G Squared Studios Blog
The 7 Things That Matter Most On Any Website
Your business website is your most valuable employee. It works for your 24/7 and never takes a day off or asks for a vacation. The toughest part about having your own site is obsessing over what really matters, and what gets results. A lot of web designers will tell you that every minor detail matters. While it does, I’ll tell you the 7 things that really matter in having a successful business online. Website Hosting Great web hosting is the single most important element of your website. Where you host your website can make or break its success. You get what you pay for, and uptime is key. It certainly won’t make a good 1st impression for your customers to go to your website, looking for information, only to find a blank screen or some sort of error message. A good web host is reliable, affordable, but gives you plenty of room for expansion, such as email addresses, hosting more than one domain, as well as tools to make life easier. Your site will also be quicker, and more stable, meaning it is less likely to go down. I’ve tried just about every web host out there, but A2 Hosting […]
Does a DMOZ listing positively affect your rankings?
DMOZ Listings Constructing the same number of high value one-way links for any website’s network is of great importance for all websites on the internet, as search engines are turning out to be extremely strict nowadays. Search engines are searching for higher quantities of high quality one-way links in the link network of sites. These are no more stimulated by the amount of links that there is possessed by the network. One of the fundamental causes for this is that when numerous sites build up links from questionable sources for achieving the end goal to expand the total number of the one-way links there in the site; search engines have begun valuing every link accessible on a site. One way links that are built up through DMOZ are given high value by the search engines. The reason is DMOZ is an extremely prestigious online directory. Sites that have one-way links that are built up from a submission are likewise given higher concern by the search engines. This demonstrates that the sites entered in DMOZ significantly entice search engines. DMOZ.org is a powerful web directory which enlists the website in high ranking in order to get noticed by customers. Unlike Google, […]
Why Your Website is Your Ultimate Marketing Tool
The Ultimate Marketing Tool It’s no secret that every business needs a website. It’s almost unheard of not to have one. Sure, you could use all of these marketing tools, but they only augment your website and its presence. It has become the number one marketing tool over anything else available right now. Why? Because that is what you point to when you advertise. Your website is the central hub of your business. It’s your star employee that works 24/7 without a salary. When you create a Facebook ad, where does it point to? It usually points to your website, or a specially created landing page within your website. Even though your website is your best business asset, some business owners neglect their website, or they have one that doesn’t maximize its full potential. Let’s take a look at some things you can do to get the most out of your website, making it your ultimate marketing tool. Funnel Leads If you provide specific services, your website should help drive traffic and generate plenty of leads for you. The different pages on your website should funnel interested people to specific landing pages based on their interests. That way, you can […]
Affordable Web Design Vs Cheap Web Design
Affordable Web Design Is a Reality I hear a lot of businesses make excuses why they can’t hire someone to build a website for them. It’s tough for me to hear, because if you know where to look, you can find great web designers that won’t charge you an arm and a leg. Affordable web design is a reality, and there are tons of web design companies out there that want to build a great website for your business, who also charge a fair price. Cheap web design isn’t the same thing It’s important for you to know that there is a huge difference between affordable web design and cheap web design. Knowing the difference can save you a lot of frustration and heartache. Protecting yourself against cheap web designers is essential to the success of your business. So what are the differences? They Cut Corners When you buy cheap web design services, they usually cut corners. They’ll do a majority of the work, but they’ll leave off extra details or forget little things here and there. They Don’t Care Cheap web design companies don’t care about your business, your goals, or the success of your business. They aren’t interested […]
Why a website maintenance package is right for your business
Website maintenance is important Being a business owner is tough. When you are flying solo, there are a million things to keep up with. From bookkeeping, to dealing with customers, inventory and a dozen other things all at once, why add one more thing? When you have built up your business to be big enough to be able to afford a new website, you get a real sense of accomplishment. However, a lot of people don’t realize that there’s more involved with a business website than putting it up there and letting the customer’s roll in. Let’s take a look at why a website maintenance package might be a good solution for you. You’re not tech savvy Not all of us were born wired to technology. Some of us just don’t like fooling with tech, code and gadgets. Some people would rather run their business and interact with people face-to-face. That’s fine, but who is going to manage your website? You don’t have time to learn You are already spending 14 hours a day working in your business. It’s unlikely that you’re going to have the time to dedicate another couple of hours to learning how to maintain your website. […]
Local SEO and Its Importance to Your Rankings
How I gained 100 Twitter Followers Easily Over The Weekend
