Every time someone clicks a third-party link on your profile, you are missing out on a click that could go to your own site. That’s valuable website traffic that you are giving away to a third party! Not only that, but you’re missing out on the opportunity to get your followers and leads to engage with your website and take action with your brand. 

Uh-oh. 

How can we solve this problem? I have an answer for you: an Instagram Welcome Page on your own website. 

What is an Instagram Welcome Page?

I’m talking about the page you can put in your bio as THE link that brings someone to your website. It is a similar concept to a landing page, which are often used on websites by marketers for a very specific purpose and audience. 

It makes sense to use this concept for an Instagram link in bio, because a welcome page serves the unique purpose of guiding your Instagram followers & leads to the right content for them on your website.

What Should It Look Like? 

The most important thing to remember is that your welcome page needs to have a mobile-first design. Instagram is primarily viewed as a mobile app, so when this link gets clicked the user will be on a mobile device the majority of the time. 

If you’ve seen other examples of this type of landing page, like the one pictured below, you will probably be familiar with the layout. Applications like Linktree or LinkInBio offer a service like this, but again – you don’t want to sacrifice the website traffic just for convenience! It really isn’t a ton of work to build your own. 

Add a Simple Button List to Your Instagram Welcome Page

A design or layout option for this page that will be familiar for your visitors is a short tier of buttons on the top of the page. They should be clearly labeled and lead to specific content or information on your website. Embedding blog posts or other relevant content is a great way to fill out the bottom half of your welcome page. 

Add Easy Access to Your Full Website on Your Instagram Welcome Page

Be sure to include your website’s main navigation menu and branding, so your new visitors will be able to easily find what they are looking for, and spend even more time on your website. 

Use Widgets for Commonly Referenced Content on your Instagram Welcome Page

Many times we refer to the “link in bio” when we are talking about a new blog post or a new portfolio item we’ve added to our site. Keep your Welcome Page streamlined, yet be sure to make those items apparent and accessible. 

A simple widget that lists your most recent three blog posts, or a spotlight on the portfolio item, could be a way to make those items easy to locate.

Keep the Architecture of the Instagram Welcome Page Simple

Want to see an example? You can be inspired by one of our clients, WPL Design welcome page here, or the Marketing Queen Instagram welcome page here!

When it comes to the URL, keep it clean and simple. People should be able to glance at the link and realize it is trustworthy. You can simply customize the URL to something like yourdomainname.com/welcome or yourdomainname.com/ig. 

Benefits of Building Your Own Welcome Page 

There are a few benefits of building a welcome page on your website. It’s important to understand the value of website traffic and to get potential customers migrating from social media to your website.

Trackable Entry To Your Website

One benefit is that on your site, you can use your Analytics Tool (i.e. Google Analytics, Plausible, or Fathom) to see the traffic. Trackable data is the best kind of data! 

No Subscription Costs To A Third-Party

The other benefit is that there is no extra cost to putting it on your site, once you build the page. Most of the popular third party link in bio apps charge you a subscription fee to have your link hosted with them. 

Besides, who wants yet another password to remember?

Branded Entry That You Can Control

The ease of adjusting your webpage is simple with the right website setup. For MQ clients using Elementor, logging in to adjust a button for a particular launch or adding a feature for current blog posts is straightforward. 

1. Login and click ‘Edit Page with Elementor’
2. Add the content or widget of choice. Adjust any formatting issues, like rearranging the vertical line-up.
3. Click ‘Update’

Violia! Done in 1-2-3.

Overall, it is definitely worth the effort to build your own Instagram welcome page on your website. It will help you get more website traffic, give you more opportunities to interact with your audience, and save you the money you could be spending on a subscription link service. 

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post What is an Instagram Welcome Page? appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Collateral is tangible materials with your business’s branding and helps your brand look more professional. Marketing collateral can benefit your business in multiple ways. One of the most familiar is by making it much easier to promote your offerings to your target market. 

Creating marketing collateral for the sake of “having something” is not worth the time, money, and energy it takes to produce and distribute it. 

Collateral must have a purpose and be created intentionally. 

Branding Collateral vs Marketing Collateral 

Let’s take a quick look at the difference between branding collateral and marketing collateral.

