Staying Fresh – Content Management Can Be Easy & Custom

So many clients that we speak to go through great trials and tribulations to design their website with us to make sure that just the right thing is communicated to the world and most importantly their customers. Alot of times when we have our initial consultation our clients don’t think about how they might keep their site fresh.

Fresh? But I just spend my whole marketing budget on getting the thing looking good. The right web designer should be giving you advice on not only the here and now, but also at how you will stay updated, looking fresh, keeping Google and the bazillion other viewers interested….so yes fresh!

graphXdiva always offers one form or another of management to their clients. We offer a few hours every year to our clients that just want us to update text or photos, this is especially beneficial to a small business who has a blog or small area that will change. We also always show how the client themselves can edit the site using our custom content management system. Whether it be editing the text, adding photo galleries or other functionality, our team is dedicated to making sure you know ALL the details up front.

Give us a call today and we’d be happy to discuss how we can help! 570.647.8301.

So You Want To Be #1?

So do I have any cheap, fast ways to make that happen? By cheap I mean free and by fast I mean now. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked by clients “how to do I get to number one on Google?”.

For example, look at this list of search results for my industry “website design”. OMG, over 190 million results, hmm and just where I might rank in that? I don’t even want to know.

There’s several ways you can do this, but the best and most productive way is to employ patience and diligently work to list well in the Natural Listings. These are the free listings, 1-10 that appear under the blue box or to the left of the ads (sponsored links). This is where you haven’t paid anyone to list you, and there is also where most visitors trust is the most unbiased information and closest to what they are looking for.

By narrowing my search to “scranton pa website design”, the results are less than 200,000…a far cry from the very general and extremely competitive “website design” since it’s more of a niche. Look I’m #5 for that search and it’s a pretty popular one for my area. (as of 1/21/08)

How do you get there….in a nutshell.
1. Find a reputable company or invest the time in learning Internet Marketing. I’d tend to go with the company side of it. Not because I’m in the business, but because the formulas, requirements, algorithms and general information changes so frequently, that unless you have lots of free time you won’t be able to keep up with it.

2. Don’t think like a business owner, think like your customer. (see Step 1)

3. Find just the right text, keyword, phrase and tag combination (see Step 1).

4. Don’t, I repeat Don’t fall for one of those internet schemes that says they will list you to 100+ search engines free. You only need to worry about Google, Yahoo and MSN since they basically feed the others. (yes, see Step 1)

5. Monitor your progress by reporting frequent searches through the various engines and adjust steps 2-4 accordingly. (ok, you know what I’m gonna say)

Isn’t it expensive?
All depends on your competition and if you have a niche. Depending on the site, it takes time to research, submit and monitor. Our company includes basic optimization and submission with every site we create. We offer to our customers that after 3 months if they aren’t ranking well to use our service that costs $1000 for 3 months and includes the research, monitoring, reporting and adjusting.

How fast will I see results?
Again, patience plays a HUGE part in SEO. If someone says they can get you listed at #1 on Google in 48 hours, make sure they aren’t wearing a polyester shirt and has more gold plated jewelry on than a used car salesmen (no offense). There are two kinds of Internet Marketing…White Hat and Black Hat. Think of the old west for this analogy and even though the Black Hat may get you listed and ranked quickly, it won’t last long and the worse is that you can be banned from the search engines for it.

Generally, it will take up to 3 months to really notice a difference. Sometimes depending on the industry you can see results in a few weeks.

Conclusion…
I know this sounds more like a pitch as to why you should contact graphXdiva or another internet marketing firm. In reality, I am illustrating how much more work it does really take to be number 1. Studies show that unless you’re on Page 1 of the search you won’t even be visited. Worse yet, you can be number 1 for a few days or weeks, but suddenly find yourself at number 30 in a matter of hours.

If you do want to attempt SEO yourself, I suggest you read, read, read great books….just like you need great text, text, text to succeed at Internet Marketing.

Drop us a note at graphXdiva to see what we can do for your rankings.

Web Design, Graphic Design, Database Development…Oh My!

Want to look great, sell products, inform the world and keep it all in a neat and tidy format? Well you’ve found graphXdiva and we can do it all. We are located in Northeastern PA, in Honesdale, a short distance from Scranton or Milford, PA. Our service coverage isn’t limited to the immediate area either. We will come and see you no matter where you’re located. Ok, maybe not in a tent of the Sahara dessert, but hey they need web presence too.

Our designers really ARE designers and our programmers dream about code….we’re not nerds, we don’t have horn rimmed glasses or pocket protectors….we’re just passionate about technology and the best way to bring it to our customers. With a combined experience of almost 20 years in web and graphic design, you’re sure to receive an affordable, effective solution to present to the world.

graphXdiva….Making beauty and functionality play well together.

New Website Launch!

Howdy! To keep you, our visitors up-to-date and keep our site fresh, we have just completed a full redesign. The new site may not seem as impressive as you think, but that’s it’s ultimate beauty.

We have built our sit around a PHP interface that will allow us to easily keep you informed of the latest news in our studio, as well as updating our portfolio quickly so you can see the great work we’re doing.

