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What Not to Do With Your Web Site

September 17, 2010 By

My Web site is a work in progress. I make a few changes to it and then a month later I think of a few more things I need to update. Within the next few weeks I’ll be making a few more changes. It never ends.

In “11 Reasons Customers Don’t Trust Your Web Site,” writer Lisa Barone shares common sense tips and easy-to-stop-doing strategies for making your site better.It’s more of a list of Web site mistakes you may be making including:

  • It’s littered with typos. Do your best to find typos and squash them dead. It’s hard to believe what someone has written when every other word is spelled wrong. Also, it looks bad if your phone number is wrong. My number changed recently but I didn’t change it on my site until last week. (Oprah, if you tried to call before, try again!) [Read more...]
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office technology, Improving your web site, Internet marketing, Marketing/Public Relations, Working at home Tagged With: , ,

How to Fill Your Blog With Content, Not Crap

June 4, 2010 By

Trying to think of a new blog post every day can be challenging and at times frustrating. But considering all of the information available on the Internet, finding new blog ideas comes down to being resourceful.  Or in my case, eating chocolate.

In a recent blog post HubSpot, a company that offers Internet marketing software and strategies, shares “10 Ways to Keep Your Blog Full of Content.” Many of their strategies are doable and best of all they cost little to no money to implement.  A few of them are:

  • Think Beyond Text — You could create a blog post with pictures taken at an industry trade show. For a day, remove text as a possible form of blog post content and think about other content types that can be valuable to your readers. Yes, it’s time to pull out the video camera and get to work. I use a flip video because it’s small, reliable and the videos are easy to edit. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Improving your web site, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations Tagged With: , ,

A Solid Core is at the Center of a Strong Business

June 2, 2010 By

A few years ago I signed up for Pilates classes to get in shape and to build my core.  I finally quit when my flaky instructor showed up on the first day and then missed a few classes.  She had a great core, but a bad planning system.

In a recent blog post, New Marketing Labs, LLC president Chris Brogan stresses the need to develop a strong core. In this case he’s referring to your database, your email marketing, and some kind of community of prospects. He describes his four core tools of marketing.

Database – Your client and prospect list, your database, is the base of everything. If you don’t know who your customers are, who your next customers will be, then that’s where you start. Brogan uses BatchBook by BatchBlue for his contact database.  Constant Contact is another database manager to consider but a product endorsement by Brogan carries a lot of weight. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office technology, Internet marketing, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations, Working with clients Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Think Creativity Over Cash When Marketing Your Business

May 24, 2010 By

Marketing your homebased business can be challenging and frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be expensive.  In another Working Naked post, a few entrepreneurs shared their low-cost, highly effective ways to market their businesses on a budget. A few more entrepreneurs share their marketing secrets.

    “Unpaid public speaking is a fantastic way to drum up new business. Associations and Chambers of Commerce are always looking for free speakers educate and entertain at meetings. You’ll make your money from the “back of the room” after the event selling products/services, getting referrals and booking more gigs.”

    —Leslie Guria, SpeakingBonanza [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Internet marketing, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations, Working with clients Tagged With: , , , ,

Don’t be a Dummy…Learn Smart Ways to Market Your Business

May 21, 2010 By

The folks at Copyblogger are no dummies. They know that if they fill their site with valuable advice about writing a blog and marketing online, their readers will want more. What kind of people are they?

Obviously they’re brilliant, generous and Internet savvy because they’re offering Internet Marketing for Smart People, a 20-part, free email course and continual newsletter. This course is down and dirty, quick and easy and best of all, packed with useful advice about Internet marketing.

Check the Internet and you’ll find hundreds of programs that promise to give you the “secrets” to Internet marketing. Sometimes you’ll see a photo of a guy on his yacht who wants to make it perfectly clear that he’s made a fortune from Internet marketing and you haven’t. My advice? Shop carefully and if you can get a high quality marketing course for free, grab it immediately.

After you’ve read through the free course, check out Copyblogger often. You won’t believe how much information is on their site. I never leave Copyblogger without learning at least one new thing. They know everything and I want to know it too (insert evil laugh).

Filed Under: Improving your web site, Internet marketing, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations Tagged With: , , ,

Marketing Your Business on a Budget Takes Creativity

April 27, 2010 By

When you add up the expenses of running your own business, sometimes there’s not much money left for marketing. So when money is tight, you need to be creative. I asked homebased business owners to share out-of-the-ordinary, proven strategies they’ve used to market their businesses. Here are a few of the tips I collected.  I’ll share more tips soon. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Internet marketing, Making money from home, Working at home Tagged With: , ,

You CAN Get the Website You Want

February 25, 2010 By

Guest post by Dave Yankowiak

#266-Dave webAs a web developer, I’m often asked how much it costs to build a Web site. If you want a simple and generic Web site that doesn’t do much, it can be relatively cheap. If you want something custom with beautiful design and interactive features that will really appeal to your site’s visitors, it gets a bit more expensive. Here are a few tips to set expectations up front and get exactly the website you want.

Share Examples of Sites You Like

One of the best ways for a developer to get a feel for your tastes is to show him or her a few sample Web sites. Discuss what you like/dislike about each example, evaluating elements such as fonts, colors, layout, graphics, functionality, sections, navigation, and content.

Show Your Existing Stuff

If you’ve done any sort of marketing for your brand in the past, show samples of those campaigns. This can include logos, brochures, business cards, catalogs, giveaways, newsletters, old websites, and advertising. Even if some of these things contain branding you no longer want to use, it helps the Web designer get a feel for where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going with respect to your brand’s evolution.

Have Some Ideas

Bring your brainstorms, daydreams, things you’ve seen, and things you haven’t seen. If there’s a feature you’ve never seen on a competitor’s Web site that you think might work on yours, discuss it with your design firm. In the age of Web 2.0 the sky really is the limit. However be open to feedback. Designers spend a lot of time on the web and can offer guidance on things that may or may not work.

Think About the User

Why would people visit your Web site? Why would they come back again and again? Can your Web site essentially become a virtual customer service employee for your company? Focus on the user. A lot of brands try to create a website with cool features and things that are there to make the company look good, but they forget the site is there for the user. Cater to them. If your end-user is having a great experience, you’re going to be happy with the investment you’ve made in your new Web site.

Determine the Essential Pieces

You may not be able to afford everything you want in the first iteration of your new Web site. That’s fine and if you plan accordingly, adding features at a later time should be no problem. Dreaming big is good, but focus on the clearest path to launching a site that looks professional, has good content, and is shaped around the user’s experience. The bells and whistles can wait if they need to.

The more you can plan up front, the smoother the Web site development process will be. These tips will help both you and your designer visualize the Web site that you really want and put you on the path to a successful site launch.

Dave Yankowiak is a web-minded individual and owner of Lift Development LLC. He lives in Grand Rapids, MN and blogs about his “work anywhere” lifestyle on http://www.anywhereman.com.

Filed Under: Improving your web site, Internet marketing, Working at home Tagged With: , ,
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