Why use Social Media?

One of the best reasons to use social media is the fact that they are, for the most part, totally free resources to you. The only expense would be time spent resourcing valuable content to pass along, and this can be pretty time consuming initially.  Once you get things set up and get used to the routine, you’ll be a master at Social Media Marketing.

Another reason is that it works! The ROI and the results of Social Media Marketing are proven to be highly effective in developing relationships with existing customers as well as attracting new ones.  There are many myths out there about social media and its effectiveness. Check out this article on Social Media Examiner Top 5 Social Media Myths Debunked to gain a new perspective on Social Media.

Which ones to use?

With hundreds of options out there – which social media tools do you use? That answer is going to vary depending upon your type of business or services, demographic and resources. Facebook is a standard and really one that we could consider a must have.  Twitter is fun and can be used in a very fast dynamic way.  YouTube or Vimeo can be really great to provide videos for your customers.   We can evaluate your business and point you in the right direction for these resources.

Do I need to blog too?

If I’m tweeting and networking with other social media tools, do I need to blog also? Great Question!  While all of the social media networking sites are a cultural phenomenon – it’s true that they could be a passing fad. Blogging is an online archive of articles written by you to help your customers learn about your products and learn how to use your products.  Or it could just be a place that you are providing valuable education tools, resources and tips to those in your industry.  Blogging is also a wonderful way to build link backs to your website to help build your web presence.  Every article you write should be linked to a service you provide, or a product you’re selling.   Writing original content can be time consuming, but if you write about things you are passionate about, you’ll be producing wonderful articles full of value that customers will resource over and over again.

How to get started?

So, where do you get started?  How do you set up all of your social media and add your logo and color scheme to things?  How do you network them all together and create a routine that makes sense for you?  That’s where our company can help.  Check out our Social Media Services page for more details or contact us today through the form below.  We’ll help you create a Social Media Strategy that will keep you happy and your customers engaged.

Other resources:

While many companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to gain quality traffic to their website, others have mastered the art of Organic Search Engine Optimization and quickly minimized their overhead. Organic placement on Google is the optimal way to be found by those searching the web. Looking at this screenshot below you can see that there are paid positions on Google and there are the “Organic” listings.  These are the sites that Google finds most relevant to the topic being searched.  Google comes to this conclusion several ways. Some of these include reading the content of your site, looking at your keywords and meta tags and monitoring links connected to your site.

Click Photo to Enlarge

Top organic placement can be achieved but it takes constant monitoring, building and networking. So you could either pay per click with Google AdWords, or save all that money and learn how you can master the art of Organic SEO by taking one of our community classes or attending one of our online seminars to help you learn:

• Google Analytics
• Key Word / Meta Tags
• Key Phrase Research
• Monitoring / Tracking Tips
• Responsible Link Building
• and more…

Your First Online Class is FREE!

1. Ask for proof.

Don’t be afraid to ask the web company you’re dealing with for proof that they’ve designed a project similar to your needs.  The last thing you want to be is someone’s FIRST when it comes to this type of investment. Ask to see sample sites produced by the company. Or even ask for past client names so that you can speak with them to get first hand knowledge of what it’s like to deal with the design company.

2. Read the fine print.

Some web companies want to control your domain name and content. Be sure that the contract you sign with them gives you full rights to your domain name and that it remains registered in your company’s name. Be sure that you have access to your hosting account, just in case you ever need to move it, or for some reason your web company goes belly-up – your website will still be functioning.  As much as you can, keep the control in your company’s hands.

3. Expect normal fees.

Re-occurring fees are normal on any website if you’re talking about an annual domain name renewal, or your hosting fees. If your designer is using a third-party software and any extra type of widgets, extra fees might be expected there, but other than that, a website should not require large fees after the initial design investment.

4. Expect Homework.

Unless the design company has experts from your industry on their staff, expect to have some homework when it comes to helping with building your website.  Truth is, a web design company is here for you to help code, script and design the layout of your website.  The content – like articles, blog posts, service lists, about us info and such really has to be written by you, or your staff.  The best thing to do would be to write the text in a Word doc or a Text editor and send it to your web company electronically so that they can Copy and Paste the content into the new page built for it.  You may even have to work with the design team to help them understand your demographic and how the navigation of your site should function specifically for them.  Your new web company should be able to give you expert direction when making these decisions.

