Want to Create an Awesome Website? Read This!

May 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
5:28 pm
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If you ever want to get noticed, if you want to make your business a success then you simply HAVE to get it online and here are the tips and tricks to make your site the success you want it to be.

The design of your web site is the crux of how your site begins, you wan to start with a site that is eye appealing yet professional and tasteful. Do not use garish and extreme colors on your site unless for some reason you would need to, you don’t want people to come by your site and say; “Oh my, this is tacky and I am going elsewhere!”

When designing your web site take into consideration who may visit your site. Is the site for a business person? An athlete? A banker? A cook? Whomever your site audience is is exactly who you are building your site for.

Web development can be super easy once you know how everything in a website fits together and how it all comes together to make your site the best of the best.

Web development is when you take the updated content that you have, make sure you place tags so that others can find your site among all the others and make your site clean and simple, no gaudy and had to maneuver in and you will have what we call web development.

Site description is the information that lets a customer who visits your site what your site is all about, information about you and your company, what you are selling or offering as well as how to contact you and other pertinent information they may need.

Site description is the crux of your site, without it your clients will not know anything about you, who you are and what you are on the web for, whether you blog, sell or simply have a message board, a website and its’ description is most important.

Another aspect of site descriptions is the use of tags along with how you will be describing your site, tags are words used in search engines to decipher what each website offers on its’ home pages as well as the overall site itself, make your tags as useful and concise as possible, else you will loose both your search engine rankings as well as followers to your site.

Another web development that you need to keep in mind is the content or better still the evolving content of your site.

Content site management or more commonly referred to as CMS is applications that will endeavor you to make your site unique from any and all others, with tools that will help you to engage your readers and buyers, you can pick out the right words to place the right content in the areas needed on your web site.

Evolving content is king on any website, ever been to a site that hasn’t changed in oh, say…months? Well, you won’t be going there anymore I bet!

Your content needs to be fresh and up-to-date if you want to keep repeat clients and loyal customers coming back.

Evolving content needs to be updated at the very least, once a week, any less than that and your customer base is going to slide off quick, better yet, updating your site every two to three days can boost your sites’ rankings a hundredfold.

Usability of a website is being able to navigate the site and find what you are looking for quickly and easily without having to hunt yourself to death.

When you find yourself at a site that is ‘busy’ and ill-arranged where none of the links are connected with each other or the links are ‘dead’ meaning they go nowhere and no useful information is found, then that site is no longer usable.

Usability is just that, making your website usable, if it isn’t then, if you build it NO ONE will come.

The call to action on getting your site ranked as high as possible in the Search Engine Optimization game, otherwise known as SEO require diligence on your part.

You must remember that anything doing is worth doing well and making a superior web site is no different. Be prepared to spend days even weeks to tweak your site so that you have poured out everything you have into it and making it look professional and ready for business is what you are aiming for.

Remember the days of doing book reports in high school and even college? Well, you do an outline and from that outline you do a draft and from that draft you make the final presentation, pretty much works the same way with your web presence.

A call to action means getting the site you want up and running the way that you want it with all the steps we have mentioned. Such as call us at 1-877-50-TWEET(89338)  for more information archwayinternetmarketing.com

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News, Promotions, Web Development

The 10 Most Important Things to Include on Your Website

May 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
3:47 am
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Never underestimate the potential of a great website. Businesses can increase leads and sales, media publications can increase readership and non-profit organizations can increase exposure to their cause if their website is picked up in search engines and keeps readers on the page with engaging content, eye-catching images and features to boot. There are many important aspects to developing any website, but here are the 10 most important features and functionality you should consider including upon development to help boost your cause:

 

Mobile Website: Nearly everyone has a smart phone these days, and many people spend more time on their smart phones, as they’re on the go, than they do in front of their computer. So consider developing a mobile website in addition to your regular one. This way, it’s easier for people to navigate your site from the small screens of their phones and tablets, without having to zoom in on small wording, which could be a turn off to your services.

