Transforming Businesses into Extraordinary Brands
In the creative agency and web hosting spaces, partnerships are vital to business growth. The right strategic alliances can take your business from zero to sixty in no time by helping you acquire new clients, extend your reach, drive revenue, and build a network where referrals can flow between your agency and your web hosting partner.
Here are five critical things to share with a web hosting company while exploring the option to become a valued agency partner:
The conversion process on every website, especially online stores, must be as easy as possible. Moving a prospective customer from the awareness stage, to the consideration stage, to the final decision stage should be simple, straightforward, and completely obvious.
Friction happens when something on your website slows down or stops the progression of a prospective buyer from moving through your sales funnel. Identifying points of friction in your sales process and addressing them can help increase sales from your existing traffic dramatically.
There are 7 fundamental ways to reduce friction on your website and increase conversions:
The silent saboteur of website conversion rates is bad website design or a pretty design that’s all fluff and no strategy, smarts, or structure.
Your website is the central hub for your brand online, the primary vehicle for interaction with your audience, and destination where conversions are taking place. No matter what type of conversion you are seeking — sign up, subscribe, click, register, enroll, buy, join, hire, watch, etc. — the website design must support the sales process, make the content easy to engage with, and naturally guide visitors through the website and ultimately to take action.
There are five primary opportunities to simplify your website design and increase conversions:
As a site owner, you put a lot of effort into driving traffic to your website. You write blog posts and invest time and effort into organic SEO and social media marketing. You publish an email newsletter, send email blasts, and leverage email automations and follow up campaigns. You’re a guest on podcasts, you guest blog on other popular websites, you host webinars, and you even invest in paid traffic like Google AdWords, Facebook ads, and Instagram ads.
After all of that work, the very worst thing that could happen when someone visits your website is that they leave without taking a single action. Once a person reaches your website, your job is to get them the information they need quickly and easily, persuade them to stay on the site longer, and then get them to take action.
There are five core ways to easily provoke action on your website and increase conversions:
Once a visitor reaches your website, your job is to keep them on the site as long as possible, help them progress in their buyer journey, and encourage them to take action. Content that is optimized for conversion delivers value, builds trust, and gets visitors to take action faster.
When evaluating your website content, there are six main opportunities where you can make small changes that result in big increases in conversions.
The more risk a consumer believes there to be, the less like they are to make a purchase. When asking a visitor to take action, it is your job to minimize or eliminate all perceived risks so they can take action with confidence, be comfortable with their purchase, and feel like they made the right choice.
Mitigating risk is about more than just moving your site from HTTP to HTTPS. In fact, there are 8 key areas you can focus on to mitigate risk and improve website conversions:
Earlier this year, I was invited to speak at the ninth International Food Blogger Conference on What Bloggers Need To Know About SEO. Speaking and training is one of my favorite things to do, and the conference was happening at the Sacramento Convention Center near my home, so saying yes was a no brainer.
Plus, in April 2016, I started my own personal blog Inspired Imperfection, where I share recipes, family adventures, and candid commentary on life, so this event was also going to be an awesome opportunity to meet other local bloggers! While I travel to business events and conference after, the International Food Blogger Conference was actually my first blogging-specific conference.
The two-day food blogging conference ran Friday and Saturday with back-to-back sessions and add-on events happening the Thursday before the event and the Sunday after. Sessions were delivered by a mix of individual expert speakers, moderated panel discussions, and sponsored sessions.
When anyone thinks of creating a new website, writing website content, or interacting on an existing website to improve user experience, the onsite customer journey, or conversions, they almost always begin with the key services, products and sales pages. They then look at the checkout pages for online purchases, the home page, testimonials or reviews, the about page, maybe an FAQ or support page. They even look at the blog. Rarely does any website owner prioritize the website contact page.
When it comes to the contact page of a website, most people barely give it any thought.
Even some of the most beautiful, well-designed websites in the world have ho-hum contact pages. A basic contact form is added to the page, the page is checked off a list of website to-dos, and focus is given to something that matters more. Or worse, the website contact page is viewed as a necessary evil and is created to be more of a barrier than an invitation.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”
I’ve been lucky enough, at industry events and at CaboPress, to spend some quality time with the talented folks over at LifterLMS. Not only do have they created a great product, the LifterLMS WordPress Plugin, they are also really good people. So when Chris Badgett reached out about being a guest on their podcast, LMScast, to talk about branding, of course I said yes!
In this podcast episode, Chris and I talk about branding as it relates to creating an online course.
For those of us who work with WordPress daily, concepts like the difference between WordPress pages and posts seem obvious, but then I go to a networking event, blogging event, or conference, and I am reminded that what we as professionals see as obvious is often seen as complex and confusing to new users. This is especially true with WordPress posts and pages — and when custom post types are thrown in the mix, it gets even more confusing.
Just a couple weeks ago, a new client was asking new to explain the difference between WordPress pages and posts. I grinned, told them that I had already written an entire blog post on this very topic, and went to grab the link and email it to them. But I couldn’t find it. Had I really never clicked publish on this post? Did it get buried under newer posts and forgotten about? Yep. It sure did. So needless to say, I’m publishing it now and hoping it sheds some light on this topic for you too!
