What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that provides a secure, encrypted connection between a web server and a user's web browser. It ensures that the data transmitted between the two parties remain confidential and cannot be intercepted or tampered with by unauthorized individuals.

When a website is secured with an SSL certificate, the URL starts with "https://" instead of "http://," and most modern web browsers display a padlock icon in the address bar to indicate the secure connection. This encryption is essential for protecting sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card details, and personal data exchanged between the user and the website.

SSL certificates are issued by trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) or self-signed by the website owners. When a user visits a website with an SSL certificate, the web browser verifies the authenticity of the certificate, ensuring that it is issued by a trusted authority and that the website's domain matches the information in the certificate. If any discrepancy or issue is found during this verification process, the browser may display a warning to the user to proceed with caution or not proceed at all.

Why is an SSL Certificate Needed for My Website?

In recent years, SSL certificates have become more prevalent, and many websites have adopted HTTPS (HTTP Secure) as the default protocol to enhance security and protect user privacy online. SSL is a fundamental technology for establishing trust and security on the internet and plays a crucial role in safeguarding sensitive information during data transmission.

Why is it Important to Add Caching to a Website's Server?

Caching your website's server is an essential practice to improve its performance, speed, and overall user experience. Caching involves storing static versions of your website's dynamic content or frequently accessed data in a temporary storage location, such as the server's memory or a separate caching layer.

The Benefits of Caching a Server

When a user visits your website, the server can quickly deliver the cached content instead of generating it from scratch, resulting in several benefits:

1. Faster load times: Caching reduces the server response time since it avoids the need to recreate the same content repeatedly. Users experience faster page loading, which is crucial for retaining their attention and reducing bounce rates.

2. Improved server efficiency: By serving cached content, the server's resources are less burdened, reducing CPU and database usage. This allows the server to handle more requests simultaneously and with lower hardware requirements.

3. Lower bandwidth usage: Caching reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred between the server and the user's browser, leading to lower bandwidth consumption and reduced hosting costs.

4. Enhanced scalability: Caching helps your website handle traffic spikes more effectively since the server doesn't need to regenerate content for each new request.

5. Better SEO rankings: Website speed is a significant factor in search engine rankings. Faster-loading sites tend to rank higher in search results, leading to increased visibility and organic traffic.

3 Methods of Caching a Website

• Page caching: Storing entire HTML pages in the cache and serving them directly to users.

• Object caching: Storing specific database queries or API responses in the cache to avoid redundant database calls.

• CDN (Content Delivery Network) caching: Using a CDN to cache and distribute static content across multiple servers worldwide, reducing latency and improving load times for users in different geographic locations.

To implement caching effectively, you should consider the specific needs and dynamics of your website. You should then install the best caching plugins and/or server configurations to ensure consistent performance and a good user experience.

What's Included?

We install the best security plugin available for WordPress sites which includes:

• Firewall

• Brute Force attack protection

• Malware protection

• 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication when logging in to the backend of your website) if required.

We also add reCaptcha to safeguard your website against:

• Scraping (content pilfering)

• Fraudulent transactions

• Synthetic form submissions (spam!!!)

• Comments on blog posts from bots

• Money laundering (an act of using bots to click on your paid ads.)

Why is it Important to Add Security to a Website?

Adding security to your website is of paramount importance to protect your data, your users, and your reputation. Websites are susceptible to various security threats, and without proper safeguards, you leave yourself and your visitors vulnerable to potential attacks. Here are some reasons why website security is crucial:

1. Protecting sensitive data: If your website deals with user information, such as login credentials, personal details, or financial data, it is essential to secure this sensitive information from unauthorized access or data breaches.

2. Preventing cyberattacks: Hackers may attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in your website's code, applications, or server to launch attacks like DDoS attacks, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or malware distribution. Implementing security measures helps thwart such attacks.

3. Maintaining user trust: A secure website instills confidence in your users, knowing that their information is safe with you. Users are more likely to engage and transact on a website that they trust.

4. Avoiding reputation damage: A security breach or compromise can severely impact your website's reputation and credibility. It may lead to negative publicity, loss of customers, and potential legal consequences.

