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How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Raleigh

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Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches.

But those branches do not always stay lovely. The once beautiful tree adorned with tinsel and ornaments is slowly turning brown and losing its pine needles. Soon you will need to properly dispose of your Christmas tree.

How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Raleigh and the Triangle

  • City of Raleigh

In the city of Raleigh, residents should place their discarded Christmas trees at the side of the curb by seven am on their normal yard waste collection day. If you would like to drop off your tree, you may drop it off at the yard waste recycling center. There is a charge for this service.

  • Town of Cary

If you are a resident of Cary, you have two options for disposing of your Christmas tree, both at no charge. You can place your Christmas tree and other vegetative materials such wreaths or garland at your curb by seven am on your regular yard waste collection day. You may also drop off your Christmas tree at the Citizen’s Convenience Center, which is located at 313 North Dixon Ave.

  • City of Durham

If you are a yard waste customer who lives in the city of Durham, you may place your discarded Christmas tree curbside on the day of yard waste collection between the dates of January 3rd and February 2nd. The trees must be cut in half if they are greater than 6 feet in length. They must also be stripped of all tinsel and decorations. For non-yard waste customers, you need to call to schedule a pick-up of your tree. Residents of Durham also have the option to dispose of their Christmas tree free of charge at the city’s recycling center.

Other Ways to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

  • Animal Habitats

If you are in a more rural neighborhood you can create a welcoming habitat for wildlife with your discarded Christmas tree. You can plant tree upright, giving a place for birds to perch or you can place the tree on its side to give wildlife shelter on your property

  • Mulch

Christmas trees are an excellent source for wood chips and mulch for your yard.

  • Beach Erosion

Feel like taking a trip to the beach? Recycled Christmas trees are commonly used along the coastline to help prevent erosion of beaches and to build up sand dunes.

From all of us at TheeDesign, we hope you have a happy holiday!

The post How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Raleigh appeared first on TheeDesign.


Why Landing Pages are Important For Your Paid Advertising Strategy

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What is a Landing a Page?

A landing page is, quite simply, a page on your website that provides additional information after someone clicks on the link to it from another webpage.

Landing pages can be useful because the data they provide to the user is relevant and related to the advertisement that led them to the landing page.

People searching on the internet can end up on your landing page by following links from various sources such as

The primary goal of a landing page is to persuade the visitor to either make a purchase or obtain your contact information.

How to Use Landing Pages in Paid Advertising

In digital marketing, there are three main types of paid advertisements that lead to landing pages.

Landing pages are built with conversions in mind. To achieve greater results, your landing page should contain compelling, powerful, and relevant information that relates to your ad while at the same time containing fewer distractions such as menus or other navigational links that could steer the user away from leaving the page without converting. The landing page should be a stripped down version of your main website. This keeps the reader focused on the topic throughout the entire page.

Key features that each landing page should be equipped with are:

  • Call-To-Action (CTA)

The CTA is the clickable button on your landing page that leads them to the desired action that you would like them to take. These actions lead to a conversion such as a phone call or form submission.

  • Testimonials

Adding testimonials on a landing page conveys a sense of trust and provides additional credibility for your product or service.

  • Consistency

Try to utilize the same headlines, copy, graphics, and branding from the ad.

  • Internal Links

The only links on a landing page should the CTA button and internal links that jump to different sections of the landing page.

Your landing page should be well optimized for mobile devices. Mobile optimization should include being responsive, quick loading, and using click-to-call tel links.

There are different styles and looks that you can use for landing pages. Whether the page is long or short, try out different variations of the landing page to see which one performs better.

Summing It All Up

To conclude and connect all of the dots, landing pages are important for your PPC campaigns because they drive targeted traffic to a specific web page, one that’s designed with fewer distractions in an effort to lead the user to a specific goal. Generating leads and increasing sales is the ultimate goal for your PPC campaigns, that’s why you should make the process as easy as possible for the user. Take these PPC tips and create an optimized landing page today

Would you like more information on landing pages and how we can improve your business? Contact our award-winning web designers in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a complimentary consultation and website review.

The post Why Landing Pages are Important For Your Paid Advertising Strategy appeared first on TheeDesign.

4 Reasons to Support Small Business

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Happy National Small Business Week! If you weren’t aware, 2018 marks the 55th annual National Small Business Week, heralded by the US Small Business Administration. The Small Business Administration, otherwise known as the SBA, helps inform small business owners about the resources that are available to them.

Many laud small businesses as the “backbone of the American economy” and they aren’t wrong to do so: there are more than 27 million small businesses in America and together they produce more than 50 percent of America’s gross domestic product. “If they produce so much for our economy, why do we need to support them?” Good question! Here’s why:

Small Businesses Create More Jobs

Statistically, there’s about a 50% chance that you’re working for a small business right now. The SBA considers any business a small one when they have fewer than 500 employees, so the number of businesses that meet those criteria is large. However, the SBA cites a report done between 1993 and 2011 that shows that 64% of the new jobs created in that period were from small businesses.

This is due to the expanding phase of any new or startup business – the company needs more workers to get the work done. For any one particular small business, this phase will eventually end and no longer create new jobs, but new businesses will replace the ones that stop creating new positions.

Small Businesses Provide Innovation

The booming tech industry is a testament to the success of innovation. Americans know that if their ideas aren’t being pursued properly by their bosses, they can take their skills, experience, and creativity into their own hands and start their own company. How does this benefit you, though?

Innovation brings the consumer new products and ways of doing things, helping speed progress along. Innovations like rideshare programs, fitness apps, personal computers, and 2-day free shipping delivery have transformed the lives of many in the last 20 years. None of those things would have been possible without the entrepreneurial spirit of the small business owner.

Small Businesses Support Your Local Community

If you’ve ever balked at giving your money to a large corporation, small businesses are the way to go. Spending your money with a small business often will keep the money within your community. Small, local business owners are more likely to form partnerships with other local businesses, join the rotary club, sponsor the local soccer team and the school districts, and will make a point to give back to the community – after all, they likely live there too.

Small Businesses Provide Product Diversity and Larger Inventories

Because a small business isn’t beholden to corporate’s deals with distributors, it’s more likely that they’ll carry more than just two brands of a particular product. That helps keep monopolies from taking over the market and helps you ensure that you have the option to choose from a selection of great products.

Additionally, many small businesses will carry a larger inventory of product than their corporate counterpart. This is due to several factors: they aren’t held to the standards of the rigorous corporate inventory system, and they may be more willing to order more and keep it on the shelves for longer. If they’re out, they’re more likely to help you get the product you need more quickly and efficiently than a corporate store.

Contact TheeDesign Today

Small businesses should help each other. TheeDesign is proud to be a small, local business right here in Raleigh, NC. We provide award-winning web design and digital marketing services to the small businesses in the Raleigh-Durham area. To learn more, call us at 919-341-8901 or schedule your free consultation.

The post 4 Reasons to Support Small Business appeared first on TheeDesign.

Marketing Automation Fails and How to Avoid Them

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Marketing automation is a powerful tool. With proper strategy and planning, marketing automation allows companies to automatically nurture leads based on user attributes and behavior. That’s why marketing automation is way more powerful than email marketing platforms.

Like all tools, marketing automation is only as good as the person wielding it. However, more than other tools, marketing automation can result in awkward experiences, which are made all the more comically disastrous due to how customer-facing they are. After all, marketing automation is supposed to make the user feel like they’re receiving something personalized, and often these fails have the opposite effect.

Below are some of the marketing automation fails that have shown up over the past few months so that you can learn from them as cautionary tales. And yes, maybe have a good chuckle at their expense as well.

FAIL #1) Placeholder Copy

What’s Wrong:
Someone wrote “(DELETE ME AND INSERT YOUR SPECIAL OFFER(S) HERE)” in the copy with the intent of coming back to fill in the details, but somehow, someone missed this reminder to themselves before scheduling the email to send.

Lesson Learned:
Always read and proof your emails two to three times before scheduling the send. If you have placeholder text in there, obviously you need to make sure that’s removed before you send it out.

TL;DR
Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

FAIL #2) Not-So-Dynamic Field

What’s Wrong:
%%company%% was supposed to be a dynamic field that inserted the name of the company of the recipient. Either the wrong shortcode was used, or there was not a company name populated for the recipient.

Lesson Learned:
If you use a dynamic field, make sure you use it correctly. Always set up the dynamic field to have a backup value in case there’s no data to populate it. So, for this example, the backup value should have been something like “your company” or “your business.”

TL;DR
Use backup values for dynamic fields — for reals.

FAIL #3) Let’s Partner Up (Partner)

What’s Wrong:
There’s no stand out fail in this email that you can outright notice. The sender of this email is offering the recipient agency free lunch in exchange for their time at looking at a demo of the sender’s product. It sounded like an intriguing offer until the agency realized that the sender was attempting to sell the agency on a particular product — for which the agency was already a customer.

Lesson Learned:
Make sure your marketing automation platform and customer relationship management (CRM) software are talking to each other, and your CRM is kept up to date. If the sender’s CRM had marked the agency as a current customer and the drip campaign was set up to remove existing customers, the agency would have never received this bungled email invitation.

TL;DR
Suppress your customer list lest you want your current customers to be pissed.

FAIL #4) Hi [name]

What’s Wrong:
This is a classic marketing automation fail and, unfortunately, way too common. It sure makes someone feel special when you can’t even get their name right. Dynamic fields are not everyone’s strong suit — if you’re not sure how to use them, it’s probably best not to, or to at least bring in someone who does.

Lesson Learned:
It’s the same issue as #2. If you use a dynamic field, you have to add a backup value in case the field isn’t populated. So for example, if there was no value for “first name” you need a backup value like inserting just “Hi,”

TL;DR
You’re the only one to blame for “Hi [name]”

FAIL #5) Hi Adam, What If I tell you?

What’s Wrong:
Wow. It’s obvious no one proofread this. It’s barely English.

Lesson Learned:
Always have someone proofread your emails before they go out. If you don’t, not only will your message not be effective, it will hurt your reputation more than if you simply didn’t send a message at all.

TL;DR
Porfreeed yer eemales or yer cusstummerz wil tourn stalez.

Contact TheeDesign to Ensure Marketing Automation Wins

Your marketing automation platform and strategy doesn’t need to be a pain to set up. TheeDesign’s marketing automation masterminds have the skills and experience to get your automation program off of the ground. Get started with marketing automation by calling 919-341-8901 or messaging our digital experts today.

The post Marketing Automation Fails and How to Avoid Them appeared first on TheeDesign.

Best Places in Raleigh and The Triangle to See 2018 Fourth of July Fireworks

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If you thought last year’s Fourth of July fireworks shows were unforgettable, just wait until you see all the thrilling options for this year. Our Raleigh web design and digital marketing agency has put together a list of fireworks shows happening in Raleigh and other surrounding areas that you should definitely consider attending.

The Best Places to Watch Fireworks in Raleigh

july 4 triangle

The Works!

This is the news that all dedicated Raleigh fireworks fans have been waiting to hear. After six years, the Fourth of July annual fireworks display will be moving back to its original location at the State Fairgrounds and PNC Arena area. On Wednesday, July 4th, the PNC Arena will open their gates at 6 pm for the fireworks, which are scheduled to launch at 9:30 pm from the Varsity Lot at N.C. State University. Also, prepare for different activities throughout the day, such as live entertainment, food, the Fourth of July Day Party downtown, and much more! Parking at the PNC Arena will be free and open to the public.

