Embracing Lifelong Learning Goodbye to the Old, Hello to the New
Goodbye to the old and hello to the new! As we look forward to 2021, one theme stands out for me: embracing lifelong learning.
Finding Growth in a Difficult Year
However, 2020 was tough for all of us, especially for those who have been ill, lost loved ones, or lost jobs. In addition, many of us lost the simple joys of going out to a movie, concert, or even dinner at a friend’s house. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered through this pandemic.
Nevertheless, there were also blessings. For me, 2020 offered a chance to focus on learning new things. As a result, I rediscovered how much I love embracing lifelong learning.
Lessons from My Father
on Lifelong Learning
For example, my 83-year-old father embodies this lesson. His pursuit of knowledge has taken him around the world and into many languages, even learning to speak Mandarin later in life. Moreover, he showed me that you are never too old to grow.
Embracing Lifelong Learning in My Own Life
Meanwhile, I worked on building my website development skills, improving design, creating art, cooking, and enjoying growth. Ultimately, my focus is staying healthy, making the most of each day, and embracing lifelong learning as a way of life.
I am grateful for my health, my loved ones, my curiosity, and the chance to help other entrepreneurs through my work at Grateful Web Services. The web is always changing, just like life, and staying open to learning is the best way to adapt.
Professional Website Design Company Benefits for Business
A professional website design company can transform your online presence. By investing in expert web design, you give your business the credibility, visibility, and performance it needs to grow. While DIY website builders may look convenient at first, they rarely deliver the long-term results that a custom-built website can provide.
Why You Should Hire a Professional Website Design Company
Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business. If it looks outdated, loads slowly, or doesn’t work well on mobile devices, visitors may leave within seconds. A professional website design company ensures your site is fast, responsive, user-friendly, and optimized for search engines. As a result, your business is more likely to attract and retain customers online.
For more details on what Google values in a website, check their SEO Starter Guide.
Save Time and Focus on Growth
Designing a website on your own can take countless hours, time that could be better spent growing your business. A professional web designer builds sites every day and understands best practices for layout, functionality, and performance. With expert support, you save time and avoid costly mistakes. In addition, you gain peace of mind knowing your site is being built to last.
Investing in professional design offers long-term benefits for your business. A custom website is easier to update, more secure, and tailored to your brand. It also builds credibility and trust with your audience. Google rewards professional, well-structured websites with higher search rankings, helping you generate more traffic and leads.
According to Statista, nearly half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. This makes responsive, professional design more critical than ever.
Support That Goes Beyond the Launch
A professional website isn’t just about the build; it’s about long-term support. At Grateful Web Services, we provide Website Maintenance to keep your site updated, secure, and running smoothly. Whether you need content updates, new features, or security improvements, our team is here for the long haul.
Why Partner with a Professional Website Design Company
In conclusion, working with a professional website design company helps your business stand out, saves you time, and builds trust with your customers. From SEO improvements to user experience, the benefits far outweigh the risks of doing it yourself. If you’re ready to elevate your website, contact us today, and let’s create a site that supports your growth.
Have you ever noticed the URL (your domain name) in the browser bar? Does it start with an HTTP or HTTPS? An SSL certificate secures HTTPS sites, but it does not secure HTTP sites. Chances are, you have heard the term “SSL,” but what exactly is it, and why do you need it?
Whenever we develop a new website here at Grateful Web Services, we make sure that our clients have an SSL certificate. We always include this in the hosting discussion at the beginning of every project, and it’s part of our basic hosting plan. The acronym SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. In layman’s terms, this is your website security. This security is no longer something that is really optional. If your website does not have an SSL certificate, your users will see a message that says your site is unsafe. Yikes! Of course, this is not anything you want on your website. Also, Google will no longer index your website. This change greatly reduces your website’s visibility in searches. So to put it plainly, if you don’t have an SSL certificate, your website may still function as always, but it will be vulnerable to hackers, and Google will warn visitors that your website is not secure. Ultimately, your website traffic will greatly suffer. Google gives priority to websites that have an SSL certificate.
