Website Design and Marketing
Post
A new year brings a fresh start and reason to review your policies that are in place to protect data. We want your data and your customers’ ...
December 2019 Update: A new rash of these is being reported by our clients in recent days… Whether it’s a scam or a questionable tactic ...
Have you ever been in this scenario? Perhaps you’re a brand new company that just made a website, and you’re struggling to come up on Google. Or ...
Do you have the content for a blog post but it’s looking a little wordy? You probably need some visuals to kick things up a little bit. ...
Do you know the rules behind using images and graphics from the web? How about the differences between a copyrighted photo and one under a ...
Accessible websites can help more of your users than you think! Have you ever wondered what the big fuss is about accessibility and if having an ...
There are things you can do to increase traffic to your website and help lay a solid foundation to build upon. Take steps you can implement now ...
Google Analytics is an incredibly useful tool that can provide you with lots of valuable data about your website, but are you taking advantage of ...
Over the course of the last year or so, you may have noticed a large number of websites suddenly hitting you with a “Cookie Policy” ...
I want to challenge you to think about the impacts social media has on your marketing campaigns, and I also want to challenge you to get a little ...
UPDATE: WordPress 5.0 with the Gutenberg Editor has been released. Vivid Image has a plan in place, and those on our Safe and Sound Hosting plan ...
When you spend the time writing new content or finding someone to help you write good content, your efforts will pay off. With 23 years of ...
Over the 20 years that Vivid Image has been in business, our team has grown and our capabilities have multiplied. During the past two decades, ...
Are you utterly frustrated with your web designer? Do you feel like your website is being held hostage, making it seem like you can’t fire ...
Google Analytics is by far one of the most powerful free tools available to any person or organization with a website. Unfortunately, it’s also ...
Why HTTPS? HTTPS provides security for both your site and a user’s personal information. It secures information, transactions, and ...
Wait—is that mold? Does that look like mold to you? How fresh is your current website? Have you ever struggled to determine when it’s time to ...
CONGRATULATIONS! We are excited to announce that Vivid Image programmers, Justin McGuire and Deanna Schwint have both successfully passed their ...
Have you read something recently that was worrisome about your SSL Certificate and Google not playing nice? Here’s a brief explanation about what ...
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that was passed by the United States Congress in 1990. It is a civil rights law which ...
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning to start enforcing regulations for website accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act ...
The goal of online reputation management is to monitor the business brand on the Internet. This involves encouraging positive (love!) feedback, ...
We’ve talked a lot recently about the importance of writing a “best posts of the year post.” Last week we talked about using ...
Many of us have personal PayPal accounts that come in handy. However, if you are looking to accept payments or donations online through your ...
Contact Us Today! One of the greatest things about websites is how they open up lines of communication between business owners and their ...
SSLs, they’re everywhere or perhaps they should be! SSLs (Secure Sockets Layer) have been a staple of the Internet for many years and make ...
Whether your tossing around the idea or firmly made up your mind, there are some things you need to consider prior to initiating a website ...
Here at Vivid Image our goal is to always provide fast and efficient solutions to any tech issues you may experience with your website or Vivid ...
Like it or not, your website gives visitors an impression of your business. We’ve all seen life stages of a website as consumers, but may not ...
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Does that help? Didn’t think so. Chances are your website uses Google Analytics to track usage and ...
We were recently reminded of a great blog post that Karlie, Vivid Image designer wrote a while back that can be very helpful to clients ...
If you are wondering what you should be doing with old blog posts, you are not alone. This is a frequently asked question, and one that deserves ...
When is the last time you REALLY looked at your website? By looking at your website I mean clicked on links, looked at sub-pages, filled out ...
Why Blog? Blogging is not just for college students, DIY Mom’s, or tech-savvy people. Blogging is for business owners, entrepreneurs, and ...
Passwords are the Keys to Our Digital Lives As more and more of us continue to move our lives online, it’s important to remember the tried and ...
Data is the life blood of individuals and small businesses alike, from electronic invoices to client emails. For the majority of us, data is a ...
When in doubt, don’t click the link Whether the link is on an official looking website or in an email that looks like it came from the right ...
Phishing is a deceptive act in which unsavory individuals try to obtain your personal information, such as passwords and financial information. ...
We commend you for asking this question, as it’s critical to pay close attention to copyrights and follow proper Internet marketing protocol. ...
/ Websites
Welcome to your Post With Everything In It. Here you will find all of the information you will need to make your pages and posts look good. Basic ...
