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The Simple Guide to Websites: Domain Names vs. Web Hosting Explained

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 03:50:25 GMT

If you’ve decided to take your business or passion project online, you’ve likely encountered two terms right away: Domain Names and Web Hosting .

For many Australians, these terms sound like technical jargon that belongs in a basement with a bunch of servers. However, understanding the difference is essential because you cannot have a website without both.

To make it easy, we’re going to step away from the computer and look at a simple Australian analogy: The Physical Shopfront.

The Quick Summary: The Shopfront Analogy

Imagine you are opening a new boutique in a local Aussie shopping strip.

The Domain Name is your Business Name and Street Address . It’s how people find you (e.g., 123 Smith Street).
Web Hosting is the Physical Building itself. It’s the floor, the walls, and the space where you keep your stock.
The Website is the Interior Design . It’s the paint on the walls, the shelves, and the products you sell.

Part 1: What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is your identity on the internet. It is the address people type into their browser (like Google Chrome or Safari) to find your website. For example, www.google.com or www.dotdot.au are domain names.

Why do you need one?

Computers don’t actually communicate using names; they use numbers called IP addresses (which look like 192.158.1.38 ). Because humans are much better at remembering words than long strings of numbers, the domain name system was created.

Choosing an Australian Extension

In Australia, you have specific choices for your "extension" (the bit at the end):

.com.au: The classic choice for Australian businesses. It requires an ABN to register.
.au: The newer, shorter extension. It’s snappy, modern, and uniquely Australian.
.com: The global standard, used mostly if you are targeting an international audience.

Ready to claim your corner of the internet? When you’re ready to secure your perfect name, you can search for and purchase your domain name at DotDot .

Part 2: What is Web Hosting?

If the domain name is the address, the web hosting is the "rented space" where your website lives.

A website is actually just a collection of files; images, text documents, and code. For people to see your website 24/7, those files need to be stored on a computer that is always turned on and connected to the internet. This powerful computer is called a Server .

When you pay for a "Hosting Plan," you are essentially renting space on a professional server.

Irez Enterprise incorporate your hosting fees in to our support plan that ensures you never have to worry about fiddling with dials, hack attempts or system updates.

What does a host actually do?

Storage: They keep your photos, videos, and text safe.
Security: They protect your site from hackers.
Email: Most hosting plans allow you to have a professional email address (e.g., info@yourbusiness.com.au ).
For the record, Irez does not recommend any "baked in" email hosting. Talk to us about the benefits of far more secure and reliable email solutions.
Speed: A good host ensures your website loads quickly for visitors in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, or anywhere else.
Irez uses a special technology called CDN (Content Delivery Network) that ensures your website loads quickly from anywhere in the world.

Part 3: How Do They Work Together?

This is where people often get confused. You can buy a domain name from one company and hosting from another. So, how does the internet know that your domain name should point to your specific hosting files?

The "glue" that holds them together is called DNS (Domain Name System) .

When someone types your URL into their browser:

The browser looks at the Domain Name .
It checks the DNS settings (which act like a digital phonebook).
The DNS tells the browser: "Those files are kept over at this Hosting Server ."
The server sends the files to the user’s screen, and - presto! - your website appears.

Part 4: Common Questions from Aussie Beginners

1. Do I have to buy them together?

No. You can buy your domain name at DotDot and choose a hosting provider later. However, many people find it easier to manage if they are with the same company.

2. Can I change my hosting later?

Yes! Just like moving house, you can move your website files to a new "landlord" (host). You keep your same street address (domain name), but you just point it to the new building.

3. Do I own my domain name forever?

Not exactly. You "lease" a domain name for a set period, usually 1 to 5 years. As long as you keep renewing it, it stays yours. If you stop paying, someone else can grab it!

4. Why is Australian hosting better for local businesses?

If your customers are in Australia, having your "hosting building" located in an Australian data centre (like Sydney or Brisbane) makes your website load faster for them. It’s the difference between driving down the road to get a loaf of bread versus flying to America to get one.

Summary Checklist for Starting Out

To get your business online, follow these steps in order:

Brainstorm your name: Keep it short and easy to spell.
Register the Domain: Head over to www.dotdot.au to see if your name is available and secure it immediately.
Contact Us: Majority of "hosting plans" you might find with a regular search are not what a serious business person needs. Irez utilises a number of technologies that aren't typically available on a standard hosting plan to ensure your website continues to work flawlessly. All you need to do is select how serious about growing your business you'd like to get.
Brainstorm: Let us know your vision, we'll put it in place.

The Bottom Line

Don't let the tech-talk intimidate you. Remember: The Domain is your address, and Hosting is your space. Once you have both, you’re open for business!

Fortunately for you, with Irez Entperise as your partner, we take care of everything for you, letting you get on with business, while we take care of all the technical side.

AU What's Going On - The Brand New Australian Domain

ted@irez.cc (Ted Edwards) — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:52:53 GMT

A whole new domain extension is coming for Australians and I'm personally quite excited, in a nerdy, tech kinda way ��

AU domains will soon be available, that is, without the .com in front of it. For example, my domain irez.com.au has now also been registered as irez.au

To be clear, this is a whole new domain extension, known as a top-level domain and it wont be replacing the .com.au

What's the difference between a top level (TLD) and 2nd level domain (2LD)?

To make it extremely brief and simplified, a TLD is any single domain extension such as .com, .net, or .org. A 2LD, or second-level domain, is an extension of that such as .com.au, .co.uk, or .gov.au

These were born initially as a way to internationalise the popularity of the TLD's as a way to distinguish the country of origin.

As the internet grew in popularity, size and technicality in general they became less relevant.

Get ready for the AU TLD

After many years of proposals and speculation, Australia will finally be getting it's own top-level domain that drops the .com and simply runs with .au

The .au part of any Australian domain name has always helped distinguish us from the rest of the world. The only difference now is we no longer have to rely on the .com part of it.

Will my .com.au stop working?

Absolutely not! It will continue to work as normal.

Do I have to get the .au domain?

It is not a requirement to purchase the .au version of your .com.au

Keep in mind however, that like any domain, should someone else register it, they can become the rightful owner blocking you from ever being able to register or use it in the future.

Is there any benefit to the AU domain?

From an SEO perspective, there is very little benefit if any.

Shorter domains, however, are always a benefit from the human reading and writing element.

Far more likely to have more of your URL in a search result
Easier to type into the address bar, especially on mobile
Makes marketing easier when there's less letters on your business cards, advertising and other marketing materials.
Easier to share

What's next for AU domain names?

Currently you can only pre-register your existing .com/net/org.au domain name as an AU for a brief period of time and then it will ultimately be opened up for all.

If you'd like to lock in your AU domain you can simply log in to your account at irez.domains and you will see a popup giving you options for your eligible domains.

Alternatively, fill out the form below and I will pre-register them on your behalf.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me .

Top 10 Tips For Maximising Ecommerce Success

ted@irez.cc (Ted Edwards) — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 11:48:37 GMT

Everyone is online now and everyone is trying to sell you something, ecommerce is getting harder as the big guys get bigger and the smaller businesses are left to work it out for themselves. Here's some handy tips for anyone with an ecommerce website.

Not everyone has thousands of dollars a week to spend on Google Ads but even if you do these following tips will certainly help you get the most out of your online store. In some of the examples below I'll be demonstrating some features of the Ecwid eCommerce system which is built in to both the Irez and IrezX website products, but in many cases these settings and features will be available in most good online shopping software.

Order More Before you Run Out

This really should be a no brainer but sometimes success can be your own undoing as well. It doesn't take long for a reputation to be ruined by people turning up at your site and seeing pages of Sold Out notifications. Many retail outlets also employ similar routines to ensure their shelves always look full they'll hide their out of stock "holes" until the stock comes back in.

Depending on numerous factors, including the niche of your online store you may want to do the same with your online store. That is hide out of stock products. The problem with this approach can be with your SEO and indexing of your site if the search bot is constantly finding nothing where it was once before.

Under the General Settings of your store and then Cart & Checkout, you can see a simple toggle to turn this on or off. This will of course hide everything and there may be certain scenarios where you only want certain products turned off - for extended supplier out of stock issues for example. In this case you can still show your sold out products and simply deactivate certain products individually.

Ecwid allows for notices to be sent to the store owner once stock levels get to a certain point. For slow selling items, leaving it at 0 or 1 might be fine, but for faster selling items you will want this number to be higher.

Get Your Dimensions & Weight Right

When margins are tight this is even more important as an incorrectly calculated postage fee can quickly eat away at any profits on your sale.

Most postage companies work in much the same fashion taking both weight and the cubic measurement of your item into account.

This is the size of your item boxed/packaged, not the size of the item assembled.

If advertising your assembled items is important, simply create new fields for this purpose, in Ecwid you would use the Product Types field(s) for example, or you can simply just add that note somewhere in your description field.

Importantly however, Australia Post, Sendle and numerous other couriers will all charge at the applicable rate if you set everything up properly. That is, get the box measurements and weight right and the built in API's will take care of the rest.

Make Your Pics Unique

It's the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words" particular when it comes to your online store. Your customers will notice your pics first and foremost before anything else.

If you have a unique exclusive product, make sure you take fantastic pics and video, or hire a photographer to do it for you. You may have a great product but a poorly taken photo or photos will still hurt the potential of you selling.

More importantly is, if you import or on sell wholesale products, there's a solid chance the default pics provided by your supplier are the exact same pics everyone else. Nothing will help you stand out from the crowd better than original pics, especially in a Google Search when there is a dozen other pics for your product all exactly the same.

Make Your Description POP!

Just like your pictures, the description will really help your product not only stand out, but more importantly be found on Google.

Customer confidence is also a big factor when it comes to your descriptions. The more they know, the more inclined they are to hit that buy button. In most cases your ecommerce platform will also allow for an "SEO Description" which will allow you to edit what appears in the field when someone searches on Google, capturing your audience right from the get go. It's also known as the meta description.

A quick flick over your description to make sure the grammar and spelling is in tact and any evidence of a copy paste is removed.

Combine Your Products into One Listing Where Applicable

I've seen it in a few places across the internet including a few of my clients, create separate listings for what is essentially the same item just in different sizes or colours. Same or virtually the same description for each. You're far better off from not only a management point of view but especially a Google Search point of view to have your link, the URL, diluted in affect in the search rankings.

Combine them together and maximise your search engine rank with one page and simply have a selection box for the end user to choose their preferred size and/or colour etc, upload multiple pics to allow the customer to see the different options and even list the price difference for each.

Be Consistent With Your Formatting

This one isn't really an SEO type thing like the others, more of a design pet peeve of mine and I'm sure many others out there too. Most relevant with things like titles and headings. Personally I like to capitalise each word in headings and sub-heading, while others are OK with just the first letter being capitalised, then there is some weirdos out there that like to all caps everything.

