A restaurant’s website isn’t just digital decoration—it’s your online front-of-house. It’s where diners check your hours, browse your menu, make reservations, order takeout, buy gift cards, and sometimes decide whether or not to visit you in the first place.

Let’s break down exactly what to look for when building a restaurant website and which WordPress tools can help make it happen—without drowning you in tech jargon or pointless features. Whether you’re launching something new or refreshing an existing site, this post is your blueprint.

Start With the Basics: Non-Negotiables for Every Restaurant Website

No matter your cuisine, style, or budget, there are several must-have features that every restaurant site should deliver. These aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re foundational elements that determine how usable, functional, and effective your site really is.

Mobile-First Design

Most people visiting your site are doing it on their phones—looking for hours, browsing your menu, or seeing how far they are from your location. If your site doesn’t load quickly or format cleanly on mobile, you’ve lost them. A strong mobile-first design ensures that your website performs beautifully on all devices, no matter where your customers are coming from.

Clear and Intuitive Navigation

Diners should never have to dig to find your menu, hours, or phone number. Intuitive navigation reduces friction, improves user experience, and keeps visitors focused on what matters most—choosing what to eat or how to reach you.

Key navigation elements to include:

• Menus (with food categories or dietary tags)
• Location and hours (always visible)
• Online ordering or reservation buttons
• Contact form or phone number
• Events or promotions (if applicable)

Sticky headers and mobile-friendly nav bars with icons can go a long way in keeping users engaged.

Searchable, Digital Menus (Ditch the PDF!)

Here’s a common mistake: uploading a beautiful PDF of your menu and calling it a day. While it might look nice, PDFs are hard to read on mobile, impossible for screen readers, and invisible to Google when it comes to SEO.

Instead, build digital menus right into your website. These are easier to update and more accessible for everyone—including search engines.

Best WordPress plugins for digital menus:

• Restaurant Menu by MotoPress
• Five Star Restaurant Menu

These plugins allow you to create interactive, categorized menus complete with photos, descriptions, prices, and even filtering by dietary preferences—all with a layout that works across devices.

Built-in Ordering and Reservation Options

Want more takeout orders? Fewer no-shows? A smoother booking experience? Then your website should make it effortless for users to reserve a table or place an order. You can either embed third-party booking systems or fully integrate ordering into your WordPress site.

Popular tools to consider:

• OpenTable, Resy, or Tock (for bookings and reservations)
• WooCommerce (to manage in-house ordering)
• GloriaFood (a free and easy plugin for online ordering)
• WPForms or Fluent Forms (for catering or private party inquiries)

The best setup depends on your goals—but no matter the method, speed and clarity are key. Make the buttons visible. Use clear CTAs. And ensure everything works smoothly on mobile.

Location, Contact Info, and Social Links on Every Page

This might sound obvious, but it’s still overlooked way too often. Your hours, address, phone number, and social links should be visible on every page—preferably in both the header and footer.

Tools that help with this:

• WP Google Maps (adds an interactive map for visitors to get directions)
• Schema Pro or Rank Math (adds structured data so search engines highlight your info in local results)

Link to your social channels too—especially if you’re active on Instagram or Facebook. It keeps your brand experience cohesive and helps customers follow and engage with your updates.

Want to Stand Out? Here’s What the Best Restaurant Websites Include

Once the basics are covered, it’s time to think about how to elevate your site from functional to memorable. These features aren’t required, but they offer huge value to guests and give your restaurant a polished, modern feel.

Promote Events or Special Nights with a Calendar

If you host trivia, live music, wine tastings, or brunch specials, a well-designed event calendar helps drive traffic and build community around your brand.

Best tools to add an event calendar in WordPress:

• The Events Calendar (great for recurring events and ticketing)
• Modern Events Calendar (slick UI and customizable layouts)

These plugins let you display upcoming events, allow RSVPs or ticket sales, and even send reminders through email integrations.

Sell Gift Cards or Merch

Gift cards are low-effort, high-reward revenue generators. And if your restaurant has a loyal following, branded merch—like hats, T-shirts, or hot sauces—can build a stronger fan base.

How to do it in WordPress:

• WooCommerce (flexible and scalable eCommerce solution)
• YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards (adds digital or printable gift card functionality)
• Gift Up! (quick gift card setup for digital use)

Add these items to your site’s main nav or homepage. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to support your business beyond just dinner.

Collect Emails to Stay Top-of-Mind

Email marketing may sound old-school, but it works—especially for restaurants. Want to send updates about new menus, limited-time deals, or holiday events? Email lets you reach your loyal customers directly.

Plugins to grow your list:

• Mailchimp for WordPress
• FluentCRM (native to WordPress and privacy-first)
• ConvertKit or Klaviyo (more robust options for larger email programs)

Place your opt-in forms on your homepage, menu pages, and checkout pages for the best results.

Optimize for SEO and Local Search

If your site isn’t showing up in local searches like “best brunch near me” or “tacos in [your city],” you’re missing a huge traffic stream. WordPress has powerful SEO tools that help you rank better—and get more eyeballs on your site.

Top tools to boost SEO:

• Rank Math or Yoast SEO (on-page optimization and meta tags)
• Schema Pro (adds rich data like hours, reviews, and location)
• Google Site Kit (connects your site to Google Analytics and Search Console)

Don’t forget: great photos, updated alt text, and fast load times also factor into SEO rankings—especially on mobile.

