Softwired

Google and AI generated Content

tony@softwiredweb.com (Tony Sova) — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 22:14:47 GMT

The Backstory

It’s no secret that Google has been on a mission for years to promote and prioritize high-quality content written for people and not for search engines.

Content that is spammy, has little to no informative substance or doesn’t reflect natural human language is penalized by the search engine’s algorithm. And Google keeps pushing out updates that reflect this commitment.

But at the same time, companies that offer AI-generated content have been exploding in popularity and, quite frankly, in quality. The seduction of AI-generated content is that it’s fast and cheap and can produce a sizable amount of content on a variety of topics. This is particularly attractive to business owners who want to avoid the expense of hiring content writers and copywriters.

So Google’s latest updates for 2022, especially its Helpful Content Update, have some business owners panicking as their websites take big SEO hits, especially those that rely on AI-generated content.

[Here’s a rundown of the latest 2022 updates.]

The Debate Heats Up

The tide of concern and chatter began to rise around April 1, 2022 (Nope, that’s not a joke). John Mueller, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, participated in an Office Hours Hangout session with Google Search Central that prompted a lot of chatter in the content, copy, and SEO worlds.

A participant asked about the future of GPT-3 tools, Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 which are language prediction technologies that mimic human language, and if Google would ever accept such content. Mueller’s response was clear:

“... automatically generated content, which is something we’ve had in the Webmaster Guidelines since almost the beginning. … [is] still automatically generated content, which means for us [Google] it’s still against the webmaster guidelines. So we would consider that to be spam.”

[You can watch the complete Hangout Session with John Mueller.]

Five days later, Matt Southern with Search Engine Journal posted his own take on the conversation from the hangout session as well as the crackdown on AI-generated content. To date, his article has earned 5.8K shares and over 104K reads.

Clearly, the debate about the quality and acceptance of AI-generated content continues to be a hot topic as Google continues to roll out its updates.

[Matt Southern in Search Engine Journal]

The Problem with AI-Generated Content

Obviously, AI-generated material is produced by artificial intelligence and is not considered original material. AI is guided by human commands and is limited by the data available and keyword input. Without human editing, it can be plagued by a number of issues that the algorithms may flag - At this time, anyway:

Awkward and unnatural sentence structure
Poor grammar
Spelling mistakes
Repetition of ideas
Inability to persuade or appeal to emotion or motivation
A lack of factual substance and accuracy
No ability to distinguish or construct an opinion
A lack of consistency with other content found on a website

Clearly, these are common problems with low-quality content that should be avoided as a general rule. As such, Google will continue to penalize AI-generated content for these reasons now and into the future.

Can Google Actually Detect AI Content?

Now that’s the big question everyone wants answered.

During the Office Hours Hangout session, Google’s John Mueller was asked directly, "Are you saying that Google is able to understand the difference between human and AI content?”

Mueller replied, "I can't claim that."

And at no time did Mueller claim that Google’s algorithm could automatically detect whether or not content was written by AI. It appears that - at this time - Google’s systems may need human intervention and assistance to evaluate suspicious content. If Google’s webspam team happens to find it, any penalties would be manual and not automatic.

However, we are talking about AI, after all. Its purpose is to learn, adapt, expand, and improve, and AI technologies only get better, not worse, over time. The goal of AI content generation is to reach the point of producing content that reflects the natural and intuitive nature of human language and communication. And that just might happen in the not-too-distant future.

Should You Use AI-generated Content?

The short answer - at this time: it’s wise to avoid it.

And the primary reason is that it’s bad for SEO because Google simply doesn’t like it. This is especially true for those who use AI-generated content “as is.”

Without the input of human editing and finessing, such content runs the risk of being flagged as spam. It may seem like a quick and convenient way to pump out blogs, landing pages, emails, etc., but the most that AI-generated content can offer - at this time - is a starting point for human writers. As with all content writing, quality is key.

The algorithms will always prioritize content that answers search queries, provides genuine value and is written in natural human language. And the icing on the cake of high-quality content is adding targeted optimization. These best practices still require human intervention.

At this time - AI tools are just not capable of generating content that meets the level of quality that great SEO ranking requires:

Content that is specific and informative
Natural use of language
Avoidance of keyword stuffing
Structuring for readability
Crafting attention grabbing H1 and H2 headings and subheadings
Providing logical and high-quality internal and external linkage
Selecting supporting images and graphics, and optimizing them
Consistency of brand voice and style throughout a website

For even more tips: [SEO Content Best Practices]

Final Thoughts

It’s a fair bet that Google will continue to maintain its expectations when it comes to prioritizing high-quality content. And it’s just as likely that AI-generating tools and the companies that sell them will do their best to keep up with those expectations.

