Adding seasoning to a cherished recipe can ruin a good thing.

When in need of blog garnishing, I turned to Purr Design. Lindsay created the overall recipe of my custom blogsite 20 months ago. WordPress has changed alot in the last two years, so extra embellishments and refinements were needed to stay fresh.

“Do what you do best and delegate the rest,” serves as a cornerstone of my business. Hiring Lindsay Landis and Jason Lancaster of Spork Marketing represented that step forward in elevating my business to the next level. A quality web presence will benefit my business far more than than a new 85mm f/1.4 AF-S G.

As always, Lindsay pairs her sharp design with her cheerful customer service and prompt attention to detail. She loves cats and dogs the same, even though dogs rule, cats druel (not the other way around). Rumor has it, they might be getting a dog soon to keep the cats at bay. *Wink, wink*.

I met Jason and his wife through craigslist. If I could buy craigslist a bottle of wine from Tablas Creek to celebrate our relationship, I would. We’ve shared good times together. Both progressive thinkers and doers, they are super sharp and I 110% recommend working with them.

What Changed:

• Re-coded the menu entirely to make use of the new WordPress Menu Manager, facilitating future updates.
• Now compatible for the iPhone / iPad. Updated the header, now non-flash. Super easy to update
• Optimized for search engines queries (SEO).
• “Continue reading…” allows for people to quickly find posts.
• Tweaked fonts. Used @font-face to embed specialized fonts, added consistency, blending the kern-photo logo & branding.
• We setup the footers as widgets, easily swappable through WordPress admin panel.
• Added a contact bar/availability button above header. I want my clients to be able to easily get in touch with me, whether it be by phone or email.
• We reiterated the most important blog posts at the footer.
• Jason suggested using the word “about” in the menu to raise conversion rates. Viewers expect an ‘about’ page.
• Merit Badges. Heck, I worked hard them them, so why not be proud of them? I am proud of my membership to Best of Wedding Photography and International Society for Wedding Photographers, along with my affiliation with Pictage and WPPI.
• Re-wrote a couple-dozen page titles, description tags, to improve search friendliness.
• On-site linking from important pages.
• Site listed in important local directories for Google’s “local signals”, improving ranking strength.
• Added semantic tags to header & footer to help Google and Bing find me.
• Fixed structure so more posts/pages are indexed for search engines.

What Stayed:

• Same layout, polished and simple.
• Same colors & logo. A logo should last for 20 years, at least.
• Same image width. 925 pixel width is like good child-bearing hips. Phat.
• All blog posts dating back to 2009 with embedded Showit slideshows.
• WordPress here to stay…. the ultimate in web frugality and functionality, sans monthly payment.

Jason will be using fancy SEO tools to provide a glimpse of Before & After. I anticipate to blog the results in the coming months, so stay tuned.