HIT Web Design Articles

Social Networking and Your Online Success

2010-04-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Your first website has just gone live. Weeks of anticipation and planning have culminated in this moment. Now you're ready to sit back and watch your hit counter and bank account grow as you relax on the deck of a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean, right?

Many new website owners have discovered running a successful website is not quite that simple. Like any business venture, operating a website or web-based business takes work -- and sometimes a lot of it.

Fortunately, there is one tool in your arsenal you can use to increase your web
presence and your interaction with your customers: social media.

What is social media?

Social media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Put simply, social media tools help you as a website owner interact with your constituents, integrating them as members of a community rather than just as anonymous customers or patrons.

Social media consists of interactive elements on your site like blogs or comments, as well as active profiles on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, to name a few. The goal is to integrate your patrons and keep them informed on new offers, features, or updates to your site so they have reasons to keep visiting and to get their friends involved.

So, if you haven't already, go and set up a Twitter and Facebook account specifically for your online business or site.

Integrate, integrate, integrate

Now that you're out there in the social networking sphere, you will want to make sure you are giving your new community reasons to follow your business and frequently visit your site. You might offer a Twitter trivia contest, where the first person who gives the correct response to a question you post on Twitter will get an exclusive promotional discount. Or, you may say that whoever recruits the most followers for you on Facebook in a given time will get a $20 gift card.

Either way, the goal is to build a large and involved community that is enthusiastic about your site and products.

Stay Active

Once you've got some social networking accounts set up or a blog on your site, the key is to stay active. With so much information online and so many competitors, it can be easy to be forgotten if you're not giving your community new features, items, information, videos or promotions on a regular basis.

Doing this generally requires you you to log in a few times each day to update your status or to interact with your followers. If this is too time consuming, HIT sells software that you can program to periodically update your Twitter account for you.

The world is your network

Once you have established an online presence and have built a loyal community of followers, the possibilities for the success of your website or business are literally limitless. The key to remember is that you want to use social networking tools to build a "virtual neighborhood," where your online community comes to see themselves as part of an involved group so they they will invite others to join them and help your web presence grow.

For more examples or help, the HIT team is just one call away. For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

SEO Content Writing Helpful Hint #3

2010-03-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever shopped at a retail store that didn’t have someone working behind a cash register? Of course not! In most stores, cash registers are easy to find. They have a light with a number on it, a sign that says check out or pay here, or some other way of letting you know where you can trade your money for a service or product.

Each page on the website should have a purpose (usually selling something).

The “purpose” for each page can also be called the call to action. Placing a call to action on each page gives the website’s customer a place to trade his or her money for a service or a product. The call to action may be “give us a call to find out more information!” It might be “To sign up for an appointment, please fill out the form below.” You may be trying to get the potential customer from the home page to the services page. No matter what the call is, you should work it in to every page of text. If there is no call to action on the page, then why even have the page on the website?

In many cases, a call to action is associated with contact information. Because of this, you probably want to include contact information in a visible spot on the page, not buried beneath (or mixed with) a lot of text.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

SEO Content Writing Helpful Hint #2

2010-03-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Your 350 to 500 Word Advertisement

What does good web content writing do for you? It improves your chances of selling your products or services! When writing text for your website, you’re almost always writing to sell a product, service, person, or idea. You should start selling from the first line on the page. You’re really writing a 350 to 500 word advertisement.

Robert W. Bly, author of The Copywriter’s Handbook, says “If you feel the need to ‘warm up’ as you set your thoughts on paper, do so. But delete these warm-ups from your final draft. The finished copy should sell from the first word to the last.”

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

SEO Content Writing Helpful Hint #1

2010-03-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

Use Specific Keywords

Instead of “he has worked in the area for several years” try using something like “he has worked in the Atlanta area for several years” OR “Luis Argyle has sold Ford trucks in the Atlanta area for over 15 years”, etc. In this example, you could even mention what trucks (F-150, Ranger, etc.) Luis sells.

If you are offering a service or a product to a specific area, then use the city, state, region as a keyword. Be specific in the products or services you offer. If you sell jewelry, mention what kind. If you build homes, where do you build them? If you were searching for the service/product you are writing about, what keywords would you use?

HIT's TOS Provisions Protect Client and Company

2010-03-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

HIT's TOS Provisions Protect Client and Company

An Alarming Italian Court Decision

A hosting company's responsibility for 3rd-party, hosted content was recently emphasized by a court's surprising decision in Italy.

According to Google, four of its employees were recently tried in Milan for “failure to comply with the Italian privacy code,” and for “criminal defamation.” The charges were levied in relation to an event that happened in 2006, when Italian students uploaded a video on Google Video depicting the bullying of an autistic student. Google, after learning of the “reprehensible” nature of the video, promptly pulled it. It was only online for a few hours, but that was long enough for a judge in Milan to find three of the four accused Google employees guilty of failing to comply with privacy rules.

According to Matt Sucherman, VP and Deputy General Counsel for Google in Europe, “none of the four Googlers charged had anything to do with this video. They did not appear in it, film it, upload it or review it. None of them know the people involved or were even aware of the video's existence until after it was removed.”

Too bad, said the Milan judge.

Mutual Responsibility For The Benefit of All

The ruling raises two issues. First, and most troublesome, is the lack of impunity Google employees received from the Italian court regarding the uploading of the video, in spite of Google's responsible and quick action once it was notified. This decision varies sharply from commonly accepted notions among Internet users regarding the posting and hosting of user-supplied information.

According to Sucherman, “(The judge's decision) attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming.” Google promises to appeal vigorously the decision and hopes to vindicate the individuals convicted.

Furthermore, the ruling shows that hosting companies must take active and aggressive stances regarding the content their customer or clients wish to post or display. Doing so protects the client as well as insures the longevity of the company.

As for HIT Web Design, several content restrictions have been spelled out in the company's Terms of Service (TOS). Unfortunately, many customers fail to read this document prior to hosting their websites, only to find out the hard way that the material intended for use is inappropriate.

