To make holes, of course.

Easy, right?

Why should I do business with you right now?

Can you easily answer that question?

When I ask small business owners to tell me the advantages of doing business with them, I usually get a list of features.

Usually goes something like this:

• We have more experience
• We’ve been in business longer
• Excellent customer service
• Low prices

Boring stuff!

When it comes to selling your products and services more effectively, you need to help people see the benefits they’ll actually get from doing business with you.

What is the benefit of having more experience?  Perhaps it’s that the job will get done right the first time.

Selling Phones With Magic…

What’s the number one selling phone in the world right now?  That’d be the Apple iPhone.  Of course, if you’ve ever watched an iPhone commercial you’ll notice that they rarely ever go into the features of the phone.

For example, most iPhone users could tell you how big of a processor is in the machine or anything about the camera on it.   They don’t care how much RAM is in it.

They care about the experience.   They’re absolutely fanatical about it… features be damned – they’re just there to serve up the desired experience.

When Apple came out with Facetime, their video conferencing feature, they didn’t go into details about the camera resolution and how it worked over a wi-fi network or any of that…

They did this:

Sure beats the pants off a list of features, eh?

So… I’ll ask you again, why should I do business with you right now?

Want help figuring it all out?  Call (414) 376-5545.

I have to say that I’m appalled at the current state of small business web design and you’d think that with so many professionals and software making it easier than ever for anyone to build and design their own website that it’d be getting better… it isn’t!

I just saw a commercial for a cheap web design from a major hosting company.  Now I understand that their real product is selling hosting, not websites, but that web design is a great way to get people in the door for them, but you’d think they’d be able help people build websites that don’t look like they were built 10 years ago.

You’d think that… but I digress.

Today I’m going to talk about how to get more leads from your websites.

Depending on what business you’re in, that may mean a phone call, an email, a text message, or it may involve the person filling out a form and submitting it.  As far as I’m concerned, that all falls under the purview of “lead generation.”

Decide What You Want

The very first step to getting more leads is to actually decide what action you’d prefer your visitor take.  In my line of work, I’ve found that most of the time that means getting a phone call but again, it’s up to you to decide what you actually want them to do.

Make It Easy To Take Action – Ask The Prospect To Do So

Once you’ve decided what action your want your visitor to take, you’ll want to make sure it’s easy to do so.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to websites where the owner has told me they want more phone calls and I have a hard time even finding a phone number to call.   If you want more phone calls, then your phone numbers should be on every page and it should show up on your home page several times.

Test & Track

One of the things I love about internet marketing and online advertising in general is how easy it is to track the effectiveness of a campaign.  And it doesn’t have to be hard.  Heck, Google will provide you with just about every tool you need to test your campaigns for free!  And if you want to track using phone numbers (which we use all the time and highly recommend you do the same), you’ll probably be surprised how affordable having several extra phone numbers is.

When you are actually tracking where your leads are coming from, it’s easy to know what marketing campaigns are effective and which aren’t which makes it easy to know where to spend your marketing budget.

Provide Alternatives

Back in 2003 when I was still selling sunglasses, we set up the website to take payments four different ways.  You could pay with a credit card online, call in your order, fax in your order, or even print off the order form and mail in your order.  While ordering online was always the most popular, plenty of people used the other methods.  If alternate payment methods weren’t available, those people would have simply ordered somewhere else and the sale would have been lost.

The same applies to your website – make sure there are multiple ways to get in touch with you.  Some people just don’t like using the phone and some people will flat out refuse to fill out a contact form.  Make sure you have alternatives available to maximize the number of leads you get.

Follow Up

I remember being told once when I was a fledgling marketer that the fortune is in the follow-up.   While I’ve at times been guilty of not following up with leads, I can assure you that if you take the time to follow-up with those who’ve raised their hands and said they’re interested in your products or services, you’ll make more money.   Be proactive – don’t assume they’ll get back in touch with you if they want to work with you – people live crazy hectic lives and misplace phone numbers and forget who they’ve even contacted all the time.

Get Started

I hope you’ve found several tips here that you can start using right now even if you’re not ready to hire us right now.  However, if you’d like some professional help with turning your website in to a lean mea lead generating machine, just give us a jingle at (414) 376-5545 or use our contact form (click here) or you can even send a fax to (888) 699-7645.

