Category: Blog

A mood board is a brilliant way to create a visual direction for any project including website design. Website design mood boards do differ from standard boards because they contain field-specific elements that we will cover in this article. Put simply, we are going to find a way to establish colour, theme and style for websites.

What is a website design mood board?

During the middle ages, alchemists believed that there were five elements – water, earth, air, fire and essence. The first four can speak for themselves but ‘essence’ was unique. It is an intangible element that held the other four together to create matter. Thanks to modern science, we now have a much better explanation for what makes up the matter of the universe with 118 elements. However, the idea of essence can be used when discovering what a client wants for their website. This essence or the feel of a website can be found through a mood board. 

Website design consists of many elements and by defining the content through a mood board, we can get an idea of what our final product might be like. A mood board is in no way the final idea and every element can be changed during the design process. We are simply using it to capture the client’s idea with the brand’s style. 

The types of elements we want to cover in our website design mood boards are colours, fonts, images, iconography and navigation. By creating a mood board that covers these elements, we can put ourselves and our clients on the same page and even get them involved with the process.

A good mood board captures the essence of a websites design and acts as a source of inspiration during the designing process. 

How to make a website design mood board.

Before we can begin designing the client’s vision into a website, we need to define what they want. This will save us time and make communicating with our clients easier. Below we will cover the basic steps to create a mood board for website design.

Communicate and research.

It’s a good idea to get your client involved with your mood board during the planning stages. Let them know that you will be creating a mood board for their website and that they can send you inspiration and examples of what they want their website to look like. Chances are, they are going to enjoy adding their inspiration which is something we love to see. 

There are loads of great places where both you and your clients can get and share inspiration from. Two of our favourite examples are Pinterest and Dribbble. 

If your client has a brand identity, make sure to ask for it. Their brand identity will contain all the visual elements that we will need, allowing us to focus on images and navigation.

Collect and refine.

Now that we have images and photos of websites and other inspiration, we can find the core elements that stand out to us and the clients. There are five elements that we are specifically looking for: 

• Colours 
• Fonts 
• Images 
• Icons 
• Navigation 

Through the inspiration that you and your client have put together, find the common themes and images used and only use the best examples of those. There is a good chance that there may be more than one theme. In this case, select the best two or the two that are most in line with your client’s vision to explore.

Bringing it together.

Using the images that we have collected to make the mood board is the next part of the process. All you need is a way to put the information you have collected onto a single page and in a way that looks good. Avoid using other brand identities. 

We recommend using Adobe, Affinity or PicMonkey to put mood boards together. You can easily create your own template, or find ones online, to make your website design mood board process even easier. 

If your client offered you a brand identity in our first step, use their style to shape your mood board. If you are exploring two different themes, don’t feel like it’s a waste of time to complete two mood boards. Sometimes we need to see the final result to compare everything accurately.

Share it with your client.

This is probably the best part of the whole creation of a website design mood board. Your client now gets the chance to let you know if they like the emotion it evokes and how all the elements look like next to each other. It is very important to remind them that this is not the final product and that everything can be altered during the design process.

Get a stunning website tailored to your brand with Web2Web.

When it comes to website design and development, you need a team that you can trust and will put your brand as their number one priority. With over 10 years of experience in the field, Web2Web can give you the website answers you need for your business. If you want to update your current website or create your brands very first one, contact us today. Let’s talk about how we can make your website vision become your brand’s reality. 

Brand trust is one of the essential tools your business has to learn how to earn in order to be successful. Determined by your client’s expectations and how you meet them, building this trust can take a lot of time but it has a huge payoff. Once gained, clients are more likely to buy your products or services and make them return to you again. You become part of their everyday life.

Chances are, you already have decent brand trust or you are starting out a new brand and have no idea on where to begin. Don’t worry because we are going to talk about tips and tricks that can help start building and improve already existing brand trust.

The how and why you need to earn brand trust.

Trust is one of the most important factors for any client. They want to know that the brand they choose will give them a good experience first before purchasing anything. This leads them to search for proof from the moment they consider your brand. Preferring social media and friends over the standard advertising.

Reviews are also a big part of how you can build brand trust. The average person will read many reviews before they are convinced on the product or service in question.

After a brand trust has been established with your clients, you can start to gain the benefits of all the hard work you put in for it. This includes return customers and even word of mouth advertising. There are only positives for your brand to gain for the work we will put in, so let’s start finding out how we can do it.

How to earn brand trust.

Before we begin answering, “how to earn brand trust”, we need to find out how your current clients view you. If there are any loose ends or room for improvement, identifying it and putting it into a solution plan is critical. We can get this information from sources of feedback. These include; reviews, social media and tracking systems attached to your website, for example, Google Analytics.

Now that we know where to find the information, let’s find out what we can do to create brand trust.

Improve your customer experience.

