Carolyn’s Posts

Does GDPR apply to you?

May 24, 2018 Beth Devine

Overview of GDPR and how it affects small business owners in the US. With specific links and resources for businesses with e-commerce websites and those running WordPress and WooCommerce.

What is GDPR?

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation

The regulation was created to protect privacy for all individuals within the European Union and European Economic Area.

The regulation requires that personally identifiable information being collected about individuals inside the EU be processed and stored to protect the data privacy.

Information must be stored using pseudonymization or anonymization.
Data is not available publicly without explicit consent.
Consent to use data can be withdrawn by the consumer at any time.
The processor of data must clearly disclose what data is being collected; how it being collected; why it is being processed; how long it is being retained and if it is being shared with third-parties.

Who does this affect?

This applies to any online business that collects and stores personally identifiable information from individuals or entities in the EU.

How this might affect Web Savvy Marketer customers:

If you have an e-commerce store and sell to customers in the EU
If you collect personal data from EU customers for any reason
You can not send unsolicited emails to anyone. You can not purchase lists, or merge lists from different companies into your list.
You can not auto email from abandoned shopping carts, unless the shopper has opted in for email.

Actions steps to take if GDPR affects you

Make sure your website has an SSL certificate installed so data collection/storage is encrypted
Review and update your website’s privacy policy
Remove all automatic opt-ins on your website, get a clear consent prior to collecting data
Set up process to delete user information upon their request
Set up process to monitor for potential data breaches and notify users if their data has been affected by a breach
Review your mailing lists for compliance

For more detailed information please review the following resources:

GDPR Overview

Get a quick overview with this Infographic: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/smedataprotect/index_en.htm

WordPress related information:

E-commerce websites

Good overall resource in clear language with specific information on what to include in privacy policies and recommendations for data collection. https://www.willows-consulting.com/gdpr-for-ecommerce/#
Woocommerce websites: https://woocommerce.com/2017/12/gdpr-compliance-woocommerce/
Additional Woocommerce resources: https://woocommerce.com/gdpr/

What’s a Widget?

March 4, 2018 Beth Devine

Remember when a widget was a thing you called something when you couldn’t remember what to call it?

Not anymore. WordPress turned the widget into a real thing. Or is it?

I’ve found that many new WordPress users have a little trouble understanding the Widget concept and how it fits into their website.

What is a WordPress widget?

The widget is a section under Appearances where you can add content to a section of the website. Typically and historically the widget areas were designed to be used on parts of the website that appear on many pages. Sections like the primary sidebar or the footer area are typical places where you might want to include data on many pages. Data you may want to include on many pages might be your address, a menu, e-mail sign-up form, a contact button, Social media links…you get the idea. By using a widget you only set up the data once and it appears on in multiple locations.

When you open up your Widget area under Appearance>Widgets, you’ll see something similar to that shown above, with the Available Widgets on the left side and the Widget Areas on the right. The basic concept is to pull the widget you want to use from the available Widgets into the widget area where you want the widget to display.

The Available Widgets may vary by theme or if there are plug-ins installed, but I’ve found that I use these types of widgets pretty frequently:

Custom Html – used for placing code or scripts from another source (such as an email sign-up form
Image – allows you to insert an image from your media library
Navigation Menu – Adds a custom menu
Text – Add text – handy for addresses, phones numbers, etc.
Search
Video
Audio

I have used the Genesis framework frequently over the years so there are several Genesis specific widgets I like to use:

Genesis Featured Page Advanced – allows you to pull information from a page into a widget area.
Genesis Featured Posts – allows you to pull posts or post excerpts into a widget area.
Simple Social Icons

The Widget Areas also vary by theme. Often when I use the Genesis framework, the theme home page is often set up using widget areas. This allows you to pull information to the home page dynamically, instead of having to update the home page when you create a new post or event. For example, the Testimonials Section and Marketing Tools and Tips From Our Blog section will update automatically if a new testimonial is added or if we add a new Featured post to our website.

So a Widget is a “do-hicky” or a “thing” that you use to put content into multiple places or to update content dynamically in multiple places. “Widget” seems like the perfect name for it.

More information about widgets

How to import a calendar – dates and all! And how to turn off comments.

