Issue 3 – March 11, 2010

Featured Article | The Biggest Mistake in Web Design

March 10, 2010 | The biggest mistake in web design is letting your own design taste get in the way of choosing a really great web design. This is especially true for small businesses where one person is the sole decision maker on the design. This post talks about what makes a business web design great and shares some simple steps on how you can avoid this trap while still achieving a design you love. Read full story…

Video | Get on Page One of Google with jQuery | Episode 24 Local Knowledge

March 11, 2010 | There’s a new way to get on page one of Google search results by using a jQuery web design. This video and blog post will get you squared away.  Watch Video…

Watercooler | Authenticity in Marketing

As small business owners we are often naturally authentic in our marketing but on occasion we also try to be bigger than we are in order to impress our potential customer and in so doing we unintentionally sound like corporate BS machines! P Morgan Brown’s article Authenticity in Marketing describes how Trader Joes publishes a newsletter called the Fearless Flyer that manages to inform their customers while coming across as approachable and true to their company spirit. Read More…

Local 141 | Juicy links & status updates

March 10, 2010

• Facebook Will Allow Users to Share Location – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/1gA3t
• Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/1gzZ3
• The biggest mistake in small business web design from LOCAL Na8ion in West Palm Beach, FL http://ow.ly/1gzY1
• I love cheap & easy. In my SMS marketing tools I mean. SMS PENNY SMS http://ow.ly/1guPD

March 9, 2010

• Don’t Let User-Generated Reviews Ruin You – ClickZ http://ow.ly/1g25W

March 8, 2010

• YouTube – Where 09: Danny Sullivan, “Tricky Issues With Local Search” http://ow.ly/1fxYj
• How to Design for Your Worst Client: You. http://ow.ly/1fxNk

March 7, 2010

• Is someone managing your paid search ads for your business? Do you know how much of your money goes to buying ads? http://ow.ly/1extX

March 4, 2010

• Want to convert more lookie-loo’s into buyers? Forbes study suggests SEO, email and PPC ads are most effective: http://ow.ly/1elKU

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Local Bits, Bytes and BS.

- Julian Seery Gude
LOCALNa8ion.com – Where you are is where it’s at

About | Local Bits, Bytes & BS is our weekly online magazine and email newsletter for small business owners that need to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using practical online tools and methods. We publish content every week that reveals secrets from the leading edge of local internet marketing, local search engine optimization, social media, online video, web design and WordPress.

Subscribe: You can find Bits, Bytes & BS online at www.LOCALNa8ion.com or subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

Local Bits, Bytes and BS | Weekly Issue No. 3 Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Great web design isn't just about being original, it's about connecting with your website audience

How small business owners can chose a great web design for their company

The biggest mistake in web design is letting your own design taste get in the way of choosing a really great web design. This is especially true for small businesses where one person is the sole decision maker on the design. This post talks about what makes a business web design great and shares some simple steps on how you can avoid this trap while still achieving a design you love.

There are many elements that go into a great business web design. Things like originality, usability and the marketing content itself which include elements like your logo, website colors, marketing copy (text) and images. The business website must communicate the essence of your company (your brand) and lay out a convincing case for how doing business with you is better than your competition (differentiation). It can be a daunting challenge.

Let’s get something clear as to what I mean when I say great web design.

I don’t mean a work of art that wins a design award or feeds your ego. I mean a website design that motivates a large percentage of your target audience to take action, such as call, email or visit your business. That’s the kind of great design I’m talking about.

Now that we have a common understanding about what I’m defining as good design let’s talk about how to avoid your design bias overwhelming your primary goal of getting more leads from your website.

Here’s the secret?

Process.

Don’t beat your head on your keyboard just yet, I know that sounds dull. Don’t fret, because this process is really good at helping you create or select a great web design.

Web Design Process

• Identify your customer
• Make a list of your website requirements
• Make a rough sketch or example of your desired layout (called a website wireframe)
• Use representative placeholder text and images to agree on layout and overall design
• Write headlines, marketing copy (text) and calls-to-action
• Apply the skin of our new design last, after you have your layout, wireframe, text and images sorted
• Get feedback on the design from a small number of real customers

Let’s break each of these down and then you’ll be ready to put the process in place with selecting your next web design.

