Web Training at Guarantee Realty in Clovis

I had a great time at Guarantee Realty in Clovis CA, training their sales team on Web Essentials for the Real Estate Professional.  If you know anything about Real Estate Websites, you will know that about 80% of realtors that have a website have pretty much the same site, with a few variations.  If you are a realtor with the typical website available through your brokerage or association, then it doesn't necessarily set you apart as someone who has something different to offer your clients.

In this session, we talked not only about why having an online presence is crucial for realtors (85% of consumers start their search online when conducting local business), but we also discussed what the key elements are that make up a SUCCESSFUL Real Estate Website.  It's not as easy as "throw your information online and hope it sticks".  There is somewhat of a science involved with presenting the image you are trying to convey to your clients online.  Even though it's a science, it's not rocket science.  Anyone can have a great online presence with a little direction.

If you or your organization is interested in training for your team on Web Essentials, contact us today.

Butler Web and Design

559.797.3414

sean@ButlerWebAndDesign.com 

Presenting Yourself as a Professional

The Sleazy Salesman Approach

People are more and more opposed to the typical sleazy salesman approach.  This approach incorporates a lot of smoke screens, double talk, and unethical sales tactics.  The sleazy salesman approach also incorporates a lot of pitching, and “look at how great my company is” ads.  Sleazy salesmen always want to take, and don’t really care about giving.  It’s obvious that you are working with a sleazy salesman when all they care about is making a sale, and not about making sure you make an educated purchase.  When you incorporate sleazy salesman tactics in your business, even if it’s just a single salesman doing it and not you, it gives a negative impression on your brand.  People will start to perceive your company as one they can’t really trust in your industry.

The Professional Approach

On the contrary, when people do business with a professional company, they leave feeling satisfied – like they could do business with you again; and they wouldn’t mind encouraging their friends and family to do the same.  A professional is someone who cares about people more than they care about money.  A professional understands that if you take care of people, then they take care of you.  A professional makes sure that before a person makes the decision to do business with them, they know exactly what they are committing to and they are not left with more questions than when they started.    

How do you present yourself as a professional?  Aside from honesty and ethical business practices, a huge part of professionalism includes offering resources and educational information about your industry, products, or services.  Write articles and blogs.  Answer 10 or 20 of the most frequently asked questions about your industry (this could become your FAQ’s page on your website) and post them to your social media sites.  Create content and resources that educate people about your industry, not just about what you do.  Make a resource page on your site and offer them for free as educational materials to anyone who visits.  When you create your resources, it’s important to make sure people know that you can help them with whatever issues you discuss, but don’t inundate your materials with adds and promotions – people will get the idea that all you want to do is make money off of them, rather than help them. 

It’s crucial to your company’s brand to leave people with the understanding that you are in the people business.  People don’t really care how much you know, until they know how much you care.  When they see your company as a trusted source in your industry, your brand will be the first that comes to their mind when they need your services.  

Typical layout of a home page

Just in case you thought creating a website was as simple as putting your logo, services and  contact info, we thought it would be helpful to show you some basic industry standards for creating a successful home page.

How many pages should a website have? What should go on each page of my website"

Every website is different, and serves a different purpose.  Therefore there's really no cookie cutter way of telling you exactly how many pages, or what pages your website should have.  However, if you need help getting some direction about how many pages your website needs, and what type of content your site should have, you can use this article a guide.  Depending on what type of website you have, the pages and content varies; but for a typical business, most websites have these five standard pages:

1. Home
2. About
3. Products and/or Services
4. Portfolio, Resources, or Other info
5. Contact   

In the rest of this article, I will give some suggestions as to what can go on each of these pages and how they can be laid out - but again, this can vary depending on exactly what you're trying to accomplish with your website.  

Home Page:

The Home page is what will give your customers their first impression of your business.  You only have a few seconds to:

• grab your viewers attention
• give them a good idea as to what you do and what your website is about
• direct their eyes to where they should go
• give a clear call to action, or option to view another main page

Your Home page should include something eye catching, attention grabbing, sweet and to the point… and more importantly, something to get them to want to explore your site a little more.  The mistake that many people make with their home page is by trying to put all of the information they want their customers to see right on that first page.  The fact is that no one is going to read it all, and it will scare people away.  It should not have too much text that will scare off your customers (no long running paragraphs). 

Examples of content that can be on your home page:

• Images of the work you do
• Pictures of your office or building
• Links to other areas of your site
• A brief mission statement 
• Your company logo    

 Keep in mind that the images you want to place on your home page can be in a slideshow or banner where people would expect to see them, rather than spread out on different areas of your Home page.  

