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Posts Tagged ‘website’
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
Social networking site Pinterest has improved its experience for mobile users. Specifically, they’ve added notifications, mentions, and better search.
The author of the article linked to above says:
I know for a fact that many of my Pinterest-fiend friends simply choose to not bother with Pinterest at all unless they’re sitting in front of their desktops.
That’s not uncommon, actually. Unless webmasters make sure that their websites are mobile accessible, it is likely they will lose traffic and lose revenues. That includes your website. Not only do you need to make sure that it offers a great user experience for desktop browsers, but you’ve got to make your website mobile-ready. You should also make sure it is Pinterest-ready.
Luckily, in 2013, there are some tools that can make your HTML website or WordPress blog or website mobile ready in a few clicks. WordPress has plugins. There is at least one website that you can use to turn your HTML website into a mobile-ready website for a monthly subscription fee. I’m not ready to recommend any of those, but they do exist. Another option is to hire a web development firm to help you make your site mobile-ready. In most cases, it’s not that expensive. But it is necessary.
Tags: mobile website, Pinterest, website
Posted in website development | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
If clients, potential clients, and potential business partners can’t find a way to contact you, they will be disappointed and frustrated. That will be difficult for your business. But where should you put it?
Here are some great places to put your contact information on your website, in your e-mail newsletter, and in social media:
Contact Information On Your Website
The first place you can put your contact information on your website is your header, but you don’t want to put too much information in your header. Usually, a phone number is enough.
Contact Us page – Where else? That’s the purpose for this page. A lot of businesses just put a contact form on this page, but I would recommend also adding your e-mail address, physical address, and phone number. Maybe even ways to contact you through social media.
Your footer is another good place for your contact information. You can include as much or as little contact information as you want.
Contact Information In Your Electronic Newsletter
E-newsletters typically don’t have Contact pages, but they do have headers and footers. All the same information that goes in these sections on your website can also go in your newsletter.
Additionally, you can put your contact information in your newsletter’s sidebar, if it has one.
Contact Information In Your Social Media Profiles
Every social media site is different. Some have About sections, like Facebook pages, while some simply have a place for short bios (Twitter). Others, like Google+, allow you to include extensive information about your business. You should find the most appropriate place for your contact information on each social media site you are a member of. Some allow e-mail addresses. Others don’t. Many that do allow you to keep your e-mail address private or to show it. Choose a preference that works for you.
One of the most important pieces of information in your social media profiles is your contact information. Be sure to include it.
Tags: contact, email newsletter, newsletter, Social Media, website
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Saturday, January 7th, 2012
If you look back just 15 years, you would never have thought that you could do all the things you can do with smart phones. You certainly never thought you could access the Internet from your cell phone, right?
Now, technology allows you to do all kinds of things from smart phones or iPhones. Is your website ready to be accessed? It needs to be because more people today are using their phones to access the Internet and you will be left in the dust as far as users to your site go if you are not mobile web ready.
So, how do you do it? It is really quite simple. Your first step is to see if your site is mobile ready. You can do this with a free service called MobiReady. This will give you a report about how easy it is for your site to be viewed.
Then make sure your site is a clean, easy-to-read site. This in turn will make your site faster, which is what you need for it to be accessible to cell phones. It’s also a good idea to not use Flash on your website. It is not necessary for a site, especially when viewed from a smart phone.
Make sure you use HTML phone numbers instead of making users type in a phone number and use voice search. More users are using their voice option on the phone. This is another step to your marketing strategy.
As you can see, it’s quite simple to make your site mobile ready. You don’t want to be left in the dirt when it comes to users wanting to go to your site but don’t because they can’t get to you on their phone. They are not going to wait till they get home, so you need to get up to speed and become mobile web ready.
Tags: internet marketing, mobile web marketing, online marketing, search engines, website
Posted in Mobile Marketing for Small Business | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Twitter has announced that they will have a new version of Twitter coming out. This new version will have all the bells and whistles for businesses so their business can take flight.
Enhanced profile pages will help businesses better establish their brand on the internet. The enhanced profile page will have a better layout, a place for logos and larger photos. It will be much more user-friendly but will be able to handle more tweets so you can always tell who is following you and what they are saying. Businesses will now be able to choose what content they want on their home page at Twitter, along with a videos they choose to share on their page.
