Successful Web Design, Internet and Social Media Marketing Strategies from Desiree Scales, CEO--Bella Web Design, Inc.

Bad Web Designers and How to Avoid Them

Oh no! Its happened again. Another victim of a web design company who promised the world and failed to deliver. It came to me from a lady who filled out the form on our site this morning:

"I am interested in a redesign of my website. My site is due to be complete and delivered this week.  My current web firm has been a nightmare.  It has been five months and they cannot seem to correct several database errors.  I am looking for an honest and dedicated web firm to redesign and update my site once I take delivery from this firm."

Do you know how many times a month I get emails and calls that sound like this? Too many! I think this is a really good indicator of how some web design industry people are taking advantage of their non-technical customers or have so much growth they can't keep up with the work. It also seems that the companies who are really at the disadvantage of being ripped-off like this are the ones that don't do their homework or don't understand technology.

I'm not saying that all 21,000,000 designers in Atlanta (that result is from doing a search on Google for "Atlanta Web Design") are bad, but the ones that are doing this are making it hard for those of us who have our client's best interest at heart. It takes much longer now to gain a client's trust than it did when I started 8 years ago. Its also harder to work with client's who have had bad experiences because they don't trust your advice, even though they know its good. They just don't want to take that chance again.

The good news is that this really helps my customers appreciate how we work with them once we do gain their trust. Bottom line is that there are a few indicators that you can look for that will point to what your experience will be like in the future with a web design firm or any company for that matter.

For those who are reading this and still looking for a good design firm and need some guidelines, here's what to look for in your next web design group:

• Experience--this counts for a lot. Ask how long the company has been in business. How many clients do they have? Do they feel comfortable if you ask them if you can call one or two clients on their portfolio? Make sure that the breadth of their experience is wide and they can handle many web design languages such as HTML, XHTML, XML, etc. Also, if you are asking them to do search engine submission (SEO) or database development, make sure they can show you solid examples of each.
• A long client retention rate. What is the average number of years clients have been working with them? If their clients have been with them more than 2 years, chances are the company is an active participant in the relationship and is still helping their clients solve problems as they come up. One of the biggest complaints I've heard recently is, "Our web designer stopped calling us back." That's a sure sign of a designer who a) is afraid to engage with the client because they can't fix the problem or b) is so busy working with higher revenue clients that they are ignoring their calls from small clients thinking they are a waste of time. My heart especially goes out to people who experience the latter and I try even harder to help them when they come to my doorstep. A client should NEVER feel like they are wasting their vendor's time.
• Live examples of their work posted on their site. If there aren't any examples or they ask you to call them first, go to the next web designer on your list and forget them. I've actually seen a few web designers who had examples of work on their portfolio that were all broken links. Make sure those links are live sites that have been doing business for a long time.
• If they claim to be able to do search engine submission, make them prove it. Can they take you to Google and have you put in keywords and show their client(s) coming up on the first page? Make sure they aren't giving you company names to search like Brown Reporting and then have you search "Brown Reporting." Most likely, that company will come up first because of the name, but very few people are searching for the company name, especially if they haven't heard of them before. They are searching "atlanta court reporters" which is the service this company provides. (Brown Reporting is number 4 in the organic listings on Google and, proudly, a client of mine who has been with us for 5 years and we just finished doing our 5th site for them. Talk about client retention!)
• Does their ecommerce shopping cart really work? If you're shopping for a web design firm to help you sell on the web, make sure you try out one or two of their ecommerce sites. Go buy something! How was the experience? Would you come back to that site and shop again? If not, then the site they build for you probably won't be much better.
• Make sure they practice what they preach. In other words, how is their own site doing on the web? Did you find it at the top of the engines? Is it clear and concise? I don't really believe in the story of the shoemaker with no shoes when it comes to web designers. If their own site doesn't deliver the goods, their client's sites probably don't either.

I could go on and on, but I'll save more information for future posts. The bottom line is, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Don't just pick a firm because you like the way their sites look. Interrogate the salesperson you talk to on the phone--mercilessly! (If its the CEO like me answering, all the better--heh, heh, heh...) I promise you that if they keep their head during the question and answer part of your conversation and give you clear answers, they most likely are a reputable company. Make sure you don't hear hesitation about anything--voices say a lot more than words. Then book a face-to-face appointment if possible Follow your gut and use your newfound knowledge to make your next web design experience the best it can be!

Now, excuse me...I've got to go call the lady with the database problem...

Why Organic Really IS Best

Organic is the new buzzword. You hear it in the grocery store, read about it in magazines and now its even popping up in conversations about search engine submission.

Here at Bella Web Design, Inc. we specialize in getting our clients into the "organic" listings in Google, Yahoo and MSN. Organic listings are better than Pay Per Click for many reasons. The biggest one is the dreaded "click fraud" or cases in which competitors mercilessly click on their competition's pay per click links in Google in order to force them to lose a lot of money on fake clicks.

I found a great article on that in Business Week about an Atlanta company called Mostchoice.com. They were victims of click fraud. (Click for article) This doesn't have to happen to anyone's company if you have a reputable Search Engine Specialist on your side. You only pay the company submitting your site a reasonable monthly fee that never changes no matter how many clicks you have to your site.

