Onsharp

All too often, a company's website looks great but doesn't come close to fulfilling its potential. Looking cool and up-to-date is important-no one wants a site that looks like it's from the 1990s. But when it comes to successfully running a company, web strategy development isn't about simply matching a competitor's website flashiness.

Websites should provide measurable benefits in marketing, sales, customer management, and service. They should be directly oriented toward reaching your target customer base and toward achieving specific business goals, such as:  

• increasing sales
• reaching target customers
• retaining customers
• building your brand 
• reducing labor cost.

Don't let these goals be abstract; tie them directly into your annual business plan with specific metrics. If your strategic goals for your website are realistic, then the website should meet those goals-or else something's wrong.

As a key business strategy decision-maker, you know that the ultimate measurement of any investment is its impact on the bottom line. That's certainly true for strategic website design. When you plan your website, the following tips can help you make your website a key profit generator for your company.

Don't include "lazy" pages

A good rule of thumb for web strategy development is that every page on your website should be clearly tied to a specific goal. If a page doesn't have a clear purpose, it's like a lazy worker. It's there, but it's not productive. Drive efficiency in your website just as in all areas of your business.

Design pages to be clear

Each page should be developed with content and organization that makes it clear what that page is about and what the visitor should do. The look and feel of the page should be tailored to the page's function. The relationship between the graphic design and the page's effectiveness shouldn't be underestimated.

Use the right technology

Working with website design professionals, make sure that your websites are functional using technology that your target customers will have. For example, keep in mind how your website will look on tablets. Or if you think a significant portion of your customers are still on dial-up, how will their experience be?

Encourage action

The site should have clear prompts for visitors to take the actions you want them to take. These actions should of course be closely linked to your goals.  Once you know the actions you want to encourage, design your site to make taking those actions a breeze. People don't waste time on websites that are difficult to navigate or understand.

Build relationships

In your strategic plan, you have certain target customers. Your web strategy development should include mechanisms in the site to identify these customers and turn them into leads. And the overall aesthetic of the site should be geared toward these target customers. 

This isn't a case where appearance is largely superfluous. Designing a site's appearance to appeal to a critical target group is a legitimate aspect of results-focused site design.

Measure results

As with any investment, you should develop metrics (e.g., page views, length of views, lead generation, direct sales, customer feedback) to track how the site is performing. If you develop your site with specific goals in mind, you definitely want to know if those goals are being met!

Meaningful measurement also drives constant improvement. Diligently follow the metrics that really matter to your business and adjust your site accordingly-with pre-established procedures for change.

Key point

Your web strategy development needs to be integrated with specific business goals; otherwise it won't provide the return on investment that it should. Every facet of a website should be profit-geared in a tangible way. 

It's better to know than not know. We offer a free online evaluation:

With simplicity and education in mind, Onsharp is proud to announce the launch of its new website, Onsharp.com. The redesigned site highlights the services and tools that Onsharp can bring to businesses.

Online strategy is critical for most businesses and having experts create a plan will ensure the user's perspective is taken into consideration. Building a new website or application using the technology that best suits a business's needs is more important than using the latest tech trends or having excess bells and whistles.

With the new website, Onsharp.com provides online strategy solutions as well as offers educational tools to explain how different online marketing plans and tactics can benefit specific needs. With the new site visitors will be able to learn the difference between SEO, SEM, Social Media and much more.

Onsharp is an interactive agency that architects, builds, and supports web-based solutions. They are passionate about technology, but not just because they think it's cool. They are experts at helping businesses understand how new technologies and trends can help them meet customer demand while improving productivity. Onsharp strives to create success in the lives of all people, businesses, and communities they serve.

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Onsharp will be hosting a free webinar about web design on February 10^th at 10:00 am CST. Whether you are new to the web design world or an experienced designer, we're going to have "FUN" while we present Functionality, Uniformity, and Numbers. Do you get it now? The webinar is about the FUNdamentals of Web Design.