Some businesses have already jumped on the bandwagon and are partnering with Twitter for the new enhanced pages. Those on the list include General Electric, Disney/Pixar, American Express, Staples and McDonald’s. Of course, you will have to have the new enhanced pages yourself in order to see the other business’s pages. And they’re not quite rolled out to the public just yet so you’ll have to wait to get yours.
The new enhanced Twitter pages will continue to be free and everyone will eventually have the benefit of these new pages. You can go to fly.twitter.com in order to see how to get the new profile pages for your business.
This is definitely has the potential to bring in more business for those who put the new Twitter brand pages to use. Communication means everything in a business and the new pages will definitely bring your communication with your customers to a new level. This will help you stay in touch with your customers easier and you will be able to quickly see what others are saying about you. That way you will always be on top of the momentum where your business is concerned.
Head on over to Twitter and check out the new enhanced pages. I think you will be very pleased and will enjoy tweeting about it.
Tags: Branding, internet marketing, Social Media, Twitter, website
Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
How many times have we all gone to a website only to have a dozen things flying off the page at you or taking over your screen and you inadvertently click on something wrong? It happens a lot. A lot of people do not like these fly-in pages.
Not everyone is computer savvy and many people don’t even know what those pages are. Users want a clean, simple and user-friendly site. That will clearly state what the website is about and list some of the items that may be for sale if it is an e-commerce website.
Navigation is also key. Have clear, easy-to-read links to other pages within your website. This way, viewers can easily navigate from one page to the next. It is also important to make sure you have a clear place for reader comments. Be sure to read them and answer them. They may very well be a question about something they want to buy or maybe a suggestion about something. Interaction with online customers is just as important as face-to-face customers.
Making sure your links are working properly in addition to working shopping carts. This is the single most aggravating thing for a viewer. They have gone through the process, get to check out and the shopping cart is empty. Instead of going back and doing it again, they will just leave the site. You have then lost a sale. Another thing no one will wait on is page loading times. If your pages load too slowly because of the graphics, people will leave.
Take some time to visit your website and see what your visitors see. You will be able to determine where you need improvement.
Tags: internet marketing, link building, links, website, website development
Posted in website development | 4 Comments »
Friday, December 9th, 2011
What is the definition of an online business? Any business, whether it is a physical location or just a website, you need to advertise everywhere you can. Because people are on the go so much these days, they prefer to see a website address that they can jot down and go to the site later, when they have time.
Online advertising is a great way to advertise. But for those who never think of searching for items online, when they see a poster or a business card with a website address, they will be more likely to go to the website when they are relaxing at home.
The traditional ways of advertising can be increased by adding your website to the ad, whether it is newspaper, radio or television. You could conceivably pull customers in from everywhere.
Be sure to also include your email address so customers can email you with any questions they have. You can also do an email marketing campaign. If you regularly stay in contact with your customers, you will be able to bring your online business and you physical business together.
One of the best ways of advertising off line is to take a walk around your local town. Meet and greet people, hand them a business card, let them know what your business is all about. Mention the website and email address. You would be surprised at how well this works, even in today’s technology.
Tags: advertising, Branding, e-mail marketing, internet marketing, small business, website
Posted in Tools for Small Business | 15 Comments »
Friday, October 7th, 2011
Google+ just seems to keep getting more and more popular. But should we consider it content marketing?
That’s an interesting question and it really gets to the heart of what exactly is content marketing. So let’s answer that question.
Content marketing goes beyond your own Web properties. When you build a web page for your website, that’s content marketing. When you write a blog post for your blog, that’s content marketing. But is that all there is to it? In a word, no.
Content marketing is any effort you undertake to draw attention to your content, your products, your services, or your brand. In that regard then, links can themselves be a form of content marketing. Social media is a form of content marketing.
That extends the concept into farther reaches. When you put a Like button on your blog, that’s a kind of content marketing. It allows your readers to show their approval or their affinity for your content through their own social media profile on Facebook. As a result, your content gets pushed farther that it could or would otherwise.
Google+ operates on the same concept. You write a blog post and share it on Google+. That content has the potential to go places that it wouldn’t go by virtue of your extended network on Google+.
When you think of content marketing, you have to think about it terms of its full potential. Don’t get sidetracked into thinking it’s only what you produce on your Web properties.
Tags: content marketing, google, links, website
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 6 Comments »
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
People who don’t spend much time on the Internet will often ask me, “What is a blog?” It’s a hard question to answer.
