:::: MENU ::::

Marshall's Computers

Posts Categorized / Websites

  • Sep 30 / 2013
  • 0
Websites

Lake Havasu City Website Design – The Very First Website Ever

WWW_logo_by_Robert_Cailliau_200_0Mornin’ friends!

 

Have you ever wondered what the very first website looked like? Doesn’t everyone think about that sort of thing? We do…

 

Check it out:

 

 

“The Very First Website Returns to the Web

 

 

Twenty years ago…CERN published a statement that made the World Wide Web freely available to everyone. To celebrate that moment in history, CERN is bringing the very first website back to life at its original URL.

 

If you’d like to see the very first webpage Tim Berners-Lee and the WWW team ever put online, point your browser to http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

 

For years now that URL has simply redirected to the root info.cern.ch site. But, because we all know cool URIs don’t change, CERN has brought it back to life. Well, sort of anyway. The site has been reconstructed from an archive hosted on the W3C site, so what you’re seeing is a 1992 copy of the first website. Sadly this is, thus far, the earliest copy anyone can find, though the team at CERN is hoping to turn up an older copy.

 

Be sure to view the source of the first webpage. You’ll find quite a few things about early HTML that have long since changed — like the use of <HEADER> instead of <HEAD> or the complete absence of a root<HTML> tag. There’s also a trace of Berners-Lee’s famous NeXT machine in the <NEXTID N="55"> tag.

 

CERN has big plans for the original website, starting with bringing the rest of the pages back online. “Then we will look at the first web servers at CERN and see what assets from them we can preserve and share,” writes CERN’s Dan Noyes. “We will also sift through documentation and try to restore machine names and IP addresses to their original state.”

 

In the mean time, have a look at the web’s original todo list and read more about the project to restore the first website over on Mark Boulton’s blog.”

 

 

websiteCTA

  • Sep 13 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Inbound Marketing, Websites

Lake Havasu City Web & Graphic Design- Landing Pages, Part II

TGIF_50a4e8_3945565TGIF NSquared Readers, Boo yah!

 

Fridays are perfect for reading super cool articles about landing pages. At least we think so. See for yourself:

 

 

“What Is a Landing Page and Why Should You Care, (Part II)

 

…continued…

 

 

What makes a landing page most effective?

 

 

Ready to create your first landing page, or improve on a landing page you already have? Here are some of the most important elements to make sure your landing page is working hard for you:

 

  • Limit Navigation. You’ve brought your targeted traffic to a page where they can take your desired action. Don’t distract them! Limit the number of exits from your landing page so that your visitors are focused on filling out your form. A key part of this is to hide your website navigation elements on landing pages.

 

  • Deliver Value. First and foremost, if you have a valuable offer, your visitors will give up their contact information in exchange for your offer. Ask yourself if your offer is compelling to your audience and make sure that your landing pages demonstrates that value.

 

  • Enable Sharing. Tap into a huge community of your best (and free!) marketers: your audience.  Add share links to your landing page to encourage your website visitors to share your content with their audiences.

 

  • Keep it Short. The longer your landing page and form, the more friction you add to the lead conversion process. Keeping your lead form short and straightforward will increase your conversion rate.

 

  • Test, Test, Test. As many best practices as you may read about online, your landing page can always use more testing and improvement. Make sure you have a landing page creation tool that allows you to create and test many different landing pages to see what works best for your business.

 

Are you a landing page guru? Check out some of our advanced tips and data around landing page best practices on effective calls to action and the best/worst button text (hint: don’t use “Submit”). Do you need to make any of these 10 Quick Fixes to Build Killer Landing Pages?

 

 

If you’re working hard to drive traffic to your website, don’t make the mistake of not capturing that traffic as leads.”

 

 

Contact us if a landing page sounds like something you want on your website. Have an awesome weekend!

  • Sep 11 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Inbound Marketing, Websites

Lake Havasu City Web & Graphic Design – Landing Pages, Part I

landingHowdy NSquared readers!

 

The rest of this week is all about landing pages and why they will rock your business socks off. Check it out below!

 

 

“What Is a Landing Page and Why Should You Care, (Part I)

 

If you could do one thing to dramatically improve your marketing ROI today, it would be to use landing pages on your website.

What is a landing page?