5. Meeting compliance requirements: Depending on the type of data your website collects or the industry you operate in, you may have legal obligations to protect user data and adhere to specific security standards.

How to Improve the Security of a Website

To enhance the security of your website, consider implementing the following security measures:

1. SSL/TLS encryption: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption provides a secure connection between the user's browser and your server, ensuring data transmitted is encrypted and protected from interception.

2. Regular software updates: Keep your website's software, including the content management system (CMS), plugins, and themes, up to date to patch known vulnerabilities. "Zero-Day" hacks occur when it becomes known in the hacker of a vulnerability in a plugin, for example, and therefore the plugin would need updating as soon as the developers publish a patch to fix the loophole.

3. Strong password policies: Enforce strict password policies for users and administrators, including the use of complex passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

4. Web application firewall (WAF): Implement a WAF to filter and monitor incoming web traffic, blocking malicious requests and potential attacks.

5. Regular backups: Perform regular backups of your website and store them securely, so you can restore your site in case of a security incident.

6. Malware scanning: Regularly scan your website for malware and suspicious files that may have been injected into your server.

7. Restrict access: Limit access to sensitive areas of your website and grant permissions only to authorized users.

8. Content Security Policy (CSP): Implement a CSP to control what resources are allowed to load on your web pages, reducing the risk of XSS attacks. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection, in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise benign and trusted websites.

9. Use reputable hosting: Choose a reliable and secure hosting provider that offers robust security measures and monitoring.

By taking a proactive approach to website security and staying informed about the latest threats and best practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches and ensure a safer online experience for both you and your users.

We'll update your plugins, theme files, WordPress version and server code (if necessary) to the latest versions. Your website will be backed up and updates will be tested on a staging server before updating your live website. This ensures minimal downtime while updates are installed, prevents "breaking" your website and keeps your website secure.

Bugs on a website refer to defects or errors in the website's code or functionality that cause unintended behaviour or issues when users interact with the site. These bugs can manifest in various ways, such as broken links, incorrect data display, non-functional buttons, slow performance, and security vulnerabilities. They can be the result of programming mistakes, compatibility issues, server configuration problems, or other factors.

Why is it important to detect and fix bugs on a website?

1. User experience: Bugs can lead to a poor user experience, frustrating visitors, increasing bounce rate and discouraging them from returning to the site. A website with a smooth and error-free user experience is more likely to retain users and keep them engaged.

2. Reputation and credibility: A website riddled with bugs can damage its reputation and credibility. Users may perceive it as unprofessional or untrustworthy, negatively impacting your brand image.

3. Functionality: Bugs can disrupt critical functionality, such as the ability to complete transactions, submit forms, or access essential content. Resolving these issues ensures that the website functions as intended.

4. Security: Some bugs can create security vulnerabilities, exposing your website and user data to potential attacks. Fixing security-related bugs is essential to safeguard sensitive information and maintain the trust of your users.

5. SEO and rankings: Search engines prioritize user experience and may penalize websites with significant usability issues or errors. Fixing bugs can positively impact your website's search engine rankings.

6. Conversion rates: Bugs that affect the website's checkout process or form submissions can result in lower conversion rates. Fixing these issues can improve the site's ability to convert visitors into customers or leads.

7. Cost-effectiveness: Addressing bugs early in the development process is generally more cost-effective than postponing their resolution. Delaying fixes can lead to more complex problems down the line.

8. Compatibility: Bugs may cause issues on specific browsers, devices, or operating systems. By resolving these bugs, you ensure that your website works correctly across various platforms.

9. Long-term maintenance: Ignoring bugs can lead to a pile-up of technical debt, making future maintenance and updates more challenging and time-consuming.

To address bugs on a website, we follow a structured debugging process with automatic alerts set up to notify us when something isn't quite right with your website. This process involves identifying, isolating, and fixing the root cause of the issues. By actively addressing and resolving bugs, we will ensure that your website operates smoothly, provides an excellent user experience, and upholds its reputation and security.

