We’ve moved our location to Tucson, Arizona and look forward to meeting new clients as we enjoy the stunning desert! Ph 520.367.4402
Web Design in Tucson, AZ
Reply
Category Archives: Small Business Website
Do I Need A Website Privacy Policy?
If you’ve noticed an increase in companies emailing they’ve updated their privacy policy it’s largely due to the EU (European Union) court case win against Google plus the data mining battle Facebook is facing. Most of us don’t engage in business with Europe so this isn’t critical, for now.
What has accelerated is the FTC Privacy Laws and California’s own set of rules.
“CalOPPA applies to any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) whose website collects personally identifiable information from California consumers. CalOPPA requires the website to feature a conspicuous privacy policy stating exactly what information is collected and with whom it is shared; it also requires the operator of the website or online service to comply with the site’s privacy policy. Those who fail to do so are at risk of civil litigation under the state’s Unfair Competition Law.” Read more. California’s ruling applies to US states and any countries whose website visitors are from California.
You’re collecting data if:
-
- If you’re using Google Analytics
-
- If you collect email addresses for a newsletter, either via your website, mobile app or correspondence
-
- Website has a Contact Us Form
-
- You email clients
-
- You collect Name, Phone Numbers
-
- You text clients
- Your website collects cookies-and all websites do.
For most of us we simply need to state what we collect, steps to keep it confidential, give people an opt-out, state use of cookies and inform users they can turn off cookies in their browsers. Most is logical and common sense, but it’s required to be stated. If you do have a privacy statement, great – make sure it is updated. I’ve just updated my own. DO NOT TRACK is a new item. The policy must be in certain locations on your website – easy to find, etc. Follow the guidelines and eliminate one potential headache for your online presence.
You can Google “Privacy Policy” and find options. There are websites which will generate a Privacy Policy for you, some free, and sometimes the “free” turns into $48.00 and up. I found some of the questions asked to be filled in puzzling. My clients can contact me with any questions and to make this addition to your website.
Electronic Media Marketing
Your CRM marketing system is a great tool. Take a step ahead of your competition and stop using templates in your dashboard. Take control of your message both textually and visually. The same graphic idea can be created for your social media which solidifies your brand. This became a newsletter, flyer, poster and a Facebook banner.
Facebook Banner:
Electronic Newsletter, Flyer and Poster:
If You’re Not Mobile Ready – You’re Unprepared
The prediction has been in the air for years. But now the stats show that people are searching on the their phones and growing speeds, with no sign of slowing down. While 71% of businesses see the mobile value 78% of businesses are not mobile ready. It’s a great advantage to go mobile right now and stay ahead of your competition. While many business owners cite cost as an issue most businesses have seen a decline in advertising expenses with the demise of yellow page phone books. Recognizing a website is now the cornerstone of any and all advertising the shift is beginning. While pay-per-click is still scary to most business owners investing in your organic website structure is building on solid ground.
Recent changes make your Google+ page more helpful to your business. Google used to display about 7 local businesses in its “maps” section on search results. That number will now be cut to 3 as Google gives more preference to its Google+ pages. Google set guidelines to optimize the business pages. Take advantage of it – give Google what it wants, don’t be the business that ignores helpful suggestions from Google. Too busy to handle this yourself? Inquire about my Webmaster Services.
If your business is service related make the most of your images. If your site is more than a few years old at that time keeping images small was the best strategy for user friendly load time on each page. Now there are many ways to showcase your work with much larger sized images – still optimizing for download speed. There are many options to make your photos interactive (click to enlarge). Read more.
It’s your website – your business online – grow it, make it shine – freshen it – make it work for you.
Google Mobility Deadline
Google’s mobile friendly deadline of April 21st is fast approaching. Google has been issuing notices for several months like the one below. Note: You’ll only receive such a notice if you have signed up for Google’s Webmaster Tools.
That’s the good news! Google hasn’t always been forthcoming in major changes it makes affecting search results, so giving advance notice has been a huge help for website owners.
What does this mean? If your website is a desktop version only and you haven’t created a mobile website your site will take a back seat to all the mobile friendly websites for users on cell phones. The stats continue to climb for people searching on their phones, which is no surprise since we carry our cell phones everywhere.
This mobility issue also applies to blogs. Google will flag your blog if the theme isn’t mobile ready. This information isn’t provided this clearly, but revealed in the details.
Beyond Google there are other issues to consider for your mobile readiness. Make sure your content is viewable on all devices. Flash won’t play on apple devices. Check all link redirects – make sure these are properly configured. If all your desktop content is not on your mobile site redirect that page to an associated page and avoid an overload of links to the home page.
How to Get More Organic Traffic to Your Website
Looking for More Organic Traffic?
There has been so much about social media for years. You don’t need it all — be selective in the platforms you devote time and resources toward. Most of the major players are image oriented. Facebook favors image and video posts/shares. Instagram, Pinterest, etc. are all about photos. Google+ absorbed Google Maps a few years back. When your Google Map appears next to your website in a search result get your photos in front of potential clients.
Local directories often appear at the top of a search result. Make sure your listings are filled out and the information is accurate. It doesn’t matter how people find your website – directories are a great connection to your site.
Ready for a video? Use YouTube – it has become its own search engine. Vimeo and others are great, but if you’re stretched for time YouTube is “the one”. Your YouTube channel has lots of opportunities for SEO – make use of it – get out ahead of your competitors.
