Web Talk

Besides being available 24/7, one of the biggest “selling points” for the internet is its global scope. In fact, the abbreviation “www” which stands for “World Wide Web” emphasizes the global character of the web.

Many local businesses, however, don’t find this global aspect of the web appealing. There’s no way they can supply the needs of anyone outside of what they think of as their local market. For example, it would be prohibitively expensive for businesses in the various construction trades to service the needs of those who live beyond the normal driving range of their service vehicles.

Fortunately, Google and the other major search engines have recognized the real need for a more localized approach to search marketing and have begun to respond accordingly. By letting the search engines know where your business is located and what areas you service, you can get marketing results focused on your local area.

For one thing, your website will be featured more prominently in the search results returned to someone who is either physically located in your service area or who has entered a search for something “near” some locale in your service area.

Another way the search engines try to support localized web marketing is to restrict the display of paid ads to those people who are either searching from within your services area or who have entered a search for something near a locale in your service area. They realize that it does you no good for them to display your ad to someone in Seattle if your business is located in New York.

So, the good news is that even if you can’t service the whole world, you can still take advantage of the web to market your services to your own local area.

The two essential elements of any marketing effort are to attract attention and to create interest. All too often with website marketing, all the effort goes into trying to attract attention.

However, in order to obtain the ultimate objective of selling something, whether or not the sale is done directly from your website, the element of interest must be created and maintained. In other words, there has to be something of substance presented that meets a need or fulfills a desire.

It does no good to catch someone’s attention with a lot of flashy glitz and glitter if it isn’t backed up with a something of substance for them to get interested in. In fact, even if there is something of interest there, it may be hidden or obscured by all the noise and commotion created in an effort to attract attention.

Websites by Ideal strives to achieve the proper balance between these two essential factors of attraction and interest. We create websites that are attractive in the sense of being aesthetically pleasing to the eye and that evoke interest by attractively presenting finished products that anyone would be happy and proud to own.

To see samples of the websites we have created based on these principles, visit our samples page and explore any of the websites you find there.

With all the “Do it yourself” website building software available, why shouldn’t you just create your own website?

Sure it can be done. But ask yourself; “Don’t I have more important things to do, that no one else can handle for me? Isn’t it more cost effective to leave the building of my company’s website to an experienced professional? One who will ensure that my website is attractive, user friendly and ranks well in search results? “

Do it yourself websites often look like amateurish, cookie cutter websites built from a template. The old adage that says, “You get what you pay for” is very true when it come to the creation of websites. Paying a professional web designer who already has the experience needed to do it right is much more cost effective than using your own valuable time to try to learn by trial and error. Trial and error is always the most expensive way to learn anything.

Websites by Ideal has the knowledge and experience needed to provide you with an aesthetically pleasing website that will show off your products to best advantage. Our websites provide an easy user experience that doesn’t confuse the user and drive them away. First impressions are always very important and a good website is a very valuable first impression for your company.

To get started on the process of acquiring the most cost effective website for your company, call Websites by Ideal today at 516-382-0861 and ask for Art.

by Arthur Hart, President of Websites by Ideal

When it comes to credibility and effectiveness of advertising, word of mouth advertising has always been the most effective at generating “hot” prospects. This is just as true in today’s world of web marketing as it was prior to the age of the internet.

In the past, good word of mouth was something you hoped to obtain by simply doing a good, competent job and hoping that your customers would be so pleased with your product or service. Then, hopefully, they would recommend you to a few of their friends.

If nothing else, today’s world of the internet has vastly speeded up all channels of communication. One may wonder if some of the things that pose as communications really are, but that’s a topic for another time.

As far as pure speed goes, email is so much faster than the old fashioned form of mail that people have dubbed it “snail mail.” For today’s generation, even email is too slow for them and their most prevalent way of keeping in touch is “texting” from one mobile, hand-held device to another. This way you get your messages virtually instantly without the hassle of connecting to the internet via a computer to receive the latest news from your friends.

Around all this instant gratification communication, a whole new industry known as “social media” has evolved. Participating in the various social media venues such as Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter are the way to promote good word of mouth in today’s world.

One of my clients remarked: “I’ve got a website! Why do I need Facebook?” I had to point out that you not only need a great website that shows off your products or services, you also need to get your potential customers to visit it. You shouldn’t just rely on the search engines to know what you have to offer and then hope that your prospective customers will search for the right keywords. This is too laid back and we need a more proactive approach to getting the good word out.

By letting all your friends on Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter know about your website and that you’re looking for new business, you stand a much better chance that they will tell their friends and they will tell their friends, etc. There’s a very good chance that somewhere along the line, somebody will be looking for your product or service and will then be only a click away from visiting your website where they’ll see all the great things you have to offer. Word of mouth is still the best game in town.

If you need help in setting up appropriate social media accounts, contact Websites by Ideal and we’ll be happy to assist you in utilizing social media to spread the good word.
Let’s get proactive about using word of mouth advertising.

As an independent business owner, we like to think that we are free to run things the way we want to. We presume that nobody owns us. This may not be the case, however, for our website.

We all know that we don’t have exclusive rights to our own name – someone else could have been given the same name by their parents. This may cause a bit of confusion if they live in the same neighborhood or go to the same school.

However, in the world of business it is more important to have the exclusive right to use our own business name and not have it encroached upon by someone else. Governments don’t allow the same name to be registered as a business name by two different organizations.

In the world of the internet (also called the World Wide Web) uniqueness of website names is maintained by an international (non-governmental) organization that coordinates the registration of all website names (also called domain names). When you pay a fee for registering your domain name you are is essence paying for the exclusive right to use that particular name and no one else anywhere in the world can infringe on that right. The domain name of your website is a primary asset of your business. It is the unique name by which you are known to all the search engines.

Unfortunately however, even though you have paid to have a domain name registered, you may not have been given the authority to manage or control where it sends people to find you website. This only becomes important when you want to change website vendors. When you want to exercise your freedom to have your website improved by a different vendor or even simply moved to a different website hosting company, you may encounter a surprise.

It may turn out that the original vendor named themselves as the “administrative contact” even though you are listed as the official owner of the domain name. This means that you need their permission to change where the domain name points to. Usually this is allowed as a courtesy by the administrative contact. However, I’ve recently seen a case where they charged a fee to allow the domain name owner to have his domain pointed to his new website.

It’s an even nastier surprise when you discover that the original vendor didn’t even bother to list you as the owner but simply registered your domain name as belonging to them. In either case, you have been paying for a registration that you didn’t really own in the true sense of being able to control or change it at your own discretion.