How it works
The function of the SSL is to allow secure connections from a web server to a browser. SSL is the standard in online security. Websites use it to encrypt data sent over the Internet between your computer and the server. This automatically prevents many types of attacks. If a hacker intercepts encrypted data, the hacker can’t read it or use it without the private decryption key.
In the early web days, SSL was used only to secure credit card transactions, data transfer, and logins, but more recently, it has become the norm due to an increase in website threats and is now required by Google.
Once your SSL is installed, you will see your website address change from HTTP in front of your web address to HTTPS. The “S” stands for Security, and if you are remotely curious, the rest stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HTTP is the foundation of any data exchange on the Web. To read more, go to Wikipedia for their definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS
In short, the purpose is to
Keep data safe
Don’t scare your users away
Increase your Google Rankings
Build customer trust
Improve conversion rates
We can help!
If you sign up for our hosting package, a shared SSL is included. All domains running on the same server can use a shared SSL certificate.. For an additional fee, there is a “dedicated” SSL you can choose as an add-on.
Now you are wondering why I need a dedicated SSL over the one included in the hosting plan? A dedicated SSL certificate is purchased for a specific domain name and will only work with that one domain name. A dedicated SSL is preferred for protecting credit card information for eCommerce websites. In the end, you have to weigh the cost against other considerations. We will recommend it if we think it is necessary for your project.
Hiring a Professional Website Designer: Benefits for Your Business
Hiring a professional website design and development company is one of the best investments you can make for your business. Would you sell your home without the help of a realtor? The same logic applies to your business website. Hiring a professional website design company ensures you get expert guidance, just as a realtor helps your home sale go smoothly. Running or starting a business is already challenging, and trying to design your own website is not the best use of your time. Delegating your website project to experts allows you to focus on what you do best—growing your business.
Why Hiring a Professional Website Designer Matters
Many people believe they can easily build a website using one of the many do-it-yourself options available. However, for a professional business with growth plans, this is a short-sighted solution. Templates often have little flexibility for customization, and they rarely take SEO or ADA compliance into account. Plus, there’s no support team to lean on if something goes wrong. Remember, your website is often the first impression—and sometimes the only impression—a potential client will have of your business.
Value Your Time by Hiring a Professional Website Design and Development Company
The hours you spend trying to piece together a website could be better spent growing your business. While countless books, tools, and tutorials exist, the process of designing and implementing a website is still very time-consuming. Professional designers build websites for a living. They not only deliver a better product but also save you valuable time. And as every business owner knows, time is money.
Support When Hiring a Professional Website Design Company
There’s peace of mind in knowing that if something goes wrong, you can call your website design company. You’ll have a professional on the other end, ready to help with updates, fixes, or new content. At Grateful Web Services, we also offer ongoing website maintenance. We take pride in building long-term client relationships and being available whenever our clients need us.
Professional Impression with a Custom Website
Perception is everything. If potential customers see a “GoDaddy” or “Squarespace” link at the bottom of your website, they may not view your business as truly professional. With the affordable cost of domain names, hosting, and design tools, anyone can put up a simple site. However, investing in professional website design gives your business legitimacy and credibility.
Custom Design That Fits Your Brand
A professional website design company works with you to create a site tailored to your brand and business goals. Unlike basic templates, your site will be unique, flexible, and designed with Google’s requirements in mind. Templates can’t compete with a custom design that supports your business growth and sets you apart from competitors.
Responsive Web Design Is Essential
With more people using smartphones and tablets every day, your website must adapt to different screen sizes. In fact, mobile accounts for roughly half of all global traffic (Statista). If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you risk losing customers and ranking lower on Google. Responsive design is now a non-negotiable standard in the history of modern websites.
SEO Is Built Into the Design
Google has clear requirements for ranking websites, and SEO must be part of the design process from the start. A professional web design and development company understands how to build your site so it performs well in search. From clean code to optimized content, SEO is a critical factor in every successful build.