While brands and businesses are all but racing to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat and Instagram, they still are only reaching a small amount of the market. The irresistible email opt-in offer can change that.
The cornerstone of any successful business, online or offline, is its coveted marketing list — the list of customers, clients, prospects and other interested folks who have given you permission to market to them.
Email lists are critical to the success of your business because while not everyone uses social media (it’s crazy, but true), everyone has an email address.
Today, a website is a fundamental requirement for every business. The process of planning, designing, and building a website is a critical step in establishing and launching a brand, yet website building is often fraught with problems caused by common misconceptions, misinformation, dangerous shortcuts, and poor guidance.
While no one thinks it will ever happen to them, even the most careful and savvy business owners fall victim to potential threats that sabotage their website’s success from day one.
Luckily, with the right mindset about your small business website, the right approach to creating your site, and the right website strategy to gain conversions, you can create a powerful website that works when you’re not working.
When you’re beginning to think about building a new website, the first step is getting in the right frame of mind so you avoid these three common website fallacies:
At Bourn Creative, we have been building websites since 2005, and working solely with WordPress as our platform of choice since 2008. Over the years, we have said the same thing to every client we work with: WordPress security starts with you.
I can’t emphasize enough how important this idea is when it comes to caring for and maintaining your WordPress website.
Many website owners think that all of the work to build their WordPress website happens up front, but in reality, the design, development and creation of a WordPress site is just the first step. When you launch a new WordPress site, you become a website owner, and as a website owner, it is your responsibility to take care of it, to care for it, and to keep it safe and healthy.
Owning any website, not just a WordPress website, requires ongoing maintenance. Your WordPress website is powered by the WordPress software, and all software — like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Apple iTunes, and all of the Apps on your phone — has ongoing updates that you must manage.
Ignoring software updates can cause a bevy of problems:
The good news is that you don’t have to be a tech-wizard to keep your WordPress site secure. Even if you’re non-technical, you can take steps to improve WordPress security. Here’s how.
WordCamp Minneapolis, happening May 21-22, 2016 at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, is focused around the idea of intention and that our best work is always done when we have a sense of the greater purpose behind it.
With this theme in mind, many of the sessions will explore the reasons why we do things — whether that’s in development, design, content, teaching, learning, or strategy.
Bourn Creative’s own Jennifer Bourn will be speaking at WordCamp Minneapolis about The Path to Conversion, specifically on designing WordPress themes with intention so they support the clients’ goals, position them in the marketplace, help tell their brand story, and naturally guide visitors to take the desired action.
Most discussions and talks on WordPress theming are focused on development, but to write the code for and develop a WordPress theme, you first need design.
Web design plays a critical role in setting the tone of a website, focusing visitors’ attention, and guiding them through the site to a conversion with as little friction as possible. It also is responsible for shaping brand perception, audience emotion, and telling a story that not only produces results but resonates with clients and customers.
Bourn Creative is excited to announce that managing partner, Brian Bourn will be speaking at WordCamp San Diego 2016. He joins a stellar line up of 2016 Plugin Track Speakers, delivering a talk on Custom Data Management Made Easier — An Intro To Custom Fields.
Custom fields and custom meta boxes can empower site managers to easily create complex page layouts only possible with extensive HTML markup, without writing a single line of a code. As a designer or developer, custom fields and meta boxes not only empower clients to create these layouts and manage extra site data, but also give you the power to control the markup ensuring proper, semantic HTML, and prevent support issues for “broken” layouts resulting from HTML errors.
In this talk Brian will cover:
The Sacramento WordPress Meetup kicked off 2016 with a fabulous new venue — The Urban Hive — and an event with 40+ guests attending, even on a super wet and rainy weekday night. Big thanks go out to everyone who made to out to the event!
The next Sacramento WordPress meetup is happening at 6:30pm on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at The Urban Hive. All 2016 events will be at this new venue, which also provides a hot coffee and tea bar for your enjoyment.
The topic, presented by Jennifer Bourn is Visual Storytelling Through WordPress Theme Design
Most discussions and talks on WordPress theming are focused on development, but to write the code for and develop a WordPress theme, you first need design. And, while the design of a WordPress theme plays a supporting role to the content, it is critical in setting the tone for the feeling of a website, focusing visitors’ attention, guiding them through the site to a conversion, and providing flexibility for future site enhancements and expansion.
In this talk we’ll cover:
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
The last time I wrote about the struggle designers and developers face with their portfolios, I wrote about the notion that the shoemaker’s kids never have shoes — and like the shoemaker, client projects always come first, and our own work often gets pushed off.
When we launched the current rebrand and redesign of Bourn Creative in October 2014, we had every intention of continuing to work on our portfolio, writing longer, case study style project descriptions, creating better imagery, and keeping it more current. But in October 2015, we realized that even though we had worked on some awesome projects with some of our favorite clients to date, it had now been a year and not a single new project was added to our portfolio.
