About WordPress

WordPress is the most popular CMS (Content Management System) in the world. With over 4.5% of total internet market share, it’s the most commonly used tool for building websites today. Whether you’re a small business or a Fortune 500, WordPress is the ideal platform for marketing websites.

Below are 5 reasons why you should consider WordPress for your next project!

Ease of Use

One of the major considerations for any website is ease of use. WordPress offers one of the most user friendly interfaces available. Creating and managing website content is fast and easy, even for non-technical users. WordPress also offers an abundance of free help and tutorials across the web, so if you get stuck there’s a good chance someone has written an article on WordPress.org or StackedOverflow to help you out.

Plugins & Extensions

WordPress offers thousands of plugins and extensions for added functionality. For developers, this cuts down development time and drastically increases productivity. For non-technical users, this means there’s probably a plugin for “that new thing” you’re trying to add to your website. This is definitely one of its biggest selling points. Furthermore, the WordPress community is constantly adding new plugins and enhancing existing extensions to further improve the platform.

Theme Customization

In addition to plugins, WordPress also offers complete flexibility in customizing the look and feel of your website (a.k.a. your theme). Many content management systems can be tricky to work with whereas WordPress makes customization a breeze. There’s also thousands of pre-made themes available in the open market for non-technic users.

SEO Friendly

WordPress comes with SEO benefits right out of the box. The platform was originally designed for blogging and SEO has been an influence in its architecture since day one. So if SEO is a big factor in your decision then WordPress is a no brainer.

Open Source

Lastly, WordPress is 100% free! As an open source platform, it maintains strong community support and interest. Developers all over the world are always contributing in effort to keep it the premier open source platform for website development.

The post 5 Reasons to Choose WordPress for Your Website appeared first on Creatency.

Look around you next time you’re out in a social setting. Whether you’re on the subway, in an elevator, or waiting in line at Chipotle, everybody is on their phone. Mobile devices have changed the way we communicate and consume content. The days of having casual conversations and reading newspapers are over.

Statistics Don’t Lie

Furthermore, the statistics around mobile usage are quite compelling. A Google Study on Multi-screen behavior revealed some very interesting results in favor of mobile:

• 38% of our daily media interactions occur on a smartphone
• Smartphones are the most common starting place for online activities
• 65% of searches start on mobile devices

If this doesn’t grab your attention then you’re clearly in denial. Mobile is becoming more and more powerful as the primary device in our everyday lives. We use our phones to search, shop, talk, text, check-in on social media, take photos, manage our schedule, etc. We use our mobile devices for just about everything.

Mobile Website = Mandatory

As consumers gravitate more towards mobile it’s mandatory to have a mobile website experience. In other words, your website needs to be optimized for mobile devices. People are using mobile apps all day long, so when they visit your website on their smartphone it better deliver the same kind of mobile experience, otherwise they’re leaving and they’re leaving fast.

Below are a few key considerations for mobile websites:

Mobile has to be FAST

Our attention spans on mobile devices are also much shorter than sitting in front of a computer or using a tablet on the couch. So it’s important to consider speed and bandwidth when designing mobile web experiences. People aren’t going to wait more than a few seconds, so keep things light and fast.

Prioritize Content

Sometimes we can get away with stuffing tons of content on a page for desktop and tablet screens. However, on mobile we don’t have that luxury. Your content needs to be prioritized and any extra fluff should be thrown out. Users are willing to scroll, but only to a certain extent, so don’t try to replicate your desktop experience on a more narrow mobile screen size. Keep things prioritized for a better mobile experience.

Streamline Navigation

Navigation on mobile devices should be simple and streamlined. Don’t try to stuff your mega dropdown menu with 60 links into a mobile menu. People don’t have time to learn how your different arrows and transitions work to navigate… and they don’t want tons of options. Give users a navigation menu with a few main options and then offer a search bar if they need a deeper dive into details.

The post Why Mobile Websites Are Mandatory Today appeared first on Creatency.

Let me take a stab at your situation…

A couple years back you finally caved and decided it was time to embrace this whole social media thing. So you had your marketing team setup accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. You started posting random stuff like company news and pictures for a few months, somewhat consistently, and then it slowly fizzled away. You have a few hundred likes from mostly family and friends and now you find these social profiles to be a “chore” to maintain. You may have even tried products like Hootsuite so that you can create one piece of content and blast it out to all your social media profiles at once. Sound about right?

If that described you, don’t worry… most people and businesses approach social media that way. I’m going to give you some tips to change your strategy so that it actually creates value for your business instead of just creating more work.

Establish Goals

Before you start any social marketing put a plan in place with some specific goals. This will keep you focused and give you something to drive towards instead of just maintaining a presence.

For example, you might launch a Facebook ad campaign in effort to get 1,000 new likes and 4 new clients within a 12-month span. Everything you post within those 12 months should support your goals.

Create Meaningful Content

Social networks are busy places, and cutting through the noise to share your message is one of the toughest parts of marketing. To do so, you need to create content that’s worth sharing, otherwise your content will be meaningless and get lost in all the other noise floating around. Meaningful content involves creativity, simple messaging, and a clear call-to-action.

Get to Know Your Audience

Whether you’re a small business or a global celebrity, it’s important to understand who your target audience is. By doing so, your content and activity on social networks will have a greater impact. Most social networks allow you to target specific demographics using ads or sponsored content. This is a great way to reach new people and refine your audience over time.

The post 3 Tips for a Better Social Media Strategy appeared first on Creatency.