Category: Lead Generation

Free. I love that word. But, when I see it with plugins or WordPress themes, call me skeptical.

Consider automated image optimization plugins. Sure, the free tier of any of the popular plugins help to optimize images somewhat and, depending on your unique situation, may produce a worthwhile reduction in image size for your page. This can help improve website load times.

But, overall, my experience with free optimization has been disappointing: No granular image quality control. No image resizing. Oh, wait! We have all that right here! For $XX.99 per month. Forever!

Subscriptions, from what I’ve seen, seldom justify the cost per use for average websites in the long term. I’ve worked on countless Houston and Austin web design projects over the past decades. Quite often, a website requires a large number of image optimizations before it launches. Post-launch, most websites add or change images at a slow rate.

Some websites require frequent image uploads and changes, such as fashion blogs or photo gallery sites. For them, a subscription might be worth every penny. But, generally speaking, I’ve yet to find an economically feasible substitute for manually optimizing images for the typical WordPress web design. But that was before I ran into OptiMole.

About OptiMole and WebP

OptiMole uses a new image optimization technology called WebP. WebP images can be considerably smaller than other image formats without losing quality. You can learn more about WebP here.

Most modern computer browsers and mobile devices support WebP, and OptiMole falls back to your original image if it encounters a browser that won’t. 

OptiMole does not alter the images on your website. Instead, it serves replacement images to your visitors through its CDN (content delivery network). 

Sounds fantastic. Learning that made me extremely curious, I must say. So, I decided to create a simple test and write a blog post about the results.

Testing OptiMole

I created a page on a default WordPress installation. I added several large images to the page, far bigger than I’d probably ever need on a website, around 4000px wide. The largest sizes I usually use are less than half that.

(To avoid confusion due to srcset attribute being applied by WordPress, I inserted the images by manual coding rather than the media uploader.*)

I then installed the free OptiMole plugin and kept the default settings, i.e., enabled image replacement and letting OptiMole decide the best image size depending on the user’s browser. Under the Advanced settings, I left the quality slider alone. Still, it’s interesting that there is a quality slider available in the free version of the plugin. 

For testing, I decided to use Google’s PageSpeed Insights. PageSpeed Insights shows a detailed breakdown of images it detects are too big, and even makes recommendations with links to more in-depth explanations.

PageSpeed Insights is a great tool for working toward an SEO-friendly web design. The test results are clear and easy to understand, with many links to aid better understanding.

The Results

Google Page Speed Without OptiMole

Explanation: Google detected all the overly large images on the page, ranging in size from 100KB up to almost 2MB. Above and below the list, Google makes recommendations, including two WordPress-specific hints to consider.

The first, about using the media uploader, is correct. I deliberately did not use the Media Uploader for the test.* The other hint suggests using a plugin to help with the images. While I’m sure some may balk at using a plugin as a first line of defense, a plugin may be the most practical solution for many people in this situation.

With OptiMole (after waiting about 5 minutes)

Explanation: With OptiMole active on the site and providing it enough time to generate the replacement images, Google did not detect any overly large images. The only thing the tester complained about was not using the media uploader, as explained before.

Summary

I used oversized images (some as large as 4000px wide) to get a clear picture of what happens with OptiMole active. Without Optimole, the tester flagged all the images. With OptiMole active (and waiting a few minutes), the page passed the “Properly size images” audit, while using the free tier of the OptiMole plugin.

So, the next time I need to optimize a website full of bandwidth-killing images, will I use OptiMole and save myself 5-10 hours of work cleaning up the mess? Quite possibly. I have to consider each situation on its own, but I can see this plugin saving me much time and aggravation.

It’s important to note that OptiMole’s free plan includes 5000 unique visitors to your website per month. Learn more about OptiMole’s pricing tiers here.

I also see OptiMole as a great temporary solution. I don’t want to leave a library full of too-large images on someone’s website. Ideally, every image should be the right size for its use and not require plugin assistance. But with OptiMole, images can be safely corrected in the background. Your customers aren’t waiting for slow pages to load while I apply the permanent solution.

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*The Media Uploader automatically adds the “srcset” attribute to images, which results in a group of images in varying sizes that display depending on the size of the user’s browser. For this test, I needed to see what happens with OptiMole doing that on its own.

