Website Development - Old City Web Services

5 Things You Need to Know About Websites

November 30, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

1. Every website MUST have a specific purpose.

Why do you have a website? That’s the first question you have to answer before you even begin to think about design or anything else. What do you want someone to do when they visit your website? Do you want them to purchase one of your products online? Encourage them to contact you by phone to schedule an appointment? Get them to come visit your physical business location? Your website is built around what you need it to do.

2. Websites do not generate traffic on their own.

If you opened a new storefront somewhere, you might get a little traffic from people who pass buy, but you won’t be able to sustain your business unless you tell everyone where to find you and what you offer. Advertising, search engine optimization and word of mouth will all generate traffic for your website and the more traffic, the better your business will be.

3. Content is the key to solving #1 and #2.

Driving people to do what you want them to do on your website starts with content. Text and photos have to tell people what your services/products are and what they need to do to purchase them. Content will also help you attract search engines to generate more traffic for your website.

4. Flash animation can only do so much to benefit your website.

Websites with flashy intros and other moving graphics might impress first time visitors, but they don’t do much else to benefit your website or your business. Search engines can’t read graphics, so there’s no benefit there for your rankings. The best way to use an animated image is to have a professional slideshow system (like SlideShowPro) with text captions that the search engines can read, giving you a benefit in both areas.

5. Update. Update. Update. Update.

When you live in the same house for a while, you start to realize things are looking a little dated and worn. Eventually, you might have to spend a little money to update your kitchen or your bathroom, but it adds to the overall value of your house. The same goes for websites. As times and technology change they get a little out of date and you have to make some updates to improve the value of your website and business.

Let your business bloom with eCommerce

March 24, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Expand your reach with online sales.

Whether you have a large retail store or just a handful of products to sell from home, our eCommerce system can give you the tools to sell your merchandise safely and securely online.

This comprehensive website is rich with features to make your life simpler including:

Optional box for displaying featured products.
Automated display of best selling items.
Searchable inventory by keyword, title or description.
Optional discount coupon codes and gift certificates.
Secure payment via an online payment gateway.
Real-time USPS, FedEx and UPS shipping quotes
Customizable tax calculation.
Password-protected administrative access.
Control the cart from anywhere in the world using your web browser.
Anti-Fraud module validates customer’s address during checkout.

Make instant updates to website content.

In addition to all of the above features, your eCommerce system also gives you the ability to make real-time changes to your website content and product inventory from any computer with Internet access. From the administrative side of your website you can also track your sales and monitor site traffic to see where you can improve on your customer conversion rates.

Rely on us for in house service and support.

The most important feature included in our eCommerce system is the technical support and assistance provided by our staff. Every eCommerce package at Old City Web Services includes one-on-one training in how to use the system, along with tutorial materials created by our experienced staff. We’re also on call to answer your questions any time between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

See one of our eCommerce sites in action!

Visit one of these websites to see examples of eCommerce sites built by Old City Web Services:

Beamish Custom Tackle: http://beamishcustomtackle.com
Joyce Meyeperter: http://joycemeyerpeterartist.com
Science Lab Supplies: http://sciencelabsupplies.com

Get started on your eCommerce site today by giving us a call 904-867-4112 or sending us an email (letusmarketyou@oldcity.com).

Give your website a mobile advantage.

March 2, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Mobile web browsing is changing the way the world views websites—including yours.

Everywhere we go now we see people on cell phones, iPads and iPods connecting to the outside world from park benches and restaurant booths. With more and more of your web traffic coming from visitors on mobile devices, now is the perfect time to capture people on the go with a mobile website.

To understand what makes a mobile website different from a standard website, we’ve put together a quick list of the biggest differences between the two:

Smaller Screen Size: Most standard websites are built to display well on a widescreen computer monitor, which means that they have to be dramatically reduced in size to fit on the screen of a mobile device. This can make the text on your website difficult to read and can cause other display issues that make your website hard to navigate.

No Flash Animation: If your website features a lot of moving parts such as slideshows and other Flash elements, most mobile devices will not properly display your website. Instead of your slideshow or other element, some devices will display plain text or a link, while others will display nothing at all. This is especially problematic if your navigation buttons were created with flash.

Simple Information Structure: Users on mobile devices are typically looking for specific information they need on the go such as menu, products, business hours, phone number and directions. Mobile sites therefore tend to have much less content than a standard website so that users can easily find the information they are looking for without having to scroll through multiple pages of text.

Old City Web Services offers mobile solutions.

We have the technology to create a quick and easy mobile version of your website. With the use of a content management system, we can install a plug-in to create a mobile website for your business. The plug-in will automatically detect mobile device users and send them to the mobile site while users on a traditional desktop or laptop will still see your standard website. You don’t have to do a thing, we can handle the entire transition for you, just give us a call or send us an e-mail to get started.