Onsharp believes that client education is a foundation to delivering an unparalleled customer experience. That's why we offer different resources, such as The Fundamentals of Web Design webinar and many different blog posts about design. One post that talks about planning of your web design and things to keep in mind is "Your Website is for your Visitors, Silly!"

We've also created an infographic- "The Power of Web Presence"

We encourage businesses of all sizes to sign up to attend The FUNdamentals of Web Design. There are things that you need to know before you begin designing your website that will fuel your company's success. When you attend our webinar about the Fundamentals of Web Design, you will have a better understanding of how your website design should function. We'll review and explain the importance of consistency and uniformity, and teach you what numbers will reveal your success. Registration is required. 

Simply getting involved in web marketing isn't enough. There are billions of people on the Internet - you want to make sure that you draw in visitors who are likely to buy your products. After all, any amount of content won't make you money if the people seeing it aren't buyers. This is why targeted web marketing strategies are so vital. They get you page views from people who are most likely to buy.

Here are a few tips to find leads who are most likely to become converts.

1. Choose your keywords with care.
   
   Keywords are the bedrock foundation of good targeted web marketing. There are a number of keyword analyzers available online, both paid and free. Google offers a free tool.  It's important to get a sense of which keywords lead to your site, and which onescoulddo so if leveraged properly.  The more focused the keywords to your services and products, the better the leads.
2. Politely get information from your visitors.
   
   Strictly speaking, if a visitor volunteers information like their email address, that makes them a plumb lead right off the bat. The trick is to get that information in a non-creepy manner. Asking them to "like" you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter is a good first step:  they're explicitly allowing you access to them outside of your site.
   
   One of the better strategies is requiring visitors fill out a small web form to download any of their free ebooks or whitepapers. The first download just asks for name and email address. The second one then asks for job title and responsibilities and so forth. The more free content that visitors get, the more information is gathered, making it easier to contact them with personalized offers or invitations.
3. Get analytical!
   
   One of the single best things you can do to improve your conversion rates is to dig into really analyzing your site to see how it's performing. Groups like Hubspot offer superior paid analysis tools, and Google has another great free tool of its own. These will let you track individual visitors from search engine to sales cart, seeing what they looked at along the way and how long they looked.   You can also start looking at the big picture, and see which pages hold people's attention for the longest, and which seem to cause the most bounces.
   
   With these stats, you can draw a "map" of the paths through your site that convert the most leads into customers.  Using that, you can start building your site to funnel more visitors through those paths, much like how Ikea makes you walk past all their impulse buys to get at their Swedish meatballs.
4. Track Social Media
   
   Being able to "snoop" on social media conversations about you is a goldmine of information on how to structure your targeted web marketing. There are some very good free tools for this, like SocialMention. Capitalize on the aspects of your business people like the best, but don't ignore areas people are critical of. Blog posts saying, "We heard your complaints about (X), so we fixed it by doing this..." can be great for establishing you as a company who cares what their customers think, another surefire way to make visitors into customers.

In short, all the best SEO in the world is worthless if it's getting you visits but no sales. You need to dig deeper and create targeted web marketing plans that take those hits and convert them into sales.

Interested in learning more about SEO? Download SEO Simplified: Beginner's Basics for need-to-know definitions and DIY activities. 

Marketing a seminar is just as important as the event itself. Great planning and energy goes into a seminar whether it's a business seminar or a health and wellness seminar and a great majority of the success is how well the event is attended. Advertising on the web is a great way to market seminars.

Online marketing and advertising is a cost effective and highly measurable way to increase awareness and attendance of your seminar. Here are a few ways you can advertise your seminar on the web using online marketing tactics.

Event listings on sites like eventful.com

Eventful.com is an event site that allows visitors to search for local events by date, location, and genre. A social media seminar, for example, would be listed under technology. Being listed on a site like this increases awareness of your event and the credibility.

