How to Build Your Own WordPress Blog for Your Business

With all of the focus on social media these days, some people believe blogs have become obsolete. Quite the opposite — blogs were one of the very first forms of social media, and they’re still essential to communication and effective internet marketing. Blogging is a great way of posting announcements, articles, how-tos, and so many more things that can help your business and provide your customers with important and useful information. Fortunately, blogging today has never been easier thanks to WordPress, a content management system (CMS). WordPress is designed to be quick and easy, although it also has many advanced features you can make use of once you’re familiar with the basics. This guide will walk you through the steps needed to create your own WordPress blog.

What Do You Need?

To start your WordPress blog, you’ll need two things:

• A domain name
• A web hosting account

Setting up a new WordPress blog can be done in an hour or two, depending on how computer-savvy you are. Nothing is too complicated.

Setting Up Your Blog

WordPress comes in two different forms, free and premium. It’s recommended that you try the free version first just to get your feet wet and to decide if WordPress is the right CMS for you. The free version does have a wide variety of different themes and plugins, so you’re not really losing any functionality at all.

If you haven’t registered your domain name, you’ll need to do that first. Domain names can be registered for as little as $15 a year, so this isn’t something you need a large budget for.

Next, you need to purchase a web hosting account if you don’t have your own server. Some new businesses do not, while other established companies do. This tutorial provides instructions for installing WordPress on a host server, not your own. Basic web hosting is a low cost item, although hosting with more storage and other advanced features will be more expensive. You can often save money by paying for several months or a years’ worth of hosting at once.

Install WordPress

Many web hosts already have WordPress prepared for installation. You just need to log into your hosting service and click on the install button. If your host doesn’t, you can go to the C-Panel hosting site and quickly install it. You don’t have to select a theme or layout at this point, though you might be prompted to. Once WordPress is installed, you’ll be provided with the basic admin login and password. You can then log in and view the WordPress dashboard.

Selecting Your Theme

Now you’re ready to select a theme, which is your blog’s visual appearance and layout. Your blog will originally be set to the default theme. There are thousands of free themes available online as well as some premium themes out there. Some of these themes are designed for specific industries or focus on certain things, so you’ll want to find one that fits your business.

To install new themes, go to the theme menu and click “add new.” Choose the theme you want, install it, and activate it. You can customize most themes in a number of ways.

Publish a Post

If you click “add new” under posts, you’ll go to the text editor. Here, you can type up your first post, format it, add media, and then click on “Publish.” That’s it — you’ve published your first blog!

Plugins

Plugins allow you to add new features, change existing elements, create an online shop, and much more. There are thousands of plugins out there for free. A quick online search can help you find the best plugins for your blog.

Design Tips

Here are a few things to keep in mind when working on the design of your blog:

• Your theme should fit your niche.
• Premium themes can cost as much as $200, but they can be much more customizable than free themes.
• Free themes can be great, but remember, many other blogs out there may be using the very same theme. You might not look as unique as you want to.
• Two great WordPress theme sites are colorlib and codexcoder.
• Make sure you have your company logo on your blog, preferably on the header so that it appears on every page.
• Make your design user-friendly. The look of your blog shouldn’t be so cluttered or overwhelming that the visitor can’t easily read your posts.
• Remember, you can change your blog’s theme whenever you want!

If you would like to speak to a Net-Craft.com representative to learn how we can help you start blogging and reaching new customers please contact-us today for a free estimate.

Content Source How to Build Your Own WordPress Blog for Your Business

Essential SEO Recommendations for Startups

It is essential for a startup to create and maintain an active SEO campaign to drawn in more visitors and develop a loyal following. SEO is an ever-changing process that requires a long-term strategy to bring your startup high-quality visitors, so below we will discuss a few SEO recommendations that are essential for building your brand and increasing your name recognition.

1. Focus On High-Quality Content

The days of overly-optimized content are over. Search engines favor well-written, natural language with descriptive keywords which help readers find relevant content. A high-quality content campaign is created by writing authoritative content that resonates with your target market and a) helps them understand your product or service or b) educates your customer with valuable information that is unique to your startup.

2. Become an Authority

Part of your content marketing strategy should be becoming an authority in your niche. If you are a welder, for example, you would want to create content that shows your readers that you know what you are talking about. In doing so, you connect with your target audience and keep them coming back to your blog time and again for more information.

3. Go Mobile

Last year, Google enforced what is now being called “Mobilegeddon” with an algorithm change. That updated resulted in many search engine changes for numerous sites. The goal of the algorithm change was to penalize sites that are not considered “mobile-friendly” and elevate those sites that were in the search engines. This is one example of how mobile usability has become a high priority in SEO, and startups can benefit from this knowledge by ensuring their sites are mobile-friendly.

