When it comes to blog design, there are several common design mistakes that scare away your visitors (or worse, your profits). Here are seven of the biggest pitfalls. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 1. Too Many Ads. Though you want to make money off your blog, usually through advertising, an overload of ads will be the surest way to turn off potential readers. Do not let ads overwhelm your content — people are not visiting your site to see advertisements, they are visiting it to see what your blog has to offer. If all it has to offer are ads, don’t expect a return visit. Instead, pick a few tastefully placed ads in high traffic spots, such as under your banner or one on the sidebar, and leave it at that. Ads in and of themselves are not the turn off, but if that’s all your site appears to be, that will be. 2. Large Blocks of Text. If – Read the full article
Are you an e-commerce merchant looking for iPhone or iTouch apps to make your life easier, especially on the move? Look no further. There is a wealth of electronic evolution for Apple products that are geared to making your life easier and more fun. Here are my personal favorites. Social Media has taken the Web by storm but it also has a vital place in mobile technology. One of the best ways to keep in contact with your customers, and to maintain a valued relationship, is via social media and there are apps that help you do just that. Take the Meebo, Twitter and Facebook applications to start with. You can share views, news, images and even videos. Check out the Apple App site for a wealth of other social apps that allow all types of possible interaction and functionality. Anyone that cares for their business should care for their customers and using social media is one way to do so. – Read the full article
Missing more than hitting in your E-mail marketing campaign? Don’t give up on it just yet. First of all, before you continue reading, you may want to check out our previous post on how to start an E-mail campaign. We hope you’ll enjoy applying the great tips we’ve listed in there. After the tips come the tools. We’ll let you in on a little secret: here at Lakeshore Branding we use something called MailChimp. So MailChimp is basically this cool new E-mail marketing service that’s simple and easy to use. It’s fairly new, but the service has grown to have more than 400,000 users (including us!) and 20 million emails served daily. If you’ve never launched a marketing campaign through E-mail before, then you might want to consider using MailChimp to make the whole process easier for you. Yeah, sure, the name sounds kind of quirky, but don’t be deceived: MailChimp has a powerful, developer-friendly product that definitely makes E-mail – Read the full article
Web design is more than just creativity, it’s usability. Understanding your visitors and how they use your website will lead to increased conversions. For each new website, our team of graphic designers, SEO consultants and marketing specialists work together on strategy, design, usability, and goals. _ Over 180 million people in the U.S. prefer to use the internet to find information about local business and about half of those who conduct a local search end up making a purchase.1_ Web Design Vision Our dynamic team of web designers is as creative, driven, and skilled as any in the industry. We have the tools, techniques, and technologies in place to come up with the freshest – “awesomest” – designs. What sets us apart from the rest, however, is our experience in working together with businesses, brands, and clients who, like you, want to be found and chosen by the people who matter. And this experience enables us to design websites that – Read the full article
Do you find yourself always on the go, having to work – literally – from your Apple iPhone? Don’t worry. Running around doesn’t mean you cannot accomplish the tasks needed to manage your SEO campaign – as long, of course, as you have one of today’s most sought-after mobile gadgets. We’ve talked before of great apps for small business owners. Now it’s time to list down great iPhone apps for those looking to continue working on optimizing their site, even while out of the office. Ego Ego for iPhone is a stat-tracking application that lets you check out the numbers and figures that are relevant to your SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. With support for Ember, Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, Squarespace, Tumblr, Twitter, and Vimeo, the Ego app lets iPhone users view things like daily, hourly, monthly site visits, subscriber count, number of Twitter followers, and even feed subscription totals. Ego is particularly useful if you’re managing multiple – Read the full article
We all know that the Apple iPad has set the world abuzz. Fans have praised the tablet computer as a revolutionary, game-changing device, while critics have pointed out that it’s no more than a giant iPod Touch. In any event, the impact of the Apple iPad on how we share, consume, and publish online content can no longer be doubted. It will change, if it hasn’t already, the way we use the Internet – especially if the iPad becomes widely adopted. That’s why – if you run a small business or work as an Internet marketer or web developer – it’s important to think about optimizing your website or blog for the iPad. After all, more and more people are using Apple devices to surf the Web: part of engaging with and reaching out to these users is providing them with a smoother, glitch-free experience of your website or blog. Forget Flash Apple emphasizes HTML5, CSS, and Javascript – but – Read the full article
As a small business owner, you may find yourself going crazy over the number of things you have to do for work. But don’t worry: if you own an Apple iPhone, you’ll at least have some apps at your disposal – apps which can truly help you stay connected to your business and hang on to a little bit of sanity. While the iPhone is a fun device, it can also make for a great business tool – especially if you’re always on the go. Here are several Apple iPhone apps with which you, as a small business owner, cannot go wrong. Money matters A number of apps let you keep track of your expenses and finances. These include BalanceDo, a productivity app through which you can send customer invoices, track receivables or billings, and manage payments through PayPal. If you want to perform credit card transactions with your iPhone, check out MerchantWare Mobile. (You’ll need a Merchant Warehouse account.) – Read the full article
The Apple iPad has been revealed recently – in a highly publicized keynote address delivered by Steve Jobs – and while critics are quick to point out the upcoming tablet’s flaws, we’ll focus here on one of the reasons why the Apple iPad can be a potential game-changer. Apple claims that the iPad is the best way to experience e-mail, and the tablet sure has enough features to back that up. Equipped to provide a reading experience unlike any we’ve had before for a large-screen device, the iPad is poised to benefit everyone who uses e-mail: businesses, entrepreneurs, e-mail marketers, and individual users. Of course, as far as Internet marketing is concerned, there’ll never be a better time to design and launch e-mail campaigns. Cleanliness The Apple iPad seems to have been designed for users who want a relaxed and engaged reading experience. Unlike most web and desktop e-mail clients out there on the market, the iPad – with its – Read the full article