As your branding develops, and your business grows its reach, you may want to create visual elements to further elevate your brand. Pieces of branding collateral can benefit your business in the following ways: 

• Brand awareness
• Brand consistency 
• Brand elevation & reputation
• Getting your brand name & messaging in the hands of your potential customers 

Maybe there are already physical or digital items that you use in your business that could be branded visually. By investing in and using branded collateral, you will organically start to build brand consistency and equity. 

Marketing collateral can be used for some more specific reasons than general branded collateral. Having assets that are created strategically with your goals and audience in mind can help your business in the following ways: 

• Get a broader reach with a campaign
• Build traction with that campaign
• Leave a longer-lasting impression with your target audience & customers

Now, let’s look at some examples of collateral. These items all have a purpose that contributes to your business’ marketing efforts, and they are not all necessarily needed simultaneously. 

You may find that some of these elements are only needed for specific times of year, or for a targeted campaign effort.

Types of Collateral Include (but are not limited to)

• Printed Promotional Pieces (flyers, postcards, etc.)
• Print or Digital Advertisements
• Social Media Artwork (templates, individual campaign artwork, etc)
• Vehicle Graphics
• Presentation Decks or Folders (with correlating materials that are within the folder)
• Menus or Catalogs
• Digital Brochures – investment guides, media kits, proposals, client welcome packets
• Event Materials
• Magazines
• Stationary Kits 
• Business Cards
• Signage 

Remember, your brand’s entire portfolio of collateral pieces needs to be consistent. Ideally, the various pieces will work together to inform and guide your audience to the decision you want them to make. 

Great collateral always includes a Call-To-Action (even if it’s subtle). 

When you put out high-quality collateral, your business can be seen as a thought leader or as the authority on a specific area of expertise.  If you’re interested in creating or expanding your brand’s portfolio of collateral, reach out. We can help find the specific purposes that require collateral and how best to produce them.

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post What is Collateral? appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

If you need to learn more about tracking analytics and utilizing apps like Google Analytics, you can read our previous blog post about that here.

So, it’s important to ask if your website is doing its job correctly – is it converting? 

A website that is converting is taking visitors on an interactive journey, one that intrigues them, and provides clear direction and opportunities to engage. 

Website conversion is a term used in marketing to describe a successful action taken by a visitor on your website. We need to know why people are visiting our site, what they’re looking for and how they want to engage with it to maintain a great conversion rate. 

Do you know the types of opportunities you can provide on a website to engage your visitors and direct them to action? 

This is a very important question you have to ask yourself as a business owner or marketing professional! When you know the answer, it’s easier to create an appropriate strategy to make sure your website converts. 

Why Do Website Conversions Matter? 

A website must be converting visitors or it is not doing its job.

There can be multiple points of conversion on a website, or actions that visitors can take. Conversions are key, because they mean that your customers are taking action with your content and brand. 

Without conversions, you cannot measure customer interaction. It’s important to understand the many ways that your customers can take action – or convert – on your website. 

Let’s take a look at eight types of website conversions to help you accurately determine if your website is working for your brand! 

Top 8 Types of Website Conversions:

Website visitors can take any number of actions on your website, and they all have different benefits for your business. Below are eight different types of website conversions that you can aim to receive on your website. 

Visitors can: 

1. Follow You On Social Media
2. Join Your Email Marketing List
3. Submit An Inquiry Form
   • Example: request a quote, submit various inquiry forms on the site (therefore you have multiple points of conversion)
4. Schedule A Meeting 
5. Starting A Live Chat
   • This is dependent on if you have this functionality on your site, and have this need for this customer service functionality
6. Perform A Search
   • This can be a “sneaky” conversion that shows engagement with your content. They really want to find something if they are performing a search. Be sure to give it to them! 
   • Does your website have a search bar? You could be missing out on a conversion.

7. Add To Cart Button
   • Bonus Option: Add to Favorites / Wishlist 
     • This allows you to follow up via email later for retargeting. You might still capture that sale! 
8. Buy a Product (physical or virtual)
   • This could be a paid product OR a free product 
   • It could also be a subscribing to a monthly package

Your website conversion rate is very telling of which calls to action on your website are working well and which ones need improvement. Having a strategy for tracking your conversions is a key part of this process. Check out some helpful formulas for tracking this data here.

