Getting started with a website can be a challenging task, especially if you lack experience but Simple2Web can make the process easy and painfree. We will advise you about the best way to setup your website and how to fully optimize its functionality.

One of the easiest ways to make your website function better is to use WordPress plugins. While the list of available plugins is very long, there are some important factors to consider before adding them to your website.

Types of WordPress Plugins

Plugins are small snippets of code which can be downloaded to your WordPress website and they can be used to achieve numerous goals. They can improve the design of the website.

Some of these increase interactivity, getting the audience to be more involved. Some plugins will deliver excellent results in terms of increasing the website’s monetization potential.

Plugins are created by professionals familiar with WordPress. They can be added to all kinds of websites for small businesses. A simple and basic design or website template will become much more intriguing through the selection of appropriate plugins.

How will Your Website Benefit from the Addition of Plugins?

Plugins can be used to accomplish numerous goals in terms of website design and functioning.

For instance, there are plugins to add editorial calendars to your website’s backend; plugins for adding audio and/or video to your website; plugins to assist with placing Google Adsense ads on your site. The list goes on and on.

Plugins will also make it easier to track and analyze website performance. Analytics can be used for the selection of the best marketing strategy, for the proper placement of ads on the website and for the selection of features that will make visitors spend more time exploring the pages.

Finally, there are plugins which help with your search engine optimization (SEO). Optimization is a set of techniques used to make the website more search engine-friendly. Good SEO will enable the website to rank better for keywords of interest. Various plugines have been designed for the purpose of improving SEO efforts and tracking the results.

A Few Considerations to Keep in Mind

When getting started with a website, some people may feel tempted to install all kinds of plugins. It may sound like a good idea but the addition of too many plugins can easily clutter the design and make the website difficult to navigate.

The Simple2Web design premise is to only use tested plugins and only when absolutely necessary. We care about your success and don’t want to run the risk of overpowering your website with too many plugins. We know the best plugins to give you the best results.

Plugins are created by different individuals and companies. Some of them have a good reputation, while others have not gone through sufficient testing to ensure quality.

When choosing plugins, it is of uttermost importance to pick from the reputable developers. Poor functioning of interactive features on your pages will discourage visitors from coming back to the website.

WordPress plugins can accomplish a lot. The selection of the right applications that are reputable enough and suitable for the specifics of the website will result in success.

Call Simple2Web at 715-456-3976 to discuss your website design options!

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you. 715.456.3976

What is it about SEO and site ranking that seems to have everyone anxious and excited? The fact is, unless you understand website ranking and SEO, you’ll find that your e-commerce site could prove to be a waste of time and energy.

Website ranking involves a multi-pronged, intricate science. Basically, the goal of Search Engine Optimization is to make sure your site appears on high in the search engines (such as Google and Bing) and that as many people visit your site as possible.

If you think of it, there are millions of websites that have been published on the web, with more being added every day of the year. Out of all of these sites, what’s going to ensure that your website gets found? While there are no guarantees, you can stack the deck in your favor when you hire a professional to implement tried-and-true SEO strategies for your site.

Understanding SEO Jargon

So, what are some of the tricks of the trade, so to speak? What will a SEO professional do in order to help with garnering you more website traffic? Here are a few examples of tactics that have proven to work, as well as why they work:

Google Adwords: Google Adwords is a pay-per-click advertising program that allows clients to advertise their websites, via a pre-determined set of keyword phrases. This works for the client because they pay a nominal fee to direct traffic to their website. More than this, the traffic that Google Adwords generates is the type of targeted traffic that usually converts into sales revenue.

Meta Tags: Meta tags are short descriptions of the website, along with keyword phrasing. A meta tag shows up during search engine queries. Webmasters use these as a place to use more search engine keyword phrases.

Social Media Optimization: Social media optimization is just as important as SEO, or search engine optimization. Building relationships on social media platforms allows a website to get mentioned and found by social media community members. Many websites have realized huge spikes in traffic after being mentioned on social media communities. In addition to this, SEO keywords can be used within the body of social media messages.

The WordPress Blogging Platform: Most bloggers and many e-commerce site owners use the WordPress blogging platform as a quick and easy means of setting up a website. WordPress works beautifully with search engine optimization campaigns because it contains programming and “plug-ins” that are easily optimized by the search engines.

