Archive for April, 2010

What is the appeal with Flash? I understand that Flash is very pretty and we want the website to be eye catching, but in order to let Google know what the website is about your going to have to do it in HTML. This is the one thing that I always let my clients know, specially in lawn care marketing, websites that are pure Flash have a very tough time being indexed in Google. All search engines in general have a very hard time reading Flash files, so though at first it may appear that Flash might get the job done, the truth is that Flash may be pretty on the outside but ugly on the inside.

So before you decide what to use for your lawn care website ask yourself, why not HTML? HTML is cross browser compatible, doesn’t require a plug-in and loads faster. From a usability standpoint having a good website is all about giving users what they want in as minimal amount a time as possible. But even before that can happen, you have to make sure people can actually find your website. In other words why would you want to use something that makes it virtually impossible for Google to find your website?

Flash may be great for huge players like Wlat Disney, or Sesame street, but when it comes right down to ranking quickly and getting your phone to ring, I really have to say, enough with the flash already!!!

That is the questions Homestead-design-seo.com asks. Is it ethical to pass yourself off as a web designer, when in fact your using Intuit’s Homestead software to cut paste. Personally I would say there’s nothing wrong with using the software within of itself, but just because anyone can make a website doesn’t mean everyone should.

Unfortunately because it is much easier to want to believe that it is that simple to make a successful website, many unsuspecting clients do fall pray to these guys.

However these wannabe web designers aren’t the only ones to blame, the majority of their client base are pretty wishy-washy too – cheep always looking to get something for nothing.

There is no doubt, being able to follow up with your prospects & customers is the single most important marketing tool you absolutely need to have in order to continue to grow and sustain your business.

To do that, and be affective at it, you need some sort of tool that allows you to organize and easily email your leads – where’s once text-based emails where consider the norm, and perhaps to this day you are still doing your marketing with basic text emails, there’s now a wealth of rich media, technology and functionality to consider.

One solution, which is what I use and recommend all my clients to use, is the help of something like MailChimp, CakeMail and PHPList, these tools really make it easy to send and manage your HTML messages. Phplist in particular is great because it has a built in WYSIWYG HTML editor that allows you to create and view your HTML message even before you send it out, plus it’s free! Other services such as MailChimp and the like, offer free newsletter templates you can edit.