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Web Design with Results in Mind™
"When the winds of change blow, some hide behind walls
while others build windmills."--Chinese proverb
Profits are the lifeblood of any business, and effective marketing can increase profits
by generating the qualified leads required to make deals and close sales with current
clients and prospective customers. And if your advertising budget is limited,
effective marketing is the key to maximizing market share and ROI.
Marketing ROI is a measure of cost-effectiveness--how much bang you're getting for your buck--and should be a
key factor in determining your media mix. Online (website and search engine) marketing can be 3 to 10 times more
effective than ads placed in traditional offline (print and broadcast) media. For many businesses, a marketing
mix that integrates offline with online elements is advisable. And in most cases, website and search engine marketing
is where you should focus your efforts:
1030:
SOLD GLORY: Miami Web Designer Gives the Stars-and-Stripes a Citizens United v. FEC Makeover
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
According to the Associated Press, with the release of their 5-4 decision re
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission on Thursday 21 January 2010
the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) made it legal for corporations to
"spend as freely as they like to support
or oppose candidates for president and Congress". Effectively granting corporate entities the status of "supercitizen",
going forward our multinational corporate giants -- apparently even those with
foreign ownership --
can for all intents and purposes buy and sell popular votes and
political candidates as easily as if they were commodities like oil or sugar. In recognition of
"the rise of the corporations", Miami web designer Bruce Arnold was inspired to improve upon
this earlier attempt
at giving Ole Glory a makeover so that the Stars-and-Stripes more accurately reflects
the core political value of contemporary America:
Sold Glory
read more...
1029: Help for Haiti: Web Designer Urges You to Care But Be Careful
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Haiti Earthquake Disaster: Care, But Be Careful...
Three days ago, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti's capital Port-Au-Prince and caused massive devastation to the city.
The death toll is expected to be in the tens of thousands or worse, and a massive response by government agencies
and non-profits has already begun.
CharityNavigator.org
has compiled a list of charities that are responding to the crisis. Before you give anything
to anyone anywhere, we urge you to
click here
to view to their list of highly-rated charities...
read more...
1028: 'Comcast-NBC: Too Big to Merge' A Call-to-Action Endorsed by Web Designer Bruce Arnold
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Cable and Internet giant Comcast has just announced that it's merging with NBC Universal to form one of the most powerful media companies in the world.
Washington and Wall Street are already saying this mega-merger is a done deal. If we don't act now to stop it, we'll have even more corporate control of our media, higher prices and fewer choices - online and on TV.
It's a marriage made in hell, and we need a citizens' uprising to stop the merger.
[ Join the Uprising Against the Mega-Merger ]
Help us get 100,000 people to tell President Obama to make good on his campaign pledge to act "against the excessive
concentration of [media] power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group." It's time for the
president to keep his promise...
read more...
1027: Web Designer Bruce Arnold Asks You to Help Save the Net!
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
When we log onto the Internet, we take a lot of things for granted. We assume we will be able to access any Web site we
want, whenever we want, and at the fastest possible speed, regardless of whether it's a corporate site or a mom-and-pop
page. We assume that we can use any service we like, and at any time we choose. Net Neutrality makes all of this
possible... What is "Net Neutrality"? Net Neutrality is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.
It simply means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down
Web content based on its source, ownership or destination. It is the reason the Internet has driven economic
innovation, democratic participation and free speech online. It protects the consumer's right to use any equipment,
content, application or service without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's
only job is to move data -- not to choose which data to privilege with higher quality service... Who wants to get rid
of Net Neutrality? The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T,
Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable...
read more...
1026: Which South Florida Web Designer Delivers W3C?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
The single most objective measure of the quality of a website and the credibility of its designer is compliance with
the professional web design standards promulgated by the World Wide Web Consortium. The "W3C" was established in 1994
to guide the Web to its full potential by developing standards and protocols that promote innovation while assuring
interoperability and ...
read more...
1025: The Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Websites
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Secret #1: Focus:
The more focused a website is, the more successful it is likely to be. If you try to be everything to everybody,
you end up being nothing to nobody. Instead, offer a specific product, selection, service or proposition, tailored
and targeted to a specific identifiable market segment. If you have diverse offerings, promote them using separate
domains and individually-focused websites...
read more...
