Suzie Meier - Red Technologies Inc.

If you are a valued client of Red Technologies, or just a fan of our blog (and who isn’t?!), you’ve heard us regularly recommend updating your website.  But what does this really mean?  And why, after spending so much effort creating a cool website, would you need to turn around and update it every month?

Your website is often the first impression clients will receive, so it’s crucial to make it a good one. Here are three big reasons why maintaining your website monthly will earn you a big return on your investment:

1. Security. If your website is hacked, it will cause issues for both your business and your clients. Not only is there the possibility of vital information being stolen, but also the threat of a loss of trust from your clients and online community. Sites are often hacked due to weaknesses from an out-of-date framework or plugin. Ensure you are using a reputable platform that is updated regularly and provides security features. Our web developers utilize WordPress, as it is secure, easy to use, updated often, and well supported by the web development industry. In addition to the threat of hacking, popular search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to provide the best search results. By updating your website and addressing the upgrades, you are maintaining (even increasing) your site’s ranking.
2. Content. Update your website content often to increase SEO, and convert site visitors into users. Customers are looking at the material you are producing to form opinions and gain confidence in your brand. It is vital that your site is adding value to their experience by offering a variety of messages and highlighting any services. By effectively communicating to your target market and providing useful content, you are demonstrating that your company is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and worth their business.
3. Design. You may offer a secure website with incredible content, but if it is hard to read, not mobile friendly or difficult to navigate, it’s unlikely you will increase traffic or sales. A poorly designed website is a turn-off to potential clients, and may cause them to leave your site before even giving you a chance to feature your business. Maintaining your site regularly offers a chance to customize your site design around the needs of your clients and provide a better user experience.

If your online marketing goals include gaining trust, increasing web traffic and conversion rates, building your brand, and providing a positive customer experience, it is imperative you update your website monthly.

Red Technologies is devoted to creating and maintaining strong websites for our clients. If you do not currently update your site regularly and want to start, or have additional questions, please email info@redtechnologiesinc.com.

Check us out and catch up on our blog today!

You know social media is an important component to your business, but creating and posting fresh material on a regular business seems overwhelming. If you often find yourself struggling to find a new way to discuss the same old thing, you’re not alone. Here are a few tips from our experts to help you increase your social media presence.

Create a social media calendar. We know you have the best intentions of regularly posting content to multiple media channels, but then life happens. Your schedule changes, your product delivery is late, a client has a last minute request–soon your profile hasn’t been updated in a week! We get it. Save yourself time and keep your stress levels low by creating a monthly social media calendar. Choose what content you want to share on specific days and schedule your posts in advance. This allows you flexibility in your personal schedule, and keeps your audience engaged.

Share content that resonates. In addition to promoting your brand, make sure to share information with your followers that adds value. If you are only focusing on one topic with each post, your audience will soon lose interest. Find out what people want to know more about by checking out your site and social media analytics. Base future posts on what past information was widely viewed, and add value by providing a range of information that supports your business model. Sharing photos, adding humor, answering FAQs, providing encouragement, and offering tutorials are just a few ways to promote your brand.

Research the optimal time to share. We know your content is crazy good and your audience is hungry for it, but are you sending your messages at the right time, on the best platform?  Depending on your business model and types of messaging, your followers might not be viewing your most important posts. View your analytics to get a personalized view of your site traffic, then select times to post that already work for your page.

Call Red Technologies. If you have no idea what analytics are, don’t have a teenager to run your social media game, or no extra time to invest in liking, tweeting, or ‘gramming, ask for help. Often a small investment in hiring someone to manage your social media presence results in a big return. Red Technologies offers social media support as one of its many online and marketing services. Contact Red Technologies today for more information.

If your business has a WordPress website, you may have heard rumblings of some upcoming enhancements on the horizon. And if you haven’t heard anything yet, all the more reason to read on!

Here at Red Technologies, we appreciate the opportunity to serve businesses and innovate online. We are grateful for our clients’ trust, and it is our priority to help ensure the performance, stability, and security of websites we manage. We also work to provide industry knowledge and share information on upcoming changes. As we explore the two upgrades detailed below, please contact us with additional questions any time.

 Upgrade to WordPress 5.0

WordPress is releasing an enhancement soon that will impact your current site. There will be a number of important feature upgrades, including security and performance improvements, but the most significant update coming is the Gutenberg Editor. WordPress has completely rethought and developed its editor, and Gutenberg will act more as a page builder, similar to popular plugins like WPBakery Page Builder. The goal of the new Gutenberg Editor is to make navigating WordPress easier. However, this new feature will impact any plugins on your site that are outdated. If your current site uses any page builder plugins that are out of date, it is likely this WordPress update will break the functionality of that page builder.

