To celebrate our new service we are giving stuff away. Visit our Facebook Contest Page and enter to win a Free business card makeover and 250 printed business cards. All contest entries must be received by January 14, you must be a fan of AKZMe Designs, 18 years old, and a US resident to win

7 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Building Their First Website

So you decided to take the plunge and build your first website. If you are reading this, hopefully we’ve caught you soon enough in your research mode to keep you from making these newbie mistakes shared by Employedpreneur Network member Akilah Thompkins-Robinson.

1. The About Information Is Too Much About You And Not Enough About The Business.

Often when a company is just getting started there isn’t a lot of information to add on the about page; so in the absence of business information new entrepreneurs talk about themselves. While it’s nice to hear about your wife, husband, kids, degrees, and last 5 jobs; that isn’t what your business is about. If you do not have a lot of awards, a high client history or content to share, add more information about the business. It’s ok to repeat the products and services you offer throughout your web site.

Stop by and read the full article, compare these mistakes to your website and see if you are making any

Q: For a small business is a website enough? Does the small business need to have a fb page, twitter, Google+, etc. accounts? Is that an overkill?

A: In today’s social media heavy world, having just a website is not enough. A good website gives all the information and product you have to offer,and effective use of social media helps to drive visitors to that site.

Q: Should flash be used for websites? If not, please explain why and what other method could be used to make the website pop and appealing.

A: I definitely think its best to stay away from flash because it is not viewable on most mobile devices, if you choose flash make sure you set up a m. mobile site. A m. site will redirect users on mobile devices to a simple site where they can still view your information

Q: Quick question, should websites have multiple fonts?

A:You can and should have multiple fonts, it is and to the design of the site, but I suggest no more than 2 or 3 fonts. Also use them consistently throughout the site one font for titles, another for text, etc.

Do you have questions about starting or improving your website, online strategy, etc.; post them next week for our Monday Q&A session, https://www.facebook.com/AKZMeDesigns.

Every site has (or should have any about page), but the question is what does this extra page really do for you?  Is your about page really helping the customer connect with your business? And is it driving them to buy from or work with your business? If these answers are no, here are few ways to increase the effectiveness of you page and use it to get more of the results you want

Add pictures

Adding visual content always makes any page more effective, but don’t stop at showing just the CEO profile picture of you in a 3 piece suit. Add a few more pictures that show the human side of your business and your business at work. Use picture of you setting up a display, your work room area (if it’s clean), meeting with clients, or customers using your product. These types of pictures show the human aspect of the company and help the site visitor envision themselves working with you.  A photo collage like the one below is perfect to show different views of your business.

Put emphasis on your awards, skills, prominent clients

Don’t bury these important pieces of information in a long paragraph somewhere, highlight your skills and accomplishments in key areas of your page so they stand out from the other text.  Use bullet list and place on the side or in between paragraphs of text to separate it fm the rest.  Check out these great examples

Add a “Tell us about you section”

Adding a simple form to your about page can make the world of a difference to site visitor. Don’t just talk to your site visitors, but invite them to talk to you. After you’ve given your “how great the company is” pitch, put a form at the bottom or side of your page and name it “Tell us about you” or “Contact Us”. Don’t look at this as a repeat of your contact form; look at it as another chance to connect with visitors. Word the questions in the form just like you would a visitor to your store “What is your name?” “What brings you to our site today?” Even if no one ever answers the form, they’ll be thrilled you asked.

Here’s an example of an about me form in action:

Add a video to your page, but make it better add a QR code that leads to your video.

Put a new twist on an old trick. QR codes are all the rage these days. Use these codes deliver old information in a new way. Visitors are used to that same old video clips on sites, they may or may not want to click to see what you have to say. QR codes add mystery to your message, visitors will scan to see what the surprise is and be thrilled to you delivering a message. Use new technology and old technology to create a great About Us page experience.

Link to ALL of your Social Media pages

Do you have Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, or Google+ pages linking back to your website? Well don’t forget link back to them. The about us page is a perfect place to remind visitors other ways to learn more about your business. I’ve even seen pages that post their Twitter feed on the about us page; this is a great way to keep your content new and fresh so visitors can get the latest updates about you.

Here are 2 good examples at using your social media sites

Use Visual Effects Everywhere

I know I already talked about the use of pictures, but the visual appeal of your page is so important I had to stress it again.  Use different colors, fonts, icons etc. on the about me page. The about page is where you can be a little creative and communicate your style to the visitor. Take it a step further than just pictures, add bullets and icons where ever you can to make your content more visually appealing.  To really spice it up your about us information into a graph, chart, or time line out. For example a fun timeline with key dates in company history, or a pie chart with our skills making up the whole pie of what you have to offer. Showing your information graphically will make it more memorable and appealing to site visitors. Check out this great use of graphics on about pages.

To see some more great about pages check out these links:

• 40 Creative and Inspiring About Me Pages
• 40 Inspirational About Page Designs
• 30 Inspiring “About Me” Pages
• 25 Cool About Me Page Designs

7 Easy Steps For Creating Buzzworthy Content

We’ve heard for years now that “content is king”—yet so few marketers seem to understand how to create useful content that isn’t overly promotional for the brands supporting it.

Even for those who understand the importance of rich content, though, it can be costly to get a content strategy up and running. Michael Durwin, director of user experience at Boston Technologies, has nailed down a simple step-by-step process for creating buzzworthy content on a shoestring budget. Durwin spoke about the importance of creating shareable content during his presentation at Geekend Roadshow, a technology-focused portion of the DMA2011 conference, presented by BFG Communications.

Here are his seven essential steps for creating buzzworthy content.

1. Leverage your resources

Leverage your resources on your staff, coworkers, customers and fans,” says Durwin. “If you can find the people in your company that love to do things like tweet, update Facebook and take pictures around the office, grab those people and deputize them. Empower them to publish more content about your brand.”

2. Assign tasks around existing interests

Once you’ve found the individuals within your organization that are already participating in or are very excited about creating content, assign tasks to those people based on what they are interested in and would like to contribute.

Common tasks could including taking pictures, shooting video, tweeting, updating Facebook, blogging and updating the company’s website.

Durwin offered up an example of a woman at his company who loves to take candid photos around the office. He talked to her about being the official office photographer, and every now and then she sends him entertaining photos to post to the company’s social sites. He also identified a Twitter-loving co-worker and put him in charge of tweeting on behalf of the company.

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This made me wonder are web designers out there letting their clients know that Flash is not compatible with a host of mobile devices including Apple and Blackberry products?  Or are clients ignoring or just not sure on how this could impact the amount of visitors to their websites. If your website is Flash or even if just your intro page is flash, when visitors attempt go on to your site from a mobile device they will see nothing but a download Flash link. This devices include all Apple mobile product, IPad, Iphone, Itouch, most Blackberry phones (including the new OS7 devices), other smart phones. On the bright side flash does work pretty well on Droid phones and tablets, although I had some issues scrolling down using the Droid X

So now I’m sure you are wondering how many people really use these mobile devices? Is it that bad if I only miss a few users? Well, in 2010 TechCrunch.com reported in that US Mobile users grew 110%  from the year before, and 65% of that growth Apple devices (IPad, IPhone, ITouch). And GeekWire recently reported by 2015 about 40% of the world population will be accessing the web on a mobile device.  So if your site is all flash or has flash components you are losing a much larger share of your web traffic than you though, simply because they can’t view  your site.

To further prove the point I did a little test on my I Pad2 and Blackberry Storm 2

Flash site on Blackberry Storm 2

Flash site on IPad2

Flash site after clicking the “Click the Download” link

The Flash error up close

Now don’t get me wrong I love Flash and 4-5 years ago I was all all for developing the best and brightest Flash sites, but after seeing these pictures it further stressed to me why in today’s day and age sites should not use Flash, until it is compatible with more mobile platforms.

But all is not a lost there are some cases where Flash can still be utilized; such as small areas on pages (banner, video clip,etc.) On these pages visitors will not be able to see the Flash video but at least they can still access the page. And you can still use flash in cases where your business has enough capital to get both a regular www. site and a m. mobile site  (separate site the automatically loads on mobile devices instead of your regular website).  For example, I visited www.Wix.com (the leading provider of free Flash websites) on my Ipdad and found that even they have a non-Flash site specifically for mobile devises m.wix.com. That tells you something  when even a sites who’s business is Flash are giving into the non-Flash movement.

Related articles:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

http://www.bnet.com….8-simple-tips-to-make-your-website-mobile-friendly

The client recognized that their current site was very basic, outdated, and did not portray the professionalism of the foundation. Their new site continues with the name same bright color scheme and is now packed with more content and resources to attract and retain visitors

Excerpt from SEO obstacle course is tough on a 59 yr. old traveler

SEO the same thing. I am getting a better handle on it. Plugins from wordpress have helped, though I did have to sort through them and find what I was comfortable with.

I settled on those that help me track traffic, tell me whether my site is SEO friendly, makes it easier to follow me and, of course, everything gets submitted to google analytics!

SEO Smartlinks: links to other pages in my blog that relate to the new post I am putting up. Supposedly, the google “secret robots” like the looks of this. A good example of a website that does this a lot is Wikipedia – they interlink everything. If you do not believe that the robots like this stuff, just do a search of something. Wikipedia will be in the top 10.

SEO Pressor: This keeps track of the key word on your post. It then tells you right out of the starting gate whether your post stays on subject. For example, this post is about SEO. So, the SEO pressor will tell me how well that word’s mentioned in the post to get me a good ranking. Right now I am at 78% – the key is to get above 90%. I do not have a picture and I do not have internal links.

Problem is it costs $47 for 1 site, $97 for multiple sites. I hate paying for these things, but this one seemed worth it. I’ve been pleased with the SEO Pressor so far.

WebNinja GA plugin allows me to keep track of traffic throughout the day. I do not do that often. When I have a lot of things to do that keeps me glued to the computer, it is a nice plugin to have.

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It’s that time of year when the summer fun becomes a fond memory and we buckle done and get ready for the long winter. What a better time to ramp up or revamp your business with a fresh new look. Website, business cards, stationary what ever your needs.

Contact us  to get your quote started today

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