If your goal is escape velocity, you have to build a ship. It’s true that some enterprise-level websites are so fast that they literally push the limits of the laws of physics. But for the rest of us who don’t have an enterprise-level operating budget, there are still plenty of effective and affordable ways to a faster-loading WordPress website. In this article, we’ll look at some tools that you and/or your web developer can utilize to speed up your site without breaking the bank. Ground Control to Major SEO Every time a visitor loads a page on your website, the data gets prepared by a computer (called a server) that is operated by your hosting company. For the purposes of illustration, let’s call this “Mission Control” and let’s suppose that it’s located in Houston, TX. Once the website data is prepared by Mission Control, it then has to take a voyage from Houston to wherever the visitor is physically located (let’s say Asheville, NC). As you can see from the example, there are two key things happening when you get a page view on your site: 1) Your hosting company’s computer (or server) generates the data 2) Your site’s data makes a trip (possibly across the world) to reach the visitor’s computer Decreasing the time it takes to complete either of these tasks will be a big win for you and your visitors. However, for almost all sites, the larger factor in page...
To paraphrase an old saying: If content is on your site but no on knows it’s there, is it there at all? The answer, of course, is yes. It’s there. Let me show you how to optimize your images so people don’t miss the forest for the trees. Avoid embedding text into images Browsers and search engines can’t read a picture of text. Not sure what that means? Try to highlight the text in the photo above. You can’t, because while editing the photo, I typed in some words and saved the whole thing as a JPG. Whenever possible, avoid putting your most important message directly into an image. This way, you’ll get that message to a much wider audience. Give images informative filenames When you take a photo, your camera has no way of knowing what the contents of that photo are (stupid camera). So, the camera does the only thing it can. It assigns a generic filename to the image according to some predefined internal naming system. Take a moment to run a Google image search for image001 or DCMIMAGE4 and you’ll find a wasteland of unrelated images that are all but lost to search engines. This is where your site’s images are likely to show up if you don’t name them properly. Thankfully, this is an easy thing to do. If your image is of the black 2007 Honda Civic Coupe you have for sale, you wouldn’t name it “20160425_092402.jpg”. Instead, you might name it...
With so many different devices out there between desktops, tablets, and phones, responsive web design is more important than ever. Responsive web design takes web design and development to a whole new level. New devices with different screen sizes and orientations are being created every day. It’s important to think about screen size, orientation, image resolution, platform, and ease of use. You need to think about if the theme you’re using is responsive or not. Designing a custom design for each type of device would be a tedious and overwhelming task. Instead, it’s important to plan out one design that will scale and transition smoothly between the different devices. The easiest way to do this is to start building your site for mobile devices first. Mobile First Design The concept behind mobile first design is to build a full and visually appealing site for smaller screens first, then add features and content for bigger screens and larger devices. This is also known as progressive enhancement. This process is all about prioritization. It may take a little longer to implement but it’ll help you focus on what the most important pieces of your website are and how to focus on those pieces and display them across all devices. Mobile web sites should uses minimal screen space, processing power, and plugins to and provide a great and functional experience for users. Responsive Images When adding images to your webpage you want...
Perhaps you have heard that WordPress is an easy way to post progressive dialogue about your business on the Internet…but how do you get started? Join Boomer Sassmann, owner of Big Boom Design, to learn how to get your content, photos, and voice onto the Internet. Using WordPress for blogging is a great platform that is constantly updated, produces new features, and integrates better ways to import photos, videos, and links. Questions? Sign up for the class! Class Registration Link...
On June 3rd 2016 I instructed 50 individuals on how to build a WordPress website from the ground up. This event is called PreCamp and happens the day before WordCamp here in Asheville. Multiple people have contacted me looking for the document that serves as a roadmap for the WordPress website build out. This 90 page PDF can be found here: Asheville PreCamp 2016 Step By Step Guide If you would like more information or if you missed your opportunity to attend, please feel to dig through the attached doc or reach out via the contact form at the bottom of the site. Thanks to all the PreCampers who made this years event...
Thanks to the amazing group of attendees that came to the 2015 Asheville PreCamp Event. Below is a link to the PowerPoint presentation that goes through all the steps that we walked through during the day. You can find updated years by going to the asheville wordcamp website or by emailing us directly. Asheville PreCamp 2015...
