Think Big Blog

Website owners understand the challenges of creating a successful online presence. It’s not only imperative to design an attractive site that is reflective of your company’s brand, it is just as important to offer the goods, services, content, and user-friendly experience that will keep visitors coming back. Unfortunately, many website owners make the mistake of doing all the work upfront – creating a site that sells, without conducting ongoing assessments to ensure the site is doing what it needs to do to keep visitors happy. A truly successful site requires ongoing management and, if needed, maintenance to continually stay ahead of the curve. In this regard, a website optimization firm can assist a website owner to elevate their work so that they continue to set the standard in their industry.

Part of the services that a website optimization firm can offer is that of ongoing management and maintenance. In keeping track of the amount of website traffic that your site receives, a website optimization firm can alert you to dips in traffic patterns and help you assess your site to determine if the elements it contains continue to work for your specific target audience.

In order to stay in the online game and have success in attracting - and keeping - the attention of your audience, it is crucial to stay alert to changing trends and how your website fits in to the ever-changing online environment. A website optimization firm can make sure that your website is always where it needs to be in order to be successful.

These days, just about everyone and their brother has built or owns a website, and yet only a handful of these websites reach the goals that their owners have set for them. Why is that? Because many website builders and owners neglect the nuts and bolts of website optimization. What, exactly, does the term website optimization mean?

In a nutshell, website optimization is the result of efforts to ensure that any website attains the highest in performance standards. Whether the website is service or product based, various functions and inclusions will help that website to reach head and shoulders above those of competitors for an increase in sales, also known these days as B2C, or potential customer leads, aka B2B. Knowing how to best represent and promote any business on the Internet takes a little know how and basic knowledge of certain key aspects.

Many people think that website optimization is generated only through search engine ranking and keyword phrases imbedded in articles and website content. While this is true to a small degree, there is so much more that your website needs, and a website optimization firm that knows their stuff will be able to help you obtain the goals and results that you’re looking for. What does a website optimization firm do?

A knowledgeable website optimization firm can help with web designs that incorporate, if you wish, Flash design, E-commerce and database website content that conveys your message, whether you’re selling a service, a product or merely offering information. Such a firm will also provide web hosting, web marketing and design or organize your website so that it climbs the search engine rankings to bring visitors and business to your site.

A good web optimization firm should have staff comprised of graphics designers and SEO specialists as well as PHP database programmers and Internet Business Consultants. Most such firms will offer Blog websites, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design and Hosting as well as Link Building and Newsletter services as well as on-going support after the website has been built.

When it comes time to promote your website business, it stands to reason that you’d want the best, so take the time to do your research and find a good website optimization firm to handle the inside of your business, from the inside.

Color is a powerful communicator for business web design. Color communicates emotion, passion and excitement. Color is one of the key factors that separates a boring informational site from an inspirational website designed to sell. Great graphics and compelling website copy are the two other powerful communicators.

According to the Institute For Color Research, people quickly make a subconscious judgment about an item and 62% to 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. Judgments are based on human instincts and cultural influences and powerfully communicate.

Web Color Psychology

Red: Boldness, desire, intensity, and love.
Orange: Cheerfulness, creativity, playfulness and heat.
Yellow: Hhappiness, energy, joy and optimism
Green: Safety, harmony, nature and wealth
Blue: Stability, professionalism, trust and coolness.
Purple: Nobility, magic, sensuality and spirituality
Gray: Conservatism, seriousness and enhances messages of other colors
Brown: Casual, earthy, poverty and tradition.
Black: Elegance, mystery, death and style.
White: Cleanliness, purity, simplicity, and peace.

In general, red, orange, and yellow are exciting colors while purple, blue and green are calming ones.

Emotions can heavily influence your decision-making process. Your choice of color should match your message. This is where you should put yourself in the hands of a color design expert.

Constructing an effective content rich website is not easy and requires intense planning. The ThinkBIGsites.com team of web designers starts by making use of online architectural design principals. In addition to delivering information and simplifying navigation that satisfies your visitor’s needs, we will also help you reach your business goals. Starting with the proper architecture is an extremely important component of any internet marketing strategy as it directly relates to attracting and satisfying your visitors. Once again….a pretty design alone is just not going to do the trick. Your site must be displayed in front of potential customers or they might never know you even exist. The combination of high end web design, development, more web site traffic, and web site marketing strategies is what will make your site successful. The bottom line is, you need an expert website optimization firm to help you succeed in today’s market!

