Month: December 2018

An impressive web design Santee is not enough to give you the online exposure and success that you need. Once your website is setup, you will still need to get the word out. You have to advertise your online business extensively. There are several strategies you can use for this. In this post, we shall be looking at the main strategies. We will, however, not be considering search engine optimization.

Social media
The social media offers an excellent way for you to connect and engage with your audience regardless of their professional experience or age. As a web designer Santee, you will need to setup social media profiles too. You will need to create profiles on all major social media networks. You will not need accounts on all social media sites but just on the main ones: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+. You will also need to make sure that these accounts are active.

Your social media channel will help you achieve the following:

• Organic: Share updates, articles, news, videos and other relevant information to your audiences
• Paid updates: Pay to share information with target audience. This is typically videos or articles.
• Paid Ads: pay to advertise to the target audience.

For the best results using social media, you need to use both paid and organic posts. You should also understand that social media doesn’t necessary drive leads but rather increases your brand recognition, engages your audiences and helps personalize your brand. You will also be able to build authority and extend your market reach.

Email marketing
Email marketing is not new but it is ideal for all types of businesses. Email newsletters offer the best chance to stay in front of your clients. Your newsletters can be sent quarterly, bi-monthly, monthly, weekly or daily. Here are some ideas you can use for your next newsletter:

• Links to your social media pages
• Content offers
• Recent blog posts
• Company highlights
• Industry trends
• Breaking news
• Current specials or promotions
• Credibility pieces

Retargeting Ads
These are Ads shown to users that have been to your website. They appear on a network of websites and are designed entice the users to re-visit your site. The retargeting campaign is normally inexpensive and will help you stay on top of the mind of your potential prospects.

Banner Ads
Here you work with a vendor to buy Ad space on another website. Your banner will then be placed on relevant websites. Digital banner advertising works great for some businesses.

The four are the best digital marketing strategies you can use. The rule of thumb is to ensure that you use a strategy that works best for your type of business.

Web design Santee

For most people, web design Santee is all about installing the right theme and customizing it to the client’s desires. That is not the case. In addition to what you see, there is a lot that goes into web development. In this article, we shall be looking at the things that are done when designing a website.

Research
This is the first phase of web development. Your web designer Santee will listen to your website needs and conduct a thorough research to know what needs to be done. The web designer will research everything including competitor websites, industry terms, images and the new trends. Research helps create the foundational knowledge of where the firm stands in the marketplace. The research will help the web designer understand what your target audience finds compelling.

Content strategy
This is another important thing that has to be done before work starts on web design Santee. The content strategy is for every page on your website. The purpose of this step is to help create a website that is cohesive and one that achieves the desired goals. The content strategy is basically the roadmap for the website design. The content strategy will also take into account the target market, business resources, objectives and website goals.

Wire frames
This normally takes about 4 hours. Wire frames are sketches that guide the designer and writers as to what is really needed and where everything will go. The wire frame represents how the website should look. It helps visualize the website.

Copywriting
The content on your website is what tells a story, creates the mood, highlights the benefits and describes the products and services. Creating compelling content is of great importance. Copywriting normally takes between 50 and 80 hours.

SEO
If search engine optimization will be part of the website project, it has to be factored in before you give your web designer Santee the green light to build the website. The right keywords will be selected at this stage and used in copywriting. A link building strategy has to be developed too.

Design
The design work starts after all the aforementioned steps. A web designer Santee will decide on the most compelling and efficient way to present the content in a web design. He considers such things as how it will impact usability, development, and user experience. Design revisions will follow.

Web development
This is the coding process that builds the website design and makes up the biggest part of a website. The content is entered after web development. The final step is quality assurance and control.

Web design Santee

The actual work on web design Santee should start after thorough planning. You cannot just get up one morning, open a website builder and start creating your business website. A lot of planning goes into the creation of a great website. In this post, we shall be looking at the important decisions you need to make before you start designing or redesigning your website.

Determine the sales strategy
Long before you start shopping around for a great web designer Santee, you need to determine how your new website should support your business sales efforts. Do you need a website where you can sell your products or services online or simply a marketing platform to direct traffic to your business? You must be sure if you need a website that generates leads or one that sells products/services.

Set a budget
How you want your website to support your sales efforts is what will determine the amount of money you will have to invest. When setting a budget for your new website, you need to work closely with a reliable web designer. The designer will help you know what your website must have and what it can do without. The budget should also account for maintenance and marketing costs.

Pick a tone for your copy and design
Defining the tone for your web copy and the visual design is something you need to do long before you start working on a new website. It is the intended tone that will determine the look of your web design Santee. The important question you need to answer is this; do you consider the relationship with your clients contemporary, professional, conservative or relaxed? An honest answer to this will help define the tone.

Select the bare minimum of info that is needed
You have to determine the bare minimum information that your website must have both visual and textural. Your website should cover these areas:

• Who are we?
• What we do?
• How you compare with other companies in the same industry
• Why choose us?

The website you create must communicate clearly who you are and why clients should choose you. Keep in mind that visitors have a short attention span. If you don’t grab their attention right away, you will lose them.

Call to action
Last but not least, you will need a clear call-to-action. What do you want your visitors to do once they get on your website? You need an effective call-to-action.

Getting the above things ready before you get started on web design will help smooth things. Make sure you have done all the above before giving a web designer Santee the green light.

Web design Santee

Once the web design Santee phase is done, the next phase is content creation. The content on your website is what keep visitors coming back and is what compels them to take the required action. But how do you create great content? Here are a few great tips you can use.