4. Leverage Interactive Content

The boring articles of yesteryear are now a thing of the past. With the advent of interactive content, SEO has become more complex and interesting. Startups can benefit from adding interactive content to their site and optimizing those interactive elements. Here are some examples of interactive content you can add to your site:

• Optimized HD Videos (YouTube, Vimeo)
• Infographics
• Short Animated Videos
• List Articles with GIFs (Buzzfeed)

Startups can take advantage of new, rich content types and focus on creating quality information that your target market will return to time and again. By doing so, you can build a loyal audience and simultaneously increase revenues and conversions on your site.

If you would like to learn more about the Scottsdale SEO services we offer, please contact Net-Craft.com today.

Content Source Essential SEO Recommendations for Startups

Understanding the Process Behind the Numbers and Why SEO is a Great Deal

Businesses, at least the successful ones, understand the importance of developing and maintaining a strong presence on the Internet. Most of them opt to utilize an independent third party search engine optimization (“SEO”) firm to get this done. While they know that they must write a check each month to cover the SEO bill, many businesses don’t quite understand how it is that the bill becomes what it is. If this describes your situation, here is more information why your SEO provider charges what it does, and what goes into arriving at that number.

SEO Is More Complicated Than It Used To Be

A major factor in SEO costs is what an SEO firm has to do in order to keep your business on the front page of search results. At one point in time there were numerous shortcuts that an SEO firm could take advantage of to get ranking results.

Unfortunately, search engines have become much more sophisticated as time has passed. Search engines seek to bring in those results that will be most helpful to users. This means they work hard to identify and eliminate shortcuts in order to be sure they are providing truly helpful results. While these efforts are great for users, they make the job of an SEO firm much more challenging than it was at one time.

Today, SEO firms have a number of added areas they must address that have not traditionally been a necessary part of SEO. These areas include, but certainly are not limited to:

• Finding ways to make your website run faster and more efficiently
• Improving the experience of users who actually visit your site, as opposed to focusing on getting users to the site without considering what happens afterwards
• Researching the content that is posted on your site
• Creating text and video content to be uploaded to your site
• Finding ways to add links to your site — the more places that link to you, the more relevant search engines will consider you to be
• Engaging in marketing of various content pieces for your site

These responsibilities used to fall upon the shoulders of the website owner — if they were done at all. All SEO firms had to do was get people to the site, while it was the responsibility of the site owner to make the user experience useful. Now — because at one time search engines did not give as much weight to user experience as they do today — these activities are the province of the SEO firms.

SEO Is A Bargain Compared To The Cost Of Advertising With Other Media

If you consider the cost of advertising on radio or television, engaging in an aggressive SEO campaign just makes sense. A basic radio ad in a 250,000-member listening area starts at around $5,000 per month. An SEO campaign, on the other hand, is continuously garnering views — as opposed to a radio ad that is only played for 15-60 seconds at a time. Yet, in spite of this, a good SEO campaign is still less than the entry-level radio ad for a comparable sized audience.

Using An SEO Company Is More Efficient Than Going In-House

If you were to hire an employee to conduct your Scottsdale SEO campaign in the same manner as your Phoenix SEO company, you would have to pay him or her around $65,000 per year. That comes out to almost $5,500 per month.

In addition, you would have to pay employer withholding taxes, Medicare taxes, and other assorted costs, taking your expenditure up to nearly $6,500 per month. Then you would have to provide vacation, insurance, and other benefits, on top of paying him or her for the time it takes to learn how to adequately engage in the SEO strategies your SEO company already knows about. Viewed in this light, a monthly SEO bill of $2,500 is an absolute steal, and you don’t have to deal with the headache of managing another employee.

SEO Has A Higher Return On Investment Than Radio, Television, Or Direct Mailing

The return on investment (“ROI”) of an advertising campaign is what it’s all about. This number tells you how much money you can expect to bring in for every dollar you spend. Among all forms of advertising, no other form even comes close to the ROI of an effective SEO campaign.

Arguably, if you only have $3,000 per month to spend on marketing, that money is best spent on your SEO campaign. While it’s true that a multi-tiered campaign will bring in more customers than one that only utilizes one venue, if you are limited in your marketing dollars those dollars should be going to an SEO campaign.

Your SEO Company Does More Than Paste In Some Keywords

Perhaps because of unscrupulous SEO companies, or perhaps because of ignorance, some people think that all an SEO company will do is throw up some blogs that link to the webpage, thus driving up its ranking. Nothing could be more untrue. An SEO company will take the following steps in the SEO campaign:

• Researching content in order to determine ways your website can become more relevant (remember, higher relevancy means a higher Google search ranking)
• Creating content in order to bolster your site’s relevancy in the deficient areas identified in the first step
• Reviewing links to remove old and dead ones (these will hurt your rankings) and identify opportunities to increase the links to your site
• Building links that strengthen your relevancy

Of course, this is not an all-exhaustive list, and there may very well be other things your SEO company needs to do.

