Web Design Templates Are So Last Year

Written by wfootD on January 7, 2015. Posted in Templates, Uncategorized, Website Design.

You may have come across a number of websites that offer you the opportunity to go ahead and design your own website for either no money whatsoever, or a very small fee. This does of course sound rather promising because we all like something for nothing, but is it actually worth all of the effort on your part?

Why Those Free Templates Are Useless

To actually answer this question, we need to look at the templates that you are going to be working with. In the majority of cases they are rather plain, unable to be personalized a great deal, and generally lacking in anything enticing. Instead, these templates are used more for purely practical reasons, but even here there are problems.

You see, a website should reflect what you do, but how can this be possible when you use a template that is identical to possibly thousands of other websites out there? The only difference is going to be your name, some images, and of course the content, but the overall structure will still be the same on every website that has ever been created by these means. Now, do you think that this is attractive to people that visit your site?

Studies have shown that people are more receptive to websites that come across as being unique. You just have to think about it yourself when you have stumbled across a site that looks strangely familiar to another one that you looked at the other day. How do you feel? Do you perhaps feel slightly cheated? Do you feel that the people behind the website do not actually care that much about their site that they have not bothered to make it personal to them? Most people will then change their opinion of the company in question and if you want people to spend cash with you, then do you think that this is now possible with how they feel about you?

Having Your Own Website Is More Productive

What we are saying here is that these templates are pretty much a waste of time. Sure they allow you to have an actual website, but at what cost to how you are viewed by others? Instead, you are much better off actually investing a relatively small amount of cash in your own unique site. The reasons as to why this is better are plentiful.

1. It is tailor made

The first advantage is of course that it is tailor made to suit your own individual needs. This means that you can sit down with the designer and come to some agreement as to what your site should look like and what should be in it. You really do not have this option with those free templates as you are pretty much stuck with what is available and being able to be flexible with a website is very important if you are to be happy with the end result.

2. It is easier to optimize it

With a website, one of the key things is search engine optimization and when you have your website made by an actual designer, they can do the correct work for SEO as the site is being built. This will tend to mean that you will get better results on the likes of Google whereas those templates make this vital part so much harder to do. You need to think about things carefully here because what is more important to you? Saving money and getting a free website that nobody sees or paying money for something that is more visible and attracts more attention?

3. It is easier to make changes

A good website should be fluid and by this it means that various things can be changed as and when required. However, it is also important to make sure that everything continues to look perfect from a design point of view whenever those changes are made. Now, how much easier will life be when you leave it in the hands of a talented designer? Compare this to you making your own attempt via those free templates with you being fully aware of the possibility of you changing something and the design then being completely thrown out. Would you know how to rectify it?

4. You can continue to build

With templates, you are pretty much stuck with what you get at the outset and where is the fun in that? However, when you use a designer life becomes so much easier in so many ways. How would you go and deal with adding in details regarding your Twitter account showing your latest Tweets on your site? How would you add a cool gallery that now has to hold more images than ever before? How would you make sure that it could be easily viewed on smartphones? There are so many things that you can do with a website, but those free templates usually lack them and it is you that will be missing out.

What You Need To Do

The only option that you have available is to use a professional web designer to create your site in a professional and efficient manner. They can take your ideas and turn them into reality rather than you trying to squeeze them into a pre-existing template that just doesn’t work. Give us a call today to discuss your needs with a member if the team and look forward to having a website that you are proud if.

5 Ways Your Site Could Be Impeding Your Business

Written by wfootD on December 19, 2014. Posted in Business Strategy, Uncategorized, Websites (General).

Every business is aware of the importance of having a website. Without it, there is no doubt that you will not be noticed as much and in actual fact there is also going to be a certain lack of trust in you as a company as well. However, there is more to it than simply having a website and believing that this is all that you need. Instead, there are actually a number of ways in which your site could be inadvertently impeding your business, so surely this is a bad thing and something that needs to be avoided?

1. The website design makes your business look old

One of the major ways in which your website could be impeding your business is that the design is out of date and it then makes your business look old and as if it is stagnant. This is never a good thing because people will take that first impression and feel that there is no way that they should use you because you seem to just not care about keeping up with the times. Some people will actually assume that the services or products that you offer will also be outdated and obviously that will not really be the case. However, this can all be changed by simply making sure that your website has a design that is sleek, modern, and most importantly works.

