These days, many tech-savvy business owners are faced with the question: “should I just create my own website?” Building a website using a template can make the process much more straightforward, but what are the pros/cons of each approach? Building your own website First things first, what hosting template should you use?   With so many options so many different features, the process can be seem intimidating at first.  Some of the more popular do-it-yourself websites are Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly.  If you are looking for a website that is sleek and easy to use (and you aren’t looking to…continue reading

Keep it consistent Your brand is how your company is consistently presented to the world which makes branding extremely important to your image. The fonts and colors you use on your website, ads, and logo may seem arbitrary, but it’s very important to pay attention to consistency when making a website or ad that properly represents you. Think for example, about big companies. If you see a red target with a white background, you immediately think of the store Target because they make sure that symbol of their business is on everything they do. You may notice also that on…continue reading

So you got your hands on the next big thing and you want to start selling products online!  Now, what is the best way to get the word out to the public?  There are so many different options for selling online, it can be overwhelming at first.   Finding the best E-Commerce platform There are a few important factors when considering an online platform to sell your products. Ease of use – how long does it take to create new products Robustness – how many settings and features are available Professional look & feel – you want to attract customers…continue reading

We all know SEO and social media are key when it comes to reaching customers. It’s important to understand what exactly you’re getting when you invest in search engine optimization. Most SEO firms will have you believe that you need to be on retainer for $1,500 per month to stay competitive in search results. The truth is, you don’t need to spend a fortune on SEO to improve website traffic! Before we get into advanced SEO strategy, there are three main factors that Google (and other search engines) consider most. 1.  Create a sitemap.xml for your website Creating a sitemap…continue reading

An E-Commerce website is a website that allows you to sell products or services online for profit. The difference between a normal website and an E-Commerce website is the implementation of an online shopping cart where customers can order products through your website without having to send an e-mail or call your number. Why have an E-Commerce Website? An E-Commerce website is an invaluable resource for any business owner looking to sell their services overseas or across the country without having to have an expensive storefront and pay rent. Most commonly people who opt to have an E-Commerce website are…continue reading

Buying likes on Facebook With Facebook right now being the reigning king in social media, the allure of buying likes on Facebook seems alluring to small businesses trying to get off the ground. But is it really worth while? It can be extremely difficult to determine if buying likes is a good idea, but it’s important to know the risks involved. Is buying likes worth the money? There are a few things to consider. More than half the likes you receive will be from bots According to studies done on the issue, 9 times out of 10 the majority of…continue reading

Don’t leave a WordPress site slow Having a slow website hurts your business in a number of ways. The most obvious problem being that the common consumer does not have the patience to wait for your website to load, and will likely leave before even seeing what you have to offer. If your website takes more than 5 seconds to load, by most standards that is considered slow, and you should look into speeding your website up right away, and here’s why. Having a slow WordPress site means your website doesn’t get seen Not everyone knows this, but customers leaving…continue reading

Why get a Google Plus Account? In the age of Social Media, keeping an online presence means you have a LOT of pages to maintain (which is why people make their livings as a Social Media Manager) Even though these Social Media websites are important, some people question the use of having accounts on certain websites. Among those websites is Google’s new social media website Google Plus (or Google+) Google Plus has a shockingly low amount of users considering that Google is the highest ranking website in the world. People simply haven’t made the migration from Facebook to Google+, so…continue reading

How to grow your Facebook Page’s likes These days everyone and their mother is on Facebook, which makes it a very natural place for business owners small and big to invest their time and energy advertising their services to everyone who might be interested. But advertising on Facebook isn’t as simple as building a Facebook page and hoping people will come. It needs to have content, advertising, and a reason for potential customers to come and want to receive updates on your page. So how does building up your Facebook Page work? Well, as I mentioned earlier, unfortunately the old…continue reading

What kind of website do you need? Deciding the right type of website you want to own can be simple and obvious, or it can be very tricky. Do you have a product to sell that you could expand online? Are you expecting a lot of traffic to come to your website? or are you simply trying to get a simple landing page for your website so people can find you when they look you up? Ultimately it boils down to what you need your website to accomplish Pre-Designed Template Websites Pre-designed templates are the most common type of website…continue reading

– We now offer extremely affordable, professional websites for new businesses with a budget! – Introducing:  The $469 Theme Package – This package is perfect for those who realize they need an online presence for their business, but do not have $600+ to invest in a full-featured website at the moment. Pros: – A theme, also known as a template, is a website that has a pre-defined layout and color styling. – Most themes are attractive, professional, and inexpensive. – This allows us to reduce the design time (and cost!) to a fraction of our standard pricing. Cons: – There…continue reading