Trying to answer that question for someone who doesn’t spent more than 5 hours online each week or month is like trying to explain the nature of the universe to someone who failed science in elementary school. You can do it if you use the right words, but you have to be careful to really use the right words and to make it really simple. I’m going to try to do that right now.
Take a look at the page you are on. You are reading a blog. It’s a separate section of my website. If you were on the main page of my blog you’d see a series of headlines, each one followed by some text. The headlines would be in blue and would be followed by a date and then the blog post. If you click on a headline, you’d be taken to that specific blog post. All you’d see is the content on that page and my sidebars.
So what makes a blog special. The way it is ordered. You’ll typically see 10 blog posts on the main page. They’ll be in reverse chronological order, the last one written first.
Blogs are done this way because they are like online journals. A sort of a diary. It’s a website, or a piece of a website, that you can update periodically and that others can read. For a business a blog can be great marketing tool. You’re reading mine, aren’t you?
Tags: blog, business, website
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Monday, June 6th, 2011
It may seem odd to call any Internet marketing strategy an “old-fashioned” or “traditional” strategy, but we are now over 20 years since the invention of the World Wide Web and commercial Internet marketing. It’s interesting to note, however, that what worked in 1992 still can work in 2011. Hare are 4 old-fashioned Internet marketing strategies that still have the power to work some magic.
- E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing has been around for so long that it hardly seems just to say it’s new. It IS new, however, compared to old icons like television and radio advertising. But compared to new Internet marketing strategies like social media and video marketing, it’s as old as the hills. Still, it can be very effective.
- Article Marketing – Internet marketers were marketing with articles as early as 1991. Now, in 2011, article marketing is still a powerhouse despite the Panda update.
- Forum Marketing – OK, I’m being a little bit misleading here. Today’s forums are 1991s bulletin boards. Still, those old bulletin boards were a lot like forums. People signed on, read the threads, and posted their rebuttals. They also got some business from that effort. Today’s forums are a bit more sophisticated and have rules in place to control spam, but they are still effective marketing venues.
- Websites – This one is so simple it’s a no-brainer. From the very first website ever built to the most modern-looking Web 2.0 communities, a website is still the perfect online marketing tool. This is such a basic truth that it’s hard to believe that online marketers attempt to run a business using other tools without a website. I see Internet marketers using social media, forums, articles, videos, Squidoo Lenses and HubPages, and all sorts of other online channels without first having built their own hub – the company website. Build your website first, then do all the rest.
If you are serious about marketing your business online, start with the basics. Build yourself a website, then market it with articles and join a couple of forums. Start an e-mail newsletter. After that, branch out into the newer, more modern online marketing channels.
Tags: article marketing, e-mail marketing, forums, internet marketing, online marketing, website
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
I’ve always been a proponent of your own domain name. I still am. But I recently took a quick survey of About.Me and discovered that there might actually be some potential there for new Web citizens who haven’t got around to building their website yet.
If you have a limited marketing budget but you’re ready to start marketing yourself online right now, then this might be a worthwhile free option for you.
Here’s how an About.Me profile could help you:
- If you’re a freelancer and you’ve started using the freelance sites like Guru.com and Elance.com but don’t have a website, About.Me could serve as a place to send potential clients to as you are building your website.
- Ditto if you are a local business person just getting started with your local online marketing.
- You get 50 free business cards just for signing up.
- You can secure your profile address at About.Me to prevent others from getting it first and doing damage to your reputation. It will look like this: About.Me/YourName.
- It’s free.
- You can set up an About.Me profile page in about 10 minutes, whereas a website will take at least a couple of hours and probably longer depending on its complexity. If you hire a web designer to do it for you, it will cost you money.
- You can link to your Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social sites around the Web from your About.Me profile page.
- You can also link to your websites so if you build your About.Me profile first, then you can add a link to your business website after you get it set up.
I wouldn’t expect a great deal of search engine traffic from About.Me. .Me domain names don’t typically do well in the search engines. But you can drive traffic to your profile page from your active social networks, which makes it a worthwhile starting place if you are just getting involved in Internet marketing.
Another thing I like about About.Me is its robust analytics features. You can see how many people are viewing your profile and where they’re coming from, plus which of your websites they are visiting from About.Me. That makes it infinitely more valuable than most free web hosts.
Bottom line: I wouldn’t rely on About.Me as a primary Web presence, but it is a good free place to start and could serve as an additional place for branding you as well as providing you with an inbound link to your business website.
Tags: About.Me, internet marketing, website
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »
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