Really? A 15 year old website is promoting your business online – that is if people can find it – because I guarantee you that if your website is 15 years old and nothing has been done with it since it was released, search engines are going to have a hard time finding you in a Google search. Not having fresh content gets you pushed down in search results.

If your business has service vehicles are they rusting? Is the paint on your graphics and text on the trucks peeling? Are letters completely peeled off? There used to be a restaurant that had a neon sign that read “Good Food”. Eventually the “d” in Good and “ood” in food burned out. The sign read, yes you guessed it, “Goof”. The locals who knew it probably loved it. Would a stranger take a chance on it though? If they couldn’t take care of  their sign, how much care would they put into their food?

When people come in to your place of business is the furniture ratty and is the lighting burned out? Of course not! You want to give customers and potential customers a good impression of your business. So why are you satisfied with keeping your outdated website?

Design has changed over the years. Technology has changed over the years. 8-tracks were popular in the 60s and 70s, MP3s are the way to go now.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with 8-Tracks, here is an article that will fill you in. And visitors can tell the difference. If your website is still built with tables it’s going to look bad on a mobile device which is used much more often to browse for products on the web and the use of mobile will increase over the years.

And the cost of a website is a tax deduction for your business – just like leasing a car or paying for advertising. As a matter of fact, a website can be one of the methods of advertising your business that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. We discussed the value of  a website vs. newspaper advertising last September in this post.

So, if you keep your office looking fresh and nice, update your fleet of vehicles every three years, don’t have your website be the weak link in your corporate image. Give us a call at 416-365-3332 or 905-849-9708 to discuss updating your website to look fresh and new.

This is where Silver Maple Web comes in. We have years of development and programming expertise and having done basic graphic design work ourselves, we also have experience working with graphic designers.

A case study of how we work with graphic designers and their designs

In November 2011, one of our Virtual Assistant clients (Prime Admin Solutions is a branch of our corporation, Devondev Inc.) was unhappy with her website. It was a site set up in HTML using tables. The people who created the site also did her updates for her. She was finding that even the simplest of updates could be a hassle – she was tired of the constant back and forth to correct errors. She asked us if we could help her convert her site to a format so that she could do simple updates herself. We suggested WordPress.

When we started the project our client sent us PDF files (see gallery below) and graphic images that had been created by her graphic designer. Even though this website was done in WordPress, we implemented some advanced features such as:

• A movable paper clip above the menu. It moves to be positioned over the menu item of the page it is on.
• Placement of the post-it notes on the home page flush against the menu bar.
• A slider on the “Who Are We” page that is controlled by a menu to show the bios of each member of the team.
• Creation of a customized plug-in called “simple promo code” that is placed inside thought bubbles on the Tip of the Month page. The client advertises in various publications and offers free downloads of useful documents. The simple promo code helps her measure response rates from each publication. As an aside, this plug-in is available on the WordPress plugin repository and has had 482 downloads since implementation in February 2012.
• Links to external sites superimposed over graphics.

Here is what our client had to say about our work:

“We were so frustrated working with our previous supplier, that it’s great to finally have a supplier that understands our goals. Silver Maple not only achieved the right look but also implemented up-to-date technology so that we can now easily update the site internally …while at the same time it’s nice to know that there is flexibility to have support whenever we need it.”

Gallery of PDFs sent by our client’s graphic designer… 

We’re not limited to WordPress…

WordPress is the latest darling of the web design world. It’s very easy for clients to update themselves and because it’s a blogging platform it’s an all-in-one solution for many clients. Because WordPress is so very easy to use, that ease of use introduces limitations – especially when laying things out on the page.

If your client needs more advanced layout capabilities or needs customized programming, we can help with more powerful frameworks such as Symfony® which allows us to build more customized solutions. We can even implement a content management component so that your clients can update their sites themselves (with some training from us).

If you are looking for a partner to help your clients be their best on the web, consider partnering with Silver Maple Web – our expertise can give you a competitive edge with your clients. Give us a call at (905) 849 9708, we’re always happy to chat with you and answer any questions you have.

Did you know that your website only has 2.6 seconds to make an impression on viewers, or your customers? So are you providing an open door or a maze to your potential customers?

There are more and more people browsing the web on their smartphones and that number is growing all the time. It’s expected that mobile web browsing will outstrip desktop internet use by 2015. Will these mobile browsers be able to easily see your website or do they have to zoom to view the content that is not readable on their smartphone. Or will they move on to the next site that comes up in the Google search.

20, 15 and even 5 years ago, it was fine to have a very static site that could be a fixed size. Today you need a website that can not only be viewed on a 40″ monitor on a desktop but on a smart phone by someone on a commuter train. The old models don’t work any more. Even a “mobile” site doesn’t help. Last week we were showing a potential web development client what her website looked like on a smartphone. It came up in a mobile version that gave the viewer an “about us” page. What the viewer didn’t see were the client’s products – the stuff that they sell and make money from. Does the viewer care about the owner’s background, or what they do, or what is in it for them? It would have been great to have a picture of the frown on the client’s face.

That’s why responsive websites are so wonderful. The client visits the website and a door is open welcoming them, showing them everything they want to see. It’s not a maze where they have to really work to find what they are looking for. Why not make it easy for people? Why not have them be amazed instead of in a maze?

Take a look at your website on a smart phone – do you find an open door or a maze? If you’re in a maze, contact us and we’ll help you give your potential clients an open door.

We discussed options and felt that a content management system like WordPress would be their best bet. It was easy to update on their own and they could also blog with it. We found them more affordable web hosting with excellent customer support.

We created a custom WordPress theme converted their current site to WordPress including re-writing their content. We also coached them on social media and how best to use it to promote their business.

Mary at Cantope quickly threw herself into blogging and adding photos and video to their blog and their Facebook account.

Diane Welsh said in a testimonial about the changes we made as follows:

“In the past, Cantope used an American-based corporation for hosting and maintaining a website that I developed myself. While we had a good ranking on the search engines, the annual cost for hosting was becoming price prohibitive, managing the site was difficult and some the US firm’s staff were arrogant and difficult to deal with. Hence we started the search for an alternative.

Julia was instrumental in not only providing advice on economical and effective host sites, she convinced us to try a new web design program, and she changed our world with recommendations for various areas of social media.”

Fast forward two years later and we told Diane about responsive web design and showed her how it worked using our site as an example on a smart phone, iPad and iMac. She loved the way it looked – how it was easily readable on any of the devices with the content moving to fit the size of the screen and retained Silver Maple Web to re-design their website. She also retained us to create a new site for the Poodle Club of Ontario. Diane is Membership Chair of the Club and was charged with the task of getting them online.

We released the redesigned site today complete with the new theme. The Poodle Club of Ontario site is live online and we are currently coaching Diane on how to maintain and update the content on the site as well as using the Next Gen Gallery.

Do you want your customers to be able to see your products and services no matter where they are? Are you ready to make your online presence responsive  with a responsive WordPress website? Call us to at (416) 365-3332 or contact us by email to discuss improving your online presence and let your customers see your site whether they’re “on the go, on the couch or on the job”!

I wish I had a dollar for every business person who said that websites are too expensive to have done. Yet many of these businesses take out full page ads in their local newspaper and some of the major ones. And a website is too expensive – really?

A newspaper life cycle

Let’s examine the life cycle of a newspaper and ergo, a newspaper ad.

A newspaper lands on the front step at 7:00 in the morning. By this time if someone is commuting, they probably don’t have time to read the entire paper before rushing out the door to the car or the bus. The reader is going to scan the headlines, maybe read it on the way to work. Said reader will likely remember the news stories of importance but will they remember the advertisements in the paper? Probably not, unless it’s something they really need that day. Or if the newspaper arrives after they have left for work they will likely read the paper that evening if they have time between getting dinner ready, the kids out to soccer, band, choir, whatever practice. By the next day the paper is put in the recycling box.

The cost of newspaper advertising

Now let’s consider the cost of advertising for one day. One of Canada’s largest newspapers charges $1,543.11 (Monday to Friday) or $2,047.13 (Sat) for a 2″ x 2″ ad. How much information about your business can you cram in that little space? You could get a little more information in a one-eighth page ad which is 5-3/16″ x 5-1/8″ at a cost of 9,398.27 (M-F) $12,461.11 (S).

