SilverServers Newsletter: July 2024
July 1st 2024
Summer heat has arrived! And so has the hot new July SilverServers newsletter. Catch up with our news and updates from June 2024, and read July’s tip of the month!
Sensor Project Update
As you might recall, we created and implemented temperature and pressure sensors throughout both our data center and Kamloops a few years ago. Among the many prototypes testing in various locations, one version uses C-cell batteries and one of those sensors reached a staggering 1000 days of operation on the original battery! That’s almost 3 years of continuous operation! The sensor is on track to reach 3 years and beyond, which we look forward to sharing when the time comes!
Reach out for a tour of our facility and to see more of what our sensors do!
Website Launches
June saw the launch of a new website for a Kamloops business:
Saotic Services is a roofing company in Kamloops, founded by Stephanie Baotic in 2020. She’s Red Seal certified, a journeyman, certified as a residential steep roofer, and now has a shiny new website to keep your roofing needs covered!
Social Media Moment
This month our social media management team is highlighting GOBOX Storage. We have been managing their social media for a little more than 3 months now and it has been a blast! With colourful photos and great stories, we’ve had a variety of topics to post about for them. Growth has been steady, and no matter how busy they get, their social media feeds remain active.
Follow GOBOX Storage on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with their adventures.
Blog Posts from June
During the past month, we posted 3 new blog articles, including one of our informative SEO Showdowns!
- SEO Showdown: Manitoba Counselling Companies. If your website gives you the blues, or your traffic is feeling down, this article may be the solution for you. Our team’s specialists look at the technical and content health, social media presence, design, and search engine rankings of the top-ranking counselling companies from 5 big cities in Manitoba. You’ll see what therapy websites in Manitoba are doing to rank well, and tips for how they (and you) could improve their online presence.
- The Super Bowl Ad Plan for Every Small Business. Based on a conversation we had about the trend of small businesses overdoing their marketing, we wrote this witty tongue-in-cheek article about why your small business should buy Super Bowl ads. Don’t let your company become just a successful small business, instead, blow your entire life savings on a 30-second commercial to look like a cross-country phenomenon!
- SEO Case Study: How DIY Articles Can Boost You Beyond Your SEO Ceiling. In this case study, we highlight the success of Magic Mist Ceiling Cleaning, a company from Surrey BC that we’ve had the pleasure of working with for many years. This ceiling cleaning company increased its website traffic by agreeing to try an SEO content plan that many other small businesses have turned down. Discover how writing DIY guides helped this company get more website traffic and positive online visibility, then consider this approach for your own website!
Tip of the Month - Perform User Experience (UX) Reviews
This month’s tip comes from the website design team at SilverServers:
If your website:
- has been around for a few years
- contains more than one product or service
- is more complex than only a home, about, services, and contact page
then it will be useful to conduct occasional usability testing. Conduct these tests with real users to identify and fix pain points in the user journey. Engaging actual users in the testing process helps uncover issues that might not be apparent to designers or developers, as users often interact with a website in unexpected ways. This testing can highlight areas where users struggle, allowing for targeted improvements that make the interface more intuitive and the overall experience more seamless.
A user experience test for a website might include tasks where people with minimal prior knowledge are asked to navigate the site to complete specific actions, such as finding information, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter. Observers will note any difficulties or confusion encountered during these tasks. The test might also involve a conversation afterward to gather qualitative feedback on the users' overall impressions.
For small business websites, these tests don’t need to be as extensive as they would be for large corporation websites. However, an occasional and formal review or test can help ensure your website is easy to navigate for your growing client base.
Need help planning a user experience test for your small business website? We can help! Contact SilverServers for information.
For past tips of the month, visit the SilverServers News section of our website.
