The first crucial step to building a successful website

What really goes into building a website?

Prizm's website

What a loaded question!  While it may appear that certain websites you visit are just simple, straightforward pages, you might be surprised to know that the planning and development that goes into creating those seemingly simple pages is actually quite in depth.

It could even be stated that building a website is much like building a house.  Once the foundation has been poured, and the framing is done, it becomes a far more complicated task to add to, remove from, or dramatically change the layout.  In fact, if the changes are too demanding, it would be best to demolish what you’ve started, and begin once again from the ground up.

Mobile Apps vs. Mobile Sites

One of the first and toughest questions any business wanting to have a mobile presence asks is “Do I create a mobile app or a mobile site for my business?”  If you can afford to do both – great!  If not, then let me offer few reasons as to why I think mobile sites are the way to go (right now.)

Social Media and SEO

Many of our clients are confused about social media. Is it just a fad? Doesn’t it represent a casual or unprofessional environment? How will this help our business?

Many social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, flickr, MySpace, Last.FM, blogs, SlideShare, digg, and more exist in the corporate world.

Allow me to tackle just one facet of the many benefits of corporate social media pages: Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

How much do keywords matter?

My husband and I have always been sticklers for doing research before making any kind of major purchase.  From cars to appliances to electronics, it is important to know that you will be getting the most for your money before committing to spending it.  While it hasn’t been that long ago that we had to go to our local library to peruse the latest copies of Consumer Reports for information, now one has to go only as far as the closest computer with an internet connection to learn everything pertinent to making an informed buying decision.

A while back, I thought I had done my due diligence before making a major purchase – so much that even Dave Ramsey would have been proud!  I actually spent 4 months doing research in my spare time, before making the final choice, which was based on my research.  Here’s where it gets interesting:  I have had quite a lot of trouble with this product, even though everything I read raved about the item in question.  Did I get a “lemon”?  Or was all of my research bogus?  What did I do wrong?!

I continued to contemplate these questions, until it finally occurred to me that every time I did a new search for information, I always used “reviews” in my search.  So, I decided to try an experiment. 

Do you HootSuite?

Your business is probably on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a slew of other social media applications. So how do you keep all of these profiles in check?

Mobile Websites

It is estimated that there are nearly 50 million Web-enabled cell phones, changing the face of how we surf the Internet.

Smart phone owners know the annoyance of browsing the web on that tiny screen. It isn’t easy to navigate when you constantly have to zoom in and out to see where you are and where you need to go. Buttons and graphics galore, even the tidiest of websites can look like a mess on a mobile browser. Not to mention, downloading a full site takes forever.