It might seem like a good idea to do whatever you can to attract visitors and hits to your website, but here are five methods you should avoid. That’s because each of them is annoying, counterproductive, or both:

Using pay per click advertising without doing the math. Ever since search companies first figured out they could make money off businesses competing for the top spots, marketers have been tripping over themselves to bid for online traffic. Some of the most popular keywords can cost you $5, $10 or more for single click, so be careful about spending a fortune on generic words and phrases that might not be worth the cash.
Junk articles. Posting a bunch of keyword-stuffed gibberish to your website doesn’t do anyone any good. For one thing, search engines have caught on and aren’t likely to reward you with a good ranking. If you’re reading this page, it’s very likely because one of Google’s spiders found it for you. Trying to outwit the web’s most thorough readers is never a winning strategy, and at the same time, visitors to your site are going to be turned off by sloppy writing.
Link farms. In the same way, numerous search engine companies offer thousands of links for a small fee, supposedly helping you reach the top of Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Unfortunately, having thousands of adult sites, shady online casinos, and pages that exist only to link to other unknown domains can only have one effect on your search engine rankings, and it’s not a good one.
Pop up ads. It should go without saying that employing these kinds of tactics is a bad idea; after all, if people are annoyed with you, how likely are they to buy from you? Still, I see marketers try to get away with this all the time. It doesn’t work, so don’t waste the money.
Obnoxious designs. Like the man at the singles bar who wears a suit that looks like it’s been made from an imitation cheetah, some business owners broadcast that they are out of ideas with really obnoxious “strange” design choices. Being different isn’t always a great way to attract customers, and if you are not careful … it’s more likely to backfire by driving visitors away.

It’s almost written in stone that more traffic and better search rankings are good for small businesses online. But as you look to enhance your Internet marketing efforts, stay with the tried and true methods and avoid these pitfalls. Not every visitor to your site is a good one, and most options that look like an easy way to get customers are a waste of time.

I love what Pastor Andy Robbins had to say about the website we launched for their church group!

“Just wanted to say how pleased I am with the site. One word seems to come up consistently whenever I hear feedback on the site, and that word is “awesome!” You did a great job, and I am pleased and impressed not only with your skills, but also in your close and detailed communication, and your professionalism.”

I love the richness of the website and like all design that I do when inspired by the Lord…it holds a special spot in my heart.  You can visit this website at Blessed Life Fellowship.

What makes the Prowler website especially wonderful is that we once again got the chance to flex our industrial web design muscles… I love it when I get to show that MaryDesigns (because of our own design) isn’t just “girly girl web design,” or “colorful web design” – we can work in just about any industry and knock it out of the park.

The folks at Prowler love their new site, which features a new search engine friendly CSS layout and better usability. This American, family-owned business only sells the best to their clients, and it was a pleasure working with them.

So once again, join me in congratulating Prowler and wishing them the very best with their new site. And keep on the lookout for their upcoming sister site, Rubbertrack.com, which is set to be finished and released in a few months

Should you add web designer to your list of unofficial titles?

After more than 10 years of working in web design in Indianapolis, I would say you absolutely should not. The biggest reason, of course, has to do with quality; a homemade website can be spotted almost immediately. Unless you have a very strong background in design and coding, the endless hours you’re going to spend getting your site up and running aren’t going to amount to a professional-looking end product.

Don’t think it’s only designers who will notice. You might not worry about impressing me, but what about your customers and prospects? Every potential buyer who visits your site and comes away less than impressed represents a missed opportunity – and more to the point, a sale that wasn’t made. Even if you’re only getting a small number of visitors each week, those missing orders can add up very, very quickly.

Functionality can also be an issue. A good web designer can add video, contact forms, and e-commerce features to your new site that can help you make, or save, thousands of dollars each year. Most do it yourself versions, however, are akin to online brochures. That’s sometimes better than not having anything at all, but it won’t do much in the way of generating leads and orders, saving you customer service time, or helping your company’s search engine rankings.

And then there’s that time we mentioned. It can easily take someone who isn’t a professional web designer well over 30 or 40 hours to put together a functioning website, even if they start from a predefined template – something I don’t recommend, by the way – and at least that long again the first time something goes wrong. The dollar value of those lost hours is usually bigger than it looks, when you consider what could have been accomplished in that time.

What all of this really comes down to is a concept that every successful business owner knows, but is all too easy to forget from time to time: the difference between prices and costs. While it’s true that a professional-grade website can require a sizable investment, it’s very likely to pay for itself time and time again. As tempting as it can be to buy a piece of software, crack open a couple of books, and try to design your company’s new website, I advise you to resist the urge. You might save a little bit of money today, but you’ll only be taking it out of your own pocket later.

Because of the enormous bottom-line implications that come with a top listing on Google, Yahoo, or Bing, SEO has become a major industry in and of itself. Dozens of books have been written, thousands of websites are devoted to the topic, and hundreds more web design professionals like myself work at it every day of the week, so I can understand if you’re a little bit confused about my suggestion to just toss that part of your online marketing strategy aside.

Before you go thinking I’ve lost my marbles, however, let me explain: SEO is important, and you should do everything you can to cover the basics on your site. If you haven’t gotten a professional to optimize your page headers, tags, and other major details, get started on that today. Beyond that, though, it’s a good idea to forget about the search engine spiders for a while. Why? Because so many marketers and business owners become obsessed with having the right keywords scattered throughout their pages that they start to miss the point – getting paying customers to visit your website and stay there.