Customer experience starts from the moment a client finds your product or service and only truly ends well after they have used it. From start to end, your client will be forming their opinion of your brand, so making the whole experience a good one is vital. If you can offer great service, that client is more likely to return, leave a positive review and trust your brand.

A returning customer that trusts you and spreads that trust is all you can ask for when it comes to clients.

In the case where there are negative experiences and reviews, the most important thing is to take them seriously. Listen to suggestions and find the core problem underneath the frustrations and address them. Creating a more personal experience is another way we can really strengthen brand trust. Nothing beats having a client that feels like they have gotten to know a brand and achieving that can be simple.

Here are our favourite ways to make a more personal customer experience:

• Offer a loyalty program. 
• Allow your clients to create online profiles. 
• Use geotargeting to give more appropriate results. 
• Categorise your emailers and let clients choose what they want to receive. 

Build a strong social media presence.

More and more people are going to social media to find out more about a product or service. There is also a no better place to share your brand’s message and personality than social media. When you post useful information related to what your brand is about, your clients will follow and engage. By making a positive experience on social media, you are building brand trust.

It is important for you to find out where your clients are online and use the same social media platforms as they do. Do your best to select more than one platform and update it regularly so that you can become part of your clients’ everyday life.

To help boost your social media platform for brand trust, even more, make use of user-generated content. These are the reviews, article, videos, pictures, podcasts and posts that other people have made outside of your company. Using them in your own posts shares your clients brand trust with other people who are still forming their trust.

Sharing brand trust, builds brand trust.

Your brand needs to be honest and authentic.

For real trust to form in any relationship, all parties need to be trustworthy. It works in relationships between people and it will work in your brand’s relationship with its clients. We can start working on showing honesty and authenticity by making social media posts that share the brand’s culture. When it’s someone’s birthday, celebrate it with a picture. When someone brings cake to the office, show your clients how much fun it is.

There is no hiding the truth either, you can’t fake authenticity. People are very good at noticing when something is off and having clients learn about even a small lie could ruin brand trust in more ways that the lie gained. So, don’t delete a bad review, address the problem they posed and show your solution. When clients see you improve to make their experience better, they will appreciate it.

Become an active member of your community.

The more people see your brand in a positive light, the more they are to trust it. Pick events and causes that your target market engages in and get involved as your brand. It is important to be careful with the event or cause and what you say about it. Like we mentioned earlier, people can spot a fake message.

Be consistent in your improvements.

If you have used what we have just spoken about to improve your brand trust, don’t stop. Consistency is incredibly important. Clients want a trustworthy brand that they can rely on and even though changing your image may be tempting, it’s not trustworthy. In fact, changing your identity or dropping what you did to create brand trust will leave you in a worse place than when you started.

Get everyone that is part of your brand involved. Create a brand identity that includes all the visuals, fonts and personality for employees to follow. Then use that to publish social media posts and emails regularly so that clients can make your message part of their schedule.

Get consistent social media marketing and management.

How to earn brand trust can vary between businesses, but it all takes a lot of time and management. That is why finding a team like Web2Web that can help improve your brand trust through social media is so important. We have professionals who are skilled in identifying and promoting businesses and know how to make them shine on any platform while keeping consistent and relevant. Talk to us today if you want stronger brand trust.

Brute force attacks happen more often than you might think, which is why it is important to take measures to prevent them. A victim of a successful attack could have their brand defaced, lose all of its content or have all access to business emails lost. If you have not recently backed up your website, you could lose large portions of it too. 

Fortunately, there are ways for us to make your business safer on WordPress. We firmly believe it is better to be proactive and that couldn’t be more true for when it comes to internet security. Putting in measures now to prevent brute force attacks could save you a lot of time and money in the long run. 

How do brute force attacks work? 

While there are many ways to do a brute force attack on a website, it usually comes down to guessing. A hacker will most likely do this manually or with the use of an automated program. In both scenarios, many different login attempts will happen until a weakness is found and once that happens, they break-in. 

In this article, we are going to cover 5 of the best ways you can prevent that from happening to your business website. 

How to prevent brute force attacks. 

WordPress makes up for a large percentage of every website found on the web. This means that even by pure statistics, they fall victim to many of these attacks. Out the box, WordPress too comes with a few weak spots that hackers can abuse, many of these WordPress handles in their updates which is why it is always important to update your WordPress website. Apart from updates, there are a few other steps we can take to ensure that our business websites and client information is kept even safer. 

Make strong login details. 

Brute force attacks usually give up on a website when the standard set of weak passwords do not work. This still does not stop over 80% of hacks coming from either stolen or weak passwords. Here is our list of strong password requirements that you can use to compare the strength of your own. 

• Use around 15 characters. 
• Mix upper and lower case with numbers and symbols. 
• Use unique words, avoiding anything to do with personal information. 
• Make sure you have not used this password before. 

