Out with the old…in with the New

June 6th, 2013

How can you really tell if your marketing efforts are outdated? We’ve developed a simple check list to help you determine if how you’re running your small (or big) business is in-line with the newest technology and innovative marketing trends. Note: If you answer “Yes” to any of these categories below, pick up the phone and contact us today–we’re here to help!

  • You don’t remember what your website looks like….if you can no longer remember the details of what your site looks like, then it is safe to say that you haven’t visited your own website in a while–quite possibly a long while and I bet it could use some major updating! Ask yourself: What images are on my homepage? What pages are included in my navigation? Here are a few more key signs your site is outdated:
    • You have a starburst on your site
    • Your color palette includes fluorescents
    • There is not a functioning navigation
    • You have broken links
    • You cannot view your site from an iPhone or iPad
  • You lost rankings when Google Places was launched…Google launched a game-changing search process in 2011 called Google Places. In order to capture more of the lucrative local search audience, Google started to integrate places results with organic rankings (rather than simply showing a map with markers). What does this mean for your SEO? Google Places listings can dominate the entire first page of search results pushing the link to your company’s website further down the list.
  • The administrator of your company Facebook page is no longer with the company…if you no longer remember the logins to your company’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter or otherwise), you’re officially outdated. Even if your Facebook page looks nice and people continue to interact with it, you’re still missing the ball by not engaging with your consumers. Social media might not generate the same ROI as traditional direct response channels, but that doesn’t mean there is no value.
  • Your search traffic directs to your homepage…if you are not using landing pages to create cohesive campaigns, you can guarantee users are bouncing off your site as fast as they arrive. You can do all the keyword research you want, but if you aren’t using landing pages that are aligned with your keyword approach, you’re not running an effective end-to-end paid search campaign. When paying for online ads or promotions, it’s important to consider the path your users are taking to convert.
  • You’re not taking advantage of online advertising…small businesses have a tremendous resource at their disposal: the internet. Without a doubt, the internet provides the best forum for small business advertising. Here are a few reasons why entrepreneurs should look toward the internet to advertise their business:
    • More and more consumers look to the internet for their purchasing-it’s convenient, fast and online sales are generating billions of dollars each year.
    • The Internets scope is world-wide–businesses can expand their customer base across the globe and customers can make purchases anytime, anywhere 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
    • There is a wide variety of internet ad options-banner ads, promotional, newsletter, social media, audio/video…just to name a few!

Keeping a marketing plan fresh by adding or adjusting key ingredients is a constant and timely job and unfortunately it is not always made a top priority for many small businesses. Why not make the step in the right direction today by letting Old City Web Services and OldCity.com help turn your marketing efforts around? After all, we’re a local, small business too! The difference is we specialize in web development, internet advertising and integrated marketing…and we love what we do! Contact us today by giving us a call: 904.829.2772 or emailing us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com.

 

Secrets to being seen online

May 8th, 2013

Maybe you just redesigned your website with an eye-catching design, innovative components and you’re confident that it is informational, looks great and really sets you apart from competition. Now ask yourself– are people (the right people) finding my fabulous new site? Having a new website is great, but it’s just not enough…now you need your potential customers to find you and find you fast and easy.

First and foremost, make sure you’re listed with the top 3 search engines– Google, Bing and Yahoo! Search. If these 3 cannot find you, then you can almost guarantee your online visibility is at an all time low. Google alone has an estimated 900,000,000 Unique Monthly Visitors compared to Bing’s estimated 165,000,000 and Yahoo’s 160,000,000.

Maintain, Maintain, Maintain…If you don’t have a monthly retainer for maintaining and improving your SEO (getting a high listing for any given search result), then the minute you decide to stop–your listing results will stop. There is nothing more exciting then appearing in the top 3 results in a Google search for your primary key-phrase, but then again there is nothing more disappointing then dropping to the third page a month later.

Make sure your website design is search engine-friendly…not only should you be on-top of SEO when it comes to search engines and relative content, but many people don’t realize that the website design itself may be preventing you from gaining the online visibility you desire. Just remember–no frames and limited (if any) flash and java content.