And a one-time ad isn’t going to get you noticed, it might if you have a really, really clever ad (and how much will you pay an ad agency to design that clever ad?). It can take up to 20 times for someone to see your ad before they call or come into your shop. “Info Press” has a great article on their website about frequency of advertising – http://www.abiederman.com/marketing/advertising-frequency-how-many-times-is-it-effective.html.

So you are going to run your ad, let’s assume you’re on a budget and you’re going to go with the 2″ x 2″ ad and run it and being budget minded, you’re going with 10 insertions:

$1,543 x 10 = $15,431

When those ten issues of the newspaper are in the recycling box, so is your ad – still think print is a better deal?

Print advertising used to be the only affordable game in town. That’s changed in recent years.

The cost of a website and online advertising

For the first 20 years of websites they used to be really expensive too – they had to be coded and that was beyond the skill level of most small business people – and updates had to be done by the coders as well. Large companies could afford to have staff who could do that but the smaller business couldn’t.

That was then – this is now!

Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress make it easy for anyone to manage their own website. The biggest cost is having the site set up and a theme designed and receiving some training but after that, you have an advertising vehicle that keeps on going.

A website designed by Silver Maple Web starts at $1,500 (plus the cost of webhosting and that doesn’t cost a huge amount like it used to either) – about the same cost as that 2″ x 2″ newspaper ad mentioned above. Our price includes a couple of hours of training and two weeks of support so that you aren’t alone while you learn how to update your website. You can add your weekly specials, have a sign up form to capture addresses of potential customers -  those desired warm prosepcts as opposed to the cold prospects who are looking at your print ad. We can help you set up an email marketing campaign so you can send out weekly or monthly emails to these prospects who have opted-in, who want to know what’s happening in your business. How great is that!

It takes time to get your page to the front page of Google, but you can speed that up by paying for an Adwords campaign on Google or a Facebook ad campaign or Facebook business page (depending on your audience).

Google Adwords campaigns are effective because your ad is listed on the top of Google search results or the sidebar. They’re cost effective because they are pay-per-click, which means you don’t pay for the times your ad shows on the search results (“impression”), you only pay for your ad when someone clicks through to your website which means they are interested in your product or service. Again, a warm prospect.

A Facebook business page allows you to interact with your potential customers. If they’ve liked your page, guess what, they’re interested in your product/service and that makes them a warm prospect. You can do giveaways, have contests, it`s another affordable way to get the word out!

So for the small investment in the infrastructure of a website and Facebook page along with a Google or Facebook ad campaign, you can reach more prospects.

So, do you still think a website is too expensive? If not, give Silver Maple Web a call today at (416) 365-3332. We’re here for you!

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, the process involved in ensuring your website is found by search engines. It involves the wording used in titles and other content both on the front end, the part seen by viewers and the meta data which the search engines also view. Many people think that they need to repeat their important search term or keyword over and over again to the point the human reader just gets annoyed.

The Case for HEO

This is where HEO or Human Eye Optimization comes in. Visitors to your website don’t want to see the keyword stuffed throughout your page. If the search terms they used got them to your page, you’ve reached your objective.

The Yoast SEO plugin recommends a minimum of 300 words per page. Other SEO experts suggest a minimum of 200. If you can get your point across in 150 words, that should be fine. Ask yourself, “Will another 50 or 150 words of filler make my product or service more attractive and get them to pick up the phone and call me?” If it won’t you should probably leave those extra words out.

Balance is Key

When having your web content written, make sure that you or your copywriter get the right balance so that your website is attractive to both human and electronic readers.

Ever seen an ad for a handyman or contractor that says, “no job too small” and when you call them they want to remodel your entire house? Yep, we’ve been there too.

The same thing happens in the web world. You’re happy with your website but you just need a small form added or you need a slight change made to the design of your website. Maybe you just want to have a custom WordPress theme designed and a one page about your company website with a blog page attached. Or you don’t even want a blog, just a virtual business card website.

You do an online search for a web designer/developer.

