How it’s doing
- Every page loads. All 18 pages in the site map open, and anyone still using the old rkdesignsllc.com address lands on the new site.
- It’s fast on phones. Google’s test scores the home page 97, the Hat Builder 93 and the contact page 95 out of 100. Accessibility is 96 to 100, and best practices and search setup are 100 on all three.
- It’s locked down. Every page has the secure padlock and the security settings that stop other sites from showing yours inside theirs or slipping code into it.
- Ways to pay: card, Apple Pay or Google Pay at checkout (Stripe works out the sales tax on shipped card orders), Venmo, cash when they pick up in Eckert, or a call or text to you to set up something else.
- Orders so far: the four orders on the site are my tests, all cancelled, so no real web orders yet. That’s normal for week one. People have to find the new address first, which is the first thing on your list below.
New since launch
- 15 Oct Invoices: turn a quote into an invoice, send it and print it.
- 16 Oct Cancel an order, with a ready-to-send email and the refund steps.
- 16 Oct Contacts and follow-ups: the Today list, the phone app with notifications, your Google Calendar feed and a morning summary.
- 16 Oct Stripe working out sales tax on shipped card orders.
- 22 Oct Spam protection, in two layers.
The spam, and the fix
You weren’t missing customers. 7 of the first 8 contact messages and 1 of the 2 quote requests were spam, and the rest were my tests. The spam was Google “Search Index” offers from a fake address made to look like yours (search-randkdesigns.com), SEO and marketing pitches, a wholesale blanks sales pitch, a message in Hungarian, a Russian ad and random letters.
- Layer one: the site checks every contact message and quote request for those tricks. Spam goes behind a Spam button in Messages and Quotes, with the reason it was caught, and it doesn’t email you, buzz your phone or land in your contacts.
- Layer two: Cloudflare’s bot check on the contact and quote forms. Most people never see it; once in a while it asks someone to tick “verify you’re human”. Bots that post straight at the form fail it.
- Nothing gets deleted. If a real customer ever lands in Spam, tap Not spam and it moves back. I moved the old spam over and took the spammers out of your contacts.
- Tested: on the live site, and against 30 sample messages, including everyday customer questions in English and Spanish. None of the real ones were flagged.
Your short list
- If your Facebook, Instagram or Etsy profiles still show rkdesignsllc.com, switch them to www.randkdesigns.com. The old address still works, but the new one is the one we want Google to learn.
- Peek at the Spam button in Messages and Quotes once a week, just in case.
- Never reply to or click links in the “Google Search Index” or SEO messages. They’re scams.
- If a customer ever tells you the site didn’t work for them, send me what they were trying to do.
Done today, and what’s left
- Done 22 Oct: DNSSEC is back on for randkdesigns.com, an extra lock that stops anyone from faking where your web address points.
- Done 22 Oct: kelsey@randkdesigns.com and orders@randkdesigns.com now forward to your Gmail. Give out whichever you like.
- Still to do: moving randkdesigns.com into your name once the 60-day transfer lock ends, around mid December. We’ll pick the way together.
Questions about any of it, call or text me. Nothing here needs a meeting.