Why Ask Why?

11. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Marketing, Website Design · Tags: , , ,

There are times when we all ask, ?why? questions?why did I do this?? Why didn?t I do that?

Some why questions that we recently asked ourselves as a business were:

  • Why do we provide regular reports to our customers?
  • Why do we select the data that we include?

One reason for building your website is to help you achieve your business or organizational goals.? Whether those goals are more sales, more customers, better interactions with volunteers or better communication with your supporters, we want to help you accomplish your goals.? The monthly report helps you see how your website is performing and it allows us to see where we can help you improve.

The data that we select to report gives us an overall picture of how well your website is working for you.

  • Page 1: Traffic Volume and Quality
  • Page 2: How? visitors found you
  • Page 3: How visitors interact with your website

We want you to see how visitors are finding and using your website so we can be sure your message is reaching your audience.

Is your message reaching website visitors like you want it to? Use your report to better understand. ?If you see areas for improvement, let?s work together to make those happen and reach your target market even better.

Am I Mobile?

09. January 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Mobile Websites, Website Design · Tags: , ,

How many people have you seen lately with a tablet or using their smart phone for something other than a phone call? People use a wide range of devices to view your website. Last month, our customers’ websites were viewed byover 400 different screen sizes using multiple browsers.? Working to display your site well in varying environments is part of our service to you.

While your website will display well in most circumstances, the challenge on smaller mobile devices becomes readability of the text and the ability to navigate the menus. While ?pinch and zoom? on touchscreen devices will work, it is not optimal.

Below are screen shots of our website taken on the iPhone 4S. The full version of the site on the left still displays fine. It is just scaled to be smaller. However, the text is hard to read without zooming and selecting the right menu button could be tricky. The mobile version of our site on the right is easy to read with navigation buttons easy to select with a thumb or finger on the touch screen phones.

Jan2013fullc???? Jan2013mobilec

It is estimated that 15% – 20% of your website traffic is from a mobile visitor. Let us help you with a mobile website.

Contact us today at either design@convergesc.com or 803-603-8276 to reach your mobile visitors more effectively.

Act Like an App

?Do you want customers who have iPhones to have quick and easy access to your mobile website but don?t have the marketing budget for an app?

Tell your customers to navigate to your mobile website and add it to their home screens. For example, go to www.convergesc.com on your iPhone (you will be automatically redirected to our mobile site).

Then click on the arrow at the bottom of your browser screen. You will then get a pop up with several different options. Click on, ?Add to Home Screen?.

Then you will get a screen with, ?Add to Home? at the top. In the description box, type Convergent Design.

Click on the blue Add button at the top right of the screen.? Viola!? Your customers have instant access to your website, much like an app.

Too Much Information?

11. December 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Marketing, Website Design · Tags: , ,

Too Much Information

How often do we communicate too much information trying to get our point across?

In a recent blog post, Seth Godin talked about marketing: The goal of a marketing interaction isn’t to close the sale, any more than the goal of a first date is to get married. No, the opportunity is to move forward, to earn attention and trust and curiosity and conversation.

Starbucks has a very clear billboard? their logo with the words ?Next Exit?. That message has one goal: ?getting customers into the store.

Simple.? Clear.? Focused.

It can be a challenge to focus your website message. It is very tempting to say one more thing or add one more option. But what will attract a potential customer?
?A skilled contractor that you can trust.?
?Personalized attention to help you get healthy.”
?Where are you and when are you open??

As we head towards a new year, look at how visitors are interacting with your website.

Do you have 2 or 3 pages that draw a lot of attention? Let?s draw even more attention.

Do you have website pages that aren?t being visited? Maybe those are cluttering your message and should be dropped from the site.

When customers visit your website, what is the desired next step? ?Call us?? Visit our facility? Request a bid?

Let’s work to give your visitors a clear next step.

Avoid Frustration

13. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Marketing, Website Design · Tags: , ,

You finally decided to take the plunge and paint the exterior of your home.? Your neighbors have been commenting on your ?retro look? for years.?? You pull up a website, hoping to be able to find out some pricing information.

You?ve heard tons about this new restaurant and want to try it tonight.? But do you have time?? What are the restaurant?s hours?? You pull up the website for the information.

Have you ever been on a website and the information is outdated or sometimes not even there?? Isn?t that frustrating?