Even John Mueller gave some consideration to the potential use of AI-generated content during the April 2022, hangout session:

“I think, over time, maybe this is something that will evolve, in that it will become more of a tool for people. Kind of like you would use machine translation as a basis for creating a translated version of a website, but you still work through it manually.”

The AI content debate will no doubt continue. Many believe that AI is the future of content marketing, but we’re just not there yet.

The key is to stay updated and be open to experimenting with technology but use AI tools properly. The expectations of quality content have not changed, so let that continue to be your guide for content creation.

And it’s a wise investment to seek out professional writers and SEO experts to assist you with your digital content needs. It’s their job to stay updated on the latest digital marketing trends and tools to save you time, streamline your processes, and increase your revenue.

10 Reasons You Should Spend $10,000 on a Website

tony@softwiredweb.com (Tony Sova) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 18:13:16 GMT

We build a lot of websites and have been since 2005. Over the years we have seen vast changes in web design and how people interact with businesses online.

Keeping up with the changes is important. On the other hand, we really want to make a solid investment into the most important aspect of your digital marketing, your company website.

Here are 10 reasons why you should invest heavily in your website design:

1. Your website is the center of your digital marketing

Driving traffic to your website is the first step for people to learn more about your business.

2. You'll have it for a number of years

Usually, you can squeeze out 3-4 years from a redesign. If you use Growth-Driven Design principles and constantly make updates you can get even more longevity. If you do the math it becomes relatively inexpensive on a monthly basis.

3. You can use it for marketing and sales

Using Inbound Marketing tactics you can attract, engage, convert, and delight, your users.

4. It's the best way to show in search engines

Just having a Facebook page or Instagram won't really attract customers outside of the platforms.

5. Build your brand

It is a key digital asset to build your brand and grow your business. Most important if you don't have a physical location.

6. Beat the competition

Your competitors may hire a cheap freelancer who builds a lackluster website. When customers compare, you'll stand out from the rest.

7. Facilitate sales

If built properly, your sales people will be able to use the website for guidance when talking to prospects.

8. Helps service customers

We use our website as a tool for servicing existing customer with guides on how to get support. This is the most common missed element in our experience.

9. Experience with the Buyer Journey

Agencies with deep digital marketing experience understand how to engage users online and convert to a lead. A pretty website might look nice but not function correctly.

10. Optimized for search engines

Freelance web designers usually understand a small portion of SEO. An agency has experts in each department so results are much better.

There are many more reasons why you should hire an agency instead of a freelance web designer. It really boils down to what you are paying for. Hiring a team of experts is what your business needs to succeed online.

Work with Agency Partner for Web Design

tony@softwiredweb.com (Tony Sova) — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 17:11:53 GMT

Agency partnerships are difficult and subject to failure based on some fundamental principles:

Inadequate website scoping process
An antiquated website development process
Old school methodology for project management

My past experience has revealed the fundamental flaws in these processes and I have a solution to fix these.

First, most think of a website as a product to be created and not a software development service. So they build it and don't do anything with it. This is why Luke Summerfield came up with Growth Driven Design.

The other problem is using a waterfall-style approach to project management. Agile is the way to go here. This fits with GDD as an ongoing approach and updates as digital marketing activities occur. So we need a launchpad website and a plan for ongoing updates.

We need to rethink our approach to websites completely and not fall into these old methodologies.

This is why we can't give an estimate for building a website because it doesn't really fit with our approach. For us to Assess, Diagnose, and Advise, we need to know more things before giving a proposal and plan.

Since I'm improving our process here at Softwired, I'd like to take you through this as if you were a prospect if you are OK with that. Here are the steps we need to take:

Evaluate your needs for a website and SEO
Write scope of work for all requirements of the initial project
Create a plan to deliver a proposal for the initial website and ongoing work

Even a marketing website without special features can have pitfalls unless we follow step #2. This is where most agencies fail because the client doesn't have the proper expectations set upfront. For projects that require special features and integrations, we need to be paid upfront for the scope of work or project specification.

