Old City Web Services

The Evolution of Websites

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The evolution of websites has featured significant advancements since the creation of the world wide web in 1989. In fact, every few years there are enormous technological changes in the way they look and how we use them. While comparing the look of old websites to websites today can be a fun walk down memory lane, it also sheds a light on how quickly websites can go from ‘on trend’ to outdated. While we hope this blog is interesting, we also hope it highlights how important it is to keep up with the Joneses (and your competitor) by redesigning your website every few years!

Evolution of Websites from 1990 to 2000:

Having been created in 1989, the world wide web was just starting out when our timeline begins in 1990. In fact, was 1991 when the first website would be created and today, it is hardly recognizable as it only had a single column of text.

Once websites became more popular, they would make leaps and jumps in appearances. In fact, two noteworthy advancements between 1990 and 2000 include the creation of table-based sites and a new software called Flash. While table-based sites were substantial because they made it possible to create websites with multiple columns, Flash was equally as unique because it gave websites the ability to have videos, music, and graphics with animation. Both advancements significantly changed the appearance of websites as well as promoted better user-experience and content organization.

Websites from the ’90s: OldCity.com (1998), Nascar.com (1996), CountryLiving.com (1997).

Fun facts during this time:

  • Splash pages became a fad among designers. A splash page was a page that users hit before hitting the main website; designers added logos and moving graphics or text to catch the eye of the user.
  • Background images, animated text, scrolling text, and GIFs became popular across websites.
  • Website page builders became available to anyone with an internet connection and allowed them to build their own websites. Examples of these programs include Angel Fire and GeoCities.

Evolution of Websites from 2000 to 2010:

In the early 2000s, a programming language called CSS (cascading style sheets) became a widely popular way to build websites. At this time, CSS was used in conjunction with HTML which is another popular programming language. While only using HTML mandated creators to code each individual element on a website, the combination of CSS and HTML allowed creators to define elements across a website. Instead of writing out an entire website, creators could write the code for elements once (title sizes, colors, header images, etc.) and have it mimicked across the website.

JavaScript is another programming language that became popular at this time and is useful in a completely different way. In fact, its biggest superpower is that it can add animation to a website that doesn’t need to be read by a secondary program. Up until this time, Flash was pretty much exclusively used to add animation to a website. However, animations built with Flash could only be read with the program Flash Player and not every computer had it.

CSS and JavaScript gave creators more wiggle room and layout capabilities. As a result, the world wide web was seeing more websites using animated buttons and call-to-actions to interact with users as well as websites with uniformity, sleeker layouts, and more organized content.

Websites from 2005: OldCity.com, Nascar.com, and CountryLiving.com.

Fun facts during this time:

  • In 2003, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 became the first web browser to support more than 99% of CSS websites with no glitches or loading errors.
  • In 2004, Facebook (formerly TheFacebook) launched for the first time.
  • The first version of Google’s popular website browser, Chrome, was created in 2008.

Evolution of Websites from 2010 to 2020:

Although internet access on a mobile phone was available prior to 2010, it was in the years after 2010 that mobile responsive design became a priority for websites. This resulted in progressively minimal websites. For example, instead of getting the attention of users with flashy designs, designers began to focus on layouts that were tall and skinny. This ideology helped the experience on a mobile phone be just as delightful as that on a desktop.

Furthermore, although it can be argued that websites have been optimized for search engines for decades, it wasn’t until the few years before 2010 that creators began to competitively add it to their marketing strategy. As a result, the content of a website became about SEO and therefore, design became about the layout of the content. This only further stressed the importance of a bare-minimum layout. Soon thereafter, more and more websites were redesigned to have reduced navigation of only the main areas of the website, images that shrink on smaller devices, as well as content that gets straight to the point of the website.

