A good web designer will establish your objectives and then lay out your site in a way that will balance what you want with the fundamentals of what it takes to build a highly optimized, search engine friendly website.

Text-heavy, content focused sites (as opposed to flash based ones) typically do best for the simple reason that people (and search engines) prefer content. If you want people to come to your page (and be able to find it) you have to give them a reason, and usually this reason stems from information.

Planning for the future

You can’t just build a webpage and expect people to come to it, you have a plan for promoting it. If your goal is to promote your business to existing customers using offline methods, it is simple. However, if you want to target the online audience that has never heard of your company, you will have to generate traffic.

Of course it takes time and a focused approach, but if you are willing to dedicate yourself to the task at hand you can get your page prominently featured in search engines for the most important keywords related to your business. Contact us today for more information

In the past few years, website content management systems have popped up as a result of the increased demand for easy website updating capabilities. Still, most CMS systems thus far have been somewhat confusing and extremely expensive. Not anymore!

By contacting us to schedule a virtual meeting, you can get more information about this unique business website package with no-ongoing costs for hosting and maintenance. While other web design firms try to lock you into a long term contract or charge you hundreds of dollars to make simple changes to your site, a website with a CMS system will allow you to handle everything on your own.

If you do a web search, more than likely, 5 out of the top 10 results will be blogs.  This is no coincidence.  Search engines like Google and Bing love blogs because they are filled with content and updated regularly—both major factors that affect how your page will rank.

Content is truly king.  If you are trying to build up traffic for your webpage or just improve your ranking for keywords that are already generating traffic, adding a blog is a great first step.  From there, blogs have a number of features that can help you spread you message to existing and prospective customers.

For example, a blog gives you a convenient place to update customers to the latest news and happenings of your industry.  If you are already utilizing email marketing, use your blog as a hub, and each time you add a post, send out a newsletter and alert your customers.   It is a great way to put your business in front of customers and get them thinking about your company.

Another advantage of blogging is RSS (Really Simply Syndication), a feature that is built into all major blogging platforms.  As you add new content to your site, RSS will allow you to ping your feed to various newswires, and hopefully a few will pick up your content and display it to their readers.  Not only can RSS increase buzz and help you reach people that have never heard of your company, it can also help you build back-links, another major component of optimizing your website for search engines.

If you are ready to explore how blogging might benefit your online marketing campaign, please contact us for more information

There are multiple places your website design and layout can go wrong, and a small mistake can kill your long term chances of traffic. For example, a site developed primarily in flash has very little text content, and therefore, little chances of getting found by search engines. Or, take the example of a design that incorporates text content or the site navigation into images or the amateurish “click here” instead of anchor text optimized for your most important keywords. Fine examples of seemingly fine details that can have large consequences moving forward.

The technology you choose to build your site will also have drastic consequences for how you manage your site, and by default how much traffic it generated. If you are planning to aggressively market online, you want to make sure you have complete control of keeping your page up to date and adding new content. Why? Adding new and exciting content is perhaps the best way to bring your traffic to your website and keep it interesting for those that find it.

For the inexperienced web designer, we have found that WordPress is usually the best option for a number of reasons. First, WordPress is incredibly powerful and relatively easy to understand if you have someone who fully understands it break it down for you in simple terms. Next, WordPress is dynamic, and will allow you the capability of updating the entire website in just a few short clicks. Third, search engines love it and if you set it up correctly and promote it correctly, you can expect traffic. Last, it is incredibly easy to install plugins that make your site more interesting and useful for visitors.

If you are considering building your own webpage, consider taking lessons with us. It will speed up the process, and allow you to get your business on the web, the right way, in half the time at half the cost.

As someone who has been using email marketing for a few years, I can honestly say that the mailing list is the key to taking advantage of the Internet. Yes a webpage is great, but a list of customers you can email and bring back to that website over and over again is even better! If you are ready to set your company up with email marketing, we now have a class that will teach you the finer points. We recently set up a customer who had a list of 500 email addresses sitting around and she netted two sales from her first mailing! Even if you consider yourself  computer-challenged, if you are ready to start email marketing, we can get you going!

allintitle: (your keyword or keyphrase here)

Into a Google search, and instantly you are presented with the results for all pages on the web that feature that term within the title. This is a fairly accurate way to access the number and quality of your competitors.

The content on your website will make or break your chances for success. Here are five good reasons why adding quality information to your website is the best way to improve your Internet marketing campaign:

1) Gives Visitors a Reason to Stay

People browse the web looking for information. If your site doesn’t really have any, people have no reason to visit it. There are millions of pages on the web and if people can’t easily find the content they need, they will click off your page and go somewhere else.

2) Gives People a Reason to Come Back

When people visit your page, you want them to remember it and come back. Your chances are slim, unless your site hosts lots of good content.

3) Helps Search Engines Find your Webpage

Search engines rely on text to index your webpage and send traffic to it. Flash filled webpages are unlikely to rank high, while text based ones don’t suffer from such drawbacks. In addition, the more content your site hosts, the more keywords you will have a chance to target for purposes of search engine optimization.

4) Establishes Credibility

The more quality content you can add to your webpage, the more positively visitors will rank their experience. One pages sales letter sites scream “Snake-Oil Salesmen,” while content filled pages inspire confidence. Which message do you want to portray?

5) Improves Conversion

By giving away quality information, you can do a number of things to improve your webpage. Write an e-book on your niche and give it away in return for your visitors email address. If your website content is good, they just may bookmark your website and actually open your email blasts.

Once you have accepted the fact that you need a website for your business, the next step is to find a web designer. Those stuck in this position have lots of options, and selecting the right web designer and technology for your project can make or break your chances of success. The question becomes, how should the business person with no practical knowledge of web design or Internet marketing proceed with the task of picking a designer and building a unique website?

Since times are relatively tight right now, the first thing most businesses are going to consider is the cost, so it is a logical place to start the discussion. Luckily for businesses, there is heavy competition for web designers, you can find sites anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. What is important to consider is what you are getting, and for how much?

If you are going to go the route of hiring a web designer to do it for you, consider most what happens after the site is built, including the fees for hosting and who will manage and improve the site? In addition, you should think whether the site is going to be built from scratch and customized to your business, based off a template, or built using open-source software. Be careful to find a designer that can explain the benefits and drawbacks of each solution.

Once you have found a few designers that are willing to work within your budget, the next item you should use to make a decision is concerning management. Generally, you want to pick an option that will allow you to manage your site independently because frequent updates and content additions is what it takes to make your site a success. Extra points for custom website designers that are willing to provide their online marketing help free of charge!