Since the general public began using the internet in the 1990s, web designers and site owners alike have been frustrated by the limited number of typefaces available to them when creating websites. Despite the fact that most computer users have a multitude of fonts installed on their machines, the selection of typefaces from machine to machine varies greatly. A visitor to your website can only see the fonts you choose for your website if 1. they have those fonts installed on their local computer or 2. you embed the fonts into your site.
Some fonts are considered “web safe”, which means the vast majority of visitors to your site have the font on their local computers; therefore, these fonts can be used without any embedding. They are:
- Arial
- Arial Black
- Comic Sans MS
- Courier
- Georgia
- Impact
- Times New Roman
- Verdana
“Wait! Our brand’s font isn’t on that list!” All is not lost. Font embedding makes it possible.
Cufón
Cufón is a font embedding technology which uses Javascript. It is a free, fast, and widely compatible solution. Best of all, it is easy to generate Cufón fonts from the font files on your computer, and free extensions to easily integrate Cufón into your Joomla or WordPress site are available. Although possible, it is not recommended to use Cufón for body text as it may result in slower site performance. Using Cufón for headlines and small blocks of text will not significantly increase load time.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Easily convert your fonts (here) |
 Slightly slower than @font-face method |
| Compatible with all modern browsers |
Not recommended for body text |
| Compatible with most mobile devices |
CSS3 @font-face
The @font-face method works in all modern browsers without the use of any external scripts; it is even compatible with Internet Explorer all the way back to version 5. As it is native technology, the @font-face method can be used for body text, however the output can sometimes look pixelated on some Windows browsers, especially at smaller font sizes. Larger, bolder type typically looks good on all browsers. @font-face can easily be used with Joomla and WordPress, as well as standard HTML sites. TrueType (.TTF) or OpenType (.OTF) fonts can be used right out of the box, however for Internet Explorer compatibility, you must also create an .EOF version, which you can do for free.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easily convert your fonts (here) |
Smaller text sometimes looks pixelated |
| Compatible with all modern browsers |
|
| Compatible with most mobile devices |
A Note About Licensing
The fact that you have a font installed on your computer does not necessarily mean you have the right to use it as an embedded font on your website. Always carefully read the license for the font(s) you are considering using, and check with the publisher if you are unsure. Font Squirrel offers a large selection of free fonts which do not have restrictions on web embedding.
If you need help utilizing your brand’s fonts on your company’s website, contact Regal Creative. We’ve helped businesses big and small keep a consistent brand via embedded web typography, and we’d love to do the same for your company.
While this effort will really only be effective if you are a fairly good writer and can regularly maintain it, it is still one of the greatest link building tools available to you. With a blog, you can create a level of engagement that may not be possible through any other part of your website or business, and coupled with social media integration, this could be a very powerful marketing mechanism. Additionally, the consistent generation of new content through blog posts & blog post comments is like candy to Google. Do your keyword research, write beneficial content for your users and the links and subsequent rankings will follow.- Write a “101″, “5 ways to”, “10 best” type of blog post
Okay, so you have a blog, you’ve been writing for a while and wait, you haven’t integrated into any social media channels? What are you thinking?! Social media is quickly becoming a powerful player, and it should not only be included in your marketing mix, but it should also interact with almost every other marketing tool in your bag.Put your blog posts on your Facebook pages’ wall, encourage your followers to retweet and share, tell your users to find you in Google and +1 the heck out of your listings (hopefully they’ll be able to find the post – tell them to copy and paste your Post title directly into Google search with quotes “This is the page title that I am wanting you to +1 the heck out of”), so on and so forth. While this may seem as a not so quick link building tactic, you can set up your blog & social media channels to all integrate with each other. It will reduce the amount of time you spend trying to get it out to the masses, and increase your ability to gain readership and links.
The old process of finding websites, collecting contact information, and sending out an unsolicited email asking for a link because you think you’re worthy, just doesn’t really cut it anymore (still questioning whether it ever did to begin with). It’s extremely important in todays world to try to build relationships with those you are hoping to acquire a link from, and it kind of makes sense too.Think for a moment, would a random stranger give you $20 on the street just because you asked? The answer is, most likely not; this is the same for links as well. You need to learn the landscape you are in, learn about people’s personalities, what they like / dislike, and interact with them. As always, don’t come on too strong—just make it enough that you can build a steady, positive communication with them and then, in the end, use the tactic of choice to request the link.Opportunity will most likely try to sneak by you, so stay aware, be proactive, and be friendly.
Okay, so this may actually be more in line with #1 – “Start a Blog”, but honestly, content that is well written and helpful to people will garner more links, more easily, than any other strategy on this list.Even though knowledge is power and therefore money (because it seems in todays world, money drives power, at least in some circles, and so the logical deduction would be knolwedge = power = money), you can build a better reputation and a stronger link profile through offering your knowledge for free online.Take our blog, for example (
316 N. Milwaukee St.
