Here is a quick look at Google's company history in about 2 minutes.

 

You've realized the importance and value of your business having a great online presence. Now you're faced with the question of how best to make that a reality.

You want to keep costs down but you need to present a professional, credible image to your prospects and customers. In general you have two options. Hire a custom web design company or use an out-of-the-box website template. Below are some pros and cons of both options that can help you make the best decision for your particular situation and needs.

Custom web design and development pros:

1. Unique design. A professional web design company will create a design specifically for you. Your website will be different from anyone else's.
2. Built search engine friendly. Most professional web designers not only understand aesthics but also what actually makes the Internet and search engines work. Using a custom web design company should improve your chances of success in the search engines.
3. Adaptability. By definition, a custom developed website will be fitted and targeted for your company's specific needs and goals.
4. Compatibility. Your website should look and work just fine in any of the several most popular web browsers.
5. Scalability. Not everyone gets everything they want right away. A professional web design company can help you create a plan for starting on time and within budget but still add version 2 and 3 features down the road without starting all over again.
6. Customizable. They should be able to build whatever you can dream as far as your website's functionality.
7. Technology. Professional web designers use programming software that will be around and supported for many years to come instead of using less costly but uncertain platforms.
8. Ownership. Typically using a professional web design company is a contract for hire relationship, which means when they're done you should own everything outright.
9. Experience. They didn't become professionals overnight and have usually completed many different types of projects. You can benefit from this experience by asking quesitons about options and their opinions on how best to accomplish certain goals.

The downfalls of using a custom web design company are:

1. The overall price will probably be more than using template software
2. It may take a little longer to get your site from concept to live online
3. You're dealing with people. This means personalities and customer service will come into play (although this could exactly be a positive thing as well)

Website templates can be useful for:

1. Cost. You have a very minimal budget but for some reason just have to have something, anything online
2. Time. Your website needed to be up yesterday and you can't wait another day.
3. DIY. You like to do whatever you can yourself but just can't code. Templates can let you do it yourself without the need to know any programming languages.

The negatives to using website templates are:

1. Lots of other people will have the same look and feel
2. You will be limited in what you can customize and the features and functionality you can add to your site
3. Some website templates are not built search engine friendly
4. Some website templates are not build compatible with all the popular web browsers
5. Do it yourself means just that. So if you ever get too busy to make necessary changes or updates to your website then they just never get done
6. Most websites templates require their smaller fees to be paid forever. You may own the domain name but in essence you just rent your website from them. If you ever stop paying their monthly or annual fee then you'll no longer have a website online.

The right choice between these two options really depends upon your business needs and goals. As with most things, you get what you pay for. But regardless which method you choose, a great online presence that gets found in the search engines, stands out from the crowd to your prospects and customers, and allows them to interact with your company like they and you want is a great asset that really adds value to your business. 

Little Rock, Arkansas web design firm, 1011 Web Solutions, announces the launch of a new website for The Toggery.  The new online store offers stylish baby, girl and boy clothes that are unique and high quality.  In addition, The Toggery offers school uniform programs for schools across Arkansas and the country plus they have a great line of children shoes, accessories, books and toys.

For over 60 years The Toggery has offered Arkansas parents and schools both performance and style for their children's clothing at great prices and with a 100% product satisfaction guarantee.  Now the most honored children's boutique in Little Rock is opening their online doors to bring the customer service that has kept them in business since 1948 to online parents and schools everywhere.

Web services provided by 1011 Web for The Toggery include custom web design and development, ecommerce, online marketing and website hosting. 

Little Rock, Arkansas web design firm, 1011 Web Solutions, announces the launch of a new website for Mountain Valley Spring Water.  The new site offers simplier and more targeted navigation and showcases the company and product's high quality, commitment to the environment and where you can find healthy bottled spring water that meets your needs.

Since 1871, Mountain Valley has been America's premium bottled spring water and a badge of pride for Arkansas.  No other bottled water has the taste and quality of their natural spring water, proven by the fact they have twice received awards for the best-tasting water in the world.  In addition to offering healthy bottled water, Mountain Valley also is a leader in using recycled packaging and creating sustainable, environmental friendly operations throughout their production and distribution processes.

Web services provided by 1011 Web for Mountain Valley Spring Water include custom web design and development, online marketing and website hosting.

