Chris Mcintosh - Web Design | Photography | Videography

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I Fell For Pretty Theme Syndrome

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I did it. I allowed myself to fall into one of the traps I warn my customers against. I fell for pretty theme syndrome.

Let me break it down – what pretty theme syndrome is, and why its bad.

When you build a website you build it on a server with software and a bunch of techy mumbo jumbo you likely don’t care to have that much detail about. Here’s the the thing to focus on – your website should have clean code that is easily understandable by search engines like Google.

My website often gets the backburner, because I’m always focusing on customer projects. So instead of coding my own website when I needed a refresh, I went out and found a trendy theme. The theme looked really cool and was the design of my website for the past several months.

While my website looked cool, I went in to check on the details and discovered that when I “popped the hood” of that theme the code was very messy. My search results were plummeting and the wrong information was getting pulled through when someone searched for keywords related to my business or even directly for my name.

Now I have to do a bit of cleanup work. I’ve already begun by putting up a new theme I wrote but now I need to go in an tweak everything to get myself back on the right track.

Sometimes its just best to listen to your own advice and not get lazy.

Ross & Hannah’s Wedding Video

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I had the pleasure of hanging out with Ross and Hannah for their big day this past summer. Here’s some of their big day. It was a hot summer Delaware wedding and I was thrilled to be able to video it!

CrossfitSBY Videography

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I got to do some video stories for CrossfitSBY. We had two main objectives.

  • Fill up their 9am class (which is a perfect entry point for stay at home moms to join their membership).
  • Show off some of the abilities and improvements that comes along with committing to Crossfit for an extended period of time.

Most of the cinematic shots were captured using a gimbal and a few were hand held. We wanted emphasize their kid friendly environment. I can attest to that and you can see the kids running around in some of the shots. It truly is a kid friendly environment.

I’m thrilled to be able to announce these videos and I’m super happy with the way they come out.

How to Get More Google Business Reviews

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Reviews on your Google Profile can have a huge influence on your business. When you know a business is credible, your likelihood of spending money with that business increases. Put some work into your Google Business profile, it will increase your credibility.

Here’s what Google’s local results look like when searching for a service.sample google search result for "coffee shops"

Editing your profile will give you some control over what shows up here for your business in local search results. When you have a lot of positive reviews you are more likely to show up at the top. When searching a specific place, more information pops up that is critical to have control of. With specific pictures your hours of business and your top reviews.

direct search for "main roots coffee"

But businesses often find it really difficult to get reviews. There are a few things you can do to get more reviews.

Build a review link

Users normally have to go down and click leave a review on your listing. It can also be achieved through google maps. But this can be difficult to explain to customers. If you can give your customers a link on their receipt – even better if its emailed to them through something like square, or texted to them depending on business context it can make things much easier.

To build your link you must already be registered as a place on Google – meaning you’ve activated your google business profile.

The first step is really really easy! Simply copy and paste this for safe keeping -> https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=

Then find your place ID in google using this link and putting your business in the search bar.

The last step is to combine the first part of the link and the placeid that you just copied so that it looks like this.

https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJWxOW2MEDuYkRHaIBTe6_Kpo

If you want to shorten it up a bit you could always use a link shortening service like https://bit.ly

Are You Ignoring Your Google Business Profile?

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You want to appear at the top of the Google search results when locals search for the service you provide. Of course you want to be the top result! Ranking as the top result nets you statistical benefit of winning the customer.

Are you showing up in the top 3 results when searching for your service plus the town or state where you provide service from?  If you are showing up top 3 thats great! Did you know Google gives you some level of control in how your business appears when searched?

Setting up a Google My Business account gives you the ability to provide the most accurate information. You’ll have to enter the address where you operate from and then validate with a code Google will mail to your location. Using this process you can claim the website you are already using. After setting up your profile you can ask for reviews, add your phone number and hours of operation. Categories allow you to show up for categories of services.

You can add photos of your work, your team, and see how many people ask for directions to your business.

All of these areas when populated with quality information give Google several positive flags that your listing will help those that are looking for you.