The limits to what the web can do is endless. Much of the focus of the web on how it can serve other people. Whether it is to inform them about the weather or connect them with family and friends to name a few. Even you reading this article demonstrates the webs ability to connect you with valuable information. Although these are great uses for the web, the web does something for businesses that is commonly overlooked. I call it the Website Reflection Principle.

The concept of the Website Reflection principle is simple, to say the least. However, this simple concept can be powerful tool for you when maintaining or designing a website. Website Reflection states that your website is a direct reflection of your business and your reputation. People judge you and your organization just by the website. Your website, whether you want it to or not, creates a picture of your organization. In a world with so much information people are forced to make quick assumptions to help them make decisions. So in order to make a decision, like whether they will do business with your or not, they judge your organization by your website. I am sure you do the same thing. For example, if you are looking for a construction company to build a new porch on the rear of your house you do a simple web search. You visit several different websites. Although you have not met with each company on a personal basis, I am sure you already have a concept of what the company is like simply based on their website. You have already determined which company offers the most quality of work, which company is the most popular in the area, which place has the most experience, which company has been around the longest. This is the Website Reflection Principle in action. People assume that your website is a reflection of your organization so they use it as a basis for decision making.

Knowing this principle, the real question becomes, what is my Website Reflection? This is a good question for any webmaster to ask themselves. If you don't like what you see there is good news. The reflection can be easily changed. The list of things you can do to change this is endless; the focus of this article isn't how you can change the reflection. However, I do get into changing the reflection in other posts. The purpose of this article is on informing you of this concept of Website Reflection. Now that you know what it is, take a second to take a hard look into the mirror. If it isn't what you want just know that it can be changed. Sometimes finding others to help is necessary. Nobody has done it alone in changing their reflection. I recommend finding a quality web consulting company to help you see your website's full potential. Don't let another day go by. The sooner you change it, the sooner you will see dramatic results.

If you are not sure how to change you image contact us today. We are always happy to help with our experienced knowledge. Call 612.483.2333 or click for a free quote.

Labels: company image, development, website reflection

Posted by Dan A at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Would a sensible business owner take out a loan before reading the fine print? No.

Would a rational person start a business without researching potential customers? No.

Would a sensible business person create a website without carefully analyzing competition, neglect planning, and forget to address technical requirements for the website? No.

However, everyday I meet clients who made this crucial mistake in the beginning. One day a year ago, a 'to-be' client stumbled across an ad “CHEAP WEBSITES $$ FAST” or “CREATIVE DESIGN – 5 PAGES IN 5 DAYS!” These ads are everywhere, just go to the computer section of Craigslist and take a look. But let's be realistic. How can a truly creative web page be created in 5 days? Unfortunately, the client made the call and soon they were on their way to making a web page. The ad wasn't a total lie. They delivered what they promised. A cheap website, fast. Countless people, over and over, bite on these ads. And what do they get? Templated, cheap, fast websites.

So what is the real problem with these websites? If it isn't obvious to you; lack of thinking, planning and strategy. Just because you make a website does not mean it will be successful or effective. Back to my client, they got what they “thought” they wanted, a cheap website, but really what they got was a loss of money. When I completed the consulting process on their web page that was built in a flash, I found that of the small visitors they did get, 98% were from direct link, and 90% were there for less than 30 seconds. If your goal is to have your website help your business, those are frightening numbers. Face it, websites take planning, strategy and thinking! A fast website may create a page in a hurry. But websites are so much more than a quick chore every business needs to do. Just read more of the blog and it should be plain to see; websites are an art that simply cannot be whipped up in snap. It just plain and simply cannot be done if you truly want results. And results is the goal of all websites, especially in today's technical business world.


At Revived Media, we try to keep projects timely, however, we don't believe in rushing the project. We sit down with you and analyze your situation, potential markets, competitors, and then create a strategy that will help propel your business. Not only do we think about each business individually, we try to create a customize solution that delivers results. Call 612-483-2333 for a free consultation or free quote.

Labels: Cheap, easy, fast, webdesign

Posted by Dan A at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

The web in it's entirety can be intimidating. It's a massive place. Countless pages are being added everyday to make the big place even bigger. Like the universe, the limits to the Internet literally seem endless. When looking at the web with this viewpoint, it may seem like an utter waste of time to compete in such a vast world. However, even if you look at the web like an endless universe, you must also realize that most of the universe is filled with nothing; empty space.

It's easy to be a shining star when everything around it is filled with nothing. The web is the same way; yes there are great website and competition, but most of the web isn't great competition. Think about how many web pages you have been to that meet your standards. I am sure you can remember more terrible websites than really good ones. And to create a great website to run with the others isn't that hard. Especially with great planning and strategy, and of course, fresh thinking.

