Each project that we work on has its own unique challenges. As we break our 100th project we look back and reflect on the one item that rings true for all of them. This item is essentially the most important aspect of any website. Every project begins with a blank slate. Whether we use a flow charting program or a pencil and paper we always start with nothing.

Fonts, Color Schemes and Logo

Most of the companies that we work with are well established, have worked with creative designers and marketing firms to outline the businesses fonts and colors the business uses. Along with that information we are given a set of parameters of how the fonts, sizes of the fonts, logo, location of the logo, and colors should be used.

When we have a project with a brand new startup it is a truly exciting experience as we not only work directly with the business entity but the designer helping build the brand. This also allows us to ask direct questions to both the designer and the business owner to make not only meet the businesses needs but help make the experience blend in more closely with the vision of the designer.

Yesterday at the Michigan City Chamber Biz Expo we ran into many great people wanting to know information. Most of them had websites (only two didn't), some good and some that they wish they could do more but didn't see the benefit of having a website.

We found only one business (out of over forty) actually considers their website as a benefit to the company rather than a required expense. We run into this all the time where a business has designed a website years ago and think eventually it will bring in tangible results. Would you hire an employee, set them at a desk and hope that someday they will bring in tangible results? I am betting the answer is no. You want, and need, that employee to work for your business objectives and not just take home a paycheck. Having a website that you build (hire) either yourself or pay someone else to design, pay monthly fees (paycheck) for hosting and the domain registrar fee and do not work toward making it the best employee (website) that it can be that is exactly what you're doing. Your website needs to be kept up to date about your business goals, objectives, and working toward the success of your business.

As an entrepreneurial company, we know that we have to know our stuff and be experts in our field. Your competition obviously knows there stuff, as that is why they are your competition. Being “as good” as them is not a distinguishing factor that you want to be known as. You need to strive to be better than they are as if you are the same then there is a good chance one of you will not be growing, as you want. With business there are always distinguishing marks for companies. Key areas that you need to know are:

• Your product
• Your market
• Your positioning
• Your competition
• Your message

The joy of having a small to mid-size business is you can typically turn things around very rapidly. This is both a blessing and a curse. All too often lately we have seen many businesses that are hurting themselves as they rush into the search engine optimization (SEO) business. Whether they jump in blind, read an article, watch a YouTube video or promote someone from within that is their “techy” expert. Businesses are truly starting to realize the importance of SEO. The part they’re missing is the coming up with a solid plan of attack that works for their business.

We are finding that many of the executives that we are talking with believe there is a single magical formula that will garner the best SEO results for everyone. This truly is not the case as each business is unique and different. This goes for national chains as well as a single person retail shop. The community a business is in will determine many aspects of a business. Whether you are downtown, uptown, home run or off the beaten path your community will determine your overall success. SEO is the same way. There may not be a downtown location on the internet but there is the search engines as a point of entry for all websites on the internet to be found on.

There are easy and hard ways to answer questions. Today we are going to answer "What is Search Engine Optimization?" It seems to always be attached directly or indirectly to "Why do I need it?" or "Why does it cost so much?"

The internet has people believing in removing the need for having a physical address. This may be true for some types of businesses that can survive solely online. Most businesses though still require a physical address as they are in your local community. Local search engine optimization (SEO) for these businesses are critical as it helps their business on the search engines. Many small businesses will benefit from doing local SEO and is something businesses need to work on.

In a continued effort to help our business customers succeed in search engine optimization (SEO) and social media we continue to help you learn about how to make your website better. As part of a recent client website update and part of our customized SEO monthly plan we took their existing business BLOG and implemented Facebook's Open Graph protocol. This protocol allows you to have control over how images and descriptive text can appear on Facebook. Using this protocol you can control a certain level of customization over how information is carried over to Facebook from non-Facebook websites.

This week we've spent a lot of our time helping companies make their business websites more responsive and mobile friendly. As technology has grown from desktops to mobile smartphones, tablets, laptops and e-readers the need for more optimized sites is becoming more important not just for the screen sizes but for search as well. With our search engine optimization packages we are seeing more visitors to business websites from mobile and smaller screen sizes than ever before.

Businesses that understand the need for an effective website are taking ownership and working with their marketing and web design companies to achieve a more comprehensive experience for each device that connects to their website. Businesses that take advantage of this evolving shift are better prepared to engage with customers. Along with this change we are also seeing businesses utilizing and enhancing not only their websites but using search engine and social media services that we offer as a complete package to help drive more visitors to their site.

Marketing your business is never an easy task. With small businesses even more so as small businesses have smaller budgets than larger companies but want to achieve the same results as their larger brethren. Smaller budgets can be effective, efficient and profitable. The key is to not count the internet out when it comes to marketing your business, even if your product isn't sold online. There are many online marketing mistakes businesses make and we've come up with ways to do a good job at online marketing.