5. Get things customized.

So many companies these days use templates that restrict their designs because they cannot customize the site to fit your vision. Be cautious when starting out. Ask plenty of questions and be sure that generic templates are not used! Your site should be unique to your company and service! If a design uses a WordPress or other open source template to design from – that’s fine.  Just be sure that they customize it so much to meet your look and branding that no other site out there looks just like yours.

6. Get access and Get trained.

Maintenance fees can really hit your budget hard on a monthly basis. While you do want to keep your website up-to-date, you do not need to pay someone ridiculous fees.  If you want to have access for changing content on your website – you’re looking for a Content Management System (CMS). Your new web company should be able to build your website on that type of platform and provide you / your staff adequate training on how to use the system.

7. If you build it (right), they will come.

Even if your site looks amazing –it will not be profitable if no one sees it. No one can guarantee placement on search engines unless you pay the individual search engine for that placement. However, there are ways that a design company can better your placement organically.

If your site is designed properly with the correct meta tags and keywords, titles and content – you can expect to advance on the searches quickly. We will work with you to target the correct keywords for your service or company.

8. Do they answer the phone?

One of the nightmares of doing business online is that sometimes the company can be onli9e one day and gone the next. What happens when you need help with your website? What happens if your website is down or you can’t get your emails? Be sure the agency you work with is going to be there for you in the long run.

9. Do they listen or do they only speak?

Yes, they might be the experts in the web design field, but do they listen to your vision or do they just push their own budget, design limitations and concepts on you? Every web company can bring solid ideas to the table, but this is a partnership between you and the web company.  This should be a networking together that makes sense and one that can last for years to come. The two of you are joining in an endeavor to better both of your companies.  You get a better web presence.  They get a happy, dedicated customer and a great looking addition to their portfolio.  Be sure you feel comfortable communicating with your project manager.  This doesn’t mean that the entire project will run smoothly, but it does mean that things should be able to be worked out easily and quickly.

10. Your company is growing – so should your website.

Along with your CMS website should come the room to expand and evolve with your company’s growth. Technology changes daily and the scripting used on your website today could be obsolete in 5 to 10 years. Will this new web design company be able to keep up with all the latest so that you look up-to-date still?  Will they offer you  ideas and solutions to reach out online and expand your reach? Be sure that this new company is willing to revamp even their own thinking to keep you looking the best!

Call one of our representative today to learn how we can help with your next online project.  210-8858-8408

This past year, we evaluated our branding again to find that most people couldn’t remember our name…. We were Studio 123  or 333 Studio – seemed like our logo just wasn’t sticking.  Our team put our heads together and had an “Ah Ha” moment…. Studio Ten23. We took away the red round logo that seemed to provoke a “CAUTION” or “WARNING” emotion and changed to a more fun Orange Box – but wanting to always think outside the box, we kept our Studio’s name just outside the box – livin’ on the edge.

And just like you can’t buy one Krispy Kreme doughnut without buying three more, then some coffee to wash them down, and then some aspirin to help with the sugar rush… We couldn’t just change one thing without carrying that new look into our full online presence. So September 5, 2011, we launched our new and, yet again, improved website.

Some of the major changes we made were due to the increase we’ve seen in mobile devices viewing our site.  We needed to become a mobile-friendly, smart device accessible website that loads faster and is 100% FLASH FREE. So, we’ve changed our home page. That movement you see at the top of the screen is scripting – not FLASH.  We’ve added a Blog that offers more resources and tips for you and Social Media so that we can stay in touch with you on a day-to-day basis.  We’ve extended our printing services and trained our staff extensively  to understand Search Engine Optimization not only to help our Organic placement on Google, but to help you as well.

This newest version of Studio Ten23 is built on a WordPress Open Source platform allowing us to have flexibility and faster updating, a video gallery and a dynamic portfolio.  We’ve never been more proud of the team here at Studio Ten23 and all the hard work of our analytic crew and designers.

It’s been a fun road to travel watching times change and our own company evolve. Knowing that times will continue to change, we look forward to transitioning even more and allowing our company to be trendy and smart. And if the bell bottoms make a fashion come back, we can’t say that we would never go there again, but we have learned our lesson with Jelly Shoes and boring, out-dated websites. We will never settle for anything less than the best for our company or yours!