See what I did there?  :)

-Gary

Powerful, Cost Effective, Websites Designed by True Marketing Experts

Finally, professional website designers who can build you a website that not only makes your company look great, they also help you get more leads, get more referrals, and ultimately make more money!

It seems that these days too many web designers put a premium on winning awards and going to fancy pants dinner parties to discuss the “artistic” nature of their websites.  They pat themselves on the back for being so creative while all their clients get are lousy, under-performing websites.

Artists, smartists.

Artistic, award winning designs don’t help you, the owner of the business, actually make money.

Think about how many starving artists are out there.

What really works are professional websites built with the end result in mind.

Look, I’ve seen plenty of beautiful websites that cost a pretty penny but when it comes down to it, they just don’t perform.  I know because I’m the guy business owners sneak in the back door in the middle of the night to fix them!

I actually know what ROI means.

How’s that for refreshing?  Wouldn’t it be nice to work with someone who not only understands you want a return on your investment, but wants you to track their work and hold them accountable?

What you can expect when you work with WebDesignMilwaukee.co

• Websites that Turn Visitors Into Customers - Our websites are built to take a website visitor and help them through the process of becoming a customer.  A prospect is nice but you can’t deposit prospects in your bank account.  Money from paying customers has always been easy to deposit, however.
• Intuitive Designs -- One thing I learned in sales was that a confused mind doesn’t buy.  I’ve carried that lesson with me into my web design agency.  We want to make sure your visitors can easily find the information they’re looking for on your website and that when they’re ready to do business with you, it’s a piece of cake to do so.
• Easy To Manage -- Our websites are built to be powerful and effective, but they’re also built so that they don’t require a PhD in computer programming to manage on the back end.
• Mobile Friendly - Go ahead and check your current website analytics (your last designer set this up for you, right?) and look at your list of visitors and you’re likely to notice more and more people visiting your website using their smartphone.  Have you made sure that your website is easy to use from a small touchscreen or does it only look good on a computer screen?  Our websites are built to be user friendly even when someone visits using their smartphone.
• Search Engine Optimized -- Every single website I build comes with my basic search engine optimization package.   That means it’s built to perform well in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  In competitive markets you’ll need more than our basic package,  but we’ll always get you started off on the right foot.

When you’re ready to work with a professional web design company that will really listen to your needs and deliver something based on  what you need, give us a call at (414) 376-5545.  

Call anytime you like, 24/7, but just be ready to leave a message if you don’t reach a live person.   We always return phone calls.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=etszorKVl1Q

If Your Website Isn’t On The First Page Of Google, Your Business May As Well Be Invisible

From The Desk of Gary Ruplinger

9:34am

Did you know that when someone does a search using Google, 90% of them never make it past the first page?   That means that if your business doesn’t show up on the first page, you’re losing out on a lot of potential clients and customers.

Even worse is that those who do make it past the first page are often lower quality customers which means that your competitors are not only getting more leads and phone calls from their websites, they’re getting the best customers as well leaving you to take whatever scraps fall through the cracks.

And with newspaper circulations dwindling and with phone books (and the Yellow Pages in them) getting tossed out, can your business really afford not to be on that critical first page?

And while you might be thinking that you can just purchase ads via pay per click advertising programs, keep in mind that 85% of people searching tend to ignore all of the paid ads.

Perhaps that’s the reason why search engine optimization has one of the highest return on investments of any online advertising method.

A Little SEO Knowledge Can Be Dangerous

Over the years I’ve seen hundreds of people who have just a little bit of SEO knowledge.  The problem is that just a little knowledge can be more dangerous than having none at all because SEO done wrong can fatally wound your website in the eyes of search engines and it could take years to recover from it.  Yes, years!

On the other hand, I have 8 years experience in this industry which isn’t bad for an industry that didn’t even exist until 1995.  Heck, I’ve been teaching others how to do this stuff since 2006 – you can go on Youtube and check out some of my old videos if you like.

A lot of the information that other SEO consultants are teaching as new and innovative is information I was teaching back in 2007.