For more tips on how Old City Web Services can help you be better seen online, give us a call: 904.829.2772 or email us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com to schedule your free one-hour consultation.

What is your website lacking?

January 9th, 2013

Is your company website fully-optimized, user-friendly and easy to update on your own? Many business owners choose to develop a website for one sole purpose–to establish that online presence, however the key to any good website is that it’s never a finished product. A successful website requires constant SEO, frequent updates, added features and a fresh new design never hurts!

Keeping up-to-date with your site is essential in attracting new customers and keeping the loyal ones coming back. If you’re thinking of transforming your current website into an easy to manage, content management system (CMS), you’ve found the people who can help!

From content management to hundreds of useful plug-in tools and features, our CMS has become the web’s leader in Internet programming. Old City Web Services will use this program to re-structure your entire site, giving you the ability to modify almost all static text and images on your website from your computer, any time you want!

Its user interface tool is password protected and can be accessed through any browser with internet access. It’s as easy to use as any word processing tool. It also includes a number of plug-ins that can be installed including a Twitter widget, photo gallery, contact forms, a calendar function and our favorite–a mobile plug-in! The image to the right is an example of a custom mobile site we designed for our friends at American Personal Storage.

Old City Web Services will give you a brief tutorial before the site goes live and provide you with a user manual for future development. Additionally, we are always available for questions after your site goes live.

If your company website is in dire need of revamping, Old City Web Services can help!

If you are interested in re-designing your website, call us: 904.829.2772 or e-mail us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com and we can schedule a free initial consultation meeting.

Connect with Contact Forms

August 29th, 2012

Give your customers an easy way to reach you!

When a potential customer visits your website, what methods are available for them to get in touch with you for an estimate, to schedule an appointment or just to ask questions?

Do you have a phone number listed on your website? An e-mail address? Fax number?

What about a contact form?

Contact forms provide the perfect opportunity for clients to send you a message directly through your website. You can ask for as much or as little information as you would like to get from an interested client including name, contact phone number, e-mail address, etc.

Customers are able to enter their information into the online form and click a “submit” button which then sends all the info to your e-mail address.

It’s that simple!

What’s the advantage of a contact form?

Glad you asked. Contact Forms have advantages that trump phone numbers, e-mail addresses and faxes.

Contact forms are better than phone numbers because…

If a customer stumbles across your website after hours, a phone number won’t help them to get in touch with you. With a contact form, they could drop in their name, e-mail address, phone number and a quick message and send it off to you instantly.

You could use a custom thank you message to let them know the information was sent or an automatic email could be sent to the client, letting them know that someone would get back to them within 24 hours.

Contact forms are better than e-mail addresses because…

With the popularity of online email programs like G-Mail, Hotmail and AOL, not everyone has an email program like Microsoft Outlook or Entourage set-up on his or her computer. Without one of those software programs, an email link on your website won’t do them any good.

A customer in that situation would have to copy your email address, go to their online mailbox, create a new email and paste your email address in. These additional steps could be a turn off to a customer reaching out to you.

With a contact form instead, the person could provide their information on the spot, hit submit, and be done!

Contact forms are better than fax numbers because…

With the growing popularity of mobile devices, not everyone has a land line for fax capabilities. Contact forms can work across all platforms, including mobile devices, making them the most accessible way for clients to plug-in information and send it your way.

Call us about adding a contact form to your website!

Old City Web Services can add a contact form to your website right away. We recommend adding a contact form to your Contact Us page, but we can discuss other options with you as well to make sure your clients will see the form when they visit your website.

Congratulations are in order!

August 22nd, 2012

A luxurious new website for the equally luxurious Bayfront Marin House Bed & Breakfast

Bayfront Marin House was feeling the blues when they approached us earlier this year about their website. Owners Sandy & Mike Wieber were looking to transform their old site into something as elegant and inviting as their inn itself.