Quick-Reference WordPress Tool Stack for Restaurants

Build a Site That’s as Good as Your Food

We’ve helped restaurants from fast-casual to fine dining build websites that reflect their brand, connect with guests, and make doing business easier. The secret isn’t just a great design—it’s building a site that works hard behind the scenes and serves your real business goals.

If you’re ready for a restaurant site that helps you get more reservations, more orders, and more love from search engines, let’s cook something up together – let’s chat.

In this post, we’ll break down the core components of Events Calendar Pro, how it works with tools like Event Tickets, Promoter, and Event Aggregator, and—most importantly—why this suite is a win for your business and your users.

What is Events Calendar Pro?

Events Calendar Pro is a premium WordPress plugin developed by The Events Calendar, a team that’s been leading the way in calendar and event management plugins for years. It extends the functionality of the free Events Calendar plugin with advanced features built for businesses, non-profits, creatives, and anyone who relies on scheduled programming.

But it’s more than just a pretty calendar—it’s a strategic tool that handles everything from recurring events and venue management to robust ticketing and automated marketing.

The Core Features that Make Events Calendar Pro a Powerhouse

Let’s walk through why this tool is more than just functional—it’s a smart investment in your digital infrastructure.

1. Recurring Events Done Right

If you host regular meetups, classes, webinars, or services, creating and re-creating those events manually every time can eat up hours of your life. Events Calendar Pro makes recurring events a breeze. You can set:

• Weekly, monthly, or custom recurrence rules
• Exceptions for holidays or cancellations
• Multiple recurrence patterns in a single series

This saves time, reduces errors, and ensures your event listings are always current.

2. Custom Views = Better UX

The plugin offers multiple layout options—month view, list view, day view, and even a photo view. You can display events in the format that makes the most sense for your audience. For example:

• A yoga studio might use weekly view to show classes
• A music venue might highlight photo view for visual impact
• A nonprofit could default to list view for easy registration scanning

When users can find what they’re looking for easily, they’re more likely to engage, RSVP, or buy tickets.

3. Smart Venue and Organizer Management

Each event can be tied to venues and organizers—complete with Google Maps integration. This is great for SEO, brand cohesion, and user confidence. It also allows repeat venues and partners to be reused and cross-linked, which makes calendar setup faster over time.

4. Seamless Ticketing Integration

Here’s where it gets really useful: Events Calendar Pro plays beautifully with the Event Tickets and Event Tickets Plus plugins.

That means you can:

• Sell tickets directly from your site (no third-party fees)
• Set capacity limits
• Offer multiple ticket tiers or pricing levels
• Track attendance
• Sync orders with WooCommerce (if you want)

No more redirecting users to another platform. You own the full experience, which increases conversion rates and keeps your branding consistent.

Bring the Promo Game: Events Calendar + Promoter

Once you’ve got your event on the calendar and tickets in the cart, how do you make sure people actually show up?

Promoter is an email marketing automation tool that integrates directly with your events. It allows you to:

• Automatically send reminders to attendees
• Promote upcoming events to previous ticket holders
• Follow up after events with surveys or calls-to-action
• Segment your audience by ticket type, date, or behavior

This isn’t a generic newsletter blast—it’s targeted communication tied directly to event behavior. Think Mailchimp meets event intelligence.

Save Time with Aggregator

Let’s say your events live across multiple platforms—Eventbrite, Meetup, Facebook, or Google Calendar. You don’t want to manually copy/paste every date into your WordPress calendar.

That’s where Event Aggregator comes in. It pulls in events from other platforms and syncs them into your WordPress calendar. You can even import via iCal or CSV. For businesses juggling many events across departments or sources, this is a huge time-saver.

The Real Business Value of Events Calendar Pro

Okay, we’ve talked features. But what’s the actual ROI for your business or organization?

Own the Experience
When you manage events through your own site, you keep your audience on your domain, in your brand, and on your terms. That builds trust, improves SEO, and increases sales.

No Platform Fees
Selling tickets on Eventbrite or other platforms? They take a cut. With Events Calendar Pro + Tickets + WooCommerce, you manage your own transactions and keep the full revenue.

Scalable
Whether you’re managing five events a month or 500, this system scales with you. Add-ons like QR code check-ins, attendee registration forms, or integrations with CRMs let you grow over time without rebuilding the wheel.

Better Data and Insights
Know which events perform best, track conversions, and monitor attendance trends over time. With built-in reporting tools and WooCommerce analytics, you have real metrics to guide future decisions.

Boosted Marketing Power
With tools like Promoter, every event becomes a marketing funnel. You can re-engage lapsed attendees, cross-sell similar events, and even build custom email sequences based on purchase behavior.

Who Should Use Events Calendar Pro?

If you’re running a WordPress site and you host any kind of scheduled programming, this plugin suite is worth serious consideration. Here are just a few real-world use cases:

• Museums & Galleries: Schedule exhibits, artist talks, and ticketed tours
• Universities: Post recurring lectures, workshops, and department events
• Performing Arts Centers: Showcase shows with multiple ticket types
• Nonprofits: Promote fundraising events and manage RSVPs
• Corporate Teams: Host webinars, training sessions, and all-hands meetings
• Restaurants & Breweries: Promote trivia nights, beer releases, and music events
• Health & Wellness Brands: Offer class schedules and appointment signups

If your goal is to simplify event logistics, own the customer journey, and make smarter marketing moves—Events Calendar Pro is a perfect match.