HIT Must Take A Stand

The Italian court's decision illustrates the potential ramifications a hosting company may experience when an offended or violated individual decides to escalate notice of his or her plight in the courts. Therefore, HIT Web Design legitimately and responsibly must draw the line on what it considers inappropriate material. In some cases, this is a judgment call that others may disagree with, but HIT's position is designed to protect the innocent and unsuspecting, and to preserve its integrity as a company, and therefore errors on the side of conservatism.

In general, anything that could potentially hurt or harm another individual in any way, or that is in poor taste or derogatory, or that is illegal, is contrary to the TOS of HIT Web Design.

Thus, the following categories are addressed in the TOS—

• Gambling

• Pornography

• Illegal Drugs

• Alcohol

• Fraudulent Financial Schemes

• Offensive Material

• and many more—consult the TOS for a full list.

The Internet is meant to be a free and valuable informational mecca, and it is based on the principle of responsibility of those posting (who should use good judgment) and those hosting (who should review and take down when appropriate), but the irresponsible acts of a few can potentially jeopardize the enjoyment for everyone. Sucherman warns, “If that principle (of reviewing and removing by the hosting company) is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them — every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video — then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear.”

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Financials for Your Online-Business Plan

2010-02-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Numbers: The Language of Business

One of the biggest challenges you may face as a business owner when writing a business plan is “the numbers.” If you are unfamiliar with the financial side of things, you may shy away from putting together numbers, but it is a lot easier than you may think.

Numbers are just another way of expressing ideas, and for the financial section of your business plan, the idea you are aiming to convey is that you have a realistic and accurate picture of the money you need and how you are going to use it to generate a financial return. The numbers of your business plan are really the bottom line when analyzing your plan, and should include these sections:

1. Start-Up Funding and Use of Those Funds

2. Cash Flow Projection and Income Statement

3. Break-Even Analysis

Many times, your “numbers” will receive more scrutinization than other parts of your business plan, so you should dedicate enough time to fully understand the picture you are painting. This scrutinization will come from people who know more about financial statements and reports than you can dream of knowing, but don't let that worry you. As long as you have a conservative, workable plan, they will recognize the opportunity you are presenting. In other words, they will be comfortable risking an investment in you, knowing that you have a good strategy to provide income in return.

Furthermore, you don't need to be an expert with spreadsheets in order to compile your business plan financials The following sections will require just basic formulas and simple layouts that anyone can do.

So, let's get started!

Start-Up Funding and Use of Those Funds

For this part of you plan, consider how much money you need to start your business. Start-up funding includes one-time expenses that are required to get your business going, plus money required to maintain operations for the short- and long-term, until your business begins generating enough revenue to stand on its own feet. Some things to think about include:

·licenses

·inventory

·software

·computer equipment

·rent

·insurance

·salaries

·website costs

·design

·development

·marketing

·hosting

·shipping and packing materials

·office supplies and tools

·PR activities

·press releases

·opening events

·other promotions

Compare your business to gardening. If you can imagine potting a new plant at the beginning of spring, there are several awkward weeks when you wonder if it's going to survive. Maybe, when you brought it home from the store, the roots were dry and new ones need to grow. Maybe, because of unseen neglect, it wasn't getting watered, or was left out in the sun too long until you came along and rescued it. At the end of the summer, however, if you've diligently tended to it, you'll be pleased to see that your plant is growing new leaves and sprouting beautiful flowers, and you'll be amazed at its beauty.

Your online business will experience awkward growth as you start, too. You need to give it time to “take root” and flourish. The start up costs you identify are designed to make sure you survive through those awkward first few months when sales haven't picked up yet and you are still building your client base. You need to insure you have enough resources to make it through—many businesses end up folding within a year of starting because not enough planning goes into short- and medium-term business financial needs, so take time now to prepare.

Cash Flow Statement and Income Projection

Running out of cash is a business owner's worst nightmare. Therefore, you must outline week-by-week, month-by-month, and year-by-year (for the next three years, at least) exactly where the money will be coming from and going to. This information will provide you (and your investors) with peace of mind as you see the big picture unfold. This process can alert you to potential times of concern due to seasonality, and help you adequately prepare for the future.

The way to build this section is to simply imagine day-to-day activities and then portray them in the numbers. In your spreadsheet, you'll need rows for expenses and rows for income, then a row for the net result. Simply walk yourself through a scenario of operations. What is your forecast sales volume? How many sales do you anticipate per day? Week? Month? What will be the variable expenses related to those sales, in other words, the cost of inventory? What about fixed expenses, such as rent, salaries, taxes, professional fees? List everything you anticipate will be an income and expense for the upcoming time frame.

As you piece this information together, you'll begin to see times when sales may be low and expenses high, so you may risk cash shortfalls. It's good to think about such things before they happen so you can prepare for them and adjust your plan—that's the primary purpose of writing a business plan, in fact, to prepare you for the unexpected!

Break-Even Analysis

The aim of your business it to make a profit. How long will it take? When will you be paying back your investors? Consider how much you will need to sell every day to break even in six months? One year? Two years? Three years? Which time frame sounds most reasonable, given market conditions and trends? As you build your spreadsheet, adjust the numbers accordingly to find a time frame that seems achievable, yet stretches you. Double check this with your Cash Flow Statement and Income Projection to insure your numbers match. More importantly, double check your marketing section of your business plan to insure that you have the right marketing strategy in place to help you meet your goals.

You can read about building a marketing strategy for your business plan in a previous blog from HIT Web Design. Be sure to read “Marketing Your Online Business.”

Financial Assumptions

When it comes to analyzing your business plan, realize that the underlying assumptions supporting the conclusions in your plan are much more important to consider than anything else. When a banker or potential investor reads your plan, they will be searching for those assumptions, and then weighing them against reality and their own experiences as business professionals.

As a result, you must know what the underlying assumptions are behind the sales forecasts and revenue expectations you are listing in your plan. How are those assumptions backed up by the research cataloged in other parts of the plan? Are the sales that you are forecasting consistent with those of other businesses in your industry? What market share of the industry do you plan to win? What does that represent in dollars? What about the information you uncovered about your target market? Is that group's buying trends and product preferences swinging in favor of your business?

