tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83584853024531187052011-12-27T03:35:25.753-08:00Website tips, trends, tools and insights for small businessesWebby Web Designnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358485302453118705.post-58873092747528684332011-09-12T21:29:00.000-07:002011-09-14T23:26:50.880-07:00<div><div>Many of my clients ask me about this tool - there are so many Facebook tools to use and they get confused and don't know what is best for them. So here is my explanation:</div><div> </div><div>'like' on Facebook - this is a link to the business page on Facebook for people to 'like' and follow. This used to be referred as 'become a fan' and now called 'like'. For this you will need to set up a Facebook Page for your business &amp; link form your website to your page using a Facebook approved icon.</div><div> </div><div>Facebook 'like' / 'recommend' / 'share': This is a great marketing tool as it allows visitors to your website to share your website with others (their Friends on Facebook). </div><div>Perhaps it is a hotel they are planing to stay at, a cafe they loved or a product/service they recommend. </div><div> </div><div>When setting up this tool you can choose from a few design options &amp; can choose the thumbnail image that will display (by including a link tag in your website code)<link rel="image_src" href="my_image.jpg"></div><div> </div><div>Hope this information helps to clear things a bit!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8358485302453118705-5887309274752868433?l=webbywebdesign.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Webby Web Designnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358485302453118705.post-34896908024385681032011-09-03T21:13:00.000-07:002011-09-03T21:17:20.194-07:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I come across so many web tools when developing sites so thought to put together a selection of my favorites and share them with you.</span> <br /> <br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >Online Forms</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Even if you have a contact form on your website you might like to add new forms to your website - for example collect customer data, registration of interest for a new product etc. These websites offer a simple form builder which can be linked or embedded to your website - again you can make changes to the form without using a CMS.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">www.formstack.com or www.formsite.com</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Event Registration / bookings</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This tool will help you with your event bookings - not only as a form but it will automatically send confirmations &amp; will help you monitor numbers.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">www.stickytickets.com.au or www.eventarc.com</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Online Surveys</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Want to ask your database of clients some questions? this will help you not only with the process but also analyse the results! It is free up to 100 responses with 10 questions. www.surveymonkey.com</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">E-Newsletters</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This great website is free up to 1000 subscribers, has professional templates &amp; powerful analytics to help you with your email campaign. They also have a good iPhone app which you can use to add subscribers &amp; monitor campaigns. www.mailchimp.com</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Document Sharing &amp; Storage</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">A great tool which will help you store your files online and access it form any computer or phone - you can always have access when &amp; where you need it. Great for business travel or for sharing large files with clients.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">www.dropbox.com</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Google Tools</span> <br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Google tools are great - not only free to use but also you can use the same account to access them all.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the most important ones you should have (if you don't already have one) is Google Analytics. This is essential in website analysis &amp; tracking and will help you with your marketing campaigns and monitors the traffic to your website.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Google Calendar is another great tool - create an online calendar, embed to your site &amp; update from anywhere (no CMS required).</span> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">YouTube and Google Picasa are also Google tools which will help you with sharing videos or photos on your site - again using your Google account with no CMS. </span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8358485302453118705-3489690802438568103?l=webbywebdesign.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Webby Web Designnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358485302453118705.post-74839487660540771122009-04-08T22:45:00.000-07:002011-09-03T20:02:16.345-07:00<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;">Getting good results in search engines is generally considered showing up in the first 2-3 pages. <br />You have to be realistic as there are millions and millions of sites out there all competing for the same keyword. <br />for example: if we search for the word "web design Melbourne" via google it tells me there are 335.000 results where 'W<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">ebby</span> Web Design' ranks 1st. <br />You may ask the principles for having a high ranking site , make sure your site is content rich with relevant information regarding your keyword, also importantly work on link building by forming strategic partnership with other providers/companies that link back to your website. Basically link building is like a popularity contest, google will rank your site much higher dependent on how many "cool/popular" sites link back to yours. <br />Some points to keep in mind; <br />1. Have realistic goals. </span> <br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;">2. Include text in your page that talks about the keyword you want the page ranked for.</span> <br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;">3. Get good quality links to your site.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8358485302453118705-7483948766054077112?l=webbywebdesign.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Webby Web Designnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358485302453118705.post-7455463554104420922009-04-01T23:10:00.000-07:002011-09-03T20:05:14.620-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iBaMjyiX_Ok/SdRZWzX3jWI/AAAAAAAAAGI/cNLsIZ8W1wQ/s1600-h/whyBlog.jpg"><img style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 10px; width: 300px; display: block; height: 100px; cursor: pointer; " id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319975308113710434" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iBaMjyiX_Ok/SdRZWzX3jWI/AAAAAAAAAGI/cNLsIZ8W1wQ/s400/whyBlog.jpg" /></a> <br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><div><span style="font-size:85%;">A blog is another marketing channel like a website, print and so on. <br />Each marketing channel delivers a different result; the kind you can expect from a blog is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups. A</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> few of the advantages of a business blog:</span></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"> <br />Customer Relationships</span></strong></div><a name="2"></a><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Blogs are a fast way to join the customers' discussions, provide tips and insights or receive feedback. <br /><strong></strong></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Become the Expert</strong></span></span><a name="1"></a></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Position yourself and your company as the thought leader of your business. <br /><strong></strong></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Test ideas or products</strong></span></span><a name="7"></a></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A blog is informal. It's part of a conversation where people (often) can comment, and the blog can provide you with a measure of value. Publish an idea and see if it generates interest. Does anyone link to you? What do they say? <br /><strong></strong></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Rank high in search engines</strong></span></span><a name="8"></a></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Google and other search engines rewards sites that are updated often, that link to other sites and most importantly, that has many inbound links. <br /><strong></strong></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Keep your customers updated:</strong></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;">A blog linked from your website is an easy way for you to keep your customers updated regularly without having to update your website for every little event. Once you accumulate a few things, it is good to transfer to your website. A blog is a good interim space for information in between website updates.</span></div> <br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A blog is very easy to create and update. You can create an account with a website like this one (</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;">www.blogger.com</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">), customise to look like your website using the same header, colors etc. All you need is to link your blog from your website. </span></span></div></span> <br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8358485302453118705-745546355410442092?l=webbywebdesign.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Webby Web Designnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358485302453118705.post-81220886044613765432009-03-30T19:40:00.000-07:002011-09-03T20:05:40.283-07:00Hi Everyone and welcome to my Blog! <br />In this Blog I will post information and news from Webby Web Design, new websites, offers &amp; information that might intrest you for your own website/business or as a friend! <br />I will also post some fun stuff (if I have time!) <br />Enjoy!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8358485302453118705-8122088604461376543?l=webbywebdesign.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Webby Web Designnoreply@blogger.com0