If you are the weary entrepreneur, let us help. Our expertise and decades of combined experience can help you tackle the biggest projects. Let us help turn your idea or dream into reality. Our unique way of looking at websites and webdesign will help you set yourself apart from the rest. Give us a call or email today for a free quote.

Labels: competition, entrepreneur, internet, startup

Posted by Dan A at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

I couldn't count how many times people think that just because they have a website that people will automatically find it. No, it's not because I'm dumb and can't count that high, it is just a ton of people! So lets say that you spent $2,000 to develop a new basic website for your company - you write the check, the site is developed and you now have a new website! You sit and wait anxiously, just waiting for the first person to stumble upon your website. Hours pass, soon days and even months with not a single visitor besides yourself and others you told directly. Is your website broken? No, it is just that the internet has grown to be so competitive that it is very rare that people will find your website organically through search engines.

Build it and they will come

This old adage couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to websites. Build it and people WILL NOT come unless you take the right steps to properly promote your website! When I say promote, you think money; and no, you CAN successfully promote your site with no money. You can put down your checkbook already.

Promoting a website has more forms than the Wonder Twins. Some methods will require some money, particularly when you start up a traditional online advertising campaign. But, when money is not of the essence, other methods of promotion are in order.

Guerrilla Marketing

I had previously wrote an article about Guerrilla Marketing and some simple methods you can use to promote just about anything. This article will target websites specifically.

Promote on Business cards and stationary: If you don't have business cards, stop reading, and go make some business cards! Networking is HUGE and nothing is more effective than a good traditional business card that states what you do, contact information and your website! When you meet somebody, you have no clue who THEY know, or how they could possibly benefit your companies' efforts. Often times when you pass out your business card you will find whoever you gave it to say "I could use this *service/product*", "My good friend could use this *product/service*", "My cousin does *this*, I'm sure he could help". Basically, the potential is limitless! With your company website prominently listed on your card, that individual can easily, quickly and effectively share it with others. In the end, that 10 cent card could help you more than you could imagine!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is the most effective way to advertise on the web and the best part is that this advertising is FREE! Yes, FREE - SEO will generate 24/7 exposure on the web, for a very long time. Search Engine Optimization is based upon many different factors that determine your ranking (Position in the results of certain keywords) in major search engines. Score a quality keyword that people search often and you will find more traffic than you could shake a stick at. All kidding aside, proper and effective SEO efforts will be best achieved by using a qualified SEO firm such as Revived Media. SEO work can be relatively cheap or it can be brutally expensive, it will all depend on how extensive you want your SEO efforts and what firm you go through.

Blogs Blogs Blogs: Blogs, I don't know where to start! The power of blogs is incredible and they are simple enough that any Joe Schmoe with hardly any computer experience can use! So, how can blogs help you promote your business? Simple! Create a company blog and within this blog you will want to continually write about your business such as company news, articles related to your industry, special offers, new products, services, you name it! Just write! By writing in your blog often, more pages and content will be created surrounding your company. The more pages and content, the more people will stumble upon them, the more visitors means more people to comment and use your articles, the more articles people use, the more backlinks your website will have, the more backlinks means better search engine rankings, better search engine rankings will mean more traffic to your website and more traffic to your website means more revenue! This sounds easy and extremely blatantly put, but to have a blog requires a lot of time and dedication, not a checkbook!

Hey check out my website: Viral marketing is still an extremely effective marketing tactic, particularly in certain industries. Anybody who may have the slightest bit of interest in your company needs to know your website address! So tell them! Tell everybody to go to your website! Uncle, Grandma, your son's Dad? Why not! It can't hurt and only takes a second, you never know when your next largest client is standing right next to you!

Signatures: If you have gotten thus far, you likely spend a bit of time on the computer, and during that time you may send a lot of e-mails or post on forums or blogs. Each one of those communication mediums has signatures! It is never a bad idea to put your website in those signatures, you will be surprised by how many people will actually click them! Blog comments and forums also gives you very valuable backlinks which assists in your search engine rankings!


So there you have it, several simple and effective methods to promote your site with no cash! But, when you want to see the best results and don't mind spending some money, quality online marketing firms can help!

Labels: guerrilla marketing tactics, online marketing, SEO, website promotion

Posted by Phil Antonson at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

As a business owner, you are constantly bombarded with people trying to sell you stuff that is suppose to make your establishment more money and run better than ever. Unfortunately a lot of those salespeople who are trying to make you rich, get rich themselves at the expense of yourself.

Many businesses will get visits from web development firms, they come in to sell you their services and guarantee a multitude of outlandish promises. Some things to watch out for are;

1. Top 10 in Google right away! If those words come out of the mouth of anybody trying to sell you a website, laugh in their face. Unless you are in a very uncompetitive market such as Custom Clothing for Ostriches, the odds of you being able to capture the top 10 spot is not very likely. Quality rankings with keywords that actually generate traffic take a lot of time, and a lot of effort. Anybody can promise a top 10 ranking with uncompetitive keywords that generate no traffic. A quality firm will explain the time and efforts needed to achieve a quality ranking.
   