Your website will be backed up automatically at regular intervals including before and after implementing major updates. We backup your websites to both the cloud AND local storage so you can rest assured that no matter what (other than global annihilation), you will never lose your website!

Technical Support

If you run into problems with your website, we will be there to get it fixed!

Amendments

Want something changing on your website? Our support includes making changes to your website and adding content to your website supplied by you.

Business Support

We usually build really good relationships with our clients and love helping them out with other aspects of their business like:

• Negotiating better deals for business services like advertising and subscriptions

• Recommending business services like accountants, bookkeeping software, DIY graphic design tools, etc.

• Sharing our knowledge of everything from hiring staff to video production to business planning.

Conditions

Since we try to be flexible, we do not have "strict" limits. The minutes are there as a guide. We won't be billing you for every minute you overrun! We understand that for the first month, for example, your support requirements may be more than usual which we are willing to accommodate for.

What are Mobile Usability Issues?

The Mobile Usability report shows which pages on your website have usability problems when viewed on mobile devices.

Examples of Mobile Usability Issues

• Viewport not set

• Viewport not set to "device-width"

• Content wider than the screen

• Text too small to read

• Clickable elements too close together

Fixing Mobile Usability Issues

We will fix any mobile usability issues that arise every month and send the fixes off to Google to verify.

Is it Important to Fix Mobility Usability Issues?

Our clients' websites on average receive between 75% and 95% of visitors who browse their websites from a mobile device.

Fixing mobile usability issues is crucial for several reasons, given the increasing reliance on mobile devices for internet browsing and the importance of providing a seamless user experience across different devices:

1. Mobile Traffic Dominance: Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have become the primary means of accessing the internet for many users. Ignoring mobile usability can lead to frustrating experiences for a significant portion of your website's audience.

2. User Experience (UX): A positive user experience is essential for retaining visitors and encouraging them to engage with your content or services. Mobile usability issues, such as slow loading times, unresponsive design, or hard-to-read text, can lead to high bounce rates and reduced conversions.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google and other search engines consider mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. Websites that provide a better mobile experience are more likely to rank higher in mobile search results. Ignoring mobile usability issues can lead to a drop in organic search visibility and traffic.

4. Conversion Rates: If your website has mobile usability problems, users might struggle to navigate, fill out forms, or complete transactions. This can significantly impact your conversion rates for actions like signups, purchases, or inquiries.

5. Competitive Advantage: Websites that offer a seamless mobile experience gain a competitive edge. Users are more likely to prefer and recommend websites that work well on their mobile devices, contributing to a positive brand perception.

6. Local Search and Location-based Services: Many mobile users search for information related to their immediate surroundings, such as local businesses or services. A mobile-friendly website can capitalize on local search traffic and drive foot traffic to physical locations.

7. Cross-Device Consistency: Users often switch between devices throughout their browsing journey. Ensuring a consistent experience across desktop and mobile devices helps maintain engagement and prevents frustration.

8. Adapting to Mobile Behavior: Mobile users exhibit specific browsing behaviours, such as shorter attention spans, on-the-go searches, and touch-based interactions. Designing your website with these behaviours in mind enhances user satisfaction.

9. Accessibility: Mobile devices are used by people with various accessibility needs. Addressing mobile usability issues helps ensure that your content is accessible to all users, regardless of their device or ability.

10. Future-Proofing: As technology evolves, new devices with varying screen sizes and capabilities will emerge. By focusing on mobile usability now, you're better prepared to adapt to changes and innovations in the mobile landscape.

To address mobile usability issues, consider responsive web design, optimize page loading times, ensure text and buttons are appropriately sized for touch interaction, and test your website on various mobile devices and browsers. Regularly monitoring and improving mobile usability can lead to improved user satisfaction, higher conversions, and stronger online performance.

Broken links are links from your page to either internal pages or to other websites. Sometimes, web pages can be deleted or the URL could be changed so your link will no longer point to the right place. Luckily, there are automated tools we use to detect these so they can be detected quite easily.