Whatever method you choose, just be consistent across the site and with your product titles. JUST NOT ALL CAPS ��

There is of course a certain appeal to aesthetic consistency that when not in sync may send some away from your site.

Utilise The 'Related Products' Feature

It's something that Amazon does really well, you look at one item and it shows others that may be similar or from the same category. It almost guarantees that if that particular product isn't what your customer is after, then maybe there is something similar that is. Either that or simply just display other products at random. It's all about choice at the end of the day.

Ecwid makes it easy as seen below but again your chosen ecommerce platform should have a similar option.

Gab of the Gift Card

Let's face it, sometimes we just don't know what we want, or maybe there is too much to decide on for a gift for someone else. It's not rocket science, you all know what a gift card is and what they're for, but are you using them?

It's an easy one to add to each of your newsletters or email signature as a gentle reminder.

Abandoned Carts Sell More Products

That might seem like a weird statement at first, on average there is nearly 70% cart abandonment rate across all industries . That's why I'm happy to have Ecwid power all the ecommerce for Irez and IrezX websites as they have it down pat! Firstly the checkout process has been made as smooth and easy as possible, and secondly you can turn on notifications so that if for whatever reason your potential customer does leave, they'll get a friendly reminder in their inbox inviting them back to complete the purchase.

Even utilise the stats to target your customer on Google and Facebook with ads if you're running retargeting campaigns.

Conclusion

Hopefully these little tips will help you maximise your potential with minimum outlay, what's more with an Irez powered website you can be confident that behind the scenes we're working diligently to ensure that your site is loading as quickly as possible helping with that extra little SEO kickstart.

Creating a logo for your business

ted@irez.cc (Ted Edwards) — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:04:45 GMT

I'm very happy to announce a special partnership between Irez and BuildMyLogo. Having tried out their easy to use logo creator, I have to say it's intuitiveness and ease is brilliant. Better yet, as part of our partnership, BML will offer a great discount using my link.

Over the years I've seen hundreds of logo creators both online and off, all of which were pretty much useless. To be honest when I first came across BuildMyLogo co I wasn't expecting any better.

Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised, it was easily the best online logo maker I've ever seen and used. The process is simple:

Enter your company or brand
The AI will do it's magic and create scores of examples for you to go through and shortlist
Make final touches to your preferred logo

That's it! There really is nothing to it, it's just so easy. It's free to jump on and try, you only pay once you're happy with the result and ready to receive your own copies of it. Several versions of various sizes, backgrounds, colour variations etc or pay a little extra and receive vector copies as well, perfect for large size printing.

The beauty of it all is you get a discount by using our special link irez.co/logo

Who Can Benefit From This Logo Creator?

Anyone really, it doesn't matter if you're looking for a change of current situation or just starting out in business and need something to get you kick started.

Now I'm not going to blow wind up anyone's skirt by saying you're going to get professional graphic designer photoshop level results here, this isn't putting the pro's out of business just yet. When you're business is well established and you can afford the thousands of dollars a fully custom logo will cost, than by all means take that route.

How Much Does A Logo Cost?

With BuildMyLogo.co even the all inclusive package is under $50 with my discount, even less with the web only package. It's a brilliant way to get yourself started and you can make as many changes as you want before putting down your precious hard earned.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with my discussions with the team from BML and of course the product itself, which is why I'm pleased to forward them on to you to give them a chance.

Another Hacked WordPress site brings problems from Google

ted@irez.cc (Ted Edwards) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 07:23:20 GMT

Yet another business owner unaware of the fact their site was being penalised by Google

A new client this week was using WordPress and not getting the greatest results. A quick inspection of what Google thought about the site revealed a major issue in black and white. As you can see in the pic above, it's not the most desirable result.

I've seen this issue over and over again with WP sites simply because in most cases the business owner is just too busy to properly update their site themselves or just doesn't have the know how.

There is nothing wrong with not knowing how to update your website!

As the business owner, you have a huge amount of day to day things to keep you busy enough let alone work the intricacies of your website, not to mention security and the new challenges of SEO that come with it.

We all have our expertise in our various fields, that's partly why we went into business for ourselves. For the same reason you don't build your own house unless you're a builder or attempt to rewire a circuit unless you're an electrician, why should you be expected to know everything there is about websites, hosting, SSL Certificates, DDOS attacks, SEO, backlinks, keywords and all the other bits and pieces that are completely relevant to any business website today.

It's not hard to update WordPress

No it's not, but that's not the point. As I said above, why should you have to, and where do you find the time? Not to mention what happens if you update one part and one of the plugins break as a result??

WordPress is definitely the major player when it comes to websites on the world wide web but in most cases it's the equivalent of blow drying your hair with a leaf blower. Pure overkill and completely unnecessary.

The rise of software as a service based websites

These underlying issues have led to the rise of Software As A Service (SAAS) style of website design, sometimes even referred to as WAAS, as in Website As A Service. As the world demands more and more perfection with less and less time to achieve it in, it only makes sense that for what ever your niche is in the world, the last thing you need to do is learn a new skillset on top of it.

The no hassles website

That's why websites designed by Irez honed in on the ability to ensure your security is always up to date, as is the website itself. We pride ourselves in how good the SEO results are out of the box and then add some extra know how on top.

Fortunately for this particular customer, the fix was simple, out with the old WordPress site and in with a shiny and fast new website designed by Irez that suits their very busy and unique needs. Bye bye to the old shared hosting and WordPress that will forever plague a poor business owner's sanity and anxiety.

Almost as soon as we let Google know the issue was fixed, their rankings and traffic both went up quite significantly.

8 Tips To Help Your Business Survive The Corona Virus Shutdown

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 11:32:54 GMT

We’ve all heard the words over and over by now: corona virus, Covid-19, unprecedented times. But what can you as a business owner actually do in order to weather these times. Our hands are tied, we have family and business life disrupted. Here’s a few things that you may be able to do in order to continue and better yet come out the other side gleaming.

Gotta be online

There’s no 2 ways about it, if you aren’t online you need to act quickly.

An outdated thought process for many established businesses is that they don’t need to sell anything online and therefore don’t need to be online or worry about their website. 87% of shoppers now begin product searches online meaning if you’re not there, your chances of a sale have suddenly diminished drastically. The statistic doesn’t mean they are necessarily purchasing online, just beginning the process of searching for, researching, comparing etc. Many will still prefer to then walk in to the brick and mortar to complete the purchase, which brings me to my next point.

Note: if you haven’t updated your website in 5 years or more or your website isn’t mobile friendly, you may as well not have the site at all. Google will in all likelihood be ignoring you for the vast majority of searches. Now is the time to do an update.

eCommerce

If you have a product, absolutely sell it online! It’s easier than ever these days to sell products physical or digital online and many reputable websites will include an easy to use app that allows you to manage your store from your phone as well. Statistics show online selling is increasing year on year and this current event will only add to that even further.

Blog, blog, blog

Something I preach quite regularly is to blog/vlog. Many of us are strapped for time to do this, despite its advantages. Start getting those thoughts that you’ve had for a while now down on paper (don’t waste your toilet paper on it though), Google Docs, Microsoft Word, whatever you need and transfer across to your site once you’ve proof read over it. Ensuring it conveys the correct message intended for you audience.

Think outside the box

Now may be the time to introduce that new product or service that you’ve been thinking about doing, or potentially a temporary pivot on your existing lineup and experience to help meet the situation and keep the dollars coming in.

Research the competition

What are they doing that is a good idea or seems to be working? How quickly can you implement something similar into your business.

Any idea that helps keep the debt collectors at bay or better yet bolster your foundations when the doors reopen is a good thing.

Be lean(er), be cleaner

Now you may find yourself inevitably with a little bit more time available to you. Time to re-evaluate your current processes and systems to see if there’s any room for improvement or efficiencies, brick and mortar stores could potentially spruce the place up a little bit, whether it be a new paint job, rearrangement or anything else that is normally inconvenient whilst you have foot traffic in store.

Anything that will assist bring those customers flooding back in when the time comes, nice and fresh appearance or save you time behind the scenes is a good thing.

Get Progressive

With an ever growing burden on current internet services (yes NBN Co, i’m looking at you), it’s important that your site continues to be accessible even to those with poor, or worse, no internet. Having a website that is also a Progressive Web App (PWA) means you’re ahead of the curve and serving your customers anytime.

Online meetings

I recommend G Suite to any and all of my customers, simply because it’s the best at email combined with all the other features, however one little feature that many may not even realise, is Google Meet. Anyone on a paid G Suite has access to Google Meet currently in order to host online meetings easily and conveniently without you or the other party having to download any extra software. Just needs Google Chrome which most of us have already. If you want to trial it out amongst the numerous other benefits they currently offer a free trial.

There are of course a host of other online solutions dedicated to online meetings such as Zoom that offer a free tier or my favourite that allows you to stream to Facebook and YouTube Live simultaneously is Belive .

Get Social

Just because we have to practice social distancing, doesn't mean we can't be social online. Get posting to Facebook, Instagram and Google My Business . Upload videos showcasing your expertise to YouTube.

Let me know if there's any tips or ideas you have in the comments below.

Stopping Spam In Its Tracks

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 08:24:36 GMT

The contact forms on your site have an extra layer of protection with Google’s invisible reCaptcha. It protects your forms from spammers while speeding up the form submission process for real site visitors, for a better experience all around.

For a while now you've been able to protect your forms using reCAPTCHA but the problem is always the same... it looks ugly.

So now we have the ability to use a few extra options such as the ability to show the reCAPTCHA only when the form is being used.

Benefits of Invisible reCAPTCHA

Prevents spammers from attacking your sites by determine if a form submission is coming from a human or a bot.
Improves user experience by swiftly validating the reCAPTCHA behind the scenes if Google detects that it’s a real user.

Choose how you want this reCAPTCHA to be displayed - it can be shown as an icon or text in the form, to the bottom right or left of the screen.

Simpler Way To Sign In Using Google

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 07:17:57 GMT

No more forgotten passwords when you need to edit your site

Many of you have already noticed, you can now sign in to the website editor ( irez.pw ) using a Google account. Making life simpler and safe when it comes to passwords.

Site security is always of utmost importance not only from the front end but also the access point where you can edit everything. Whilst there's a number of other security factors in place behind the scenes, I have noticed some clients writing the password down, or worse telling me they use the same password across numerous different sites.

As a big fan of G Suite for a wide variety of reasons that make business life less complicated, it doubles as a Google account allowing you to login to numerous services across the world wide web.

To use it, simply click on the button and allow. If you have multiple Google accounts simply select the one you'd like to login with, assuming it's the same email your account is normally setup on, you should be sweet to go.

The New Brave Browser is Great, but I won't Use It

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 01:48:33 GMT

I jumped on the Brave hype machine early in the beta, and now it's out in full force

What is Brave and why should I care?