Our green page and blog will be alternately updated bi-weekly. You can also sign up for our mailing list. From time to time you’ll receive some great ideas on marketing, new technologies, trends and offers. All the information you receive by joining our mailing list will be geared to help your business.

We’d love to hear your comments about the new site. Email us, send a comment, even better if you love the site and what we do….forward the site onto someone you think can use our help.

http://www.graphxdiva.com

Making Edits To Your Own Site (Self Maintenance)

So you have a website now, how are you going to make edits to keep the site fresh?

Many designers, graphXdiva included, offer several ways to accomplish this. The design firm can set up a maintenance plan with a set amount of hours you can accrue and have all the edits to your site done by the designer. The process usually consists of an email being sent to the designer with any text and/or photos to be added, then the designer schedules your maintenance. This works very well provided you are able to wait 24-48 hours for your edits to be completed.

Another way to maintain and freshen up your site is for you, the site owner to make the edits. Several options like www.edit.com and Adobe Contribute offer owners such as yourself the ability to make minor and moderate edits to your site. Typically, your designer will “lock” certain areas of the site like navigation and graphics so your site isn’t altered after you make your edits. Looking like a typical word processing program, the software can either be accessed via the internet (www.edit.com) by anyone you provide the login information to, or will reside on your computer. If you need more than one computer accessible to the site, you would need to purchase more licenses if you use a program like Adobe Contribute.

All in all, one of the biggest ups to editing the site yourself is that it can be done anytime….you know when you have those moments of inspiration at 2am in your bunny slippers. Oh wait that’s how I am most of the time when I’m designing…lol.

Keep in mind that having a fresh website will not only please the search engines, but more importantly it will keep your customers coming back to see what’s new.

To Be or Not To Be….actually to Redesign or Not?

Once upon a time along came a guy, he had this great widget he wanted to tell the entire world about, but wasn’t sure how to do it. Direct mail, advertising, stand on the roof tops and shout it to the world? He decided to do a little of all the above, but set his sights on creating a website. His efforts from print advertising helped with the content of the site, he found a designer who he liked and whose previous work seemed to fit the bill, so his widget’s website was born.

Fast forward 5 years and the same guy is still using the same site, with the same text, the same images, and the same design. The designer he liked no longer seems interested in working on his site full-time, but would rather woo new clients and the worse part is that his site is not getting the reaction from customers it once did.

Sound familiar? We have heard this same scenario many times from clients and want to tell you that there are many options out there to liven up your site and get people buzzing about it again. Sure there’s the full blown redesign, and if you have the budget all the bells and whistles can be yours, but it’s not always the most economical. Here are some ideas you can go to the brainstorming table with when you meet with potential designers:

1. What about a new look for our graphics?
2. How can we say the same thing but in a more up-to-date manner?
3. How can the site be more user friendly?
4. Can we update a new site ourselves with text and photos?
5. Where does the site rank in search and how can we improve it?
6. What do our current customers think of our site?
7. What are our competitors doing on their sites?
8. Seriously, don’t laugh….what do you as a designer think of the current site?

OK, as a designer the last question is sometimes a hard one to answer, but with the right approach even the ugliest website still has to have something good about it…like a fire engine red background with sunshine yellow text reminds me of a great day picnicing with my family

After you’ve received answers to your questions, analyze your budget. If a new website is feasible definitely go for it. The web is growing by leaps and bounds and you only get one chance at a good impression. So when the world comes knocking for your widget, invite them in for a closer look and teach them about it through marketing…..through your website.

For some one on one consultation about your current website, give Darlene a call at graphXdiva web design (570.647.8301) or email her.

Is Internet Marketing Relevant?

Of course it is. I had a boss who actually told one of our clients that they shouldn’t worry about SEO or care where they were listed in Google or Yahoo! When I heard him say that I was shocked because I know that on a daily basis my site moves anywhere from number 1 to 24 for any given keyword query.

I would never claim to know it all as far as Internet Marketing is concerned, but I will say that I pride myself in absorbing everything I can learn, knowing what I should or should not believe and keeping an open mind. SEO changes so much that knowing where to start can often be the most daunting. I scour the internet almost daily for new articles, read the RSS feeds in my email about SEO, and by trial and error (and a whole lot of patience) attempt to become educated about SEO so I can pass the knowledge and results onto my clients.

Our First Post!

Well this is my first post using WordPress. Previously I had been just adding our news to a seperate page, but decided to use this great software. We’ll be adding posts often, so please come back and visit to see our new web and graphic design projects, posts about how we are trying to be green, and just general news.

Carol Ann’s Linen Closet is COMPLETE!

July 27, 2007 ~ Carol Ann’s Linen Closet Website Completed
graphXdiva is happy to announce that the redesign of Carol Ann’s Linen Closet’s website is complete. Please visit this great store located in histroic Milford, PA for some awesome, high-quality but affordable home fashions.

Visit their website at www.carolannslinencloset.com.

graphXdiva Commits!

July 9, 2007 ~ graphXdiva Commits!
graphXdiva is dedicated to doing everything they can within their financial and social abilities to keep the only planet we have in tact. In the coming days we will be posting details of the steps we have been taking to make our offices, efforts and contributions to the industry as green as possible. Visit our GREEN page for details. Many more coming soon.