Brier Creek Commons

Brier Creek Commons will also be hosting their 12th Annual Fireworks Show on Wednesday, July 4th. The Show Us Your Stripes Block Party will start at 7 p.m. with the fireworks display following immediately after at the Brier Creek Commons Clock Tower Plaza. There will be games, bounce houses, face painting, prizes, and other fun activities! Admission is free, and no tickets are necessary.

Cary Fireworks Displays

Koka Booth Amphitheatre Fireworks

A fireworks display will take place in Cary at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre during their Independence Day celebration on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. Gates open to the public at 3 pm and the Cary Town Band will perform on the Koka Booth Main Stage at 5:45 pm. The NC Symphony is also scheduled to perform right afterward at 7:30 pm. Following these performances, the fireworks will begin at around 9 pm. There will also be various other family-friendly games and activities, such as a watermelon eating contest, a scavenger hunt, magicians, and a Ferris Wheel. Admission is free, but different amusement rides may cost money. A special reserved seating for the show is also available for $40.

Durham Fireworks Displays

Durham will hold its Independence Day Celebration at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. Fireworks will begin at approximately 9:15 pm, following the Durham Bulls vs. the Charlotte Knights game, which starts at 6 pm. Purchasing tickets to the game is strongly encouraged, but gates will also open for general admission at the end of the 7th inning. Seating and space is based on availability.

Chapel Hill Fireworks Displays

Chapel Hill will hold its Fourth of July celebration at UNC’s Kenan Memorial Stadium starting at 7 pm on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. The event features a live performance by the popular cover band RadioJacks, a watermelon eating contest, food trucks, face painting, spin art, a photo booth, and more. The fireworks will start promptly at 9:30 pm. Although admission is free, donations of $1 per person or $5 per family are recommended to offset the cost of the event.

Wake Forest Fireworks Displays

Wake Forest will be hosting their Fireworks Spectacular on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Heritage High School. This event will feature the popular Raleigh-based band, Crush, who is scheduled to perform at approximately 6:15 pm. The fireworks are said to be bigger and better than ever this year, with an unforgettable ending, and will launch shortly after the performance. Food trucks and concessions will be present as well, but picnic baskets and/or coolers are allowed. Gates will open at 5:30 pm and admission is free.

Garner Fireworks Displays

Garner’s Independence Day celebration will be held on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Lake Benson Park. Starting at 5 pm, this event will have food trucks, games, crafts, musicians, and a Kids Adventure Zone filled with inflatables. At 8:30 pm, the NC Symphony will also be featured, immediately followed by the fireworks show.  Admission is free.

Morrisville Fireworks Displays

Morrisville will be hosting their Independence Day celebration on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Morrisville Community Park. Food trucks and music can be expected to start at 6 pm, followed by a fireworks display at dusk. Admission is free.

Fuquay-Varina Fireworks Displays

Fuquay-Varina’s annual 4th of July celebrations will take place on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at South Park. Activities, such as free rides for kids and different food options will be available, with the fireworks show beginning at sundown. The popular local band Spare Change will also be featured at 7 pm. Gates open at 6 pm and admission is free.

july 4 raleigh

We Love Making Digital Fireworks!

Does your business need to create fireworks in the digital space? Let our digital design experts create a dazzling display for your online presence! Contact us today at 919-341-8901 or complete our online form for a free site audit on your current digital properties.

We hope you have a wonderful, safe Fourth of July — have fun!

The post Best Places in Raleigh and The Triangle to See 2018 Fourth of July Fireworks appeared first on TheeDesign.

2019 Web Design Trends

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Staying current on web design trends is crucial to the success of your website. A lot changes every twelve months in terms of popularity with visuals, algorithm updates, and best practices.

A website that looks sleek and modern today could look outdated and cheesy in just a few months’ time. That’s why knowing the difference between a trend in the industry and a passing fad is so important when designing your website — you want to ensure that your design will look great for several years and not reminiscent of a Geocities message board from 1996.

2019 will be all about delivering on user experience: web design trends will prioritize speed and mobile design, eye-catching simple designs with asymmetrical layouts, immersive video backgrounds, and more.

Speed

How much time do you think that you get to make a good impression with a potential customer? If you’re talking about interacting with them online, you have less than three seconds.

speed 2019 web design

Humans tend to be flighty and impatient. If the internet is really an alien conspiracy that observes human nature, their alien studies would show that we don’t like to be kept waiting. In studies done by Akamai and Gomez.com, 50% of users expect that when they click on a site, it should load in two seconds or less and that they will abandon a site if it takes three or more seconds to load.

As you can see, a beautiful site is a beautiful site, but if the design is so data-heavy that it takes too long to download, you could be losing loads of revenue due to no one sticking around to even look at your site. Even worse, with the Google Speed Update that went into effect in July 2018, Google has begun prioritizing rankings for sites that load faster than others, and it’s likely that other search engines are soon to follow.

What all of this means is that as websites need to load faster, so does web design need to prioritize speed during the design process. Web designers can’t simply rely on the developer to turn their work into something that will both look good and rank well — speed needs to be a design parameter.

The days of gigantic photos, uncompressed videos, and bloated Javascript are over. While large pictures and videos aren’t gone from web design, in 2019 they’ll be incorporated in such a way that they don’t slow down loading times.

Flat Design

In 2017, designers and developers began creating clean and simple websites for better mobile performance. Since then, the number of mobile searches has gone ever-upward, and mobile-first design for websites is now a necessity, not just an option. Image-heavy websites load slowly and frustrate mobile users, as we discussed earlier.

Clean, minimalist designs, or flat designs, are characterized by loading quickly and are currently trendy and desirable for two important reasons. First, both mobile users and desktop browsers can experience quick-loading websites. Secondly, they can hold high SEO value. Flat design helps a site fulfill a lot of the speed requirements that search engines are starting to require. This’s why flat design has started to become popular and will continue to be trendy into 2019.

Flat design doesn’t mean that everything is reduced down to two dimensions — it’s all about minimalism and usability. It’s a design aesthetic that gets rid of clutter and focuses on the important parts of your website. Utilizing bright colors, clean and crisp edges, and lots of open space, flat design is a refreshing change from distracting and slow-loading hi-res image-based designs.

In spite of being minimalist, this doesn’t mean that flat design is boring. Contrasting bright colors and illustration with simple imagery and sans-serif fonts, the sum of flat design’s parts comes together to provide an excellent user experience that is eye-catching and engaging.

Since flat design doesn’t rely on pictures to be captivating, it doesn’t have large amounts of extra data to load when a user navigates to the page. This means two really great things for website owners: the first is that customers and clients, no matter if they’re browsing on mobile or otherwise, will have an enjoyable, quick-loading experience on the website. Secondly, these data-light, fast-loading designs make page speed and optimization much, much faster — which looks really desirable to Google, Bing, and pretty much every other search engine. Like we discussed in the speed section, faster load times mean that your site is more likely to rank well, and with an engaging flat design users are apt to stay longer on your site and are more likely to convert.

Mobile First

Speed isn’t just the only ruler that Google has been using to measure websites by. In 2015, mobile searches overtook desktop searches overall, making mobile search the highest search form worldwide. In accordance with this, Google has changed which sites they index first — they now prioritize mobile sites over sites that aren’t mobile friendly.

With mobile sites taking priority away from desktop sites, it’s no wonder that mobile first design has become a trend. Mobile first web design is about changing the way that websites are designed fundamentally. The standard used to be that a site would only be designed for a desktop or laptop computer and a mobile-friendly or mobile responsive design might be added as well. Mobile first design does just the opposite: it starts with designing the site for the mobile user first before creating a version that will also work for a desktop user.

Again, this push toward mobile first design isn’t just based on ranking factors or SEO. The visual result is something that will first and foremost enhance the user’s experience with the website on the device that they will most likely be searching from. This design trend is meeting the demand that mobile users are requiring and will likely be the trend for a long time to come.

Broken Grid/Asymmetrical Layouts

In 2019, web design trends are all about thinking outside the box, or rather, the grid. Broken grid and asymmetrical designs are leaving their mark across the web design industry in a big way. In spite of the push from many web designers towards flat, fast, minimalist design, there’s also a large contingent of designers advocating for the fresh, striking look of broken layouts.

broken grid 2019

When we talk about broken grids or asymmetrical layouts, this refers to the grid system that has been used for decades on all kinds of layouts, from web pages to newspapers to print and outdoor ads. A grid system helps a designer maintain alignment and consistency easily when they are adding content — images, headlines, copy, calls-to-action — to whatever medium they are working in, maintaining the structure of the grid in the underlying layout while generally maintaining symmetry as well.

Historically, not using a grid or “winging it” has resulted in what many have called sloppy or distracting designs that keep the user from focusing on the most important parts of the page. However, asymmetry and broken grids have been gaining more and more popularity, likely due to having found a way to not look like most other website designs, while at the same time not being distracting or sloppy.

Designers are able to achieve this through carefully and thoughtfully breaking the grid pattern and establishing hierarchy with planned asymmetry. The use of unusual placements, layering with different colors and textures, repeating irregular patterns, use of white space, and creative use of typography create a sense of depth not normally found in grid-based layouts.

These designs are striking, helping to engage users and point them towards the most important parts of the website, but not due to established, rote design patterns. Instead, creative use of visual hierarchy directs the eye on where to look. Using colors, shapes, textures, expressive use of type, and dynamic imagery, the designer can direct the user’s attention in a new, engaging manner toward the content or the CTAs that they want users to find.

Shapes

As a middle ground trend between the minimalism of flat design and the controlled chaos of broken grid lies the trend of geometric shapes. If you think this refers to simple, Euclidean geometric shapes that you learned about in middle school such as triangles, hexagons, and circles, then you’re absolutely right.

shapes 2019 web-design

Shapes can bridge the gap between flat and broken grid because of how easily they can be integrated to a design. Simple geometric shapes with bright colors can create interesting edges and load quickly while still being engaging. Designs that compost shapes with photography and type or that use shapes to create repeating patterns can result in the dynamism and depth present in broken grid or asymmetrical layouts.

This versatility is a large part of why shapes have become a trend in 2019. The underlying math of geometry helps establish a feeling of balance on a website, even when the visuals might contain asymmetry. Often, geometric shapes easily fit into or next to one another easily, establishing organization or hierarchy quickly.

Shapes are like colors in that there are thoughts and emotions that people naturally associate with each one. Rectangles represent stability, circles are unity, and triangles and rhombuses are dynamic. Creative use of particular shapes or combinations of shapes can be used to mold the emotions or feelings that you’d like your website visitors to feel.

They can be used dramatically or sparingly — it simply depends upon your brand aesthetic. Shapes easily help you establish visual hierarchy and draw attention to parts of a page that you want your visitors to notice, even when your site has stepped away from a traditional grid design. That’s why we’ll continue to see geometric shapes in web design in 2019.

Single Page Design

Speed and minimalism are the trends that come up again and again when talking about web design in 2019, which is a major reason why single page design, also known as pageless design, has also become a 2019 web design trend. Single page design is a very descriptive title — it refers to websites that have only one page instead of multiple service pages or blog articles all neatly arranged under a siloed hierarchy.

