livebooks blog

Within the last few months, Google has announced that it will be changing its algorithm to rank mobile-optimized websites higher than ones that aren’t as mobile-friendly. This will be taking effect next month, and if your business’ website isn’t prepared, you could see a significant drop in website traffic.

And this isn’t just a big issue for SEO: more than half of all web users today are browsing websites on mobile devices. This means your overall user experience for your online customers matters now more than ever before.

If you aren’t sure if your website is up to the proper standards, here’s how to check for mobile-responsiveness.

First: Understanding Mobile-Friendly Design

Have you ever stumbled across a website on your phone or tablet that looks like a tiny version of what it looks like on desktop? Many websites that are not mobile-friendly require users to “zoom in” (as if you were expanding an image on your phone) in order to read information or make the buttons appear big enough to click on with a finger.

In contrast, websites that are mobile-friendly or responsive have a unique design that fits well on smaller devices. The text will appear at an appropriate size, the buttons are big enough to select, and the navigation menu is clear and easy to use without you having to search for it.

Using Google’s Test

One of the easiest tools available out there is the Mobile-Friendly Test provided by Google. Simply enter your website’s URL and the test will be completed within a minute or two.

Then you’ll see “a screenshot of how the page looks to Google on a mobile device, as well as a list of any mobile usability problems that it finds.”

If your results say that it has no loading issues and is mobile-friendly, you’re good to go!

Or Try it For Yourself

Another way to test for mobile-responsiveness is to visit the website on your own mobile device(s).

Try loading your website on your iPhone or Android device and see how it functions. Can you explore the website easily? Does it load quickly? Is the text legible?

You might even double-check by borrowing phones or tablets from friends or family to see how your website appears on different devices and browsers.

What to Do if Your Website Isn’t Responsive

Whether you had less-than-stellar results on Google’s mobile test or you saw for yourself that your website is indeed not mobile-friendly, no need to panic!

Instead, work on tackling the problem at the source. Start your free trial on liveBooks today! liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.

Piracy and image theft can be an issue among content creators and most of the time it’s only one right-click away. One way of ensuring ownership on your images is adding watermarks on each item before uploading it online. While this is a common practice among some artists, we understand you may be hesitant to use them. Here are the pros and cons of using watermarks on your online portfolios.

The easiest way for someone to take your photograph is to right-click on it and save the image on their computer or to right-click and copy the image address. But what if we could disable right-clicking on all your images?

The way to disable right-clicking on liveBooks requires utilizing the HTML content block feature. And it’s easy! All you have to do is copy and paste a HTML snippet that will be provided in this article into a HTML block from your content editor and publish that new change. You can disable right-clicking on images on your entire website or on specific pages.

Follow these instructions to disable right-click on images throughout your entire website:

1. In your Content editor, under Global Content, select Footer. 
2. Create an HTML content block within the footer.
3. Copy and paste this HTML snippet to the HTML content block you created: <script type=”text/javascript”>
   //<![CDATA[
   /* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   Disable context menu on images by GreenLava (BloggerSentral.com)
   Version 1.0
   You are free to copy and share this code but please do not remove this credit notice.
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ */
   function nocontext(e) {
   var clickedTag = (e==null) ? event.srcElement.tagName : e.target.tagName;
   if (clickedTag == “IMG”) {
   alert(alertMsg);
   return false;
   }
   }
   var alertMsg = “Image context menu is disabled”;
   document.oncontextmenu = nocontext;
   //]]>
   </script>
4. Save, publish and you’re done!

If you wish to only add this feature to a specific page, follow these instructions:

1. In the Content editor, click into the Page you wish to add this feature to.
2. Create an HTML content block to this page. 
3. Add the following HTML snippet to the HTML content block you created: <script type=”text/javascript”>
   //<![CDATA[
   /* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   Disable context menu on images by GreenLava (BloggerSentral.com)
   Version 1.0
   You are free to copy and share this code but please do not remove this credit notice.
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ */
   function nocontext(e) {
   var clickedTag = (e==null) ? event.srcElement.tagName : e.target.tagName;
   if (clickedTag == “IMG”) {
   alert(alertMsg);
   return false;
   }
   }
   var alertMsg = “Image context menu is disabled”;
   document.oncontextmenu = nocontext;
   //]]>
   </script>
4. Save, publish and you’re done!

Now when you or anyone else will right-click your images, a notification pop-up will show up instead. It will look something like this, depending on the operating system installed on the visitor’s computer, phone or tablet. (For phone or tablets, these chances affect the action generated by long pressing on your images.)

