Wordpress is one of the most popular platforms on which to build websites due to its simplicity for the end user to manage after buildout via its content management system (CMS) and the ease of customization due to its open source plugins. Pre-built plugins allow web developers to easily add complex features to websites without taking extra time and effort coding, testing, and re-coding each element a client desires for their site. While pre-built plugins are incredibly convenient, they also create vulnerabilities that dentists should be aware of when they hire a company to build their new website. Late last year a popular plugin that linked websites with social media accounts was found to have a security leak that exposed individual Twitter accounts to hacking . The issue with plugins is that your web developer has no control over their updates and security. All websites and their associated 3rd party applications or plugins should routinely be monitored and scanned for security risks and updated to patch an issues. With 3rd party plugins, these scans and updates aren't guaranteed to happen and can lead to negative events like the social media hack mentioned above or even worse: a website that is hacked and displays content that you don't control. When we build websites, you can rest assured that we code everything by hand and only use standard applications that we have pre-built for use by our website clients, providing a level of security you can depend on. In addition, we provide routine website backups and security scans that keep your website locked down. Our CMS rivals Wordpress for ease of use by end users who have no knowledge of website coding and our multiple management plans give you superb hands-off options when you don't have time to work with a website after hours. If you are interested in upgrading or building a new website, we are excited to chat with you about your goals. Contact us today to get started on your safe and secure dental website!

In June of last year, Google announced its plan to use speed as a ranking factor. Add to that the fact that Google will soon use a mobile-first index and you can see that mobile + speed is very important for success on the web. In addition to the importance Google places on it, speed is important for other reasons too. For example, we know sites that show users content quickly are much more likely to show engagement, conversion and lower bounce rates. We know from DoubleClick that 53% of mobile visits are abandoned if it takes them more than 3 seconds to load. In other words, if you’re running any paid advertising, half of your budget could go out the window because of a slow site. We decided that we want every site built for our customers to have the best possible PageSpeed score. We took on the challenge of ensuring a score of above 90 for every website built by Three Layer Marketing, on all devices. We’ve been working hard on this challenge for the past few months, and we're happy to announce that, when publishing a website with Three Layer Marketing, you will get a great Google PageSpeed score.