Have you ever used Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? If so, then social media is already a part of your life. Social media contents are powered by common users, in the form of Blogs, Forums, Videos, Photos and Files, etc. Essentially, “social media” can be thought of as the blending of technology and social interaction. This combination creates a powerful and highly valuable resource for new businesses trying to reach their target demographic.

The simple answer is “absolutely!” Social media is the future of marketing. It gives you access to millions of users, and enables you to quickly build a network of core supporters. This core group is essential for any up and coming business looking to grow and expand. As your business grows, the traffic to your site increases, and you climb to the top of search engines. Eventually, this constant flow of traffic becomes your primary source of new business. Social media will enable you to develop and perpetuate a sustainable customer base that will place you ahead of the pack. ‘

Below is a list of the top reasons that your business should be utilizing social media in its day-to-day marketing efforts.

• Low-cost/high returns:

  Most social media networks are virtually free, allowing you to spread your message far and wide without incurring massive costs.

• The audience is limitless:

  Users of the internet visit billions of websites everyday which exponentially increases the likelihood that you will be seen. If Facebook were a country, it would be bigger than the United States.

• Target markets:

  It’s easy to target markets and achieve maximum results rather than the traditional shot in the dark marketing.

• Natural traffic:

  If people like something, they’ll not only visit it but share it, which increases traffic. Additionally, people often visit specific sites or topics in which they are interested thus improving the quality of traffic.

• More time is being spent on the internet, on both computers and phones:

  Online shopping for example has taken huge gouges out of traditional shopping means such as malls. Who would rather wait in lines during the holiday season than order from home?

• Better search engine results:

  The more references search engines pick up to sites the higher they are on result pages. Thus the more social media networks that are linked together provide better search results than without.

• It complements other efforts:

  Social media doesn’t eliminate needs for other marketing efforts but rather augments them. For instance, if a company lists their fan page or Twitter account on their billboards or website interested customers can stay updated easier and more frequently.

• Information & sharing is immediate:

  As soon as someone sends out a tweet, status update or blog post their entire network can see it instantaneously. This eliminates the traditional wait period of mailings, commercials, and even emails.

• It has viral potential:

  People tend to have their guard down more often when they are on their social media networks and thus it is easier for marketers to get their message through and share it to the masses.

• The next generation is the technology generation:

  There have been more technology advances in the past 10 years than in the previous 50 years. Technology is increasing at a doubling rate – double a dollar 20 times it becomes a million dollars – and people are becoming increasingly more accepting and reliant upon it.

Hopefully this short writeup has shed some light on why social media is really a great tool for growing your small business.

Problem: Pure Flash Website
Solution: Flash is cool. Special effects and animations zooming across your screen… what’s not to like? But hold on. Yes, Flash is useful for a few site elements here and there, but using it to build an entire website will cost you. Flash is terrible for SEO. While visitors might see actual content, search engines only see Flash embed codes. In other words, Flash content is meaningless to search engine crawlers. Additionally, Flash isn’t visible on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad, and it’s far more difficult to maintain than regular HTML. Today, JavaScript and HTML offer many of the same cool animations that people look for in Flash, and they keep search engines happy. So go easy on the Flash and stick to regular HTML… you’ll be surprised at the possibilities.

Problem: Internet Explorer Only – site denies visitors with “incompatible browsers”
Solution: We code according to the latest web standards, and test our sites in all current browsers.  This cross-browser compatibility ensures that every visitor makes it to your (great looking) website.

Problem: Images Instead of Text
Solution: In the 90s, photos and clip art dominated web design. Generic images were commonly used to display text and serve as buttons. However, things have changed. Search engines can’t read the content of an image, so if it can be written with text, why make it an image? Image files not only slow down your website, but they are difficult to edit and hurt your Google search rankings.

Problem: Blinking/Scrolling Text
Solution: Trying to attract someone’s attention with blinking or scrolling text might possibly be the greatest signature of a 90s website. Not only is it outdated, it’s downright annoying. Depreciated HTML tags like “blink” and “marquee” need to leave your site before all of your visitors do.

Problem: Recommended screen resolution
Solution: This problem actually requires you to change your screen resolution to properly view a website. We code our websites in a manner that makes them look great, no matter the resolution. We even build websites for phones and other mobile devices that come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Problem: Links… Lots of Them
Solution: Before Google ruled the web, there was a time when we relied on the last website to direct us to the next one. Now, we have amazing search engines that make navigating the internet very easy. Messy web pages with an abundance of obsolete information simply confuse and drive away visitors. Today, clean and functional web pages have replaced the messy pages of the past.

Problem: It Just Looks Dated
Solution:  Unlike fashion and classic cars, dated websites aren’t hip or vintage. They’re just sad, outdated, and ineffective. If your website looks dated and messy, there’s a good chance your visitors will quickly abandon your site for one of your competitors. People do not trust websites that look out of date and neglected. If you aren’t maintaining the look of your website, then you probably haven’t maintained its security either.

WordPress is the most feature-filled platform out there. It is very easy to use, and stocked with an ever-growing supply of widgets and plugins designed to enhance your website. Clients who have never managed a website before find the backend easy to navigate, and scale the learning curve in no time. We have yet to hear one complaint from any of our customers. Moreover, there is an abundance of great material on how to use WordPress across the web. Because it is so widely-used, you’re questions have probably been answered time and again, and are one Google search away. Resources such as WordPress.tv make it easy for our clients to learn about how this platform works while we build their website. By the time the site is in their hands, they are ready to go.

This one is a no brainer. There’s absolutely no need to worry about integrating your blog with whatever CMS you’re using for the rest of your site if you use WordPress for everything. Your site and your blog are one in the same, and you can manage them from the same place.

After using WordPress, you’ll quickly realize that there is no need to look for any other CMS. Aside from serving as a platform for fully customized websites, WordPress is stocked full of widgets and plugins. Portfolios, e-commerce, galleries, search engine optimization, photo blogs, magazine or news websites, photo sliders, and interactive calendars are just a small fraction of the built-in features available to you in WordPress. And while no programming knowledge is necessary, even a basic understanding of html expands the possibilities even more.

There is a reason that WordPress continues to surpass other platforms in popularity. The sheer volume of users ensures that WP remains at the forefront of web standards. Below is a short list of features that make WordPress the robust platform that it is.

• WordPress is free and open source
• WordPress is easy to install and upgrade
• WordPress is standards compliant
• WordPress is Popular (CNET and Ford use WordPress as a CMS just to name a few!)
• Unbeatable free support from a large and vibrant community
• Endless resources and documentation are available across the web
• Plugins are available for almost anything you can think of

To quote an anonymous web programmer “I too started off designing in Joomla but soon migrated over to WP because there was just SO much information, support, and plugins available for it.”

Hopefully this short writeup will rest your mind, and make the CMS decision easier for you when the time comes to build a website.

If you haven’t heard about the food trucks around Baton Rouge, now you know.  We’ve made a habit of attending the weekly “Wroundup,” which is a gathering of Baton Rouge’s food trucks (and a bunch of hungry people) in one location. The food is seriously good, and the environment is friendly and laid back.  We even made this site to help people follow the Wroundup from week to week.  You can follow the trucks on Twitter, and see if they’re passing through your neighborhood anytime soon.   Check them out!