These are just a few of the strategies that a web designer who is also a SEO professional can use in order to get your site ranked as highly on the search engines as possible.

If all this still sounds too confusing, call Simple2Web at 715-456-3976 and let us take care of SEO for you! Whether you’re in Eau Claire, Wisconsin or somewhere else in the world, Simple2Web can handle all your SEO needs.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you. 715.456.3976

While website visitors might forget what you’ve said on the pages of your website, they’ll certainly remember your domain name, if you give them a reason to.

Tips for Choosing the Right Domain Name

So, how do you go about taking this important step? It’s always a good idea to take out a piece of paper and pen, and start brainstorming. Think of names that speak to your business services or your brand. Also, implement these domain name tips when you are creating a domain name to register:

1. Do your homework and make sure your domain name is available. There’s nothing more frustrating than to realize your prospective domain name has already been registered to another owner. You can easily perform a Google search to learn whether your domain name is available. It’s easy; Just type your desired domain name into your computer browser. If nothing comes up, it’s probably available for you to register!
2. Don’t use dashes or weird characters in your domain name. How often do you remember to insert hypens, dashes or other characters into a domain name? Exactly! If you won’t remember to type these, neither will your website visitors or customers. Make it easy for them to remember your domain name if you want people to come to your website.
3. Purchase a dot com domain extension whenever possible. Think about this domain name, Simple2Web.com. You’ll see other extensions, such as .net or .biz but let’s be honest, a dot com domain extension is the most trusted and the most popular in the world. Yes, a dot net or a dot org extension costs less to purchase, and it’s because these are less popular options. Everyone remembers the dot com extension!
4. Keep things simple. Some of your ideas for domain names might seem to be very cute and original. However, none of this does you any good if no one can remember your domain name, or how to spell it! Try to come up with a name that speaks to your brand, while being memorable.

Finally, try to use a keyword phrase as part of your domain name. Your web designer who specializes in SEO research can help you to come up with a keyword phrase that isn’t too common or too obscure. If using a keyword phrase as a domain name won’t work for your business, you could always simply use the name of your business.

While you might love a domain, we invite our pre-customers to call us at 715-456-3976 to discuss their ideas. The advice is free and Simple2web is vetted in experience of helping clients succeed.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you. 715.456.3976

Do you rarely get calls from potential leads?

Do you need more visits to your site?

Wordpress websites are a simple tool to enhance website design and direct more traffic to your site.

Whether a new or existing business, no one can deny the power of the website. It is an expected element for every business, and now acts as the “new” business card. Having a site that never changes doesn’t draw more business in; it simply takes up web space and uses money. WordPress websites are a new format that anyone can use to keep content current so that it continues to draw new traffic.

In the original days of website design, often a web designer would be the only one who could log into a website to make changes, ultimately holding the web owner at bay. Any changes had to be made through the designer.

One of the benefits of using WordPress is the ease of use the web owner has in accessing and changing the content. It is also more affordable for the client to maintain a website using WordPress websites.

When using WordPress, you don’t have to know HTML computer code to make changes. In the first years of computers, much of the work to upload took special technical knowledge. As technology has advanced, so has the ease of navigation. Anyone can learn how to operate within this framework to make changes to the website.

Designing a website needs to be well thought out so there will be enough traffic. Once there you need to have a site that is easy to navigate. The benefits of using WordPress are that this becomes easy to design and update.

Web designer Simple2Web.com offers full webdesign services using WordPress. This makes it affordable for clients to have an attractive, functional and easy to use website for not only the web visitors, but the web owner as well.

One of the benefits of using Simple2Web.com is that even though the website is fully accessible by the web owner, there is still someone to contact with any problems. This puts the web owner in control of uploading new content, including pictures, articles or entries without having to constantly pay fees to a designer each time content is modified.

The changing content is one of the reasons that websites are pulled to the top of search engines. Keeping things current will also give your customers reasons to make multiple visits.

WordPress Websites are a fabulous tool to grow your business; for more information on designing an affordable website, please contact Simple2Web at 715-456-3976.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you. 715.456.3976

Free websites and blogs come with numerous limitations. Owning your own website will give you the freedom to have all kinds of content, to earn income in any manner you deem appropriate and to work on better search engine optimization. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind, when thinking about launching a free website for your business.