Should your business have a website? Today the answer is a definite YES! Your business needs a quality online presence with a image building business website design.

1. Your competitors are online. In the US alone, the number of people accessing the Internet is estimated at 211.1 million (2006) which means 70% of the population is online. They are actively searching for products and services. Who will they find?
2. Bring in local customers. Local businesses such as a restaurant or a dry cleaner need to post their hours of operation, a map so people can find them and even pricing such as menus and special services. Hint - People search using city name together with other keywords to locate local service.
3. Business Image. Project your business branding, mission and quality statements through your website. A small company can look like a huge substantial company on the Internet.
4. Communicate your message. With more and more people turning to the Internet, you can tell your story why your company and your products are better.
5. It’s cheaper than any other form of advertising. Compare the cost of advertising on the Internet to any other advertising medium. Business owners know the cost advertising in newspapers, yellow pages, magazines, TV, radio and direct mail. The Internet is a bargain.
6. Convenient for your customers. People can sit at home in the evening and look up details about your company… even when you are not working. They can look up information about your products and services.
7. Support your customers. How many times per day do you and your staff answer the same questions? Post answers to these frequently asked questions and your customers can get answers even when you are closed.
8. Sell products online. Set-up your own store and sell your products and services 24/7. You can accept credit cards on your own merchant account or use a service such as Paypal or others.
9. Find new customers or investors. Reach millions of prospective customers. People, who never thought about your company, will discover you through online searches.
10. Make it easy for your customers. The Internet is one of the first places a person who has access to a computer will go to get information.

As a design and web optimization firm, thinkbigsites.com focuses on creating websites that get results for our clients. A great business web design is only part of what is needed. A careful Internet marketing plan needs to guide the visitor during the buying process. Websites must be designed to take into account the 3 stages for online sales.

Qualify first time visitors. First time visitors need answers to general questions. Your website should guide them. What do they need? Will this work for them? If they decide that this isn’t want they need, provide links to other alternative offerings that you may have.

Convince Prospects.Prospects generally know some background about your company. Focus on benefits and advantages of your product or service. Prospects want to know if it is a good value and how they will benefit from purchasing. Show savings, flexibility or better results that they will achieve.

Get visitors to act. The desired action you want from visitors should be clear from the instant they arrive. If your website is a lead generation website then the lead collection form should start on the home page. If your website is an online store, display products with buy now buttons on the home page.

By now you may be thinking, what makes thinkBIGsites.com different from any other website optimization firm? Many firms focus on traditional SEO practices, Blog Marketing, Linking Strategies, Website Design and Development and even business consulting. But ask yourself one question…How many website optimization firms do you know of that are experts in all of the above mentioned fields? Still thinking aren’t you. That’s because we are the only website optimization firm that puts such an extreme emphasis on all (not just some or one) of these crucial components. The management team at ThinkBIGsites.com realizes and understands that in order to achieve the highest level of website optimization, every one of these different components must not be overlooked or taken for granted. If you drop the ball in any one of these areas, you may not get the results you are looking for. A fully optimized website should be able to streamline corporate workload, increase profits, increase customer loyalty and create a professional corporate image that both your employees and customers feel comfortable with. Anything less is just not acceptable.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families & friends who lost loved ones in the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Website copywriting is very different than writing for any other media. When a visitor arrives to your website, they scan your website quickly and if they don’t see what they are searching for, they are gone in a single click. Great web design and Internet marketing strategies depend on captivating web copy.

1. Five second rule: Internet users are active, not passive. If they don’t immediately see what they are looking for, they are gone. First impressions are critical. One click and they’re gone in as little as 5 seconds after they arrive. Make sure they can see what your website is about without scrolling down.
2. Headline: The headline sets the tone. It grabs attention…or not. It reveals a promise. It raises hopes. It creates surprise. Your headline has to be the most powerful text on your page.
3. The Five Great Motivators: Psychologists have identified five “Great” motivators, and virtually all good web copy creates sales by catering to one of these forces. These include fear, exclusivity, guilt, greed, and the need for approval.
4. State the benefits: Benefits are what sell. This includes Features (what products do), Advantages (what features do), Motives (importance of features to buyer) and Benefits (what features mean).
5. Call to action. End your page by asking for some sort of action. Have questions? If you need answers call, email, click on live chat or whatever action you want your visitor to do. Better yet: Buy now!