Do you hear over and over again “your website is outdated, we couldn’t possibly just do that—your entire website needs to be revamped”? You can almost see their noses turning up. Your little project isn’t good enough.

Isn’t that an irritating attitude to have to deal with?

Silver Maple Web respects your choices. We are more than happy to help you with the little things that will make your current website what you want. And in the future when you decide you want to completely remodel your website, we’ll be here for you then too.

A question about WordPress on Linkedin + a phone call + design and coaching = a happy client

I was on Linkedin one day a couple of years ago and decided to do a search in the Answers section on WordPress. I came across a question by Lori Shandle-Fox where she asked if it was better to have a self-hosted WordPress blog or to have it hosted on wordpress.com.

Never being one to not offer my opinion, I replied adding my two cents. I was surprised to get a reply asking why when she read my reply she understood what I was saying and all the rest of the responders spoke in “geek speak”. That was flattering.

Here is a link to Lori’s question and the answers she received.

We had a telephone conversation and discussed what she wanted to achieve with her blog. She had written a very funny book during her journey through the world of fertility treatments. It was a very stressful time and being a comedian, laughter was the best medicine for her. She wanted to share that with others going through the same experience.

Her challenge was to build an audience so that when she ultimately published the book she would have readers.

I walked her through the set up of the blog and coached her on blogging. During this time I was taking an online course in social media through VA Classroom. My final assignment for the course was to prepare a social media action plan and Lori willingly agreed to my request to use her book as the subject of the project.

Fast forward two years and Lori has now published “Laughing IS Conceivable” as a Kindle ebook available on Amazon.

We have just completed a new website for the book with links to Lori’s blog. The  purpose of the site is to drive sales for her book. The main page contains an image of the book with a link to purchase the book on Amazon and reviews by experts in the fertility area. Some of the reviewers have written books on the subject and we have provided links to their books on Amazon.

Lori has provided us with the following testimonial:

“I highly recommend Silver Maple Web Design and Development. I was so impressed with their service and professionalism two years ago when they completely built my WordPress blog site from the ground up, that I recently had them do a second business site for me. I’ve found them very pleasant and easy to work with.

They complete assignments quickly and accurately, something which you should assume to be the case but I’ve unfortunately dealt with other web designers etc who did not return emails in a timely fashion, did not have a quick turn-around or did not do the work as discussed.

Julia is always willing to take the time to work with me to get the assignment completed. There have been more times than I would like to admit when I have sent her an email with the word “HELP!” in the subject line. She has always made herself available when issues have arisen or changes or additions had to be made to my site with little notice.

Should you decide to work with Silver Maple, I think you will be very pleased with the personalized service and again, the professionalism.”

Lori Shandle-Fox
Founder/Author: Laughing IS Conceivable

Check out Lori’s new WordPress website and while you’re there why not click on the link to see her book on Amazon. Were her fertility treatments successful? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Why Should I Care?

As a website owner you control how your site is developed.  Your choice is between quick, easy and risky or professional, reliable WordPress development.   You may not care much about the process your developer uses, all you want is that your site is built quickly, correctly and cheaply.  You’re sure the developer will get it right.  WordPress makes it easy for inexperienced developers to build beautiful sites with advanced functionality.

I frequently help out on the WordPress Troubleshooting Forum and see the results of the quick and easy process that many developers and designers use.  One person had made a simple change to some code in their client’s theme and had a site that now displayed as a blank page.  They couldn’t even get to the administration back-end, it was Monday morning and this was a business critical site for the client.  Luckily they had access to their hosting company’s file manager and were able to remove their change manually.

A Simple Development Process

The simple process provided by WordPress is great for updating content since WordPress provides an archive of all the versions of the content and you can undo a bad content change.  This does not apply to changes made to code, especially if the error is severe enough to block access to the back-end.  This process is fine for your hobby site or for a site that hasn’t gone live yet.  It’s a disaster waiting to happen for a live commercial site.