Each year it’s interesting to look through our Google Analytics to find out what is read the most, what is shared the most, and what blog ...
With so many wonderfully simple options available to WordPress website owners, it may be confusing to know the difference between a Page or a ...
Media Library New Layout Option: There is now a new layout option in WordPress 4.0 – the Infinite Scroll. If you click on the grid icon ...
Welcome to the modern digital marketing mystery of our time. Guest blogging. Like many things in online marketing, guest blogging started as a ...
Writing a compelling and click-worthy headline for a blog post is a fine art. As a blogger, I feel torn between making the headline compelling ...
Is finding your website address where it needs to be, similar to pinning down Bigfoot? Elusive website addresses aren’t good. You spend too ...
Online, email, and social media etiquette was a recent topic at the Social Media Breakfast Central Minnesota, and as it turns out, people are ...
We all know that IT professionals speak their own language. It can be frustrating when an IT person casually recommends a simple fix and you ...
When we rolled out our “Safe and Sound” plan that helps our clients get the most from their website, online assets, technology, and ...
It is easy to remember to do some spring cleaning to our home, office, and even our cars. But what about doing some spring cleaning to your ...
If you are a writer or blogger, you have probably experienced it. Sitting in front of your computer with the blank stare and motionless hands. ...
Your business has a culture. You may or may not be aware of what it is, but it definitely exists. Taking a careful look at your “company ...
So which is it? Is Guest blogging really bad? Or should you keep doing it? Is Guest Blogging Bad? To answer this question properly we have to ...
It is hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. For many bloggers, it can be a challenge to think of a blog post to write during ...
What do you do when you’re told you need to write content for your company’s blog or newsletter, and writing is definitely not ...
/ Search Engines
We have written a lot of blogs this past year! As part of planning our blog strategy into the upcoming new year, we are taking a look at what ...
Make plans to attend the next Social Media Breakfast Central Minnesota on Thursday, November 21, 2013 for what promises to be a high energy ...
About a month ago Google announced that they have changed their search algorithm. The new Google search algorithm has been named Hummingbird. ...
There are many different types of content you can publish on your blog, such as newsworthy or timely content. But, evergreen content will work ...
If you are following any of the buzz in the Search Engine world you know that Google has made a change that has everyone up in arms. Google has ...
/ Mobile
Mobile marketing is on the minds of many! We have clients who have already embraced and invested in mobile design, but many who are not quite ...
In the past we have talked about the importance of your URL when it comes to your SEO efforts. In that post we discussed how using keywords in ...
Calls To Action are critical to help your business reach goals and measure the effectiveness of your online presence. It’s important that ...
*Update: As of April 2, 2019, Google+ will no longer exist. Learn more. Unlock the Power of Google Analytics with a Simple Setup Google Analytics ...
Whether you are an existing Vivid Image client or simply curious about what it might be like to work with us, I’m writing this to answer a ...
It is always fun to talk to other people who work in the same industry as you do. Sharing stories, challenges, and ideas can create awesome ...
If you are new to Google Analytics you may think most of what you are looking at is in a foreign language. Hopefully this post will help ...
These last few months have been a whirlwind of new technology, trends, and online changes. Many businesses and organizations we work with have ...
/ Websites
If you have a WordPress site, you’re likely familiar with the beauty of this technology and its ever changing features, enhancements, and ...
*Update: As of April 2, 2019, Google+ will no longer exist. Learn more. With every blog post you publish, there are vast ways to promote ...
/ Search Engines
Keywords are important to understand, as you focus your website and blog content to increase traffic. And while it’s understandable that ...
/ Search Engines
The talk of “keywords” has been in the web design and online marketing vocabulary for years. Of all the tasks pertaining to SEO (the ...
If you’ve used an app such as NetworkedBlogs or RSS Graffiti to automatically post new blog articles to your Facebook fan page timeline ...
These articles garnered the most traffic, shares, reads, and/or comments making them our most popular blog posts from 2012. We thought they were ...
One of the key benefits of the WordPress platform is that once the foundation of your WordPress site is developed, you can easily add new content ...
There’s no question that photos are a popular component in marketing. Photos engage people, generate interest and get shared. That’s why it’s ...
Most bloggers will tell you one of their biggest challenges is coming up with engaging blog content on a regular basis. If you have plans for ...
Creating relevant and useful blog content takes not just a good chunk of time, but also an equal amount of creative effort. But there are some ...
