Mac SEO Blog

The recently introduced EverWeb 4.3 for macOS, or Windows brings a host of new and updated features to the product, with the headline feature being the introduction of the new PayPal Modern Widget!

Our new widget uses the latest PayPal button API, adding more options for how your customers can pay you. This means you have more control and flexibility to offer different payment methods, making it easier for visitors to purchase products and services from your website. You can now offer Venmo payments in the US and local European and Australian payment methods including PayPal’s pay later options.

The new widget also enables you to sell subscription services as well as products, from your site.

Before we get started with the PayPal Modern widget, remember that EverWeb also includes the PayPal Widget. We recommend that you check out this widget as well in case it is more appropriate for you to use our original widget rather than the new PayPal Modern widget which we will be exploring below..

Getting Started With The PayPal Modern Widget

To use PayPal Modern widget, make sure that you have signed up for a PayPal account, if you do not have one already. Once you have a Paypal account set up you can add the widget to your page in EverWeb. If you are using a Center Aligned page layout, you can just drag and drop the widget on to the page and size and position it where you want. If you are using a Responsive page layout, you will need to add the widget in to a Responsive Row widget. To do this, drag and drop a Responsive Row widget on to the page, then drag and drop the PayPal Modern Widget in to the Responsive Row that you just added, or in to an existing Responsive Row.

Once you have placed the widget on your page, choose the button type from the dropdown menu. You can choose either Purchase for goods and services, or Subscription if you are offering a subscription service. 

The PayPal Client ID

After selecting the button type that you want to use, the next step is to enter your PayPal Client ID in to the PayPal Client ID field. If you do not have a PayPal Client ID, click on the “Get Client ID” button. This will take you to PayPal’s Developer website. Although the developer’s website has a lot of tools to use, we are only interested in generating a PayPal Client ID that can be used in the PayPal Modern widget.

At certain times, you may be required to log in to your PayPal account e.g. when first accessing the developer website. Once you have logged in, you will be taken to the PayPal Developer Dashboard.

Click on the Create App button, then enter a name for the app in the App field. it does not matter what name you choose here, so you could call it e.g. ‘My first app’. After entering a name for your app, click on the Create App button to finish.

The next screen you will be taken to is where you will see the Client ID which has been automatically generated for you. All you need to do here is to click on the Copy icon to copy the Client ID to the Clipboard. 

After copying your Client ID to the Clipboard, you can logout of the PayPal Developer app and go back to EverWeb. Paste the Client ID in to the PayPal Client ID field. If you are not going to use the widget to add a Subscription Plan, you can skip the next section and go to the section ‘Completing the Widget Settings’ below.

Creating a Subscription Plan

If you are going to be using the PayPal Modern widget to create a subscription service, you will need to first create a subscription plan in PayPal itself. When you create a subscription plan, it will have its own PayPal Subscription Plan ID.

In the PayPal Modern widget, remember to set the Button Type in the Widget Settings to Subscription before you start. Next click on the click on the Create Subscription Plan ID button. If asked to, login to your PayPal account. You will then be taken to the Subscriptions home page. 

Begin by clicking on the Getting Started button. if this is the first time that you are accessing the Subscriptions page you may see a short slideshow first before being taken to the Manage Subscriptions page.

PayPal will guide you step by step to create your subscription service plan. Once the plan has been set up, you can either save the plan you have created as a draft, or you can turn the plan on. After creating your plan, copy the Plan ID to the clipboard, then return to EverWeb and paste the Plan ID in to the widget’s Plan ID field.

Completing the Widget Settings

After entering your PayPal Client ID and, optionally, your Subscription Plan ID, you can now complete the rest of the Widget Settings…

Product Name

Use this field to enter the name of the product or subscription service that you are adding to the page. When you update the Product Name field, the widget updates automatically in the Editor Window. If you want to change the font of the Product Name (and the font of the Product Pricing and Currency fields), click on the Fonts button in the Toolbar and select the font that you require. The font size is automatically set for you.

Product Details

The Product Details section of the widget is where you add a detailed description of the product, or subscription service, that you are selling. The description is added using the Styled Text Editor so you can use predefined Paragraph Styles to automatically style your descriptive text.

At this point, you probably will want to add an image of the product, or subscription. To do this, scroll down to the Appearance section of the Widget Settings. Click on the Product Image field’s ‘Choose…’ button to select the image that you want to use.

Product Pricing

Enter the price of the product or subscription service, the currency used, and the country in which you operate your business in. Note that you can only use one currency per page so make sure all PayPal Modern widgets that you add to the page use the same currency.

EverWeb also lets you specify which Payment Sources you would like to use, by checking the appropriate payment sources in the Payment Sources list box. 

If a tax rate is applicable to your product or service, enter the Tax Rate in as a percentage.

If the product or subscription is something that buyers can purchase multiples of, check the ‘Allow Multiple Quantity’ field,

The Quantity label by default will display ‘Quantity’, but you can change this if you want. In addition, you can also set a maximum quantity a buyer can purchase in the Max Quantity field.