Enthusiasm is Contagious

Be prepared to defend your plan when asked. Don't buckle and wilt if you are questioned about numbers you've listed or statements you've made. Instead, let the enthusiasm for your business show through. You've done the research, after all, and you believe in yourself and what you have to offer, so let it show.

Enthusiasm is contagious, and if your investors don't see it in you, they won't dare invest.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Marketing Your Online Business

2010-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Continue Writing Your Business Plan
Demonstrating its commitment to small business owners, HIT Web Design continues to provide insights aimed at helping you start or augment your online business. One of the biggest tasks you face is to write a business plan. We've been sharing with you tips and suggestions on important business topics that make the difference between success and failure. These articles are full of information and suggestions intended to help you in the writing of your business plan—something every business owner, whether new or seasoned, needs to do. In fact, many businesses take the opportunity at the first of each year to redo their business and marketing plans.

The information provided so far has focused on things like branding, identifying your competitive advantage, and many other subjects.

Now, we'll cover another important topic, marketing.

Every business plan needs a marketing strategy, and here we'll provide guidelines for you to follow so you can quickly grasp the importance of your Products, their Pricing, and their Promotion—the three Ps of marketing.

Get Information from Many Internal Sources
Before writing, you'll need to analyze a lot of information in order to create a viable marketing strategy for your business. Therefore, start internally, and work outward. If the company is yours, take time to reconsider your visions and goals for the year. Dream big. Ask yourself, “If money were no issue, and nothing was holding me back, what would I like to accomplish this year?” If you are working for someone and your task is to write the marketing plan, interview the company owners and top executives to find out what their expectations are for the business.

Next, talk to your sales staff. What goals are driving them this year? What are their sales expectations? If you are the sales force, what are your monetary aspirations for the coming year?

Armed with the big picture of your organization, your next step is to put together a marketing and promotion plan that will enable the overall vision of your company to merge into an accomplished goal by year's end.

Now, let's get started!

Identify Your Market
The first thing to do is research your target market. It's a big world out there. Who is it that you plan to sell your products to? Start with a broad description, then narrow it down to subsegments, and then analyze those segments—who are they, where are they, what do they like, what is peculiar about them, what do they read, where do they go?

There are volumes of information available about the Baby Boom Generation, Generation X, Generation Y, the Baby Bust Generation, the Echo Boom Generation, and the Sandwich Generation, just to name a few target markets. Your target market may consist of parts or subparts of these categories, or may be defined by your locality, your industry, or other categories. Figure out who it is you want to sell to and get as much information as possible about them from news articles, marketing forums, posts, and other sources. You'll want to know how much money they are spending collectively, what their ages are, how much money they make, their average family size, their common religions, their neighborhood details, what their occupations are—anything about them.

Next, you'll want to pry into their minds. What are their needs, attitudes, interests, lifestyle, and preferences?

MACRO Analysis
If you can ascertain the total market size in dollars for your target market, you can then determine what percentage of market share you can reasonably expect to capture. This is a top-down approach. For instance, if your online business sells to furniture buyers in a certain city where historically the market has totaled 600 million annually, and if you capture just 1.5% of the market, your online sales need to be at the $300,000 mark. Is that doable? What kind of a campaign do you need to organize in order to sell $300,000 worth of furniture to meet your goals?

MICRO Analysis
On the other hand, you can analyze your market from the bottom up. If your sales invoices have averaged $350 per sale, you can figure out that to hit the $300,000 mark, you'll need to make 867 sales this year. That's 16 sales per week. Can your website produce that? Do you need help your website out with some promotions to make sure?

More importantly, however, do people actually want 867 units of what you have to sell?

Analyze Your Product
Making sure you have a product that meets a demand and fulfills a need is a big part of any marketing plan. If your product is not reliable, is of poor quality, or simply isn't wanted, you'll either have to compensate with excessive marketing expenditures to create a hype and a large number of up-front sales, or you'll have to change your product mix. An example of creating a hype online recently occurred with the movie Paranormal Activity. The promotion marketing team realized they would need to create a huge hype to promote the film, because initial audience screenings indicated a lukewarm response, so they ran trailers on social networking sites showing not clips from the film, but reactions of the audience. This generated a huge “demand it” following that resulted in good initial revenue for the film, insuring that the producer were able to make a good return on their investment. That's the power of good marketing, and smart business owners never minimalize their marketing teams or obstruct their creative endeavors, even when there is no “bottom line” impact that is immediately obvious.

Positioning for Success
Positioning your product is a critical area of concern for your business and marketing plan: what makes you different? How have you taken steps to set yourself and your company above the competition? Consider pricing differences, product variations, process strengths, turn-around time advantages—all of these things, and more, will give you a competitive edge, and should be highlighted in your marketing and promotion efforts.

Price Your Products Right
The laws of supply and demand dictate your pricing strategy. Ignoring reality is a business owner's downfall. The higher the demand, the more you can charge. As demand sluffs off, you'll need to reduce your price to insure you sell your product. Things get more complicated for an Internet business, however, when shoppers can instantly compare your price with a dozen others. Thus, pricing on the Internet demands constant attention and research. A couple of dollars' difference between you and a competitor will cost you a sale.

Also, care should be taken to insure your shipping policies and pricing strategies are competitive. Shop around yourself on your competitors' sites to make sure your policies are in line (or better) than theirs. If you charge unreasonable fees and don't discount shipping (or offer free shipping for certain price breaks), then you will lose customers.

Timing
Before you jump the gun, your marketing analysis should consider whether now is the right time for you to start your business or introduce a new product or service. What market factors indicate possible success? What about your target market? Has its mood changed, making the field more fertile for your business? Are your potential customers actually ready for your products? Do your products match those preferences? What are their spending patterns? Have you built in time in your strategy to work out any kinks?

Are your customers influenced by seasons or locality? Seasonality of products is important to consider when pricing them. Take advantage of high-demand times and increase your price accordingly—don't leave money sitting on the table. Then, when the peak season passes, reduce prices and offer coupons or specials to clear out your inventory. Remember, every shopper loves to feel like they are getting a special deal and great savings, so design sales and limited-time promotions to attract bargain shoppers. When is the right time to introduce advertising, promotions, or public relations events?