Identify your Customer

Remember how earlier I talked about how web design isn’t just the pretty face thet greets your web visitor? Here’s what your design should be about: communicating to your customer and incenting them to take action. Therefore wouldn’t it be nice if our design was customer centric rather than business owner centric? Say yes. Good job, you’re getting the hang of this process already.

Make a list of your website requirements

This is about what you want the website to do and what content you think you should include on your website. These requirements start out high level and then you get more specific until you have enough clarity to make them actionable.  For example, a high level requirement might be:

• Include email newsletter signup widget

The more specific version could be:

• Place email newsletter signup widget on home page and right sidebar of all pages and blog

Requirements insure your website actually has all the right parts needed to address your target customers’s needs.

Create a wireframe

Click to expand. A website wireframe helps you and your web designer visualize your design and agree on layout with no fisticuffs

Ever doodled a graphical idea on the back of a napkin so you could communicate what you mean to someone? Even if you don’t have the slightest design skill you can make rectangles, circles and scribbles that look like text. Today we do this when we make websites but we borrow an engineering process for it and call it a wireframe. What you’re doing is identifying a web design layout that you can apply your actual design and content to. Like we would apply wood or stucco to a house frame. How does this help? We don’t get emotionally invested in wireframes. We see the layout and can more quickly determine the right overall shape and flow you’re looking for. They let both you and your designer agree on a key aspect of the design with cool, calm precision. Don’t worry, there’s still time for mental anguish and hand wringing in the last two steps.

Use representative placeholder text and images

Ever seen a print mockup or website mockup of a design and it was full of text like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam consequat ligula sed enim pharetra cursus. Praesent posuere faucibus metus in aliquet. Sed egestas erat at nulla imperdiet a rutrum mauris ultricies. Suspendisse varius nisl ut quam pretium nec aliquet nibh tincidunt.

Just like the wireframe, placeholder text and images help you narrow down your design look and feel without being distracted by the specific elements of your final design. When we use real copy on a design it’s impossible not to jump in and start wordsmithing your new marketing copy. We all do this. So don’t fight this urge, just don’t give yourself a chance to have the fight. Copywriting has a place in your new web design and it needs to get done before your designer starts to apply hair and makeup to your design (color, imagery).

Now that you have your requirements and design layout chosen you’re ready to start applying your marketing copy or text to the website. Hey, go crazy with your wordsmithing and headline writing. The tighter this stuff is the better the final design. You might wonder why we make text before we apply the last layer of lipstick to our design. It’s critical since your marketing copy is descrbing both your product/service and how you differentiate your business – all summed up to capture your company’s essence (or in marketing lingo your brand). This written description paints a mental picture in the mind of the reader. That’s good because that’s what your designer should have in mind before they design! Give this text to your designer to help them conjure up all sorts of images, colors, and ultimately a design that visually depicts what you’ve described in text.

Apply the skin of your design (hair, makeup, etc.)

With every other part of your design in place from your content, layout and navigation it’s finally the moment of truth. The designer has to bring all this together in a way that pleases your customer. And at the very least the design has to be something you believe in, even if it’s not to your exact taste.

The good news is that by going through this process you’ve already given your designer tons of feedback on what you need. Because of this your web designer often ‘nails’ a design on the first attempt and produces a design that knocks your socks off and more importantly those socks on your customer!

If you don’t like the design you’ll have already agreed on many aspects of overall design so you really hone in on what’s not working about the design. It makes this step less confrontational and faster to get through.

Get feedback on the design from a small number of real customers

Before you select a final design or throw your designers ideas out the window get feedback from 4-8 actual customers. It’s not hard to do – just get creative. People are happy to help out and no one has a hard time expressing their opinion when asked! You can ask your customer the obvious question: “how do you like the design of our new website?” but don’t worry about negative feedback unless it represents the majority opinion. Remember, just like you your customers have a design bias. So ask less subjective questions like ‘would this website address your questions and give you a reason to contact us?’. Use this real world customer feedback to tweak your design. Fixing design issues are typically small tweaks that can make a big difference like using a different picture or headline.