Brave is the latest in "privacy" focused browsers that aims to give back a little control to you the end user. It's based on Chromium, which is the underlying open source code used to create the worlds most popular browser, Google Chrome.

The difference is, it focuses heavily on blocking ads and trackers and any other potentially nefarious uses of the internet you may not be aware is happening under your nose, all in the name of better targeting ads toward you specifically.

The trade off, of course is that any business needs to make money somewhere along the line, including web page owners who derive an income through ads. Brave's answer to that is their own cryptocurrency called BAT (Basic Attention Token) that can be used to donate toward these websites, if you so choose, or hang on to it yourself. BAT is earned by, dun dun dunnn, advertising.

Instead of in page ads that slow your browsing experience down, Brave sends notifications from time to time direct to your desktop or mobile notifications that you can simply ignore, close, or click on.

You can of course choose to not have any ads sent to you and simply enjoy the browsing experience.

Overall it's great, but I wont be making the switch as a full time browser.

Despite being based on Chrome, I've found that many sites just won't work, which is particularly annoying when trying to do work related stuff such as research web design topics or use cloud based services. There is a little icon to the right of the address bar you can turn on or off the "Brave Shields" feature which encompasses all the blocking tech and should theoretically return the site to a normal Google Chrome type experience. My experience thus far however, has seen it not be of much help at all in most cases.

So all that being said, it does what it's meant to do very well, just sometimes a little too well and I do recommend downloading it and giving it a go for yourself. Like most browsers it's completely free to download and you'll be able to make up your own mind.

I won't be getting rid of it but it won't be my daily driver so to speak either.

Do I just keep using Google Chrome then?

You can, there really is nothing wrong with it and you can of course continue to use various plugins to block ads in your browsing as well. Keep in mind though that plugins themselves can be a security risk and may in fact negate your browsing experience in some cases causing the site to otherwise load slower.

I personally have a variety of browsers installed including Brave, Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge but my daily driver is Opera .

Many moons ago, before Google Chrome was even a thing, I loved Opera, it was fast, sleek, had mail built in, they invented the tabbed experience we take for granted nowadays. It was fantastic. Then the wheels kind of fell off over time, and it appeared as if they lacked some direction.

Then not all that long ago, I decided to take another look. It's fantastic! It has a lot of the same privacy focused features that Brave is trying to achieve, without the popup ads or cryptocurrency, plus a whole bunch more like built in Messenger and What's App and probably my favourite feature Flow.

Flow is a feature that allows you to send your workflow, ie the browser tab, to your mobile, or mobile to desktop with ease. I know similar features are available on other browsers, but Opera Flow just makes it simple, seamless, and easy.

I'm often researching new web design techniques, or the latest in SEO practices and will need to flick between devices in order to complete my workflow efficiently. This just makes it dead easy.

I use WhatsApp regularly so having it right there is super handy and when a website tends to have a bit of a freak out that all it's tracking is being blocked, turning it off in a similar fashion has worked every time.

Opera desktop is also based on Chromium so all the Google plugins will work with it and on mobile, Opera has a few different browsers but my one of choice is Opera Touch .

Changing browsers is nothing to be scared of, Opera even allowed me to import all my bookmarks with ease and even the passwords if you use that feature of Chrome. I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on the experience, let me know in the comments below.

Instagram Widget Now Available

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 06:53:54 GMT

You can now connect directly to Instagram

If you've been paying attention to what's happening in Irez Towers over the past 12 months, there's been a number of things popping up called connections. It started with creating connected galleries you can update once and have populate on multiple pages throughout the site at the same time.

Then we moved on to Dynamic Pages, allowing bulk creation of website pages from nothing more than a spreadsheet.

Connections is the new flavour and I believe a solid foundation to what's coming in 2020.

Instagram will dominate 2020

As far as the social networks go, there's no doubt the growth of Instagram will only accelerate further into 2020 as parent company Facebook looks for other avenues to pick up where Facebook itself is declining. I've umm'd and ahhh'd as to whether a dedicated Instagram widget is feasible, and with a few developer limitations on the Instagram end, it's not something that can be achieved currently without providing a 3rd party service - ie, additional cost.

However, through connections, you can connect to your own Instagram account now from within the website editor and I don't have to charge any extra. Win win!

In the interest of simplicity, it's been done within the gallery widget, simply click on Connect to Insta and away you go.

The way it looks and how many tiles you show is up to you, each image will automatically open the relevant Instagram page on click, easy as pie.

The images will automatically update without any intervention from you each time you create a new Instagram post

Instagram stats to consider

Instagram is the world’s fastest growing social media platform, and has huge benefits for businesses of all types and all sizes. Here’s why:

Instagram has 1 billion+ monthly active users. That makes it the third most popular social network in the world (after YouTube and Facebook).
Instagram is increasingly popular among older audiences. Instagram has always been popular amongst younger ones, but the largest growing audience is older than 18, making it super important for businesses who market to this age category.
80% of Instagram users follow a business. And the number is growing all the time. This makes Instagram a great way for businesses to reach customers when they are not on their site, ultimately increasing engagement and conversion.

See It In Action

Google About To Shame Slow Loading Websites

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 11:18:28 GMT

In the interest of forcing website owners to pickup their game, Google is getting ready to display a pre-warning that your website sucks.

On the Chromium blog yesterday , Google made it abundantly clear that speed is a big issue and they're about to force peoples hand when it comes to slow loading websites. Chromium is the underlying open source code that powers popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera, Brave and very soon Microsoft Edge plus numerous others.

Not long ago, they introduced the wording "Not Secure" in the address bar for websites that weren't encrypting the traffic with https and many website owners soon scrambled to have their site secure. We can expect the same sort of scrambling to happen when they flick the switch on this too.

You can see in the pictures above the plan is to show a splash page of sorts whilst the site presumably loads in the background, calling out that the site usually loads slowly, vs the Google example with the green bar near the top indicating a faster loading site and obviously loading the page without the need of a splash pre-loader.

Whilst there's no indication as to when this is likely to happen, you can bet you boots it will happen. With tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to keep an eye on your speed, they'll be utilising the same technology to warn potential users of your sites load speed.

These updates will no doubt have many web designers panicking as it is notoriously common for many to use shared hosting in order to minimise their outlay. Unfortunately the trade off is slow loading websites, combined with a WordPress site full of plugins all loading code unnecessarily.

In a separate blog on the same day they also called out the use of Progressive Web Apps as being the future of the internet, becoming more evolved and listing them on the Play Store along with the Microsoft and Galaxy stores.

What do I need to do to speed up my site?

The good news is, Irez Enterprise clients are already on the front foot. We don't use shared hosting, we don;t use Wordpress or any other open source content management system (CMS) for that matter, and all your code and images are optimised already.

If you do have one of the other shortfalls, the good news is, you likely still have time to optimise your code & images and upgrade to decent hosting.

Floating Buttons - Increasing Conversions with Buttons that Stick

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 05:49:29 GMT

Keeping the most important element on your site front and centre with floating buttons.

This new option, available currently in the Button widget, enables you to ensure that the call-to-action is visible at all times, even when visitors scroll down a page.

Buttons that encourage visitors to Contact Us, Get a Quote, Register Now or any other action you want your site visitors to take can be fixed, visible and clickable on all site pages, regardless of where users scroll.

This way, you’ll keep site visitors focused on what matters most to your customers thereby increasing conversions from the website.

Some floating button suggestions

The floating button will appear on every page of the site.
Its size and position can be customised per device.
When setting the button for mobile, I suggest placing it a bottom corner of the screen, so visitors can click easily with one hand.
If you’d like to display an icon rather than text, choose the appropriate layout.

I'm working on making more floating widgets, and will let you know as soon as they’re ready.

No One GAF About Your Logo

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 05:24:23 GMT

One of the most recognisable elements of your business, is a waste of space on your website.

As a designer, it is my job to help guide the direction, layout and ease of use of your website. This is always a balance between the business owners desire and what's best for user experience.

One of the most common requests from small business owners is to make their logo bigger and more prominent on the website. To which I of course ask: "why?"

I do understand the desire to show off your brand and brand identity is of course a major part of any growing business. The reason I ask why though is to see if for some magical reason there is a valid answer as to why you should have a monster big logo on your site. In 20 plus years of website design, I am yet to hear a valid reason, but I continue to remain open minded.

Real estate on a web page is extremely limited, and a vast majority of my clients are in the business of selling something. Whether that be a service or product, it's irrelevant, as they are not selling their logo. As such I do not recommend taking up chunks of space on your site with something that does nothing other than bolster your own ego or perhaps expenditure on your graphic design purchase.

Logos are indeed a very recognisable feature of any business but they aren't the meat and potatoes of what keeps your bank balance topping up every month. Think about the Ghostbusters movie logo above, whilst it is recognisable by a large percentage of the world, it doesn't make up what is the actual content of the movie. Have you ever heard anyone walk out of the cinema and say :OMG that was the most amazing logo of any movie ever!". Or were they talking about the movie content itself. Your business in simple terms is no different. It is you and the quality of your service that sells and it is what clients are coming to buy.

How to maximise the effect of your logo without becoming overbearing

Some ideas to have the best of both worlds:

Fix your header - you can make your header on your site that typically includes your logo and navigation 'sticky', so that even when scrolling it remains on the top.
Go one step further and "shrink" your header and logo on scroll so that is still there, yet not in the way
Include a logo in the footer - a similarly small logo in the footer also assists, particularly useful if you have a horizontal and vertical version allowing you to display both on the same page.
Include your logo on all stationary - business cards is a no brainer but also on your invoices, memos or your email signature.
Signage on your vehicle - whether it be a simple magnetic banner or proper vinyl signage, your car is often a better place to have minimal text and maximum pic.

So don't be afraid, or offended even that no one gives a flop about your logo. Just remember that they're here for you and your service, not for the amount of time, money or effort you spent on your brand identity.

Improving & Maintaining Your Google Rank

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 01:53:13 GMT

Is your site a fading old billboard everyone ignores or a beacon of light amongst the fog?

Any business owner with an email address is inevitably bombarded week in week out with emails claiming to improve or renovate their website, boost the SEO rankings, or, even get you to number 1 one Google. The latter which should always be taken with a grain of salt. Many of which look dubious enough as is, but is there any truth to the claims made in their emails? Most of them are fairly generic in nature with a mix of some seemingly alarming claims, whether they be true or not depends very much on your activity on your own website.

What do I do to rank better with Google?

That's the million dollar question! There's no one specific answer but what we do know has been worked out through a mix of what Google have told us about updates, and what the specialist SEO companies have worked out through analysis of millions of websites.

Ever since 2011, the majority of major updates to the Google algorithm have been predominantly content related . That is, over time, filtering out crappy irrelevant keyword stuffed content, and encouraging knowledge over sales.

