actual \ virtual

website management, maintenance, and consulting

Working Artist Wednesday: Building a Better Website

Brian Wetjen speaking at the Omaha Creative Institute's Working Artist Wednesday session on Building a Better Website

photo by Susan Woodford – https://susanwoodford.com/

I had the great fortune to lead one of the Omaha Creative Institute‘s Working Artist Wednesday sessions with the topic of Building a Better Website. It was a whirlwind tour of the many things that are good to factor in when evaluating your site’s effectiveness – specifically geared towards artists.

While it’s really impossible to cover these things thoroughly in about an hour, we focused on these key concepts:

  • Choosing a platform
  • What a website is good for
  • Integrating your marketing efforts
  • Content and SEO
  • Measurement and analytics
  • Selling online

Then we stepped through some actual sites to review these key components in context. Questions and answers, lively discussion, and – most importantly – snacks – were enjoyed by all.

Here are some links to resources used and referenced in my presentation:

Finally – I know our time was brief and we couldn’t cover everything or answer all questions. If you want to talk more or follow up, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Website Launch: RobertTreat.com

Today we launched an all-new website for the artist Robert Treat, who lives in San Diego, California.

Robert needed a new website that he could easily make updates to himself. After reviewing his wants, needs, and requirements, we decided that SquareSpace was the best platform to build his new site on. While SquareSpace has its limitations from a design and development standpoint, it also has advantages – it’s fast and easy to get going. And it’s a great value for what you get.

We started by setting up a basic framework within SquareSpace based on Robert’s previous website and then updating content and layout for the new theme. Since Robert’s previous site was not built within a content management system and was somewhat dated, additions like lightboxed image galleries were quite welcome.

From start to finish, the project took around 4 weeks to complete with a lot of that time being spent on working through copy edits and re-processing images to allow for viewing larger sizes within the artwork galleries on the new site.

SquareSpace can be a decent option for simple websites where the built-in functionality covers all the necessary bases and the provided themes are acceptable. We found the features to price ratio to be just right for what Robert wanted out of the new website, and actual \ virtual will help manage and maintain the site.

 

 

Making the Web More Secure

Google announced today that beginning in July, 2018, their Chrome browser will start flagging non-HTTPS sites as unsafe.

This is a big deal. Up until now, it didn’t really matter if your site was secured or not unless you were submitting data via forms, and in particular, sensitive data like credit card info. Google had also previously advised that they would flag unsecured pages with forms, but flagging entire sites is a step up.

Be sure to secure your website with HTTPS by installing a SSL certificate

Fortunately, the remedy is simple. Every web hosting provider offers SSL certificates. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, but all you really need to know about it is that the SSL certificate is what gets you the little “secure” indicator in the browser and it’s what encrypts communications between the browser and the server.

actual \ virtual can help you secure your website and take care of your site’s SSL certificate. Contact »

actual \ virtual is here to help with your website

One thing I’ve seen throughout my career in planning, designing, and developing websites has been pretty consistent: After the planning, designing, and developing is complete, a site’s day-to-day maintenance and management often gets sidelined until it’s absolutely necessary or something breaks.

I’m here to help with that.

Consider me part of your team. I’ll take care of all your updates and edits. I’ll apply software upgrades, keep your database optimized, and ensure that site security is up to snuff. You’ll have complete site backups to help ensure continuity should we never need it. And when you need a major update or help with integrating your online presence with other business services, you’ve got someone with a lot of experience on your side to help.

actual \ virtual services include:

  • Website updates and maintenance
  • Web design and development
  • Domain name registration and renewal
  • Web hosting management
  • Website, file, and database backups
  • Software and plugin patches and upgrades
  • Website analytics and traffic reporting
  • Search engine optimization
  • Secure certificate (SSL) setup, registration, renewal, and maintenance
  • Website security
  • Working in tandem with your sales, marketing, and design staff or partners
  • Strategic consulting

I’ll help you take good care of your website so you can focus on your business.