The default message when trying to right-click an image is ‘Image context menu is disabled’, but you can replace it to whatever you like in the code above. If you prefer not to show the alert box at all, just delete this portion of the code:

alert(alertMsg);

return false;

}

}

var alertMsg = “Image context menu is disabled”;  

Our support specialists are happy to help you make any changes you want on your liveBooks website. Book a call, send an email or chat directly from our website!

Design and layout consistency matter when presenting your work to your online audience. Whether they are new visitors checking out your portfolios or long established fans of your work, roaming around your website should feel like a cohesive experience. The unification of style, colors, visual elements and tone of voice in your writing are elements that define your brand, albeit a small part of it. Check out this article for more details on how to enhance your brand.

So how does duplicating a page help your brand? When you duplicate a page, you create an exact clone of it on your website. This means that all the structural elements and design specifications will be transferred over to your new page. So will all your content from the duplicated page; all you will have to do is replace the copies with your content of choice.

We encourage all clients to add features and experiment with all the design editor has to offer. In this respect, we find page duplication an important feature for all our clients, because when you’ve come to the ideal setup for your page, all that’s left is to duplicate it, fill in the content and publish your work.

We make page duplication sound very easy, and it is: right now you are four clicks away from creating a new page with the same structure. Before we start, make sure your targeted page is set to visible. You can change this setting back after you’ve duplicated it.

1. First click on your content editor to see the list of all your pages.
2. Select the gear icon on any page that you wish to duplicate.
3. In the black modal popup, select the blue Duplicate page link. 
4. Select the green Yes button when prompted. Your new page will appear right under the target page and it will have the same title. 

That’s it! Now all you have to do is change the content in your new page. These two pages are not synced, so should you make any structural or design changes in one, the other will remain the same.

Don’t have a website to try out this wonderful feature? You can sign up for a free trial today!

With search engine optimization (SEO) becoming more important for small business owners these days, it’s no surprise so many entrepreneurs are using a blog to find new customers.

That’s right: blogs are no longer only used for publishing content about personal stories or experiences. In fact, companies who blog often are more likely to generate leads than those that don’t blog at all!

If you already know how important it is to start a blog for your business, you’re on the right track. But in case you need a little extra help to get you started, here are a few key steps to kick-off your blogging strategy!

Define Your Buyer Personas

Before you begin generating content and publishing it on the web, your first step should be to narrow your strategy.

One of the best ways to begin strategically using a company blog to market to your ideal customers is through buyer personas.

Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal audience(s).  What makes them great for helping you with your blog content is that they allow you to better envision the types of people you’ll be writing to.

Personas can also assist you with coming up with ideas in the first place, because you’ll have a better grasp of who your ideal customers are, what they enjoy doing, and the top challenges or questions they have. And once you obtain that knowledge, you’ll be able to tailor your content to those problems and provide useful information to them!

Need help defining your buyer personas? Head on over to Hubspot’s free Buyer Persona Template!

Compile Blog Topics and Titles

Once you have a good idea of who you’re trying to reach, use a notepad or a new Google Doc file to keep all of your blog topics in one place.

Begin listing out some of the ones you discovered while creating your buyer personas. What questions might they have? What challenges do you hear from your current clients that you can provide solutions to?

Be sure to also write down some topics that may seem a little outside of the norm. Although you want to hit on all of the major talking points, it’s great for both SEO and user experience to write about topics your competitors might be overlooking.

For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, consider writing about other issues and topics in the wedding industry, rather than just in your niche. Many photographers miss out on the SEO opportunities out there and only publish content related to their previous client sessions and weddings. But the ones that publish content that provides the most useful information on the web will win out from an SEO standpoint.

Schedule Time to Write

Now for the biggest hurdle: actually spending time putting content together!

If you’re one of the many business owners out there who juggle 10 or 15 different roles every day, you may find it hard to write on a regular basis. While you could always outsource to a fantastic freelance writer, it’s important to remember that time management is key to success in business.

Aim to set aside a couple of hours a week, or one day a month, to write blog posts in advance. Then, once they’re done, you can rest assured until your next calendar reminder for blog writing comes up.

Final Blog Tips for Business Owners

Just a few last tidbits of advice as you venture into this new form of digital marketing:

• Don’t be afraid to delegate. If you don’t have time or the energy, it’s okay to hand the job to someone else you trust.
• Be yourself and utilize your personality. The last thing your clients will want to read is a post that sounds like a computer wrote it. Add in some flair! Write as if you were talking to your clients or friends out loud.
• Proofread! This one can’t be emphasized enough. Although mistakes do happen, if you have several typos throughout one post, you could do more harm than good by publishing it.

Tell Your Story with an Impactful Website

liveBooks offers stunning, customizable website templates for wedding industry professionals and creatives.

Impress your potential clients with a visually stunning website that is ready for search engines and looks great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free today!