Is Your WordPress Site Secure?

Security for your Website

How Secure is your WordPress site?

The front door of the beach cottage had a large old horseshoe directly over the door.

We were struck by the size of it. Must have been a huge horse. Curious, we checked with the owner later that day and learned that the horseshoe was put there when the cottage was built, over 100 years ago, for protection and good luck.

I’ve been thinking a lot about protection lately; because several friends have had their WordPress sites hacked recently.

It seems that there’s a brute force attack going on at the moment designed to gain access to WordPress sites by targeting the “admin” account that every WordPress site sets up by default.

Using some 90,000 computers they aim to find the password of these accounts.  Once they break into a site they do such a lot of damage that many have to be completely rebuilt.

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How to Create A Contact Page That Gives Visitors the Warm Fuzzies

It was late on a Saturday night. We were out of town with the pups, and Scuba, our black lab went from sick to deathly ill in less than 30 minutes. Too late for the regular vet, we had to find an emergency vet fast.

Immediately we checked Around Me on the iPhone. Using the app we got the name, phone number and address of the nearest emergency vet. We gave them a call and the App’s GPS guided us right to the vet’s door.

This isn’t a commercial for Around Me, you may have an app you like better. No, it’s just how grateful I was for the app.  It was so helpful. Knowing right where to go relieved so much stress.

Contact Pages Need to Be Helpful

How helpful is your contact page?

It’s how I think about contact pages on websites. They’re a page specifically designed to help your visitors. But most of us are so focused on selling our products or services that we don’t put much thought into making our contact pages really helpful.

We don’t do a good job of giving our visitors the warm fuzzies when they come to our contact page.

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Test vs. Experiment? The Difference A Word Can Make

What would the world look like from a bug’s perspective? That’s the question John Lasseter wanted to answer during the creation of the movie “A Bug’s Life.”

To understand the world through a bug’s eyes, his team created a miniature video camera on Lego wheels which they called the “Bugcam.” Fastened to the end of a stick, the Bugcam would roll through grass sending back a bug’s-eye view of the terrain.

When we test a web page,  it’s like we’re getting the visitor’s view of our page. The more we learn about their behavior, the more we can tailor a page to their needs which in turn increases your sales. Lately though, testing websites has become more of a numbers game. Instead of focusing on learning about our customers we’re obsessed over getting that big increase – that 125% gain we read about.

Clients hear so much about outsized wins, the +125% increase in sign-ups and the 149% increase in clicks, that they’re completely deflated by a “measly 6% gain.” If you find yourself feeling bad if you only got a 3.27% lift from your latest test…read on.

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9 Ideas for Testing Your PPC Landing Pages

Are your PPC clicks turning into sales?

Are your PPC clicks turning into sales?

You expect a lot from your PPC landing page. It has to convince the visitor (who may or may not have expressed much interest in your product) to move beyond the initial click and take the next stop of making a commitment to your product.

It has to turn him from a prospect into a bona fide customer. And in many cases, it has just a few seconds to make that happen.

In order to accomplish that goal, you need to engage in some serious PPC landing page optimization. Each element on your landing page needs to work hard to engage and persuade visitors. The key to making that happen? Testing.

Here are 9 ideas to get you started.

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5 Tips to Improve your Ecommerce Site Search

How good is your site search?

How good is your site search?

Google has spoiled us. When we go online, we expect to be able to find the specific information we’re looking for immediately with a minimum of effort.

Even if we don’t know the exact name of the item in question, we can type in an approximation or a description and most of the time, Google knows what we mean. That’s great for a search engine.

When it comes to your ecommerce website, however, this high expectation can leave visitors frustrated if your search function can’t accommodate them as quickly as Google. It can even cost you some sales.

The good news is that your ecommerce conversion optimization strategy can ease the tension by creating a better search experience for site visitors. Let’s take a look at five steps to better search:

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Five Free Analytics Tools to Boost Conversion Rates

Analytics Data

Conversion optimization starts by analyzing your analytics data

Conversion optimization relies on knowing what’s happening when people land on your website.

  • What actions do they take?
  • When do they take them?
  • Where and when do they exit?
  • How long do they stick around?

These are just a few of the essential questions you should be asking. In this post, let’s take a look at some of the best free web analytics tools to help you keep track of the answers.

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Is Your Website a Jargon-Free Zone?

Caution...Confusing Language Ahead

Caution…Confusing Language Ahead

Argonjay is such an easy trap to fall into.  Ordsway or asesphray that are commonly used in your industry or business can be a complete mystery to people outside your industry.

 What???

In Pig Latin, the children’s language game, “jargon” becomes argonjay, “words” becomes ordsway and “phrases”  asesphray.  When you stumbled over the words and wasted time trying to figure out what I was saying you experienced the negative impact of using jargon in your communications.

Jargon is everywhere.  It’s the words that are part of the everyday vocabulary of a particular group or profession that are only partially understood, if at all, by the rest of us. Problem is that jargon is no longer isolated to technology geeks and the medical profession.

You probably use some jargon every day.  Words that are specific to what you do. Words that you’re sure everyone understands, only to be shocked that they don’t.

Using jargon on your website is one of the biggest reasons for potential customers to hit the back button and find a site that is simpler to understand. No one sets out to use jargon-speak, but it remains prevalent on websites, because it’s so difficult to recognize.

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Landing Page Love For Your Social Media Traffic

Engage your social media traffic with landing pages designed specifically for them.

Engage your social media traffic with landing pages designed specifically for them.

Do you have separate landing pages for each of your social media networks? If not, you should.

Let’s take a look at how social media landing pages benefit your company and how you can optimize yours for the best results.

Why Do I Need a Separate Social Media Landing Page?

It’s never a good idea to dump incoming traffic on your home page. The message is too generic and there’s no opportunity to tailor the information to the audience.

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