Our new design highlights stunning photos of the inn provided by Sandy & Mike. Each room has its own page with multiple pictures of the beautiful accommodations along with icons that make it quick and easy for guests to select the amenities most important to them.

The new website, which also includes a built-in content management system, features embedded videos that capture Bayfront Marin’s essence as a vacation getaway and an ideal wedding spot.

Between the videos, photos and content, this website has a solid purpose to create new business — congratulations Sandy & Mike!

A new professional platform for Atlanta’s Analytical Forensic Associates

Our good friends at Jack Ward Fire Investigators introduced us to the lab company they work with in Atlanta. A new friendship was born and from that, we created a new website for the company, Analytical Forensics.

This amazing team of scientists (made up entirely of wonderful, powerful women!) worked closely with us to develop an entire brand image that would showcase their professionalism and top notch level of work.

The content management system included with this site will allow AFA Labs to share important forms and updated information with clients instantly with easy web updates.

We’re looking forward to growing our relationship with them in the future as we work on some new print designs for the company as well. Congratulations Laurel & the rest of the AFA team!

5 Signs Your Website is Over the Hill

July 12th, 2012

#5 Your website is too skinny.

This can mean one of two thingseither you have a website that was designed around the start of the new millennium that was narrow to accommodate the small screen sizes back then, or you have too little content on your website. Either way, it’s time for a new site with new information built for widescreen monitors.

#4 Your website is the odd man out.

Do you have new business cards, brochures, shirts and other items with the company’s latest colors and logo while your website still has the old stuff? Don’t let your customers get confused when your signs, print items and other promotional pieces don’t match your website. It’s time to make everything look the same across the board.

#3 Your website can’t hang with new browsers. 

Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are both on Version 10 of their browser software (what you use to surf to the internet). With each new update, websites get left behind because they are no longer compatible. It’s time for a new website that can grow with the changes on the Internet.

#2 Your website is losing the race. 

Have you looked at your competitors’ websites lately? If they’ve got a newer site with extra bells and whistles you’ll have to work twice as hard to keep up. It’s time to get a leg up on the competition again with an all new website.

#1 Your website is immobile.

Surely you’ve heard by now (probably from us) that technology has provided a new way to keep up with changes to your website on your own through a content management system (CMS). Instead of paying someone else to make updates or even worse, not making any updates at all, you can do them with the click of a button using a CMS. It’s time to put the power in your hands to make your website the best on the block.

If you fell into any of the above categories, give us a call and set up a free consultation to learn more about what kind of new, custom website we can create for you.

Just trust us, it’s time.

Clean up your website!

May 31st, 2012

Take some time to clear out old information to give your website a fresh look.

Just like Tropical Storm Beryl taught us last weekend, sometimes things get a little messy and we have to use some elbow grease to get it cleaned up again.

Over time, your website collects debris as things don’t get updated, graphics add visual clutter, and suddenly your once perfect website needs a little polishing!

Your website is often the first impression your business gives to potential customers, make sure it’s a good impression! Old City Web Services can help you clean up the excess, make some updates, and get your website back to tip-top shape in no time.

Here are a few examples of clean-up services your website might need:

- Social Media Icons: Have you been adding a Facebook button here, a Twitter icon there, a YouTube link here? Let us help you make your social media icons more uniform so they get the job done without distracting visitors from the rest of your website.

- Old Announcements: Did you announce new products or services at the beginning of the year? Is that announcement still displayed on your website? It’s time to bring it down or update it to reflect new summer information.

- Images of all sizes: Do you have pictures in a variety of sizes on your website from various updates over the years? Let us go through your website to re-size and clean-up photos so they’ll look sharp and show your business in its best light.

Call us today for an estimate on making changes and updates to your website!

3 Ways to Bring More Traffic to Your Website.

March 28th, 2012

Your website is not altogether different from your physical business location. You could have a great office or retail store, but if no one comes to visit your location, your business will suffer. You need to attract potential customers to visit, grab their interest and make a sale.
 