 

App: Piggybacking off the previous point, many people have smart phones, so consider developing a mobile app that your customers and clients can download to stay up to speed with everything your site has to offer. Considering including special features on your mobile app that they can’t get by accessing the website as a further means of enticing them to download your app.

 

Log In: To get an accurate estimate of exactly who is checking out your website, consider making people log in, or share simple information about them selves before they can access your site. This can be a turn off for some people, but if your site is good enough and worth checking out, people will still come and won’t mind revealing some of their information to log on. This could also be a great way to increase revenue with your website by selling advertising based on the types of readers that are visiting your site.

 

Members Only: Similar to logging on, consider developing your website so that you have to be a registered member in order to access certain content. Again, doing so allows you to gauge just how many people and what types of people are checking out your site, which gives you a better idea of what markets to go after. Membership can be free or paid, though if it’s paid, there needs to be a good incentive for doing so.

 

Free: Why pay for something that you can get elsewhere for free? Consider that question when developing your site, because chances are if you’re charging people to access certain content on your website, they’re just going to go somewhere else where it’s either free to access the same content, or cheaper to do so. Keeping content cost-free will help keep customers coming back. Note: You can still require people to log in to your site or become members without charging them a cost.

 

Social Media Integration: Everybody is on Facebook and Twitter these days, so make sure that your site integrates with such social media platforms. Consider developing your site so that it can be accessed via Facebook and so that people can opt to share certain content on your site via Facebook simply and easily. The additional exposure and ease could help you get more business leads.

 

Easy to Navigate: This one is self-explanatory. If people aren’t able to easily find what they’re looking for, they’re going to look elsewhere for it.

 

Videos: Engaging content is key to a good website. And one way to spice up what’s on a website is by adding different things than just text. Videos are an example of things that developers can embed in websites and allow people a different way to attain valuable information.

 

Attractive: Develop the website to be naturally engaging. This means making it stand out. Don’t strive to make your website appear bland and boring. Add in colorful graphics, pictures, special text and other things that separate your website from your competition. This will help build up a clientele and help your website gain credibility. Just think, when people recognize your brand by “the guys with cool website,” it’s a good thing.

 

User-Centric: Perhaps the most important aspect of your website is making it user-friendly. In other words, you don’t want potential clients to feel like it’s a chore being on your website – you want to give them more than that, so you’re creating a fun virtual environment. If your website isn’t user friendly, you’ll lose business. People don’t want to waste their time on something difficult; they want an easy, user friendly experience.

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News, Social Media, Web Development

Content Management Systmens in review Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress

May 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
10:41 pm
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There are many types of content management systems that can be used, when building a website.  The three most popular CMS’s are Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress.

Drupal, which was founded in 2001, is sometimes called the Developer’s CMS.  It’s used by developers because of the flexible code and more advanced features, for a complex website.  It has fewer steps, to install, compared to Joomla and WordPress.  A disadvantage of Drupal is its advanced features, which cause it to be expensive and time-consuming for beginner developers.

 

Joomla, which was founded in 2003,  has an easily customizable interface.  It has features that allow users to easily personalize their sites, without editing the original code, keeping its functionality.  A disadvantage of Joomla is that the coding can be inflexible.  It can be difficult for a less-experienced developer to integrate the software.

 

WordPress which was founded in 2003, is a free service that allows users to create blogs.  It’s easier to use, including for beginners.  It allows developers to use comments, trackbacks, blogger profiles, and pining services.  A disadvantages is that it isn’t developer-friendly, and it has fewer users than Drupal and Joomla.  Some WordPress software and plugin upgrade cause more glitches than fixes, harming the site.

Google seems to give the most koodo’s to wordpress sites which is why I still suggest it to most of my clients.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at anytime.

Archway Internet Marketing Inc.

 

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News, Promotions, Web Development

The A B C of social media

April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
6:41 pm
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A is for asocialsearch.com is a great place to sign up for 7 of the most popular social media.