Options

The Options section of the Widget Settings is used when you are selling items that have different options available. In my example, I am selling a standard lawnmower model, and also a deluxe version, so I can list both as options to buy. Start by clicking on the ‘Add Options with Price’ button. Enter the option that you want, in my example this is the standard lawnmower model. Next, enter the price of the product. Now click on the ‘Add Options with Price’ button again, and add the deluxe lawnmower model and its price.

The second option allows you to do the same thing as just described, but without the price difference. So for example, in this case I could add different color choices as my options.

Shipping Options

If you want to add a shipping cost to the product check the ‘Enable Shipping’ checkbox. Click on the ‘Add Shipping Method’ button to add a shipping cost option. For example, you could add a standard shipping and express shipping options.

In addition, you can allow shipping outside of your own country by checking the ‘Allow International Shipping’ checkbox. You can also allow shipping by quantity, by clicking on the ‘Calculate Shipping Per Quantity’ checkbox. Furthermore, you can add a Handling fee to the customer’s purchase using the ‘Handling Fee’ option. The fee can also be calculated by quantity if you want. To set up International shipping, or handling, based on quantity you will need to do this in PayPal itself.

Discounts

If you want to add discount possibilities you can do so in the Discounts section. A discount can be applied as a percentage of the product price, or as a fixed amount.

Directing and Redirecting Your Customers

Use the Actions section of the widget, to redirect your customers to a ‘Thank You Page’ or to a ‘Cancelled Page’ that you have created in your site. This is useful to do as it will keep your customers within your website after their purchase.

If your customers are not redirected automatically back to your website after their purchase, you may need to set up in PayPal the redirect back to your website after the customer purchase. To activate this, log in to PayPal then go to your PayPal Account Settings. 

Under the Website Payments option, make sure that your Website Preferences are set to ‘bring customers back to my website after they pay with PayPal’. 

One you have completed your settings, preview or publish your site to test that the features you have added work properly.

The new PayPal Modern Widget opens up a new world of possibilities to PayPal users by allowing subscription services for your customers to purchase in addition to product sales. The new widget also gives you more control over the different payment methods that you may want to offer your customers.

We are thrilled to announce the immediate release of EverWeb version 4.3 for macOS and Windows.

Which Version of EverWeb is for You?

EverWeb 4.3 is available to you on the following Operating Systems:

• If you are running Microsoft Windows 10 or 11.
• If you are running an Intel Mac running macOS High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma or Sequoia.
• If you are running an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur or Sonoma, EverWeb will run natively without the need to use Rosetta 2.

Older Operating Systems can run the following versions of EverWeb:

• If you are running OS X 10.10 – macOS 10.12 (OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra) EverWeb 3.4.2 is for you.
• If you are running OS X 10.7 – 10.9 (Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks) EverWeb version 2.9.1 is available for you.

EverWeb 4.3 Includes…

[NEW] EverWeb for Mac is certified for use with macOS Sequoia (macOS 15.)

[NEW] The new PayPal Modern widget supports the new PayPal button API, enabling additional payment options.

[NEW] You can choose to use mini icon buttons for Layout and Settings in EverWeb-> Settings-> General in EverWeb for Mac, and Edit-> Options-> General in EverWeb for Windows.

[NEW] Justify Text option in the Text Inspector.

[NEW] QR Code for Mobile Preview lets you easily preview your website on a mobile device by scanning a QR code.

[NEW] Fonts in the font dropdown list in the Inspector are displayed using their corresponding font style on macOS.

[NEW] AI Bot Control. Prevent AI bots from scanning and indexing your website content in the -> File, Edit Publishing Settings menu option.

[NEW] Customization options are available for the Block AI Bots feature. You can now edit robots.txt and .htaccess files directly from the Site Settings screen. EverWeb SEO Powerup Addon Required.

[NEW] You can now drag and drop stock photos to Inspector-> Shape Options-> Slide Show.

[NEW] TextBoxes now support scrollable text. If the text exceeds the height of the TextBox, visitors can scroll through the content. This option can be found in the Inspector->Text -> Export Options -> Scrollable Text.

[IMPROVED] Most of EverWeb’s built in widgets have been translated in to all the languages that EverWeb support.

[IMPROVED] EverWeb now strips some unprintable characters in image file names when importing assets.

[IMPROVED] Improved preview in Google Chrome browser.

[IMPROVED] Better font handling when switching projects from Mac to Windows.

[FIX] Fixed issues with the spell checker on Windows.

[FIX] Fixed images getting distorted in some widgets.

[FIX] Fixed a line spacing issue with lines with no text in text objects.

[FIX] Fixed EverWeb SiteShield Add On validation when publishing to a third party website.

[FIX] Incompatible characters are now properly stripped from image file names to prevent loading issues during publishing.

[FIX] Fixed an issue with Global Styles used in lists in blog posts.

[FIX] Fixed issue with the backslash (“\”) character in blog posts.

[FIX] Fixed an issue with moving all objects below the selected object by holding the Control and Shift keys on Windows while dragging an object.

