Posts by Amy Masson
Scroll to the Top
If you have a website, and that website has more than a few words of content, then I want to talk to you about the “Back to the Top” button. What is this? And do you need one? This is a little button that hovers over your content, usually in the bottom right of the…
Read MoreYes, Reviews Matter
I was talking to my dad the other day. I’d sent him a book for his birthday and I said, “It has great reviews.” He responded that he didn’t pay attention to reviews because they were all paid for by the book publishers. We had a talk about how on Amazon, they weren’t paying the…
Read MoreMobile-First indexing: The Time is Now
Back in April of 2015, Google drew a line in the sand. And that line was about mobile-friendliness. If your site didn’t cut it, then it got cut. We nicknamed this “mobilegeddon” and advised everyone that if your website wasn’t mobile-friendly or responsive, then it needed to get that way and fast. Now, Google has…
Read MoreGoal Drive Website Design
There are a lot of people who can make a decent looking website. And many designers can create beautiful designs that can be used on a website. And I think we create both great designs and functional websites, but what really sets us apart is that we focus on creating websites to achieve a specific…
Read MoreIf you build it, they won’t necessarily come
One of the biggest misstatements when it comes to websites is that if you build it, they will come. So many times I’ve seen a website launch and the owner expected to immediately be flooded with visitors and new customers, and that’s usually not the case. Reasons why you may not have visitors No one…
Read MorePlan your social media strategy with an editorial calendar
You’re busy. You don’t have time to login to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and continuously update your status and engage with your customers. But as a savvy business owner, you know that’s something that needs done. So you hire help. Great! But what usually happens is that someone is hired, they are granted access to social…
Read MoreCommon mistakes you can avoid on your business website
One of my favorite hobbies is looking at a website and telling you everything that’s wrong with it! It’s my super power. So I thought I’d use this platform to tell you everything you shouldn’t put on your website, to help you proactively create a website that your visitors will love. Things to avoid on…
Read MoreSetting Measurable Goals for your Website
Is your website successful? Yes? No? How do you know? Have you considered that question at all? When we start talking to a potential client about their new website, I always ask them two initial questions: What do you want the user to do when they come to your website? How will you know if…
Read MoreWhy choose Sumy Designs for your small business website?
There are a lot of choices when it comes to websites for your business. How do you know which to choose? I know a lot of people who do what we do, and all of them are wonderful. I can’t tell you not to choose them because I know they’d do a great job. But…
Read MoreKeeping your computer safe while you’re away
Everyone thinks about the ramifications of traveling and losing their laptop, whether that means leaving it on a plane, in an airport, or having it stolen in a coffee shop. These things happen all the time. But what many people don’t think about is what happens if you’re away from your home or office and…
Read MorePODS: My new favorite CPT plugin
I love Custom Post Types. (Need more info on what a Custom Post Type is? I wrote a blog post about it.) CPTs combined with Beaver Themer gives you endless options for displaying content. There are a variety of CPT plugins you can use, or you can hard code them into your theme as well. I’ve…
Read MoreTwitter for Business
I get asked a lot about social media for business, and there isn’t one right answer for all businesses. Some social media is good for some businesses, and not for others. Is Twitter going to help your business? The best answer I have is maybe, which is understandably confusing. How to know if you should…
Read MoreTaking Donations on a WordPress site
We do a fair amount of non profit website design, and one of the things that comes up for those is how to accept donations. A lot of organizations want to get donations for their charitable work, but don’t know where to start. Most often people come to me and say, “Well, I have PayPal.…
Read MoreSubdomain Questions and Answers
Your domain name is your Internet address. For example, my domain is sumydesigns.com. Easy enough. But what’s a subdomain? A subdomain is a way to break up your domain into parts for different uses. For example, we offer WordPress maintenance packages and you can sign up for those at support.sumydesigns.com. I’ve also set up websites that…
Read MoreFrequent Mistakes with Email Marketing
We are often asked to set up an opt-in on websites to allow users to subscribe to the business or individual’s email newsletter. It’s easy enough to do using any of the many, many tools available, but you may not realize the mistakes that many people make when setting up their email marketing plan. Not…
Read MoreBlog or Blog Not. There is no try.
Whenever I start the process of talking to someone about their new website, I always ask them if they want a blog. Some say yes and some say no, but some people waiver. And here is what I would say to the waiverers. Either 1) you will have a blog and maintain it or 2)…
Read MoreDo you know who is coming to your website?
You should. I can’t tell you how many times a potential client comes to with an existing website and I take a look and don’t see any Google Analytics script. And every time I do, I just want to face palm myself. If you don’t know if anyone is coming to your website, how are…
Read MoreHow often should you update your website?
Not surprisingly, I have a lot of opinions on this. I have a lot of opinions on many websites in general. So let me start with this – you should update your website often. But let me break it down a little further. We are no longer in an era of “set it and forget…
Read MoreSpecialty fonts for websites
When we first started making websites, almost 12 years ago, you really only had a few fonts to choose from on your website because if the person viewing your website didn’t have the same fonts loaded on their computer, then whatever fonts you picked wouldn’t be displayed. What that meant was that you had to…
Read MoreShould I get an SSL certificate for my website?
Yes. Google announced back in 2014 that they were going to start using SSL as a ranking factor for websites. Not everyone jumped on the bandwagon because SSLs were expensive, had to continually be renewed, and took time to install. If you weren’t a website pro, you might not know how to make your site…
Read MoreYour website doesn’t need a slider
Sliders. Slideshows. Carousels, It doesn’t matter what you call it, website owners love them. And I’ve been trying to convince people to stop using them for a long time. If you look at our portfolio, you’ll see lots of sites with sliders. But it’s not because I tell everyone they should have one. The truth…
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