Passwords that are made with the above in mind may be difficult to remember, so using a good and trustworthy password manager may help, especially if you manage many different logins. 

Install a firewall. 

WordPress does not come with a firewall attached which leaves your website vulnerable to many kinds of hacks. They prevent brute force attacks, detect malicious traffic and allow you to block potentially harmful IPs. Many firewalls also come the ability to ad CAPTCHA to your logins and geoblocking. 

While WordPress doesn’t supply one, it does have the advantage of allowing third parties from making incredibly helpful plugins. A good security plugin will often come with a firewall as well as many other helpful features. 

Limit login attempts. 

By nature, a brute force attack relies on the fact that WordPress usually allows an infinite amount of login attempts. This means that hackers can leave an automated program running until they feel like giving up. When you set a limit to the number of times a login attempt may happen, your business website will block all attempts for a set period.  

This security tip will usually turn all but the more determined hacker away from your website. However, the more determined hacker will change their IP address or attack from multiple IPs at the same time. You too can fall for this security step if you forget your own password, adding an annoying but needed wait before you can try again. 

Use two-factor authentication. 

By adding an extra step to your login, two-factor authentication can make your website almost impervious to brute force attacks. When set up, after the correct login details were entered, you will receive a private code to your email or phone that you will have to enter to complete the login. 

Two-factor authentication can be bypassed, but it will prevent even more brute force attacks before they can even start. 

Make your WordPress website secure from any kind of attack. 

To truly be safe on the internet, your business website needs to be made secure from all kinds of hacks. This means knowing how they work and being able to analyze a website for potential weaknesses. That is why we at Web2Web have a team of WordPress experts that know the ins and outs of website. We design and develop with the best security in mind so that your website can prevent hacks like brute force attacks any many more. If you want your website to be safer or want to create a website that is secure, talk to us about how we can make that happen. 

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is never an easy task to undertake, which is why knowing which mistakes to avoid for good SEO is vital. For any website, be it personal or business, to be successful it will take a lot of research and practice in SEO. Even then, some of the most common mistakes can be made.

Many SEO mistakes are made because of using old and outdated SEO methods. Search engines like Google regularly update their algorithm to make searches better and stop website owners from “gaming the system”. So, the first mistake is really learning from old SEO guides. Make sure that when you are learning about SEO, that it is as relevant to the current Google update as possible. It’s these mistakes to avoid that we will address and cover what you can do instead for good SEO.

Writing weak content and coping it.

Finding better content is the whole purpose of a search engine’s algorithms. Reading better content is what every viewer or potential client wants. Therefore, writing better content for your website is always the goal for any content writer. It doesn’t take a whole article to figure that out, but what is better content?

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Margaret Wolfe Hungerford would say. We could maybe adjust that to, “Better content is in the eye of the reader.” That reader being your audience and clients. To really start making good content, you can’t just be a good writer, but you need to understand who is reading it. The first readers are search engines followed by your viewers and potential clients.

As a content writer, it’s bad practice to copy someone else’s content. As a business website owner, it could severely lower your rankings. In simpler words, never do this. Search engines like Google can easily pick it up and you may be surprised by how quickly your clients will too.

Better content comes from understanding both the topic and your reader. Which means you should never try to deceive with clickbait headlines or push out articles with weak content.

How to write better for Google.

To start, make sure that your headline and article topics match and do a lot of research. Proper research becomes personal knowledge and that is what you want to share. You cannot share better content with just a handful of words. Sure, you want to be concise, but search engines want the best to rank higher, which means a proper discussion that is usually over 300 words is desirable. Next, think about the keywords that you will be using and how they fit into your content.

Remember: Google wants to find the best result for humans, so write for humans first.

Using inappropriate keywords.

When your potential clients and readers search for a topic in Google, the algorithm will search for web pages that match the words in the search the best. This makes keywords one of the most important steps to any SEO project, yet people still fall short.

Whether it be a lack of research or cramming your web page with many of the same keywords this can become a real problem for ranking on Google. Your clients either won’t find your content or it won’t be readable for them to learn anything.

How to use keywords effectively.

If you ever feel like you have done enough keyword research and all you have are a handful of long-tail phrases, you haven’t done enough. You should study your competition, find the most popular keywords and then decide on the keywords that you want to compete with.

Using an SEO plugin can also really benefit your content writing if you are using a good content management system (CMS) like WordPress. They will let you know when your keywords are too low or high in density. Lastly, use one keyword per page and focus on better content while using related keywords. Both your clients and search engines will favour that.

Making an impossible URL.

As a business and website owner, your domain name should be brand related and easy to read. While you likely already have a strong domain name, it can be very easy to clutter up what comes after the “.com” part of your URL. The problems don’t stop at your clients’ memory, but it can make the organization of your website a nightmare, leaving you with strings of messy, incomprehensible text.

