​As a business with an online presence, you have hired a company to handle SEO for you. Analytics show that you also have a significant amount of traffic coming to your website, but your visitors are not staying in your website- They just vanish! This can be extremely frustrating for a business owner. When it comes to catching the attention of customers, the competition is very high.

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

Things that Can Go Wrong 
So, what is it that is going wrong and how can it be rectified? If the search engines are bringing visitors to your site, but your site is unable to hold their attention long enough, it may simply means the page layout may dull, confusing, boring, colorless. Be objective when you are looking at your site, and see how the overall effect is, at first glance. If you find that it looks very cluttered and that there is too much of information on the home page- that is likely where your problem lies. 

Things that can be done
The simple fact is that visitors to your site want to see web content that is laid out in an interesting manner. If visitors do not find your site attractive, they will go looking for more attractive ones.  Luckily, this is something that an expert Web Designer will be able to fix for you.  The website layout can be restructured, the clutter can be removed, graphics can be used to emphasize the areas that have more important information and attractive colors can be added. 

In addition to this the links should be placed in such a manner that visitors are able to navigate the site more easily. Making these changes can go a long way in improving your conversion rates and increasing your bottom line.  The longer people stay on your site, more the chance of them making an enquiry or a purchase and that is exactly what successful marketing is all about. 

Marketing Logic
The logic behind this is simple- would you enter a store that had dull and drab window dressing  or one whose display windows were attractively decorated? It goes without saying that you will prefer to shop at the latter and even if both the stores sell the exact same products, when it comes to profitability- it’s the display that will make an impact.

Similarly, when you have a website, you want to catch the attention of your visitors and encourage them to browse around- that is exactly what good web layout will do for your site. For more information and the best Web Designing services, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

If you have heard about landing pages and wondered what their relevance is- read on. The primary aim of having landing pages is to effectively convince your visitors to provide you with his/her information in lieu of a good product or service offer. It is an ideal way of converting a visitor into a lead. 

It is important for small businesses to have at least a few landing pages on their websites. But what is more important is that these pages have some means for capturing contact data. Most businesses focus on their organic rankings via Google but tend to forget the sales aspects and strategies. 

Why Do I Require Landing Pages?
The final objective of having landing pages, is to have visitors purchase immediately, but this is a very idealistic expectation. Almost 96% of 1st-time visitors are not really ready to buy, and that is exactly why landing pages are important. Once you have some contact data, it will be easier for you to nurture them through the sales funnel and continue marketing to them via phone calls, social media or email. The larger the number of landing pages, greater the chances of generating leads. 

We at Alco Web Design have a great deal of experience and expertise in this field. For all your Web design needs contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.  

When you use Alco Web Design’s writing services, you can be sure that your visitors will be glued to your website & they will continue coming back for more. The simple fact of marketing is that your customer has to be convinced that he/she really wants the product or service that you are selling. When you have relevant, correctly-positioned and effective content, you will find that your visitors keep returning to your website.

Things to Focus On
Consumers have to be persuaded in a gentle manner to buy your products and content has the power to do that. Some things that are important to keep in mind with content marketing:

• The selling aspect should be persistent but subtle 
• The content on your site should be informative & relevant 
• It should be simple to understand with no jargon
• The matter should be shareable which helps in Search Engine Optimization
• It should have the right Calls to Action which increases traffic and translates into higher sales 
• The web content should be updated on a regular basis and the SEO strategy should be revisited too. It’s very simple- no visitor wants to revisit a site and read the same old content every single time

The Right Mix
Sure, website content is largely text, but the way in which it is used can be the one factor that makes or breaks the visibility of your business in the internet space.  This also means, you need a good web designing company who also handles content, to keep updating your site and ensure that it has up-to-date and optimized content.

This will lend credibility to your website, give your business a boost, keep it in view of search engines and help in adding to your sales efforts.  For the best website design and  content writing services, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

Talk about current trends brings to the fore the aspect of the fast pace at which smartphones and other mobile devices are now being used to source information and search for products and services. This fact is very important from the viewpoint of online marketing. 