OldCity.com (2012), Nascar.com (2015), and CountryLiving.com (2015)

Fun facts during this time:

  • In 2016, the number of people browsing the internet on a smartphone surpassed the number of people browsing the internet on a desktop.
  • The programs Facebook, Mozilla, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have stopped supporting Flash Player because of its vulnerability.
  • There are 1,742,651,546 websites online as of January 15, 2020.
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Don’t get left behind, get a redesign!

Websites are changing faster than ever and it’s only a matter of time until newer trends like mobile responsiveness are old news. Additionally, people can tell if your website looks a decade, or even a half a decade old. So, don’t get left behind! Instead, let us give your website a facelift with a redesign. After all, the number of consumers that shop, plan, and research on the internet is only rising.

Press the button below or call us at 904-867-4112 to get started on a redesign that will make your business shine.

Have a redesign in mind?

Sources: EZ Marketing, HubSpot, Neil Patel, Pew Research, Search Engine Journal

Mission Statement

The mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success.

Please share and re-post this blog.  Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on Old City Web Services Blog.

Free SEO Tools

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Image contains a sketch of two people carrying a body to an elevator. The elevator is labeled "Page 2 of search results."

Check out this list of free SEO tools that we’ve compiled. Among the tools are a simple checklist, a website grader, and a domain analyzer. Each tool will bring you a little closer to understanding where your website is on the SEO spectrum. Now, don’t worry – we know many people find this subject confusing. That’s why we’ve selected free SEO tools that are incredibly easy to use.

Keep in mind, these free SEO tools aren’t the single solution to an optimized website.

Now, you may be confused as to why you’re seeing this list of free SEO tools coming from us in the first place. In fact, we often encourage our clients to hire reputable professionals – like us – to optimize their websites for them. However, it never hurts to learn more about a topic that directly affects the success of your business! We can guarantee that the following tools aren’t the end-all-be-all to online marketing. But, by experiementing with them you will have a better understanding of SEO in general. That’s not such a bad thing since SEO is a topic that many people still find mystical.

As promised, here are easy-to-use, free SEO tools:

A good SEO strategy is the only way to succeed in the competitive online world.

But, just learning about optimization through the free SEO tools above isn’t enough. In fact, there’s still a lot of work to be done. The next step? Contact us and we’ll get started on an SEO strategy for you that is created by professional search engine optimizers. The sooner you get us working on your website’s optimization, the sooner we can get your website headed to the top of the search engine result pages (SERP).

Call us at 904-867-4112 or contact us by clicking the button below and filling out a form.

Press for Success

Mission Statement

The mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success.

Please share and re-post this blog.  Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on Old City Web Services Blog.

Use Listings and Online Reviews to Boost Your SEO

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Why Do Listings & Reviews Boost My SEO?

More times than not, people research a business before making a purchase. A huge part of that research is checking their listings and online reviews. In fact, online reviews have been proven to affect 67.5% of purchasing decisions. Furthermore, search engines understand that consumers take online reviews seriously and therefore consider it when deciding where your website should end up in the search engine result pages. As a result, having business listings on multiple sites should be part of your SEO strategy.

So how can you optimize where you end up in the search engine results with your listings and reviews? That's easy! Use the following websites to set up your business listing: Google, Angie’s List, Yelp, Yellow Pages, White Pages, and Super Pages. After all, having your listing on multiple sites is similar to having multiple trustworthy people recommend your business. Additionally, listings on these sites are usually free of charge and are helpful with SEO in two ways. The first is that Google trusts sites with reviews; the second is that it's another way to backlink to your site.

But, it's important that your listings and reviews are helping your SEO and not hurting it. Don't know where to start? Don't worry, we've got you covered.

