Blog - Page 15 of 16 - R Creative - Digital marketing tips and tricks

How to Secure Your WordPress Website

Security is a hot topic in tech and WordPress is no exception. It seems that no one is safe from the risk of being hacked. Governments, banks, retailers, bloggers, and virtually everyone else has reported being hacked at some point. And these are just the successful hacks we are aware of. Perhaps you have already experienced the frustration of being a hacking victim. Most Americans have had payment info stolen or their email or social media accounts hacked. Don't let your WordPress site be next. Most hackers leverage simple and easily patchable vulnerabilities to hack into your site. Here are some simple ways you can make your WordPress website more secure today. Update Security patches are one of the primary reasons for updating software. Keeping your WordPress install and plugins up to date is one of the easiest ways to keep your website secure. By default WordPress automatically installs minor security updates. However, major updates are not installed automatically. You should be regularly checking your website and installing available WordPress and plugin updates. If you are letting those updates pile up you are probably missing some essential security patches. Let the developers behind this software keep you secure - install their updates. Use Strong Usernames and Passcodes Weak login credentials are to blame for most hacks. According to one study conducted by Verizon in 2016, “63% of confirmed data breaches involved leveraging weak, stolen or default passwords.” There are three ways to make your WordPress login more secure: 1) Use a Unique Username That is, don't use "admin". Many WordPress beginners install their site with "admin" as the admin's username. Hackers can leverage this to hack into your site because…

Should I hire a web-developer? (And how much should I pay?)

This post is part one of a series on hiring a web-developer. Read part two, the Guide to Estimating Your Web-Development Costs, here. [button id="c54861b7a5309c95ee6d9d602379f687" text="Read part 2 here" url="https://www.rystedtcreative.com/tech-talks/guide-estimating-web-development-cost/" target="_blank" alignment="center" alignment_mobile="default" image="" icon="ti-book" icon_alignment="left" style="1" size="medium" radius="0" border_size="2" shadow="simple" full="false" tale="none" margin="0px 0px 15px 0px" text_color="#ffffff" text_hover_color="" background_color="#1f78e6" background_hover_color="#6ba2e5" border_color="" border_hover_color="" animation="none" animation_speed="2" animation_delay="0" _fw_coder="aggressive" __fw_editor_shortcodes_id="29e04c67583cc78b1272d1b8436e36a0"][/button]You're considering hiring a web-developer because you either want to launch a website or update your existing one. After determining what you want developed, updated, or fixed you must figure out how you will accomplish this and who will do the work. So, should you hire a web-developer? Let's consider the factors. Time, Knowledge, and Money Like any service, whether or not you need a web-developer is determined by a few factors. If you have plenty of time; knowledge of web-development, hosting, and search engine optimization; and some money you can do the work yourself. If you lack one or two of these factors you may need to hire someone. For example: You may have called a plumber after your pipes burst because you did not have the knowledge to fix the damage yourself. Or perhaps you merely lacked the time to get the work done. Either way, a knowledgable, skilled, and trustworthy plumber was part of the solution. If you had the knowledge, time, and money to do it yourself you would have. Whether or not to hire a web-developer is no different. Where your gap is in the Time, Knowledge, and Money Equation will determine whether or not hiring a web-developer is the right choice for you. I have time and knowledge but not much money If you have time on your…

How to Monetize Your Blog: Building Your Subscriber List

Recently we talked about monetizing your blog without driving your readers crazy. We discussed some of the more annoying ways to make money blogging, including through pushing ads and promoting affiliate programs. [button id="4fd9b4f4b32921647383bf92ba393ba3" text="Read part 1 here" url="https://www.rystedtcreative.com/copywriting/monetize-blog-without-driving-readers-crazy/" target="_self" alignment="center" alignment_mobile="default" image="" icon="ti-book" icon_alignment="left" style="1" size="large" radius="0" border_size="2" shadow="simple" full="false" tale="none" margin="0px 0px 15px 0px" text_color="#ffffff" text_hover_color="" background_color="rgba(31,120,230,1)" background_hover_color="rgba(31,78,136,1)" border_color="rgba(152,255,161,1)" border_hover_color="rgba(120,246,131,1)" animation="none" animation_speed="2" animation_delay="0" __fw_editor_shortcodes_id="1cd8293c16122c55834fefd72712dc03" _fw_coder="aggressive"][/button]If you want to make money blogging, you probably want to steer clear of these money making methods - at least to a degree. At the right time and under the right circumstances, an affiliate program, for example, might make a lot of sense for a blogger. But for the most part, we recommend choosing other money making methods if you’re serious about turning your blog into a lucrative income stream (even if it’s just to supplement your coffee addiction). Cashing in on Your Unique Products Again, as we mentioned previously, offering products to your digital audience is a reliable way to earn a sustainable blog income - even while you sleep. But getting to the point where you’re ready to cash in on the buying potential of your audience takes far longer than it does to get through Google’s AdSense screenings and so forth. The foundation of your blog’s marketplace is your subscriber list. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this post. Why should you build a subscriber list? How does social media factor into the equation? What should you expect from your subscribers? Most importantly: what should you deliver to your subscribers? Let’s get started. Unpacking the Basics of a Subscriber List You’re probably familiar with the concept of…