Remember to EAT your content

The general consensus is to inform first and sell second . Any business should take note of one of the most recent updates labelled the Medic Update where in any page (in this case medical sites) heavy in advertising and sales will be relegated over those that focus on quality content and service. A safe bet is to EAT it.

E xpertise - Create content that highlights your knowledge of the industry, inform all people, not just sell to people,
A uthority - By becoming the go-to resource for info in your field will be invaluable when it comes to generating backlinks to your site.
T rustworthiness - Earn consumer confidence in your brand with quality content, sound business practices and positive digital word of mouth.

Speed

With not 1 but 2 Google ranking updates in 2018 related to ranking your website based on how quickly it loads. It's a safe bet that this is a huge and recent factor in how well your site is going to be ranked.

50% of visitors will abandon a page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

Many CMS sites like Wordpress will simply load all the code, CSS & Javascript all the time on every page. This is not ideal when it comes to loading website pages efficiently.

Remove excessive code
Compress files
remove render-blocking Javascript
Optimise images to load only the relevant size for the relevant device

The problem with speed is that the goal posts will and already have, continually move to inevitably make it harder to maintain. This means updating behind the scenes will be necessary to avoid getting left behind.

Whilst less than 3 seconds is preferenced now, it doesn't seem all that long ago I was loading text based sites only on my Commodore 64, going to the fridge and coming back to wait for the whole page to load. As tech continues to increase in both internet speeds and web site technologies, Google will continue to place more and more stringent requirements on your site.

Security

Back in 2014 https became a ranking signal on Google and then 4 years later they start marking any sites not utilising SSL security as "Not Secure"
We automatically include SSL on all Irez sites as standard as a big fat 'Not Secure' in the address bar doesn't exude confidence to any potential client.

Mobile Friendliness

Ever since 2015, mobile friendly sites have received rankings boosts. Many companies built purpose built mobile sites as both desktop and mobile were ranked separately. Since then, the rankings have been combined to make no differences between the 2. Desktop and mobile are ranked together, meaning a standalone site is of no use to your overall rankings,

In combination with speed as above, mobile needs to load only the relevant code and images optimised for mobile sized screens.

Local Search Rankings

A more recent growth field has been in the local SEO area, wherein as well as all other points above there are 3 local factors that come into play when it comes to determining your ranking.

Distance from centre of search
Organic rankings
Reviews

Now the distance factor can be difficult when you work a small business from home and don't wish to publicise your home address. As part of Google My Business you can define a 'service area', however this is unlikely to be as effective as a physical address.

Should I Upload Videos To YouTube?

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 10:13:43 GMT

Is it worth your time posting to YouTube or just Facebook?

The short answer is, unequivocally YES!

Here's some stats that explain why:

YouTube is the 2nd biggest social network in the world with 1.9 billion users logged in every month
2nd most popular search engine in the world behind Google
On average there are around 1 billion mobile views per day
Over half of YouTube's users will use it to learn something new
YouTube is the 2nd most visited site , again behind only Google.

But Facebook has more users

Sure, when standing around the water cooler, everyone talks about what they saw on Facebook last night, but are they the audience you're chasing? Maybe, probably not. How many likes does your Facebook page have, that's your primary audience right there plus some shares of your content. Even then you're still at the whim of what the Facebook algorithm wants to show you. Now compare that to your search audience on Google Search which includes YouTube videos or simply the YouTube audience alone.

Sure you're still at the whim of Search Engine Ranking, but at least you have the audience, now it's just up to you to create the content worth watching.

Now all this may seem like i'm not a fan of Facebook, privacy concerns aside, not true. However I certainly wouldn't utilise it as a primary video platform. If anything, for video, you'd be better off on Instagram than actual Facebook.

Which social network is the best?

There's no one sure fire winner for any business to utilise overall. In fact any successful business growth strategy will include a combination of website plus a selection of social networks. It's not necessary to be on all of them, but you should be utilising the big guns. That is Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. This may vary depending on your niche or service and you may find Snapchat is more your audience, Pinterest or even LinkedIn.

The trick is finding out what works best for you, but if you haven't tried them all, you may never realise your full potential.

Improved Social Icon Widget - Whatsapp, GMB & Waze

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 09:10:44 GMT

Social networks are evolving and data shows more people are using a wider variety to suit their niche.

People love to hate social networks, and quite often for good reason. The reality of the situation as a business owner is that they are definitely a necessary evil. Up until recently the social widget has been limited to a few of the big guns, but now with the massive growth of Whatsapp around the world and Google rapidly expanding the potential of Google My Business (GMB), it was time for a little update.

The widget also got a face lift with some design tweaks for social medias like Instagram’s stunning gradient, YouTube’s distinct red, and LinkedIn’s new font.

Google My Business (GMB)

I'm fairly persistent that GMB is THE place you have to be when it comes to social networks. If you only get to pick one, GMB is my pick for it. Yeah Facebook has plenty of people signed up but Google has over 90% market share in search and a whopping 2 trillion searches every year.

This powerful platform enables consumers to search for businesses and services via Google Search and Maps. It’s a great tool for helping businesses be discovered and boost their local SEO.

SMS/MMS is dead yo! Well at least until RCS replaces it in it's current form. WhatsApp allows you and your clients to communicate from your phone, receive files & documents along with pics in their full, instead of compressed like MMS does. With it's huge popularity around the world and simple unobtrusive interface, it makes sense to be on board. You can even have a dedicated business WhatsApp account that differs slightly. Be sure to say g'day on the Irez WhatsApp account

Waze

Make it easier for site visitors to reach your client’s brick-and-mortar location quickly with Waze, the community-driven GPS and navigation app that helps people reach their destination as quickly as possible.

Benefits of adding links to social media accounts to your sites

Social media is hugely important today, and companies who maintain social media accounts should link them to their websites.
Here are some reasons why:

Easier to stay in touch. Site visitors are more likely to follow a company on Facebook or Instagram than they are to sign up for a newsletter. So, adding social media icons gives an additional way for business to communicate with site visitors after they leave a site.

Authenticity. Social media can give site visitors the feeling that a company is dynamic and authentic. While an Our Story page on the site may tell a company’s initial story, links to active social media accounts enable the story to continue.

Multiple channels, one central location. Websites are a great place for gathering all social media channels in one spot. Think of your website as a transit hub for visitors who can then move onwards in the manner that's most convenient for them.

Sharing Your Blog To Facebook

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:55:18 GMT

Quick tutorial on sharing a blog back to your social networks

Sharing is caring as they say and with your blog it's super easy to spread the word once it's live on your website.

Watch this video tutorial for a quick how-to on sharing back to Facebook, Linkedin, email, Twitter and Whatsapp from your website blog.

New Widget Released - Tables

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 12:10:18 GMT

We can finally stop using the HTML widget to add tables

I know a number of my clients have been plodding along adding in HTML widgets in order to create tables. This solution has always been temporary, ultimately with the table widget now, no more messing about!

It's even responsive in a variety of ways!

Easy Setup

Adding a Table Widget is no different to any other site widget and adding in the details is straight forward. You can even upload a CSV file with your data.

As no table data is created we have a couple of options to choose from for your mobile layout:

Scroll is perfect for big tables with plenty of columns
Squish is great for those with just 2 or 3 columns
Collapse is best if you have few rows and would like the display to go horizontally instead

Google My Business is your ticket to business on Google

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 07:56:17 GMT

GMB is getting beefier with more features all business owners need to be in front of.

Google My Business (GMB)has been around for sometime as Google's way to better collect your business details such as name, address, phone number, website, opening hours etc. It has since expanded with more features that will only add benefit to your customers and as a result your business. It's integrated with Google Maps & Google Search to better share your information no matter where your clients are looking.

You can add your own business updates, pictures and events directly to a Google feed.

Now your clients can leave reviews and ask questions about your business directly from a short url such as g.page/irezau

Top 3 reasons you need Google My Business

1. Better Search Results

As mentioned above you can post numerous details directly to a feed that is designed to appear in Google Search directly. Let me say that again. Your GMB feed appears directly in Google Search. With all the hoo har hustle and bustle of companies doing whatever they can spending big bucks on SEO and yet here is a free tool to inject data directly. This one point should be more than enough to convince you, but lets point out a few other things.

2. Get into the map pack, local pack, 3 pack

It doesn't matter what you want to call it, it's the first 3 businesses you see when you search in Google. This is the map area known as Local Search and is actually a separate entity to Google Search. Appearing first in both Local & Google Search is the holy grail for SEO.
Nearly half of all searches are for local services, so appearing in the top 3 here can still give you a huge boost even if you aren't appearing on the front page for search.

3. It's still new, but moving ahead quickly

There's no denying Google is pushing ahead and integrating new features into GMB to make it more and more dominant. In a nutshell, if you haven't already included it as part of your daily social workflow, one of your competitors has and inevitably moving ahead as a result. The reality is, you just can't afford not to be active on GMB.

Now Accepting Bitcoin For Website Design

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 23:57:18 GMT

If you're a crypto fan or after a great deal, why not pay in Bitcoin!?

For a long time now i've been a fan of bitcoin. I can see the potential it has in the ever growing digital world. Most people will have only become familiar with it over the course of the last 12 months or so when it started to skyrocket in value.

Whilst it's future remains unclear, one thing is for sure and that is, it's here to stay. Just like any other currency, its value can be traded for goods or services. So if you've been "hodl"ing on to your Bitcoin wondering what to do with it, why not upgrade your website today and NEVER PAY HOSTING OR SSL AGAIN on this limited lifetime deal.

Have a new website designed and paid for with bitcoin

As an introductory off i'll be offering a one time payment in bitcoin for life of the website. Here's a take on what you get:

Lifetime website - pay only once
Lifetime core updates
Lifetime widget updates
Lifetime new features added
Lifetime access to support documentation
Lifetime SSL Certificate
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited storage
Mobile responsive
Easy edit website
Easy add blogging
Website creation max 5 pages (add as many as you like yourself)
About page
Contact page with form
Up to 10 items for sale
Connect all your social media
Progressive Web App
Easy Analytics
12 months personal support

What happens next?

Getting started is easy simply:

Get in contact to get the most current BTC cost - currently ~0.15BTC 26/6
Fill in the easy form with some details for your site - can use existing site info
Update domain name to new website (we can do this for you!)

Easy peasy!!

Time to live is approximately 2 weeks from start to finish and you never have to pay hosting or SSL certificate ever again for the fastest and easy to use website your small business could ever hope for.

Contact today https://www.irez.cc/contact

Quick Access Update

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:39:51 GMT

Newest back end update for Irez websites

Latest update for those with full access to their backend website, nice and easy to find and add new items or even navigate around your site.

Ctrl K is key

When in your edit screen you can simply hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K and it will bring up the search dialog where you can just start typing what you need or where you need to go.
Want to switch to a different page, just hit Ctrl K and start typing the page name, add an image, add text, add heading, seo of the page and heaps more.