1024: Links are What Makes the World Wide Web a Web
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
The World Wide Web is a medium through which millions of websites serve up billions of web pages written in a
language called HTML and interconnected via hypertext links ... also called hyperlinks ... or simply links ...
read more...
1023: Bing or No Bing, Is Your Website W3C Compliant?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
The World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C ) was established in 1994 to lead the Web to its full potential by developing
standards that encourage innovation while assuring interoperability. Validating compliance with these protocols
insures that all prospects, clients, customers and others have equal access to the resources of your website,
regardless of their choice of web browser or computer system. The importance of HTML and CSS validation to winning
web design is frequently overlooked, but should not be underestimated...
read more...
1022: The Three C's of Professional Web Design
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Professional web design assures that all-important first impression conveyed by your website is positive. But what,
exactly, makes a website look "professional"?
A common answer is "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." Actually, professionalism is defined as "adherence
to professional standards in the application of the expert knowledge base and skill sets associated with a specific
field of endeavor." And in this case, the field of endeavor is web design. Walk into any Barnes & Noble and
you'll find shelves--if not aisles--filled with books about web design. We will not attempt to replicate that
knowledge base here, but we will make two observations...
read more...
1021: Persuasive Calls-to-Action ...
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
In dictionary-speak, a message is persuasive if it has the power to induce someone to undertake a course of action
or embrace a point of view by means of argument, reasoning, request, petition or plea. In web parlance, that "someone"
is a qualified visitor to your website, and the objective is to convince them to execute your call-to-action, usually
an invitation to:
click, as in a BUY NOW, ADD TO CART or SUBMIT button;
call, as in your toll-free telephone number; or
come by, as in physically show up at your...
read more...
1020: Differentiation Makes All The Difference
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Pervasive Positioning™ brings qualified traffic to your website, but compelling differentiation is what converts them
into clients and customers. Differentiators are what you combine to create the unique selling propositions (USPs) that
distinguish your offerings from those of the competition. The most compelling differentiator is to be the exclusive
source for a valuable commodity or solution. Next come...
read more...
1019: How Much Does a Website Cost?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
I rolled to a stop for a red light at a semi-busy South Florida intersection the other day. And just off the pavement
on my right I saw a small yard sign that read "WEBSITES FOR $395".
Being a professional web designer, the response that sign elicited was mixed. I didn't know whether to laugh at
the absurdity, or shake my head in dismay. Here is why...
read more...
1018: There Are Only Two Ways To Increase Income
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
If you're an executive with AIG or GM, you can lose billions and still fly private jets to five-star getaways because
Uncle Sam has granted you "too big to fail" status. Or, if your name is Bernie Madoff, all you need is paper profits
to bag billions from the trust(s) of your investors. For the rest of us, our business operations must generate
bankable bottom-line earnings if we are to survive and succeed...
read more...
1017: Seven Routes to Recession-Proof Revenues
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Marketing ROI should be a key factor in determining media mix. Website and search marketing can be 3 to 10 times
more effective than ads placed in print or broadcast media. A marketing mix that integrates offline with online
elements is advisable. And in most cases, website and search marketing is where you should center your efforts.
Here are seven routes to recession-proof web marketing revenues...
read more...
1016: Cloud Computing and Corporate Culpability
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
Regardless of who wins the White House next Tuesday, and no matter what remuda of Republocrats controls our Congress thereafter, the recently exposed excesses of Wall Street's Bonus Buccaneer CEOs guarantee increased scrutiny and accountability for executives at all levels and in all arenas, including and perhaps especially that of the...
read more...
1015: With Winning Websites, The Focus is on Focus
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
The more focused your website is, the more effective it will be. Highly successful websites project a clear message that is tailored to a specific audience, concentrated on a specific proposition, and targeted for a specific action. Heeding these three warnings will keep your message from meandering...
read more...
1014: Which South Florida Web Designer Delivers W3C Compliance?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
The single most objective measure of the quality of a website--and the credibility and capabilities of its designer--is compliance with the professional web design standards promulgated by the World Wide Web Consortium...
read more...
1013: Kudos to the Cloud Crowd for Re-Inventing the Wheel!
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Florida).