We Can Help
At Grateful Web Services, we make hiring a professional website design company easy. We build in WordPress, create the database, and upload your content while keeping you involved at every step. We pride ourselves on guiding you through the process, supporting your site long-term, and ensuring it grows alongside your business.
If your website is outdated or underperforming, let’s talk. We offer a $75 full site review, and if we determine that you need a new website, we’ll apply that fee toward your new build.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization. You know you need it, but what does it really mean? According to Wikipedia, here is the full definition. “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of growing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine. SEO refers to the improvement of unpaid results (known as “natural” or “organic” results) and excludes direct traffic and the purchase of paid placement.”
Tips to improve your visibility on Google
Some important things that can be done to improve your search results in no particular order.
Clear navigation and UX – user experience factors
Above all, updating the website frequently is one of the most important things you can do.
Set up Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools
SSL – Secure Socket Layer purchased through the host
Infusing relevant keywords in text copy
Good word count – Google wants there to be enough content to make your site worthy of ranking. Suggested Home page content – 200 to 300 words of static content Inner pages – 300 to 500 words – this needs to be updated regularly Blog posts – Minimum of 500 words if possible. The more content, the better
Identify and remove duplicate content
Remove anything that slows down your site. Large files!
Include Backlinks – Link to other websites with relevant content
Encourage other trustworthy sites to link to you
Write content for humans first, search engines second
Write unique and relevant meta descriptions for every page
Utilize Social Media and link to your site
If you still have your blog or mobile site on a different URL, you need to have them all live on your website
If you still aren’t blogging, you need to be! Ask us about our blogging services
Design Elements
Design elements are an essential part of helping Google find your site. Good SEO that is built into your website helps search engines understand what a person would see and what value they would get if they visited your website. This way, search engines can reliably provide what search results a person would consider high-quality content when they enter a search request.
There are many things that can affect SEO, and it is a process that must be maintained frequently within your website to receive the greatest results. A good website design will include specific elements that Google wants the designer to integrate. To obtain a better ranking among your competitors, writing content that uses relevant keywords, tagging all images properly, and making monthly changes will all show Google that your website is ‘alive and breathing’.
Other essential considerations
If you want to be on the first page of Google results, the only guarantee is buying into Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) https://ads.google.com/. Grateful Web Services can help you with the Google Ads process but additional fees will need to be paid directly to Google for this.
Additional important steps you should take to improve your ranking are to create a Google My Business page showing client reviews and being active on social media sites. Grateful Web Services can help with this, too!
Important
The following statement is important! Because Google search ranking is organic and can change throughout the day, NO company can promise you a certain placement. If anyone promises you a certain ranking on Google, run! SEO involves many steps, and you must consistently maintain it. Grateful Web Services can help navigate all of your SEO needs. We do our best to help facilitate the process, design accordingly, and make sure your content remains fresh and updated often. SEO is not a destination but a journey.
The history of web design has been relatively short, spanning just about 30 years. To some people, this may seem long, but considering the incredible speed of technological advances, it’s actually a brief timeline. From the first text-only site in 1991 to today’s responsive layouts, the history of web design shows how quickly the internet has evolved. To some people, this may seem like a long time, but it hasn’t been that long considering the incredibly fast evolution and advances that have been made since then. The technologies have grown immensely and have improved beyond the early pioneers’ wildest dreams. Our dependence on websites has become immeasurable. Every time you go on the internet, it’s a website that you are accessing.
On August 6, 1991, Berners-Lee published the world’s first website from a lab in the Swiss Alps. It was a text-only site with hypertext links in blue, no images. The site can still be visited today, almost three decades after its creation. The site, originally found at the clunky URL http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html The website was updated frequently after launching; therefore, images of its earliest versions were never saved. Nevertheless, a later copy from 1992 is still preserved and welcoming visitors. The bare-bones website was created to explain the World Wide Web to newcomers.
“The World Wide Web” (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents,” the site reads, going on to explain how others can create their own webpages. If they only knew that this was the beginning of something beyond incredible and that would shape every one of our lives.
