Wordpress Web Design Archives - Wordpress Web Design Hosting Syracuse NY

Does Your Website Need a Good Spring Cleaning?

in Digital Marketing / Uncategorized / Wordpress Web Design by atsny April 16, 2016July 6, 2016

Spring is finally here, or so it appears for the moment, so while everybody is thinking about getting out and enjoying the warm weather, it’s also a great time to take a dispassionate look at your website and see if a new Spring makeover is long overdue.

With everyone from millennials to baby boomers getting online to do their shopping as well as personal and professional research, it is clearly not a time to be “ho-hum” about the tired, outdated look of your website that was built five or 10 years ago and now looks hopeless out of date when compared to your competitors.

People look at your website in the context of all the other websites they visit, including your competition. Studies have shown that people judge a company by their first impressions of that company. And largely, that first impression is the company’s website. So why give that competition a leg up in digital marketing by looking less attractive than them.

Website Redesign: It’s Easier Than You Might Think

For a regular small business website, where your company is telling the story of who they are and what their products and services are, it’s easy and remarkably affordable to get a great new site with a modern, attractive look and feel. One of the hottest trends in website design is a clean, uncluttered, minimalist look that is easy to look at, easy to find what you’re looking for, and easy to contact the company. Lots of pictures, personable “About Us” page, project or product portfolio or gallery.

For companies looking to sell products and services online, it’s just as easy with modern, easy to use and maintain eCommerce solutions and secure payment options. Today’s eCommerce website solutions make it easy for customers to browse and shop, get detailed product information and checkout through a smooth, simple checkout process. today’s modern small business and eCommerce websites are designed to look good on all platforms, from desktop computer screens, to tablets and on your iPhone too.

So the question is how to move forward and do your research and due diligence to make your website update and makeover a reality. You might want to take a look at our portfolio and see what kind of work other companies have commissioned and then give us a call and set up an appointment to discuss your website design and update needs and requirements.

We’ve been doing website design and online marketing for just over 20 years, so we can help you ideas and inspiration to get you a step or three out in front of the completion fast.

Paul Albee is the digital marketing director of ATS Design Group in Syracuse, New York. Paul and his team specialize in all aspects of online digital marketing including Web Design Syracuse, SEO search engine optimization, social media marketing as well as print and advertising design.

WordPress Website Security

in Wordpress Web Design by atsny January 12, 2016October 20, 2019

WordPress Website Security: Keeping Your Website Safe

You are in need of a website to grow your business. You would be hard-pressed to find a better, more Google-friendly platform that WordPress. While WordPress has many extraordinarily appealing features that have made it the hands-down favorite among website development platforms. As a result of this popularity, however, comes a double-edged sword: it is a prime target for hackers.

Some relatively simple steps for WordPress Website Security can go a long way to keep your WordPress website up to date and protected from potential threats. In this day and age, we all know how important it is to keep our computers and websites protected and the following will show you what steps to take to protect your WordPress website.

1. Keep your WordPress platform up to date. WordPress has always been diligent about updating it’s platform to keep would be hackers from doing damage. Always make sure to keep WordPress updated, that includes plugins and widgets as well. If your not running the latest version of WordPress then your running a version that may have known vulnerabilities and bugs that hacker can exploit to their advantage.

2. Never use the default “admin” username. Make sure it is deleted and create a new one with admin privileges. This “admin” username is created when you first install WordPress. This is one of the biggest holes in any consideration of WordPress website security that is the easiest to eliminate. Hackers knowingly target this default username because many people don’t bother to change it. This is a very easy and necessary step to help protect against would be attackers.

3. Use complex passwords to access your website. Many attacks are dictionary-based which means that if you use a single word password, it will eventually be bypassed through process of elimination. It is best WordPress website security practice to use passwords with a minimum of 8-10 characters long, use a combination of numbers, letters and special characters (i.e.: #,@,%).

4. Add a trusted security shield. By adding a security shield such as WordFence, for example, that prevents too many login attempts prevents brute-force attacks, which often involve thousands of login attempts until a password is generated correctly. Your webmaster or developer can add any number of plugins that will prevent these brute-force attacks.

5. Make sure you are making regularly schedule website backups. If you site ever does get hacked, you should have a quick, easy and painless way to restore your website and get it back up and running with a minimal of reconstructive effort. A 30 day backup schedule for an average small business website works well for most small businesses. Talk to you webmaster about how to make this happen. They can do it for you, or you can do it yourself.

These steps are important for any WordPress website to protect it from will be attackers. But it is just as important to keep in mind that new attacks happen daily and it’s important that your webmaster stay diligent, and implement future security steps.

Paul Albee is the digital marketing director of ATS Design Group in Syracuse, New York. Paul and his team specialize in all aspects of online digital marketing including website design, SEO search engine optimization, social media marketing as well as print and advertising design.