Checking for broken links on a website is crucial for several reasons:

1. User Experience: Broken links can frustrate visitors and create a negative user experience. When users encounter broken links, they may think the website is outdated, poorly maintained, or unreliable, leading them to leave the site and potentially never return.

2. SEO and Search Rankings: Search engines like Google take into account the quality of a website when determining search rankings. Broken links can negatively impact your SEO efforts, as search engines may interpret them as a sign of poor website maintenance and relevance, resulting in lower search rankings.

3. Credibility and Trust: A website with broken links may lose credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of its users. A reliable website is expected to provide accurate and up-to-date information, and broken links can signal otherwise.

4. Conversion Rates: If your website includes links to important conversion points, such as signup forms or shopping carts, broken links can prevent users from completing desired actions, leading to lost opportunities for conversions and sales.

5. Link Equity and Page Authority: Inbound links from other websites (backlinks) contribute to a website's authority and search ranking. If your site has broken outbound links, it can negatively impact the perceived value of your content, leading to a decrease in the likelihood of receiving quality backlinks.

6. Website Maintenance: Regularly checking for broken links is part of good website maintenance. It helps you identify and fix issues promptly, ensuring your website remains functional and relevant.

7. Accessibility: Broken links can also impact website accessibility. Users with disabilities who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies may face difficulties when encountering broken links, affecting their overall browsing experience.

8. Reputation Management: A website with many broken links may develop a poor reputation among users, leading to negative reviews and word-of-mouth publicity that can be detrimental to your brand.

To ensure a positive user experience, maintain a good reputation, and improve your website's SEO performance, it is essential to regularly check for broken links and fix them promptly. There are various tools and online services available to help you automate the process of identifying broken links on your website.

We understand just how frustrating setting up, migrating and maintaining email accounts can be! Dealing with email accounts can be extremely time-consuming and can have a detrimental impact on your business if problems are left unresolved.

If help with your emails is all you need, then please get in touch for a bespoke quote.

Email Services

• Migrating to new email server

• Google Workspace Accounts (this is what we recommend for every new client!)

• Email Signatures

• Setting up emails on devices

• Microsoft365 accounts

• DMARC Settings

• SPF Settings

If you write your content for your website, we can proofread and optimise it for you to make it as "Google-Friendly" as can be. There are several factors to consider when writing content to ensure your hard work produces the best results possible if you are looking to climb up the search engine rankings.

What's Included?

Our Content Optimisation service includes optimising images so that they load fast, are titled correctly and have "alt" tags. Relevant internal and external links are added. Your written content is optimised by making sure it is grammatically correct, flows well, and includes all the relevant keywords and phrases.

We will help you to write better content if we feel you will benefit from that. The less we have to optimise, the more content we can add!

How can content be optimised to improve search rankings?

Optimizing content for search engines is an essential part of search engine optimization (SEO) to improve search rankings and increase organic traffic to your website. Here are some key strategies to optimize your content:

1. Keyword research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Use keyword research tools to find high-traffic, low-competition keywords that align with your content topics.

2. High-quality and relevant content: Create valuable, informative, and engaging content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience. Google and other search engines prioritize high-quality content that provides value to users.

3. Keyword placement: Incorporate your target keywords naturally into your content, including in the title, headings, subheadings, and throughout the body text. Avoid keyword stuffing, as it can lead to penalties from search engines.

4. Meta tags: Optimize meta tags, including the meta title and meta description, to accurately describe your content and include relevant keywords. These tags appear in search engine results and can influence click-through rates.

5. URL structure: Create SEO-friendly URLs that include relevant keywords and provide a clear indication of the content's topic.

6. Internal linking: Use internal links to connect related content within your website. Internal linking helps search engines understand the structure of your site and improves user navigation.

7. Mobile-friendliness: Ensure your content and website are optimized for mobile devices, as mobile-friendliness is a significant factor in search rankings, especially after Google's mobile-first indexing.

8. Page loading speed: Optimize your website's performance to ensure fast page loading times. Slow-loading pages can negatively impact user experience and search rankings.

