Tampa Orlando Florida Website Design and Hosting, eCommerce, Website Development

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Your probably asking what the heck is cross browser compatibility. It’s simple what does your website look like on a Mac or a PC in Firefox instead of Internet Explorer (IE). What is Firefox? I am glad you asked. It’s the web browser of choice for tech savvy people who use a PC. It faster and more secure than IE. It’s rather unfortunate that IE is not a standards compliant browser. What does that mean? Well it means if your web developers writes some HTML and CSS to design your website, it should look a certain way. Well thats great in theory but some some reason the people over at Microsoft think they can bend the rules, and this causes some problems. Crappy web developers design sites that look right in IE but break in Firefox or Safari. Good web developers design sites that look right in Firefox and Safari. The best web developers design sites that look right in Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome (Google’s Web Browser), Flock (A browser to manage your social networking sites), Netscape (does anyone use Netscape). So what is the moral of this post? Check out your website across multiple platforms, or a least multiple browsers. Someone with a Mac is going to be annoyed that your website doesn’t look right on their computer, and if they have a Mac they probably have some cash for your service or product. So don’t leave them out! If your website doesn’t look right on a Mac or FF we can fix it for you.

Over and over I find myself in a conversation with business owners informing them of the opportunities the internet provides in getting out their message, promoting their business, selling products, and building their brand. Obama transcended this concept into a presidential campaign.

Some say it’s never a good idea to talk about politics, but I think we can all agree that the recent presidential election has changed politics forever. Not only in how our political map is divided, but the importance of the internet in getting out the vote in this and every election to come. Obama launched an unprecedented internet campaign during his election that helped tremendously in tipping the scales in many of the swing states. Obama’s web team included the founder of Facebook a popular social networking website with 70 million users. He also had an email base of over 10 million names.

Obama leveraged social networking websites Myspace and Facebook. A UCLA survey of 272,000 college freshmen found that 86 percent spend “some time” each week on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Obama had 2.4million users as supporters on Facebook alone compared to McCain’s 624,000.

Obama posted nearly 2000 videos on Youtube, and launched a text messaging campaign. In fact Obama announced his VP choice at 3am via text message.

During the primaries, volunteers could sign in online, download a list of phone numbers and make calls from home to voters in the target states. A brilliant idea.

How are you using your website to generate sales?

Are you on the social 7 - Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, LinkIn, Twitter, Flicker, & Digg?

Now is a perfect time to redesign your website!! Have you bought a new computer since you last updated your website? Have you bought a new vehicle in your fleet? Have you moved to a bigger office? Well..don’t leave your website behind. I meet a lot of business owners who use the godaddy site builder as their company website, or better yet something they made in frontpage. Web Developers never use frontpage. How can you brand yourself with godaddy’s logo right there on the bottom of your website? Who is going to take serious as a legitimate business if you have someone else’s logo on the bottom? When is the last time you updated your website? Did you just build it and leave it..5 years ago? Search engine spiders will ignore your website if they never find updated content. People tend to also do the same thing. Business that don’t take their websites serious often have a difficult time getting out of the mom and pop stage a.k.a. start up. You can pawn it off as non important or one of those things you will get to later. But the reality of the situation is that everyone looks at your website before doing business with you. What is your website saying about you? Is calling you an amateur, or saying your the best in this industry?

It has been four long months since I last wrote the last part in this 5 piece series. Incept design is committed to helping business owners make the most of their website. One of these ways we are honoring our commitment is through helpful series such as this one. We work at Incept Design to improve the reputation of our industry. I would also like to extend my appreciation to everone taking the time to read our blog. Incept Design’s blog is maintained personally by our founder and lead web developer Alex Adekola.

