CONCEPT

So much is done online these days... many people have an expectation that all aspects of a businesses service are available online. A booking calendar is an excellent, efficient way to grow your business and accept new clients online. There are many booking apps available that can be easily integrated into your site. We will caution that like many apps, there are usually more features available for the paid versions of these apps, but that the basics can be covered by free ve

A fresh, new website that features all your newest products and services and engages your clients feels so good! But after a while, that content becomes old. So how do you avoid a stale website? The answer is a regular system of tests and checks. Your site should be living and constantly evolving. Dedicate a couple of hours every two weeks to finding areas where your site could use improvement with three questions in mind: How can I improve conversions? How can I increase use

Got a couple of ideas for your website, but not sure which one will work better? Try a split test! Split testing is when you temporarily direct your website traffic to two different versions of your site. Analytics or surveys can help determine which version results in better conversions. For example, you can create one landing page with a very minimalist design and another with a more traditional design that has more information on the home page. Next, track which site your

Your businesses website can be a great source of information for your clients and potential clients, but only if they can find the information they are looking for easily. It is worth while getting feedback from your website users or using an auditing service to track what is working for your site and what is not. Depending on the current climate, what was turning into great conversions one month, might not be doing the same a few months down the road. Keep an ear out for que

You recently built a new website for your business. You made sure you followed all the SEO advice, but you're still not sure if your website is working for you. Search rankings are a good indication, but they take time. So, how do you know if your site is improving in standing? How do you know if those little improvements you made are converting to sales and where you could use improvement? Analytics. Analytics are a great tool that allow you to track the number of visitors t

Ever heard of the term "hero image" but have no idea what it is? Let us enlighten you. A "hero image", sometimes referred to as a "hero header" is the large, usually high-quality image at the top of a website page (the header) that gives users their first idea of what your business is all about. It can be different for your home page than other pages, but many times it remains the same. The hero image is meant to grab the attention of your site visitors right away. It often c

Is social media enough for a small business? Well, we suppose that depends on whether or not you want to grow your business. If you do, then a website will greatly increase your chances of expansion. Little more than 50% of small businesses actually have a website. This in itself is one reason why you should consider building a site for your company; set yourself apart from the competition! Second, while social media certainly helps with SEO rankings (how you rank on internet

UX - It's a term you may have heard when talking about websites. But what does it mean? UX is one of, if not THE most important things to consider when building a website. It stands for User Experience and refers to how your online visitors interact with your website. The goal is to create the most seamless, intuitive experience your clients can get. That means, they come to a site with a question and can find the answers to this question with little to no effort. Creating an

When building a website, once of the first and MOST IMPORTANT steps is to select your domain name. This is the address users would type or search to get to your website (for example, conceptcomputers.ca). There are a lot of things to consider when choosing your domain, because it will affect how well users can access your site and how searchable it is on search engines. When crafting your domain, remember to: 1. Keep it simple - The shorter and easier to spell the better 2. U

Want to know one of the best ways to keep your clients engaged and up-to-date on your products and perhaps refer you to other clients? Email marketing. Marketing studies have shown that 73% of millennials prefer to receive business communications via email and that 99% of consumers check their email on a daily basis. Email marketing allows you to: - personalize content - collect feedback - direct clients to your site - advertise in a cost-efficient manner - advertise to a per

So you got yourself a beautiful website and you figured you would do any content updates yourself. But... when you went to update some text and/or change an image, website-mageddon happened and now your site looks like a bomb went off. Sound familiar? There are a lot of balls to keep in the air when maintaining a site. Building in more or less text may change the dynamic of a page, it may throw off the alignment of other elements or change the relevance of other surrounding e

What is HTTPS (vs. HTTP) and why should you use it? When building a website, you want to ensure that your data, and any you receive is secure. This is especially important if you are dealing with sensitive information (i.e. personal client or payment information, passwords, confidential files etc.). http(s) is the protocol by which information is sent between a web browser and a website. You will notice it at the start of a website address, for example: https://www.conceptcom

Happy Summer! A season when everyone is out and about, enjoying the beautiful sun... and less likely to sit indoors at their desktop computer surfing your site. Have you thought about how mobile-friendly your site is? Statistically, more than half of the world's internet traffic is mobile. So that means that if your site isn't mobile, friendly, you are losing over 50% of your potential clientelle. Keep in mind, that mobile-friendly doesn't just mean being able to see your sit

What is alt text and why is it important? Alt text (also called alt descriptions) are the words that appear when an image fails to load. It can also often be seen when you roll your mouse over an image. The text should accurately describe the image and how it relates to the main body text or page it accompanies. There are three important functions of alt text: 1. It makes your site more accessible. Visually impaired users use alt text to understand the image on the page. 2. I

Fonts are in integral part of an eye-catching website! They can make a reader either want to check out the content... or stay away from it. While creative fonts can certainly set your style apart from others, something too crazy will confuse your site visitors, causing them to move on. Your site fonts should match your general style AND they should be legible. Remember, that above all, your potential customers are looking to find the information they need as quickly and intui

We're often asked how to improve a website's ranking on search results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings use key words and phrases to match a query to the most relevant sites. Once upon a time, key words could be stuffed into a site based on which words were most likely to be entered into a search query. But with smart devices and virtual assistants at our fingertips, users are now more likely to use long-tail phrases in place of keywords. Think about how you usually

Building a beautiful website is only a small part of the process of having a successful online presence. One of the most important components of a website are links. Your site should contain multiple links to content both within the site and externally. Links are one of the criteria for increasing SEO ranking. This means a process of verifying all links, ensuring that they go to the correct page or even the correct place on the page. If they direct you to a form, is it the co

You've built a great website with the help of Concept Computers expert skills, but how do you keep your site from being hacked? Here are a few simple tips to keep your site secure: 1. Keep your software up to date - super simple and obvious, but often a major point of attack. Software updates often include security patches, so hackers can find their way in easier if your software is not up to date. 2. Use complex passwords - we love password managers! You know those annoying

We often focus on the things you can do to make a great website, but you should also be aware of some of the things you should avoid. So, what makes a bad website? Here are some of our top to-don'ts: - complexity: your users want to get to your website and understand clearly how and where to go to get the information they are seeking, but if they land on your homepage and there is no intuitive menu, a mishmash of unrelated visuals and text, they are likely to lose patience an

What features can you add to your website? Make your online space as useful as possible! With more and more business being conducted online, it can be useful to have scheduling and calendar apps, online shopping and more... Here are some of our favourite options: - blogs: these are THE BEST for keeping your site current and loaded with the best keywords and phrases - chat: if you have someone available to regularly monitor your chat, these can be useful for quick questions an