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7 ways to increase the visibility of your small business website

Here is a list of 7 things you, as a small business owner, can do TODAY, to increase the visibility of your web site. The better visibility, the better rankings in the search engines . End result more site visitors.

website visibility

  1. Start a Blog
    Google’s blogger or WordPress.com are both good candidates for the novice blogger. They are easy to setup and require no technical knowledge .  Ideally your blog should be integrated into your web site and given the same look/ feel for a seamless branded image (we can definitely help you with this).  However having a standalone blog gives you a great platform to test the blogging waters and  find your voice.  Write regular blog posts relevant to your business expertise or product offering and make sure to create linksto your web site. Here are some articles on blogging which will help you get the most out of your blog.

  2. Comment on blog posts
    Commenting on blog posts is a great way to increase the visibility of your site.  A fitting comment and a relevant  link to your site where applicable can lead to considerable traffic. Tread carefully though and do not spam.
  3. Open a Twitter account
    Twitter is a micro blogging tool, each Tweet, or post can have a maximum of 140 characters.  Spend a little time setting up your profile which can include a picture, an all important link to your web site and a short bio.  Next find some people to follow using the tools offered on the Twitter web site, then tweet away.  The more you interact the more you will get of Twitter.
  4. Create a Facebook Fan Page for your business
    To get started with Facebook you first need to create a personal account. Then visit this page https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
    Select a good name and populate the info section of the profile with your business information.  You are now free to start sharing your thoughts, ideas, products, links, video and anything else you think is relevant to your business via the Facebook status window. You will need to build up your fan base so include a Facebook “like button” wherever you can e.g In your email signature, on your blog, on your web site.
  5. Get listed on YELP
    Yelp is a local directory allowing users to search for all sorts of  services, everything from hair dressers to website designers.  Once you are a member (free) you can post reviews on any listing.
    See our listing on Yelp
  6. Upload a video to YouTube
    YouTube is the world’s 2nd most popular search engine ( Google is the 1st) so it stands to reason a presence there is worth the time and effort.  Creating your free account is easy and uploading a video a breeze.
    See our videos on YouTube How to select a great Domain Name and How to add video to your Internet Marketing Mix
  7. Pin something on Pinterest
    If you have visually appealing images on your website particularly if they relate to your products or services e.g You are a landscaper and have a portfolio of completed landscape projects, Pinterest is a great place to share them. Pinterest is one of the newest and fastest growing social media platforms. It is a virtual pin board allowing you to organize and share all the fabulous images you find on the web.  Boards and images can be  shared and repined .
    Check out our profile on Pinterest
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The Chicago web designer on istockphoto.com

As a web designer I know an image can sometimes say a thousand words and stock photography companies like istockphoto play an invaluable tool in my web designers’ tool box.

I recently got approved as an istockphoto photographer and while photography is something I only dabble in, I like to challenge myself to take photos worthy to post online!

Chicago web designer istockphoto

You can view my collection so far at www.istockphoto.com which feature photos taken in the North shore area of Chicago this past fall. I am the first to admit I am no Ansel Adams but I find the creative process fun.

Chicago web designer stock photography

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Worst Internet passwords and 5 tips for strong passwords

Here is some interesting information from Splashdata. Are you using any of these passwords to log into your email, Facebook page or even you bank account?

  1. password
  2. 123456
  3. 12345678
  4. qwerty
  5. abc123
  6. monkey
  7. 1234567
  8. letmein
  9. trustno1
  10. dragon
  11. baseball
  12. 111111
  13. iloveyou
  14. master
  15. sunshine
  16. ashley
  17. bailey
  18. passwOrd (The “O” is a zero here)
  19. shadow
  20. 123123
  21. 654321
  22. superman
  23. qazwsx
  24. michael
  25. football

If so, it is probably time to upgrade to something more secure, you are likely to get hacked.

Here are 5 tips for strong passwords.

  1. Don’t use the same password for everything
  2. Don’t use anything obvious like your birthday, login name or a pets name – hackers can trawl through applications like Facebook looking for clues
  3. The longer the password the better, aim for at least 8 characters
  4. Mix up your character, use upper and lower case, numbers and special characters like ` ! ” ? $ ? % ^ & * ( ) _ – + = { [ } ] : ; @ ‘ ~ # | < , > . ? /
  5. Having trouble, generate a random password from a site like strongpasswordgenerator.com

Keeping track of all these unique passwords can be a challenge. Consider using a password manager, there is a great review of the top players here.

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Websites that create leads

OK, tooting my own horn today a little but you know you’ve done a good job when a couple years after a project you get this sort of message from a client.

“My website is still my number one generator of new business.  Seriously, almost all of my new business is from my website.  Just finished answering another inquiry through the website (probably won’t be a client but that’s okay because the inquiries seem to generate other leads anyway.)  I’m probably your most satisfied customer.”

Jan Roberg

Roberg Tax Solutions

We created a custom WordPress site for them which they maintain themselves.  You can visit  at http://www.robergtaxsolutions.com.

Thanks for this great quote Jan,  I am so happy your website is working for you.

©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Free Halloween Cards

I have been deep in a very corporate web design project for the last few weeks but today have turned to a far more frivolous  graphic design project, Halloween card design

You can download these free cards, print them out using your desktop printer on some good quality card stock for an easy scary card. Click the image you’d like, for a printable pdf .