Wrap up

The process we’ve outlined is one that an interactive web agency like we have here at LOCAL Na8ion can do for you (including the actual design) but it can also feel too process heavy for small business and sounds expensive. It doesn’t have to be either of those things.

It’s true that this process (like any) can turn into a runaway. But you can avoid that by sticking to your goals and keeping your time and business size in mind. A website requirements list for Bank of America can be 50 pages long. Yours should fit on one. The entire process could take a big company six months to get through but you can follow each step in this process quickly and be done in a week. That’s a good investment in time given that your new web design will be around a few years.

Most designs made for small business don’t follow any process at all and the results are similarly hit and miss. You often feel you’ve accomplished your goal when you’ve selected a web design that you like. Don’t measure success by your design bias. Let the results of your web design be judged by the effect it has on producing new customers leads. Thinking this way will redefine your small business marketing in more ways than just your web design. It can be applied to all your marketing decisions.

Last Word

Can this process work with inexpensive design templates and WordPress themes? You bet!

Custom design can be expensive. A minimal design might set you back between $1000 and $8,000. That’s just the design, don’t forget you may need to budget for marketing strategy (identifying your customer and figuring out how to best connect with them), search engine optimization, social media optimization and copywriting. Great designers design stuff. Don’t ask them to perform SEO or develop a marketing strategy.

One of our specialties here at LOCAL Na8ion is the use of design templates for projects (we specifically use WordPress to power all of our business website projects). We believe in design templates so much that we used a design template on our original website and our recently ‘re-designed’ website. You’re looking at it and it cost me $70. It met my website requirements and it also looked much like the wireframe I made before I got into the hair and makeup phase of the design. Using templates for our client projects allows us to focus on providing services to small businesses that normally couldn’t afford them like local search engine optimization, training on how to use Facebook or online video to market your business.

Your website is just one part of an online marketing strategy to get your business new customers. Building your new design using this process gives your offline and online marketing a platform that can connect the missing dots in turning shoppers into buyers while saving you precious time and money along the way. Oh, and chances are pretty decent that you’ll end up liking your new web design, especially the results part where you make more money.

Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCAL Na8ion

The biggest mistake in web design Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Issue 2 – March 2, 2010

Featured Article | Don’t let Flash happen to you

Last week I got a call from Fantasia Floral Design, a local florist on the upper east side of New York City. They were interested in the article I wrote on the Google Enhanced Business Listing. Before calling the business I performed a quick assessment of their website. What I found was a critical and all too common problem. Read full story…

Video Podcast | Think Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local Knowledge

February 24, 2010 | For those of you who have products or services that can be sold anywhere the Internet has opened up new revenue and growth opportunities for small business that never existed before. But just because you can get business from anywhere doesn’t mean that your marketing effort should be similarly broad. While I encourage you to think globally when it comes to your ideas and marketing differentiation I would strongly suggest that you act locally when it comes time for targeting your message and advertising. Watch Video.

Watercooler | How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web

It’s impossible to market your business online today without paying great attention to Google. Watch them closely, obey their rules and reap the rewards of free leads pouring in to your website. Steven Levy of Wired Magazine published a very informative article February 22, 2010 called How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web. The article covers the evolution of their algorithm changes and gives us some great hints on what’s to come. Please read it.

Local 141 | Juicy links & status updates

March 1, 2010

Google just bought web-based photo editor picnik. Here’s my video lesson on picnik http://bit.ly/ruR4G & story here http://bit.ly/a5Q7Ap
Dec ’09 54% of small businesses used social media to monitor feedback about their business. Here’s how: http://bit.ly/diYSag
69% of small businesses used social media to post status updates or share links according to eMarketer http://bit.ly/99VW2T

February 27, 2010

How local is local?  @gsterling reports buyers make large % of purchases within 6 miles of home. http://bit.ly/dav8RJ
If u r unsure of how to write an SEO friendly article, blog post or press release then scribe for WP might help you http://scribeseo.com/

February 26, 2010

Great post by  @davidmihm on the complexity of local search (local SEO) http://selnd.com/ci90S5
Want better local Google rankings? Read this real useful post & video by  @localseoinc http://bit.ly/197jqE

February 25th, 2010

5 Tips for Using Online Video to Market Your Small Business GREAT post by  @morganb on  @reelseo‘s site http://bit.ly/aEEcpt
Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text.
Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text.