Automated computer programs don’t buy goods or services, people do. So when you’re putting together your product descriptions, company profiles, or online articles, do the smart thing and write to another person. Don’t let the temptation to worry about “keyword density” or “long tail search parameters” destroy what you wanted to say; just make your point in normal, everyday language.

For one thing, this will probably end up improving your actual search performance. Because so many marketers and dubious search engine “experts” try to fool the system, Google and other engines will actually punish you if they think your writing is designed to increase traffic.

More to the point, though, good old human-to-human communication remains the best way to sell. All the traffic in the world doesn’t mean anything if the people who come to your website immediately leave, and the only way they’re going to stay is if they find something that’s interesting and/or informative. There might be dozens of ways to attract automated spiders, but no one has come up with a better way to hold a person’s attention than by simply writing about what matters to them.

It might sound silly to remind you about how important search engine optimization is, and then tell you not to worry about it so much in the next breath. But the fact the matter is the best SEO comes naturally. If you simply concentrate on adding solid content to your site regularly, you’re sure to gain hundreds of new readers, automated and otherwise.

Once in a while, though, things aren’t quite that easy. For instance, even though they sound a bit close and both concern stars and planets, a person who signed up for a course on astronomy and ended up learning about astrology would be disappointed. I mention this because it’s not uncommon to hear clients refer to graphic designers and web designers as basically the same thing.

Is there a difference? And does it matter? You bet it does! While it’s true that both graphic designers and web designers are artistic professionals that can make your marketing materials pop, there is a degree of specialty to each. Traditionally, graphic designers work on print materials, like brochures, annual reports, and magazine advertisements. Web designers, on the other hand, spend as much time working with code as we do images – we worry about CSS, screen sizes, and HTML tags rather than paper stock or ink variations.

That extra bit of specialty can be more important than you might think. That’s because a profitable small business website isn’t just a pretty picture – it’s a piece of online art backed by some kind of coding. It needs to function perfectly for a variety of people using more than a dozen computer platforms and Internet browsers. Getting ink to look great on the page isn’t easy, but pulling the same colors and images out of a thousand different laptops and monitors at the same time is a whole different kind of challenge.

For that reason, you need to be careful hiring graphic designers without any coding experience to lay out your site. There definitely are talented web professionals working at firms that do print work, but the skills aren’t interchangeable. Working with websites requires a different set of skills, knowledge, and even software to make sure that what you see on the screen is going to translate properly into a working site. Sometimes these differences aren’t easy to spot at first glance. That’s because a client’s initial look at their new website is usually in the form of an image mockup. Since the image doesn’t really have to do anything, it can be made to look like a million with programs like Photoshop, even if the designer doesn’t have the background to transform that picture into a working model using HTML and CSS.

Graphic design and web design sound close, but they’re not the same thing and knowing the difference is important. Any artist can give you something that looks nice, but a professional web designer can make or break your online business.

I think that famous saying could be my thought for the week. That’s because, for the second time in just a few days, I’m excited to announce the successful completion and launch of a MaryDesigns website for a previous client. This time, it’s Christian Connection entertainment that’s making headlines.

Their site, which went live today at www.mychristianconnection.com, combines affordable food with out-of-this world Christian musical entertainment for believers in North Carolina. With live gospel, Christian comedy, karaoke, bible trivia, and even faith-based fundraising available, it’s no wonder Alan Bell (a blessing as both a client and a friend in his own right) has such big plans for the group. By combining his faith and energy with business savvy and entertainment know-how, he’s created something that’s going to be a unique experience on the Atlantic coast – I only wish I lived closer!

As a design project, Alan’s Christian Connection site was just as much fun as he is. It wasn’t easy to bring out the good-time atmosphere and tasty creations he’s known for, but the result is a high-energy layout that lets visitors know they’re in for a good time… not to mention an inspirational message. We’ve always been proud of our MaryDesigns Christian web design, and we’ll definitely be showing this one off for a while.

All of my gratitude and best wishes have to go to Alan as his site goes live. If it’s only half the hit he is, then we’ll be seeing a lot more of him soon.

It was a little over a year ago when one of my favorite fun clients, Karyl Traeger, closed the doors on her charming Lafayette shop, The Green Door. As sorry as I was to see the store go away, losing such a fun customer made it even worse.  So it was with a great deal of excitement that I began work on a new site for Karyl recently…

I’m pleased to announce the launch of MarthaRose Gifts & Interiors! Located virtually at www.martha-rose.com, and in Delphi, Indiana  (20 minutes from her previous location) in the real world, this shop will be the perfect stop for unique merchandise and the finest home accessories you can find anywhere. The brick and mortar store officially opens mid-May.

As excited as I am about every site that goes live, I have to agree with Karyl that this one is a home run. By combining the upbeat nature of her personality with the high-class products her store offers, we came up with a design that Karyl loves and feels is off the chart! Of course, if you’re in the market for a quality web design for your small business, in Indiana or beyond, I hope you’ll contact us today.

Once more, please join me in welcoming Karyl and MarthaRose back to the world wide web! It’s always a pleasure working with her, and I know her newest venture is going to be a big hit!