I’m not one to toot my own horn too loudly, but with thousands of first page listings under my belt, I’m well qualified to help your business get to the top too!

Getting On Page 1

Contrary to what you may have heard, you don’t need to hire a witch doctor, rain maker, or find your fairy godmother to rank well.

A true SEO expert can do the job just fine… and you won’t even need to worry about getting your head shrunk. 

Let me tell you a story.  Several years ago when I was still in the sunglasses business, I was talking to a lady while waiting in line at the post office and we got to chatting about how I was generating customers for my business. I told her that my website ranked highly in Google for my key terms.

She said that I’m one of the lucky ones.   I just smiled… I wasn’t sure how to tell her that there’s really very little luck involved in getting good search engine rankings.

Unfortunately,  I still run into this same form of flawed thinking when I talk to business owners today.  They think that the website ranking for their key terms has someone been anointed the chosen one by Google.

Fortunately, for you, you don’t have to suffer the same fate.  Your business can be the one at the top of Google and your business can be the one making your competitors jealous.

If you’re ready to get started, call me at (414) 376-5545 and I’ll put together a custom quote for you.

To Better Rankings,

Gary Ruplinger
Founder,  WebDesignMilwaukee.co

P.S.  Keep in mind that we can only work with one type of business per area so if you call and find that your market has already been taken, please don’t take it personally.

If you want to make sure you beat your competition to the punch, call me today at (414) 376-5545
Professional SEO Services -- Guaranteed Results

Call (414) 376-5545

Finally, Professional Facebook Fanpages That Not Only Look Great, They Actually Bring In New Customers By The Truckload!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=btGOm0sOQCg

From the desk of Gary Ruplinger
9:19am

By now you’ve no doubt heard all about Facebook from your family, friends, and colleagues.  It’s everywhere.

And while it’s a great place to connect with long lost friends and an easy way to stay in touch, using it to get customers can be a little trickier.

Facebook is an absolute juggernaut and is one of the fastest growing companies in history.  Consider these figures:

• Now has over 800 million users
• Average user spends 15hrs per month on the site
• The average user visits 40 times per month
• Facebook is the #2 website on the Internet (behind Google)

Of course, stats are just that -- stats.   You probably want to know what that actually means to you, the small business owner and how it’ll actually help you get more customers.

Here’s how:

• Easy to run specials for your best customers
• Get more word of mouth marketing
• MORE REFERRALS!
• Get a better understanding of what your customers actually want
• Expand your reach -- every person who “likes” your page helps you reach that person’s friends too!

So let us set the record straight... in plain English

 Our Pay Per Click Services Will Help You Make More Money! Guaranteed!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lByXtUR7ZPw

From the desk of Gary Ruplinger
2:02pm

I don’t know about you, but when I read about the pay per click management services, they use so many doggone big words and fancy terminology that I have no idea what they’re actually trying to sell.

It makes me feel like I’m back in quantum mechanics class again… and I’m really not in a big hurry to go back to being dazed and confused again.

I’m not going to lie to you… creating profitable pay per click campaigns with Google Adwords and Facebook Ads isn’t as easy as the sales pitch makes it sound but it isn’t as hard as rocket science either… especially when you have professionals on your team.

Now I’m not going to try to sell you on the benefits of pay per click advertising.

If you’re reading this page, you’re probably well aware of the traffic, leads, and customers this kind of advertising can bring you.

Your biggest challenge is probably either finding the time to manage your campaigns OR how to use this type of advertising more profitably.

That’s where we come in.  

When you work with us, you’ll find that we’re not only able to lower your cost per click, but we’re able to INCREASE your conversion at the same time.

Simply stated, you get spend less money and get more customers!

Your Chance To Work With Me, Gary Ruplinger, Directly

While this will likely change in the future, when it comes to our Pay Per Click services, I personally manage them… not some outsourced assistant or intern… but me, the owner of the company.

If you’re interested in having WebDesignMilwaukee.co handle your pay per click campaigns or if you’re looking for professional help getting started, just give us a call at (414) 376-5545 to get things started.

Have a fantastic (and profitable) day!

Gary Ruplinger
Founder
WebDesignMilwaukee.co

We’ll help you take your broken, outdated, cumbersome website and turn it into a lean mean, lead generating machine!