Another reason organic listings are better than PPC is because they get clicked on much more often than Sponsored Links. Ask yourself, when was the last time you clicked on a Sponsored Ad or a Google Ad for that matter?

 

I'm still amazed at how many people come to me and ask me what Google charges to be in the top 10. They can't and don't charge anything--yet...I'm sure its coming though. The only place they charge for is in the Sponsored Listings at the top of the page and those are limited to one to three listings at the most for any given category. No search engines require payment for anything under those listings considered the Top 10 listings on the page. When I tell them this, their eyes get as wide as saucers. Funny how rampant bad information is in our society where information is free and easy to get. Well, I guess that's why people hire us, to help them sort through the good and bad information which is great. That's why I love my job!

Great Article Comparing IE 7 and Firefox 2.0

Found a great article this morning comparing IE 7 and Firefox 2.0 back to back.

The lowdown:

• Firefox now has a SPELLCHECKER!!! LOVE IT!
• Firefox is still faster than IE
• This one is REALLY important to our team: Site compatibility. Internet Explorer 6 was known for not being compliant with Web standards, and while IE7 improves on that, it still doesn't play as well with others as Firefox. However, there's a caveat here.
  Because IE6 has such a huge base of users, many Web developers have drafted sites that appear "broken" in Firefox. As a result, with the improvements that have been made in IE7, there are now more sites that appear broken in the newer browser as well. Also, many sites may not recognize IE7, or even think its an older version of Internet Explorer, and not display properly as a result.

  As a result, the advantage here goes to Firefox 2.0. Interesting...

• Firefox still has more Add-Ons such as themes, download managers, video managers, etc.
• Firefox is more secure than IE (anything is more secure than Microsoft!)

The only thing that IE really had going for it was the interface and tabbing of pages. That was about it. Looks like Firefox is the winner AGAIN!

Firefox 2.0

Ok, this is ridiculous. I'm up at 5:00 AM waiting for the new Firefox update. Here are the Top 10 Reasons I Love Firefox:

1. You can open as many web pages you want within the same browser. Firefox actually tabs all the pages at the top so you can click on tabs to move around several sites. I use this feature to compare sites when our clients are presented with several comps (compositions) or design options.
   
2. Firefox blocks viruses better than IE.
   
3. Firefox remembers who I am when I login to password protected sites and let's me choose when and if I want this feature.
   
4. Much more secure than IE--literally shutting down worms and other bad stuff.
   
5. Download manager rocks and lets me remove files easily after I download them.
   
6. Very easy to navigate.
   
7. Favorite bookmarks become buttons at the top which are easy to click on and see.
   
8. Phishing Protection which warns users               when they encounter suspected Web forgeries, and offers to return the user to their home page.
   
9. Allows me to subscribe to Web Feeds easily
   
10. Pages download faster--they really do!

So now its 7:03. I just found a link which allows me to upload directly from the Mozilla server! Gosh, I AM a GEEK!

Business Blogging: Why I Finally Decided to Take My Own Advice and Create This Blog

After preaching about how blogging can help my clients build their businesses for over 2 years, I thought it was about time to take my own advice.

Blogging is actually not new to me. I've had a personal blog about knitting and hand-spinning yarn for some time now. I considered my blog at www.knitandspin.com my own scientific experiment in blogging. Funny thing is, it worked. I immediately saw my blog come up on the first page of Google within a week and I knew I was on to something. I had found another way for my clients to market their business and get their sites in the search engines.

Debbie Weil inspired me to start this blog because she had a great podcast about her blog posted at TypePad. She had some really good points about blogging and using a blog as a business tool. After listening I realized this is what I've been telling my clients--"One of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert in your field is to get a blog!" Everyone complained that it would take a lot of time, they wouldn't know what to write, it was too hard, blah, blah, blah...then one of my clients took me seriously and started reaping some serious benefits.

Take a look at http://atlanta575realestate.com/ Brad Nix, one of the top brokers at www.maxsellrealestate.com, started his blog about a year ago and hasn't looked back. He is now on the 500 Real Estate Blogs to Watch List! Pretty amazing in such a short time. Talk about learning from your clients--Brad is a perfect example of this!

So then I had yet ANOTHER idea! I hired Brad to help us sell our house back in June. I knew that creating a blog for our home would be a quirky yet innovative way to market our house and enable us to put a lot of really good pictures and information up on the web. We created the blog and IT WORKED! Our house sold in 36 days and I know the blog was part of our success. It was an easy way for people to get really solid information about our home and it stood out in the field of 90,000 homes for sale in Atlanta. Genius!

So, now I circle back to my own shoes. I realized I'm the shoemaker making shoes for everyone else and I'm standing here in bare feet! Not anymore.

Welcome to the new Bella Web Design, Inc. blog where you'll learn more about:

1. How to make sure your site is found on the search engines

2. How to create a site people will come back to

3. Latest industry news/ideas/breakthroughs

4. Different ways to market your site using the web as a tool

5. Challenges I've had as an entrepreneur and how I've overcome them

So far so good, eh? I'm sure I can find some little surprises here and there to tantalize you into coming back for.  Hope to see you again soon and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to click on the link below. I'd love to hear from you and share your knowledge with others. That's what its all about!