HTML in the History of Web Design
HTML played a foundational role in the early history of web design. In the early 1990s, the first publishing language of the Web was called Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML. Anyone who wanted to publish a website for people to see had to learn this programming language.
The language used to share text-only pages via a simple browser was limiting. Many early websites were basic, using vertically structured, text-heavy pages with few graphics. People quickly adapted to vertically scrolling text and eye-catching blue underlined hypertext to navigate the virtual Webspace.
Tables and the History of Web Design
Tables shaped the history of web design by paving the way for modern grid systems. In the mid- to late-1990s, it wasn’t just about function anymore, and developers were forced to learn to do both design and development. Along came the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which allowed the incorporation of images and graphical icons into websites.
On scene came dedicated designers to help with the more creative side of the website. Still, many of us became well-rounded playing both roles of designer and developer. When the Web started to gain popularity as a means of communicating information, designers saw an opportunity to use tables for arranging text and images.
Originally, the table’s purpose was to create a structure for numbers, but designers used them to create a site layout. The problem was that these structures were very fragile and difficult to maintain. There were some benefits, such as the ability to align elements vertically. Tables also paved the way for the grids of the future. The image in this blog used tables for the layout as an example. We did this website a very long time ago for the Lincoln Arts and Culture Foundation. Thousands of people used the Lincoln Arts website over the years. The website served as a huge resource for Feats of Clay, which was an International Ceramics show and competition. Grateful Web Services has been involved in the website world for a long time, and this demonstrates our experience.
JavaScript
JavaScript helped designers overcome the limitations of static HTML by allowing them to bring some motion to the web. This was the start of the “pop-up” window. The problem was that it had to load on top of the existing page, which then caused sites to load much more slowly. CSS now handles many of the functions that JavaScript managed in the past, although developers still use JavaScript today.
Flash Animation
The Flash era is an important chapter in the history of web design, even though it faded away. Flash was a game-changer at the time for website design. For the first time, designers could create any shape, add animation, and develop more engaging sites than ever before using one single tool. The system compiles all the information into a single file and then loads it. The main issue was that not every web user had a Flash plugin installed, and Flash sites took much longer to load! The age of Flash brought us to splash pages and animated intros. Its downfall came from the lack of being “search-friendly” and its heavy consumption of processing power. Back in the day, we created many of our websites using Flash. At the time, it was all the rage and really added “life” to a once fairly static design.
CSS -Cascading Style Sheets
Shortly after the creation of Flash, CSS came on the scene. As more and more users were going online, speed was becoming a big issue. The thought behind CSS is simple. Separate content and presentation. The content of the site was in HTML, and the style of the site would be coded in CSS. The early struggle for CSS was the result of poor browser support. Luckily, it fought through the early years and is still in full use today. CSS may be the most important “language” a web developer needs to know these days.
Responsive Design in History
of Web Design
Responsive design marked a turning point in the history of web design. As mobile internet use increased, mobile design became necessary as a normal design layout looked broken on smaller screen sizes. In 2010, a web developer challenged the way people approached mobile website design. Instead of creating a separate mobile site, he proposed using the same content but presenting it in different layouts based on screen size. This was the birth of Responsive Design. It is now critical that every website has a responsive design. Mobile literally accounts for approximately half of the web traffic worldwide. In the fourth quarter of 2019, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 52.6 percent of global website traffic. Since the beginning of 2017, this number has consistently hovered around the 50 percent mark. As a result, if your website is not mobile-friendly, it not only prevents users from viewing your site properly but also, quite honestly, creates a poor reflection of your business.
2020
A company’s website is very often the first opportunity they will have to connect with a potential customer. Complementary colors, an eye-catching logo, and pages that present the mission of the company are all important. Web design must also incorporate clear navigation, relevant content, and images that relate to the products or services. In addition, you cannot ignore website speed because it plays an essential role in the overall design. These days, a slow load is a fast exit. Furthermore, each page on the website must include SEO optimization on images, along with meta descriptions and title tags. A great design may look nice. However, without optimization, it will not help Google find you. Ultimately, modern web design is a balance of aesthetics, usability, and search engine optimization.