February 26, 2018 Beth Devine

Last week we launched a newly designed website. It was a fairly large website with the Timely All-in-One calendar plug-in. There were over 2000 calendar entries that we ported over to the new site.

Initially we used the WordPress Importer (located under Tools in the dashboard) that is part of the WordPress core installation to export the data from the old site and import it into the new site. That worked – kind of – but it didn’t import the dates correctly, so they didn’t appear on the calendar. Kind of important for calendar items.

What did work was using the Timely Feed option. To do that go to the calendar on the old site, click on Subscribe, then right click Add to Timely Calendar > Copy link address. Then go to the new site, under Events>Calendar Feeds. Type the URL you just copied into the feed field, check the options you desire and click the Add new subscription.

Speaking of options. There is a checkbox for Allow comments on imported events, which I apparently did not check. Oops! It turns out the client didn’t want comments.

How to turn off comments for blog posts and events.

There is a feature in WordPress to turn off comments for all posts – including past posts.

Here’s how:

Go to All Posts or in this case All Events.
Click the checkbox that selects all the posts or events.
Click and apply Edit under Bulk Actions dropdown.
Set Comments to Do Not Allow
Click Update

That should work in most cases, but it didn’t in this case. I think because of the way we imported the data through the subscription feed.

So here’s my go to fix in cases when WordPress won’t do as we’d like.

Change the display through CSS.

In this case I wanted to eliminate the display of the comment count and comment display box. To find out the CSS class that presents these options, right click on the area you want to eliminate, click “Inspect”. Look through the code to find the CSS classes that define the styles for these elements.

In this case it was “.comment-text, .comment_meta-container, .comment_container, and .comment count”. So I added the following code to the CSS styles:

.comment-text,

.comment_meta-container,

.comment_container,

.comment-count {

display:none !important;

}

Wala! Comments section is gone.

Make sure you’re modifying your CSS by using the Custom CSS option of your theme instead of updating the themes original style sheet.

Feel the love, speed and SEO all swirled together.

November 7, 2017 Beth Devine

Hocus pocus, give me focus, make my website fast, loved and popular. Feel the love, speed and SEO all swirled together. Are you looking for the magic SEO potion? Ta Da! Here you go.

First, find love.

Find out what people love about you, about your product and about your business. Find out how they’re looking for love. Where are they looking? Are they looking on Google, Linkedin, Facebook. Do they even know they’re looking? How do you find out?

Use Data. Find the key to love with Analytics. It can tell you what your clients or prospects are looking for and how they’re looking for it.
Anecdotal Evidence. Ask your clients. Something as simple as “How did you find me?” “What made you decide to call me?”
Be bold. Ask for some love. Ask for online reviews on Google, Yelp, LinkedIn, or for a testimonials on your website. Ask people to Like your page, subscribe to your YouTube Channel, sign-up for your email newsletter, or meet for drinks. There are so many ways to ask for love. Find the best ways for you and ask!
Respond. Listen to your clients. Answer their questions. People love that.

Then swirl some love on your website content. Make sure your website content loves your clients – make sure it answers their questions. Make sure it presents your product or service so beautifully it’s impossible not to love (buy) it! Make sure it presents material that your analytics indicate will bring results.

Spread the love. Social media makes it easy. Share on the social media outlets that work best for you. Share your blog posts, events, product news, business news, even jokes, inspirations, photos and anecdotes.

Second, find speed.

No one wants to wait. Waiting frustrates people. It’s not loving. Make your website fast. Google loves speed. Give Google some love. They’ll love you back. Your page speed is known to be one of the factors (among many) in your search engine rank. So make your website zippy.

To find out fast your website is check out the links in the post The Need for Speed. How to check your website to see if it needs a speed tune-up.