February 24, 2010

My latest LOCAL Na8ion video on local internet marketing for small business: Think Global – Market Local http://bit.ly/b0RzQS
Mobilize your small biz WordPress website with WP-Touch plugin. Works for iPhone, Android & BB Storm phones http://bit.ly/7acG7Q

February 23, 2010

How’s your mobile website? Mobile Local Search is now 28% of all digital searches http://bit.ly/bHFvXP

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Local Bits, Bytes and BS.

- Julian Seery Gude
LOCALNa8ion.com – Where you are is where it’s at

About | Local Bits, Bytes & BS is our weekly online magazine and email newsletter for small business owners that need to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using practical online tools and methods. We publish content every week that reveals secrets from the leading edge of local internet marketing, local search engine optimization, social media, online video, web design and WordPress.

Subscribe: You can find Bits, Bytes & BS online at www.LOCALNa8ion.com or subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

Local Bits, Bytes and BS | Weekly Issue No. 2 Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Don't let Flash happen to your web design - Google can't read it.

Last week I got a call from Fantasia Floral Design, a local florist on the upper east side of New York City. They were interested in the article I wrote on the Google Enhanced Business Listing. Before calling the business I performed a quick assessment of their website. What I found was a critical and all too common problem.

Their website was made entirely in Flash, a web programing language that is intended for displaying motion graphics and videos on a website but never intended for use in attracting search engines or powering entire websites. Google and other search engines read text but not the content of Flash or video files.

Given that local search is now the number one tool people use to find local products and services this presents a major problem.

The solution is to have a new website design made using modern web design and local search engine optimization methods. Today, an integrated design that combines best practices in web design, usability and SEO are available in the general marketplace at affordable prices (for example we offer a starter package that includes your WordPress install, setup, design theme, local SEO, training, web hosting, and training for under a thousand bucks).

There are some additional benefits to updating your website. If your old Flash content is still compelling and relevant there’s a good chance it can be incorporated into your new web design like as I’ve done with Fantasia Floral’s Flash movie below.

A website built on a modern platform will open up other features and benefits that make it easier to market your business online, such as easy integration with social media like Twitter and Facebook. Modern website platforms like WordPress like we use here at LOCAL Na8ion make it easy for business owners without technical knowhow to update their own website, freeing them from the costs of hiring a web designer every time something in their business changes.

There’s always a balancing act when creating a web design that’s attractive to people and search engines. The site must look good and function well while providing users with clear navigation – all while being fully accessible to Google and other search engines. The benefit of this integrated web design is better organic search engine rankings, a lasting effect that keeps paying you back as long as you’re in business. That’s what good web design and marketing are all about – better results.

Do not let Flash happen to your web design Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

I’ve been working recently on a website design for a new client WestchesterInternetMarketing.com in Westchester New York. If you’re in their area and need help with local internet marketing, please look them up.

Westchester Internet Marketing turned me on to a great WordPress plugin to boost your search engine results and I wanted to pay-it-forward by letting you in on their tip.

I’m excited about this plugin because it will save me time in helping clients with their Local SEO and it will also help you, even if you don’t know much about SEO or achieving better search engine rankings.

It’s called SEO Automatic and it’s made by Scott Hendison over at Search Commander. As a web designer and marketer who specializes in WordPress I can say with confidence that Scott’s claims for the plugin are bang on.

“If you “already know SEO”, this tool shows you everything you can possibly think of, saving you untold time and energy depending on your skill and efficiency level.

If you don’t “already know SEO”, then I’ll not only show you “what’s wrong?” with a given URL, but I’ll give you and your team all of the necessary details needed to do things “right for SEO”.

Download the SEO Automatic Core Tweaks plugin here.

Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCALNa8ion.com

Set your local search engine optimization to Automatic Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

We could all use less distractions when we’re writing updates for our small business web site. After all, the more frequently we write content and publish it on our websites, the better our local search engine rankings will be.

Today, there are tools called full screen editors, writing tools that are specifically designed to remove distractions like email and instant messenger notifications from your computer. I use and recommend programs like WriteRoom for the Mac and WriteMonkey for Windows.