The word on the street is that Microsoft’s new and rebranded search engine, Bing, wants to be a decision engine that serves up websites based more on quality content and information that people can use.

Right off, the first benefit of Bing that I see is that it can be used as a verb. It’s easier to “Bing” a question than “live” or “MSN” a question. This may make it easier to say, but I doubt Bing will ride a wave of popularity based on its name the way Google has.

Some SEO folks are expecting a shake-up of sorts, and perhaps there will be some over time. Bing is making a valiant effort to help people organize search results into categories rather than bouncing in and out of random search results in Google. Other search engines may follow suit, although Google Universal Search already categorizes local businesses, images, and videos and has been doing this for some time now.

Personally, I think nothing has really changed in the world of web development.  As a web design company, we are still focused on one thing and one thing only. Your bottom line!  We strive to build websites that answer your visitor’s questions and provoke them to buy something or contact you for more information.

Search engine rankings make a huge impact on your bottom line. But it’s not like MSN controls a huge portion of the search space now, and I doubt people will readily break their Google habit anytime soon. Google is still where it is at. If changes are to come in SEO, they will be slow.

My SEO recommendations haven’t changed for Bing. Focus on quality content writing and don’t bother trying to game the system to rank higher. Of course there are complicated rules that all search engines want you to follow. All search engines have the same goal, retrieve quality content for people looking for answers.

If you have questions, we can help you better understand these search engine rules, and help you write compelling content that pleases your website visitors as well as improve your search engines.

Not many places are better at connecting people than the Internet.  In a relatively short amount of time someone can find and make deep, quality connections with their target audience.  Whether it's about selling products, promoting a cause, spreading an idea or whatever else, the ones who find and connect others become leaders.

Here's a good video with Seth Godin discussing tribal leadership in the new world.

Apple's app store is about to hit the one billion download mark.  Just think of how much we've all personally helped prove Steve Jobs a genius!  But regardless your feeling towards Apple, they are a consistent example of how powerful something can be when it's targeted correctly and made available in a form people will actually use.  There's no freakin box for Steve to get out of because he's making the darn things. 

While we haven't had the pleasure of working with Apple just yet, 1011 Web is a media agnostic marketing company in Little Rock that's helping some businesses in Arkansas and outside the state create their own little iWorlds.  And we build some pretty kickawesome websites along the way too!

To celebrate their billionth download Apple is giving away some nice products.  Here's a link to the no purchase entry form: Apple Countdown Sweepstakes.  Do me a favor, even if you don't like Apple go register at least once and just use my name.

“Google publishes a whole lot about how to make your site show up as much as possible. If people haven't taken action on it, that's their own fault."

That is one person’s opinion from this article about the backlash many major media companies have agianst Google. These media giants, such as ESPN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal are taking aim at Google over search results that don’t give them the front row seat that they are used to.

Google has had much success based on their approach of not catering to the status quo. Instead, they leave it up to people to choose the relevance of their content. They do this in large part through a voting process based on internet linking, along with many other factors.

Maybe I can see how the media giants take issue with certain search results such as the "Gaza" example given in the article. But, I believe they are making claims based on too broad of a keyword example. Searchers have become more proficient with their searches, and a generic keyword such as “Gaza” doesn’t necessarily have to return a bunch of news articles published by the New York Times and WSJ.

Google may not publicize its ranking algorithm, but they do explain in great detail what you can do to make your website rank higher for particular keywords. Media giants may feel they don’t have to play by the same rules since they are so well known and established, but small business owners certainly don’t have this luxury.

A new business just launching a website for the first time has to work even harder on its online marketing than another established local business, making it that much more difficult for their newly launched website to appear in Google’s search results. Many of these business owners are asking themselves the same question: “Do I have the time and expertise to work on my website to move it to the first page of Google for keywords related to my business?”

The playing field still may not be totally level, but Google at least gets us pretty close to it.

My consumption of public news would never be considered higher than average.  However, I believe something interesting happened in 2008 that I never caught a glimpse of until now (of course it probably just got lost in all the election hype).  Google indexed its TRILLIONTH web page.  Here's a New York Times article that was recently sent to me.

Most of us have trouble at grasping that number.  It's OK, we're all human.  Here are some pictures that put it in perspective.  Warning: these images may also shed some unwanted light onto just how much our country is spending on bailouts!

