In today’s competitive world, a well-designed site forms the backbone of any company. A professional and reputed website development company plays a crucial role in reaching the company’s goals and objectives.

One of the most effective ways of using a web site is to collect new data, leads and increase sales. A good company specialises in various different areas of ecommerce, which means they are able to setup an online store for you in order to bring in new sales and leads 24 hours a day.

You may have an existing web site development project; you may be updating an existing website, or just want to learn new skills.

If you plan to develop a website to make your online presence felt, you should take the services of a professional website development company. It is through the business website that a client gets an idea about the services and products offered. A good designed site can also attract a lot of clients to help your company reach new heights.

There are many benefits associated with hiring a professional website design agency. These agencies have a team of qualified and talented employees that can help design customised website for customers. Their team includes system engineers, web designers, graphic designers and also marketing executives that work with full dedication to give clients exactly what they are looking for. Some web designing agencies also offer services such as SEO and content development which can help in generating leads and also improving sales. They will also create a customised logo for your business keeping in mind the target audience and the services offered.

The main features that a good web design agency can offer you include:

·         User friendly and informative site that can help the business reach a wider audience.

·         A technically sound site that is SEO friendly.

·         Site with browser compatibility.

·         Constant monitoring of the website for any issues.

·         Helpful in implementing numerous social media campaigns.

·         Useful in staying ahead in competition.

·         A relevant online strategy for company development.

There are some factors to be considered before hiring a professional web design agency.

·         The kind of tasks they have completed previously and the level of satisfaction offered to their previous customers. Also check if they have previously developed the type of site you are looking for.

·         Also check with them the money and time that will be required in your current project.

·         The experience they have in the web development field is also a crucial factor to be considered and also if the company can offer you valuable ideas.

·         The testimonials left by the customers they have worked with.

The demand for website design firms has increased considerably due to the number of companies going online. You have to be clear with the type of site you want for before hiring a professional agency. There are many agencies in the market offering website development services and selecting one after proper search will give you good results.

The technology company revealed revenue jumped 4 per cent year to $37.5bn (£23.3bn) within the three months to twenty-eight September spurred by sales of just about 34 million iPhones, a brand new record for the smartphone range within the quarter. The charges of constructing the devices dented margins, however, with the business posting a 8.6 per cent year-on-year drop in profit of $7.5bn (£4.7bn).

Apple’s iPad shipments inside the quarter totalled 14.1 million, rising slight from the 14 million a year ago. The corporate unveiled new tablets earlier this month including the most recent version of the iPad Mini because it looks to strengthen its share of the growing tablet category amid mounting competition from cheaper alternatives. The tech giant said the updates to its product lineup would make it an “iPad Christmas”.

The company’s earnings have now declined quarter-on-quarter three consecutive quarters after a decade of  growth. The shift has are available direct contrast with rival Samsung, which posted another another record quarter earlier this month. The South Korean tech firm, which generates the foremost growth from  its Galaxy range of smartphones, revealed a net profit increase of 26 per cent to eight.24 trillion won (£4.7bn) and a record 59.08 trillion won (£34.3bn) in revenue in its third quarter.

Apple chief executive, Tim Cook said the company’s foray into new categories in 2014 would spark renewed growth into the business.

He said: “In terms of recent product categories, specifically, when you inspect the talents that Apple has from hardware, software, and services, and a great app ecosystem, these set of items could be very, very unique, i feel nobody has a collection of skills like this, and we obviously believe that we are able to use our skills in building other great products which are in categories that represent areas where we don’t participate today.”

The move comes as government and industry looks to develop initiatives to chop the quantity of nuisance calls and spam text messages. This includes the introduction of a kitemark scheme that aims to make sure standards for telemarketers, in addition to legislative measures being considered by the dept for Culture, Media and Sport.

Stepchange claims the difficulty of nuisance calls is “out of hand”, with 39.6 million people believing more should be done to guard consumers from telemarketers. Some 26.3 million claim they’ve been contacted by marketers selling high-cost credit which include payday loans and 31.3 million say they’ve been contacted by fee-charging debt management companies.

The charity is asking for several changes, including increased power for regulators, a ban on unsolicited calls offering high-risk credit products and controls on aggressive debt collection. It also wants control of private data handed back to the shopper in order that they know who has their data and might stop it being passed to firms they don’t trust.

Direct marketing chiefs at the moment are trying to reassure the general public over telemarketing, with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) set to launch the accreditation scheme, dubbed TPS Assured after self-regulatory body the phone Preference Service, on Thursday (31 October). It is going to be awarded to companies that demonstrate they’re compliant with the necessities of the TPS.

The TPS is administered by the DMA under license from Ofcom and enforced by the tips Commissioner’s Office (ICO). It has almost 18 million people registered which have asked to be faraway from prospect lists for telemarketers.