   
2. The site will pay for itself in one week! Although possible, especially if you are selling products or services with a high profit margins, be keen on this sell. Competition on the web is huge and being able to capture a significant market share in a short time frame is very unlikely. Although websites are investments and DO pay off in the end with a quality firm to back it up, don't be suckered into somebody who promises to deliver the world on a weekend.
   
   
3. Get a website for $300! Many firms will offer a website at very little cost to you upfront. This sounds great at first, but in the end you will owe more than ever. Be sure to carefully read any contracts they may give you, this can be very limiting to your ability to access and change content your own site. After the small initial amount, they can charge you as much as $1,000 a month for upkeep and service and as much as $200 an hour for any changes or alterations you need for your site and if they have the only access to your server, you must pay the price.

If the sales rep at any firm tries to sell their services to you, make sure that they can back up their claims. Demand that you see examples of past clients and see if their claims are justified with past work. If they can't, show them the door.

A quality firm will not promise you more than they can deliver. They will be open and honest towards your needs and explain what will be needed to achieve your goals. They will not need to promise anything, their quality should speak for itself in the work they have done for previous clients.

All websites are investments, they will flourish with time when they are backed by quality web firms. Your website should not be something you need to keep dumping money into. If you do not see positive results to the money you spend, stop that service and look for somebody who can help.

Use your best judgment when you come face to face with somebody who is trying to sell you a website. If something sounds too good to be true, it often is. The bottom line is read the fine lines, research the company, view work done for previous clients and justify the amount you are going to spend.

Labels: buying a website, web design services, web development services, websites

Posted by Phil Antonson at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

When people search for websites, they generally are looking for answers and information. Visitors will quickly skim over a site and find what they are looking for or simply leave a move to the next website on the list. The attention span of the average user is extremely short, studies have shown that the average attention span on a website is 10 seconds (or 26 words). So, as soon as the link is clicked, the clock is ticking and you need to capture your visitor.

Targeting your content

Each page within your site has one message (or should) that message should be very apparent and made clear on the first line of content. If that message is lost, say goodbye to your visitor. To make your page's message clear and targeted, use quick, captivating and bold words in the heading of your page. The heading should be clear and apparent to what your visitors are looking for. When the user notices that the heading is relevant to their search you will have successfully gained another couple seconds.

Simplify

Content is such a downer in many websites, people simply are not willing to read long drawn out articles on the internet, they want brevity and a level of being straight to the point with no frills. The first step is to cut the fat out of your content, especially if you are trying to promote the sale of a product. Bullet points are fantastic tools in organizing a lot of information into easy to follow points.

• See?
• Quick
• Simple
• Information

When you cut out over-detailed content, make sure you have it on a separate page for already 'hooked' users! The information should always still be available if the user desires to read it.

Bold is also a very positive tool used to attract the visitors to certain areas of the content to push key points without going over every little detail. Take the little bit of time to highlight keywords or key phrases in your content. This will not only promote SEO efforts, but will allow visitors to find exactly what they seek.

Flash and other multimedia

Flash and interactive media within a site can be cool and functional, but can also easily scare away visitors. Intros are horrible on basically any site, not only is it horrible for SEO, but it allows users to quickly leave because of time of loading, unsupported formats or drawn out animations that don't allow users to go where they want.

Music on any website is such a dumb idea, especially with no way to turn it off. Having music playing on a website will not only increase load time, but it will also quickly scare the visitor away when it starts playing. If you must have music, have it stopped unless the visitor chooses to turn it on!

Avoid overly interactive content and make everything easily accessible as soon as your page loads. Menu options (navigation) should be clearly visible on the top or top left of your web page.

Long load times = free ticket to leave

Long load times will be your worst enemy in your attempts to keep your visitors at bay. Avoid overly detailed or large graphics on your web template. All of your images should be scaled down properly to promote quick loads. Remember, not everyone has cable internet! You still need to cater to those with <100kb style="font-weight: bold;">

Overview

So there you have it, simple ways to get your visitor to stay! These are invaluable tools and methods that can drastically improve your conversion rates in sales!

Labels: increasing web sales, optimizing web content, website content

Posted by Phil Antonson at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

How much should a website cost? That question is like asking how much should a car cost? On one hand, you have the discount lower quality KIAs and on the other, quality and expensive Mercedes Benz, they both get you from point 'A' to point 'B', so why spend more? Well, thats not the whole picture. Like cars, websites and web design/development firms offer different levels of quality, performance and support. In a nutshell, you typically get what you pay for!