How to make a rememberable URL.

When you have important pages that you want clients to find, making every part of the URL easy to remember is important. Make sure to use your keyword and maybe one other detail about the page it is for. If this is a problem you wish to solve, make sure you change and redirect your old links so that you do not end up with the HTTP error 404 ruining your SEO.

Getting more links over quality links.

Thinking that getting more links to your website is better is an easy trap to fall into. While gaining links to your business website help your SEO, search engines care more about the quality of the link. It used to be that quantity was important which is why this is still one of the biggest mistakes to avoid for good SEO

Is it relevant to your brand and how trustworthy is the source? That is the questions you need to ask with SEO links. Links you can buy or ones that come from websites that have no value to Google will hurt your SEO.

How to get links that will improve your SEO.

If the website you are looking to get a link from has been penalized before, doesn’t rank on Google or sells links, stay away from them. One way to do this is to pick and choose the websites you want to link to you. Build relationships with the website owner or content creator from a website that make content relevant to your brand and ask them to link to your website.

For more organic results, you need to go back to your content. When content is helpful and insightful with information others can learn from, content creators are more likely to share it with their audiences.

Complete your SEO strategy with an experienced team.

Search engines like Google constantly change the way websites can improve their rank. This can change or even destroy SEO strategies that may have once worked. To maintain your rank on Google, you need to stay on top of every update and learn from every success you can. That is why having a team of highly trained SEO experts is a good investment for future business. With Web2Web, you can have just that, a team ready to improve your rank at a moment’s notice.

We understand how to make your business goals meet effective SEO to give you a boost in business performance online. If you want to avoid these mistakes for good SEO and see your rank on Google improve, contact us to find out how.

A landing page is an essential part of increasing your conversions and earning new clients, and that is why you need to make it successful. We cannot tell you how frustrating it is seeing a great advertising campaign that leads to an unfulfilling landing page. This type of situation leads to a high bounce rate and decreased conversions.

You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of potential clients. This makes crafting a great landing page a difficult task. From images to copy, every little bit counts to its success. In this article, we are going to cover the key aspects of a successful landing page and how you can use them on your own website.

What makes a landing page successful and how would you use one?

A landing page is the web page a user goes to during a marketing campaign or a Google search. Anywhere you link to is considered a landing page, but what you really want is for that page to answer a client’s problem. It’s easy to fall into the idea of just using a home page, but this couldn’t be more distracting to your clients.

Landing pages keep the user’s attention and increase conversions way better than a home page can. This is because they are centred around one call to action (CTA). It removes unnecessary distractions for your goal. With other links and information out of the way, you can reinforce your message which can increase your conversions.

Here is how to make a more successful landing page.

While there are many ways you can make a landing page, they all share one element. A goal to get conversions. By following the following guidelines, you will be well on your way to increasing the effectiveness of your landing pages.

Images & Design.

The first impression is the one that counts the most. Think about the first time you met with a potential business partner or had an interview. You likely judged the quality of that person by the way they presented themselves. The exact same thing happens from your clients when they land on your web page. This time you don’t have time to convince them with personality, you only have a few seconds.

A well-designed landing page will capture the attention of your clients. Use an eye-catching image to draw in your client’s attention and the rest of the design to break up long text. Be sure that every element here is high quality, on-brand and supports your initial goal.

The design as a whole should be clean, welcoming and easy to read. Consider reducing the amount of navigation you give to your clients to reduce distractions and keep scrolling to a minimum. The less your clients have to move around on the landing the page, the better.

Headlines & Copy.

Everything we have just discussed is nothing without great copy. It needs to be exciting and informative. We can break all the text into three categories: headline, body copy and CTA. To make these 3 elements work to the best they can, you need to use or identify your unique selling point. What answers does your product or service give to your clients and in which ways are you different from the competition? Use those answer to focus your landing page’s copy.

The headline needs to use a few words to give a strong message. It’s the first thing you client will read, and a good headline will make them want to read more. The body copy will follow and support your headline. This is where your brand’s personality can shine. Keep this text to the point and as short as possible. Remember, everything here should go back to your initial conversion goal.

Call to action.

As the most important copy on the page, it deserves its own heading. The CTA is the core of any conversion goal because it tells the client what to do. The success of your marketing and landing page all lies in how many clients interact with the CTA.

For it to be as effective as possible, you want the design of that page to make it stand out through colour, space and typography. Avoid generic copy like “Click here”. It’s overdone and doesn’t support your goal in the way uniquely crafted copy can. As an example, something like “Listen for free” or “Start reading” have clear objectives that can support a goal.

A word of advice, don’t add more than one CTA to a landing page. You may want your clients to sign up to your newsletter, follow your social media and buy your product, but having all those goals at once can quickly scare away potential clients. Don’t be a YouTuber and throw in every subscribe and affiliate link at the end of a video. They are not effective on a landing page. By now you have a strong goal, stick to it.