Many of our customers use MailChimp for their marketing email campaigns. MailChimp is a terrific product with excellent deliverability and a plethora of useful features, including pre-designed layouts and fully developed, colorful themes. You can create an effective email campaign without knowing a line of code — just drag and drop content blocks and upload images. Done.

But, if you don’t know a line of code, you may find it hard to send the perfectly-tailored message to your subscribers. One of Marion’s services for email marketing in Austin and Houston is custom email design. We design your email, convert it to HTML, then send your unique campaign using MailChimp’s  “Code Your Own” feature.

Well, unless you’re using the free MailChimp account, that is. Cue sad music.

MailChimp Custom HTML Workarounds

I recently had a Houston email marketing assignment to convert a customer-approved email mockup from Photoshop into HTML, then use the customer’s free MailChimp account to send the campaign. But, it turns out, I would not be able to write the HTML and paste it into a Code Your Own template. Because, in the free MailChimp account, you only have access to some of the layouts and themes and no access to the Code Your Own environment at all.

I used the modifier “customer-approved” in the previous sentence for a reason. It would be tough to go back to a client at this point and say we can’t deliver as promised. They’re expecting us to send the design he paid for through MailChimp. Tomorrow.

I nervously considered options. Of course, it was due the next day, because … life. (Cue tense music, probably with a high sustained violin and repetitive synth base slowly increasing in volume.)

The mockup included a three-column section that needed to stack vertically on mobile devices and a couple of other design features not similar to any content blocks in the MailChimp layouts. I looked at the available templates to see if any were even close to the mockup. Other than the logo at the top, none were a good match. Several rows deep in the layouts are some three-column designs, but they may as well be on Jupiter because they are for paying customers only.

Using the Code Block

I was somewhat relieved to find the layouts I could access include the Code Block:

The Code Block lets you drag a section of HTML into your email to display content not otherwise possible with the other blocks. For example, you may need to show an image edge-to-edge in your email, i.e., “Flat Design” style. You can’t do that with the Image block, it will always add space around your images. But with the Code Block, you control all the display parameters.

Cue Happier Music: Sorry to ruin the suspense, but I tamed this beastie with a free MailChimp layout. Here’s how I did it:

I like to start with the hardest problem first: The three-column responsive section. I already knew that MailChimp has some code you can re-use for this purpose, available in its support section.  The only problem is the MailChimp code shows a two-column layout. Would it also render three columns?

I knew I’d feel a lot better about the whole thing if that one piece fell into place. I copied the HTML and CSS from the Responsive Columns how-to and opened it in my code editor. The two-column version used a percentage width (50%) on the columns. So, I copied the middle column and pasted it into the code where it should go, then changed the widths to 33%.

So far, so good, I could now see three columns with nothing broken or displaying weirdly. I could also see that the images used in the tutorial were set to fixed widths, which made the columns too wide for the message. Changing those image widths to 100% (so they would fill their containers and not exceed them) did the trick, everything fit.

To test it, I pasted my code into the Code Block, then used the built-in MailChimp previewer to see if the columns stacked on mobile device widths. All looked good there, so I sent it to my email and was relieved to see the three-column section behaving responsively in an actual email.

Finishing Up Your Mailchimp Custom Email

The top of the mockup was a Flat Design consisting of borderless images next to colored boxes of text with no space between anything. Code Block to the rescue again! This is much simpler than responsive columns.

Upload your images to the MailChimp library and copy the source URL. The code block itself provides some sample code for images and text. The only “gotcha” is making sure your image is already sized to the right width for the layout. MailChimp layouts are 600 pixels wide. Even though a larger image scales to fit the width in your previews, it may exceed the width of the layout in email clients, leading to all sorts of problems.

All that was left was another two-column section above the three-column section. This was not a pair of 50% columns. I revised the percentages to match the mockup.  Easy. The same code I borrowed from the support section worked correctly.

Details

Having big problems resolved reduced my stress. Of course, there are a hundred details in any beautiful design, including fonts, text size, line-height, colors, links, buttons, and so on. MailChimp has adequate tools for getting the details right, even in the free account.

I love the Code Block. Just … please …………. stay free.

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What marketers can learn from the drink’s massive success

It’s that time of year again — soon, there will be a fresh crisp in the air and the leaves will begin to turn bright orange. It’s time to pull out your sweaters and scarves and RUN to your nearest Starbucks. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is back, everyone!

