Digital Resources
ONLINE CONFERENCING Zoom GoToMeeting WebexRing Central Join.me WORKING FROM HOME TIPS Science Backed Tips to Settle into Remote WorkingAALU: The Art of Working from Home WHEN YOU NEED A BREAK Virtual tours of 1,000 museumsFree eBooksGreat Sci-Fi & Fantasy audiobooks read by celebritiesThe Metropolitan Opera’s free nightly performanceTry a new recipes from this collection of budget-friendly […]
Blog Commenting and SEO Results: Engaging Your Audience
There has been a debate bubbling on the edges of the internet for nearly the past decade. Are comment sections on blogs a boon or a burden? You have seen the fallout of this argument first hand as some of your regular, go-to blogs have opted to either disable comments altogether or disable them temporarily […]
Working From Home
Many people are suddenly finding themselves working from home without much notice. There are some great benefits to telecommuting but also some challenges. Our hive are seasoned remote workers so I thought we’d share some of our tips. I’ll start with my own advice but please read on for some great ideas. Creating a routine […]
4 Essential Elements to Writing a Great Blog Post
Writing for a blog can, at times, feel daunting. You sit down to write and the words don’t come. At times like these, a little structure for your blog can go a long way. Depending on the focus of your blog and your personality, your approach may be slightly different, but I’ve observed that the […]
What’s Coming in WordPress 5.4 (Features and Screenshots)
With over 41 million downloads and counting, WordPress 5.3 was the last major release of the year 2019. While 5.3 was primarily focused on expanding and refining the block editor with more intuitive interactions and enhanced accessibility, work on version 5.4 has already been started to improve the CMS further. As a result of the […]
Browser Compatibility
Although web surfing is now predominantly performed on mobile devices, desktop users do still exist. It is important to not only design for mobile-friendly experiences but for multi-browser experiences as well. Below are three reasons why browser compatibility is essential for your website: 1. Not everybody uses the same browser platform. Whether page visitors are […]
What is Responsive Web Design?
With responsive website design, your website (and its pages) can adapt and deliver the best experience to users, whether they’re on their desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. For that to happen, though, your website needs a responsive design. What is responsive web design? Responsive web design describes a web design approach that allows websites and […]
How to Share a Post by a Company Page on Your Personal Profile on LinkedIn
Source: LinkedIn Gaining interaction on LinkedIn company pages without using the sponsored options is rather difficult. Much like Facebook, LinkedIn doesn’t give a lot of weight to company page updates purely because, like Facebook, it wants you to pay for the chance to increase your audience. One thing you can do is to make a […]
Understanding Typography
Typography plays an important role in setting the tone, theme, and message of a website. Typography is the art and technique of arranging type. It involves the thoughtful and deliberate selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading, tracking, kerning, color and any element that can affect a design. Readability is primarily the concern of […]
6 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
There is no spell to cast when it comes to increasing traffic to your website. There is no magic wand that can teleport you into the top page of every search engine. There are, however, a number of smaller incantations that, with patience and practice, can lead to enormous results. On-Page SEO: If You Can’t […]
Top Web Design Trends for 2020
Well, here we are. It’s 2020. Have you thought about switching up the design of your website? With these top design trends, we’ll show you how to stay on trend and engage site visitors. If you’re wondering if everything gets changed in 2020? Not everything, but here are five trends worthy of your consideration. 2020 […]
The Pantone Color of the Year 2020
PANTONE 19-4052 Classic BlueInstilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era. A timeless and enduring blue hue, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is elegant in its simplicity. Suggestive of the sky at dusk. […]
How to Improve Social Media Engagement
Want your posts to attract more viewers? Wondering how to increase views and shares of your content? In this article, you’ll discover five simple tactics to improve engagement on your posts – especially as it relates to LinkedIn. #1: Try Writing a Text-Only Post Sometimes, this is a great way to go. Think about your […]
Leverage Your LinkedIn Company Page
Your LinkedIn Company Page (now called LinkedIn Page) is an important branding opportunity that many businesses aren’t taking advantage of. There, you can develop thought leadership, share content from your company’s influencers, reveal your company culture to attract new talent, and increase your company’s visibility! In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps you […]
Google Analytics Bounce Rate vs Exit Rate: The Death Knell of User Engagement
