2007 March | flyte blog: small business web marketing blog

Archive for March, 2007

The Power of Turning Prospects Off

Monday, March 26th, 2007

Fastcompany
A few years back my wife suggested that I stop marketing to "small business" and marketing instead to business in general. My wife’s a powerfully smart woman, but that time she was just dead wrong. (She loves it when I say that.)

I’m now thinking that I didn’t go far enough. In this month’s Fast Company [by subscription only], brothers Dan and Chip Heath write on the benefits of being polarizing and getting people to hate you. (They also wrote the great Made to Stick which I reviewed recently.)

I’ve realized for a while now that flyte does our best work with people who "get it." People, whether they run a business or an organization, who are entrepreneurial. People who want more than a Web site, they want to grow their business. Invariably, these are the people I enjoy working with the most.

In a perfect world, I would market flyte in such a way that would inspire entrepreneurs to work with us, while turning off everyone else. It would certainly increase my closing percentage.

Think about your own business and the type of customers you enjoy working with best. Now imagine your perfect prospect. What message does she want to hear? What themes will resonate with him? Don’t worry if that message turns off other prospects; those people will never be your best customers and never help you grow your own business.

Rich Brooks
Polarize This

Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business | 2 Comments »

CaféPress Rocks with Great Customer Service!

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

When flyte finishes a custom-designed Web site we usually send out a mug to our client with their home page on it. We always get great feedback on it, plus it sits on their desk for years. (If you didn’t receive one and you’ve recently launched a site with us be patient…we’re running a bit behind!)

We use CaféPress to handle this for us. We set up a store (not really designed for public consumption), add a new mug when a site goes live, purchase it and have it sent to our client. What’s great about this setup is that if the client wants to get more mugs (something that has happened a few times), they can just go and order as many as they like.

Recently we sent out some mugs to a client with multiple addresses. I got a nice note from Victoria A. CaféPress saying that one of the mugs was returned as undeliverable. They would be happy to refund my money or resend the mug to a different address…free of charge!

I corrected the address and replied to the email yesterday. Today I got another note from Victoria telling me it was on my way and it should arrive in a few business days.

Now that’s great customer service! CaféPress, you rock! And give Victoria the rest of the day off.

Rich Brooks
Satisfied Customer

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business | 2 Comments »

12 Search Engine Myths Debunked

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Jill Whalen of High Rankings has a great column on What’s Important to Search Engines and What’s Not.

In this article she takes on the impact Flash has on the search engine optimization of a given Web site, whether the code needs to vary from page to page and whether dropdown menus are problematic.

Now, of course no two search engine experts agree on anything, but Jill’s approach to search engine optimization mirrors my own, and she makes a convincing argument. Be sure to check out these search engine myths.

Rich Brooks
In Search Of…Search Engine Truths

Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Blog Carnivals: The Carnival of Entrepreneurs

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

After contemplating blog carnivals since almost the time I started blogging, I finally jumped in. To be honest, it took me a long time to wrap my head around blog carnivals. Plus, I’m afraid of clowns and I once got sick on a tilta-whirl. It’s not something I’d like to revisit.

What is a blog carnival? Well, to lift some copy directly from Blog Carnival:

Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience.

The goal as a submitter to a blog carnival is of course to reach out to new people who may not have heard of you otherwise. Blog Carnival tends to be a hub of different blog carnivals, and has a wide selection of topics for blog carnivals you may be interested in. (However, I found more defunct carnivals than current ones on my own search.)

I submitted my post to The Carnival of Entrepreneurs (#15). Will it drive traffic to my blog? I’ll let you know in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Rich Brooks
Carny

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news | 2 Comments »

O Olive Oil Rocks!

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

We just got a care package from one of our newest clients, O Olive Oil, makers of gourmet olive oil.

The package included both oils and vinegars…ginger rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, champagne vinegar, ruby grapefruit olive oil, meyer lemon olive oil and ultra premium extra virgin olive oil…mmmm, extra virgin.

Maybe they took a page from our post on how to inspire your Web designer to greatness, or maybe they’re just great guys. I just wish they had sent these to my home address. Now I’ve got to share.

Thanks a million, Greg and Brian!

Rich Brooks
Extra Virgin Web Design

Posted in flyte news | 2 Comments »

Separated at Birth?

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

For the second time in a few months someone has asked me if I gave permission for our logo to be used for YouSendIt, a file sharing service. Ummm…no.

Since immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, color me flattered. Decide for yourself:

Separatedatbirth

In case you were wondering who’s the chicken and who’s the egg, our logo came into being back in 1999 and according to Archive.org YouSendIt launched their new look between 12/5/05 and 12/6/05.

Rich Brooks
I Invented the Paper Airplane, Too

Posted in flyte news | 2 Comments »

Is Your Web Site Underperforming?