About Page:

This is the page that customer can go to if they want to learn more about your company.  This is where you should add a lot of text, but make sure not to have too much text without good images, and make sure to spread it out in a way that makes sense and doesn't overwhelm a visitor's eyes.  

Examples of content that can be on your About Page:

• About Us – this is the straight forward explanation of the products and/or services you offer, without giving a lot of details including pricing (that can be saved for the “Services” page).  Make sure to include your location, hours of operation, and other important information about your company. 
• Mission Statement – this is the overarching purpose of your business.  This tells your customers why you do what you do.
•  About the Owner – for family owned businesses, or small local businesses that want to add a personal touch to their website, it’s good to include a short bio of the owner or founder, including a picture. 

 The about page is simply to give a more personal touch to your website so your visitors can learn who you are, what you do, and why you do it.  

Products and/or Services:

This is where your site should showcase your products and/or services.  Make sure to include as much information that your customers need to see in order to give you a call, including pictures if possible.  If you don’t mind giving pricing on your website, this is the page to do it. 

The About page tells your visitors what you do.  The Products/Services page expands on that by telling your visitors what you can do for them. 

Portfolio, Resources, or Other Info:

Before making a decision to work with a business, most people like to see what that business is capable of.  The Portfolio page is your online gallery showing off your skills.  You may have pictures of your work, or testimonials, or samples, etc.  

A lot of people today are also realizing the importance of relevant, helpful content in relationship to search engine placement.  Search engines, such as Google, are now looking for websites that are not only relevant to what people are looking for, they are also looking for websites that are helpful.  For example, if you are a plumber in Fresno, CA and your website shows your plumbing services and prices, and people can easily navigate around it then you may get good placement in search engines whenever someone does a search for "plumbers in fresno california".  However, if you took your website to another level by providing helpful information that people who are looking for plumbers in Fresno California would want, then you would get better search engine rankings.  For example, it could help your search engine rankings by having an article titled "how to prevent leaky pipes" where you are simply giving helpful information to your visitors, and not just trying to sell your services.  Helpful information can include things like: articles, links to information, videos, tutorials, etc.  

Contact Page:

Aside from just displaying your contact info, today, it's standard practice for your contact page to have a contact form.  This is usually a basic contact form where your customer can leave their contact information, such as Name, phone number and Email, along with a message box where they can write to you.  Some clients like to add certain qualifying questions such as “are you a homeowner” or “do you currently have this type of service” to their contact form in order to qualify their visitors.  

Let Butler Web & Design know exactly what pages you would like to have on your site, and we’ll make sure to create something that your customers will love!

Bad Review: NuWave Printing (AKA Top Class Signs and Printing)

We had a horrible experience with NuWave Signs and Printing (Top Class Signs and Printing is their retail front). They are unwilling to work with their customers, and do not care about building long-term relationships. After several years of working with many different vendors, this will be our FIRST written complaint against one.


We called in for an order of silk laminated business cards with rounded edges. They said they would put in the order, but needed an email sent to them with the order specs. They told us what to say in the email, so we wrote:

“I want 500 silk laminate business cards with rounded edges.”



They sent us an invoice that had a product description saying “OFSLBC- 500qt 4/4, full color both sides, silk laminated business cards on 15PT. Production time 9-11 days.” We approved the invoice, thinking we were approving a price.



3 days later, we called to get an update on the order, and they forgot about us (they didn’t seem to have our information logged in). They barely went into production 3 days later, after we called. About 10 business days later, we got the cards, but they DID NOT have rounded edges as we requested both verbally, and written via email. Silk Laminate cards are expensive, premium cards (about 3-4 times more expensive than normal business cards)… so it wasn’t a cheap mistake.



Their response: “you approved the invoice, so there’s nothing we can do”! We tried talking with the supervisor, but she was not available. We were promised that she we call back – she didn’t. The supervisor dodged us for a day and a half, and when we finally got a hold of her (we had to keep calling them), her solution: the same as what we were already told.



They expected us to pay to have them shipped back, pay full price for rounding the corners (it apparently wasn’t on the invoice), and then pay full price to have it shipped back again! In other words, “we will do absolutely nothing for you, and you will have to pay for OUR mistake”. On top of the original card price, we are looking at spending an additional $35+ dollars in shipping as the cards had to be shipped a total of 3 times. We have done business with them in the past, and as a graphic design company, we had several jobs for them in the future. However, this meant nothing to NuWave Printing.



