Never let another company register your domain- this is the lease to your online business – protect it. We have seen lots of companies fall prey to other companies registering their domains. This can often lead to unwanted hassle when you want to change hosting companies. In these turbulent times lots of companies are going out of business. If they have registered your domain and are no longer around you may loose everything you’ve worked so hard for.

Register your domain at godaddy. It’s easy, inexpensive and they have excellent customer support. We don’t recommend you host your website there. If you don’t want to host your website with Group5 there are plenty of good web hosting companies out there. You want to make sure your hosting company is SEO friendly, has good 24 hour customer support, preferably not overseas. It’s hard enough to try to understand everything you need to know about hosting why make it harder by having a hard time understanding your customer support.

Make sure you have a recent backup of your website design. Assure that your files and database are saved on your local machine. This is so important! But don’t just save it on your local machine, make hard copies of it on DVD disks too. There are numerous things that can happen to make you lose all your data. Be prepared, back it up!

Email should always be included in your web hosting plan- don’t buy it separately. This makes things much easier to maintain thus taking the headache out of managing two different accounts. Be sure to use your company email on all your marketing, promotional material and correspondence. This gives you a more professional look to the people and companies you do business with. Nothing looks more “Mom & Pop” than yourname@yahoo.com.

You only need a Security Certificate if you are requesting sensitive information such as social security numbers or credit card information or other personal data that needs to be protected. Having a security certificate helps to make your customers feel safe when ordering from you. It has been shown that having a security certificate on your site increases conversions tremendously.

 

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1. Before you begin coding an application make sure that the company you have hired has worked with you to clearly architecture the site.  Site architecture is one of the most important aspects of your website design. How your site is structured will govern how well your visitors can navigate through your website. This aspect should be clearly mapped out before coding begins.
2. Just because you are paying $5 an hour for web development doesn’t mean you are getting a good deal.  This leads to the old adage “You get what you pay for”. Yes, we know times are tough, but being cheap is only going to get you cheap work. An old friend said “You can have your work 2 of 3 ways – Fast, Good and Cheap. Your work could be cheap and fast but it won’t be good. Your work could be fast and good but it won’t be cheap. And, you can get the work done good and cheap but it won’t be fast”.  Think about that before you farm out the most important part of your website to someone who works for $5 an hour.
3. Don’t over pay for applications that you can get through the open source community.  There are tons of online resources you can tap into in order to get the applications you need for your website.  Don’t be lazy and settle for the first thing to comes along. Take your time and do your research in order to find the best deal going. Ask your web design company for advice. They will be able to save you lots of time, money and frustration.
4. Make sure your developer is trained in the art of search engine optimization. It certainly makes your life easier and your online business work seamlessly when your developer understand the principles of internet marketing. If your developer doesn’t understand SEO and internet marketing it can undermine your ability to rank in the major search engines.
5. Make sure your are tracking your online efforts by implementing an analytics program. If your an online store or selling products of any kind, make sure to set goals and keep track of conversions. A company or developer who understands this principle is worth their weight in gold.

 

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1. Color: Color is very important to your online success. Color evokes emotion in your visitors that will either turn them on or turn them off. When choosing color it’s important to keep a few things in mind. first you want to keep the continuity going by keeping your website uniform with your traditional marketing material. Your website in nothing more than your online marketing brochure, unless you have a store of course. When designing a site you should keep in mind the acronym CRAP.
   That’s right! CRAP – Color – Repetition – Alignment – Proximity. This is the fundamental principle to web design.
   
   

   If you don’t have a color scheme for your marketing material then here’s a hint: Microsoft and large online companies spend millions of dollars to find out what colors make people want to buy. Let them pay for the research, you can use the researched findings for your own online ventures.  Your site should, obviously, be pleasing to the eye. We make sure to choose colors that suit your content and your visitors. Please understand that we will make suggestions based on what our experience has taught us works. So if your website is dull and has no contrast, or the colors don’t blend well together, we will discuss making the necessary changes to make you a more successful website.

   
   
2. Images: Using images that show people enjoying themselves converts at a much higher rate than just a picture of your product. The right images can make a big difference in how you perform online.
   They can make the difference between a person browsing or clicking off your site. Group 5’s expert web designers know these important strategies and has access to thousands of images that can help bring life to your website.
   
   
3. Call to Action: Call us, e-mail us, get us involved!
   When people search for something online they are trying to fulfill a need or want. There is a conversation going on in their mind that you need to tap into. As we build your website we have this in mind. You don’t want to leave your visitors hanging by not telling them what to do after they have reached your site. A strong call to action can make them pick up the phone, fill out a form, or take the time to email you in an effort to fulfill their need. We know this and therefore apply this technique to every website we build for our clients.
   
   
4. Accessibility: Anyone should be able to access your site, including persons with disabilities. Understanding what it takes to make your website accessible to all your visitors is vital to your online success. We make sure that every page is easy to find by making sure your navigation and inner linking structure is set up in the proper way. Making sure your visors make it to as many pages as possible is our goal for your business.
5. Usability: Is it easy to navigate your site? Can visitors understand your navigation? Are you using words and phrases that are unfamiliar to even the most seasoned web user? Keep it simple. Make sure that your navigation and inner linking is understandable so as not to confuse your readers. If your "Contact Us" button says something like "How May I Help You" your visitors may not make the connection. At Group 5 Web we understand these principles and make it easy for your visitors to understand and navigate every page they land on.

Find out more about web design in Tampa – Call Group 5 Web

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1. UNDERSTANDING SEO  SEO starts with research. Picking the right keywords to target your market is key in search engine success. You want your site to pop up on all of the major search engines, you also want to be at the top of the search results for the words and phrases your customers are typing in to find the products and services you sell. By placing the right keywords in the right place on your site and applying other SEOinternet marketing best practices you are assured to get top rankings even in a competitive market. If your niche is a competitive one, it may take more than just the basics. That’s when we will apply advanced SEO tactics to ensure you get found in the top 30 listings. There are over 60 things that need to be done to each page in order to fully optimize it. After the on-site optimization is complete we start with an aggressive off-site marketing campaign or what we like to call push marketing. That’s where we push people to your web by applying proper SEO techniques.
2. CONTENT & COPY WRITING According to Google, “content is king”. It’s the single most important thing on your site. Writing copy in an SEO friendly way is important for the search engine and helps you get found at the top. However, no search engine has ever bought any thing from a website. That is why SEO copy writing is so important. You have to write for both the search engines and your visitors. Integrating your keywords where it makes sense is a skill that is not easily learned. Group 5 Web ensures your copy is not only well written, but also written in an SEO friendly way for online success. It is important to work closely with your copywriter to ensure your message is being conveyed correctly.
3. LINK BUILDING
   
   If content is king then linking is queen. Links are how sites work together to promote one another. Google loves links. Links are how Google and other search engines determine the importance and relevance of your site. If another site is linking to you then that says to the search engines that what you have to say is important and must be relevant to the content on the site linking to you. Whether you are manually link building, blog commenting, directory link building, article marketing or using social media platforms, we can help you build a successful link building campaign that gives you the extra edge you need to make it to the top of the search engines.
4. SOCIAL MEDIASocial Networking is one of the biggest internet marketing tools you can take advantage of. With all the competition out there you have to be everywhere possible in order to have true success online. Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, Twitter, Digg and more are vital ways of keeping in touch with your customer base. Just like you do traditional networking for your company, social media is the same thing but online. As you may know, people are more likely to do business with companies they know and are familiar with than ones who just try to sell their products. Social media sites solve this issue giving you a valuable connection to your customers wherever they are. Group 5 Web can set up and optimize your social media outlets to ensure long lasting search engine success.
5. BLOGGING Blogging creates content, content contains keywords, keywords bring traffic and traffic brings conversions. A lot of people think blogging takes a lot of work. This is a common misconception. Allow me to explain: if all you are doing to make money online is blogging then yes, it’s going to take a lot of work and dedication. But, if you have a website where you offer a product or service then a blog is a wonderful addition to your online success.  You see Google likes to see you adding a page a week of new content to your website. A blog is the perfect way to do this. We recommend you use WordPress. Your best bet is to add your blog on your website. Don’t have it hosted separately.  That way each new post is considered new content to Google and that will help to raise your search engine rankings.. (The reason I always reference Google is because they now hold over 80% of the search engine market) If you don’t know what to talk about your blog can host your newsletter, events, product reviews, specials and more. Just remember, don’t use selling tactics on your blog. Blogs are for information not selling. But don’t worry, if it’s too much for your to handle we’ll do the blogging while you take care of business.

Find out more about web design & Internet consulting Services in Tampa – Call Group 5 Web

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