:::: MENU ::::

Marshall's Computers

Posts Tagged / business

  • 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 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 21 / 2013
  • 0
Uncategorized

How These CEO’s Made it to the Top

ceoBig dreams of being a bigwig business owner? Check out mashable’s article below!

 

“How 12 Business Leaders Got to the C-Suite

 

 

Facebook‘s Sheryl Sandberg worked for the U.S. Department of Treasury. IBM‘s Virginia Rometty was president of her sorority. Virgin‘s Richard Branson didn’t fancy school.

 

We may not know what it’s like to be worth billions of dollars or be chosen as Fortune‘s #1 most powerful businesswoman, but we can certainly learn from these C-suiters’ paths to the top — and hey, at least dropping out of college doesn’t preclude you from immense success.

 

Check out the infographic below to learn what these 12 business movers and shakers did to get to the C-suite. What do you think of their paths, and how do they compare to yours? Tell us in the comments.

 

 

 

Path to the C- Suite

 

 

Mashable Infographic, images: Andrew Burton/Getty Images, Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Will Ollver/AFP/GettyImages, Kim White/Getty Images, Mario Tama/Getty Images, Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images, Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch, Jordan Naylor/WireImage, Fernando Leon/Getty Images for TIME, Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images, Kris Connor/Getty Images, and Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

 

 

 

Contact us if you need IT consulting, a fresh website, or inbound marketing. If you want to be a bigwig, you’ve gotta get the word out. Until next time, stay classy NSquared readers!

  • 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!

  • Jul 26 / 2013
  • 0
Websites

How a Bad Website Harms Your Business

bad-website-acBonjour readers!

 

Welcome to our last article for our “website week”. We have now provided you with two articles explaining what a good website can do for your business. But, what about a bad one? Check out, 4 Ways a Bad Website Can Harm Your Business, below:

 

 

 

 

 

“4 Ways A Bad Website Can Hurt Your Business

 

 

 

In my 10-years of building websites primarily for small businesses I’ve seen a wide variety of different perspectives on the importance of a business website. Many small business owners do realize the impact their website can have in the growth of their business. Some even see the potential for their website to be a direct revenue generator with ecommerce. But there are others who either don’t see that potential, or don’t understand how to take their website to the level where it becomes a positive driver of business growth.

 

Today I want to look at the negative aspects of having a bad website. Because we know that out of the millions upon millions of websites out there, at least a few of them qualify as “bad”. And a few million are “really really bad”. So if you know your website is bad, what does that really mean from a business perspective? What are you losing, what is the cost?

 

 

1.) Loss of Professional Image. Your website is responsible for the first impression of your business with a significant number, if not all of your prospective clients. So what does your website say about how your business presents itself? A bad website is one that says bad things about the business. It’s like hiring a salesperson, and having them dress poorly or act poorly on sales calls for your business. But that analogy is really not strong enough because at least you might be able to excuse the performance of 1 salesperson. But your website represents your whole business. The visitor to your website has every reason to believe that every word, every image, every aspect of the site was directed and approved by the leadership of the company. Bottom-line is that a bad website equals bad company. That may not be the truth about your business, but it will definitely be the perception in the minds of most website visitors.

 

2.) Lost Sales. The loss of professional image we mention here as the first cost of a bad website leads into this second effect which is lost sales. Obviously visitors who are “turned off” by your website presentation will be more likely to leave without a purchase or without making contact. This can be seen in metrics such as bounce rate, and low conversions on calls-to-action on the website. Lost sales can also occur simply because on a bad website a visitor simply might not get the information they need to make a purchase. Maybe they are searching for some details about a product or service you sell, but they don’t find it quickly so they leave to a competitor site. Even a website with a good design, can be a bad site in terms of providing functionality and access to information.

 

3.) Lost Customers. More often than ever before a website is not just involved in pre-sales or used as a marketing tool. Now the website might also be the portal where clients access their account, review work, or any number of other service options such as support. If your business uses its website in this way, that is generally a positive step forward. But if you have a bad website, it can be a fast way to losing existing customers. Once customers rely on your website for some aspect of service delivery, it has to perform otherwise they will be much more likely to leave to a competitor that has an edge.

 

4.) Lost Opportunity. Although the first 3 ways a bad website can hurt your business are big, this one might be even bigger in terms of dollars and cents. Every business has the potential to use their website to drive business growth. Many also have the potential to develop ecommerce in one form or another. A business with bad website will not reach its full potential to use digital marketing and its sales and growth will suffer directly as a result. In some businesses, especially start-ups, the lost opportunity is the entire business. If your trying to compete in a marketplace where your competition makes sales faster and at lower cost using online marketing, while your battling for leads using expensive traditional media, that could be enough to put your business in the ground completely.

