Responsive videos are, at times, tricky. Especially when you're trying to embed a video from YouTube or Vimeo. You see, by default, YouTube videos "respond" by shrinking their width but keeping their height. Ultimately, this results in cropping the video down to a weird square. Try resizing your browser. See how the video crops? When you play the video, the inside will resize to the correct aspect ratio, so you have a lot of extra black space at the top and the bottom. Like when you were watching a "wide screen" movie on a square CRT TV in like, 2001. This approach is ... Keep Reading
How To: Add a Favicon to Your WordPress Website
Like Google Analytics, a favicon is something that every website should have configured. There are a lot of plugins that "help" you add a favicon to your WordPress website. But I'm a big fan of not adding plugins where you don't need to. And WordPress has custom favicon support built in! Want the quick & easy version? Here's a video showing you exactly how to add your own favicon to your WordPress website: Videos not your style? Here's a step-by-step tutorial. Step One: Log In to Your Website I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory. If you're not sure how to do this, you ... Keep Reading
How to Add Google Analytics to Any Genesis Framework Website
The Genesis Framework is known for being one of the most easy-to-use frameworks out there. So when a client mentioned he couldn't find a tutorial anywhere on how to add Google Analytics to his Genesis site, I was a little shocked. So I made this super quick video, demonstrating where to add your Google Analytics code: I also wrote up a step-by-step tutorial on how to add Google Analytics to any Genesis site, if videos aren't your thing. Step One: Sign Up for Google Analytics Obviously, if you've already signed up, you can skip this step. If you haven't, you need to. GA is a ... Keep Reading
Why MDD Hosting is My Host of Choice
Heads up - I am an affiliate for MDD Hosting. I use them to host all of my personal sites and love their service. And after my experience last night, I can't recommend them enough. Learn more about my use of affiliate links here. Last night, at about 11:30 or so, I got an alert from ManageWP that my client's site was down. I logged in, and saw that (apparently) during the scheduled database optimization, nearly $50,000 worth of online sales had somehow been cleared from the database. My reaction was something along the lines of this: A GIF of Bill Murray saying "Well, I want to ... Keep Reading
3 Myths About Working With Web Designers and Developers
When you're looking for a new website, there's likely a lot of things on your mind. But the relationship with your designer or developer usually isn't one of them. Which is unfortunate, because having the right client/provider dynamic is crucial to the success of a project. If you don't quite "mesh" with your chosen designer/developer, your website may turn into a pain point rather than a valuable biz tool. I've broken down 3 huge myths about working with a designer or developer - including some red flags from them, and some behavior for you to avoid so you don't become a nightmare ... Keep Reading
The Biggest Mistake Most Small Businesses Make on Their Website
Consider this a Website PSA. Or maybe an intervention. Some tough love from one caring, small-biz owner to another. A gif of How I Met Your Mother with an intervention banner behind the cast. It's not meant to be mean, and it's not meant to hurt your feelings. I want you to succeed. I want you to have the best, most amazing website you can possibly have. But darling, it's quite possible your website has a major problem. And you might not even realize you have a problem. You see, it's the kind of problem that hides in plain sight. It looks really good. And a lot of other people do ... Keep Reading