It’s not uncommon for a business to come to us and say they want a WordPress website. This is interesting because they aren’t coming to us and saying they want a content managed (CMS) website or a WordPress blog but a WordPress website, which suggests that perhaps they don’t actually know why they want a WordPress website in the first place. First of all, by way of a disclaimer, we have built our own CMS (Content Management System) platform from the ground up, so yes we are biased, however, if you are interested in having a website work for your business rather than work your business around your website, then read on. Also, we built our own CMS for a reason, if WordPress really was the best CMS solution out there, and it’s free, why would we bother? WordPress is essentially a blogging platform, written using open source code, that has thousands of plug-ins to do everything from e-commerce to search engine optimisation. It also has a database sitting behind it so to use it to manage content (i.e. a CMS) is technically, fairly straight forward. Herein however, lies the rub. For WordPress to do anything other than blogging, it needs plug-ins. These plug-ins slow it down and create potential security issues. They also create an admin headache because each and every plug-in is it’s own entity. Even a basic WordPress installation needs at least five plug-ins, this along with regular WordPress updates makes for a bit of an admin headache. Equally, if you ignore all the updates, you risk creating security issues. This is where the potential for your website to stop being an asset to your business and more like a headache becomes very real. Also, you have to work your business around how WordPress or it’s plug-ins work, not how you want to work. For instance, even getting a page laid out exactly how you want it can sometimes be a headache and very frustrating, leading to much wasted time or a poorly formatted web page. There’s also no guarantee that it will work or be displayed consistently across all platforms and devices, what if it doesn’t? Who’s going to fix this for you? If you run a business, you’ve probably got bigger fish to fry, not waste valuable time evaluating WordPress plug-ins. Trying, installing, evaluating and uninstalling plug-ins takes time. Our approach is to listen to you about how your business works, what systems you are using and how you are using them, and also, how your website can make your business work more efficiently and underpin your brand and it’s values. We take this information and build a website, with a content management system that is tailored to how you want to run your business, and if you want to add functionality, you can without having to search for a plug-in that might fit the bill. Now, in the short term this might mean making a slightly bigger investment in your website, but in the long term, you win in every way. So, if someone is trying to sell you a WordPress website because it’s what everyone else uses, perhaps you should question their motives – are they trying to make life easier for you, or themselves? Oh, and finally, don’t think we are anti WordPress, we’re not, in actual fact this blog uses WordPress, because it’s great at that (and that’s also why we haven’t built our own blogging platform).

Web-Feet Hits the Big Screen

With the advent of 4K monitors and TVs, the world now has access to ultra high definition content. For others however, 4K has opened a door to greatly improved productivity. This is especially true for those who rely upon extended screen real estate such as developers. The 4K form factor allows for the equivalent of four full HD (1080P) monitors, that puts most conventional dual screen set-ups to shame. Unfortunately, many PC and monitor manufacturers are yet to adopt this newly found productivity and instead are continuing to produce screens of a more conservative nature, therefore targeting smaller “retina” displays with higher pixel densities. The problem therefore lies with the fact that you cannot comfortably use a 27 inch monitor at ultra HD resolution without scaling.

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Occasionally we lose customers who have decided to have a nice shiny new website built elsewhere. This makes us sad, but also curious, we are a curious bunch. Sometimes this causes us a dilemma because by default we like to give people the best advice we can. A shiny new website isn’t the cure to all your website woes, in fact it might actually be the start of them.

We like to have a look at these shiny new websites, built elsewhere and you’d be surprised how many don’t even have 301 redirects or even basic meta information or page titles in them – at all, nothing, just empty space waiting to be found and punished by Google search bots.

Planning a new website is complicated and takes time to do properly. You will most likely have some good keyword rankings in Google, but do you know which ones? We take time to analyse and plan migrations to preserve all the good stuff that’s built up in Google and then work to improve what’s not.

This takes time but is worth its weight in gold as far as Google search goes. Sadly, we have to charge for this time, good Digital Marketing isn’t free, which is why sometimes customers see a better deal elsewhere. Sadly, this better deal quite often leaves a trail of destruction behind it in Google which might not be apparent for months and then can take many more months to repair, at great expense and potentially greater cost to your business. Another one of life’s false economies. So don’t be fooled, there may be a shiny new website glowing at you from your computer screen but it’s also what’s behind it that you don’t see that is vitally important. That’s why an agency that takes the time to plan properly and manage this transition is vitally important. If your new agency or designer isn’t talking about this (sometimes boring) stuff then don’t be fooled by the great design, it’s not going to be all it’s cracked up to be once Google comes a crawling.