 

B. is for Blogging a great place to start writing your own blog.

 

C. is for Chatter from Salesforce.com if you use salesforce.com don’t miss out on this tool.

 

D is for  Digg a place to share social book marks.

 

E is for Eventbright a place to sell tickets to your events with very easy sharing options!

 

F is for Facebook if you don’t know what this I am not sure how you found your way to this article. Foursquare if you don’t know what this is it means your over the age of 20 and unless you own a business where you want people to frequent you probably don’t ever need to know what this is.Flicker a photo sharing website. Flixel a photo app that is only available on the Iphone that allows you to make really cool moving photo’s.

 

G is for Google Plus This is Googles attempt to compete with Facebook  Grub Hub This is a really cool way if you prefer faxes for a restaurant to take orders online.

 

H is for Hoot suite  a tool for companies that want to manage more than just twitter and want to just manage some of there social media. or hubspot is a tool for more a website and social  media is a company looking to help mostly enterprise level companies with there social networks and websites.  Hi5 a very my space like site that some teeny boppers have taken to we will see if it lasts? or HotSpot a great site to find a free hotspot near you.

 

I is for I tunes for digital audio and other digital media.  I care this is the paypal of .orgs or a donation paypal.  I pod is a great audio and video player now for less than 125.00  Iphone still the best phone on the market if you are drinking the Apple Koolaid.

 

J is for Jigsy The super easy website builder. or Jeteye better bookmarking for web users. joe shopping  a great little coupon site.

 

K is for Knowem a way to find out if your social media name is taken across many networks before going to sign up for all of the other ones.

 

L is for Linkedin a professional social media.

 

M is for Meet up is a social media for meeting up with others of similar interests and hobbies great for both business and people trying to get out and meet more people.  My Space even if it is dead (Tom wont mind). meboxmedia.com  is a media player for imbedding in your website like youtube except way more interactive and more set up for SEO.

 

N is for Ning is for creating your own social network for small groups that only want to share with each other in a real confidential way.

 

O is for Oyax is a social book marking manager.

 

P is for PinIntrest Social media just for sharing photo’s pining them to a board that you share with people who follow you.

 

Q is for QIK  a phone app that allows you to do video conferencing on your phone. http://qubrit.com/ another linkedin.com type of professional network.

 

R is for Reddit a  website to share your favorite readings.

 

S is for Slideshare a power point presentation. Website for sharing presentations.

 

T is for Twitter the number one 140 character social media .( also the only company to be more than a billion dollars in debt and still taking on new investors. twitxr a platform to share your pictures on twitter.

 

U is for ustream A Streaming video cast area for shows online.

 

V is for vimeo A Video social media site.

 

W is for wordpress The number one blogging platform and also the number one SEO’ed websites in the world.  weebly.com another place to get a simple website built for you.  writteraccess.com a place you can get your content written for you.

 

X is for xanga another Blogging social platform.

 

Y is for YouTube The number one video search engine Yelp the yellow pages of business reviews.

 

Z is for Zillow  a real estate price mapping company.

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News, Promotions, Social Media