 

 

Alanding page is a website page that allows you to capture a visitor’s information through a lead form. A good landing page will be targeted to a particular stream of traffic – say from an email campaign advertising a particular whitepaper – and, because it is targeted, and because it has an interesting offer behind a lead capture form, you will convert a higher percentage of your website visitors into leads with which you can follow up.

Why are landing pages so critical?

 

 

Too many companies send their advertising, email, or social media traffic to their homepage. This is a huge missed opportunity. When you know a stream of targeted traffic will be coming to your website, you can increase the likelihood of converting that traffic into leads by using atargeted landing page.

 

For example, imagine you have a Google AdWords PPC ad running for one of your best keywords. Even if you advertise how great your company is (a boring offer for any company) and someone (amazingly) clicks through on that ad, do you want to send them to your homepage? When they land on your homepage, what are they supposed to do? What do you want them to do? Once you figure out what you want the visitor to do, make it easier for them to do just that. Send them to a landing page that prompts them to complete that action. You’ll see the effectiveness of your online marketing improve dramatically…”

 

…to be continued…

 

 

 

Contact us if you’re interested in creating a landing page. Have an awesome hump day!

 

 

  • Aug 31 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Inbound Marketing, Websites

Have a Rockin Lake Havasu City Website, Part IV

images (2)Good morning readers! Boo yah, it’s Saturday!

 

Welcome to the very last article featuring Hubspot’s cache of well-done homepages. Keep reading to see the rest of these easy to navigate, easy on the eyes pages.

 

 

“16 Brands That Totally Nailed Their Homepage Designs

 

…continued….

 

 

 

12) New Breed

New Breed’s website effectively balances its different buckets of content and presents it all in a well-organized, easily-digestible page.

 

 

 

new_breed

 

 

 

 

13) SilkTricky

Another example of content organized into visual tiles is SilkTricky. Notice the use of a carrot visual element (the white triangle in the text boxes) to unobtrusively connect the site’s text and visuals for the reader.

 

 

 

SilkTricky

 

 

 

 

14) Function Point

Function Point’s website maintains a consistent look and feel across all of its design elements. The site’s illustration, style, and choice of colors also help enhance the design and build a visual hierarchy.

 

 

 

FP

 

 

 

 

15) Woodwork

Despite the potentially overwhelming visuals on this page, clear navigation and layout (shown here) ensures that the user isn’t overwhelmed.

 

 

 

Woodwork

 

 

 

 

16) Quarter Rest Studios

This homepage is essentially one large slideshow paired with a simple top navigation. It gives the visitor a limited but useful set of options — presumably ideal for the magazine’s visual-based target market.

 

 

 

Quarter_Rest_Studios”

 

 

 

 

 

Weren’t these just the coolest ever? Does your business need a website with a homepage that will keep potential clients browsing? Give us a holler! And while you’re at it, ask about our current specials on inbound marketing campaigns and websites. Have a wonderful, safe, and stylish weekend.

  • Aug 28 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Websites

Have a Rockin Lake Havasu City Website, Part III

checkTop o’ the mornin’ to ya readers!

 

Keep reading to see more of Hubspot’s awesome examples of a well put-together homepage:

 

“16 Brands That Totally Nailed Their Homepage Designs

 

…continued…

 

 

8) JIB

A great use of a simple illustration, excellent complementary color palate, crystal clear copy, and a single call-to-action all combine to make this website’s homepage one of our favorites.

 

 

 

jib_edited

 

 

 

9) Galpin

The Galpin page uses typography to showcase its character. Notice that the page focuses less on graphics, and instead uses text to convey its messaging.

 

 

 

Galpin

 

 

 

10) Surf Right

Easy navigation and beautiful design can (and should) work together. An interactive slider and a well-organized set of tiles make this website easy to surf … hehe, get it? 😉

 

 

 

surf_right

 

 

 

11) Riley Cran

Here we see another appealing tile-based website design. Setting Riley Cran apart is the fact that the entire site is set within a single page — no scrolling necessary!

 

 

 

Riley_Cran

 

 

 

…to be continued…

 

 

 

Contact us if your business needs a new website or an inbound marketing campaign. Stay tuned for the final blog of awesome homepages this Friday!

  • Aug 26 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Websites

Have a Rockin Lake Havasu City Website, Part II

Cool-story_o_77666Good morning!

 

Welcome to Part II of our blog series featuring Hubspot’s article, 16 Brands That Totally Nailed Their Homepage Designs. Scroll down for more super awesome website examples.