Keyboard shortcuts have long been the key time savers for virtually any software, so this is one that will just help shave a few more valuable minutes out of your day that you can spend on your business or with family, instead of on the website.

I know it helps me massively when creating new sites!

More time saving and feature updates to come. Stay tuned!

Edge to Edge Display On Mobile

Wed, 29 May 2019 01:59:34 GMT

Phones with edge to edge display are sorted on all Irez Enterprise websites

The edge to edge display of more modern smartphones is handled with the mobile versions of our sites by pushing the display to the edge instead of the default side bars many sites will experience.
This ensures your site is displayed utilising all maximum available real estate available based on the device used.
Your images and output are optimised to match the viewport regardless of whether it's an iPhone X or other edge to edge screen seen on many newer Android models.

Nothing for you to do

As with any Irez sites, this all happens for you automatically behind the scenes so there is nothing special for you to do, just know your site is displayed perfectly, no matter the screen size.

6 Steps To Write An Effective Blog Post

Sat, 18 May 2019 03:54:55 GMT

How to write a blog that will help you and your clients

If you're a small business, your most effective way to help keep your website relevant is with a blog. All Irez websites have a very easy to use blog system that includes all the goodies you need. If you think you haven't got time for a blog, you're wrong! What you're effectively saying is, I don't want to use the most cost effective tool I have at my fingertips to grow my business.

OK, so a little brutal truth out of the way, that's all well and good to say, but what do you write about and what's the best way to put it? Here's 6 steps to help nut it all out.

1. Who are you writing for?

Know your audience, who are you writing to? It's your business niche and as a result you should already know who your audience is. Take one step back and think to yourself, if you were your own client, what information would you find valuable? Use any tools you have available like your Google Analytics or Irez SEO pack to know what people are searching for, looking for or better yet what are your direct competitors doing that you aren't?

What information are they seeking that you can provide your valuable wisdom on.

2. Write a solid headline

The headline is the first thing that entices people to read the rest of your blog. This is why it's crucial to get this part right.

We're shallow creatures and as much as every touts not to judge a book by it's cover, we still do and that's how clickbait became a thing in the first place. Obviously we are becoming more aware of 'baity' titles so keep that in mind with your balanced yet informative title.

Again the trick is to then not make the title too long, no more than 9 or 10 words.

3. Break up the page with formatting.

You've got your audience reading, don't lose them with a constant stream of text. Break up the page with subheadings and bullet points and pictures. These all help make the reading experience that much easier. For example, summarise where we're at so far:

Plan your content for your audience,
Nail the headline to draw them in,
Make it easy to read.

How are we doing so far.. Ready for the last few steps?

4. Optimise your content for search

At the end of the day your blog has to suit 2 purposes:

Draw in and educate your audience
Help be found in Google Search

Both are self serving of each other. Your content must be informative enough for Google to warrant indexing it whilst the wording you use should also help it be found in search in the first place.

Optimising your search also includes adding alt tags to your images

5. Plan, draft, rewrite.

Use the tools most of us have to get started, whether that be Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or even a pen and paper. Once you're happy with what you have, place it into your blog. Even then reread it and remember point 1 - does it sounds like something you'd want to read or know if you were your own customer?

Don't be afraid to come back and edit your post, months or years down the track, it never hurts to update or amend as circumstance or information changes.

6. Post regularly

Regularly is a subjective term and may differ for each business, but whatever and whenever you decide to start blogging, decide how often you are going to do it and stick to it. Just like posting to your social networks regularly, you should also blog regularly, so if that's several times a week, once a week or even just once a month, ensure you stick to your schedule.

What is NAP & How Does It Help Local SEO?

Tue, 14 May 2019 08:31:16 GMT

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number

It's a simple abbreviation but can mean so much more and include more details than just those three things. It's how Google and other search engines will effectively 'profile' your business details. The accuracy of said data across various outlets on the web is critical to how "trustworthy" your business is.

Consistency Is Key for NAP Data

Part of that trustworthiness is how accurate and identical that data is on all directory listings. That is, it has to match EXACTLY on every detail. Even down to the case of your business name. For example, bad consistency would be Irez Enterprise, IREZ ENTERPRISE, IrezEnterprise or Irez Enterprise Web Design Central Coast.

All your social profiles, including phone numbers, address and opening hours must also be identical.

Best Way to Tell Google your NAP

First and most important part of your NAP data should be Google itself and can easily be added or updated via their free tool called Google My Business . GMB provides some fairly comprehensive details about your business and links it back to Google Maps also which further helps your Local SEO results. Whilst these details are obviously your first point of call, it's not the only place their search engine will look for your local business details.

Why Is NAP Important To My Business?

As mentioned, Google will reference this data as part of it's algorithm to rank you in their search. It will use a combination of profiles such as Facebook and LinkedIn as well as the many business directory listings there are across the web. It will validate this data to ensure you are a reputable and legitimate business. The more accurate your results, the more it will trust your business location and rank you better in Local Search results.

How Many Directories Should I List On?

There's no definitive answer here as each business will only be relevant in your appropriate niche and local area. There's obviously no point listing in the US directories when you're a business that operates in Australia only. That being said there are certainly many directories that operate world wide.

Listing NAP Sounds Like Hard Work and Time Consuming

It is! But it is also a vital part of your business ranking and no doubt if you've read this far you're serious about improving your rank. We do offer the ability to outsource the job, freeing up your time to focus on the business while we focus on consistent NAP listings in areas that are relevant to you. It's a simple one off cost and we even supply you with all the places we submit to on your behalf complete with some other details in your report.

Are App Stores on the way out?

Tue, 14 May 2019 02:57:14 GMT

Is the duopoly of the Apple App Store & Google Play coming to an end?

You're no doubt aware of the power the two tech giants Apple and Google have over the app ecosystem, combined with their ability to keep the users locked in to each "walled garden".

The problem of course is the costs involved in having an app can rapidly increase and for most small business a native app in each side is beyond the budgets of most small businesses. As a former app developer, I am more aware of this than many. The time involved and the increasing regulations from Apple make it harder and harder just to stay afloat.

That's why when putting together our new web design service the strength of the Progressive Web Application (PWA) had to come as a standard inclusion in all web design packages.

The PWA concept was initially developed by Apple long before the App Store concept and walled garden they breed came about and was promptly abandoned. Fortunately for us, other developers, including Google took up the concept seeing the full potential it can bring. Whilst Google still of course has their own Play Store, they saw the potential from an end user ease of use and of course greater search capabilities.

PWA Basics

You can read more about the details of Progressive Web Apps in this article.
In essence, a PWA allows the end user to install an app on to their phone without the need of either app store while still maintaining the functionality and convenience of an app. It adds an icon to the home screen or app drawer and can be uninstalled in just the same way.

Whilst there are still some short falls in the tech such as lack of camera ability, the functions that are missing are for the most part irrelevant for most small business use. Despite that, develop continues strongly and it is inevitable that it will only continue to grow over time.

Who's using PWA's?

There's already some big guns out there utilising the power of PWA such as Twitter, Tinder and Spotify, and more locally Harvey Norman also have a PWA. You may even have seen them around the web and not even realised. Android users in particular will from time to time see pop up notifications at the bottom of the screen asking to install the relevant app. This, in most cases, is a PWA installation prompt.

Apple has dragged the chain integrating the tech in to Safari so it is mostly Chrome users that will see these pop ups.

Facebook's latest design refresh also includes PWA tech setting the stage for future plans to release them in to the wild. Each of these companies publicly stating how PWA's assist with reducing overall development time and the resource impact on their end user devices.

Microsoft has also announced they will list PWA's in the Windows Store which would make them available on millions of devices instantly.

How does all this affect the app stores?

Whilst Google has the breadth to live without the huge income the Play Store brings and still rely on the search potential it brings to their database, Apple doesn't have such luxury.

Apple is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to PWA's as if they allow the tech, they effectively reduce a significant proportion of their income from the App Store. Yet if they don't implement it, they risk alienating and potentially losing customers due to PWA's increasing everywhere else on Android and Windows.

Whilst the end of app stores is unlikely to ever happen, their dominance will eventually diminish in favour of more open web technologies such as Progressive Web Apps, and the app store will simply become the home to more specialised apps.

In the mean time, all Irez clients can already begin utilising PWA's on their website allowing your clients to access your site even when offline.

What Is Local SEO?

Tue, 07 May 2019 12:30:25 GMT

There's a new term in town and it goes one better in terms of SEO

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is how you market your business online in the local environment at the exact time they are looking for your service. It can differ from some of the standard practices that are employed using traditional SEO and can sometimes be achieved quite easily.

What is a "Local Search"?

Local search differs from what most people refer to as just search but when you refine it down it's more informational search. That is when you're looking for information, whereas local search is looking for services 'near me' - ie find the best web designer near me. In other words, Google will use the location information of the person searching to find a business within their vicinity or local area. So they will preference results that appeal in this situation in their search engine results pages (SEPRS).

According to a Google presentation in October 2018 46% of searches have local intent

What are Local SERPs?

Typically when local search results are displayed you will see what;s referred to as the '3 pack' or 'local pack'. This is the block of 3 results with the map just above it.

See below the example for "electricians central coast"

Notice a few things here: Location, rating, open hours and phone number do not come from the website itself. Whilst Google does indeed check this information on your website to ensure it matches, all this information comes from the Google My Business profile for each business. GMB has become an essential part of your online strategy and should be preferred over any social network activity.

What is Google My Business?

Since closing down Google+, Google has doubled down on just how good, effective and popular Google Maps is by enhancing what used to be called Google Local and turning it into Google My Business (GMB). As the name suggests it's all about your business and what appears on Google, but can also do much more than that.

Not only is that information fed into Google Search, but also Google Maps and subsequently local search results. You can even post what is akin to status updates, events and offers that appear directly in search.

Your business information allows for a description of your business, the services you offer, replies to your reviews, and addition of pictures and video.

This business information is known as what's called a citation, and whilst your GMB profile is just one citation, albeit a very powerful one, there are many other places Australian businesses can gain citations such as the White and Yellow Pages, TrueLocal, Yelp and many others.

What are citations?

A citation is anywhere online your business NAPW (Name, Address, Phone, Website) information is listed together. Typically on online directories such as CC365 for the Central Coast NSW.

It is especially important to ensure all your citations across the web are identical.

How do I rank well in local search?

So that's all the basis of local SEO and local search, so how do you achieve quality results in this area? There are three main elements of ranking in local search:

Proximity: how close is your business to the person searching?
Relevance: how relevant to what's being searched is your business, products or services?
Prominence: what do other consumers say about your products and services?

Then you have to identify the key areas missing from your current status, the easiest way to do that is to head on over to our free tool and enter your business name. A report will be generated helping you see the key areas of improvement.

