Everyone knows how hard it is to attract visitors to your site. In previous Business Learning Center articles, we’ve discussed how to get visitors through search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (pay per click).

But getting visitors to come to your site is only the first step. Once they’ve arrived, it is your job to keep them on the site for as long as possible and then to encourage visitors to keep coming back again and again. This is the essence of what is called stickiness.

What are the key elements of a sticky website?

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Thanks to technological advances, business has been transformed forever. Websites, e-commerce, online marketing, online communities and web-based content can all serve to enhance a company’s bottom line.

Web marketing has become such an effective tool for businesses that many businesses have forgotten the importance of face-to-face human interaction.

While a great website or a well-written blog have the ability to put a human face on a company, there is still much to be said for the importance of face-to-face human interaction.

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E-commerce websites offer a tremendous opportunity for both new businesses and established “Brick and Mortar” businesses. Utilizing the web gives your business a power and scope that no retail outlets can match.

Many companies, though, fail miserably when trying to turn their traditional businesses into e-businesses. What works in the traditional business world does not always work online.

In years of developing e-commerce websites for our clients, we have learned what works and what doesn’t. While many factors go into the success or failure of an e-commerce site, we have distilled the process to four key elements:

• Clear and straightforward messaging
• Strategically targeted Landing Pages
• Personalized/Engaging Features
• Using Credibility to Build Trust Read the rest of this entry »

Your website development agreement (WDA) – sometime’s called a service level agreement or a detailed spec sheet- is an absolutely critical document. Just by reading the agreement, you can learn a great deal about the web developer you may be working with. Ask yourself: Read the rest of this entry »

When potential clients come to Blue Fountain Media either for a new website or a website redesign, the first questions we ask are:

• What is the purpose of your site?
• What are the goals for your site?

The most common answers to the first question are:

• “Because we feel we should have a web presence.”
• “Because our competitors are taking away business with their websites.”
• “Because everybody else seems to have one.” Read the rest of this entry »

It has taken a while, but most major brands have made the decision to invest time, effort and manpower into social media efforts. When it comes to social media, some of the biggest brands have adapted impressively, while others have failed miserably.

Social media has grown exponentially in recent years and there is no sign that the growth is slowing down. As of the end of 2009, there were a combined 142 million social networkers on the top 10 social media sites. There are over 100 million users on Facebook alone!

What can social media do for established brands and for a new brand just trying to make a name for itself? Social media can: Read the rest of this entry »

A high placement in a search engine query result can mean a huge jump in targeted traffic for a business.

When someone goes to Google looking for a specific product or service, they are likely to review the first few results that come up in the results and ignore results that are not featured on the first page of results.

For example, when people are searching for a “website design company” on Google, this is the result that comes up: Read the rest of this entry »

While choosing the right domain name for your company may require a great deal of strategic thought, the process of registering your domain name is a relatively simple one.

Registering and buying a domain name or multiple domain names is a remarkably simple and relatively inexpensive process. While some corporations have registered thousands of domain names, many companies get by with a single domain name or just a handful of domain names.

At this stage you have already selected the primary domain name for your company. If you haven’t as yet or are in the process, we suggest you read this tutorial on selecting your company’s domain name in our Business Learning Center. Read the rest of this entry »

Like any brand name, the name you choose for your domain can go a long way to making or breaking your business.Your domain name should be easily remembered, as simple as possible to type into your web browser, and one that clearly reflects your brand and/or your services.

There certainly aren’t any hard and fast rules to guarantee success, but there are a number of factors that go into choosing a domain name that will both enhance your business’s brand and drive traffic to your website.

ESTABLISHED COMPANIES

If you already are a well-branded company, the best possible domain name for your company is your company name or a variation of your company name.

Traditional brands (with origins long before the advent of the Internet) will frequently use their brand name as their domain name:

• Macys.com
• McDonalds.com
• Gucci.com
• Ford.com Read the rest of this entry »

I am passionate about website design.

As part of my work, I spend countless hours looking at websites developed by other companies. There are many websites I greatly admire, but the vast majority of the sites I’ve looked at have major issues with navigation, design and content.

These aren’t mere cosmetic issues. These problems lead to poor traffic, high bounce rates and a major loss of revenue. Read the rest of this entry »