Top 5 Best Ways to Market to the Senior Audience (Especially as it relates to the Insurance Industry)
If you want to consistently bring in new clients, you have to dabble in marketing. It can be tough, especially if you haven’t had any formal education or experience. We’ve put together some really great tips to help you figure out what works best. Even better? All of the advice is for marketing to your […]
Create a Video Strategy That Gets Results in 3 Steps
Step 1: Talk about things your prospects or connections care about. Here are some resources you can draw from to find content ideas that attract engagement: Have you attended an industry event lately? Why not create a video covering your takeaways or tagging the new connections you made there? Your company’s FAQ page is a […]
Web Design in 2019
The experts have weighed in on website design trends for 2019 and we’ve compiled our list of the ones we feel will be most relevant for our clients below. If you’re planning a new design project, please consider some of these ideas. 1. Vibrant Saturated Color Schemes Vibrant saturated color schemes are capable of seeking […]
Why LinkedIn Should Be Part of Your Promotion Strategy
Start Networking Are you connected? Depending on your promotional needs and capacity, you might be on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Remember to take a look at LinkedIn as well. While LinkedIn might seem like a social media venue for individuals, not organizations, it can play a key role in your promotional strategy. LinkedIn Excels at […]
2019 Color of the Year
Pantone has officially announced that the color of the year for 2019 is “Living Coral,” otherwise known by its official Pantone code 16-1546. Vibrant, yet mellow, Pantone 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment. In reaction to the onslaught of digital technology and […]
Why We Won’t Be Updating to WordPress 5.0 … Quite Yet
WordPress 5.0 was just released and this update comes with tons of new features and a few major changes to the system. As exciting as this brand new version sounds, we at Apis Productions will be holding off on updating our clients’ sites — right away, though. WordPress 5.0 has never been tested with most […]
PHP Upgrade
PHP is an open-source programming language that WordPress uses to run internal functions and process database information. PHP is a living project, and like WordPress, is constantly being updated and patched for bug and security vulnerabilities. Newer PHP versions fix these vulnerabilities and optimize the processing and delivery of your website content. Over the next […]
Get the Facts on Gutenberg: Old vs New WordPress Editor
In a nutshell, Gutenberg is a brand new editor for the WordPress platform. It will radically change the way you create posts, pages, products, and just about everything else on your site. Many of you are probably wondering, will Gutenberg be optional? When they roll out Gutenberg officially into WordPress core 5.0 and all the […]
The New LinkedIn Pages
November 2018: Source: LinkedIn & Social Media Today LinkedIn has announced a revamp of its company Pages, adding in a range of new enhancements focused on making it easier to generate engagement and participate in relevant conversations from your business Page. First off, LinkedIn’s now fully integrated Page posting and management functionalities with its mobile app, […]
Landing Page Essentials
Landing pages typically allow qualified visitors to sign up to receive additional information, download content offers, or redeem other marketing offers. Through their content, landing pages allow you to target a specific audience, offer them something of value, and convert a higher percentage of visitors into leads. According to MarketingSherpa’s Landing Page Handbook (2nd edition), […]
Optimizing Images for Websites
Do the following questions leave you wondering what the best practice is for optimizing images for your website? Why is it that when I do a Google image search, my blog or web images never show up? Do I need to add alt attributes to my images? What’s the difference between JPEG, GIF and PNG? […]
Steps to Create a YouTube Channel
Create a new channel With a Google Account, you can watch and like videos and subscribe to channels. However, without a YouTube channel, you have no public presence on YouTube. Even if you have a Google Account, you need to create a YouTube channel to upload videos, comment, or make playlists. You can use a computer or the YouTube mobile […]
7 Essential Questions to Create a Website Strategy
Whether you are starting a brand new website, considering a redesign, or have a shift in your overall business, it’s helpful to take a step back and create a website strategy to serve as a road map. Take the time to consider these seven essential questions that will shed light on how your website should […]
Create 2-3 Shareables for Every Piece of Content you Create
One of the most key aspects in social media marketing mastery is to get the most out of your content. Businesses and entrepreneurs have so many things going on at once that it can be easy to forget that it’s not always necessary to continuously send out brand new content to be successful. The more […]
Introducing Apis Mobile
This Progressive Web Application (PWA) is a bleeding-edge mobile application built to provide BGAs with a fast, simple, secure means of accessing their current Single Sign On (SSO) services. One login for both mobile app & your website Retain SSO connection to BGA tools No need to submit to Apple or Google Play stores Most […]
Experiment with Video Marketing
Videos made for you! $100 per video 30 second videos, two revisions Why do I need video? Putting a video on a landing page increases conversion by 80% We hear so much about engagement and branding these days but don’t really have time to chat with potential customers or clients on Facebook or any of […]
Mastering the Art of Re-purposing Content
Get the most out of your content One of the most key aspects in social media marketing mastery is to get the most out of your content. Businesses and entrepreneurs have so many things going on at once that it can be easy to forget that it’s not always necessary to continuously send out brand new content to be successful. The […]
Website Content Dos and Don’ts