Upgrade to PHP 7.2

Hosting platforms are also updating to PHP 7.2. (PHP refers to Hypertext Preprocessor, a server side scripting language designed for web development). The benefits of moving to the PHP 7.2 platform include increased performance, faster page speed, and greater memory efficiency. Sites that do not migrate to PHP 7.2 will have no critical security support after January 2019. Some of your websites may require development work and plugin or theme updates in order to successfully upgrade to PHP 7.2. At this time, WP Engine is requiring both upgrades be completed in the first months of 2019. While we’re not sure of the timeline for other providers we believe it is on the horizon.

What do these enhancements mean for you?

Eek! That sounds bad. And it could be, depending on the age and functionality of your site. If Red Technologies is your current website partner, we want to make these upgrades as easy as possible. In order to maintain your current website, Red Technologies will need to update your site. If you are a member of our monthly website security and maintenance program, we will take care of this migration for you at no additional cost.

If you are not a part of the monthly security package, we need to assess your website and offer an estimate of the time needed for the upgrade. Due to the unknown volume or time it may take to update our clients, we will work on a first come, first serve basis for these requests.

Not sure what a hosting platform or plugin is because your cousin Eddie built your site a few years back? Contact your web tech support guru as soon as possible. And if they are not available, email us at info@redtechnologiesinc.com.

We know your website is an important component of your business, and don’t want you to suffer the impacts of an error code, or an inefficient site. Red Technologies is at the forefront of web security, functionality upgrades, SEO, and marketing needs. In addition to free website and online brand evaluations, our experts are available to consult on site enhancements and efficiency upgrades. Contact Red Technologies today at info@redtechnologiesinc.com to learn more about upcoming technology updates.

How many videos have you watched online today? 2? 20?! Chances are your day is packed with video viewership; from online ads to educational content, clips from family and friends to your favorite forms of entertainment. Need to fix a faucet? Want to try a new makeup application? Looking for some cute puppies to boost your mood? There is a clip for that! Video is on its way to becoming the preferred content platform for nearly all demographics. So how can it work for you?

See it in SEO

We talk a lot about SEO (or search engine optimization) at Red Technologies, and video is an ideal way to increase your ranking. Search engines love video and make video content a priority when ranking. Distributing videos through social media, posting on blogs, and embedding on websites greatly increases the likelihood your target audience will find you when searching for relevant and related information.

Is your cell phone within reach?

Video ads perform well with mobile users. In fact, most video advertising is created to be device friendly. Marketers know many users spend more time watching videos on personal devices than scrolling through social media. Short video advertising quickly captures an audience, assists in making decisions on purchases, and is easily shared between users.

Dialing in to your client experience

Video advertising allows your target audience to quickly expand through multiple channels. Campaigns on your website can help connect to your current and potential clients through multiple social networks, mobile devices, connected TVs, and so much more. By using video you are connecting with your consumer’s experience and increasing your brand awareness.

Sharing is caring

Online videos are brief, specific, convenient, and love to be shared. More than 1 billion videos are shared daily through social media. By utilizing video advertising, you are informing consumers about your brand and allowing them to share in the online experience. And it wouldn’t hurt if they spread the word for you, would it?

You may have heard rumblings about the upcoming Google Chrome 68 changes.  For months, Google has been warning users that all websites will need to have SSL Certification for their Chrome browser, or be forever doomed, “NOT SECURE”.  This update, slated for July 2018, has been in the works for years in an effort to improve user and page security.

After this migration, when a consumer types in a site URL to the Google Chrome browser, websites without the S in HTTPS will be flagged as “Not Secure”. Sites without the new certification will look something like this:

To be clear, this is not currently a requirement, and a potential customer can still proceed to any site, with or without the SSL certification.  However, trends indicate this will be a standardized condition for secure websites in the near future.

Why you should care

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a method that allows encryption of data being transferred over a server. SSL Certificates will help secure sensitive information and establishes an encrypted connection, leaving consumers less vulnerable to hackers.

If your website drives any amount of business, you should take note. A valid SSL certificate allows you to:

1. Build trust in your site, your brand, and your customers.
2. Keep your site secure and data encrypted.
3. Ensure stable Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the ability for people to find you. Google will start to push non-SSL certified sites to bottom of the results page.

It is in your best interest to update your website security sooner rather than later.

How to get SSL Certification

There are a variety of certificate options available, depending on your website size, needs, and usage. If you have an account with a technology or server manager, contact them for more information. Often, certification and upgrades are available, or included, with your membership.

Red Technologies is at the forefront of web security, SEO, and marketing needs. In addition to free website and online brand evaluations, their experts are available to consult on web security issues and SSL certifications. Contact Red Technologies today at info@redtechnologiesinc.com to learn more about website security.