When you understand the importance of website conversions, and the clear options you can give your website visitors to interact with, you will be in a better position to increase your website conversions. 

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post Website Conversions: What Are They and Why Are They Important? appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

A website that is consistently being optimized helps your site visitors interact with your website the way you need them to. Website optimization should be a recurring part of your brand strategy, and something you do consistently to improve your site’s performance. 

A well-rounded approach to website optimization will improve your traffic flow, conversion rates, search engine performance and more. 

How do I know if my website needs to be optimized?

The answer is probably, “Yes!”. All websites need to be optimized and maintained on a regular basis. An initial design and setup is not enough. An intentional approach to optimizing your website will help your site perform better and help your business grow. 

Unlike other tasks that only need to be done once or twice, like connecting Google Analytics or updating your contact information, optimizing your website is an ongoing process. It is important to have a strategy and plan for website optimization. 

When this piece of your brand strategy is neglected, your website will not perform as well as it could (or should). Optimizing your website will continually make it easier for your visitors and customers to accomplish what you want them to do when they visit your site. 

So, let’s take a look at what website optimization actually is and how to do it successfully! 

What is optimizing a website? 

Website optimization is the process of using controlled experimentation to improve a website’s ability to drive business goals, according to Optimizely. 

Every business should have clear objectives and goals for their website. In order to achieve them, the site needs to function properly. Optimizing your website also focuses on the customer experience from the time they land on your website to the time they take (or don’t take) action. 

Optimize your website to ensure that you get the most, and the best, outcome out of each website visitor. A well-functioning website will benefit your business by improving its rankings on search engines and making it easier for your customers to engage with your business. 

Steps To Optimizing A Website:

Step 1: Determine Your Goal 

What are you looking for? It is important to have very specific and clear goals for your website in order to take the right steps to get there. So, you will need to decide what needs improving — or what needs optimizing. Some examples are: 

• Performance (i.e. gallery load time or layout)
• Conversion Rates (i.e. visitors compared to the number of new leads or subscribers)
• Search Engine Results / Rankings (i.e. what does your homepage’s google description say?)
• Traffic Flow (i.e. can you highlight more areas of your website to your page visitors?)
• Quality Leads (i.e. how are your services positioned?)

Step 2: Ask and Observe Your Audience 

What is your current starting place? Before you begin making adjustments and trying to measure growth, first assess where you’re starting. Take a good look at the current and past data and analytics. This will help you be aware of your audience’s behavior and accurately track growth. 

Step 3: Be Inspired 

One of the best ways to consistently breathe fresh life into your site and optimize it is to get inspired. I suggest looking at other websites, your competitors, drawing inspiration from your own imagination and taking audience requests into consideration. 

All of these elements can guide you to making effective changes to your website. 

Step 4: Execute small changes and tweaks to TEST 

Before you make a lot of changes and spend a lot of time, you need to test things out. This could be making a small update to content on a page (photo or text), or it could be optimizing metadata for search engines to comb through. Another tweak you can try is even swapping one plugin for another. 

Step 5: Track and Analyze The Results 

The final step in the ongoing process of website optimization is to track and analyze the results. Are you tracking data via Google Analytics, or do you need other tools like heat mapping, surveys, focus groups? 

It is incredibly helpful to have the right tools to track the results of your hard work! When you have the right applications and tactics in place, you can analyze what’s working in your website optimization strategy and what’s not.

Step 6: Profit from the optimizations

Let’s be real, this is the ultimate goal! Optimizing your website is an ongoing strategy intended to improve the overall performance of your website. When that happens effectively, your conversions, leads and sales should all improve as well! 

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post How To Optimize Your Website appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Creating a content calendar for your blogs is one thing. We address making this process a lot easier and less overwhelming in this post from the beginning of 2020. I shared some steps for creating your own editorial calendar. 

