Archive for the ‘Effective Web Sites’ Category
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Pretend you are opening a store in a busy shopping mall. As a savvy business owner you will budget for the monthly rent, utilities, security, signage, advertising, marketing, fixtures and inventory. Will you expect to begin making money the minute your doors are open for business?
As a website owner, let’s use the retail store analogy – you invest money in the building of the website or the retail storefront. Next, you open your doors for business or your website goes “live”. The thinking is that once the website is built, the search engines should find you immediately and the cash register will start ringing. Is this realistic? Why are online expectations so drastically unrealistic from offline expectations?
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Tags: Business Strategy, effective web design, internet marketing, marketing ideas, Web Marketing, website marketing
Posted in Creative Marketing, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
1. Easy – Let the visitor know it is easy to do business with you. Easy to order, easy to buy, easy to subscribe, easy to phone, easy, easy, easy. Don’t we all want everything to be easy? This is a buzzword for sure.
2. FREE – yes, put this word in big, bold capital letters at least once on your home page. Everyone can give something away for FREE. The Internet was built on the premise of FREE. What can you give away for FREE?
3. Today – Why delay? Order today! Now is good, today is better! This word invites the visitor to take action today. Tell them why today is better than tomorrow and that’s even better. Encourage them to buy from you today.
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Tags: effective web design, internet marketing, Small Business, Web Marketing
Posted in Creative Marketing, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
According to recent web statistics there are one trillion websites. Keeping this number in mind, how will your website rise to the top and stand out among the masses? Why should or would your website appear on the first page of Google? In other words, what makes YOU special?
Two questions that are most important to your site visitors are:
- 1. Who is your target audience?
- 2. What makes you unique, different or special?
Certainly there are many factors in deciding what makes you special. Here are my top three questions to identify what makes you SPECIAL.
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Tags: competition, effective website
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Effective Web Sites, Law of attraction, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Do you know how powerful the colors are on a website? Colors make a first impression and also evoke emotions. Sometimes a simple change of colors on a website can create a whole new look and feel while keeping the same basic design.
It’s a good idea to have the colors of your logo be represented on the website. This creates a branding image in the mind of your customers. Whenever we see yellow & red & the golden arches we know what famous fast food chain that represents.
As with everything, there are positives and negatives to each color. Knowing your target audience will determine which colors you’ll choose to convey. When you’re appealing to a global audience, knowing the color meanings of different cultures will be beneficial. See a Cultural Color Chart.
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Tags: attracting clients, effective web design, website colors, website redesign
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Effective Web Sites, Law of attraction, Web Design Ideas, Web Site Design, Web Trends | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
On average, I visit about 80 different websites every day. It’s refreshing to come across sites that have nice designs in addition to good functionality. Thought I’d mention a couple here. Just so you know, we didn’t design these sites.
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Tags: effective web design, website redesign
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Effective Web Sites, Web Site Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Are you a creative type? Me too! Having a creative mind can be both a curse and a gift. With so many ideas and business offerings buzzing inside our heads, we often experience headaches and euphoria simultaneously. We want to tell or show everyone all the many things we do.
Those of us with websites, blogs and ezines may want to showcase lots of products or services with too much text. You’ve seen the websites I’m talking about – too much text, too many calls. The reality is that simpler really is best.
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Tags: Add new tag, effective web design, marketing ideas, Web Marketing, web site marketing, website marketing
Posted in Artists, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Site Design | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
1. Big Red Flag. No website? If the person you are planning to hire doesn’t have a site of his or her own, this is a big red flag. How will they know what works or doesn’t work if they haven’t tested it on their own site? If they are a professional in business they will have a website. Their website is a true reflection of them – study it carefully looking for anything that may indicate “this company looks great!” to “I have some doubts in working with this company”.
2. Listen to me. Can you hear me now? Are they really listening to what you want/need? OR immediately writing out a prescription like a bad doctor based upon what they think you need. If it is the latter – run-Forest-run.
3. Experience. How many years of experience does this person have? How will this benefit you?
4. Resources. How many resources does this person utilize? If they work only with one program or have one resource and derive all information/facts from that one source – probably not in your best interest to hire someone with such limited resources.
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Tags: Business Strategy, internet marketing
Posted in Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Site Design | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Flash, Frames & Blinking Banners – Avoid building an entire site in Flash. Search engines cannot find or read a site built totally in Flash. A good alternative is to create an html site and implement Flash elements inside this type of site. Frames are difficult for users and search engines can’t read sites built in frames. Avoid frames completely! Too many blinking banners, moving text or images can be distracting to the visitor and give the wrong impression. Too much bling is not a good thing for a website.- Poor Content, Too Much or Not Enough – What you say on your site is extremely important. Be brief and get to the point with effective, powerful words. If a visitor has to scroll multiple times to read all the text they and move on. People are typically in a hurry and want the info fast. Have you been to a site with no text and wondered what they were all about? Text on the home page is important for the visitor and for the search engines. Don’t make them guess what’s behind door #1, tell them what you are about so they will want to explore further. (more…)
Tags: effective web design, web site mistakes
Posted in Creative Marketing, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Design Ideas, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
This is an expanded version of what was written in the March 2009 Muse News. If you’d like to subscribe to the free monthly Muse News or read the archives then click here.
A plastic part in our refrigerator broke so I drove over to Sears thinking I could either buy one or they would order it for me. They said, “Oh, no we don’t do that, you have to go to our Parts Store and they are closed today.” Then I said, “Hmmm, can you order it for me online?” Then she replied again, “No, you would need to do that yourself.” So, I went back home, fired up the computer and typed the part # in Google. The first couple sites I found were awfully confusing and I couldn’t even figure out how to buy the part from these sites. Then I discovered: www.partselect.com This is an amazing website and so easy to navigate. Not only did I find the part right away with a price; the bonus was reading the Do-It-Yourself stories they post on the site. I was able to print those specific to the installation of this part and also realized I needed to order one more piece to make this thing work. With just a few clicks of the mouse, my order was placed and I received the part in less than 7 days. Now, THAT is customer service!
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Tags: customer service, effective web design, web site usability
Posted in Client Relations, Effective Web Sites, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Are you confused about what to do and when with your website? Does your website need a facelift? Has the focus of your business changed? Take immediate action today with these 3 easy steps.
Step 1. Remove or change old dates pertaining to:
Workshops, events, seminars, specials, sales, coupons.
Copyright information.
Holiday hours or schedules.
Nothing screams neglect more than old dates on a website.
Step 2. New Look
Just as cars and fashions change so do the look and feel of websites. Technology continues to advance quite rapidly. What is available to web developers now for design and functionality may not have been available 2 or 3 years ago. Visitors spend less than 6 seconds on a home page. That’s how fast they make a decision to explore your site further or surf on. This instant impression is based on color, look/feel of the layout, navigation and clickable links to other pages in the site.
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Tags: website colors, website redesign
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Design Ideas, Web Site Design | No Comments »
