1. We are affordable. All of our services are reasonably priced. Most Atlanta web design firms won’t design a website for less than $5,000. There is no reason a basic website with a few pages should cost that much. We understand the struggles of having a small business and think all businesses should have the opportunity to have a professionally designed website for a reasonable cost. Whether you want a basic business card website, a website designed using a template, a custom designed website, or a fully-customized site with a back-end that allows you to change your content, we have a solution to fit your needs.
2. We are knowledgeable. Because the internet is constantly evolving, we believe in continuing education. Keeping up with all of the current trends is part of our job. We understand what internet users want, how search engines work, and how to use the internet to drive people to your place of business.
3. We are problem solvers. Need help getting your business noticed online? Driving more people to your current website? Getting customers to return to your store? That’s where we come in. Let us worry about these problems while you focus on what you do best– running your business.
4. We are good communicators. We listen, we give professional feedback, and we stay in touch. Your internet presence should reflect your business, and we are here to listen to your goals and ideas while incorporating the best practices in our field. We also continuously maintain contact with our clients during every step of their project(s).
5. We are dedicated. We are 100% committed to our business and customer service. If you call us, we will answer the phone or call you back as soon as possible. If you e-mail us, we will e-mail you back. In working hard for your business, we are working for our business’s success as well.

Helping to brand your company is usually (and should be) a goal for every business’s website.  A website is an important part of any branding strategy.  Let’s talk a little bit about how to use your website to help brand your company. 

- Make your logo prominent in your site design.
It is so important when you are tying to brand your company to include your logo on all the marketing materials you create.  Your website is no exception.  Make sure your logo is prominent in the design of your website.

- Use your company colors.
Company colors are also an important part of building your brand.  Your website design should be in your colors so customers can easily recognize that they are at the right site as soon as they land on your homepage. 

- Include your company name in your domain name.
It is always a good idea to include your company name in your domain name.  This will help brand your company and help people find you. It is also important to go to a domain registrar like godaddy.com sooner rather than later to reserve your domain name.  Reserving it will ensure that it is under your control and that competitors and domain squatters cannot buy it or themselves.

- Maintain the look and feel of your business.
Your website is an extension of your business and should reflect the personality of your business– whether that is classy and sophisticated, hip and trendy, or fun and energetic. You know if you have achieved this if going to your website kind of feels like walking into the door of your business. And if you don’t have a physical location that customers visit, you have even more flexibility to create the look and feel of your business through your website.
Your customer needs to know within seconds of landing on your site that they have come to the right place. A lot of business names are similar so it is important that your website maintain a look and feel that is uniquely you.

Choosing a web designer that suits the needs of your business is a crucial part of creating a successful website.

One of the most important things to look for is a designer that takes the time to get to know your business. A big part of our website design process is learning. You need to provide your designer with all of your marketing materials– brochures, flyers, logos, etc.

You also want a web designer that is receptive to criticism and willing to take your input into consideration. Your site needs to be uniquely YOU; it is an important extension of your business. We always tell our clients that we are building THEIR website. So if they don’t like something about the designs we come up with, they should say so. We aren’t here to get our egos fed; we are here to design a website that is going to help your business succeed.

As far as experience levels, you want a designer that has experience with…
- Web design. You want to go with an experienced firm because they know the whole process, and they understand important things like website usability standards and cross-browser compatibility.
-Programming. If you want any kind of interactive quality to your site like forms or administrative back-ends, you you’ll need a web designer with experience in a web programming language such as PHP or ASP.
-Graphic design. Typically, you have web designers that are good at programming and web designers that are good at graphic design. It is rare to find one person that is superior at both so make sure you go with a company that has a programmer and graphic designer. Because building your website is an important part of building your brand, you also need someone who understands formats that are not just web-based so that they can convert the look for your current materials to your website or vice versa.
-Search engine optimization. A lot of web designers don’t design with the search engines in mind. But it will save you lot of aggravation when you are trying to market your site if you have a designer that understands SEO best practices. Sites that are too graphically intense or all flash tend to not rank well in search engines. So unless you are a high profile business that has already built their brand like Chanel, you will need someone who understands how to get you to rank for keywords in your target area. You may have a really cool-looking design but what good is your website if no one can find it?