2. The website does not allow a customer to contact you

By contacting you, we actually do not just mean giving them the ability to send you an email. Now, you have to link up social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook to allow potential clients or customers to link up with you via their own account. This linking between accounts is now seen as being essential as people are using these sites in order to not only find you online, but to also connect with you before hopefully spending some cash. If you do not have the links on your official website, then you could be missing out on a wonderful opportunity.

3. If you can sell online, but do not have that option

You would be surprised at how many businesses could actually sell their products or services via the Internet, but they simply do not provide their visitors with that option. This is crazy because the world of ecommerce is growing every single year and people no longer have that same fear about spending money via the Internet that they did before. In other words, invest in having your own online store and take advantage of this huge market because other companies that offer the same kind of things as you do are taking advantage, so why should you be missing out?

4. The website does not offer enough information

You need to look at your website as being like a constant advert that is available to be viewed 24 hours a day. This is your online shop window and is a perfect opportunity to really sell yourself to potential clients or customers, but of course you are not physically there to do the selling. What this means is that your site needs to provide them with everything that they need to know in order to decide if they are indeed going to spend money with you. This then boils down to you providing them with the information that they need to make that decision, so if you have next to nothing on there, then how can they decide?

5. You do not bother to go beyond the holding page

Believe it or not, but there are a number of companies out there that register a domain name only to then have a domain holding page and nothing else. This is complete and utter madness because this basically combines all of the previous four points together into one horrible mess and the damage that it will do to your business is going to be very, very difficult to repair. Just think about it for a second. People will automatically search for your name online, they will see a link, they will expect to see information about your business, and then they get nothing. How would you feel if that happened to you? Would you then feel compelled to use that company?

The five points listed above may be very basic, but it is surprising as to how many times this kind of thing happens. Everybody knows that a website is now seen as being one of the key marketing tools that a company can have, so to not have even a basic website with a couple of pages crammed full of useful information is really a case of you letting not only your clients down, but more importantly your own business.

The only thing that you can do is to contact a company that can not only build you a wonderful website, but also tell you what is wrong with your existing one. In next to no time, and with you spending less money than you expect, your business can have the website that it deserves and your customers will then feel more compelled to spend their hard earned cash with you.

The Relationship Between You And Your Web Graphic Designer

Written by wfootD on December 3, 2014. Posted in Graphic Design, Uncategorized.

When it comes to designing a website, there has to be a firm understanding between yourself and the web designer. However, you can also throw into the mix the relationship between yourself and the person doing the graphics because clearly having the wrong images or artwork on your website could have a detrimental effect on the end result.

You see, quite often the web designer is almost like the person that puts the jigsaw together and another person will be responsible for creating the various graphics and buttons that are then used to create the final picture. Obviously this does not apply when it is a one man band that is doing it, but the main thing is that everybody has to work well together in order to get the finished website that you have always been dreaming of.

To do this, you need to spend some time really putting across the ideas that you have for your website and also keep your ears and mind open to the suggestions that the designers will also come up with. You see, they can advise you on what is current in the world of design because the last thing you want is a website that looks out of date even though it is actually brand new. The ideas that you have may also sound good in your head, but in reality they could look completely different. Always remember that first impressions really do count when it comes to a website, so clearly you want to make sure that the website that you then own is looking fantastic and enticing to the people that land there.

So what actually happens with this relationship with the graphic designer?

Well, they are going to listen to what you want and also look at colors and styles of art that you already use elsewhere. They will look at what you do and draw inspiration from all of this because clearly it is in their own best interests to get it right at the first time of asking. They can show you examples of the kind of thing that is in their mind and they will pay close attention to all of the feedback that you then give them, so please make sure that you make your feelings known.

There has to be an understanding between everybody that the first mock up design, and there should be a mock up made, might not be the dream solution, but that is absolutely fine as it is merely to be used to see if people are indeed on the correct path. This mock up front page is your chance to tell them about the parts that you like and those that you are not so happy with and never be afraid to hold back. Instead, positive criticism is a good thing as long as they also have the right to criticize you and some of the ideas that you have.