Why We Recommend Events Calendar Pro

We’ve implemented Events Calendar Pro and its suite of tools for clients across industries—from small community orgs to nationwide brands. It’s a low-friction, high-impact way to streamline your events from promotion to check-in, all while staying in control of your digital brand.

If you’re ready to elevate your event strategy and streamline your systems—let’s talk. We’ll help you get it dialed in and performing like a pro.

1. What Is ChatGPT and How Is It Used by Content Writers?

ChatGPT is a powerful AI language model developed by OpenAI, designed to generate human-like text based on prompts it receives. It can produce anything from short blog posts to detailed essays, making it a tempting tool for content writers looking to streamline their work or increase their output.

While some writers use ChatGPT for brainstorming or generating drafts, others may rely on it more heavily to compose entire articles. The capabilities of AI writing tools are vast, including providing structure, checking grammar, and even suggesting creative phrases. For employers, this can raise concerns about whether the human touch is being lost in favor of machine-generated content.

Writers often use ChatGPT for the following tasks:

• Brainstorming topics or headlines.
• Drafting sections or full articles.
• Editing or rephrasing for clarity.
• Researching quick facts or statistics.

Although AI can certainly enhance productivity, it can also diminish the uniqueness of content, especially if relied upon too heavily. This leads to the important question: How can you tell if your writers are leaning on AI tools like ChatGPT?

2. Signs That Your Writers Might Be Using ChatGPT

Determining whether a content writer is using ChatGPT to produce their work can be challenging, especially since the quality of AI-generated text has improved dramatically. However, there are several signs that may suggest AI involvement in content production:

• Repetitive Phrasing or Patterns: ChatGPT can generate polished text, but its outputs often follow certain patterns, particularly in phrasing. If you notice similar sentence structures, vocabulary, or transitions repeated across multiple articles, this could be a sign that your writer is using AI to assist or even replace manual effort.
• Generic or Non-Specific Content: AI models like ChatGPT are trained on vast amounts of data from the internet. As a result, the content it produces can sometimes feel generalized or lack specific insight. If your content lacks depth, fails to provide nuanced opinions, or is overly broad, there’s a chance it was generated by a tool like ChatGPT.
• Lack of a Consistent Voice: Good content writers develop a distinctive voice over time, which reflects both their personal style and the brand they write for. If your writer’s tone seems inconsistent or robotic, switching between articles without explanation, this could indicate AI use.
• Fewer Requests for Clarifications: Human writers usually ask questions to better understand their assignments, the target audience, or the tone you want. If a writer consistently delivers content without requesting any clarification or feedback, it could be a sign they’re relying on AI, which may not need the same level of input.

Identifying these signs is only part of the process. Once you suspect your writers are using AI, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of AI-assisted writing to determine how you want to address it.

3. The Pros and Cons of Writers Using ChatGPT

Before deciding whether you want to discourage or accept AI-generated content, it’s important to understand the benefits and potential drawbacks.

Pros:

• Increased Efficiency: ChatGPT can generate content quickly, helping writers meet tight deadlines and boost productivity. If the content is for internal use or SEO-focused, AI-assisted writing may help meet your goals faster.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Since AI can handle repetitive or research-heavy tasks, it can reduce the amount of time your writers spend on basic content production, possibly allowing you to scale your operations without hiring more staff.
• Support for Brainstorming: Writers can use ChatGPT to brainstorm topics, headlines, and structures, enabling them to focus more on creativity and less on routine tasks.

Cons:

• Lack of Originality: Over-reliance on AI tools can result in content that lacks originality, creativity, and personal touch. This can lead to generic pieces that don’t resonate with your audience.
• Ethical Concerns: Passing off AI-generated content as human-written without disclosure can raise ethical questions. Your clients or readers may expect original human-created work and feel misled if they find out otherwise.
• Reduced Quality Control: AI may produce text that seems correct at first glance but includes subtle inaccuracies or misinterpretations. It may require careful fact-checking and refinement by a human writer, adding extra work in the long run.

Balancing the use of AI tools in content creation is key. But how can you encourage a responsible approach among your writers?

4. Creating a Balance: Encouraging Transparency and Responsible Use

If you suspect or know your writers are using AI tools like ChatGPT, the goal should not be to ban such tools outright, but rather to create a clear policy that fosters transparency and responsible use. Here’s how you can do that:

• Set Clear Expectations: Make it clear when and how AI tools are acceptable. For instance, you might allow writers to use ChatGPT for generating ideas or first drafts, but require that they refine and personalize the final version to maintain a human touch.
• Encourage Disclosure: Have open discussions with your writers about whether and how they’re using AI tools. Encouraging transparency helps ensure that you’re both on the same page, and you can address any ethical concerns before they arise.
• Maintain Quality Control: If writers are using AI to assist their work, ensure there is a strong review process in place. This may involve checking for plagiarism, fact-checking, and ensuring the final product aligns with your brand’s voice and values.
• Provide Training: Offer training to your content writers on how to effectively integrate AI tools while maintaining creativity and originality. This can help them leverage technology to enhance their writing rather than replace it.

By fostering a balanced approach, you can benefit from the efficiency AI offers without sacrificing the quality of your content.