Promoting Your Product
Getting people to your site and enticing them to buy is the main marketing challenge for Internet business owners. If you've done your homework on the market, the product, and the pricing, you'll be that much more ahead. But, your tasks don't stop there. Now, you have to promote your site and build your clientèle.

Offering sales and product price reductions to attract buyers is not your only weapon, thankfully.

HIT Offers Specialized Products to Give You the Competitive Edge
There are many techniques you can employ on your website to make it more competitive. Many of these features are available by contacting HIT Web Design. Using these products as part of your marketing campaign is essential to success. These marketing products have been carefully designed to capitalize on Internet habits and buying tendencies. Without such products, your website is not going to effectively capitalize on the traffic you do receive, and you'll find your profit being eroded because you aren't able to consistently sell your products at top dollar.

For instance, you can use HIT Convey, which immediately puts up important messages and promotions when someone arrives at your site so they get your most important message quickly. Research shows that many people know in seven to ten seconds whether or not they will stay at your site, so you have precious little time to capture their interest.

Constant contact with your customers is essential to keeping them. That's where Stay-N-Touch comes in. This product allows you to launch and manage multiple e-mail campaigns so you can provide your customer base with new, useful information about products, industry trends, and other important updates. HIT Web Design recently posted a series of four articles explaining how to make the most out of an e-mail campaign.

E-mail Marketing Tips, Part I: It's Time for a Newsletter Campaign
E-mail Marketing Tips, Part II: Offer More than One Newsletter
E-mail Marketing Tips, Part III: Boost Your Open Rate
E-mail Marketing Tips, Part IV: Get More Clicks

Other features include Web Traffic Director, a tool that steers people to your site, guaranteeing a certain number of site visitors. Additionally, target marketing becomes more precise with HIT Convert which allows you to get real-time information from you site visitors so you can fine tune your target marketing efforts with strategic insight.

In conclusion, careful attention to preparing a marketing strategy will help propel your business to greater profits because, in the process of putting the plan together, you will identity the strength of your products and the unique qualities possessed by your company that you can capitalize on.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
© 2010 HIT Web Design, L.L.C.

Advertising Your Brand

2010-02-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

In previous branding articles, we’ve talked about what a brand is and why you should have one. We also talked about identifying your company’s brand. Once you know how you’re going to brand your company, you need to start thinking about how you’re going to share your brand with your customers.

Branding your organization is an important step in promoting your competitive advantage, distinguishing your business, and establishing a strong customer base.

Advertising your brand begins with your organization’s name and includes your logo, the central message, motto, or point you are emphasizing, and your customer service efforts.

This branding package gives you everything you need to begin creating a distinct identity for your organization, both online and offline.

Your branding should include:

· Custom logo design

· Branded organization letterhead

· Branded business card

· Branded envelope template

· Watermarked background image

· Custom branded e-mail template

· Custom branded electronic newsletter template

· Branded e-mail signature

· A website

All of these and more are available through HIT Web Design. In honor of President’s Day, purchase HIT’s branding package, StayNTouch Marketing, and more, and save 20%. Just mention the promotional code “Jackson” to receive 20% off. This offer expires Feb 16th at 5pm MST.

Identify Your Company's Brand

2010-02-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Read this article on branding first…

What words listed below best describe your company or your products/ services?

· Customer service

· Established

· Community service

· Great deals

· A name you can trust

· Industry Expert

· Reliability

· Free Shipping

· Unique products

· Innovative

· Experienced

· Products that last

The list above is nowhere complete. Use it as a starting point. Really think about what you want your company to be known for. Identifying what sets your company a part from others is an important step in identifying your brand.

Many companies make these claims “the best customer service in the industry,” “over 50-years of experience,” etc. For your branding to be effective, you’ve got so do what you say. Some of the claims listed above are easy to back up. You offer free shipping, or you don’t. Others are more difficult to back up, but have a lasting positive effect if you do. Let’s take a look at Ben & Jerry’s as an example. As you visit their website (http://www.benjerry.com/) you will notice one of their page names is “Activism.” Click on the link to the page and you find out how they’re involved with everything from supporting family farmers to reducing CO2 emissions. Read Ben &; Jerry’s mission statement and notice how it is part of their branding effort.

After you know what makes your company unique, it’s helpful to see how your completion is branding themselves. First of all, you need to identify your competition. After you have identified them, take a look at their site and see how they are branding themselves. Finding out what you do better than your competition can help you establish your brand.

I looked at some websites to see if I could identify a company’s brand. I Googled “lawn care company” and looked at the page descriptions for the first 2 pages of web results for examples.

World's largest landscaping and lawn care company. Describes residential services, presents special offers, and features extensive lawn care and landscaping ...

We are St. Louis' premier lawn maintenance company. Beautiful Lawns in the St. Louis, MO area. Missouri, Lawn Mowing company, Total lawn maintenance service ...

Industry-leading lawn care & gardening advice. Indoor & outdoor lawn and garden products and services. Great tips on gardening, yard care, landscaping, ...

The Tree Expert Company is one of the oldest and most prestigious tree, shrub, and lawn care companies in North America, we provide a number of ...

Compare these with HIT Web Design’s page description.

HitWebDesign.com
HIT Web Design creates innovative custom web design starting at $199. Providing small to medium businesses with affordable website design and management ...

What are these companies saying about themselves? They are saying “we’re affordable,” “we’re experienced,” “we’re specialists,” “we’re innovative,” “we’re a leader in our industry.”

After you know what you want to say about your company, it’s time to think about how you want to say it.

HIT's Facebook Page a Helpful Resource

2010-02-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

HIT Web Design is now on Facebook! Become a fan of HIT Web Design on Facebook and learn things you might not know, including: Design Tips, Small Business Helps, and updates on Haiti's Little Angels.