Online Sales

Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your Listings and Reviews

  • First things first, add your business listing to multiple outlets. The sites listed above are a great place to start. Remember, more business listings means more backlinks to credible sites, resulting in more effective search engine optimization.
  • Secondly, be sure that your business listings display the same information across the board. For example, if you write out the word street on your Google listing, be sure to write it out on every listing instead of the abbreviation.
  • It's extremely important to reply to every review whether it be with a thank you or an apology for a bad experience.
  • Encourage your repeat and ideal customers to write online reviews about your business.
  • Not all your reviews need to be five-stars. In fact, too many five-star reviews may lead customers to think the reviews are fake, causing them to become skeptical of your business.
  • You'll need five five-star reviews to counteract what a one-star review does to your overall rating average. So, although a one-star review isn't the end of the world, it should be taken seriously.
  • Google and other search engines alike know the difference between organic reviews and paid for reviews. Be sure that your reviews are organic and NEVER pay for reviews.

If you have questions about business listings, how to respond to reviews or your SEO strategy, don't hesitate to contact us!

Our Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success.

Please share and re-post this blog.  Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.

The Importance of an SSL Certificate

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Image contains a map and a laptop with a picture of a lock on it.

The Importance of an SSL certificate.

An SSL certificate is a technology that encrypts information traveling from a website’s server to a visitors browser and vice versa. Nowadays, it isn’t unusual for people to choose to manage their finances or keep sensitive information saved on their computer. The heightened popularity of sending this type of information through emails, online forms, and online purchases has set in motion the need for a higher level of cybersecurity. As a business owner, the best way to protect the data of your website’s visitors is by purchasing an SSL certificate.

It adds security to your website.

First and foremost, the greatest importance of an SSL certificate is that it protects the information transmitted to and from your computer. It does this by encrypting the information. In other words,  it turns it into a code that hackers can't read it. The result is that all information provided through online signup forms, logins, addresses, and payments is private.

It helps with SEO.

Of course, an SSL certificate isn't the be-all-end-all as far as SEO (search engine optimization) strategies go, but it does help. In fact, it was Google (one of the top search engines) that advocated the importance of an SSL certificate. Similar to how responsive websites became vital a few years ago, SSL certificates are now the new standard.

It provides a sense of security to users.

Image contains screenshots of a secure address bar and not secure address bar.

Most search engines now mark websites without an SSL certificate as not secure.

At first, online users may not have noticed the difference between secure and not secure websites. The cosmetic difference was only a small tweak; an 's' was added to the URL of each secure page. This changed the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) found in a URL to HTTPs (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure).  However, Google and search engines alike rapidly informed users through added imagery to address bars. Now users know that an icon of a lock in their address bar signifies a secure site.

How do I get an SSL certificate?

The easiest way to add an SSL certificate to your website is through a web firm such as Old City Web Services. Since there are an array of types of certificates, we are your best bet at purchasing and installing the correct SSL certificate for your website. Once you've decided to pull the trigger, your web firm will install the certificate to protect your pages, forms, images, videos, and any other content on your website.

Don't push off securing your website for another day. Contact us for more information.

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Please share and re-post this blog.  Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.

Images: Seo and Accessibility Do’s/Don’ts

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Websites are a marketing piece that consumers use to learn about products and services. But, what if your website isn’t accessible to everyone? For example, what if your website isn’t user-friendly to American’s with disabilities that use screen readers to navigate the internet? Although many businesses are not in spaces that require ADA compliant websites, SEO and accessibility are imperative for every website.

Optimizing your images, videos, and other non-text elements for screen readers is a sure way to make your website more accessible. But, many times the way you optimize for a screen reader can conflict with the way you optimize for search engines. So, we’ve devised a list of do’s and don’ts to help you navigate improving the accessibility of your images, videos, and non-text elements without compromising SEO.

Do This

  • Do write alt attributes for people and not just for search engine robots. This way, when a person using a screen reader visits your site, the description of the image makes sense. See Figure 1's caption for an example.

    A photo of a french bull dog laying down.

    Figure 1: An appropriate alt attribute for this photo is, "A photo of a tan french bulldog laying down." This is a good alt attribute because it is short and accurately describes the image.