5. What to Do If You Suspect Over-Reliance on ChatGPT

If you believe a writer is relying too heavily on ChatGPT or similar AI tools, there are steps you can take to address the issue. Here’s how to approach the situation:

• Request a Sample of Human-Only Writing: Ask your writer to produce a piece of content without using AI assistance, comparing it to their previous work. This can help you gauge the extent of AI reliance and assess their true capabilities.
• Introduce Random Checkpoints: Implement a process where writers occasionally need to submit drafts or outlines of their work-in-progress. This can help ensure they are involved in the content creation process and not solely relying on AI-generated text.
• Discuss the Use of AI: Have a frank conversation with your writer about their use of AI tools. Set expectations and explain that while AI can be a valuable aid, it should not replace the creative effort that human writers bring to the table.
• Provide Constructive Feedback: If you notice issues with the content, offer specific feedback on how to improve it. Encourage the writer to refine their style, add unique insights, and bring their own voice into the content.

With AI tools like ChatGPT becoming more prevalent, it’s natural to wonder whether your content writers are using them to do their job. While AI can help boost efficiency and productivity, it’s crucial to maintain a balance between technology and human creativity. By understanding the signs of AI use, weighing the pros and cons, and fostering transparency, you can ensure your content remains high-quality, original, and aligned with your brand’s voice—even in an AI-driven world.

First, let’s talk about the joys of channel surveillance.

The beauty of Slack is that it’s designed to create open communication, which is perfect because you can casually scroll through every channel to ensure there’s no subversive talk about work-life balance or—shudder—the benefits of remote work. Look for code words like “mental health" or “vacation." These are clear signs that your workforce is dangerously close to realizing they’re more than just cogs in your corporate machine. Immediate action is required.

Now, let’s discuss direct messages.

You’d think these would be private, but that’s adorable. As a vigilant manager, you know better. It’s your duty to monitor these one-on-one conversations for any signs of disloyalty. Did someone just ask their coworker if they had plans for the weekend? Red flag! This could mean they’re planning to meet outside of work, which could lead to dangerous ideas like forming friendships or, worse, developing a support system that doesn’t revolve around quarterly performance reviews.

Slack also has a handy “Activity" section, where you can track who’s online, when, and for how long. This is an excellent tool for creating a sense of constant surveillance. If an employee goes idle for more than five minutes, you can assume they’re engaging in suspicious activities like bathroom breaks or eating. Send a gentle reminder that the company values their dedication and that idleness is the devil’s workshop. Bonus points if you send it in a public channel to shame them into compliance.

Don’t forget the integrations.

Slack can be connected to all sorts of fun apps that track productivity. This is a great way to gamify surveillance. Who’s sending the most messages? Who’s creating the most tasks? Who’s using the GIF feature a little too liberally? These are the metrics that truly matter in the modern workplace. After all, nothing screams “productive employee" like someone who sends 50 Slack messages a minute.

Don’t underestimate the power of the “status" feature.

Encourage your employees to set their status to “available" at all times. This will foster a culture of always-on work, which is great because the last thing you want is an employee with a healthy work-life balance or actually complete the tasks in your to-do list. If someone sets their status to “away" or “out of office," consider it a personal affront. Clearly, they don’t care about the company’s mission to dominate the market and should be placed on a watchlist.

Slack is more than just a communication tool; it’s a surveillance goldmine. By following these tips, you can ensure your employees stay in line, keep their eyes on the prize (your profits), and never question the fact that they’re under constant digital scrutiny. Who needs trust when you have Slack? Now go forth and monitor, manager! The future of corporate surveillance depends on you.

Disclaimer: If you read this and agreed with one or more points, please seek leadership training immediately.

By now there’s no doubt that you’ve heard about ChatGPT, the AI writing tool that’s taking the internet by storm. Some people think it’s the second coming, others think it’s here to destroy the world as we know it — but we here at Kicks just think it’s a pretty neat little program.

In this blog we’ll cover what ChatGPT is, some of its more impressive accomplishments to date, its applications across various industries, and why you shouldn’t always trust everything that comes out of a robot’s mouth.

But first, let’s hear from ChatGPT itself. We asked the program to write a short blog titled “What is ChatGPT?” and here’s what it spit out:

And now, back to your regularly scheduled human-written program

Now that the robots are out of the room, let’s get down to business. ChatGPT is basically just a computer program that lets you ask an AI a question, and it gives you a response worded like a human would respond.

It works by having the AI scuttle across the internet for answers, and using a predictive typing function to flesh out the response. You ask ChatGPT “What’s in a vodka cranberry?” and it will give you the non-surprising answer in short order.

But that’s just using ChatGPT as a glorified search engine. Where the program really shines is in its ability to follow specific, detailed prompts. You can feed it prompts like “What are 5 reasons why Tim Burton’s Batman Forever (1995) is an underrated classic?” and it will write out a surprisingly convincing argument.

You can even tell ChatGPT to respond in the voice of someone else. For instance, a wedding invitation penned by Frank Sinatra, or a video review as written by Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Tunes. I say, I say, boy, that’s pretty dang impressive for a box o’ bolts.

How smart is ChatGPT?

Scary smart, all things considered. ChatGPT’s intelligence is pulled from the internet at large, so it’s adept at speaking about everything from toilet bowl cleaners to brain surgery with a high level of expertise.

To put ChatGPT through the paces, professors at the University of Minnesota pitted the bot against exams from four different law courses. Without any human input, ChatGPT managed a C+ on each of the exams.

Up in the Ivy League, the bot earned a similar passing grade on a business management exam over at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. You can see how ChatGPT showed its work to justify its answer in the image below.

On top of those accolades, ChatGPT also squeaked by with a passing grade on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam. You read that right — a robot could legally practice medicine in America. Pretend like there’s a scathing quip here about our healthcare system, please and thank you.