When it comes to your website, there are certain things you should have and things to avoid. We can help your company determine the best path to take for your website. Here are some important things to have and some to stay away from: DO invest in creating a professional and secure website for your […]
Content Performance
Creating good content for your website takes valuable time and effort – wouldn’t it be nice to know how effectively you are reaching your audience? We are super excited to be able to offer our hosted clients a mechanism to provide in-depth analysis. WPEngine’s Content Performance plugin takes Google Analytics and integrates it right into […]
Themify’s New Builder Update
Great new features that we want to tell you about. At Apis Productions, we utilize the Themify Builder for most of the websites we create for you. Good to know what’s new in Themify V4 and what it can do for you, our clients. Source: Themify After months of developing, testing, and perfecting – we’re […]
Palette Perfect: How Material Design Makes Color Easy
Material design carries over to your website color choices when choosing the perfect palette for your brand. Material Design (codenamed Quantum Paper) is a design language developed in 2014 by Google. Expanding upon the “card” motifs that debuted in Google Now, Material Design makes more liberal use of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, […]
SEO Website Strategy
What is SEO? Let’s take a moment to discuss the importance of SEO in your overall web marketing strategy. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of setting your website up for success in Google, Bing, Yahoo and every search engine out there today. Let’s cut straight to the chase here. When a person is […]
No HTTPS? Not on our watch.
Last month, Google spelled out the schedule it will use to “look for the padlock.” Starting in July, the search giant will mark insecure URLs in its market-dominant Chrome, not those that already are secure. Google’s goal? Pressure all website owners to adopt digital certificates and encrypt the traffic of all their pages. The decision […]
Want to improve your online visibility? Consider these 6 key points
Any kind of business can benefit from marketing online. It can be overwhelming determining what should be adopted to increase the visibility of the power of online marketing in today’s world. Most companies really have no idea where to start. Sure, you’ve got an awesome website (and we’ve built most of them for you) but […]
Gutenberg is Alive
Sometime this year a major WordPress upgrade will be available which will drastically change the default WYSIWYG interface. The new editor, called Gutenberg, will be part of the WordPress 5.0 release. It is named after Johannes Gutenberg, who invented a printing press with movable type more than 500 years ago. The concept behind Gutenberg is […]
Importance of Testimonials
Why testimonials are important The fact that your clients or customers have taken the time to share their experiences or thoughts they have for your brand speaks volumes. It showcases their trust and respect as well as the overall credibility your business has. It’s not all about strategy alone Interact with your clients or customers […]
The Next Big Thing: Progressive Web Apps
You may not have heard of them yet, but Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are about to change the mobile landscape. The need for businesses to target customers on mobile devices is obvious. The question is no longer if they should do it, but how. A business that wants to appeal to mobile-based customers has three […]
Cornerstone Content
Ready to focus more on Search Engine Optimization? As we are in the process of rebuilding our own website, we’ll be sharing some of the methods behind the madness. Cornerstone content is really the main focal point content of your website and is intended to provide the best description of your company. It should consist […]
Social Media: Goal Setting and Brand Building
by Jillian Pearson Obviously, most companies should be building a brand first and foremost, but we must determine what the top two goals will be when it comes to social media marketing. In the beginning, this should be focused on the content already created via the website. Treat this as an outline, a guide, for […]
Tags and Keywords when Publishing Videos on Your Website
By: Jillian Pearson The rule I always use with YouTube videos is to provide the most information in the description but don’t stuff it with tags or keywords or you could get flagged and they’ll remove the videos. There is a section to put tags and keywords in within the channel itself for each video […]
The Case for the Branding Board
We recently started creating branding boards (aka Style Guides) for clients as part of website design projects and have realized what an indispensable tool they are. The overall end result is a very cohesive branding image that extends well beyond the website. The branding board is essentially a design guide that identifies the company’s key […]
Top 7 Website Design Trends for 2018
As we kick off this new year, the predictions for design trends have been unveiled. Here are the ones we think are going to be most important: Custom Illustrations: Illustrations can be very powerful in bringing more abstract concepts to vivid life. And, it’s worth noting that illustrations can also nicely address some of the […]
Size Really Does Matter
The Case for Bigger Fonts The latest studies are indicating that website body fonts are too small. Perhaps we are just trying to put too many words on a page. Perhaps we are still in the mode of applying traditional desktop publishing norms to online media. Whatever the case, there is a growing consensus that […]
Website Typography Best Practices
Typography is more than just what fonts you use. Typography is everything that has to do with how text looks – font size, line length, color, and even more subtle things like the whitespace around a text. Good typography sets the tone of your written message and helps to reinforce its meaning and context. Headings […]
Social Media Image Size Guidelines
Following are recommended image sizes, based on updated 2017 guidelines. Minimum Optimal Facebook Cover Photo 399 x 150 828 x 465 Profile Picture 180 x 180 360 x 360 App / Tab Image 111 x 74 111 x 74 Link Image 600 x 314 1200 x 628 Photo Post 595 x 595 940 x 788 […]
Is the .COM Era Over?
