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Email marketing comes with its challenges. Before layout, design, content creation, scheduling and database setup, possibly the most important aspect of email marketing is understanding and abiding by sending rules. Unless you understand and follow these rules, the best emails will be delivered to spam folders and will cause your sending ISP to be marked as spam. So what do you do? How do you make sure you get your emails to the client’s inbox? And how do you maintain a good relationship with the ISPs?

Servers act similarly to that of any type of network in that you are only as good as your reputation. There are characteristics that ISPs recognize, therefore marking your sends as spam and blocking them - or may even report you for blacklisting (and this is bad – very bad). It also works the other way. There are good characteristics that ISPs recognize as well that will help you reach your targets. So, it’s really up to each company to decide what its reputation will be, and, you can’t play by your own rules. You have to be “reputable” according to the ISPs rules.

While we won’t attempt to list all the rules and how to follow them here, this entry is the beginning of a blog series that will give you some key insights. At the end of the day, you will realize you need a professional organizati0n such as WhyteSpyder to set up, manage and maintain your relationship and reputation. It’s truly a technical situation that requires years of experience and skill that not everyone has or needs to have. One final point here: don’t just get an email marketing system that charges $10 a month – with cheap cost comes cheap service. Get yourself a good system, then build a good reputation by continually following the rules of good emailing practice, which will be a topic for our next blog entry.

Who are the best web design companies? Who should you hire and how will you be sure you made the right choice?

We (WhyteSpyder) are obviously going to be biased on this topic, but, whether or not you hire us to handle your web design and digital marketing needs, there are some key points that you should consider when hiring a web design company. It really doesn’t matter if you are starting a new site or revamping an existing site, the same rules apply and paying attention to these basics will help you make a smarter business decision.

Budget
Yes, you need to have a budget in mind. Many clients think that stating a budget is a way for design firms to get as much revenue as possible for the job. In some cases, this may be true. However, the best web design firms will be able to provide a more accurate proposal and possibly more benefits when they know your budget. Simply not knowing or mentioning your budget is much more risky on your part as it will increase the chances for your project to go over budget and could also delay production. You should set two budgets, one that is conservative and one that is your maximum allowance. A good web design firm will share your goal for the conservative budget.

Service
Honestly, it’s not as much about all the super-technical skills, programming abilities and wonderful design abilities. Those things matter, but, what matters most is your service. Just as the name implies, and like any other service oriented business, service is critical. From initial meetings, planning, project management, delivery, maintenance and deadlines, service is the cornerstone of the entire web design process. Don’t be fooled by high tech, fast-talking snobs that tell you everything he or she knows (I’ve met many of these people before and service is the last thing in their mind). Bottom line, this is business, and you need a digital firm that listens, researches, plans, communicates and supports you and your business. And finally, service is not something that just your account executive needs to practice, it has to be threaded throughout the entire company in every action.

Experience
Just like service mentioned above, experience in web design has a lot to do with the key leaders of the company. Executives should not all be programmers and software masters, but rather, they should be a mixture of professional leaders with experiences in the web design industry, marketing and business. 50 percent of web design is creative and programming. The other 50 percent is account servicing, marketing planning, agreements, business, accounting, etc (typical business stuff). You should inquire about the key players in the design firm and have a basic understanding of the company’s mission.

Pricing
Web design pricing involves more than just the final dollar amount of the project. It also involves how the company bills for a project and the willingness to work with your needs. Is the company charging per hour, a flat-rate fee, a profit sharing model or a combination of any of these? There is really no right or wrong way, but depending on the scope of work, each model has its positives and negatives. Your web design firm should be willing to discuss different options, find creative solutions with you and have the underlying ambition to partner with you for success. That being said, beware of web designers that make unbelievable deals! Also, you should avoid using family and extended family for your web design needs. I’ve honestly never seen great things come to fruition with these type of deals and, in the end, you get what you pay for.

And yes, here’s our sales pitch: Contact WhyteSpyder today for your free consultation. We follow all the advice we give and we’ll be sure to give you better service than our competitors. We are not successful unless you are successful – and we want success!

It’s always the hardest point to make when I meet with clients: your website needs to have good usability. It seems that almost all clients want to be seen online as sleek or technically impressive. But, time and time again, usability has been proven by data as the most desired purpose for website visitors.

One of the best ways to explain this point is to think of how you behave when you are visiting a company’s website. Do you have an agenda when you visit a website? How much time do you have? How willing are you to travel the site to find what you are looking for? Do you get frustrated when links don’t make sense? For all of these, I’m sure your answer, like almost every visitor for any website, is you do have an agenda, you don’t have much time, you do expect to find what you want clearly and yes, you do get frustrated when you can’t find what you want fast.