When shopping for web designers, you need to look at many different factors such as;

• Quality
• Price
• IT
• SEO
  
• Turnaround time
• Support
• Design
• Experience
  

1. Quality - Quality, is a very broad factor and basically covers all realms of functionality, appeal and programming back-end. When you shop for a media or web design company to create your website, look at their previous work and see if it has the face appeal that you are looking for. Spend time on their previous works, click through the pages, look for a continuing effect through all of the pages. Check the support on various browsers such as Internet explorer, Safari and Mozilla Firefox to name a few. Some websites will look well in one browser, but not the others and if it looks bad on any browser, you could lose a lot of visitors and business!

2. Price - Price is going to probably be the first thing you will look at and will probably be the main factor in who you decide to choose. This is a very touchy matter because there really isn't a set or defined rate for web design and development services. Here is a general breakdown for a cost of a 10-15 page, custom designed, standard web page with no heavy programming and development.

• Large, highly qualified, experienced firm: $5,000 - $10,000+
• Medium sized, experienced firm: $3,000 - $4,000
• Small, skilled, experienced freelancer: $1,000 - $2,500
• Skilled, unexperienced freelancer: $500 - $750
• New, unexperienced, low quality: $200 - $400
• Indian or similar outsourced: $100 - $400
  

Those figures are very broad and there are definitely exceptions to those numbers. Under the $1,000 mark you will typically get unpolished, quickly developed, and end up with a website that poorly reflects your business efforts. Like most things, you get what you pay for! Up past the $1,000 range you will have a much more effective and targeted site with qualified people to back it up. For a basic 10-15 page website, I would advise not to spend more than $5,000.

3. IT - IT is the technology and back end of the site created. A qualified firm or freelancer will develop your site with the latest and most efficient languages and be valid in all W3 standards. This is typically a problem in inexperienced freelancers or individuals who have not been trained in web development. Poor efforts in this realm could result in bad indexing within search engines and unreliable compliances in various internet browsers.

4. SEO - SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts are essential in quality web sites. Although strong SEO marketing tactics are not common in "standard" web site development, it is extremely beneficial that your website is SEO ready and has the basic elements of SEO incorporated into your website, no matter how standard or basic your website is. When you communicate with a potential web developer, be sure to ask if basic SEO elements will be placed in your site for future compliances.

5. Turnaround time - Turnaround time is the time it takes for your developer to create your web site from beginning to launch. Turnaround time is not a direct factor to the quality of the web site, but it often a factor in the overall cost of your project. Typically, a larger, qualified firm will develop a site quicker, but that is not always the case. Very commonly, slow rate of completeness will come from outsourced firms such as India due to communication barriers. For a basic web site consisting of 10-15 pages, it should be completed in one to two weeks.

6. Support - Support is severely overlooked factor in web development service. When a development firm or freelancer creates your website, you need to insure that they will assist in all aspects of launching and maintaining the site. If you need a change done to your site and you don't have the technical knowhow or software to change it, you should be able to contact your development firm and they will make the changes within 24 hours or in emergency situations, much sooner. Before you deposit any money to your group, make sure you understand the rules of their support policies.

7. Design - Design is the face of your website, clearly. It is what people will see first and will have the strongest impact to your visitors about your company. A lot of weight goes behind a web site's design, a poor design and visual appeal quickly will indicate a poor company. Although a bad design may not always mean a bad company, visitors think that.

Design goes far beyond visual appeal, it digs psychologically into the visitors and reflects the business it represents in a dignified matter. The smallest hole-in-the-wall shop can appear to visitors as a fortune 500. Only qualified firms or designers trained in online marketing and general marketing can effectively harness this power - not cheap, unexperienced freelancers or outsourced designers .

8. Experience - Experience reflects the overall knowledge that the freelancer or firm has. Some freelancers will have loads of experience from previous work, but larger firms can be a sure bet that your website is truly quality work.

Recap

So, there you have it, a quick and easy guide to hiring a web development firm. To sum it all up in one easy sentence; You get what you pay for. A quality website cannot be found for under 3 digits. A website is an invest to yourself, and your company and should be the last thing you should be pinching pennies on.

Labels: development, how much should a website cost, websites

Posted by Phil Antonson at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Starting and operating a successful and profitable business is extremely difficult, time consuming and rewarding. Failure is imminent, I don't care who you are, you need to fail to become successful. When you fail you learn, you get better, you try new things and in the end you are more knowledgeable in the end and can apply your mistakes to better yourself and your company.

In order to grow from your mistakes you must first identify your mistakes, if you can't identify and admit your mistakes, you will never improve. If you never improve, you will never run a successful establishment.

When your mistake is identified, you need to brainstorm why it went wrong and how you can make it work. What tactics can be implemented to improve your problem?

