Not long. If you’ve got an email address and an untapped well of misanthropic angst, you can set up a blog using a free template in a matter of minutes.

How long does it take to make a good blog? The kind of custom, robust content provider that’s going to get your ideas to the world and the world to your site?

That’s a different story.

The blogs that Blue Fountain Media provides its clients are fully customized to the needs of the particular site. Rather than simply plopping whatever content we can find into a bland, generic template, BFM does extensive research and plug-in work to make sure each element is right. Because of this, it’s impossible to estimate how long a specific blog is going to take without knowing the details of the project and what the client wants out of it. While the full implementation can eventually take upwards of 40-50 hours of designer and developer work, the results are drastic; if you’re serious about your blog, you want to do it right the first time.

If you don’t much care about the kind of traffic your blog gets, a custom blog might not be for you. If you’re  just looking to share dynamite smoothie recipes with a few friends or post awesome pictures of your Lhasa Apso in a fedora, you might not want to invest a week or two in a dynamic, one-of-a-kind blog. But if you’re serious about the traffic and features you want, it’s worth taking the time to be unique.

The simple answer is about a month or less for informational and brochure type of websites and about 3 months (give or take) for larger social networking or ecommerce websites.

The breakdown of time estimates and deliverables is as follow:

Brochure websites:

Design: 1-2 weeks

-We need about 2-3 days to come up with a customized homepage concept

-The time depends on how quickly your team gets back to us on edits

-We allocate time for revisions to ensure the website has the exact look and feel you want and need

-Coding in HTML/CSS: 2-3 weeks

- And an additional week if Content Management System is needed

Social Networking and/or E-commerce:

Planning: 2-3 weeks

-Creating a blueprint (spec doc) for the website

-Collaborative process with your team and BFM to determine all the features and functionality your website needs

-Wire frames to determine the layout for design

Design:2-4 weeks

-Photoshop designs to determine the look and feel of the site

-Timing here depends on how quickly we here back from you on edits

Front-end and Back-end Development: 6-8 weeks

-HTML/CSS occurs simultaneously as back-end development of your CMS (in PHP or ASP.Net)

-A more straight forward process than design as there is only one right way to code a site, and our developers code to W3C standards

-Client is given daily updates, but no need for approvals and edits as design was previously approved

Quality Assurance/Testing: 1-2 weeks

-This is done across multiple platforms

o Mac, PC

o Browsers: IE, Firefox, Safari, new and old versions

o All features are working 100%

• We take care of all technicalities: Set up on client hosting, integration, and moving of files/content/databases, etc…

No.

We build all different types of websites from XHTML to Flash and always advise against creating a Flash intro for websites. There are many disadvantages to Flash intros:

· They increase the file size of the homepage. This is one of the most important disadvantages of using Flash intros on your website: it increases the time the homepage takes to load. Expecting your visitor to first wait while the Flash intro loads and then expecting them to read your message is unreasonable. It would be like a telemarketer expecting you stay on the line through 30 seconds of music before they even start their pitch.

· They are outdated and look cheesy. This in not circa 2001; just cause we can do it, doesn’t mean we should.

· If you add music and sound files, that’s a huge no-no! This is intrusive on your visitor who may not want to listen to your sound file and could steer them away from your site.

· The most important disadvantage of using a Flash intro is that most search engines have difficulty indexing Flash, and thus it will not help you in the SEO department.

The conclusion is that most Flash intros serve little purpose and actually hurt websites. Remember that visitors come to your site to find information, very rarely entertainment derived from Flash intros (unless you have a website about entertaining Flash intros).

(source: Jeff Bauche._.·´¯))

No.

As an Account Manager, I’m often asked if I can provide a contact references for a potential client. I would love to send references, as many of our clients are thrilled with the work we do!

A high percentage of our new business is in reference to prior clients–projects from other friends and colleagues.  We also regularly receive thank you notes, emails, and at times even cupcakes from one of our favorite clients. (Wet Nose Guide!)

If every potential client wanted a reference, our current clients would be contacted many times a week. This is added stress on our clients and I wouldn’t blame them if they started charging us an hourly rate! We do not disclose references for potential clients to contact, out of respect for our current clients.

A few other reasons are:

• We would never give a bad reference.

• Anyone can give a reference, how do you know it is real?

• Most importantly, freelancers give references, but no legitimate organization should give out the contact details of their clients. This may sound a little condescending but potential clients should do research, learn the strategy we implemented, and the execution that was accomplished.

What else can you do as a potential client?