The local Chamber of Commerce

Many local Chambers of Commerce have an events page on their website to promote the events of their members. If you are a member, ask to be listed on their website.  Business seminars can especially benefit because many business people look at a Chamber of Commerce's website as a resource for business information.

Social Media- Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Advertising your seminar on Facebook, for example, increases the possibility of reaching exponential amounts of people. If you run an ad, someone clicks and registers, then shares your seminar's event page; your seminar can be seen by their friends. Additionally, the power of a Retweet can result in exposure to a group of interested prospects.

Online newspaper community calendar

Most times it is free to be listed on a local news site's community calendar. If your seminar is helpful and educational, the newspaper's online community calendar is a great place to advertise because of its audience reach and diversity.

One key to advertising on the web is being found. To be found, you need to be where your prospects are looking. The web has many free and low cost ways for marketing seminars online. 

Onsharp, a professional web development firm located in Fargo, ND, has hired two full-time employees and an intern to join its growing team. The new hires include  Jerad Barbot- Web Analyst, John Jorgenson- Online Marketing Developer, and Whitney Nelson- Marketing and PR Intern .

"We are fortunate to be in a position where we can continue to grow and expand our service offerings and the size of our team", said Joe Sandin, President of Onsharp.  "It clearly shows the value that our services bring to our clients, and they are continuing to depend on us for innovative technology solutions that solve their most critical business problems."

Onsharp is currently seeking qualified candidates for several other key positions. Descriptions and instructions for how to apply can be found on our website at www.onsharp.com/careers.

Onsharp is an interactive agency that architects, builds, and supports web-based solutions. We're passionate about technology, but not just because we think it's cool. We are experts at helping businesses understand how new technologies and trends can help them meet customer demand while improving productivity. Onsharp strives to create success in the lives of all people, businesses, and communities they serve. For more information about Onsharp, please visit www.onsharp.com or call toll-free at 1.866.ONSHARP.

Websites have come a long way from when they were little more than glorified Yellow Page ads.

It used to be that companies used a web site simply to describe a little bit about what they do and how to reach them. "Creative" web design meant making it look pretty and maybe including a few customer testimonials or a greeting letter from a company executive.

But progressive companies are now looking to use their web presence not simply to advertise but to aggressively push and close sales. That stale, old-fashioned, advertising-oriented web site no longer cuts it.

Companies who understand the tremendous marketing opportunities made possible by the Internet are turning to website designs that drive the marketing effort rather than just supplement it.

Creative Web Design Pays Off

Investing in professional web design can lead to a substantial, ongoing boost to the bottom line. A modern, innovative website will:

• Pull in business. Using internet techniques such as search engine marketing and social media optimization, creative web design will bring the customers to you.
• Encourage interaction. An effective, modern website will have features that encourage customer feedback and questions. These are opportunities to establish contact with customers. They also improve customer satisfaction.
• Be tied directly to a company's objectives. Unlike the websites of yesteryear, efficient websites of today are designed with an all-encompassing purpose in mind-profit. Each company knows its business strategy, and intelligent, forward-looking web design is all about matching the website to that strategy.
• Deliver a consistent message. It's been an unfortunate tendency of many websites to not have the entire site integrated with the company's core mission. Websites should deliver a consistently "on-point" message about the company's purpose, values, and benefit to customers.
• Provide measurement. Creative web design includes the ability to measure the effectiveness of the website. Tracking hits, page views, length of views, lead creation, and lead conversion are essential. This provides evidence of the site's effectiveness and aids in ongoing management of the site.
• Builds the company's brand. Let's face it-a website that is unhelpful and boring creates an impression in customer's minds of amateurism and slackness. Bad websites seriously irritate potential and existing customers. On the other hand, highly functional, customer-friendly websites create an impression of your company as innovative and on top of the game. Creative web design can even make customers enjoy being on your site-and that creates a lasting favorable impression of your brand.

The Bottom Line

A company that wants to compete in today's technology-driven business culture can't afford to stick with an outdated, passive, and ineffective website that might even be doing more harm than good. Using a creative web design team, a website can be turned into a revenue-generating, brand-enhancing tool for consistent business growth.

