Step 1: Don’t Fail to Plan

A perfect cup of coffee requires the right beans, coffeemaker, a barista to complete the sale. The first step in creating an excellent website design is: planning. Before Mama’s Java could open their doors, they had to plan their business’s image by choosing coffee types, equipment, employees, and their public image. Customers walking by instantly knew what Mama’s Java offered because they planned before creating a logo or advertising so the image was consistent, strong, and represented the company in the best possible light.

Before you begin creating your website design, you need to start by planning out the online image you want portray. When customers search, they will come across your well-designed website just as the right storefront functions. You must consider:

• What is your business focus?
• What are you selling?
• Services? Retail? Location?

Who are your current customers? What type of visitors would you like to add your customer base? This can be a very specific subset like “gourmet coffee drinkers” in the case of Mama’s Java but could also be a broader demographic that you already serve or that your website misses in its presentation.

What do you want your clients to do when they initially navigate to your site?

Making the site easy to find will not help your business if customers arrive to a website that doesn’t offer anything or doesn’t offer the right materials, services, newsletters, or options.

Look at the site plan from the viewpoint of a visitor. What do you look for in a website that you find easily? What about a site draws you in? Is it easy to navigate? Does it offer a visitor something more than just a pitch?

Step 2: At the Design Table

Once you have decided on your focus and audience, you can start with the actual design process. Again, planning is crucial. Will you design the website or do you need someone to do it for you? Even if you have help from an outside web designer, you need to discuss the colors, layout, and function of the pages.

Basic determinations you need to make for website design include the colors, layout, font families, and font sizes for the website. For Mama’s Java in Seattle, these details might include brown or sepia tones to reflect their coffee influence with stylized fonts that echo their logo print type. Picking colors and fonts that are easy to read and interesting will keep your visitors reading and seeking out information which in turn, leads them to your product or services.

Step 3: The Design Plan and Development

As you begin creating the actual design of your website, planning is key again. Finding or creating content for your website is crucial. While you may not have all the articles or copy written before you begin your web design, you should have a good idea of what content you want on the site and where you want the articles, headers, and general content to be on the site.

Coding is very important as you begin your web design. Determining what format you will create is important as the technical aspects of website design like coding keep the site running and updated. The best website content won’t attract or retain visitors if the technical side of things isn’t running correctly.

Step 4: Content is Key

Search queries are often what lead potential clients to your website. The content on your side has to be geared to put your site at the top of search queries looking for the latest, newest, and original content. Deciding what content you want to offer to your clients is something you need to examine. You can either write or purchase content to best address those needs and search engine optimization requirements.

After you have created or planned your content, you need to make a simple sitemap that makes your site easily navigated by visitors. The best content in the world won’t benefit your company if it is buried in the website with a multitude of click-through pages.

By examining these simple steps as you design your website, you have the basis for the creation of an excellent website. In turn, like Mama’s Java of Seattle, you can better drive your business and serve your clients online.

There are a few places left in Hawaii where it is possible to walk along quiet stretches of sand, see the waves splash on ancient and storied shores, and feel what the Hawaiians call the mana, or spirit of the land. One such area is Makena, home of the Makena Beach & Golf Resort. On one side looms the 10,000 foot dormant volcano Mount Haleakala, and the other side, the blue Pacific with the Islands of Molokini and Lana’I in the distance.

Once, Makena was home to many fishing communities who snared the abundant akule fish that came to the area to spawn. Reminders of the ancient ways can be found in the red earth of the area – heiau or templates to Ku’ula Kai, patron of fisherman, a healing sanctuary beside the Christian chapel and ruins of old fishponds at La Perouse Bay.

The legends still live in these places. Old timers speak in whispers about the marching spirits of the night. They spin tales of Pele, the volcano goddess, whose wrath caused the point of a star to break and become a flower on the land.

Later, Makena became a thriving port, second only to bustling Lahaina. From Makena landing now a small rocky cove, cattle form the upland Rose Ranch swam to waiting steamers while tied to a longboat. Potatoes and other produce were also loaded on ships bound for the gold mines of California.

Today, cattle still roam with axis deer and wild boar on the slopes of what is now Ulapalakua Ranch. On the still wild coast, gulls fly overhead and the ocean plays host to the humpback whales who come in the winter months to calve and frolic in the tropic sun.

Through its extensive marketing network, Autobytel provides dealers and manufacturers with advanced web-based advertising and marketing programs, as well as opportunities to build relationships with customers and programs to efficiently manage and convert online business.