Good WordPress Technical Support Provides WP Security and Privacy

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 22:53:22 GMT

WordPress security and maintenance is a very important part of owning a WordPress site, best implemented through WordPress technical support. While there are plenty of WordPress security best practices and WordPress security tips available online to help small business owners protect their website from hackers and malware, carrying them out can be time consuming and confusing. Every business owner wants to avoid a website crash or worse, being blacklisted by Google for malware or phishing and that requires regular monitoring and maintenance of your WordPress site.

WordPress Security

Thankfully, WordPress core software is very secure and it’s audited on a regular basis by hundreds of developers to ensure that it stays secure. But this isn’t enough; WordPress security requires some work by the website owner in order to eliminate or even just reduce the risk of a security breach. There are several practical steps that can and should be taken on a regular basis to protect your website that can be addressed through ongoing WordPress maintenance.

What is WordPress maintenance?

WordPress maintenance is the act of monitoring and installing WordPress updates for both themes and plugins in order to keep a website running smoothly and securely. When you work with a WordPress support provider, they should be optimizing and repairing your database on a regular basis to help ensure optimal performance and reduce the risk of crashes or security breaches.

WordPress security case study

A Softwired client recently inquired about their website security so we performed an analysis on their website. Here's what our findings turned up:

When the client was onboarded to our support plan, we checked all the plugins at that time. We put in our best effort to make sure all the plugins were being updated and supported for ongoing support. The one challenge that always presents is that we don't have a way to make sure all plugins are still supported and compatible with the latest version of WordPress.

As part of the client’s WordPress Pro plan, we have a plugin that protects their website from hacking and malware. We also paid for the site to be protected by Sucuri, which scans sites for malware. We added this extra layer of security because their site did get hacked in the past, even though it is fairly rare for our clients.

Because so much time had passed since the initial onboarding process, we looked at all the plugins and did find a few that were not being updated anymore. As plugins get older, some get abandoned and need to be replaced or removed because they end up causing a small security risk. The only way to eliminate this risk is to redesign the site without those plugins or to uninstall plugins that are not necessary for the website to render. For this particular client, we found the following plugins that are no longer supported:

Advanced Image Styles – we deactivated this plugin as it isn't needed for the website to render.
Extensive VC addons - We were unable to disable because some pages may be using them for the page builder.
Fonts for Visual Composer – this plugin seems to be abandoned but could be part of the website so we did not disable.
Hide featured image - Abandoned but may be used on some posts so we did not disable.
Map categories to pages - Not sure what it does but looks abandoned.
Page Excerpt - Abandoned support.
WP Add Custom CSS - A developer tool for designing.

Overall, we found 31 active plugins, which is a lot to maintain. Years ago, developers would add plugins like kids in a candy store that would end up causing problems down the road. These days we only design websites with our own curated list of plugins that we know are safe to use.

In addition, two PRO plugins do not have licenses that we are required to purchase in order to update them to the latest version. We only manage PRO licenses as part of our enterprise package, giving more monitoring and proactive prevention that larger companies need.

Because this client’s website had been hacked in the past, we would recommend rebuilding the website with new code. This requires a complete redesign, which is recommended at least every four years. The reason for this is web design trends change, software becomes deprecated, and buyer behavior changes. Having an outdated website will hurt your brand, the ability to generate leads, and interfere with the buyer journey on your website.

Lastly, as a privacy and security consultant, we would recommend developing a cookie policy. This would help bring our client into more compliance with the GDPR. You can learn more about cookie policies here: https://wordpress.com/support/your-site-and-the-gdpr/

Find Quality WordPress Technical Support and High-Performance Hosting

Most small business owners do not know what to do when they receive WordPress notifications, let alone how to update plugins or get their site back online when it crashes. If you want to keep your WordPress site running smoothly, you need to hire an SEO expert who specializes in WordPress support and offers high-performance hosting.

The biggest benefits for our WordPress PRO plan are:

proactive maintenance for software
Hacker prevention and security
High performance hosting
Repair and enhanced security for hacked websites

If your business is relying on your website for generating revenue, it is critical to invest in these features to avoid downtime and lost business.

Learn more about how our WordPress Pro Support package can keep your WordPress site running smoothly: https://www.softwiredweb.com/wordpress-pro-support/

Selling Real Estate in the Digital Age

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 22:15:15 GMT

Real estate brokers have been selling and buying properties for clients for more than 100 years. Traditionally, properties were listed for sale in newspaper ads and the industry relied on them for decades. Reports by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) show that in 1981, 22 percent of home buyers read newspaper ads to find a home; today, over 90% of home buyers searched online during their home buying process. With Covid forcing a need for social distancing, the real estate industry was pushed to move even more toward digital technology as part of the selling and buying process. Apps that help buyers to search for properties and online listings with virtual tours are likely to remain the norm going forward. Buyers have realized that it is faster to narrow down their search by comparing properties online – often before they contact a real estate agent for help. The advantage to all this information is that buyers often know more about what they want before hiring an agent.