Are you frustrating potential customers?

Many businesses enhance, change or expand their products and services through the course of the year. Be sure to include these changes on your website.

Simple changes like adding a new employee, updating product pictures or changing wording to reflect your latest emphasis is included in your monthly maintenance. If your changes call for new pages to the site, we can add those for only $100 per page.

See some examples of websites with recent product updates in the sidebar to the right.

Contact us today at either design@convergesc.com or 803-603-8276 to update or expand the content on your website.

Choose Wisely

07. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Marketing, Search Engine Optimization · Tags: , , ,

Potential customers are visiting your website. But how do you attract the right visitors? How do you draw the ones that want to buy what you are offering? One method is for your site to appear in the searches they are using.

Selecting good keywords takes some planning. It starts with imagining your ideal customer. Will they use technical or industry terms that you use every day to talk about your business? Or will they use the more informal words of everyday speech? ?Will they search “zumba instructor” or the less technical?”personal trainer”? Will they search “engineered concrete footing” or the less technical “new driveway”?

A solid keyword strategy is to target 6 to 8 phrases beyond the standard targets of your business name and the geographic areas you serve.

Page 2 of our monthly reports show the top 5 phrases used to bring visits to your site now. Are there other phrases that you want to target? Let?s talk about what words might connect with your ideal customer. Email us at design@convergesc.com to explore options for your keyword targets

Is it Working?

15. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Website Design · Tags: , , ,

You know you have a good business idea.? You know that your product or service will help improve the lives of others in some way.
But how do you let people know about your business?? Word of mouth will help some but most businesses need more.
You probably have a marketing budget and if you are reading this, part of your budget has gone toward a website.
How do you know if your website is ?working??? How do you know if your hard-earned marketing dollars are generating revenue?
All of our customers that have regular maintenance receive a monthly report giving feedback on how your website is performing.
Take a few moments to review your last (or next) report to learn the following:

  • How many people visited my site?
  • How well did they interact with my site?
  • How did they find my site?
  • What did they view on my site?

Knowing the answers to these questions can help you know if your marketing dollars are working.? If you aren?t getting the return you like, use this information to improve.
If you are on a regular maintenance plan, then small changes and additions to your site are included.? Contact us at design@convergesc.com or 803-603-8276 to learn possible ways you can increase the return on your marketing dollars.

Promote Yourself

03. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Website Design · Tags: , ,

Websites are great marketing tools.? They allow potential customers to ?visit? you from the comfort of home at all hours of the day or night.? Websites are available 24/7.

But what?s the point if no one can find your website?

Convergent Design keeps site visibility in mind during the design process and as we maintain your launched site.? Not only do your monthly reports keep you informed of what?s happening with your site, it helps us watch traffic patterns and see where adjustments need to be made.? You want your site to be found and so do we!

Something we recommend at the initial launch of a site and beyond is continuous self-promotion.? Make sure you use every opportunity to get your website address out to the public.

Make sure your website address is included in the signature of your emails.
This is ?free? marketing.? Every time you compose an email, you probably have a pre-set signature at the bottom with your contact information.? Make sure your website address is there as well.? That simple action could generate visitors to your website from sources you wouldn?t have considered.

Make sure your website address is on all printed materials.
If you use brochures or flyers, make sure to include your website in a prominent place.? Include your website on business card and all invoices or receipts that you give to customers.?? Make sure it is on all letterhead or any other piece of paper that you use for communication.? We?ve recently gotten personalized sticky notes with our logo and website address.

Make sure you talk about your website.
When talking about your business or organization to others, make sure you tell them about your website.? Be sure to mention your website address.? This is one of the reasons we encourage ?simple? website addresses.? Easy to say, easy to remember.

These are just a few suggestions on getting your website out to the public.? If you?d like to discuss more about how to further promote your website, contact us at 803-603-8276 or?design@convergesc.com.? As always, this consultation is part of your monthly maintenance and there is?no additional charge.??

Be Memorable

06. July 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Website Design · Tags: , , , ,

Create clarity.? Reinforce clarity.? Over-communicate clarity.?Patrick Lencioni

Your organization probably means a lot to you.? You may have built it from the ground up or have been with the organization long enough to where it is an integral part of your life.? It?s your baby.

