Google has announced it will flag all sites that are not encrypted internet by the end of 2017. The words “Not Secure” will in the URL bar, if you don’t purchase and install an SSL Certificate. See the attached photo. Does this apply to you? It applies if: Your site has a contact form, search … Read more
I’ve written about marketing essentials for high end residential contractors here and here: Marketing Essentials and houzz: are you resisting? why?. Don’t overlook the basics. I’m also assuming you have items like yard signs and truck signs etc. Words the wise. When starting new marketing add only one strategy at a time. Any of these strategies will … Read more
This post is for myself. I’ve failed multiple times at getting general contractors to listen to me on this. Every time I first meet with a contractor I find this one essential marketing task has not been done. Often it’s still not done at the end of the project! I’d do it for you or them, but I can’t. … Read more
Several clients contacted me to ask about alarming Mobilegeddon emails from other web companies. The emails I saw from 3 separate companies claimed any website that wasn’t optimized for mobile by April 21 would see their traffic disappear and their business drop. My clients were asking how to respond to such dire predictions. Google did … Read more
Thanks to my work building websites for high end home builders, I often get to talk to generals about marketing: what works for them and what confuses them. As any contractor can tell you, the industry operates on word-of mouth-referrals. After all, building a house is one of the biggest financial decisions people make. Wouldn’t you … Read more
Thanks to our association with Contractor’s Coach Paul Sanneman, we’ve had the opportunity to complete multiple websites for general contractors in San Francisco and around the US. These websites are geared to contractors who are building relationships with architects and attracting projects from Houzz. Houzz sets a high bar for photography; Homeowners and architects now expect gorgeous home photos that are expertly … Read more
We are huge fans of WordPress over here at Full Orbit and use the platform to build sites big and small. From time to time I run into people who think WordPress is just for small sites. Or say something like Drupal is the Content Management System (CMS) for enterprise sites. I want to explain why … Read more
Scope creep! I think every independent web professional I’ve spoken to has said this is an issue for them. Sometimes they’ve even quit the industry due to project creep. I’ve made it one of my 2014 goals to learn more about how to avoid the issues surrounding scope creep. Yesterday a marketing colleague of ours gave a … Read more
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been appreciative of captcha when there was nothing else. If you are new to the term “captcha”, it’s an image designed to stop spam on forms and applications. It requires users to prove they aren’t a spambot by typing in a few scrambled letters or numbers. So while captcha’s have … Read more
by Karen Nierlich, Tod Abbott and Allison Rolls WordPress has grown in popularity exponentially over the last 5 years. Unfortunately, hackers have been turning their attention to the platform because of its popularity. Prior to last year, hacking was very rare in our experience with small and medium business clients. Last year we fixed several … Read more