The “Where” Factor
Marketing is a lot of positioning a product or service in the right manner; but it is also a lot of reaching out to customers, where they are going to be. In this case, that “where” are their mobile devices. It’s important to ensure that your business website is mobile responsive. This means that the look of the site will remain unaltered regardless of the device that it is being viewed on. There will be no warp and no loss of resolution and the site will be visible on a mobile phone screen, as well as it is on a desktop screen. 

Improving Customer Experience
In effect, this improves the customer experience. It goes without saying that if a user is looking for a particular product or service and finds it difficult to look for it on your site; they will immediately go to another site. Enhancing the user experience is about ensuring that customers are able to get all the information they are looking for in a user-friendly manner. At the end of the day, online marketing is about making an impact and that is exactly what Responsive Web Design helps you do. 

Users do not want to be shackled to a PC any longer- they want to surf the Internet and buy and order products while they are on the move. The minute you reach out to these customers in the zone that they want to be in, it gives your online sales effort a distinct boost. This is the impact of Responsive Website design.

Being the Change
This is something your Web Designer will be able to help you with. It increases your conversions, improves your Return on Investment and adds to your bottom line. When it comes to online marketing strategy, do not leave any stone unturned. For more information about Responsive Web Design, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

​Creating an impactful website is not child’s play and there are a number of aspects that have to be taken into consideration. Take a look at how you can get your web page layouts right.

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

• ​Simplicity- This is probably one of the most important aspects of Web design. Your site should be easy to read. Simply put, this means that the background colors and text have to be chosen with great care. Do not use jarring backgrounds as this will only obscure the text. The colors that are used should also be easy to read. Use a good font size and avoid using all capitalized letters. Ensure that the content is left-aligned, has a proper header and sub-headings where required. Use bullet points where applicable. 
• Navigation- All graphic images like tabs and buttons should be labeled clearly and reading them should be easy. All the special effects and textures on your page should be picked very carefully and the navigation should be seamless and simple. The link colors that you use should also be familiar. All the content on your site should be positioned in such a way that a user will find the information they are looking for – in 3 clicks. 
• Consistency- This is a crucial factor and you must ensure that the web design, layout and the labeling is very consistent across the sire. This adds a very professional look. For example- if you have used drop shadows along the bullet points on one web page, use the same for bullet points across the site. This consistency should be carried through in the typefaces, the main text as well as all the headings and sub headings.  
• Special Effects- These can be created with the use of graphics and themes. Just as these should be colorful, interesting and relevant, it is important that they should not be overdone. Flash animations can sometimes get very distracting and so can too many moving effects.  

Subtle Impact 
All-in-all, make an effort to give your web pages a very cohesive look. Let there be no jagged edges, no stilted navigation and no sudden pop-up graphics and effects. There are times when you will be able to make the biggest impact with simplicity and subtlety. Incorporate your ideas and insights but be objective while creating your site. After all, it is your online face. For more information, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

The Benefits

• Targeted Exposure- In order to make significant online sales, every business has to get a sufficient amount of exposure. Just having an online presence is not sufficient and guest blogging is one of the methods of getting that attention.
• Qualified Traffic- The quality of traffic to your site increases when you have good guest-posts on it. You are able to leverage the existing loyal follower-base from other blogs and then direct them to your own blogs.
• Credibility- It’s very easy for any business on the internet to claim that they are experts as there really is no strong method of validating that claim. But the minute you have some authoritative guest posts on your site, it automatically increases your credibility as these blogs act like an endorsement.
• Networking Channel- Guest blogging is a great way of connecting with influential people in your field like industry experts, entrepreneurs and decision makers.
• Link-Building- Though this is not the primary function of guest blogging, it is the best way of bringing all those valuable links to your site and making visitors sit up and notice you. It’s a great way to impress Google as well.
• Social Networking- Most blogs share their content with their respective social media followers. Automatically, all the people who are following those blogs on the various social networks also get notifications about your posts.