10 Great things about Timeline

April 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
12:48 am
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We found about 10 advantages of the time line.  The new format has a page that is divided into two main columns.  The right section shows the passage of time.  This format allows companies new options.  They can outline their companies’ history with important events, including product launches, and store openings.
The new time line allows three tab panels to be viewable, at the top of the page.  These replaced the left-side panel of links.  Companies can change the above-fold tab apps, according to the latest company news and objectives.
The time line allows people to “pin” some posts, on the top of the time line.  If a user pins a post, by placing an orange flag next to it, that post will remain at the top of the page for a week or until that user unpins it.  That will allow a person or company to remind people about important news.  All of the time that a post is pinned, that post will be seen by many people, since it will be the first post that people read, when they view that page.
The timeline replaces the old tab configuration, including the 520-pixel width and replaces with a new 810-pixel layout.  The new content appears to be more centered, in the middle of the page, without any adjustments.  The most important updates, for companies, will be to update the pictures and tabs of the above-fold two apps.
The timeline allows a company to send and receive private messages with other users.  This allows better interaction, since potential customers can send emails to companies and receive personalized responses, instead of posting questions and answers, in wall-to-wall comments.  This allows a happy potential customer, since they receive personalized responses from the company.  This also allows a clean timeline.
The timeline uses a new cover photo.  Users may choose a photo or several.  The cover photo is large, like a banner.  Each business may use its logo and/or a list of important events, including recent product launches and/or upcoming events.
The timeline includes new admin. controls and admin. panel.  That panel includes messages, notifications, and insights, in the same location.  With notifications, a user has the chance to respond to people who sent messages and viewed that user’s most recent posts.
The timeline allows fan page owners to have the ability of signing five levels of admin., according to the owner’s job duties.  Each administrator will gain access to different features.  The features, for each administrator, is customized, depending upon his or her job duties.
The timeline can help businesses and organizations, that have fan pages, because of the photos, likes, and apps.  These are all at the top of the page.  Each user can change the order of these features (except for photos), on his or her page.  Fans can view the firs four, and they can see all of them, if they click on “View all.”
The timeline has maps that show the user’s city.  If a user gives information for “Lives in” and “Is from,” the timeline shows two maps, showing where each city is.  This can be useful, if a someone views a profile and wants to know where that profile owner’s city is.

If you need help with Facebook feel free to contact www.archwayinternetmarketing.com at anytime

Filed Under: Social Media

Driven to Success!

April 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
8:33 pm
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http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.366285363413425.77069.356143944427567&type=3

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News

Fashion Show with a great client!

April 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
5:13 am
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Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News

Must-Read Information for Creating and Maintaining a Branded YouTube Channel

March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
1:07 am
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Must-Read Information for Creating and Maintaining a Branded YouTube Channel

Second only to Google itself, YouTube is one of the places most used to search for content on the web. As it is also owned by Google. Helping customers and prospects find you, gain valuable insight and engage with your brand is a powerful asset for building strong relationships and creating credibility where you would otherwise find yourself selling products and services cold. The power of video is incredible and knowing how to harness it is critical when it comes to elevating your profile and fostering brand awareness. Here are some must-read pointers for using Youtube to manage customer service as well as increase sales opportunities:

Know your Stuff: Learn the basics of how YouTube works such as how to upload a video and how to use editing features like annotations and the new one click video editor. Things change within the user interface of YouTube all the time so subscribing to a helpful blog or two that touches on YouTube or video for social media would be very helpful in keeping up with the basics. Understanding how your audience uses YouTube can determine how you approach branding your channel and the type of content you feature. For example, if your target market views videos mostly from the screen of their mobile phone, knowing that can make all the difference in your approach toward conversations.

Customize your Channel: Beyond matching the look and feel of your company and brand with the appearance of your YouTube Channel, you can opt to become a YouTube partner if appropriate, except when to do so might encourage ads from competitors. You also have the option of a branded channel though they are mostly used by large advertisers. In setting up a YouTube channel you can include enable users to subscribe to your channel and comment on your content. Also, you can highlight certain uploaded videos, favorites and playlists to appear more prominently.

Consider Outsourcing: There are specialists out there who are skilled in creating, uploading, optimizing and marketing videos on YouTube. Connecting with them can be a great help in getting a jump start on creating consistent content that reflects your strategy and ambitions.

Promote your Videos Outside of YouTube: The more views, the better! To accomplish this consider it part of your standard procedures to embed your videos where appropriate on your blog, website and other websites as well. Remember also to share links to your videos on Twitter, your Facebook Business Page, other relevant social media channels and in your social media conversations that take place in those areas.

Categorize and Organize your Content: Giving some thought to how to group videos together such as organizing by topic or grouping content by year will help you take advantage of the ability to share and embed playlists. Playlists, like video descriptions, can have key word rich content in the description section. Additionally, having a tagging system for organizing your content will help users find the groups of relevant videos they are looking for as well as discovering videos they did not know they needed.