If your website is not up to date, then you should contact Grateful Web Services to discuss. We offer a $75 full site review, and if we determine that you need a new website, we apply the $75 toward your new build.
Sending support and strength to our clients and friends during this difficult time.
We are grateful for all of our clients and so very grateful for those who are still doing business with us. Owning a small business is challenging at this time, and some of our clients have had to put projects on hold with us, and we completely understand that. For those who have been able to continue working with us, your support of Grateful Web Services has given an even deeper meaning to the word Grateful! Thank you! If you are able to, invest in your business; now couldn’t be a better time.
Remember
We need to remember that this is temporary, and although it feels all-encompassing and never-ending, it will end. As long as we stay healthy and are able to breathe, it will be okay! This is a hard statement to make because many people are not okay, or have a friend or family member who is not okay. Our hearts truly go out to you. For the rest of us, it’s okay to have bad moments in our day. There is much sadness due to all of the sickness and deaths that we are hearing about. This is when we need to find our inner gratitude and be truly grateful for health. Health is truly everything. It’s easy to get down and feel sadness, and that is okay, just try to keep it as a ‘moment’ in your day and not your entire day.
Now is the time to give your website a check-up and an update!
Grateful Web Services is here to support you during this difficult time. We are open for business and helping our clients update their websites, add new services online, and take advantage of some downtime to work on new website projects with us.
Your website is a window into your business! With limited public mobility, more people are becoming internet-dependent during this national emergency, and people are online for even longer periods of time than ever before. Take a moment and check your own website, or have us do it for you. This is a perfect time to get your website up-to-date. Remember, the current Covid-19 crisis is not going to last forever, and business will get back to a more normal pace. Although this is scary and unsettling, as long as we stay healthy, life will eventually return to normal for most of us.
So many options these days when developing a website! We can help you navigate the confusion!
The main difference is that WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS), whereas Squarespace and Wix, or even GoDaddy Builder, for example, are drag-and-drop website builders. If you had to use one drag-and-drop builder, then Squarespace is definitely the better of the options. However, we don’t recommend anything other than a CMS and WordPress specifically. A CMS generally has more in-depth functions than a drag-and-drop website builder. You can scale and customize your WordPress site on a more technical level, not to mention access to the many powerful plugins (tools) that are available.
Squarespace and Wix are easier for the complete novice on a budget, but a lot less flexible in the long run. Sure, WordPress has a steeper learning curve, which is why you hire a professional unless you are technologically savvy and have the time to learn it. When creating something as important as a website to represent your business, it isn’t the place that you want to cut corners. Sure, you want to save money and may even attempt to do it yourself, but it is short-sighted. Maybe if you are just starting your business and are on such a tight budget, it’s all you can do for now. Eventually, you will need to switch to a CMS like WordPress if you plan on actually growing your business.
Blogging
If you are blogging (and you absolutely should be if you expect Google to rank you in web searches), then WordPress is by far a superior tool for bloggers and one of the best around. It will let you use both visual and text editors, so you can enjoy writing, and you can still add custom HTML, or your website service company, like Gratefulwebservices.com, can do it for you on one of our affordable Maintenance Plans. WordPress takes care of your articles, so it will automatically save your progress. Just in case something bad happens, like the power goes out. It also keeps revisions, so if you decide that you want the old paragraph back at some point, you will be just one click away from having it on the page.
Unfortunately, Squarespace or Wix just isn’t as good for bloggers. There is no autosave feature, and the platform will not let you use revisions. While there are code blocks that you can use, the feature still won’t let you run your own HTML or CSS from the page. For some bloggers, this can be a deal-breaker. Extremely inflexible! Squarespace isn’t that good with media as well. While WordPress will let you reuse images that you uploaded in the past, Squarespace will force you to upload the same image once again if you decide to reuse it. If you tend to use photos on a regular basis (which you should), this can be a nightmare. Not to mention double work!