[FIX] Fixed an issue with Image Galleries not being clickable on preview and the pagination when the pagination is left aligned.

[FIX] Fixes some issues with the Navigation Menu widget.

[FIX] Fixed issues with Animated GIF widgets so they work properly on publish.

[FIX] Fixes an issues where icons were not showing in the Image Gallery widget.

[FIX] Fixes an issue when exporting TextBoxes that include line breaks.

[FIX] Fonts appear properly when creating a new website.

How To Update EverWeb for Windows

You can easily update EverWeb for Windows by either:

1. Launching EverWeb then opening a project file. From the Help menu at the top of the screen select ‘Check for Update’ or by
2. Downloading EverWeb from the EverWeb website.

After downloading EverWeb, double click on the EverWebSetup.exe file. Note that the file name may have the version number appended to it and that you may need to initially trust the file to be able to download it.

Follow the instructions in the Installation Wizard until the installation is finished. You can delete the EverWebSetup.exe file afterwards by dragging it to the Recycle Bin.

How To Update EverWeb for macOS

You can easily update EverWeb for macOS by either:

1. Launching EverWeb then going to the EverWeb menu at the top of the screen and selecting ‘Check for Update’ or by
2. Downloading EverWeb from the EverWeb website.

After downloading EverWeb, double click on the EVERWEB.DMG file. A window will open. Drag the EverWeb icon on to the Applications folder icon.

Once the file has been copied, you can close the installation window, delete the .DMG file and eject the EverWeb disk on the desktop by dragging it to the Trashcan.

About Your EverWeb Update

Remember, you won’t lose any previous data when updating as your website project files are stored elsewhere on your computer.

The update is free for EverWeb + Hosting users and EverWeb Standalone users who are within their 1 year of free upgrades and support period.

You can easily check your EverWeb update period from your EverWeb-> Preferences… window on macOS, from your Edit-> Options menu on Window,s or from your client area.

If you have passed your one year of free EverWeb updates, you can purchase 1 more year of upgrades and support from your Client Area.

You can easily re-download earlier versions of EverWeb from your client area if you are not ready to purchase an additional year of updates and support.

Login to your Client Area and go to the ‘Manage Product’ page. On the left of this page, select ‘Downloads’ and choose the version of EverWeb that you need.

More Information About EverWeb

For more information about the new version of EverWeb, please check out the following resources:

• The EverWeb website which has up to the moment information in its blogging section.
• New EverWeb videos on YouTube.
• The EverWeb User Manual in EverWeb’s Help-> User Manual menu.
• The EverWeb Discussion Forum.

If you can’t find what you need, or have any other questions, comments or feedback please let us know.

The expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” is truer today than ever before. Adding the right images to your EverWeb made website can save you time and effort that would be used on crafting text that perhaps, is unnecessary. When you have found the images that you want to use, adding them to your EverWeb website project, is easy, but before you do, there are some important things you may want to check first. Here are some recommendations for preparing your image before you import them in to EverWeb.

Optimizing Image Size

When choosing images to display in your website, always check to see if any of them should be optimized before adding them to your project file. Properly optimized images will display properly on screen and will avoid problems such as dragging on the page’s loading speed in the browser. As most display devices today are ‘retina ready’, i.e. can display high quality, high definition images, you can easily create retina ready images for your site.

Optimized images are those that are of the smallest file size possible, but in the highest quality possible. For example, you may have a photo file that you want to use that is 16MB in size, 4096 pixels wide and has a resolution of 600 dots per inch. This would be a large file to load on a page, and if I had many image files that had the same type of attributes, my page load time would seriously drag. Additionally, the consequence of using such large files would impact your website traffic, your SEO and your website’s server resources. 

The first step to optimizing the image is to decide how to scale the image width. In our example, the original width is 4096 pixels. To display this on my website I can reduce the width down to 400 pixels wide. However, as most displays today are retina image, I will make he image 800 pixels wide instead.

Use an image editor, such as Apple’s Preview app on a Mac, or just open the image file in Windows, to adjust the image’s dimensions. When changing the width dimension from 4096 to 800 pixels, remember to check the image editor’s ‘constrain proportions’ option. This will keep the image height in proportion to the image width during the resizing. 

In our example, the image is scaled down to 800 pixels wide, and not 400 pixels wide. This is so that it will appear properly on retina quality devices. 

Optimizing Image Resolution

Reducing image dimensions can bring down the size of the image file considerably. In addition to this, you can also check the image resolution. In our example, the resolution is set as 600 which is overkill when displaying an image on screen. Typically, this resolution would be used if you were printing the image. So, we can reduce the image resolution from 600 dpi (dots per inch) to, for example, 72 dpi or 144 dpi, which should be more than adequate for displaying the image on your website.

If you are using image editing software, see if the software has an ‘Export for Web’ option. This will optimize the image file when you save it. Remember to save the changed photo as a new file so you do not overwrite your original file as you may need it later.