Guest blogging, forum commenting and press releases are great opportunities, but not simple activities. These require the most time.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingfaqs/f/GuestBlogFAQ.htm
Get reviews. Online reviews help drive your website. When people are talking about your business search engines are taking note.
Email marketing is on the rise effectively. If you haven’t already – build a mailing list. Keep your business in front of your existing clients and engage with them via a newsletter, or a coupon/discount periodic email. People are opening more of their emails on their phones and tablets.
Promote your website offline at networking events, on print materials, and giving presentations is a good way to increase branded searches.
About links – it doesn’t matter how much this has been spammed year after year – links to your website, from your website and within your website remain a solid organic strategy which plays into your organic website strength.
Add to your website – keep it fresh looking, adding new content and updating photos. Avoid bounce rates – which means someone landed on your site and quickly left–this is one more thing“Google is watching” when determining which site to deliver in a search.
https://www.brendasimon.com/blog/why-should-i-redesign-my-website-2/
Why Should I Redesign My Website?
There comes a time when your website needs to be redesigned. This usually involves multiple factors. Code has changed substantially in the past 3 years which provides more options for your website, and certainly better performance within browsers. Leaner code means a faster download which is something Google favors in page ranking. Websites benefit from a fresh view. Look it over and discuss with your designer what elements can be improved upon, enhanced, things which are obsolete and how to optimize the space to lead the visitor through the website, while keeping navigation ease a priority. A mobile presence is critical: whether a free-standing, side by side site or a responsive website (requiring a makeover of your old site) you can’t ignore mobile users.
This site served well for its time, when monitors were smaller, dial-up connections were still around, images needed to be as small as possible, beveled buttons and gradients were trendy and 800 pixels was the maximum width the W3 consortium recommended. Enter the fun. Now browsers and monitors span much wider screens, large optimized images are easily handled by browsers and bandwidth. And the most fun of all, design has changed using a much broader palette of colors: beautiful bold, flat colors which let the design breathe and make the web page less cluttered while still offering the same key points, call to actions and copy. Visual matters in marketing. A website redesign will keep your website ahead of your competition whose sites may be tired and sagging. A fresh looking website represents your business well to visitors. It’s your first impression to potential clients – make the best of it.
Frustrated with Yelp?
Businesses have tried to make it easier for customers to review their business on Yelp, by having a laptop set up in their place of business. Problem is with reviews coming from the same IP address (an address related to your internet connection) these are snagged as fake reviews by Yelp and thus, filtered aka “not recommended” and do not factor into your overall star rating. Be aware of what is acceptable, and do not purchase services claiming to remove your negative reviews. Deception and gaming Yelp does not work. Here’s Yelp’s idea of how to garner reviews. Read more.
Ignoring your Yelp reviews sends a poor message to potential clients. Responding gives you control. A disgruntled reviewer opens the discussion to explain your business practices and customer satisfaction goals. When you have tried unsuccessfully to rectify an unhappy client there are so many opportunities to put out a positive message – seize it.
A free listing on Yelp is a good value. If you don’t have the time to manage your online reviews (Yelp and all others) give me a call to discuss my Webmaster Services.
Facebook for Businesses
The evolution of Facebook continues to be driven toward profit, now that Facebook is responsible to stock holders. The effects on businesses engaging in social media have moved from a fun and a useful tool to marketing to sluggish.
Large companies like Coca-Cola garnered over 80 million “Likes” to find Facebook didn’t result in a change in sales; it’s just a place for people who already like their product to let them know. But the value has been a way to reach your client base and reach out to them – engage, engage, engage.
But now Facebook has taken aim at organic page reach–resulting in a mere to 1 or 2 percent reach. Page Reach means the percentage of your fans seeing your posts. Nike with 16 million fans will now only reach 160,000. After aggressively marketing to the Facebook crowd, this is a huge hit for Nike. You can read the stats in your Admin panel to find out how many are seeing your posts.
Finding you are no longer reaching the very people who like you brand and want to hear from you is discouraging, but it’s the decision Facebook has made. Facebook has been changing the news feed for some time since it began adding content to your feed you never have “liked”. Now, you will hear more from those you haven’t liked and not all the posts from those you have liked.
For small businesses the value of Facebook – is for appearances and those posts which do get into feeds. Don’t give up. Adjust with the new change. You want to maintain your Facebook page for the future, as it continues to change, but it’s safe, for now, to give it a lower priority.
Website Slide Show, Gallery
Deciding how to show your products is part of creating your website. Trying to decide the difference and choosing can make your head spin.
A photographer needs his work to be prominent – with the page layout framing his work. Keeping in mind your website’s performance is critical if you’re looking for organic search engine results. To that end page loading time is a factor. If the slide show or gallery is bloated the website’s performance suffers, and equally important – the user is annoyed. Here we used a quick loading JavaScript show which allowed more images on the Home page.
DouglasSimon.com
The Staging category needed the full breadth of the image. While this meant larger files, we reduced the number of images in the slide show to compensate.
DouglasSimon.com
Portrait portrait (versus landscape), thus the difference. Keep in mind the best display for your product.
DouglasSimon.com
Presentation can be a fabulous supporting framework for your product. In this case the whimsical art is beautifully showcased using a book which pages turn.
a-lil-whimsy.com
So many choices. When you find something you like send your web designer the link. Enjoy exploring!