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Looking for a Chicago web design company?

A quick Google search for “Chicago web design company” producing a whopping 68,700,000 results. This is a big town and there are lots of players. Not every design firm will be right for every project and finding a company you are comfortable working with and a good fit for your project, can be a challenge.

Here is a brief snapshot of what we offer

  • Design Services
    • Web site design
    • Web redesign, we can rework what you already have to bring it up to date
    • Blog design
    • WordPress templates
    • Identity design, including logo, letterhead and business cards
    • Complete corporate branding
    • Graphic design for projects such as brochures, posters, trade show banners, advertisements etc
    • Presentations, powerpoint
    • Email templates
    • Banner ads
  • Web Services
    • Domain registration
    • Web hosting
    • Website coding – need a design turned into a working website?
    • eCommerce
  • Marketing Services
    • Search Engine Optimization ( SEO) and keyword analysis
    • Pay per click programs e.g Google Adsense
    • Social networking e.g Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
    • Video internet marketing

We have been in business since 2000 and have many very happy clients under our belt, see what some of them have to say here

We are located in Lincolnshire, in the North Shore area of Chicago.

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Adding Facebook Wall to a website using Feedburner

Being active on  Facebook, or any social network, takes time and effort. You can maximize the return on that effort by growing your followers and making your content widely available. Facebook wall updates can even be displayed on your website so they will be visible to those who aren’t yet following you, and will automatically update as your status changes.

It takes a little effort but here is how you do it.

  1. Visit your Facebook page and “view source” The method of doing this will vary with which browser you are using but generally if you “right click” the page you will be given an option to “View Source”
  2. On the page source code you need to look for the Rss feed for that page, try doing a page search for “atom”
  3. The line of code you find will look like this
    /feeds/page.php?id=XXXXXXXXXXXX&amp;format=atom10
    where the XXX bit is your page ID
  4. The line of code needs to rewritten to include the full URL
    http://www.facebook.com//feeds/page.php?id=XXXXXXXXXXXX&format=atom10
  5. If you try a view this feed in a reader it will not work. However if you burn the feed using Feedburner the result is a fully functioning readable feed.
  6. Within the Feedburner dashboard select Publicize>BuzzBoost, and activate. BuzzBoost  republishes your feed as HTML , once configured a snippet of code will be generated which you can paste into your website.  The Buzzboost code can be easily styled via CSS to fit the look and feel of any website.

Here is one of our clients using Feedburner to display their Facebook page status updates

buzzboost Facebook RSS

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Growing your blog audience

So back in March I casually announced I had started a new blog “Creative in Chicago” which follows my decorating adventures as I turn my ever so brown 1970’s Chicago house, into a light airy home. While this blog has nothing what so ever to do with my web design business  it’s very rewarding to see the practices  I preach to all my blogging clients actually working.

how to grow your blog readers

So what is it I preach?

Post Regularly
For a new blog I recommend posting everyday if possible and a minimum of 3 times a week.

Have meaningful well thought out keyword rich post titles
Search engines will like this

Offer different ways to subscribe to your blog
Everyone likes to read blogs in a different way so the more ways you can provide your content  the better. Signing up with a web feed management like Feedburner offers your readers great options and can also be configured to offer email subscriptions.

Allow comments
Comments can be configured so they are moderated and given the thumbs up before being published to your site. Write blog posts which  encourage dialogue between you and your readers and be sure to answer any questions they pose. It can also be useful to visit your commenter’s blogs and leave a message thanking them for visiting.

Write Comments
Commenting on other relevant blogs is a great way to promote your blog but be careful that your comments do not come across as spam.

Take part in other bloggers “parties”
Link parties are very popular with certain blogger groups, particularly those who write about something that can be photographed, think home decorator,  crafter’s, artists,  gardeners, cooks.

The host of a link party will offer the opportunity to promote a post from your site , quite often for nothing in return. The parties run for a predetermined time and generally result in a very high quality selection of projects as the host has complete control over what appears and any spam is weeded out.

Link parties really deserve a complete blog post and I will write that another day!

Promote
Take every opportunity to promote and link to your  blog. Include it in your social media profiles, participate in forums, tweet about it, start a Facebook fan page.

All of this takes time and effort but really does pay off. My Creative in Chicago blog has gone from zero to nearly 7000 visits per month in just four short months.

blog stats

©:2011 Chicago web designer

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WordPress training for new web site clients

Many of the websites we have created in the last year of so have been built on the WordPress platform. WordPress is more than a great blogging platform it is also a very powerful content management system (CMS) and for those clients who wish to maintain their site themselves it is a good option.

Once we complete a WordPress site we don’t just turn it over to the client and let then figure stuff out for themselves, we provide an interactive training session. Here is what we generally cover.

  • How to login
  • The anatomy of the WordPress dashboard
  • Writing a new blog post
  • Adding and assigning blog categories
  • SEO techniques for blog posts
  • Dealing with comments, approving, editing and trashing
  • Adding links
  • Uploading photos
  • Uploading documents
  • Viewing and editing website pages
  • Adding new pages

While this is not a comprehensive list of the all the things capable from WordPress,  it is the perfect collection of  “need to know how’s”  for clients who want to edit and update the content of their sites.

©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer