If you’re using WordPress (please, tell me you’re using WordPress already), the videos below will show you how to find, install and use a plugin called Organize Series. Keep your hard earned series from being relegated to page 28 of your site.

And yes, I know I could have made a series of these four videos…

INTRO TO ORGANIZING SERIES ON WORDPRESS

HOW TO ADD A SERIES

A POST IN A SERIES USING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS

HOW TO ADD A POST TO A SERIES

Undoubtedly, this video has been shared on Facebook and Twitter the same number of times. I’m not even an OSU fan, and when President Gordon Gee comes across with Brutus Buckeye, I almost shed a little tear.

So this post you’re reading right now…it could be about anything, right? It just happens to be about OSU because that’s what was hot in my neck of the woods this week. Whatever your non-profit or small business writes about, you obviously want your readers to share with other people, whether those people are at your site or not. Now visitors can simply click a Facebook LIKE button on your site and just like they LIKE a link or video on Facebook, they can LIKE your article. Once they LIKE it, a short line will appear on their wall that says, “Angie Meeker likes Adding a Facebook Like Button To Your WordPress Website,” except that it will have their name, and their article, obviously. Let’s get people showing their friends on Facebook how much their like your website.

Here’s how to install the NEW Facebook LIKE button on your WordPress site.

BTW – It didn’t show up in my feed because when I tested it earlier, and it DID show up, I hid it…so that it wouldn’t be there when I went to show you it magically appear for the video. Try it yourself and see it work!

How can social media be used to find a lost dog? Play this video from AT&T to see! Then ask yourself how can your company use social media to give your stakeholders the opportunity to share your value?

1. Like a house, your website needs land to sit on. This “land” is called hosting. A host gives you the space on the internet to store the files that will be your website. Your space and files are stored on that company’s server (a heavy duty computer). Most often, a host will also sell you a domain, too. We recommend GoDaddy hosting.
2. Your domain (www.yourwebsite.com) is like your street address. It tells people where to find your house.
3. Your website IS your house. It’s where you invite your friends to come visit. A good website is just like a house. It will encourage your guests to stay a while and talk with you.
4. And of course, your mailbox. Email is like your mailbox. Your email should match your domain, just like your mailing address matches your street address. You@yourwebsite.com is better than using You@someothersite.com.

If you do not already have hosting, we can set up your hosting account with our recommended provider, GoDaddy.com. A basic hosting package is $75 a year, and includes your domain, hosting, matching email accounts, and more. If you plan to accept payments directly on your site (rather than through a simple PayPal link), you will also need a SSL Certificate (approx. $35 a year). This ensures that all payment information transmitted is kept secure.

1. STOP THE MUSIC! Many of your guests are surfing the web at work, or are doing something else while looking at your site. An uninvited concert is a quick way to send them clicking for the back button or worse yet—the “Close” button. Music and audio should be an option for your guest, not forced on them. This might be the most important change you can make today! Go do it now!

2. USE A COMMON NAVIGATION. Menus that are in a different place throughout your site, in a different order, or don’t include the same links on every page are confusing. Create ONE navigation for your entire site and put it in the same spot on every page.

3. FIRST THINGS FIRST. Your most important information should be placed “above the fold.” That is, above the area of your site which can be read without scrolling (usually the top half of your site). Just like in a newspaper, the information after the fold is less likely to be read.

4. GET IN TOUCH. Be sure to include an “About Us” page which describes your organization and its staff. And don’t forget a “Contact Us” page, which lists your phone number, fax, email and physical address. You can also include on this page any other sites you’re a part of (like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter). Make sure that if people want to get in touch with you, they can do however they want.

5. HALT THE SCROLLLING TEXT! Scrolling text on a computer screen is extremely difficult to read, especially when created in bright, contrasting colors. Not to mention the stars, banners, blinking lights, animated clip art, and so on. Turn them all off.

6. CHOOSE YOUR FONTS WISELY. The fonts which are easiest to read on a computer are Verdana, Tahoma, Arial and Courier. That’s because these are “sans serif” fonts. That simply means they’re pretty straight forward, simple, and don’t have any fancy frills at the end of each letter. Even Times New Roman (a “serif” font) is more difficult to read on a screen than these. And while you’re changing your font, point size 10-11 is standard on the web. If your target is senior citizens, go ahead and use 14. Otherwise, stay away from anything smaller or larger than 10 for your content. (For a sample of website font sizes, http://www.alwanza.com/bells/ points.html)

7. COLOR INSIDE THE LINES. Be careful when using extremely contrasting colors like a yellow background and red text. They are hard on the eyes. Contrasts which work well are white and black, grey and black…

8. LEAN TOWARDS THE LEFT. Center justified paragraphs are hard to read on a computer screen. LEFT justify your paragraphs and you’ll make your readers’ eyes happy!

9. BREAK OUT OF THE FRAME. Many older browsers do not support frames. They disrupt the flow of the website and can be difficult to anticipate where a page may appear when a link is clicked.

10. SHOW YOUR CREDIBILITY. A website which hasn’t been updated in ages (or months) shows your guests that you’re not paying attention to what they’re looking for. Or that you’re simply not paying attention!

If you’re having trouble maintaining your site, ask for help.
HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR WEBSITE OR NEED A NEW WEBSITE? EMAIL US!