Concept Media

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It's not a matter of 'IF' you should utilize the web, but 'HOW'

If you're wondering if your business can benefit from utilizing the internet for marketing, the answer is yes. Small businesses should no longer look at the web as being out of reach. The web as we know is quickly replacing print media for a variety of different functions. Today's consumers, regardless of age or income, are researching businesses and products more than ever, and using the internet to do it. To have a web presence is as much of a no-brainer as your business card.

The foundation of internet marketing is your company's website. We have the capability of creating amazing looking websites that are done right. We don't use cookie cutter templates or shortcuts to create quick and dirty sites for our clients. Our work is not only visually pleasing, but takes into account industry best practices for navigation and search engine optimization (SEO). We pride ourselves on keeping up with the latest trends in technology, offering a range of tools that will help your website go above and beyond the rest:

 

Content Management System - We utilize a proprietary CMS that, with a little training, allows our clients to easily update their own websites. No need to call our office when you want to change text or images on your site. You can do it yourself in seconds.

Ecommerce - For those businesses that have a suitable product, selling online can be a wonderful thing. We are able to integrate full ecommerce functionality into your website, allowing you to quickly add/update product information, sell items, and transfer funds from the customer's credit card to your account.

Email Marketing - We offer a system that allows you to regularly send information and offers to your client and prospects via email... and track important data like if/when the emails are opened, who opened, and what links were clicked on. This is a great tool for salespeople to gauge the effectiveness of offers and information, as well as prioritizing follow-up phone calls and appointment setting.

Website/Email Hosting - We don't hand over a completed website to our clients and say "good luck!" If needed, we do offer cost-effective hosting services to our clients.

Flash Animation - If used correctly, animation on a website can take a site from nice to wow very quickly. We don't recommend that a site be completely created using Flash technology (not good for search engine optimization), but well placed Flash is a great idea for most or our clients.

One question we are often asked is "What is the whole process of creating a website?" For most projects, here are the steps taken:

1. Consultation - Gathering Info. We will meeting with our clients to determine exactly what it is they want to accomplish with their website. Do they have any special functionality or a general design already in mind? From this information we can determine exactly what design and programming is needed and can put together a detailed proposal showing the exact scope of the project.
2. Design. Once the client has signed off on the project scope and cost, the design process begins. We literally draw a picture (in Adobe Photoshop) of what your website will look like. Depending on the project, we may show you several different design "comps" for you to choose from. For complex sites, we may employ the use of wire diagrams and charts to show exactly how each page will interact with each other.
3. Programming. Once the client has signed off on the final design, the process of programming or "coding" the site begins. In this step, we are taking the image you see in step #2 and turning it into a living/breathing website. This is the most complex of all of the steps. It's not a matter of just "slicing" the image and calling it a day. We pay strict attention to industry standards in CSS and HTML coding and abide by conventions that allow your site to be more easily found by the major search engines. This involves creating proper image tags, titles, menus and other assorted tricks of the trade.
4. Testing. With the design and coding completed, we will now populate the site with test content (images and text) and test the functionality of the site. Once this is done, we will present the site to the client to make sure that they are happy with the overall functionality of the site. Note: in this step, further changes to the design of the site will be considered out of scope and result in additional fees. This is why it's important that we get the absolute final design of the site chosen in step #2.
5. Content. Depending on the project scope, we may work with the client to create the final content for the site. This may involve photography, writing, using stock photography, etc.
6. Go Live. With the final content populated and approved, it is time to take the site live. This may involve us making changes to your existing web hosting or setting up a new hosting account (a service that we can provide). Once live, it will take your site around one to two weeks for it to be "indexed" by the major search engines. We will manually submit your new site to help expedite. Once live, we will work with the client to come up with a plan for updating the site and keeping the content fresh. We will also explore other ideas for boosting the search engine ranking and getting more visitors to their site.