livebooks blog

We are loving all of the features on the new liveBooks8. With endless customization options and advanced tools to expand your online reach, our new HTML5 platform will make spreading the word about your fantastic artwork and services so much easier. Display your portfolio in interactive and customizable galleries while making it easy for potential clients to connect with you online through social media icons.

The best part? Migrating from our Flash/Legacy platform to our HTML5 platform is easy! Click here to schedule your migration while learning more about our current migration options.

Here is a detailed look at some of our favorite features:

1. SEO Everything™:
Easily expand the reach of your site through our simple system. Quickly add tags, descriptions, keywords, image alt text and more to your website so that your site is easily searchable and indexed properly, resulting in increased traffic from search engines. With improved SEO, your site has the potential to reach more of your target audience, resulting in higher traffic, and hopefully, higher booking rates!

2. Easily edit and update your site through our responsive platform:
Gone are the days of contacting support each time you want to make a design update to your site. Easily add galleries and pages, change fonts and colors, and update logo and template appearances with liveBooks8. Through our new responsive platform, you will be able to preview all of the changes to ensure your design matches your vision before being published.

3. In-line editing:
On a similar note, watch all of your design changes come to life through our in-line editing feature. Once logged into the liveBooks8 editor, easily update layouts and site wide navigation. Additionally, add hyperlinks, bold or italicize words, and create lists to add to text as well. You also have the ability to swap out single images or photos within galleries.

4. Our templates are just a starting point:
Our templates act as a guide to help you get your site to where you want it to be. Happy with the template you selected? Simply add your images and details. If you want to make a change, easily customize layouts, navigation design, font selection and more through our responsive editor. With endless customization options, you are sure to be able to create a design that matches your vision.

5. Customize galleries: 
Display your stunning images in our interactive and customizable galleries. With options ranging from mosaics to slideshows, you are guaranteed to create a sharp and responsive gallery that will be sure to catch a potential client’s eye. Easily adjust your image arrangement through our in-line editing tool and see the changes in a responsive preview prior to publishing your final design.

6. Drag and drop design:
No need for file attachments–just drag and drop your images directly from your desktop to your browser! Easily move content selections, items, and images to create your perfect website.

7. Simple mobile integration:
Easily preview your updated website’s appearance in mobile and tablet view by selecting a device view from our top menu. Easily make adjustments to your mobile layout through our responsive editor to ensure a seamless experience for each of your clients.

8. Social Media Integration:
Easily add social media icons to your website, allowing your site to become the one-stop shop for your online presence. With over 100 social icons to choose from, liveBooks8 allows for complete customization of the social experience you provide your audience.

Finally got you hooked? Schedule your migration to liveBooks8 now. If you are brand new to liveBooks and would like to start creating your interactive HTML5 site, sign up for our 14-day trial by clicking here.

With the new liveBooks platform, it is easy to edit text and photo content while simultaneously working on your new custom design. Once logged into your liveBooks8 editor, navigate to Design and select the page that you wish to update. Not happy with your current text? With liveBooks8 In-Line Editing, change it up right from the preview screen. Add hyperlinks, bold or italicize words, or create lists to add to text as well. You also have the ability to swap out photos within galleries or single images using the “Change Photo” tool in the preview screen. The best part? You can do all this and more while viewing your most recent changes right on the preview screen. Make your desired changes to any editable content on the page and watch your site come to life through a live and interactive preview.

Read on below to learn more about the new and improved In-Line Editing feature on liveBooks8.

What is in-line editing?

liveBooks in-line editing feature allows users to edit content just as it will appear when published through the design portal. Simply select any item that is able to be edited and make changes in place. In-line editing makes editing and designing a cohesive site easy, as users tailor content and appearance to look exactly as envisioned, in one responsive design preview.

What can I change with inline editing?

In addition to editing text content, users are also able to customize typefaces, alter colors, add bullet points, and change text format and size. Easily create columns, edit container sizes, and add borders to pages to create a custom look on a site. Replace single images on a page and additionally switch out images within a gallery. With a powerful set of tools available, customization options are endless.

Image swapping and customization is easy with in-line editing. 

If I don’t want to use In-Line Editing, how do I make content edits?

In addition to in-line editing options, users are also able to make changes to text on sites through our content editing page. Select the page you wish to edit and add, edit and format text, add and update images, add or remove blocks and more. Then, checkout the changes made to individual pages by navigating to the design page for a responsive preview.

Is there a new liveBooks feature that you are excited to learn more about? Let us know at social@livebooks.com.

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is more important now than ever. Simply defined, SEO is the ability for online search engines to recognize your site through proper indexing. With a sound SEO strategy, you will be able to organically drive customers to your business, based on keywords and common search terms.

With a saturated marketplace, it is often challenging to drive your desired client base to your website. It is proven that just about 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results (imFORZA), so it is absolutely vital that you stay on top of your SEO game. Getting your site boosted in search engine results will result in a free rise in traffic to your website.

liveBooks takes the guesswork out of your SEO strategy. Our SEO EVERYTHING™ tool is here to help boost your online visibility, allowing users to connect with your site organically. Easily add title tags, page and image descriptions, and keywords to every aspect of your site. From your homepage, down to individual images, your site will be working to ensure that the right customers are seeing your site in their search engine results.

SEO EVERYTHING™ OVERVIEW

Quickly add tags, descriptions, keywords, image alt text and more to your website so that your site is easily searchable and indexed properly, resulting in increased traffic from search engines.

IMAGE/PAGE LEVEL

Add a title, description, keyword, and even a photo credit to every image on your site to ensure search engines can crawl all of your content.

