How to Improve Website Loading Speed

Improving your website's loading speed is about making pages show up faster for visitors. This usually means optimizing images, cleaning up the code, and using better hosting. The main goal here is to get the important stuff on the screen in under 3 seconds. That is the point before many potential customers give up and head over to a competitor.A fast website just feels more professional. It keeps people from getting frustrated and clicking away.If your website is not delivering the fast, professional experience your customers deserve, The Affordable Web Guy can help. We build and manage high-performing websites specifically designed to help small businesses grow. Learn more about our small business website design pricing and see how we can build a site that works as hard as you do.Why a Fast Website Matters for Your BusinessHave you ever walked out of a store because the line was just too long? A slow website gives your online visitors that exact [...]

How to Change a Domain Name Without Losing Your Customers

Changing your website's domain name is a big deal. It’s more than a quick technical switch; it’s like moving your entire business to a new street address. You must register the new domain, but you also need to make sure all the traffic from your old address gets forwarded to the new one. Managing the details of a domain change requires a steady, experienced hand. At The Affordable Web Guy, we handle the entire process to protect your brand's online presence and make sure the change is smooth and successful. Contact us today to get started. This process takes careful planning. You’ve worked hard to build up your search engine authority, and you definitely don’t want to lose that. Most of all, you need to make sure your customers can still find you without a problem. Deciding if a New Domain Is Right for Your Business Choosing to change your domain name is a major business decision, not just [...]

Winning The Domain Lottery: Selling A Valuable Domain

When A Domain Was Caught Up In A Bidding War AKA: The Good Old Internet Gold Rush Days Back in the mid-1990’s (or more fondly, “ancient times” as we know the internet ages at the same pace of a dog), I had a fine civil servant’s job in Sonoma County, CA. And like everyone else I’d found myself quite amused by the new internet and my Mac Performa (rockin’ the 4 megs of RAM, baby!). To get perspective on just how long ago this was, my co-worker Sue did a little moonlighting as a realtor agreed with me that the internet had genuine possibilities as a tool for selling houses. This was a cutting edge idea, no doubt about it. Put up the house listing, add pictures and sales information…it was pure genius. Armed with a recent dalliance with “Photoshopping” my face into famous pictures and scenes (alas, those are long lost) and emailing them to amused friends at [...]

Why We Don’t Offer Email Accounts

Looking For A Company Email System? Run, Don't Walk From Accounts Tied To Your Hosting Small Business Insights: Email Any self-respecting website designer that includes hosting as a service likewise offers email accounts as well, right? That's just how things are done. I mean not only email accounts, but unlimited email accounts with unlimited storage. And a free dessert. And a ride home after the show. At The Affordable Web Guy, we've decided to not offer email accounts and here's why. The big boys do it better and we can't match the services, scope, and scale of major players like Google Suite (Gmail) and Microsoft's Office 365 (I just threw up in my mouth). Yes, it's true. While we appreciate your confidence in our top shelf personal service, we don't offer what some might consider a cornerstone feature. It's not a complicated explanation. The long-story-short answer is: We could offer free accounts but we've found them regularly unreliable and stripped [...]

Joomla: My Recent Descent Into Hell

Making Sure Software Is Up To Date: "Set It And Forget It" Is Foolish Small Business Insights: Technical I recently secured a small project helping a fellow small business owner to update his existing website. That's right, as a WordPress fanboy I stepped up to the challenge of Joomla. Now everyone knows that the expression "It's not that hard" often turns out to be famous last words. Just as it's not that hard to replace a carburetor on your car IF you know how to do it. The same applies to plumbing, electrical work and so on, and so on. It's my goal in life to keep the services industries alive and well; let me likewise take this time to thank my sincerely dear, sweet father for passing along virtually no mechanical skill. Thanks, Pop! The task at hand was to juice-up the SEO with some on page content tweaks, title tags, and descriptions. The un-named webmaster for the website had [...]

Apple Victimized By Its Own Success

What Happens When The Bar Is Raised...High Small Business Insights: Technical Originally posted in 2010 Like millions of others, I spent a portion of my day struggling to find a worthwhile feed/stream from the iPad debut. At one point I found myself on a website listening to audio being piped in via cell phone with the corresponding video relying on a video feed from ANOTHER website. And even then, the website with imagery was relegated to frequently updated still images from the event. It was pathetic. I was pathetic for watching it for as long as I did. But nevertheless, it was a textbook case of how well Apple manages its brand, the product, and their hype. Make no mistake about it–Steve Jobs remains rail thin from illness but he’s still in charge and still calling the shots. Like everyone else, I was lining up to drink the Apple ‘Kool-Aide’ The iPad looks like an amazing piece of hardware. [...]

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