Web Development - Old City Web Services

5 Things You Need to Know About Writing Excellent Web Content.

August 16, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Once you’ve got a great, professional web design, the next step is to create professional text that will inform your potential customers about what your business does and how they can sign up for your services. We have put together a couple of quick tips to help you write excellent website content:

1. Be Original: Don’t start off your home page web content with a generic “Welcome” message. As soon as a visitor sees a standard greeting like that, he or she will stop reading and move on to something else. Grab their attention, give them the information they need to know and finish with a call to action.

2. It’s okay to be repetitive: Users can enter your site on any page, so it’s okay to repeat some content. Make sure the key points of your business—services offered, target clients (are you reaching out to contractors or soccer moms?) and a point of contact—are mentioned on every page.

3. Break it up with headlines: Separate long paragraphs of text with headlines to point out certain sections. This is another way to grab the visitors’ attention and pull their eye to certain sections of text, it also creates visual appeal in your content.

4. Keep it relevant: Focus on the most important things you want your customers to know. You want your text to be long enough for people to get your message and decide that you’re the right business for them. Any extra information will just create confusion and steer them away from what you want them to do.

5. Call them to action: Just like the rest of your marketing materials your website should drive users to contact you. Close out every page with a call to contact you for more information or to schedule an appointment, whatever it is that people need to do to engage your services.

We can write professional website content for you!

If your time is maxed out doing all the other things it takes to run your business, contact us about writing your content for you. Whether you have a new website in progress or an old website that needs some updating, we have talented writers on staff who can write great content for your website.

For more information call 904-867-4112 or send an email to us at letusmarketyou@oldcity.com.

5 Things You Need to Know About Website Navigation

August 10, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

When it comes to websites, the buttons or “tabs” that allow visitors to move between pages are referred to as “navigation”. This navigation is key to creating a user-friendly website that will allow your visitors to find what they need to know about your business. This week we’ve put together some quick tips to help you create the best navigation for your website:

1. Keep it simple: Less is more when it comes to web pages and navigation. Don’t spread a few sentences of content over many pages, requiring your visitors to move through page after page just to get the information they need. Most businesses only need three or four pages to get across their services and contact information. This will keep your navigation and subsequently your website very simple and easy to use.

2. Use standard terms: A little creativity with your page names can be okay, but when it comes to the most popular pages–Home and Contact–go with standard titles. Most people are used to looking for Home or Contact on a website, especially when they’re ready to take action and contact your business. The worst thing you can do is slow them down by making them hunt for the right page. Stick to the standard terms and they will easily be able to find the right information.

3. Make it readable: Don’t use fancy fonts or small typefaces that make it difficult to read the navigation titles. You also want to be sure your navigation is in a prominent place on your website—most are at the top or the left side where they are easy to spot.

4. Be consistent: Your navigation should be in the same place on every page and list your pages in the same order. Visitors will get frustrated and confused if they have find the navigation every time they change pages. Having it in one place also makes it easier to make adjustments down the line if you add more pages.

5. Plan for expansion: Horizontal navigation is the most popular in today’s design, but vertical navigation has more room for growth if you plan to add a lot more pages to your website. Vertical navigation is also best for eCommerce sites with lots of product categories and selections. Know where you plan to go with your website so you can choose the best navigation style for your website.

Let us help you put together a user-friendly website!

From navigation to design and everything in between, Old City Web Services can create the perfect website for your business. For more information call 904-867-4112 or send an email to us at letusmarketyou@oldcity.com.

5 Things You Need to Know About Great Website Design.

August 3, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Over the next month we’re going to take a closer look at the most important components involved in creating a good website, starting with design. With every custom website design we create, there are several principle factors we take into account, including:

1. User Friendly: The most important factor in any design is the ease of use it provides for visitors. Clean lines, clear navigation and a simple layout will make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Our user friendly designs also help direct visitors to do exactly what you want them to do—whether it’s to fill out your contact form, call you, or visit your business’ physical location.

2. Great Photos: Users are most often drawn to a website by engaging, professional photography. You provide your own photography or allow us to select images from stock photo sites. If you decide to use your own photography, be sure to get signed releases from your subjects, use a camera with good resolution and make sure you have ample lighting (outdoor shots are usually best!).

3. Clear Message: Your website must convey the message of the company through appropriate design elements. The design has to match up with your company’s brand so that the visitor will have a clear perception of your message.

4. Complimentary Content: The best designs are balanced with just the right about of text and information. We often don’t think about it, but text has a certain design appeal to it as well. A combination of headlines, short paragraphs and bulleted lists provide design balance. Additionally, sites with sidebars should be mindful of having so much text in the side column that it runs longer than their primary content column.

5. Viewer Readability: Along the same lines, we want to be certain that your selected fonts are easy to read in all sizes. Scripted or highly stylized fonts should be reserved for headlines and titles while primary text should be displayed in simple fonts for easy reading.

Click on one of the “Read More” links above or visit the Old City Web Services blog for more details on each of these five design essentials.

We’re ready to create a professional, custom design for you!

The Old City Web Services staff features talented designers who can create professional web designs just for your business. For more information call 904-867-4112 or send an email to us at letusmarketyou@oldcity.com.

Landing Pages: A Business Owner’s Best Friend

August 2, 2010 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Chances are that you have more than one type of customer…which means that you must communicate with different customer groups in different ways. This necessity is easily accomplished by using targeted landing pages which automatically segments your marketing list for you. In other words, landing pages give your customer a chance to raise their hand to let you know exactly how and why they want you to market to them…and what they are in the market to buy right now or in the near future.

What’s a landing page?
Landing pages are highly- targeted, highly-focused web pages that are designed to let visitors know that they are in the right place and to ethically persuade your visitors to take a specific action. This action could be anything from signing up for a newsletter, registering for an event, downloading a white paper, as well as purchasing a product.

When properly designed, landing pages transform your website from “one of thousands of Google search results” into an interactive, engaging experience. The result being:

Trust from the visitor
Collection of visitor contact information
High quality leadspermission for ongoing marketing
Lower cost acquisition of new customers
And much more!

Basic Landing Page Elements
There are four basic elements that make a landing page, well… a landing page.

Identifying Headline: Visitors need to know that they are in the right place and that you have something they want.

Compelling Offer: if you want your visitors to gladly give you their contact information or their money then you need to offer something that gets their heart racing and their mind charged with anticipation.

Social Proof: Testimonials, quotes, number of newsletter subscribers, number of clients and more. McDonalds puts up signage that says “billions served” for a reason.

Easy to Fill Out Form: only gather the information that you absolutely need to deliver your compelling offer. Offering a free white paper or newsletter… then try asking for only an email or email and first name. The more work the visitor is asked to do then the less compliance you will have with your request.

Two Simple Questions:
What type of customer or client groups do you have?
Does your website market directly