100 Twitter Followers: My Strategy I run several design blogs on the web, which are aimed at the general United States and beyond. Through created and sharing good content, they’ve kind of grown over time on their own. I started to wonder: “how many followers could I gain if I were a little more aggressive with my Twitter engagement?” This weekend, I decided to do a case study on how many Twitter followers I could gain with a few simple techniques. I’m going to share the results with you, as well as the techniques I used to get them. General Social Media Info I am a member of Hootsuite, and a Hootsuite Ambassador, too. I’ve used their product for a couple of years to grow and manage my social media accounts. The main reason I like it is because I can manage all of my accounts in one place. The other reasons vary, but being able to cross promote posts and piggyback off of my other accounts helps a lot. Twitter Followers When I Started The main account I decided to grow is my local web design business’s Twitter account. When I started this weekend, @gsquaredstudios only had 430 followers. […]
My Discontent With No Share Counts on Twitter
No Share Counts on Twitter For Years I’ve loved Twitter. I loved its simplicity, and its way to get the latest news, and thoughts from people I follow. It’s driven a decent amount of traffic my way for a long time, and I was excited to build a following for one of my sites based with Twitter. When they introduced Twitpics, I was excited. I just couldn’t wait to share images in my posts and engage users. With all of this being said, I want to discuss how I feel about the latest decision to have no share counts on Twitter. No More Share Counts? Why? How am I supposed to know how well my post has done on the platform? Why would you take something out of every website on the planet? Twitter had better have a good reason for making such a bold move. Kiss Social Proof Goodbye Social proof? I guess Twitter doesn’t care about social proof. They also don’t care whether or not you care about social proof. Bloggers, writers, and content creators everywhere use share counts to help reinforce their authority. When you arrive on a site that has 0 shares, what do you think? […]
How to Create a Great Social Media Plan
Create a Social Media Plan That Works If you’re looking to make an impact on social media, it can be overwhelming to even know where to start. Social media is not something you can just jump into and dominate. It takes time to develop and gain traction with the marketplace. You have to grow and nurture an audience. One of the key components of succeeding with social media is to develop a good social plan. Let’s look at how to get started with developing your own successful social media plan for success. Research Research in your market is essential. Don’t think you can hop in and start throwing posts around and crush social media. You have to plan everything out ahead of time. If you skip the research step, you could miss out on the impact that you’re looking for with your business. Here’s one of the best ways to get an idea of what works with social media in your business’s niche: Create a list. The first thing you should do is to create a list of your competitors’ websites. Do they have blogs or industry related articles and content? Create a list of the top 5-10 companies that […]
Free Device Mockup Psd Download
A Device Mockup Psd to Show Off your Work It’s always important to show off your work. The presentation makes all the difference, which means you want to look your best at all times. That’s why more and more designers are taking screenshots of their work and dropping them into a mockup Psd that shows the viewer what it will look like on a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone. Today’s free Psd file shows it on all 3 at the same time. Let’s take a look at my free device mockup Psd and how it works. Open up my free file in Photoshop and you’ll see 4 layers. you’ll find the background image, along with 3 other smart object layers. Each one of those are on top of the background layer. That it where you’ll drop in your screenshots. Double-click one of the smart object layers to bring up a temporary file. From that temporary file, you can paste or place the screenshot image. When you save that temporary file, it will automatically update that smart object layer. Repeat this for all 3 devices, and you’ll have your website design shown across a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone, […]
Brilliant Poster Designs For Your Inspiration
Poster Designs That Get Attention Poster Designs are one of the most effective ways to call attention to your business. It’s a great chance to get creative and really wow people. The reason that they are so effective is because their large format makes it easy to use flashy graphics, without worrying as much about being able to read it. Don’t get me wrong, you still need to be able to read every word of a poster, but the typographic isn’t as challenging, because you don’t have to worry about it being scaled down. We all need a dose of inspiration, so grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy the inspiring and creative poster designs. Racing Posters The geometric qualities of this poster design are impeccable. You really get a sense of depth and dimension from this piece. Breathe This incredibly create poster uses color, texture, and effects to create a powerful promotional poster for the Breathe E-cig brand. Notice how the web address is emphasized with the mist effect. Nature Posters – Birds This illustrated poster design is colorful, with an old-school pen and ink look. Handmade SOL Beer Poster Believe it or not, this poster is […]
The Top 3 Places To Get Your Design Printed
Where to Get Your Design Printed One of the most frequent questions I hear from other designs, as well as clients themselves is “Where’s the best place to have your work printed?” My answer is always the same. There are 3 majors sites where I have my client’s work printed. The choice among those three is what it is I am having printed. I’ll recommend the top 3 print shops to have your design printed. Got Print I’d never heard of Got Print, until I went searching for the most competitively priced business cards. Keep in mind I bought mine at a special promotional price at the time, but I was able to have 2000 glossy business cards printed and shipped for around $20-$30 (It’s been a while). The quality was impeccable, and I received them sooner than I expected. They print just about everything under the sun, from business cards and brochures, to posters and window-clings. Visit GotPrint Vista Print Vista Print is a close second in my book. They deliver quality products, but depending on their specials, things like glossy coating can be noticeably more expensive. However, they are still competitively priced compared to others. Due to their […]