From a traditional SEO digital marketing standpoint, this likely would seem to be a mistake — it’s going to be much harder to rank for particular keywords without the pages and the content that you would normally have,  nor would it be easy to accomplish other advanced SEO techniques. Yes, while it can be harder to use particular SEO tactics on pageless design, that’s where the cons of it start to drop away.

As was discussed in the speed and flat design, uncluttered, clean, simple websites are being favored by search engines as they can quickly and easily be downloaded on mobile devices. Pageless design achieves that by having less of everything that can slow a website down. The HTML, CSS, Javascript, and pictures aren’t bogging the site down with data to be downloaded, making it a better experience for the user and granting priority in the search engines.

This simplicity is doubly great for single page websites as they look great on every browsing device and automatically fall into being a mobile-first-style site. Being so simple means that it’s more easily managed, too. Updates to the site are often quickly achieved since there are so few things to change or update, which means it’s easier for your business to stay current with your website.

Businesses love pageless websites for more than just ease of use: they also tend to have high conversion rates. On a traditional hierarchical site, it’s all about grabbing a user with a keyword search, getting them to land on your site and then funneling them towards a contact form, page, or phone number. With single page sites, there’s nowhere for the user to get distracted — every part of the page drives them toward a conversion point, getting them more leads and more business.

While single page design likely won’t take over the future of web design, it will certainly continue to leave its mark through 2019.

Video Backgrounds

In spite of the minimalist, quick-loading, flat design trends, video backgrounds are still incredibly popular as a trend going into 2019. You might think with speed being such a huge factor this year that videos would bog down a site too much, but, interestingly, video backgrounds have been shown to increase conversions.

Videos are simply more compelling than text or images ever will be. You’ll likely have seen this trend appear on social media platforms like Facebook over the last couple of years. Video posts are prioritized over other kinds of posts. They even made it easier to watch videos by auto-playing on mute while you scroll through your feed.

When a user lands on your site and a video plays in the background, they’re likely to stick around to watch it because videos are attention-getting. The more that a user stays on your site, the more likely they are to convert. This, in turn, raises your time on site metric, and the higher your average time on site is, the better your SEO is.

The power of video literally can’t quite be stated in words — they convey your message quickly and effectively, something that it could take paragraphs of text to accomplish. The video does it in a matter of seconds. This is especially useful when you have a complex message to explain to your users in the short amount of time that you have their attention.

Finally, there’s just something sleek and modern about a video background on a website. As long as the video is short, is muted, and has a nice, high-quality look to it, a video background can do a lot for your branding.

Micro-Animations

A subtle but noticeable 2019 trend in web design is micro-animations. Micro-animations are a powerful way to provide an intuitive and satisfying experience to your user as they browse your website. This is accomplish through small animations that help the user understand the site and validate them when they mouse over or click on an element, such as changing the color of a button when the cursor moves over it, or a menu expanding when they click on the hamburger.

Most users experience these micro-animations all the time on both desktop and mobile browsing platforms. It’s so pervasive in browsing now that it’s more surprising to not experience them. These animations help the user know that they’re doing the right actions as they progress through your site. Did you press the submit button on the form? It changed color when you clicked it. How do you quickly refresh the page? Swiping down creates a pulling motion to let you know you triggered the refresh action properly.

Remember how moving objects like videos help with user retention and attention? These movements, even though they’re small animations, help to catch the eye of the user and create an enriched experience for them as they navigate a site. In turn, proper use of micro-animations creates visual hierarchy on a webpage, driving visitors toward your conversion points and then rewarding them for filling them out.

It might seem too simple or silly to think that a micro-animation can “reward” a user for clicking submit on a form, but think of that tiresome Captcha that so many forms use. If you’re lucky, all you have to do is click the checkbox, but if you have to go through the process of selecting pictures or typing out a number and letter string sequence, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching the circle swirl into a checkmark. As 2019 approaches, micro-animations are here to stay in the web design industry.

Chatbots/Machine Learning

Over the last several years, interacting and communicating with bots has become more and more normal. Bots, or chatbots, are becoming increasingly common on websites and micro-interactions across digital media. It’s likely that you spoke with one the last time you called your mobile service provider.

When they first started rolling out close to 20 years ago, these bots seemed to make it more difficult to solve problems (remember over pronouncing your commands in a loud, firm tone?) but over the years, they’ve gotten smarter thanks to improved artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These are what help Google create autosuggestions when you start typing in the search bar.
This is also why Facebook knows us so well. It’s helped Facebook learn what we look like and asks if we want to tag ourselves in a photo. It also uses location data and has learned our reading habits so it knows exactly which ads, events, and information to show us in order to get us to hit a “like” button.

Chatbots and machine learning will continue to enhance user interactions with websites, especially as autoresponder functionality inherent in most chatbots can seamlessly interact with users for you and provide excellent customer service upfront. This starts your relationship with potential customers off on the right foot while simultaneously gathering info for your sales team before they begin actually interacting with the prospect.

In 2019, this technology will continue to be perfected and incorporated into company websites. Soon, web interactions will become seamless. Imagine a website that already knows exactly what your customer is looking for by simply analyzing their past interactions with your company. Customer service via the web is becoming faster and more efficient every day thanks to these new technologies. Don’t overlook them in your web design.

Web Design 2019 — Engaging Minimalism or Attention-Grabbing Visuals?

2019 might seem like the Janus of years for web design: on one side are the tempting visual delights of broken grid layouts and video backgrounds. On the other side are the beautiful but practical tenets of flat design and single page layouts. As trends change, so does the industry. Staying atop those trends will help you keep your website fresh, beautiful, and making conversions.

For information on last years web design trends:

Talk to TheeDesign Today about Your Web Design

Updating your website’s design will have a dramatic affect on your brand and your revenue stream. Contact the award-winning web designers at TheeDesign to see how sleek and modern your website could be by calling us at 919-341-8901 to schedule your free consultation today.

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Gravity Forms – How to Create a New Form

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Writing: better known as humanity’s greatest tool. Communication provides us with a way to convey thoughts and ideas over time and space. Ancient humans used charcoal and pigment to write stories, messages, and warnings. While humans did swap out the cave walls for social media feeds, the messages shared stay the same. Except for the messages saying ‘Caution: Giant Cave Bear,’ of course. That, and our ancestors didn’t have Gravity Forms to simplify communication.

A vicious cave bear

Pictured Above: A vicious cave bear

Regardless, the most important thing in today’s digital world is the ability to communicate with your users. A website needs to be easy to access and offer ways for users to contact you, provide information, place orders, or leave reviews.

When it comes to providing this via your WordPress website, it’s highly recommended that you utilize Gravity Forms. This plugin offers a wide variety of features and customizations, which makes it ideal for almost any purpose. Today, you’ll learn how to create and edit a Gravity Form on your site.

Using Gravity Forms

Naturally, the first step you’ll want to do is open the Gravity Forms tab in WordPress. To do this, log into the backend of your site and locate tab labeled ‘Forms’ in the left-hand sidebar. You’ll arrive at the main Gravity Forms page, where you can access and edit the various forms you have or will create for your site.

Pictured: The Gravity Forms main page, which does not contain cave bears

Gravity Forms Main Menu

Pictured: The Gravity Forms main page, does not contain cave bears.

Gravity Forms Home Page Breakdown

Let’s take a quick look at what the main Gravity Forms page has:

  • The first thing to take note of is the big friendly button that says ‘Add New’ at the top. This will, as it implies, create a new form.
  • Next up are the series of buttons beside the form titles. These green/gray switches are fairly simple and serve a singular purpose: they activate and deactivate your form. This makes the removal of a form that needs work as simple as flipping a switch!
  • ID column – This is one of the most important pieces of information you’ll need if you’re going to use Gravity Forms. This number is unique to each form and identifies your form from others. You can use this ID number to place the form to specific pages and locations.
  • Entries column – This value shows you how many times your form has been filled out. By clicking the number, you can view the entries list, and select and view individual responses.
  • Views column – This shows you how many times a page with your form has been viewed by users visiting your site.
  • Conversions column – The percentage indicates the number of users who viewed your form and also filled it out.

Creating a New Form

Go ahead and click the new form button. Once you’ve done so, a new screen offering a variety of fields to choose from will appear. This area is where you can add and remove fields, edit the contents of those fields, and set up the layout of your overall form. Here’s an overview of the different sections so that you can become familiar with them.

Select A Field Type

Simply move to the right side of the page and pick one of the multitude of field options under the different sections. Once you’ve picked one, simply click the button and your field will be added. You can add the different fields as much as you’d like to see what they do and how they function and remove them with the ‘x’ at the top right of the field box.

Edit Field Options

The next step is to edit your field so that it displays and collects the information you want. To do this, simply click on the field’s box to expand it. In the light blue area of the field, you’ll be able to view a preview of what it will look like. Below that you will see three tabs, marked ‘General,’ ‘Appearance,’ and ‘Advanced.’ The General tab allows you to change the main features of your field, such as the display title, a description of the field, and the options to choose from inside the field itself. Additionally, your field can be set to ‘Required’ which means that that field must be completed in order to submit the form.

The ‘Appearance’ tab allows you to change your fields ‘placeholders’ which act as description aids for your different boxes. You can also alter where your description and sub-labels appear, as well as create your own error message for an incorrect field entry. Finally, the ‘Advanced’ tab allows you to set Default Values, which will auto-populate in your fields when it loads on your user’s screen. It also sets the visibility of the field itself.

Arrange the Fields

Once you’ve created your various fields, you can place them in any order you prefer simply by dragging them above/below one another.

Example of Gravity Forms field arrangement

Knowledge is power, but this form is missing a key question. Where and when was the cave bear sighted?

 

After you’re satisfied with your form, simply click the ‘Update’ button to save it.

How to Insert your Gravity Form

You’ve created your form, but where do you place it? This can be done one of two ways. If your pages and posts are formatted to have a Text Editor (this covers almost all pages, but some may be formatted differently), then it’s just as simple as placing some shortcode.

[ gravityform id=1 ]

The code above does several important things.
First, it calls Gravity Forms using the ‘gravityforms’ line. Next, it identifies which form to display using the ‘ID=#’ so make sure you change the ID number to the one listed as its ID on the list of forms.

The second way is to use the “Add Form” button at the top of the page. That will bring up a dialog box like this:

Select the form that you’d like to display, and ensure that “Enable Ajax” is checked. If you’d like the name and description of the form to be displayed to your user, make sure that “Display form title” and “Display form description” are both checked. Click insert form and you’re done!

Congratulations on creating your first form. If you’d like to receive notifications when it’s filled out, then go ahead and read our guide on How To Update Admin Notifications In Gravity Forms.

Contact TheeDesign for Website Development Today

Looking for an experienced web design agency that can create a professional looking website for you that is search engine friendly and easy to manage? Contact our award-winning web designers and internet marketing professionals in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a complimentary consultation and website review.

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How The Military Prepared Me for a Career in Digital Marketing

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Veteran’s Day is not a day about freebies, discounts, or even a deal on a new car. It is a day to reflect back and remember the sacrifices that so many have made to protect the freedoms that we all take for granted. Some join the military for the camaraderie, money for college, opportunities for travel, or learning new skills. I joined the U.S. Army for the adventure, the pride, and as the old recruiting slogan said, to “Be All I Can Be”.

