To add an image to your blog post, click within the post text, then click the Add Image button in the menu above (it looks like a TV), browse for an image, type a caption, then select Insert Into Post. Don't forget to click Update, to save what you just added!

When making a blog posting on a Vicinity site, you can format text and add images to make your post look better.  For example, to enlarge the text of a heading, like the one just above this paragraph, log into WordPress, find your post, click the “Visual” tab, and on the “Paragraph” drop-down menu, select Heading 1.

Header 2

To make a heading look like the title just above this line, you would do as above but select Header 2.  All of the tips on this page require that you are in WordPress on the blog post page, and have clicked the “Visual” tab.

To indent the text like this, select it then click the “Blockquote” button above (it looks like two speech marks).

Header 3

To make a heading look like the text just above this line, select Header 3.

To display a list of items using bullet points, like the list below, select the items then click the Bullet Point in the WordPress menu.

• Salmon
• Halibut
• Crab
• Shrimp

To display a list of items using automated numbers, like the list below, select the items then click the Numbering button in the WordPress menu (it has a graphic of a numbered list on it).

1. Salmon
2. Halibut
3. Crab
4. Shrimp

Ordered List with Letters

1. Salmon
2. Halibut
3. Crab
4. Shrimp

To make your text look like this line, select Header 4.

To make your text look like this line, select Header 5.

To bold text like this, select the text then click the Bold button in the WordPress menu – the one with a capital B on it.

To italicize text like this, select the text then click the Italics button in the WordPress menu – a slanted letter “I”.

To make your text link to another web page like this, select the text then click the “Hyperlink” button in the WordPress menu – the one with a picture of a chain on it.

To make your text look like this line, select Header 6.

You need to check that all the following pages are accessible and that you are happy with the content on them:
Blog Page
Search Page
404 page (the page that appears if a site visitor mistypes a URL)
Category Page
Sitemap
Terms & Conditions page
Privacy Policy page
Security page (This page should be under SSL)

The following pages are required only if your site has a shopping cart:
Shipping page
Sales Tax page
Returns & Exchanges page
Customer Care page

Photo Gallery

Urban Fitness - health club in Skagit Valley for working out, losing weight, training, and improving nutrition and diet.

When Cindy Sell of Urban Fitness Gym needed to use her web site both as a better means of communicating with her existing clients and a way of finding new clients, her graphic designer suggested that she talk to Vicinity.

Vicinity began by updating Urban Fitness’s web site to the latest html standards.  It then integrated social media, and, most importantly, integrated two major communication tools for her: a form which site visitors could use to request a three-day gym pass, and a bespoke tool which enabled her to display and update the schedule of her classes.

Each class was tied in to SEO and social media, so that it could be posted to Facebook as well as be found when doing a Google search in the local area.

Vicinity created a blog, primarily consisting of testimonials from her clients.  The blog is also fully integrated with social media and SEO.

Cindy says: Vicinity was not only on top of all the technical stuff that I needed to have done but they were extremely helpful in terms of keeping the look and feel of the web site consistent with our current brand.

http://urbanfitnessclubs.com/

Alongside that project, Vicinity also developed a web strategy for the business. That included the integration of a web site that could be easily updated using WordPress and that had exciting content such as professional photography of the business’s produce, a video, and social media-focussed text content.

One of Lynden Dutch Bakery’s biggest assets is the great menu reviews their loyal fans have written on sites such as Yelp, Google Reviews, Urbanspoon, and others, and Vicinity developed a social media plan to take advantage of this goodwill.

The new web sites comes complete with the ability to order your lunch online and have it delivered, as well as ordering any of their baked goods for delivery through either local shipping or UPS World Ship.

Tim Burger, Owner: Vicinity quickly got to grips with our business model and where we were going, and provided a web site, graphics and amazing content that completely mirrored our vision.

Baby Bo Peep home page screenshot - www.babybo-peep.com

Heather Wilder of Baby Bo Peep, a consignment store for children’s clothing, is an expert at finding just the right items for her customers, but like many successful business owners she found dealing with the web and anything to do with computers a real challenge. The main issue the business faced was how to connect with all the social media sites, and most importantly how to get its products online quickly and easily.

Vicinity was called in to assist with evaluating Baby Bo Peep’s computer and mobile networks, and to devise a solution to enable Heather to interface with all the components of her IT system.

Vicinity incorporated Baby Bo Peep’s corporate identity into a new web site to keep it consistent with social media pages. A great many technical issues were solved, ranging from domain name management to computer networking problems, in order to enable a succesful web site experience.

