We recently finished a new website for an amazing Milwaukee gospel artist, Pastor Marlon Lock where we integrated iTunes, Amazon, and cdbaby so listeners can immediately download his music. It’s a relatively easy way for local artists to make their music available to a large audience. If you love inspirational gospel music, check him out! https://pastormarlonlock.com/
Although the concept of putting online videos into a business website home page isn’t new, it’s a trend that’s still growing and expanding. In fact, more of our clients than ever are choosing to “say it with video,” and dramatically increasing their conversions (in the form of new leads, sales, and email registrations) at the same time.
It’s no wonder that video is still catching on. Not only do online clips allow you to convey marketing messages more effectively, but video is easier to see and understand than text, allows for social sharing, and can be easily viewed on virtually any type of mobile web device. The same can’t be said for long paragraphs, which can be difficult to read on small screens.
But, as with anything in internet marketing, there is an art and science involved in creating effective home page videos. Here are a few tips we’ve picked up from experience:
Not every video is a great video. Yours needs to have a clear beginning and end, win attention quickly, and stay on message without going too long. That might sound like a simple formula, but it’s easy to get viewers to tune out if you’re missing one of the important elements.
Your home page video should look like a professional production, not a request for ransom money. Grainy shots, poor editing, and muffled audio all paint you as an amateur… and convince potential customers to look elsewhere.
Should your video be an animation, one with a well-known personality speaking directly into the camera, or an instructional clip with statistics and graphs to back up key points? The answer depends on your company, product, and tone, as well as your conversion goal.
When your video ends, it should be very clear what you’re asking people to do. Invite them to take a small step to keep the sales process moving along. Don’t ask for too much right away, and make sure that the next step is very clear.
Done correctly, a professional video on your home page can do wonders for your web conversions and results. It doesn’t matter whether you want new email subscribers, leads coming in for your service, or even product sales – creating a short, crisp video could help you double or triple the number of visitors who respond.
Take a look at Brew City Marketing, the leading Milwaukee Web Design company’s new video and let us know what you think:
In this digital day and age, you might think that it doesn’t matter – after all, files can be transmitted instantly over the Internet, and a good creative team is going to do good work no matter where they are, right?
That notion certainly does apply to a certain degree, but there are still advantages to finding and working with a local, Milwaukee web design and internet marketing group. Here are just a few of the most important:
You can get more info before the work begins. You don’t want just anyone working on your next business website, and you certainly don’t want strangers who don’t know your company devising your online marketing plan. Even in the digital age, there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting to get a better sense of what you’re trying to accomplish, not to mention check out the credentials and working style of a vendor you are thinking of working with.
You’ll enjoy faster (and better) customer service. There is a lot to be said for working with someone who is on the same schedule you are (or at least in the same time zone), and can relate to the problems and challenges you deal with locally. If you doubt the wisdom of that statement, just call a customer service representative in India and ask them to solve a problem that someone who is local would understand in an instant. The farther you get from home, the bigger the communication challenges become.
You’re likely to enjoy better long-term value. Obviously, you can sometimes save money by working with a web designer who’s far away, but does that necessarily translate into a better value, or a bigger return on investment? To put it another way, it’s usually worth it to spend a little more on your website if you’re going to get better designs, better service, and a stronger Internet marketing plan as a result. If you want to get the best, then work with the best.
A lot of companies would like you to believe that business web design is a simple matter of putting good-looking layouts and a bit of HTML coding together. The reality, though, is that the more you know your creative team – and the more they know about your business – the better the end result is going to be.
Besides, some of the very best web design and Internet marketing experts are right here in your own Milwaukee area neighborhood. Contact Brew City Marketing today to see how we’ve helped Milwaukee area companies just like yours, and what we can do for you.
What sets Brew City Marketing apart from other web design companies in Milwaukee.
For a lot of businesses, mobile web marketing involves a little bit of “push and pull” thinking. On the one hand, they absolutely want to use every tool at their disposal to meet new customers and make their business available online to smartphone and tablet users. But on the other hand, who wants to invest even more money in a mobile web design… much less have two sites to maintain and keep up to date?
Luckily, with responsive web design, there is an answer that works for almost everyone.