How about SEO?
Squarespace and Wix set your template up with some basic SEO, which can help boost your site so that it appears higher in search engine rankings. It is less well known for its solid range of SEO tools, which can help boost your site so that it appears higher in search engine rankings. You can have a beautiful site, but if no one finds you, what is the point! It’s the old adage of being penny-wise and pound-foolish
Security and Speed
One of the most important functions of your website is its security and speed. Having a fast website will increase user engagement and search engine optimization. Wix and other DIY site-building websites usually host your website on a shared server with thousands of other users. This diminishes the speed of your own website as well as security, which will result in lost customers and a bad user experience.
Professional Web Services Are Still Needed
People have mentioned over the years that these newer drag-and-drop programs will make it harder for web design companies such as Grateful Web Services to stay in business, but honestly, it really hasn’t. When we started building websites over twenty years ago, there weren’t any of these tools, and we had to build using code only, but when technology shifted, we got on board to give our clients the best product possible. Clients can now either manage the content themselves much more easily through an admin control panel or have us do it under one of our maintenance plans.
It is not unheard of that a potential client rejects a proposal that we prepare for them in favor of something that they can do themselves. However, many times they come back to us, or if they don’t, we can see that the website isn’t working for them as intended, and in most cases, they end up not maintaining it. Basically, ending up with a flat tire on the side of the road. Unmaintained and outdated.
When you build your website with platforms like Squarespace or Wix, or any of the other drag-and-drop programs that promise ease of use, it comes with a price. It’s like you are trying to build a house all by yourself, and it may end up looking decent, but it’s going to have a lot of structural issues. It’s going to end up costing you more in the end than hiring a professional to get the job done.
When you visit the main page for Squarespace and scroll down, logos of the companies that use Squarespace. Most of them are small businesses that aren’t nearly as high-profile as those that are built on WordPress.
Here at Grateful Web Services, we now build all of our websites in WordPress. We couldn’t be happier with the platform!
Grateful Web Services designs all websites using a CMS
Content Management System
You may have heard the term “CMS” as it’s gotten quite popular in the last fifteen-plus years. Maybe you have never heard of it, but either way, we will help you understand it a bit more clearly. CMS stands for Content Management System. Here is the link for the official Wikipedia definition.
In the early days, a website was built using code, but it was not editable by the site owner or a non-technical person; only your web developer could make edits. In the past, even your developer faced more complexity. They stored all files on their local computer and then uploaded those files using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program. Back in the day, you had to know HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is a programming language. Everything took longer and was way more complicated.
Modern websites typically use a CMS, which allows the average person or a web developer to make changes easily. For example, you can update a phone number, add a new employee, or upload a picture to a photo gallery. You manage all of this directly through the CMS, also known as the back end of the site.
It’s still wise to hold off on doing updates and more complicated changes on your own, but the simple things can be done once you learn the basics. We find that many people still rather have Grateful Web Services handle maintenance, and that is totally okay since we do offer that service. It is still in the best interest to develop the site using a CMS since there are so many available tools and plugins that make it the best option when developing a new website. In short, the CMS allows users to create, edit, and publish content from anywhere and at any time. You add content to the CMS server, and the system runs on the server instead of your personal computer. This setup makes editing much easier.
A few advantages of using a CMS
Easy to edit through a browser-based admin panel
Tons of plugins to help build your site without pricey custom programming
Revision features allow content to be updated and edited after the initial publication. Revision control also tracks any changes made to files
The most popular content management system is WordPress, used by more than 28% of all websites on the Internet, and by 59% of all websites using a known content management system., The choice for WordPress is followed by Wix and Squarespace, both of which are less robust. At Grateful Web Services, we use WordPress because it has become the CMS of choice.
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We are Grateful Web Services, a website design and development company offering contract, per-project, and project management services. We have been involved in the website industry for over 20 years. Although located in Northern California, we don’t limit ourselves and can work with companies anywhere!
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