Heather Wilder says: Brian from Vicinity is a real problem-solver – he coped with a myriad of challenges here with our computers and Internet, and Vicinity gave me exactly the web site I was looking for.

www.babybo-peep.com

Tana and Eric Skaudrud had built up a very successful locally-based business, and were attracted by Vicinity’s “Webfusion” approach which combines a well-designed web site with bespoke photography, specially-written content, video, social media and other business development tools, all working together to emphasize targeting the local market.

Tana and Eric also intend to target restaurants and caterers throughout the United States and Canada.  Vicinity is currently helping them create traditional print materials and a robust social media system to achieve that.

Tana says: We were really impressed with the beautiful photographs Vicinity took of our products, and by the well-written storyline they came up with for our business.

http://skagitfish.com/

Lana Bargabos of Skagit Running Company wanted to create a web site that helped to expand her existing network of professionals and people in need of well-fitting footwear.  One crucial requirement was to have the products listed with reviews on the web site so that she as well as her customers could review the shoes.

It was also vital that these reviews be communicated through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Reviews.  Furthermore, Lana needed a blog to talk about feet health issues such as pronation, and to advise on suitable footwear for different circumstances, such as trail, work, training, and general use.

Vicinity were commisioned to create a web site that integrated social media with a robust blog and product overviews.  The existing logo was re-created in a more profesional format, and video and photography were taken of the store.  All the content was merged into a web site that reached out to the local community in the Skagit Valley.

Lana Bargabos says: “Vicinity were able to come in and do all the photography, video and text content with very little time commitment from me.  They really knew what they were doing, and they created a first-rate site.”

http://www.skagitrunning.com/

The problem with “real world” social networks is that most of the connections between people are hidden. A customer of your business probably has friends who could also be a customer of yours. But how do you reach out to those people? The traditional way is to hope that a brochure or a web site address is passed to them. Or you could saturate a market with advertising in the hope of picking up a few customers from your target market; but this is costly and inefficient.

A modern, technological social networking solution however enables the customer to instantaneously share their experience. Everyone in the customer’s network can see comments, pictures, links and videos he posted concerning his experience of your business. Your firm can use this fact to assist, inform and convince people to choose you over other companies.

Furthermore, you can see how people are describing and rating your business using social media. You can use that knowledge to create social media groups and pages, as well as a blog that will help you attract people who are interested in your company’s products or services. You can stimulate discussion by adding content, news, advice and help for people who are looking and commenting. All these activities help to generate a “buzz” around your company, and drive traffic to your web site.

http://www.medipro.com.au

New Medipro web site design.

Julie Villani from Medipro Transcription Services in Melbourne, Australia had an outdated web site that did not meet the design requirements of her new marketing campaign.

She therefore asked Vicinity to develop a site that would better target her local market.  A powerful marketing message on the site’s home page was vital to project three primary key words, so  Vicinity worked with her to develop three effective messages and images that tied in to a carousel.

A new easy-to-read menu was designed, and a clean, navigable site structure was implemented.  WordPress was integrated so Julie could easily perform edits.  The new site made it simple for visitors to follow in terms of uploading of audio files to Medipro and tracking the entire transcription process.

Google AdWords. When people search on Google using keywords that are relevant to your business, you can have your ad appear above or alongside the top organic results. You only pay if someone clicks on your ad.

Facebook allows you to advertise to surfers in a specific geographical location. As with Google, you only pay when people click on your advertisement. The fees for these advertisements are based on click through, and not impressions. You can also look at Facebook applications like “GoRecommend”: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=68009493238

MySpace is similar to Facebook but you have the flexibility to pay-per-view or pay-per-click.

YouTube Promoted Videos (brand channel) feature a thumbnail image on Youtube with three lines of text. When the ad is clicked it takes the surfer to your video or Youtube channel.

There are also industry-specific sites where you can pay to advertise. For example, if you own a hotel you can list your business on travel-related web sites.

• blog posts
• photos with messaging that pull users into the content
• contest highlight
• links to social media
• sign-in ability so readers can comment on blog articles
• a short video

Your site’s content pages and posts should all have:

• SEO (search engine optimization)
• social media links so readers can immediately post links to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• a print tool, so the page can be easily printed.

Search engines like “busy” sites whose content changes frequently – this is one of the ways they distinguish between defunct sites and “live” sites. Sites that include prominent media content such as videos also tend to rank more highly in Google.