Feb
7

Writer’s Block – How to get your inspiration back

You know that it is important to update your website on regular basis and post blog updates often to maintain and improve your search engine ranking (SEO). You sit down in front of your computer/laptop but nothing comes out. You want to post an insightful update and just can’t come up with a good idea. It’s a problem that strikes us all, especially when it comes to writing – the dreaded writer’s block.

Don’t fall victim to procrastination or fear of the blank page. There are plenty of things you can do to get you on the right track towards posting:

  • Start with looking at your competition: what kind of information are they providing their guests?
  • Look at websites you like and determine what it is about them that you like.
  • Look at sites you don’t like (not just your competition). What is it about them that you don’t like – do they over share? Do they provide information that you need or is it just words on a page?
  • Ask people/fans/customers what they would like to see posted on your site.
  • Keep a notepad near you while you work that is just for web-ideas. When you think of something write it down and keep it on your “to-do” list.
  • Follow social media. There is a wealth of intentional or unintentional information available on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even Pintrest.  Use these portals to discover new trends and interesting information relevant to the topic of your website. It is also a good idea to save your favorite articles for future references.  Reading such articles can help spark your inspiration.

The simple fact is that inspiration can strike from anyplace or anything. Just be open to it and remember it’s sort of like lightning, that it often strikes when you least expect it and rarely ever strikes twice.

Do you have another great way to find inspiration? Share it below in the comments section.

Feb
1

Example Site Wednesday: Pimp My Cake with Mama Rhu + Guidelines for Showcasing Your Business Personality

Our weekly tradition dictates a showcase of another awesome Webs website. Today we are showcasing a fun website from the UK:  Pimp My Cakes with Mama Rhu. What makes this website stand out above the rest this week is the website owner’s dedication to not only showcasing their products, but also her letting her personality and enthusiasm for her business shine through on every single page on the website.

What can you take away from the creator of this website? As a small business it’s perfectly acceptable to showcase your personality to help you and your business stand out from the competition. For this site, “Mama Rhu” lets her site visitors know she’s serious (but has a good time) about her cake decorating business.

Guidelines for Showcasing Your Business Personality

  1. Your business personality should support your business growth both externally and internally.
  2. Don’t get too personal, but do show your enthusiasm
  3. Showcase your passion for what you do.
  4. Be yourself.
  5. Show how much you are dedicated to  customer satisfaction
Jan
31

Why Content is Important for SEO

When you think of SEO, do you think of content marketing? You should. Discover why the information you put on  your website, your content, matters and how it can impact your search engine ranking.

According to the following infographic compiled by Brafton News, continued escalation in competition between available search engines to present the most relevant information is going to continue to place additional emphasis on the type of information websites contain. More specifically, emphasis will be placed on original content and its quality.

Click on the image to view full-sized

Jan
25

Example Site Wednesday: BRCC + How to Write Benefits Focused Copy for Your Website

This week we would like to showcase a website with clear calls to action: Building Repair Cost Consulting (BRCC).  Site owners also took into consideration a lot of design elements to ensure their website provides a simple way for visitors to browse.  Check it out for yourself:

Looking over this website, there is just a small suggestion we would like to offer to the owner of BRCC – try putting more emphasis on the benefits your services provide.  Adding benefit focused copy will answer the vital question all visitors seek: “What’s in it for me”.  Here are some suggestions on the type of statements BRCC could emphasize:

  • “With BRCC, you will not have to worry about overpaying contractors.”
  • “Using BRCC you will gain a piece of mind when it comes to major renovations”.

Looking to add benefits focused copy to your website? Here are a few tips you can utilize: Read Full Article

Jan
20

How to Build a Call to Action That Can Boost Conversion Rates

Regardless of the purpose of your website, you always want your website visitors to stick around and perform specific actions. These actions can vary from being something simple as viewing your online portfolio, discovering your product offering, signing up to receive regular email updates or making a purchase.

While website design and good layout can get the visitors to stay on your website and browse around, it doesn’t mean that they’ll click or purchase. This is where a good call to action comes in.

What is a call to action?

According to BusinessDictionary.com, call to action is a set words that urge the reader, listener, or viewer of a sales promotion message to take an immediate action, such as “Write Now,” “Call Now,” or (on Internet) “Click Here.”

