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

Bella Web Design Featured on Everything TypePad Blog

I had a pretty cool surprise waiting for me this morning when I checked my blog stats to see how many visitors I had and where they came from. (TypePad has a great feature which actually lets you see the exact keywords people put into the search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN to find your blog. You can also see what other websites link to your blog and bring visitors.) I saw that my visitor count went up quite a bit. Then when I checked the stats links, I saw that I was featured on the Everything TypePad Blog this weekend! (See the January 25th post.) What a nice surprise! (Thank you so much JoAnn Peach for featuring my radio interview on Radio Sandy Springs!)

Here is what she wrote:

"Creative dynamo, company founder and TypePad blogger Desiree Colonna Scales of Bella Web Design was featured on Radio Sandy Springs this week during the show "Business Hour with Brian Blomgren."

In the interview, Desiree talks about starting her business and provides tips on web design to small businesses.

She says that the value she brings to clients is not just beautiful web design, but the ability to explain and implement new technology and marketing tools for customers who don’t have technical backgrounds.  In addition to web design, her firm provides blog, logo, brand and print design, podcasts, Web hosting, search engine optimization, and email marketing.

Since starting Atlanta-based Bella Web Design, her firm now has over 200 clients, which include small to mid-sized businesses ranging from real estate agents to lawyers to entrepreneurs."

I really appreciate JoAnn from TypePad's PR group for posting this on Friday. Thank you! (You made me feel like a dynamo, even though my girls think my hair looks funny today....)

In the interview, Desiree talks about starting her business and provides tips on web design to small businesses.

She says that the value she brings to clients is not just beautiful web design, but the ability to explain and implement new technology and marketing tools for customers who don’t have technical backgrounds.  In addition to web design, her firm provides blog, logo, brand and print design, podcasts, Web hosting, search engine optimization, and email marketing.

Since starting Atlanta-based Bella Web Design, her firm now has over 200 clients, which include small to mid-sized businesses ranging from real estate agents to lawyers to entrepreneurs."

I really appreciate JoAnn from TypePad's PR group for posting this on Friday. Thank you! (You made me feel like a dynamo, even though my girls think my hair looks funny today....)

Radio Sandy Springs Show Link

For anyone interested in hearing Desiree on Radio Sandy Springs show "Business Hour with Brian Blomgren," the show is available here as a streaming mp3 file. Desiree was interviewed on AM 1620 on 1/21 and talked about her company's history and "Pitfalls to Avoid when Designing Your Website" Hope you enjoy the interview! Its about 45 minutes long so please listen at your leisure (and don't let the boss catch you!).

Are you LinkedIn?

So, how many LinkedIn invitations have you received in the past 2 or 3 months? Have you noticed the amount has gone up recently? Its always interesting to me when something "takes off." (After all, I was a flight attendant for 4 years--heh heh!)

LinkedIn is not a new phenomenon.They've been around since the early days of the Internet in 2002. (Yes, that's only 5 years ago--10 years in Internet time.) They are funded by the same group that brings us Google, Yahoo and PayPal called Sequoia Capital and received their funding in 2003.

What LinkedIn allows people to do is network with other people in both their own network and the network of the people they connect to.

Through your network you can:         

• Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended
• Be found for business opportunities
• Search for great jobs
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
• Post and distribute job listings
• Find high-quality passive candidates
• Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know

The LinkedIn conciousness is an interesting trend to watch. Some folks have turned LinkedIn into a popularity contest and try to get as many invites as they can to prove they're at the top of the chain which is really kinda funny. I mean, how do you really KNOW over 500 people? I don't think my digestive system could handle all those business lunches.

I've taken a personal poll and a lot of my business colleagues and friends have noticed a sharp trend in invites lately. There are 47 million subscribers and counting. Social media has really started to "take flight" and is becoming more prevalent than ever before in the business world. (We're finally catching up to those teens who have figured this out years ago.) Social media is another avenue to get "seen" by more people and keep your company and yourself out in front of the pack. I'll be talking more about this subject this year in my talks and in the media. I'll keep you posted!

Myself, I have a measly 40 connections as of this morning.  I'm hoping this post will bring me more. C'mon people! Get LinkedIn! Everybody is doing it! Plus, I'm kinda hungry right now...I'll look for your invitation in my email coming soon. Just let me know where you'd like to eat after you send it. : )

Desiree Scales on Radio Sandy Springs!

Brian Blomgren from Radio Sandy Springs has invited Desiree Scales to talk on his show "Business Hour with Brian Blomgren" on Monday, January 21st. For those of you in the Atlanta area, we hope you will listen in at 10 AM EST. We will also post a recording of the interview on our website next week!

Desiree will be talking about Bella Web Design's humble beginnings 10 years ago as well as how she's become an advocate for consumers who have had bad experiences with the web industry in general. She will share ideas on how companies can protect themselves from losing their domain name and other general "best practices" when designing a web site. We hope you can "listen in!" For more information on this program, click here.

Why Host a Webinar?

So, this year you've made a vow to attract more customers, retain your current customers and stand out from your competitors. Every January, businesses around the world make the same vow. How do I know this? My phone rings off the hook starting January 3rd and it goes on and on until March. The key to all of this is keeping this energy going throughout the year and fine tuning a plan to integrate new technology to help.

One of the newest ways to gain customers and teach current clients about new offerings is to host webinars. A webinar is almost the same thing as a seminar except everyone is in their own office looking at your computer from their monitor while you talk on the phone together. Simple as that. One of the benefits of this is that no one travels to see you. You could be in your pajamas and no one would know. (NOT that I do that--heh heh!) Here are some more benefits to using this Web 2.0 technology to communicate to the masses:

• Lower your costs: Again, you don't have to travel. No gas needed for a webinar--just a computer, a phone and some time. (A very GREEN way of communicating with people too!)
• Close business faster: You have a target audience right there watching you and ready to buy.
• Build Trust: This is a great tool to use to teach other and build trust that you really know what you're doing in your industry.
• Spontaneous Collaboration: People can ask questions "on the spot" and talk with other same-minded people during the webinar
• Increase Visibility: By giving free webinars, people are more apt to spend the time to listen to your message and will share the opportunity with others that you're willing to share information freely

Webinars help bring new business as well as increase your exposure to your current clients. They are an inexpensive way of communicating with tools like Yugma and a computer.

Speaking of webinars, if this topic interests you, please sign up for our next free webinar on January 16th at 1 pm EST. Please click here for more information.

We will discuss the topic of "The Power of Hosting Webinars." So you can now see I put my money where my mouth is...hope to "see" you Wednesday and please tell your friends!