WATCH READ I found it hard to find HTML code to create a “Copy URL To Clipboard” button in WordPress that matched my button styles. But thanks to https://orclqa.com/copy-url-clipboard/​ – I found it. This video shows how I did it. <button>Copy Link</button> <script> function copyToClipboard(text) { var inputc = document.body.appendChild(document.createElement(“input”)); inputc.value = window.location.href; inputc.focus(); inputc.select();…

WATCH READ Yep, I’m still posting some videos from a speaking appearance I did back in 2017. Why? Because Google Analytics User Flow is still relevant. Many small business owners have had Google Analytics installed on their websites for years (far before the new GA4 launched). If you fall into this category, watch this video…

WATCH READ In this short, three minute video, I reveal the best SEO Tip ever! It’s not super complicated. You just need to have your site verified with Google Search Console first. More on that here. Then, you need to log into Google with the account you verified your site with, and make a search…

WATCH READ In this video, I’m speaking to Vanderbilt University’s Masters of Marketing Class about web design and digital marketing. I am a big believer in using Bounce Rate to drive design decisions on your website. I explain my methodology.

WATCH READ This video, which features audio from a guest appearance I made on Voiceflow’s podcast almost two years ago, tells the story of who Data Driven Design is and what we do. However, this is pre-pandemic, and the world changed shortly after this interview.

WATCH READ Running Google Ads to multiple audiences is important to your business. In this video I talk further about reasons why businesses should consider doing this, and how it can be done.

WATCH READ Google Analytics is new. If you’re installing Google Analytics on a new website, you’re now using GA4 code. So how can you confirm that the GA4 code is tracking properly? This video shows you how to use the Realtime tab.

WATCH READ Want to learn how to use data to drive design and conversion improvements on your website? The first step is understanding how to use Google Analytics conversion reports. In this video, I explain how to use Google Analytics conversion reports to make data driven decisions related to your website and digital marketing efforts.

WATCH READ In this speaking appearance at Vanderbilt University, I teach the Masters of Marketing class what Google Analytics goals are and how businesses can use them to drive results and make data driven decisions regarding their digital presence.

WATCH READ If your business is interested in running Google Ads (the full product where you bid on keywords – not Smart Campaigns / Adwords Express), match types are arguably the most important thing you need to know about. This video explains.

WATCH READ I’ve spoken and written at length about how great of a job Google Adwords Express (also known as Google Smart Campaigns) has done at generating phone call leads for businesses. In this video, I talk with Vanderbilt’s Masters of Marketing Class about routing numbers and why they exist.

WATCH READ Many marketers don’t really know this, but Google Ads is super overpriced, and has been for several years. The bidding structure of the full Ads product causes a myriad of scenarios where it very rarely makes sense for any small business to participate in traditional Google Ads.

WATCH READ In this Data Driven Academy appearance at Vanderbilt University Masters of Marketing class, I teach students how to use Google Ads Smart Campaigns (aka Google Adwords Express) to generate phone call leads for small businesses. This is something all small business owners should be aware of.

WATCH READ When Data Driven Design got named a top 25 voice company by Keri Roberts of Top 25 Today, I got a chance to sit down and tell the story of how Data Driven Design got started.

WATCH READ Why do some Google Ads take up more space than others? Specifically, the ones that have extra links below the main link. These are called Google Ad Extensions. This video explains more about what they are and how to implement them in your Google Ad Campaigns.

WATCH LISTEN READ If you’re looking to make your WordPress website more professional by giving your visitors the ability to make one-time or recurring payments via Stripe instead of PayPal, WP Simple Pay is a great solution for you. This covers how to acquire, install and configure WP Simple Pay to make your WordPress website…

WATCH READ If you’re a smaller boutique business but sell similar products or services to much larger conglomerate competition, there is still a way for you to compete with them on Google Ads. It’s through Google Adwords Express Campaigns – also now called Smart Campaigns. This actually allows your business to run ads for as…

WATCH LISTEN READ Are you having issues with your WordPress website URLs redirecting to the wrong pages? I may have a simple solution for you. I’ve used a plug-in called Redirection for almost 10 years now when I build WordPress sites. Its main purpose is to implement 301 redirects when redesigning websites. This is so…

