August Report on “Google’s Mobilegeddon

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mobilegeddon

It is now 4 months since Google launched it’s new algorithm nicknamed “Mobilegeddon”.
The impact of this launch is still being studied as time goes on by SEO Analysts, and Online Marketeers, and other research sources in this industry. It is my continued goal to provide research results to businesses who might otherwise lose touch with what is going on with the Internet as they might be too busy running their own businesses and day to day issues that take up all their time.

I still see complacency occurring among web site clients that it was much to do about nothing. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Here are some interesting findings as I continue my research on this subject. Continue reading →

Modern Cloud Typography and Browser Font Compatibility

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fontWhen web designers get together they like to discuss current trends and happenings in their chosen industry. Some developer’s responsibilities include making web and mobile versions of print magazines. As can be expected, typography can be one of the major challenges that a web developer would face in getting content published.

Print magazine designers and publishers have greater freedom than their online counterparts in terms of typography. This may be difficult to believe for average users of word processing or desktop publishing software. There is a typographic disconnect between web design standards and browser compatibility that makes print design difficult to reproduce online. Imagine the challenge of bringing Ray Gun, a mid-1990s rock-and-roll magazine that was legendary for its rich typography, to an iPhone. Continue reading →

Get the Most out of Your Business by Blogging

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image of typing on keyboardIncreasing numbers of business owners and corporate executives are beginning to realize the power of blogging. Today’s online presence is about more than a traditional website. Websites are a form of passive advertisement, and visitors are often referred to as viewers because that is basically all they are doing. However, a blog not only provides valuable information to current and potential customers but also acts as an outlet for them to interact with your business.

Your Business Blog is a Trigger

According to recent research, successful businesses use a four-step approach to hook customers on products or services, and business blogging can work as an essential element in the first step: the trigger. Continue reading →

Meet Benny, WordPress 4.0 Released

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wordpress-logo-notext-rgb-150x150Today version 4.0 of WordPress was released.  Most of the big changes in “Benny” are changes in how the admin area, or WordPress Dashboard, works and interacts with the user.  The biggest changes are:

  • Page/Post content editor stays in the same place as users scroll down the editing page.
  • Plugin search results are rearranged in a grid and allow admins to easily checkout a plugin’s ratings, documentation, screenshots and other information.
  • The Media Library images are in a more fluid grid pattern, not in a list.
  • Embedded videos now show as a preview inside of the WYSIWYG content editor so users no longer have to publish or preview a page to see the video.

Continue reading →

Orion Group’s Top 10 WordPress Plugins

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WordPress PluginsIn the last couple months several people have asked me what WordPress plugins are the best, which do we use on our sites, and what each plugin does.  There over 31,000 plugins in the WordPress repository, and thousands of paid plugins and add-ons available on the web.  It can be hard to figure out what to use.  So to get started, here’s a list of our top 10 plugins that we use on our latest sites. Continue reading →

Introducing Project Force Field: Protect Your Website!

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WordPress Plugin Project Force Field Save your WordPress sites and servers from certain death during brute force attacks with Project Force Field by Orion Group!  Install the plugin and start protecting your website in under 10 seconds!

The developers at Orion Group bring superior brute force attack protection to WordPress with our new plugin, Project Force Field. By tracking failed login attempts and taking advantage of Apache’s mod_rewrite module, Project Force Field stops Brute Force Attacks from bogging down your sites and servers. Continue reading →

YouTube Bug: Extra Parentheses in Embed Code

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youtube-extra-parenthesesOver the last few days or so, people have started to notice that when they try to embed a YouTube video into their website, and extra “)” appears at the end.  If you manually copy and paste this embed code into your website to add a video, you can simply remove the extra parentheses.  However, for those using a smart CMS like WordPress or other tool that grabs this embed code from the URL, this is a problem. Continue reading →

Milwaukee WordPress Meetup Group

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Meetup in the MeetuperyHave you been handed an existing WordPress website at work, church, or organization but need some help managing it?  Or have you decided to take up blogging and want to start writing on your own WordPress.com blog? Maybe you already know about other content management systems, but want to know more about WordPress?  There’s a local meetup group right here in the Milwaukee area that is 100% geared towards helping out the local WordPress community! Continue reading →

How to Change a Business Address or Name in Online Directory Listings

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If you would like help fixing your online business listings, please call us at 262-820-9520 or fill out this company info form. We will perform an audit of your online business listings across all the various Internet Yellow Page (IYP) directories and the major data aggregators. We will help you determine what needs to be corrected. Remember, for search engine optimization purposes, it is important to maintain accurate Name, Address, & Phone (NAP) information online!

What do you do if your business moved locations or changed it’s name in order to have that information updated on the plethora online business directories?

You used to be able to call your local phone book company to have them change your listing info.  But now, in the digital age, there are hundreds of locations where your company’s address can be listed online.  It is safe to assume that not all of those multiple listings will accurately represent your company’s current business name, business address and/or business telephone number, etc.

To help to clean up your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) info in various online business directories, I would suggest to start from ‘the top’ and work your way down. Continue reading →

Ensure Your Business Has Uniform Address Info on Its Website & Throughout the Internet

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It has become more important these days to have a company’s official NAP (name, address, phone number) info displayed on her website correctly. The major search engines are drawing NAP data from a large variety of sources these days, such as the major data aggregators, internet yellow pages (IYPs) or even a business’ own website ‘contact us’ page.

These online business directory listings that link to a business’ website are acting as ‘citations’, which are a ranking factor in SEO these days. Having uniform listings will ensure that these citations don’t feed search engines mixed signals. Continue reading →