We know that real estate firms can greatly benefit from real estate technology in 2021 but many brokerages struggle with which areas to invest in to grow their business or may question its importance altogether. To answer these questions, we are going to take a look at 2016 research by the NAR about how buyers find their homes.

Selling Real Estate in the Digital Age

Here is a breakdown of how buyers find their homes today:

Internet/App

Fifty-one percent of prospective buyers used the internet to choose their property. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the Internet and apps such as Zillow and Redfin are the number one way that buyers find their homes today. It is vital for brokerages to enter a seller’s home into the MLS and to invest in digital marketing strategies, including a website, Google My Business, and social media. Clients have an easier time selling their homes if they list with a brokerage with a strong online presence, which means more sales and the ability to take on more clients.

Real estate agent

Thirty-four percent of buyers - especially those in older age brackets – rely on their real estate agent to help them find their house. In a hot seller’s market, real estate agents are a must-have for buyers who need all the help they can get. Sometimes agents have access to new listings that haven’t been entered into the MLS yet and they have the skills required for writing a timely and competitive offer.

Yard sign / open-house sign

Outside of our constant draw to the online world, most of us still drive our cars every day – often past properties that may be for sale. It doesn’t come as a surprise that eight percent of homes are found after a buyer sees a yard sign or open house sign.

Word of mouth

Four percent of people found their homes through recommendations from friends, relatives, or neighbors. This is why it can be so important to tell your personal network that you are buying or selling a home – you never know who they may know! Real estate agents sometimes contact neighbors of their listings to let them know about their neighbor’s house being for sale and when the open house will be.

The remaining categories were very small:

2% of buyers found their property through a home builder or the builder’s agent
1% of buyers found their property directly from the seller
1% of buyers found their property through a print newspaper advertisement (wow, is that a change from a generation ago).

Because of the intensity of the seller’s market right now, sellers are less motivated than buyers to work with a real estate agent. On the other hand, buyers need help navigating the seller’s market; 88% of buyers in the last few years used an agent compared to 69% in 2001. Real estate brokers can make themselves more desirable to sellers by investing in their digital marketing strategy and embracing the ways that technology has improved real estate sales:

High quality pictures
Video tours
Website with integrated MLS listings
Social media presence
Robust Google My Business profile
Online ads – particularly video ads

Digital Marketing Services for Real Estate Brokers

Since 2012, Softwired has been helping clients navigate the ever-changing online landscape with modern web design, SEO, and other digital marketing services. Over the last few years, we have developed a niche for commercial real estate brokers after creating a proprietary system that allows us to integrate real estate search engines right into our clients’ websites. We are here to support our real estate broker clients’ digital marketing needs from branding exercise through web design, digital sales, and SEO. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

Digital Marketing: A Google Page Experience Algorithm Update is Coming to Desktop in 2022

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 02:51:46 GMT

If you are a small business owner who is looking to drive more traffic to your website; this blog post is for you. Because 90% of all internet searches are done on Google, any work done to increase search engine results needs to meet Google’s standards. As you may know, Google released a new Page Experience algorithm earlier this year with Core Web Vitals (CWVs) aimed at improving the mobile experience. Ever since, digital marketing agencies have been monitoring and adapting their SEO work to these metrics. Now we know that a Core Web Vitals update will be applied to desktop search results in February, 2022.

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to look at your website’s report and then hire an SEO expert who can help you assess the improvements that could be made to your site.

Digital Marketing: The Google Page Experience Algorithm Update is Coming to Desktop in 2022

Google has confirmed that its Page Experience algorithm update will be rolled out for desktop search results between February, 2022 and March, 2022.

Here’s what digital marketers need to know:

If you are already familiar with the ranking signals for the mobile update, you’re in luck. The desktop algorithm update will be built using the same ranking signals and their associated thresholds. The other signals that make up page experience, including HTTPS security will remain the same as well.
SEO experts will not have to worry about “mobile-friendliness” for the desktop experience.

Unknowns:

We don’t yet know if sites will benefit from the page experience ranking boost on desktop search even if the site isn’t optimized for mobile.
Just like for the mobile update, we don’t yet know what penalties – if any - Google may employ for failing to meet these new metrics.