Socialize on YouTube to Drive Awareness: Organically build up your list of YouTube subscribers by friending relevant individuals on YouTube, sending messages, and responding to comments. Outside of the traditional push marketing tactics you have an opportunity with YouTube to create meaningful dialogue around the pain points and needs of your customers and prospects. Engaging with the YouTube Community about these topics and carefully tending to the management of your profile will increase your reach. The aspect of socialization is especially relevant to the customer service aims of your social media strategy.

Leverage YouTube’s Search Engine: Just by having an appropriately branded and promoted YouTube Channel you can improve your search engine rankings for your website by more than 10%. So don’t forget to add descriptions to your videos with helpful key words, tags that improve your chances of being seen as well as links to your company website the titles and descriptions or wherever appropriate in each video.

Measure with Analytics: YouTube offers free analytics and very useful data which can be found by clicking the insight button on every uploaded video. Information on links users followed to find your video, demographics and other stats are provided. Be sure to first determine in your strategy what metrics and measurements are meaningful to your efforts and what will determine successful execution on your goals.

Borrow Tactics from Viral Videos: Going viral is tough to predict and it isn’t always considered to be “all that” for a business. However, considering some of the common elements that have contributed toward videos going viral can enhance your efforts. The element of surprise and unanticipated content can prompt people to share your content, when a video is pointed out by a person of influence or media outlet that can kick up the number of views quickly, and a community of participation such as the copycat videos made from S*** Girls Say” after it became a highly shared phenomenon are all ways videos have gone viral. While it’s important to have the goods to back up these tactics, experimenting with how they can help is completely fair game.

Filed Under: Print and Video, Promotions, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Why every small business should take a close look at Social Media

March 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
1:55 am
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Every small business should take a close look at Social Media and put it into effect. Why you might ask? Because Social Media is used by millions of people, it is where people get information and tell others about everyday stuff. Using each type of Social Media platform effectively will help spread the word about your business to those living in your area. It is very useful for business in suburban areas of major cities such as, Chicago, New York, or LA. So how can each of these help you? Lets find out.

Twitter
Twitter isn’t just for individuals to connect with people around the world sharing news, photos, and everyday, sometimes mundane activities. It is also an excellent forum for businesses to attract customers and is especially good for those with tight budgets. Be careful not to be spammy, twitter users are savvy and it will only make you look bad. Instead, work on creating a friendly, customer focused vision. Start conversations by asking about subjects that relate to the area your business is in. Have contests. A lot of small businesses are attracting lots of twitter followers, thus spreading the word about themselves by having giveaways when they reach follower milestones. Use twitter provide customer support.

Pinterest
Pinterest is the latest Social Media platform to really take-off. The key is to pin photos that are visually attractive. Don’t pin photos that are depressing or poor quality. Find photos that relate to your business and where it is based. For example, if you’re an interior designer in Chicago, find photos of beautiful interiors located in Chicago. Amongst what you pin include some of your work, so more people become aware of who you are. The main thing to be aware of is the legal problems they have had with copy write infringement.

Facebook
On Facebook set up a business ‘Fan’ page. Make sure you provide as much information about your business here as possible such as, address, contact details, and what you do. Like Twitter, use Facebook to connect with people located in your city, encourage discussions and answer questions. Use Facebook to list special offers or sales. Also use Twitter to direct people to your Facebook page; telling them that is where they’ll find info about deals.

Google+
Like Facebook, Google+ lets you connect with customers, but it has more tools. You can group your followers into circles, separating customers from business contacts. This means that you can share the information you want with the people it is most relevant too. Google+ also lets you communicate with customers live on video. If people like what you have to offer they can give it a +1, which will share your business with their connections.