 

 

So what happens to a business once their bad website has sucked away their professional image, their sales, their customers and their future opportunity? Well I can tell you one thing this does not do, and that is help make the business a thriving success! You can be sure that when you see a business with a bad website that is still doing just fine, it’s only despite their website and not because of it. And if you are starting a new business today, realize that as a new entrant to a market the ability to retain customers at a reasonable cost and to develop a positive business image is even more critical than for a long-established competitor.

 

 

Here is the good news I want to close this post with if you are in business today. Remember that if every website was good, or better than good, that would set the bar awfully high for you. And you would need to develop something exceptional just to compete. In reality the abundance of low quality, bad websites actually makes digital marketing easier. If you focus on producing a high quality site chances are you will jump ahead of at least 60-70% of competitors in your market. ”

 

 

 

 

 

Here at NSquared we hope you enjoyed our “website week”. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. And let us know if you need a stellar, high-quality website! Have a fantastic, safe weekend. Until next time!

  • Jul 24 / 2013
  • 0
Websites

The Importance of a Professional Website For Your Business, Part II

artGood morning!

 

Monday we showcased an article explaining why it is so important for your business to have a high-quality website. Today’s featured article is along those same lines, but focuses specifically on the importance of an aesthetically-pleasing website. Check out, Why it is Important to Have a Good Looking Website, below:

 

 

 

 

 

“Why it is important to have a good looking website

 

 

 

When it comes down to the visual principles of a website design, you have to make sure that your website’s aesthetics reflects the way you want your business to be showcased.

 

 

 

Having a website that reflects a negative image of your business can remove any chances of your website’s future success. If your website looks remotely un-appealing to the user, it’s highly unlikely that the user will remain optimistic and not judge the rest of the content your website has to offer. In other words, they will probably move onwards to other websites; most likely your competitor.

 

Take this comparison as an example.

 

Imagine that your website is a rental property due for inspection. The tenants have made sure that their entire property is free from mess, clutter and looks overall rather neat. They do this in order to give the notion that they are reliable and decent tenants that can handle the responsibility of looking after a property. The inspector judges and makes an evaluation whether they make the cut.

 
This goes the same for website design.

 

The owner of the website (tenant) must make sure that their website looks professional, clean and, overall, is functional for the delivery of its content. The user (inspector) makes an evaluation on your site from the very instance they click on the link to get there. This can take a matter of seconds before the user decides to stay and browse your website or to check out other sites (your competition).

 

The ways to avoid this conundrum is to simply make your website reliable, professional and easy on the eyes. Remember that your website is an online portal for your users to experience an insight to your business. This experience is what it all comes down to. If an Inspector has a negative experience evaluating a rental property by witnessing messy lounge rooms, cluttered dishes in the sink and perhaps native wildlife eating leftovers from the bin; it’s a no brainer on what the inspector will do next.

 

You simply have to give your users a pleasant experience as they view your website. If you provide your users entertainment through relevant content, supply comfort with an overall attractive aesthetic and offer an ease of use functionality, you will see your online business become a grand future success. Catering for your users through these methods is the only way to guarantee this, after all your users are doing you the favour by initially clicking your link; it’s only polite to give back.”

 

 

 

Make sure your website makes people want to stay! Be a good business tenant, contact us, and ensure that your potential customers and clients get to look at an eye-pleasing website. Until next time!

  • Jul 19 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Social Media

10 Reasons Your Business Should Tweet, Part II

twitter-newspaper-oWelcome to Part II! Check out the rest of the list from, 10 Reasons Your Business Should Use Twitter:

 

 

 

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

 

…continued…

 

 

 

5. News

 

 

You can also give latest updates on twitter about your company by tweeting. Here is one done by JetBlue Airways on their twitter account @jetblue

 

 

6. Give away coupon codes and promotions

 

 

You can also tweet about new deals and coupons codes to help give your company the extra boost. What everyone love include me is getting a good deal. Weather its a promotional lunch set, if its cheap. I want it. Here is  a tweet on Dell is doing it.

 

 

 

For me you don’t have to be like dell in order to do this. You can have a normal business as well. If you have a restaurant and you have build loyal or new followers in your place you can send out tweet like “Having a special set lunch this weekend.” or something like that. They can tweet you for more information regarding that. I am going to teach you how you can get local twitterers.