You know the ins and outs of your organization.? You know its vision and mission.? You know what you do.

But does everyone else?

It has been said that it takes about 20 repetitions for a potential customer to remember a message.?? Convergent Design keeps that in mind when designing your website.? We encourage you to repeat key aspects of your business over and over throughout your site.? Your contact information appears on every page (usually 2 or more times).? Have a catch phrase that your business is known for?? It should appear on every page.? What do you want visitors to do after viewing your site?call, email or visit?? They should be asked to do that on just about every single page of your website.

Visitors should come away from your website knowing exactly what you do, who you are and what they should do next.? And they should be reminded of that often throughout your site.
When thinking about your website, clarify what you want to communicate and then say it.? And say it again.? And again.? Be memorable.

Go Mobile

06. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Website Design · Tags: , ,

Go Mobile

How many people visit your website using a mobile device?

Last October, it seemed as if everyone couldn?t wait to hear if a new iPhone was going to be released by Apple.? Rumors had been buzzing for months.? Would it be an iPhone 5?? Would the camera improve?? Would it cook your breakfast for you?

And as soon as the iPhone 4S was released, there were already rumors about the next iPhone.

In a report by Morgan Stanley analysts, the average iPhone user only spends 45% of his device time on making voice calls.?

That means the remaining 55% is spent playing Angry Birds, catching up with old classmates on Facebook and surfing the Internet.

The same Morgan Stanley report states that mobile web traffic will be greater than desktop Internet usage by 2015 as shown in the graph below:

Basically that means that if your website is not easily viewable to those who use mobile devices to access the Internet, you may miss out on most of the Internet market.
Take our site for example www.convergesc.com:

We?ve got this sweet flash display on our home page, a clean menu system and some copy below.? There is nothing wrong with our site except for the fact that it was designed for a PC or Mac computer screen, not a smartphone.

If you were to look at our site on an iPhone, it would look OK.? However the flash does not work (as iPhones and iPads do not support flash) and the text is difficult to read due to the size displayed on the screen.

So we designed a site specifically for mobile devices:

The mobile site is much more user-friendly for our smartphone visitors.

And that?s what it really is all about, isn?t it?? The visitor?s experience?? You want your visitors to be able to access your organization?s information in a manner that is clear, easy and informative.

Do you think your organization may benefit from a mobile website?? Contact us today at either design@convergesc.com or 803-603-8276 to schedule a consultation.

Click It.

17. May 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Search Engine Optimization, Website Design · Tags: , ,

Let?s face it, if you have been on the Internet longer than five minutes you have probably heard of Google AdWords.

You have seen the dancing girl trying to get you to lower your interest rate on your mortgage.

You have seen those sidebar ads that strangely enough advertise products that you like.

We have been talking for the past couple of months about different ways your website can be found: organic and map listings.? This month we are talking paid advertisement.

Pay per click (PPC) is an easy and quick way to get listed in Google.? Just search a generic phrase like ?restaurants? and you will see a paid listing at the top of your page.

The short explanation of the way basic PPC advertising works is that you develop a list of keywords and phrases that you think your target audience will be using to search.? Then you figure out the desired amount that you want to spend.? For example with Google AdWords, you develop a daily budget of how much you would like to spend on clicks.? You then set the amount at how much you would like to spend per click.? The better the keyword, the more you need to bid in order to see results.

So that means you should focus all your efforts on PPC advertisement, right?? Not so much.? Statistics show that 80% of Internet searchers will click on an organic result versus a paid result.? And although paid advertisements will give you immediate traffic, it is not necessarily traffic that results in a sale.? The rate at which searchers take desired action (whether that means calling your office, requesting a bid or visiting you at your location) is 17% higher for organic search results.

PPC advertising can also be quite expensive.?? Between October 2004 and October 2005, the average cost of keyword prices rose from around $25 to just under $55 (that is for one click on one keyword).?? Keyword prices fluctuate as well.? The phrase ?Christmas tree? is going to be much cheaper in May than it is in December.

Summary: So what are the advantages of PPC advertising?? It gets you search engine exposure quickly and will probably increase the traffic to your site.? The disadvantages?? Unless you have a huge budget to put toward PPC advertising the return on your investment will probably be very little to none.? And once your budget runs out, your immediate search engine exposure disappears.

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