I told them that I would ship the cards, but write an email to them expressing my disappointment, and explaining the situation. I told them to please have the owners read the email, because maybe they would make a different decision knowing the circumstances. I told them that either way, I would need the cards because my client already paid for them, so I would pay if I had to, even though it wasn’t right. In the email, I said that I understood that we couldn’t, nor would we even attempt to rectify this issue legally, however we would file a complaint against them voicing our experience with NuWave if they refused to work with us at all. We also said, “We never do stuff like that, and I really do not want to start… It’s not about the money with us, it’s about developing good business partnerships. I don’t want to have to find another vendor, and would prefer to continue doing business with you, but your solution to this problem is unacceptable. I kindly ask you to reconsider, so that we can move forward with a good, healthy business relationship.”



After sending the email, I heard no response for 3 days, until I followed up. They finally replied, “Unfortunately we don't respond well to threats feel it might be better to end this business partnership, thank you and all the best.” That’s it! Just like that. I asked, “so what are you going to do about the cards that were already shipped to you?”



Their response: “If you want them returned you will need to pay the return shipping which is probably around $12-15.”



My reply: “I want them fixed. If you’re not going to work with me on it, then you are forcing me to pay. I don’t want to, but I have no choice – my client already paid. You said in a previous conversation that you could extend a 10% discount for the trouble… please do not go back on what you said, and offer this. Either way, I need the corners rounded and I can’t wait any longer. They are way past deadline already. I called the office, and they said you would get back in at 2pm your time. Please make a call before then, as I have my client asking for his cards.”



Their Final Word: “Based on how you chose to threaten us we are no longer willing to continue doing business with your company. It was very inappropriate and rude. We were willing to work with you but you thought treats and insults would get you results. As mentioned earlier the most we are willing to do is ship it where ever you chose, we do not need this kind of negativity. Please advise asap what you would like us to do with your cards.”



This is just a warning to anyone considering doing business with NuWave Printing, or their Retail Front “Top Class Printing” (they are the same company). They do not care about their customers, nor are they willing to work to make things right if there is ever an issue with an order – even if it’s their mistake. There are several different companies that we have found that are better to work with, quicker on delivery, and even more reasonable on their prices.

Download our FREE "Branding Basics" E-Book!

Hey Friends! We've just released a FREE e-book available for download on our site called "Branding Basics". In this short, easy read, we cover 6 "Influencers" that effect your company's brand, and give practical tips on using them to build a really cool brand for your business.

Download your free copy here:
http://butlerwebanddesign.com/docs/Branding-Basics-E-Book.pdf

SEO Checklist

SEO CHECKLIST

By Sean Tambagahan, Operations Manager – Butler Web and Design

I’ve written in the past about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  If you are new to the phrase, I would suggest reading two of my articles: The SEO Myth, and The Magic SEO Button Fallacy.  Both of those articles, along with a ton of other free resources, can be found on Butler Web and Design’s resources page here: http://butlerwebanddesign.com/resources.html.

The purpose of those articles was to expose the hidden tricks that many SEO companies try to pull on unsuspecting business owners who want higher rankings on search engines.  Though I gave some practical tips on things you can do to get better search engine rankings, I never included a “checklist”.  So the point of this article is to provide a checklist of things that are absolute musts if you want to get started with SEO.  

1.      Get a Website

2.      Index It

3.      Create Content for your Site

4.      List It

5.      Promote It (friends and customers)

6.      Social Media

Step 1) Get a Website

I’ve spoken with clients who weren’t interested in having a website, but really wanted to have their business name and number found on Google when someone did a search for their type of business.  Though this is possible by creating free business listings on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines, directories, and social media sites, it’s a lot better if you have a website that links these listings to your business.  Your website, in essence, acts as a landing page.  If you had business listings all over the internet, you are more likely to be found by search engines if these listings were all linked to the same website.  The first step to great search engine exposure is to have a website that you can link to; even if it’s a basic site that only shows your business name and contact information.    

  

Step 2) Index It

After your website is created, it’s important to index your site with Google.  Indexing your site simply means adding your site to their database so that it shows up in the Google search results.  Indexing your site enables Google’s crawlers (search programs) to find your website on the internet. 

