My latest blog offering may seem an obvious one but nevertheless one that certainly remains true and will continue to do so. If you have a business and you want it to succeed, you need a website. Simple.

Does your current website work well for you? Do you even have a website? The vast majority of clients or customers I come across won’t even do business with a company unless they are able to research them first on the web. Listen, I’m not saying everyone needs an all singing and dancing 500 page website, that’s not the case here, but what I am saying is that even the most simple website adds instant credibility to your business. This (if done correctly) will lead to further sales of your service, which is ultimately what we all want, right?

We can break down the purpose of a website into 3 main sections:

• Provide easy to read info about your business and its product or service.
• Answer the various questions a client would need when wanting info on your business.
• Motivate the site visitors to buy or use your services.

When deciding you want a website there are some key points that you will need to include. I will run through the majority of these for you now.

Make sure you have a well designed company logo, the first impression of your business that a client has will come from your logo. Invest in a well designed logo rather than something scribbled on the back of a napkin on your lunch break.

Explain what it is you do. It is important to be clear what business you are in, be sure to include a good description of what service you offer etc.

Make the site visual! Having a plain white background with small text is not going to capture the eye of your potential client. Make sure you use good graphic elements such as photos, videos, balanced colours, even general stock photos from sites such as iStock offer good quality pictures.

Depending on your business you may need to inform site visitors of your working hours. Are you a 9-5 business? Do you work weekends? These may seem obvious but its surprising how many sites don’t include this vital information.

Another vital part of the website is the ‘About’ page. This is a page that offers background information of your business and the key people behind it. Many potential clients will want to know more about the people they are dealing with, an ‘About’ page is perfect for this.

The other absolutely essential part of any website is the ‘Contact’ page. it is imperative that you include a page that shows the potential client how they can get in touch with you. We use a online form that can be filled out as well as a phone number and direct email address. You may also wish so include a business address.

All of these are essential things to include on any successful website.

A few additional bits we recommend for a business is to include some Testimonials (if possible) from successful work you have carried out. Have you received any good press for your service? Won any awards? again this should be included.

Again, depending on the type of business you are in, it can be useful to include an ‘FAQ’ page. You can save yourself a lot of time by answering common questions here. We also find that many people can be reluctant to call or email with questions so this give those people more incentive to do business with you.

If your website is in need of some work, or maybe you need a website creating, then why not get in touch with us directly on :07766 11 53 58 or via our contact form here.

We look forward to hearing from you.

You have no doubt come across the term ‘Social Media’ a lot in the past year or so. If you have not yet the plunge into Social Media, whether that be Twitter or Facebook, perhaps LinkedIn is the choice for you.

LinkedIn is a network of over 80million business professionals. It can be used for a variety of purposes such as:

A good LinkedIn strategy and well managed account can boost your company’s credibility and on-line visibility. This can lead to better website traffic, which in turn can lead to more business sales for you.

Profile

This section will include a brief description of yourself and your business. It is important to include a good quality photo of yourself. Having a bad photo or even worse, no photo at all will jeopardise the success of your LinkedIn profile. It is important to include information of your job title, your education and qualifications and what the main purpose of your job or service is. Remember this is what will be viewed by your prospective customers, so feel free to sell yourself a bit here.

Connections

Once you have your profile created you can begin to make connections. You can get LinkedIn to invite people from your existing mail contact list or you can invite people individually. Once you start building connections you can really begin to get the most out of LinkedIn.

Recommendations

LinkedIn is a network remember. There are chances that you will already know people on LinkedIn, some of who you will of worked with in the past. You can request for any of your connections to ‘recommend’ you. You need to pick people who can honestly vouch for the work you have done for them, such as colleagues or past clients. Having well written recommendations on your page will only improve your chances of success on LinkedIn.

Links

You can include up to 3 different website links on your member profile. Make sure you chose the right sort of links. Nobody wants to your Flickr page with all your holiday photos nor do they want to see your personal Facebook page. make sure you include your company;s website address first and foremost. Then include things like a Blog if you have one, but only if its business related.

A well written and  professional looking LinkedIn member profile is a great way to market your business, and the best part of all? It’s Free!!

Click the link here to get started on your own LinkedIn profile

We were asked by local CCTV specialists ‘Espial Ltd’ to redesign their outdated website.

The brief was to bring their online presence up to date and to include a media gallery to display their work, whilst keeping with their existing brand and colour scheme. They also wanted to us to develop a SEO strategy for them that would improve their ‘Google Ranking’ on a local level.

The result was a brand new site and one that offered improved usability. The new site was also written in a format that was a lot more up to date and ‘Google’ friendly. They have already reported an improvement in online generated enquiries.

“When we approached Thinkpod Studio for a new website we were unsure as we had such bad luck with our previous web designers. However our fears were soon laid to rest due to the professional and creative approach carried out by Sam and his team. We would like to thank Thinkpod Studio for their hard work and quick turnaround on this project”

Jonny Measures

Managing Director – Espial Ltd