Create a sitemap
The first thing you must do before writing any content is to draft a site map. This should be a hierarchical list of your web pages and how they relate with one another. A good sitemap will help organize your pages in a clear-cut manner. Your web designer Santee will come in handy in this stage. Don’t be afraid to give notes on how the sitemap and individual pages should look like.

Create your brand message
The last thing you want is for your content to sound unrelated. This happens when you don’t have an overarching brand message. What is the main message that you wish to convey about your brand? Not being clear on this will keep your brand from being unique. Know what sets you apart from the competitors and create a story around your uniqueness. It is your overarching brand message that will guide your web content.

Get right to the point
Internet users have busy schedules. That is why they skim through content to find what they are looking for. When working on your web copy, you need to get to the point right away. Don’t start with a senseless story before sharing the big secret. Your content should have clear headlines and subtitles. The use of bullet points will further help the visitors not miss the point you want to send across. Remember that you have 10 to 20 seconds to engage your visitors. If you miss that window, you will lose your traffic to your competitor regardless of how great your products are.

Speak like a human
The worst mistake you can make is forgetting that your visitor is a living, breathing human being. Your copy should have a conversational tone. Talk to your audience like people. All in all, you need to leave the ‘LOLs’ and emojis out.

Solve the pain points of your clients
For your web copy to win the heart of your visitors, you must show your readers that you understand their plight. The purpose of your copy should be solving an issue that your target clients have. Let them know how you can help them with specific issues.

Include a clear and concise CTA
Visitors want to be told what to do next. You do this with a call-to-action. This needs to be clear and concise. Your CTA should give visitors a reason to reach out to you.

The above tips will help create better web content. You also need to keep an eye on the online marketing trends and always work with a skilled web designer Santee.

Web design Santee

Web design Santee has several unavoidable costs. These include the cost of buying a domain name, hosting and at times the cost of using a content management system. SSL is an addition to these costs. Currently, your website does not necessary need to have SSL. However, in the next year or so, SSL will be made a requirement. Google is stressing on the use of SSL. But what exactly is SSL?

What is SSL?
The SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer. This is a certificate that you purchase and is indicated by https://. Websites that don’t have the SSL certificate have the http://. Almost every web designer Santee that you contact today will recommend that you buy SSL certificate. The SSL certificate is what protects your company and your website visitors by encrypting data that you exchange with them. It is simply an added layer of protection which safeguards the transfer of sensitive data. The SSL certificate will display in the URL just like the domain name and will be visible to your users.

Why does the SSL matter?
An SSL certificate matters a lot more so when you consider the sensitivity of the information people share online. The sensitive information ranges from the credit card information when making a purchase to providing their email and name when signing up to a service. More and more people are learning of the importance of SSL. As a result, you will be surprised by the sheer number of people who will be reluctant to share any information with you if you don’t have the SSL certificate. Lacking the SSL certificate sends the message that your website is not secure hence not trustworthy.

With that being said, having the SSL certificate will actually increase your revenue, build a better email subscriber list and also improve lead generation. Internet browsers, with Chrome leading the way, are today alerting users when they visit a website that doesn’t have a valid SSL certificate. Having the SSL certificate helps you demonstrate how credible and safe your website is.

How much does the SSL certificate cost?
An SSL certificate costs between $0 and $1,500 per year. There are certain vendors that offer the SSL certificate for free. However, if you need optimal security, you have to invest in a paid SSL certificate. This is for the simple reason that paid SSL certificates come with additional protection such as advanced encryption and higher warranty. Some of the leading SSL certificates vendors are GoDaddy and Norton.

As aforementioned, an SSL certificate is not yet a requirement. However, to be ready for the future, you need to get the certificate for your current website and when working on a new web design Santee.

Web design Santee

The first two steps in web design Santee is the purchase of a domain name and second is getting the right hosting service. Website hosting is a service that will enable Internet users to find and access your website. After getting a hosting service, your website will be assigned a space on the server of the hosting provider. This enables people from all over the world to view your website. Just like your domain name and the SSL certificate, the website hosting is an upfront and ongoing website cost.

The cost of hosting per year is between $24 and $24,000. This cost will depend on the hosting company you use, the package you select and the nature of your website. Based on your needs, a web designer Santee will be able to let you know which package is best for you.

Why is web hosting important?
The hosting service you select will have a significant impact on the overall function of your website. While free hosting exists, it is very rare for a professional website to use these free options. Your website hosting will affect the following:

• Web page loading speed
• Website’s expansion capabilities
• Level of customer support you get

You have to be very keen on the terms of service before selecting a hosting service. It is also vital that you look at the requirements of your future website. You must also consider the reputation of a service provider before getting hosting from them.

How much does web hosting really cost?
For a business, hosting will cost between $24 and $10,000 per year. The cost will depend on the package you select. There are four categories:

• Shared hosting: This will cost you between $24 and $120 per year. Your website will be on a shared server which means the performance of your website will be sluggish on peak hours.
• Website builder: Website builders offer hosting too. With Wix, for example, you will spend from $60 to $180 per year. Hosting by website builder is a great idea for the startups and small businesses.
• Virtual private server (VPS): This will cost between $240 and $600 annually. Your website will be sharing a server with several other websites but will have full access to the server’s resources thus no sluggish performance.
• Dedicated server: This is a premium package and will cost between $1200 and $24,000 every year. You will get your own server with complete server resources. This is the option for websites that get over 100,000 visits every month.

Website hosting is as important as your website. That is why you need to make a good investment long before you start work on a web design Santee. Always seek advice from your web designer before selecting a package.

Web design Santee