One thing 30 years in the IT industry has taught me is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Another is that the only memory we seem to access is short-term. Yet another is that techno-marketeers rely on that, so they can put labels like "revolutionary" and "innovative" on platforms, products and services that are mere re-inventions of the wheel ... and often poor copies at that. A good example is all the buzz about "Cloud Computing" in general and "SaaS"...
read more...
1012: Is Salesforce.com the new ADP ... or the next Datapoint?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
This headline recently appeared in several places across the Web:
"Salesforce.com Passes $1 Billion Annual Revenue Mark"
THIS IS NOT TRUE. I don't know whether this material misstatement arose from media manipulation or an honest mistake, but it's genesis is most likely this 20 August 2008 press release...
read more...
1011: Just What Does Web 2.0 Mean, Anyway?
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
I invite you to go to Yahoo.com and run searches on the following quoted terms: "Barack Obama", "John McCain", and "Web 2.0". I just did, and Yahoo returned 302 million results for "Barack Obama", 220 million for "John McCain", and 286 million for Web 2.0. This little exercise suggests that "Web 2.0" is as significant as the contenders for our nation's highest political office. But for many, it also begs the question, "Just what does Web 2.0 mean, anyway?"
read more...
1010: What Your Website Really Looks Like
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
When people go to your website, what do they see? The same thing you see, right? Maybe so. Maybe no... In fact, hundreds of different web surfers could land on your home page with no two of them seeing exactly the same thing!
read more...
1009: Turning Web Page Errors into Web Marketing Opportunities
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
When someone mis-types a URL (web page address) or clicks a bad link to your website, do they get a cold "404: PAGE NOT FOUND"
error message, or a warm invitation to surf your site?
read more...
1008: Local Search Submission - Another Route to the Top
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
As you probably know by now, 99% of all Internet surfers use search engines to find what they are looking for,
and the best place to be found is on the first screen of results returned by Google or Yahoo...
read more...
1007: Concentrate on Your Core Capabilities
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
Define and refine your value proposition. If possible, leverage your strengths to add more "value" to that
"proposition". Cultivate new client, customer, and business partner relationships, but also make sure you are
sustaining those you already have in place. Get back to the basics, do what you do best, and do it for those who
need and appreciate it the most. In a word, focus.
read more...
1006: Capitalize on Your Competitive Advantages
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
Compile and communicate the distinct advantages of your products or services over those of your competitors. Make
sure every element of your marketing mix broadcasts the benefits of doing business with you. Reinforce your claims
with testimonials, and back up promises with a guarantee. Maximizing conversions is all about standing out from
the pack, which mandates differentiation.
read more...
1005: Be a Giver and Influencer
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
Online marketing is more "pull" than "push". The idea is not to hard-sell the prospect, but rather to give them
all the information they need to accept your proposition and answer your call-to-action. The key here is to convey
your offerings clearly, consistently and convincingly, so as to influence your prospect to make the desired
decision. This requires persuasiveness.
read more...
1004: Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
Successful websites couple persuasive messaging with professional presentation, and identifying the right mix of
"what" with "how" demands more than just artistic inspiration. It requires expert implementation of a proven
methodology, research prior to development, and measurement after deployment. Doing it right means not having to
do it over. The discipline to assure that is professionalism.
read more...
1003: Play by the Rules
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
99% of all website traffic is generated by search engines, and 97% of all that traffic goes to the first 20
listings. Top search rankings are crucial for website traffic, but getting blacklisted for using "black-hat"
SEO tricks can mean no traffic at all! Web design that violates World Wide Web Consortium technology standards
can be damaging as well. The safe play here is compliance.
read more...
1002: Get Connected
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
In the real world, "who" you know can mean more than "what" you know. And in cyberspace, "where" you are linked
can mean more than "what" you offer. Link-building can create more business opportunities than any trade show,
industry conference, or chamber networking function. These virtual connections are what makes the Web a "web"!
What it's all about is links.
read more...
1001: Get Results
PervasivePersuasion.com (Web Design::Miami Beach FL).
Effective online marketing is about optimizing one simple formula: SUCCESS = TRAFFIC x CONVERSION.
Conversion is a function of messaging and presentation, but there can be no converts unless you first
have Traffic. To get traffic, you must have top search rankings on the right key phrases, and that comes
from positioning. The bottom line is this: 99% of Internet surfers use search engines to find what they
need, and 97% of all that traffic is captured by the first 20 listings on any search.
read more...
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