While most small business owners have taken the step of having a website built, many of them end up being neglected and instead of being beautiful garden full of prospects and leads, turn into desert wastelands that make anyone who visits the site immediately click the back button… never to be seen again.

Think of it this way.  If you had a broken window at your store or office, you’d fix it, right?  Of course you would, it’d be embarrassing for you if a potential client saw your place of business in such disrepair!

Your website is no different.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across websites that were great looking when they were built but became dated and stale over the years simply because managing the website was a huge chore to update.

Websites That Easy To Update and Manage

While your clients will never see it, you’ll be able to appreciate how easy it is to make changes to your website with our content management system.  Even if you’re not tech savvy, it’s no problem.  If you have enough computer skills to navigate this website, you’ll be able to make simple changes and add content to your website anytime you like without having to call us.

That Expensive Great Looking Website You Have Could Be Hurting Your Sales

Look, I like a great looking, artistic web design as much as the next guy, maybe more.  I’m also the first one to tell you that they’re often going to perform poorly from a lead generation and sales point of view.

I know because I’m often the guy small business owners bring in to fix them!

The truth of the matter is that there are certain design guidelines you want your website to follow in order for it to be easy for your prospects to use.

Remember one of the commandments of sales and marketing: a confused mind never buys.  

Make sure your website is easy to use even if what you end up isn’t quite as “pretty” as it was before.

Note:  This only applies to business owners who actually want to generate leads or make sales from their websites.  If your website is only used as a way for people to learn about your business and you do all of your marketing via other methods, then you can use any design you like.

8 Errors That Could Be Hurting Your Website’s Effectiveness

1. Phone Number Is Hard To Find.  Is your phone number above the fold?  Take a quick look at your website – is your phone number prominently displayed or do you have to scroll down the screen to find it… or worse, do you have to click on a “contact us” button?
2. Out of Date Copyright.  Look at the very bottom of your page.  Is your copyright info up to date?  If not, keep in mind that it could keep a prospect from calling because they might think you’re no longer in business especially if it’s more than a year or two out of date.
3. No About Page.  If you track pageviews like we do, you’ll find that the “about us” page get a lot of views.  People want to learn about the history of the company AND the people who run it.  This is your chance to show you’re a real company with real people.  Tell your story.    Oh, and make sure your phone number is on this page as well.
4. No Call To Action.  Billions, yes billions, of dollars are lost each year due to people not knowing what to do next after seeing an advertisement.  Your website is no different.  If you want someone to give you a call after reading about your services, say so.  If you want them to click the “add to cart” button after reading the product description, say so.  Tell people exactly what you want them to do next, don’t assume they know.  Remember that old saying about what happens when you assume something…   and to prove a point, I won’t assume you know that saying is, “when you assume something you make an ass out of you and me.”
5. Services Or Products All On The Same Page.  Every product or service you offer needs it own page.  Give it a chance to sign.  Too often I see small businesses listing all the services they offer on one page (which is fine) with nary a page to learn more about each of those in detail (which is not so fine).
6. Not Mobile Friendly.  Have you taken the time to see what your website looks like when viewed on a smartphone?  More smartphones are sold each day than computers.  That means more and more of your potential customers are viewing your website from their smartphones.  Make sure your website is usable on a smartphone, not just when viewed from a computer.
7. Incorrect Title Tags.  If you’ve ever dabbled in web design or SEO yourself, you know what title tags are.  However, for the non geeks out there, the title tag is exactly what it says – the title of each individual page on your website.  A good title tag describes the product or service being offered and if you’re a local business, also includes the city or geographic region where you do business.   Make sure you use it (or tell the person who maintains your website to do so).
8. Spelling Errors.  I’m not going to tell you that you must use perfect grammar or sentence structure or even that you can’t use fragments.  One thing you must do, however, is make sure that you avoid spelling errors and typos especially if you’re in an “attention” to detail type of business.  Careless mistakes on your website can have your prospect wondering if you’re going to be careless working with them as well.  Have someone proofread everything that goes on your website (or at least push F7 and run spell-check).

Give us a call at (414) 376-5545 to get started.  Note: this is a call to action – see how easy this is