Mathnasium Facebook Fan Page Design

I should write about some more of our recent designs, but since I haven’t written about any of our facebook fan page web design projects I thought I would mention this one. We just finished creating a Facebook fan page for Mathnasium in Cypress, TX. We set up the entire fan page and created 3 custom landing pages on it. You can check it out by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cypress-TX/Mathnasium-Cypress-TX-Math-Tutors/120296381339705

New Portfolio Page

It’s been a long time coming, we just added a portfolio page to our website. You can check it out by going here:

http://mantywebdesigns.com/portfolio

Used Mobile Filing Systems Website

We just finished the design of a used mobile filing systems & used shelving website. The owners wanted a site that used red, gray and black colors and that allowed them to add pictures and descriptions of their pre owned filing systems and shelves without listing prices. So we created a site using a shopping cart system that allows them to add products to their site whenever they have more used equipment available.

Anyway, you can check out their website design by clicking the thumbnail of it below:

Basics of Setting Up a Website

When you decide to start a new website, there are a couple of things you should take into consideration before getting started. You’ll need to make some choices about your domain, hosting and hiring a website designer.

When you’re choosing a domain, there are several directions that you can go. You can choose a domain to brand your business, to appeal to the search engines or sometimes you can combine the two. Picking a domain to brand your business involves choosing a domain that matches the name of your company, your motto or some other group of words that are directly related to your business.

Choosing a search engine friendly domain name is a bit more complicated. The following are tips on how to find that search engine friendly domain name for your business with great marketing potential.

Choose a top level domain versus a .info domain name, if it is available. Most people search for domain names typing in a .com extension. However, you can also be quite successful with a .net or a .org extension. It’s not uncommon for website owners to buy several versions of their domain name with different extensions. If multiple extensions are available, consider buying them to keep competitors from buying them later and benefiting from your success.

When choosing a domain name for search engine optimization purposes, you’ll want to determine the best keywords to include in your domain. You can do this type of research on your own, to a certain extent, using tools that are freely available on the web. However, the number of times a keyword phrase is searched is only part of the equation. You also want to make sure that the competition for the term is reasonable. If you need help with choosing a domain, check out our a la carte services for our keyword research pricing.

No matter what domain you choose, always have it hosted by your own hosting server. There are many free website builders that offer free hosting but you will not have your own domain name. For example, if you were with Freewebs.com, it would be freewebs.com/andyourname here. This domain name does not look professional and it is too hard for your potential customers to remember. Today, there are many web hosting packages that offer a free domain name registration. Take advantage of it so that you stand out from the rest.

Make sure that the domain is registered in YOUR name, not in your website designer’s name, not in your hosting company’s name. Even if your hosting company offers to register your domain for you, make sure that you will be listed as the technical contact. You may want to register it yourself if you have any doubts about how the registration will be handled, even if it means passing up on a “free” offer. If you ever want to change hosts or designers, you’ll be glad you spent the ten minutes and $20, vs. the hassle and potential expense of trying to reclaim a domain if it wasn’t registered in your name.

Speaking of hosting, there are many options out there. Hosting companies have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, we recommend a different host to clients planning an informational website than we do for clients who need a full ecommerce site. If you are planning to have a blog or any special extensions, you’ll want to make sure that the host you choose can support those. If you have any doubts, contact a website designer, describe what you want and ask for hosting recommendations.

Finally, if you’re not comfortable designing the site yourself, you’re going to need to find a website designer. Of course, we’d love to help you out, but no matter who you choose, make sure that you ask to see some examples of the designer’s work. You may want to even find some websites you like and see who the designer of that site is. Talk to the company before hiring someone. In fact, talk to them a couple of times. Make sure they explain things in a way you understand, that you feel comfortable talking to them and that they return messages in a timely manner.

While you may be tempted to immediately go with the cheapest designer, you’ll want to make sure to choose someone who can complete the project in a timely manner and who will not disappear before the project is complete. Having to start over with a new designer will NOT result in money or time savings.

So, those are the basics. Choose a good domain, pick hosting that fits your website’s needs and find a website designer you enjoy working with. If we can help you with any of these areas, please call us at 832-497-1610 or fill out our contact form on this site.

Re-Design Of Summer Olympics Blog

We just finished the re-design of our Summer Olympics Blog. We wanted it to use the same colors as the old blog, but have a more modern look. Click the picture to check it out live.

Contact us if you need your website or blog re-designed and find out what we can do for you.

What’s Your Story?

What story does your website tell your customers? Is it a hard luck story of a business that hasn’t undergone a revision in ten years? Is it a story about a cutting edge company that’s up on the latest trends? Your website’s appearance certainly DOES tell a story, but today I want to talk about a different kind of storytelling.

Today’s customer will go out of their way to avoid “advertising”. On the television, we fast forward through commercials. On the computer, we employ pop up blockers. So, how do you get your message out there to a population that is putting their hands over their ears and singing “la, la, la”?

There’s good news because everybody likes a good story. Blendtec has really tapped into people’s desire for a good story with their “Will it Blend?” series of videos. Originally, they just blended things like marbles, but now they’ve started blending brand name items, so that they advertise Blendtec, as well as the company that makes the item their blending (that’s smart marketing!).

So, how can you use storytelling on your website?

First, you can write about your company’s story. Make good use of that “About Me” or “About Us” space. Don’t just give the bare minimum details. Tell us a tale.

Is this a third generation family business started in Grandaddy’s basement? Did your parents go without to send you to college so that you could fulfill your dream? Did you leave a high paying corporate job to strike out on your own, braving the entrepreneurial waters? Don’t have a tale? DON’T make one up!!! Find another place on your website to practice storytelling.

Tell us an anecdote about your customers. First person, we call these testimonials. But you can tell stories about your clients third person, as well (you’ll probably want to make sure these are positive and don’t use names or identifying details without permission).

Let’s say you have a car repair business, and you helped someone get home to their family for Thanksgiving by staying late the night before the holiday. That’s a good story! It tells something about the lengths you’re willing to go to, your commitment to your customers and, if told right, it should make for an interesting read.

Educate your visitors. Tell them an interesting tidbit of history about your area of expertise. Coffee companies do this a lot. They tell you about why different roasts are different. They give you the history of coffee. They manage to increase your enjoyment of their product (and convince you of their expert status) by telling you more about something you may have been drinking for years.

One caveat– do make sure your educational information is interesting. If you can’t figure out how to make your writing interesting, hire someone who’s an expert. It will be money well-spent. Just because it’s educational does NOT mean that it’s automatically storytelling.

Finally, you can experiment with using something other than the written word to tell your story. Whether it’s videos or pictures, today’s audience is very visually oriented.

Show them pictures of that before and after renovation. Give a video tour of your manufacturing facility. If you’re really creative (or are willing to hire someone really creative), you can create a cliffhanger serial about an employee or pretend client that changes on a regular basis and keeps visitors coming back for more.

This is just a small taste of the possibilities for storytelling on your website. Take a look at your site and see where it could benefit from a bit of a story.

New Houston Car And Home Insurance Company Website

We just created a new website for a local insurance agent here in Houston. The owner wanted it to look like most of the big insurance company websites and to have a patriotic (red, white and blue) color scheme. Check it out by clicking here:

New Website For A Houston CPA

We just finished up the design of a site for a local CPA. He wanted a unique style and we delivered a site that suited his needs.

Check it out by clicking the picture below:

2010 Winter Olympics Redesign

We finished redesigning our Winter Olympics blog just in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. You can check out the new design by clicking the thumbnail below.