Mistakes to avoid.

Today, most online traffic comes from mobile devices. This means that most of your clients are going to find your landing page on a phone or tablet. Since a landing page is just a single page on a business website, it can be easy to forget that fact. Don’t make that mistake. Responsive design that made for mobile-first get more conversions that other landing pages.

In the same way that more than 1 CTA can scare away clients, huge signup forms can too. It’s tempting to want more analytical data but long forms with personal questions will drive away potential clients and decrease the conversions you would have gotten on your landing page. Consider keeping it as simple as possible with just email and password.

Website speed is another important factor for a landing page. It needs to load quickly for your clients to avoid frustration. Optimizing the images is one very important step for this.

Test your landing page.

Once you have your landing page running, it’s important to monitor its progress. Through analytics tools, you can see how successful your page is by keeping an eye on bounce rate and conversion rate. With those results, you can refine all the steps you have taken to make this page even more effective. Don’t be afraid to test different approaches. Times change and so do your clients, which means your landing pages should too.

Make the best first impression with Web2Web.

When it comes to designing and developing good websites, it takes dedication and a lot of time to perfect. This applies to landing pages too as they are essentially extensions of your website. At Web2Web, we combine website creation and online marketing to give stunning results.

Our team of professionals have already put in the time it takes to make a successful landing page so that you can save that time. We understand your conversion goals and know how to implement them in a way that appeals to your clients. Talk to us if you are interested in boosting your online marketing performance.

The goal for wanting to use WebP images on WordPress, or any website, is to have higher quality images that weigh less on your website. It is these images that make your business website as enjoyable as it is. Improving that can boost your client’s user experience (UX) and can promote your products so much better. Even more so if your company’s products are visually focused.

Currently, the most common images formats are JPEG and PNG, which if not optimized correctly, can weigh down your business website, severely impacting its performance. WebP enables better image optimization that keeps high-quality while having even smaller file sizes. That is what we are going to explore.

What exactly are WebP images?

WebP is a next-gen image format created by Google. In fact, Google themselves recommend using WebP on your website for performance optimization. For a more complicated explanation, it uses predictive coding with the lossy compression type while lossless compression uses already seen image fragments to create new pixels.

To put it simply, WebP allows superior image compression. So much so that compared to PNG and JPEG, the file sizes can be anywhere from 25 to 34 percent smaller depending on the type of compression. All this while maintaining the original crisp image quality. This format even supports transparent images and animations which makes it fit in just about every website.

The cons of using WebP images on WordPress.

The biggest downside to WebP is its availability across different browsers. This is true for most new inventions on the web, browsers will often need updates to read them. It doesn’t help that the third biggest browser, Safari, which is highly popular on mobile does not support WebP images either. WordPress too does not support the WebP image format out the box.

Fortunately, there is a solution to both of these problems. All we need to do is configure your WordPress website to support the format and provide an alternative for Safari users. It’s a lot easier than it sounds.

How to use WebP images on your WordPress website.

Think to yourself, what makes WordPress one of the greatest CMSs on the market? The ability to customize it with third party creations through plugins. By selecting or custom developing the perfect plugin for your business website, we can make custom usability.

This stands true for the WebP image format, we just need the right plugin. There are many options in terms of plugins that make WebP a usable format on WordPress, however, it’s important to choose the right one. When browsing, you need to make sure the plugin does not forget about browsers that can’t load WebP images yet. Otherwise, your users may land on a very boring website. Find a plugin that can detect when a browser doesn’t support WebP and then replaces the image with a format it can read.

Remember when finding and installing new plugins, it’s important to follow the best practices so that your website doesn’t run into any complications.

Web2Web can help your website evolve with new technology.

As time goes on, more improved technology gets invented and it should come as no surprise that companies like Google will develop more advanced image formats. They are after all the biggest search engine with images being a big part of that. It doesn’t stop there. More and more developers create new ways to improve UX on the internet and our business websites need to catch up to stay relevant.

This is why you need a team of professionals who can keep up with new advancements and suggest when and how to implement them into your own company. With Web2Web, your business website is our profession. With us, you can get a website built to scale not only with your brand but with the ever-growing technology too.

Contact us to gain insights into your business website on how it can be optimized and improved today.

When your website starts to lose function due to HTTP error codes, it becomes your number one priority to get them fixed. They can be very frustrating on both the website owner and users’ side which can lead to an increased bounce rate and decreased user experience (UX). Google and other search engines too do not like HTTP code errors and will not suggest websites that have them.

Fortunately, HTTP error codes on WordPress can be fixed without the need for super-advanced techniques. We just need to put on our detective hats and investigate the root cause of the error and then troubleshoot it.

Let’s begin with what an HTTP error code is.