That's a dude standing next to a stack of $100 bills totaling one million dollars, $1,000,000 (isn't that guy on American Idol this year?)

  That's the same stylish dude standing next to $100 bills on a standard pallet totaling one hundred million dollars, $100,000,000

That's our boy (bottom left corner) standing next to $100 bills totaling one trillion dollars, 1,000,000,000,000

Those pictures make an impact.  Combine that with the Times article research about search engines still not even scratching the surface on the true amount of data that's on the Web.  The only logical conclusion is "dag gum there be A LOT of websites out dare"!  And we would agree.  (Hopefully you also imagined that last statement being said by some long lost Vulcan hillbilly cousin of Spock's like I did when writing it)

Everyday the importance of having a website becomes more of a given while the importance of getting your website found sharply rises.  It's an awfully deep well.  How is your message going to get seen or heard amongst all the clutter and noise?

1. Professional image.  Just because it can be easy to initially get online doesn't mean throw your branding in the trash.  If your website looks homemade or half-hearted then that's how YOU are coming off to your visitors.  Well done website design and development is the first step in setting you apart.  (Hasn't this always been true with the TV, paper and other types of advertising you see?)
2. Search engine optimization (SEO).  That's the fancy term for getting your site to rank high in the results for the words people type into search engines.  There are basic fundamentals you should do for this.  A lot of these are FREE (i.e. they take time but you don't have to drop any quarters in the Google machine).  I've got a pizza in the oven so I won't go into specifics right now.  But, at least do the basics.
3. Search engine marketing (SEM).  People who would be interested in your website are online, even if they're not searching for or coming to your website.  Search engine marketing is about going out, finding those people and getting them to the site.  It's not too unlike online cold calling.  So whether it's viral video, social networking, pay per click, etc. you're going out to get the traffic.

These aren't new or life altering revelations.  However I do speak to a lot of business owners who need help with even these very basic fundamentals.  So they're at least worthy of a blog post.

If you need any assistance with these please let us know.  Now I'm off for a slice of pepperoni.

Many of our clients decide to include a blog on their website after discussions we have during the planning stages that informs them of the value of a blog. They learn how a blog can give you a way to interact with your visitors as an authority on a particular subject, grow your website over time, and increase the relevance of your website by providing valuable information about your business.

However, I’m finding that many business owners are having a difficult time actually writing content in their blog. Some of these blogs are devoid of information and abandoned with outdated articles. I’m searching for ways to inspire new bloggers to find their true internal voice and overcome whatever obstacle it is that is holding them back.

When I first began to blog for another company, the older guys in the sales department mocked the idea. The mere mention of the word “blog” seemed funny to them, provoking a smile when they uttered the word. Maybe this was because of the perception of a blog that derives from individuals using them as their online diary. Or, perhaps it is the wannabe journalist who vents his frustrations about the government, corporations, or anything under the sun that rubs him the wrong way that causes some people to “miss the boat” on the value of blogging. That blog I created became less of a joke when it began to produce more online leads than what they produced out in the town “shaking the bushes” and expensive email marketing campaigns.

Just Be Yourself and Write

Once a week I meet with a group of business owners in my city. In this group, one person each week gets to speak about their business for 10 minutes so other members of the group can learn more about what they do and help find leads. One week the person scheduled to speak was running late, so we asked for a volunteer to speak without being prepared to present for 10 minutes. One guy volunteered and said something that every business owner who blogs should think about. He said, “I’ll present this week. Heck, if I can’t talk for 10 minutes about my business, then I shouldn’t be in business.”

Find your real voice, and don’t get caught up trying to invent sales spin or uptight talk. There are a lot of guides to blogging online that give you Top 10 things to do, or generic anecdotes for blog writing. Just interact with your visitors in a way that provokes questions, further inquiry, or keeps them coming back to read more.

Just be yourself and talk about your business through your blog in an informal voice for at least 10 minutes each week. Pretend you are talking with someone in an elevator, another parent at your child’s baseball game, or any setting that doesn’t sound like a sales pitch. 

If you are struggling for stuff to write about, then think back to why you are in business. Think about the passion you have about your services and value you provide to your customers. I guarantee you will find quality content stuck in your mind that will benefit the readers of your blog.