WATCH READ It’s sometimes hard to understand that the different aspects of the Google Search Engine results pages come from different areas. For example, when you search for products, those results are generated from Google Shopping feeds, in which you have to set up a Google Merchant Center account. Google Ads come from paid advertising…

WATCH LISTEN READ Sometimes the data leads you to put an exit intent pop-up on your website to collect email addresses from visits as they intend to leave your site. But what should you put on it? I prefer to allow the data to drive that as well. This video shows how you can use…

WATCH LISTEN READ There is now an easy, turnkey way to literally put your WordPress website’s content on Alexa and Google Assistant. This opens up your website to a whole new rapidly growing audience of more than 500 million people using voice assistants on a daily basis to get information. You want your website to…

WATCH READ What’s the best way to embed video on your website? I get asked this question all the time, and while YouTube is generally my answer, due to the fact that it’s free, easy to use and great for SEO, there is another solution that may be better depending on your situation. If you’ve…

WATCH READ In this video, I teach Vanderbilt University’s Masters of Marketing program how to use the Google Ads Keyword Planner Tool. While it’s built for ad campaigns, it can also be used for using data to drive organic search, and business decisions in general.

WATCH LISTEN READ So you’ve uploaded a new featured image and published your awesome blog post, but there’s one small problem, right? The beautiful featured image you’ve loaded in isn’t showing on your blog page. In fact, some other, older image you posted as a featured image in a different blog post is showing in…

WATCH READ How to use data to make decisions and not waste your money in Google Ads. I discuss how to use keyword data in Google Ads to optimize your campaigns. This is a general overview from a Data Driven Academy at Vanderbilt University in 2018. There’s no need to debate what keywords to bid…

WATCH READ In our Data Driven Academy class on how to deploy digital media (how to run Facebook Ads, mainly), I explain how to install the Facebook Pixel. More on the Facebook Pixel here.

WATCH READ There are many advantages to using the full Google Ads product, vs. Google Adwords Express (Google Smart Campaigns). You can ensure Spot 1 / Page 1 placement, if you’re willing to spend/bid high enough. You can also control various keyword match types. Ad Extensions are available and recommended. These help extend your brand…

WATCH READ Small Business owners can get a ton of data about their target audience without even running ads. Google Adwords Express, also known as Google Smart Campaigns, is a great way of projecting real data about how many people within a specific geographic radius or even group of separate cities, are interested in any…

WATCH READ Many small business owners don’t understand the difference between Google Ads (where your business is actually only paying for clicks) and Social Media Ads (where your business is paying regardless of how many clicks you actually get). Now, it’s not as simple as that when you get into the details, but at a…

WATCH READ There are some misconceptions about the Google Ads Grant For Non-Profits. Many think it’s simply free money every month, but there are only certain ways Google allows non-profits to spend the money. 1. You can only use it on Google Ads full product – contextual 2. You can only bid up to $2.00…

WATCH READ In January and February 2018, Kate and I presented at Data Driven Academy for Vanderbilt School of Business – Marketing Specialty. In this video, I get asked how much can be spent on a Google Adwords Express (Google Smart Campaign) Ad.

WATCH READ There are many ways to customize the search functionality on your WordPress website. There are plug-ins that help you control what’s shown and what’s not shown in the results. There are also easy changes you can make to your functions.php files. But most of these methods focus on global changes, like what categories…

WATCH READ This podcast episode was recorded in 2018, just about a year and a half after I started Data Driven Design as a remote digital agency specializing in WordPress Development and Digital Strategy. I was on the precipice of hiring an All-Star team of full-time employees, and I knew how to execute my vision…

WATCH READ Oh no! I just made a HUGE mistake on one of my WordPress pages! My content is gone! I know there’s something called Revisions, but after the update to Gutenberg (anything after WP 5.0), it’s NOT THERE ANYMORE! Help! What do I do????? No worries. Just watch this video. 🙂 LISTEN

WATCH READ There is a way to spend less than your competition on Google Ads, yet outrank them, and it has nothing to do with Quality Score. It has to do with buying Google Adwords Express Ads, also known as Google Smart Campaigns. In this video, I explain the strategy behind small businesses marketers buying…

