Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Consulting Tech Sample

The other new sample that I've posted on the Blue Heron Moon Website is a sample that could be great for a service or consulting business.

There is a space in the middle to incorporate a news feed. The rest of the page has sections to draw the visitor in to each section of the website by giving a sampling of what each page contains. There is a great place for customer kudos.

This page contains the rounded corners and clean lines that are currently popular in web design. And, unlike a lot of the new designs, it works at all resolutions and in all browsers.

This is a versatile design that could be adapted to any type of service business.     

Monday, October 25, 2010

New samples on the Blue Heron Moon Website

I've been working on updating the samples on the website. It's a challenge doing the samples. I prefer getting the customer's requirements and then working out the site; sometimes though, a little bit of inspiration is in order.

Last week I put a sample together that I think would be great for a retail business, service business such as a hair salon or dog groomer, or any business where you have loads of information, products, and services that you want to put out there.

Everyone has seen those sites that are so busy you can't find what you need. The retail sample handles this problem by having a main category menu up on top with each secondary page containing lower level, left side menus. This takes the clutter off of the landing page and allows the visitor to have a more pleasant organized experience.

If you're in need of an interesting, more organized layout for your retail site and don't want to take it on yourself; take a look at our sample and then give us a call. 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Giving Local Businesses a Chance

I love a town with a Main Street. The kind that looks like a Christmas village. The kind that has quaint little awnings over the store fronts where you expect the shop keeper to come out any minute and sweep the walk.

The town I grew up had a Main Street and everyone knew all the shopkeepers from the baker, to the meat cutter, to the pharmacist. And the owner of the furniture store would bring his broom out to sweep the sidewalk and talk to the owner of the clothing and shoe store next door.

Local businesses are important especially in a global world where you can be doing business with someone in another country every afternoon. The sense of community in a town with a Main Street that is still in tact is priceless. It's a nice place to be a child in.

This is the type of world I enjoy putting on the web the most; a Main Street to compete with the big guys in the global market.

For a view from the perspective of one of those small business owners read this blog.           

Monday, October 18, 2010

Ghostwriters

A ghostwriter may be just what you need to get a blog started. The ghostwriter can provide content and make you sound like a great person.

Ghostwriters are not a new concept, they've been around seemingly from the beginning of time. Mozart actually ghost wrote compositions for patrons that wanted to be viewed as talented composers.

A ghosterwriter can also handle your email correspondence and interface between you and your customers.

When you are thinking about a ghostwriter be sure to be clear regarding what subjects you expect and what type of responses you would like to have the ghost writer send. The ghostwriter should be writing as an extension of you; as your proxy.

Outline what control, if any you would like to have over the end product. Does the writing get done and sent to you for approval? Are there certain responses that can be sent without approval?

These items should be outlined in advance. The rules should  not be so stringent that they hold up regular blogs to your customers or responses to their emails. With a little advance planning your blog will be a masterpiece that writes itself without you.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Your image or theirs....take your pick

I've been reviewing potential clients for website designs and this always reminds me of the main reason you should manage and protect your online image and presence. If you don't manage your image then someone else will and you may not like what they say about you.

There were a couple of businesses that I looked up today that didn't have websites posted. They may be businesses that feel they don't need to worry about the internet.

These companies have customers that use the internet. Customers tweet about service experiences. They send really nice emails to their friends about products. They can also post your business to a site and complain; fair or not. A negative post may just be a customer's messed up perception of you or your business but there it is posted on the information highway like a neon billboard.

These posts will show up every time someone searches for a business like yours or Googles your business name.

So what do you do? If there is no accommodation with the customer the best thing to do is post your own information on your own website about your business. You can detail what your return policy is on your own site. You can provide an email address so that potential customers who are unsure can ask questions. In other words, you can create your own business image.

It's your choice. Their image or yours?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Why your business should have a website.

There's a small businessman in town that is a marketing genius and he used the web to do it.

Today's customers like to interact. They like to feel appreciated. They want value and they want to belong. If you give them all of this, they will loyally return time and time again.

This small businessman put up a website. He added some history about his business. He gathered email addresses. He gave small discounts and advance notice to sale items to his website customers. It was like joining an insiders club.

If you give customers what they want they will return to you again and again. They will tweet friends about you. They will forward email newsletters to their family members. They'll welcome your newsletter into their inbox every week.

And when your newsletter is in their inbox they won't forget to come visit your business.

Websites are one of the most reasonable priced ways that you can interact with your customers. Go ahead; make them feel special; part of the family. They'll keep coming back to you time and time again.          

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Why your business should have a blog

Why should your business have a blog? Why should you spend the time and effort? Because it will give your customers something to talk about and when they are talking about your business you gain new customers.

Here are the top eight reasons you should maintain a business blog. 
  1. It keeps content fresh.
  2. Your customers have a reason to return to your site.
  3. It keeps your business in front of your customers.
  4. Your customers can interact with your site and provide feedback
  5. It's a place to to give helpful tips and advice.
  6. You can announce sales, promotions, and post coupons.
  7. It'll let your customers get to know you.   
  8. Search Engines.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Busy--ness

Have you ever visited a website and then was assaulted by an overload of information and links? You know the kind of site I'm talking about; tiny pictures everywhere surrounded by even tinier fonts.

There's gotta be a better way and, fortunately, there is. If you have a business that sells different items; the items can be categorized into links to individual pages. If, then, you need to categorize the items even further, they can be easily linked to sub-categorical pages.

You can follow the same strategy if you have a lot of information on different services or issues. The best way to handle this is a main menu that applies to all pages across the top of a page with sub menus running down the side on each sub-page.

Making your home page clean and organized with links to pages with tiered information relegated to different pages is the best way to prevent information overload to your customer.