Once you’ve created your content calendar, and written your primary blog posts, it is time to start brainstorming other creative marketing ideas! Then, when your ideas are planned out, it is a major time-saver to create a posting schedule to streamline your marketing process and create consistency. 

Why Should You Plan All Marketing Content? 

You may be asking, “how will planning my marketing content in advance practically help my business?” 

Well, let me tell you a few of the benefits that I have personally noticed, and that my clients have also experienced from planning ahead! 

Preparation & planning combat stress. Planning marketing content in advance is not as overwhelming as doing it on the fly – I have learned this from experience. Below, I’ve outlined a few types of complementary content you can use to drive traffic to your blogs and other marketing content. 
Next, we will look at some benefits of planning your content & marketing content in advance. I’ll also share a sample schedule you can use to get started – stay tuned!

Types of Content You Can Create To Promote Your Blog Posts

Once you outline your editorial calendar, and plan or write your main blog posts, it’s time to brainstorm some complementary content to go along with it. This is where your content can really start to come together to move the needle forward on your goals and digital marketing efforts.

Digital Marketing Content To Add To Your Editorial Calendar 

1. Pinterest Pins
2. Social Media Posts & Graphics 
3. Videos 
4. Emails
5. PDF downloads and/or e-books 
6. Ads

When you create a variety of marketing content to promote your blog posts, it will have a further reach. Different types of content reach different segments of your audience. Each of these types of content have a unique purpose, and creating a variety allows you to get creative with how you engage your audience. 

Benefits of Planning Out Complementary Marketing Content

1. Create Content Faster 

The first benefit is that you will be able to create content faster when you sit down and focus on it. The content you create will be higher quality and more creative than if you try to craft a post in the middle of your work day. When you are in “work mode” it can be tough to transition quickly into “creative or marketing mode”.

2. Build Consistency

Planning your marketing content ahead of time is the first step in creating a sustainable marketing plan. When you can plan, create, and post marketing content on a regular basis, it will be easier to build consistency in your marketing. Consistency helps your audience build a sense of trust with your brand.  

3. Plan For Intentional Traffic

The type of content we are talking about creating here is what will drive traffic to your blog and website. Planning your content in advance gives you the opportunity to identify opportunities, optimize your  content and strategically point your audience to go where you want them. 

Scheduling Your Content 

Now that you know the types of complementary marketing content that will drive traffic to your blog, and the benefits of planning it out in advance, let’s take a look at how to implement this plan. 

Having a posting calendar can really save you a lot of time and energy while helping you accomplish your marketing goals. 

Draft or write your blog posts, or most involved content, first to help guide the rest. Then identify your topics / themes. From here it will be easier to identify the other content that you will need to create in order to strategically promote your blog and brand. 

Now that you have decided what you’re going to post, it’s time to get it on a schedule to save yourself that precious time we’ve been talking about. Below is a sample schedule that I have used in the past to help my clients get in the habit of planning and scheduling their content in advance. 

WEEK 1: 

Monday: Publish Blog 

Tuesday: Facebook post with a link to blog

Wednesday: Instagram post directing to blog

Thursday: Instagram story 

Friday: Upload Pins to Pinterest with links to post

WEEK 2: 

Monday: Facebook post to add value 

Tuesday: Instagram post to add value

Wednesday: Instagram story

Thursday: Facebook post to share a freebie / lead magnet with your audience

Friday: Upload Pins to Pinterest with links to post

I hope that discussing the benefits of planning ahead with your marketing content and  this posting schedule empowers you to organize your content. Planning and scheduling your marketing content in advance will free up your time to do other important things, drive traffic to your posts, and create consistency for your audience! 

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post Planning Your Complementary Marketing Content – read: non-blogs! appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Why Updating Your Website Is Important: 

When your customers visit your website, they must be able to easily locate the most important information about your business. A website has to serve a purpose, and that purpose is serving your customers and helping them find what they are looking for. 

This list will help you keep your website in tip-top shape and functioning well. 

We understand that maintaining a website can feel like a big undertaking, especially if you are not an “expert”. That’s why we’re here to help you! 

