Archive for 2012

5 Tips To Help You Choose The Right Colors For Your Website

If you’re designing a new website or redesigning your old site, you’ve probably already thought quite a bit about layout as well as content and accessibility. You may have even considered SEO concerns. Have you actually thought about the colors on your site, though?

 

The right colors can easily make your site look amazing. The wrong ones will likely turn your customers away at the door. Sure, other aspects of web design are important, but choosing the right colors for your site can make or break your site. After all, if your site literally hurts your readers’ eyes, all of your hard work on the other parts of your site is useless.

 

Colors can create the right mood in your visitors. They can also help create your branding image. You can seriously impact your sales numbers just by changing your site’s colors. That’s not to say, though, that you should get too artistic with your site. You just want color selections that are easy to read and looks nice.

 

Color Analysis

Everyone perceives color differently, but some colors do reflect certain values and feelings. Red, for example, is perceived instantly and represents energy and speed. Blue is a favorite color of many and represents security and responsibility. Yellow is warm and stimulating and often promotes positive feelings. Orange is warm and energetic, while green promotes nature and brightness. White, naturally, represents purity and cleanliness.

 

Choosing the Right Colors

So which colors are right for your website? The simple truth is that there aren’t any right or wrong colors. The colors you choose depend on your site. To find colors that work well together, you may want to consult a graphic designer. Remember, some color combos are just hard to look at. Imagine yellow text on a blue background. Or imagine loading a page with a shocking pink on it. Black text on a white background is always easiest to read, so lots of people use it. Your goal is to come up with a color set that works for your site visitors, not just one that you like. Think about the right contrast as one of your first priorities. You’ll also want to choose colors that go well together. One primary color and two secondary (complimentary) colors are an absolute must.

 

If you’re not sure about the right colors for your brand, talk with your web design firm to choose good ones that will delight your customers.

Posted by admin on May 8th, 2012 | Email | Print |

Multimedia Content and Your Site: A Few Things to Consider

In the late nineties, the world of online content relied solely on text. Sure, there were usually some small token images on a site, but much of site design revolved around text. The internet as we know it today had yet to arrive. These days, sites often incorporate not only phenomenal images, but also things like videos, flash graphics, even podcasts to help send messages out to users. How, though, can you design a site that incorporates great multimedia content, looks fantastic to users, and seems like a slam dunk with the search engines? These tips can help.

 

First, make certain that your multimedia content is actually helpful to your site visitors. It can quickly become a distraction, so just as you wouldn’t put irrelevant text on your site, you certainly don’t want irrelevant videos or pictures on your site either. Think about your overall goals with your site, then make certain the content you post, in whatever format, is going to support those goals.

 

Second, you’ll want to think carefully about naming both your video and your image content. The file names you pick are essential in the optimization process, so they should be in a format that’s easy to read for your actual site visitors, but they should be fairly descriptive for the search engine spiders, too. Use keywords if you can, but avoid overstuffing at all costs.

 

Finally, you may want to consider adding a text transcript of your videos. Text is still at the heart of most search engine optimization efforts these days, and a text transcript can help with that. Not all video sites offer this option, so if you’re hosting videos outside of your site, make certain it’s okay for you to do that, but if you’re hosting the videos on your own site, you should certainly be able to include a transcript without a problem.

 

As you design, don’t hesitate to include multimedia content in your plans. Yahoo, Google, and Bing all regularly display multi-format results on their first pages, and yours could be next. Multimedia content can be seriously entertaining and informative, and it may be a real plus for your visitors. In fact, they may even come back for more once they discover what you’ve posted.  Think beyond text, and talk to your design company about how to best integrate multimedia content into your site

Posted by admin on May 7th, 2012 | Email | Print |

The Importance of Content on Your Site

If you’ve heard this piece of advice once, you’ve probably heard it a million times – content is king when it comes to websites. The reality, though, is that very few people take this kind of advice seriously. In fact, there are thousands of websites that have almost no real content, and certainly nothing that’s original and effective in terms of getting visitors hooked. Good content is essential for your visitors, but it also helps promote your website too.

 

You probably already understand the mechanics of how good content might encourage or inspire your visitors to contact you, right? But what you may not know is how good content will actually promote your site. It has everything to do with SEO methodology. Much of SEO relies not only on how your keywords are integrated, but also how popular your site is, or how many other sites are linking to your content. The better your content is, the more others will want to link to you. Say, for example, that you’re a plumbing contractor. In addition to descriptions of your services, you also offer tutorials on how customers can prevent common plumbing problems, how to choose new washers and faucets, and even how to choose the right plumbing contractor. This kind of content is going to be a huge draw for your potential customers, right? But it’s also going to be a big point of attraction for other sites. Maybe home builders in the area will link to your site as a service to people who have just bought their homes. It’s possible national plumbing associations will link to your site too, because people often turn to them for information. The more of those links you get, the better your site is going to look to the search engines.