As a special operations soldier, I served in the Army as a military intelligence analyst and a psychological operations specialist. I learned and utilized skills that paved the way for a successful career in digital marketing.

I joined the army arriving for basic training at Fort Knox, KY looking just as lost as everyone else. With proper motivation from the drill sergeants, we were molded into shape and became fine-tuned machines. I was taught leadership, teamwork, and communication skills that would follow me into the civilian world. Being a paratrooper taught me confidence and helped me quickly get over a fear of heights.

But it was my role within the intelligence community and within the special operations command that guided me to where I am today.

Below is a brief and unclassified look at how my military service became a successful career in the field of digital marketing.

From Soldier to Search Engine Optimizer

As members of the Army special operations community, we were responsible for:

  • Analysis, development, and distribution of intelligence used for information and psychological effect;
  • Researching and analyzing methods of influencing populations from a variety of intelligence sources;
  • Determining the appropriate mix of media for the proper dissemination of information;
  • Analyzing and evaluating intelligence reports to determine changes in capabilities and vulnerabilities; and
  • Deciding on multiple probable courses of actions.

From a digital marketing perspective, the skills and experience gained in the special operations community mean you are able to produce more effective and highly targeted campaigns. The more you know and understand your target audience, the easier it will be to connect and create a rapport with them. The research and analysis skill I gained during my time as a member of the Army special operations community empower my ability to build successful digital marketing campaigns today.

Information gathering, analysis, and distribution are all useful for:

I am proud to work for TheeDesign, a digital marketing company in Raleigh, NC that understands the value and service that military veterans have brought to our country.

If you would like to know more about how digital marketing can improve your company, contact our digital marketing specialists in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a complimentary consultation.

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New Year, New Website: Win a Free Website from TheeDigital

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UPDATE: The New Year, New Website Giveaway has ended. Stay tuned to find out when we’ll announce our winner!

Could your business benefit from a free website or design upgrade? TheeDigital is giving away one free website for the New Year, utilizing modern design trends and updated SEO strategies!

Through February, we’re hosting a contest to give away a brand new website to help one business or non-profit start 2018 with a new design!

Award-winning web design + digital marketing agency, TheeDigital, is giving away a free WordPress website to one company, organization, or non-profit.

The website design we’re giving away is based on our well-received WordPress theme. It’s also is fully responsive and mobile-friendly, which is a great benefit for the growing audience of mobile users. Our SEO experts will provide guidance on optimizing your site to be visible on search engines.

Enter to win through February 27th. The winner will be chosen during our Facebook Live announcement on February 28, 2018.

How to Enter

  1. Follow TheeDigital on LinkedIn
  2. Fill out our entry form below (It’s super short, we promise!)

(And be sure to like us on Facebook @TheeDesign, where we’ll announce the winner on Facebook Live.)

Announcing the Winner on Facebook Live

We’ll host a Facebook Live session to conclude the giveaway on February 28, 2018, where the winning company will be revealed. (There may be other fun surprises, as well!)

In addition to winning a free WordPress website built by our web design and digital marketing experts, you’ll also get a social media boost for your organization: We’ll tag your company in our social posts and give you a shout out to our audience, live.

It starts with this entry form. Don’t forget to fill out your contact info so that we can notify you if you’ve won!

Details About the Website

Not only will you receive a free website, but you get double the value with expert Support + agency services to help get your site up-and-running.

Our well-received business starter design is built on a fan-favorite CMS, WordPress. The theme framework has been handcrafted to easily organize content for all types of businesses. You’ll also get the perk of having your site hosted on a secure server — a benefit typically reserved for TheeDigital development clients.

It’s also WooCommerce-compatible — the perfect opportunity to finally get your online store off the ground. Unlike platforms like Shopify, products and other ecommerce tools are on your website, versus being hosted by a third party off-site. This means clearer ownership, more control over your digital assets, and more “link juice” to your site for SEO.

TheeDigital specializes in designing award-winning websites that get results from both customers and search engines. Your new website will be no different, and will be built on an SEO-friendly foundation.

If you’re looking for a more advanced custom design, we’ll apply the value of this prize to your new custom development project.

Our Gratis Web Design and Community Involvement

After over 10 years in business in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area, we enjoy giving back to the area that has helped us to become a leading digital agency.

We’ve provided gratis services to non-profits like Skate4Life NC and the community music event, Groove in the Garden.

Skate4LifeNC.com

 

Entry Period has Ended

To everyone that entered, thank you! Check back to hear when we’ll announce the winner!

From our company to yours, wishing you much success in the New Year!

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How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Raleigh

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Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches.

But those branches do not always stay lovely. The once beautiful tree adorned with tinsel and ornaments is slowly turning brown and losing its pine needles. Soon you will need to properly dispose of your Christmas tree.

How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Raleigh and the Triangle

  • City of Raleigh

In the city of Raleigh, residents should place their discarded Christmas trees at the side of the curb by seven am on their normal yard waste collection day. If you would like to drop off your tree, you may drop it off at the yard waste recycling center. There is a charge for this service.

  • Town of Cary

If you are a resident of Cary, you have two options for disposing of your Christmas tree, both at no charge. You can place your Christmas tree and other vegetative materials such wreaths or garland at your curb by seven am on your regular yard waste collection day. You may also drop off your Christmas tree at the Citizen’s Convenience Center, which is located at 313 North Dixon Ave.

  • City of Durham

If you are a yard waste customer who lives in the city of Durham, you may place your discarded Christmas tree curbside on the day of yard waste collection between the dates of January 3rd and February 2nd. The trees must be cut in half if they are greater than 6 feet in length. They must also be stripped of all tinsel and decorations. For non-yard waste customers, you need to call to schedule a pick-up of your tree. Residents of Durham also have the option to dispose of their Christmas tree free of charge at the city’s recycling center.

Other Ways to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

  • Animal Habitats

If you are in a more rural neighborhood you can create a welcoming habitat for wildlife with your discarded Christmas tree. You can plant tree upright, giving a place for birds to perch or you can place the tree on its side to give wildlife shelter on your property

  • Mulch

Christmas trees are an excellent source for wood chips and mulch for your yard.

  • Beach Erosion

Feel like taking a trip to the beach? Recycled Christmas trees are commonly used along the coastline to help prevent erosion of beaches and to build up sand dunes.

From all of us at TheeDigital, we hope you have a happy holiday!

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Why Landing Pages are Important For Your Paid Advertising Strategy

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What is a Landing a Page?

A landing page is, quite simply, a page on your website that provides additional information after someone clicks on the link to it from another webpage.

Landing pages can be useful because the data they provide to the user is relevant and related to the advertisement that led them to the landing page.

People searching on the internet can end up on your landing page by following links from various sources such as

The primary goal of a landing page is to persuade the visitor to either make a purchase or obtain your contact information.

How to Use Landing Pages in Paid Advertising

In digital marketing, there are three main types of paid advertisements that lead to landing pages.

Landing pages are built with conversions in mind. To achieve greater results, your landing page should contain compelling, powerful, and relevant information that relates to your ad while at the same time containing fewer distractions such as menus or other navigational links that could steer the user away from leaving the page without converting. The landing page should be a stripped down version of your main website. This keeps the reader focused on the topic throughout the entire page.

Key features that each landing page should be equipped with are:

  • Call-To-Action (CTA)

The CTA is the clickable button on your landing page that leads them to the desired action that you would like them to take. These actions lead to a conversion such as a phone call or form submission.

  • Testimonials

Adding testimonials on a landing page conveys a sense of trust and provides additional credibility for your product or service.

  • Consistency

Try to utilize the same headlines, copy, graphics, and branding from the ad.

  • Internal Links

The only links on a landing page should the CTA button and internal links that jump to different sections of the landing page.

Your landing page should be well optimized for mobile devices. Mobile optimization should include being responsive, quick loading, and using click-to-call tel links.

There are different styles and looks that you can use for landing pages. Whether the page is long or short, try out different variations of the landing page to see which one performs better.

Summing It All Up

To conclude and connect all of the dots, landing pages are important for your PPC campaigns because they drive targeted traffic to a specific web page, one that’s designed with fewer distractions in an effort to lead the user to a specific goal. Generating leads and increasing sales is the ultimate goal for your PPC campaigns, that’s why you should make the process as easy as possible for the user. Take these PPC tips and create an optimized landing page today

Would you like more information on landing pages and how we can improve your business? Contact our award-winning web designers in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a complimentary consultation and website review.

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4 Reasons to Support Small Business

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Happy National Small Business Week! If you weren’t aware, 2018 marks the 55th annual National Small Business Week, heralded by the US Small Business Administration. The Small Business Administration, otherwise known as the SBA, helps inform small business owners about the resources that are available to them.

Many laud small businesses as the “backbone of the American economy” and they aren’t wrong to do so: there are more than 27 million small businesses in America and together they produce more than 50 percent of America’s gross domestic product. “If they produce so much for our economy, why do we need to support them?” Good question! Here’s why:

Small Businesses Create More Jobs

Statistically, there’s about a 50% chance that you’re working for a small business right now. The SBA considers any business a small one when they have fewer than 500 employees, so the number of businesses that meet those criteria is large. However, the SBA cites a report done between 1993 and 2011 that shows that 64% of the new jobs created in that period were from small businesses.

This is due to the expanding phase of any new or startup business – the company needs more workers to get the work done. For any one particular small business, this phase will eventually end and no longer create new jobs, but new businesses will replace the ones that stop creating new positions.

Small Businesses Provide Innovation

The booming tech industry is a testament to the success of innovation. Americans know that if their ideas aren’t being pursued properly by their bosses, they can take their skills, experience, and creativity into their own hands and start their own company. How does this benefit you, though?

Innovation brings the consumer new products and ways of doing things, helping speed progress along. Innovations like rideshare programs, fitness apps, personal computers, and 2-day free shipping delivery have transformed the lives of many in the last 20 years. None of those things would have been possible without the entrepreneurial spirit of the small business owner.

Small Businesses Support Your Local Community

If you’ve ever balked at giving your money to a large corporation, small businesses are the way to go. Spending your money with a small business often will keep the money within your community. Small, local business owners are more likely to form partnerships with other local businesses, join the rotary club, sponsor the local soccer team and the school districts, and will make a point to give back to the community – after all, they likely live there too.

Small Businesses Provide Product Diversity and Larger Inventories

Because a small business isn’t beholden to corporate’s deals with distributors, it’s more likely that they’ll carry more than just two brands of a particular product. That helps keep monopolies from taking over the market and helps you ensure that you have the option to choose from a selection of great products.

Additionally, many small businesses will carry a larger inventory of product than their corporate counterpart. This is due to several factors: they aren’t held to the standards of the rigorous corporate inventory system, and they may be more willing to order more and keep it on the shelves for longer. If they’re out, they’re more likely to help you get the product you need more quickly and efficiently than a corporate store.

Contact TheeDigital Today

Small businesses should help each other. TheeDigital is proud to be a small, local business right here in Raleigh, NC. We provide award-winning web design and digital marketing services to the small businesses in the Raleigh-Durham area. To learn more, call us at 919-341-8901 or schedule your free consultation.

