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Which piece of the price chart would you like?

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As a small business we are always looking to shape-up our business and try new ideas that we put into practice. Recently we decided that we needed to provide a better understanding of pricing for the websites and blogs we design, develop, and or implement. Instead of just providing one option to small, medium, and large sized organizations, we decided to offer a wide variety of options to choose from that will fit your business goals.

Starting the Conversation at a Price Point

From the options we are offering start from $399 to $7999.99 on up. As you go up in price, there are more details that are enhanced, added, created, and customized for your web or blog to function as people search for your services.

There are small companies and organizations that still don’t know why they are not attracting new clientele.

How can you stand out amongst all of the companies that provide the same service as you?

By providing new customer’s a place to read more about your customer service accolades, how you have been recognized by your peers in your specific industry, and what new services or products you will be able to provide for them in the coming year.

We invite you to take a look at our new pricing chart and give us your feedback on where we can start off for your specific needs.

Compare Features & Pricing

$399+
$599+
$999+
$1,999+
$4,999+
$7,999+
Home Page
SEO Enhanced
PHP
Blog & RSS Feed
Unlimited Blog Posts
Content Editor
Newsletter Set Up
Sharing Via Social Outposts
WordPress or other CMS
Unlimited Pages
Creation of Social Outposts
Periodic Backups
Editorial Calendar
Custom Art Design
Professional Photographer
Customized Mobile Site
E-Commerce
Content Creation
Logo Creation
Multi-Language

Shape up your business for 2012!

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It is a new year and during this month we know that many people will be making resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, become organized, and enhance their personal lives in all sorts of positive ways.

Resolutions?

What resolutions will you make for your small to medium sized business or organizations for this New Year?

Every business should have a need to re-organize and re-structure for the new year.  Setting company goals for individuals who help run your business is something that should always be done but more importantly to provide focus to those employees on what you expect of them in the coming year.

As a previous employee for companies like Perkin Elmer LLC and Pitney Bowes we had our performance reviews.  In the case of Perkin Elmer, we actually wrote down what we wanted to learn and achieve for the coming months and years. It was up to us in being proactive with our short-term and long-term business goals. Proactive employees means successful projects for the upcoming year translating into a healthier business environment.

Shape Up Your Business

How do small and medium sized companies help shape their business? 

If you still don’t have a website, or feel the one you have is not living up to your audience’s expectations, make sure you get one made by professionals you can trust. The team and I are ready to help small and medium sized companies with enhancing their web presence by starting with a current state assessment of where your business is and how they are using the internet to market services.

Another way you can shape up the company is by looking at your current marketing strategies. If your company needs help with marketing strategies we can provide detailed recommendations and observations of what is being done well or even better yet  identifying areas that need enhancements to meet current business goals and assure the best quality services.

Consulting with our team regarding the content of your website can also help you reach new clients and also put the spotlight on your management and resources while highlighting their expertise and how they can help new and returning clients.

As I have stated before, attracting clients with quality content is important and when it comes directly from your organization it shows that they you are committed towards creating better relationships with your clients and audience.

How has your company started shaping up for this year? How are you involving your resources (employees, management, and staff) to meet those goals?

Photo Credit by by eclipseGrafx

 

 

 

 

Websites not just your home for the holidays

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As the holidays approach us we see many people creating content about celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas Giveaways, and Christmas Cookie Recipe Bake-offs. Everyone wants to create a list of the Top 10, Top 50, Top 100 blogs, websites, and influential people of the year to drive those people mentioned to the source that names them. What better way to get people to visit your website than mentioning them as the best at a specific genre?

Where are you  announcing your events or latest news? What about your holiday party that your company or organization will be hosting as you invite your community of readers and members to join you?

I see many folks using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google + to make sure everyone reads their holiday experiences. But these networks shouldn’t be your main source of imparting information to your clients or community members. What would happen if these social networks all of a sudden stopped working? How are you going to get information to your readers if you are solely making social networks your home?

Networks and Platforms Should Complement Your Website

Your company needs to make sure that these networks compliment your website which should be your home everyday and not just for the holidays. What we do for our customers at CIMA is create a website that you can call your home.

A Place Where People Can Find You

When customers look for your company or organization, they are going to see if there is a website first. These days one of the first questions we ask people we encounter who state they are a small to medium sized business or organization is the name of their website. It amazes me how many companies don’t have a permanent home where customers can learn more about their product and services.

If you are a small to medium sized business, you need to make sure you have a website to let people know that your brand exists. We also see the other side where small to medium sized companies have a website but it is deadspace or looks outdated. Information has not been updated and the commitment to create content just isn’t there. At CIMA we have created content for our customers. But who knows your business better than you?

One of our clients, RomyBaez.com, sells car insurance, life insurance, and business insurance along with other types of insurance. In his latest blog post, he writes about the importance of having vital insurance information before you purchase a car. The website was made for those looking for all types of insurances in Puerto Rico, created with content in Spanish, and is his homebase for returning and new clients. As a small business, Romy was conscious of having a website where his potential clients could contact him for a quote. Can you upload important documents for your clients to download on Twitter? I have not seen that feature at all.

Although it is great to use social networks to update information about what your company or organization will be doing for the holidays, don’t forget that a website created by our team will celebrate with you everyday of the year.

 

What to translate on Your Web Site!

