Startle
Modify Shopify theme and custom styling code to enhance website sections allowing for more search engine optimised features.
Startle
Author: admin
Blog post from August 2024 regarding H1 tags
The first and biggest thing on your homepage should be utilised.
This is the line of text that is the main heading, usually the first thing after the ‘header section’ with the site navigation menu.
If you go to my home page you will see my heading is “Websites for Artists and Artisans” https://www.tombstevens.co.uk/
Saving it as a H1 tag in your page editor tells search engines that “this bit is the important heading”.
You should only have 1 H1 per page by the way.
Instead of “ABC Solutions Ltd established 1987” as your H1 heading use something that includes keywords for your services, e.g. “Graphic Designer in Coventry, Brand and Logo Specialist”.
JW Clark
JW Clark
The brief. Develop a website that the team can add content to easily in-house. With a contact form incorporating conditional logic.
The project. I developed the website on WordPress using only essential plugins, a total of 8, all from developers with a proven track record. The popular page builder, Elementor, is utilised to allow for easy modification of content by the client. The premium form plugin, Formidable, is used here for the conditional logic on the contact/new enquiry form.
“And just to say thanks again for everything. You’re maybe my 6th website developer in 15 years or so. All of this is what I’ve wanted for so many years, and we finally appear to have gotten to where I want to be! It’s much appreciated.”
John Clark, Owner, JW Clark Ltd.
Another Blog Post from October 2023 regarding Business Email
I used to have an IT support business. Then, and still to this day in fact, I get asked about email providers.
My answer is pretty much always the same: use Google unless you have a really good reason not to!They’ve had plenty of rebrands over the years, Google Apps, GSuite, Google Workspace. Throughout I have always recommended their service for small business email. Microsoft is a close second. They both are the industry leaders for good reason.
So, do I use Google for my business email? I don’t, haha. But I have an excuse. When I looked to switch to them I had already established many +alias addresses (e.g. tom+support@tombstevens.co.uk) which would automatically create subfolders in my imap email system, which I found really handy at one time. I’ve been gradually phasing these out and will one day switch over to Google, unless something big happens to change my mind. If that happens I’ll do a post about it. 🙂
Quick Blog post from October 2023 regarding phishing
I just saw a very convincing scam email, a phishing attempt.
So, my email today is a reminder to be super careful. Even the tech savvy can be duped, so don’t think it could Never Happen To You. If anything seems even a bit odd then don’t divulge your username and password!
Of course, having strong unique passwords for different things is also good practice.
Blog post from September 2023 Regarding the Rise of AI
In the last 10 months, the most talked about topic I’ve come across has to be the rise of AI and usually the conversations include a lot of talk about chatGPT. I often chime in to say I quite like Google Bard (edit: now Gemini) too, which is connected to the internet, so can do some things that chatGPT cannot.
Beyond these two big names there are a ton of new startups. Here is one that I think is well worth a look:
https://claude.ai/ (not connected to the internet)
– shout out to Lee Jackson who made me aware of this just a few days ago. –
You can create a free account and have a play. What I really like is the honesty – it doesn’t try to make up answers when it doesn’t know something! In it’s own words:
”When I don’t know something, I admit it. I don’t try to make up responses beyond my training.”
Another bot that I learned of this week is:
https://pi.ai/ (is connected to the internet)
– shout out to Stephen Church who made me aware of this one! –
This one has no problem with making up incorrect answers! It has a bubbly demeanour, and likes to spam emojis! 🤖 Could be one-to-watch as the world of bots continues to grow and improve!
Post from September 2023 regarding website energy usage
This year I’ve been hearing more people talking about the energy that websites use. Which is a welcome development. What’s not to like about lowing carbon emissions.
How might you lower your sites energy use without making it worse for the visitors coming to your site?
I think the easiest thing would be to reduce the filesize of images – so run them through some compression if you can. Shout out to tinypng for making that super easy.
Here is a website carbon calculator that I was introduced to recently by Roger Knight (AttractMore):
The info it gives is an estimate. I’ve tested a few sites on it, and I think it’s a useful tool. See what you think. 🙂
Daniel Paice
Daniel Paice
The brief. Create a website in the clients preferred platform: Wix. It needed to be a site that could be updated easily and collect all prior and future blog posts by Daniel.
The project. I got started by pulling colours from an image on Daniel’s prior blog and text from various sources including Daniel’s writing. With frequent conversations we ensured that all of the required content was in place and easily accessible on all devices. The final step was importing a back catalogue of blog posts from Daniel’s previous blogging platform.
“Tom is a fabulous Web Developer, and guy in general. He is communicative, passionate, and helpful. All the work was completed to a high standard, and promptly. What more could you want when your website is in need of a major overhaul? I highly, and emphatically, recommend Tom.”
Daniel Paice, Author and Poet
Level Seven
Management of DNS records to allow for email routing to Microsoft. Assistance with Microsoft email system. Hosting of the website on a fast and secure web server.
Tom has been providing IT support to us now for more than 4 years. He responds quickly to any request for help or guidance to any problem or challenge we ask of him which means we are never without the IT service we need to run our business. His expertise and friendly manner shine through in all our communications and I would have no hesitation in recommending Tom to any of our clients and contacts.
Dr Gill Stevens, Coach and Consultant, Level Seven
Attlefield Farm Machinery
Provide ongoing support for email accounts, website hosting and DNS management. Setting up new mail accounts and assisting with integration with email software. Moving the website to a fast and secure website hosting server. Associated DNS management for the domain name.
Tom has been looking after my domain, email and website hosting for many years. I greatly appreciate his friendly and professional manner, so would have no hesitation in recommending his services.
Henry White, Director, Attlefield Farm Machinery