WATCH READ How do I export my all of the files from my WordPress website? That’s a question you may be asking yourself if you’re redesigning your site into a new WordPress theme/install. Export Media Gallery is a great plug-in that I recommend using. This video shows you the ins and outs and considerations, as…

WATCH READ Data Driven Design was recently named one of the Top 25 companies in Voice and AI by “Top 25 Today.” In this interview with host Keri Roberts, I answer questions about how Data Driven Design helps small businesses scale using voice technology, specifically using our WordPress Plug-in, The Voice Designer – available at…

WATCH READ Too many eCommerce merchants and businesses looking to sell their products online, or invest in Facebook Ads or other digital media have the immediate expectation of online sales. It just doesn’t happen that way. Customers need more information before they buy products, especially from businesses they don’t have a relationship with. The data…

WATCH READ Are you using BuddyPress (a free version of BuddyBoss, basically) to build a social media type community site using WordPress? If so, you’re pretty smart. But you may be getting discouraged on your “Activity Feed” page by the actual community activity feed not loading. Are you just stuck on a screen that says…

WATCH READ How Can You Customize Your WooCommerce Store’s Email Messages? Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as you might think. Yes, you can get a developer to do it for you, but there’s also a way to get it done with virtually no technical knowledge required – and that’s the way I prefer for…

WATCH READ The main reason small business owners need the Facebook pixel installed on their website, isn’t necessarily to run ads, but rather to understand more about their website audience. This video is from Data Driven Academy in February 2018, and it isn’t the best tutorial, but I talk about the importance of the Facebook…

WATCH READ This video is the full interview with Lady Lunch Club, based out of Nashville, TN. Filmed in 2017, it quickly chronicles why I do what I do, why I love what I do, how I empower others to learn web design and digital marketing, and how I got to where I am today…

WATCH READ If you’ve been thinking it’s time to learn new skills, you’re right. I put together a course for Packt/Udemy on how to build Alexa Skills, called “Hands-on Building Alexa Skills.” It requires no previous technical knowledge. I highly encourage you to register here, and use this promo code – 02C40CC8AE9166BE2346 You will learn…

WATCH READ The proof is in the data. All WooCommerce store owners need to be thinking about how they can optimize their eCommerce store for mobile experience and mobile marketing. Mobile web traffic share continues to climb across the board (in all verticals) by about 5-10% annually. When Gary Vaynerchuk launched WineText.com in 2020 (a…

WATCH READ This solves a decade old question by WordPress website owners and bloggers. How do I change my website’s primary domain name without affecting my Google Search Engine Ranking? Many bloggers and content creators have hundreds and even thousands of blogs that they’d completely lose backlinks for and SEO value for if they don’t…

WATCH READ Google Analytics has a thing called a View. Views are under Properties. Marketers should think of Views like dashboards. You can filter your website and marketing data within Google Analytics up to 25 times per Property. Think of Properties as websites or apps. Why would you want 25 different data filters for one…

LISTEN READ Small business owners don’t have time to waste on making digital marketing and website design decisions. They have to run their businesses. But at the same time, they have to have a digital presence that converts visitors into customers. This is why Data Driven Design is the perfect solution for small business owners.…

WATCH READ Lily Clayton Hansen was nice enough to attend one of my speaking appearances in 2019 on Designing For Voice (Alexa and Google Assistant). Based on her attendance there, she wanted to interview me on her podcast. This is the edited version from my end where I answer her questions about: – How I…

WATCH READ I love talking to small business owners about tips and tricks to rank higher on Google. The real way is through organic search (SEO), by creating content every day, posting it on YouTube, your blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and all other social media outlets. Of course, following an SEO best practices checklist, optimizing your…

WATCH READ Authenticity and Value Proposition. These are the two most important things when creating content for your brand. These are really the only things your target audience and especially your actual customers want to hear in your content. Every once in a while, I have the opportunity to sit down and talk in an…

WATCH READ During our Data Driven Academy Google Analytics 101 class, we thought it would be a good idea to explain the importance of using the Google URL Builder Tool when posting to all social media posts – especially paid ads. The reason being, it automatically integrates with Google Analytics without you having to do…

