West Bay Web Blog and News

How to safely compress images in WordPress

How to Safely Reduce Existing Image File Sizes in WordPress

Images play a major role in web design. They add visual appeal, convey meaning, and engage readers. Unfortunately, they also take up space on your site and have to be loaded into your visitor’s browser which can slow page loading times. If you want to optimize images for faster loading speeds, you must reduce their …

Are You Ready For the Post COVID World?

Ten years ago, if your business didn’t have a website it was as if you didn’t exist. Today, if you’re customers can’t find you on Google, it is as if you don’t exist. Today, with COVID-19, if your business isn’t selling online, you are missing out on sales and jeopardizing your future. As the world …

It’s OK to be a (Web) Control Freak

Far too often we encounter clients that are being held hostage by their web agency. Unscrupulous or sometimes just sloppy agencies deny web site owners proper and rightful access to their own website. Some hold this information hostage as a means of assuring payment for services or making it hard to “break up”. Regardless of …

Websites Are Like Gardens

Websites are like gardens. When they are brand new, they look great, everything in its place, neat and orderly. It has so much potential and you look forward to it yielding results after all of your hard work and time creating it. But as soon as you turn your back, you’ve got problems. It’s full …

Effective Search Engine Optimization

Effective SEO is more than ranking number one for a single phrase. Often, we hear people say that they have no problem finding their website when the search for it by name. That’s great, but what is important is that you have high rankings across a spectrum of search terms that are used by your …

Where Should I Publish – On Facebook or on My Website?

The simple answer is BOTH, but nothing is that simple is it? A slightly longer answer is to publish on your website first and then promote that content elsewhere. Your website should always be the center of your Internet marketing Facebook and other social networks should support your website as your primary source of content. …

How to Make Blogging Easier

Writing blogs or website content can intimidate some people. It doesn’t have to be hard and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some tips to help make blogging easier. Don’t let writing seem like a bigger challenge than it really is. Think in conversational terms. You most likely can easily talk about a …

Traverse City AdWords Digital Marketing Agency

Use Filters to Reduce AdWords Costs

Social Media Improves Traffic and Visibilty

Social Media is playing and even larger role in Google rankings. Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s very own Google + (Editor’s note – Google has retired Google + and is no longer a ranking factor) are very strong influences on your organic search results. Traditionally when optimizing a website for top placement in Google, there was …

Every Page is a Landing Page (or should be…)

Don’t be deceptive. In the world of online marketing you hear so called SEO’s talking about how you should create landing pages in order to do x, y, or z. Yes, this has merit but, the problem is that every page should be a landing page, and by default, it should exist for a specific …

Google’s Golden Rule – #1 Above all else

Google’s Golden Rule Do Unto Others… Google is very clear that as a web author, you must provide useful and relevant information to your audience. This is Google’s Golden Rule and is the first and most important step in gaining Google’s good graces. Too many website authors (and owners) worry far too much about Google …

How Google is Like Golf

Scorecard In both golf and Google, the low score wins. In golf, you are penalized for each stroke you take; Google penalizes for each fault that your website has. As Google reviews your website it looks for transgressions, tallies up the score, and applies it to their algorithm to determine how you rank compared to …