Starbucks started selling the Pumpkin Spice Latte on August 27^th this year, the earliest launch date ever. The Pumpkin Spice Latte (lovingly known as PSL) celebrates its 16th birthday this year, and consumers are more obsessed than ever.

The latte’s unrivaled success over the years has led many companies to jump on the pumpkin spice bandwagon. Today, we have Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Cheerios, cough drops. There’s even pumpkin spice toothpaste and newly-released Pumpkin Spice SPAM.

Since its inception, over 350 million Pumpkin Spice Lattes have been sold, and the PSL is now the most popular seasonal drink of all time. So just what can the beloved PSL teach marketers?

Today, we’ll explore some of the drink’s spicy tactics on its journey to become everyone’s favorite fall beverage.

The power of customer engagement

The PSL has shown marketers the importance of customer interaction. Starbucks has done an unparalleled job engaging an online community of people who just can’t get enough pumpkin spice.

The PSL is possibly Starbucks’ most viral drink, with other Starbucks offerings, such as the unicorn frap, trying unsuccessfully to unseat it. In fact, in 2016, pictures of the specific PSL drink on Instagram shortly after launch received 493 percent more likes than photos tagged with just #Starbucks alone!

This year for the PSL launch, Starbucks generated hype on social media by creating an event for a Facebook Live session it called “First Day of Fall.” The company used this 2-hour long live video to announce the arrival of the PSL, and therefore, fall! Talk about successful social media campaigns.

For more tips about how to generate seasonal buzz with your Austin or Houston social media marketing, schedule a consultation with MARION today!

In fact, Starbucks’ whole campaign is centered around the idea that fall starts with the release of the PSL. It may seem like a bold move (especially since the drink was released almost 4 weeks before the real first day of fall) but that’s just how iconic the drink is. When Starbucks says it’s pumpkin spice season, it’s pumpkin spice season people!

Look at some of the social media hype they created below through live sessions, videos, and Instagram stickers. Starbucks even created a series of special PSL eGift Cards, telling users they could “give the gift of pumpkin spice.”

But social engagement doesn’t just stop there. In the comments section, Starbucks interacts with users bringing personality to the brand and continuing to nurture and communicate with their die-hard fan base.

The power of exclusivity

PSL’s success over the past 16 years is a strong example of just how powerful marketing exclusivity can be. One of the biggest catches of the Starbucks pumpkin spice hoopla is that it’s only offered once a year for a few precious months, and this limited-time window has contributed greatly to the drink’s fandom.

With the worry that the fall classic will soon be gone, millions of consumers flock to get their fix of PSL before it’s too late, or before Starbucks runs out of pumpkin spice (there was a huge fiasco in 2012 where they almost did!). The fear of missing out (FOMO) for PSL is so high that there’s even a website whose only purpose is to let people know when the drink becomes available. As PSL has clearly shown, exclusivity sells!

The power of providing an experience for your customers

When people drink a PSL, it’s not just another cup of coffee — it’s so much more. One sip sends back a rush of memories of autumns past. The feeling of fall takes over, as notes of cinnamon and nutmeg remind one of watching leaves change color, carving pumpkins and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. Heck, I want to throw on a flannel and go grab one right now just talking about it!

Starbucks fully knows the sentimentality the drink holds, and it markets to that. Starbucks is selling more than just a drink — it’s selling the entire fall experience, and it sells it well.

Image Source: https://bit.ly/2lTjcUU
Image Source: https://bit.ly/2meelO2

Every autumn, Starbucks not only stirs up all the aromas and flavors of pumpkin and spice in a tall, grande or venti cup, but it also reinforces them through its visual advertising as well, as shown in the images above. The company places its PSL cup within classic images of pumpkins, leaves and nostalgic autumn scenes to help announce that everyone’s favorite fall drink is back.

In many stores, the signature Starbucks chalkboards echo the colorful fall vibes the drink is famously associated with. Starbucks focuses on providing a cohesive image of the Pumpkin Spice Latte as the go-to taste of fall, and each year, consumers can’t help but show their neighborhood Starbucks some PSL love with their pocketbooks.

The Pumpkin Spice Late is truly one of a kind, and it seems like its cult following is here to stay. Welcome back, Pumpkin Spice Latte! We’re glad you’re here (if only for a limited time).

