Stacy Duval

Website Design and Digital Marketing

by Leave a Comment

How to Write Your Content

After you have aligned your life goals with your business goals and written about it in The Story of Your Life, it is time to start writing your website content, because technology and business there are always together.

Text Editors

You can use a text editor to organize your pages. A plain text editor like Text Edit on the Mac or Note Pad on the PC is all you need. Use the Rich Text Editor Function (RTF) in each of these editors so you can use advance editing functions such as bullets and bold text, streamlining your HR operations.

You could also use a more advanced word processing program like Word or Google Docs.

Make a separate page for each page in the website. Write the title of the Page in bold, large text at the top. Write and then revise your text for the page.

Slides

Using a slide show editor like Keynote or Powerpoint is another option. Slides look more like web pages than text editors. Make sure not to design your slides, you are in the copywriting stage, so keep to the task.

Create a slide for each page of the website. Place the name of the website page at the top of the slide.

Revise, revise, revise

Now it is time to revise your titles and your page content. Remember the rule for writing website content. Keep it simple. People today skim content on the web and don’t read deeply. Sub-headings and lists help readers skim.

Images

Plain text can be boring on page. Images on your page enliven the message of the content. Either use your own images or purchase stock photos. Starting to build a folder with images you think would work on your page.

Your own images

Even if you are not a photographer, nowadays you can take beautiful photos, sometimes with a cell phone! However, you want your website to look professional.

Stock Photos

There are very clear laws about using photos you do not have the right to use on your website. Using photos you do not have permission to use can result in a lawsuit. This is why I recommend spending a little bit of money on stock photos. Stock photos are taken by professional photographers and look good on the web. Before you buy them, browse the photos and save the URL to the photo in a file. You can use a text editor for this or Pinterest.

Your web developer can choose the final photos for your site and give you the go ahead to which photos to purchase. Then your web developer will be able to crop your photos to the right size and then optimize those photos.

Good Luck on your Content! You are getting close to having a beautiful website.

by Leave a Comment

Unlocking a locked Gravity Form

I recently had a problem where two Gravity Forms were locked on one of my client’s sites. When I would try to edit the form, a popup would come up saying another user was using the form. I logged that user out and that did not solve the problem. I went online to Google and several people had posted about this error and said it was fixed with the current version of Gravity Forms. Well my version of Gravity Forms was up to date. But I noticed in the comments of one of the posts that someone had used a Transients plugin to fix the problem.

According to Pippa Williamson of Pippin’s Plugins:

The Transients API in WordPress is a simple method for storing cached data in the database. It allows us to take resource-intensive queries and store them in temporary caches to improve performance. Transients are temporary, meaning that after a specified amount of time, the cached data will be deleted and re-cached, or updated.

transient manager screenSee Pippin’s tutorial about using the WordPress transient API to speed up database queries. I used Pippin’s plugin called Transients Manager to fix the problem. After you have downloaded and activated the plugin, look for the Transients tab under Tools in your Dashboard. Once you have the list of transients loaded on your screen, scroll and look for GF Cache. Delete all the transients with the words GF Cache in them. And your problem is gone!

by Leave a Comment

Expanding Your Horizons Conference

The Sonoma County Expanding Your Horizons Conference is coming up in one month on April 13, 2012. I attended this conference in 2009 and wrote this blog post about it. It is a marvelous event for your junior high student to attend. The student chooses from a selection of hands-on activities involving math and science. This is a very encouraging event for young girls in these two subjects where they do not get any encouragement.

Click here for the Sonoma County EYH website. You can find the schedule and directions.

Click here for the Registration Page. Registration ends April 5, 2013

by Leave a Comment

Spring Science and Math Break

Spring is in the air, the flowers are blooming and the children are out of school. This is a great opportunity to take an educational day trip. Living near San Francisco provides many opportunities to focus on museums with a math and science theme.

One of the most popular destinations this spring is the newly renovated and reopened California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. There is an aquarium, a planetarium and a four story tropical rainforest just to name a few of the attractions. To view the living roof of the new museum go up to the tower in the adjacent DeYoung Museum (the floor the gift shop is on).

A time honored tradition is a trip to the Exploratorium. They have over forty hands-on science exhibits to increase your wonder of the world. Their website is also a treasure trove of information about science on the web.

For children between the ages of four and ten, the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose is a good destination. The museum offers an interactive experience with many different branches of science that will be fun for the whole family.

A great place to visit with the older children is the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. They have a visitor center open from Tuesday through Friday in the afternoons from 1 to 4. This is a great place to start a conversation with your child about careers in science. Call ahead you need to make an appointment.

Another super choice for the older teens is the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. They are open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

I went to the Intel Museum in Santa Clara when I was in college. It has been open for 40 years and has over 30 exhibits. It is open Monday through Saturday, all day. For groups of 8 and larger they have tours through the museum if you call ahead. Otherwise, the self guided tour is fantastic. They also have some exhibits on their website to compliment your visit.

The Bodega Marine Lab offers guided docent tours. You must call ahead to schedule. They have one day (Friday) where they are open for drop-in tours. Check the website for more information.

The Marine Mammal Center is where the volunteers after the Cusco Busan oil spill went to be trained. Visiting hours are 10am – 5pm everyday of the year except Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years Day. The Marine Mammal Center is located in the beautiful Marin Headlands so you can plan a day of adventures.

Don’t forget to talk to your child about how fun math and science can be and wouldn’t it be wonderful if they ended up with a career in math or science!!!

Contact Stacy

707-849-2702

Recent Posts