Simple Tips To Drastically Improve Your SEO

Wed, 01 May 2019 11:23:55 GMT

Gone are the days of just being 'found' on the internet, but it can still be relatively simple task to stay up to date.

Once upon a time you could just have a site that displayed what you do and that was enough. Now, more than ever, customers are more savvy, have less time, and you have a much larger market online to compete with. Whilst Google won't come out and tell us everything they look forward when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), they have given some fairly solid hints as to what they want when it comes to your website.

Site Speed - Number one on the list for good reason. Google provides just one tool to monitor the performance of your website and it revolves heavily around how quickly your site loads. Stats show that most website will lose half of their visitors to a slow loading website.
Typically many web designers use shared hosting servers which are inherently slow due purely to the many websites all sitting on one server. Other methods to speed up your site include compressing images, optimising CSS and Javascript and removing unnecessary page components. Wordpress sites often have a number of plugins that will load on every page regardless of whether they are needed or not.
Optimise for mobile - As at 2018, more traffic was visiting websites on mobile than any other device. Effectively surpassing desktop as the dominant device. Your website must be mobile friendly, without generating separate links specifically for mobile. That is, having a dedicated mobile site and a separate desktop site will no longer do you any favours.
Google will prioritise mobile sites for searches done on a mobile. Those that aren't optimised for mobile will be pushed lower in rank. Those that are optimised will then be ranked according to site load speed.
Content is king! I've written about the benefits of quality content on your website before and is the very reason we include a simple to use blog on every website we build. SEO is about knowledge and writing effectively about what you know and do in your business is a sure way to attract clients to your site. Providing high quality content in your field establishes your professionalism in the industry. Using keywords and search terms within your writing will only help to effectively increase your SEO further.
Gotta be social - Like them or hate them, social networks are an integral part of growing your business, and an effective presence on any applicable social sites can effectively help boost your SEO. There's no need to be on all of them but at least have a solid presence on the majors - Facebook, Instagram & Youtube. Twitter doesn't have a huge presence in Australia as it does in the US so consider it an alternative along with others such as Pinterest & Snapchat.
Create videos - Videos are a proven way of holding your audience and is valued by search results as a result. Google's bots can 'read' your videos so use the same effective quality content you do in point 3 for blogging as you do for video.
Get listed! For businesses it's not all about your website but also your web presence on other sites. Getting your business listed on directories across the internet will help generate more leads for your clients, more calls to your phone and enquiries in your inbox. Local SEO is a niche aspect of SEO in general that is fast becoming a dominant part of generating those leads for you. Feel free to use our free tool on this page to see how well your business scores overall.

That's pretty much all there is to it. Now i've heard business owners tell me this all sounds like a lot of work. They're right, in a way, it is more work added to an already very busy schedule, but it's what's necessary now a days and it's what your competition will be doing to get ahead of you. The truth is though it doesn't have to be hard, there are ways to make efficient use of your time. The reality is, if you're not doing it, your business could be at risk. Fill out the form below for a free obligation analysis of your site and how we can help you maximise your effectiveness.

Wordpress is the best for websites right?... right??

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 08:30:15 GMT

Wordpress powers a monster 32% of all websites on the web today

Wordpress powers 32% of the internet and has a whopping 50% - 60% of the global CMS market so it must be good right?
Well.. yes and no, let me explain. Yes in that it's open source which means you can freely download it to use at will. It also has 50,000+ plugins available to further expand on it's capabilities.

Don’t get me wrong, the platform is certainly powerful and flexible enough to build amazing websites — nobody is contending that. However, you don’t need a sledgehammer to tack down a nail and you don’t need a complicated open source CMS with 50,000+ options to create a 5-10 page small business website that converts customers.

However, much like the fact the vast majority of viruses are designed to target Windows computers, when it comes to the world of internet hacking the hackers often target Wordpress vulnerabilities first. The open source nature of Wordpress and it's plugins means that the code can be tested and abused by the nefarious at ease before deploying.

The open source community will certainly shut it down with patches and upgrades once it's been discovered, but who's applying those updates to your website? You? Do you know how, do you have the time? Maybe your developer, at your request and further cost to you. Maybe the upgrade then breaks one or more of your plugins that haven't been updated yet because the developer releases them for free and just hasn't had time yet. The issue can be compounding costing you both time and money and potentially lost revenue.

83% of all infected websites monitored by security service Sucuri were Wordpress sites in 2017. In fact they are cleaning Wordpress sites everyday from infected malware.

The problem is that many website developers just don't really know any better, Wordpress is all they know, but unless you're paying a solid monthly service fee, they likely aren't updating everything for you on the fly. This is how they keep your ongoing costs limited to some basic hosting, which could be your next issue.

Sometimes your hosting is the bigger problem

With Google placing greater and greater influence on how fast a site loads on end users device in order to determine part of your rank, sometimes even a decent site can be let down by the hosting it sits on.

Most developers will be using some kind of shared hosting that is incredibly cost effective at the cost of being shared with many other sites too. Wordpress sites out of the box are particularly optimised for ideal delivery.

Is your site going to be as user friendly as you desire?

Even the Co-Founder of Wordpress admits that user friendliness is a huge challenge for end users.

There is a myriad of "user friendly" DIY site builders out there such as Wix that help solve that particular problem but then again, that comes at a cost of good SEO and efficient code.

That's why all Irez sites use proprietary code specifically designed and optimised with the needs of today's search engine requirements. We don't see the point in spending good money on a site that is ultimately going to cost you more in the long run not only in upfront costs and repairs, but in missed revenue opportunities because your site isn't performing as well as your competitors. As a small business ourselves we understand the constraints of a tight budget may bring and that's why we have priced it in the sweet spot for other small businesses with the added benefit of ongoing support and a complete suite of easy to follow documentation.

See our pricing page for more information.

Content Marketing - what is it, how can it help?

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 01:26:44 GMT

The cheapest form of advertising is quite potentially also your most effective.

What is Content Marketing?

In its simplest form - as the name suggests, Content Marketing, is marketing using your content. That is, blog posts, video, podcasts, social media etc.
In this post we will focus on just a few of the relatively easy and effective methods for promoting your small business.

Why Do I Need Content Marketing?

Google is getting smarter everyday, and just having a website is no longer "good enough". Your site not only needs to relevant and remain relevant, but so does your whole brand. As a small business owner, anything you can do to help build your brand and business without consuming a lot of your time has to be good right?
Content is still king and you need to remember when creating new content a few things that Google loves:

Original content - copy pasting something from somewhere else on the internet will not help your SEO, in fact it will potentially harm your SEO
Make it informative - it has to be something a potential client or customer would actually search for. Just generating a blog that is no better than an advert won't help. Make it educating or entertaining, or both!
Deliver it promptly - Having great content is one thing, but if it isn't loading on your client side quickly and efficiently, it will be demoted by Google in favour of something that loads quicker. Ensure the server is up to speed, and all your images and code are optimised.

Blogging

As any of my clients know, a blog is included as part of your website package and for good reason, it's incredibly easy to utilise and add your own blogs on the fly. Hopefully your website allows you the same confidence and you should definitely be using it and regularly.

YOU'RE THE EXPERT

Remember, no one knows your business better than you. Share your wisdom and knowledge on the subject with the masses, and use what time you can spare to keep writing. You should aim for once a month at a minimum, 1 or 2 times a fortnight is ideal. Whatever your strategy, absolutely stick to it.

Use pictures in your blog, all Irez sites have access to 100's of thousands of stock images from anywhere within their site, including the blog.

Once you have your wonderful content, remember to share it on your socials and newsletter.

Video

On much the same lines as a blog, use video to educate and entertain your readers and listeners. Video is simply the visual version of a blog that allows you to utilise a faster absorption form of media. There are plenty of outlets for your video such as Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can even combine your video with your blog to get a best of both worlds.

Social Media

Use of social media is an important part of your website growth strategy and should form part of your overall growth both as a combination of your other content uses and a stand alone.

Use not only your video and blogs in your social media but create short content and images you can share independently of the others.

If you are posting to multiple social networks it is also just as important to keep the content to each unique for the same reasons in your blogging.

Analyse and Adapt

There's no such thing as a fixed strategy, and what works for you won't necessarily work for someone in a different industry, area or even time zone. Worse yet, what worked for you last month may not work next month.

Constant monitoring of your analytics is important to ensure you stay on the right path, don't be afraid to try new things, or old things that didn't work before. Keep it fluid and regular.

The Best Website Designer For Cheap

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 01:37:49 GMT

Who can build a website for me?

I see posts on Facebook all the time for recommendations on best website builder in Central Coast for cheap and it always irks me somewhat for a couple of reasons, the word cheap or just the implication of cheap, and the swash of poor comments that tend to follow.

Firstly. there's a few essentials that come with virtually any website:

Easy to use
Responsive, works on mobile
Found on Google.

What is a cheap website?

Cheap is of course subjective to the party involved. I recently had a friend who bought a new BMW for cheap, whilst I struggled to see the value in just how much they paid.

Often though, as the old adage says “you get what you pay for”, and in a world where you can get cheap cars, insurance, meals, or even a cheap date, it has never been more true. The problem of course, in this throw away society of ours, does cheap get the job done in a time efficient manner?

Or is being cheap upfront actually costing you more customers and time?

Is your business where you want to be cheap?

Why people will spend all amounts of money on stationary, one off adverts, fancy sign writing on the car and then skimp on their primary ongoing marketing tool, the website, is beyond me. With more businesses being found online now than anywhere else, it really should be the primary focus, especially if it's your primary income, or you would like it to be.

That being said, you can definitely be cost effective when building a site, and spending more doesn't always guarantee a solid result.

Get your website on page 1 of Google

Anyone that guarantees your website on page 1 of Google is full of ��
Quite simply, what they are guaranteeing is that by typing in your exact business name, usually also your domain name, that it will appear as the first result. To be honest, this can be achieved with virtually anything, it's not a huge achievement and it's certainly not helping you grow your business the way you think.

What you undoubtedly want is people to find you in search when they are typing in something related to your business and area as they may not have discovered yet just how wonderful your business is or know the name of it.

The best and most cost effective way to achieve this is through continual updates of the content on your website.

A website only works if you do

Content is king, that is one thing that only becomes more and more true as Google refines it's search algorithms. Would you rather spend your time adding valuable content or just propping it up. Usually this means effective blogging or articles, the problem now though is everyone knows this, it's not a secret. Google's solution is to prioritise the page that loads the fastest. A fast loading website comes down to efficient use of code and the speed of the server your site is hosted on, not how fast your new NBN broadband connection is.

Back to the Facebook recommendations though, let's break down the most common Facebook comments and options and how they fit what's best for you:

The free DIY website builder

There's of course the free website builders like Wix, which is a simple to use but comes with the drawbacks that free sites have like ads, no domain name or other limitations that just make you look unprofessional. You can of course pay to upgrade on a monthly basis but now you have a basic site that you're paying for on a monthly basis that still doesn't offer any effective speed enhancements. Let alone the ability to claim the GST portion.