/ Marketing
Using guest bloggers isn’t right for every business. Even if guest blogging is a good fit for your business, not every guest blogger is a good ...
/ Mobile
Over a year ago we wrote about mobile website design in the article “A Website is Not Enough – Think Mobile.” Since then, ...
Out of all the research I’ve done on tips and tricks to increase your email messaging open and read rate, focusing on crafting ...
As marketers, we are always aiming to create remarkable content that is trusted, valued and shared. We write attention getting headlines, helpful ...
Now that you know about what a browser is, you are upgraded to the most current version and can clear your cache, determine if which browser is ...
One of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) at Vivid Image is: Why can’t I see my website or why isn’t displaying correctly? One of the ...
My weekly routine it to experiment with new tools and see how they can help my clients grow their business. What do you think of these? A very ...
/ Social Media
My weekly routine it to experiement with new tools and see how they can help my clients grow thier business. What do you think of these? ...
/ Social Media
My weekly routine it to experiement with new tools and see how they can help my clients grow thier business. This week I found two tools that I ...
One fun tool and two productivity tools this week: Monitor Your Business Facebook Page on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad Facebook just released a new ...
This is the third week of Weekend Inspiration. I hope you are finding some tools that are valuable to you and your business. The collection ...
Question: What can I do to get more traffic to my WordPress website and get better search engine results? Answer: While there are many components ...
Here are a few tools that I think might make your life a little easier. Online Photo Editing with Pixlr If you want a full featured image editor ...
As marketers or small business owners, it is easy to look at Search Engine Optimization and see it as being complex compared to the other ...
/ Search Engines
Getting something for nothing or a “great deal” is part of today’s consumer mindset. Have you ever thought about ...
/ Websites
A secure password is one that meets ALL of the following guidelines: It must contain Symbols. It cannot be found in the dictionary. It cannot be ...
One of the most frequent challenges that our customers face revolves around creating consistent content for their website. Sure, getting your ...
Each quarter we offer a WordPress Refesher course for our clients, giving me an opportunity to help them maximize their use of WordPress. I get a ...
/ Social Media
My blog post days sneak up on me quickly. I like to mull over a topic for a while, so I can add last minute thoughts and inspiration; ...
/ Social Media
A new year brings lots of new ideas, tools and trends to get “up to speed” on. Everyone runs out of time to get proficient on new tools or ...
/ Social Media
Marketing and promotional deals go hand in hand. When you want to increase your revenue you need something that attracts attention. Everybody ...
Check your “drafts” to see if you are ready to finish an article you started a while ago. Don’t forget to ask staff if they’d be ...
/ Websites
Top 5 Reasons WordPress is better than Black Friday Shopping
Whether you take part in Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday, there are some great deals that you can find from local ...
To help people who may have the unofficial title of “webmaster” somewhere in their job description, we have come up with a very basic webmaster ...
/ Search Engines
Sometimes online marketing seems fulls of terms which are confusing for a business owner who is just starting their web journey. Do you remember ...
The other day a comment came through from a reader on a blog post that was written over two years ago; a reminder that what we write is indexed ...
Earlier this week, we introduced you to a long-time friend of Vivid Image, named “SEO”, also known as Search Engine Optimization, in her blog ...
Today’s post is different; a timely story I thought I’d share with you that may prompt you to think differently about your customers. ...
Put your webmaster hat back on! Last week we talked about the daily and weekly webmaster tasks for small business owners. Were you able to ...
At Vivid Image, we get questions about writing blog posts all the time, because blogging is one of the easiest ways to refresh your website ...
Often in small business, employees (and owners) wear many hats. A person who is in customer service may handle customer inquiries from the ...
/ Social Media
It happened today. Yep, summer ended and it is Back to School Time. For some it is a welcome change, for others it is a scary experience. ...
Looking for that catchy, unique domain name for your business? Be prepared to look long and hard. Finding the perfect domain name to become your ...
/ Websites
Did you hear? There’s all kinds of “NEW” domain name extensions available soon, but does your business need one? On June 20th ...
/ Marketing
Even if you have a rocking website, you may want to consider driving some targeted web traffic to a landing page instead of always to your ...
Kids are so passionate about things, aren’t they? Ever have a kid start over with a story a dozen times because she’s so excited she ...
/ Marketing
For the last few weeks I have been writing about recycling your print content and making your existing marketing material work for you, ...
/ Websites
Are you an early adopter of new browsers? The new version of Internet Explore 9 is out and it brings with it several new features. However, if ...
