Small Business Design Resources

Get iPod Users Interested in Your Small Business

As the world becomes more and more reliable on technical gadgets, almost everybody you know has an iPod or iPhone or some tool to listen to their music or keep them on the web while on the go. More and more people are accessing the internet and your website with these devices. It’s not a bad idea to learn ways to keep this group of people interested in what you have to offer by catering to their choice of electronic devices.

Get Apps
Everybody who owns these iDevices crave apps! Applications are what make iPod users continue using these gadgets for more than just simple music, photo and media enjoyment. You can actually create an application yourself, or you could outsource if you feel you’re incapable. Either way, you can include an app in your small business design that allows visitors to download the application to access your website easily, with just the click of a button. You can also get very creative with apps. They don’t need to lead users to your website alone; they can also include some form of game to engage them. Free apps for your visitors are definitely a great choice for your website. You can search for tutorials to make your own applications or check out a variety of helpful videos on YouTube.

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When Written Content isn’t Enough

Any small business owner knows the importance of making a website that ranks well on major search engines. The hard part is knowing what will help us make our websites show up on the coveted first page of Google. You can apply all the SEO techniques that you know and still struggle to get a decent page rank. There are new and better ways to work on increasing website traffic and improving the search ability without just relying on words.

Slideshows

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Free Business Cards Design & Printing Giveaway

Congratulations to the following winners: Read more »

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Small Business Profile: Ellen Hart, Careerbags.com

(310) 491-1460	ellen@careerbags.com			www.careerbags.com

Tell us your story of why and how you decided to start your own business.
In 1990 I was unable to find a business case that fit my needs as a professional woman. I designed a collection and sold it to a major luggage company called Hartmann Luggage. I stayed involved in the sales and marketing of the collection for many years but eventually went on to create other products. Four years ago some of the retailers that I dealt with called and asked to have the collection redesigned and updated because there were no lines out there for women professionals and students. I researched the Internet and found some fantastic designers and decided that there were plenty of options out there but not one great place to find them all. I grabbed the domain name Careerbags and started my business a year later.

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Is It Time To Redesign Your Website?

I recently talked with a potential client whose entire website is based on Flash. Flash websites used to be extremely popular during the 1990s, but have since become pretty much obsolete, especially because it is very difficult to optimize these limited textual content websites for search engines. Take a look at this article to learn more about what is Flalsh and is it suitable for your business.

The client now wants a modern, content-rich, non-Flash website that search engine spiders can actually crawl. This is a very good reason to do a website redesign, which got me thinking about several more reasons why you should redesign your website.

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Small Business Website: Should You Use Your Own Name And Photo?

When working on your small business website design, one of the main questions you will need to answer is the question of your website’s identity. Assuming you are a small business, maybe even a one-person-shop, do you disclose this on your site, or do you pretend to be a bigger business than you really are?

This is one area where there are no hard and fast rules, and where either approach can work, so each business should do what feels right to them.

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How YouTube Can Benefit Your Small Business

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Quick Tip: Create a Newsletter to Stay in Contact with Your Users

Creating a newsletter gives you an opportunity to keep your business name fresh in your users/customers mind. Be sure to let your users know how often you will be sending them your newsletter so you won’t get complaints about SPAM. Keep the newsletter relevant to your company and provide useful information for your readers.

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Quick Tip: Include a Signature in Your Email

A signature is basically your contact information at the closing of your email message. A signature is a good way to show people how and where you can be reached. Be sure to include your name, phone, website and social media connections if available.

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Can email marketing target a specific geographic location?

In one of my previous posts, I talked about how geotargeting – targeting specific geographic areas – can be a great marketing technique for small business owners. I’ve also talked about the importance of email marketing and building an email list from scratch, which isn’t nearly as intimidating as many people think. Many of you have been wondering if there’s a way to put these two marketing techniques together—can you target a specific location using email marketing?

This is a great question, and the answer is yes. You can – and in some cases should – use geotargeting for your email marketing campaigns. There are many email marketing situations where it’s helpful to target specific locations: Read more »

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