Watch out for:

A new report in Search Console that will make it easier to understand how your desktop pages are performing with regard to the Page Experience update. Google has indicated that the report will be available before March so people can prepare in advance.

Now is the time to provide the best possible user experience across all devices, by following Google’s metrics. Core Web Vitals will continue to evolve as user’s expectations change so it’s important to understand that this work will be an ongoing process.

What is the Google Page Experience?

Google unleashed the “Google Page Experience” in the form of Core Web Vitals in May of 2021. In practical terms, Core Web Vitals are a set of specific factors that Google has deemed important for a webpage's overall user experience (UX). Google uses these factors to create a “Page Experience” score. The goal is to rank the interaction and experience that a user has with a company's products and services in order to encourage the business to provide the best possible user experience.

Specifically, Core Web Vitals measures:

Loading speed (LCP)
Interactivity (FID)
Visual strength or stability (CLS)

In reality, the page experience signals combine CVWs with other signals including mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, secure browsing, and no intrusive interstitials. All together, these signals measure the experience and perception of users when they visit a webpage. Google uses these revealing signals to rank websites and present the most user-friendly pages at the top of the search results.

SEO help from Softwired

Most small business owners do not know how to improve their search engine results rankings to drive traffic to their websites, let alone perform an SEO audit or fix Core Web Vitals issues. The best thing to do is find an SEO expert who can help your business achieve its goals to increase sales, brand loyalty and online traffic; starting with an SEO audit.

Softwired provides digital marketing solutions for our clients and partner agencies. We’ve got you covered for web design, blogs, landing pages, SEO, local online presence and optimization, digital marketing and advertising, and social media marketing. We build websites with WordPress themes and have also been using the HubSpot platform to build blogs and landing pages since 2012.

Whether you’re interested in web design only, SEO help or more; we’re ready to help you get started!

Why Does a Small Business Need a Digital Marketing Budget?

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 00:17:29 GMT

As a digital marketing agency, we have heard every excuse in the book about why their business is too small to justify spending money on digital marketing. While marketing budgets should always be made with cash flow and current goals in mind, failing to have any digital marketing budget will only hold your business back.

According to RetailDive, in 2018, 87% of buyers started their buying process by searching for products online. While that number is enormous, it’s highly likely that it is even higher today. When businesses fail to invest in digital marketing, they are missing out on the vast majority of research that goes into purchase decisions. Most importantly, digital marketing helps small businesses build a multi-channel approach to attracting leads, converting leads into customers, and building long-term relationships. Digital marketing also helps small businesses:

Compete against large businesses
Build on-going relationships with customers
Save money compared to traditional marketing
Measure Return on Investment (ROI)
Beat their local competitors

A website, onsite optimization and other SEO work should be a big part of any digital marketing budget because it allows businesses to attract, capture, and convert leads into customers.

A digital marketing budget with a multi-channel approach

While the goal of converting leads into customers remains the same, there are many digital marketing channels a small business can use to reach their audience. Each channel has its pros and cons and requires a different approach; it simply requires some work to adjust your message to fit into the channels that will appeal to your target segments. A multi-channel approach to digital marketing is the best way to engage potential customers in the way they want to be engaged.

Website

A website built for internet marketing today should have some fundamental elements to attract and convert customers. At its heart, web design for digital marketing means building a website that targets content to your target audience or buyer personas.

Landing pages

A landing page, also known as a "lead capture page", is a single web page that appears when an internet searcher clicks on a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email or an online advertisement. Landing pages are one of the best ways to convert web traffic into leads. Start by creating a dedicated landing page for each campaign goal to capture that specific campaign’s inbound web traffic. Monitor how many people are coming to your landing page, how long they stayed and what percentage converted into buyers. (Google Analytics tracks these metrics).

SEO

Small businesses need SEO to compete against other businesses, both locally and nationally; big and small. When you invest in SEO, your business shows up in relevant search results so your potential customers can find you.

Social media

According to blacklinkinfo.com, 70% of the US population had active social media accounts in 2019 and this number is likely to have grown. On average, people are spending more than two hours a day on social media networks and 54% of consumers browse social media to research products.

While Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn are the market leaders, small businesses will want to figure out where their target audience is hanging out and build a social media presence there. Look for opportunities to interact with your audience by creating engaging content and responding to communication in a timely manner.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a great tool for small businesses to help differentiate you from your competitors by creating an ongoing relationship with your customers and opening up new markets and customer bases. Build a strong customer database that can be broken into segments and tailor emails to each segment – you want to provide relevant, engaging content to each segment that reaches them where they are on the buyer journey.