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Like many other small business owners I know who had translated their web sites I was hesitant to translate my corporate site into Spanish. It clearly involved a lot of work. Most of the key areas of my site have been moved over. I have also translated the latest posts. Preferably you can translate 100% of the site but in the case that you can’t do 100% at once here are some tips on how we prioritized what to translate first:

1. Most Visited Content

Take a look at your analytics software and see what content has been viewed the most or created the most interactions.  Once you have determined what people wanted to read the most you can include these as top items to translate.

2. Updated & Fresh Content

If you look at a post and it has content that is not fresh or the situation has changed I would leave those posts as a last priority. Make sure you transfer content into the language a new audience of people wants to read about and look for. If you find content that can be updated go ahead and update both posts. If the updated content has relevance with your audience feel free to put it as a priority if not then leave it towards the end.

3. Key Services and products

Make sure you translate information on your key services and products. If you went through the trouble of translating your site you have to make sure these items get put on the top of the priority list. This will open the possibility of people searching for your products in the target language to find you.

4. What is Relevant to that Target Market

Take a good look at the content that might resonate with the possible visitors and community you are translating your corporate website for. Capturing their attention more often was the main reason why you decided to move your site over.  It might be a good idea if you also move those items in your priority list.

Overall I really recommend that you move as much of your site as you can. If you are not sure you can handle translating 100%. Translating parts of the site, prioritizing your most relevant content, might not be a bad idea.

If you don’t have all your content translated make sure to explicitly explain to your customers where that the content has not been translated. Also set clear expectations to explain if the content will be translated and what else they should expect in the future on having more translated content.

Would you see any value in translating any of your online presence to a new audience like for example Spanish readers?

Interested in translating your  website?

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Five Keys to Look For When Searching for a Website Development Partner

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photo credit by ~Brenda-Starr~

This is a guest post from my good friend Margie Clayman one of the most creative and complete online writers on integrating marketing and social media. I read her blog almost every day and I learn lots from all the great info she shares. 

I wanted Margie to share from her perspective what she looks for in a web developer and here it is:

By Margie Clayman

Along with just about everything else in the business world, websites have at one time or another been pronounced “dead.” There have been articles about how mobile will kill the internet, how websites won’t be needed anymore…you’ve probably seen plenty of those posts yourself.

For now though, websites remain an integral part of a company’s marketing scheme. A website is your Grand Central Station. Traffic from any part of your marketing campaign – advertising, PR, Social Media – can all be driven right to your website. You can tell your story there. You can sell your products there. You’re in charge.

Given all of that, designing a website that will really work for you is absolutely essential, and not everyone has the skill to create sites that are productive for the company. There is the aesthetic, sure, but there’s also the navigation, the SEO aspect, the copy, and the actual skeleton of how the site will be used. To do it right, you’ll need help. But how do you pick the right person or company to help you get your website to the highest quality point possible? Here are some pointers.

  1. Make sure they’re interested in learning about your businessThese days, if a consultant of any kind comes into your business and says, “You don’t need to tell me anything. I know it all!” Kick them out right away. Because here’s the thing – they don’t know about you. They don’t know about your customers. Make sure your website partners take a real interest in learning about how you interact with your customers, what you want to provide to your customers online, and how you feel your customers want to interact with you online.
  2. Look for a variety of skills: A lot of times, a website developer will be excellent at one particular thing, but they will have a big learning curve when it comes to other kind of work. If you’re just looking for a website for right now, that can be okay, but if you want to develop a long-term relationship with a website developer, you need to make sure they will be willing to evolve along with the technology. Will you need an e-commerce site someday? Will you need special forms programmed into your site? These are things your website partner should be able to help you with over the long term.
  3. Look for Social Media experience: These days, a website developer really needs to have at least a passing familiarity with how Social Media works. In particular, they need to know how to do things you might want to do to enrich your visitors’ experience. For example, your website partner should know how to add a Twitter feed and/or badge to your site, or perhaps a link to your Facebook fan page. They should know how to incorporate a blog with your corporate site. If you say Twitter and your prospective partner looks out the window to see the pretty bird, you know you have a problem.
  4. Familiarity with Google Analytics or other analytics programs are a must: We are living in the era of accountability. Once your website is up, you’re going to want to make sure you can track how it’s performing and whether other channels are successfully driving traffic there. A website is increasingly becoming a moving target, and analytics is (so far) the single best way to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. A web developer with experience in or knowledge of analytics programs, including the basic step of installing tags onto your site, is basically a necessity today.
  5. If they don’t know what SEO stands for, keep looking: A web developer likely will not be the person who optimizes your website, but they should be able to communicate effectively with whomever is optimizing your website. They should understand how to name pages effectively, what meta tags are and how to develop pages so that there are keyword rich h2 tags. They should also be open to updating copy as you add more keywords into the mix. If the eyes glass over as you discuss this stuff, you’re going to end up in big trouble.

So there are five key things to look for when you’re searching for a website developer. Whether it’s a single person or a firm, you need to make sure that you impress upon them the importance of these items, along with anything else that is important to you and your customers.

Did I miss something important? How do you select your web development team? Let’s talk about it!

Learn More About the Author

Margie Clayman works for Clayman Advertising, Inc., a third-generation Akron, Ohio marketing firm. Margie is a proponent of carefully planned Social Media marketing, she’s passionate about fully integrated marketing.

Follow him on twitter @margieclayman