We Handle it All
All of this simply means that guest blogging opens up a treasure house of new business opportunities for you. Alco Web Design knows and recognizes that it is very difficult for you to keep track of activities such as these, and we help with handling all guest blogging activities on your website. For more information, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

Having fantastic graphics and a very attractive site is all important but it takes much more than that to keep visitors glued to your site. The minute they find that your site has very relevant and engaging content; they will come back for more. Some types of web content are:

Article Writing
Article writing is a very impactful tool in online marketing. It can add to the popularity of your site. The articles should be relevant, crisp and well-written. Effective and optimized content helps in:

• Adding an interesting perspective to your website
• Offering fast  results
• Generating backlinks & traffic
• Promoting the products & services that your company offers
• Adding weightage to your website
• Giving your business’ online marketing efforts a definite edge

Blog Content Writing
The only way to draw more traffic is to have relevant SEO content. Blogging has also gained a lot in popularity and is a part of web content. Most sites have blog sections with interesting information. It benefits your business in numerous ways as it:

• Gives your site the required exposure
• Creates awareness about your services and business
• Generates website traffic
• Helps in  conversions

Linkbait
Linkbait is web content writing that is specifically designed to attract numerous links to your website. Some of these write-ups may be designed for well-known bloggers, certain social news/ bookmarking sites. You should use content to tell your visitors more about your work and business. It encourages them to stick around and look at your site in more detail.

It also helps in effectively establishing your company as an authority in the field. Apart from attracting customers, web content helps in earning you valuable links from many potential customers. Use your website smartly and understand that it is an important tool for boosting your visibility and improving the profitability of your business. For additional details about website content, feel free to contact me or visit my website at www.alcowebdesign.com.

But things have changed and now most successful websites will make an attempt to reach out to their visitors and generate business by using a number of Internet marketing techniques.

This is where the ubiquitous Blog comes on stage. Blog is essentially an acronym for Web-log and is like an online journal. Any posts that are added to the blog will be displayed in reverse-chronological order and a continuous “autobiography” of a website is created. A blog is a very important engine for attracting more Web traffic. Add a blog to your site, update it on a regular basis and it will instantaneously add an interest quotient to your website. First time visitors will find a reason to revisit it and slowly but surely the trickle of visitors to your site will turn into a flood.

There are a few things you have to keep in mind when you blog. I always suggest that a mechanism for comments be included. This is the best way to up your visitor’s level of loyalty and the “conversation” becomes an attraction point for visitors. The comments can also be used as feedback and they can give you some important pointers about how you can improve your site or the services and goods that you are selling. If you are able to use that effectively and create a stronger presentation, it will appeal to a larger audience and drive website traffic. Those who publish blogs will also frequently approach many other bloggers and will request for links.

Another effective tactic is to add a conduit toolbar. This is a teaser link or a widget that you can add to the toolbar- a click will lead them to your website. What is probably most important for website marketing is that you keep your blog fresh and updated. A moss-laden blog will get buried in the www while one that is updated regularly will continue to hog the spotlight. In my opinion, adding frequent, interesting and relevant blog content that is crisp and catchy is the way to keep drawing traffic to your website.

For additional details about website designing and SEO, feel free to contact me or visit my website at www.alcowebdesign.com or contact us.

This makes sense because people are more likely to be interested by fresh information than by older information.  The same goes for your website where frequent updates translate into a higher position (higher visibility) on the search engines search results.

The other reason to periodically update your website is that if you don’t get ahead of your competitors you will get behind.  Things change all the time on the internet and if you don’t improve your website your competitors will and eventually you will get so far behind that nobody will find your website.

