Zero To Sixty Marketing

Inside Line to More Business

How Much DO You Spend on Marketing?

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If you’re a smaller residential service company, chances are you create your own fliers and marketing materials. It’s likely you create your own business cards and order your invoices and time cards from a company that also offers t-shirts, baseball caps, and embroidered name tag button-down shirts. It’s affordable. You get to have the appearance of a legitimate company and no one selling you pricey services and telling you how your message needs to sound to your clients. Certainly, these things are important for you to stay in control of your costs and your reputation.

51FOLsGDi7L._SL160_Or is it?    [Read more…] about How Much DO You Spend on Marketing?

Maximize Your Directory Listing

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If you’re listed in the service directories offered online these days, it can be a very good thing. Google Local, for instance, is one of the smartest places to exist, and so are  MerchantCircle, Yelp, and Foursquare. If you don’t exist there, you should, but if you do…

Do you have a Web site? Or did you simply list your business with them and expect that to be your online appearance?

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I’m Guilty: 6 Social Media Sins

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Social media forums like Facebook and Twitter offer brilliant free marketing for small businesses when used strategically, but there are a handful of things I’ve begun to hate, I mean…er…strongly dislike when it comes to socializing on those platforms. They are, sadly, things I could have done better or understood more fully if I had made it my entire life for a set period of time. I couldn’t, and can’t, and I’ll assume that you don’t have that kind of time, either. I really do work, and because I write for my living, quiet thought is my friend. That means long hours of intense mulling over and reading (the one thing I love about Twitter, by the way – things I read and learn from what is posted there.)

Are You Building Your Twitter List Wisely?Please learn from my mistakes. I committed these social media crimes knowing full well what I was doing, and thought in time these problems would rectify themselves. They haven’t. And now I’m paying the price for poor planning.   [Read more…] about I’m Guilty: 6 Social Media Sins

Anatomy of a Web Site Makeover

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Recently we shared a client’s Web site makeover, and suggested you step back to look at your Web site with fresh eyes. If you did that and realized your site is looking a bit dated, what’s the first step toward a redesign?

Great Website Design Begins with a PlanIt may surprise you to learn that the first steps to creating your new design have nothing to do with the look of your site. That’s right, although it’s the first thing we see, it’s actually a secondary consideration. So, what should we consider?

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A Web Site Makeover for Sprue Brothers

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Here’s another example of the design process … Web site design, this time. We’ve just rolled out a new Web site home page design for Sprue Brothers Model LLC. Sprue Brothers is an online hobby retailer for scale model builders. The “sprue” in the business name is significant. All plastic scale modelling parts arrive on a frame called a sprue. The store’s logo reflects this and now so does the Web site.

Before and after screenshots are below:

Before Website Redesign

Before Website Redesign

New Website Screenshot

New Home Page Design

My husband (and team member), Gerald, came up with the idea of sprue borders. Our graphic artist, Scott, took the concept and ran with it. I put it together as a working Web site. Despite a few technical glitches, this was a fun project that came together quickly. It’s also one that will continue to improve over time. Gordon, we hope your new landing page serves you well.

Have you looked at your Web site lately?

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