Website Tune Up Checklist:

• Yearly: Check your copyright date and footer information. 
• Yearly: Read all of your legal pages (privacy, terms, accessibility, disclaimers, return policies, etc.) to make sure they are still up to date. We wrote this post in 2020 that can be used as a reference for these items. Also, click here for a great template site that can be a resource for you as well. 
• Yearly: Review your content and site functions. Ask yourself if there are ways that you can make your website content more current and relevant? Are there ways you could be more inclusive, accessible and authentic on your website?  How about your inquiry form – can you make any changes/tweaks there?
• Yearly: Check in with your paid service providers and paid subscriptions. Are you paying for outdated plans for your web hosting or security? 

You should check to see if there are new packages available to you that could save you money. (i.e. GoDaddy recently updated their newer Managed WordPress hosting plans to include the SSL certificate so you don’t need to pay for that separately). 

For any more security needs you might have, you can reference this post . 

• Quarterly: Check your analytics to see what trends you can identify. Paying attention to user trends on your website will help you prioritize what content to focus on moving forward. We have a whole category of posts to help you with the topic of analytics that can be found here. 

• Monthly (or more often): Double check your maintenance tasks. Are you updating your theme regularly, updating your websites plugins, backing up your site, etc.? Keeping your website up to date will improve the functionality and ultimately, your users’ experience. 

For tips on updating and maintaining your WordPress site reference this post. 

Ready For the New Year, Let’s Go!

We hope this checklist provides a few more specific tasks to help you tune up your website for the new year. We want to be a resource for you so that your website serves your business and your customers well. Time flies by, and soon we’ll be looking at this list for 2023, 2024, and so on! 

Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later! 

For help pinning these graphics – here is a helpful link!

The post New Year Tune Up For Your Website and Habits To Keep All Year ‘Round appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Here’s the thing, a lot of websites are not as accessible to the masses as they could be. When this happens, it is easy to fall for the trap of just installing an accessibility plugin on the site and calling it a job well done. This is problematic because most website accessibility plugins only help on a superficial level. 

This is why we need to have a comprehensive understanding of what website accessibility really means. The concept of website accessibility is spelled out quite clearly in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These standards are put forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). 

Shoutout to Ilana Davis, a Shopify Superhero, with this helpful article to really answer the question, “Does your website have to be compliant with ADA?”. She is the best, and has enlightened me to incorporate these guidelines as a standard in the website’s that I build.

These standards ensure that people with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, color-blindness, or deafness can access your site using a keyboard, screen reader, or other assistive technologies.

Enabling these visitors to understand all of the information on your pages begins with the foundational structure of the site. It cannot be entirely dependent on a superficial layer provided by a simple plugin.

NOTE: This blog post was updated in January of 2025!

How Accessibility Plugins Work

Accessibility plugins add features to the front-end of a website (the part your site visitors see). The key thing to understand is that we are adding a layer of features. 

A lot of these plugins add a visual control panel for your visitors to click on. The options allows a user to adjust the text size, contrast, and so forth. This is valuable for some visitors, as not everyone needs assistive technologies. Some simply need the ability to improve the contrast for example.

However, when a site visitor is using assistive technology or features inherently built into their operating system, this layer could be pretty pointless for them. 

A False Sense of Accessibility with Plugins

Only adding an accessibility control panel to your website can be helpful. Yet, it shouldn’t leave you feeling like you’ve checked the box on making your website accessible.

There are so many facets of accessibility, and most need to be manually adjusted, inputted, and maintained by a human. 

While we could get into examples involving redundant code, confusing styling settings, and more, let’s pull out one primary example of what the plugins do not do well – content!

We all want visitors on our websites to read our content and engage with our brand in some way. If the delivery of that content is unclear or inaccessible to some viewers, what’s. the. point. 

The accessibility plugins provide visual options to a user. The options typically don’t touch your content, meaning the content itself is not altered for accessibility. Visitors can only digest and interpret content that is being presented to them. If a visitor listens to the content of your website with a screen reader, are they getting ALL of your content and context cues? 

If you’ve read my posts on the importance of alt text and aria labels, you know that there is content needed “between the lines” in order to be interpreted correctly by assistive technology. Those that cannot visually see your design elements might require auditory cues as to what content is being presented.