When saving your changes, you can reduce its file size further if the image is in a PNG file format by saving it as JPG format instead. PNG files are useful if you want to preserve a transparent background, but if this is not necessary then a JPG file type will be preferable for display on the web. 

When you use you image on your page in EverWeb. resize it so that it is equal to, or less than, half the original saved size.

Use Image Optimisation Software

Use image optimization apps to further reduce the file size of your images. Many image optimization apps strip away non-essential data from the file without noticeable degradation in image quality. Obviously use such software before importing the image file in to EverWeb.

Using Edited Photos

Image editing software can be very advantageous for enhancing an original image file. When editing such your image, the end result can be a much larger file. Remember to check the file size of an edited file before importing it in to EverWeb. As we mentioned previously, check to see if your app has an ‘Export to Web’ option. 

Naming Your Image Files

Giving your image files good descriptive names has advantages. First, they will be easier to locate on your computer or in the cloud. Properly named files will also make it easier for you to find them in EverWeb’s Assets List.In addition, a descriptive file name will benefit your website’s SEO. Where possible name, or rename your image files importing them in to EverWeb. This will maximize your SEO. If you have already imported your images in to EverWeb, you can still rename them in the Assets List. Just double click on the file name in the Assets List to do so. Doing this will still be of benefit to your SEO although renaming the image file before importing it in to EverWeb is more efficient and effective.

Time To Publish…

When you come to publish your site, you can further optimize your images using the project file’s Site Publishing Settings. To access these features, either click on the project file name in the Web Page List or use the File-> Edit Publishing Settings option. Check the option ‘Export Optimized Images’. This will further optimize your project file images but requires EverWeb 4.1 or later.

You can also improve your page loading times when using images, but selecting an image on your page, then using the Shape Options-> Fill -> Lazy Loading option.

Optimizing image for the web is an important consideration when you use images in your website! Make sure that you do your best to make your images lean for the web!

If you have any questions about this post, or anything EverWeb, please let us know in the Comments below!

Over the last 12 months, EverWeb has added numerous features to enhance your website building experience, boost your website’s performance, and make designing your site more flexible than ever! Our releases over the last year included EverWeb version 4.1 in January 2024, EverWeb version 4.2 in June and the maintenance release, version 4.2.1 in July. We are currently wrapping up the testing of the new EverWeb 4.3 for Mac and Windows release which should be available in the next few days. We’ve got some great new features coming in this release together with an all new widget!

We have also been working hard behind the scenes over the last twelve months, laying the foundations for some awesome new features that we will be showcasing in the next twelve months!

In the meantime, here’s a review of what happened in our 11th Anniversary Year!

Your Wish Lists Items Fulfilled!

Adding features to EverWeb that you want to see is always a priority. Your suggestions, via the EverWeb User Forum, are always welcomed and we are always super interested in hearing from you about what you would like to see in future versions of EverWeb. Over the past twelve months a lot of these ‘wish list’ features have been added! This includes the new Draft Page Mode, Lazy Loading Image files and the ability to drag and drop pages between different project files.

There are more wish list features that we are going to fulfil over the next twelve months, starting with the addition of Justified Text in TextBoxes in the upcoming EverWeb version 4.3.

Expanded and Enhanced Shape Options…

It has been a great time over the last two years for EverWeb’s Shape Options Fill options! Firstly, Fill Slideshow debuted as a new Fill option in EverWeb 3.6, followed by new Map Fill and Video Fill options that were introduced with EverWeb 4.2. These new options allow you to add slideshows, maps and videos to most object types and in the case of Map Fill, you have expanded mapping options that go further with Google Maps than EverWeb’s inbuilt Google Maps widget can!

More Video Options Come To EverWeb!

Adding more video related features to EverWeb has also been something that we have wanted to add for you for a while. EverWeb version 4.1 and 4.2 made this a reality with the aforementioned Video Fill on the Shape Options tab and also the arrival of video fill for the Browser Background. Again, we added lots of options for this feature so you can easily get the video background as you want it on your site!

User Interface and User Experience Improvements and Enhancements

Since EverWeb’s 10th Anniversary, we also took time to make EverWeb easier by adding a settings log to most objects so that you no longer need to mouse over to the Inspector Window. We also introduced a Toolbar for the Responsive Row widget, and enhanced many settings such as new alignment options for Page Background and Shape Option’s Image Fill feature.

In addition, the SEO Check Page addon was updated to include more SEO features, and WebP support also came to EverWeb to help make your pages load even faster in any browser that supports this feature.

All of our updates reflect our ongoing commitment to you to make designing your website easier and more professional. Please let us know your feedback and what you would like to see in future EverWeb updates! And don’t forget EverWeb 4.3 will be available soon!

Thank you as always for your continued support!

# Team EverWeb

In the first part of this blog, How EverWeb Can Keep Visitors Interested in Your Site, we looked at how you should prepare before going live with your EverWeb made website. We also looked at how to create an SEO strategy so that your website’s chances of being found on the Internet are the best that they can be. In this second, concluding part, we look at things that you can do in EverWeb from a design and content approach that will help keep visitors interested in your site.