Let’s compare two valuable metrics in Google Analytics, the bounce rate vs the exit rate. We’ve all had that hopefully non-recurring nightmare where our bounce rate looks like an Olympic ping pong champion and our exit rate implies that someone yelled ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. If I’m losing you already, it might be good […]
Social Media Strategies to Look for in 2020
Social media has changed the way we buy, sell, consume, and interact with brands, people, and products. Social media marketing is an industry that is not slowing down for growth or opportunity. However, social media marketing is always changing. What can we expect next in 2020? The key to social media success is staying ahead […]
Becoming Friends With BERT: Google’s Latest Search Algorithm Update
Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (yikes! How about just BERT) is Google’s latest update to its search and SEO empire. It promises to alter nearly 10% of all search traffic on its engine! While this may sound like the beginning of an SEO apocalypse, don’t break out your bug-out-bag and change your on-site keywords just […]
Pantone Autumn/Winter 2019/2020 Color Palette
Sometimes, a little inspiration from the experts of color can help guide you in a new direction. Published for the fashion industry by the Pantone Color Institute, this season’s report features the top 12 stand-out colors, as well as current takes on the four classic neutrals we can expect to see from fashion designers on […]
Psychology of Color and Branding
Colors are everywhere. They can affect our perceptions and the way we react to the world around us. Our brains respond to specific colors differently, and this can influence our mood, behavior and decision-making. In the world of business and marketing, color psychology plays an important role that goes beyond perception. The psychology of color […]
Business Intelligence: The Wisdom of the Weekly Report
The business that masters where it has been, is the master of where it will be. A solid business intelligence architecture is the keystone of market success. Today’s world teems with opportunities for any company that wishes to enhance their customers’ experience and expand their marketing footprint towards an even larger audience. While technology dramatically […]
Google Search Console: Part Two – Analytics
In part one of our blog relating to the Google Search Console, we showed you how to set up GSC and verify your website. Now, let’s see how to connect Google Search Console to your Google Analytics. The Google Search Console reports in Analytics provide information about the performance of your organic-search traffic. You can […]
Google Search Console: Part One – Setup
Since Google is the number one search engine in the world, you naturally want to rank high in their SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). What is Google Search Console (GSC)? Google Search Console (GSC) tells you everything that you wish to know about your website and the people who visit it daily. For example, how […]
Take Your Google My Business Listing to the Next Level
In our last post, we told you about a free platform called Google My Business (GMB). To review some of the basics, check out our article here. Make sure you have added all the primary profile elements of your GMB listing (address, business hours, phone number and website address) and then take some time to […]
Keep Your Business Info Up-To-Date
If you haven’t claimed and verified your business, get started with this link. Update your business information When information about your business changes, update it with Google My Business. Keeping your account up-to-date makes sure that Google has the most accurate information to share with potential customers. In some cases, Google may not accept changes […]
Call-to-Action Examples that Really Work
source: HubSpot Think about all the times you’ve signed up for things in your life. Did you once download Evernote? Dropbox? Spotify? Maybe you’ve even taken a class on General Assembly. Each one of these signups is likely a result of an effective call-to-action (CTA). It’s really important to guide your visitors through the buying […]
Website Architecture Basics
Methods for organizing your content When building a new website, or redesigning an existing website, it is crucial to start with a review of the content architecture. The success of your website is heavily dependent upon how easy it is to find content and how it is organized. As part of our series on Website […]
Building Blocks to a Better Website
Know your audience and identify your goals! We know how exciting it can be to start a new website project. The creative juices start flowing and pretty soon you’ve got the whole website pictured in your mind. But if you skip over a very important step, you could be setting yourself up for failure. Take […]
How People View Websites
To create the right visual hierarchy, you need to understand how our eyes process information. Top left corner gets the attention first When users land on your site, their eye path starts from the upper left corner and moves on from there. According to this eye-tracking study by Eyequant, these areas get the most attention: […]
Whitespace
Unfortunately, whitespace is often seen as empty space and, therefore, a waste of screen real estate. However, the truth is that whitespace is one of the most valuable parts of your design. Whitespace is an important element of design for good reason. If used well and correctly, it can transform a design and provide many […]