Getting this blend in the relationship correct is essential for a quality end product. The graphic designer and web designer are going to work hand in hand throughout the project and of course when it comes to the graphics they can take some of the concepts and designs and use them for your marketing elsewhere. This is certainly one major advantage of using a company that can provide you with every single thing under the one roof as it just makes the entire process of having your website and marketing materials designed so much easier. Everybody knows what their roles are and understand what is expected of them, so there is a better chance of you loving the end result.

It is worth pointing out that this is not exactly going to slow down the process of having your website created and indeed the fact that there are graphic designers actively working on your project will have the reverse effect. How cool is it to know that people that understand colors and designs are going to produce something spectacular for your website? You just know in advance that it is all going to come together superbly resulting in a website that you can rightfully be proud of. The fact that it also does not cost you extra and is part of the overall design package is also a positive thing because do you realize how much a graphic designer costs to hire on their own?

What we are saying here is that, in order to get the website of your dreams, you need to make sure that you have a good relationship with not only the person doing the coding of your site, but also the person responsible for all of the artwork. There is much more to creating a website than most people are aware as they might just have one point of contact and that is, of course the web guy. Instead, you as the client should be heavily involved in every aspect and to let everybody know about your thoughts, ideas, and desires for your site. A good graphic designer can then take those ideas and run with them and who would not be happy with that?

A graphic designer is there to help, so use their expertise and you will be glad that you did so.

Internet Marketing Trends 2015: What To Expect

Written by wfootD on November 18, 2014. Posted in Uncategorized.

The world of Internet marketing is something that is constantly evolving as the web grows even larger than before and more competition appears on a daily basis. It does mean that as a website owner you have to at least attempt to stay on top of what is happening in the marketing world including being aware of the latest trends that may very well help to keep you ahead of your competition. Keeping that in mind, and as we are getting closer to the end of 2014, what can you expect to happen in the next 12 months?

1. The importance of writing

In 2015 it is anticipated that there is going to be an even greater emphasis on any writing associated with your website. This means that the content on your website has to be powerful and be capable of providing your visitors with everything that they need to know as well as even what you post on your social media profiles. It is essential that you show empathy towards your visitors and address any issues that they may have before they even realize that this is the case. Think carefully and do not write too much as that will also put people off when it comes to paying attention.

2. Have different types of marketing

There is going to be a real emphasis on having different types of marketing for your business online and you are going to have to learn how to juggle podcasts, videos, articles, social media, PPC, and a whole host of other things if you really want to make inroads on the Internet. The idea here is that it is better to pick up small groups of people from various places rather than trying to focus on just the one format as you will get a better group of people and are more likely to find those that actually will be interested in what you have to offer.

3. Avoid selling like crazy

One major change is that people are becoming bored with those businesses online that do nothing but pitch their product or services to them. This constant attempt to sell is going to only result in people turning away from the company in question, so in actual fact the trend in 2015 is to do very little selling and to be very careful in how you do it. Subtlety is going to give you better results, so if you have been in the hard sell market for years, then you are advised to stop now or else you are going to cause yourself a whole lot of trouble.

4. Consider using your voice

2015 is going to be the year where adverts online, even for small businesses, are going to be using voice to put the message across rather than a simple slideshow or anything else. The idea here is that it gives it a bit more of a personal touch and it has been shown in studies that people do love to feel as if they are dealing with an actual individual rather than a company in general. If you feel that you are unable to do this yourself, then it would certainly be a good idea to employ somebody to record the vocals for you.

5. Stay relevant

Being relevant is going to become even more important than ever before as attention spans towards advertisements are getting shorter, so you need to get your message across in the shortest possible period of time. This means that you need to cut out all of the wasted information that you have tended to put into your adverts before and instead just use bullet points wherever possible and then allow your visitors to make up their own mind as to how they will then act.

6. Pay more attention to mobile

Mobile advertising is going to become even more relevant in 2015, so you would be crazy to not take advantage of it. You must also keep in mind that tablets are continuing to become more popular as well, so you need to optimize your marketing so that it works well on every single format and not just the old desktop browser. It is essential that your marketing allows the user to not only pick up the information that they need, but to then act upon it via their phone or tablet, so double check everything or you are going to be wasting your time.