At the end of the day, you may have the final decision about your website design, however, in the long run, your visitors will trump your decision as they demand that your website be more usable. So, the ultimate point here is that you have to recognize that your website design is really up to your visitors, and it really doesn’t matter what industry you are in – human beings have a common theme for how they behave online. It’s simply different behavior than with a lot of other forms of marketing. The Web provides a certain value for users everywhere. It’s a simple fact. A website should recognize that value and expand upon the opportunities available.

For a free consultation about website usability, contact WhyteSpyder today.

There is no standard or common email marketing strategy. Every business has its own unique customers/clients and products/services, therefore, each business needs unique email marketing. There are, however, basic procedures that should be followed. After the basics are accomplished, you can add personal touches that increase the success of your email marketing. But first and foremost, you should ask yourself:

• What email marketing platform do you need send emails? Or, if you already have a system in place, are you using the right system?
• Are your emails reaching the clients’ inbox?
• What are your email open rates?
• What are your email click through rates?
• What are your abuse rates?
• Are you sending your clients what they want?
• Are you sending too many emails?
• Do you need to send more emails?
• What is the best time to send emails?
• What is the best day of the week to send emails?
• What is the best time of the month to send emails?
• When is a good time to offer a deal?
• How do you get your clients to come back?
• Are you boring your clients?
• How do you get your clients engaged in your emails?

The list goes on and on, but you are getting the point. If you don’t know the answer to most of these questions, then you have a problem that needs to be addressed by an email marketing professional. Email marketers can address these concerns, plan your emails, build successful campaigns and ensure your ratings are acceptable. Also, professional email marketers will provide a unique email marketing system for your business, saving you time, money and technical self-destruction.

You cannot succeed by just using a random email system and a web designer that builds HTML. Email marketing requires a blend on science and marketing that few truly understand. Server acceptance, laws and proper coding are just a few of the technical skills required to perform such an effort. Planning, creative, scheduling and copy writing are just a few of the marketing talents needed for positive conversions.

A poor email marketing system has the same effect that a poor website will have – potential loss of clients/customers. Stop losing your clients and sales. Act today and hire an email marketing professional like WhyteSpyder before it’s too late. It’s not as expensive as you may think and with proper planning and execution, you will see a positive return on investment in a very short period of time.

Okay, you know that it’s no secret that more and more people are online these days. And, you also know that the Web is only going to get bigger and broader. But, you may still be pondering exactly how having a website will benefit you in the future. Below, I give you a few more not-so-obvious reasons you need to play ball online – NOW!

1. Sales: It doesn’t matter what type of business you are operating (online store, local retail shop, consulting company, non-profit, etc.), you can and you SHOULD be generating sales from your website. B2C businesses can offer products for sale online. B2B businesses can offer detailed information and accurate methods to generate leads. Your website should be a selling machine. Unfortunately, many businesses do not view their web presence as such and a lot of website providers do not think about sales when they build websites. It’s a simple mistake that leads to loss of revenue and missed opportunities (with expense).

2. Knowing Your Market: Every visit to your site offers an opportunity to learn more about your clients/customers. You can learn how they behave, what they are interested in, what they want and just as importantly, what they don’t want. Your website is like an ongoing, in-depth and ever-changing survey of your targets. If you do not gain intelligence about your audience from your website, you are losing competitive edge and ways to better profits.

3. Insights to Better Product/Service Offerings: We’ve seen it so many times. Businesses wonder why revenue is flat or down, why competitors are winning and why business is not what it used to be. You have to understand that customers/clients are changing – changing rapidly. The world is at their fingertips – literally. You MUST stay in front of this change and the fastest and most accurate foresight comes from your online channels. But you can’t sit on your knowledge, you have to be proactive and make data-driven decisions to your product lines or service offerings. In business, we all know nothing is certain, but with insight from your online performance, you can make decisions with confidence with speed and better accuracy.

4. Having Your Stuff Together: The perception from clients/customers toward your business goes a long way. Regardless if an immediate decision was made, clients/customers that see you online immediately form opinions about your business. Their opinion is both out of your control and in your control. Forget what’s not in your control, what is in your control is your search results, your sentiment and your availability. You must make your targets know for certain what you offer, that you are in business, approachable and serious. You do this through usable web design and aggressive online marketing. Fast, continuous and furious!

There is so much more and there will always be new and better ways. But don’t get bogged down with being all things to all people. It’s most important to start smart – to do the right thing in the right way. You should consult with us about your needs – it’s free for the first talk.

Contact us at www.WhyteSpyder.com today for your free initial consultation!