How often should you post on Facebook?  When is the best time to post on Twitter?  Should you post on your social media profiles every day? Find out the answers to these social media strategy questions and dramatically improve your social media traffic!   Know your audience Engagement for a single Facebook post generally lasts between 5-20 hours.  However, the real sweet spot is within the first 2 hours.  for example, if you’re targeting 22-40 year olds you will want to post around 11am or after 7pm after people get home from work.  High school and college kids tend to…continue reading

The online market is vast and full of opportunity. Every day millions of potential consumers browse the internet, and to marketers these people are sales just waiting to happen, and Facebook is quite possibly the largest congregation of possible consumers the world has ever known. It’s really no surprise that for businesses looking to invest their time and money in marketing campaigns Facebook is one of the most promising options they turn to. The idea is to turn the millions of people browsing Facebook into potential customers by convincing them to “Like” a page. In recent years especially there has…continue reading

Should you invest in a professional website? Before anything else is said let me make it perfectly clear that it is EXTREMELY important that every business have a proper web presence. Whether it’s just a series of social media accounts or a professional website, you need something online for people to look at when looking for your business. But is it worth the money for you to hire someone to build you a professional looking website. It absolutely is worth it, and let me explain why. A good website leaves good impressions Have you ever been to a website that…continue reading

Should I use Google Adwords for my Marketing Campaign? Google as a company is a massively successful corporation that seems to leave success in its wake, so it’s easy to understand why over 80% of website owners rely on its CPC (cost-per-click) marketing agent, Google Adwords. That being said it is important to note that whether or not you use Google Adwords will not make or break you, but if you use it right, it may bring you a lot of success. The Pros and Cons of using Google Adwords: Pros: You will rank higher on Google searches for your…continue reading

When should you backup your website? Let me make this extremely clear, you should always have backups of your website. No matter what your website is, there is nothing worse than losing all of the progress, all that hard work, time, and money you spent on making your website the best it could be simply because some plugin update broke your website and your web designer had no backups saved anywhere. Your website is a big investment and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to keep a working copy of your website backed up somewhere outside your server….continue reading

Simple web design is good web design It’s easy to get carried away while adding content to your website.  WordPress currently offers a seemingly endless archive of awesome plugins to make your website better.  However, it is extremely important to keep the user experience sleek and simple.   Internet users have a surprisingly low attention span A person who is browsing a new website will often decide within 10 seconds whether they will keep browsing or hit the “back” arrow. The goal is to provide relevant content in a clear layout, otherwise the user will become overwhelmed and leave the…continue reading

Do you really own your website? When you pay for a website to be designed, you’re paying for all of the content creation, all of the layout, the formatting, and you’re paying to have an online presence as custom and personalized as possible.  After your website is completed, we grant you the ability to modify or resell the website in any way you wish.  The point of a web designer is to make the experience of creating a website for your business as clean, professional, and user friendly as possible. After the product is finished, it should be yours to keep…continue reading

These days waiting 10 seconds for a page to load can feel like 10 minutes, so it’s no surprise that in 2010 Google to include website speed as a factor in determining search ranking. Google and other search engines are constantly striving to improve the user’s experience.   Does website load time affect your Google ranking?  Absolutely.   If your website is running sluggish, here are some likely culprits: 1. Too Many Plugins (or too much content on front page) 2. Bad Web Hosting 3. Dynamic Pages 4. No Compression of Web Pages 5. Unoptimized Images 6. Bulky Code It’s…continue reading

After hours of searching, you finally found the perfect image for your website. We’ve all been there and asked ourselves “am I really going to get in trouble for using this image without a license?”. The answer is… using unlicensed images from Google is never worth the risk. Sure, you may not expect your website traffic to blow up anytime soon, but somewhere down the line you could be facing thousands of dollars or more in settlement fees (per image!). It happens much more often than you would think, since stock photography companies routinely surf the web looking for copyright…continue reading

What is Black Hat SEO? If you’re unsure of what “SEO” means Click Here for a full explanation but for the purpose of saving time, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is a commonly used technique employed to give your website more traffic. Black Hat and White Hat SEO are two different types of techniques used to generate more traffic to your website. White Hat SEO uses rich, relevant content and titles to make sure that anyone who is trying to look for your company, will find it without using bait and switch techniques or keywords that are irrelevant…continue reading