Dealing With Negative Reviews Online

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
It's inevitable. Someone is going to have a problem with the way you do things. It really may not be your fault. After all, not even the best customer service team in the world can make everyone happy.

But what do you do if this grumpy customer decides to post a negative review of your business online?

Here are two strategies for damage control.

1. Reply...tactfully.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT write what you actually think of the complainer's comments. Before you sit down to draft your response, feel free to punch a punching bag, strangle a bobble-head doll, or invent and shout numerous clever nicknames for this customer. Once that's out of your system, put your own spin on something simple like this: “Our business strives to provide superior quality products. Please call our office to discuss this situation.” You'll sound professional, you're not admitting or denying anything, and you've offered to discuss the matter with the complainer in a more appropriate forum. Bada-bing.
2. Encourage happy customers to post positive reviews. This isn't something you want to approach every client with. But if you have some loyal clients that you're close to, ask them to decorate the web with some positive feedback about your company. You can find relevant review sites and point your happy customers in the right direction.  (If you've got really great customers, you could even mention the idea of including a link to your website in these positive reviews for a mini SEO-boost.)  It's not a bad idea to do this before that unfortunate day when you find that someone has posted a less than thrilling review. Having plenty of positive reviews out there will make a negative one seem like less of a big deal.

By the way, don't forget that a negative review can be a learning experience if the customer has made a valid point. The reason the comment was posted was to communicate something about that client's experience with your company. Sure, it would have been cooler if the communication took place in less of a public way, but moving forward, you may be able to make some improvements that will lead to clients who have nothing but awesome things to say about you.

Using YouTube for Business

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Did you know that YouTube is the world's second largest search engine? That's right, more searches go through YouTube than through any site in the world besides Google. Getting your brand on YouTube can be a powerful strategy, if you do it right. Here are three ways to make it work for your business.

1. Video Testimonials – See if some of your customers will agree to give you 30-second testimonial. Get yourself one of those little flip cameras and just shoot right on the fly. Then run it through free video editing software to make it look professional, upload, make sure the video is optimized, and away you go. Let your past customers convince your future customers that your company is the right choice.
2. Tips and Tricks – Use YouTube to share some of your expertise with the world. If you're an accountant, chat about some money-saving tidbits. If you own a coffee shop, demonstrate how your customers can best brew your premium coffee at home. Showing off your knowledge is a great way to establish credibility with potential clients.
3. Saturate Search – Google likes to mix up its search results by showing popular websites, blogs, videos, and more. Using properly optimized YouTube videos is a great way to 'own' search results for your company. If your company has a YouTube channel or plenty of videos, you have an SEO edge over your competitors who don't.  Adding any content to the web helps you SEO-wise, but YouTube videos are an especially sweet way to stand out from the crowd.

Why Web Design Templates Are Usually A Bad Idea

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Buying a stock web design template can seem like a time and money saving move. Instead of paying for a custom site design, why not pay a little less for something that already exists, right?

But those templates can be trouble. Here are a few reasons to avoid the slice-and-bake cookies of the web design world: 

1. You don't know who built the template. And thus, you don't know if it was built well, or what kinds of problems it might have. Chances are, it's not search engine friendly, and maybe it won't work on certain computers. In short, you have no way of knowing if you are buying a lemon.
2. It may be very complicated to update. Depending on the way it was built, you may have an updating nightmare on your hands. And since the point of a website is to display your company's most up-to-date information, it wouldn't be cool if you had to go through a process and a half every time you needed to make a change. With stock templates like these, there's usually no support included, so there's no one to ask if you need help. You buy one of those babies, and you're on your own to keep it going – for better, or, more likely, for worse.
3. It may not meet your goals. There are a million approaches to building a website. Some designers focus on things that simply look good, so there are some templates out there that seem appealing because they look flashy and fun. But if you're just picking out a template on face value, you're likely to miss out on the functionality that your website could offer. When you work with web designers like us, you'll see that we focus on designs that help you meet your business' goals. Unless you can talk to a designer about your goals for the site, how will you ever meet them?

It's true, sometimes people use prepackaged dough and survive...but there's nothing like homemade.

5 Benefits of Using Custom WordPress Designs

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Today I'd like to take a second to give some love to WordPress. For those of you who haven't been introduced to this powerhouse, it's a free content management system that can do just about everything but rake the leaves. We've recently started recommending WordPress to all of our clients.

Here's why: 

1. Designs can be completely custom. Unlike many other content management systems, WordPress allows the designer to do just about anything he wants. That means you can have your website the way you want it – no compromises.
2. It's SEO-friendly. Everything's built on DIVs as opposed to old-school tables, and this gives your website points with the search engines. And while some content management systems negate your SEO efforts by burying your keyword-optimized content under layers of code, WordPress makes your content easy for search engines to find. It even offers lots of options for adding meta-info like tags and keywords to earn even more SEO points.
3. It's easy to learn. Using a CMS like WordPress makes it possible for business owners to work on their own website updates, but no one wants to spend hours learning confusing new software. With WordPress, you'll be able to work on your site painlessly without having to conquer the ins and outs of programming language. If you can handle Microsoft Word, you should be good to go with WordPress too.
4. It's stable. People all over the world have volunteered their time to work out the kinks in WordPress, so it has become a very stable platform. So no need to worry about it crashing any time soon.
5. It's customizable. If you need WordPress to make your website do something special, there's often a 'plugin' (basically the "app" of the WordPress world) that can make it happen. No need to invent the wheel if the application's already out there...and in most cases, it is.

 

All this from user-friendly open source software. Rock on, WordPress.

How Much do Websites Really Cost?

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
A website is a must for every business, but how much should you actually spend?

There is no set monetary figure for creating a website. It depends on your budget and the functionality of the site. Think about how you use your website and then divide your web budget accordingly.

If your website is an “online brochure,” consider investing more money in content writing and design, so visitors can quickly glean information. If it involves more complicated features, place your money in custom programming. Do some research and see if there is a readily-available option for your use, as it might save you money in the long run.

Think about incorporating Search Engine Marketing (SEM) into your website, as well as other social media and internet marketing tools. Be sure you have measurement tools built into your site, as you’ll be able to track the value on your investment.

Allocate your dollars to the most important functions on your site. Don’t forget the additional costs for domain names, hosting and maintenance. Find a company that can provide all services in-house to help keep costs down.