 

Good content is essential on a number of levels. It can be tough to survive in today’s digital landscape, but making sure your site is popular with visitors and ensuring they want to return to your site again and again is one way to keep your longevity up in the years to come.

 

Whether you update your content on your own or you have someone else tackle the task for you, it’s a good idea to keep your content updated as often as possible so people, and other sites, will visit you again and again for your great content.

 

Posted by admin on May 7th, 2012 | Email | Print |

Webhosting – Are Free Services Ever a Good Idea?

As you search for the right webhost to meet your needs, you may start to eye those free hosting offers. Like every other company in the country, you’re probably looking for ways to cut back, but is free hosting really the way to do it?

 

Free webhosting isn’t just free. The catch is that you typically either don’t get your choice of a URL, or you have to host ads for various sites and products right there on your site, and the chances are good that you neither have control over where and how those ads will appear nor what content will be in them.

 

The other real catch with free webhosting is that should you ever experience a serious upswing in your traffic, you’re going to have real problems. Free webhosts don’t offer unlimited bandwidth in most cases. In fact, they don’t even expect you to get too much traffic, so should you start getting large amounts of traffic, you could not only experience a site crash, but your free webhost may pull you off of the server entirely, and that could have very real consequences for your company.

Additionaaly, though, there are lots of features you can’t add if you’re going with a free host. From blog software to forums to special areas for your members, if you go with a free site, you’re getting  a stripped down version of the real thing, and that could spell problems for your company down the road as you continue to grow and need to add functionality for your customers.

 

One other thing you may notice about a free site is that you’re just not going to get the level of support you might expect out of a paid webhost. Your support options are going to be seriously limited, at best, and there’s certainly not going to be someone at the end of a twenty-four hour hotline who is ready to respond to your concerns about downtimes, outages, or other problems you might be having with your free website.

 

So, in short, free webhosting for businesses just isn’t a good idea. If your twelve-year-old needs to throw a site up for a quick school project or you want to put together a site for your family to see, this might be a good option, but it’s not the best way to present your company to potential customers.

Posted by admin on May 7th, 2012 | Email | Print |

Security Tips You Need for Your Site

 

Any website can get hacked.  There are web bots that crawl just like search engines, only these bots are on the hunt for weak links in a website, leading it to become a target for a future attack.  Sites that are hacked are by those looking to snatch up sensitive information – whatever you might have on there from stored credit card numbers to something as simple as a few passwords.  Make your website safer by implementing a few of the following tips and rest easier after you shut down your computer for the night.

 

Start off by making sure you have good passwords.  Don’t use your name, email, birthday, or anything simple.  Create a more complex string of characters that include capital and lower case letters, numbers, and even a few additional characters.  Complex passwords are harder to break through and harder for people to figure out.

 

Do you have an FTP program to upload your information?  Immediately switch to a secure FTP instead.  This way you can upload all kinds of information without worrying about people taking it.  With an unsecure FTP, you are essentially sending your information through the Internet without any kind of encryption whatsoever.  Anyone interested could pluck passwords, usernames, and all your files whenever they want and do whatever they wanted with them later on.

 

Likewise, you need to make sure you encrypt additional data as well.  Today people are still wary about using credit cards over the internet because they are all too aware of the risks they run while sending the information across the net.  People want to know that they are safe making a purchase through your site.  By encrypting pages with an SSL –Secure Socket Layer – Certificate, browsers have to build a secure connection so information can travel safely.  This connection thwarts outside interference such as tampering, eavesdropping, and even message forgery.  The SSL is what changes an “http” address to one with “https” instead.  People will feel better knowing their information is safe.

 

Always make sure you have all your data backed up.  You can put all the security on your website possible, but the simple fact is that you never know what might happen.  If you have all your data backed up, should anything happen to your site you will be able to be up and running again as soon as possible.  Keep these backups off of your server in order to keep them safe.

 

Stay smart, stay safe, police your site like you would your physical location, and you’ll be in great shape.

Posted by jason youk on March 23rd, 2012 | Email | Print |

6 Tips to Lure Customers To Your Site

 

Any business with a website will want to get traffic.  If you haven’t done any of the following below, now is the time to take full advantage of these tips – especially since some of them require little to no effort and can bring in a great deal of traffic as a result.

 

1. Build a unique brand

This is what people will remember.  If you include a logo and perhaps even a tag line, they’ll be even more likely to remember you long after they’ve left your page.  A brand is something that people associate themselves with; they will purchase specific brands over another even if they have never tried the competition because their brand is what they like and what they are familiar with.  Become that brand by giving them information they need about what you offer and what makes your products excellent.
 
