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What is the Value of a Professional Web Designer & an IT Consultant to the Small Business Owner?

What is the Value of a Professional Web Designer & an IT Consultant to the Small Business Owner?

Sep 9, 2024 | Blog, Marketing, Small Business Marketing Strategy, Web Design

Businesses first started using the internet for commercial transactions in 1994/95. Today, most of us can’t even imagine what doing business would be like without the internet. I can remember what life was like before the internet, and I also know that my business wouldn’t have become a reality if it weren’t for the internet. So I am grateful for the internet and all the opportunities it has provided.

Considering businesses use the internet for their:

  • Websites and website security
  • Marketing
  • Search engine optimization
  • Accounting and accounting security
  • Brand awareness
  • Social media and their Reputation
  • e-commerce and e-commerce security
  • Customer support
  • Cloud access
  • Productivity
  • Cost savings
  • Presentations
  • Content marketing

What could possibly go wrong?

Imagine waking up in the morning, looking at your website and finding it gone or offline! Worse yet, finding it hacked and held for ransom until you pay the ransom fee. (That’s probably the worst case scenario.) By having an IT consultant on your team you’ll know exactly 1) who to call and 2) you won’t have to explain the problem to a number of different technicians who aren’t familiar with your website.

The Value of an Online Marketing Team to the Small Business Owner

The most important marketing asset a small business can have is their website and all else flows from there. But often, small businesses are on a limited budget and will sometimes skimp on the website because they feel there so many “more important things” on which they need to spend money.  I get it. Running a small business is tough and expenses are high and appear out of nowhere.

But someone once said to me, “the professionals I can’t do without are my attorney, my accountant and my web designer.”  I would go one step further and include an IT consultant. Professional web designers and IT providers are crucial for a small business because along with the business owners’ expertise, they provide the necessary skills to help the small business owner market their business successfully.

Together the web designer and the IT consultant create an invaluable online marketing team. The professional web designer creates a beautiful, functional, and mobile responsive website; the IT consultant manages your website behind the scenes by hosting, securing and protecting your website. These two professionals go together like bread and butter, cookies and milk, hot dogs and beer…you get the picture.

The Web Designer.

A professional website designer not only designs your website according to modern trends and standards, but is able to add in the components needed to perform uniquely for your business. An attractive website is great, but, it also needs to function according to how you, the business owner, wants it to function.  Here’s what you want to look for in a well-designed website:

  • An appealing custom design
  • Mobile responsiveness
  • No broken links
  • An SSL certificate installed for the visitor’s security
  • Compelling website content that can be repurposed for social media and email marketing
  • Good visuals
  • Social media integration
  • Quick to load
  • Secure from hackers
  • A smooth user experience – easy navigation – good content
  • Call to Actions
  • Accessibility to conform to basic ADA standards
  • Cookie notices to let your visitors know your website is collecting information about their visit to give them a more personal and convenient website visit.
  • Secure contact forms
  • Quality but condensed text
  • Well-designed home page
  • Low bounce rate (How quickly visitors leave your website)
  • A gateway to allow payments online (if that is something the business owner wants)

The IT Consultant

A web designer who works with an IT consultant is invaluable to you, the small business owner. Without IT, the website not only couldn’t be published, but it would be open to all kinds of problems. The IT consultant keeps your website running and safe from technology failure, hackers and malware by providing the following:

  • Technical support
  • Update software
  • License renewal and ensuring compliance
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Assess potential threats
  • Hardware repairs
  • Install and configure hardware and software
  • Hardware and software procurement
  • Maintaining hardware and software
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data storage and backups
  • IT Security
  • Installs and interprets website analytics

The Bottom Line

If you want to find customers, you have to market your business and an online marketing team, working together with you and for you, will provide everything you need to successfully market your small business.

Together, these two professionals working as a team for you is immeasurable. One team. One phone call. Multiple services.

 

Marketing in a Poor Economy

Marketing in a Poor Economy

Sep 9, 2024 | Marketing, Small Business Marketing Strategy

Small Business Marketing Tips for a Poor Economy

Whatever you do, don’t stop marketing when the economic conditions aren’t favorable. The economy will improve at some point and you’ll be ahead of the game once it does. Keep your small business presence in your market. It also provides your target market with the confidence that your business is still thriving and healthy.

