added security. Security updates protect from hackers and malware that can take down your website or infect others systems.

Installing WordPress updates is a necessity for keeping your website safe

WordPress is the top content management website platform across the world. It offers great benefits, especially to small businesses. For all of the benefits to choosing WordPress there is a drawback. Hackers love to target it. (Then again it’s not just WordPress that has this concern. Hackers target Joomla websites, Blogger websites and custom built content management systems also…) To avoid issues, Wordpress website maintenance is a critical practice to keeping your WordPress website or WordPress blog in optimal working order. wordpress update alert screen capture

WordPress programmers are proactive in protecting customers against these attacks.  New walls of code are built to keep predators out when vulnerabilities are detected. Once the code is developed a free update is available to all WordPress users. When a new WordPress update is available, there is an alert posted clearly at the top of the administrative area at log in. The date when it was first available is noted as well.

When should the WordPress software be updated?

We will often wait a day or so after a new WordPress version is posted before we select to update. This is because many of the responsive WordPress websites we design include 3rd party plug-ins.  Wordpress plug-in developers may need a little extra time to unsure their plug-in code is compatible with the latest WordPress version. If the plug-ins haven’t updated yet some may not function correctly. Within a few days most plug-ins have caught up. At that point we’ll update to the latest WordPress and plug-in versions. If plug-ins are not updated within a few days of the release of a new WordPress version, install the update but check your website very closely and make sure all plug-ins are working correctly.

Caution: plug-ins are also susceptible to hackers. New versions are made available and alerts are posted in the administrative area of the WordPress websites for plug-ins also. Plug-in developers may offer a new version with increased features and functionality in addition to added security protection.

We recommend updating plug-ins one at a time. After you update each one, check your website to make sure the update is compatible and all functionality is in place. If you choose to update your plug-ins all at once and there is a conflict, it can be difficult to pinpoint which plug-in is causing the conflict.

What happens if I don’t update WordPress regularly?

  • hackers can invade it
  • malware can be installed on your site
  • Google is alerted and will black mark your website
  • your website is rendered harmful to visitors
  • prospective clients and visitors will get a scary alert stating your website may be harmful to their system

What do you do if your website was hacked?

You send a frantic call to your website hosting service or website design firm that your website was hacked, it’s not live and clients can’t reach you and… worst… you don’t have a current back up. Your website will need to be taken down. Once removed from viewers, a temporary screen is posted, and clean-up begins.

What does it cost to fix a website that has been hacked?

  • your website is removed from view from all prospective and current clients
  • you will now be paying hourly website developments fees to comb through each file to find all corrupt code
  • developers clean / remove bad code
  • the cleaned website is uploaded as a  temporary page
  • website is tested
  • website is tested again… again… and again
  • once clear the new files can be uploaded
  • your web host is alerted that your website is safe to go live again
  • submission requests are sent to Google and other SERPs to remove the blocks that have been put in place for your website
  • requests are sent again… again… and sometimes a third time before alerts are completely removed and your website gets the all clear

 This whole procedure can take days or even months to resolve, it depends on how quickly you are alerted of your compromised site and the size of your website.

What is the best way to help keep websites safe from hackers?

By practicing regular WordPress website maintenance. Log in to the administrative area of your WordPress website frequently and make sure everything is up to date. Consider changing your admin password regularly also. Do not assume your web hosting company or your website design firm is maintaining your website. Web maintenance is usually an additional feature because of the time commitment. Look at your plan or agreement, or send your web hosting or design firm an email of phone call to be sure.

We understand staying current with WordPress and 3rd Party plug-in versions can eat up a lot of time. We also feel horrible getting the call “My website’s been hacked, what do I do?” from a small business. Before that happens, set a weekly or monthly timer to log in to your admin panel and keep your software updated. If you don’t have time or the due diligence to do this, you’ll want to look into website maintenance options for small businesses.. Our basic web maintenance package is a perfect entry point for most small business WordPress  websites.

wordpress website maintenance packageBasic WordPress Website Maintenance Package includes:

  • updating all WordPress, Theme and plugins
  • techies handle the technical stuff
  • website protection -security protection from Securi,
  • scheduled back-ups,
  • included Maintenance time / Email support,
  • 1/2 hour of styling and updates.
  • peace of mind

Knowing your site is protected  from potential hackers and will not be a concern to visitors or scare clients and prospects away from working with you is the best return.

Call us today to discuss which package is best suited to you or sign up for a website maintenance package..

Membership Website Ideas – WordPress Makes it Easy to Update

Jug&Mug Club Membership website home pageWe recently were selected to provide new membership website ideas and design for a local Lansing Michigan All Seasons Club JugAndMug.org. We worked with the president and a few other board members to re-create the site. I wish I had a screen capture of the old membership website – a before and after would have been dramatic and impressive.
We were happy to hear the group contacted us because we were referred to them as a company who would provide quality service and a website design that met all the goals of the organization at a reasonable rate. Upon our initial meeting with the website committee we learned more details about their ideas for the new membership website.
Local Club Membership Website Ideas:

  • Bring website design into the current decade
  • Offer a content management system that was easy for non-programmers to update
  • Responsive website format: detects screen size and format for smart phones, tablets or desktop monitors
  • Slide show of photos that can be updated easily
  • Blog page to be part of the membership website and not a separate url
  • Online inquiry forms, contact forms or registration forms
  • Emails with domain name (name@jugandmug.org) that forward to each board persons personal email if desired.
  • Ease in updating content and adding photos in all areas
  • E-commerce capability for accepting payments, ticket sales, membership dues, etc.
  • Members only section – password protected with different access levels

local-club-memberhsip-website-ideas
We have provided similar membership website ideas and solutions in the past with password protected areas, e-commerce, events pages, and specific administrative access. Membership websites can range between local clubs like jugandmug or large national or state associations, non-profit and political groups as well as business groups membership sites.
When we’re provided membership website ideas and solutions throughout our  17 years of business that incorporated content management systems (CMS) we typically built them from scratch. Now we can often use the robust WordPress options available.
Jug&Mug.org was built with a WordPress theme that supports e-commerce interactions. There were a plethora of plug ins available if we needed for the password protected area or the photo slide shows. The use of WordPress for this particular project was ideal primarily because of the ease in updates. Since membership websites are often updated by different people and the administrator may change with each board member update it is important to keep website updates simple. Jug and Mug is lucky, they have a President and website committee right now who is knowledgeable of computer programming and interested to learn. Other memberships, associations and clubs may have people responsible for managing the website who have no clue what web code is. Use of WordPress CMS helps alleviate worries and errors and helps newbie website managers to feel at ease.
ski club responsive website - on smart phoneThere are some particular rules to follow when choosing a website company and a WordPress theme,

  • do you want the website for business or just for fun
  • do you want to use your own domain name (hosted on it’s own)
  • a responsive theme
  • a theme that allows e-commerce
  • a theme that allows third party plug-ins
  • customizable
  • … and more depending on your website goals

Discussing WordPress, membership website ideas as well as customizing existing WordPress themes really requires another article. For instance I throw WordPress plug ins out there like they are little miracles… they can also be mean little sprites that choke your website speed and may not play nice together… So much to cover so little blog space.
If you are interested in using WordPress as a new website design solution and would like to talk to us about your considerations whether you have your own membership website ideas, an e-commerce site, or a website offering a service that you need help with. please call us today, 517-645-4387.
Stay connected!