• Go to our testimonials section

• Check out our work and the work of other companies

• Google the company and some of their key employees

Of course, if it comes down to the deciding factor on whether or not you would like to work with BFM, we would be happy to send a few references your way. Of course, we would ask our current clients’ permission first.

With all the hype surrounding social media, it’s easy to forget that the big money has been made selling social media sites, not selling things through social media. For example, over a year and a half period, Dell got 0.0011% of its sales ($1 million divided by about $90 billion) through Twitter — and all they had to do was offer extra discounts! (During that time, Twitter raised $20 million from investors — and they weren’t exactly offering discounts on their stock).

So how do we help clients use Twitter without being used by discount-hungry fans and attention-craving social media mavens?

Our social media marketing strategies focus on three areas where social media has an edge:

1. Real-time research. If we want to know what people will search for after they watch the news tonight, or read the paper tomorrow, there’s no better tool than social media.
2. Instant feedback. It can take months of on-site testing to see if a product is better positioned than, say, a quick low-cost solution or a high-value, long-term decision. But social media can get the answer faster.
3. Deeper analytics. We use software tools to algorithmically guess what people are searching for. By participating in the same communities as our target audience, we find out what they’re really saying — and what we can say to appeal to them.

For now, social media marketing strategies don’t create much value working alone. However, as part of an integrated strategy like Blue Fountain Media’s proprietary i-SEO, social media can raise the ROI of other kinds of marketing.

Peter Shankman suggests avoiding social media “experts” who are pushing fairly conventional social strategies. We’d like to suggest that you also avoid social media “experts” pushing new, creative ways to get the same lackluster results. Social media marketing has potential as a source of research, even inspiration — but as a direct sales tool, it has a long way to go.

Many of our customers have learned to rely on the steady traffic growth our high-ROI SEO can bring. Others are interested in using social media marketing to increase brand awareness and really get in touch with their customers. At Blue Fountain Media, we don’t just offer best-of-breed SEO and SMM solutions — we design our campaigns to take advantage of how both kinds of marketing can work together.

The strength of SEO

SEO is simply the most effective, highest-ROI method for delivering traffic and converting users. Our SEO clients range from startups to small businesses to large companies and even charities — in every case, we’ve been able to beat both offline advertising and standard paid search advertising.

Why is search engine optimization so lucrative? It all boils down to the numbers: most pay-per-click advertisers do reasonably well when they buy ads on Google. But the vast majority of Google visitors click on standard search results: some studies claim that organic results get about 90% of search engine clicks compared to exactly the same site displayed as an ad. Paid search results are slightly more likely to turn a visitor into a customer, but even making some generous assumptions about the high value of PPC clicks, at least 80% of a site’s eventual customers will get there without ever clicking an ad.

At the same time, almost 90% of search marketing spending goes to pay-per-click ads instead of organic search. This makes SEO a fantastic investment.

The power of social media

Advertising might be one way to get people interested in a product, but people find one-on-one conversations much more convincing than one-to-many ads. Social media marketing lets companies get involved in the conversation, in a way that’s targeted and effective.

But social media isn’t just about talking: it’s about listening. An ad can’t find out what’s on a customer’s mind, or what objections they have to the product. It’s a great way to figure out what to do next.

The combination is unbeatable

How can you use them together? Simple. Social media marketing tells you what people are saying, which is a good way to figure out what they’re searching for. If you know what they’re searching for, you know what to optimize for. It’s the most effective, in-depth way to get new ideas for how to market your site.

At Blue Fountain Media, we’re always finding new ways to get the most out of our different services. Whether it’s combining SEO and SMM or combining marketing and design, we’re always ready to give our clients a great return on their investment.

Question One

Can you limit access to what your employees can see or grant varying administrative privileges? i.e., if I have a copywriter helping out or something and I don’t want them to see my customer date or revenues, can I adjust this?

Answer

Yes, you will have the ability to allocate different user names and passwords which have the ability to change or edit only certain areas of the site.

Question Two

Can copywriters work offline in a spreadsheet format and then upload new products and images? How easy is this?

Answer

Yes, it is very easy to upload an Excel spread sheet as long as you keep the information organized consistently (i.e.: size, color, etc. are in the same location for each item). We include training on how to do this before handing off your live website.

Question Three

Can you add unlimited images with each product, for detail shots, etc.?

Answer

You can add unlimited images or cap it off at a certain number. The best thing about a customized ecommerce website CMS and not an engine or template is that we can customize it however you like.

Question Four

How do you store all the customer data?

Answer

We build a robust CRM (customer relationship manager) into the back-end of your ecommerce web site to track each customer, how many times they have ordered, when they order, how much, etc. You can tell us you want to see all the people who have spend X number of dollars this year so you can export their contact info and send a coupon. Any reporting, filtering or search features can be fully customized however you like them to work.