Rocket Active Gear

"Joshua at Rystedt Creative was beyond helpful when we ran into technical issues with our website. His extensive Wordpress and Woocommerce knowledge helped to answer all of our web development questions. He was always available with a friendly demeanor and ready to talk us through our questions and what needed to be edited or changed on the website, and even showed us via screen-share the exact steps necessary. We greatly enjoyed working with Joshua and would recommend him to anyone!" - Mallory Olson, Rocket Active Gear and Elk Creek Designs Rystedt Creative recently assisted with the launch of rocketactivegear.com. Rocket Active Gear sells active gear such as camping, cycling, and hiking products through their WordPress powered store. Like Rystedt Creative, Rocket Active Gear is based in Maryland. Upon running into some roadblocks that they were unable to solve or were spending too much time attempting to puzzle out Rocket Active Gear asked Rystedt Creative to assist them in launching the site. Part of our time was spent researching possible causes of problems they were experiencing, providing recommendations for possible solutions, and demoing those solutions. We also assisted Rocket Active Gear by... Building a custom product category navigation menu The theme powered product category navigation they were attempting to use was not compatible with some of the other software powering the site and caused numerous bugs that complicated the navigation of the site. We disabled the offending navigation software, built a category navigation menu, implemented it, and thoroughly tested it. Now Rocket Active Gear is easy to navigate. Installing recommended solution to bundle a free gift with a customer's purchase Rocket Active Gear wanted an option to offer a free downloadable…

Why Your Website Needs a Blog

Your website needs a blog. Yes, yours. Whether you are painting houses, equipping non-profits, or selling herbal remedies for cats, a blog will demonstrate your authority in your field, increase traffic to your website, and increase lead conversions and sales. Ideally your phone is ringing off the hook with potential clients who were recommended to you and you have more work than you can handle. If this isn't the case for you then your organization needs a robust inbound marketing strategy. Inbound marketing is the creation of content that brings potential customers to you rather than requiring your marketers to always go to them. Most successful businesses generate sales through a combination of referrals, inbound marketing, and cold contacts. Inbound marketing has a higher return on investment than cold contacts and consequently is one of the most effective marketing strategies. At the top of the inbound marketing list of methods is leveraging blog content. According to HubSpot's State of Inbound 2017 report, 53% of marketers consider blog content creation as their top inbound marketing priority. Marketers are pushing blog content creation because it works and it will work for you if implement it well. Whatever it is you do you have blog potential. Some organizations think that what they do doesn't lend itself to a blog. Yet potential customers want to know about you, what you do, and how to improve their lives. If you sell feline herbal remedies, for example, write about how to cure common illnesses, how to improve your cat's activity level, how to encourage healthy mental development, debunk common myths about herbal remedies, give behind the scenes looks at your company, etc. Get creative and get…

Teaching Very Young Children Programming Skills

Basic programming and logic skills are no longer a niche skillset. Most people who learn basic computer logic skills can put those skills to use in everyday circumstances. With basic programming and logic skills Microsoft Excel functions seem less like spreadsheet wizardry, troubleshooting your home machine becomes less aggravating, and tweaking some of the HTML for your blog isn't nearly so intimidating. Programming and logic skillsets also help develop organizational and problem solving skills. Yet most educational systems still aren't teaching such concepts to students. So we are starting to teach the concepts to our children early. There are some things we can begin teaching even our 2 year old daughter that will be invaluable later. Yet we don't want her glued to a screen. Her parents are on their computers most of the day - she doesn't need to be yet. So we are using books and toys to teach some simple concepts early without the use of actual computers. Logic skills and technical terms don't require a computer to teach. Logical Problem Solving For Christmas 2016 we bought our daughter the Fisher-Price Code-a-pillar. She was scared of it at first but has since come around to this adorable caterpillar with flashing lights. This toy has different segments each with its own color and command - such as "turn right" or "stop and sing a song". Each segment connects to the rest of the toy caterpillar through a USB port. Our children can rearrange the caterpillar's segments to make it do different things and navigate around different rooms and obstacles. The Code-a-pillar is about as simple as a programming toy can get. It doesn't teach if-then-else type logic but…