• Be strategic with your marketing and advertising efforts. This is where a marketing plan will be helpful. A marketing plan is a roadmap to your destination to keep you from getting lost and wasting precious time and money.
• Focus on your existing customer base and reward their loyalty with a loyalty plan or referral program.
• Create content that is informative and valuable that will help your target market. For example, a landscaping company might consider creating a calendar with gardening tips or advice to give to their loyal customers.
• Use data insights to show the value of your marketing and increase profitability.
• Remain agile and ready to pivot at any time. Read the book “Who Moved my Cheese?” for the reason why being open to change in your business is important.
• Consider doing videos and podcasts, to attract and build trust with customers.
• Improve the affordability of your offerings.

If you’ve never done a marketing plan, now is the time. With the New Year coming up, this is great time to review your marketing strategies to determine what has worked, what needs to be changed, and what new strategies can you add.

Download a Marketing Plan Template
You can download a marketing plan template HERE. If you need help in determining new strategies, we would be happy to help you. Just fill out the contact form at the bottom of the page and we will contact you.

 

The Battle between Facebook and Websites

Mar 28, 2024 | Content Marketing, Social media marketing, Web Design

Maybe you didn’t know there was a battle between two of the top methods of digital marketing. Let me share what I’ve observed in the last few years.

The Problem.

Many business owners have been shunning websites for a number of reasons and using Facebook for their primary marketing platform. Both are good for marketing. Together they are very good! However, depending on the type of business you have, one is better than the other. Here are a few things to consider when you are trying to decide on your main marketing channel.

The Investment.

A professionally designed website can be a bit pricey but when you consider all that it can do for you when set up correctly, it will serve you well. Your website is an investment into your business. It’s the difference between buying a building or renting one; buying a truck or leasing one. Yes, your Facebook page is free but remember, you get what you pay for.

The Image.

A professional website shows your visitors that you are a serious business owner and you are in it for the long term. It says you took the time to set up a virtual space share your knowledge, products, or services with those you want to do business with and it shows that you care about how you’re perceived.

A website says you took the time to create a space just for your visitors to learn about you; to vet you or to communicate with you. By the time your visitors call you, they will know exactly how you can help them and they will have a good idea of what they can expect from you.

Privacy breeches are more prevalent with Facebook and anyone can steal your identity and pretend to be you. That can be extremely detrimental to a business owner.

The content.

A well designed website contains your content and that content stays in place until you take it away. You own it and it can’t be taken off your website unless you take it off. A website give you a place to provide as much content as you want to share with visitors and to use for marketing. Content marketing is an excellent way to bring visitors to your website and to show them your expertise.

With Facebook, you are using their platform and they can remove your content whenever they want for what ever reason. You are at the mercy of those who run the platform. Your content is shared only if Facebook allows it to be shared. Just because you added content to Facebook, doesn’t mean your target market will see it…unless you pay for it.

The Sales Team.

Think of your website as your 24-hour “sales team” ready at a moment’s notice to provide prospects with the information, products, or services they are searching for. Your virtual “sales team” doesn’t need benefits, or time off. It doesn’t need a raise and it cooperates with and enhances your marketing and operations. It’s out promoting your business even while you’re sleeping. Once you supply it with what it needs to do the job, it’s always prepared and ready for action. Visitors can stop by your website at any time, day or night and your “sales team” is ready for action!

Your Facebook “sales team” must continually feed more and more content into your free space. If they miss a few days, that content doesn’t get shared or it becomes dated. Even if your “sales team” shares your content continually on your Facebook page, the only visitors that can stop by and receive full access to your free space are Facebook users. So sharing more and more content every day becomes almost like an endless cycle and there’s no guarantee that your free space owners will share it.

The Brand.

Your website brand is a reflection of you and can be designed with whatever colors, fonts, content you desire. The list of colors and fonts is nearly endless. Facebook’s brand is it’s brand and doesn’t give you much of an option to personalize your free space. For the most part, you’re stuck with the Facebook blue. That’s their brand, not yours!