Responsive web design gets its name from the fact that it “responds” to individual users who access your site, showing one type of display or version to “regular” desktop and laptop users, and different versions to mobile users. That means one site can display and function correctly for one customer who’s using a laptop and another who is coming to you via an iPhone, all at the same time.
It’s a way of working that has a lot of us in the business Milwaukee web design industry very excited. In particular, it gives our clients three distinct advantages:
Responsive web design is simpler because it only leaves you with one site to look after, update, and maintain. Most businesses don’t have the time and resources to manage multiple web presences, so a single-site solution tends to be best.
Responsive web designs work with all kinds of smartphones and tablets, meaning you don’t have to worry about the coding in your pages being a roadblock to mobile marketing. No matter what kind of devices your customers use or prefer, your website will be ready.
Not only is it less expensive to keep a single site, but responsive web design keeps you up to date with mobile technology, meaning you won’t have to replace or upgrade your site as often as you would have otherwise. In other words, you can keep more of your money instead of spending it on further web development.
Are there times when you could still want a dedicated mobile site? There are, if you had extensive e-commerce needs or millions of mobile visits per month, but that isn’t the reality for 99% of the companies out there. For the rest, responsive web design offers a combination of features, benefits, and long-term value that most businesses crave.
Want to find out more about responsive web design and how it can be the missing piece to your mobile marketing strategy? Call or email Brew City Marketing today to get a free demonstration of how it works.
In case you aren’t already familiar with the concept, a CMS (Content Management System) is a site that allows you to add, change, or revise the content on the pages (and especially things like text and images) while keeping the overall look and feel consistent. In other words, it lets you change your website as often as you’d like without worrying about ruining the design and navigation structure that you’ve already paid a Milwaukee web design company to do.
A CMS-enabled business website has a lot of advantages, including:
With a CMS, simply log into your site, visit the content page you want to change, and then type or paste in what you want it to display. You don’t have to know HTML or anything about website programming, and the whole process only takes a few seconds.
The more you’re able to update and add to your business website, the more valuable it becomes to your customers. That’s because buyers want up-to-date information, and more resources to choose from. With a CMS in place, you can give them both.
In addition to making your site more valuable, CMS also tends to make it last longer, since you are free to update your own content (or even add completely new sections) at any time. Plus, because you don’t have to pay your business web design team to make small alterations, you save money each month.
Many content management systems (like WordPress, for example) have built-in features and available plug-ins that make them more compatible with search engines, social media sites, and other popular Internet marketing tools.
For most businesses, integrating a content management system into a new or existing website is usually an easy decision. Call or email a member of the Brew City Marketing team today and learn how to convert your site, making it easier to work with and more valuable at the same time.
Does your business track the source of incoming leads and new accounts? Do you know which promotions, strategies, and marketing tools are generating the biggest results?
If you don’t, you’re selling your company short.
Without the right information, you can never be sure which of your marketing investments is most successful – and by extension, which future activities are going to be worth the effort and investment. What’s more, you can’t really know how well you are progressing against your bottom-line targets, at least beyond a simple estimate of whether you’re going to hit your revenue goal or not.
The key to bringing all of these together is tracking the sources of inbound leads and new accounts. You absolutely have to know where your business is coming from if you want to get more of it in the future. But how do you find that information? There are a number of tools you can use, ranging from simple to sophisticated:
Customer conversations and questionnaires. Obviously, you could just ask buyers how they heard. That’s sometimes the simplest, cheapest, and most effective way, although you’ll be surprised at how many customers simply don’t remember, even if you ask them immediately.
Coupon codes and offer numbers. Coupons and discount codes go back generations, when the first advertisers used them to test different promotions and messages. You can do the same, using different ideas for separate marketing campaigns to track the results and measure them against one another.
Landing page and cookie combinations. By sending different types of customers to different pages (and studying their behavior online afterwards), you can get a fairly clear picture of where customers are coming from, and what they want to do. But, deciphering the numbers can be difficult, and you need lots of visitors to identify clear trends.
Advanced metrics packages. If most of your business comes from the web, then you might want to invest in an advanced metrics package. These platforms can give you all kinds of interesting data that you can’t get elsewhere, but require a bit of training and patience to master.
If you’re new to inbound lead tracking, it might be a good idea to start with simpler methods and move up from there. When it comes down to it, any information about the source of new business is better than none at all… and the better your information is, the faster your company can grow.