9. Image optimization: Optimize images by using descriptive alt tags and reducing file sizes to improve page load times.

10. User experience: Create content that is easy to read and navigate, with clear formatting, headings, and bullet points. A positive user experience can lead to longer on-page times and lower bounce rates, which can positively influence search rankings.

11. Content length: In some cases, longer, comprehensive content may rank better, especially for topics that require in-depth coverage. However, the focus should always be on providing value and addressing user intent rather than simply increasing word count.

12. Shareability: Create content that is shareable on social media platforms and encourages engagement and backlinks from other reputable websites.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it may take time to see significant improvements in search rankings. Consistently producing valuable, optimized content and adhering to SEO best practices will help your website gain visibility and organic traffic over time.

Our monthly maintenance reports provide a comprehensive overview of your website's performance and search engine rankings. They include key metrics and insights that help stakeholders understand the impact of our SEO efforts and identify opportunities and areas for improvement.

Some of the essential components included in our monthly reports:

1. Server Downtimes: Find out when your server was down.

2. Security Issues: You will get to see how many attacks on your website our tools have prevented. (Scarily, it's more than you might expect!)

3. Broken Links: Broken links are links from your page to either internal pages or links to other websites. Sometimes, pages can be deleted or the URL could be changed so your link will no longer point to the right place. We will review the report and check for any broken backlinks and fix them immediately.

4. Site Performance: Basic factors such as page speed, number of visitors, bounce rates and time spent on site.

The information below applies to small eCommerce websites with a maximum number of 12 additional products being added to the website per month. If you add more than 12 products per month, please get in touch for a bespoke quote.

Our eCommerce website maintenance service includes the following:

• Payment gateway troubleshooting

• Product feed maintenance

• Other technical aspects of maintaining an online store

What our eCommerce website maintenance doesn't include:

• Optimisation of product listings

• Setting up product feeds

For the above, please get in touch for a customised quote or visit our SEO Services page for further options.

Why is it important to optimise your online shop?

Optimising products for an e-commerce website is essential for several reasons, all of which contribute to improving the overall success and performance of the online store. Here are some key reasons why product optimisation is crucial:

1. Improved User Experience: Product optimization ensures that product listings are clear, informative, and visually appealing. A positive user experience leads to increased customer satisfaction, higher engagement, and a higher likelihood of conversion.

2. Increased Visibility in Search Engines: By optimizing product titles, descriptions, and other relevant content, you enhance the chances of your products ranking higher in search engine results. This improves the discoverability of your products and drives more organic traffic to your e-commerce website.

3. Higher Conversion Rates: Well-optimized product pages provide customers with all the necessary information they need to make informed purchase decisions. This can lead to higher conversion rates, as customers are more likely to trust and buy from an eCommerce site that presents its products professionally.

4. Competitive Advantage: In a crowded online marketplace, optimizing your products gives you a competitive edge. When your products are well-presented and rank higher in search results, you are more likely to attract potential customers away from competitors.

5. Better Customer Engagement: Optimized product pages often include engaging visuals, videos, and detailed descriptions that keep customers interested and informed. This increased engagement can lead to longer session durations and a higher likelihood of repeat visits.

6. Enhanced Mobile Experience: With the rising number of mobile shoppers, optimizing product pages for mobile devices is crucial. Mobile-friendly product pages load quickly, display properly and are easy to navigate on smartphones and tablets.

7. Reduced Bounce Rate: If products are not optimized, customers may leave your website quickly without making a purchase. Optimizing products helps reduce bounce rates by providing relevant information and keeping customers engaged.

8. Improved Customer Reviews and Ratings: When products are accurately described and meet customers' expectations, it leads to more positive reviews and ratings. Positive feedback can boost confidence in potential customers, leading to more sales.

9. Aids Cross-selling and Upselling: Well-optimised product pages can facilitate cross-selling and upselling opportunities by recommending related or complementary products, increasing the average order value.

In conclusion, product optimisation is a fundamental aspect of running a successful online shop. It enhances user experience, boosts search engine visibility, increases conversions, and provides a competitive advantage in the online marketplace. Optimising products is an ongoing process that requires continuous evaluation and improvement to meet customer needs and stay ahead of the competition.