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Best Places in Raleigh and The Triangle to See 2018 Fourth of July Fireworks

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If you thought last year’s Fourth of July fireworks shows were unforgettable, just wait until you see all the thrilling options for this year. Our Raleigh web design and digital marketing agency has put together a list of fireworks shows happening in Raleigh and other surrounding areas that you should definitely consider attending.

The Best Places to Watch Fireworks in Raleigh

The Works!

This is the news that all dedicated Raleigh fireworks fans have been waiting to hear. After six years, the Fourth of July annual fireworks display will be moving back to its original location at the State Fairgrounds and PNC Arena area. On Wednesday, July 4th, the PNC Arena will open their gates at 6 pm for the fireworks, which are scheduled to launch at 9:30 pm from the Varsity Lot at N.C. State University. Also, prepare for different activities throughout the day, such as live entertainment, food, the Fourth of July Day Party downtown, and much more! Parking at the PNC Arena will be free and open to the public.

Brier Creek Commons

Brier Creek Commons will also be hosting their 12th Annual Fireworks Show on Wednesday, July 4th. The Show Us Your Stripes Block Party will start at 7 p.m. with the fireworks display following immediately after at the Brier Creek Commons Clock Tower Plaza. There will be games, bounce houses, face painting, prizes, and other fun activities! Admission is free, and no tickets are necessary.

Cary Fireworks Displays

Koka Booth Amphitheatre Fireworks

A fireworks display will take place in Cary at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre during their Independence Day celebration on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. Gates open to the public at 3 pm and the Cary Town Band will perform on the Koka Booth Main Stage at 5:45 pm. The NC Symphony is also scheduled to perform right afterward at 7:30 pm. Following these performances, the fireworks will begin at around 9 pm. There will also be various other family-friendly games and activities, such as a watermelon eating contest, a scavenger hunt, magicians, and a Ferris Wheel. Admission is free, but different amusement rides may cost money. A special reserved seating for the show is also available for $40.

Durham Fireworks Displays

Durham will hold its Independence Day Celebration at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. Fireworks will begin at approximately 9:15 pm, following the Durham Bulls vs. the Charlotte Knights game, which starts at 6 pm. Purchasing tickets to the game is strongly encouraged, but gates will also open for general admission at the end of the 7th inning. Seating and space is based on availability.

Chapel Hill Fireworks Displays

Chapel Hill will hold its Fourth of July celebration at UNC’s Kenan Memorial Stadium starting at 7 pm on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. The event features a live performance by the popular cover band RadioJacks, a watermelon eating contest, food trucks, face painting, spin art, a photo booth, and more. The fireworks will start promptly at 9:30 pm. Although admission is free, donations of $1 per person or $5 per family are recommended to offset the cost of the event.

Wake Forest Fireworks Displays

Wake Forest will be hosting their Fireworks Spectacular on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Heritage High School. This event will feature the popular Raleigh-based band, Crush, who is scheduled to perform at approximately 6:15 pm. The fireworks are said to be bigger and better than ever this year, with an unforgettable ending, and will launch shortly after the performance. Food trucks and concessions will be present as well, but picnic baskets and/or coolers are allowed. Gates will open at 5:30 pm and admission is free.

Garner Fireworks Displays

Garner’s Independence Day celebration will be held on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Lake Benson Park. Starting at 5 pm, this event will have food trucks, games, crafts, musicians, and a Kids Adventure Zone filled with inflatables. At 8:30 pm, the NC Symphony will also be featured, immediately followed by the fireworks show.  Admission is free.

Morrisville Fireworks Displays

Morrisville will be hosting their Independence Day celebration on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at Morrisville Community Park. Food trucks and music can be expected to start at 6 pm, followed by a fireworks display at dusk. Admission is free.

Fuquay-Varina Fireworks Displays

Fuquay-Varina’s annual 4th of July celebrations will take place on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 at South Park. Activities, such as free rides for kids and different food options will be available, with the fireworks show beginning at sundown. The popular local band Spare Change will also be featured at 7 pm. Gates open at 6 pm and admission is free.

july 4 triangle

We Love Making Digital Fireworks!

Does your business need to create fireworks in the digital space? Let our digital design experts create a dazzling display for your online presence! Contact us today at 919-341-8901 or complete our online form for a free site audit on your current digital properties.

We hope you have a wonderful, safe Fourth of July — have fun!

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Marketing Automation Fails and How to Avoid Them

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Marketing automation is a powerful tool. With proper strategy and planning, marketing automation allows companies to automatically nurture leads based on user attributes and behavior. That’s why marketing automation is way more powerful than email marketing platforms.

Like all tools, marketing automation is only as good as the person wielding it. However, more than other tools, marketing automation can result in awkward experiences, which are made all the more comically disastrous due to how customer-facing they are. After all, marketing automation is supposed to make the user feel like they’re receiving something personalized, and often these fails have the opposite effect.

Below are some of the marketing automation fails that have shown up over the past few months so that you can learn from them as cautionary tales. And yes, maybe have a good chuckle at their expense as well.

FAIL #1) Placeholder Copy

What’s Wrong:
Someone wrote “(DELETE ME AND INSERT YOUR SPECIAL OFFER(S) HERE)” in the copy with the intent of coming back to fill in the details, but somehow, someone missed this reminder to themselves before scheduling the email to send.

Lesson Learned:
Always read and proof your emails two to three times before scheduling the send. If you have placeholder text in there, obviously you need to make sure that’s removed before you send it out.

TL;DR
Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

FAIL #2) Not-So-Dynamic Field

What’s Wrong:
%%company%% was supposed to be a dynamic field that inserted the name of the company of the recipient. Either the wrong shortcode was used, or there was not a company name populated for the recipient.

Lesson Learned:
If you use a dynamic field, make sure you use it correctly. Always set up the dynamic field to have a backup value in case there’s no data to populate it. So, for this example, the backup value should have been something like “your company” or “your business.”

TL;DR
Use backup values for dynamic fields — for reals.

FAIL #3) Let’s Partner Up (Partner)

What’s Wrong:
There’s no stand out fail in this email that you can outright notice. The sender of this email is offering the recipient agency free lunch in exchange for their time at looking at a demo of the sender’s product. It sounded like an intriguing offer until the agency realized that the sender was attempting to sell the agency on a particular product — for which the agency was already a customer.

Lesson Learned:
Make sure your marketing automation platform and customer relationship management (CRM) software are talking to each other, and your CRM is kept up to date. If the sender’s CRM had marked the agency as a current customer and the drip campaign was set up to remove existing customers, the agency would have never received this bungled email invitation.

TL;DR
Suppress your customer list lest you want your current customers to be pissed.

FAIL #4) Hi [name]

What’s Wrong:
This is a classic marketing automation fail and, unfortunately, way too common. It sure makes someone feel special when you can’t even get their name right. Dynamic fields are not everyone’s strong suit — if you’re not sure how to use them, it’s probably best not to, or to at least bring in someone who does.

Lesson Learned:
It’s the same issue as #2. If you use a dynamic field, you have to add a backup value in case the field isn’t populated. So for example, if there was no value for “first name” you need a backup value like inserting just “Hi,”

TL;DR
You’re the only one to blame for “Hi [name]”

FAIL #5) Hi Adam, What If I tell you?

What’s Wrong:
Wow. It’s obvious no one proofread this. It’s barely English.

Lesson Learned:
Always have someone proofread your emails before they go out. If you don’t, not only will your message not be effective, it will hurt your reputation more than if you simply didn’t send a message at all.

TL;DR
Porfreeed yer eemales or yer cusstummerz wil tourn stalez.

Contact TheeDigital to Ensure Marketing Automation Wins

Your marketing automation platform and strategy doesn’t need to be a pain to set up. TheeDigital’s marketing automation masterminds have the skills and experience to get your automation program off of the ground. Get started with marketing automation by calling 919-341-8901 or messaging our digital experts today.

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Top Web Design Trends for 2019

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Staying current on the latest web design trends is crucial to the success of your website. A lot changes every twelve months in terms of popularity with visuals, algorithm updates, and best practices.

A website that looks sleek and modern today could look outdated and cheesy in just a few months’ time. That’s why knowing the difference between a trend in the industry and a passing fad is so important when designing your website — you want to ensure that your design will look great for several years and not reminiscent of a Geocities message board from 1996.

2019 will be all about delivering on user experience: top web design trends will prioritize speed and mobile design, eye-catching simple designs with asymmetrical layouts, immersive video backgrounds, and more.

Speed

How much time do you think that you get to make a good impression with a potential customer? If you’re talking about interacting with them online, you have less than three seconds.

speed 2019 web design

Humans tend to be flighty and impatient. If the internet is really an alien conspiracy that observes human nature, their alien studies would show that we don’t like to be kept waiting. In studies done by Akamai and Gomez.com, 50% of users expect that when they click on a site, it should load in two seconds or less and that they will abandon a site if it takes three or more seconds to load.

As you can see, a beautiful site is a beautiful site, but if the design is so data-heavy that it takes too long to download, you could be losing loads of revenue due to no one sticking around to even look at your site. Even worse, with the Google Speed Update that went into effect in July 2018, Google has begun prioritizing rankings for sites that load faster than others, and it’s likely that other search engines are soon to follow.

What all of this means is that as websites need to load faster, so does web design need to prioritize speed during the design process. Web designers can’t simply rely on the developer to turn their work into something that will both look good and rank well — speed needs to be a design parameter.

The days of gigantic photos, uncompressed videos, and bloated Javascript are over. While large pictures and videos aren’t gone from web design, in 2019 they’ll be incorporated in such a way that they don’t slow down loading times.

Flat Design

For a few years, web designers and developers began creating clean and simple websites for better mobile performance. Since then, the number of mobile searches has gone ever-upward, and mobile-first design for websites is now a necessity, not just an option. Image-heavy websites load slowly and frustrate mobile users, as we discussed earlier.

Clean, minimalist designs, or flat designs, are characterized by loading quickly and are currently trendy and desirable for two important reasons. First, both mobile users and desktop browsers can experience quick-loading websites. Secondly, they can hold high SEO value. Flat design helps a site fulfill a lot of the speed requirements that search engines are starting to require. This’s why flat design has started to become popular and will continue to be trendy into 2019.

Flat design doesn’t mean that everything is reduced down to two dimensions — it’s all about minimalism and usability. It’s a design aesthetic that gets rid of clutter and focuses on the important parts of your website. Utilizing bright colors, clean and crisp edges, and lots of open space, flat design is a refreshing change from distracting and slow-loading hi-res image-based designs.

In spite of being minimalist, this doesn’t mean that flat design is boring. Contrasting bright colors and illustration with simple imagery and sans-serif fonts, the sum of flat design’s parts comes together to provide an excellent user experience that is eye-catching and engaging.

Since flat design doesn’t rely on pictures to be captivating, it doesn’t have large amounts of extra data to load when a user navigates to the page. This means two really great things for website owners: the first is that customers and clients, no matter if they’re browsing on mobile or otherwise, will have an enjoyable, quick-loading experience on the website. Secondly, these data-light, fast-loading designs make page speed and optimization much, much faster — which looks really desirable to Google, Bing, and pretty much every other search engine. Like we discussed in the speed section, faster load times mean that your site is more likely to rank well, and with an engaging flat design users are apt to stay longer on your site and are more likely to convert.