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and when your clients’ browser searches for your website, it makes a request from the server. The server then issues corresponding status codes which each have a different meaning. We can categorize them by their numbers.

100. These are informational response codes. This means the server has received the browser’s request and is processing it.

200. This is an indication that the server successfully understood, received, and accepted the request. So, your browser is ready to go.

300. Redirection codes. This means the current link may no longer exist, so the website is sending you somewhere else or that further action is needed.

400. These codes refer to a browser error. This means the request made contains bad syntax or that the server cannot fulfil it.

500. All error codes in this category mean the error is related to the server. You will see this one when the server cannot fulfil a valid request.

In this article, we will discuss the most common HTTP error codes that may occur on your business WordPress website and how to fix them. That means we will discuss the last two categories.

How to fix WordPress HTTP error codes.

Before we even start looking at the code errors and how to fix them, you need to back up your website. Whenever you make any changes or fixes to your company website, there is a chance that something can go wrong.

If this were to happen and you did not back up the website, it could spill disaster worse than any HTTP error code could.

400: Bad request.

This error is a unique case in terms of the codes. It happens when the server is unable to fulfil the request from the browser, but the reason doesn’t fit any other category. There can be a few reasons why this error code can happen but it most often it’s because of invalid syntax within the HTTP request.

There are three main causes. Incorrectly types URL, outdated browser cache or cookies, or there may be a file that is larger than the maximum upload size.

The first thing to check is the URL. Did you type it correctly or is the link you shared to your clients correct? If the answer to this is yes, then you will need to make sure every link and hyperlink related to the page in question is working and fix the ones that are not.

When the URL is not the problem, try loading the same page but from a different browser. If the website works after that, it is likely the root of the problem lies with your stored data. Begin by cleaning your browser cookies and cache, then go make sure that none of the files sizes your business website loads are too big. For making image files smaller while keeping their quality, read our article about the how and why of optimizing images for your website.

If nothing has fixed this 400 HTTP error code on your business WordPress website, then the last step is to clear the DNS cache.

401: Unauthorized

Chances are, if you are getting this error on your business website, you should be authorized, and this error is a problem. The cause of this error is the process of authentication could have failed or correct credentials were not provided.

One of the most common causes of this error come from plugins and more specifically, security plugins. If your business WordPress website has a security plugin, it may view your login as a brute-force attack and deny you access to the web page. To solve this, we would disable all active plugins and test if the 401 error goes away. If it does, the next step is to turn your plugins back on, one by one and test for the error each time. That way the rogue plugin can be found and fixed.

Of course, it’s a lot better if you follow the best practices when it comes to using plugins, so they don’t give you HTTP errors, to begin with.

If the issue is not plugin related, then we will try clearing the browser cache and cookies or the age-old method of turning it off and on again. Or in this case, logging out and in again.

403: Forbidden

This HTTP error is very similar to 401 in the sense that as the owner of the business WordPress website, you should not be seeing it. This means the server permissions are limiting your access to the desired web page regardless of using the correct credentials.

Again, this could be a security plugin where we would follow the same fix as with error 401. Another common cause for this particular error can also come from incorrect file permissions and resetting them will solve it.

404: Page not found

We would bet on the fact that you are familiar with this error already if you browse the internet often. This error can easily become a problem when you update your company’s website and the URLs change. This, fortunately, won’t break the whole website, but it will interrupt the user journey. If you do remove pages from your website or change the URLs causing this error, make sure that every link to the intended page is changed to the correct new URL.

500: Internal server error

If you are aware or have been the victim of the blank white screen of death, we understand your pain and know how to solve it. It’s likely being caused by error 500. This error does not always show itself but now that we know what it looks like when it doesn’t, we can solve it.

Check if the .htaccess file is corrupt by disabling it and testing if the website works. If that solved the issue, then all you need to do is generate a new .htaccess file.

If the previous method did not solve the issue, it may be because your company’s website has reached its Php memory limit. The fix for that can be simple by adding this snippet to your wp-config.php: define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
The limit can also be set to 128MB or 256MB.

If that still does not solve this issue, then the last option is to give your hosting provider a call and solve the problem with them.

Avoid wasting time with WordPress HTTP code errors with Web2Web.

The best fix for any HTTP code error is to not make space for them to happen to begin with and to have fast response for when things do go wrong. Keeping on top of every change to your business website and knowing exactly what to do when errors occur can be incredibly time-consuming. This is time you don’t want to waste when it comes to the integrity of your business website.

With Web2Web, our team makes websites that are not prone to errors and know exactly what to do when they occur. You can rest easy when it comes to your website when it is in our hands. So, contact us and find out how you can make your business WordPress website even better.

As one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMSs) available, making a business website on WordPress is fun, easy and has reasonable out of the box security.  