Bear in mind that these aren’t just multiple choice questions or ones that call for a simple fact or figure. In each instance, ChatGPT was able to provide the logic and reasoning behind its answers — leaving a “superbly explained” response, according to one professor at the U of Penn.

What are some real-life uses for ChatGPT?

There are plenty! Professionals across various industries like healthcare, real estate and marketing have toyed with AI writing tools to varying degrees of success.

ChatGPT in the real world

While ChatGPT is new, AI writing programs are old hat across certain industries. News outlets like the Associated Press have been using AI to spit out first drafts of news stories for a decade.

In the present day, real estate offices have started tinkering with ChatGPT to streamline their listings. Realtor JJ Johannes found that he could generate descriptions of different properties in a matter of seconds, just by entering a few keywords. He walks through his process in this informative tweet, which he used for a listing on an Iowa home.

ChatGPT has even reared its head in politics. Congressman Jake Auchincloss, Democratic Representative for Massachusetts, used the bot to write a short speech backing a bill in support of an AI research center. A bit on the nose, but we’ll take it.

ChatGPT in marketing

Here in the marketing world, ChatGPT is equal parts routine time-saver and mind-blowing breakthrough in the way we do our jobs.

On the more mundane side of things, AI writing tools are a great companion for content creation. Whenever you bump into writer’s block, you can turn to ChatGPT to generate ideas for blogs, social posts, emails — you name it. Having that rough draft at your fingertips in a matter of seconds saves a lot of time and a lot of headache.

On the more exciting front, ChatGPT has a promising future as the default technology behind highly human chatbots. Chatbots are already in place on a lot of social media platforms and consumer websites, but often they’re limited to set responses that were written up by a human ahead of time.

With ChatGPT, chatbots could take on a life of their own. They could interact with customers in real time, offering personalized recommendations, suggestions and support based on input from the customer. It could resolve issues on the spot, leading to better customer satisfaction and reducing the workload of human customer support teams.

ChatGPT is an exciting new tool in the marketing kit, and we can’t wait to see how it shapes our industry moving forward.

Okay, ChatGPT sounds great. Now what’s the catch?

Now you’re asking the right questions.

You could fill a library with all of the articles already written about the ethical implications of AI writing tools like ChatGPT. We’ll leave the ethics to Aristotle, and instead focus on the easy target:

The biggest issue with ChatGPT right now is that it’s often riddled with embarrassing errors. Those mistakes can range from simple factual inaccuracies to bald-faced lies.

AI’s trouble with the truth

Even with the infinite amount of knowledge at its cold, digital fingertips, AI writing tools like ChatGPT can struggle with basic facts. 

The same professor that put ChatGPT up against Ivy League exams noted that the bot made a lot of mistakes on simple math — we’re talking middle school-level multiplication and division here, not advanced trigonometry.

Google ran into some higher-stakes inaccuracies when it announced its ChatGPT rival, Bard. In a quick promotional video a father asks Bard, “what new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?”

Bard rattles off a couple quick bullet points about newly discovered galaxies — but erroneously mentions that the JWST was the first telescope to take pictures of planets outside of our own solar system. In reality that honor goes to a completely different telescope, and the gaffe may have contributed to the 10% drop in Google share prices following the reveal. 

Dreams of electric sheep

Even beyond simple factual inaccuracies, ChatGPT has a tendency to get creative with the truth — a habit that the industry calls “hallucinating.”

For instance, one Reddit user used ChatGPT to write a research paper on why people quit their jobs. The AI cited research from an author named S.C. Lewis, and wrote up a convincing abstract of Lewis’ scholarly article “Quiet quitting: A theoretical examination of employee turnover that is not preceded by overt behavioral indicators” from the Journal of Applied Psychology.

The only problem? The Journal of Applied Psychology never ran an article by that title. In fact, that article doesn’t even exist — and neither does S.C. Lewis.

These hallucinations seem to stem from ChatGPT’s predictive writing model. Whenever it’s dealing with well-documented information, it can accurately call up responses that are based on fact. But when it doesn’t find an exact match for your prompt, that’s when it does its best Pinnocchio impression.

So what’s Kicks’ take on ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a powerful tool that’s capable of some pretty amazing feats of writing. But between factual errors and outright hallucinations, there are plenty of reasons to be wary of using ChatGPT without human supervision.

Our biggest concern is that ChatGPT is only as smart — or as accurate — as the information it reads on the internet. And as everyone who’s got an uncle on Facebook knows, the amount of fake news that’s out there is staggering and getting worse every day.

As the logic behind AI writing tools improves, we imagine they’ll become a ubiquitous part of marketing and plenty of other industries across the board. But for now, we say have some low-stakes fun with ChatGPT. Then give Kicks a call and see why you should still trust our living, breathing writers more than a bunch of 0’s and 1’s.

One of the most common errors you’ll see while navigating the web is the 404 – Not Found error. When you visit a webpage the server responds with some content and a code. If everything is as it should be, you’ll see a fully functioning site and the browser gets a 200 code. The 200 code is the server equivalent to a thumbs up. Servers can respond with many different codes. The first digit in the response code gives you a general idea of what’s going on. Codes in the four hundreds refer to a client (it’s a you problem) issue.

Check out this Wiki page for more information on server codes.

What is a 404 Code Exactly?

