June 16th, 2010
I was talking with one of my clients this past week and she was telling me how it seems that everyone has a Page on Facebook these days…hair salons, auto repair shops and yes, even pest control companies! “I know,” I replied! But how many of these Pages are actually good? How many were impressive enough that you “liked” them? How many would you want to visit more than once?
In a world where Facebook pages can literally be set up in three steps by just about anyone, the key is differentiation! What makes your Page truly different? What makes it memorable? What makes people come back? The answer to those questions depends on your industry, your target market and your services (among other things).
There are, however, a few keys ways to differentiate your page. You can create a custom tab (and you can make that tab your ‘landing page’ for non-fans or “likers” [ok, so I made that up!]). You can make your page engaging by truly welcoming and fostering interaction and debate. And you can provide useful, new and unique content that can’t be gotten elsewhere!
Whatever your bend, my suggestion is to do whatever makes sense for you. Differentiation in a sea of monotony is the name of the game! How do you differentiate your Facebook Page?
June 2nd, 2010
C-M-S … it sounds big and scary, but I promise it’s not! As noted in the title, CMS stands for “Content Management System.” In this post, I’ll focus on a CMS for web content.
You’ve likely heard of some of the more popular CMS tools out there: Wordpress, Drupal, Joomal!
to name a few.
If you have any more than an informational website, you probably have some type of CMS at work behind the scenes. The CMS in this case is a web application that uses a database to store and manage all of your web pages and content.
The beauty of a CMS is that you don’t have to be a web developer genius to use one (although that never hurts!). Most often you can get started with just a few clicks and some basic technical knowledge. Depending on your requirements, however, you probably want to consider using a professional to “set up” your site initially and then to train you on how to maintain it through the CMS user interface going forward.
As I mentioned above, using a CMS does not require any major degree of technical understanding. So once you get comfortable with the user interface, you can typically edit the pages of your website and the content of those pages with ease (so long as you’re not trying to change “the structure” of the site – which is a little more advanced).
Now you know all there is to know about a CMS! Ok, well maybe not … but you at least know enough to get started. Don’t hesitate to contact MDesign Media if you need some help!
May 27th, 2010
I guess if I said “because,” that would not be enough to convince you, right!? Ok, it was worth a try. There are many reasons to have a blog but I’ll cover just a few of the major reasons in this post. Please feel free to leave a comment at the end if you have any additional reasons to share!
- Blogs are dynamic in nature and are LOVED by search engines like Google and Yahoo!. Assuming that you’re keeping to a regular editorial schedule, there will regularly be new content. And the search engines love new content. As a result, blogs tend to be indexed far more often than websites. And when you depend on internet search results to fill part of your marketing pipeline, this is a very important reason!
- Blogs enable “2 way communication” with your audience. Unlike static websites and print media, as an example, blogs provide a platform for you to interact with your visitors through the comments feature that every blog contains (unless it’s been disabled! Tip: Don’t disable comments!).
- Blogs can help you to build your personal brand as well as the brand and culture of your company! Unlike static websites that are often very “scripted” (you know what I mean … “About Us” … “Services” … “Portfolio” … etc.), blogs are much more free-flowing and give you the ability to wonder from topic to topic, expressing your views, offering how-to’s and advice and interacting with your readers. Throughout the process, your personality and the culture of your company show through. All good things!
- Blogs are cheap and super easy to set up! No joke – you can set up a blog for you or your company in about 5 minutes, totally for free! A few platforms that you might review are Wordpress, Typepad and Blogger. If you’re interested in having more control over the look and feel of your blog as well as getting access to “advanced” features, you might consider a paid subscription. But that’s not really necessary! Of course, you always have the option of hiring a professional designer like MDesign Media to create a custom blog for you. We can even integrate your blog into your website in many cases, just like we did for one of our partners, Visual Alliance Media!
So those are some of the reasons that you should consider starting a blog for yourself or your company if you haven’t already. And if we can do anything to help you with the process, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
I was talking with one of my clients this past week and she was telling me how it seems that everyone has a Page on Facebook these days…hair salons, auto repair shops and yes, even pest control companies! “I know,” I replied! But how many of these Pages are actually good? How many were impressive enough that you “liked” them? How many would you want to visit more than once?