Mobile First

Mobile First Web DesignSpeed isn’t just the only ruler that Google has been using to measure websites by. In 2015, mobile searches overtook desktop searches overall, making mobile search the highest search form worldwide. In accordance with this, Google has changed which sites they index first — they now prioritize mobile sites over sites that aren’t mobile friendly.

With mobile sites taking priority away from desktop sites, it’s no wonder that mobile first design has become a trend. Mobile first web design is about changing the way that websites are designed fundamentally. The standard used to be that a site would only be designed for a desktop or laptop computer and a mobile-friendly or mobile responsive design might be added as well. Mobile first design does just the opposite: it starts with designing the site for the mobile user first before creating a version that will also work for a desktop user.

Again, this push toward mobile first design isn’t just based on ranking factors or SEO. The visual result is something that will first and foremost enhance the user’s experience with the website on the device that they will most likely be searching from. This design trend is meeting the demand that mobile users are requiring and will likely be the trend for a long time to come.

Broken Grid/Asymmetrical Layouts

In 2019, web design trends are all about thinking outside the box, or rather, the grid. Broken grid and asymmetrical designs are leaving their mark across the web design industry in a big way. In spite of the push from many web designers towards flat, fast, minimalist design, there’s also a large contingent of designers advocating for the fresh, striking look of broken layouts.

broken grid 2019

When we talk about broken grids or asymmetrical layouts, this refers to the grid system that has been used for decades on all kinds of layouts, from web pages to newspapers to print and outdoor ads. A grid system helps a designer maintain alignment and consistency easily when they are adding content — images, headlines, copy, calls-to-action — to whatever medium they are working in, maintaining the structure of the grid in the underlying layout while generally maintaining symmetry as well.

Historically, not using a grid or “winging it” has resulted in what many have called sloppy or distracting designs that keep the user from focusing on the most important parts of the page. However, asymmetry and broken grids have been gaining more and more popularity, likely due to having found a way to not look like most other website designs, while at the same time not being distracting or sloppy.

Designers are able to achieve this through carefully and thoughtfully breaking the grid pattern and establishing hierarchy with planned asymmetry. The use of unusual placements, layering with different colors and textures, repeating irregular patterns, use of white space, and creative use of typography create a sense of depth not normally found in grid-based layouts.

These designs are striking, helping to engage users and point them towards the most important parts of the website, but not due to established, rote design patterns. Instead, creative use of visual hierarchy directs the eye on where to look. Using colors, shapes, textures, expressive use of type, and dynamic imagery, the designer can direct the user’s attention in a new, engaging manner toward the content or the CTAs that they want users to find.

Shapes

As a middle ground trend between the minimalism of flat design and the controlled chaos of broken grid lies the trend of geometric shapes. If you think this refers to simple, Euclidean geometric shapes that you learned about in middle school such as triangles, hexagons, and circles, then you’re absolutely right.

shapes 2019 web-design

Shapes can bridge the gap between flat and broken grid because of how easily they can be integrated to a design. Simple geometric shapes with bright colors can create interesting edges and load quickly while still being engaging. Designs that compost shapes with photography and type or that use shapes to create repeating patterns can result in the dynamism and depth present in broken grid or asymmetrical layouts.

This versatility is a large part of why shapes have become a trend in 2019. The underlying math of geometry helps establish a feeling of balance on a website, even when the visuals might contain asymmetry. Often, geometric shapes easily fit into or next to one another easily, establishing organization or hierarchy quickly.

Shapes are like colors in that there are thoughts and emotions that people naturally associate with each one. Rectangles represent stability, circles are unity, and triangles and rhombuses are dynamic. Creative use of particular shapes or combinations of shapes can be used to mold the emotions or feelings that you’d like your website visitors to feel.

They can be used dramatically or sparingly — it simply depends upon your brand aesthetic. Shapes easily help you establish visual hierarchy and draw attention to parts of a page that you want your visitors to notice, even when your site has stepped away from a traditional grid design. That’s why we’ll continue to see geometric shapes in web design in 2019.

Single Page Design

Speed and minimalism are the trends that come up again and again when talking about web design in 2019, which is a major reason why single page design, also known as pageless design, has also become a 2019 web design trend. Single page design is a very descriptive title — it refers to websites that have only one page instead of multiple service pages or blog articles all neatly arranged under a siloed hierarchy.

From a traditional SEO digital marketing standpoint, this likely would seem to be a mistake — it’s going to be much harder to rank for particular keywords without the pages and the content that you would normally have,  nor would it be easy to accomplish other advanced SEO techniques. Yes, while it can be harder to use particular SEO tactics on pageless design, that’s where the cons of it start to drop away.

As was discussed in the speed and flat design, uncluttered, clean, simple websites are being favored by search engines as they can quickly and easily be downloaded on mobile devices. Pageless design achieves that by having less of everything that can slow a website down. The HTML, CSS, Javascript, and pictures aren’t bogging the site down with data to be downloaded, making it a better experience for the user and granting priority in the search engines.

This simplicity is doubly great for single page websites as they look great on every browsing device and automatically fall into being a mobile-first-style site. Being so simple means that it’s more easily managed, too. Updates to the site are often quickly achieved since there are so few things to change or update, which means it’s easier for your business to stay current with your website.

Businesses love pageless websites for more than just ease of use: they also tend to have high conversion rates. On a traditional hierarchical site, it’s all about grabbing a user with a keyword search, getting them to land on your site and then funneling them towards a contact form, page, or phone number. With single page sites, there’s nowhere for the user to get distracted — every part of the page drives them toward a conversion point, getting them more leads and more business.

While single page design likely won’t take over the future of web design, it will certainly continue to leave its mark through 2019.

Video Backgrounds

In spite of the minimalist, quick-loading, flat design trends, video backgrounds are still incredibly popular as a trend going into 2019. You might think with speed being such a huge factor this year that videos would bog down a site too much, but, interestingly, video backgrounds have been shown to increase conversions.

Videos are simply more compelling than text or images ever will be. You’ll likely have seen this trend appear on social media platforms like Facebook over the last couple of years. Video posts are prioritized over other kinds of posts. They even made it easier to watch videos by auto-playing on mute while you scroll through your feed.

When a user lands on your site and a video plays in the background, they’re likely to stick around to watch it because videos are attention-getting. The more that a user stays on your site, the more likely they are to convert. This, in turn, raises your time on site metric, and the higher your average time on site is, the better your SEO is.

The power of video literally can’t quite be stated in words — they convey your message quickly and effectively, something that it could take paragraphs of text to accomplish. The video does it in a matter of seconds. This is especially useful when you have a complex message to explain to your users in the short amount of time that you have their attention.

Finally, there’s just something sleek and modern about a video background on a website. As long as the video is short, is muted, and has a nice, high-quality look to it, a video background can do a lot for your branding.

Micro-Animations

A subtle but noticeable 2019 trend in web design is micro-animations. Micro-animations are a powerful way to provide an intuitive and satisfying experience to your user as they browse your website. This is accomplish through small animations that help the user understand the site and validate them when they mouse over or click on an element, such as changing the color of a button when the cursor moves over it, or a menu expanding when they click on the hamburger.

Most users experience these micro-animations all the time on both desktop and mobile browsing platforms. It’s so pervasive in browsing now that it’s more surprising to not experience them. These animations help the user know that they’re doing the right actions as they progress through your site. Did you press the submit button on the form? It changed color when you clicked it. How do you quickly refresh the page? Swiping down creates a pulling motion to let you know you triggered the refresh action properly.

Remember how moving objects like videos help with user retention and attention? These movements, even though they’re small animations, help to catch the eye of the user and create an enriched experience for them as they navigate a site. In turn, proper use of micro-animations creates visual hierarchy on a webpage, driving visitors toward your conversion points and then rewarding them for filling them out.

It might seem too simple or silly to think that a micro-animation can “reward” a user for clicking submit on a form, but think of that tiresome Captcha that so many forms use. If you’re lucky, all you have to do is click the checkbox, but if you have to go through the process of selecting pictures or typing out a number and letter string sequence, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching the circle swirl into a checkmark. As 2019 approaches, micro-animations are here to stay in the web design industry.

Chatbots/Machine Learning

Over the last several years, interacting and communicating with bots has become more and more normal. Bots, or chatbots, are becoming increasingly common on websites and micro-interactions across digital media. It’s likely that you spoke with one the last time you called your mobile service provider.

When they first started rolling out close to 20 years ago, these bots seemed to make it more difficult to solve problems (remember over pronouncing your commands in a loud, firm tone?) but over the years, they’ve gotten smarter thanks to improved artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These are what help Google create autosuggestions when you start typing in the search bar.

This is also why Facebook knows us so well. It’s helped Facebook learn what we look like and asks if we want to tag ourselves in a photo. It also uses location data and has learned our reading habits so it knows exactly which ads, events, and information to show us in order to get us to hit a “like” button.

Chatbots and machine learning will continue to enhance user interactions with websites, especially as autoresponder functionality inherent in most chatbots can seamlessly interact with users for you and provide excellent customer service upfront. This starts your relationship with potential customers off on the right foot while simultaneously gathering info for your sales team before they begin actually interacting with the prospect.

In 2019, this technology will continue to be perfected and incorporated into company websites. Soon, web interactions will become seamless. Imagine a website that already knows exactly what your customer is looking for by simply analyzing their past interactions with your company. Customer service via the web is becoming faster and more efficient every day thanks to these new technologies. Don’t overlook them in your web design.

Web Design 2019 — Engaging Minimalism or Attention-Grabbing Visuals?

2019 might seem like the Janus of years for web design: on one side are the tempting visual delights of broken grid layouts and video backgrounds. On the other side are the beautiful but practical tenets of flat design and single page layouts. As trends change, so does the industry. Staying atop those trends will help you keep your website fresh, beautiful, and making conversions.

For information on last years web design trends:

Talk to TheeDigital Today about Your Web Design

Updating your website’s design will have a dramatic affect on your brand and your revenue stream. Contact the award-winning web designers at TheeDigital to see how sleek and modern your website could be by calling us at 919-341-8901 to schedule your free consultation today.

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Gravity Forms – How to Create a New Form

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Writing: better known as humanity’s greatest tool. Communication provides us with a way to convey thoughts and ideas over time and space. Ancient humans used charcoal and pigment to write stories, messages, and warnings. While humans did swap out the cave walls for social media feeds, the messages shared stay the same. Except for the messages saying ‘Caution: Giant Cave Bear,’ of course. That, and our ancestors didn’t have Gravity Forms to simplify communication.

A vicious cave bear

Pictured Above: A vicious cave bear

Regardless, the most important thing in today’s digital world is the ability to communicate with your users. A website needs to be easy to access and offer ways for users to contact you, provide information, place orders, or leave reviews.

When it comes to providing this via your WordPress website, it’s highly recommended that you utilize Gravity Forms. This plugin offers a wide variety of features and customizations, which makes it ideal for almost any purpose. Today, you’ll learn how to create and edit a Gravity Form on your site.

Using Gravity Forms

Naturally, the first step you’ll want to do is open the Gravity Forms tab in WordPress. To do this, log into the backend of your site and locate tab labeled ‘Forms’ in the left-hand sidebar. You’ll arrive at the main Gravity Forms page, where you can access and edit the various forms you have or will create for your site.

