Reno SEO, Web Design & Internet Marketing

Tips for Winning the Local Search Game
by John Jantsch

“…Discovery – Before you can determine how to win, you must understand what you are trying to win. It’s essential that your tactics line up with what your prospects are actually looking for, saying, doing and wanting. Keyword research, social media listening and in person interviews make up your discovery toolbox.

Intentional content – In order to create an online to offline approach you must produce valuable, education based information – the kind that search engines find and the kind that prospects desire. Blogs, email newsletters, online and offline seminars, and rich deposits of web site information, including testimonials and FAQs are a must.

Social backlinks – If content is king, then links to that content are what puts the crown on the king. Links from social networks, social profiles, bookmarking services, and other bloggers produce the kind of relevance and implied importance that the search engines pay close attention to. This is ongoing work and not something you buy from a service.

Asset deposits – Content sharing sites such as YouTube, Flickr, and Slideshare offer rich opportunities to expose your brand to outlying corners of the web. By spreading and optimizing this content in many of the free resource locals available you set your primary web hub up as a link worthy destination and create more inroads to your business….

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On August 12, wild game food aficionado and creator of Nevadafoodies.com Kristy Crabtree will host a guest chef night featuring wild game recipes.  Kristy and Bistro7 are working together to create a menu that showcases the very best Nevada has to offer. Working with unusual meats such as elk and geese, Kristy brings an interesting and fine dining twist to such game and integrates it into dishes of all nationalities.

GAME NIGHT DETAILS:

• DATE: August 12, Thursday
• TIME: 5:00PM – 9:30PM
• RSVP: Call (775) 851-WINE
• PRICE: $35/PP

WHAT’S  ON THE MENU:

• BBQ Duck Kabobs
• Baked elk-n-sage ravioli
• Red wine carnivore chili w/ house salad
• Shepherd’s pie (or) venison meatloaf
• Cobbler

RSVP: Call (775) 851-WINE

Watch video clips from the 2010 Social Media Discussion Panel. Honest transparency with Value!

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iPhone 3GS
3-Megapixel Camera – The new 3-megapixel camera takes great still photos, too, thanks to built-in autofocus and a handy new feature that lets you tap the display to focus on anything (or anyone) you want.

Canon EOS 7D
18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD – the camera is amazing…. and eventhough it has twice as many gizmos and gadgets – it’s still pretty easy to figure out. It was a good upgrade from my original Canon EOS Digital Rebel.

Canon EF 17-40mm 1:4L USM
Ultra-wide Zoom Lens – I use this lense all the time. Mostly because it takes such wide shots that allow me to crop more than less of the image out of the frame.

EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens – I adore this lense for its sharpness and blurring affects. I use this lense for portraits and for all of my food shots.

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Telephoto Zoom Lens – This is a heavy lense but manages to get some great close up shots of subjects that are just sometimes to far to get close to.

Digital Photography Never Looked So Analog

The Hipstamatic for iPhone is an application that brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras from the past. http://hipstamaticapp.com

For just a buck ninety nine, you can download the Hipstamatic iPhone App and have the ability to play with three lenses, 2 types of flashes and 2 types of film that give your images an old school film look and feel.

I have to say it’s a fun app but it does take a little time to get used to. After becoming more familiar with the app – I could see how it would allow me to be more creative with my compositions and my overall end photograph.

There are additional lenses, flashes and film that you can purchase as add-ons that give you a more advanced output.

I just received a phone call for prospective business… WOOHOO, right! When I asked how they heard about me, they mentioned that they had cut out an article from the RGJ dated back July 2008. Not only that – when they Googled my name – they ran across the article again from a post I added to PRLOG: http://www.prlog.org/10092877-web-design-firm-offers-help-to-small-companies.html. Amazing day!

Web-design Firm Offers Help to Small Companies

Jul 23, 2008 – By Marian Bond • business@rgj.com
RGJ Business Section: July 22, 2008

After being a Web design developer for a local company, Kristy Crabtree decided to open her own company. Westward Strategy & Design Group was established to offer professional services to the small companies that might not want to invest large sums of money to get onto the Internet to promote their services or products.

“I had worked my way up in 13 years with my employer, from an apprentice to director of professional services, and I was managing 12 to 15 technical and creative designers,” Crabtree said. “I wanted my company to be more of a boutique agency. More intimate with the customers. Because I have low overhead, I have more time to spend with my clients. I wanted to target a different audience.”

Crabtree started her company from a home office two years ago. She now shares a 2,200-square-foot building in Sparks with ACS Business Insurance Services.

“The technical people do the heavy program duties, set up shopping carts. Things like that,” Crabtree said.

Her customers range from sole proprietors to companies with 15 to 20 employees. “I don’t go after the larger clients. There is a place for them. I did not believe anybody was facilitating the niche market I want,” she said.

Crabtree says that a new customer coming to her needs to understand who his or her audience is. Clients also need to have goals and objectives they want to sell or the service or product they are offering. She stressed that so much is happening on the Web these days that anyone in business needs to have a presence or they will miss out on clients.

Another plus to having a Web site, according to Crabtree, is that analytical reports can be produced to show activity on the site. This type of tracking helps with marketing goals. Her company will produce monthly or quarterly reports as required.

“The typical site will have a home page that tells about the company or information about the team that works with the product or services,” Crabtree said. She also likes to set up a news page that tells more about the company. The Web site will be set up to provide fresh information.

She also advises each company to have its own domain name and to maintain ownership.

Clients interested in art or photography can get stock photos on Web sites. “They are very reasonable in price. If you search long enough online, as we do, you know which photos have not been used,”

In planning for a Web site, the company has to decide if it wants to reach a local area or a global audience.

Crabtree said she often has companies with existing sites come for a redesign.