Blog

A blog is the perfect partner with your SEO strategy because search engines respond to relevant content. The more relevant content you publish, the easier it is for search engines to recognize your website as an authority in your area. The more blog content you create, the more your site will show up in search engines and drive organic traffic to your website.

Digital marketing help with Softwired

Over the years, we’ve worked with lots of clients who need help with web engineering and digital marketing tasks but don’t have in-house staff. Finding freelancers can be a nightmare and cause a lot of problems when promising delivery of service. Whether you’re interested in web design only, digital advertising help or more; we’re ready to help you get started!

Dominate the Digital Space with These Digital Marketing Tips for Brokers

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 21:18:41 GMT

The need to social distance because of Covid-19 accelerated the growing trend of using digital platforms for marketing real estate properties. And now, even as people feel more comfortable with in-person showings, digital platforms are still increasingly being used because they are so efficient and effective at marketing all types of properties.

If you are a broker trying to lease or sell properties and you are unsure of how to make digital marketing work for you or if you want to learn how to stand out among your competitors, read on for digital marketing tips for brokers.

Dominate the Digital Space with These Digital Marketing Tips for Brokers

Create the foundation of your online presence: a website

If your potential customers cannot find you online, you may as well not exist. Real estate brokers need a great real estate website built and optimized for customer experience and SEO. Your website is the foundation of your online presence. Every social media channel should link back to it and potential clients should be able to find it in search engines. The website should house your properties, link to your social media accounts, and share information about you and your team, the industry, and your mission. Make sure it is mobile friendly!

Fill out your Google My Business Profile

All businesses should make use of Google My Business to build their online presence. This is especially true if you are a geographically based business. Companies who are selling properties in a certain city or region greatly benefit from an accurate and robust Google My Business profile. The great news is that it’s free; all it takes is some effort to set up and monitor.

Ask for reviews

One of the best ways to establish trust and encourage a new client to work with you is to have several great reviews from real clients. As soon as your Google My Business profile is filled out, it’s time to ask your best clients for a review. Just be careful that you don’t have all your reviews come in on the same day; spread out a few a month is ideal.

Prioritize pictures

Humans are visual. Great pictures have the power to sell a property and build your brand. Hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your properties, your office, and profile pictures for use on your website, Google My Business, and social media accounts.

Use social media to reach your audience

Identify your target audience and identify the social media channels they are on. Create social media accounts and be sure to add the links on your website as well as your e-newsletters. Properties are tangible and that means the opportunity to share great pictures advertising properties on Instagram and Facebook. Use the boosting option to promote properties that aren’t getting the attention they need. Your LinkedIn account is the place to connect with other professionals; join industry groups and share industry news, trends and market research. Stay active on social media - posting 3-5 times a week - keep your profiles updated and be sure to like and respond to comments or questions.

Use your blog

Once your website is up and running, it’s time to start writing blog posts. This is a way to share your expertise in the industry and as a local real estate broker. Think about questions that your potential clients may have and answer them in blog posts. Make sure they are at least 600 words long! Posting relevant and well-optimized blog posts on a regular basis drives traffic to your website by helping search engines identify your area of expertise. In addition, blog posts are a great thing to share on your social media channels and email marketing. If you get really comfortable with this medium, consider reaching out to be a guest expert writer for other online platforms.

Use virtual tours

Many clients today expect to see a virtual tour of a property before an in-person showing. Create compelling virtual tours that are appealing, informative, and fun. There are a variety of options for creating a tour, including hiring a business to create the tour for your brokerage or purchasing a 360-degree camera to film the tour yourself.

Digital Marketing Services for Real Estate Brokers

Top 3 Most Common Causes WordPress Sites Crash & How to Prevent It

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:02:29 GMT

If you own a business in 2021, chances are you have a website and you rely on that website to drive your business. If you’re a small business owner there’s also a pretty good chance that your site was built with a WordPress theme (WordPress powers about 39.5% of the entire Web and 62% of CMS-built websites). The current version of WordPress is 5.2 and we have been seeing a lot of notifications recently that may be creating stress for small business owners without WordPress support.

Here is a recent notification related to WooCommerce that was sent to a few of the sites we are managing:

Howdy!

Since WordPress 5.2 there is a built-in feature that detects when a plugin or theme causes a fatal error on your site, and notifies you with this automated email.

