After posting the Google updates yesterday, I spent some time on my own error page (also known or titled as a 404 page).

Start your own tour of your error page with this thought…when someone lands here, they’ve either clicked an old link, a poorly coded link, or typed in a bad url. Does that mean I want them to leave my site?

Of course not!

What you want to do is guide them to the important areas of your site.

First of all explain to them (in laymen’s terms) where they are…instead of titling the page “404 Error-Page Not Found”, why not say something like “That Page Isn’t Here”?

Next offer either a link to your Site Map, or if you feel you have the space, put a copy of your site map on the page.

Are you building a list? Is the form prominently displayed in your sidebar navigation? If not, why not include a section with your list form? Make it look nice!

WordPress sites offer some great opportunities for your error page via plugins and other coding. For example on my own error page I’ve included “Most Popular Pages”, as well as a feed to the most recent post on this blog, and an additional search form.

You could also use this as a page to highlight your most popular product.

The main thing to remember is that your error page is just that…a page of your site! Don’t leave it blank, and lose the additional opportunities it could be generating for you!

Classic Creations Design is finally on Facebook! Have you added a page for your business yet? It gives your clients (and potential clients) the chance to become “fans”, and is a great way to keep in touch with them via “updates”. You can also provide client testimonials, and upload photos.

Along with your Photos tab, you can add Videos, and Events. Plus, publish your office phone and hours…and with an address, an instant link to Google maps.

Why not tap into the huge Social Network and take advantage of what they can offer?

Many people who are just getting started on the internet believe that line from “Field of Dreams”. However, when it comes to the internet it is absolutely false! Building your website is just the first step in a successful internet business. Without a Marketing Plan (and implementation of that plan), let’s face it…you’re just treading water in a huge sea of websites. I have been amazed through the years to hear people say, “Yeah, I put up a site on the internet, and nothing happened! What a waste of money!”.

These fallacies have been perpetuated by T.V. and the media, through commercials, shows, and movies. Remember the commercial with the guys who had just launched their site, and they were excited because they were getting some orders right away…and then the orders went off the charts?! What’s not understood is–that can happen…but only with a good marketing plan!

If you don’t have the resources to hire a marketing expert, at the very least you need to set aside funds and time for learning about internet marketing strategy yourself, it makes it all worthwhile!

We’ve been providing high quality print media to small businesses since 1995. As of Monday, October 13, 2008 you can purchase Print Media from our Graphic Design site making it a one stop shop!

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We all have those days when we look at our website and think “I’d like a change”. It’s similar to looking at our living room and saying the same thing. Many times we get over it, and the next day we say “What was I thinking? It’s fine!”.

When it comes to your website, though, it may be a good idea to get a second opinion! Even if your site is functioning as it should, your design and graphics could still be holding you back from achieving even greater success!

10. Your site is “misaligned”.  You’ve been adding products and content over the course of months (or years) causing the whole site to become “wonky”. Images and text don’t fit quite right. Text looks like a big run-on sentence in some places. Navigation is wrapping when it shouldn’t.

9. Your code is a jumbled mess.  It becomes more and more difficult with every update to even FIND where to put the content.

8. Your site is graphically “heavy”.  In the new age of Web 2.0, less is more. Sites with cleaner graphics and fewer graphics will load faster and be more appealing to today’s web surfers.

7. Your keywords and meta tags are outdated or don’t exist at all.  Stick to the basics, even if you follow the latest trends it’s good to have basic SEO in place, such as relative keywords, page titles, image tags, and descriptions.

6. Your graphics are fuzzy, dark, or outdated.  Even though less is more, if the graphics you DO have are poor ones, it brings down your whole design. Spend some time and money making sure you have clean, crisp images…and clear and bright product photos. If you’ve redesigned your print logo, make sure your website matches your business cards and print media.

5. Your color scheme is headache inducing.  Colors that used to be popular and eye-catching are now only used to highlight content. Whatever you do, if your main color is bright neon pink or green, make sure it’s appealing to your target market and not over-done.

4. Your content has been the same for years.  Visitors are more likely to keep coming back when they see something refreshing and new on your site. If you have a retail site, add a “Featured Item” to the home page. If you have a content site…move it into the Web 2.0 realm using dynamic content and a matching blog.

3. Your conversion rate is LOW.  Use your analytics to determine where people are leaving your site, and find out why. Maybe it’s those dark product photos, maybe it’s a confusing store policy, maybe it’s a shopping cart that doesn’t match the site (making people think they’ve somehow ended up in the wrong place). Some small improvements can go a long way towards better revenue.

2. Your Navigation is so confusing even an expert can’t find their way.  Simple navigation is “in”. Text navigation is key (not only to SEO). Helpful things in your stylesheet will mean all the difference to a visitor. Do your text links change color once they’ve been visited? Research shows people prefer that sort of thing. Create a site map, so that when or if someone does get lost, there’s a place where they can go to find their way.