What many people don’t realize is that there is a similar full browser window text editor right inside WordPress that will help you focus on your writing.

This episode of Local Knowledge contains an educational screencast that shows you two workflows for using these full screen editors in your writing and publishing on WordPress 2.7.

The first method pairs up a dedicated full screen editor like WriteRoom with WordPress. The second method lets you do ALL your work right within WordPress. Both methods work, you decide which is best for you.

Remember, local search marketing is free and any tools and tricks we can use to make it easier for us to market our business are powerful tools. You know the saying ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff….It’s all small stuff!’ Modifying your workflow using these methods may seem like a small thing (and it is) but it’s chock full of positive results.

Julian Seery Gude
Local Knowledge | Local Internet Marketing for Small Business
ed, LocalNa8ion.com | Where you are is where it’s at

Local Knowledge Episode 15 | Distraction Free Writing using WordPress Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

Today on Local Knowledge I discuss four main topics, including:

• Batch your work using time, tools & technology
• Edit a WordPress post or page (see LocalNa8ion.com for full video)
• Update your site once per month to maintain reader/viewer interest and improve your search engine results
• Promote other content on the web to save your own time when blogging or creating web content

Looking for the link for 100+ WordPress Video Tutorials?

Here’s SpeckyBoy.com’s post 100+ WordPress Video Tutorials, from Basic to Advanced

How to edit WordPress Posts & Pages

Now, here’s that videoTutorial by iThemes.com and ScreenTutorial.com on how to edit WordPress posts and pages.

Thanks for watching Local Knowledge, the world’s first video podcast dedicated to Local Internet Marketing

Julian Seery Gude, ed

LocalNa8ion.com

Where you are is where it’s at

You can do it all with the Internet | Episode 14 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

In our session today, Episode 10 (run time 9:54) we cover how to get your small business web site and blog hosted and activated with our recommended web host MidPhase using a method called auto-install (also called a one-click install). In our next video how-to session we’ll cover how to select a FREE or Pro WordPress design for less than $100.

You may want to watch my previous posts on this topic where I have covered the reason why we recommend WordPress for your small business web site and blog. We also covered how to select a WordPress host which includes a useful web resource where you can read independent reviews on WordPress hosts.

By clicking on my link to MidPhase and then entering my discount code “GOTAPEX-ROX-01″ (no quotes) during the order process you’ll get three months of free hosting plus your domain name FREE for life. Make sure your MidPhase order confirmation page reflects the discount. The package should come out to less than $72 in total hosting costs for the year (12 months) at which time you’ll renew for the next year. Disclaimer: I receive a small commission if you sign up with MidPhase that helps me defray the cost of delivering Local Na8ion. Even if I wasn’t paid this fee we’d still recommend MidPhase because we’ve used them and they’ve lived up to their marketing claims.

I also mention in my video today that you should pick up a copy of WordPress For Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. It’s the perfect desk reference and self-paced study guide to help you learn WordPress. Grab a copy of WordPress For Dummies today.

Let’s recap why we recommend WordPress for small businesses in the first place.

From my Jan. 28, 2008 post “We Recommend WordPress for Small Business”

“It’s FREE, easy to use and update, has more built-in Local SEO Goodness than any comparable product, and you can use it to power your regular web site, not just a blog.”

and

“Did we mention that WordPress has an active community of over 10,000 contributors? They’re busy year-round making new theme designs that you can use on your site (most are free to use) along with adding specialty features and functionality (called plug-ins in WordPress) that do everything from power a job board, help you run a newspaper, or make the SEO goodness in WordPress even better.”

I hope you enjoy today’s video and as always, let me know your questions and comments.

Julian Seery Gude
editor Local Na8ion
Where you are is where it’s at

I am a happy midPhase affiliate and use and recommend their service. The majority of products and services I recommend do not pay me. But on the rare occasion where I’m both very satisfied with a product/service AND they have an affiliate program I will happily use it! If you’re interested in an alternative to midphase that is faster (also more expensive) try MediaLayer’s AppLayer hosting -it’s awesome!

Hosting your WordPress Small Business Web Site on Midphase and using Auto-Install | Episode 10 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -