Monday, December 31, 2012

SUPPORT LOCAL HOSPITALIZED KIDS


Looking to make a charitable contribution before the end of the year? Today's the last chance, and what better cause to support than local hospitalized children?

Please join WORD Web Design in supporting The Molly Thompson Memorial Fund. A gift to The Molly Thompson Memorial Fund makes a profound impact on the children at Randall Children's Hospital (Legacy Emanuel).

Learn more at http://www.milesfrommolly.org/Donate.htm

Sunday, December 2, 2012

THE IMPACT OF THE "FISCAL CLIFF" ON SMALL BUSINESSES

Will the USA still stand strong after the "fiscal cliff"
Higher taxes, increased health care costs, worsening economy - what are the positives and what is the plan of action for small business? Small Business Trends compiled information from several media sources, regarding the upcoming so-called "fiscal cliff". We picked out four of them to highlight the general impact to small business.

CBS Evening News said an estimated 941,000 small businesses in the U.S. could face tax increases as high as $8,000 more a year. Many business owners, according to this article, say this increased taxation will deprive them of funds they could reinvest in growing their business and providing jobs. This will ultimately result in slower economic growth, unless sales are extraordinarily strong.

The Washington Post reports - Many small business owners worry the new Affordable Care Act will be anything but affordable, and could end up in lost jobs or shortened hours for employees. Employees may end up footing the cost of their entire healthcare insurance.

According to The New York Times - Whether lawmakers avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" or not, small businesses could end up dealing with the following. Loss of some depreciation allowances for capital investments, and some work opportunity tax credits, as well as possible loss of a temporary exclusion of 100% gain on certain small business stock. The enhanced charitable deduction for donating computers to schools and libraries could also go away.

The Weekly Standard published an interesting article - A peculiar side effect of a proposal presently on the table in Washington. The report claims the proposal raises marginal tax rates on small business owners (to 39.6 percent on those making over $250,000), but at the same time decreasing the corporate tax rate to 28 percent.

The above findings do not paint a bright picture, so again, what are the positives and what is the plan of action for small businesses?

First positive is tax deductions for start-ups are still available (reportedly they will even be increased).

A new 10% income tax credit will likely be introduced to counteract the cost of hiring.

Increased government spending for proposed infrastructural developments will likely boost some engineering firms, contractors, and material suppliers.

A new program started earlier this year, Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) assists small businesses in sourcing financing.

Another positive, the current administration's failings could encourage them to come out with new tax cuts next year. It will likely be a political game (to make one party look better than the other), and it is unlikely they will fully compensate for (potential) increases, but it very will could ease the increased tax burden to some degree.

The importance of marketing, and building better relationships with customers, is greater than ever. Consumers still need your product, and sales must grow to compensate for any increased cost of doing business. User friendly up-to-date websites, online forms for patients, and social media are just a few of the ways to connect better with your customers.

Web design and marketing for small businesses and professionals is what we do. We are focused on making your business, clinic, or organization successful. That is our mission and we put it into practice in huge ways for many of our customers throughout 2012. Here are a few comments we heard this year from our customers and business partners:

After we enacted a new marketing campaign in October, for one of our customers, they said:  "November is usually a little slow, but this November was our best ever!"

Another customer: "8 out of 10 calls come directly from our website".

One customer had a slow beginning to the year, but they contacted us to build a new website and work on their online brand management. Since then, sales have increased dramatically. "We attribute all of our increase to the work WORD Web Design did for us".

We are looking forward to the continued success of our business partners in 2013.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

ONLY 10% OF FRIENDS SEE YOUR POSTS

Facebook is now charging to promote posts. When you like a "Page" you will only see about 10% of their posts. To continue receiving all of their posts, go to their page, hover your mouse over where it says "LIKED" and click on "Add to Interests Lists". Be sure to add us, so you don't miss any of our posts.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Google Pushes Out Panda Update

Google rolled out the latest update to its Panda algorithm yesterday.

The company posted the news  on Twitter, saying this update will affect about one percent of search results.
The previous update (3.8) occurred a month ago — on June 25th.

Panda rolled out initially in February 2011 and was designed to remove low-quality/thin content from Google’s search results.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Yelp & Bing Join Forces in Local Search

Something to be aware of for local SEO - Bing has teamed up with Yelp to increase Yelp coverage in Bing local search results.

You can learn more at The Bing Team's blog: http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2012/06/14/bing-and-yelp-help-you-do-more-with-local-search.aspx

What does this mean to local business owners? We recommend adding (or claiming) your business listing in Yelp. It's free to list your basic business info and pictures.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Social Marketing Chart

Interesting Social Marketing chart, but can you spot what's missing? A major, but relatively new, social media player is missing from this chart.


social media chart
Click on above image to zoom

The answer is Pinterest.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Best Time of Day for Facebook Posts

Do you read every post in your Facebook feed? With so many posts each day, it's no surprise most of us skim through, or completely miss, many posts.

It's easy for your posts to get lost in the crowd. However, there are a few ways to get your posts noticed.
  1. Post something interesting, or useful!
  2. Use pictures, or links to websites (links bring up a thumbnail picture from the site).
  3. Post at the right time of day
Number three, in the list above, can use some explanation. When is the right time of day to make posts to Facebook? Well, they actually have an answer for that! Studies have been done, and although there are many variables (depending on your demographics), they have discovered links sent between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. get the most views. One study released recently by the link shortening and tracking service bit.ly actually narrowed it down to Wednesday at 3 p.m. as the absolute best time to post on Facebook all week.

Your audience could be different, but time of day (and even time of week) is something to consider. Generally comments or links posted after 8 at night or before 8 in the morning are most likely to be missed.

“While traffic starts to increase around 9:00 a.m., one would be wise to wait to post until 11am,” bit.ly said in a blog post. “Traffic from Facebook fades after 4:00 p.m.”

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Facebook Timeline - Image Sizing

Facebook Timeline is old news (at least in today's digital age!), but many are still confused with how Facebook formats images. Here are a few image sizing tips:
  • Cover Image (main image at top of screen) - 851px by 315px
    Note, you can upload other sizes (up to 2048 by 2048), but they will be cropped & sized down
  • Profile Picture - recommended upload 180px x 180px (Scales down to 160x160, and 32x32)
  • Timeline Photo Post - 404px by 404px
  • Milestone Picture - 843px by 403px
  • Thumbnails - 90px by 90px
  • Ad Picture - 110px by 80px
  • Favorites/Apps - 111px by 74px
Looking for a really sharp Cover Image? Give us a call, we'd be happy to design one for you.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Search Engine Alternative

Duck Duck Go

Duck Duck Go, a start-up search engine, is competing by leveraging the public’s recent concern over Google’s privacy policies. According to Fred Wilson, a principal of Union Square Ventures, a venture capital backer of Duck Duck Go, other vendors should do the same, saying “We should encourage web and mobile services to lead with their privacy practices and let users vote with their feet. This is an opportunity for new web services who can use privacy as a basis for competition as Duck Duck Go does.” Duck Duck Go says it does not collect or share browsing history, and it articulates understandable privacy policies, including one that is illustrated and starts with this image:
DuckDuckGo.com is still tiny compared to the top four, at roughly 45 million searches per month. But it is growing rapidly in recent months as concern over Google’s privacy policies have grown.

Excerpt from Small Business Trends article by Anita Campbell (founder of Small Business Trends, and owner of BizSugar)