Pictured: The Gravity Forms main page, which does not contain cave bears

Gravity Forms Main Menu

Pictured: The Gravity Forms main page, does not contain cave bears.

Gravity Forms Home Page Breakdown

Let’s take a quick look at what the main Gravity Forms page has:

  • The first thing to take note of is the big friendly button that says ‘Add New’ at the top. This will, as it implies, create a new form.
  • Next up are the series of buttons beside the form titles. These green/gray switches are fairly simple and serve a singular purpose: they activate and deactivate your form. This makes the removal of a form that needs work as simple as flipping a switch!
  • ID column – This is one of the most important pieces of information you’ll need if you’re going to use Gravity Forms. This number is unique to each form and identifies your form from others. You can use this ID number to place the form to specific pages and locations.
  • Entries column – This value shows you how many times your form has been filled out. By clicking the number, you can view the entries list, and select and view individual responses.
  • Views column – This shows you how many times a page with your form has been viewed by users visiting your site.
  • Conversions column – The percentage indicates the number of users who viewed your form and also filled it out.

Creating a New Form

Go ahead and click the new form button. Once you’ve done so, a new screen offering a variety of fields to choose from will appear. This area is where you can add and remove fields, edit the contents of those fields, and set up the layout of your overall form. Here’s an overview of the different sections so that you can become familiar with them.

Select A Field Type

Simply move to the right side of the page and pick one of the multitude of field options under the different sections. Once you’ve picked one, simply click the button and your field will be added. You can add the different fields as much as you’d like to see what they do and how they function and remove them with the ‘x’ at the top right of the field box.

Edit Field Options

The next step is to edit your field so that it displays and collects the information you want. To do this, simply click on the field’s box to expand it. In the light blue area of the field, you’ll be able to view a preview of what it will look like. Below that you will see three tabs, marked ‘General,’ ‘Appearance,’ and ‘Advanced.’ The General tab allows you to change the main features of your field, such as the display title, a description of the field, and the options to choose from inside the field itself. Additionally, your field can be set to ‘Required’ which means that that field must be completed in order to submit the form.

The ‘Appearance’ tab allows you to change your fields ‘placeholders’ which act as description aids for your different boxes. You can also alter where your description and sub-labels appear, as well as create your own error message for an incorrect field entry. Finally, the ‘Advanced’ tab allows you to set Default Values, which will auto-populate in your fields when it loads on your user’s screen. It also sets the visibility of the field itself.

Arrange the Fields

Once you’ve created your various fields, you can place them in any order you prefer simply by dragging them above/below one another.

Example of Gravity Forms field arrangement

Knowledge is power, but this form is missing a key question. Where and when was the cave bear sighted?

 

After you’re satisfied with your form, simply click the ‘Update’ button to save it.

How to Insert your Gravity Form

You’ve created your form, but where do you place it? This can be done one of two ways. If your pages and posts are formatted to have a Text Editor (this covers almost all pages, but some may be formatted differently), then it’s just as simple as placing some shortcode.

[ gravityform id=1 ]

The code above does several important things.
First, it calls Gravity Forms using the ‘gravityforms’ line. Next, it identifies which form to display using the ‘ID=#’ so make sure you change the ID number to the one listed as its ID on the list of forms.

The second way is to use the “Add Form” button at the top of the page. That will bring up a dialog box like this:

Select the form that you’d like to display, and ensure that “Enable Ajax” is checked. If you’d like the name and description of the form to be displayed to your user, make sure that “Display form title” and “Display form description” are both checked. Click insert form and you’re done!

Congratulations on creating your first form. If you’d like to receive notifications when it’s filled out, then go ahead and read our guide on How To Update Admin Notifications In Gravity Forms.

Contact TheeDigital for Website Development Today

Looking for an experienced web design agency that can create a professional looking website for you that is search engine friendly and easy to manage? Contact our award-winning web designers and internet marketing professionals in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a complimentary consultation and website review.

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Top WordPress Web Development Trends for 2019

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When it comes to web development, WordPress is king. 27% of the internet is powered by WordPress and top brands such as TechCrunch, CNN and UPS use it. In fact, TheeDigital uses WordPress exclusively for all our web design and web development clients. It’s user-friendly which makes it easy for novice website administrators to make small updates to their site, such as text changes and blog posts. WordPress also offers a massive library of plugins to its users, making it completely customizable to any web development need. All WordPress websites are also mobile and SEO-friendly.

WordPress trends are driven by overall web design trends in addition to new features provided by the company itself. Last year, WordPress gave us version 4.8, which included new and improved widgets for adding images, audio, and video to your website. On the advanced development site, the update added the ability to perform multi-site updates and improved its text editor.

Naturally, we want to keep up with the latest WordPress trends so we can continue to deliver amazing websites to our clients. Here’s what we can expect from WordPress in 2019:

New WordPress Features and Improvements

WordPress 4.9 is already in beta and is expected to be released soon. This version includes fixes and improvements to the 4.8 release. Users can expect to see improvements in editing code, managing themes, managing plugins, and easier customizations. These improvements will help developers in addition to website administrators. These improvements are exciting as ease-of-use is one of the most important aspects of WordPress for our clients. Once we create a website, we want to empower our clients to make website changes on their own as their business grows.

Drag-and-Drop WordPress Themes

While WordPress offers many basic layout themes for free, customizable themes are often worth the price. Since WordPress prides itself on being user-friendly, there are themes that range from simple to complex at various price points. Last year, we saw a rise in the amount of “drag-and-drop” themes, which allow users to create and customize websites without writing any code. These themes are easy to use for both web developers and non-coders alike. Drag-and-drop makes experimentation with different layouts and plugins easy as well. Want to experiment with video headers? Simply drag and drop a video header widget and see if it increases time on site! Here are some examples of drag and drop WordPress themes:

  • Foundry – Foundry is an elegant, visually stunning responsive theme that’s flexible and easy to customize.
  • Uplift – Uplift’s drag and drop builder features 54 elements to completely customize your website with ease.
  • BeTheme – BeTheme is an easy-to-use, responsive and fast-loading theme that’s great for beginners!

WordPress Video Headers

It’s no secret that video will dominate web design in 2018. Video headers and backgrounds might not be “new”, but it is becoming trendy in the web design world. Luckily, WordPress makes it easy to get on board with this trend by offering themes that feature video headers. Here are a few examples:

  • Inspiro – This theme features a full-screen video that’s great for showing off a video portfolio.
  • Naila – Naila is a single-page theme with an optional full-screen video background display.
  • Balzac – Balzac is a responsive theme with full video support. It includes multiple layouts within the theme, so it’s incredibly flexible.

Virtual Reality WordPress Plugins

Web developers and designers on on-pace to start including virtual reality and augmented reality in web designs. WordPress fully supports virtual reality content as well as 360° videos and images. There are several plugins already available. Expect to see more WordPress websites make use of this content in 2018. Here are a few plugins that are currently available:

  • MomentoPress – MomentoPress is a free plugin for displaying 360° photos and videos.
  • 360° Panoramic Image Viewer – 360° Panoramic Image Viewer is a responsive plugin that allows you to add “hotspots” to static images, creating a completely immersive experience for your visitors.
  • WP-VR View – WP-VR View is a popular plugin that allows you to display PhotoSphere images and 360° video on your WordPress site. Smartphone users can even get the virtual reality experience using Google Cardboard!

Enhanced Ecommerce Websites

Ecommerce makes up a large portion of WordPress websites with WooCommerce being the most popular plugin by far. Other ecommerce platforms such as PayPal and Google Checkout integrate easily with WordPress as well, making it a popular choice for online stores. Ecommerce trends such as mobile shopping, subscription-based services, and personalized shopping are easily addressed by WordPress in its newer ecommerce themes:
  • Uncode – Uncode offers a ton of options to enhance your online store. It offers plenty of customizable shop templates and easy shortcuts for store-related features, such as pricing plans. It’s responsive and integrates with WooCommerce.
  • Divi – Divi bills itself as “The Ultimate WordPress Theme and Visual Page Builder” and it is completely accurate! This is an all-inclusive, fully-customizable theme for any website, but it’s especially powerful for ecommerce websites. It includes sleek product pages and is completely responsive, dynamic, and integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce.
  • Handmade – Handmade includes powerful ecommerce features such as a one-click demo importer, product filter widgets, and plenty of options to customize your online store.
Are you making the most of your WordPress website? The WordPress web designers at TheeDigital are committed to keeping up with the latest updates and trends. Contact our WordPress experts at TheeDigital Studio in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or [link id=11 title="Schedule a Free Consultation"]schedule a free consultation.

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Top 14 Podcasts for Business Owners on Leadership and Marketing

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There are podcasts for everything out there and some of the most popular ones are about leadership, business ownership, and marketing.

Professional development on your commute or while you’re at the gym? Yes!

To inspire and educate, we compiled 14 of the best podcasts about leadership, business ownership & entrepreneurship, and marketing. We chose the podcasts on this list based on what our team listens to and what has great ratings on various podcast apps.

Let’s get into it!

podcasts-for-business-owners-marketers-leaders

Podcasts About Leadership

Learn from people across a variety of industries, gain insight into what makes an effective leader, and get tips on how you can lead your team better than ever.

1. Entreleadership

EntreLeadership Podcast Cover
Part of a bigger leadership community of the same name, Entreleadership features discussions and tips on leadership and business by leaders like Mark Cuban, Seth Godin, and Simon Sinek.

  • Host: Ken Coleman
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: Entreleadership

2. Leaders in the Trenches

leaders-in-the-trenches-podcast
Gene Hammett is an entrepreneur who built the business of his dreams, and then lost it all. Since then, he has worked with CEOs and founders to grow their own businesses.

In Leaders in the Trenches, Gene shares his knowledge and talks with leaders, CEOs, COOs, authors, and more about their experiences, how to be an effective leader, and so much more.

  • Host: Gene Hammett
  • New Episodes: New episodes twice a week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: GeneHammett.com

3. Project Management Happy Hour

PM Happy Hour Podcast
Are you a project manager? You’ll love PM Happy Hour! Each episode discusses a real problem in project management with honest, practical advice for overcoming any PM hurdle.

You can even earn PDUs (professional development units) certified by a PMI Registered Education Provider!

  • Hosts: Kim Essendrup and Kate Anderson
  • New Episodes: New episodes once or twice a month
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: PMHappyHour.com

Podcasts For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

Keep your motivation high and give your business a boost with these podcasts for entrepreneurs and business owners.

4. The Go-Giver Podcast


The Go-Giver Podcast was born from the book The Go-Giver. It puts forth the idea that giving (constantly and consistently providing value to others) is the best and most profitable way to live life and do business.

Each episode features an interview with a business owner, leader, or marketing expert where they discuss how to apply the go-giver philosophy to every aspect of your life and business.

  • Host: Bob Burg
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: TheGoGiver.com

5. The ONE Thing

Lao Tzu once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The ONE Thing podcast encourages you to look at the one thing you could do to make your business and life better. As the podcast discusses, it’s often one small thing that makes a big difference.