The DMA hopes the accreditation scheme will repair a number of the reputational damage inflicted on telemarketers, especially after the ICO and Ofcom revealed they’re reviewing the role and effectiveness of TPS. a contemporary study by consumer watchdog Which? found that those registered for the service receive more nuisance calls than people who are usually not.

Video is large a part of our daily lives. Consider the last time you let an afternoon go by without watching some kind of video — on television or the web.

People aren’t just watching funny cat videos, either. Many businesses are harnessing the facility of video to drive awareness and sales.

Because Google owns YouTube, video ads on YouTube are handled through AdWords. And they’re surprisingly easy to make use of. Here’s how your corporation can start with YouTube ads.

Decide To your Campaign Goals

Don’t just jump at the video ad bandwagon because everyone else is doing it. Consider what you’d want to get out of it. Do you’ve gotten a sophisticated products or services that’s more easily explained with video than with text? Are you launching a brand new product and wish to generate awareness? Are you hoping to drive sales via video?

Video ads can work for each of the above scenarios, but as with every paid search campaign, a bit advance planning should help make your campaign successful.

Learn the Basics

YouTube ads run on a value-per-view basis, not cost-per-click. Whilst you can and may drive traffic via YouTube ads, you’re charged at any time when someone watches your video for a minimum period of time — usually 25 percent of the video length.

In some ways, therefore, YouTube is a branding or awareness exercise, in preference to an immediate-response medium. You may certainly drive leads or sales from YouTube, but you’ll pay whether the viewer ever reaches your website.

That’s to not say that YouTube won’t drive conversions, but your success metrics may well be different than for normal PPC campaigns.

Targeting

One nice feature of YouTube ads is targeting options. Targeting for YouTube is analogous to the Google Display Network. You are able to target by interest, topics, keywords, demographic characteristics like age and gender, or a mixture of those. Remember, YouTube has an immense audience. You’ll are looking to narrow down your audience choices. Imagine who you’d want to see your ad, and target accordingly. But be mindful that keyword targeting can severely limit your ad’s reach.

Where the Ads Appear

YouTube ads appear on YouTube. But in addition they appear on sites within the Google Display Network. That’s because YouTube ads have three formats: in-stream, in-display, and in-search.

In-stream ads appear as a pre-roll before another video.

In-stream ads play before YouTube videos.

In-display ads serve on YouTube, in addition to on other sites within the Google Display Network, where a user has embedded a YouTube video. In-display ads could have one among three formats.

1. In-display ads show on YouTube near similar videos.
   

   In-display ads show near similar videos.

2. In-display ads also appear as an overlay on YouTube videos embedded on Google Display Network websites.
   

   In-display ads appear as overlays on embedded YouTube videos inside the Google Display Network.

3. Finally, in-display ads appear as monitor ads on Google Display Network sites.
   

   In-display ads appear as computer screen ads on Google Display Network sites.

The third YouTube ad format is in-search. In-search ads appear in YouTube search results.

In-search ads appear in YouTube search results.

Ads appear in all three places. Keep that during mind as you craft your ad copy.

Set Up your Targets

A traditional pay-per-click campaign is organized by campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. Ads are assigned to an ad group, and are triggered by any of the keywords in that group.

The YouTube campaign structure is a special. YouTube has campaigns, ads, videos, and targets. Campaigns are essentially similar to traditional PPC ads — it really is where you’ll set geography, daily budgets, and such.

Videos are simply the videos you’re promoting. A single video can also be assigned to multiple campaigns.

Ads couple your video with ad copy. Ad copy is absolutely just like traditional PPC, with a headline, description, display URL, and destination URL.

Targets are the confusing part. You may target by interest, topics, keywords, demographic characteristics like age and gender, or a mixture of all or any of those. Within a campaign, you’ll combine targets, ads, and videos to create what viewers will see.

Combine targets, ads, and videos to create what viewers will see.

You can trigger your ad via all targeting groups in a campaign, or just some of them. Experiment with different targeting options to work out what works best.

Think About your Landing Page

With YouTube ads, that you can send visitors for your YouTube channel page or to a landing page to your website. That is where your goals come into play. If you’re attempting to build awareness and grow your YouTube subscriber list, then sending visitors in your YouTube channel is smart.

But if you’re going for lead generation, you’ll send visitors to an optimized page for your website, where they may be able to complete a conversion.

The nice thing about YouTube ads is that while not everyone will click through and even watch the whole video, you’ve still gained exposure in your brand via the ads.

Link your YouTube and AdWords Accounts

Linking your YouTube and AdWords accounts lets you see additional statistics that aren’t available if accounts aren’t linked.

Linking YouTube and AdWords accounts provides additional statistics.