How to Monetize Your Blog Without Driving Your Readers Crazy

Many people are drawn to blogging and boosting their online presence by the allure of earning an extra bit of cash - or even a viable living - from their website. While blogging is definitely a great foray into online money making, it can be more than a little frustrating to learn exactly how the money is made. A good number of bloggers make some kind of money from their online activity. But only a handful of bloggers make anything near what they’d like to make from their blogging venture. And often, it takes a long time to get to the point of profitability. So how do Bloggers Make Money? There are many ways to turn your blog into a stream of revenue, including: Affiliate Programs - you sign up for a program with a vendor that you frequent and get a cut of the cash when someone makes a purchase from that site through your link Sponsorships - a company that aligns with your blog’s purpose sponsors a blog post, usually in the form of sending you a complimentary product in return for a themed post featuring that product Ads - companies pay to rent a portion of your blog’s space in order to display their own ad information If you’re a blogger, you’re probably familiar with one or all of these methods of deriving income from the blogging platform. If you’re anyone who reads anything on a webpage on the internet, then you’re almost certainly familiar with these income generators - and you probably hate them. I personally hate ads so much that I have two ad blockers installed in my browser and find “adwalls” (companies that refuse…

What is SEO? (And Why Should You Care?)

SEO is a hot buzzword when it comes to online business and advertising. But what is SEO exactly? And why does it matter? In short, SEO - or search engine optimization, as the term is properly named - is: “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.” This is still a fairly broad concept, with nearly endless interpretations. And indeed, many people do interpret SEO in very different ways. The problem with open interpretation of SEO is that it’s simply not a factor that’s open to individual interpretation. Not yours. Not that of your web developer. Not that of your college web marketing professor. Sure, each of these people might have some right information regarding SEO. But most people haven’t the foggiest idea what they’re talking about. If you’re a blogger and are a little clueless about SEO, that’s alright. But if you’re a web developer who’s “proficient in the latest web technologies and SEO”, then you’d better darn well know the right way to interpret - and implement - SEO. This post examines some of the specifics of SEO and how making slight tweaks to your website can drastically improve your site’s rankings and save you from making rookie mistakes that damage your search engine performance. Reaching Customers Through SEO While SEO may seem like a somewhat obscure topic - after all, who can really understand what a search engine “thinks”? - it’s critically important for the main thing your website exists for: reaching new customers. Think about your last few Google searches. Were you looking for a…

Relaunching the Raising Rystedts Blog

In addition to creating modern and effective online content for our clients we have been busy refreshing our own online properties. The Raising Rystedts blog is a family blog published by our Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Gabrielle. It is also our oldest active online property... and it was in need of a refresh. The old site had expensive hosting, an inflexible content management system (CMS), poor search engine optimization (SEO) and limited extensibility due to the host's requirements. It was time to make a change. While launching the Rystedt Creative website and designing client projects we began work on re-designing Raising Rystedts. Like most organizations we wanted the least amount of downtime possible so we developed the new site locally while we left the old site online. We mimicked the original site's atmosphere while rethinking the user interface (UI). The old UI felt too constricted on PCs, the multiple blogs were not unified and the UI had no interactive feel. When designing the new website we resolved each of these issues in turn. We modified an existing design to feel more spacious on desktops and read more like a magazine, unified all the old blogs as one blog with multiple category pages and added image and link effects that breathed new life into a simple blog. The development of the site was accomplished using a customized WordPress powered install with our firm's preferences. We installed our preferred plugins and edited necessary PHP and CSS files. Finally we began copying content from the old site. In most website relaunches porting old content is one of the most time consuming aspects but it is worth the investment. If done right all of…

Secret Recipes and Recipes for Success

Have you ever had a Coke? If you’re a typical American, your answer probably ranges from something like “yes, of course” to “duh… this goes without saying”. Not only is Coke a popular brand to American tastes and diet, but it’s a worldwide staple beverage. Coke’s in every developed country; in the bodegas, restaurants and cafes that litter the map. It’s also readily available in poorer and developing countries. When we were on a trip to Peru a few years back, we found Coke in the tiny shops of an isolated mountain village you’d be hard pressed to even find on a map of the country. For perspective, we were among the first “gringos” (that’s what they called us) that many in the community had ever seen. But they had ready access to one of our top nationally exported brands. As a business geek, this amazed and baffled me. How could Coke’s branding and distribution be that good? How did trucks even manage to bring cases of Coke to this - and more than likely, other - far flung village of South America and keep the shelves regularly stocked? The roads were hardly even paved... Why do we buy Coke? What does Coke do for us that other beverages simply cannot? Why choose a Coke instead of a water? Coffee? Yerba mate? Personally, I like the occasional Coke when I’m eating something spicy like buffalo wings. I’m not a big soda fan, but I’ll make an exception for classic Coke (NOT cola) or Dr. Pepper. For me, Coke is nostalgic. I remember my first Coke. I was probably four or five and my mom woke my brother and I up…

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