Accessibility plugins will not automatically add these cues for you. It’s up to you, as the content creator, to do so.

The Accessibility Plugin Called One Click

If you feel you have built a great site with structural considerations for accessibility, and that you are practicing good habits in inclusivity when it comes to your content calendar, then maybe adding an accessibility plugin can be the cherry on top of your sundae. MAYBE! Depends on the plugin…

I have used the accessibility plugin called One Click, which is great for a superficial level of accessibility, such as the front-end website controls and features we discussed earlier. It also plays super well in the sandbox with Elementor Builder.

One Click will add a small icon (a wheelchair symbol on our website) to the right or left of the page. When clicked users to access a customizable toolbar with features like font size, color and contrast, readable fonts, link underlines, and more. However, with technology ever-changing and tools ever-changing… it is your responsibility as the website owner to be sure everyone is playing well together. We do not want to inhibit the tools used by certain users with another superficial tool.

Be sure to watch out for claims made by various plugins. For instance, you might take a look at this FTC Press Release from January of 2025… click here to read it!

The Moment of Truth… Testing Your Website

This is where testing comes into play, the best way to test your website for accessibility is to use a screen reader yourself. For example, try to navigate your website without using your mouse.

You can also get Google Chrome to read a webpage to you by clicking ‘edit’ – ‘speech’ – ‘start speaking’ to see how your website will respond to someone who is using dictation software.

Additionally, W3.org provides a long list of different tools you can use to test your website accessibility, such as a contrast accessibility validator, an A11y site checker, and more.

There’s no reason your website can’t be accessible! Yet, website owners need to be aware of any ‘solution’ that is a one-click addition to your site. If it doesn’t touch your content nor the structure of your site, it’s probably a superficial layer.

Learn More About Adding Accessibility to Your Site

Interested in learning more and staying up to date on accessibility tools, techniques, and more – I’m always on the hunt for more and more resources, but an account I have followed for quite some time would be Erin on IG (@mabely_q) – be sure to follow here and check out her website: https://www.mabelyq.com/accessibility-tools-apps

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post An Honest Look At Accessibility Plugins appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Today we’re going to be sharing our favorite time-tracking tool with you: Toggl!

What is Toggl?

You’re probably wondering, “what in the world is this thing with a funny-looking name?!”

While the name may be funny, they mean business.

We all know time is money, and Toggl doesn’t want you to waste any of it! They’ve created software that offers online tracking and reporting services with useful features like time blocking based on tasks, projects, and tags (more on how I use this soon!).

They actually have three main products: Toggl Track, Toggl Plan, and Toggl Hire. This article will focus on the app that we use the most in our office – Toggl Track.

Toggl Track is great for both teams and individuals (I’m the Toggl lover at Marketing Queen) and it’s a great way to track how much time you’re spending on certain tasks, so you can start to streamline.

Toggl Track also holds you accountable to your timelines and makes your whole process more efficient through intelligent reminders to pause and clock out.

Three Ways We Use Toggl Track at Marketing Queen

Toggl Track has so many useful features that are customizable for each business’s needs, but here is how we use it!

#1 – Improve Productivity

Whether it’s just me working on a website project, or I have team members come in, such as an intern, it’s a great way to individually track how much time you’re spending on a given project (or even just one part of the project!). This really helps us stay organized and keeps the project moving forward. No one likes a project that drags on forever.

#2 – Accessible and Habitual

Toggl Track can be easily downloaded from the App Store, so I always have quick access to the desktop and mobile versions. Despite how readily available it is, it can take time before it becomes a habit. At first, I would often forget to open the app or start the tracker, but I was committed to giving it a try. After the first few months, it became second nature. Now I always turn it on and off when working with client tasks and it helps ensure I’m managing my time effectively.

#3 – Organization

Whenever I begin a new client project, it only takes a few seconds to create a client folder for their project. From there, I simply log the various tasks I work on within the project folder. It is seriously simple – promise. 

Have multiple projects for the same client? No problem! Toggl Track organizes that too! Simply make a new folder for that client and choose the appropriate one based on the task. 

The organization is easy to get obsessed with, chef’s kiss!

Streamline Your Business with Toggl Track Today!