How often should you update your website?  It depends about how competitive is your market and about how aggressive your competitors are.  In very competitive environments you might want to update your website every week or at least monthly.  A good idea is to use Google Analytics to monitor your traffic and take action if and when appropriate.  As a general rule I usually recommend small business owners to update their websites about twice a year.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or to visit my website (www.alcowebdesign.com) for more detail about small business website design and SEO.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642

Then I did some research.  Wordpress, as well as Joomla, Drupal, 1&1, Homestead, and many other website building tools are databases that use templates to display information in a web page format. A user friendly interface allows someone with limited technical skills to easily enter text, pictures, layouts, formatting, and all the information that needs to be displayed. At the end, the web pages do not really exist but are dynamically created “on the fly” from the database when pages are being visited. I have to admit, this is pretty clever and it certainly makes it very easy to create and modify web pages.

But if the pages do not exist and are created “on the fly”, how can Google and other search engines find them?  I did a fair amount of research on the internet (try “static URL vs dynamic URL”) and it looks like the Webmaster community is pretty divided on this topic. My understanding is that Google is making an effort, got better over the years, but still struggles with dynamic websites. Google is responsible for 70% of the internet traffic these days and making things difficult for Google is not a good idea…

All things being considered, it looks like the Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, 1&1, and Homestead of the world are great tools when there is no website budget at all or when large websites require frequent updates from multiple individuals. However, for the majority of small business owners, a good old fashion static website that Google will find and love is likely the best option. This is what I have been offering for years and I plan to continue to do so.  Here go my dreams of working less and making more money…

Because of obvious screen size differences, conventional websites do not display well and are very difficult to use on a mobile device.  For that reason, many website owners are now creating mobile versions of their website where smart phones or mobile device users are automatically redirected to.  In most cases, mobile websites are kind of mini websites providing key information and inviting visitors to call for more details.

Alco Web Design provides website design and SEO services to small business owners interested by a professional and cost-effective presence on the web. We create clean, mobile ready, and Google friendly websites that meet the needs of small business owners.

Our websites are proudly crafted in Greenville Wisconsin and most of our customers are small business owners from the Appleton and surrounding North East Wisconsin communities. Our reputation is our most important asset. You can trust us to do the right things for your small business.

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you have any questions about mobile websites.

• Website promotion starts with website design: Your website needs to provide useful, original, and well organized information that people need, like, and want to go back to. Work and rework the content of your pages.
• Focus on giving: Visitors will come back to your website if it provides them with something useful and easy to find. Information, tips, and ideas are great and do not cost you much.
• Periodic content modifications: Give a reason to people to come back to your website. Create a newsletter, on-line promotions, discussion boards, games, create some hype!
• Publish articles: Publish quality informational articles to blogs or free electronic magazines such as EzineArticles.com and include links back to your website. People interested by your article will go to your website for more information and details.
• Good web page layout: Keeping your website layout simple and standard will help visitors finding what they need and they will thank you for that by coming back to your website.
• Email signatures: Email signatures are a few lines of text that automatically get attached to each email you send. Include your website name on those email signatures so everybody that you send emails to know about your website.
• Conventional mailing campaign: Contact your suppliers, customers, partners, retailers, etc. Offer them web only promotional items so they go to your website. Be careful: What works for conventional mailing programs does not always convert well to the Internet where unsolicited mail is often associated to junk and may project a negative image of your company.
• Local business listings: Small business listings are often available through the chamber of commerce, town hall, or other municipal and regional organizations. Most of these services are free. This is especially important for small companies that do most of their businesses locally. Get listed! (How to use the local search directories?)
• Classified ads: Write ads on free classified websites such as Backpage.com, Craigslist.org, and USFreeAds.com with links back to your website. Don't not expect massive results, but it is free.

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you have any questions about how to build initial website traffic for free.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642

This article provides free, simple, and comprehensive information, hints, tips, and tools that will allow you to create a successful website. If you have time to learn, this article will show you how to get the best of your website and how to run a successful internet business.