 

…continued…

 

 

 

4) Collaborate

The layout of this website effectively handles several different user stories by presenting three different CTAs without them compete against one another.

 

 

 

collaborate

 

 

 

 

5)  Prezi

This page sets up a clear information hierarchy and thought sequence. Everything that you need to know is provided in a few pixels via a video, company tagline, and clear CTA. The video is also a smart addition if Prezi’s target audience wants more in-depth information.

 

 

 

prezi

 

 

 

6) Fanabee

This website uses parallax scrolling to deliver a unique user experience. Reaching out to “mega fans” on the banner also subtly conveys exclusivity, compelling the audience to click its CTA and see what’s behind the velvet rope.

 

 

 

Fanabee

 

 

 

7) Urban Bound

Putting the CTA front and center, as Urban Bound does here, is another great example of a web design that focuses its most important information in the center of the page.

 

 

 

urban_bound

 

 

 

…to be continued….

 

 

 

Contact us if it’s about time you had a website with a homepage that sells. Stick around for more!

 

  • Aug 24 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Websites

Have a Rockin Lake Havasu City Website, Part I

awesomeAnyone notice the letters on that meme are out of order? Hmm.

 

Anyhow, have you ever gone to a website and been like, “…..dang. that’s cool.”

 

Or, on the contrary, have you ever gone to a website and the first click you make is the backspace arrow right away because it is so a.) hard to navigate, or b.) awful to look at?

 

We have done both. But here at NSquared, we strive to make websites like the first one (the “….dang. that’s cool” one. Check out HubSpot’s article, 16 Brands That Totally Nailed Their Homepage, to get a peek at some totally rad webpages. Enjoy!

 

 

 

“16 Brands That Totally Nailed Their Homepage Designs

 

Homepages are the online version of a handshake at a networking event. At an event, you’ve gathered up the courage to approach someone else there to strike up casual conversion, and you’ve got one shot to make a great first impression: the handshake.

 

But there’s actually a lot more to the handshake than you might think. You have to be firm yet unaggressive, all while making eye contact, introducing yourself, and trying to remember the other person’s name (in addition to hoping your hands aren’t as clammy as they feel).

 

When it comes to your homepage, someone else has most likely been searching online and stumbled on your website. So your homepage has to be compelling enough to make them want to stay and interact with you (just like the handshake). This subsequent interaction may include exploring your “about us” page, or even converting into a lead via a call-to-action (CTA). Even though it seems simple — your homepage is just one page after all — making a solid first impression is key, and it’s not easy.

 

So how do you make sure your website has a great handshake? Although there is no one true formula for a solid homepage, you can start to see patterns in examples of really awesome ones. To help you see what I mean, here are 16 awesome homepage designs you can’t help but fall in love with:

 

 

1) Rezdy

Rezdy’s use of visual elements such as icons and arrows allow the company to clearly explain the purpose of its product without having to rely on heavy copy.

 

 

rezdy_edited

 

 

 

 

2) Jay Z’s Life+Times

If anyone knows how to entertain, it’s Jay Z. The eclectic nature of his personal website mirrors his real-life brand in this interactive tile-based homepage.

 

 

life_and_times

 

 

 

3) Sagmeister & Walsh

This page offers a truly unique way to address site navigation. Called augmented reality, each element on the floor can be clicked to advance the reader through the site, a visual that definitely sets it apart.

 

 

Sagmeister__Walsh

 

 

 

…to be continued…

 

 

Contact us if you need a website, inbound marketing, or even IT consulting. Stay tuned for Part II to catch some more awesome homepages. Until next time…dang, stay cool.

 

  • Aug 09 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Inbound Marketing, Websites

Promote Your Lake Havasu City Website – How to Boost Profits with Craigslist, Part I

craigslist_LogoHowdy readers!

 

Craigslist. We here at NSquared are almost positive you have heard of this website. But, did you know that this website can be an extremely beneficial tool for marketing your business and boosting profits? Check out, Marketing on Craiglist, below:

 

 

 

“Marketing Your Business on Craigslist

 

Learn how to showcase your products and services on this popular online marketplace.

From e-commerce websites to furniture wholesalers, small businesses both online and off are realizing the marketing power of Craigslist.org. Founded in 1996 by Craig Newmark, Craigslist.org gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day. With an online classified ads format organized by either region or city, Craigslist connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities; for the most part, posting on the site is free.