In this case, WordPress caught an error with one of your plugins, YITH WooCommerce Affiliates.

First, visit your website (https://www.softwiredweb.com/) and check for any visible issues. Next, visit the page where the error was caught (https://www.softwiredweb.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron=1633453596.4657289981842041015625) and check for any visible issues.

Please contact your host for assistance with investigating this issue further.

If your site appears broken and you can't access your dashboard normally, WordPress now has a special "recovery mode". This lets you safely login to your dashboard and investigate further.

To keep your site safe, this link will expire in 1 day. Don't worry about that, though: a new link will be emailed to you if the error occurs again after it expires.

When seeking help with this issue, you may be asked for some of the following information:

WordPress version 5.8.1

Current theme: OptimizeWP Child Theme (version 1.0.0)

Current plugin: YITH WooCommerce Affiliates (version 1.9.1)

PHP version 7.4.22

WordPress 5.2

WordPress 5.2 “Jaco” was officially released on May 7, 2019. WordPress 5.2 gives users even more robust tools for identifying and fixing configuration issues and fatal errors. Since WordPress 5.2 there is a built-in feature that detects when a plugin or theme causes a fatal error on your site, and notifies you with an automated email.

If your site appears broken and you can't access your dashboard normally, WordPress now has a special "recovery mode” that lets you safely login to your dashboard and investigate further. Site owners will need to contact their host for help to further investigate and resolve the issue.

Realizing that your website has crashed or appears broken can feel like a nightmare that you want handled as quickly as possible. The good news is that with the right support and understanding of the common causes that WordPress sites crash, you can prevent most web crashes from happening in the first place. Or in the unusual event that it happens; you can get your site up and running again quickly.

Top 3 Most Common Causes WordPress Sites Crash

Here are the top 3 most common causes of WordPress issues that lead to site crashes:

WordPress host problems

The number one most common reason for website crashes is hosting problems because of poor server resources and infrastructure. Some of the most common issues that a web host deals with that can lead to poor user experience are:

Too many websites hosted on a shared host
A hack or malware attack on the host’s web servers that expose all hosted sites
Overloaded server resources caused by an unexpected boom in traffic
Hardware problems in the server infrastructure
Loss of vital data from data centers or malfunction
An accidental modification or deletion of essential files or folders during server maintenance

Hack or malware infection

The second most common reason that websites crash is because they were hacked or have a malware infection. In some cases, malware variants embed themselves and hide on a site for days or weeks while they slowly damage or infect the backend files with malicious code. If your website was hacked, you may see a message indicating that the site was hacked when you attempt to visit your site. Other signs that your site may have been compromised include:

Your website is running excessively slowly or you have a dramatic drop in web traffic
Your website is redirecting site visitors to a different website
You have many untrusted plugins installed on your site
You receive a malware notification
You get blacklisted by search engines

WordPress theme and plugin incompatibility issues

When WordPress websites run on old/outdated theme versions, they are at increased risk of incompatibility issues that can cause a crash. There is also an increased risk of theme incompatibility issues when plugins are outdated.

While the vast majority of plugins are supported by WordPress, there are some that are not. If you have an incompatible plugin installed on your WordPress site it may negatively impact your site's performance as it uses excessive resources. Plugin incompatibility issues are one of the most common problems we run into. If we suspect that an incompatible plugin is causing issues for your site we will deactivate recently installed or updated plugins and then check your site on the front end and test whatever feature wasn't working to see if the problem has been fixed.

Top 5 Ways to Prevent WordPress Website Crashes

Use a cloud-based backup

Without a cloud-based backup for your website, it could take several days to get your WordPress website restored. As they say, the best defense is a good offense and when it comes to websites that means proactively investing in a cloud-based backup. This way, if your site crashes, you can quickly restore it to the latest backup.

Make use of safety features

There are several safety features that you should be using to help protect your site from malware and hackers, including:

Installing a security plugin
Getting your website SSL certified
Using a strong login password
Setting up wide-ranging firewall protection to block unwanted requests from suspicious IP addresses
Implementing website hardening measures recommended by WordPress

Keep your website updated

Websites with outdated themes and plugins are much more vulnerable to crashes and hackers. Make sure your WordPress core and all installed plugins/themes are always updated to the latest version. One option is to have auto-updates setup through a WP management tool.