We’ve all seen a webpage look like this:

This means you either typed in an address that doesn’t exist or clicked on a link to website that doesn’t exist. This URL may have once existed and doesn’t anymore or it never existed at all. Either way, when you see a page like this that means the server doesn’t know what to show you.

You don’t see really basic 404 pages much anymore. It’s pretty lazy for a website/web designer to let the server show something like that.

Nowadays you’ll see something more like this:

This is clearly better because it gives the users options from here. They can navigate to pages that do exist. In the former example. the user could only click the back button to return from where they came from or take another swing at the real URL.

We use WordPress to build our websites and like other content management systems, it can handle 404s more gracefully than a server by itself. By default, WordPress includes at the very least, the header and the footer of the site. The body can contain whatever makes sense for your website. It can, for example, show blog posts they may relate to what the user was trying to find.

SEO Impact

There isn’t a direct impact on your SEO score by having 404s. When search engines identify results that don’t exist, they just stop including those pages when they crawl your site.

The indirect impact is, of course, that your site has fewer indexed pages than it should and THAT can impact your SEO score with engines.

Custom 404 Pages

Using a custom 404 page like the one described at the end of the section above will actually improve your SEO score. Having a tailored 404 page with several internal links will engage the user and stop some of them from bouncing off your site, thus increasing your onsite time and lowering your bounce rate.

Finding Your 404s

Fixing broken links is easy. Identifying them, on the other hand, can be more difficult. There are two ways to find 404s. The first is to manually find them, but opening up the inspector for a page on your site and viewing the “Network" tab. There you can see all of the assets that page is trying to access. If you order by status you can see your 404 statuses.

From there you just need to make that page or file exist at that location or you need to change the location the page is pointing to.

Broken Link Checker

If you’re using WordPress you can use a plugin like Broken Link Checker to find broken links for you. The plugin will identify and create a list of all broken links on the site.

Overall, 404 errors are not uncommon and are easy to repair. If your website links out to other sites or assets it is something that you’ll have to monitor. You can’t control what other websites do with their URLs and files so a link out could become broken at any time. That is what makes plugins like the Broken Link Checker, so helpful. It is constantly monitoring for broken connections.

Does your website need some love? Let’s talk.

When a Custom Website Makes Sense

We’ll explain in terms of using WordPress, but the principles are true of any content management system. Even though WordPress themes are not templates in the traditional sense, the end-product can certainly feel that way after being set up.

This may come as a shock if you’re not familiar with website builds, but there’s no realistic scenario where a developer would start from scratch on a website. If someone says that they need to, then you’re dealing with an inexperienced developer. Custom designs should at least begin with a framework.

Frameworks

Frameworks are themes that are created to be built upon. They contain much of the basic functionality and styling for a website. When building with a framework, your site will be an extension of the original code and contain only the unique aspects of your design. It still requires a coder to construct the site, but this means you save money by not paying them to reinvent the wheel for trivial site aspects.

Page Builders

We at Kicks Digital use a proprietary page builder to create all of our sites. Like a framework, it contains all of the basics of a website but instead of layering on actual code, the creator uses the theme’s building capabilities to develop pages and custom templates. These build-outs are saved in the database instead of coded files.

There are a couple of advantages to using a page builder over a traditional framework. The finished product is more portable. Because all of the structure and content is in the database, moving the database essentially moves the entire site.

No extra coding also means that anyone can update a page at any time. It doesn’t require a coder, coding software, or any file transfers. Pages are built right in the browser, and like our theme, are often drag and drop with text and image editing (making it easy).

Page builder themes are more easily updated. There’s no extra code that could conflict with the base theme which means there’s no chance your site could break just by updating it. While that should never be a worry when dealing with more seasoned developers and themes it is something to consider.

When a Template Makes Sense

Websites are an extension of your branding and in many cases serve as merely an online brochure with a contact form. From a functionality standpoint there isn’t much to it. There are a couple of website business objectives that can be met with templated websites.

Conversion / Landing Pages

Marketing and ad campaigns always need a location to convert potential customers and template solutions like Unbounce can be an excellent option. Even though the amount of design time and coding would be minimal for a one-page site or microsite, it makes more sense and be more useful if you know how to create one yourself using a landing page builder.

E-commerce Stores

Depending on how you’re planning on creating your online retail presence, relying on a template for part or all of your site may make sense. We’ve all been shopping online for years and there are parts of it that people probably take for granted at this point. Every part of the buying, cart, and checkout experience has to be accounted for–which means those pages need to be built. That doesn’t even include the admin views like inventory, order tracking, etc. Paying for a development company to create a custom solution for that would most likely be cost-prohibitive or at the very least a waste of money on your part.

We would never suggest that anyone pay to have a web development company custom code a shopping experience. We normally suggest that our clients build their store using Shopify. Shopify is entirely template-based. There are aspects of it that work much like a page builder, but the basic customization is just adding company colors and images.

As the centerpiece of your brand or marketing campaign, the decision of your website construction is an important one but doesn’t have to be a difficult one.

Have questions or want to talk web build? Drop us a line, we love this stuff.

Whether Zoom, Webex, or Microsoft Teams is your video conferencing app of choice, it’s fair to say we’ve all been in the same meeting a million times about now. As fun as your coworkers are, as much as you love a family get-together, at this point, we all need something to spice up meetings and happy hours.

Let’s start off with some video conferencing tips to make sure you’re putting your best face forward (literally and figuratively).