1. What’s a Stylesheet?  If you just asked this question, run…don’t walk to the best web designer you can find!

Let me start by telling you that I met Kristie when I designed her website for www.Nitro-Toyz.com through 1Choice4YourStore. Then, several months later I helped in a redesign of that store to improve navigation and SEO. Since then, I’ve worked with her on some side projects, and I’m just getting to know how awesome she is! If you’re a member of Stompernet or you attend The System Seminar, you probably have heard of Kristie. She’s done amazing things with her yahoo store, and has now become an online business marketing consultant.

Kristie’s new site Online Biz Consulting should definitely be a stop during your next internet marketing info session! Kristie is someone you want on your side, if you’re building an online business…whether you’re just beginning, or starting to “ramp it up”!

I plan to have her as a part of my impending site redesign, and hope to partner with her to offer my own clients marketing packages that will work!

We all hate to waste valuable space on any print materials for our business. Even if you print your own, it can be expensive to have to do it over!

So, what information should one include on their business card?

~Logo: be sure that you have a printable version of your logo to use, as many web versions are not in a high enough resolution to print clearly (and they will look “fuzzy”).

~Company Tag Line or Slogan: after all, you came up with one to help market your business–your business card is the best place to use it!

~Your Name: this should be prominent, as it’s the reason you have a business card…to introduce yourself.

~Your Title: whether you put CEO, President, Owner, or the title of your trade (such as “graphic designer”), this lends credibility to your card. Your title should be approximately 2 font sizes smaller than your name.

~Contact Information: This can include your mailing address, your website address, your email address; but it should definitely include at least one phone number.

Don’t forget about using the back of your business card! It can be a great place to put a coupon, a map to your place of business, a calendar, an appointment area, or a list of your specialties. The sky is (almost) the limit on the back of your card–be creative!

The most important thing to remember is balance, color, and clarity. Your business card is your own little diamond to show the world how important you are!

One of the best ways to get your business across to potential clients is to offer a brochure! What should you put in it? Well, remember that this is a selling tool! You want people to open it, right? So make it “pretty”, but also add a very good marketing message to the cover….invite them to learn more! People always want to know, “What’s in it for me?”, so you should use the cover to let them know!

If you don’t have a clean, crisp logo (or other graphics) for the cover, now is when you invest your time and energy into getting them. A brochure should look as professional as possible! Inside, you should always keep in mind that you are selling yourself. Thus, don’t spend too much time on features….spend more time on the benefits of those features. Remind people why they want to do business with your company! Make sure to include your website address, so they can learn even more about your business through further investigation.

There are some great paper resources out there, that offer pre-designed brochure paper–perfect for anyone trying to save some money on ink and graphics. One of the best is: Paper Direct.

Remember to keep your information organized, and use headlines with bold text to lead into new topics. Write everything down on a legal pad first, in order to organize it, and check grammar. Ask colleagues to critique your work before you go to print. A well organized, nicely written, and clean brochure, can be one of your most valuable tools in selling your business!

The first step in a fail safe marketing plan is optimizing your website for Search Engines. To begin, make sure that your keywords and meta tags tell them what your site is all about.

Keywords: Words and/or phrases that are used to search for a topic on the internet.

META TAGS: An element of HTML coding on a website that is used by search engines to index a website. Most meta-tags are included within the ‘header’ code of a website and the most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain, and how they should be formatted.

Do keyword research to learn which words your target market may be using to search. One of the best places on the web to do keyword research is Word Tracker

Download your FREE Keyword Research Guide

Search Engine Optimization: Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site. SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

Optimizing your site includes writing keyword rich content for every page of your website. Experts say each page of your site should include 250 words of content to be effective.

Use this Website Optimization Tool to help you.

Page Rank: Page Rank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important. —from Google

Incoming or “Back” Link: usually means a hyperlink coming from another resource (page/site) to the current one, especially on the World Wide Web. Link popularity plays an important role in the visibility of a website among the top of the search results. Indeed, some search engines require at least one or more links coming to a website, otherwise they will drop it from their index.

Reciprocal Link: a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites in order to ensure mutual traffic. (a.k.a. Link Exchange) —from Wikipedia

Once your site is optimized, get ready for traffic! The next step is to make sure that you’ve written the copy on your site to “draw in the customers”. Many people don’t realize just how important the writing on a website is to their success. You are essentially writing “copy” just as you would for any other marketing piece. Your objective is to get the visitor’s attention, and then close a sale….whether the sale is purchasing a product, or joining a mailing list.

Writing for advertising can be one of the most daunting tasks for a small business owner. You fret and worry over each and every word. Mila Sidman has some wonderful tips for writing your online ads.