There’s a reason why so many people choose WordPress for their business which stands for its reliability and SEO capabilities. This doesn’t make it perfect; no website is. That is why it is important for you to improve your business WordPress website’s security. 

Why do you need to improve your WordPress website security? 

A hacked website can cause serious damage to everything about it and if that’s your business website, then it puts your company at risk too. Anything from information theft to malware distribution can cause major issues for your brand and clients. Fortunately, by following WordPress security best practices, there are plenty of things we can do about that. 

Picture these next steps the same way as getting a lock for your store’s door and installing an alarm system. Your WordPress business website is a virtual building, so let’s improve its security. 

Use a reliable web host service. 

It can be very tempting to save the extra money and opt for a cheaper hosting provider, but that may cost you more when things go wrong. Investing in a reliable service that can provide multiple layers of security now can go a long way for your company. 

So how do you know if the web hosting provider is reliable or not? There are a few key factors we can look for. Being able to back up your website data quickly is very important, and an automated backup will come in handy. The provider should also be able to provide malware and antivirus scanning options as well as protection against DDoS attacks. Lastly, make sure you are given the SSL certificate.  

Install a trustworthy security plugin. 

Manually searching for security issues is a very long and not so fun process. Not to mention learning how to do all the technical processes for finding them. That is why WordPress’s ability to use plugins is incredibly helpful. Installing a security plugin can help you identify threats and take care of the issues. To find a trustworthy website, read our article on how to not let your next plugin ruin you. 

Get an SSL certificate. 

This step is vital, not only for your security but for your clients and SEO too. If your website does not have one, Google Chrome will make your business website as unsafe and that may drive potential clients away. Nobody likes browsing in places where their own information can be at risk. 

SSL or Secure Socket Layer is a certificate that you can install in a web server and it ensures s secure connection between a browser and the server. As a business owner, you sometimes handle private and sensitive data and the SSL will protect just that. Before you jump away to get one, there are some things you should check before getting one. Make sure that the provider has an SSL certificate themselves and get at least a 128-BIT encryption level. 

Start using a firewall or VPN. 

You have probably heard of what a firewall is, so we will keep it simple. A firewall helps you manage HTTP traffic by allowing you to monitor, filter or block it. This can be very useful when it comes to preventing security flaws on your website. 

Next is the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). If you haven’t seen them by now, then you are doing a good job at avoiding ads because they have become increasingly popular lately and for a good reason. They protect browsing information by hiding IP addresses. It’s cyber-invisibility. This can protect your identity and that of your clients on the web. 

Update WordPress. 

WordPress goes through many updates to improve functionality ad security. It’s always a good idea to get the update as soon as possible but that can come at its own risks if you don’t know what you are doing. Set yourself up for success and learn about how to update your WordPress website. 

Set strong passwords to protect your database. 

While this tip is simple and doesn’t need much explanation, it’s still just as important. Passwords are sometimes the first line of defence and that is why that first wall against threats needs to be strong. You can’t stop at your business WordPress website, your database needs strong security too. Otherwise, you could be putting a lot of valuable information at risk. 

Make sure that you and your clients are at their safest with Web2Web. 

When it comes to the security of sensitive information and the integrity of your brand, there are no corners to cut. Finding the right web host, plugin and VPN while maintaining it all during WordPress updates can take a lot of time and require attention to every detail. This is exactly what our professional team at Web2Web are good at. We design, develop and improve business websites on WordPress so that you have one less problem to worry about. Make your business and clients safer and contact Web2Web. 

Brand identity and the way you keep it consistent is important for your business strategies to be successful. When your company’s clients are repeatedly exposed to the same core message and visuals, it strengthens your brand and makes more loyal clients.

Today, one of the first business to client interactions is online with your website or your social media, so you must make sure that those platforms are all consistent too. 

What is your brand identity and why should you keep it consistent? 

Brand identity is the practice of presenting your brand in a similar way. You do this by keeping your logo, core message, colours and images consistent to your clients. When they view your website or read your social media posts with consistent brand identity, these elements become part of your client’s memory.  

Using your brand identity makes it more memorable and recognizable by your clients across all your marketing channels and touchpoints. It also removes any confusion your clients may have. When they land on your website that has a consistent brand identity, they will remember exactly why they came to you. This makes the user journey smoother. 

The benefits of having a brand identity. 

The number one benefit this practice will give to your website and social media is brand recognition and the creation of loyal customers. When the same message and recognizable visuals are repeated, you create a strong connection between the two. This is something clients can learn and remember, ultimately allowing them to get to know your brand.  

With recognition comes trust. With trust, comes loyalty. 

By having a strong brand identity, you create a way to stand out from your competition. In a competitive market, many products and services offer similar solutions to clients. Brand identity is what sets you offer apart from the crowd. Emotions can also be built as an attachment to this identity. If a client has a great experience after landing on your website, they will carry that experience over to your other touchpoints.