Camera angle

Your laptop is a better choice than your phone, and aiming the camera closer to face level is best. This prevents the double chin and doesn’t give your video conference friends any weird views from below your nose (if you get what I’m saying). This doesn’t need to be fancy; stack books, a laundry basket, or your latest Amazon box under your laptop to bring it to face level.

Virtual backgrounds

For when you haven’t cleaned your space or for just having fun. This feature will spice up the most monotonous of meetings. You can even put videos up. Some people have taken to recording themselves to play pranks on their video conferencing crew.

Be the host with the most

If this is your meeting, own it and have an agenda. Keep people on track and don’t be afraid to make sure you end on time. That being said, if you know your meetings are lasting a while, don’t be afraid to upgrade your membership. The 40 minute limit on Zoom gets old pretty quickly, whether you’re using it for business or for fun. Even if you’re just hosting an internal team virtual happy hour (we love these at KICKS), leading the group by having your favorite beverage ready at the start sets the mood and gets people going in the meeting.

Mute yourself

Don’t be afraid of the mute button. Making some coffee? Your roommate, spouse, or kids in the background? That button is probably the most courteous thing you can do while on one of these calls.

Now that we have some basics covered, let’s jump into some fun ideas to spice up your meetings. These are truly to invite some fun and spark some entertainment for your squad. If your meetings are a little more formal, save these ideas for your happy hour.

Goat-2-Meeting

Maybe the best and most fun thing to happen in all of this is Goat-2-Meeting. Want a llama to join your Zoom call? No problem. Sweet Farm in Half Moon Bay, California is here for all your farm animal zoom call needs. 

Interesting Questions

Start your meeting with some fun questions to have your chit chat time be a little more off-the-wall than usual. Simply search for “road trip questions” or things of the like and plenty of lists will pop up. Games like ‘Would You Rather?’ or questions pertaining to deeper ideas will get you out of the usual weather talk. 

JackBox Games

Any gamers in the bunch? They probably know what Steam is and how to hook this up for your group. If not, there are plenty of tutorials and instructions on their site. JackBox makes party games for online use, and you can play these over video conferencing pretty easily. Quibbage, Quiplash, and Drawful are a few of my favorites that I suggest you try! 

Powerpoint Parties

Are your coworkers secret experts on random topics? Now is the time to find out. Whether pop culture is your jam, conspiracy theories, or even the history of a not-so-well-known event or person, put it all in a PowerPoint to explain to your friends, coworkers or family members. Ask them to do the same. This ends up being hilarious and informative. You’ll probably learn something new and find out what secret passions your coworkers or friends are holding in.

PlayingCards.io

From Crazy Eights to Euchre, most card games are on this website. They even have one titled Remote Insensitivity that is extremely similar to Cards Against Humanity, so if that’s what you’re into, check this site out. 

Themes

Themed parties – what we once dreaded are now fun from behind the camera on our laptops. Pick a decade or make it a free for all. It doesn’t matter, but whatever you do, please take screenshots. 

Trivia

Our team is excited for trivia nights to come back, so I know there are others out there probably feeling the same. This website will generate trivia quizzes for you. You choose categories, number of questions, number of rounds, and get to answering to keep those trivia skills in tip-top shape.

Hopefully one or more of these ideas are helpful to spice up your typical meetings and hangouts you are having virtually. If you have any other ideas that we didn’t mention, head on over to our Instagram, we’d love to hear them!

Hey… hey out there! How ya’ll doing? Has cabin fever set in? Already binged watched every show on your list and are circling back to restart Tiger King? Are the days beginning to bleed into one another? Starting work at 8 a.m. and the next time you look at the clock it’s 7 p.m.? We get it: quarantine is hard. But, it doesn’t have to be so bad—if, you stay connected. 

Staying close with your people, from your coworkers to your clients to your family and friends, is the best way to keep yourself sane, keep your business strong, and keep creative ideas flowing. Collaboration works best when you do it with others, right?  

So even though we can’t face-to-face anytime soon, (which for some of us who haven’t changed out of sweatpants in weeks, is a good thing) there is an abundance—I mean an ah-bun-dance—of tools at your disposal. It’s 2020, folks, and digital connectivity could not be any easier or more readily available—you’ve just gotta snap out of that funk, brush your hair (and your teeth), open your computer, and make it work. 

Here are some of our favorite digital connectivity tools that keep our team talking, our clients in the loop, and overall, make us feel those #quaranteam vibes. 

Video chats and meetings 

Seeing each other is one way to feel closer to each other. (Duh.) Use your video tools to host meetings, set up virtual brainstorm sessions, FaceTime your mother, or hold happy hours (we do ours every Thursday). These moments will help replicate normalcy until our new normal is defined.  

Some of our favorite video tools are: 

• Zoom — The quality is killer, if you don’t pay, you can still use the platform for 30 minutes, good enough for check-ins and quick calls, and if you don’t feel like showing off your home, change your background to anything you’d like. Really…anything. 
• Skype — The OG of business calls is still alive and well and available for you to use whenever you need to see familiar faces, fast. 
• Google Hangouts — Here at Kicks, we use G Suite so Hangouts are a given for internal meetings, conversations, and when we’re all ready to crack open a Claw together, virtually. 

Instant messaging and chat

Did anyone else get flashbacks of AOL Instant Messager just now?

While we’re working remote, it’s important to maintain conversations, ask questions, and engage with one another throughout the day—without calling every five minutes. Chat platforms give us the ability to know we’re still alive, well, and working while also allowing users to put up “away” and “do not disturb” notices when they need to focus. 