Confusing and Less Professional in Appearance

A website can be built on the WordPress platform and hosted elsewhere. This is often called a ‘self hosted website’. WordPress has become the perfect platform option because it’s easy to use and gives the website owner complete control over changes.

Additionally, hosting your website on a popular platform will make the domain name (or website address) longer because the words ‘blogger’ or ‘wordpress’ automatically appear in the domain name, thus making it much more confusing.

For example, my website domain is www.simple2web.com. If I went with a free website instead of paying for my own web hosting, the website domain would look like this: www.simple2web.wordpress.com or www.simple2web.blogger.com. See how clumsy this second example is? Which one is easier to remember?

Having a short, descriptive and straight to the point domain name will make it easier for people to remember your website, thus increasing brand awareness and direct traffic.

Additionally, having the Blogger or WordPress extension appearing in the domain will decrease the professionalism of the project. Hosting your own website contributes to your business image and corporate identity. A corporate website that is hosted on a free platform will usually decrease credibility.

Design Limitations

Your free website could fail performing in the expected way because of the design limitations. WordPress websites can have an excellent appearance but you will still have a limited number of templates to choose among.

Paying for professional design will result in a personalized appearance that is just right for your niche and for the specific audience that you are interested in attracting. Additionally, your website will be unique rather than resembling dozens of other online projects out there.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Considerations

Search engine optimization (or SEO) is the heart and soul of successful website creation. SEO is a strategy of techniques that improve the positioning of a website among search engine results for a particular keyword of interest.

It may be difficult for a free website to achieve good search engine positioning. If you search for it through a popular search engine like Google, you may be disappointed to find out that it failed appearing among the top results.

The domain name is an important search engine optimization element. The same applies to the design and the manner in which the content is structured. Free designs could be highly limiting in terms of good SEO.

Free websites are a great start for small, hobby-type projects. But if you are a small business owner looking to create an online image, it is important to understand that this option comes with some shortcomings.

The free website will look professional but it will lack originality. There will be limitations in terms of doing SEO. Finally, a free website that is hosted on a major blogging platform will be more difficult to remember by visitors. The short and original domain name is one of the most important elements of online brand establishment.

Simple2Web builds their sites with SEO on every page using multiple SEO strategies to help your site get found! Call 715-456-3976 today to discuss how to improve your search engine rankings!

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you. 715.456.3976

Be it a resume, a website or a printed advertisement, having a structure – an order to things – aids the reader in finding the information they want and understanding the message you’re trying to communicate.

When it comes to images, this call for order is no less important. Is the image a background image? Should it stand out? What size should it be? Where should it be placed? All these details crave order.

An Orderly Website = Easier Reading

Recently, I was developing a non-profit website and my client wanted to list all the steering committee members by putting their pictures on the website. Since the number of members were quite numerous, a simple grid arrangement made sense.

However, the problem became evident when each headshot had a different background and was a different size. Some photos had more of a ‘close up’ look than others. Even when sized the same, the photos still looked very different from each other.

You know those lovely wallet pictures we get for our kids’ school pictures? Those photographers know what they are doing! Each is the same size, same amount of face and trunk shown – ah, such nice order! In business, often people don’t go for a photo shoot. They send you whatever picture they have and they can greatly vary in size and proportion.

How to Make Different Pictures Look Like They Fit Together?

The first step is choose an image that you think fits the size best. In this project, I found that a rectangle with a width of 135 pixels by 175 pixels looked about right (a pixel is a dot on the computer screen and most say there are about 72 dots per inch or 72dpi).
Having this ideal size of 135 x 175 did not match up with my images that I received; those ranged from 200 to 4000 pixels in either dimension. Math to the rescue.

1. Determine the ratio of the image. Ratio = Heigth / Width. This gave me 175/135 = 1.29, which for some reason I called 1.2 good enough.
2. Resize the image so that one of the sizes (135 or 175) fits with some space left over. In other words, for an image that was 2,304 wide by 3,456, when I resized the width to 135 the photo editor showed the height at 203. Then with my image resized to 135 wide x 203 I then cropped the image to be 135 wide x 175. Yes, a bit of the photo is lost, but it now looks the same as the others. I saved the cropped size, and then saved for the web.