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Is your Web site underperforming? Would you like to drive more qualified traffic to your site? Would you like to convert that traffic into business?

Would you like concrete examples of what’s working on your Web site and what could be improved? Would you like an expert opinion of what your traffic reports are telling you, and what new marketing opportunities you could use?

Flyte has begun quietly rolling out Web site audits to some small business owners, and I’m wondering if you’d be interested in one as well.

Here’s how it works: you provide us with your top three audiences, your top three business goals, and the top three things visitors want to accomplish at your site. (We can even help you develop that list.) We’ll also take a look at your Web site traffic.

We’ll write up a detailed report of the activity on your site, and whether your site is achieving your stated goals. We’ll also give you specific, detailed ideas on what changes you could make to improve your site. After you’ve had a chance to review the report we’ll include a 30 minute consultation so you can make the most of the information.

What do people think about the Web site audits?

I am SO pleased with your report! I knew I had a weak site… I needed this information badly. I understand your assessment quite well, it makes perfect sense, and I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to asking questions and then figuring out how to get these recommendations into action!

And yes…I’m glad I chose Flyte- thanks again for making this service available to small business!

Judy Rodman

Believe it or not, that was completely unsolicited. (I couldn’t have written it better myself!)

If you feel that your Web site should be doing a better job at supporting your business, a Web site audit from flyte may be the first step towards:

better search engine ranking,
more qualified traffic,
and a higher conversion rate of visitors at your site.

The research, the written report and the 30 min. consultation is just $500. It could be the best investment you’ll make this year in the success of your business.

Get started with a Web site audit today.

Rich Brooks
Web Site Reviews and Audits

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Sabre’s Big Launch Party for the 52 Salon Express

Friday, March 16th, 2007

This was the view outside my window today:

In case you’re not sure what you’re looking at, it’s one of Portland’s Fire Boats, announcing the launch of Sabre Yachts newest yacht, the Sabre 52 Salon Express.

Sabre–a long-time client of flyte–was holding a party next door at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant. Despite the cold and gray weather we took Sabre’s Bentley Collins up on his invite.

We weren’t the only ones: the local news had sent multiple camera~~men~~ workers, Governor John Baldacci showed up, and Sabre Yacht owners from around the world, judging by the accents and languages I overheard while sipping champagne.

The yacht? The 52 Salon Express? Just beautiful. Here are a couple shots I took:

Oh, and the governor wanted a picture of him shaking hands with our own Jonathan Braden, so I took that one as well.

To our friends at Sabre Yachts, congratulations!

Rich Brooks
Mmmm…champagne.

Posted in Client News, Entrepreneur & Small Business | No Comments »

Statewide Insurance – Commercial and Personal Insurance

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Yesterday flyte launched a Web site for Statewide Insurance Corporation, a managing general agency serving the southwestern United States.

Statewide supports insurance agents with commercial and personal lines, as well as supplemental applications. A scrolling Flash ticker on their home page gives you an idea of the wide variety of offerings they have…Head Start Programs…Push Cart Vendors…Religious Goods Stores…the list goes on and on.

For insurance agents looking to write a policy for say, a restaurant, they could go to the restaurant product page and find all the primary and supplemental insurance forms in one place and quickly download them and hand them off to their customer right there in the office.

Flyte did a lot of backend programming in PHP/MySQL for this project, including a simple content management system so Statewide could add, edit and delete the forms their agents need. Statewide also can add, edit and delete newsletters, articles and even their jokes page.

Rich Brooks
Web Site Design & Development

Posted in Web Site Launches | No Comments »

Your Small Business Web Site is Not Staples.com

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Staples has 163 links on their home page. Wal-Mart has 173. However, this is not an approach your small businesses should take on its home page.

The purpose of these sites is not to educate the consumer about the companies. Anyone visiting Staples.com or Walmart.com knows
exactly what these companies and sites have to offer and what they
stand for.

When it comes to your small business Web site, you only have a few seconds to engage people who probably have no idea what you’re all about and little incentive to find out. They have their own needs and they just want to know if you can help them.

The less you say on your home page–the fewer goals, the fewer links, the better chance you have to connect with the visitor who’s considering making a buying decision. If you have ten offerings on your home page it doesn’t matter if one of them matches up with a visitor’s needs. Most people will feel overwhelmed and go somewhere else.

One of the most difficult decisions in building a site is not color or photos, but what not to promote on the home page. As a site owner you may want to capture every possible scrap of business. However, you do yourself a disservice by throwing everything against the wall of your home page to see what sticks.

Remember: every Web page on your site is an opportunity to be found at the search engines; every page is a landing page. If an offering is a second-tier offering, you can still optimize the page(s) that describe it and attract prospects who are interested in those products.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Site Designer

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Design & Development | No Comments »