2. Research and Research

Just as you would with any business, you need to perform some research so you better understand your ideal target customer.  Don’t worry – even people you didn’t think would be your target customer will see your site, that’s what some of the other tips will help with.  Start with customers you know will bet interested in your products or services.  The right research should yield results on customer buying behavior, the size of the market you’re in, pricing, your competition – both direct and indirect, and how to define your products/services.
 
3. Implement SEO

SEO is extremely important for any website that needs to be seen.  If you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can easily hire someone to handle SEO for you.  SEO means search engine optimization, and this is what helps search engines like Google and Bing discover your website and deliver it to people doing the searches.  With the right keywords and smart optimization, you can get in the first list of results, which is exactly where you want to be.
 
4. Utilize Social Media

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ can give you an additional boost of traffic because people will see your business in a friendly, social context.  They might enjoy your YouTube videos or Facebook contests and head over to your site to examine your business further.  It’s an excellent way to cast a wide net and bring in all sorts of potential customers without spending a penny.
 
5. Include Backlinks

Backlinks will help to bring people to your main website, so make sure to include these at other locations like blogs, social sites, and other pages.  Use keywords as clickable text instead of the actual address or a generic word or phrase like “link” or “click here.”

 

6. Keep Reviewing and Keep It Fresh

As always, make sure your content is relevant to customers and make sure it’s fresh.  Outdated content makes it look as though you don’t pay attention to your site(s) and make people wonder if you neglect a website, what else might you neglect?  Stay on top of things and you will look efficient, competent, and ready to receive new customers at any time.

Posted by jason youk on March 21st, 2012 | Email | Print |

Twitter for Business: A Quick Guide

 

Twitter can be a very helpful asset when it comes to your business.  From communicating things to your customers to checking out the competition to checking out your own business, it gives you a lot of useful information that appears in real time.  You can always start by using Twitter’s search to look for your competitors, your business name, or other words that relate to what you do. You can gain insight into what people are talking about when it relates to your business, which can help when you send out tweets of your own.

 

When you build your account, make sure to include all the information necessary – this includes a good Twitter name that people can remember (this can be your company name) as well as an image to represent your business, this way people have a way to experience your company visually.

 

Twitter doesn’t have to just be about you and what your business is doing.  While it is important to include these, you can also point out various other bits of information that will keep people interested.  Whole Foods (@wholefoods) likes to share interesting things from the community.  Jet Blue (@jetblue) will offer travel tips to people.  Extra information and fun things will give people more reason to follow your Twitter account.

 

Be sure to respond if people reply to your tweets.  Many people on Twitter simply post tweets and expect people to read them.  But Twitter is a social media site, which means interaction.  In addition to this, responding to others means that they will know there is a real person on the other end communicating with them, which is always something that makes people feel good.

 

You can also expand your Twitter presence.  Instead of just being @MyCompany, include real people who can also tweet various things that will interest potential customers.  Request that they use names like NickAtMyCompany so people can easily make the connection between the two.  Share their outside of work stories, something that can show viewers that you care about your employees (something that The Home Depot does on their Twitter site).

 

Keep in mind that Twitter is all about being social, so that’s what you need to do.  It’s great for marketing and keeping in touch with customers and potential customers, but it needs to be more than strict advertising for your business.  If people visit and see nothing but a string of advertisements with links to your site and nothing useful, they’ll quickly leave and potentially follow your competitors instead.

Posted by jason youk on March 19th, 2012 | Email | Print |

Branding Tips for Your Website

 

Website branding is more important than ever with the various sites that you can connect to your own.  It’s what makes you stand out from some of your other competitors because you’re better able to connect with your customers and potential customers.

 

First, start with an excellent web design.  A website that is pleasing to the eye is more likely to keep potential customers surfing.  If it’s graphics heavy, it can take too long to load.  If there are harsh colors, a disorganized look, too much flash or advertisements, it can quickly mean a visitor will turn right around and leave.  Instead, create a website that is in sync with how you want to present your business, from smart information text areas to colors that help to reflect your company.

 

Second, focus on what you do, not what you are.  The content of your website need to clearly communicate what you offer as opposed to what you’re about.  You can keep a separate page for main business contact information, history, and mission statement, but when it comes to the main part of the website, you need to make sure people know exactly what you have to offer and how it will benefit them.  Use the right keywords and don’t bombard people with a lot of text – just enough to inform them and keep them interested.

 

Make sure you have a logo.  Logos make it easier for people to remember businesses later on.  You want them to remember who you are even when they are nowhere near a computer or your website.  You can give yourself an extra advantage by providing a tag line by the logo as well for an added reminder of what your company offers.  Make it simple, yet eye-catching.