 

 

7. Twitter is Viral

 

 

If you’ve have succeeded gaining some popularity with your twitter account you will know how viral twitter can be. This will be part of your marketing strategies that you can use in the future. Dell have succeeded in making their tweets viral with their promotion tweets.

 

 

8. Spying on competition

 

 

Did you know you can spy on competition too? Best part about this and spying on customers is that its FREE using twitter search. You can not only read what customers are talking about you but you can also read what customers are talking about your competition. If your competition is not doing anything with their customers complaints. Then what happens if you (the savior) suddenly tweet them “hey I heard you have a problem with…..” Just an example.

 

 

9. Increase Sales

 

 

Twitter can help you increase sales and make PROFIT. Dell is one of the company that have increase their sales on twitter. How much sales? Imagine $6.5 million in sales as reported at mashable

 

 

10. Brand loyalty

 

 

At the end of the day, once you have engaged, helped your customers (your followers) on twitter. They will be loyal to your brand for a long time. This will be talked more in the future post.”

 

 

 

Pretty awesome reasons, eh? We sure think so. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. Have a safe weekend, and stay cool NSquared readers!

  • Jul 17 / 2013
  • 0
Articles, Social Media

10 Reasons Your Business Should Tweet, Part I

twitter-marketingBonjour intellectuals! Are you at the cross street of Marketing Avenue and Twitter Street? No? You should be!

 

Monday we showcased an article explaining why twitter is beneficial for your business. Well today and Friday we are going to do a two part series featuring, 10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter. The list begins now:

 

 

 

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

 

 

 

If you don’t know, companies have already started using twitter as it is the new way to promote, connect and brand a company. In my last post I mentioned if your company is not using twitter then your company is going to miss out be crushed.

 

 

So why bother using twitter for your business? Even twitter themselves know about the power of using twitter for business that they’ve set up a special twitter 101. Here is what twitter says

 

 

 
Here are reasons that I’ve came up.

 

 

1. Connecting with customers

 

 

This is the  main reason why you should use twitter for your business. You will be able to connect with your customers because they themselves are using twitter. Twitter has become a daily routine where people log onto it every single day, some log onto twitter the first thing they wake up even before brushing their teeth. If you have an unsatisfied customer you will hear them on twitter. This will help your company to help them. On the coming days I’ll be going deeper about how you can “spy” on tweets using free tools like twitter search.

 

 

2. Branding

 

 

You don’t have to be a big brand like Dell, Nike, Starbucks to brand yourself on twitter. You can be an average joe and brand yourself on twitter. For me if your company is not recognize then you need to get a PERSONAL account. Why? Firstly nobody want to talk to a LOGO unless its a famous brand. Everyone wants to connect with a person and not a bot.

 

 

3. Customers feedback

 

 

Once you have connected with your customers you will for sure be getting feedback on how you can improve your product, your services and maybe even improve your customers service. Listening to them will help you in the future.

 

 

4. Marketing

 

 

One of the reasons to use twitter is you get to market your product or services to more people and the best part about that is its FREE. You don’t have to pay (Unless if you plan to hire someone to run your twitter account).”

 

 

 

…to be continued…

 

 

 

 

 

Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. Be sure to stick around for the last of the list this Friday!

  • Jul 15 / 2013
  • 0
Articles

How Twitter Can Help Your Business

Tweet-Dork-Bird-210x188It’s true folks. Twitter is not just good for socializing. Check out, How Twitter Can Help Your Business, below (from the Twitter peeps themselves):

 

 

 

“How Twitter Can Help Your Business

 

Connect your business to what people are talking about right now.

 

 

 

With 400 million Tweets a day and 200 million active users, people turn to Twitter to bring them closer to the things they care about, whether it’s the news that affects their lives or the businesses down the block.

 

 

Connect in context.

 

 

On Twitter, people talk about what they care about and what’s happening around them right now, including your business. This gives you powerful context to connect your message to what’s most meaningful to your customers in real time. Engaging with real-time Tweets can influence conversations in a way that can help build your business.

 

 

Listen and learn.

 

See what your competitors are tweeting about or search for industry keywords to listen and gather market intelligence. It’s an easy way to get insights that you can use to inform your strategy.

 

 

Grow and succeed.

 

 

Want to grow your business, run exciting promotions, strengthen your brand and engage with your customers? Great! Twitter Ads can amplify your efforts in these areas and more.

 

 

Learn more about Twitter Ads

 

 

Learn from others.

 

 

See how these businesses used Twitter to drive transactions, connect with customers and grow.

 

 

 

Stick around this week to learn more about the benefits of Twitter for your business. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. Until next time, keep tweeting!

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