  • Do keep alt attributes short, sweet, and to the point. If you have a detailed photo and would like to add more information put it in a caption or in the body text. Most screen readers are programmed to read up to 125 characters in an alt attribute.
  • Do use the word "null" for decorative images. A decorative image is an image that doesn't make the content of a website richer; it serves solely as a decoration. "Null" signifies to screen readers and search engines that the image isn't crucial and it can safely be ignored.
  • Do use terms like "Figure 1:", "Image 1:", or "Illustration 1:" to describe the image you are captioning if you have many images on a single page. This way, persons using assistive technology will know exactly which image you are referring to.
  • Do provide full transcripts for videos and audio. This is twofold as it assists those using screen readers and helps search engines understand the content of non-text elements.

Confused about the "do's" above? No problem, give us a call and we'll explain them to you.

Do Not Do This

  • Do not use an alt attribute for an image with a link attached if there is anchor text near the image with the same link attached. Screen readers will read the anchor text and alt attribute for the image, so it will sound repetitive and weird. Instead, use "null" as the alt attribute for your image. From an SEO perspective, it isn't ideal to skip an alt attribute for an image you'd like to appear in search engine results. In this case, we recommend attaching the link to the anchor text and not the image, this way you can optimize the image by adding the appropriate alt attribute.

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    Figure 2: An example of a text graphic.

  • Do not use an alt attribute if you've used a caption unless you enter completely different text in each. Screen readers will read both the caption and alt attribute for images, videos, and other non-text elements; it will sound repetitive if you use similar descriptions.
  • Do not try to convey the information from your infographic in an alt attribute. Screen readers aren't programmed to read long alt attributes. In the same respect, it is important that a person using a screen reader has access to the information from the infographic. Be sure to describe your infographic in the text of the body or in a caption.
  • Do not use text-graphics when possible, unless it is for your logo. Instead, write the text out and find a more appropriate image.

If you need help with SEO or the accessibility of your website, contact us!

Tip for Success - Backing Up Your Files

We often hear about the importance of securing personal information to keep it safe from hackers. But, it is just as important to secure your business information. The heightened threat of ransomware, hackers, and phishing emails all point to one thing: it is critical to make good backups for your business files.

Additionally, it won’t cost you a lot of money. In fact, it will save you money in the long run because not getting hacked means you can avoid paying to fix computers when your computer has been hacked and someone is holding your files hostage. If you are a small business, like us, you can purchase external storage devices to back up your files on. But remember, after backing up you must remove the device from your computer.

Backing up is also helpful during this time of the year when hurricanes are brewing, and you may not have the space to take all your office computers with you. It is easy to pack a one, two, or three terabyte external storage device and off you go! It will save you time and money!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing. Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog. Photo credits: Old City Web Services.

WordPress vs Squarespace

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Terms to Know

Open source – Software that's built and added to by the public. Open source CMS’ don’t have owners. A community of developers, programmers, businesses, individuals work on it simultaneously and have rights to the plugins and themes they create.

Themes - A theme is the underlying functionality of a website.

CMS (Content Management System) – A platform for your website that allows multiple users to manage website content, such as WordPress.

Plugins - Plugins are functions that you can add to your website such as a calendar, a reservation bar, a scheduling bar, or to convert to an eCommerce site.

Let’s Get Started

So, how did we decide which builders to compare? We chose WordPress because of its long-standing reliability – which is also why we recommend it to customers. We chose Squarespace for its growing popularity. Before we get into the major differences between Squarespace and WordPress, it’s important for you to know the context in which we’re comparing the two CMS’.

Businesses that use WordPress hire a company (like Old City Web Services) to manage their site. In the same respect, businesses that use Squarespace for their site manage it on their own, without ownership or the expertise of search engine optimizers and designers.

Limited Design Capabilities with Squarespace

WordPress

Businesses depend on designers and developers to create a website that accurately portrays their business, even if that owner knows how to work their way through a WordPress site. Designers have a trained eye for critical architect-based issues, they know how to make your site responsive on every device, and they know how to grab the attention of users.