The school leavers/ tech enthusiast

Then there's the recommendations for Timmy, Johnny or Jenny who built someone else's site that you've never heard of for cheap. Usually someone young that has done some basic web design course while they're at school, charges $900 but isn't really interested in the subject beyond initial payment and heaven forbid you have updates to do in the future. You still of course have your hosting to pay for which is typically the cheapest slowest option. Again, is cheap really where you want your business to be seen?

The website professional

3rd option we tend to see is of course some random website guy that's been building sites for years, has a respectable number of clients in his portfolio. This is a good start for your choice, but is it the best choice? Chances are he uses WordPress to build the site, as do over 30% percentage of websites on the internet, which is fine and familiar, but inherently slow and usually a common target for hackers. It also needs to be updated regularly along with the squadron of plugins the site may have which all increases the odds of your site breaking. You still have to pay for hosting with this option also, again typically the cheapest option available which will also be the slowest.

Whilst this option is the best of all 3, it's still going to cost you more in the long run.

"I'll start out cheap and then upgrade once business takes off"

That's like expecting your first rusty old bomb car to turn into a lamborghini just because you've had your licence a few years. It's just not how it works, and in today's environment with small business, it's your website that will very much be a major determining factor of how successful your business turns out. If your customers can't find you, they won't buy from you, it's as simple as that.

Surely there's a better alternative!

There is, and it's a best of both worlds situation, ticking all the necessary boxes plus a few more.

Easy to use
Super fast loading that Google loves
Effective SEO
Completely secure
Cost effective

So why isn't it as popular as the others?

Firstly, the technologies involved are fairly new. Especially the Progressive Web App inclusion, which I explain in more detail here .
Secondly, I am just one guy providing for his family. There is no giant marketing expenditure, no offshore processing team and no overextending my work load to the point my clients aren't serviced to full capacity.

My goal at Irez is to always be able to provide the full amount of service and information my clients need to run a successful business without you having to waste time and energy on the tech side of things.

See my pricing plans on just how cost effective a new website can be for you, spend time on the business, not on your website

If having a website that actually works for you in building your business is important to you then let me know in the comments or form below .

What Colours Are Trending Across The Web?

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 05:17:39 GMT

2019 is shaping up to be a somewhat vibrant world.

Colour trends come and go and the last 2 decades has seen things settle down quite considerably since the science of colour came into existence. That is since, we worked out what colours tend to evoke different emotions and instincts within humans.

Notice how every sale is full of red, for urgency and to stand out, blues tend to be more calming and relaxed etc.

Recently Shutterstock ran some clever computer algorithms across their most downloadable images to determine the colours that people are downloading the most across their network of stock images. It seems the 'hot' colours of the 80's are making a comeback.

UFO Green

Not that i've seen many UFO's let alone bright green ones, this is however the name associated with the HEX code #7FFF00.
This bright green evokes lush countrysides alongside whirling rows of binary code (a la The Matrix). It’s both natural and supernatural, with a name that reflects its otherworldly quality.

Plastic Pink

This hot pink harkens back to a certain iconic toy but carries a whole new intensity in meaning. A sizzling hue with lots of depth, it captures the electric glow of cities at night.

Proton Purple

Think buzzing neon signs, humming devices, vibrating phones. This vivid purple represents the palpable positive charge of our daily lives.

Local Favourites

Shutterstock even broke it down to those popular in various countries

You can see Australia has a passion for blue that is almost identical to our national flag. According to Wikipedia the official hex code for the Aussie flag is #00008B, and you can see below how close our favourite choice to that is.

Many of our websites are designed according to a few different colours and layouts taking into consideration a number of things such as your existing logo, your product or services, and the general aesthetic overall. Whilst I don't envision too many green, pink and purple sites any time soon, it's fun to see the colours used in many of the images available.

Remember, all Irez Enterprise sites come connected to Shutterstock for your image selections on the site and blog giving you access to thousands of free and premium pics at the click of a mouse. We then optimise the high res version 5 times to various sizes so as to load the exact right version based on the size of your users screen. This ensures optimal loading times, especially on mobile devices, helping maintain a strone Google Pagespeed rank

Best of Both Worlds For Central Coast Venues

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:54:05 GMT

Add your events to your website and CC365 at the same time

If you're a business venue on the Central Coast NSW then you've no doubt heard of CC365 . It has fast become the coasts most comprehensive list of what's on, events and a directory of things to do.
CC365 has achieved the social and web reach is that of something many larger businesses would die for in the local area.

Irez has developed the new website for CC365 using the same progressive web technology we use on all new sites.

Single Input, Multiple Output Events

The new CC365 event input allows us to spread those events to any new websites we build. This means that many of the tired under performing websites across the coast for clubs, businesses and other venues can not only get a shiny new website with unparalleled performance, but also have one location to enter their events and they appear on both websites simultaneously.

This presents exceptional value for money when you consider not only does your site become Google's new best friend, but your events get excellent exposure in 2 places at once, one of those the coasts most popular events website.

Are you ready to get the jump on the competition now?

From just $550 setup and then $55 a month inc GST there is no better time to get in contact

Real Estate Website Design

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 02:47:09 GMT

Perfect for small agencies or as a personal agent page

When it comes to advertising your listings, you of course have the obvious 2 behemoth real estate websites realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, but what about finding those clients to increase your listings?

This is where the importance of your own real estate website is more important than ever. Local search is fast becoming the most important niche aspect of any website design especially for small business that rely on the community around them as their clientele.

Google's most recent update to their search algorithm has placed great emphasis on speed. How quickly does your website load on both desktop and mobile?

Open this website to see what score your existing website gets, https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ it will open in a new page.

How did you do? Anything below 60 could be costing you money in lost business.

When it comes to local search, you need to have every trick you can get in your arsenal. That's why we developed a unique template designed especially for real estate. Built in code that will optimise your images based on the screen they load on, web app technology to load pages instantly when loaded on mobile phones, pages that respond directly to the screen size they load on.

Take a look at this template that we can customise to your liking for your listings or agencies portfolio
https://irez.pw/preview/5f6fdbea

What's more it's easy for you and your team to update in a flash from a PC or mobile.

If you're ready to boost your listings portfolio and appear more often in local search, get in contact today by booking a consultation below.

We're designing websites for real estate and more all including the Progressive Web Apps and lightening fast load times.

All from only $55/m plus one off setup fee of $550inc GST

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should...

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 03:23:48 GMT

Right from the horses mouth, what you should & shouldn't say to your web designer

Here it is, right from the horses mouth. What you should, and shouldn't ask of your web designer. Do they tell you how to operate your business? Can you respond to ALL your clients calls immediately?

Here are some examples of what to say, what not to say to your web developer.. and remember, just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

For many small business owners, your business is sort of like your baby. You gave birth to it. You helped it grow. You want to protect it, watch over it, and in some cases, control it. So, it’s easy to understand why many small business owners feel a little nervous when working with a web designer to create or redesign the face of their business — their website.

PUTTING THIS MUCH CONTROL OF YOUR BABY IN THE HANDS OF A NEW PERSON CAN BE DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY IF THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER HAS NEVER WORKED WITH A WEB DESIGNER BEFORE.

To help small business owners maneuver this uncharted territory, here are few phrases you should avoid when talking to a web designer. These communication tips will help you keep control over your business while giving your web designer enough direction and freedom to create a website you’ll love.

“I JUST DON’T LIKE IT.”

Designers are professional. They are used to taking feedback so don’t ever worry about saying that you dislike something. But if you don’t like something, figure out a way to articulate what you specifically dislike. Providing vague, ambiguous statements makes it difficult for the designer to resolve the problem. So the more specific you can be, the better.

What to say instead: “I don’t like the [specific element(s)].”

A specific element of the site might be any of the following:

colour scheme
layout
fonts
images/graphics
copy
special capabilities/integrations

It’s OK to dislike elements of your site in the initial rounds of design. Just keep in mind that your designer wants to create a website you’ll love, so openly discuss what doesn’t feel or look right.

“CAN YOU DO IT EXACTLY LIKE [COMPETITOR’S WEBSITE]? NO, I MEAN, EXACTLY LIKE IT?”

It’s OK to want to emulate a website that you admire. But never duplicate a site completely.

What to say instead: “I really like the [specific element(s)] of this site.”

Providing examples is a great way to get your web designer to see what you like. But remember this is just a starting point. Your website should never look exactly like another site.

“I DON’T CARE. JUST DO WHAT YOU THINK IS BEST.”

Now, this might sound like a dream request. But it’s actually a really scary thing to hear if you are a designer. That’s because clients rarely mean it when they say it. At the time, the client thinks they are being easy to work with, relaxed, and a dream client.

But this carefree attitude is usually short lived.

Without a clear initial direction, it’s difficult to align the expectations of the client and the designer, and it can result in something that needs to be completely revised later on.

What to say instead: “I’m not sure. Tell me what you think is best and then we can go from there.”

Don’t make significant strides in development or design without having some idea of what is to come. If you don’t know what you want, fine. Your web designer is there to provide advice and guidance. Just make sure they explain their idea before they run with it.

“CAN YOU MAKE THE LOGO BIGGER?”

Small business owners want their brand to be front and centre so this is a fairly common request. But plastering a big, giant logo on your website isn’t as good of an idea as you think.

Space on your website is limited and you don’t want to take up precious real estate (on every page) with an element that feels important to you but unimportant to your website visitors. They are there to find the information, not look at your logo.

What to say instead: Nothing (as long as the logo is clear and visible in the top left-hand corner of your website).

Yes, you want to have a logo to alert your visitors that they are in the right place and provide brand reinforcement. But that logo doesn’t need to be any larger than 100px in height. It’s a good design practice to use a smaller logo. (Don’t believe us? Take a few minutes to look at logos on your favourite websites.)

“SORRY, I HAVEN’T RESPONDED TO YOUR QUESTION IN [INSERT LONG TIME PERIOD HERE]. WE ARE STILL ON FOR THE SAME COMPLETION DATE RIGHT?”

A person from your business will need to be involved throughout the project to provide approval, answer questions, and offer details about the business. Make sure that person knows they need to respond in a timely fashion. Any delay in correspondence can put the project back and drastically impact a designer’s schedule.

What to say instead: “I realise I haven’t responded and that it might affect the project’s final completion date.” Or better, “Here is what you need when you need it.” :)

Designers usually have new projects lined up after yours. So if you continue to go silent when they need your feedback or approval, you should expect that it will push back your due date, sometimes significantly.

“I’M CALLING BECAUSE I HAVE SOME IDEAS ABOUT THE WEBSITE.”