HIT and Haiti's Little Angels – Stay Updated on Recent Developments

• HIT has been keeping fans regularly posted about the latest developments in Haiti. The company formally adopted the Haitian orphanage, Hope For Little Angels of Haiti, in December of 2008 and has been instrumental in funding the orphanage's food, medical, clothing, and clean-water needs.

• CEO David Aitken recently adopted three Haitian children from the orphanage, a process that began in November 2008. The weeks following the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti have been highly emotional for Aitken, who initially did not know if his soon-to-be adopted children were safe after the quake to experience the elation bringing them to his home in Utah. Utah's statewide newspapers and television stations have been covering Aitken's saga, and links can be found on HIT's Facebook fan page.

• Since the quake, all 68 of the Little Angels orphanage have been found alive and safe. HIT Web Design, which has been providing employee-donated funds for over a year to the orphanage, will be helping it rebuild after the quake.

Stay Informed with Helpful Blogs and Videos

• We posts helpful blogs and videos describing ways you can improve your website, with topics ranging from optimizing your site for search engines to design tips to effective small business practices. Links are regularly posted on Facebook, and provides an easy-to-access resource to become more educated on building your business online.

• HIT is also developing a following on Twitter . We post links to blogs posted everyday on our website. You can also find us on YouTube .

Small Business Building: What is a Brand?

2010-02-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

When customers hear your company’s name, what thought comes to their mind? Do they think of your friendly staff? Maybe a great price on a product? Free shipping? Excellent technical support?

If you are a budding entrepreneur with a great idea for a product or service and you’re ready to build a website to launch your online business, then add branding to your list of things to do for starting an online business. If you already have an online business and it isn’t succeeding like you want it to, then it’s time to start branding.

What is a Brand?
A Brand is more than a logo. A logo is a symbol. A brand is a promise. Your logo doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a solid brand. A brand is used to create trust between your company and your customer. When they think about your company, you want an automatic impression to come to their mind.

A campaign can have a brand. A company can have a brand. An individual can have a brand. Logos, advertising campaigns, and websites are used to create a brand. Some well-known brands include BMW, Coke, McDonalds, and Ferrari.

Why Should you Care about Branding?
Branding can help make your online business successful. How? A brand will help build trust between you and your customers. This trust leads to loyalty. Loyal customers become raving fans of a product or service and start to advertise for you—t-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, and the all important word of mouth.

Are you willing to pay more for a product if it was created by a brand you trust? Look at the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the food you purchase. Why did you purchase those items? In part at least, your purchase was based off of the brand name— you trust the makers of those products.

Can your customers trust your company? Do they feel like they know your company? A strong brand introduces your company to your customers. The customer can relate with your company on an emotional level if you’ve got a strong brand.

To build a brand you’ve got to create a brand. After you’ve created a brand, you’ve got to market it to your employees first, and then the rest of the world. In order to keep your brand intact, you’ve got to keep the promise(s) of your brand. So, what is Your Company’s Brand? If you’re not sure, don’t worry. This series of articles will help you determine your company’s brand and how to market it.

Don’t let your company get swallowed up in the Internet wasteland. Bring it to the forefront with branding.

Read more about branding here...
To learn more about how to help develop your company's brand, call 1-866-211-0743.

Competitive Advantage and Call to Action Part III

2010-02-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

Competitive Advantage and Call to Action Part I
Competitive Advantage and Call to Action Part II

Your call to action ties in directly with your competitive advantage. Think of your website as another marketing piece. Even if you are not selling products or services through your site, you are selling yourself and your organization. Use your landing page to guide your visitors along, and encourage them to take some kind of action.

Do you want your visitor to fill out a form? Purchase a product? Learn more about your company? Make that your call to action. Once you have identified what you want your visitor to do, make that the focus of your landing page. Say it in words, use an attractive graphic, and do not be afraid to repeat your call to action.

Offer an Incentive
A great way to make an effective call to action is to create a sense of urgency with your message. Here are some common techniques used in a call to action.

Deadlines for ordering.
Free gifts for ordering within a certain time frame.
Notification of a future price increase.
Offer a free trial / introductory rate.
“No Risk” trial.
“Not available in stores.”
Limited availability.
Free accessory with purchase.
Free upgrade for ordering within a certain time frame.
Create a race. “First 100 respondents…”

Don’t Be Passive
Do not be afraid to tell you customers exactly what you want them to do. Use phrases like “Call now!” rather than “Contact us when you’re ready.” Spell out exactly what they need to know, “Mail us at…” instead of “you know how to reach us.”

Stay current on the latest products and web trends at www.hitnewsfeeds.com .

Adopted Haitian Orphans Arriving in Utah

2010-02-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

Provo, Utah – February 3, 2010 – David and Candice Aitken are set to begin a new chapter tonight as they arrive in Utah with their three adopted children from Haiti.

The Aitkens will arrive in Salt Lake City on a Continental flight from Miami around 11:30pm. It is the final major step in the adoption process for Haitian orphans Nerlande (5), Yonelson (4), and Fabrice (8).

The past few weeks have been extremely emotional for the Aitkens. In the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, the Aitkens spent several sleepless nights worrying about whether their children were okay.

Last Friday night, the Aitkens received a phone call informing them that all of their kids were getting on a plane to Florida. However, at the last minute, Fabrice was not allowed on the plane from Haiti, after his paperwork was misplaced.

After several more frantic and frustrating days, on Tuesday Fabrice was finally allowed to join the Aitkens in Miami.

The Aitkens are excited to begin their new life together in Utah. However, the Aitkens’ involvement with Haiti is not over. David Aitken, CEO of Provo-based HIT Web Design, says his company will help rebuild the damaged Hope for Little Angels of Haiti, the orphanage HIT has been sponsoring for the past year, and where his adopted children were cared for.

HIT Web Design is a Provo, Utah-based company specializing in designing and hosting affordable and effective websites for small and medium-size businesses.

Visit HIT Humanitarian at http://hithumanitarian.com
Visit Hope for Little Angels of Haiti at http://hopeforlittleangelsofhaiti.org
Visit HIT Web Design at http://www.hitwebdesign.com

Learn more about this story by becoming a Hit Web Design Facebook FAN.