Squarespace

Initially, Squarespace is less expensive than hiring a company to build your site. With easy-to-navigate templates and simple, appealing design, anyone could build a website on this software and have it running in a day. But with this quick fix comes some downfalls to be aware of. Your choices of the themes and plugins are extremely limited. You also risk building a biased site that you think is great, but customers might not feel the same about.

Squarespace vs WordPress - DIY Logo and DIY Website

A DIY Squarespace website with a DIY logo on the Home Page. As you can see, there is no clear call to action on the Home Page, the logo is distracting, and the image quality isn't great. These are all common mistakes you can avoid by hiring a designer.

You Don’t Own Your Squarespace Site

WordPress

You legally own the rights to templates and plugins you purchase for your WordPress site. Contrary to that, if you wanted to move your site from WordPress to Joomla or Drupal, you won't be able to use those plugins in the new CMS. However, this is usually a non-issue for people. The versatility of open source CMS' is way beyond that of CMS' like Squarespace. So in a scenario where you're already using an open source CMS, you're unlikely to feel the need to move it, because they don't have the same limitations as Squarespace.

Squarespace

In the section above “Design”, we spoke a little on the disadvantages of designing a site yourself. Now, Squarespace may help you with some design issues such as by providing you with templates that you can insert content or images into. However, that is not your property. They own your domain. If you ever wanted to merge your website over to a more versatile software such as WordPress, Joomla, or Dubla you can’t take your Squarespace site, themes, or plugins with you. To move your content to another CMS, you'd have to copy and paste it from Squarespace.

Additionally, unlike WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, Squarespace doesn't back up your site for you. If you're adding content to the backend of your site, Squarespace doesn't save your earlier drafts. In case you need to refer back to old content, they only recommended that you copy and paste your content into a word document and save it. WordPress, on the other hand, keeps a record of your revisions.

SEO is More Difficult & More Expensive When You DIY

WordPress

There are plugins available for your WordPress site that can help you with SEO. One of the most popular ones is Yoast, which is easy to use and approaches SEO with a step-by-step mentality. Furthermore, Yoast offers a free version of the plugin that is suitable for many of our customers. The free version of Yoast focuses on keyword optimization, calculation of the Flesch reading score of your content, technicalities in code, along with checking for duplicate content.

Squarespace

While Squarespace has a few plugins, they have nowhere near as many as WordPress. The majority of Squarespace plugins are generic, such as social media icons, photo galleries, and accordions. This means you’ll have to hire extra help with optimizing your site so that it ranks in Google and other search engines. Of course, you can always attempt to optimize your site for search engines yourself. But, this trial and error method will take up a lot of your time.

To Sum it Up...

Since we’ve told you All About the Benefits of WordPress, we thought we should also shed light on the major differences between WordPress and DIY (do-it-yourself) website builders. Using a DIY website builder runs the same risks as creating a DIY logo. In fact, most of the time we recommend our clients only use opensource CMS’ like WordPress and hire a team to build the site for them. We hope this information was helpful!

Tip for Success

Bobby here with another Tip for Success about the risks associated with building a site on Squarespace without a designer. Squarespace is popular because of its easy-to-use structure, right? But, just because the average person can build a website with this software, doesn’t guarantee the finished product is rock solid. To understand this, its important to know the fundamentals of what goes into designing a site.

The task of a designer goes beyond the metrics of color schemes and placement. In fact, a good designer will analyze every characteristic of the page: the navigation, the padding around text blocks and images, the amount of text, the spacing and readability of the font, the sizes of images, the quality of images, the flow of the page, and so much more. The key to successfully doing this is being objective and unbiased – which designers are trained to do!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing. Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog. Squarespace website photo: Mission Chinese Food. Comparison chart: First Site Guide.