Here are some of the most common recommendations you’ll find when you run a speed test:

Optimize images. The first thing to do is make sure your images aren’t size larger than they appear on screen. That’s just wasting bandwidth. Please. Don’t upload a 4000 px x 4000 px image to your website, if the size is going to be viewed is 400 px x 400 px. But that’s just the start of image optimization. Check out this Image Optimization article to find out just how complicated it can get.Fortunately, there are plug-ins for WordPress users that will help you optimize the images on your website. Two of the most popular are:
1. WP Smush
2. Ewww Optimizer
Eliminate or reduce CSS and Javascript rendering above the fold.Fixing the above the fold recommendation can get complicated too, as sometimes, depending on the theme, relocating scripts can break the website. There is a plug-in for it that’s worth trying. (I hope to test it on soon and will review it for you then). The plug-in is Optimizing Above the Fold. Beware, the plug-in is intended for pros and is not something you can install and it will automagically fix things for you.
Minify Javascript and CSS – Optimizing Above the Fold can handle this for you too, but Autoptimize is a simpler plug-in that might be easier to use for most users. As always with plug-ins make sure you back up your database prior to installing and running, so if something doesn’t work right, (ie. it breaks your website) you can restore to a functioning version without too much trouble.
Enable caching. W3Total cache is one popular plug-in used in WordPress sites to configure caching. Be careful with it though, the wrong settings will break your website. (BACKUP prior to use). Some hosts offer their own caching systems and disallow W3 Total Cache. WPengine is one that we use that has their own object caching process.
You could also consider a CDN. Basically a Content Delivery System that helps serve and cache your site’s static, cacheable content from multiple worldwide server locations.
Server speed is slow. Check with your web hosting provider to see if they can help you with this. You might also check your DNS settings to ensure they aren’t slowing things down.

Sometimes it’s the WordPress theme itself that is slowing things down. If that’s the case, you might be able to speed it up using some of the tools above, but if given the chance it’s best to start with a fast theme. I found a list of 20 fast themes at https://colorlib.com/wp/fast-loading-wordpress-themes/. I haven’t had a chance to install and test their speed yet, but may test out a few for review in a later post.

Let the SEO Magic begin.

Swirl some love on your website by ensuring that it provides a good user experience with interesting, valuable content and make it load fast. That’s when you’ll begin to see some SEO magic happen.

The Need for Speed. How to check your website to see if it needs a speed tune-up.

November 2, 2017 Beth Devine

When you drive a high-performance vehicle and step on the gas you can feel the acceleration. Quick acceleration makes it easy to merge onto a fast-moving freeway safely or outrun a high-speed chase (just kidding – we’re not recommending anything illegal in this blog post).

Just as it’s important to have a fast, responsive automobile on the highway to have the best driving experience, it’s also important to have a fast, responsive website on the internet if you want optimum user experience for your website visitors.

Why is website speed important?

It will make your visitors happy and more likely to buy from you. Slow websites equal frustrated visitors who leave and go check out your competitors’ websites.
It may improve your website rank on search engines and that will provide greater opportunity for more people to get to your zippy, refreshingly speedy website.

How do you know if your website is fast?

There are numerous free tools online that can measure the speed of your website. Here’s a few to get you started:

There are more. You could test all day long. But the important thing to do is to run a few tests and see where your weaknesses lie. Common problems that might be slowing you down are:

Slow server response time
Images need resizing/optimization
Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the -fold content
Leverage browser caching
Minify CSS

So NOW WHAT?

There can be a lot of technical information to comprehend in the reports. The good news is that the reports provide you with links on how to fix the problems. But even with that it can be overwhelming for the average website owner to understand the problems and make the corrections.

Just like most people take their cars to a shop for a regular tune-up, it’s a good idea to have your website tuned up on a regular basis too. So whether you’re the kind of person who changes their own oil or you prefer to drop it off at the shop, it makes sense to run a few reports to check out your score and either make some of the improvements on your own, or give your website maintenance team a call to see what they can do to help you out.

Feel the love, speed and SEO all swirled together.

Business Owners: You Can’t Afford to Ignore Google Plus

August 12, 2013 Beth Devine

Google Plus announced in the fall of 2012 that they had officially surpassed the 400 million registered users mark. About 100 million of those users actively check their Google Plus accounts, Gigaom.com reports. That is a potential pool of 100 million customers, some of whom will be interested in what you are selling. Companies such as H&M, BMW and Mercedes-Benz consistently engage customers through Google Plus, and the effort appears to be paying off. Each of these corporations has more than 2 million followers.

It’s understandable if your company is wrapped up in marketing efforts through Facebook and Twitter. After all, those seem to be the networks everyone is using. While you’re posting and tweeting in those spaces, though, you may be missing a large, well-educated audience that hangs out at Google Plus.