Want to start building smarter, more efficient online and offline marketing plans? Call the Brew City team and ask for a free consultation today!
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To their credit, most small and local business owners know that they need to have an online presence. In fact, while many small businesses may not have social media plans, most do at least have websites. And, while that’s a start, it’s simply not enough anymore.
Today’s consumers are increasingly using the internet to vet products, companies and services. They’re using their phones, tablets, laptops, social media contacts, and more to figure out whom they trust and whom they want to do business with. That’s why it’s vital for small and medium business online marketing budgets to include not just web design and hosting costs, but real online marketing initiatives too.
We all know that first impressions are everything, so a static website that’s outdated, irrelevant or hard to use can be just as damaging as having no website at all. After all, any competitor is just a click away. Or, a local business may have a well-designed site that’s easy to use but isn’t properly optimized for the web so it can’t be found. When it comes to Milwaukee business websites, usability issues can severely impact how effective a website is at attracting prospects and turning them into paying customers.
1. Is Your Contact Information Consistent and Visible?
If a consumer is already looking at your website, chances are they’re in the market for the service or product you sell. But, if they can’t quickly figure out how to contact you, chances are they’ll probably just wander off and find someone who provides the same services but is easier to contact. This is why it is extremely important that the contact information on your business website be visible (on every page!), consistent and accurate.
In terms of visibility for readers, it is important that your contact information be easy to find, so instead of burying it in a Contact Us page, display it on each page. No matter how visible you think your Contact Us may be, your readers may miss it, get frustrated, and wander off.
Also, when including your contact information, consider your preferred method of contact. Do you want prospects to call you, email you, fill out a free consultation form, visit your store, or something else? This will impact what information you display. For instance, if in-store visits are essential, you will want to display your full address, and possibly include a map.
It is also important that whatever contact information you include on your business website matches the information that appears in local business listings and review sites (like Google Places, Yelp, Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau, and the like). Not only does this ensure that your customers get the correct contact information they need to find your business, it also raises the credibility of your local business’ listings in search rankings.
2. Have You Considered Using Live Chat & Contact Forms?
If you and your workers are sitting waiting for calls to come in, you may want to consider starting the conversation online, while prospects are browsing your website. Live chat services allow you to see when users are visiting your website and initiate online conversations right then and there. Not only can this make it easier for consumers to get answers to questions that they may not bother to call and ask, it can be a crucial first step in building a relationship between the consumer and the business.
Like live chat, contact forms can be another no-pressure way for consumers to initiate a conversation with an SMB without having to call or schedule an appointment. It’s a conversation starter that can help potential customers get the information they need while the small business that they’re considering gets the on-going contact information they want.
3. Is Your Website Easy to Use?
If your website is ugly, hard to use, or looks like it was created using hand-written HTML back in the days when AOL came on a disk, you shouldn’t expect customers to stick around long. To engage and retain customer interest (and trust), your website needs to have a professional, credible aesthetic. This means contemporary design, straightforward navigation, functional links and graphics, and reasonable loading times.
Also, on the technology side, be sure to discuss the pros and cons of using Flash with your website designer. While Flash definitely has its benefits — it can offer a gorgeous visual experience and is well-suited for interactive design — it has quite a few drawbacks as well. For instance, content created in Flash cannot be scanned for keywords, which limits a website’s search ranking potential. Flash also requires (frequent) software updates, increases website load time, can be incompatible with some browsers, and does not work with some smartphones — which could be a huge disadvantage in today’s mobile local search environment.
4. Do You Use Keywords Effectively?
To be found by search engines and people, your Milwaukee web design needs to be created using keywords that customers will use to find your products and services.
If you haven’t already created your business website, what you need to do is compile a list of those keywords that customers are most likely to try and use to find you. You can use tools to find words (like Google AdWords), brainstorm to think of terms, or search for competitors to see what they use. Be sure that your list of business site keywords includes both technical terms and typical descriptors for each product or service — since both might be used to find your offering.
Once you have your list together, use those keywords throughout the text of your site. While you don’t want to use them too often (both because your website will be hard to read and search engines may penalize you), it’s important that you use them enough that search engines recognize what your website sells.
5. Other keywords tips to consider include:
Use keywords in your webpage titles and keep titles to 70 characters or less.