A Lot Goes Into A Good SEO Campaign

With all these things in mind, it’s easy to see why you cannot reasonably expect to get good SEO results without paying for them. Even then, you still reap more benefit per dollar spent than for other forms of advertising and marketing. So the next time you get your SEO bill, you should pay it with a smile, knowing that you’re getting a great deal!

If you would like to have an open and honest discussion about the ways organic search engine marketing may help your company achieve higher keyword rankings, please contact Net-Craft.com today for a free consultation.

Content Source Understanding the Process Behind the Numbers and Why SEO is a Great Deal

Why is it not good to hire freelance web designers?

Everything that is related to designing is an art. To create something, produce or invent is a talent and not everyone has that. The field of digital marketing is fun but tough as well. In the place like Phoenix Web development and designing professionals are not easy to find. Though you think, it is hard; you must not go for freelancers.

Below mentioned are the reasons why you should not contact freelance web designers and developers:

1. They are indecisive and quick decision taker at the same time. Many times freelancer makes you feel you are free to work on your time which will compel you to delay your work and time limits. You do not have anyone to keep you in strict schedule and update you will latest trends.They could also be quick decision takers because they have no one to talk to and they feel what they have done is correct. Thus, sometimes they take decisions in hurry, which are not good for them as well as the clients.
2. Communication is not the strong forte. They do not like to communicate because of pressure created by clients. Clients like revisal and re-revisal and with no patience, one could lose clients. In the agency, web developers do not have to directly communicate with the client which makes them stress-free of that responsibility of talking to clients.
3. It may happen that timely results may not be delivered. As they have other projects to work on, they may not be able to deliver you results on time and with accuracy. Also, due to lack of infrastructure and facilities, they may not be able to deliver what a company could.
4. The agencies do not have only one web designer or only one web developer. It may happen that freelancer web designer has lots of work and couldn't finish it. In the case of digital agency, there is more than one person who could share the work, not disappointing clients.

Hire a good agency for all your web development work. Contact Net-Craft INC. It is a Phoenix’s Web Design and Development company that will work the exact way you want, understanding your requirements.

Content Source Why is it not good to hire freelance web designers?

Spend 60 Seconds with us and then Click Furthes

Net-Craft INC is a Scottsdale Web Design and Development, in Arizona that provides all kinds of web solutions. We understand today’s market requirements of digital marketing and thus, we are here to help you. We have been in this field for a long time enough to provide what a company seeks for. Our services include:

1. Web Design: Our Scottsdale Website Design includes not only creation of design but its after-services and extra services too. The part of extra services includes CMS, image gallery, responsive website design, E-newsletter creation, User file uploading, etc.
2. Internet Marketing: It is another name of Search Engine Optimization, where a website is ranked top amongst SERPs. Analyze your specific market for the most relevant keywords and determine the level of competition. Create and optimize the information found on your local map listings. Revise listing content to make it relevant for local searches. Create Citations/links to your business information on other sites and directories.
3. App and Mobile development: App development, as well as mobile website development, is core necessity for today's companies because 70% of websites are accessed via mobile phones. Thus this column includes Custom App Design & User Interface Modeling, Project Management, and Quality control.
4. E-commerce development: This department has advanced functions with tailor-made packages that enable you to choose as much as or as little as you need. Its features are Advanced product management, advanced category management, Customer management, Customer accounts, detailed reporting, and much more.
5. Video and Animation: It’s the generation of videos and animations. Net-Craft offers a range of video production including mobile app demonstrations, company profiles, client testimonials, coverage of events and feature stories. Our videos are unique and eye-catching.
6. Graphic designing: Net-Craft also offers custom logo development and corporate identity design layouts for b-cards, letterheads, envelopes, brochures, etc. Our specialized experts creatively integrate all aspects of visual communication to provide comprehensive solutions for our clients.
7. Maintenance report, Helpdesk and Success tracking: Net-Craft.com has the staff to handle your daily, weekly or monthly website maintenance which is quick and accurate. Also, we help you track the effectiveness of organic search engine optimization, PPC advertising, banner ads, social media, email marketing, etc.

We do know the dilemma a customer is when he has to choose the best but just spend 60 seconds on this video and we assure you that you will choose us: https://vimeo.com/60539987

Content Source Spend 60 Seconds with us and then Click Further

How to make your Website Salad more Attractive?