Create and Maintain a Dynamic Landing Page

Perhaps the most important page of your website is the Landing page, also known as your site’s Home page. This page, typically, will be the first page which new and returning visitors will access. So, it is important to keep it up to date. For example, anything that is time sensitive should only be on the landing page whilst it is relevant. If you have, for example, an event on your page that is three years old, chances are that your visitors will think that your site is no longer active and may stop visiting you!

New Content Creation Is Important for SEO

Adding new, fresh content to your website is an important ingredient in keeping visitors coming back to your website. Use the Home page of your site to highlight what is new and trending. Updating at least the Home page of your website on a regular basis is a simple, effective way of telling your visitors that your site is active and alive and kicking! How many websites do you know of that are not updated for years? If you are selling goods and services on your site, this is doubly important.

When creating content for the Home page of your site, make sure your message is clear and simple, typically with only one objective in the message. Clear and simple is always best. Avoid just updating your Home page just for the sake of it, and whilst using SEO Keywords on your Home page is great, do not sacrifice your content for the sake of SEO.

Blogging – Is It For You and Your Audience?

One great way to add new content is to add a blog to your site. This can become a tool that will hook your visitors on your site if you add content that is fresh, relevant and interesting to your audience. A regular blog is something of an investment and it is not for everyone but if it is right for your audience then it is worth trialling.

Remember To Keep EverWeb Up To Date!

One other vital factor in keeping visitors interested in your site is to keep EverWeb up to date. In addition to maintenance and stability releases, major point version releases of EverWeb will bring new features, or enhanced existing features, for you to use. EverWeb usually gets three to four major point releases throughout the year so don’t get left behind!

Consider Revamping Your Site From Time To Time

Sometimes keeping your visitors interested in your site can just come down to revamping your site from time to time. Changes in colors, fonts and layout can have a huge impact – both positive and negative – so figuring out what works for your target market is important. When it comes to design in EverWeb, remember to use Paragraph Styles in all of your pages. We also recommend that you assign Document Colors to your site as well. When it comes to revamping your site, you only need to update your Paragraph Style and Document Color defaults which will then ripple throughout your site, saving you lots of time and effort!

Spreading the Word About Your Website

One of the best ways of getting more traction to your website is by spreading the word through social media such as Facebook pages, Instagram, Pinterest, LnkedIn and other social media platforms that are appropriate to your business, or interest group. Linking your website’s content to social media is a good way of keeping visitors and customers informed and up to date about your site and business.

Remember as well that social media is not for everyone either, again think of what best suits your audience. For example, including an email newsletter sign up Contact Form in your website. Creating a regular newsletter may be a better alternative to social media and blogging for some audiences. If you choose to go the newsletter route, you can use EverWeb’s Contact Form Enhanced addon to manage the contact forms that are submitted to you from the Contact Form Advanced widget.

Keeping Visitors Interested: Final Take Aways…

There are a number of different tools within EverWeb that you can use to help keep your website live and fresh to your current visitors as well as potential new visitors. If you run a business over the Internet, remember that your website is your calling card so needs attention!

When you build your website in EverWeb it’s a great feeling to finally publish it to the Internet for the whole world to see. All those hours of effort you put in to designing and building your site are rewarded when you ‘Go Live’. So does this mean that it is now time to sit back and let your site do the work that you intended it to do? It’s a tempting thought, but the reality is that going live is only really the start of the journey…

Is Your Website Achieving Its Objectives?

Anyone who builds a website is doing so for a purpose. Behind the purpose will be one or more specific goals or objectives that the website should meet, both now and in the future. Once your website has gone live, you should check if its goals are being met, or if they need to be modified, on a regular basis. It is also important to think about how your website will need adapt in the future to meet ongoing changes in business, or personal, goals and objectives.

Fix Issues Before They Become Problems

After going live, the most immediate task for any website developer will be to fix any issues that may have come to light after go live, as quickly as possible. The best test of how any website is going to work is when it goes live on the Internet. Obviously, it is important to test your site as thoroughly as possible before go live as this should help iron out most, if not all, potential issues or problems.

Prior to going live, your testing phase is also a good time to double check your site’s workflow. Is your site easy to use and to navigate? This is an important part of your site’s development. If your site is difficult to navigate you will probably lose you visitors once it has gone live. Remember as well to check all of the links in your pages and navigation menus.

In addition to looking at your site’s workflow, also make sure that you include a ‘404 Page Not Found‘ page to your site’s pages. The 404 page appears if a visitor clicks on a link to a page that does not exist or cannot be found. Using a 404 page in your site helps keep the visitor within your site and helps you direct them back to another page within your site e.g. your 404 page could include a button to take the visitor back to your Home page. In EverWeb, add your 404 page to your site in the Site Publishing Settings page which can be accessed from the File-> Edit Publishing Settings menu option.

When it comes to rooting out potential problems before you go live, often developers publish the site to a ‘test’ area on Internet until all issues have been resolved. This is as close to a Go Live as you can get. Once any problems have been resolved, the site can then be published to its true URL for Go Live.

