Here are some factors to consider when thinking about redesigning your website.

Make sure redesign is your only option

Redesign a site from scratch is an expensive endeavor so make sure its your only options.

Ask Why?

Asking your self why you might want to redesign can help you identify problems with your current site and goals that you would like to accomplish. You think that the navigation structure of you site is too complicated, or that the background is too busy and distracting your visitors form the content.

Be creative

Web trends have evolved considerably over the last 10 years. Long gone are the days when sites were made of simple html pages, now there are many ways to present content. Where there you want a tab interface, content slider, or items that display when the user takes action can all help improve the overall structure of your site as well as engage your visitors.

Think ahead

Remember the day you commissioned your first website. It was probably a static HTML website, remember how annoying it was to have to call your designer or agency every time you needed to make an update? Well now a days new technologies are putting the power back in the hands of content creators. Make sure that when you’re ready to redesign you consider your website’s manageability and scalability. There are excellent content management system that can aid you with this task so do your homework and choose one that will fit your needs.

Most small businesses getting into the world of social media take a blast and hope approach. But social media like any other form of marketing should have some strategy and form of metrics to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. This is where the fan page comes in – much like a profile it allows you to connect with people you may know. However, it provides the tools necessary to promote your page to a target market and gives you valuable insight to how your social campaign is doing.

Here is why you need a fan page:

• Facebook has more than 750 million active users
• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user spends more than 700 billion minutes per day on Facebook
• A fan page is visible to the public
• Unlike a profile a fan page can have customized tabs that can showcase various aspects of your business
• Reach your target audience
• Analyze your content, reach and interactions

*Stats taken directly from Facebook, click here to view

So with this in mind you can quickly conclude that you more likely to reach more potential clients with your fan page than you are with your website. So why need a website at all you might ask? Well, websites provide you with more flexibility than a fan page. Think of it like this: a website is your is your central hub it can provide users with more functionality and content and a fan page can help you drive traffic to your website and help you track your interactions with your clients.

Contact us today to learn how Lightbox Designs can help you get the most out of Facebook!! We now offer custom Facebook design as well as custom Facebook applications that will create an effectively and unique experience for your customers.

1. Make a “Fan Gate”

Make landing tab that has “a call to action” offering incentive for people to like your page. This can be useful tips, coupons, videos or free stuff.

2. Promote your Facebook page on your personal profile & Invite your friends

Promoting your Facebook fan page on your profile might get annoying to some if there is to much “look at me” factor going on. However, a shameless plug here or there won’t hurt. Also inviting friends to like your page is a good way to generate new likes.

3. Share useful content on high traffic pages

Sharing useful content on high traffic pages is a great way to drive likes. However be sure not to add spammy content promoting your own material as people may get annoyed.

4. Add a like box to your website

Adding a like box to your website can increase the potential for like via your website.

5. Promote your Facebook page on other social networks

Using other social networks to cross pollinate your friends is a great way to get more exposure and increase and in turn increase likes.

So what makes a great CMS? Well, there are many points to consider here are some key points to consider.

• Fast learning curve
• Ease of use from a content creator stand point
• Agile development
• Development community
• Scalability

There are many CMS solutions out there. Today we’ll focus on Open Source (free) solutions that will help get your website up and running very quickly.

WordPress

WordPress is the most popular publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress excels because of its active community that is constantly improving and developing extensions to enhance its functionality. WordPress is great because it hits every point of what makes a great CMS.

• Ease of Use 90%

• Community Development 100%

• Flexibility 80%

• Scalability 100%

SilverStripe

SilverStripe aims to cater to both the developer and the content creator. It provides the developer a framework that allows very rapid and agile development with very little limitations. Like WordPress, SilverStripe provides a very straight forward approach to creating content.

• Ease of Use 80%

• Community Development 70%

• Flexibility 100%

• Scalability 100%

Drupal

Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Tens of thousands of people and organizations are using Drupal to power scores of different web sites. Drupal excels because of its large developer community. But users will find that it takes some getting used to some of the concepts. Also when compared to SilverStripe and WordPress users will find it a bit confusing at first.

• Ease of Use 70%

• Community Development 100%

• Flexibility 100%

• Scalability 100%

There are many more Open Source solutions out there and there is never a one-size fits all approach to choosing a CMS. But the three listed in this article provide the best balance of development, usability and stability.

Lesson #1:
A missing or non-descriptive subject line. Your subject line should give the reader a hint of what’s to expect. Whatever you do, mind the subject line not having one is a sure-fire ticket into most SPAM filters.

Lesson #2:
Using Outlook or a personal e-mail program to send mass messages. There are so many problems with doing this it’s almost too long to list. For one, many programs set limits on how many addresses you can send to; it’s not too bad for 10-12 people, but at 50 names and up you’re risking e-mails getting lost in transit. Additionally, most mail clients don’t make it easy to hide the e-mail addresses of recipients and readers may request OFF your list.