A salad is not a salad until it is garnished with grated cabbage. Similarly, a website design is merely a website design until and unless some extra work isn’t done on that. Hence, Netcraft.com – Phoenix’s website design development, Arizona is one of the best Web development solutions company.

We do not stop at design but also provide qualitative after services that are required to make a perfect website. Our services include:

1. Extensive content management systems (CMS): Netcraft provides you content updating service according to your requirement with off-shelf tools like WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, etc. We are available for you 24*7.
2. Dynamic image galleries: This service provides you the option of images used by photographers and plastic surgeons for easy to use in CMs.
3. Flash and HTML 5 enhancements: Netcraft provides powerful HTML5 tool that can be used in desktop as well as mobile with multiple OS such as android and ios.
4. Secure ecommerce integration: We also offer e-commerce solutions such as Netsuite, Volution, Shopify, etc for secure e-commerce integration.
5. External software (API) integration: API allows the software program to communicate with each other. We can help you with API solutions.
6. Responsive web design: We provide you with easy access website that can easily be formatted according to the device, whether it is laptop or tablet or mobile.
7. Mobile website design: It may happen that many websites function properly on the desktop but not on mobile phones. Thus, we provide mobile website design solutions.
8. Reporting: We make your reporting of a website easy. Netcraft makes everything convenient and provides you alerts that keep you up-to-date with numbers.
9. Internal site search: We integrate the variety of internal site research for the website that is large and small in size.
10. E-Newsletter creation: Netcraft develops for you custom branded online sign-up forms and E-Newsletters to count a number of subscribers.
11. Surveys and polls: It is necessary to create an online survey for targeted audience that is custom-branded and easy-to-manage.
12. User file uploading: Netcraft develops easy-to-use and secure uploading mechanism for admin use.

Thus, come to Netcraft – Scottsdale website design development and make your website salad garnished with grated cabbage.

Content Source How to make your Website Salad more Attractive?

New Year Approaches it is a Good Time to Schedule a Website Security Check

Happy Holidays & Best Wishes for the New Year!

Whether you are a small business owner or run a major corporation, if you engage in e-commerce you know how important it is to have a site that your customers can trust. We’ve all seen what happens when a site is hacked and the customers’ sensitive information has been compromised. It takes a long time for a business to regain the trust their customers lost in them.

But you don’t have to get your site hacked to have your customers worry about purchasing something on your website or submitting personal information. This is where the difference between your address beginning with HTTP as opposed to HTTPS comes in. An address with only the HTTP in the header is not secure.

Security Is Important

Your customer’s security is important to you. You want a site that you can be proud of. But you don’t want to institute something that may slow your site down or make it non-responsive. You also don’t want to confuse your customers. How complicated is HTTPS?

It isn’t complicated at all, as a matter of fact, it will be relatively transparent to you. It is all done at the server level – you and your customers have to do nothing. Well, you at least have to let your web designer know this is the direction you want to take and they will take it from there. You will know your customer’s data is secure and they will be none the wiser, until 2017.

Don’t Get Caught Unprepared

Cyber security is a hot topic these days and with good reason. There are people out on the web that spend their time doing nothing but taking other people’s information and making money doing it. Many companies are moving to HTTPS for this reason, but so are the companies that bring the web to you, like Google.

In 2017, Google announced it will phase in a new feature for Google Chrome. It will start marking non-secure (non-HTTPS) websites that collect credit card information as non-secure. That’s right. When your customer enters their password to your site or tries to buy something, they will be notified that the site is not secure. This is not a good look for your business.

Now is the time to look into changing your site so when the time comes, your site will not get the red triangle warning that says non-secure. Get the edge on your competition and get your site ready now.

If you would like to speak to one of our consultants about a website security check, please contact us today.

Content Source New Year Approaches it is a Good Time to Schedule a Website Security Check

Should you Invest in Email Marketing?

Email has come a long way since the first marketing email was sent out and changed quite a bit since the first chain letter found its way into your inbox. In fact, email has changed so much that many marketers and developers are asking themselves if they should still invest in email marketing. Well, the answer is simple: Yes, email marketing can reach customers in a way no other marketing channel can, through their inbox–the majority of consumers still check their email at least once per day.

Increase Your Email Marketing ROI

So, now you are convinced that email marketing is right for you, but how do you make the most out of your return on investment and improve your email campaigns?

In today’s world, it would be difficult to find a website that wasn’t responsive or “mobile-friendly,” and there’s a reason for that: more people are searching the web on mobile platforms like tablets and smartphones. So, make sure your email template it mobile-friendly and adapts to different size screen because people also use their phones to check their email throughout the day.

One more way to increase the ROI of your email campaigns is by testing and tweaking.

Content Source Should you Invest in Email Marketing?