We’re fans of: 

• Slack — Easy to use, easy to navigate, easy to have full conversations in GIFs, thanks to Giphy. We share news, life updates, clients’ updates, and maintain a steady stream of communication daily with Slack. 
• Microsoft Teams — For those out there who use Office 365, Teams is your go-to chat tool, integrating seamlessly with the suite.
• G Chat — It may not be fancy, but anyone with a Gmail account has it, you don’t need to pay for it, and for questions, short conversations, and updates, it’s a no brainer. 

Project management 

It’s difficult to manage projects when we’re having trouble knowing what day it is or the last time we drove a car. Don’t fret! There are many project management tools to help keep your head on straight now and when quarantine ends. 

While finding the one for you is definitely a subjective task, we use Wrike and think the following are solid tools: 

• Wrike — We use it, we love it. It makes it easy to keep track of individual tasks, group projects, priorities, ongoing and one-off projects, and deadlines. Plus, the interface isn’t too busy or confusing. 
• Basecamp — If you’ve ever mentioned Basecamp in a group and watched people look longingly into the distance, it’s because Basecamp is wonderful. That is all. 
• Monday — One of the newer management softwares, Monday is a more visually-powered project manager, which is helpful for many, and it integrates with existing tools you may use. 

Design workspaces

You work hard to make work that hits people (nicely) in the face. Getting this work seen by clients and ready to share isn’t always easy when collecting feedback can only be discussed by a call or chat. With collaborative interfaces, you can gather client and teammate feedback, notes, questions, and ideas all in one place. 

We’re quite fond of: 

• Figma — Our web designs come to life without being launched with this tool, perfect for working on your projects together until they’re ready. 
• Invision — This free editing and mockup tool is great to display example work, build prototypes, and get feedback. 
• Sketch — Build your work, share your feedback, add plugins if needed, and test your ideas from one platform. 

No matter your budget, your scope, or your workflow, there are a slew of helpful tools out there to make staying connected while working remote as easy as putting on pants. 

We’d love to learn what other creatives like to use, so share some of your favorite tools to keep in touch, or check out our Instagram and leave us your favs there.

What is TikTok?

TikTok is a video-sharing app. Each video is either 15 seconds or up to 60 seconds, and topics are just as varied. It’s meme-culture in video form. While dancing, lip-syncing, and comedy tend to be the most shared types of content; there is content for everyone: cute animals, causes to care about, pop culture, and even motivational and educational videos. The video format leads to this ultimate use of creativity for whatever type of message the user wants to share.

Compared to the curated perfection of Instagram, at times it’s like a breath of fresh air. TikTok boasts over 800 million users worldwide, and a “For You" page comprised of everyone from famous celebrities to videos of people just like us with only a few likes. The videos don’t have to be perfectly curated to be popular or to be enjoyed, and personal lives aren’t necessarily shared. It’s a platform built on creativity, which has lead to a very different way of connection than the other social media apps we know and love.

Using the app is extremely simple. If you download the app, you don’t even need to have a login to enjoy the content. You can scroll to your heart’s content and never have to sign in. However, if you decide you would like to like videos, comment, or make your own, that will require a login. Similar to Instagram’s Explore page, there is a For You page that continually scrolls through new videos according to what you’ve watched and liked.

Why should we pay attention?

This app is definitely perceived as an app for the Gen Z population, but remember Gen Z “kids” can be as old as 24. They are entering the workforce, voting, and are whole members of society. This app may seem silly from the outside, but this is where we can connect and learn from this generation as they come of age. In addition, 1 in 8 adults are on TikTok, it was the 7th most downloaded app from 2010 to 2019 (and it launched in 2016), and TikTok reports having 800 million monthly users worldwide. We’ve been calling TikTok the next big thing, but we can confidently say it’s here. 

From a business standpoint, early adopters almost always prosper. Those who learn to use an app to their advantage early on have grown a large following and have been able to profit from social media (either in popularity, impact, or just straight cash flow). Heck, spicy nuggets are back at Wendy’s thanks to Twitter.

That being said, there are few businesses out there who have jumped in whole-heartedly and have amassed a decent following. The NBA, Netflix, and the NFL all have well over one million followers. Chipotle has 278.2k followers and some great videos, and the San Diego Zoo has 80.7k followers for their cute zoo animal videos. The fashion brand, Guess has 42k followers, but don’t let that discourage you. They launched the first TikTok challenge that took off – which meant lots of people wearing Guess clothing took over the TikTok For You page for a while.

Takeaways for your business:

Don’t be afraid to try new things! This is a new-ish platform, no rules and no best practices truly exist yet. (Starbucks doesn’t even have an account.) It is a fun place to show a different side of your company, be relatable, show behind the scenes, and grow your trust with your audience.

Engage with your audience. There is a myriad of different ways to engage on TikTok – likes, comments, duets, challenges, and shares all lead to connecting in different ways with your people. And like any other app, the more you engage, the more your following grows.

Don’t turn a blind eye. Ads started popping up on TikTok in 2019, and the last thing you want to be is behind when TikTok ads are the norm. Learning the platform now (even just enough to be familiar with it) will give you a good heads up on what you need when and if you want to start advertising there.

There’s a lot I didn’t cover here – there is so much to learn about TikTok and so much to explore. I hope you take the time to check it out. (I highly suggest Lizzo, the Rock, and Charlie the Golden Retriever @charliethegolden18 as a starting point.) Enjoy!