This will be well worth the wait as I take time to inform business owners on ways to improve their search engine rankings. One of the more important factors affecting your rankings with search engines that may be out of your control… Who is linking into your website, and with what anchor text. Anchor text are the words that are used to link to you. It has been pretty common for a while to anchor text such as “click here”. Ideal anchor text would include keywords that you are attempting to market your business for. Another important factor in search engine optimization is the rank of the site that is linking to your website. The higher the ranking of a website linking into you, the better for your site. I strongly caution business owners against participating in link schemes or link farms. These type of practices can diminish or negatively impact you rankings. If your interested in improving your websites rankings call Incept Design at 813-401-7395 for a free phone consultation. Look out for part 4.

All to often I hear horror stories from different people about how they got burned by a fly-by-night web company or a shady freelancer. It saddens me each time I hear these stories, so this is my advice to help you avoid a bad experience.

1. Demand to see a Business Tax Receipt (Sometimes referred to as an occupational license). Hillsborough    County requires all businesses to display a valid tax receipt per County Ordinance 95-4.

2. Get a contract signed by both parties describing work performed, and payment amount.

3. Make the check out to the business and not an individual person.

4. Don’t pay more than 50% of the total cost of your project up front.

5. Look for a portfolio with at least 15 different websites.

6. Ask for references.

This is a link to a great article. Any business owner that doesn’t have a website is losing money and jeopardizing their chances for long term growth and success.

http://www.smallfuel.com/blog/entry/marketing-essentials-part-3-having-a-website/

Online Video- The NEXT Big Thing
by Shama Hyder

Online marketing…and marketing in general is an attention game. Whoever can get your attention and hold it wins.

Keeping within this train of thought, online video is truly the next BIG thing in the attention game. And it isn’t a fad. The more “virtual” we get-the more people crave face-to-face connection.

Here is what you need to know about using online video in your marketing.

1) 60% actually finish watching one - compared to the 20% who finish reading an article. (Hey buddy, finish reading this one at least!) 60% is a HUGE number when it comes to marketing and capturing attention. Will this eZine one day be turned into a video? The time may come…

2) All businesses can use it- Often in online marketing, I will say that the effectiveness of one tool doesn’t necessarily translate well across industries. Blogging may work for one business, but not another. Video isn’t like that. Even accounting firms can use video! 

3) It’s getting simpler to use by the day- Video used to be a very difficult endeavor. You had to be a film major to really work a camera. Today, it couldn’t be more simpler. Want a f’ree step by step guide to creating your own online videos? You are in luck.

© 2007-2008 Shama Hyder.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Shama’s Marketing Blog.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Online marketing expert, Shama Hyder, publishes the praise winning ‘Online Marketing Tips’ weekly ezine with subscribers around the world. If you’re ready to get more clients, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your F’REE tips now at www.AfterTheLaunch.com

Peace of Mind Hosting - At Incept Design our managed hosting allow minor development and content updates to your site. With managed hosting comes with new technologies added to your site(s) as they become available. The latest upgrade to our manged hosting clients includes Google Map’s new API integrated into their website at no cost.

Keep your web designs current…Our managed hosting clients are eligible for a complete redesign for at a wholesale price after a year of service. Now your site can always be the best design in your industry as your competitors lag behind in functionality and design. High End Design…Mid Range Cost. You will always find someone to do it cheaper…But your level of design and functionality will be substantially lower rendering your site useless due to a high “Bounce Rate” from user frustration.

Drastically improve the look of your site by adding a Flash Gallery. Let Incept Design re-design your website and save 50% on your new Flash Gallery.

Top 10 Reasons why new business owners choose Incept Design over a larger design firms.

1. We act as a guide helping you understand the design process.

2. We allow our customers unlimited revisions.

3. We answer the phone after 5pm, and on the weekends.

4. We answer our email after 5pm, and on the weekends.

5. We never put you on hold, you always speak directly to web developers.

6. Your website is our website.

7. Everyday we are only 1 call away.

8. High Design with a Mid Range Cost.

9.We burn your website on a cd free of cost.

10.We don’t Re-Cycle Designs, but we offer a Green (Zero Carbon*) Website!