WATCH READ I wish everyone who needed or wanted a website had a solid budget to work with Data Driven Design on a WordPress site, but seeing as our WordPress projects start at $1,500, not everyone can afford it – especially Solopreneurs just starting out. But rather than go down the SquareSpace or Wix rabbit…

WATCH READ I get asked how to optimize social media pages and content for SEO (search engine optimization), and there are tactics to helping people find your content when they search on Social Media platforms like YouTube (tagging and titles), Twitter (hashtags), Instagram (hashtags), Facebook (still trying to figure this one out) and more… …But…

WATCH READ Many business owners and marketers don’t really understand how powerful of a tool Google Analytics is, nor how easy it is to actually use. One interesting report is the Real Time Report. It shows you how many website users your website has at any given time of day or night. It also shows…

WATCH READ Three things small business owners always need to be doing to grow their audience… 1. Create content every day and post it on every social media outlet 2. Run a targeted page promotion (explained in detail in this video) 3. Engaging on LinkedIn – searching hashtags related to your business on LinkedIn, seeing…

WATCH READ The data says that more than 30% of the websites in the world are built in WordPress, and when you combine that with SquareSpace, you get about half of all websites. In this video, I explain to marketers and business owners who attended the Data Driven Academy, how to add Google Analytics code…

WATCH READ In an interview with Lady Lunch Club, based in Nashville, Tennessee, I was asked what women who may be intimidated by technology can do to develop DIY Skills and increase their value in the workplace. I’ve seen many women get unfairly pigeonholed into “social media girl” roles at digital agencies and even on…

WATCH READ The number one most common issue related to Google Analytics for small business owners is that they don’t have proper access to their own account. It’s actually very important that you or your digital agency sets up your Google Analytics Account properly. Digital agencies have been notorious for setting up each client as…

WATCH READ How does Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) actually work? If you’re a small business owner, you may benefit from this. I joined the Data Tea Podcast with Holly Rachel and Lena Winfree. They had done their homework on my background and realized that through my extreme geekiness and willingness to solve problems for…

WATCH READ Recently I’ve published WordPress shows about how to use Yoast SEO to optimize your WordPress Website, and how to implement Schema on your WooCommerce Product pages. Well, now I’m taking it another step further and explaining how to further optimize your WooCommerce Products for SEO using Yoast. Yoast has a plug-in specifically for…

WATCH READ I’ve long told Small Business Owners that they are subject matter experts at various areas of their own business. I’ve elaborated saying that they need to make content 365 days a year about their subject matter expertise. When they roll their eyes at me and tell me that what they know about isn’t…

WATCH READ I just learned that 45% of Small Businesses don’t have websites! That’s crazy. If you’re a small business owner, please contact me at paul@datadriven.design and I will get you a website optimized for Google Search (SEO). What is SEO? It stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it basically means “ranking high on Google…

WATCH READ In the Fall of 2014, I remember Kate and I had just moved into our new house in Spring Hill, TN, and I felt completely broke. That’s basically because we were. We had just spent all of our money on the down payment, and still had some minor credit card debt. Altogether, we…

WATCH READ The best way to optimize your WordPress Website for Organic Search (SEO) on Google is to use a plug-in called Yoast SEO. Yoast gives WordPress non-technical content managers the ability to add SEO Titles (also known as Search Engine Titles), Meta Descriptions to each page and score them against focus keywords. Yoast makes…

WATCH READ Rachel and Winfree, a Data Science and Analytics company in Nashville, Tennessee, had me on as a guest on their podcast, Data Tea, to give some web design and SEO tips for small business owners and “solopreneurs” and entrepreneurs trying to build their companies. I also talk about my company and how exactly…

WATCH READ You can have a website, and it can be fire, but if nobody goes to the website. You’re done-zo! I couldn’t have said it better myself. In a guest speaking appearance at Summit High School in Spring Hill, Tennessee in 2018, Kate Hickey (COO of Data Driven Design and my awesome wife), explain…