  • Host: Geoff Woods
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: The1Thing.com

6. Scaling Up

Scaling Up shares practical ways to create an industry-dominating business. Each episode focuses on one area that a company has to get right in order to succeed: people, strategy, execution, and cash.

  • Host: Bill Gallagher
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: Podcasts.Apple.com/ScalingUp

7. Masters of Scale

Created by Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman, Masters of Scale is all about how businesses go from nothing to multi-million dollar companies. Each episode is a discussion with a founder or co-founder of a company you probably use regularly.

Guests include Howard Schultz (former Starbucks CEO), Ariana Huffington (founder of the Huffington Post and Thrive Global), and Mark Zuckerberg himself.

  • Host: Reid Hoffman
  • New Episodes: New episodes every two weeks
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: MastersOfScale.com

8. Wonder

Wonder is a podcast put out by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, an international network for entrepreneurs. Each episode of Wonder features an interview with a woman entrepreneur or thought leader and discusses her journey.

  • Host: Kalika Yap
  • New Episodes: New episodes every two weeks
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: EOPodcasts.org

9. Mixergy

Mixergy is the perfect podcast for entrepreneurs and business owners, whether you’re starting your first business ever or you’re on your 10th startup. Each episode features an interview with an entrepreneur where host Andrew Warner digs deep into their successes and failures.

Previous guests include Barbara Corcoran, marketing guru Neil Patel, and Warby Parker founder Neil Blumenthal. Mixergy boasts an impressive back catalog of over 1000 episodes so you can binge to your heart’s content.

  • Host: Andrew Warner
  • New Episodes: 3-4 times a week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: Mixergy.com

10. Foundr

If you’ve ever wondered how people like Mark Cuban, Bobbi Brown, or Daymond John built their empires, Foundr is the podcast to listen to.

Host Nathan Chan talks to some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world to learn how they did it so you can, too.

  • Host: Nathan Chan
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: Foundr.com

11. The Corp

If you’re a sports fan and budding entrepreneur or business owner, you’ll love The Corp.

Hosted by Alex Rodriguez (yes, that A-Rod) and Dan Katz, the podcast features interviews with entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and sports legends like Kobe Bryant to learn what makes them so good at what they do.

  • Host: Alex Rodriguez and Dan Katz
  • New Episodes: Entire seasons are released at once. Season one is out now with season two rumored to be coming in June 2019
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: BarStoolSports.com

Podcasts About Marketing

Looking to improve your marketing skills? Listen to these marketing podcasts from experts like Amy Porterfield and Neil Patel.

12. Marketing School

Marketing School provides around 10 minutes of marketing advice every single day. If you don’t think you have time to learn – now you do!

Hosted by marketing guru Neil Patel and business owner Eric Siu, you’ll learn about every aspect of marketing with these bite-sized episodes.

  • Host: Neil Patel and Eric Siu
  • New Episodes: A new episode every day
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast
  • Website: MarketingSchool.io

13. Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner

This is one of the most established, most popular marketing podcasts out there. Produced by Social Media Examiner, this podcasts discusses all things social media marketing (SMM).

From writing Facebook ads to building an engaged community to using video in your SMM strategy, you’ll learn it all.

  • Host: Michael Stelzner
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast, and more
  • Website: SocialMediaExaminer.com

14. Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield is a small business coach who has helped thousands of online entrepreneurs build their own businesses. She was named one of the Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers by Forbes and has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and on MSNBC for her expertise.

Her podcast discusses online marketing but also dives into what might be holding you back in your business and how to overcome roadblocks.

  • Host: Amy Porterfield
  • New Episodes: A new episode every week
  • Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast, and more
  • Website: AmyPorterfield.com

Start Listening and Learning Today!

With these podcasts, you’ll be a better leader, business owner, and/or marketer in no time! Keep the momentum going with a free site audit from our marketing experts!

The post Top 14 Podcasts for Business Owners on Leadership and Marketing appeared first on TheeDigital.

Some of Our Favorite 404 Error Page Designs

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The 404 (or Not Found) error message is an HTTP server response code that means the page you were trying to reach couldn’t be found on the server. This doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the website or server, but that the specific page is unavailable. When the server can’t find the page, it shows the 404 page.

*Web pages could be unavailable for a variety of reasons, however it’s most likely due to improper redirects or mistyped URLs.

Below we’re sharing why you need a 404 error page and a few of our favorite 404 page examples.

Top 404 Page Examples

Why You Need a 404 Page

For the user, a 404 page can be annoying because they can’t find what they’re looking for. However for you, the website owner, they provide another way to engage users and show off your brand personality.

They’re also beneficial to your overall SEO strategy. Having a 404 page that engages users prevents them from hitting the back button and returning to the search results. If this were to happen pretty often, Google would notice and show your site less often in the search results. Google only wants to provide valuable information, and if people are continually leaving your site (or a page) they won’t display it in the results as often.

Thus, the need for an engaging, brand-focused 404 page.

Our Top 5 Favorite 404 Page Examples

1. Medium.com

404 Page for medium

 

Why This Works

Medium did a great job creating their 404 page. They highlighted the search bar, making it clear that users should search their site to find what they’re looking for.

They also played on the idea of being ‘lost’ by linking to articles on getting lost and losing things. It’s a clever way to get people to click-through the page and get lost in their articles. See what we did there?

 


2. YouTube.com

Cool 404 Page for youtube

 

Why This Works

We love this 404 page example because it’s completely clutter free. YouTube removed anything that could possibly distract you and focuses solely on the search bar.

While only having a search bar on your 404 Page may not be the best solution for every site, who else could you trust to pull this off if not Google?

 


3. Lego.com

Cool 404 Page for Lego

 
Why This Works

Lego’s 404 page couldn’t be more on-brand. The image is playful and the text tells the user what might have happened. They also include a link back to the homepage so users can continue browsing their site.

 


4. FirstWeFeast.com
Cool 404 Page for First We Feast

 
Why This Works

First We Feast is an online food magazine. Their 404 page is on-brand, using restaurant-inspired text to indicate the page couldn’t be found.

They also include links to various pages on their site to make it easy for the user to stay on site and view more content.

 


5.Disney.com

404 Page for Disney

 
Why This Works
If you’re not familiar with Wreck it Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet, then Disney’s 404 page might not make sense to you. But for Disney lovers, the play on words and picture of Ralph is absolutely perfect.

Not only is the branding awesome, but they also include a search bar and footer links to make it easy for you to find what you need. (There’s actually 2 search bars – one in the top right too!)

 


Tips for Creating a Great 404 Page

Your 404 page should make it clear to the user where they are, but also help them in find a solution to the problem. Here are our tips for creating a great 404 page:

  • Use humor – Don’t be afraid to have fun with this page. Humor can help deflect the frustration of not finding what you’re looking for and having to search again.
  • Include links – Help users find what they want by including links to the most popular pages/blogs, social media accounts, or various categories on your website.
  • Add a search bar – This gives visitors the flexibility to search again, without having to go back to Google.

In a perfect world, nobody would ever sees your 404 page (because you’re able to properly manage all of your links and redirects). However, even the biggest of sites have broken links, making a 404 pages a necessity.

And one final tip from Google:

“No matter how beautiful and useful your custom 404 page, you probably don’t want it to appear in Google search results. In order to prevent 404 pages from being indexed by Google and other search engines, make sure that your web server returns an actual 404 HTTP status code when a missing page is requested.”

Enjoy these designs or need help setting it up on your server? Let us create a visually interesting 404 page for your website! Contact the web designers at TheeDigital in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a consultation.

The post Some of Our Favorite 404 Error Page Designs appeared first on TheeDigital.

Why You Should Invest in a New Website Before the End of the Year

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Big profits are always a good thing in business. But of course they also can come with a big tax bill.

So as another year draws to a close, business owners are thinking about how to offset gross profits so Uncle Sam doesn’t wind up with money that could have been invested in the business.

Sometimes that looks like investing in capital equipment or issuing bigger employee bonuses. While these items are valuable in and of themselves, they don’t directly impact future profitability.

On the other hand, investing in a new or upgraded website and digital marketing plan can directly affect future sales and profitability. And many business owners choose to pay upfront for web design and marketing services before year’s end to get the added benefit of reducing their tax liability for the current year.

lower your tax payment with a new website

Let’s take a closer look at why investing in a new or upgraded website and digital marketing services before the end of the year is a great way to increase future sales and save you money at tax time.

Are Your Website and Digital Marketing Plan Lead-Gen Machines? They Should Be.

If your audience can’t find you (and even if they do, your current website is poorly designed), you’re missing out on leads. It’s that simple.

So investing now in an upgrade—or a new website, if you don’t currently have one—is vital to generating future leads and raising conversion rates in the new year.

But so is having a digital marketing plan. A website without a marketing plan is like a car without gas.

So ask yourself some of the following questions to help you determine if your current website and digital marketing strategy are generating high-volume, high-quality leads—because if not, it’s time to invest in them. (And why not gain a tax benefit by doing so before the year wraps up?)

Are Your Leads Finding You?

Your prospects should be finding you, not the other way around.

If your current marketing strategy involves you going to your customers, we can fix that with a digital marketing plan that incorporates social media, email marketing, and blogging.

Are You Using the Right Tools?

Are you taking advantage of analytics? If not, you should consider investing in a digital marketing plan that incorporates good analytics tools. You need good data on your website visitors and customers, and tools like Google Analytics can provide you with valuable insights about who’s visiting your website, how long they’re staying and where traffic is coming from.

Plus, with good analytics, you can even identify and enter new markets to generate even more leads.

The good news is that you don’t have to do it yourself. There are many full-service agencies that can provide web design (including analytic tools) and digital marketing strategies.

Is Your Website Optimized?

When your website is designed with digital marketing and SEO in mind, its structure and page layouts will be optimized for your target audience, keywords and location(s). And that means higher conversion rates.

Plus, an effective website should be beautiful, user-friendly, and engaging. If a user isn’t compelled to click on your call to action (CTA)—or worse, can’t even find it—the lead generation cycle grinds to a complete halt.

Is your site compatible with all devices and screen sizes? If your website looks great on a monitor but looks clunky and sloppy on a smartphone, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

If you aren’t optimizing your website and supporting it with a solid digital marketing plan, year’s end is a great time to invest upfront for these services that will pay off hugely in the new year. (Pro tip: Be sure to do your research and find an agency that can deliver on creativity and uses the most up-to-date technology.)

Are You Choosing Who You Want to Work With?

If not, investing in a website supported by a great digital marketing plan is an effective way to ensure you’re working with your ideal customer in the upcoming year.

Because with the right website and digital strategy, you’ll capture more leads and find yourself in the enviable position of choosing who you want to work with.

This is yet another excellent reason to invest in your website and marketing plan. And by paying for services upfront, before year’s end, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor once tax time rolls around.

Wrap Up the Year with a Solid Investment

If your website and digital marketing strategy aren’t generating a large number of leads that are likely to convert, it’s time to update them. And by paying for services now, before the year closes out, your cash resources go towards growing your business, not towards lining Uncle Sam’s pockets.

At TheeDigital, we build beautiful websites optimized for the best user experience and designed to work together with a highly effective digital marketing strategy.

Learn how we can help your business in the new year by calling 919-341-8901 or claiming your free site audit.

The post Why You Should Invest in a New Website Before the End of the Year appeared first on TheeDigital.

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