If you own or manage a website there are 3 things you should have at your disposal. The contact and login information for your domain registrar (where your www address is registered) The contact and login information for your Web Host. If your Web Host doesn’t have a Control Panel for you to log into, you should consider moving your site to a Web Host that does (see: “What is this ‘Hosting’ Thing and Why Should I Care?“) An up-to-date […]
If you’re like most business owners, your goals likely include improving the SEO of your website, positioning yourself as a leader in your field, marketing your products and services, and gaining new customers or clients. Adding and maintaining a blog on your business website can help you achieve all four of these objectives and save you money in the process. 1. Improve your Organic SEO If your website displays on the first few pages of an online search, you will […]
We recently completed a website project for Andrew Benedetto, a Psychotherapist and Jungian Analyst, providing client-centered therapy in Toronto Ontario. Andrew came to Black Cap Design by way of Sharp Connections, a Toronto-based technology consulting company, and frequent collaborator with Black Cap Design. Andrew was interested in being able to manage the site independently, so we recommended the WordPress Content Management System – which provides him complete control over his website content. Andrew played a key role in selecting images […]
I wrote briefly about this back in October (WordPress Security: Fact or Fiction?) but it’s definitely worth mentioning again: WordPress now has the ability to update itself! Not only that, your WordPress site sends you a friendly email message telling you about it! How cool is that? If your site is powered by WordPress version 3.7 or newer it has the ability to conduct minor security updates independently. Lately, I’ve been receiving messages from clients asking me questions like “Is […]
The word ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. A blog is actually a website with a standard structure that allows you, the blogger, the ability to regularly record and share information, opinions, images, videos and links with a world wide audience. If you want to blog, you will need to make a few decisions. Do I want a basic blog or do I want a website that has a blog as one of the pages? If you already have a website, […]
Your web developer may have already explained that your website will move up and down in search. For example, today you may be on page 1 and tomorrow you may find your site on page 3 of a Google search. Your search results will also vary depending on which search engine you’re using, e.g. Google, Bing or Yahoo. Where your site shows up in search will depend on the specific combination of words you’re using, however there are many other […]
One of the biggest shifts in website development in recent years has been toward sites that can be managed independently – commonly referred to as Content Management Systems (CMS) or “dynamic” websites. WordPress has emerged as the leader due to its flexibility (with over 27,000 free plugins available for download), its intuitive administrative console and huge developer community. What many people don’t realize is that any website that enables browser-based editing (the ability for you to manage your own content […]
“I need a website that I can update myself, but I have no idea where to start.” This is something we hear a lot from people looking to establish a presence on the Web. It’s not surprising given the range of options available. A quick search for “Choosing a CMS” will return a mind-boggling amount of sometimes conflicting information. So, where to start? Selecting a Hosting Platform (Choose Linux) It actually doesn’t matter if you’re opting for a static website […]
At Black Cap, we regularly get questions from clients like “what’s involved in getting a website project rolling?”, “what do you need from me?”, and “what’s better – a custom-built CMS or an open source CMS like WordPress?”. So, we were excited to find this great webinar – because it covers these questions and many more. The presenter takes a common sense approach, using plain language…no technical jargon! When we first listened (it’s audio with PowerPoint) we wondered if the […]
Hard to believe it’s been 8 years. Black Cap Design started unofficially in 2005 and officially in 2006 and the little Black Cap logo has been our emblem from the start. What’s that old saying about the ‘shoemaker’s children having no shoes’? So true! We’ve been so focused tending to our clients’ websites, the Black Cap site and logo were needing a fresh coat of paint. With a little help from Adobe Illustrator and a large pot of coffee, the […]
One of the most common questions we get from our clients is “will I be able to update the site myself?”. The short answer is “Yes!”. We can add a customized, browser-based Web Editor to your site that you can access from anywhere with an Internet connection or you can select a powerful Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress providing you the ability to manage every aspect of your site independently. Having said that, there are a number of things […]