Failure comes in many forms from management, products, marketing, sales to the way you present your business. Here are several aspects to look at in your establishment to improve your growth from failures.

Identify your message - When in business, you need to think about what message you want to send to customers and clients. If your message is jarbled and does not stand out amongst competitors, in what sense do you believe that people will turn to you?

Improve your communication - Inter business communication as well as communication to your customers is crucial to success. As an establishment will multiple employees, you need to open up your communication between each other, if something is amiss, you should have no problem identifying this problem to co-workers. When there are problems within your company, address the problems and improve them immediately. Stubborn management will destroy a company.

Plan your marketing strategy - There are hundreds if not thousands of mediums of marketing. Not all of them will work for you and you shouldn't continue trying something if it does not work. If a marketing campaign fails, do not continue with it. As simple as it sounds, companies will continue to push a campaign that is not financially wise; if your conversion rates are bad, try something new. Hiring a media company to analyze your market and create effective marketing material and marketing campaign may be the best investment that you can make.

Manage your money - Poor money management is almost certain death within any business or organization. Spending money that doesn't benefit the company is simply a leak in the bucket; it will drain out eventually. When you spend money effectively, it will grow your company.

Spend money where it will make money - This is similar to money management because the message is the same; spend money wisely and spend it when you have it and spend it so it will in the end benefit your company. Examples of spending money wisely is hiring professionals to help market and scale your company. Spending money on consulting work may seem daunting but when you weigh it out, it is an extremely valuable investment.

Don't feel hopeless if you need work in these fields. Like this article is all about, failure is a learning tool, a sometimes very expensive learning tool, but the knowledge you gain is invaluable.

Labels: business failures, business scaling, consulting

Posted by Phil Antonson at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

Guerrilla marketing is the most effective methods of "outside the box" marketing tactics that rely on whits, time and imagination. These tactics are perfect for smaller companies who just don't have the financial resources to out-pay the big dogs in the industry.

The word guerrilla derived from a method of warfare that used smaller, mobile armies who practiced unconventional combat methods to out-whit, and destroy larger opponent forces. It's no surprise that due to its effectiveness, nearly all modern warfare uses guerrilla tactics. The same principal applies to guerrilla marketing.

Anybody has the resources to perform guerrilla marketing tactics, all it takes is time and a little imagination - however best results are often obtained by using skilled online marketing specialists such as Revived Media.

There are no guidelines to guerrilla marketing, there are no rules, and no mercy - whatever you can do to bring in customers/clients works.

To begin, I will cover the simple founding steps to effectively assemble and perform guerrilla marketing tactics. From there, I will outline several specific forms of guerrilla marketing.

• Step 1. Create a marketing plan, start with the objectives of your company and identify who you need to target and by what means. This is the foundation to all marketing practices, identify, visualize - attack.
• Step 2. Identify yourself and your company, what is your message, what is your intent? Part of your identity goes from your image visually such as stationary, business cards, and apparel to your business practices emotionally such as, your focus, patience, flexibility, efficiency and quality.
• Step 3. Set goals and time frames, lay out times you can commit to performing your marketing tactics. Move too slow the impact may be lost, move to quick and the message may come off harsh and desperate.
• Step 4. This step is the actual tactics you intend to implement. There are hundred upon hundreds of tactics to use and choose from, you just need to pick which ones will be the most effective.

Below is a list of only a few guerrilla marketing tactics out there:

1. Posters
2. Website
3. Webinars
4. Blogs
5. Newsletters
6. E-mail
7. Post cards
8. Flyers
9. Guys in costumes
10. PPC
11. SEO
12. Door hangers
13. Forums
14. Networking
15. Myspace/Facebook
16. Workshops
17. Contests
18. E-Books
19. Ebay/craigslist
20. Goodies

I only listed 20, but there are hundreds of other untapped methods. It's not limited to your wallet size, but limited by your imagination and commitment to your company!

Labels: guerrilla marketing tactics

Posted by Phil Antonson at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments

Building a business is virtually identical to building a structure from steel and cement, the principal is the same, spend the most time building a solid foundation and scale from there. Although I'm comparing ideologies to concrete structures you can take the same theory behind it and apply it to creating or renovating your business.

The foundation

Before a building is built, a team of excavators must level the playing field and make sure it is worthy enough to pour the foundation. When you plan on building a company, you need to make sure your in the right area, the right industry and have the resources to continue further successfully. Identify that your idea is worthy of starting and make sure you do your homework and establish the goals of your business. The days of whipping out a fort out of blankets is over, it's time to grow up and make sure your "fort" is worthy to support yourself because if it fails, your financial stability will seize.