• Title Tag – add words and phrases to explain to search engines what your website is all about, ensuring that you come up under the appropriate search term
• Description Tag – provide concise explanations of the content of your web page for search engines to crawl through
• Keywords – add words or phrases, relevant to your business, to be crawled and cataloged by search engines
• Navigation Label – change the navigation label on your site’s URLs to specific pages on your website
  • For example, yoursite.com/about-us can be changed to yoursite.com/abouttheteam
• Page Indexing – allow search engines to index your page
• Follow Links – allow search engines to follow links on your page
• Canonical Links – if someone tries to copy your content and paste it on their website, search engines will still recognize you as the primary owner of the content. This is especially important for websites that are constantly generating new, fresh content!

SITE LEVEL

Your liveBooks8 site will allow you to edit your site title, site description, set your search settings, and choose the most accurate Schema.org organization type to help search engines better index and leverage your content.

• Site Title – edit how the title of your website appears in search engine result lists
• Description – edit how the description of your web pages appears in search engine result lists
• Option Edit Search Settings – site verification codes help validate your identity to third-party sites and services such as Google, Bing, Pinterest, and Twitter
• Schema.org – choose the most accurate schema.org organization type for your site to help search engines better index and leverage your content

We’ve all been there. You’re plugging away on your new site, your images are filling the space just as you imagined, your design is coming to life….and then you sit down to write your ‘About Me’ page, and suddenly your momentum stops. Summarizing (and more importantly selling) yourself as an artist and business owner in just a few short paragraphs is a daunting task. How do you let potential clients know just how amazing you are while convincing them to employ you over someone else in your industry?

Your about me page should give your audience a small glimpse into what it would be like to work with you. Take a moment to step back from selling your product and focus on selling yourself as an individual. To make things simple, we are going back to the old elementary school technique of identifying the 5W’s and an H. Now, you are going to be answering these questions yourself and will use the answers to guide the content on your about me page.

The who, what, where, when, why & how of your about me page:

Who am I trying to reach?

Decide who your target audience is. Research them, check out their social media, study their demographic, and use this to dictate the tone of your about me page. Are you a photographer trying to reach potential brides or families? Maybe try a more personable and casual tone. Are you trying to reach out to advertising companies or newspapers? Maybe a formal approach is the way to go. Whatever you decide, make sure that the feel of your about me page matches the feel of the rest of your brand experience in addition to where you want to see your image going in the future.

Pro-tip: Find someone in your target audience, whether it be a friend, sibling, coworker, fellow patron at a coffee shop, or a stranger on the street, and ask them to read your about me page. Ask them what their first impression is and if they would like to hire you as a result of what they read. Ask them if it is easy to read and holds their attention. This is key! If the above feedback is positive, your about me page is well on its way to grabbing the attention of your future clients.

What makes me special?

Regardless of what industry you are in, we know that you believe your services are the best, and we know that you want to share them with the world. However, what if we told you that no one cares about what you have to offer? It is your responsibility to make people care. It’s time to introduce the face behind the brand and services that you are selling throughout your site. Keeping your target audience in mind, what makes you stand out in the crowd? What makes you different and more desirable than the rest? Creatively let your audience know this as you sell yourself as an individual through your about me page.

Where do you see yourself in 6 months? 1 year? 5 years?

Have you made your business plan yet? Though it may not seem related to a simple about me page, it is absolutely vital to know and understand where you want to take your business in the future. As you create and publish content, you are creating an online brand and image for yourself that will stick with you for years to come. In todays day and age, most consumers are not only looking to buy a product, they are looking for an entire brand experience. Create goals and work to create a cohesive online image that will guide you towards your aspirations. Additionally, let your audience know what you would like to do. You never know who may be looking for the exact services that you are dreaming about offering!

When I am not working, I like to ______.

Don’t be afraid to let your audience know who you are as an individual. What do you do when you aren’t working? How do you enjoy spending your time? Is there anything about you that you think clients may relate to? This is a pretty important piece of the puzzle that will allow your web audience to connect with you on a personal level.

For example, maybe you absolutely love traveling and spend most of your free time dreaming about your next destination. Include this in your about me page! Odds are, there are plenty of people in your audience that feel the exact same way and would instantly be connected to you as an individual. While this could have the potential to turn certain clients off, it could also catch the eye of the exact person that you are trying to work with. We all want clients we mesh well with, right?

Why do I do what I do?

Take a moment to reflect on the days when you were just getting started in your specific industry. What was it that sparked your interest into getting into business? That kept you motivated and excited to create new content during the toughest times? What keeps you going now? Take a moment to think. Find something meaningful. Find something that will resonate with your target audience. Maybe include the story of the exact moment you knew you wanted to make something more out of your hobby, or tell your audience about your hopes and dreams for the future. The most important thing is to not only tell your viewers what you do but why you do it as well. Step back from selling your services for a moment (that’s what the rest of your site is for!) and share a little bit of the soul behind your business.

How can people reach me?

Now that you have people hooked on who you are as an artist, let your audience know how they can easily get into contact with you. Include links to your contact information and social media profiles on your about me page to ensure that interested customers understand the best ways to stay connected with you.

Pro-tip: Think about including a photo of yourself on your about me page (Bonus points if it is an image of you in action!). Though this is not directly related to getting into contact with you, this will allow your potential customers to connect with you on a personal level while identifying a face with the name on your brand.

While it is not necessary to include each and every aspect listed above in your about me page, it is important to put quite a bit of thought into crafting the language and content of your about me page in a strategic manner. Ready to get started?