Developer Tips Archives | Top Of The List

10 Plugins You Should Install on Every WordPress Site

Posted on August 22, 2022August 22, 2022 by Mandie Allietta

WordPress is a user-friendly platform, but the number of plugins can be overwhelming. What do they all do? Which plugins slow down the site? How do you choose which ones to use?

Plugins, which are small applications that can be added to WordPress, add features that aren’t included natively with the CMS. Often this is because they aren’t always needed, but some plugins provide functionality that is useful on any website.

Our web development experts have compiled a list of plugins that you should add to get the most out of your WordPress site, along with our recommendations for the best ones for SEO, site speed, and user experience.

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5 Tips for Creating a Useful Navigation Menu

Posted on February 10, 2022February 10, 2022 by Mandie Allietta

An illustration of a computer monitor sitting in a forest with a compass laid over the screen.

A navigation menu is one of those things that most people don’t notice until it isn’t designed well. Chances are that every website you have visited has some form of a navigation menu but rarely do people rave about finding an amazing one. Like many jobs, doing it well means that no one notices.

What well-designed navigation menus have in common are basic usability rules that allow for visitors to seamlessly navigate through a website without thinking. These rules are essential to keep in mind when creating a navigation menu on your own website, whether it be for a business or for personal use.

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9 SEO Questions to Ask When Choosing a Web Developer

Posted on October 20, 2021October 22, 2021 by Mandie Allietta

design of a webpage with a cursor clicking on a question mark, representing questions a client has for their web developer

The process of developing or redeveloping a website can be overwhelming. Choosing designs, finding hosting, switching domain names, and creating content is just the beginning. With all the work to do, Search Engine Optimization is sometimes considered to be something that will happen in the future. That is not the case! Great SEO should be built into the site from the very beginning.

Here are nine important SEO-related questions to always ask a developer when considering them to create your website.

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How Schema Markup is Adapting to COVID-19

Posted on October 30, 2020June 3, 2021 by Mandie Allietta

grid illustration of connected dots representing schema relationships, some of which are coronavirus

The idea of Schema Markup, or Structured Data, may be familiar by now. Up until earlier this year, it had been primarily used to explain to search engines what information is on a web page and explain how that information is related. Like Twitter, which started as a social platform but morphed into a crucial communication tool during emergencies, Schema Markup has turned into something different. Even the White House is encouraging users to use Schema Markup to alert others of new changes.

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Will 2020 be the Year for Schema Markup?

Posted on January 22, 2020October 12, 2021 by Beverly Mapes

Screenshot of Google's structured data testing tool

In 2019, you may recall several Top Of The List blog posts about schema markup (aka structured data):

Focus Areas for Google in 2019, where schema markup was listed among one of the top four focus areas for 2019 according to John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google®
Schema: Your Website’s Secret Weapon, which explained in non-tech language what schema is and how it is making its way into our world.
7 Things to Know About Google’s Question & Answer Snippets, which identified some big-time results that schema markup can have on your Google listings

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