Done right and a simple logo can evoke good emotions. Think about how your favourite restaurant might make you feel hungry. 

Keep your brand identity consistent. 

To build a brand identity that can reap the benefits we have just discussed can take time. The most important part is to stay consistent, even after the identity becomes recognizable. It can even start to feel boring using the same look and feel repeatedly, but instead of changing everything, use the same identity in more ways.  

To make sure you and your team stay on the same page and maintain consistency, you can make a brand style guide that everyone can follow. 

Making a Brand Style Guide: 

This guide defines your brand elements and the rules that everyone will follow when updating your website, creating a social media post or any other kind of marketing. This will keep the brand identity consistent.  

We start with your brand’s mission and core message. Then we show the colour palette including the hexadecimal code for each colour. Next, the fonts your brand uses and how each one is used. Following the font is the brand voice and guidelines for the copy. This will include examples for the tone and message you want to be repeated in your identity. Lastly is the imagery and how it is used. This will combine all the previous references and show how things should be displayed along with images and patterns that you want to be part of your brand’s identity. 

When it comes to rebranding. 

Be cautious and thoughtful about how you rebrand. Making a new look and feel can be very exciting but always consider the impact on your branding consistency. The last thing you want is for a client to land on your website and think they are in the wrong place. Brands evolve slowly because they always maintain some of the core elements of the previous identity.  

So, when it comes to rebranding, study what the most important features to your brand are and keep them the same way or change them in a subtle way so they are still recognizable. 

Make an impactful brand identity and keep it consistent with Web2Web. 

When it comes to designing and implementing your brand identity, there are a lot of steps involved. With Web2Web, you can make that process a lot simpler with a team of professionals that can create and apply strong brand identities to websites, social media and marketing.  

Get your brand in the minds of your clients and stand out from your competition by contacting us. 

Artificial intelligence, AI) was once fiction but now a reality and it can be used to improve your business website and we are going to talk about how. There’s a large chance that you are already using AI right now without even knowing it. Search engines use AI to improve your search results and other sites you visit may have used it to improve user experience (UX). 

So, what is AI exactly? 

To put it simply, AI is any program, machine or software that can learn, reason and perform a task. These tasks are what you would normally need a human to perform and it does them in real-time. Think of Siri or Alexa, they can recognize your voice and find answers to your questions. It doesn’t stop there. AI is constantly learning from its experiences and can adjust itself and its results based on what it learned making it an incredibly useful automotive tool. 

We can use AI to improve your business website. 

AI can be used to enhance your business website’s UX, create better results from searches and manage your inventory and data accurately. Surprisingly, AI gives your clients a more human experience from your brand’s website. It does this by adding more engaging and responsive elements that learn from your clients’ likes and dislikes to offer them a more personalized experience. Let’s learn how we can use that. 

Chatbots. 

Nothing shows off AI more than when it talks to you. Very good chatbots use advanced natural language processing (NLP) systems which combined with its knowledge of your website and past interactions with your clients, will develop its own knowledge base. They can assist with questions about your company and direct clients to the page they are looking for. When faced with a question it cannot answer it can also direct your client to a contact page so they can get in touch with you directly. This makes AI one of the best-automated alternatives to live chat. 

Improved searches. 

The majority of potential clients are likely to look online for how your business can solve their problems. This is where search engines like Google come it, however, it does not stop at just Googles AI. We can use this type of AI in business websites too. Imagine asking your brand’s website for a product? 

On our phones, tablets and computers, we engage with AI like Siri or Alexa to solve our problems too and our answers need to be optimized for them as well. Searches are becoming more conversational with the younger audience and it grows just as fast as AI technology does. For a website to scale into the new way of searching for results it needs to be optimized in a more conversational way. 

Customize your website’s pages. 

As we have discussed before, AI can learn from your clients and how they interact with your brand’s website. It can do this for everyone, learning shopping preferences and common problems. With that information, it can show a much more personalized page for your client by offering ads and deals they are more likely to benefit from and information they are more interested in learning. This AI can improve your business website by making it more engaging than ever before. 

If you have ever used Google Ads, then you have likely used this type of AI without even realizing it. 

A more in-depth analysis. 

It would be very useful if everything the AI has learned about your clients could be viewed by you. Oh wait, it can. You likely already have a way to view how many people have viewed your company’s website and compare that number to how many people bought a product. That data is managed by AI and you can get more out of it. The more you want to learn, the more complicated the setup is, but when it’s set up, you can decrease the bounce rate and increase sales. 

Get the most out of your website with Web2Web. 

With the ever-growing technology, keeping up with AI and what it can offer requires constant learning and practice. By using our years of experience in website design and development, our team at Web2Web can move your company’s website to the next level.  

We optimize our work to scale with technology and our understanding of analytics can boost your business decisions into the future. Contact us today if you want to move your business forward with its website.