 

If you’ve never heard of Craigslist or never considered using the site to market your business, the following tips will help you determine whether it might be a good fit for you and offer another outlet for marketing your products and services.

 

What Sells Best on Craigslist

 

From services like tutoring, car repair and real estate to products such as wholesale furniture, consignment goods and retail e-commerce, Craigslist is the ultimate destination for online marketers. If you manufacture goods, provide services directly or sell products regionally, Craigslist is a marketing tool you should consider. You can also easily promote an eBay store, a franchise operation or a referral partner. And it’s a bourgeoning business opportunity for affiliates and webmasters looking for new ways to find customers.

 

 

Identifying Your Market

 

Like any other advertising medium, Craigslist requires some strategy, though paramount to its usefulness is simplicity. To start, you need to determine which city or cities you’re going to post an ad. If you’re a service provider, you can identify available cities on Craigslist that encompass your service region. Keep in mind that some regions overlap. For instance, if you’re a mobile groomer working in Orange County, California, but service from Los Angeles to San Diego, Craigslist reaches your service area across four cities. So you’d want to develop your messaging and a posting schedule in each of these regions to increase your exposure. If you sell a product or offer a service nationwide, the opportunity to reach new customers is even greater.

Posting on Craigslist, either nationally or locally, requires an understanding of the rules. Craigslist has in place–a set of rules that prohibits advertisers from over-posting or spamming users. You can follow these rules and still get excellent exposure. To start, develop unique ads for each city you post in, focus on specific products and rotate them on a promotional schedule. Never post the exact same ad within 48 hours, and be careful to delete your old ad. Craigslist users are quick to spot businesses that misuse the system and can be quite unforgiving. The Craigslist flagging system puts the power of spam control into the hands of the users.

 

 

Building Ads

 

Building an ad on Craigslist can be as simple as typing in some text, or you can incorporate html and images. Typically, what works best is the direct approach. For instance, if you’re a real estate agent using Craigslist to promote properties for sale, build a text ad that incorporates images of the properties for sale–you don’t need to know html to do this. Simply define what property specifications best sell the property and keep the sales pitch to a minimum. Be sure to include important search words, such as “three bedroom” or “condominium,” as well as regional identifiers including a ZIP code, city or community name. You do this so that people who search for specific items find you in the search results.

Craigslist’s search function isn’t based on a search algorithm; instead, search results are displayed first by date, then by keyword. This makes the text content of your ad extremely important. Ads with images only increase ad effectiveness. And adding images to your ad isn’t difficult. If you’re not web savvy, use the “upload image” function available during the posting process. (If you want to feature a large image or more than one, you’ll need to upload your images to your own web server and reference them inside your ad using basic html.) Images, however, are not required. Often the best performing ads on Craigslist are simple text ads that get straight to the point.”

 

 

 

…to be continued…

 

 

 

Contact us if you need inbound marketing, IT consulting, or an awesome website. Stay tuned for Part II on Monday. Until next time, stay groovy!

  • Aug 02 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Inbound Marketing, Newsletters, Websites

10 Quick Tips to Boost Sales Using Your Website

excessive-worry-blog-post-profit1Hey there NSquared readers.

 

Are you using your website to its full capacity? If you aren’t taking complete advantage of your website’s ability to boost sales, you should be! Check out, 10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales, below:

 

 

 

“10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

 

Your online shop is up and running and everything is ready for doing business. Now it’s time to get some action! Your shop needs to be beautiful and user-friendly, but if you want to boost sales and establish a loyal customer base, we have a few expert marketing tips that can help you get there.

 

 

1. Use a clear call to action button. There needs to be a sense urgency to encourage shoppers to seal the deal, like “Shop Now”, “Get Yours” or “Buy in 1-Click”.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

2. Add images or videos as product demos. This will help customers to already visualize your product as part of their lives.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

3. Include customer reviews and ratings of your products. This helps to establish your site’s credibility and creates an added sense of community.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

4. Make the payment process super smooth. The most deterring thing ever is if the final click to purchase does not go through for some reason and you have to select product and fill in all the billing information again.