OldCity Web Services – Highlights of 2017

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Check out a few highlights from our year in 2017.
From website and print designs to new content services, SEO efforts, and pro bono projects – we’ve been busy!

Advertorials

Advertising and Content

In 2017 we implemented a new type of advertising on OldCity.com, called advertorials. We now offer a 300-word blog, made-to-order for our clients. Advertisers can use advertorials to spread the word on sales, services, general awareness and more. Our first client was the franchisee of the local chain, Dunkin’ Donuts. Check it out.

Content Writing

St. Augustine Historic Inns

In other content news, the St. Augustine Historic Inns requested we create intriguing blogs for their customers, which are then published on the bottom of their Home Page. The blogs vary in topic, but all pertain to things-to-do, holidays, and events in St. Augustine. Now, when potential customers navigate to the Inn’s website, they are greeted with material that is persuasive, making them more inclined to book a trip to exciting St. Augustine!

Print Design

Bluewater Adventure

Bluewater Adventure Rack Card Design

Front and back of rack card designed for Bluewater Adventure.

Bluewater Adventure’s made a big move from the waters of South Carolina to the Old City that prompted them to redesign their rack card, which was no longer accurate. Our team decided the only way to fully capture their quality tours was by taking on the Intercoastal Waterway ourselves! We set up a Bluewater Adventure photo shoot and scored photos of the catamarans in action along with phenomenal photos of The Great Cross and Castillo de San Marcos. Now, on the front of the rack card is a proper representation of the sightseeing opportunities you have when sailing with Bluewater Adventure.

Magazine Advertisement Design

Gator Door East Inc.

Gator Door East used this advertisement for their big debut in St. Johns County Parade of Homes magazine! After learning they’d be a featured business, Gator Door sat down with our team to create an influential and compelling ad to catch the attention of shoppers! Don’t you just a-door this ad?

Business Card and Site Design

Jack Ward Fire

Jack Ward Fire, recently under new ownership, desired a brand with a haute look, reflecting their field of work. Working through fire and flames, we presented them with what is now their company’s business card. They were so pleased with the fire-hot cards, that our design team is currently working with them on a smokin’ hot site.

E-commerce Solutions

Minorcan Datil

After facing multiple issues with X-Cart commerce solutions, Minorcan owner decided to upgrade to a more modern system, WordPress. Our development team knew that WordPress’s, user-friendly, Woo-commerce theme would satisfy her desire to add new products, edit old products, and raise her customer satisfactory level. Now, Minorcan can concentrate on managing customers and products without the hassle of learning how to navigate a difficult system.

Site and Logo Redesign

Rodbender Fishing Charters

The fishing charter industry in Northeast Florida can be compared to a shark tank, it’s a competitive field and standing out in the crowd can be difficult. After a consultation, it was clear to Chuck Stearns, owner, that Rodbender Fishing Charters needed a fresh logo and easy-to-navigate site. The design team created a few mockups and Chuck decided on this creative logo and simple site. Now, the Homepage of his site subtly answers frequently asked questions and has three call-to-action charter packages. As for the logo, if you can think of a better design, let minnow.

Site Design and Launch

R.V. Cooper Construction

R.V. Cooper Construction is a local construction company servicing St. Augustine and surrounding areas. Remarkably, since 1998, the company has relied on word of mouth to reach new clients; their quality workmanship and attentiveness in guiding customers was their business strategy. However, the competitive nature of the construction field prompted them to make their web presence concrete. Ricky Cooper, the owner, desired a platform that would showcase the construction process, to ease the customer experience. Our team raised the roof by creating Cooper’s beautiful new site; straightforward, simple and user-friendly.

Search Engine Optimization

Ranking Efforts

Search engine optimization (SEO), is imperative for every business to incorporate into their business plan. In 2017, our SEO team worked with nearly a dozen local businesses, developing key-terms and strategies to gain a higher ranking in their search engine results.

Multipurpose Online Designs

St. Joseph Academy

Old City Web Services also did a few pro-bono projects in 2017. One of our favorites was creating a series of 14 athletic-banners for St. Joseph Academy’s sports teams, the Flashes. It was important that the banners could be transferred and size-well whether they were added to newsletters, emails, print media, or their site. Our team sparked the Flashes interest with a lightning bolt and bold imagery. Go team!

Logo Design

The Ponce Hotel

Upon branching out from under the franchise, Magnuson Hotels, The Ponce Hotel needed a fresh look and logo. Our design team worked with the new interior designer at the Ponce on matching the color scheme used inside the hotel. In conclusion, they decided on the simple yet elegant logo.

Love what you see? Call us for a consultation.

Check out other work we've done for clients.

Two things clients can do to push security efforts is to never trust embedded URLs or unsolicited mail. This may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t believe the number of times a client is hacked because they thought they recognized the “From:” address in a spam mail. Also, be on guard for shady apps requesting unusual permission’s – especially mobile ones!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing.
Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.
Photo credits: Old City Web Services

Is Google Turning Into a Helicopter Parent?

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Terms you Need to Know

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): how we send and receive information on the web. For example, by typing "fall activities in St. Augustine," in Google's search box, you are actually sending a command to a server. In return the server fetches the information.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): is the technology that allows information to be encrypted between the web server and browser. An SSL Certificate can vary in cost depending on the level of security needed. If you are in need of an SSL Certificate, contact Old City Web Services today

HTTPs (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure): is a secure way to send and receive information. The information you would normally get through HTTP is encrypted through HTTPs.

 

Is Google Serious?

This past January, Google Chrome decided to become that uncool mom - who is so cautious that it is literally crippling. The number one search engine began marking websites that require sensitive information, like credit cards, social security numbers, and passwords, without the HTTPs in the URL as not-secure.

But, this crazy soccer mom, is only getting started. This October, they are taking security to the next level and will mark ANY website you interact with, that does not have HTTPs in the URL, as not-secure. So far they are defining interaction as, anything you enter into a text box, including search boxes. To promote a safer internet they are placing icons at the beginning of URLs.

Will Google Standards Effect Your Business?

A secure website undoubtedly brings users comfort while they browse your site, but, it is not detrimental to your business plan. If you are requesting sensitive information, OCWS suggests you spend the few extra bucks and become SSL certified - to protect your clients and yourself from liability. The bummer is that adding SSL Certification to your website slows down the streaming of your page, because there is an extra step in place - which encrypts information. The good news is that it is possible to only certify certain pages or forms!

If you are interested in SSL certifying your website, or individual pages, OCWS works with GeoTrust, to provide certifications for our clients. Contact us today!

Rumor has it that Google's new standard will cause search results to place HTTPs sites above HTTP sites. We have not noticed this as yet. The reliability of information on your website at large, remains to be what will predominantly effect your SEO.

A tip for success:
Create A Newsletter
One simple way to stay in-touch with your customers is to create a newsletter. It can then be sent directly to your audiences' inbox wherever they are and they will know what's going with your business. Newsletters are also an awesome way to share current specials and events with your audience.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing.
Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.

4 Ways to Prepare Businesses for the Holidays

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Prepare your business for the holidays

Fall is just a few days away, and that means the holidays will be here before you know it. While it seems like we’re still in the midst of summer, people start prepping for the holidays months in advance. According to the National Retail Foundation, more than half of consumers begin research in September and October or earlier.

If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to prepare your business for the biggest shopping days of the year. Small adjustments now could make a big impact when it comes to your overall holiday sales. Just as the number of people shopping will increase drastically, so will your competition. So, how do you stand out?

Plan out your holiday advertising.

Now is the time to plan out how you are going to spend your holiday advertising budget. Take a look at where your current customer base is coming from. What is the most effective way to reach them? There are a multitude of ways you can advertise including print publications, online advertisements such as Google Ads, advertising through websites such as OldCity.com, social media marketing campaigns, and more.