Link-building is an essential part of creating great search-engine results for your website. Your goal should be getting popular, high-quality, and reputable websites to link back to your site. The more inbound links you have, the more your site is perceived to be popular and relevant, and the higher your site will rank in searches. You can't control whether other sites will link to yours, but the steps below can help improve your chances.

What exactly are inbound links?

First of all, you need to understand what it is you're trying to build. Inbound links are links from pages on other websites that link back to yours. Inbound links can bring new users to your site. And, when they are merit-based freely-volunteered as an editorial choice, they're a positive signal to Google and other search engines that your site is important and reputable. 

What can you do to build inbound links? 

There are many relatively simple things you can do to increase the amount of inbound links to your site. 

Offer a Blog that Links to Your Site: Using sites like Hubpages, Triond, or Blogger, you can create a blog that links back to your webpage. Your blog should contain a series of informative (non-sales-pitch) articles about a topic that maps to your areas of expertise or thought leadership. Use keywords throughout your articles that you think potential visitors to your website might use to search for products and services you offer. 

• To create a link in your blog article to your site, you'll need to use the </a> command to indicate the page on your site to which you want to link. Locate the keyword you want to use as a link and add a link command after it. Here is an example:

Onsharp is a web consulting firm based in Fargo, ND.  To link using the keyword Onsharp, you would simply need to add the link to the word "Onsharp."

The link setup is simple: <a href= "website address"> Text you want to be the link </a> 

<a href = http://www.onsharp.com> Onsharp </a> is a web consulting firm based in Fargo, ND.

Comment on Other Blogs

You also can find blogs that relate to your site and comment on them. Include links back to your site in the comments you submit. Individuals who are interested in your comments and expertise can then simply link back to your website for more information.

Link to Your Site on Social Media

Use social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook to create links to your website. Make sure that you link your page with attention-grabbing titles.

Get Others to Link Content for You

If you have valuable content on your site, owners of other, complementary, non-competing websites may want to link to it. The more informative and interesting your content, the more likely it'll spread virally through inbound links. Make it easy for others to link to your site by providing a sharing toolbar that offers simple bookmarking tools.

Are you ready for more DIY SEO? Learn more with our free download "SEO Simplified: Beginner's Basics"

Today's post is a sneak-peek into one of the changes to our blog. In addition to posting more from our internal experts, we'll be posting about our current projects to give you an idea of what we can do and share more about the excellent companies we serve. 

Currently we are working on the development of SaveGiveGo.com. The backend system includes portal for three types of users: businesses, consumers, and causes. From SaveGiveGo's Facebook page: 

SaveGiveGo is an exciting new way to save money and make a difference in your community. Consumers save money, businesses promote their offers risk-free, and non-profits and fundraising organizations receive more money for worthy causes.

So what exactly are we creating you may ask. SaveGiveGo.com is a couponing site that allows businesses to post offers with a pledge amount that consumers redeem and then give the pledge amount to a cause of their choice. It is free for non-profits and approved school groups to be listed on SaveGiveGo and free for consumers to view and print offers. SaveGiveGo is risk-free advertising for businesses because the business only pays for offers that are actually redeemed. Most advertising agreements require a minimum investment whether or not it results in a sale.  

Development of this multi user group is a very exciting project for Onsharp since it really utilizes our complete skill set of languages and logic. The highlight of the system is the ability for "self-service" by each user group. Businesses are able to create their profile page, upload photos, and design their own offers. Causes can also build their own profile page, post photos, and list their most recent donations. The consumer portal is perfectly simple-create your log in, print offer, save money, and give money.  

The complete launch of SaveGiveGo.com is planned for January 2012. Currently the system is being tested and perfected for an initial Fargo-Moorhead launch and eventual national presence. 

Interested Causes can sign up here: http://www.savegivego.com/cause

Interested Businesses can sign up here: http://www.savegivego.com/business