Social Media Marketing

WHAT IS SOCIAL MARKETING MEDIA? AND IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

I am not a social media expert, and I don’t mind admitting that.  But being a website designer, and working with some of the experts I do know the importance of using it.  It takes a lot time, a lot of research, you need to understand it, you need to know how to use it correctly and stay on top of it all.

Using social media can generate increased traffic to your website and give you backlinks. Backlinks are very important because they are links that are directed towards your website. Also known as Inbound links (IBL’s). The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website. Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query.  Social Media will produce better organic search results for your company, it will help to get your brand out there, it will help your online reputation and create a more positive image for your business. It is very effective if you have a new website with no links then try to create a page on a social media website.

Social Media websites are very important for a successful SEO campaign, therefore you should not ignore its importance. It’s a subject worth consideration and if planned wisely and implemented successfully, it can show you wonderful results.

I have always said, “you can have a well designed website, but if you don’t take the next steps, like social media marketing, and blogging, no one will find YOU, or YOUR nice looking website”

IT IS WORTH THE INVESTMENT OF YOUR TIME, AND THE INVESTMENT OF GOOD PEOPLE WHO ARE KNOWLEDGBLE, PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST.  Obviously we know and have worked with a few good experts, and depending on your needs we will be happy to lead you in the right direction!

Website Design for 1,000?

How many times have I heard,” can you design my site for $1,000″, or “my sister had her website designed for $1,000 can you do it for that”? The answer is no, and here is why.

Websites Should Be Responsive.

They should work well on every browser and type of device. In order to accomplish this you need to write media queries, use a flexible grid, do a lot of browser testing and perhaps even write multiple style sheets. These are important considerations for any website and take time to ensure they’re working properly.

Websites Need Content Management System (CMS)

Unless the people using the website are developers, every website should be built on a Content Management System or Framework that best suits their needs. Both the front and back end of the website should cater to their needs. It should be secure, easy to update and easy to maintain. This means no simple HTML & CSS Designs, but designs that work around sometimes complex dynamic systems. This again takes longer and requires skill that go beyond the $1,000 price point.

Clients Need To Know How To Use Their Website

We’ve all heard the following:

“I don’t need to know how to do anything with it, just leave it as it is.”

but we all know the phone call a few weeks later, wanting something added, deleted or changed on the site. The point is websites need to be fresh, they need to stay current. Things are going to happen that merit a change on the website, and your client needs to be able to make those changes easily.

Additionally, it should always be possible to add some type of web 2.0 functionality to your clients site. Adding a blog, forum or store to a site is common and you should make sure the site has the infrastructure to handle it.

Websites Should Be Future Proof

I saw this term at HTML5 Boiler Plate and really liked it. When building websites they should support a practical amount of old technology while simultaneously preparing for new tech. All websites currently being built should be prepared for the changes we know are coming in programming languages and browser support.

Every Page Should Be Designed

This point covers one of my concerns.

First Concern: is when you get to a site and find a spectacular landing page. But as soon as you go to move to the next page the entire design / structure falls apart. As a designer you should have been paid enough to make sure every page looks good and functions well.

So there you have it, I think these things are absolutely necessary for every website and they demand a reasonable budget. If you don’t have the budget for these things, you should question whether you really need your own website, or whether something like a Facebook page would suffice.