Category: Web Design

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Introducing Our New Website

The New McCord Web Services Website.
The New McCord Web Services Website.

We’ve launched our new website last week and invite you to take a look at https://www.mccordweb.com.

Created using a new responsive framework from Project Seven, our new site is made for speed. We have utilized a number of different page layouts using the Zeitgeist page pack.

Our new site features a return to our original colors from years past of a blue-green, gray, and black and we have moved to https.

We have revamped our content, streamlined our services, and introduced new offerings.

As part of our change, we will be changing up our marketing mix.

  • Our newsletter will disappear in October.
  • Our blog postings will move from twice a week to monthly.
  • Our blog posting will be longer, more thoughtful articles.
  • Our social media will focus on LinkedIn engagement.

You will start to see these changes over the next month as we work out pre-scheduled content.

We look forward to many more years serving our clients.

Visit the site now.

 

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New Website Launch

Our team has been working hard this past week and through the weekend on launching our new website. Our blog already has a new look.

We are rolling out https, a new responsive design, and new content. Although all pages may not be completed yet, we were so excited to change our site that we boosted our time to at least get what we have in place posted.

In addition to the design change, we will be making sweeping changes across all our social media profiles in the weeks to come. We will be changing how we create and post content and the frequency when we do post.

Stay tuned for more site improvements and customer engagements.

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We Do Recommend Using Chat Apps on Your Website

What to Know About Chat Apps
What to Know About Chat Apps

Seems simple, just install code and you’ve got a chat app. But not so fast. I am finding out from personal experience that not all chat apps are alike.

I started out with Drift and still have that chat app on my website. What I found as I used the app was it slowed my website to a crawl for load time. I think much of this is the code is installed in the head tag as instructions state, but may be better installed before the ending body tag </body>.

What is happening on my site is the page is taking so long to load and the navigation does not operate until the chat app function appears – I consider this very bad. Drift must have made a code change to the asynchronous code recently as the page load time was not an issue before but started about two weeks ago.  As a result I have been actively looking for a website chat app replacement.

I have tried three Tawk.to, MyLiveChat, and now Pure Chat. I am using Pure Chat on my website right now and so far I do like the free version. What I consider important for a website chat app are the following:

  1. Easy to install
  2. Able to configure colors
  3. Has a rock solid mobile app
  4. Does not impact page load speed

So far Tawk.To and My Live Chat  were too complicated for my needs and cumbersome to use.  Pure Chat has easy set up and I do like the mobile app which is simple to use.

I invite you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay up-to-date on things that can help your website performance.

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Important WordPress Plugin Abandoned? What to Do

Simple Tips to Prevent Stares in the Waiting Room
Yikes, an Important Plugin for my WordPress Theme has Been Abandoned!

If a plugin that is important to the look and feel of your WordPress website is abandoned, it is best to start looking for an alternative.

Recently in the news, several popular abandoned plugins were purchased and used to disseminate malware. It is not recommended to keep using a plugin that has been marked abandoned at WordPress.og. So what should you do?

One, search for alternatives using the plugin name. In many cases others just like you have had a similar problem and have created, found, or written about good alternative plugins. Do some research and see if you can find a good replacement option.

Two, be sure is has been abandoned by visiting WordPress.org. Look to see if there are comments that point you to alternatives.

Three, look actively for more than one alternative and test them before deciding on one. I am searching for a replacement for a client for the JP Widget Visibility and found this blog post with a nice review of over ten options.

Four, leave the abandoned plugin installed and take your chances that nothing will happen and your site will not be hacked. Just be aware that as WordPress updates, the plugin may stop working entirely.

This is a great article on other additional options to pursue at Nexcess Beyond Hosting.