Since the birth of the Internet, .com has been the top choice of “top level domains” (TLDs). And good dot coms are hard to come by. Verisign recently reported that the number of registered dot-com domain names exceeded 128 million for the first time. Enter the new gTLDs or generic Top-Level Domains. They are now available and there […]
WordPress Tutorials Just For You
We’ve recently added a suite of WordPress video tutorials for our clients. You’ll soon have access to short, specific videos for the most common WordPress functions: Creating and Editing Pages, Posts vs. Pages, Adding Photos and Images, Embedding Video, Using the Media Library, plus much more. We also are including tutorials for the 2 Layout […]
Design Tools for Non-Designers
Feeling creative? We have many clients who like to delve into the design world from time to time. There are a few standout online tools we’ve come across that I like to share. We are always here to provide design services, but for the quick blog post graphic, banner ad, or similar graphic need, check […]
Apis is looking for another worker bee
We are looking for a creative, tech savvy self-starter with strong communication skills to join our team. This is a remote, part-time (6-10 hours per week), sub-contractor position. JOB DESCRIPTION: You will build websites solely in the WordPress content management system and will be responsible for creating the overall customer experience for our client’s websites from […]
Stop spam with a honey pot
I am hearing a substantial increase in reports of spam coming in from website forms, particularly the user registration forms a lot of my clients use. There seems to be an uptick lately that has required us to add some additional filtering to the forms. Initially we approached this with adding the “CAPTCHA” – those […]
Applicint SSO Plugin Now Available
For our insurance agency clients, we now have the Single Sign On WordPress plugin available for Applicint’s ExpressComplete system. If you already subscribe to our SSO Tool package, the system is available to you now. A setup fee may apply based on your specific agency needs. Contact Peri for more details, peri@apisproductions.com
Too Busy to Keep Up Your Website?
Apis Productions is now offering a selection of maintenance packages for your website…ideal for busy professionals and peace of mind. These packages are discounted for our clients so you’ll save money too. Let us take the hassle out of maintaining your website by doing it for you! Our packages are a great option if you […]
SEO 101: What you Really Need to Know
Building a strong site architecture and providing clear navigation will help search engines index your site quickly and easily. This will also, more importantly, provide visitors with a good experience of using your site and encourage repeat visits. It’s worth considering that Google is increasingly paying attention to user experience. Define your keystone message Tune […]
Color + Science = Two of My Favorite Things!
I recently came across an article titled: “50 Hard Science-Backed Facts About Color” which caught my eye. Here are some of the highlights: An investigation on color temperature and web design showed that there are significantly more favorable perceptions regarding a website’s design aesthetics when cool color combinations (blue-light blue) are used, as opposed to […]
Best Icon Practices
Icons are a great way to add visual impact to your website without being too distracting. They are compact, light weight, and can add tremendous value to your website’s usability. But, if not used properly, can also cause great confusion and become frustrating for your users. There are a few icons that enjoy mostly universal […]
Are You Mobile?
The latest statistic (August 2014 from StatCounter) is that mobile viewing accounts for 30% of internet usage. At the rate it’s been growing, it will soon surpass desktop viewing. It’s worth understanding the difference between Mobile Optimized and Mobile Responsive here too. A mobile optimized site is a far more advanced website. Mobile optimized means […]