WATCH READ When I was the Director of Marketing at Columbia State Community College from 2007-2011, I really learned a lot, and enjoyed my work, but not my job. I knew that acquiring the skills I was acquiring at the time was what I wanted to be doing, but I knew that the space of…

WATCH READ Small Business Owners are super savvy. They’re usually very good at just about everything, but not always experts at everything, especially their own company’s digital strategy and web presence. Data Driven Design is the perfect solution for small business owners because we build and launch websites and marketing campaigns based on data, but…

WATCH READ It’s no secret in a COVID and eventual post-COVID world that in-person live events will never be the same. Even when people are comfortable enough to get together in large groups face-to-face, many companies and small business owners will have realized through 2020 that many in-person networking events were just complete wastes of…

WATCH READ I asked my friend QuHarrison Terry about why it’s important for any kind of business, organization or personal brand to figure out a way to create content on a daily basis, rather than weekly or monthly, and he had some amazing insights. I also asked him to elaborate on HOW businesses, organizations and…

WATCH READ How do you go about building a business network by starting with no contacts? Just remember, business success is all about relationships. Start with family or friends, or friends of family members, or family members of friends. Pick one you admire. It doesn’t matter what they do for a living. Pick someone. Ask…

WATCH READ Gravity Forms is far and away the best way to build forms into your WordPress site. From simple form management in a drag and drop / no code editor, to custom notifications and confirmations, to dynamic shortcodes making it compatible with any theme, that alone should make Gravity Forms better than its competitors,…

WATCH READ I share part of my story about how I dreamed big, but put in a ton of non-glamourous “grunt work” at the beginning of my career. This point of view has never escaped me and I live by this philosophy to this day. I think it’s important for people to think about what…

WATCH READ Google Analytics can be used to find where your website visitors are located physically, what devices they use when they find your website, and what they actually do when they get to your website. When you have this information, you can also see the differences in website traffic, engagement rates and goal completions…

WATCH READ Okay, business owners, it’s time to start thinking about building a website that allows you to show your availability for bookings, and allow your customers to make reserve slots, pay online, and manage their own reservations themselves. You don’t have the staff you used to anymore, and you need to be able to…

WATCH READ In this video I speak to marketers and small business owners about the top questions we get as a digital agency related to small business websites, SEO and traffic growth. Believe it or not, it all revolves around your business truly needing to know your value proposition. What do you bring to the…

WATCH READ Most people think of Google Analytics as being for data geeks only. They could not be more wrong. Google Analytics is a business tool for marketers, period. In our Data Driven Academy Google Analytics 101 classes, I show marketers, small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs how to get what they need out of…

WATCH READ Most eCommerce store owners and merchants will agree that their online store needs to be perfectly SEO Optimized in order to have any chance of success. One area that eludes many small business owners with eCommerce stores, whether Shopify or WordPress WooCommerce is getting the Product Structured Data Schema implemented correctly. This video…

WATCH READ My wife Kate Hickey (COO of Data Driven Design) and I were invited to speak to high school students at Summit High School in Spring Hill, Tennessee in Spring of 2018. We had just sold our house, our cars, and committed to move to Valencia, Spain for a year. We are now in…

WATCH READ Marketers and Small Businesses owners have long feared Google Analytics. They’ve generally been smart enough to properly install the tracking code in their website (or at least have their website developer do it for them), but they’ve never really learned how to look for the data that gives them the insights to make…

WATCH READ WordPress WooCommerce continues to prove why it’s head and shoulders above Shopify, Magento and it’s other eCommerce competitors. Time and time again I’ve been asked by Shopify merchants how they can drive more conversions via traditional digital marketing tactics. Shopify merchants are relying too much on things like Facebook Ads and Google Ads,…

WATCH READ My mission is to help small business owners with their digital presence. This is the core reason for conducting workshops like the Small Business Website Workshop we held in Nashville, TN in November 2019. The proof is in the data, when you post on Social Media 3-5 times per day, and run a…

WATCH READ In an interview with Lady Lunch Club, based in Nashville, TN, I’m asked for my advice on how their members can “take a dream and turn it into a business.” Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC and founder of The Voice Event, and The Voice Designer, has created and grown…