 

 

5. Make customer service and customer loyalty a priority. Make sure that you are easily accessible for any questions or returns. Always stand behind your products, guarantee satisfaction and reward customers for their purchases.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

6. Highlight products by offering discounts or pointing out your shop’s “best-sellers” or most popular items.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

7. Make sure the added value of your store is clear. Shoppers need to see the benefit of purchasing your products. What is unique about your business? The answer to this question needs to be clear not only to you, but also to your customers.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

8. Create discount coupons and distribute them on social networks, on printed marketing material (flyers, newspaper ads) or to a mailing list of clients. Limit the amount of available coupons (“first 50 to use this coupon will get a 50% discount!”) or the duration (“a 48-hours sale starts now!”) to stir people up for a quick action.

 

 

9. Use more than one photo for each product. For instance, if you’re selling clothes you can upload an image of the clothing item on a white background but also a photo of a model wearing it.

 

 

10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

 

 

10. Set up a mailing list and keep customers updated on the newest merch, the latest deals or any other news bit that might get them to revisit your online shop.”

 

 

 

 

 

Contact us if your website needs a face lift (or you need inbound marketing), so you can take full advantage of your website and have a successful business. Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

  • Jul 31 / 2013
  • 0
Websites

Why Real Estate Agents Need Websites

SOLDGood morning NSquared readers!

 

Is it necessary for real estate agents to have websites? Absolutely! Check out, 3 Reasons Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Website, below:

 

 

 

“3 Reasons Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Website

 

 

 

Real estate is a field that is defined by you as the agent, but more specifically, by the way you conduct your business. It’s about individuality and making yourself both relevant and an important resource to your client base and the community as a whole.

 

 

With so many agents out there vying for a piece of the prospect pie, it’s easy to get overlooked by potential clients. In order to overcome this obstacle, you need to find a way to market yourself effectively. If your plan entails sending out mass mailers, or doing magazine ads, think again; the days of effective outbound marketing are fading fast.

 

 

Today, you need to turn your focus to inbound marketing and create an online presence with your website, social media marketing and blogging so you can naturally attract your target market.

 

 

 

 

1. Become A True Client Resource

 

 

The first step is to create your website, where your current, and prospective, clients can go to learn more about you and the services you offer. However, most agents make the mistake of doing only that and no more; in today’s competitive marketplace, you need to go beyond displaying your services. You need to use your website, blog and social media to become a valuable resource.

 

 

Your real estate website needs to embrace the technology available today and create a truly value-based experience for your visitors. They have to come away feeling that you are a true partner that can be counted on for the information they need to make the best decision. Adding online mortgage calculators, information about loan programs and access to all MLS listings (not only yours) will allow your website to become a valuable tool.

 

 

 

 

2. Solidify Your Personal Brand

 

 

You may argue that you do not need the added expense of a website since your broker or agency supplies you with one as part of employment, but nothing could be further from the truth. What happens if you leave that brokerage to branch out?

 

 

Personal branding in real estate is important. You need to set yourself apart from the competition. You don’t want to be lumped in with everyone else in the office on some generic website, otherwise what’s the benefit of the prospect choosing you over another agent in your office?

 

When you create your own website, you begin to brand yourself online. Your website is a direct reflection of you, your goals, and your services. No matter where you go, your name is your brand, and your clients will be able to find you.

 

 

Your real estate web design should include highlights of everything you personally bring to the table, in addition to other bits of information and services that directly tie in to your field of expertise. If you make your website a one-stop shop, why would your clients need to go anywhere else?

 

 

 

 

3. Become the Local “Go To” Agent

 

 

Having your own website also gives you an awesome advantage when it comes to targeting specific geographic areas. If there is a certain area of town that you are trying to focus on, you can easily integrate targeted keywords that represent that area of town into your website elements (url structure, page titles, content, etc.).

 

 

By integrating these specific keywords into your website, you are giving yourself a distinct advantage over your competition who is probably focusing on broader keyword targets. When a potential client begins to look at real estate in your target area of town, their is a greater chance that they will discover you. What’s even better is that your site will have information specifically about that area, so you will look like the “go to” agent.

 

In today’s real estate world, it’s all about becoming a resource for your clients, solidifying your personal brand, and staying relevant to your area of focus. Creating your own real estate site is the best way to secure all of these areas and maximize your potential to grow your business.”

 

 

 

 

Contact us if you would like a real estate website and start boosting your business. Until next time!

Pages:12›
Contact Us Today 928.566.5893 Contact us
Copyright Marshall's Computers