How do you index your site?  Here’s a quick 4 step process:

1)      Go to http://google.com/webmaster

2)      Sign into webmaster tools using your Google account (I you don’t have a Google Account, create one)

3)      click the button to “Add A Site”

4)      Verify that you are the site owner

“Can my website be found without indexing it?”  Yes, eventually Google will find your website among the billions of others out there; however indexing your site drastically speeds up this process. 

Step 3) Create Content for your Site

Imagine if you went to Google to do a search for “go green products in Clovis California” and you got a bunch of results of Go-Green companies who weren’t located in Clovis California, and they didn’t have good content that you were looking for, but they were able to manipulate their site to get the top position.  Now imagine if this were to happen every time you did a search on Google.  It wouldn’t be very long before you realized that Google wasn’t a trusted source to give you relevant content, and you would start using a different search engine. 

Google doesn’t want that to happen.  That’s why it’s in their best interest to make sure that you, as a searcher, are finding the content that you want to see, when you want to see it.  They are good at what they do, and they’re always changing to make sure that searchers are happy with their search results.  That’s why it’s important to design your website for the searchers – not the search engines. 

How do you do that?  Here’s a simple 2-step process:

1)      Create lots of good, relevant content

2)      Hire a good web developer that can give you a unique design, with a good layout for your content

If you need help getting started with content creation, check out the article here. 

Step 4) List your Site

After your website is created and indexed, and you now have some good content for people to look at, it’s time to start getting it out there.  The first step in getting your site out there is by creating listings in various search engines and directories, and backlinking them to your site.  Backlinking is simply making sure that any listings you create have your website address posted. 

It’s important to know that it’s not about how many directories you are in, but what directories you are in.  You don’t want to submit your site to every free directory you can find, because not all of them are good.  If your site is on a bunch of directories that Google deems as spammy or as phishing scams, then you could actually get penalized with worse rankings.

Some directories and search engines to start with are:

Google Places

Bing Business Portal

Yext (Yahoo Local)

YP.com

Superpages

Manta

Yelp

Step 5) Promote your Site

After you’ve done steps 1-5, the next step is to start promoting your website.  Have your friends, family and customers check out your website and give you feedback.  Ask them their thoughts.  How does it look?  How is the content?  What do you suggest?  Taking visitor feedback is important because it helps you determine how helpful your site is to people who are newbees in your industry. 

Start putting your web address on your business cards, brochures, signs, handouts… basically, anything that your customers and/or potential customers will see.

Direct your customers and prospects to your site for helpful resources.  If they ask you “where can I find information about ________” you should be able to say “visit my website for that”.  The more people visiting your site for relevant content in your industry the better.  Google will start picking up on the activity, and mark your site as a helpful resource and give you better ranks.    

Step 6) Social Media

Social media is the number 1 activity with the most time spent online; therefore Google and other search engines have incorporated social media presence into their algorithm.  Create a Facebook page, Twitter account, or LinkedIn Profile for your company (and don’t forget to backlink). 

It does take time and dedication to build a good following on social media.  Consistency is the key; therefore, don’t create any social media pages unless you plan on using them.  It’s pointless to have a Facebook page with no “likes” or a Twitter account with no one following you.  The point of social media is to engage with your customers and prospects so that your name is always in front of them.  When they have a need for your services or products, they’ll think of you first because you’re engaging with them frequently on the platform that they’re using. 

That’s it!  At least to start that is.  There are definitely many other factors to take into consideration regarding SEO, and speaking with an SEO consultant may be helpful.  Remember, SEO is not an overnight task – it’s often a slow process that takes time, consistency, and dedication, but the reward is worth it.  Hopefully you have found this article helpful.  If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to give us a call. 

Butler Web and Design

559-797-3414    |    info@butlerwebanddesign.com    |    www.butlerwebanddesign.com

Getting Started with Content Creation

Confused About Content Creation?

10 Questions To Get You Started with Creating Your Website Content

One of the purposes of a website is to communicate a message, therefore it is crucial for your website to have content for visitors to read.  A website without content is useless, but creating the content isn't always easy - it takes some work.   One of the most difficult, time consuming, pain-staking aspects of creating a brand new website for a business is getting content from the business owner.    

Most businesses want to leave it up to their web developer to create content for them, however it's impossible for a web developer to know exactly what to write for their clients.  It's up to the business owner to create his/her own content.  The problem is that many business owners don't know where to start.  

Whether you are a business owner trying to figure out what to say, or a web developer trying to get content from your client, an encouraging snippet of truth to know is this: business owners know more than they think the do - it's just a matter of asking the right questions.  

Here is a list of 10 questions that I have found helpful to ask my clients who are struggling to come up with content for their website:

1) Do you have a mission statement for your company?  If not, what would you say the mission of your company is (what do you seek to do, and for who)?  

2) What is a one or two line sentence that sums up what you do?

3) Why did you get into the business?  (What was your motivation for starting your business?)

4) Do you have any special skills/services/products that aren't common for your industry?

5) What do you try to do differently than your competitor down the street?

6) What would you say is your biggest selling point?

7) What would you want a person who is just hearing about your business for the first time to know about your company? (if you were talking with someone about your company, what would you tell them in order to impress them)

8) What do you want your customers to feel after they've done business with you?

9) What are some positive things that people have said about your business? (this could end up being your testimonial section)

10) What are the 10 questions that you've answered 100 times about your industry?  (This will most likely be your FAQ’s content)

By the time you are finished answering the above questions, it's likely that you would have already come up with more content than you need to at least get your site started, and you can build from there.    

Sean is on an internet Talk Show!

Check out Sean discussing the SEO myth on Holly's Advice for B2B!  Then call & ask for his autograph.  He loves that.

http://hollysadvice4b2c.com/sean-tambagahan-seo-myth/
 

Tip of the Week #7: Test availability before commitment

One of the main complaints I get from clients who have had a bad experience with a web developer is that the developer was not available when the clients needed them.  Usually this happens when working with freelance web developers, or when your web-guy is your sister’s friend’s cousin’s neighbor (or something like that).  Ask yourself the following questions:
• How hard is it to contact my web developer representative on the phone?
• Does he/she return messages in a timely manner?
• How quick is he/she in getting back to me on my emails?

If you get frustrated before even hiring them to do work for you, don’t expect it to get any better when they start the work.   Sometimes what you think should have been a 3 week project can turn into a 6 month long nightmare.

Click here to see last week’s tip:  LAST WEEK'S TIP!!!

Tip of the Week #6: Don't Buy into the SEO Myth

When doing your research for website development, you’ll find that everyone is now an SEO pro.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  It’s a service that web developers offer wherein they make your website easily found by search engines whenever someone is doing a search for your type of website.  When you start inquiring about these services, you’ll find out that it’s not as cheap as you’d prefer. 

The SEO Myth is this:
“It takes a lot of hard, confusing work that you can’t possibly understand unless you are an SEO guru to get your website seen by search engines, and therefore thousands of dollars in SEO service fees is justified.” 

That’s not true by any means!  SEO does take some work, but not thousands of dollars’ worth (typically).  Though there are some forms of performance-based SEO that can be expensive (such as pay-per-click), there are also several things you can do for free if you have the time and know-how.  If you don’t have the time and/or know-how, then pay someone to do it for you, but make sure they’re charging what’s fair. 

Most SEO companies are trained to use verbiage and explanations that intentionally confuse the average lay-person (that’s right – they are trained to confuse you!).  They do this for two reasons:
I. To make it seem like no one can do it except for them
II. To justify their outrageous cost

Ask questions to see exactly what the company is going to do for you to get your website seen by search engines; and also be aware that NO ONE can guaranty that you’ll get the first spot.

For Last Week's Tip, click HERE

Tip of the Week #5

Own your OWN website!

When getting your website started, make sure that you secure your domain name and hosting directly with a domain registrar.  I’ve heard too many stories about companies who pay their web developers a high monthly fee to host their site, and when they go to stop the service and host their website elsewhere, they find out that they can’t take any of the content with them.

Though there are ways of getting out of these deals without paying outrageous amounts of money, it’s best to avoid this from the get-go.  Ask your web developer questions like, “Who would own my domain name?  Who would own my hosting?  What happens if I want to go to another company later on down the road?”

Click here to see last week’s tip:  LAST WEEK'S TIP!!!

It's 2013. Now back up your data!

Find out how to start the new year out SMART!!!

Tip of the Week #4

AVOID MONTHLY FEES:

Don’t get suckered in to paying a monthly fee to a web design company that isn’t offering a monthly service.  The only thing that you have to renew monthly or annually is your domain name and hosting – which should be no more than $80-$100 per year maximum (the average is about $60 per year).  

If you are hiring a company to build and design your website, then there should be no residual costs associated with that service.  They may charge you a smaller fee on the setup process, but you’re going to pay way more in the long run.  Remember the rule: only pay a recurring fee for recurring service.  Recurring services include: social media updates, website maintenance (meaning someone is actively making edits and updates to your website as you direct them), etc.