If possible, you’ll desire to link your accounts to exploit these powerful features.

Create a Video Overlay

Once you’ve added a video to an AdWords campaign, you have got the choice of constructing a video overlay. This can be a block of text that displays over your video anytime someone views it. Clicks on video overlays are free.

Video overlays are created within YouTube, not AdWords. Log in in your YouTube account and navigate for your YouTube channel. Find the Video Manager inside the dashboard.

Navigate to the YouTube Video Manager for your account.

You’ll see your whole uploaded videos at the Uploads page. Find the video for which you’d want to create an overlay, and click on Edit.

Click “Edit” at the video you should create an overlay for.

From there, click “Call-to-Action Overlay,” and you’ll be ready to edit your ad copy.

Select the “Call-to-Action Overlay” tab to create your ad copy.

YouTube video ads could appear confusing, but whenever you get the hang of them, they’re an easy way to advertise what you are promoting, generate awareness, and create leads.

I was reminded of the ability of purchaser appreciation a couple of days ago when a native restaurant celebrated 50 years in business. The employees there threw a celebration for loyal customers, complete with food, drinks, and baseball caps with the restaurant’s name and “50th Anniversary” stitched on. Almost everyone left the restaurant wearing the hat.

Baseball caps given to patrons of a native restaurant touting its 50th anniversary.

This restaurant was offering their Facebook friends discounts in this 50th anniversary year. However the party was a pure show of appreciation — no purchase necessary.

Taking Appreciation to Online Marketing

Are you a brick-and-mortar store with an internet presence? Are you a web only business? Are you a enterprise? Every business grants that little something extra to their customers. Everyone likes a thanks , a thoughtful gift, or gesture. Providing your online customers with that very same sort of appreciation takes slightly imagination or simply overtime. It sort of feels like common-sense, however the little things could set you aside from your competition in an incredible way. Listed below are some examples which could spark some ideas.

Welcome Postcards

Having joined WhichTestWon.com to access its user testing case studies and research, i used to be surprised to receive a postcard within the mail welcoming me as a premium member and restating its benefits.

Direct mail postcard welcoming you to WhichTestWon’s premium service.

Thank You Notes

Customers of Popfunk, a t-shirt company, received handwritten thanks notes within the mail.

A handwritten thanks note for a purchase order — sincere and occasional-key.

T-Shirt Giveaways

MailChimp, the e-mail merchant, sometimes sends customers surprise t-shirts after completing an email campaign or as a reward for reading the company’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

MailChimp sends t-shirts as surprises to its customers.

Inexpensive, Quick Ideas

• Send birthday cards. Birthday cards are usually sent out by insurance agents and car companies to reconnect to their customers. Consider sending the cards out to reach two or three days before the real birthday.
• Send tips, articles, or how-tos. Send tips, informative articles, or how-tos for your customers. While email newsletters often include tips or news, extend this custom. Surprise your customers with emails or snail mail containing information that might be of interest. For instance, caterers, innkeepers, and restaurants can send their customers recipes to check out at home. Contractors can send decorator tips. Plumbing and heating companies can send find out how to keep a home cool or warm.
• Celebrate the seasons. Don’t just celebrate holiday seasons. Customers are used to getting holiday greetings, especially on the end of the year. Don’t forget that there are numerous other opportunities to succeed in out. Send autumn leaves — either literally or virtually — to a shopper who lives in a region where trees don’t change color, garden seeds, a recipe for warm chocolate or stickers of snowflakes, beach balls or sunflowers. All are simple but memorable actions.
• Call your customers. Surprise a shopper with a phone call. Did everything you provided — product or service — meet his or her needs? Are there any questions you could answer? Call to mind the shopper as events occur — reminiscent of a brand new baby or promotion. You may also reach out to turn your concern if his area was hit by a nasty storm.

In “How to construct a Profitable Website; 2 Case Studies,” my article last month, I provided several tips for creating your website in a method that helps you sell your products or services. I left off at comparing your site for your competitors’ sites and evaluating both to determine what your site should and shouldn’t have.

In this text, I’ll have a look at different sites within the same niche and notice how we will immediately give our site the proper, competitive edge right out of the gate. We are able to pick any niche, but for argument’s sake, let’s pretend we’re within the plumbing business and we’d like a terrific site the second one it’s launched.

It is sensible that we wish to look in heavily populated areas because that’s where the foremost competition is. It follows that the more competition you notice, the much more likely you’re to look better websites — although that’s not always the case. That said, let’s start by looking in Denver, Colorado.

We start by seek “plumbers Denver.”

The the very first thing that jumps out at me is several plumbing companies made a proposal of their Google ads as shown below, within the light tan box on the top of the quest results. If all plumbers are making a suggestion of their ads before you notice their website, this tells you they’re being aggressive and for you to be too together with your website.