 

Take advantage of the biggest shopping days.

Shopping

It goes without saying that there are a few days in the holiday season that seem to have become a holiday of their own. We’re talking about Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. What makes these days so popular? Fantastic deals and the appeal of getting most, if not all, of your holiday shopping done in a matter of hours. It’s all about convenience these days.

So, how do you compete?

  • Know which days you want to target. You don’t have to participate in each of the four days. Choose which of the four match up with your company. For example, if you have a local boutique, Small Business Saturday would be perfect for you. And if you have an online shopping website, you could also participate in Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
  • Decide ahead of time which deals you will be offering. Making decisions months in advance allows you the opportunity to make sure you have plenty of inventory in stock.
  • Advertise this through your website, social media accounts, and emails. The only way your customers or potential customers will know about your sales is if you tell them, so spread the word.

Invest in SEO now to be found later.

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We can’t stress this enough. Investing in Search Engine Optimization is key to being found online. You could have the best website, but, without SEO, it’s likely not too many people will see it. By incorporating SEO now, you’re giving your website time to build ranking among search engines – the better the ranking, the better chance your audience has of finding you.

 

Make sure your website is efficient and up-to-date.

The holiday season is a time to put your best foot forward and make sure your website is in order. Last year, 44 percent of shopping during Thanksgiving weekend took place online. Your website says just as much about you as your brick and mortar store does. It’s often the first impression you make to potential customers, so it’s best to make sure it reflects your business well.

Check to make sure you have the following:

  • Responsiveness
    • Is your site easy to navigate? Does it work well on all devices?
  • An efficient checkout process
    • Make sure your checkout process is quick and simple. A slow or complicated check out could lose a sale and a customer.
  • Current design
    • When was the last time you updated your website or logo? Does your website reflect your business? It is important for all aspects of your business to be cohesive, and since more people will be looking at your website during the holiday season, there's never been a better time to consider upgrading your look.
  • Good quality photos
    • When people are shopping online, they equate the quality of the photo to the quality of the product. It's really all they have to go on, so it has to be well-done.
  • Relevant, well-written content
    • When was the last time you updated your content? Take a few minutes to read through your website. Could it use some refreshing? Well-written content not only paints a picture for your customers but also helps you with your ranking online. The organic use of relevant keywords helps boost your rankings with search engines.
  • Current on updates and maintenance
    • Is your site working to its potential? If not, now is the best time to perform updates and maintenance on your site.

We can help.

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Planning for the holidays while trying to run a business can be overwhelming. Let us help you! Whether you need an updated website, photos for your products or services, help with SEO, or a strategic marketing campaign, our team is here to help with any project you may have. Contact us today for a free consultation to help you get prepared for the holiday season!

Consistency is King

by Leave a Comment

tips-success-Stephen
Hi there! Steve coming at you from Old City Web Services; I lead the SEO efforts for our fine company.
In my first addition to the "Tips For Success" series, I'd like to share an important aspect of digital marketing that every business owner or operator can leverage - "NAP consistency." NAP is an SEO term that represents name, address and phone number. In order to show up effectively in search engines (especially the maps area), you will want to make sure that your name, address and phone number are listed EXACTLY the same, with the same details and format across the web. In other words, if the address you have listed on your website says "suite 4" and the address you on Google Business and Yelp says "ste 4" - this is bad, and it will keep you from reaching your full ranking potential.
Want to learn more about how our team can help improve your search engine rankings?

 

Need help updating your Google Business, Yelp, Yahoo and more?

 

Contact us today for a FREE consultation!
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We are Old City Web Services. We make it easy for small businesses to thrive online. Whether you need a professional website, help attracting more customers, or a fresh new look for your brand, we’ve got you covered. With over 20 years of experience, we specialize in simple, affordable solutions that work for businesses like yours. Let us handle the tech so you can focus on what you do best—running your business.

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