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Having the most advanced website anywhere, hosted on the fastest server on earth, amounts to nothing if you suddenly lose your domain. Without your domain, you can’t even post your phone number — at least not where someone will immediately find it.

Over time, a business will become more and more intricately tied to the domain used to identify the business online. The address is probably used in multiple places, including print as well as a multitude of inbound links. Losing your domain could be catastrophic for your business and your SEO.

Many people do not have a firm idea of what a domain is, so let’s cover the basics first.

What Is a Domain Name?

A domain is a word, such as “Marion.com”, that represents a set of numbers. Humans can remember words far more quickly than they can remember strings of numbers. But computers need more than words to find servers on the Internet.

Therefore, domains were invented to map words to IP addresses, which are merely strings of numbers used to identify servers. For example, instead of typing google.com into your browser’s address bar, you can enter 216.58.213.14 and it will still take you to Google’s website!

When you “register” a domain you have access to its numbers and therefore control various things like website hosting and email related to that domain.

How to Register a Domain Name

To obtain a domain, you must register it through a company that provides domain services. When registering your domain, you will specify the duration of the registration.

If the registration period expires without payment for a renewal, then the domain is up for grabs by anyone. The lapsed domain can be locked in a millisecond by programs whose sole purpose is to get that possibly expensive domain away from you. Once that happens, you might be forced to pay whatever the new registrant wants for it. This practice is also known as cybersquatting or domain hijacking.

How do I know this? It happened to me. One of my domains lapsed, possibly due to missing notification emails. When I tried to register it again, I discovered that the registrar now wanted $1600.00! That might not be much for a business to absorb, but for me, it was impossible.

Later, someone bought it and tried to sell it back to me. I could have bought it then, but the idea of paying a cybersquatter, someone attempting to profit from my misfortune, was unthinkable. I waited years but eventually caved when another squatter offered it to me for about 100 bucks.  

How to Get Your Domain Name Back – Legal Recourse

It’s expensive to hire a lawyer but might be necessary to untangle a domain mess. More legal protections are in place for victims of cybersquatting than existed at the time I lost my domain. But it is a situation you can avoid.

How to Prevent Your Domain Name from Being Taken

To prevent a disaster, be sure you take the following precautions:

• Do not let your domain expire. Register your domain for the longest amount of time possible. Keep a valid credit card on file at your registrar and enable the Auto Renew feature.
• Be sure the email address used for domain renewal notifications is working and available to you. The notification email address should not match the domain, because if you lose the domain, the email address will probably stop working. To clarify, if you register xyz.com, your notification email address must not be yourname@xyz.com.
• The contact information for your domain is public, by law. One of the first things a domain thief will do is try to locate the contact email address and hack into it. However, you can use a service that hides your information with an intermediary company while forwarding all contact requests to you. Most reputable domain sellers offer protection services for additional charges. There are independent companies that offer domain protection as well.
• Even after you’ve deployed domain protection, your previously visible information might be discoverable. So, it’s important to also change your domain contact email address to one not used before. The new email address should be a newly created account. Most modern email clients can be configured to download messages from multiple accounts.
• Know who your domain registrar is without needing to look it up.
• Know where your credentials are. You must be able to access your domain registrar or website hosting account on a moment’s notice, both for administering your domain and for other reasons. You might not be able to find your credentials. If you know who your domain registrar is, you can at least call the domain registrar to use other means of identifying yourself as the rightful owner of the domain.
  
  You may find that a secure password vault system such as Dashlane or LastPass to be helpful. A single account can be configured to work with all your devices and browsers. Countless times we’ve requested domain or admin access from a customer and received an untested user/pass to “something” dredged out of an assistant’s inbox in a panicked search.
• If you don’t remember who your domain registrar is, that information is public and available through WhoIs search.
• Be sure you are in control of your domain and not a contractor you hired to do the work of creating a website or information system. Very often, the contractor will register the domain with his or her information. In the event of a dispute, that person may decline to relinquish control of the domain.
• Make sure that the domain registrant must approve any changes to contact information.
• Use well-known registrars. Several large U.S. companies register domains. If you registered through a lesser company, consider transferring the domain to a firm with a strong reputation and 24/7 domain support.

Let MARION Keep Your Domain and Website Secure

The marketing strategists at our Houston digital marketing agency have experience with designing and hosting websites from countless industries. For custom web design in Houston or Austin, please contact MARION today to schedule a free consultation.