If your competitors are aggressively advertising, that you must too.

Now that we’ve seen that the competitors’ ads are aggressive, let’s analyze their websites.

Rooter Town

The first site comes from Rooter Town, the 1st ad above.

Rooter Town home page.

Immediately i love this website since the colors are attractive.

Next, the telephone number is obviously visible so I don’t must hunt for it. Plus, slightly below the telephone number it says “Free Estimates Gladly Given.” This suggests the corporate is keen that can assist you and never scared to turn you its value.

There’s also a service request form visitors can fill out in the event that they don’t desire to call. It is imperative because many folks don’t want to talk on telephones. If you’re missing a sort like this in your site, you can be losing as much as a 3rd of your possible customers — at the least that’s my experience.

The pictures to the left of the shape show attractive, smiling people. At the pictures are terse sentences which are likely answers to common questions people have of their minds. It’s an exceptional selling tool.

Rooter Town must have its Facebook link on the top of the page so people can see it immediately. It’s going to even have a motivating factor to get people to love its page along with “$20 off your first service call once you like our Facebook page.” Any other thing this site is missing is a smarter Business Bureau icon, promoting good business practices.

Remember the $95 sewer-cleaning offer within the Google ad above? It’s at the site but when you have got a smaller screen you will want scroll all the way down to see it. This isn’t acceptable. Actually, there’s another offer next to it that’s also attractive. Both ought to be towards the pinnacle of the page.

Never make people hunt something down to your site. The real information must always go above the fold — i.e., the component to the web site you notice without needing to scroll down.

Roto-Rooter

Let’s take a look at Roto-Rooter, the subsequent site from the Google ads.

Roto-Rooter home page.

Roto-Rooter’s site looks just like Rooter Town’s site. The colours are nice. The telephone number is well visible. The Facebook icon is on the top — although there isn’t a motivator to get people to click it.

Remember the offer within the Google ad that said $40 off any service? After you visit the ad’s landing page, you don’t see that discount mentioned anywhere. It makes you ponder whether it’s still available. This offer need to be at the site and above the fold.

Roto-Rooter AdWords’ landing page.

Also at the landing page is a big banner around the top labeled “Prepare your house with the following pointers.” This ad takes up way an excessive amount of valuable space. The image with the van and the wording “For Over 75 Years” takes up an excessive amount of valuable space besides. While it’s important to let people know you’ve been in business 75 years, you can also make that time without taking over rather a lot space.

Next, there’s an excessive amount of text in this page and never enough pictures. I’ve found it’s quite common for folks to click far from a page within 15 seconds or less. This tells you people don’t read or study the page much. They’re busy. They need to locate the data within the shortest time possible. Because of this you must make your case understood within seconds.

Finally, this site doesn’t have a kind for individuals to fill in and email the plumber. Without it, they’re losing a vital amount of industrial.

Overall, this isn’t a nasty site. It simply needs an excellent tune up.

New York Plumbers

Now let’s change our search term, and search for plumbers in Manhattan, to work out what we will learn.

Looking on the Google ads for the quest term “plumbers Big apple,” we see only 1 plumber making a suggestion. The ad is immediately set moreover the others.

Google ad results for “plumber Big apple.”

When we click the ad, we discover it’s Roto-Rooter, mentioned above, but it’s for brand new York. Roto-Rooter is a plumbing franchise and because you realize my thoughts in this website, I won’t repeat myself here. Instead, let’s study the second one ad result for “24-Hour Emergency Service – Residential & Commercial Pluming.”

Hurricane Plumbing

Hurricane Plumbing home page.

This site does a decent job of using images and text. Also the text doesn’t look formidable to read. The telephone number is obviously visible. You understand immediately the corporate offers 24/7 service. Hurricane Plumbing has a higher Business Bureau icon on the top of the page and also you get a peace of mind knowing it’s trusted by that organization.

The Facebook “Like Us” link should show a Facebook icon because it’s not clear that this link is said to Facebook. Plus, there’s no incentive or reason to love the business on Facebook.

Next, the location is clean and tasty. There’s a significant picture at the front of the location with wording that looks to be strategic. Featuring “24 hour service,” “Plumbing,” “Heating,” “Drain Cleaning,” and so forth. This picture could take in less space than it does now. The corporate could then put its 10 percent off coupon higher so people see it immediately. It may be the very thing that gets a customer to name.

I’d also wish to see an email form to contact them for service because, again, Hurricane Plumbing is losing business without it.

Overall, i adore this site. That is strategically generating seeking to generate leads from visitors. I’ll bet the corporate does fairly well with it.

Now that we all know what’s good and never so good, take the very best items from these sites and incorporate them into yours, so that you may have a winning site.