The final way of checking for any potential issues on your site is to test it once it has gone live and to look out for any feedback from the site’s visitors about things that do not work, or work in unexpected ways. It may be possible that you cannot test some features using a test setup and Go Live is the only way to try out some of your sites features. In this case, whenever possible, fix any such problems as soon as possible. This will add credibility and professionalism to your site. If a visitor to your site posts an issue on social media, respond quickly, courteously and positively as possible. Also remember to update those who flagged the issues as to the progress in fixing the problem they highlighted. This approach is good PR for you even though if it is hard work at the time.

Get Your Website’s Stats!

Once your site is up and running, you can find out how interested visitors are in it by analyzing your visitor statistics. If you have an EverWeb+Hosting account, you can access your site stats through your EverWeb Client Area. If you use your own Hosting Provider, please contact them for more information on getting your stats.

Using your visitor statistics, over time, will detail how your site traffic is holding up. It is also useful to check your stats after you have made any major changes to your site as this may indicate whether the changes you have made have been successful or not. Site statistics can also be affected by your site’s SEO in relationship to Google, Microsoft Bing, Alexa and other search engines algorithms.

Is Your SEO Strategy Working?

Often you will attract visitors by having your site found in internet searches. Your site’s visitor statistics is a good indicator as to whether your site’s SEO strategy is working. If your SEO strategy is working properly your chances of being found in an Internet search will be better.

SEO can be tricky to evaluate, as any changes that Google (or other search engine providers) search algorithms may affect your site’s traffic. As such, monitoring traffic on a regular basis may provide you with valuable insights in to whether your SEO is on target or not.

For more information about SEO in EverWeb, either follow our SEO for EverWeb Video Course or check out the chapter on SEO in the EverWeb User Manual. Additionally, you can also fine tune your SEO using EverWeb’s SEO Power Up Addon.

Keeping Your Visitors Interested: Initial Take Aways…

Keeping visitors interested in your site is a constant task that needs attending to. If you fail to do so, over time you will find that the number of visitors to your site will decline. In addition, you should also review at your SEO strategy on a regular basis to make sure that you are still in synch with search engine algorithms and that you are targeting your market audience properly.

In the next post we will be focusing on website design and content as ways to keep your visitors interested in your site. Hooking visitors to your site is key to retaining and growing your site’s traffic and your business!

The new global styles feature that debuted with the release of EverWeb 4.0 makes setting up default font styles and color palettes for your site easy and flexible. You can now define all of the text styles that you want to use in your EverWeb project file in one place as well as define the color pallete that you want to use for your site.

We recommend setting up your global styles as one of the first things you do when you create a new website project file. If you already have a project file, that is also no problem as you can apply global styles to any existing pages of your site.

In this post we are going to look at how to create global text styling and document colors.

Accessing Global Styles…

To access a project file’s global styles you will need to be using EverWeb 4.0 or higher, for Windows or Mac. Once you have opened your project file, go to the Format-> Default Styles menu option. The default styles dialog box will appear.

About Default Settings…

In the top left hand corner of the dialog box are the project file’s Default Settings. These settings are found in all versions of EverWeb and they set default the site’s default font family, font size and color for TextBoxes. It is also where you set up the defaults that you want to use for Shape Objects and Hyperlinks.

Note that if you change these settings they will be applied to any new TextBoxes, Shapes and so forth, but will not affect any existing objects.

When finished changing your Default Settings, click on Save. Your changes will be applied to any new object or hyperlink that you create.

Preferred Fonts

To the right of the Default Settings is the Preferred Fonts column. Preferred Fonts are used by everWeb’s Styled Text Editor that is found in widgets such as the Text Section, FlexBox and PayPal widgets. By default this column is filled with nine web safe fonts. You can add fonts to the list by selecting the font and font style you want from the dropdown menus below the list of fonts, then clicking on the Add button.

As with all list boxes in EverWeb you can move the fonts in the list simply by dragging the font you want to move from its current location and dropping it where you want it in the list.

To delete fonts from the list, first select the font you want to delete then press the backspace key. If you have used a font that you have deleted, the text will default back to Arial.

When finished with your changes click on Save.

Paragraph Styles

In the second row of settings you will find the defaults for your Project’s Paragraph Styles. You can apply paragraph styling to any text in a TextBox, text used in the Styled Text Editor in some of EverWeb’s widgets, or text within Blog Posts in the Blog Post Editor. By default there are eight predefined Paragraph Styles. To change the name of a Paragraph Style, double click on the name of the Paragraph Style you want to change, edit the name, then press Enter to finish.

Click once on the Paragraph Style to manage its properties. For example, click on ‘Secondary Body’ to select it. Use the Font Settings in the middle column to change the styling of the selected Paragraph Style.

One of the great new additions to EverWeb 4.0 is the addition of scalable text for TextBoxes. In the Default Settings dialog box, set the Minimum Font Size that you want the Paragraph Style to have e.g. 16 point. Next, set the maximum font size for the Paragraph Style using the Font Size field to the right of the Font Style dropdown e.g. 24 point. Now you have set up the Paragraph Style to automatically scale the text between 16 and 24 point depending on the device the text is being displayed upon.