Foursquare
Foursquare is great for businesses where customers come to you such as restaurants, book shops, hair salons, and spas. Every time someone uses the tool to say that they are at your location that is being shared with their friends on their social networks. It is a great way to create customer loyalty and by having a presence on Foursquare you are letting those that use the tool know that you care about them. The Harvard Business Review recently said that 91-percent of businesses do very little or nothing to keep the customers they already have. Making your mark where customers are will help you stand out. Recently, Foursquare set up a section just for businesses which allows you to promote your services in its tool. and gives you useful statistics.

Meetup
Meetup lets you set up a group for your community. For example, if you are located in a western suburb of Chicago then set up a group for there. You can use your group to organize real world meet up’s such as, a special event at your restaurant or shop.

Always use your Social Media platforms to let your customers know about what other Social Media you use. They each have different uses and your customers may have different connections on each one, helping to spread the word about your business. If setting Social Media is daunting and you don’t know where to start, you can find professional help. One Chicago based company, Archway Internet Marketing specializes in helping businesses with using Social Media to market their services.

Filed Under: Blog, Social Media

If Encyclopedia Britannica Stopped Printing, Should You?

March 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
9:25 pm
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Disruptive technologies have a way of coming into established institutions and suddenly making them obsolete. After 244 years of success, Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer printing their famous reference guides. The internet, Google and Wikipedia have taken their place and digital information is dispersed faster and updated more quickly than printed materials. Newspapers are going out of business and publications are shrinking in size theft and right these days so just what if anything should your business put in print for their marketing materials these days? Here is a list of what’s still good to print:

 

–Brochures: Brochures add instant credibility with prospects and are great for trade shows and networking. A helpful checklist or brief sharing of best practices in a printed brochure along with a business card still makes a great first impression.

 

–Business Cards: Some new companies think it’s okay to skimp on business cards but they couldn’t be more wrong. Designing to stand apart even subtly helps your card avoid getting lost in a stack of business cards a prospect brings home from networking. Attention to the weight and color of the card also sets you apart. Texture, color, embossed printing, or a slightly unusual shape all contribute to being memorable, so don’t leave out these important details!

 

–Direct Mail: For reaching out to key prospects as well as securing repeat business, direct mail can still be very effective. The trick is the quality of the materials as well as the branding of the envelope and letterhead. The impact of a handwritten thank you note on crisp company branded paper is a dramatically undervalued asset. In today’s digitally driven world it helps you stand out and sends a strong message. Since the need isn’t as strong to do frequent direct mail campaigns to cold prospects, you can invest more into the quality of what you do mail out.

 

–Postcards: For mass distribution efforts nothing beats a visually striking post card. A versatile tool, post cards can be mailed or left in stacks in community areas frequented by your prospects. This helps you cover ground and reach people you need your products or services that you might not otherwise have the opportunity to reach. An attention grabbing image in a 5″ x 7″ size postcard can accomplish your goals.

 

–Stickers: These days stickers with your company logo can help your business stand out in people’s minds in ways a website cannot. Stickers with a great design can wind up on jackets, the backs of laptop computers or in other areas around a home or office. Adding a QR Code for mobile scan technology recognition can increase your visibility on the web in addition to looking cool and with the times.

 

–Banners, invitations, flyers and calendars can all increase visibility within the right context. Finding the right printer is of great importance for these projects and it’s best to look for a printing company you can visit in person about your needs for anything beyond a business card or out of the ordinary.

 

When used correctly print marketing can add instant credibility, ramp up trust and rapport with your prospects, and they’re perfect for reaching certain audiences. As printed Encyclopedias go by the way side it’s important to remember that in business certain old school tactics like high quality printed materials still work.

 

Archway Internet Marketing is Inc. is a Chicago based company known for serving small businesses with effective marketing design strategy and content to help bring new customers through the door. We pride ourselves on being available to our clients to play a crucial role in their marketing decisions. If you need help creating printed materials and assistance with writing, design or branding identity, please schedule an appointment by calling 1-877-50-TWEET.

Filed Under: Local Internet and Archway News, Print and Video
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