Competitive Advantage and Call to Action Part II

2010-02-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

Understanding What Your Customers Want
The second step is to know what your customers want and find a way to give it to them. Speak with your friends and family about your products or services. Ask them to be honest and upfront as to what would motivate them to purchase from you.

Once you have launched your product, keep in touch with your customers through online and / or telephone surveys. Try to get inside their head to determine what they are thinking.
Perry Marshall, one of the leading authorities on Google’s Pay-Per-Click System said, “There is virtually no marketing problem you will ever face that can’t be solved by knowing better what your customer is thinking.”

One way of communicating with your customers is through HIT Web Design’s Stay-N-Touch Marketing 2.0 software. The program is designed to communicate with your prospective, current, and former customers through an automated e-mail program, also called an “auto responder.”

When you first contacted Heritage, you were automatically added to our auto responder e-mail program, which periodically sent you emails that included valuable information about websites and the Internet. We have received positive reviews from our customers concerning those e-mails and have worked hard to make them as helpful as possible.

Recap
Research your competition.
Determine what your competitive advantage is.
Find out from your customers what they want and are looking for.
Match your customers’ needs and you will hit a home run with your marketing.
Maintaining and developing your competitive advantage will made you an industry leader and keep you one step in front of your competition.

Competitive Advantage and Call to Action Part I

2010-02-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

Competitive Advantage
As defined by BusinessDictionary.com, competitive advantage is:
“Superiority gained by a firm when it can provide the same value as its competitors but at a lower price, or can charge higher prices by providing greater value through differentiation. Competitive advantage results from matching core competencies to the opportunities.”

This definition might sound a little academic, but competitive advantage is what sets you apart from your competition.

Your competitive advantage could be:
Price
Quality
Shipping and handling fees (or lack thereof)
Experience
Customer service
Credibility
Something unique to your industry.

It is important to understand that having a competitive advantage is not an event, but a process. In other words, making and keeping a competitive advantage is ongoing. It becomes a game of trying to stay one step ahead of your competition. You should never feel comfortable with the status quo, but continue to find ways to improve your advantage.

Determining Your Competitive Advantage
The first step to determining your competitive advantage is to know your competition. Take time to research the main players in your industry. A good way to learn about your competition is to do several product keyword searches on Google. Look at each website listed on the first page of the results, both the sponsored and natural listings, to review their products and services.

Now rate your competition based on the list of possible competitive advantages listed above. One of the best ways to do this is to organize a spreadsheet, listing the possible competitive advantages across the top of your page, and then list the companies down the left side of the page, with your company as the top listing. To make things simpler, you might just focus on one top-selling product per spreadsheet.

Compare price, quality, shipping options, and so on. You should start to see some areas where your product or company outshines you competitors, and some areas where you can make simple adjustments that would give you an advantage.

For example, many years ago, when Heritage Internet Technologies started out in the web design industry, this process was used to determine what we had that was unique and different. One glaring item stood out: pricing. No one in our industry could design a custom website for the price point we were offering. For HIT, price became a strong competitive advantage. It is still used today in all of our advertising.

Website Owners Can Learn from Innovative Film Production Part III

2010-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

Massive Impact for Pennies

This is Part III in this series. Click here for Part I. The meteoric rise of popularity for “The Book of Jer3miah” also illustrates the raw power of social networking and the far-reaching impact that is possible if done correctly—all for little or minimal financial expense. In less than a year, the fans for the show blossomed from zero to thousands. Website owners can take heart that, with a little creativity and imagination, this same power can be harnessed for their own benefit as well.

For more information about social networking, consult these additional blog articles from HIT Web Design.

How Much Time Should I Spend On Social Networking?

What Social Networks Should I Join?

Website Owners Can Learn from Innovative Film Production Part II

2010-01-30T08:27:00.000-08:00

Make the Most of Social Networking

This is Part II in this series. Click here for Part I. For website owners struggling to maximize the power of the Internet and social media, there are some important lessons to learn from studying the success of this series.

Of course, the film episodes themselves provide the thrill, intrigue, and suspense that drives the fan base, just as any website should have good, quality, substantive content that is worthy of a visitor's time. During a presentation at the film festival, Jarod explained that when planning social media applications for the movie, he and Jeff wanted to have “multiple layers” of intrigue to keep their target audience, mainly college-aged youth, hooked. Thus, the intent of the multiple levels, Jarod continued, is to add additional information and content that augments the main story and provides insider information that could not be found elsewhere.

Applying this concept to one's Internet promotion strategy, website owners should consider using blog articles, video clips, tweets, and social network profile pages—but these mediums must augment the purpose of the site substantially, or they will not merit much attention from Internet friends and fans.

Website Owners Can Learn from Innovative Film Production Part I

2010-01-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

Social Networking Factors in Film Project's National Spotlight

If jumping into the social networking scene to promote your website still leaves you trembling and confused, take a lesson from innovative film professors at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, just down the road from HIT Web Design.

Last week at the 2010 LDS Film Festival in Orem, Utah, executive producers Jeff Parkin and Jarod Cardon explained how they took their film production called “The Book of Jer3miah” and used social networking to create a buzz that continues to capture the attention of thousands of fans.

Faced with a limited budget—as most small businesses are—Jeff and Jarod made maximum use of free services and features on the Internet to gain followers for their series. For example, some of the characters in the 20-episode series now have a dedicated page on Facebook, and additionally, there are other blogs where fans can “interact” with the characters. According to information on the Jer3miah website, “One of the most groundbreaking aspects of the series is 'The Davenport Papers,' an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). Here, viewers collaborate virtually and in the real world by deciphering clues hidden in webisodes, solving online puzzles, and finding physical evidence on the BYU campus. All this combines to shed greater light on the characters and the mysterious organization pursuing Jeremiah (the main character).”

In less than a year, the series has gained national attention from many important press outlets, including the The New York Times. Now, that's marketing genius.