Who’s Using Google Plus

Google reports that, at nearly 70 percent, users of Google Plus are overwhelmingly male. They are well-educated and technologically savvy; they are not on Google Plus to find out what you had for lunch or how your sister-in-law is doing after the birth of her child. This is their tool for keeping up-to-date on the things that matter.

Another lure of the average Google Plus user: According to the search giant, their users have far more money than those who use other social networks. While 16 percent of Facebook and Tumblr users make more than $100,000 a year, a full 30 percent of Google Plus users do.

The Basics

Signing up for a Google Plus account is as easy as signing into your Gmail account. If you don’t have a Gmail account, you know the drill. Simply go to Gmail.com, and register by coming up with a user name and password. That’s it. Once you have a legitimate Gmail account, you can begin to access all those millions of people who also have Gmail accounts. You can reach your Google Plus account directly at plus.google.com.

Practical Viewpoint

A strong presence on Google Plus is directly correlated with stronger search engine results. The only real way to gain traction online is through search engine results, and Google is the gatekeeper. If you are going to market online, you need to see Google as your ally. That friend is handing you a golden ticket to the party through Google Plus. This complex system is one of the greatest assets in social media marketing, www.dsl.com reports, whether we like it or not; business owners who ignore it are missing out.

Google Is Listening

While behemoths such as Facebook and Twitter may take forever to make the kinds of changes their users clamor for, Google is good about keeping an ear to the ground. In fact, the organization of Google Plus has changed dramatically over the past two years to keep up with what users tell them they want. The site allows you to separate people into categories, depending upon whether they are friends, family, acquaintances or people you are following. While that may not sound like much, it enables you to pinpoint the audience you reach. There’s no reason to let your mother know about the new promotion going on at your gym if she’s not going to be interested. You can upload text, photos, links, videos or special events, and target them precisely to the people who are most likely to care.

Circles

While “circles” may sound like a cute way of saying “friends,” it really is more than that. Because your personal circle is broken down by category, the direction you choose to expand your circle is up to you. For example, if you have a particular business acquaintance and would like to have more like him, you are able to reach out to the people in his circle and ask them to join yours. No, you may not be as interested in your brother’s softball buddies, but then, you don’t have to expand your circle in that direction.

Growth

Business Insider made waves in May by reporting that Google Plus was outpacing Twitter and poised to become the second largest social network in the world (behind Facebook). What makes this particularly surprising is that Google Plus got off to a slow start following its 2011 launch. Although millions of people signed up to use it, critics panned it to the point that users lost interest, and many never even accessed the accounts they set up. Business Insider goes on to say the recent rapid rise of active Google Plus users is likely due to a number of factors, including Google’s efforts to link all of their services together—so if a user signs into one, he signs into them all.

Google Plus is already an important marketing tool, and it’s poised to become a force. Business owners need to be on board.

Image by Flickr user Bruce Clay, Inc.

Be The Next Big Thing: Four Affordable Tips You Need To Succeed

July 9, 2013 Beth Devine

For every dollar spent on email marketing, a well-executed plan can earn you $40 back, according to Local Vox. That kind of return is just for email— meaning that a fully realized marketing plan could net much more.

The reality for most small businesses, however, is that marketing is often put on the back burner. Many small business owners worry that effective marketing is simply too expensive for them to pull off, or they make the mistake of thinking that newer is always better. Your business marketing budget, no matter how small, can show a return with careful planning, attention to useful collateral and consistent use of the free tools you have at your disposal.

Start Planning Early

Your marketing budget is limited, but with long-term planning you can use what you have effectively. Think of marketing plans as an investment, not a cost, and approach them as big-picture changes. Plan your approach based on ROI, not idealism. Instead of casting a reel that you hope will bite, take the time you need to get to know your precise target markets. Tim Donnelly from INC surmises that it might be alluring to “think big,” but in reality it’s better to target what you know on a deeper level. This is why your big-picture marketing plan should start with the basics.

Getting the Basics Right

Basic marketing is powerful, but it has to be done right. Spamming potential customers with endless, loosely targeted emails will not yield those returns. A well-crafted, targeted email is more likely to succeed.

Basics extend to all marketing collateral, down to the business cards. In the electronic age, it is easy to discount the humble business card. This is a mistake. Just like a handshake, the right business card can make a lasting impression. High-quality plastic business cards are sure to stand out from the average stack of white card stock. Your business card should be as much an artifact as it is a source of information. If it makes an impression, it won’t be thrown away as soon as you hand it out. Just like your mission statement, it should resonate.