* A zero carbon website is a website that includes enough carbon credits to offset the carbon released during the process of creating the website.

Are you unsure about how to go about creating a great website most business owners are!

Most Professionals (consultants, coaches, trainers, writers, designers, financial and employment professionals, etc.) want a better web site - a web site that actually helps attract more clients. But they have no idea how to do this. They don’t know where to start, what to do and how to make their web site truly effective.

A great website will pull in business and in the process you will build a solid marketing communication foundation for your business that will generate revenue for years to come.

Where do you start? Here are some important elements of a successful web site:

Quality Content – Users quickly scan headings when they browse a website. They DO NOT read every word. Do you have your content broken up logically? Are you headings descriptive and captivating?

Functional Design – Potential customers form their first impression of your business based on your website. You need a design that looks better than your competitors! It also shouldn’t distract from the content or make navigation cumbersome. Don’t leave the design up to your cousin. How many customers can you afford to lose?

Navigation – Don’t make your users guess or think. They will quickly get annoyed and go to a competitors site. Clear, Easy, Intuitive navigation is key.

Call for Action – When people visit your site you want them to pick up the phone, fill out a form, send you an email, or buy something! In order to get them to do so you need a stylish, creditable, and informative site. Then you need to make a call to action.

Free Information – Offering complimentary information to potential clients at no charge is a great way to build a list of emails to use later when you begin your online marketing campaign. It can be a simple PDF related to your industry. But remember to keep the information relevant and useful. DO NOT make it another sales pitch!

Generate Traffic – Search engine optimization is a great way to build traffic. But it may not be cost effective for everyone. To make it more cost effective find your niche market! Don’t compete for rankings amongst broad keywords unless you have the marketing budget of Microsoft!

PART 2 of 5
In the last post I ended by saying there are some things you should never do to optimize a website. Let me clarify by saying optimize your website for the long run. There are two types of techniques used in the SEO world. White hat SEO and black hat SEO. White hat SEO is the only kind of SEO we will discuss. Black hat SEO involves tricking search engines into ranking you higher. Eventually the search engine figures out your spam and then your site is banned from appearing. Most businesses are interested in the long term profitability, at least the successful ones are.

Optimization starts with content. You want to provide the content that people are actually looking for when they entered their search terms into a search engine. Relevancy is key and we always need to keep the searcher in mind. Once they land on your site the two main goals are impress them with the design, and provide the content they are looking for.

Attractive design is key element that is overlooked. Design includes functionality and hierarchy as well as an attractive color scheme, with depth, gradients, balance, and shadows. For more on design see this post on web redesign. People scan web pages a lot faster than print.

When thinking of content for your website think in terms of an outline:
Global Warming is affecting the Planet.

Polar Bears are Endangered.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne made the announcement in Washington on Wednesday, saying the decision was based on findings that bears’ Arctic sea ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent decades.

Arctic Ice is melting ‘faster than predicted’.

The pace at which both the Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet is melting has “severely accelerated” and could bring about rapid and unstoppable change in natural systems across the world.
Search engines can see which words are in a larger font. They also can tell if a word is in bold font. Words in a larger or bold font are considered more important. It is also important to make sure all content is relevant. Search engines compare your content and the words surrounding your content to other web pages with similar content. If there is consistency between your words an whats on the web it will help you some. To demonstrate what I mean look at our example. You can find content on the internet that talk about Polar Bears and Arctic Ice, or stories about Global Warming and Arctic Ice. Or Global Warming and Polar Bears, or Arctic Ice and Polar Bears. All your content should be somewhat interdependent.
SEO HOMEWORK FOR BUSINESS OWNERS.

1. Ask your clients what search terms they would use to find your service or product on the internet
2. Buy a domain name containing at least two of the most popular keywords.

Remember that the age of your domain is also considered by search engines so this will not immediately improve your search rankings. We are in this for the long term so this will eventually become less and less of a factor. In the next post I will be detailing more factors that affect your websites ranking.