 

You can make your company more well-known by having a blog with fresh content updated on a regular basis, videos posted on YouTube, and keeping your social media pages up to date.  Through these, your business becomes more than a business to people – it becomes an entity they want to interact with, whether through Facebook or by checking out your YouTube page.

 

Once you have these various tips in place, over time you should see an increase in visits and talk about your business.  You need to make sure that your social sites remain updated, that press releases occur whenever necessary, and content is always fresh and relevant to followers.  Then your business will become one that people remember and share with others – which is exactly what you want.

Posted by jason youk on March 19th, 2012 | Email | Print |

Will A Mobile Site Be Important for Your Company in 2012?

 

Mobile sites are more important than ever.  They experienced growth like never before in 2011 with the advent of some of the hottest technology since the iPod.  Mobile is now the thing to have and the thing to be.  People check their emails, surf the web, chat, talk, read books, and watch movies all on their mobile devices.  Failing to have a mobile site for your company can do some serious damage – especially if you offer the types of products or services that people are likely to peruse while on the go.

 

Getting a mobile site for your company isn’t very hard to do.  Think of it as a simplified version of your current website.  Many websites today have a lot of complexity, from backgrounds to videos and so forth.  A mobile site will be seen on a mobile device instead of a larger computer screen, which means it needs to be very easy to navigate without a lot of things in between.  People need to be able to see text clearly and find what they want without a lot of trouble.  Most big companies have already made sure they have mobile versions of their sites.

 

Compare some of these sites side by side.  You’ll notice that the traditional website has moving images, plenty of extra things for people to browse, dropdown menus, and a page design that will fill the entire browser.  Shrinking that down to the size of an iPhone or Droid simply doesn’t work.  People would constantly be resizing the page and be forced to scroll around until they find what they want.  Mobile sites are the basics; easy to find and click links, basic colors, and proper sizing to fit the screens.

 

Still aren’t sure if you’ll need a mobile site?  Consider your business.  Do you offer products that people might like to look at while they are on the go?  Is it likely that they might look you up as a last minute thought or price check?  For example, it’s less likely that people will look up pool filters while on their daily commute than if you sold a variety of cell phone car chargers.

 

Even so, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.  Find out how much it costs to get your website into a mobile format that people can access.  If it’s within the budget, it might not hurt.  You can see how well it does by tracking the stats on it over time.  If you discover that you aren’t getting enough hits to merit keeping the site, then don’t.  However, you may be surprised at the results within a few months.

Posted by Leslie on February 24th, 2012 | Email | Print |

3 Tips You Need Now for Facebook Success

 

Staying on top of how the waves of Facebook shift mean staying up to date with your customers as well.  There are ways you can make sure that your Facebook presence succeeds.  Some companies think that all they have to do is get on Facebook and make some posts, but there is a lot more to Facebook than that.  Facebook is about socializing and being interesting enough for people to enjoy what you have to offer.  This is especially important for a company because a business is not an individual.  There is a lot more that a company must to in order to draw in customers and keep them.

 

1.) Don’t post when no one is listening.

Similar to Twitter, people don’t typically get to use social networking during business hours.  Initially many businesses were posting all the time.  Now, however, they have realized the error in this logic.  If you work 9-5, you aren’t going to notice a dozen posts that a company puts up during that time.  You will only read and respond when you are no longer working.  Statistics show that when a business posts content before or after typical business hours get as much as a 20% increase in responses.  You need your posts to be at the top of newsfeeds and other notable places when people are actually there to read them.  In this save vein, like Twitter, remember that people are more open to socializing – online and offline – on the weekends.  If you have posts you really want people to check out, then post them when they are most likely to be seen – on the weekend.

 

2.) “Like us.”

Don’t be afraid to come right out and request that people Like your Facebook page.  If they want to, they will.  If not, they won’t.  But when you ask them to you at least put the thought in their mind.  It’s not too bold to ask.  In fact, if you don’t, some people might wonder if you are aware of the Like option or if your business even cares if it is Liked.  People also appreciate the directness.  It shows that you know what you’re talking about what it means to be Liked multiple times.

 

3.) Skip the business lingo.

Facebook is a social site.  Stress on the social part.  They don’t come to be preached to or told what to buy.  They don’t go to Facebook to be hit with a bunch of advertisements all at once.  Instead, skip out on the company rhetoric and go with a softer sell.  A gentler approach to handling people will make them appreciate your company more.  Likewise, when you use words like “sweepstakes” or “promotion” when you have something going on, people tend to skip right over it.  It sounds too much like you’re trying to sell something.  Instead, use “event,” “win,” or even “free” if you can.

Posted by Leslie on February 17th, 2012 | Email | Print |