Tips and Tricks for Web Site Design
Referrals Are The Backbone Of Your Business
Mar 10th
Do you want to see your business grow by leaps and bounds? Then make it a habit to ask for referrals from everybody you talk to and all of your existing clients.
I just went back and researched where my new business has been coming from and I found that two-thirds of my business is from referrals! Another interesting fact is that not one of those clients that I got as a referral has canceled my services; referrals are loyal customers!
Of course if you want loyal customers then you have to treat them right. Never forget a client, and don’t let them forget you! Every year I send a business card and a calendar to each of my clients and recent prospects, just to keep my name in front of them. It’s a small token of my appreciation and a nice gesture. Check out www.vistaprint.com for some good promotional material you can design yourself.
The best time to ask for a referral is right after you have completed a project with a new client. Just ask them, “Do you happen to know anyone like yourself that would benefit from my products & services?”
The timing here is crucial. Your new client is now a satisfied customer and pleased with the work you have just done and they will be more than happy to give you referrals at this point. Don’t be afraid to ask for the referrals, this is the point of maximum impact!
Contact Mike Marinaro today for a FREE Quote on affordable website design.
919.374.9209
mmarinaro@nc.rr.com
Why You Need a Website
Feb 22nd
According to the U.S. Census Bureau the estimated population in the United States for 2009 is 307,212,123. Out of these people, 227,719,000 are Internet users! That means 74.1% of the U.S. population uses the Internet! I would have to say that’s a pretty good reason to have a website for your business or organization!
Source:
www.internetworldstats.com
World wide there are 1.67 billion Internet users as of June, 2009. Most Internet users speak the English language as native or secondary language, according to www.wikipedia.com. Another good reason to have a website.
Here are some demographics of Internet users from www.pewinternet.org.
- 93% of age group 18-29 are online
- 81% of age group 31-49 are online
- 70% of age group 50-74 are online
- 38% of seniors 65+ are online
So as you can see the people are out there surfing the web; if you want them to know about your business or organization you need to have a website.
Contact Mike Marinaro today for a FREE Quote on affordable website design. 919.374.9209 mmarinaro@nc.rr.com.
www.webdesign4him.com.
Rather Do It Yourself?
Feb 11th
If you would rather build your own website I highly recommend GoDaddy. I have been using them for several years and have been very satisfied with their service.
Domain names are available starting at $7.49 a year and you can even get one for ONLY $1.99 with the purchase of webhosting.
Webhosting plans start at $4.99 a month. If you don’t have html skills, no worry, GoDaddy has several templates to select from that will let you create your own site with “Website Tonight”.
Of course, I would rather have you contact me to design your website for you but if you just must do it yourself, check out GoDaddy.
Mike Marinaro
919.374.9209
Before You Build Your Website
Feb 5th
You have realized that your business or organization needs a website…so where do you start?
The first thing you should do before you build a website is ask yourself these questions.
- What is the purpose of my website?
- Who is my target audience?
- What content should be on my website?
- What is my competition doing?
- Do I really have the time to do this myself or should I hire a professional website designer?
Purpose
Is your site going to be mostly informational or are you going to want to sell your products or services online?
Target Audience
Who do you want to attract to your website? Define your target audience and that will determine the design of your website.
Content
Once you have identified the purpose of your website and defined your target audience, then it will be much easier to figure out what content should be on your site.
Competition
Chances are you are not the only one doing whatever it is you’re doing, so take a look at the websites that relate to yours and see what they are doing. Make a list of the features you like and dislike about their sites and use that as a guide when designing your own.
Hire a Professional Website Designer
Having a professional website designer do the work for you is money well spent! Do you really have the time to devote to designing and maintaining a website? Wouldn’t it be better for you to concentrate on the day to day activities of running your business or organization?
Answer the above questions then do yourself a favor and hire a professional website designer to do the work for you. The answers to the above questions will help guide the designer as your website is developed.
For affordable website design contact Mike Marinaro.
919.374.9209
Website Design Basics
Feb 4th
If you are going to design your own website, here are some website design basics.
Graphics
Large images are the primary cause of slow pages. Use small graphics on your website and be sure that the pages load quickly. Try to keep your graphics under 20k. There is nothing more frustrating then waiting for a web page to load!
Blinking or flashing graphics can be very distracting and annoying. You want people to stay on your website and read the content, so don’t turn them off with annoying graphics!
Layout
Keep it simple and appealing to the eye. White space is important in website design just as it is in print media.