Once you level and check the ground to scale upon, you need to lay the foundation, the structure that allows you to scale your company. By making it solid from the start, you can avoid the costly and time consuming aspects of making it stronger, later. A solid foundation consists of a business plan and business operation structure, these will be your blueprints and what you will turn to if you ever get lost during construction. Even if you are not seeking capital, a business plan is essential no matter what you are going into. Your BP will outline the structure and operations within your business,it helps you set your goals, stay focused and achieve them. Another part of the foundation is establishing your company (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, ect).

Scaling up

Once the cement is poured and dry, you can begin scaling your company and with a solid foundation, the sky is the limit. The more you grow the more successful you can become.

Start with a company image, the overall look of your building, appear professional and able to provide quality service to your customers. Appearance is everything in business, do you want to look like your operating from the ghettos of the Bronx or downtown Manhattan?

Create a website, no matter what your business entails, a website is no longer a luxury but absolutely crucial to appear as a solid and established business. A website allows you to have your building not only where your put it, but at every home in the world. This will open a whole new realm of customers. Like your building, you need a professional website, one that has be designed and developed by a qualified firm to capture the image of your company. Even if you can locate a budget web developer, much like a budget contractor you will have poor quality and it will almost never be done on time.

Continue Scaling

The process of scaling is never complete, or it never should be. If you continue to dedicate yourself into your business, this process will never stop but continue to grow and expand as your revenue does. Begin to market heavily and hire a team to manage your online marketing practices as well.

Before you know it, you will be the only building in the city to see the sunrise and sunset everyday.

Posted by Phil Antonson at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

No matter what size your business is, you can directly benefit from taking a strong online presence. Often times people will think, why do I need a website? I am not trying to reach a global audience. The truth is, you are not focusing on the global market, there is a significant local audience that will find you on the web.

What business can benefit from local internet marketing?

All businesses can benefit from local internet marketing, whether you are offering a service or a product however, those who benefit the most will be those with a standard "Yellow Page" appeal. What I mean by "Yellow Page" appeal are services such as:

Plumbing
Electrical
Attorneys
Landscaping
Pest control
Construction

By utilizing effective local online marketing strategy's you will benefit from more customers, for a fraction of the cost of traditional local marketing.

Where to start?

First off, you need an online presence, mainly, a website. On this website you should have information about your services and potentially rates as well as an online store for product based companies. Depending on the nature of your business, your website can be extremely simple and maintained very little. Here is a list of things that your website should stress about your company:

1. Explain your service - Quickly inform your visitor of the services your business conducts. If they notice you offer what they are looking for, they will continue to look through your website.
2. Inform of your location - When you are targeting a local audience it is crucial to inform where you conduct your business. By listing your location various times, it can drastically assist in your search engine rankings.
3. Competitive advantage - Odds are, your visitors have also looked at 3 other websites offering the same service. Now is your opportunity to stress your competitive advantage. Explain why you are better than your competitors.
4. Make your users act - When you have your visitor's attention, it is time to call the to action. Make them call or fill out a quote. The sooner you can get them to inquire about your services, the more likely they will be to use your services.
5. Professional appeal - Show your visitors that you are a quality and credible company. Make sure your website is professional and appealing. Often times people will reflect the appeal to the quality of your services.

Consider your population

If you are based in a larger city, obviously your local market will be much less than if you are based in a small town. If you are located within a small distance from a major hub, consider targeting to that area instead of the particular area that you are based.

If you are a service company in Town-A which has a population of 2,000 targeting your specific town online won't be very effective, traditional advertising methods will suit you better. If Town-A is located less than 30 miles from a larger city, you can target towards that city.

Search Engine Optimization

If an individual is going to search for something locally on the web, they will typically search in the following format.

[Service] in [town/city]

i.e. Plumber in Minneapolis

With that being said, it is crucial that you focus your keywords on your particular services in a particular city or town. Consult a SEO firm to assist you in focusing your keywords.

Driving traffic to your website

Not always can you solely use the search engine process to generate visitors. The reason being is that the search engine indexing process is very time sensitive. A new website may not be indexed within major search engines for several months or even a year.

Fortunately, there are several ways to boost your local traffic without spending much time or money.

PPC Services - PPC (Pay Per Click or Search Engine Marketing) services allow you to "bid" on specific keywords. When these keywords are entered into the search engine, your website will be listed in the most predominately noticed areas (top and top right column). When a person clicks on your ad, it will cost you the amount you bid for that keyword. The prices change daily and some keywords are more competitive than others, thus will cost more. Remember that your PPC bid will not convert to multiple search engines, i.e. Google Adwords PPC won't effect Yahoo.

SEO - SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows you to speed up that rate that your website is indexed in major search engines and your ranking on the search engines. There are many DIY SEO tactics that you can use to help your rankings but to benefit the most, quickest, we recommend hiring a qualified SEO firm.


There are many more effective tactics to market locally other than the 2 mentioned. Search your community on the web and find different outlets to market.