So how do you do that with a website?
It’s simpler than you might think! We have put together a list of three things we could help you get started on today that will bring more potential customers to your website.
1. Search Engine Optimization: With so much information available on the Internet these days, it’s no wonder most people use search engines to find what they’re looking for online. Have a professionally optimized site will help you connect with potential customers in your industry and region. Call us for a free SEO review of your website to find out where you stand with the search engine rankings and how we can help you improve.
2. Online Advertising: The easiest way to send traffic to your website is through a clickable online ad. Potential customers can receive instant gratification by clicking on an ad that will take them directly to your website. Old City Web Services can design an eye-catching online ad for you, plus we also offer targeted advertising for local businesses on our popular St. Augustine web portal OldCity.com.
3. Social Media: Pick your social media network of choice (Facebook tends to be the easiest and most popular) and start sharing information, links, photos, videos and more. Use social media to drive your Facebook fans to your website. We can help you add social media links to your website and even create a social media plan for your business to follow, call and ask us for more details!

The Beauty of SlideShowPro

March 21st, 2012

SlideShowPro: An elegant way to display your photos.

Powerful photos can be the best tool to engage customers on your website. A great image leaps off the screen, gets the visitor’s attention and makes your business memorable.

So how do you display photos on your website?

If you have a lot of great photos that highlight your products and services, SlideShowPro is the best method for showcasing your images with style and movement.

This professional program features transitions between photos, captions, links, optimization options and thumbnail images for easy navigation.

Best of all, SlideShowPro includes a built-in, user-friendly uploading tool that makes it quick and easy for you to upload and manage photos in your gallery from any computer. You can rearrange, remove or add photos with ease.

SlideShowPro can also be integrated with WordPress, our full content management system, to make adding new slideshow galleries and albums even easier.

We can install SlideShowPro for you!

Are you interested in adding this feature to your website? Old City Web Services can add a custom slideshow styled to match your existing website design.

To get started, just give us a call at (904) 829-2772 or send us an email (letusmarketyou@oldcity.com).

Make your website more user-friendly with forms.

March 15th, 2012

Imagine that one evening after dinner, a potential customer is taking a few moments to surf the web and stumbles across your website… He’s interested in your services and wants to contact you, but it’s after hours. He could write down the number and call in the morning, but he might forget about it by tomorrow, in which case you’ve lost a potential customer without ever knowing about him.

But what if instead you had a contact form on your website? 

Contact forms go beyond a phone number or even an email address to make it simple and easy for a customer to get in touch with you. Even if you had your email address on your contact page, the customer would need an email program (like Outlook or Entourage) installed on his computer to use an email link or he would have to log-in to his webmail program (like G-Mail or Yahoo) to copy and paste the email address in.

With a contact form right on your website, in just a few seconds that potential customer could have submitted his name, phone number and his question about your service without ever leaving your website. You would have received the message via email and followed up with a phone call the next day to engage the client and make a sale.

This is just one of the many ways in which forms can help you get more out of your website.

Here are a few other suggestions where you could use forms to help your business:

1. Registration Forms: Do you have an upcoming event that requires people to sign-up to participate? Encourage people to visit your website where we can create a custom registration form for your event. We can even link the form to PayPal so that participants can pay their registration fees at the same time!

2. Employment Forms: Are you hiring new employees? We can create a basic employment form on your website where you can direct potential candidates to fill out their information and apply!

3. Request a Quote Forms: Would you like to encourage potential clients to contact you for an estimate? A custom form would allow your website visitors to input their information (not including secure details such as credit card numbers, social security card numbers, etc.) to receive a quote from your business on providing services.

Simple, easy and emailed to you!

Each time someone fills out one of the forms above, you will receive an email with the information that was provided so you can take the next step to reach out to the client. 

We can also add a page that thanks the customer for their submission and redirects them back to your website for more browsing.

If you would like to add a form to your website or if you have questions about using forms to communicate with your customers, please give us a call (904) 829-2772 or send us an email (letusmarketyou@oldcity.com) and we’ll be happy to answer your questions!