The Distractions.

When visitors come to your website, all they see are the virtual rooms you created for them. There are no distractions. They are in your business space and competitors aren’t shouting for your attention while they’re in your virtual building. You have their complete attention and you are the boss!

With your free space, visitors may see your content but at the same time they can easily peruse through your competitors content as well. It’s kind like a farmer’s market where tables are side by side and they can easily move from one table to the other limiting the full attention you receive from your own website.

The Summary

Please hear that I am not saying you shouldn’t use Facebook. It’s an excellent companion to your business website along with all the other popular social media platforms. Each platform has it’s primary audience and each is very helpful to boost your reputation and your reach.

LinkedIn’s primary audience is professionals doing business with other professionals. It’s best used for B2B companies to provide a place to network with others in that segment while Facebook is best for businesses selling to consumers (B2C). But, you must consider your industry, your target market, your priorities, and your goals for the future of your business when choosing your main marketing platform.

How Do Startups Leverage Content Marketing for SEO?

Mar 20, 2024 | Content Marketing

How Do Startups Leverage Content Marketing for SEO?

Mar 19, 2024 Photo by SHVETS Production | Pexels Remaining competitive as SEO changes is imperative—if not challenging—for startups and established companies alike. However, this all comes with the digital marketing territory. Embracing innovation in content marketing can skyrocket KPIs when considering SEO. How can we efficiently engage with this opportunity? We’ve gathered SEO expertise from twenty-five professionals, ranging from pure specialists to marketing leaders, and asked them, “can you share your best examples of leveraging content marketing, specifically to help startups with SEO?” From sharing expert knowledge to addressing customer questions in articles, we’ve uncovered a comprehensive list of cutting-edge SEO strategies. Each reveals a single approach that, combined, can arm your business with the proper technique to maximize ROI via SEO. Dive in below to discover revolutionary tactics for search engine mastery. Share Expert Knowledge Consistently I built my startup to attract over 45,000 organic visitors each month. I would advise other startups to really leverage their expertise and subject knowledge, and to share that knowledge in written form on their website. If you write high-quality content that your target audience is already searching for, or asking questions about, and make it accessible and useful—avoid things like […]

Using SEO to Boost Traffic to your Website

Mar 17, 2024 | Content Marketing, Mailing Lists, Social media marketing

Monday Morning Marketing

Using SEO to Boost Traffic to Your Site

This week we offer you tips to draw traffic to your landing pages and website by optimizing your website for the search engines (SEO)

  1. Make a list of words and phrases you want to rank for on search engines.

Do keyword researches online to determine which terms have high relevance and search volume.

Consider choosing terms with less competition.

Optimize the relevant pages by including the words and phrases on their content.

2. Metadata is used by search engines to determine the content of a page.

Your meta titles and meta descriptions must include relevant content and keyword phrases to move up your ranking.

3. Add Internal links to other pages on your website.

Identify keywords in your page and link them to pages with more content.

4. Optimize your website speed.

Google includes load speeds as ranking factors.

Optimize your images and videos before posting them on your site so they don’t need to be compressed or resized before displaying.

5. Be sure your website is mobile ready.

Learn more below about making your website mobile ready

What does it mean to make your website ready for the search engines?

 

1. Your website must be designed to be easily readable on your mobile phone.

This means your mobile optimized pages, when designed correctly, will resize themselves when viewed on a mobile phone rather than showing the entire website in one long image that no one can read.

2. Why is this Important?

Google considers this important in order for your website to rank higher in the search engines result pages (SERP) on mobile devices because more people are using their mobile devices to search for information and access the internet.

3. Google reports that 58% of all searches in Google are now done from mobile devices

Because of this trend, Google has now transitioned to a 100% mobile first index. This means that your website now needs to be designed from a mobile perspective rather than the desktop perspective. In other words, before designing your website to be optimized for the desktop; it’s more important to first design for the mobile device!

Next Week:

Reaching a Broader Audience with ADA Compliant Landing Pages

 

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