When it comes to a good call to action, every element matters and has impact contributing to your website’s conversion rates. Here are some things to consider and test when it comes to Call to Action treatments:

  • Is it a link or a button?
  • Look of the button
  • Size of the text
  • Placement on your website page
  • Colors used Read Full Article
Jan
18

Example Site Wednesday: How Webs Users are Taking a Stance Against SOPA & PIPA

January 18, 2012 will now be known as the day internet companies took a stance in the largest internet protest against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) bills. Today we would like to showcase how some Webs.com users are taking their freedom of speech to express their points of view on these bills:

Creators of pinkmoonwebdesign.com decided to redirect their website today to http://sopastrike.com/:

Read Full Article

Jan
17

Grow Your Business with Mobile

Okay, so you’ve taken the plunge and created a website but have you thought about Mobile?  Smartphones and tablets are everywhere and people are using them to find information and to make purchasing decisions for products and local services. According to CTIA-The Wireless Association as of June 2011, for the first time in history the number of wireless subscribers in the United States (322.9 million) has surpassed the population (315.5 million). Moreover, the wireless network data traffic had a 111% increase to 431.2 billion megabytes!  What are you doing to capitalize on this traffic?

The good news is that if you have built your website with Webs, you have also created a mobile site! We have integrated our mobile site application so all sites created on Webs display properly on smartphones. It also automatically synchs with your website so you only need to make changes in one place. Read more on how to customize your mobile website.

Mobile is a new shopping channel, more and more people are making purchases through their smartphones and you don’t want to miss out on that traffic. If you run an online store, you may want to consider putting some of your advertising budget into mobile search. Read Full Article

Jan
13

DIY SEO – How to get your website ranked and stand out in a crowd of search engine results

Nobody starts a website with a goal of it not being seen—most people want their website to show up on page one of Google or Yahoo! search engines.  This takes time.  However, we find that a lot of new website owners don’t know how to get started to ensure their website address shows up in search engine results.

You might have heard of the terms SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you might have even seen our blog post on the complete visual guide to SEO. But, do you know of the concrete steps you can do today to get your website to show up higher in search results?

Here are a few things you can start doing now to optimize your site for search engines:

1. Improve Relevancy of Your Content — Information presented on your website should be relevant to the topic around which your website is created. The key to getting higher search ranking is being consistent and relevant in your website copy. The copy you post on your website should also include key keywords that are relevant to your business and for which you wish to rank high in search engine results. Suppose you are a wedding photographer located in San Diego, California who specializes in outdoor weddings.  You shouldn’t just use a keyword like “photographer”.  You should use relevant keywords like “wedding photographer”, “outdoor wedding photography” or “San Diego wedding photography”. You can also improve your website copy by creating:

  • Keyword Rich Page Titles
  • Including most important keywords in the first paragraph
  • Use keywords in hyperlinks Read Full Article
Jan
11

Example Site Wednesday: ABC Learning Childcare & Preschool + The Value of a Clutter Free Site

Today we would like to showcase a clean, well organized website dedicated to a preschool in California: The ABC Learning Childcare & Preschool:

The owner of ABC Learning Childcare & Preschool designed their site so it’s easy to navigate and clutter free. Keep in mind, when building a business website, less can really be more.

A lot of website owners that are starting out and learning about how to make a website encounter the problem of wanting to showcase everything they have all at once. This can lead to a  cluttered, disorganized website that is visually unappealing.  Having too many elements on one page makes it difficult for website visitors to grasp the purpose of your website and the key message that you want to convey.  Too many elements can also negatively impact your website design. In a recent survey, we found that design is often seen as the most important factor in creating a good website. Read Full Article

Jan
6

What Is SOPA and PIPA and How Does It Affect Your Website?

You have probably heard about SOPA and possibly PIPA bills that are currently in debate in the US Senate and Congress. You might even know that many people are passionately polarized about the issue, but what does it all mean and how does it affect your business?

SOPA stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act, and is a bill in front of the House of Representatives. Its sister bill, PIPA stands for the Protect IP Act. The purpose of both of these bills is to prevent piracy of copyrighted material. On the surface this is a good thing, as the cost of online piracy is estimated to be over $1 billion per year, however the problem is with the execution of the law, so let’s look at a breakdown of what it does:

For any domains in foreign countries other than .com, .org and .net:

  1. It requires Ad Services like Google AdSense to not display any ads or receive any payment from foreign sites that contain copyrighted content that is displayed without permission.
  2. It requires Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to change their DNS servers so that the domain names of websites that host pirated content will not resolve.
  3. It requires that search engines like Google or Bing change their search results to exclude any site that hosts pirated content.
  4. It requires payment providers like PayPal to close the payment accounts of websites that host pirated content.

The results of these requirements are: Read Full Article