Having tools, that give order to the unorderly things in life help make websites more inviting and a joy to view. So next time you find chaos with images for small business or non-profit websites, you might find this article will help you put order into the world once again.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you.  715.456.3976

“Finally, I feel in control of my website.” 

Typical Website Problem

For years they had a website for their dog breeding business but they couldn’t update the site because their web designer was holding their site hostage. The web designer never listened to their ideas, didn’t understand the importance of adding regular content and they never got calls or leads from their site.

Basically, their old website was sitting online, doing nothing but taking up space.

“Now a week doesn’t go by that we don’t get calls or emails”, says Becky.

Happy Client Testimonial

“We contacted Tim from Simple2Web because we were looking for a new website builder that would give us the freedom to update photos ourselves. We got much more!

Before getting started, Tim came out to our house to meet Dan and I and the dogs. He was very interested and accepting of our small, hobby kennel business. He asked good questions that helped him understand what we were all about and what we were looking to gain from our website.

Tim is fun and easy to work with and prompt in his responses to our questions or requests. Tim listens to our ideas yet makes suggestions on how to present the material. Tim talks in plain English and makes all the technical stuff happen for us – which we love!

Best of all is the reasonable price he charges. He is very honest and fair and you always know up front what the charges will be. We would recommend Simple2Web to anyone looking to enhance their sales through a Website. We get many compliments on our Rushwind website and the puppy inquiries have soared!

Thank you, Tim, for all that you have done for us!”  Becky and Dan Olson, Rushwind Labradors and Border Terriers, Beldenville, WI 54003

Finding a web designing company isn’t the hard part; finding someone who will listen to you and has the resources to meet your needs is the place to start.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you.  715.456.3976

If you have a business but still do not have a website, you are robbing yourself of great opportunities. Over time, websites help you increase revenue and company valuation.

Increase Your Revenue and Additional Benefits

There are a few ways a website increases your revenue to your local business. Not only can you sell products, parts, offer your services and give people an opportunity to pay you directly online but a website also:

• Gives you an opportunity to hit new target customers through multiple mediums, such as search engines and social media.
• Helps you find new leads and customers through newsletters and email marketing.
• Makes it an easier way for your current customers to refer their friends to your business.
• Allows you to maintain better relationships with your current customers.
• Shows you visual statistics of what clients like, such as how long they spend on each page, their geographic location and keywords they are using to find your business.
• Gives you the ability to be in business and visible 24/7.

These are just a few instant benefits a website can provide your business but there are many more long term benefits to having a website, one of them being an increase in your company valuation.

A Website Will Increase Your Company Valuation

Many people who are living in the past still say they use the phone book to look things up. However, business owners must keep up with the times. Remember how Kodak did not jump on the digital camera revolution and went out of business? The same can happen to you if you are reluctant to change.

Keep in mind that a website is an investment, it’s an asset, and its value will increase over time. The $1,000 or $2,000 you pay to have it created at the start can bring you more revenue over a 5 year period. Even if it helps you find 5 new clients that pay you $100/month that’s over $1,200 per client every year. For 5 clients, that would be $6,000 per year! Imagine keeping those clients for 3 years and the revenue alone is worth over $18,000!!!!

Many people look at the short run and see the money they are spending now but remember, in the long run a website will help you connect with your clients, build relationships, and generate new leads. Not to mention when you are ready to sell your business, you can ask for a higher price based on the value of your website.

Thank you to Sasha Evdakov! Please visit his site to learn more: www.sashaevdakov.com

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you.  715.456.3976

• Ever wonder what it takes to be found by customers?
• How easy is it to find your website?
• What gives you an edge over your competitors on the web?

Before the internet came along, if a company wanted to get the word out about themselves, they would put an ad in the newspaper or buy a spot in the yellow pages or even put up a big sign by the road. Those methods worked fine because when people wanted to find a barber or seamstress, they looked in the yellow pages or remembered the big sign. That was then…

The bigger your advertisement, the more business you had, right? If you bought a full-page ad in the yellow pages, you expected more new customers than the competitor who just had his name listed.

The savvy businessperson today recognizes it’s a whole different ball game with the internet in play. Now if a person wants to find a barber in their area, they get on the internet and use a search engine like Google, right? They write in something like: “barber in Eau Claire” and up comes a list of names and businesses to choose from.