Ready to start saving time? Or at least seeing where all that time is flying too?!
We highly recommend you start a FREE trial of Toggl Track and see the data for yourself. Whether it’s just you, or you have a team, Toggl Track can make your life easier, and who doesn’t want that?

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning this graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post Time-Tracking Made Easy – Spotlight on Toggl appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

All website projects look a little different. Here at Marketing Queen, we have a proven system that takes you through four main phases in about six to ten weeks, on average.

Phase One: Exploration

In the exploration phase, we want to get to know you and your business. We’ll have a series of strategy and discovery conversations that will help us clarify your goals.

All of the websites we create are intentionally designed to look beautiful, while also being functional for your site visitors. 

Website functionality is essential in order to create a user-friendly experience. We want to guide your visitor from the page they arrive on through the appropriate customer journey. Ultimately, the goal is to convert the visit into a sale or consultation.

In order for us to ensure your website has the most optimal flow, we will discuss and define the path that best fits your brand’s needs.

During this phase, you will have a little homework so we can make sure we’re on the same page! There’s no stress involved — we promise it’s not a test.

We will also take a look around at your competitors to get a better understanding of your industry. 

Once all of this exploration is completed, we will begin building out your sitemap. Remember our house analogy, your sitemap is essentially the blueprint of your house… how many rooms (or pages, in our case), the types of rooms, etc.
Need a refresher, be sure to check out our blog posts on “What is a Sitemap?” And “Build Your Website Like You Build Your House – Part 1”

Phase Two: Strategy + Aesthetics

The Strategy and Aesthetics phase is a client favorite because they begin to see their project come to life.

In this phase, you will start to see deliverables that represent your brand’s aesthetics and the website’s strategy.

For aesthetics, we create a PDF called your Style Tile. This showcases all of the design elements that we get to pull from as we lay out all of your pages (think: heading styles, buttons, color blocks, etc.).

Then for strategy, we begin by focusing on your main calls-to-action (CTAs). We’ll develop a list of your top five CTAs together, and then prioritize them per page. 

Your homepage is the main central terminal of all website traffic. We will prioritize and arrange the content top to bottom, encouraging clients to visit various other pages on your site. This is called your Wireframe (learn more here).

Lastly, we’ll set up your domain/hosting on WordPress so we have a place to begin the build-out.

This is the exciting moment when all of the paperwork is behind you, and your house is finally going to be built — it’s coming to life!

Phase Three: Development

This is the BIG picture where everything comes together. 

We develop each page with a specific intention. The focus will remain on your messaging flow and calls-to-action (CTAs) for optimal engagement. 

This is the construction phase. Your site will be built on a solid foundation for growth (as every house should).

While it’s business as usual for you, we’ll be developing theme settings and elements, bringing the design and function of your site to life.

Once the house looks good, we will ask you to review every detail. You’ll be able to provide directives and revisions for each page.

This is also the phase where we adapt for responsive screen sizes (making sure the website will run like a dream on every device) and review the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines on each page.

Whew! It may not be as physically exhausting as building a house, but it sure is a lot of work!

Phase Four: Go Live

Where’s the bubbly?! This is the finish line! 

We ensure that each page, function, and contact form is performing as it should. 

Meta Descriptions are added to your pages so your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts start out strong! Not sure what SEO entails? No worries, we’ll discuss it in our training as well as a number of how-to tips and tricks to maintaining your site. (We’ve given you a glimpse at why maintenance matters in this blog post here).

To get even more techy on you (just for a second!), we’ll also be implementing your Google Analytics (learn what stats to watch for on Google Analytics).

Most importantly, we’ll migrate the site to you and (drum roll please …. ) LAUNCH THE SITE! Yay!

OH– we can’t forget the two-hour WordPress training to ensure you’re set up for success with your new site. We’d never leave you hanging.

See the plan. Ready to jump on board?!

It’s time your business had a virtual storefront with a strategic design, and we’re ready to help you! We’re currently booking projects for the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, connect with us!

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning these graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post The Phases of a Website Project appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.

Before we jump in, if you need a little typography review, read our typography guide for beginners so you’re up-to-date with all the fun design words!