Uninstall any unused and nulled plugins/themes

Plugins create functionality on websites that wouldn’t be possible without them and the wide range of available plugins is a huge plus for WordPress sites. The only thing to keep in mind is that installing or leaving a whole bunch of unused plugins can slow down your site and eventually overload your server, causing your site to crash. The best thing to do is run through your plugins and themes and uninstall any that are not being used, that are abandoned, or ones that are nulled pirated copies of premium plugins/themes.

Choose high-performance hosting

Web hosting is an important factor for a reliable website. If you are dealing with poor website performance and incompatibility problems, it’s time to consider managed hosting or other high-performance hosting options.

Hire WordPress Support and High-Performance Hosting

The biggest benefits for our WordPress PRO plan are:

proactive maintenance for software
Hacker prevention and security
High performance hosting
Repair and enhanced security for hacked websites

If your business is relying on your website for generating business, it is critical to invest in these features to avoid downtime and lost business.

Learn more about how our WordPress Pro Support package can keep your WordPress site running smoothly: https://www.softwiredweb.com/wordpress-pro-support/

Top 6 Reasons Real Estate Brokers Need Digital Marketing

oralie@softwiredweb.com (Oralie Chapman) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 20:34:54 GMT

The real estate market is booming and whenever that happens, people jump into the business to make a quick buck. For established real estate agents and brokers, that means increased competition. How will you make yourself stand out from your competitors? You need a digital presence for brokers.

Why is digital marketing important for real estate brokers?

Traditionally, real estate agents and brokers did not use or need a digital presence to succeed and to this day, many in the industry undervalue digital marketing. But it’s 2021 and real estate brokers need digital marketing to promote brand awareness, sell properties, and stand out from their competitors. Here are the top 6 reasons real estate brokers need digital marketing:

Search engines are a thing

Most people do a Google search first when they start the buying process for anything these days. If you don’t have a great website that’s optimized for search engines with searchable property listings, you are missing out on business.

Potential clients want to read reviews

Reviews build trust in a cynical world. Having at least several great online reviews is extremely important. When looking for a real estate broker, you can bet that other than personal referral, your online reviews will make or break a person’s decision to work with you. Don’t forget to respond to each and every review you receive!

Pictures are worth a thousand words

High quality pictures and videos sell property. Mobile friendly property videos, video tours, and picture galleries are a necessity when it comes to selling properties because clients want them but also because search engines rank video content. Google values content that engages their audience so it makes sense that videos would be ranked.

Easier to track ROI

It’s fairly easy to track the Return on Investment (ROI) for your online efforts compared to print ads and paper directories. Google analytics tells you how much traffic your site is receiving, the number of new users, and how many conversions you had (people who made it to your contact page and contacted you). Any online advertising that you invest in will provide metrics on reach and engagement. You can make changes, as needed, until you find just the right strategy.

Google My Business

Build rapport with your clients

Digital marketing provides options to keep your clients engaged and to build their trust over the long term. Ultimately, building a lifetime relationship with our clients is more profitable than a one and done transaction.

Digital marketing strategies that every real estate broker should be using

If you have read this far, we hope we have convinced you about the need to invest in digital marketing. Here are several digital marketing strategies that you can use to grow your real estate business by standing out from your competitors:

Build a mobile friendly website. Statistics show that over 40% of real estate website visitors come from a mobile search. Invest in a website that is easy to navigate on both mobile devices and PCs. Pictures and videos must be optimized for all screen sizes!
Pay for SEO. Unless you are an SEO expert and have the time to do the work, you need to hire an SEO specialist to properly optimize your website. In many cases, a digital marketing agency can both build and optimize your website. It’s important to hire a team that is on top of the current trends and who you can work with on an ongoing basis to continue the work as the rules of the game change. If you want to maintain your place at the top of the search results, SEO is an ongoing investment.
Create email campaigns. Segment your clients and potential clients into lists such as: actively searching, recently purchased, looking to purchase in the next 12 months, etc. Create relevant, engaging emails for each segment and send them out every month or two.
Invest in digital advertising. With set-your-own budget and targeting options, social media ads are an affordable and practical way to reach your target audience. Pay-per-click or pay-per-call advertising may also be a good investment, depending on how competitive your market is. Google Service ads are a newer option that could also help you stand out from the crowd.
Use content marketing to your advantage. Google ranks websites based on their content. There are two things to think about when it comes to digital content: your web pages and blog. Every page of your website should be properly optimized for search engines. You should also be creating articles (blog posts) with engaging content that answers your clients’ questions and solves their problems; this is a major way that you will draw traffic to your site.

Digital Marketing Services for Real Estate Brokers