Analytics: Create and Manage Goals
Source: Google Goals let you measure conversions on your site and are an essential tool in Analytics. A goal represents a completed activity, called a conversion, that contributes to the success of your business. Regardless of what business you’re in, defining both micro and macro goals for your site or app is one of the […]
Analytics: Users Flow Report
About the Users Flow report Source: Google Visualize your users’ paths through your site. The Users Flow report is a graphical representation of the paths users took through your site, from the source, through the various pages, and where along their paths they exited your site. The Users Flow report lets you compare volumes of […]
Increase User Engagement on Your Website
To be successful with user engagement, you should know how to define maximum engagement and how to boost this critical website factor to earn more leads and revenue in the future. WHAT IS USER ENGAGEMENT? Put most simply, user engagement is when visitors to your site appreciate your content enough to stick around, absorb, and […]
Web Push Notifications
Web push notifications, browser push notifications, Chrome push notifications, web push: whatever you call them, web notifications — notification-style messages sent through a web browser — are turning websites into even more powerful tools for marketers. Most likely, you’ve at least been on the receiving end of push notifications from an app, and you’re probably […]
Switch Up Your Look with Themify’s Ultra Skins
Have you wondered about trying different looks for your current site? With Themify’s Ultra Theme, you can do just that (well, we’ll do it for you). 60+ Pre-designed Layouts Create unlimited layouts using drag & drop Builder, responsive layouts, slider backgrounds, video backgrounds, parallax scrolling, custom styling, animations, and more. See their demo. Smart Layout […]
Fine-Tuning YouTube Part Three
In Part Three of Apis Productions’ YouTube Series, we’ll cover adding thumbnails to videos (custom or auto-generated), adding watermarks to videos, and we’ll also cover YouTube’s 2019 image guidelines for each of the sections. Add (or Change) Video Thumbnails Video thumbnails let viewers see a quick snapshot of your video as they’re browsing YouTube. After […]
Fine-Tuning YouTube Part Two
In Part Two of Apis Productions’ YouTube Series, we’ll go over custom links, adding videos, adding playlists, creating featured videos to display on your YouTube channel for returning visitors and new visitors. Creating Custom Links You can add links to any URL you’d like to link to on your channel banner. On a computer, go […]
Fine-Tuning YouTube Part One
YouTube is a beast. It really is. It’s a marketing beast. It’s a memory beast. It’s a platform beast. It makes superstars out of everyday people with everyday lives. Everyone has something to say. There are so many options and considerations when putting together a channel for yourself, your business, and everything in between! We, […]
Ideas For Your Website & More With ‘Living Coral’
We told you about Pantone’s 2019 color of the year, Living Coral, back in December 2018. This color is so vibrant, yet mellow. It’s warm and welcoming. It’s natural, lively, and joyful. It’s modern and influential. For 20 years, Pantone’s color of the year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries including […]
Website Spring Cleaning Checklist
The birds are chirping, flowers are beginning to bloom, and the color green is everywhere! It’s spring! Your website needs a bit of spring cleaning, just like the bottom of your closet. Roll up your sleeves, shake out the website welcome mat, and refresh your website. Tidy Up Is your news page updated? When did […]
Ways To Promote The Apis Mobile App (PWA) To Your Audience
We, at Apis Productions, have a few ways you can share your new Apis Mobile app with your audience, through your website, social media, and print assets. A branded “Download Our Mobile App” image like the example below. We provide this at no charge for you to use. A pop-up that showcases your app on your […]
LinkedIn Is Not a One-Way Street
by JP Social media, in general, is often seen as a tool to reach the masses. You might see a stray engagement that way but how often do we actually “engage” back? It’s not effective to just post, leave, and expect unlimited traffic. You’ve got to genuinely ask people (not companies) to give their opinion […]
Hashtags & Instagram
Here a few basic tips about how to use hashtags with Instagram. You can add hashtags in the caption or comments of your post. If you add hashtags to a post that’s set to public, the post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag page. To tag a photo or video with a hashtag: Take […]
Hashtags & Facebook (Plus Proper Use of Tagging & @Mentioning)
Use of Hashtags with Facebook Most people don’t use hashtags with Facebook because they aren’t as useful as Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. I believe they are making a comeback. Businesses can benefit from using hashtags with Facebook in subtle ways. What if your company has one person specifically searching for what your business offers and […]