The most important thing for you to know is that not all font directories are created equal – and not all fonts are created equal for that matter. When it comes to choosing fonts for website and design projects my go-to sources for easy and accessible options are Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts.

Why Do We Need Typography?

Fonts can be an integral part of your brand. They are an easy way to keep things consistent from contracts to website text, to a brochure and social media — really anything with words!

There’s a lot of confusion about fonts and how they should be used. Like stock photography, fonts are created by an artist and need to be licensed. So, if you’re using a font on your website, print material, or social media, you have to pay for that license.

A font license comes in so many variations. Some are just for desktop use, while others are for website use. And then, of course, there are various types of public and commercial licenses.

Many small businesses opt for a commercial license as the rights granted are better suited to their needs. All in all, I highly suggest you read the fint print and pick the license that is right for you.

We won’t get too lawyer-y on you, because both Google and Adobe Fonts make the licensing process super simple, which we’ll get into now.

All About Google Fonts

There are more than 1,075 fonts available on the Google Fonts site. You can scroll through them all or simply filter by style, such as serif or sans-serif.

PRO TIP: Google lets you type in a sampling of your own words to see what each font looks like when displaying that word or phrase. Sooooo very helpful for those of us that like to see visuals easily!

When you find a font you like, you can easily download it to your computer for use in various applications.  AND, wait for it…  you can even install them for use on your website if that font isn’t already an option. [Cue the confetti]

Don’t stop partying just yet, all of the fonts in the Google Fonts directory are considered Open Source, which allows you to use them on your website, digital materials, and/or printed materials for FREE.  

Unfortunately, free does mean being available to everyone everywhere. These fonts are very widely used so choose wisely. And, maybe don’t use a mainstream font for your logo.

So what is our other option?

All About Adobe Fonts

There are thousands of unique and professional options in the Adobe Fonts directory (formerly known as TypeKit). 

There’s a small catch… you must have one of the Creative Cloud subscriptions to access and use Adobe Fonts. But hang tight, because it’s worth it for many businesses.

With the Full Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you’ll have access to all of Adobe’s latest creative tools and services on demand for a pretty affordable monthly price. 

There are actually a few different subscription options. For instance, right now you can get the latest Photoshop application and access to ALL of the Adobe Fonts for $10/month. That could be really helpful when it comes to designing and creating things for your brand – plus there are many professional fonts in the directory that could cost hundreds of dollars to license individually.

Once you have the subscription that is right for you, perusing the Adobe Fonts library is fairly simple. You browse the site and ‘activate’ the fonts you want to use so that they show up on your Adobe design programs for use. There are a couple of extra clicks when it comes to creating a ‘Web Project’ for font use on your website, but it can be just as easy.

Although their font library is vast, the downside is that these fonts cannot be downloaded and installed on your computer. You may need to search for the font on a third-party website to obtain a true desktop license that will allow you to use the fonts in programs that are not Adobe… like Microsoft applications or Canva.com.

Although this option may be an added expense to your business, the additional software and the large font library are certainly valuable.

Additional Font Sources

Yes, yes, Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts are my faves, but we don’t have to agree on everything! Actually, there are a few other font websites that I also enjoy browsing.

Many third-party sites allow you to shop the fonts from the artists themselves, or through collaborative marketplaces such as Creative Market.

These fonts can be truly unique, but you will be required to purchase a license directly from them. Look for fonts that offer a desktop license and a website license. This way you can download the font to your computer to use in various applications, and also add the font to your website.

Be sure to test these fonts. I would recommend being prepared to pivot if necessary, as some third-party fonts increase the time it takes for your website to load. The trade-off between design and function can sometimes get dicey here.

Let Us Know If You Need Some Font-Finding Guidance

To find a font that works for your brand, consult your brand stylist as they often have ideal recommendations. Some even say “we have an eye” for this sort of thing!

Font searching is time-consuming and tedious, we’re here to help!
We’d be honored to nerd out over your brand’s typography, connect with us here.

Enjoy this post? Pin it for later…

For help pinning this graphics – here’s a helpful link!

The post How to Find Website Fonts – Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts appeared first on Marketing Queen Consulting.