Click Save when finished with your changes. When you apply the Paragraph Style to your text, it will automatically scale if needed. in a nice and smooth way.

When you set up your Paragraph Styles you also have the option to use a Back Up Font if your main Paragraph Style font is not available. We recommend setting this up, preferably using either Web Safe Fonts or Google Fonts.

If you want to add a new Paragraph Style simply click on the ‘+’ button below the Paragraph Styles section. To delete a Paragraph Style, click on the Paragraph Style, then click on the ‘-‘ button. If the Paragraph Style being deleted is used in your site, you will be asked to select another Paragraph Style to replace the one you are deleting.

When finished with your changes, click on Save. Your changes will be applied to any text in your site that uses the Paragraph Style that you have change.

Document Colors

In addition to setting defaults for text, EverWeb 4.0 and higher also lets you define settings for the colors that you use in your site’s pages. The Document Colors section is where you define your site’s color palette. If, for example, you want to set the Page Background color of a page in your site, you can choose a color to use by clicking on the color swatch in the Page Background section of the Page Settings tab. You will see a selection of color swatches to choose from. In this example, I am going to choose the blue color at the top of the first column.

The color swatches you see in the color swatch are the ones defined in the Document Colors section of Default Styles. In my example, I have a blue background for my page, but I can change this default to something else if I want. The blue color swatch is at the top of the Document Colors list. To change the color, click on the color and adjust it using the Color Picker. When finished, close the Color Picker and click on Save. Wherever the blue swatch was used in your site, it will now be changed to the new color.

It may be useful to note the hex number of the default color before you change it in case you change your mind later on and want to revert to the original default color.

EverWeb’s Global Styles feature allows you to easily set up default font styles and document color palettes for your site. If you change any of these defaults in Document Styles, the changes will be applied to any object that uses the global style making updating your site super easy!

If you have any questions about this post, about EverWeb 4.0, or EverWeb in general, please let us know in the Comments Section below.

if you are a Mac user, you are no doubt aware of Apple’s recent release of macOS 15, also known as macOS Sequoia. In our testing of the current version of EverWeb – version 4.2.1, we have not found any issues when running on this new operating system.

We are already testing the next release of EverWeb against macOS Sequoia to ensure that it is fully compatible with Apple’s latest OS release.

If you have any questions about EverWeb and Operating System compatibility, please let us know in the Comments section.

In our last blog post, we looked at getting started with blogging in EverWeb and whether you should choose to blog or not. We finished off the last post by creating a blog. In this post, we will take a deep dive in to EverWeb’s blog Post page!

Exploring The Blog Posts List

As you may already have discovered, the Posts page is the page where you will probably spend most of your time when blogging. The page is divided up in to a number of sections. When you view the page you will see that there are three horizontal sections and the Blog Post Settings pane on the right hand side.

The first horizontal section is the Blog Posts List section where you create and manage your blog posts. The blog posts that you create can be easily ordered by Blog Post, Date or Draft status. Just by clicking on these Titles at the top of the section.

By default, when you create a blog in EverWeb one post will also be created, called ‘New Blog Post’. To change the title of the post, simply double click on the post’s title, make the changes you want and hit the Enter key when finished.

Also by default, EverWeb enters the current date and the when you create a post. You can easily change this to another date/time if you need to. Again, double click on the date of the post whose date/time you want to change. A calendar will pop up allowing you to set the date and time as required. Additionally, you can also set the date/time to the website’s next publish date/time by checking the ‘Use Website Publish Date’ field.

Typically when blogging you will probably have some posts in development for publishing at a later date. In this case you probably will want to set the post to Draft so that it does not get published inadvertently until you are ready to do so.

At the bottom of the section is a Settings Cog on the left hand side and ‘Add Post’ and ‘Delete Post’ buttons on the right. The Settings Cog has three options: The first is Post Options which is where you can add a Short Summary of the blog post as well as Keywords for the post which is useful for your SEO.

The second option is Import which allows you to import blogs from iWeb or WordPress. If you want to import photo galleries from these two products, use the File-> Import menu. Additionally you can also import photo galleries from Sandvox using the File-> Import menu option.

The last option lets you choose whether you want he blog post editor to be in Dark Mode or not. Just toggle the option as required.

Exploring The Blog Post Editor Window

The second section of the blog posts page is the Blog Post Editor Window. This is where you enter your blog post’s text and images. Simply add your text and use the Blog Post Editor’s Toolbar to stylise as you want. If you want to add images to the post, just drag and drop them in to the post. Use the image’s Toolbar to choose whether you want the image to stand on its own or be integrated with your text. You can also use the image’s Toolbar to add Alt Text to your image.

If you are using EverWeb 4.0 or higher, you can also add paragraph styles to your text. Just select he text you want to use a paragraph style with then choose the style from the Blog Post Editor Toolbar.

When you create your blog post text and add images, you will see them in the Blog Preview window below the Blog Post Editor Window. This is the third section of the Posts page.