• Type of website: Take the time to clearly identify the purpose of your website. What is it for? Who is the audience? Do you want to keep in touch with existing customers, attract new ones, provide information, or sell on-line? What do you want to do? If it is not clear for you it won't be for your visitors.
• Web pages text: A useful and content rich website will convince your visitors about the seriousness of your business and will invite them to return to your website. Plan ahead and don't make your content an after fact. Work and rework the text of your web pages, especially your home page.
• What pages are needed:  Your main page will be used to provide a quick snap shot of your business and of your website. Your about us page will provide detailed information about your company, key individuals, etc. Your links page will link to partners, affiliate, or other resources. Your FAQ page will answer common questions. What other pages will you have?
• Good web page layout: Keeping your page layout consistent, simple, and standard will help visitors finding what they need and come back to your website. Think thoroughly about the navigation through your website. If you can, use a horizontal navigation menu and use the full width of the page for the content of your website. Keep it simple, make it easy.
• Overall look: What do you want your website to look like? Is there something on the Internet you like or don't like? What colors do you want to use? How do big companies with unlimited budgets do? How do your competitors do? Be careful, copying the work of others is illegal. What can you do better?
• Pictures, logos, and artwork: Find pictures, logos, and artwork for your web pages. Save time and money by scanning printed documents you might already have. Use a digital camera and take your own pictures. Many websites including Microsoft offers great royalty free pictures.
• Proofing everything, take your time: Your website affects the image you project. Typos and careless mistakes immediately label you as sloppy and unprofessional. Pricing errors might be costly. Click on every button and double check everything. Make sure everything is perfect and fully functional prior to go live.
• Your website designer knows very little about your business: Are you working with somebody on your website design project? No matter how good your website designer is, he or she knows very little about your business. Your input is VERY critical to the success of your website. Be EXTREMELY concerned about the results if you are not deeply involved with the design of your website.
• Provide constructive feedback: Work closely with your web designer and play an active part in the review process. Be honest, clear, and specific. Make suggestions, be picky: This is your business, your website.
• Domain name and hosting: Get your hosting and domain name registration from a reliable quality provider. These days, small business packages are available for less than $25 per year. Shop around.
• ​Building website traffic: Congratulation, you are on-line. This is a very important first step but now you need visitors. Good news, several traffic building techniques are very simple and can be implemented for free.

​Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you have any questions about how to create a successful small business website.

• Header:  Every page of your website must let your visitors know that they are at your website.  Here you have your logo, banner, business name, etc.
• Navigation bar area:  The navigation bar helps your visitors finding their way through your website. Side navigation bars support an unlimited number of items while horizontal navigation bars leave more width for the content of your web pages.  Think your navigation system thoroughly to make it simple, efficient, and to minimize the number of clicks required to navigate through your website.
• Footer:  Every page must let your visitors know who you are and how to contact you.
• Main content area:  The main content area is what your visitors actually come to see.  A useful and content rich website will convince your visitors about the seriousness of your business and will invite them to return to your website.  Plan ahead and don't make your content an after fact.
• Background and colors:  The newspaper industry figured out a long time ago that black letters on white paper are easy to read.  Other dark font and light background combinations could work but are always harder to work with.  Stay away from dark backgrounds.
• Pictures, logos, and artwork:  Use pictures, logos, and artwork to differentiate your website.  Save time and money by reusing or scanning printed documents you might already have.  Use a digital camera and take your own pictures.  Many websites, including Microsoft, offer great royalty free pictures.
• Flash animations:  Flash technology is sometimes used to create animations or sounds effects.  While it can sometimes be cool, some people (like me) find it extremely annoying:  They take time to download and are a distraction.
• Outbound links:  They are cool but do not help you.  You worked hard to get visitors to your website and the last thing you want is to lose them through outbound links.  At a minimum, make sure outbound links open up a new window so your web pages are still opened.
• Page width:  The look of a web page might change slightly on different computers.  I usually use a narrower fixed width page that will look good for the majority of my visitors and print well on a regular 8½" X 11" sheet of paper.

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you have any questions about how to create a successful web page layout.