Use keyword-rich anchor text in page URL links. (This is good for search engines because it helps them recognize that a page is relevant to those search terms.)
Give the images on your business website keyword-rich filenames and alt descriptions. (This too is good for search engines.)
Give videos keyword-specific titles, tags and descriptions too.
6. When Was the Last Time You Updated Your Website?
For search engines to recognize that your business website is still active, it must updated regularly. A website that is stagnant and has not been updated in a long time will drop in the ranks and is much more likely to be seen unfavorably by visitors.
This is why having a successful website is an ongoing process. Business owners cannot expect to just put up a page, leave it for years, and expect it to be effective. For a business website to be effective, it must be regularly updated and refreshed to reflect products, services, deals, changes and anything else that may be going on with a business. This is where blogs can be useful — they offer a way to keep a business website fresh that can also build and improve customer relationships.
Blogs that offer tips, industry insight, specials, and “insider information” are all sure to appeal to users of a business website. And by building a loyal following, SMBs also improve their visibility and search engine rankings.
7. Does Your Use Social Media Channels?
If your website doesn’t have social media sharing widgets, you could be missing out on lots of free, organic advertising.
Today’s consumers expect to be able to freely share what they find on their favorite social media sites. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and more are all every-day social tools for millions of Americans, and if you’re not using them, you’re missing out on a vital, relevant way to connect with your customers.
8. Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?
Just like it needs to be enabled for social media, your business website needs to be mobile-friendly. Whether they’re on the go, at work or waiting in a line somewhere, today’s consumers expect to be able to find local businesses online using their mobile devices.
While your business website may not need to feature all of its content when viewed on mobile devices, it should include key points that consumers will undoubtedly want (like contact info, hours of operation, specials, store locations and an overview of key service or product offerings).
When it comes to mobile, it’s important to remember that not all platforms are the same and viewing on different devices can become an issue (as was mentioned earlier with Flash). Be sure to ask us at Brew City Marketing about Milwaukee Responsive Web Design for information on how to make your website mobile friendly.
9. Are You Tracking Results?
If you really want to know what is working (and what is not) on your small business website, it is vital that hire an analytics specialist to track results from your SMB website. Using tools like Google Analytics, an analytics expert can help turn your small business website into the revenue-generating machine it should be.
Analytics tools can help you understand how many people are visiting your SMB site, which pages are most popular, where visitors are coming from, what keywords they’re using to find your website, what pages they leave from, and much more. In short, if you’re not tracking your website, you’re probably getting a small fraction of the value from it that you could be. This is another reason that SMB websites should be seen as ongoing projects and not static ones: there’s always something to learn from the data.
For help evaluating your existing Milwaukee web design, contact Brew City Marketing today 414-208-0700. We’ve created over 500 websites for local businesses just like you. We also specialize in local search engine optimization so that your website can be found on Google when people search for key phrases related to your business and service location.
When we heard that the Krause family needed a website to help them connect with potential donors and volunteers, we knew that we had to do our part for this courageous Wisconsin family. The Krauses have faced challenges that most of us can’t even imagine—a catastrophic accident, diagnosis of a rare genetic disorder, the potential diagnosis of another—and yet, they still face each and every day with a strength and courage that humbles us. That’s why we’re proud to share our small part in their amazing story.
When high school sweethearts Ben and Kim got married and began planning their lives together, they certainly didn’t plan on the nearly-fatal accident in 2010 that would leave Kim a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down. Even Ben’s training as a military firefighter and first responder couldn’t have prepared him for the overwhelming responsibility that caring for his wife, their children and their home would become for him after that day. And now, having gotten through “the worst” of it—the dangerous surgeries, the grueling physical therapy, the numbing depression and more—they’re ready to start building the future they dreamed of for themselves and their children. That’s why they founded Krause Livelihood: to raise the funds needed to afford Kim’s therapeutic equipment and to find volunteers to help them remodel their home to meet Kim’s new physical needs.
To support their efforts, we donated our services to create a full-fledged website for their cause. With their new website, the Krause family can now share their story, reach out to potential donors and volunteers, blog about what’s happening in their lives, and keep us all connected with their progress. It’s just our way of helping the Krauses reach their dreams. To learn more about this heroic family, we invite you to visit their website www.krauselivelihood.com.
*UPDATE 11/3/15*
The Krause’s have decided to remove the website while they recalibrate their fundraising efforts.
