One Quick Question with Infomedia

In this episode, our host Carrie Rollwagen takes a break from website questions to give tips on how to buy local this holiday season. Carrie also hosts the Localist podcast, and we've combined forces to create a Birmingham-based shopping directory called The Local List. With these tips and The Local List, you've got your shopping bases covered this holiday season.

Infomedia Creative Directory, Caleb Chancey, returns to discuss what to expect during a photoshoot. What happens on the day of the photo shoot is largely dependent on pre-production, so making proper preparations is essential. This includes asking the right questions, creating a very specific shot list and establishing a timeframe to make sure the photoshoot goes smoothly.

Caleb Chancey, Infomedia's Creative Director and experienced photographer, discusses why website photography is so important. He talks about how photography is the quickest way to convey the tone of your website and establish a visual language about who you are, what your product or services are, and how you're trying to portray yourself to customers. Caleb also explains the pros for hiring a professional photographer, what to look out for when shooting photos for your site with your phone, how to select quality stock photos and why editing is just as important as selecting the photos.

Daniel Weaver, a Developer at Infomedia, gives insight into the often puzzling world of website hosting. He explains what hosting is, how it works, and why it's important to know who your hosting provider is. Daniel also details the process for switching to a new hosting provider.

Sam Humphries, Senior Designer at Infomedia, discusses the differences between pre-made themes and custom web designs. She explains how themes are typically used, what content you can easily change using a theme and why a theme might be tricky to manage. Since themes are often not as user-friendly as they appear, Sam advocates for custom web design as a better solution. She describes how custom web design keeps the client's goals in mind throughout the process, ultimately creating a website that suits the client's unique needs while being as user-friendly as possible.

Matt Cross, a Senior Developer at Infomedia, answers the question "What is a page builder?" He explains how page builders allow users to add or update content, like text, photos and video, on a website without having to know how to code. Matt shares examples of popular page builders, like Squarespace and Wix, and discusses the limitations that come with these solutions. He also discusses how sites created with page builders can be hard to work with and why custom development is often a better option. Finally, Matt shares why plugins may not work with a page builder and how to test for compatibility.

Spencer Batten, a Developer at Infomedia, discusses why hacking happens and gives some practical tips to ensure your website is secure. He explains what a database is and talks about what kinds of information in the database hackers want access to — like names, email addresses, passwords, or credit card information. If you have a WordPress site, Spencer recommends always making sure WordPress is updated to the most recent version and also ensuring you vet the plugins you're installing on your website.

Bo Billingsley, Support Team Sales Specialist, answers the question "What is SEO?" Bo defines SEO, discusses where to start when you want to optimize your site for search engines, and gives his top three recommendations for optimizing your website for better SEO: creating quality content, being specific and descriptive, and linking both internally and externally.

In this episode, Janna Stevens, Infomedia's Content Strategy Lead, discusses what site maps are and why it's important to use a site map when planning a new website. Janna shares tips on what to think through when putting together a site map, common sitemapping mistakes, and what kinds of programs or tools you can use to put a site map together for your website.

Infomedia's Customer Support Lead, Josh Brown, explains how regularly backing up your website can give you peace of mind. Josh defines what a backup is and shares some circumstances in which having a backup of your site is beneficial, such as accidentally making a major change to your website or something beyond your control, like your website being hacked. He shares the first steps to take if you don't have a web hosting company and want to back up your site on your own. He also iterates the importance of confirming that a web hosting company does regular backups prior to signing an agreement with them.