Giving it Away

In the beginning of the 20th century, Jell-O made its way into the hearts and minds of customers by giving away recipes in the hundreds, according to CBS Money Watch. Within a few years, the company was worth $1 million. Information or knowledge is easy enough to package, and you can give it away for free to make an impact. If it is good, you become an authority in the minds of your customers and they will come back for more. This can be applied to your company’s recipe for success, or the fruits of your mission statement. If you know a lot about something, or simply want the world to get to know your product, there is a creative, affordable way to do so.

Leverage Social Media/ Use What You Have

Most companies don’t have millions to spend on social media campaigns. Even a basic social media presence is a great way to gain increased exposure, and to give your customers access to your company. Start by examining various social media platforms, from blogs to Facebook to Twitter, and see what works for you and your company. Johna Revescencio, a freelance online community manager, won the #PlanWBoost Twitter contest by simply having each member of her team consistently reach out to key Twitter influencers, and it worked. More successful case studies like Johna’s champion social media tactics can be found at Accuracast.com.

Find the outlet that will help your business the most and use it, according to StartingUpTips.com. If you already have an effective ad campaign, it often pays to keep using it and promoting it on social media. Business owners can get bored with their current promotions and pay to change them. This leads to unnecessary marketing expenses, warns Entrepreneur.com. You can reuse pieces of previous images and text for other purposes, like in-house brochures, business cards and buzz-worthy social media tactics.

The Perfect Blog Post

July 18, 2012 Beth Devine

This infographic gives a very succinct description of how to organize your blog posts. Thanks to socialtriggers.com for creating and posting it and for Chris Amorosino for sharing it on LinkedIn.

Like this? Learn how to use psychology to get more traffic and sales with Social Triggers.

Kayak Fishing with Google Glasses

May 17, 2012 Beth Devine

Off topic or not, an occasional fish story makes it into this blog. Humor me. I like to fish.

Last Saturday, my husband Brent and I took the kayaks out to Mansfield Hollow for our first outing of the season. It was a beautiful day. As Brent parked the truck I headed out thinking I could catch the first fish of the season.

It was a slow start. I was casting a blue rooster tail spinner–still tied to the line from last fall. After a few casts I looked around at the spring colors of the landscape and realized it was more of a lime green yellow day, so I changed the lure to match the landscape. Fish can be very color sensitive.

The lure change worked. I caught a nice bass. He was hefty. I quickly released him to enjoy the spring colors. Then I caught two more fish. Were they crappies? I think so, but later when I met up with Brent I wasn’t really sure. I could have dug out my phone and snapped a photo before I released them. But you know, it’s hard to take a photo of a fish with a phone while you’re holding a rod and a fish with a hook in a kayak! There’s the hand shortage issue and the fear of losing your paddle. And fish slime on the phone.

Later, when Brent and I were discussing our catches over adult beverages, I said I should find a way to fashion a camera to my glasses so I could ID my fish later.

He said, “Google Glasses.”

And I’m the techno-geek in the family. I hadn’t heard much about Google Glasses. But seriously is it a cool idea or what?!

Sign me up Google. Once I load my Fish ID app and fish finder, I’ll be all set.

Introducing Rockin’ Kacee

April 20, 2012 Beth Devine

We’re excited to have Rockin’ Kacee Erhard blogging for us. Kacee will be blogging about any web related applications, marketing news and information that we think may benefit our client base. If you have any questions or topics you would like Kacee to research and write about, please leave a comment below. Kacee will write about anything you ask her to write about (within reason–she’s already covered pygmy giraffes).

Kacee says…

It’s a writing thing. And it’s dogged me like any hungry animal will do until it’s fed. So, I compose in my head the events of the day, words strewn in my mind’s eye in an almost obsessive compulsion. These crumbs, along with journaling, have kept the beasts at bay while raising a family, but the cracks in my exterior were beginning to grow. When my friend, Beth, suggested a writing proposition for Web Savvy Marketers, I instinctively turned to the hounds and offered myself up.

I’m Kacee Erhard, and I’m a compulsive writer. May these blogs be a source of information and good cheer.