WATCH READ In this conversation with a friend, I had the opportunity to give an overview of my entire career, starting as an unpaid intern with the Detroit Pistons of the NBA, to building WordPress websites and creating content as a side hustle, to becoming Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Columbia State Community…

WATCH READ Small Business Marketers have forever wondered how to get on the Google Map, how to show up big in search results, and how to understand exactly how many people search for and find their business online. All of these questions and more can be answered by using Google My Business. This video, from…

WATCH READ Many businesses want to collect simple payments on their website, whether for non-profit donations or for-profit digital services/content or physical goods. WP Simple Pay is a great solution for one-time payments accepted via Stripe as the payment gateway. The free version, however, doesn’t include the ability to create recurring subscription forms. This video…

WATCH READ Marketers, Biz Dev people and Business Owners eyes sometimes glaze over when we talk about data, but in this video we explain how free Google Tools like Google Optimize, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Google My Business can put any small business in a position to optimize their digital presence and grow…

WATCH READ I often get asked the question “what software do I use to automate posts across all social media platforms.” The answer always surprises and even frustrates some. I don’t. I post all of them organically, to each platform. There are several reasons, but the main one is relevancy. This video explains more, including…

WATCH READ The data shows that every business’ audience’s attention is on Facebook. Regardless of what kind of business you have, your target audience, and it’s decision makers, are using Facebook. As such, Facebook Ads, still are less expensive than traditional mainstream media. It’s cost per audience attention is so much cheaper than TV, Radio,…

WATCH READ If you want to talk to people while they consume their entertainment, you can be their entertainment. Don’t put too much pressure to be funny or entertaining, just document what you’re doing. Entertaining, informing and interacting comes before selling. Don’t post about what you sell or what deals you have. Post about who…

WATCH READ When I built a WooCommerce Store in 2015, it was a bit complicated to connect my client’s account Quickbooks account to the WooCommerce Store and ensure seamless integration. Now, it appears there’s a better, easier solution, and it’s FREE! Quickbooks Sync for WooCommerce by MyWorks.Software LISTEN Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead…

WATCH READ As an eCommerce merchant, life can get a bit hectic, and tax zones can complicate things. Not only are there complicated Country and State Tax laws (for US merchants), but depending on your product and location, you may have to take a bunch of different things into account. Your eCommerce platform better be…

WATCH READ I think the number one most missed thing by WordPress developers is properly thinking through and setting up Shipping Zones and Classes. It can be a bit of a headache, unless your store is simply including the price of shipping in each item, and touting “free shipping!” Maybe this is why it’s often…

WATCH READ Small Business Owners need all the help they can get, and they simply don’t have the budget to pay agencies to make basic website updates or do Local SEO. If you are a small business owner, start-up founder, entrepreneur, or even a marketer at a mid-size company with a small marketing department, this…

WATCH READ In this video interview with Lady Lunch Club of Nashville, I’m asked how my Goals and Passion can help the members of Lady Lunch Club, as well as Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC and founder of The Voice Event, and The Voice Designer, has…

WATCH READ On this episode of The WordPress Show, I show you how to customize your member registration form and profile fields for your members. This is a continuation of “How to Build a Simple Membership Website” where we went over how you can easily turn your WordPress site into a membership site for free.…

WATCH READ It’s definitely not as daunting of a task as you might think to turn your simple WordPress site into a basic membership site. Let’s say you have different layers of content, and you want to make your site accessible to everyone, but add a “premium content” layer. You can easily do so with…

WATCH READ WooCommerce has become the main way to add eCommerce functionality to any WordPress website, but as WooCommerce has evolved, the set-up and installation process has become a bit more cumbersome. Not in a bad way, but in an “I’d really like to skip this and come back later and fill in all this…

WATCH READ I’ve been building eCommerce sites using WordPress WooCommerce since 2011, and during that entire time, I’ve had several business owners looking for a way to customize their store to make it B2B (business to business). What does this mean? Well it essentially means that clients (other businesses couldn’t just rock up to the…

WATCH READ WordPress has several solid ways to add Head and Footer code to any website. One way is via Theme Options. Most solid themes have an option to add Head and Footer code by just pasting it in. But many themes don’t have this option. Two of ways to get around this are with…