Do You Have the Right Team? -- Preparing to Launch Your Online Business

2010-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

We’ve talked about creating a mission statement, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and developing a strategy for your online business start up. Now is the time to tout you and your team. Your confidence, enthusiasm, and vision are incredibly important to the success of your business, and to gain the confidence of investors. They are ultimately investing in YOU, so sell yourself and your team! Consider:

Who are your team members, managers, or partners? What is their level of education? Do you or they have any experience in similar ventures or businesses? Are you particularly passionate about your products? Why? Who will be in charge of what? Who has final decision-making authority?

Every business can potentially be faced with challenges. What risks might you face in your business, and how will you be prepared to face them? Consider:

Have you in the past, or are you currently facing litigation? Do you have access to an attorney? Do you have adequate insurance coverage for your business? Who is in charge of record keeping, and how are those records stored and protected? Do you use an accountant?

Once you have a plan for your online business, you need a website. When conceiving your website, before you think about colors, pictures, or even format, take into consideration the answers to the questions above and come up with the purpose of your website. That will make your web design process a lot easier.

This series of blog articles on starting an online business begins here .

For more information on starting an e-business or creating a new look for your current e-business, please visit www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743. Stay current on the latest products and web trends at www.hitnewsfeeds.com/ .

Business Description and Strategy -- Preparing to Launch Your Online Business

2010-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

If you plan on starting an online business, consider writing down your business description and strategy. By now you know your company’s purpose and your strengths and weaknesses. Use that information as you work out your business strategy.

The key element in your business description is to address how your business will meet the needs of your customers. In other words, how are you uniquely positioned to get your needed product to the right people and make money in the process?

Now let's discuss the strategy behind your business. Consider:
What type of business are you (retail, manufacturing, consulting, etc.)?
Will you need employees?
Where is your business located?
What are your hours of operation?
How do you plan to make money?
What costs will be involved?
How much money do you need to start, and how will that money be spent?

Take the guesswork out of starting an online business by answering the questions above, along with the other questions found in this series of starting an online business blog articles.

For more information on starting an e-business or creating a new look for your current e-business, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743. Stay current on the latest products and web trends at http://www.hitnewsfeeds.com/ .

Organic vs. PPC Marketing

2010-01-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

Organic marketing refers to the natural rise in search engine results a website enjoys relying solely on the way search engine indexers, or “spiders,” read the content on the site and how they consequently evaluate the site's relevance. This process of evaluation and ranking varies with each search engine and is influenced by many factors. With good SEO optimization in place on a website, many website owners wonder whether the extra expense of a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign is worth it. After all, with careful attention to creating fresh, original content enriched with keyword phrases in page titles, descriptions, headings, and content, in addition to excellent linking relationships with other important sites, one might think all the bases are covered. Is the extra expense of a PPC campaign really needed?

According to a blog by Kara Ratliff, “It’s a question most, if not all, businesses will eventually have to ask themselves in the course of developing their Internet marketing strategies. Which alternative offers the best return on investment? Which one is more easily managed?”

Use Both Techniques

Ms. Ratliff interviewed two Internet marketing experts and concluded that a strategy employing both organic and PPC strategies is essential to a website's success. According to Ratliff, “neither method (is) sufficient by itself and … everyone should look at trying both if at all possible. For some sites, depending on your goals, it often makes sense to allocate more or less resources to one form or the other. However, for most sites looking to put together a comprehensive marketing strategy, most any plan should include components of both.”

To further elaborate, Ms. Ratliff caught up with Dana Todd, an executive from SiteLab, who said, “(Each form of) Advertising has a completely different place in your media mix. We would never recommend … that you do one or the other; you always do them both wherever possible.” Another expert, Jeremy Schoemaker of Shoemoney Media Group, Inc., explained that when selling a product, PPC gets results quickly; but if a website is simply a blog site, a PPC campaign may be overkill. The main drawback with a PPC campaign is that nowadays, with extensive competition and heavy players in the market, an effective PPC campaign requires a large marketing budget. Yet, if quick results are needed or wanted to sell a product, for instance, a PPC campaign is the way to go.

Comparison for Decision Making

By the same token, organic marketing requires effort and resources, too. Manpower is required to test, refine, and retest any organic marketing campaign. Time and dedication are needed for research, evaluation, and integration. When faced with the decision about how much to spend on PPC vs. organic marketing, the comparison chart found here may be useful for business owners and decision makers.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743. Stay current on the latest products and web trends at http://www.hitnewsfeeds.com/

Make Opportunities & Prepare for Unfortunate Circumstances--Preparing to Launch Your Online Business

2010-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

As you go through the process of planning your online business, you may not have the answer to every question we ask. Don't worry if you don't have all of the answers now, because that is the whole point of doing this plan—to help you find and discover the areas that might sneak up and get you in the future. Having gone through the process of putting this plan in place, however, you will be better prepared to face unexpected turns and situations. Answer the questions you can and think about the ones you can’t. There are a lot of details that will come together as you go through this process.

Part of making your online business successful is knowing your strengths and your weaknesses, along with the (potential) strengths and weaknesses of your company.

What are you good at? What is your company good at?
What are the strengths of your products? Price? Selection? Variety? Quality? Brand association?
What are the strengths of you and your partners or team?
What are your strengths with respect to reaching customers and telling them about your product?
What are your leadership or organizational strengths?
What is the vision of your company and how is that a strength?

The answers to the above questions may be the reasons you want to start an online business in the first place. You must also look at your weaknesses. Good business owners strive to identify areas of weakness so they can turn them around and make them areas of strength. It's better for you to discover weaknesses than your competitors or customers to discover them for you!

How will the business run from start to finish?
Do we need to hire people?
Where will our products come from?
How will we get the word out about our company?
Do we have enough money to survive the start-up phase?
Do we have a good system in place to track orders and make sure our customers are happy?

This series of blog articles on starting an online business starts here (http://hit-webdesign-articles.blogspot.com/2010/01/best-way-to-start-e-business.html).

Preparing to Launch Your Online Business...Strengths and Weaknesses

2010-01-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

Part of making your online business successful is knowing your strengths and your weaknesses, along with the (potential) strengths and weaknesses of your company. What are you good at? What is your company good at?

What are the strengths of your products? Price? Selection? Variety? Quality? Brand association?