If you are interested in hiring a web designer to build your company’s website or just to improve it, mention this blog entry and get a free web consultation when you contact us!

• Typically, if you ask someone in their 20s or 30s where they go first to find a product or service, they will say the internet– even if it’s just to pre-shop or find prices. But it is interesting to note that the fastest growing population on the web is people over the age of 55.
• 19% of consumers said they planned to spend MORE in 2009 despite the economic climate, and this statistic continues to grow as we move into 2010.
• Internet sales in the United States are expected to reach over $300 billion this year. The online growth rate continues its upward trend by as much as 13% per year. And while many people are worried about the economy, it is interesting to know that sales on the web continue to grow because of the convenience and savings of online shopping and browsing.
• 72.4% of people in the US are using the internet, an increase from 43.9% in 2000. Chances are, your competitors are online. And chances are, your customers are online buying from them. With the right tools, a website can transition your business from a local company to a national or even global one.
• Approximately 55 million households will be shopping online in 2010. Don’t limit yourself by only doing business offline!

I’m sure you know by now how important and beneficial building a website can be for your business.  As more and more people use the internet as part of their daily activities, it only becomes more critical that businesses adapt and create a web presence.  

However, we know that many small businesses are on tight budgets and feel that they cannot afford to hire a professional web design firm. What you may not know is that having  a custom site built by Goebel Media Group can be financed.  If you take advantage of our website design ’same as cash’ financing program, your payments can be as little as $100/month until your balance is paid off.

If website financing is something you may be interested in please request a web design quote.

We usually find that business owners, especially small business owners, seem to work very locally within their markets and don’t think about exposing themselves to the larger audience that the web can draw in for them. And while they are limiting themselves, they continue to do business offline because the prospect of building a website is overwhelming or confusing to them. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

So what do you need to get started building a website? Let’s talk about some of the real basic concepts that we need to understand. This is how we break it down for our clients– think of it in terms of building a house.

• The first thing you need is SPACE to put your house– some “land.” In the web world, the space to store your website is called hosting. A web host runs servers, which are computers connected to the internet at high speeds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These computers can be accessed by anyone who has an internet connection all over the world.
• You also have an address so people know where to find you. For your website, you will have a web address, or domain name. This would be something like www.goebelmedia.com or www.google.com. Dot com’s, net’s, and org’s are generally better for SEO and since they are running on short supply nowadays, it is important to buy your domain right away. The cost is cheap, around $10/month. We find the best place to buy domain names is at www.GoDaddy.com.
• Typically, you aren’t going to design your own house so you would need an architect– or for your website, a web designer. You are going to need a web designer with experience not only with web design but ideally with programming, graphic design, SEO, and internet marketing.
• Your house is the actual site design. This is code, typically HTML, that will be place on the hosting, or the land, at the domain, or the address. Just as there are certain critical elements of a house, there are some things you definitely want to include on your website. You want to make sure you have your logo and slogan in a prominent place on your site. You also want to include ways for your customers to contact you, and ways to convert traffic into sales. You could add a sales component to your site or include “lead forms.” It is also important to include analytic tracking code on your website so you can understand where your customers are coming from, how they found you, and how they are navigating through your site.
• Finally, if you buy a house, you have to maintain it. The same goes for a website. It will turn a customer off if your website always looks the same and search engines such as Google or Bing prefer fresh content. Think of these updates or design changes as a fresh coat of paint. As far as redesigning your website, I have heard that this should occur every 2 years. For small businesses, we believe that every 5 years is sufficient.

So, that is some of the basic information you need to know to bring your business online.