Google will bring visitors to your website but ultimately your website has a sales pitch to deliver. Here is how to turn visitors into customers:

• Content, content, content:  A useful and content rich website will convince your visitors about the seriousness of your business. Plan ahead and don't make your content an afterthought. Work and rework the text of your pages.
• Products and service:  Provide information about your products and services, your intended market, the benefits to your customers, and on what differentiates you from the competition. Be concise but provide options for more detailed information. When possible, make this information printable so it can be shared or used later. Provide a phone number or an email address for personalized service.
• Experience and expertise: There is no personal contact on the internet and your expertise is often what differentiates you from the competition. People trust experts. Make sure your visitors know about your expertise and about your willingness to help them.
• Testimonials and success stories: With the Internet, your potential customers will also find your competitors. Potential customers look for help and value. If you have proven success stories, you already have a head start. Provide testimonials, success stories, or case studies that are easy to read and can be verified.
• About us, biographies, and team pages: Give people an insight into who you are. Use pictures, talk about yourself, your mission, the values of your company, and the reasons you started the business. Show your visitors that you are a real person, especially if you are targeting local customers.
• Verify your work and make it perfect:  Your website affects the image you project. Typos and careless mistakes immediately label you as sloppy and unprofessional. Make sure everything is perfect and fully functional prior to go live.

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you need any help turning you visitors into customers.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642

Mobile devices are amazing little computers capable to access conventional websites.  But because of the small screen size, the text is usually hard to read, the buttons are too small to be usable, and the layout does not look quite right.  Also, the mobile devices struggle downloading large images to the point that they slow down drastically and sometimes freeze up.

To ensure universal access to their website, smart business owners are now creating mobile versions of it.  In most cases, the mobile version is no more than a summary of the main website providing key information and inviting visitors to call for additional details.  Mobile users are automatically directed to the mobile website and everybody else keeps on accessing the conventional website.

Google recently launched GoMo that automatically creates a mobile version of your website.  It is a pretty impressive tool but professional looking results usually require customization.  Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you need any help with your mobile website.

​These days, Google is responsible for about 70% of the internet traffic. Google likes links and if you want visitors to your website you need to have plenty of incoming links pointing at your site. The best way to have incoming links to your website is to provide useful and original content that other website owners want to share with their visitors. Local organizations such as the chamber of commerce, library, civic clubs, etc. will be happy to link to your website if they feel it is useful to their members.

Another way to get incoming links to your website is to trade links with other website owners and this is where a reciprocal links page becomes handy. This process works great especially if the link exchange partners are related by businesses, geographical location, or other factor. Therefore, it is a good idea to contact your suppliers, customers, partners, non-competitive resources, etc., and get reciprocal links. Please note that these links are on your website so protect your image and be careful who you get associated with.

To make a long story short, having a links page is not necessary but it is strongly recommended.

​SEO is a complex field and there is no one size fit all solution. We offer personalized services and you ALWAYS work directly with the owner. We offer the best value in small business SEO services in the Appleton Fox Valley. Please call 920-850-4642 or use the contact form to get started.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns about the performance of your website. We are not always around the phone, fill up the contact us form and we will get back to you promptly.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642
[email protected]

Houle, owner of Alco Web Design LLC, has been creating websites for small businesses for the past five years. He began to learn about the technology through his job at K-C and branched out to help others as a hobby. “I do it for fun and for entrepreneurship”, Houle said. “It’s nice to work for yourself”.

Houle has created websites for about 50 businesses located throughout the Fox Cities, Canada, and the US. His clients vary but include a jewelry maker, a domestic violence lawyer, a campground, and a company that manages retirement funds. A link to view the websites Houle has created is available at www.alcowebdesign.com.

Houle enjoys his business because it allows him to use his creativity. He also is constantly learning as technology changes. Last winter, he spent time researching the ins and outs of website promotion. To achieve maximum placement and exposure, Houle uses specific keywords to get websites to pop up high on the list in Google searches.

Houle recommends that all business owners have a website. “You can get a lot more business by spending your (advertisement) money on a website”, he said. “Everybody needs them now. It’s no different than having a business card.”

Alco Web Design at a glance:
Alco Web Design LLC
Owner\Webmaster: Alain Houle of Greenville Wisconsin
Phone: 920-850-4642
Website: www.alcowebdesign.com