Lesson #3:
Having a FROM field that isn’t a real person. Readers want to open e-mails from people they know. Having a FROM field thats too spamy is another instant ticket for your newsletter to be marked as SPAM.

Lesson #4:
Stressing out about folks who unsubscribe. Don’t worry so much about it. Rule of thumb: if you get more than about 1% of your list taking themselves off after a series of mailings, it’s time to revamp the newsletter.

Lesson #5:
No call to action. Try not to make your newsletter too sales-y unless you are having a sale. The content in your newsletter should provide informative content about your industry, new services but make sure to explain how they will benefit from them.

Lesson #6:
Making it a pain to get off the list. If someone wants off the list, let them off. There is nothing more frustrating than click through ten verification emails confirming you want off the let. You’ll make a lot more friends that way.

Lesson #7:
Buying a list, or adding emails that haven’t agreed to be on your list. It’s very tempting to to send email blasts by purchasing a list or adding contacts you’ve made at networking meetings. But the reality is that doing things that way will upset more people than it’s worth; and also puts you at risk for excessive SPAM reports. Instead make sure you have permission to add someone to your list.

There’s certainly more to e-mail marketing than the mistakes listed above, but avoiding these simple mistakes will at least start you on the right track.

Here are a few things to consider to keep your business identity consistent:

1. Establish a recognizable brand logo

There is a misconception that a logo always must include a symbol. This is untrue, a logo can take on different forms; it can be a unique font, symbol or both. Also, be sure that your logo works well on all backdrops and color schemes. Typically a logo design should include a color, black & white and gray scale design.

2. Keep a consistent color pallet

The colors you choose play an important role on how your business will be perceived. Your colors will set the mood so be sure to pay extra detail on what you want your colors to say to your potential clients.

3. Keep Marketing materials consistent

There is nothing more detrimental to your images than having inconsistent marketing materials. Your letterheads, envelopes business cards and brochures should all incorporate consistent and unique elements. Your advertising agency should provide you with guidelines to follow so that your brand image remains consistent cross all media.

4. Advertising

it is understood that your campaigns may change from time to time depending on what your want to highlight. However, keeping your advertising consistent across all forms of media will help your reinforce your message and allow them to be easily distinguishable. Stick to on slogan or catch phrase that well help your audience immediately recognize you.

5. Different & Take Risks

This is a big one as taking risks and beign differnt will help you stand out from the crowd. Think of ways you can outshine your competition by using humor, shock effect, or stablishing emotion in your ads. Your agency should establish an extensive profile of your business and determine what method best fit your needs.

1. Addthis

Addthis offers great analytic tools to track the social presence of your website.

2. Sharethis

Similar to Addthis, Sharethis also lets your integrate a number of social services and allows you to track social interactions on your website.

3. AddtoAny (Lockerz Share)

AddtoAny is another service but lacks the analytic capabilities of Addthis and Sharethis.

1. Be consistent

Be consistent with your use of typography, imagery and color.

2. Don’t over do it with long blocks of text

The average time spent on a web page is 5 to 6 seconds. This means you only have a short amount of time to grab the audience attention and get your point across. One way to do this is to write short blocks of text combined with imagery that will explain your product or service. In other words, keep it short and sweet.

3. Start a blog

One of the biggest things overlooked when creating a website is keeping content fresh, relevant and informative. This will help establish an online presence and will keep your audience engaged. Blogging is a great way to do this. If you are having trouble figuring out what to write stick to what you know best and keep it relevant to your business.

4. Don’t make your site hard to navigate

Make sure your site navigation flows and is not too complicated. This will help visitors find what they want and will help you get your point across.

5. Integrate social services to your site

Adding social capabilities to your website will allow visitors to easily share it with others and is a great way to get more exposure.

6. Mind the typography

Don’t make your fonts hard to read and make sure to keep your font limited to two or three styles. Here is the basic rules to follow: Use a large bold font to highlight headings. Use a medium font to emphasize important parts or text blocks. Use a san-serif font at 12px for large blocks of text.

7. Don’t play music or videos automatically

This is a big no-no and should be avoided. There is nothing more annoying than a website that startles you with blasting music because you have your volume set too high. There is nothing more annoying than a website that disrupts your flow as your jamming to your favorite tune. So please try to avoid this at all costs. Instead let the user have control over the audio or video on your site.

8. Don’t use complex backgrounds

Keep your website background simple. Use an image that repeats seamlessly and don’t make the image file size too large as it will increase your page load time.

9. Easy to contact

Make sure your visitors have quick access to your contact information.

10. Follow standard website conventions

All websites are unique but all websites follow basic principles that allow users to easily find what they are looking for. Typically websites follow a two or three column layout.