Labels: promoting locally online

Posted by Phil Antonson at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

One of the most exciting moments of your business is the launch and the impact your company makes in the market. Essential to launch is formulating your companies main message and selling that message to the media for the first time. With a new company the last thing you want is a subtle entry, when you launch you want to take the market by storm, no, scratch that, hurricane - quick, powerful and widespread. Whether you have a million dollar marketing budget or none, a solid PR plan is essential to sending your message to the largest population of people, a PR plan is also the most cost-effective. PR generates buzz and interest, media coverage and an unbiased opinion.

When developing a company message, think of your appeal and impact you are going to make in the market. How will your service or product exceed that of your competition? What will you offer that is not currently on the market? Those are solid questions that you need to establish in your main company message, if you can't clearly identify such benefits, why should customers seek out you rather than competitors? When you clearly state your competitive advantage and benefit to society, exploit the hell out of it, your best asset and chances of success will rely heavily on that message.

New companies aren't identified by image

When a new company starts, nobody will identify that company by their name, logo, or image, you need to connect all of your marketing to your PR plan. Market your message and your name, people's association with your image will follow, sometimes that will take months, other times, years. Believe it or not, McDonalds was not instantly recognized by it's logo. It provided fast, cheap and "quality" burgers and marketed that. Now when you see that logo, you immediately associate their message with what they offer, fast and cheap.

A PR message doesn't and often times shouldn't be established only for your business a whole. Whenever your introduce a new product, that same message should be established and like your business people will associate it's image with the product itself.

So how do you establish that PR and give it to the public?

Advertise your message on everything your company

• Websites, when such a hefty portion of people will see and investigate what you have to offer is found on your website, it is very important to get that message across clearly.
• Business cards, also be used to distribute your message and can be quite effective. When you are networking with other individuals, you never know when the next "big thing" will hit.
• Blogs, blogs are very powerful tools that can create instant responses from the online going public. Every day cover a topic of your service/product/industry, create hype, direct other bloggers to your own and see the buzz spread like wildfire.
• Distribute press releases, if you are a good writer you can write your own but it is often recommended to hire a qualified PR writer. The press release should cover all aspects of your message and remain detailed, but rather brief. Most press releases will be around 1 to 2 pages in length. There are several websites in existence who take your press release and can distribute them to thousands of viewers. A couple of these sites offer to host your press release for free however the best results are seen with a paid service ranging from $100-700.
• Go local, never underestimate the power of your local audience. The power they hold is extreme while they are generally very easy to connect to. Depending on the nature of your business, contact your local paper to cover a story of your business and soon after you can attract larger publishers.

While the topics covered barely tear the skin into PR as a whole, you can clearly see its importance and ease of implementation. By following the simple tasks on the road to quality PR, you can quickly see the momentum your company will gain.

Labels: PR, public relations

Posted by Phil Antonson at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

What makes a good website and what makes a bad one? There are many different aspects to a website that when combined, will make a dictionary definition of a good website. Some aspects of considering a website "good" is opinion based such as the appearance and graphics used within the site. People have different tastes, much like with homes, if everyone liked the same colors and themes, we would live in a very boring world. Appearance is only a small portion of what makes a good website, additional factors include content, usability and structure.

• Content and site purpose: So you want a site or already have one, what is the purpose of your site and what do you want to accomplish? Before starting or continuing with your site, you need to set objectives and how you want visitors to benefit from using your site. The content of your site should always be kept up to date and reflect the main goal of your website. If your site's objective is to sell computers, you obviously don't want to write about how to change a tire.
• Appearance: Appearance and the colors used strike an emotional reaction which can be used to make people feel a different way such as to buy. Different colors evoke different feelings. The psychology of colors is time proven and used by professional web designers to manipulate different messages to the users. A design should never be overly complex and confusing and the design should reflect the business and the service or product that you have to offer.
• Usability: A website should be easy and intuitive to use, the navigation should be easily accessed on every page of your site. You never need to click more than 4 times to go to a specific page, a general rule of thumb is 2 or less clicks should get you to any page of the site. Complicated navigation structure will quickly frustrate your visitors and they will bounce quickly if they can't find what they are looking for.
• Site Structure: This aspect cannot be seen by your visitors but is crucial to having a good website. The foundation of your site lies within the coding and programming structure. A solid site should be openly usable in all browsers, all screen size, all operating systems and without additional plugins such as Flash. Large amounts of potential customers can be lost if your website isn't compatible with different systems.
• ISP: Your service provider (host) is also extremely valuable in a good website. Your host should have great uptime (99.9%+) and boast fast transfer speeds. When was the last time you stuck around for a site that took more than a minute to load?
• Marketing: A good site should at least promote a good SEO practice and rank well within the major search engines.
  

Combine those key aspects and you will have a good website and if you ever need help with ensuring that you have a good website, Revived Media is always here to help.

Labels: what makes a good website

Posted by Phil Antonson at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

In a nutshell, SEO is "All of the techniques used to get your site noticed and indexed on all of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN".

Why is SEO so important?

The number one way in which people find websites is through search engines, so achieving a high ranking in your keywords (typically the first page or 1-10 in the engine) is the best way to drive traffic to your site. With a quality ranking, the investment is invaluable, it is much like "free" advertising 24/7/365.

How can you become SEO friendly?

Although the methods of SEO is virtually endless, here are some of the most important factors of getting that top-spot.

• Domain age - Search engines love a seasoned site, one that has been around for several years and proves to be beneficial for the users.
• Relevant, clean, new content - You need to make sure your site has fresh content and is updated regularly. The search engines like this and so do your visitors.
• No Flash - Flash is a great multimedia tool but is typically frowned upon for SEO, the text and content within the Flash piece cannot be seen by search engines, thus it cannot be implemented into your SEO progress. A major downer is having a flash intro, a flash intro page acts as a barrier between the main page and the rest of the content that lies within your site.
• Meta tags - Meta tags are invisible tags that are used by search engines to categorize your content.
• Heading tags - Heading tags (h1) should be used on the headline or most important and relevant factor of your page heading tags should also be used on the keywords which you think users will be searching for that will lead to your site.
• Site maps - Site maps is a link by link breakdown of your site. They help search engine "spiders" navigate through your site and index each individual page.

What not to do for SEO

• Keyword Stuffing - Keyword stuffing is jam packing your content with your main keywords to the point that your content no longer makes sense.
• Invisible content - Invisible content that is not intended for users to see but used to fill your page with keywords will quickly put you on a search engine's bad side.
• Too many h1 tags
• Link farms - Link farms are basically individual pages with numerous links to other sites.

Over doing any of the what not to do can result in your site being "sandboxed" which will exclude your site from the search engine altogether. Being "sandboxed" may last forever, years or months.

How long will a good ranking take?

SEO is a very time-dependent practice. Even if you practice good SEO techniques, don't expect results for up to 6 months or even more. Be patient and the investment will pay off greatly.

Your investment will pay off

Although the exact ROI of your SEO services is virtually incalculable due to its lengthy timeframe, experts agree that SEO is the most cost-effective marketing strategy if done correctly. To get quality results without any personal time dedicated into your SEO operations, consider hiring a qualified SEO firm such as Revived Media to handle the task.

Labels: Search engine optimization, SEO

Posted by Phil Antonson at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

Before you even establish your business, you need to establish your identity! It is so simple yet so many businesses fail to do so. So what is the importance of establishing your identity? In comparison, it is much like preparing for a sprint when you are running a marathon, you will run out of steam quickly, loose your focus and objectives and in the end you will sputter and die.

Before you begin establishing your identity, here are some steps to start strong;

• Grasp your market, get a clear idea of what your business will do, who it will help and who your customers will be.
• Write a business plan, even if you are not seeking capital, a business plan is essential to explaining key functions of your business. Lay the foundation and make sure it is solid before you begin scaling your company.
• Incorporate your business and consider the different advantages and disadvantages of each entity.

Getting your identity established;

1. Brainstorm your business name and tagline: Name is very important to your business and drives your marketing campaigns. You want your name to be apparent to your industry, but create excitement and buzz when heard. You also need to avoid extended names, stick with a word or two.
2. Create and analyze your competitive advantage: What makes you special? Why should people go to you instead of your competitors? If you don't have a clear advantage, don't even start to go in business. Some simple things to consider to give you the upper-hand is, convenience, price and customer service.
3. Create your logo: Every successful business needs a logo, a logo helps Improve your customers' perception of your service, enhances your business image, draws attention to your business, leaves a lasting visual impression, reflects your businesses "feel", creates an effective marketing tool and gives your business a sense of professionalism and authenticity.
4. Order business cards: In business, networking is everything and one of the most effective forms of leaving a long lasting impression is a quality business card. A business card initiates a level of professionalism, it shows that you're here to stay and available whenever people need your services. Business cards can also quickly display the service or products you offer.
5. Order business stationary: Like the business cards, stationary furthers your professional appeal.
   
6. Establish an online presence: Websites are the most beneficial marketing tool today, a website instantly opens your service and product to the millions of people that use the internet. A quality firm can greatly help by creating a quality website that will display quality content, promote ease of usability, positively reflect your business image, and generate high conversion rates to the number of visitors. Websites are no longer luxuries, but necessary to create a quality business and quality business identity.
   

When you create your identity, you are likely to change it as your business does. When you start investing in marketing your business, your efforts will greatly pay off and you will quickly reap the benefits of your business identity.

Labels: business identity

Posted by Phil Antonson at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments