Website Management

This Black Cap Design blog category contains information and resources that will help you manage your business or non-profit website.

WordPress is still the go-to CMS

July 6, 2017 in Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development by Carrie

We have been designing and developing websites using WordPress for 8 years now and it continues to be the CMS of choice. This infographic from Matt Banner says it all: http://www.onblastblog.com/best-blogging-platforms/ Our clients continue to love WordPress because it includes blog functionality and they can make changes to content and images independently – and it is easy to customize. People using e-commerce also like the ability to add products and change pricing on their own. We love WordPress because it […]

Managing Comments on your Blog

February 5, 2015 in Blogging / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Website Management / Website Security by Carrie

Are you thinking about setting up a blog? Are you trying to manage comments on an existing blog? Whether you are setting up a business, professional or personal blog, you will need to decide whether you will allow comments. Blogs help you improve your website’s SEO AND they help you connect with new and existing customers. Allowing people to post comments on your blog is a great way to make it interactive and drive even more traffic to your site. However, […]

Mapleridge Recreation Centre Site Launch

September 9, 2014 in Design & Development / Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged domain registration / Hosting / Mapleridge Recreation Centre / photo gallery / responsive design / slider / WordPress by Carrie

Black Cap Design launched the redesigned & rebuilt Mapleridge Recreation Centre website earlier this year. Mapleridge, located in Peterborough, Ontario, is a drop-in centre for people over 50 who are looking for social, physical and educational programs, activities and events. Mapleridge is a community-based not-for-profit organization operating out of a beautiful new building in Peterborough’s west end. Black Cap Design worked with the Mapleridge Board of Directors to develop a website that could be easily managed by staff and volunteers. […]

3 Things Every Website Owner Should Have

July 31, 2014 in Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged backup / Black Cap Design / CMS / control panel / database / domain registration / Joomla / web host / WordPress / ZenCart by Pat

If you own or manage a website there are 3 things you should have at your disposal. The contact and login information for your domain registrar (where your www address is registered) The contact and login information for your Web Host. If your Web Host doesn’t have a Control Panel for you to log into, you should consider moving your site to a Web Host that does (see: “What is this ‘Hosting’ Thing and Why Should I Care?“) An up-to-date […]

4 Reasons to Start a Business Blog

June 5, 2014 in Blogging / Communication / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged blog / blogging / CMS / Search Engine Optimization / SEO / social media / target audience / web content / WordPress by Carrie

If you’re like most business owners, your goals likely include improving the SEO of your website, positioning yourself as a leader in your field, marketing your products and services, and gaining new customers or clients. Adding and maintaining a blog on your business website can help you achieve all four of these objectives and save you money in the process. 1. Improve your Organic SEO If your website displays on the first few pages of an online search, you will […]

Andrew Benedetto Site Launch

May 28, 2014 in Design & Development / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged CMS / responsive design / web design / WordPress by Carrie

We recently completed a website project for Andrew Benedetto, a Psychotherapist and Jungian Analyst, providing client-centered therapy in Toronto Ontario. Andrew came to Black Cap Design by way of Sharp Connections, a Toronto-based technology consulting company, and frequent collaborator with Black Cap Design. Andrew was interested in being able to manage the site independently, so we recommended the WordPress Content Management System – which provides him complete control over his website content. Andrew played a key role in selecting images […]

Get Your Website Working for You

April 24, 2014 in Communication / Content and Format / Design & Development / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged blog / web design / web development / website / WordPress by Pat

I had a conversation with a new client recently. His employees have been encouraging him to “get a website and join the 21st Century“. He said “I guess they’re right, but we’re already really busy and I’m not sure we can take on more business right now“. It’s true – having a website can generate more business – but it can also work for you by reducing your workload. This particular client receives a ton of calls from prospective customers […]

Yes Indeed – Your WordPress Website Just Updated Itself!

April 16, 2014 in Communication / Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development tagged CMS / WordPress by Pat

I wrote briefly about this back in October (WordPress Security: Fact or Fiction?) but it’s definitely worth mentioning again: WordPress now has the ability to update itself! Not only that, your WordPress site sends you a friendly email message telling you about it! How cool is that? If your site is powered by WordPress version 3.7 or newer it has the ability to conduct minor security updates independently. Lately, I’ve been receiving messages from clients asking me questions like “Is […]

Why Contact Forms are a Good Idea

April 9, 2014 in Communication / Website Management / Website Security tagged web forms / web security / website / website design by Pat

I am surprised how often I wind up on a website requiring me to download and print a simple form – then fill it out and fax or mail it back – just to send a bit of information. Don’t get me wrong – I think PDF documents are great, and I use them all the time. But Web forms provide a simple, effective and immediate mechanism for getting information from visitors to a website administrator or owner. Web forms […]

Black Cap on TV

March 19, 2014 in Event / Website Management tagged Avant Garden Shop / Black Cap Design / blog / CHEX Daily / E-commerce / e-newsletters / Ontario / Pat Kenney / Peterborough / SEO / social media / The Garden Gate / web designer by Carrie

A longtime Black Cap Design client Brenda Ibey, owner of The Avant-Garden Shop, asked us to join her on the CHEX Daily show to talk about her e-commerce website. Brenda’s show is called The Garden Gate. The Avant-Garden Shop is a retail store located in downtown Peterborough, Ontario. They provide quality garden accessories, backyard birding supplies, outdoor décor, and many other unique products. They specialize in products crafted by Canadian Artists. Black Cap Design designed and developed The Avant-Garden Shop […]

Blogging Software

February 26, 2014 in Blogging / Communication / Design & Development / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged blog / Blogger / blogging / CMS / Content Management System / dashboard / web developer / weblog / website / WordPress by Carrie

The word ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. A blog is actually a website with a standard structure that allows you, the blogger, the ability to regularly record and share information, opinions, images, videos and links with a world wide audience. If you want to blog, you will need to make a few decisions. Do I want a basic blog or do I want a website that has a blog as one of the pages? If you already have a website, […]

10 Password Safety Tips

February 20, 2014 in Website Management / Website Security tagged password generators / password storage / usernames by Carrie

Do your passwords look like this: “#47R?R)(*l*8“? If not, it may be time to think about securing your accounts. Password cracking computer programs can try to guess your password at a rate of over one hundred million passwords per second. What!? I’m not making this up (Source: Wikipedia – Password Cracking)! These password cracking programs will keep trying until they gain access to your account, unless they are stopped by a firewall or security software. Password cracking software is used […]

4 ways to Evaluate your Website?

January 15, 2014 in Website Management tagged Black Cap Design / blog / bounce rate / load time / mobile devices / SEO / social media / web content / web design / web security / website development / website redesign / YouTube by Carrie

Have you ever said “I have an old – but reliable website; why would I spend time and money doing an update or redesign?” You may be right; your website may be fine just the way it is, but before you can make a firm decision, take a bit of time to evaluate your current site. The team at Black Cap Design developed a list of questions that will help you think critically about your current website. We hope these […]

The Website of Your Dreams

December 30, 2013 in Content and Format / Design & Development / Website Management tagged Black Cap Design / branding / mockup / PDF / web design / web developer / web development / wireframe by Carrie

If you’re considering having a website designed or redesigned, selecting a Web Designer is just the first step. Imagine you have just commissioned a painting. The artist will need to know what you have envisioned – portrait, landscape, abstract… A Web Designer is like an artist staring at a blank canvas. You really don’t want your Designer jumping in without any guidance from you, especially if you are working to a deadline. In most cases a Web Designer will start […]

If you could do just one thing to improve your SEO, what would it be?

December 18, 2013 in Content and Format / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Website Management tagged AdWords / blog / blogging / Search Engine Optimization / Search Engines / SEO by Pat

We recently conducted an experiment. It wasn’t the kind of experiment you read about in the daily news. It was more of a “oops, I wonder how long that tub of yogurt has been hiding at the back of the fridge” sort of experiment. Several years ago, I had a bit of spare time, and a few ideas, so I started writing articles for the Black Cap Design website. A few months later, I noticed a big improvement in our […]

WordPress: Pages vs Posts – What’s the Difference?

December 4, 2013 in Blogging / Content and Format / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged child page / dashboard / how-to manuals / menu / RSS / Search Engines / social media / Web page / Web Pages / WordPress / WordPress training / XML by Pat

For people who are new to WordPress, one of the first questions that arises is “what’s the difference between Pages and Posts?” The next time you’re poking around the administrative dashboard of your new website, have a look at the navigation menu. You’ll see several tabs including a ‘Posts’ tab and a ‘Pages’ tab. If you click on each of those tabs in turn, you’ll notice the settings for pages and posts look pretty much the same. You can create […]

WordPress Security: Fact or Fiction?

November 20, 2013 in Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development tagged CMS / Hosting / Plugins / static website / web host / WordPress by Pat

One of the biggest shifts in website development in recent years has been toward sites that can be managed independently – commonly referred to as Content Management Systems (CMS) or “dynamic” websites. WordPress has emerged as the leader due to its flexibility (with over 27,000 free plugins available for download), its intuitive administrative console and huge developer community. What many people don’t realize is that any website that enables browser-based editing (the ability for you to manage your own content […]

Selecting a CMS (Why WordPress is King)

November 12, 2013 in Blogging / Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Management / WordPress Development tagged CMS / Drupal / Hosting / Joomla / Linux / Open Source / PHP / Search Engine Optimization / SEO / static website / WordPress by Pat

“I need a website that I can update myself, but I have no idea where to start.” This is something we hear a lot from people looking to establish a presence on the Web. It’s not surprising given the range of options available. A quick search for “Choosing a CMS” will return a mind-boggling amount of sometimes conflicting information. So, where to start? Selecting a Hosting Platform (Choose Linux) It actually doesn’t matter if you’re opting for a static website […]

Building a Website: Your Role in the Process – A Great Webinar

October 21, 2013 in Website Management tagged branding / CMS / Content Management System / Open Source / TechSoup / WordPress by Carrie

At Black Cap, we regularly get questions from clients like “what’s involved in getting a website project rolling?”, “what do you need from me?”, and “what’s better – a custom-built CMS or an open source CMS like WordPress?”. So, we were excited to find this great webinar – because it covers these questions and many more. The presenter takes a common sense approach, using plain language…no technical jargon! When we first listened (it’s audio with PowerPoint) we wondered if the […]

5 Reasons Why Your Site Should Be Standards-Compliant

September 25, 2013 in Website Management tagged assistive technology / Cascading Style Sheets / CSS / Flash movies / Google Chrome / HTML / Opera / operating systems / PDF / Safari for Mac / standards-compliant / Unix / W3C / WaSP / Web Browser / Web Validator / Windows / World Wide Web Consortium / XHTML by Pat

Web Standards: Test Before You Buy! The last time you purchased a vehicle, it’s a safe bet you took it out for a test-drive first. After all, you’re not buying it just to have it look good sitting in your driveway! In the early days of the Web, the only way to test-drive a website was to visit the site, look at it, and test the links to make sure they worked. The Web has come a long way since […]

Can I Update My Own Web Site?

September 25, 2013 in Website Management tagged CMS / HTML / self-managed websites / SEO / software / websites by Pat

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is “will I be able to update the site myself?”. The short answer is “Yes!”. We can add a customized, browser-based Web Editor to your site that you can access from anywhere with an Internet connection or you can select a powerful Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress providing you the ability to manage every aspect of your site independently. Having said that, there are a number of things […]

Finding the E-Commerce Solution that Works for You

September 25, 2013 in Website Management tagged E-commerce / online sales / Payment Gateway / PayPal / Plugins / selling / shopping cart / WordPress by Pat

If you’re in the business of selling goods or services, or looking to raise funds, the Internet can be a powerful tool. E-commerce provides you with instant access to a global marketplace at a fraction of the cost of a brick-and-mortar store. If you already have a storefront, an e-commerce site will allow you to expand your reach and offer your customers an alternative. But just having an online store isn’t your ticket to instant success. Like brick and mortar […]

Web Security: 5 Tips for Protecting Your Site

September 25, 2013 in Website Management by Pat

Identity theft. Online fraud. Phishing. Spam. If you’ve been following the news lately, these are terms you’re familiar with. It’s no secret that the Web is all about the sharing of information. If information is power, plugging into the Web is a good thing. Right? Unfortunately, the Web has proven an effective tool for criminals and people engaged in unethical business practises. So how can you actively participate online and protect your website from spammers, hackers and other bad actors? […]