Sometimes the same business makes the search results list over and over. Chances are a barber will be chosen from the first few they see on the list or the name they see frequently.

If you’re looking to get your website noticed – like a huge one-page ad in the yellow pages – you’ll want to take advantage of a big influence with a simple name: SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is a term for using various methods to increase the intentional traffic to your website. One of the best ways to increase your SEO and get your website noticed is by adding content to your site.

What kind of content? If you think of the example of a yellow page ad, content on a website essentially makes the advertising space bigger.

For instance, a website that only has a name and address has far less content than a site that has pages describing the business, comments from previous customers, or even directions to that business. Every bit of content on your site increases the odds of your site moving to the top of the list when a potential customer is browsing the web.

If content increases traffic and exposure, what are the best methods to add content? What is the best investment for the dollar? The answer is simple: articles. If your website features a series of articles pertaining to your product or service, that content provides exposure.

What might your articles be about? Anything your customers will benefit from learning or something you would like to help them with. For a dog grooming business, there might be articles about keeping pets clean after their bath or how to brush a dog’s teeth. An insurance business may provide articles about the difference between life and term insurance or how to add a teenage driver to the policy without breaking the bank. Possibilities abound!

Articles have other advantages too, least of which is serving your customers with helpful information that adds value or quality to your business. The better the quality of information, the more likely they see you as an expert in your field.

Another benefit is an article’s longevity. Investments in the yellow pages require you keep buying the ad year after year. But if you insert a series of articles into your site, they can last forever! Maybe now and then you update or revise a thing or two but there is always access to those articles – and your site – as long as you have that content there.

We welcome a chance to answer any questions you may have about SEO, content and articles. If you’d like, we could brainstorm article ideas with you or help you write them. Or, we could discuss other ways to help you increase your web exposure, because at Simple2Web, your success is what we’re all about.

Have more questions? Please give us a call at 715.456.3976.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you.  715.456.3976

Goal #1 – Ring the Phone

Simple as this goal is, it is imperative.  All marketing is about connecting with our customers.  A one page website can provide people with your vital contact information as well as your product or service offerings.

Which phone number to put?  If you have both a local and a toll free 800 number, be sure to include your local phone number on your website.  Google and other search engines look for location information to help determine where the site fits so having your local number listed carries a lot of weight when it comes to being found by search engines.

Goal #2 – Display Your Wares

Customers want to buy from other people, not anonymous websites. Luckily, we live in a wonderful, media-rich world of images and video and a website allows you to ‘show’ customers who you are, what it is you do and how well you do it.  Sharing pictures of past work, your business and even your crew makes you real and gives a great edge over the competitors.

Goal #3 – Have a Map to Your Place of Business

Having a ‘Find Us’ page means that with a click of a button, customers can get directions to your physical location.  Today’s iPhone and Droid phones, sometimes called smart phones, mean the customer can tap on the address and the built-in GPS will direct them right to your door.  Customers are willing to venture to new places if they have the security of the GPS to guide them there and back.

Goal #4 – Connect Via Email

Creating an email list of past customers is a very valuable asset. It’s been proven that once a customer has bought from you, they are likely to make a repeat purchase in the future. Staying connected with these repeat customers should be an important focal point in your business.

Email is also a more convenient way for your customers to contact you. No more waiting on hold or being transferred to numerous departments. Instead, they can just ask their question directly.  Having a website and utilizing email means you’ll connect to the medium that everyone online is checking all the time.

Goal #5 – Search Engine Results – Free Advertising!

People don’t ‘go to your site’!  Rather, they do a search and find your site.  

You might not realize that your web page is like your own newspaper, billboard and tv station all in one. The wonderful thing about Google, YouTube, Bing and Yahoo is they always tell what they’ve found.  And that content on your site will be found over and over by search engines and that’s like having free advertising.

Simple2Web is focused to get you on the web, to be found by search engines and to provide the best return on your investment.

Tim Tewalt helps small business, events and non-profits get on the web.
His customers love how he listens to their needs and finds solutions that fit.

This customer, ‘you’ centered approach makes working with Simple2web a joy.
Contact me to see how I can help you.  715.456.3976