Exploring the Blog Preview Window

The final section of the Posts page is the Blog Post Preview. This section is similar to a Master Page. If you add objects in to this area, they will appear on all the pages of your blog so be careful what you add! This section is useful as it shows you a live preview of how your post will look. Typically, you will add objects in to the header and footer areas of this section, leaving the middle empty for your post’s contents. If you are not comfortable using the Blog Preview as a Master Page, you can always add a Master Page to the Posts page using the Inspector Window’s Page Settings tab. Just set the Master Page you want to use in the Master Page field dropdown menu.

Post Page Widget Settings

The last section of the Posts page is the Widget Settings that run down the right hand side. Here you can set multiple options that will affect all of your blog posts. This is the section where you define the style of your blog posts. In addition, you can also add a Comments Section if you want to engage with your audience. EverWeb supports both Disqus and Facebook Comments.

For more details on the blog Posts page , please checkout our other videos, or take a look at our blogging videos in the EverWeb Video Training Library!

If you have any comments, or feedback on EverWeb’s blogging feature, please let us know in the Comments Section below. We’re here to help!

Creating your own website is often a first step in a journey. As you begin to find out what EverWeb‘s capable of, and the features that it includes, you may find that your initial website becomes something more! Adding more features to your site often comes as you gain more experience and confidence in using EverWeb. Once you have built your initial website, you will probably have more time to add any additional features you may have kept back from your site’s initial release. Once such feature may be to add a blog to your site.

Is Adding a Blog To Your Site The Right Thing To Do?

The first question you should ask yourself if you are considering adding a blog to your site is “Is adding the blog the right thing to do for my business and customers?” On the plus side, adding a blog to your website is a powerful way to enhance your online presence, engage your audience, and drive business growth. Whether you’re looking to improve your SEO, build authority, or simply to better connect with your customers, a blog can be an invaluable tool.

On the negative side, blogging may not be the right solution, or even beneficial, for your business. If the commitment to maintain quality, consistency, and strategic alignment is not feasible, it might be better to explore other ways to engage your audience and achieve your business goals. Managing and maintaining a blog can be very resource intensive.

Preparing to Start Your Blogging Journey!

If you have decided that blogging is right for your business, there are a few things that you might want to consider before creating a blog in Everweb:

• Build a Pipeline of Blog Post Ideas: Having a list of possible posts for the future is always worthwhile creating. This will give you a pipeline so that you can post on a regular, consistent basis. Also remember that your pipeline should include some ‘Evergreen’ content too i.e. content that has a regular anniversary or is content that is good to repurpose from time to time. Examples include product or company anniversaries, Black Friday, getting started guides and so forth.
• Posting Frequency: Choose a blogging frequency that suits your customers and also make sure that it suits you too. Writing a blog can take time and research so make sure you can handle the workload. When it comes to choosing a publishing time for you blog posts, check out when your social media feed is most looked at, then post at that time to maximise customer engagement.
• Blog Post Comments On or Off?: It is your choice as to whether you want your community to be able to comment on your posts or not. If you allow commenting, you, as a moderator will have to monitor and vet comments. This may take you time and effort. Also dealing with the potential for inappropriate or negative comments should be taken in to account as well. Allowing your community to comment can be a rewarding experience, so you may want to consider trialling commenting before committing to it.
• Choose Your Comment Engine: If you do decide to allow comments on your posts, you have two choices in EverWeb – Disqus or Facebook Comments. Check out the section in the EverWeb User Manual which takes you through the pros and cons of both as well as how to set up your blog on either platform.

Creating a Blog in EverWeb

Now that you have finished your planning tasks and have everything you need to start blogging ready, now is the time to create a blog in your EverWeb site.

1. Start by adding a new page to your site
2. If you are using a Theme Template already for your pages, check to see if there is a blog page available. If so you can use this.
3. Alternatively, choose either a Blank, or Blank Responsive Theme Template, then choose the blog page.
4. Click on the ‘Select’ button to add the blog page to your site.

EverWeb’s Blog Page Structure

The blog page in EverWeb is a special type of page. When you add the blog to your site, you will see that, in fact, the ‘blog’ page is a directory page, consisting of three pages:

Blog: This is the main page of the blog where you see a summary of the latest blog posts that you have created. The latest post is usually displayed at the top of the list with other posts displayed in descending date order.

Posts:This page is your blogging engine where you create the blog posts themselves. This is the page you will probably spend most of your time on.

Archive: This page is where you can view summaries of all of the blog posts that you have created in your blog.

Getting Started with Blog Posting in EverWeb

After creating your blog in your project file, the first thing you will probably want to do is to write your first blog. To do this, simply click on the Posts page in the Web Page List that runs down the left hand side of EverWeb. You will see that the first post has been created for you, ready to fill in!

In our next post, we will take an in-depth look at the Posts page so that you can get the most out of it!

If you have any comments or questions in the meantime about blogging in EverWeb, or any EverWeb related question, please let us know in the Comments section below. We are happy to help!