Web designers certainly want and need to hear your ideas about your website. But it’s unlikely that they will be available at the exact moment your next big idea pops into your head.

Designers are usually working on multiple projects at a time so they rely heavily on their schedule. They set aside time for client meetings and actual design work so that they can put their full energy into the task at hand.

What to say instead: “Let’s schedule a time to talk. I’m free on [days and times you are free].”

When you want to talk to your designer, request a time to talk. Don’t text or call and expect them to be available to work on your website right then. It’s not personal. It’s just the way the business works best.

If it's something minor, pop it in an email and that way your designer can respond when they're free.

The most quality attention you will get from your web designer is during a designated meeting time when you can be sure your project is their primary focus (and no other clients will be calling to interrupt your meeting).

If you are a small business owner, your business is your baby and it needs love and attention to reach its full potential. So don’t let miscommunication get in the way while helping your business grow into its next phase. Use these communication tips to work with your web designer to create a website you will be proud of.

"MY BUSINESS WILL BRING YOURS GREAT EXPOSURE"

That's fantastic and any designer will certainly appreciate referral business, however expecting your costs to be subsidised as a result is an unrealistic expectation. We cannot pay our bills with exposure and we certainly wouldn't expect you too either. Nor are we venture capitalists and are not looking for a percentage of your yet to be established business.

If funds REALLY are that tight, you may need to work on your own budget a little better, remember this IS the front page of your business, the most exposure you will get will be from your website.

Or, potentially look at a payment plan where you can schedule the payments regularly with the developer. Even if it is over a longer period of time. Whilst your site may take a little longer, depending on your schedule, you'll be getting a better result than the cheap alternative.

and finally;

"CAN YOU ADD ALL THIS ON THE ONE PAGE"

We get it, you want to convey as much information as possible in the one instance. Whilst it is certainly possible, it isn't always the best idea.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

And then there are times that it just isn't possible at all.

We had a client that wanted every single item they sold all on the one page... All 500 of them but didn't want the page to scroll.

So after convincing finally that the scroll issue would be unavoidable, we also tried to advise the best course of action, if only for page load times, was to paginate and categorise the items, finally after much to and fro we showed them what it would look like with ALL items on one page, which prompted the response "It takes too long to load"...

Sometimes you just need to listen to your designer. We know it's your baby, but a good web designer will genuinely have your best interest at heart. It's your livelihood on display, but it is also ours ..

Top 5 Reasons To Secure Your Website With SSL

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 02:52:05 GMT

What sort of impact does not having SSL on your website create?

Whilst the difference between HTTP and HTTPS may on the surface simply look like one lousy letter, the effective difference can make a huge impact to the quality of your site in general.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS in its simplest form is a way to encrypt the data between the browser (your computer) and the server the website resides on. This exponentially reduces the risk of your information such as passwords or credit card data being intercepted by anyone in between.

1. Better Google Rankings

It's no secret that Google is king in the search world, and anywhere you can boost your sites performance with Google will inherently benefit you with other search engines also. Google has already announced that sites that have https with be favoured in their search results over similar sites that don't.

2. Improved Security

Google wants to ensure the best user experience overall, which is part of why point 1 is so important. Keeping things safe for your visitors and users of the website is better for everyone.

3. Browser Warnings

f you're on the internet enough, you will have noticed that browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Opera now give warnings to the user when visiting insecure sites.

Can you imagine how uneasy your clients will feel seeing this when visiting your site?

4. Increased Confidence

Whilst most users won't understand the complexities of HTTPS, they still feel more at ease seeing the green secure bar and data has shown are far more likely to continue signing up to your site, or making that ecom purchase, which leads us to the next point.

5. It's Essential eCommerce 101

Good luck convincing anyone to enter their credit card details without one. In fact external payment providers such as Stripe, will not work without it, and this is sales dollars just being thrown away.

Thankfully, all sites "Powered By Irez" come with SSL built in and is automatically updated for you. If you have a site that isn't secured, you can get your own SSL Certificate by visiting IREZ.NET or talk to us about updating your site

Is Your Website Secure?

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 01:39:35 GMT

Have you been noticing the insecure warning lately on many sites? Is your site one of them?

Google Chrome's latest update could render your site as "insecure". Two years ago they made a pledge to get the world on to a secure platform by naming and shaming sites that aren't encrypted.

How does this impact your business?

Web security has always been important and through the updated Chrome browser, Google aims to create a safer environment on the web. How? By flagging Not Secure websites. This could definitely have a negative impact on your business.

Customers will be weary about transacting on a website that’s unsafe. Google Chrome 68 will now flag websites as Not Secure if they’re not encrypted. With a Not Secure site, visitors, sales, sign ups, purchases and business could all drop.

Google will start prioritising websites that are secure to the top of search engine results page. Therefore, if you are not secure, you WILL take a significant hit to your results to the point your customers may never even get that far down the list.
It should be noted that Google Chrome is not the only browser enforcing this update. Firefox will also be introducing a similar concept. Between the 2 browsers alone, this represents a whopping 3 out of 4 of all your customers.

What is web encryption and how do I get it?

n basic terms, encryption is a way to make your and importantly your customer data secure from 'sniffers' and other malicious software especially common to public wifi but can also happen at home. It turns data from a human readable format to unreadable whilst in transmission. The process all happens seamlessly behind the scenes with the use of an SSL Certificate that needs to be obtained separately.

Fortunately all 'Powered by Irez' sites come with an SSL Certificate as part of your package and is always up to date. Having an up to date SSL Cert is just part of the daily battle in the interwebs these days. Ensuring your code/plugins/extension is also up to date and safe from harm also forms a vital part of ensuring your business expertise isn't wasted chasing your tail due to malicious attacks, or worse your customer data being stolen.

I'm not sure if my site is secure or up to date

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) there is now legal requirements for organisations to notify your customers of any potential breaches, the problem of course, is unless you have a solid understanding of your IT infrastructure you may not even realise how long it has been going on for until it's far too late and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has to intervene. This could lead to serious fines or worse closure of your business.

Contact us for a no obligation security check the health of your site and network. We've partnered with Google and Eset to help bring you the very best security options for your business.

Adding Progressive Web App To Your Phone

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 09:44:21 GMT

Android & Apple Procedure To Add Your App On Your PhoneAndroid & Apple Procedure To Add Your App On Your Phone

Every website "Powered by Irez Enterprise" comes with a Progressive Web App (PWA) . Not only is it super easy to use and update, it's included at no additional charge. You can add the app very simply depending on your mobile phone operating system. That is the process differs slightly on Apple as it does to Android.

Android

Despite Apple actually being the inventors of web apps, they are nowhere near as easy as Android to install.
Simply visit the desired web page Powered by Irez Enterprise on your phone in Google Chrome, Firefox, or Opera and toward the bottom of the screen will be a prompt to install it on your phone.

The app icon will appear in your app list just like any other app you install and will always contain the latest information from the website owner.

Apple

Apple doesn't allow the little pop up like Android and as such requires an extra step in order to install.

Simply visit the desired Powered By Irez Enterprise website in the Safari browser, look for the share icon (looks like a box with an up arrow), click/touch and select "Add To Homescreen". That's it!

Removing A PWA From Your Phone

Progressive Web Apps can be uninstalled using the same method as any other app on your phone.

What Is A Progressive Web App (PWA)

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 09:44:21 GMT

PWA's are the way of the future when it comes to integrating your site onto your clients phones.PWA's are the way of the future when it comes to integrating your site onto your clients phones.

A Progressive Web App (PWA) uses the latest technologies to combine the best of web and mobile apps. You can think of it as a website built using web technologies, but that acts and feels like an app. It works for every device and browser, no matter the OS or screen size. They are fully responsive and will therefore adapt to any form factor; whether you are using a tablet, mobile device or desktop computer, the PWA will look and work perfectly. And on top of that PWA’s evolve as the user engages with them and the app will keep improving regardless of the browser that is used. This means that whether a user is using the app with Chrome, Safari or any other browser, the PWA will continuously improve and it may also leverage features available on the user’s device and browser.

The app can easily be added to the home screen , just like a native app, the big advantage here being that a PWA doesn’t need to be installed.

As you might have experienced, when you have no internet connection, websites don’t work or are not displayed properly. One of the main features of a Progressive Web App is that it functions even when you are offline or working with an unstable connection. This is due to the script that runs in the background: a service worker. The purpose of this script is to cache content locally, allowing the app to be loaded almost instantly. Service Workers are scripts that run in the background in the user’s browser; essentially a JavaScript file that runs separately from the main browser thread, intercepting network requests and caching or retrieving resources from the cache.

Just like a normal app

PWA’s are designed to look and feel like mobile apps, while still having the full functionality of a website; including dynamic content and database access. The app shell structure separates parts of the app that are often constant (menu, header, layout of pages) from the content that is constantly being updated, reducing page requests and loading time. PWA’s imitate the navigation of native apps to offer app-like interactions. Your PWA will always be up to date thanks to the service workers, that not only store content for offline use, but also enable background syncs to download new data.

One of the bigger advantages of PWA’s is that because they are built on web pages, it is possible to use the power of search engines to index and distribute the application over search results. You can now apply SEO to your apps. They speed up the process of your app being indexed. By integrating the apps with your marketing strategy you’ll be indexed in Google much faster. Besides this PWA’s contain optimised content that has the same URL structure as a normal desktop site, eliminating the need for deep-linking into apps.

PWA’s bring a new set of tools to reach more potential users. When you want to share the applications, or a specific page in the apps, you can simply send the URL and this can be opened without being installed.

A Progressive Web App can be summarized by these 9 fundamental characteristics:

Progressive: works for every user and every browser. PWA’s evolve as the user engages with them, the app will keep improving no matter which browser is used.
Responsive: the layout of the app will adapt to any form factor: mobile, tablet, desktop and screen size
Connectivity independence: one of the main features of a Progressive Web App is that it functions even when you are offline or working with an unstable connection. The service worker script will cache content locally, allowing the app to be loaded almost instantly.
App-like: the app shell structure separates parts of the app that are often constant (menu, header, layout of pages) from the content that is constantly being updated, minimizing page requests. PWA’s imitate the navigation of native apps to offer app-like interactions.
Fresh: the app is alway up to date, thanks to Service Workers that not only store content for offline use, but also enable background syncs to download new data.
Discoverable: one of the bigger advantages of PWA’s is that because they are built on web pages, it is possible to use the power of search engines to index and distribute the application over search results. You can now apply SEO to your apps.
Linkable: PWA’s bring a new set of tools to reach more potential users. When you want to share the applications, or a specific page in the apps, you can simply send the URL and this can be opened without being installed.
Safe: because PWA’s are based on web pages, there are safety requirements they must meet.
Easily installed: the app can easily be added to the home screen, no app store is necessary.

We're excited to be bringing this tech to you, if you'd like to find out more simply drop us a line.