There are over one trillion web sites today. It is no longer enough to have a visually appealing web site that people will notice. You need to provide compelling content for them to share and most importantly, features that will keep them coming back to your web site. Before building a web site, you need to have a design plan checklist. What are your marketing objectives? What are your primary and secondary objectives with the web site?

The web site needs to establish your credibility, describe your products and/or services, offer customer service and/or support and communicate the identity and brand of your company. It should be search engine friendly, generate repeat users and encourage new users to your site.

Here are a few tips:

Create a web site design look & feel. – Always appeal your web site to your target audience. For example, if you are selling baby shoes, build the contents and multimedia to parents. There are many items to consider such as colors, columns, if the navigation bar will be vertical or horizontal and if photos or videos will be added. Remember the objectives are to always encourage visitors to stay and view the other pages on your web site.

Have robust rich content. – Content is king and a good web site will have robust rich content that generates repeat traffic, increases customer loyalty and encourage visitors to recommend the site to others. Content is something that is expressed through some sort of medium. This can be a company brochure, presentations, case studies, testimonials, blogs, videos and so forth. Be careful with overloading your web site with pop-up windows, auto-load videos and sound and blinking or scrolling text.

Make sure it is easy to navigate. – It is best to keep it simple and easy for your customers to click through your web site.  It should be clear and concise. If you have links, make sure they work and are easy to identify. A nice and simple feature is to have your company logo linked so it returns to your home page. A good rule to remember is to design your web site for your target audience and think how they will navigate through your site.

Designing your web site is key for a positive user experience. Media Footprint can assist with your web site marketing design goals. Contact us today for more information.

Recently a small business owner went to her local Wi-Fi coffee shop in the afternoon and started working on her laptop. Several hoodlums entered the coffee shop and stole her laptop while she was typing on it. The hoodlums departed not only with a $2,000 laptop, but a wealth of irreplaceable information and database.

In today’s global workplace, we have been breaking away from the traditional office locations to have informal meetings at public places.  There is a greater risk for damage or thief. Here are some tips to prepare you for a quicker recovery.

Create a post-disaster communications strategy. Entrepreneurs spend a tremendous amount of time, money and resources to become successful. Having an emergency preparedness plan in place can help you stay in business following a disaster. Create a plan by identifying what your business needs to protect yourself in a natural disaster, fire or theft. A plan should include current phone numbers and email addresses for your clients, employees, suppliers, utility companies, local media and emergency agencies. Keep the contact lists in a safe place, perhaps on another computer that is not attached to the network, an external drive or offsite. A portable generator could become useful and may be a part of your plan.

Back up your data. It is easy to fall out of the habit of backing up our computers.  Fortunately, there are several tools that can easily be adopted to suit your business needs.  External hard drives and or cloud computing are great solutions.  The key to backing up your computer is vital for a quicker recovery.  Get into a routine to backup your system daily.

Update your plan. It is recommended that every business have a disaster plan and reviews it. Does your office have extra bottle water, packaged food, flashlights and a first aid kit?  If so, check to make sure the batteries are working and the food and medical supplies have not expired.

Get proper insurance coverage. There are so many different business insurances that will cover your basic needs. Talk with an insurance agent and research the varieties offered.  As your business grows, make sure to have your insurance policy cover the additional requirements.