/ Websites
One week ago I attended our WordPress & Blogging refresher course here at VI with our blog training extrodinaire, Beth Gasser. This post is ...
/ Websites
While it might be hard right now to imagine yourself on Lake Minnetonka enjoying a relaxing boat ride while sipping a cold beverage on an 85° MN ...
/ Design
Do you market products or services? Or both? I have been fortunate to market “new products” and “new services” in my ...
/ Marketing
This week I had a conversation with one of our long term VI Community members, Terry Kempfert. Terry considers herself to be a businesswomen ...
It’s simple, it’s cheerful, and it’s creative. I’m talking about the Coborn’s blog, and it’s my choice for ...
/ Websites
If your website is a WordPress site, you’ll want to be able to ask questions and get support from those who love and use WordPress ...
/ Websites
Any day now WordPress 3.1 will be released. This version does not contain any major changes, it mostly builds on WordPress 3.0, fixing bugs and ...
/ Marketing
If I see an intriguing video clip posted on a friend’s Facebook status or on a page of a website I’m checking out, I’m more ...
/ Marketing
It’s that time of year, people are inside; settled in on their couches or at their computer screens most of the day. Sunshine seems to be an ...
/ Design
Just about everyone who wants to snap a picture does so with a digital camera. There’s no more film to take in and process – just point, shoot ...
/ Websites
Dear Business Owners and Marketers, I’m writing this post to calm any fears you may have that could be preventing you from moving forward. ...
Frustrated with the limitations of fonts, colors, sizes and other customizations you’d like to use within WordPress? These limitations are due to ...
/ Design
A great piece of art will stand the test of time – a great website will not. Online technology and design trends are constantly evolving. ...
The “little picture” you are referring to is called a gravatar. Like the one next to the comment on this blog post (scroll down), a ...
/ Design
First of all, if you didn’t get the headline – Click Here. Like music, good design is somewhat subjective – what one person or ...
/ Websites
WordPress has great features for managing individual images or a small gallery of photos, but organizing a large collection of photos can be ...
Today’s WordlessWednesday post is a reminder that even websites and blogs need a weeding of old information, a cleaning away of debris, and ...
/ Websites
Categories and tags can be used to organize blog posts similar to how a book is organized with a table of contents and an index. Categories could ...
/ Websites
The two most common types of content that are managed on a WordPress powered website are Posts and Pages. The publishing process is identical, ...
/ Websites
Security and feature updates Updates for WordPress are regularly released every few months. These upgrades add new functionality, fix bugs, and ...
One of the most common concerns small businesses have about starting a blog for their business is the task of writing regular blog posts. Where ...
Have you tried to complete a form on a website and were asked to enter what you see on a distorted image of crazy letters or numbers? It can be ...
/ Social Media
What is RSS On the web, there are a vast number of news sites and blogs. Every morning I like to visit a couple of news sites and blogs to catch ...
We see it time and time again when we work with new clients. They don’t have access to or control of their website domain name. They have ...
/ Design
It’s a brisk 23 degrees out, the geese are flying over head, the sound of rocks getting dumped in the river echoes about, and the office ...
Just a reminder about being careful with emails from people you don’t know. Don’t click on unknown links or open unknown attachments. ...
All too often websites get treated like a Ron Popeil Showtime Rotisserie, just set it and forget. Yes, the text and images that you added to your ...
/ Websites
Your domain name is a valuable asset of your company. With your domain name, you establish a presence on the web where customers, staff, and ...
/ Websites
Don’t let your computer and office security be jeapardized by a poorly chosen password. Choose a good strong password and keep security ...
/ Websites
By default, Word open up in the reading layout, which often doesn’t look quite right. To prevent Word from opening documents and ...
/ Websites
A virus is a piece of software that can infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. Computer viruses can wreak havoc on ...
/ Websites
Content is the single most important feature of a website. Without content, a site is merely an empty domain name. Like an abandoned building, ...
/ Websites
One of the most important considerations with a website is determining where to host it. In this final installment of our Mini-Series we’ll ...
/ Social Media
A blog is a personal diary. It’s a public commentary. It’s a place to organize your thoughts or a place to publish breaking news. A ...
/ Websites
One of the most important considerations with a website is determining where to host it. In this Hosting Mini-Series we covered the importance of ...
/ Websites
One of the most important considerations with a website is determining where to host it. A common mistake is to price-shop, to just look for the ...