Around the same time, we were neck deep in the fall rush of client projects and trying to squeeze in development time for my new personal blog. It was too much to fit into a sane work schedule, so Brian stopped development on my personal site and made a deal: Overhaul our old portfolio, add the new projects we want to feature, and write case studies for each one. When the portfolio was complete, he’d finish my site and give me access.
I was on a mission but it was slow going. Client work again came first, Soccer ate up our Saturdays, we co-hosted the inaugural WordCamp Sacramento (and I was in charge of all design, marketing, and communications), and we took family vacations at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Needless to say, it took longer than I had hoped, but today I finished.
I’m done done with the update of our portfolio and I’d love to share some of our favorite projects from 2015 with you. And, if you’re interested in reading the case studies and project descriptions for the projects, please check out our portfolio — I’m pretty proud of it!
From the initial logo design and site development, to the content planning and blogging, the social media, email communication, the signage, name badge, and program design, and taking care of other event details and errands, for months, Brian and I have been neck-deep in WordCamp planning.
Now that WordCamp Sacramento is a wrap, we’re elated to call the event a tremendous success.
Driving out to the event Saturday morning, I was nervous and excited, and just hoped we’d have a smooth event — and that people would actually show up. We got registration setup, the signage up, and volunteers began to arrive. It was all coming together and it was do or die time. My stomach was doing some serious flip flops.
As people began to arrive and mill around the Happiness Room with coffee, snacks, and waters, they began chatting up the sponsors and grabbing a seat in the track rooms, and it got real really fast. WordCamp Sacramento was actually happening. It’s something we have been talking about for years, and finally it was here, people were here — and it felt really good.
Eleven Days. That’s It. There are only eleven more days until WordCamp Sacramento 2015.
I can hardly believe it.
We’ve been working with WordPress for seven years, and we’ve been attending WordCamps since 2011. We’re frequent WordCampers, traveling to WordCamps across the west coast as they fit into our schedule. We love them, love the WordPress community, and are always happy to see our friends and meet new WordPressers at the events.
For years, we have been talking about bringing WordCamp to Sacramento among ourselves and with others involved with the WordPress Meetup in Sacramento. Almost a year ago, I started calling locations, trying to secure a venue, and it’s thrilling to finally see it coming to fruition, to be part of the organizing team, and to have Bourn Creative as a sponsor.
WordCamp Sacramento wouldn’t be happening without the volunteer organizing team.
As WordPress enthusiasts, co-organizers of the Sacramento WordPress meetup, and agency owners, Brian and I are proud to be organizers of the inaugural Sacramento WordCamp, alongside Bill Mead, Heather Hogan, Jake Goldman, Joe Boydston, and students Jen Meyer, and Emily Buonauro.
It’s hard to believe… the time has simply flown by.
This July, Bourn Creative will have been offering online business consulting, brand design, brand strategy, graphic design, website strategy, and web design in Sacramento for ten years; delivering custom WordPress web design and platform development to businesses around the world for six years; and co-organizing the Sacramento WordPress Meetup group for two-and-a-half years.
In November Google started warning website owners about the importance of sites being mobile-friendly. We saw this example in mobile search results with the label “mobile-friendly” added to search engines results page listings.
Then in February they made it official, stating that as of April 21, 2015 (TODAY), a new algorithm change will go into effect, meaning that whether a site is mobile-friendly or not will affect on your mobile search rankings.
Back in March I wrote a post on our blog — Google Drew A Line In The Sand: Your Site Better Be Responsive (Mobile-Friendly) — that details the announcements, shows you examples and screenshots, and provides more details about responsive design and mobile-friendly site design.
Marketers and less experienced web designers and developers have been putting the fear of Google into website owners over the last 4-6 weeks, with scary warnings and threats… and some serious misinformation. What makes my stomach turn though, is those who are cheering for the change solely because it’s a way to scare/persuade past clients to hire them again to redesign their site and rework the code.
Let’s look at the reality of this algorithm change and what it means for you.
On March 28-29, Brian and I attended Word Camp San Diego 2015, held at the Hall of Champions in gorgeous Balboa Park. With about 250 attendees, the two-day event drew people from across the US and beyond, and featured: a speaker/sponsor dinner on Friday night, learning sessions, lunch, and an after-party on Saturday, learning sessions on Sunday, and loads of snacks and drinks all day. Plus, there was a lot of swag, including t-shirts, beach balls, frisbees, and water bottles.
Saturday was broken down into four tracks — Beginner, Admin (site owner), Designer, and Developer — each with seven sessions and one panel. Brian spoke in the Design Track, delivering a talk titled Child Themes and The Genesis Framework.
Sunday featured two hands-on, progressive bootcamps — one on theme development and one on plugin development — as well as two business tracks, with one focused on services and one focused on products. I spoke in the Service Business Track, delivering a talk titled Pricing The Unknown: Dealing With Uncertainty.
Below is a complete recap of my Word Camp San Diego presentation, including all of my slides and some extra thoughts on the topic.