“We first ask if they have any analytical tools to get information as to how a Web site is performing. We find out if anybody has been going to the site. We like to sit back for about a month so we can get information. We will create basically how I would plan to help fix (the site). We don’t want their money to go down the drain. We’re a small business, too. We understand money is important to everybody.”

Crabtree said she is always eager to accommodate the customer’s needs. Her company can set up a Web site in just a short time, but generally takes about two months to finish a detailed product.

The cost of a Web site with Westward Strategy & Design Group runs as low as $500, but depending upon the content and intricacy can also run $10,000 or more.

Doug Kurkul, CEO of the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce, said that last January he entrusted Crabtree’s company to redesign the chamber web site www.renosparkschamber.org and he said he was quite satisfied with the results.

“I’ve dealt with Web designers for 13 years now,” Kurkul said. “I believe that Westward Strategy & Design is one of the best I’ve ever dealt with. They are easy to work with and they have outstanding skills on both technical and on artistic aspects of web design.”

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Westward Strategy & Design Group, LLC.
www.westwardstrategy.com
Phone: (775) 626-8330

I believe in supporting businesses who are making an amazing difference not just on a local level but also on a global level! Please take some time and review how CorpsJD is doing just that with their online software.

CorpsJD
ONLINE WETLAND DELINEATION GIS MAPPING & REPORTING SOFTWARE SERVICE
Due to the tremendous interest in CorpsJD, the initial Pilot Study was changed and the launch date moved up to May 17, 2010 for sales, training and support. Between May 17 and July 4, 2010 introductory pricing is available on individual and package pricing. Please call CorpsJD for more details at 888-771-0462 (888-7Q1-0INC). You can also visit their YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/CorpsJD.

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Choose your name, your business name or your website address.

Some handy uses why I use Google Alerts:

• monitoring a press release I posted about my business or myself
• monitoring a press release that I might have been part of that somebody else published
• monitoring when Google indexes my blog posts 
• monitoring who’s linking to my website and what are they saying (this is kind of sneaky)
• monitoring who else is talking about my business and what are they saying (you can patrol
• monitoring who might be stealing your content)
• monitoring and staying current on a competitors (this can be fun)

http://www.google.com/alerts

Here’s the email I get whenever my name or my business name get’s indexed by Google. This can give you a lot of insight into how often you come up in conversation online.

Organize. Share. Explore.
Picasa is a software download from Google that helps you organize, edit, and share your photos. It’s free, and easy to use. Share with friends and family, or explore public photos.

I am liking Picasa more and more these days. There are so many integrated really cool features that Picasa and Google have combined. I can easily upload my images of Nevada through Picasa’s desktop interface or through my Google account login. I can then add a title and description, place a marker for the location and share to multiple social networks. How cool is that.

My 2010 goal is to upload all of my Nevada photos to all places we travel and see if I can’t cover the entire state of Nevada!

Download Picasa for your Desktop Today!
Download the Facebook Picasa Widget Today!

1 ) How long have you been in business?

Think about what type of company you are comfortable working with before you meet with them. If they give an answer outside of your comfort level tell them immediately. Some businesses don’t mind working with startups or individuals with lesser experience if the price is right. Everyone has to start somewhere, but if this is a risk you are not willing to take just tell the developer.

2 ) Can I see current online examples of your work? Website Designs, Email Marketing Campaigns, Social Media Marketing Setup and Management…etc

This is a must have for any developer. Make sure they have actual websites you can review on your own computer at any time you want. Avoid designers that only show you their work in other formats besides online such as printed collateral. Most developers will be happy to meet with you and review their current and past client work.  

3 ) What other services can you provide?

You never know what other services they may be able to provide unless you ask. It is often easier on you and can build a stronger brand identity if one company or designer can handle multiple aspects of your marketing. Ask them about direct marketing, email marketing, and natural search optimization services.

4 ) Do you have testimonials from other clients?

Reputable designers and developers will happily provide a list of satisfied clients, both past and present. Ask for a list of references to contact direct for a follow up.

5 ) I have a budget. Can I see examples of your work that fall within specific price ranges?

The developer should be able to supply a range of web design examples and online campaigns that where developed within general price ranges or tiers. This will also give you a perspective of the value of the end product being developed for you and your business. You can also request quotes from multiple developers to see a general average in pricing, but beware that the cheapest price might not be your best solution – reason why you ask for examples, testimonials…etc.

6 ) Do you register domain names and provide hosting?

Ask very specific questions about where the site will be hosted. In my professional opinion, host with a third party and keep all information in your name or your businesses name. Do not let a developer register your domain name or hosting in their name. All of that information is the property of you and your business and should always remain that way. Reputable third party hosts include: GoDaddy, Dreamhost, Bluehost, Rackspace…etc.

7 ) What is your process for designing and developing a website?

A well outlined plan or process ensures you and your vendor know each other’s respective roles in the design and development of your website. It also will help you gauge their level of experience. Beware of developers who do not deliver a timeline for milestones during the development phase. Ask your developer to sit down and review the proposed process and ask any questions that are unclear.

8 ) What programming languages and development tools do you use?

Even though you may not care about the answer to this question, it is important information for you to know. At the very least they should be able to hand code html. Other acceptable languages are PHP, ASP, XHTML, CSS, AJAX and javascript.

9 ) What is the change process after the website is finished?

At some point your website, no matter how great it is, will need some changes or updates made. Find out what the process is for having these changes made. One way to avoid having to work with your vendor for content updates is to see if they will implement a content management system on your website.

10 ) Who owns the finished product at the end of the contract?

There is only one acceptable answer here. No matter what, the client owns the website including all graphics and content. The only exception is if your website uses a content management system. Often the CMS is outlined in your contract with the vendor as belonging to the vendor as their intellectual property.