Question Five

How safe and secure is the website for ecommerce transactions?

Answer

Everything is very user-friendly, safely stored and secured by firewalls. All protection and technicalities are taken care of.

Question Six

Can I transfer the content from my current site? What if I have 5000 or so customers along with their data?

Answer

Yes! We will take care of transferring all your current data to the new website and show you how to update in the future. We want you to see us as your own in-house team and not worry about a thing. We are here to make your life easy, to hold your hand, and help bring your company to the next level. Let us know if you would like us to walk you through examples of our robust and flexible CMS. We can show you exactly how to update products, export client data, set up coupons, etc.

Question Seven

What if I have other questions down the road?

Answer

Not a problem! Everyone wants to make sure all the t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted before getting started. I’m happy to answer any questions or concerns to help make this decision making process as easy as possible for you.

At Blue Fountain Media, while we believe web design companies shouldn’t host websites, we’re quite willing to work with clients after a project is completed. Once the traffic starts to flow into a new website, it’s often easier to see where visitor work flow can be improved, which design elements work and which need improvement, and what phase 2 features should be prioritized.

We prefer not to have long-term maintenance contracts for a simple reason: the work we do is a long-term investment, not an ongoing expense. We design our websites, applications, and ad campaigns so they’ll keep paying for themselves long after the invoices stop. (Our SEO campaigns are bringing in newsworthy results months after our work ended.)

Instead of a long-term contract, we’re generally available for quick maintenance projects. Since we’re familiar with the site’s broader marketing plan, as well as our own content management system, we can usually complete the project more quickly and effectively than other companies. Which means that you’re only paying for what needs to be done, as opposed to a maintenance plan that costs you the same whether you need it or not.

We design our entire process around solving client problems, not giving them one more expense to worry about.

There are lots of web design and online marketing companies out there. So how does Blue Fountain Media stand out?

Constant updates

We don’t like to leave clients wondering what we’re up to. For our SEO clients, we deliver a thorough weekly report, showing what keywords we’re ranking for, how well we’re ranking, what’s trending in which directions — and it’s delivered complete with graphs highlighting the key points.

We also provide more frequent updates on what we’re doing — for design clients on a tight deadline, we might send a daily email with in-progress mockups; for marketing and SEO clients, we send frequent emails about what we’re up to and what’s coming next. And, of course, we let our clients know as soon as we’ve heard news or had an idea relevant to them.

Unique designs

We pride ourselves on designs that go beyond what you could get from another web design company. Just take a look at our website development, logo designs, and flash animation.

Fast turnaround

Blue Fountain Media has a great reputation for our fast turnaround. A few great examples:

• SCX Worldwide, a social network with heavy flash use, took just five weeks.
• NY400, a site celebrating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson river, took five weeks.
• SolarTown, a social site dedicated to solar power users, is scheduled to launch near the end of May, having taken just six weeks.

Good marketing brings in qualified traffic; good design turns visitors into customers. If you can improve both at once, the benefits compound.

The combination of traffic and a good conversion rate can be very powerful.

When we build sites, we’re looking at things from the customer’s point of view. And while our customers value good-looking sites, they’re making an extra investment in order to get a site that brings in more revenue. We’re always able to redesign a site so it gets more revenue per visitor — but what about bringing in more visitors?

If visits go up 50%, and revenue per visit goes up 50%, total sales will rise 125%, meaning that an extra investment in marketing can actually get an even higher return than the original redesign got.

We don’t just focus on hypotheticals, though. Consider one of our clients, R.A.G. New York. We rebuilt their site to make it more user-friendly and easy to navigate, but we also launched a long-term SEO campaign to get them higher rankings for the keywords that matter to them. The result? April traffic is up tenfold from where it was last year. But conversions have also soared — from 1.5% to up to 5% for some pages. This compounding effect means that revenue (and profit) have increased even faster than conversions or visits.

We didn’t stop at redesigning the site and marketing them online, though: we also talked them up in the mainstream press. That’s gotten great results, too: R.A.G. was recently profiled in the New York Daily News.

Also, while most marketing firms are forced to hire outside to help to do heavy web development work, we are able to do everything in-house. Our marketing team sends requirements to our professional development team who then execute any of the on-site edits that need to be made. Many SEO’s profess to be experts in design, development, and SEO, but we prefer to have specialists in each field work on a project.

We’re constantly on the lookout for new ways to improve the results our clients get. From building great websites to bringing in visitor to getting attention from the press, we’re determined to bring our clients attention and income.