What are the strengths of you and your partners or team?

What are your strengths with respect to reaching customers and telling them about your product?

What are your leadership or organizational strengths?

What is the vision of your company and how is that a strength?

The answers to the above questions may be the reasons you want to start an online business in the first place. You must also look at your weaknesses. Good business owners strive to identify areas of weakness so they can turn them around and make them areas of strength. It's better for you to discover weaknesses than your competitors or customers to discover them for you!

How will the business run from start to finish?

Do we need to hire people?

Where will our products come from?

How will we get the word out about our company?

Do we have enough money to survive the start-up phase?

Do we have a good system in place to track orders and make sure our customers are happy?

This series of blog articles starts here (http://hit-webdesign-articles.blogspot.com/2010/01/best-way-to-start-e-business.html).

What is your Company’s Purpose?

2010-01-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

What is the purpose of your e-business? To make money, right? That’s one purpose. What are some others? Perhaps you have created or found a product that the world just can’t live without and you want to share it. Maybe you offer a service that will help others. You might have a hobby that you want to turn into a profession. Write down your purpose, whatever it is. If you have more than one purpose, then write each of them down in order of importance to you.

After you know what your purpose is, answer the following questions:

Why am I committing my time and resources to this endeavor?
How will I be helping others?
What needs will this business meet?
How will I be helping myself (owner), or ourselves (owners)?
What “greater good” will be served with this business?

Once you have answered these questions, you can form your company’s mission statement. Your mission statement identifies your e-business. Keep your mission statement to a few sentences. You can adjust your mission statement as your company grows and changes, but the core values included in your mission statement should remain the same.

In tomorrow’s blog article, we will talk about business details and description. In other words, we will flesh out the structure and details of your business and describe the framework for success that you plan to create.

This series of blog articles starts here.

For more information on starting an e-business or creating a new look for your current e-business, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

The Best way to Start an e-Business

2010-01-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

Before you officially “open the doors” of your e-business, you need to create a business plan. Turn your business idea into a plan that will help you succeed (or you may find it’s better to scrap the idea and come up with something better).

Putting a business plan together may seem like a daunting task. Our next few blogs will take you step by step through the process of creating a business plan, making the process a little easier for you.

Putting a business plan together will include completing a market analysis, a competitive analysis, an advertising plan, pricing, branding, a sales strategy, and much more.

You will want to consider marketing, financing, your target market, distribution of your product, finding out who your competition is, etc. In addition to considering these factors, you will want to set realistic goals for your small business.

Learn more about starting an online business here.

For more information, please visit www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Scrambling to Help Haitian Children

2010-01-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

Orphaned and In the Streets

Tragically, the stinging devastation of Haiti's earthquake continues to unfold, leaving children suddenly bereft of parents and family now wandering the ever-darkening, dangerous streets of Porte-Au-Prince and elsewhere, scrambling and scrounging for food, shelter, and comfort. Some are old enough to know their names. Others, too young to know what's happened, are lucky enough to have attending doctors assign them a number. The rest? Who knows?

Haiti is no stranger to orphaned children.

According to AP reporter Tamara Lush, in the past few years, atrocious political ruthlessness forced hundreds of political targets to flee Haiti, abandoning their own children in an exodus to seek asylum in the United States. On top of that, natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tropical storms mercilessly pounded the poverty-stricken island for the last decade, leaving behind a widening wake of destruction and death. Additionally, abject poverty forces many parents to give up care for their children and turn to orphanages for a last-ditch effort to provide for their needs.

Now this.

Before the earthquake, there were an estimated 380,000-plus orphans in Haiti, according to Lush. With the aftermath of the earthquake still at a tumultuous peak, it is hard to say what the number will be now, but it will be in the “tens of thousands,” reports Lush.

Stepped-Up Responses Benefit Some

The US Government Department of Homeland Security reacted quickly to the quake by granting “a humanitarian parole policy” for adoption cases already in process, opening the door for some children to enter the United States immediately.

HIT Web Design owner Dave Aitken hopes to benefit from the new policy.

In August, 2009, he and his wife announced their intention to adopt children from an orphanage sponsored by HIT Web Design. With the news of the earthquake, they felt like they were on “pins and needles” for days as news of the whereabouts and condition of the children from the orphanage was not available.

To date, all but six of the children cared for by the orphanage have been accounted for, including those who were to be adopted by Dave. Dave hopes the Haitian and US governments can bring about a quick resolution to their adoption quest.

In the meantime, Dave “cannot rest until the others are located.”

You can track up-to-date progress of Dave's adoption quest and the status of the orphanage by visiting HIT Web Design on Facebook. Search for “HIT Web Design,” and become a friend.

Hope for Little Angels of Haiti

HIT became a sponsor for a Haitian orphanage in 2009, and Dave ventured to Haiti to see the facility. He reported in April, 2009, “I have sat and held these children, and have to tell you, it is absolutely heartbreaking. They are so tall, but weigh absolutely nothing; many of their eyes seem to have no hope or happiness left, and I am excited to share with all of you how this changes as we help provide for them.” Prior to HIT's involvement, the mortality rate was one or two weekly at the orphanage, but with the help provided by HIT, that dropped to zero!

After making several other trips, Dave fell in love with the children. In August, 2009, he wrote, “I have to say that it is nearly impossible to walk into that place and avoid having a handful of these kids grab your heart. In fact, if I could, I think I would build a hotel in my back yard, fill up an airplane, and bring all of them home.” Dave initiated changes to improve the condition of the children, including moving them to a better facility.

In October, he was pleased to report incredible improvement overall of the health and condition of the children, saying, “The improvement in the kids' conditions was again evident (when) we walked in the door. We are seeing a very real reversal in the damage the (undernourishment) had done. The kids' hair is thickening and getting shiny, bellies are no longer bloated, eyes have the sparkle back in them, and my personal favorite, their energy is extremely high.”

With the earthquake carnage fresh in mind, and amid worries for the still-missing children, plans are already being made to build a completely new orphanage that will incorporate modern earthquake-resistant features and high standards of design.

For more information, or to donate, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.