Vision Shift Design

Where sustainable meets beautiful

Website communication strategy

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Help Google (and Your Audience) Pay Attention to Your Website Images

Basic rules to add images to your WordPress website

There are some basic rules to follow when adding images to your website to increase the connection with search engines and get found online as well as to make your website accessible.

Similar to telephone switchboard lines, to communicate—online or off—the message needs to connect at both ends.

To help your images get attention, we’ll review the basic rules, including how and what to include when you add images in WordPress. Add the same information to your images if you are using another CMS to build and host your website or creating a static html site.

In WordPress, when you upload an image into your post or page, you have the opportunity to add—

[Read more…] about Help Google (and Your Audience) Pay Attention to Your Website Images

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5 Easy Tweaks to a Standout Website Design

We live in a noisy and over-saturated world, whether we choose to participate or not.

And some part of us yearns to stand out—to be memorable.

And while we might want to be memorable, for those of us who are shy or introverted, we’d rather have our website stand out for us.

Your website is your 24/7 connection vehicle. With a few simple tweaks, you can take advantage of its tireless ability to support your business and engage with your site reader, even while you are asleep.

Your online presence is like a puzzle

Your website design is one piece amid many that needs to fit into its spot to create the complete puzzle. When a piece is missing, you can hint at, though never really see the full image.

Your website design needs to be the anchor that [Read more…] about 5 Easy Tweaks to a Standout Website Design

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The ABC’s of What to Include in Your About Us Page

About us.

Who, exactly, is us?

You might think that the us of your about us page refers to—

  • yourself as the site owner
  • your staff, if you have any
  • your company history
  • and last, though never least, your company dog or cat

The Cambridge dictionary defines us as—

The person speaking with other people included

Us includes me and you

Us is an all-inclusive word that encompasses those nearby the speaker.

Now it might seem counter-intuitive to consider nearby when it comes to your website. [Read more…] about The ABC’s of What to Include in Your About Us Page

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How to Make your Sustainable Website Design your “Ideal Business Partner”

Ever wonder how you can make a great first impression when you “meet” someone new and you’re not even in the same place?

You’ve likely been taught that you only get to one chance to make a first impression.

And what if you don’t even know that you are meeting someone new? You might believe that makes creating a great first impression hard.

Or does it?

Because of today’s online world, you and your reader are likely to meet-‘n’-greet for the first time on your website. So your site needs to be designed to “put your best foot forward.”

Your ideal business partner

One way to view your website is as your 24/7, always-on business partner. Partnerships succeed when each partner brings their best skills to the collaboration.

As your business partner, does your website design and content authentically and comfortably represent your best self? [Read more…] about How to Make your Sustainable Website Design your “Ideal Business Partner”

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How a Pair of Saddle Shoes Helped Me Find My Unique Voice

You know the feeling don’t you?

The knot in your gut.

The lump in your throat.

Your heart pounding loudly in your chest and ears.

You slowly inch your hand skyward in an attempt to join the conversation and share your point of view. Your silent, or persistent, words swirling inside your head that you fear may not resonate with others.

And just as the voices of fear inside your head subside enough that your fingertips start to creep past your shoulder and become visible—the facilitator stops calling on raised hands and moves on to the next topic.

You’re flooded with a sense of relief—you dodged that vulnerability bullet one more time—which is rapidly followed by a barrage of negative self-talk and frustration. [Read more…] about How a Pair of Saddle Shoes Helped Me Find My Unique Voice

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7 Tips for How to Gain Confidence in Your Authority

A few select ways to help you rock your customer’s world

  1. Practice teaching
  2. Be vulnerable and humble
  3. Learn from mistakes
  4. Get feedback
  5. Create a minimum viable product (MVP) and test
  6. Collaborate with a partner
  7. Stay hungry…keep learning

1. Practice teaching

Find one person who wants to learn what you have to teach and teach them. [Read more…] about 7 Tips for How to Gain Confidence in Your Authority