We provide you with the total learning experience! You can decide when and where to learn, while simultaneously receiving the education, support and assistance that enables you to succeed in your new career.

Due to the loosening of California’s regulations, it is important that you come to a school that is nationally accredited under the U.S. Department of Education. Beware of schools that claim to offer quality real estate training, but do not have the right credentials to back themselves up. When you enroll at Allied, you receive an education that is nationally accredited, state approved, and respected nationwide. You can trust that you will receive the qualifications you need from a school that has worked hard to maintain the best credentials.

• Customizable site
• WordPress Architecture
• Clients can make updates or changes quickly and easily

About B & H Painting and Decorating Company

Success does not happen by chance. B & H Painting and Decorating Company takes great pride in our work and in our people. We have developed systems of training and teamwork to assure quality work and customer satisfaction. We feel no job is “impossible”; it just needs careful planning and expert crafts people. Our dedication to quality and “can-do” attitude goes beyond the walls of B & H Painting and Decorating Company. We continually work to upgrade quality standards, promote safety training and enhance labor relations throughout the entire painting industry.

• Customizable site
• WordPress Architecture
• Clients can make updates or changes quickly and easily

About B & H Painting and Decorating Company

Success does not happen by chance. B & H Painting and Decorating Company takes great pride in our work and in our people. We have developed systems of training and teamwork to assure quality work and customer satisfaction. We feel no job is “impossible”; it just needs careful planning and expert crafts people. Our dedication to quality and “can-do” attitude goes beyond the walls of B & H Painting and Decorating Company. We continually work to upgrade quality standards, promote safety training and enhance labor relations throughout the entire painting industry.

Twitter’s plan focuses on integrating ads as tweets in search results either on twitter.com or other sites using the Twitter API.

For instance, a search for “shoes” could yield a page of search results featuring the twitter pages of major shoe companies, other twitter users who have tweeted about shoes and an ad to buy shoes online.

The ads, like tweets, would all be less than 140 characters and only display in search results and on websites with embedded Twitter feeds. They would not be displayed on individual Twitter users’ pages. An ad-free “premium” version of the service has also been hinted.
The plan to keep ads in search results should keep the ads unobtrusive, yet allowing for some great marketing possibilities for businesses. Specifics on ad pricing, management and other aspects are yet to be announced.
What are the advantages/disadvantages to a Twitter with ads?

Pros:
•Business revenue maker via Twitter, much like Google
•Means Twitter is here to stay
•Ads can be focused on keywords, search terms, or trending topics
•Sites using Twitter streams can get a piece of the ad money
•140 characters is plenty to get your point across

Cons:
•The ad-free Twitter may be a thing of the past
•Will people want to place Twitter ads?
•Do enough people use the twitter search function?
•Twitter needs to treat lightly to not turn off users
•Ads could reduce the casual feel of Twitter

Advertising isn’t the only up and coming aspect of Twitter. New features are in the works. Geolocation, for instance, will interface with the advertisements to produce nearby business results. More information on these new Twitter features is still emerging, but in the mean time…

Increase traffic by getting involved with social networking

A modern online presence isn’t complete without twitter and facebook. They are two of the best ways to promote your business. Frequent updates keep fans and followers in-tune with you and your brand. Some may even be compelled to push your message farther down the line by retweeting or posting about you on their wall.

Increase traffic by entering the blogosphere

Blogs can take more time and effort to keep updated than social media, but that doesn’t mean they should be overlooked. A good blog can draw users to your site and frequent, informative posts keep them coming back for more.

Increase traffic by getting some SEO

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important ways to drive traffic. No one will know about your site unless they can find it. Spend some time crafting some keywords into your site to alert search engines to its presence and help get your business found.

Increase traffic by advertising

Utilizing an advertising system can yield a great result without exorbitant cost. Google AdWords, for example, allows you to create short ads based on keywords that are displayed on Google search result pages. Their system helps level the playing field through sorting and displaying ads based on relevance to a given search term, not necessarily by amount spent on the ad. Anyone can use AdWords to help drive traffic, even on a tight budget.

Increase traffic by utilizing an E-Mail Campaign

E-mail newsletters act as direct company promotion, straight to the inbox. Weekly or monthly newsletters allow news, promotions, and other relevant information to be conveyed to subscribers in a personal and organized way. Services are available to handle creation and delivery of email newsletters to numerous users at a time. Be sure to include links to “follow” on twitter and become a “fan” on facebook.

Now what?

You know some strategies to get people to your site, but how do you know that they’ve been there? Two words. Google Analytics .

Stay tuned for our upcoming blog about Google Analytics!