2015 is going to be the year where Internet marketing moves into a world where there is an even closer relationship between websites, social media, mobile, videos, and anything else that does already exist out there. The key is to provide limited information in a number of areas rather than a lot of information in just the one place as this will turn people away as nobody is interested in a long and detailed advert. Instead, they just want to get the basics and to then be able to decide what they will do with that information.

Be careful with your marketing in 2015 or you may find that you can largely destroy what you have already built up and do so in an instant.

Penguin 3.0 And How It Can Impact On Your Website

Written by wfootD on November 4, 2014. Posted in SEO, Uncategorized.

October 17 saw the release of the latest update to the Google algorithm which has a direct impact on the way in which your website is indexed by the search engine giants. As with every update there is a certain sense of trepidation for website owners as you never know what it is going to do to your website with some people winning and being pushed up the rankings whilst others plummet down the pages in an instant. How it affects you depends on various things that you have done with your search engine optimization, so it is useful to know what their plans are for this update to see if you will be a winner or loser.

Penguin 3.0 is not even a major upgrade, well it is major compared to recent upgrades that have been a bit of a damp squib, and it mainly follows along the same lines as the initial Penguin update which targeted the use of spam and spam sites. The idea here is to allow genuine sites to flourish with real links rather than being swamped by those that use link farms just to play the numbers game and to artificially enhance their ranking. These websites will often have poorer quality information and be of less use as they will tend to focus on earning money through advertising or other means with genuine websites suffering and scrambling around for the scraps that are left.

However, this targeting of spammy links started last year and there were certainly a lot of complaints by website owners that they spent a lot of time trying to clean up their sites, and links, only to not really be rewarded by any major change in their ranking. Google have apparently realized that this is an issue and have directly addressed it here with 3.0, so websites that have indeed cleaned up their previously poor links can now see that their websites have indeed improved their ranking rather than still languishing down those results pages.

The problem here is that this update is gradually being rolled out over a number of weeks, so it may be some time before website owners see any difference in their positioning and that does leave people trying to second guess Google and what the outcome may be. It can easily be the case that some owners will believe that their websites are fine as nothing has happened only to discover in a couple of weeks time that they have dropped down the pages and this can be due to just a handful of bad links associated with their website. On the flip side, people may suddenly discover that they have moved up the results pages quite considerably even though they have done nothing, but then the chances are that they have either done a clean up earlier or they never had bad links in the first place and are being rewarded as others are being punished.

What does Penguin 3.0 mean for your website?

What this update basically means is that you need to pay close attention to the links and to make sure that your website is not seen as being spammy in any way, shape, or form. Clearly you are better off using a company that is established in the SEO world and who is capable of producing results that do not contravene the rules and regulations as set out by Google. The websites that have been hit hard by Penguin 3.0 are mainly those that used either black hat techniques, which are completely illegal, or gray hat techniques whereby they pushed the laws but did not break them, until now.

It makes more sense from a business, and long term, point of view for you to think of SEO as being something that has to be developed over time rather than an instant fix. Companies that used spam link farms to boost websites were looking for a short term fix that may very well have worked before, but now will only lead to your website being subjected to penalties that will basically force your website into oblivion. Do you really want to wake up and see your hard work marketing that website having been destroyed while you sleep just because a company used the wrong links?

What you need to do is to hire a company that are experts at search engine optimization who will look at the work that has already been done on your website, including looking at the links, and then take appropriate action immediately to make sure that you survive not only this update, but any future ones as well. It is certainly well worth taking the financial hit now to get your SEO sorted out to prevent any future issues than just hoping that you will somehow squeeze through an update without being hit as Google does not make mistakes like that.

Do both yourself and your website a favor and give us a call on 815-468-1524 in order to arrange an appointment for one of our team to discuss your needs and to assess your website. Everything will be explained in crystal clear fashion allowing you to see what has to be done to your site to make sure that it can blossom and grow rather than you living in fear of it vanishing from sight in an instant.