Internet Magic

This is a video of some images a web sites that we’ve done that I used Animoto.com. I thought it turned out pretty cool:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Our client created a card game that is a combination of Scrabble and Poker. You use the value of words you create to bet against the other players in the game. You can also play the game without betting and just keep track of the point total for 10 hands.

I like that you are able to come up with your own variations on the game. We created this site to allow WOKER fans to tell their own stories and variations.

We created the site using WordPress which allows our client to make changes to the site herself.

Visit the WOKER site at www.4woker.com.

The Brain Workout Center is based in the Denver area and they focused on helping children and adults increase their attention span and memory skills through a variety of physical activities and computer drills.

They have two offices in the Denver area and have been having great success in helping their clients. The site we created was a redesign of an outdated site they had used for many years. We also added an ecommerce feature that allows them to take registrations online.

Visit the Brain Workout Center web site at www.brainworkoutcenter.com.

We’ve been working with Geodynamics Exploration to create a site that will be helpful as they market their investments on the Internet. We created the site in Joomla to allow our client to be able to manage the content themselves. We have trained them on how to do this quickly and easily.

We installed a number of widgets on the home page that shows up to date oil production numbers and prices. We also added a function that allows clients to view the status of their investments.

Visit the Geodynamics website at www.geodynamicsexploration.com.

Centennial Insurance has been in business for almost 40 years. They help their clients obtain insurance for their companies, such as worker’s comp and property & casuality.

In addition to the new site, we redesigned their logo and created new business cards. We are in the process of designing postcards for direct mail, as well as an email campaign.

You can visit the Centennial Insurance web site at www.centins.com.

We recently redesigned the site for SPCS, Inc., a construction company in the Denver area that focuses on capital improvements for apartment buildings. They do regular maintenance work as well.

We used a Word Press to create a site that they will be able to maintain themselves. One of things I liked about working with them is that they took the time and expense to have professional photos taken. We used them throughout the site to add interest to the design, as well as create a photo gallery of the work they did.

You can visit the site at www.spcsinc.biz.

I just got an email from someone for whom I’d given a bid. He chose another company who could do the same work for 50 percent of what I bid.

I’m sure if he did some more investigating he could have found someone who would have done it for 25 percent of my bid. Or he could have gone to Craig’s List and got one for $299. But will this site end up costing him more in lost opportunities than the $1750 he saved on the front end?

I can only assume the other company doesn’t have the skill or experience we have. And I’m pretty sure they won’t take the time to develop a whole plan of action, taking into consideration effective calls to actions and being search engine friendly.

This gentleman sells a product that ranges from $25,000-250,000. What if just one potential buyer chose not to even contact him because his site looked amateurish? It cost him the possibility of at least $25,000 in sales. And if you multiple that over several months or years, that’s a lot of money lost to save less than $2,000.

This past summer I had a choice between two driving schools for my daughter. One of them had a site with poor design and misspellings. The other one had a nice design and looked more reputable. I chose the second one even though it was a couple miles farther away and $100 more. I wanted my daughter to have a good learning experience and felt the second company projected a better image.

Buyers are getting more picky, whether they are consumers or businesses. We need to communicate through our web sites a level of professionalism. They have to function well and communicate well. If we don’t, then we will lose opportunities for making sales.

Do you have an experience where you chose a higher priced item because you felt like you were going to get a greater return on your investment than going with a lower cost item? I’d love to hear your story.

We’ve been doing things lately with our business that have actually turned away potential business. But these things have also brought better clients into the fold. I’m talking about creating Web Plan’s for clients before giving a hard price for a web site.

I get calls all the time where people ask how much a web site will be. This is a natural question that someone would have but when you compare it to other industries it doesn’t make much sense.

What if I called a mechanic and told him my brakes were squeaking and asked how much it would be to fix them? Or what if I called a contractor and asked him how much it would be to add an addition to my house? My neither of these people could give me a good price because they don’t have the information to make an intelligent guesstimate.

I have dabbled with the idea of having flat pricing on web sites but I find there are too many variables to give an accurate estimate. I have to look at the end product and work back from there, in regard to both pricing and timeline.

I could have two people give me the same description of the site they want and one project could be $500 and the other $5000. I just don’t know until I’ve gone through a series of questions to find out what kind of functionality they want on the site and how sophisticated of a design.

So, if you call and ask for a price on a site you won’t get it. But I can give you a range. If you fit in that range I am happy to meet you in person and go through a questionnaire in person. I can give you a narrower range, but still can’t give you a definitive price. If you pay for us to develop a Web Plan for you then I will be able to give you a hard price.

So, get in touch with us at 720-922-3124 to have initial talks. I’m certain we can develop a site that you will love the design and will have all the functions that you need to be effective in business.

If you’ve had a site developed in the past, why do you think other companies don’t do a Web Plan? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I watch a video the other day about online conversions. The speaker remarked that a company shouldn’t spend all their development money on the initial site. They should keep some of it back for testing and changes after the site is has been launched.

For example, if they only have $10K to put towards development, they should get a site that’s worth $7,500. And then use the remaining $2,500 in the following months to work out the kinks and add features they hadn’t thought of before.

This is what I’m suggesting for new clients who are having us design and program bigger sites. We try as hard as we can in the Discovery Phase of our development process to think through everything. Invariably they see a feature on another site that they like and want to add it, but don’t have the money to have it added.

With Conversion Testing you have to try out different headlines, graphics and such, to see what causes the most conversions or phone calls. Once you nail down a good conversion rate, then you can start adding your marketing dollars to get visitors to your site.

I gave friend of mine a quote on web design for his company. His boss was surprised that I had quoted them $5000 for a high quality marketing web site. This included the design and programming of the site, as well as $1500 for writing all the content on the site.

They had been quoted $1000 by the company who does their computer maintenance in their office. He originally contacted me because this same company had already taken a year trying to put together a site for them. If they presented a well-designed, highly functional site, my friend never would have contacted me in the first place. But they didn’t.

I could have gotten the site done in less than a month for them, and it would have started getting them business soon after that. I gave my friend an analogy about windows since they are in that industry in Orlando:

“Let’s say a hurricane comes in and blows out all my windows. Instead of paying the higher price for a triple pane with solar glazing, I go out to the junk yard and find single pane windows that kind of fit my windows. I might need to cut out frames or fill in gaps with Great Stuff, but they do the job of keeping out water and maybe heat. Officially, they are windows. But it’s not the same as having the good windows installed by a professional.

“The same can be said about web sites. In the long run (and even in the short run) it’s worth it to have a well designed web site that has been done by professional web designers.”

I thought this was a good analogy but they still didn’t bite. And they still don’t have a web site up a couple months later.

They could have saved $1500 by doing the writing themselves, so the difference in prices would have only been $2500. It would have taken less than one new project to pay for the site and after the design has been paid for you will have a great looking, highly functional web site.