After three years in business, Brew City Marketing has come to know all of the tricks for developing expertly crafted websites that offer the kind of creative web design Milwaukee consumers respond to.
In just three short years, the need for local companies to have their own custom designed website has grown exponentially. Not that the need wasn’t prevalent prior to 2009, but as small business owners continue to understand, having a well designed website can make a big difference in the number of new business that comes from the Internet. Brew City Marketing, a local Milwaukee Internet marketing agency, is an expert at creating eye-catching, responsive websites. “We know what elements a website needs to convert potential customers into loyal patrons,” says owner, Mark Dalnodar. Poor web design can not only drive potential clients away, but, it can also have a negative affect on the credibility of your company.
In order to relay the importance of web design Milwaukee companies need to succeed, Dalnodar puts it this way: “Think of your website as a virtual storefront on a congested street corner; every day, hundreds of potential customers walk past your store, but you have only a few seconds to catch their interest. How your storefront looks is a big reason why people want to visit, and hang around. Your website needs to be viewed in the same manner. It should be clean, uncluttered, and easy to navigate; it should also be warm, friendly, and give relevant information.”
With three years experience and over 250 websites developed, Brew City Marketing has the skills and experience necessary to create compelling web design for local Milwaukee companies. Contact Brew City Marketing for Milwaukee web design assistance at (414) 208-0700 or visit https://brewcitymarketing.com to begin exceeding your sales goals today.
Learn more about what Brew City Marketing has to offer by reading their last press release about Internet Marketing Milwaukee.
There are a number of companies out there currently advertising this kind of service, or something very similar. The specific offers might change, but the basics of the arrangement are something like this: You log onto their website, choose a template that somewhat fits your business, and then “fill in the blanks” with your own text and images. The whole thing is supposed to take just a few minutes, and cost you only a very small fraction of what a custom-built small business website would.
Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?
It can be, so long as you don’t mind trading a few dollars now for profitability later. That’s because a “build your own” type of website is virtually useless in terms of online marketing. It doesn’t give potential customers much insight into what kind of business you’re running or make any kind of positive impression about your company at all. In other words, you tend to get what you’re paying for – which in this case is almost nothing at all.
Of course, it’s understandable that many entrepreneurs, self-employed professionals, and others are facing tighter budgets than they might like. Still, is getting a website that doesn’t set you apart from the competition in any way – or even makes you look worse – really the best answer?
Here are a few better ways to save money on your next business website, without resorting to useless templates:
Start with a smaller business website. Lots of marketers mistakenly assume that they need dozens of pages to show off their various products, services, staff bios, etc. The reality is that slimming down your site isn’t usually just less expensive, but also makes it more user-friendly for the potential customers who view your pages. See if you can boil your business, and your new website, down to a few key ideas and then build pages around those. If you need more in the future, you can always expand later.
Use a good content management system. A quality CMS is the backbone of your business website, allowing you to grow, refocus, or change your site structure and content as you choose, and without any help from your business web design team. Brew City Marketing utilizes WordPress for many of our websites. In addition, most will have advanced marketing and analytics features that make your site more functional and valuable from the date it’s launched. You might spend a few extra dollars upfront for a quality CMS, but it’s an investment that will pay you back time and time again as you change and update your site for free.
Get your money back faster. As in many parts of business, the best way to save money on a business website is to actually spend a bit more and make a wise investment. That’s because a quality design won’t just last you years longer than a template will (meaning that you won’t have to pay for a new site), but it can also help you grow your business. How many new sales or clients would you need for a quality business website to pay for itself? What would it be worth to have your business growing every month?
It’s easy to understand why so many people are tempted to use “build your own” style services for business web design. Unfortunately, they hardly ever turn out to be the kind of value you’re looking for.
Brew City Marketing understands the challenges that start-ups face. Give us a call today and we’ll provide product or payment options to make it easier for you to have a professional website and internet marketing strategy that will bring you new business.
“Brew City Marketing helped our West Allis roofing business increase calls by 45% in 4 months.”
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“Brew City Marketing helped our West Allis roofing business increase calls by 45% in 4 months.”
“Our Bay View retail store’s organic sales tripled after their SEO and content strategy.”
“They cut our cost-per-lead by almost a third. Great communication and real results.”
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