The steps in the simple WordPress development process are:

1. Backup the Client Database.  I hope they did this. Many developers skip this step, or rely on a backup that your hosting company provides. If you haven’t subscribed to a daily backup service, the last backup by your hosting company could be a month old.  A separate backup should be taken immediately before making any code changes to the site.  Plugins and themes can be reinstalled, but the data is the meat of the site and it’s loss is not something you will enjoy. It’s a good idea to back up the code as well. Recovery from a backup taken by your developer is quick and easy; one taken by your hosting company will require a ticket to be filed and a fee to be paid. It’s sure to take a while to do as well.
2. Get the theme and plugins. Loading a new theme or plugin can cause problems in an existing site. Some themes have incompatible features and some standard features, such as widgets are tied to the theme. This can bring your site down.
3. Use WordPress to modify code.  This is one of the most hazardous practices available to the WordPress  developer.  The code is not backed up and changes cannot be undone after the site is viewed.  Some simple errors, like a missing semicolon,  can make the whole site including the administration back-end inaccessible.
4. Use WordPress to update content. This is one of the reasons to use WordPress.  It’s very safe since WordPress keeps archives of content so that you can undo any change.
5. Verification and sign-off by the client.  When the development is done, you get a chance to review the site and sign off.  Unfortunately, this vital step is very late in the process, the site is live, and visible to your customers. If you don’t like it, that backup from step 1 will come in handy.

A Professional Development Process

The professional development process described here extends the simple process described above by adding:

• a local development version of the site for your developer
• version control for code
• a QA (quality assurance) or staging site for you to see the changes before the site goes live

It’s complex, but that’s your developer’s problem, not yours. They should be familiar with this if they have ever worked in the industry.  It involves twice as many steps, but is much safer, you get to see the site before your customers do, and it’s easy to undo changes.

I will be covering these steps in the professional WordPress development process in greater detail in later posts directed specifically to developers:

1. Copy client code and data. This is similar to the database backup in the simple process, but it’s more complete and  allows the developer to create a mirror image of your site in their local development environment.
2. Develop locally.  The developer makes all changes to their local copy.  All plugins and any new theme are added here.  Changes made to code can be done using professional tools such as Integrated Development Environments and unit testing can be done. Your developer can test your site here before it goes up.
3. Archive code.  A version control system such as SVN or Github is used to keep versions of the code so that any change can be undone easily.
4. Copy to QA site.  When the developer is happy with the code and data on their local version of your site they copy it to a quality assurance or staging site on the internet where you can try it out.  This site should be running in an environment that is similar to your production site.
5. Test with client on QA site. This is where you get to try it out without your customers or the search engines being able to see the site.  This gives you a good test drive of your new site and provides a chance to give feedback to your developer and designer. Steps 2 through 5 may be repeated until you are satisfied.
6. Backup the client site. This is a full backup of the clients production site, sufficient to restore it if needed. The next step is the only high risk step in this process.
7. Copy the code to the client site. The developer will copy the code from their development environment or the QA site to your site.  Normally the database is not copied at this time as changes made in production could be lost and unwanted changes made during development might get carried over.  In the case of a brand new site, the database may be copied as well.
8. Test the client site. This test confirms that the new code works with the existing data.  It is best if there are no data-code dependencies, but some may be unavoidable.
9. Use WordPress to update the content.  There may be new content that is required for the new version of your site.  This is added at this point using the normal WordPress facilities.
10. Verification and sign off by client.  This is the same last step that we saw in the simple process.  The difference here is that you have had a chance to use the new site back at step 5, so there should be no surprises.

The Bottom Line

The simple process is quick, easy, and cheap. It is fine for hobby sites and  students.  It is risky for a commercial site.  The professional process requires more work, and more skill.  It will take longer and cost more, but it provides you with the peace of mind that the work is being done properly and it gives you an opportunity to see the result before your customers do.

All in all a professional WordPress development process is a better choice for a professional site.

Peter Wooster

Senior Developer at Silver Maple Web.

The last few days have been warmer than normal, as seen by the crocus on March 7. The trees are now reacting to that, so real spring can’t be far off. Here is a shot of the tips of the tree that appears on the header of the Silver Maple Web website.

These blossoms aren’t large and showy, but they are a favourite food of squirrels, which are one of Bella’s favourite things, so she is definitely in favour of maple blossoms.