Short paragraphs are much easier to read then long ones, so try to keep your paragraphs short.
It’s a good idea to use bullet points to highlight your important text. It will flow much easier than a long string of text seperated by commas.
Fonts
There are thousands of fancy fonts available; however, just because you have a favorite fancy font that doesn’t mean that everybody else also has it. Some web browsers won’t be able to see those fancy fonts. The standard fonts for web design are:
- Times New Roman
- Arial
- Veranda
- Georgia
- Tahoma
Advertising
It’s okay to place ads on your website; however, be sure not to overdo it! Too many ads will drive visitors away. Keep your ads relevant to the content of your website; if your site is about web design then you shouldn’t be advertising women’s shoes!
More articles about basic web design coming soon. Your comments are always welcome.
Business Cards – A Must Have Tool
Jan 3rd
In this day of high-tech tools there is still one old fashioned method of advertising that remains a must have tool. You probably wouldn’t leave home without your cell phone…the same should be true of your business cards!
Every place you go you should leave a business card behind. Leave one on the table along with your tip at the restaurant, stick one on the bulletin board at the grocery store and other retailers. You never know when someone will pick it up that really needs your product or service!
Just think about all the new people you meet each week; it only takes a second to hand them one of your business cards. Usually when you meet someone new, one of the first questions asked is, “What kind of work do you do?” There’s your cue; hand them one of your cards and tell them what you do!
Make sure you have a good supply of business cards on hand at all times; what a great and inexpensive advertising tool!
Click on the graphic above for PSPrint.com and order some business cards today. You can order quantities as low as 50 and their service is fast and easy to use.
Nov 29th
If you use your own domain name in your blog it gives it more creditbility. I have been using GoDaddy for several years now for all of my website hosting, domain name registration and blogs. Check out GoDaddy by clicking on image below.
Nov 24th
I use Net Objects Fusion version 11 to design my websites. I have been using this program ever since version 1. What a quick and easy way to design websites. Check out Net Object Fusion by clicking on the image below.
Business Cards
Oct 10th
Everyone should have a business card, even in this day of modern technology and the Internet ! How many times have you met someone and had to scramble for a pen and write your information on a napkin or scrap piece of paper? That’s not very professional and won’t leave a favorable impression with your new contact!
This site offers 250 FREE business cards! That’s right I said FREE! 42 FREE designs to select from to customize your business card. Many other FREE products are also available.
Check it out now! Don’t get caught without a business card!
Order your 250 FREE business cards now.
Business cards have been the backbone of any business marketing plan long before the Internet was even invented. That still holds true today; you should always carry your business card with you and look for opportunities to distribute them to your target markets.
Business cards are generally cheap and easy to carry with you. Make sure you include important infomation on your card such as name, address, phone number, email and website!
How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Aug 23rd
By Mike Marinaro
Everyone wants more people to visit their website. My clients are always asking me how to accomplish this. Well, I can answer that question in just one word — ARTICLES!
More and more people are using articles to generate traffic directly to their website and it works great! The secret is to provide something interesting and closely related to your website. For example, if you are selling insurance, you could write an article explaining the difference between term life and whole life insurance and the benefits of each.
Make sure your article is well-written, grammatically correct and free of spelling errors before you submit it. You should provide links in your article pointing to your website, and most importantly, there should be a resource box at the end of the article. A resource box tells people a little bit about you; directs them to your website; and gives others permission to reprint your article as long they include the resource box.
Okay, now you have a well written article; what’s next, where do you submit the article? There are many places to submit articles, just google “free articles” and you will get millions of links.
Here are just a few of the ones that I use:
http://www.isnare.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
Another great place to submit articles is in your own newsletter. If you have a newsletter that is mailed or e-mailed you should also be writing articles there that link to your website. It’s a good idea to also archive your articles on your
website so they can be read over and over again. This also increases the chance of another publisher picking up your article for use on their own site.
Your own articles also make great fillers for your newsletters when you need to fill that white space. The best way to use articles in an e-newsletter is to just have the first paragraph or two as a teaser then include a link to your website where readers can get the full content of the article. What are you waiting for, start writing your articles and watch your website traffic begin to increase!
About the Author: You may copy this article and place it on your own website, as long as you do not change it and include the live links. This resource box must also be included. Mike Marinaro designs websites and e-zines, he specializes in
affordable Christian website design. You can visit his site at
www.webdesign4him.com
To contact Mike e-mail
mmarinaro@nc.rr.com.
Source: http://www.isnare.com
