You worked hard to get your website built and launched.  You spent many resources, including money, to get the job done.  And now, you have neglected the website.  This is a very bad rut to be in.  But let me guide you with a brief list of ideas that may help you to get your creative juices flowing and have them translate into NEW, FRESH content for your website and NEW, FRESH recognition from your customers, search engines and other site visitors.

1.) SET A GOAL:  Set your ideas in motion by setting goals as to when you want your ideas transformed into content for your website.  Make your goal flexible so that you can allow for everyday business cycles to flow without disruption.  Begin drafts of your content for website publishing.

2.) SET YOUR BUDGET:  Developing a new website or updating an existing website with your new ideas takes time and costs money.  Contact your web developer to discuss your ideas, your goals and estimated cost.  If the estimated cost comes in higher than your budget, review your ideas and make adjustments so that the estimated cost meets your budget.  You may have to put off part of the development for your next marketing budget cycle, but get started with putting your ideas into motion now!  Remember your goals.

3.) UNCOMPLICATED IS BEST:  Keep the ‘kitchen sink’ out of your plan for now.  You can add ‘it’ in as your ideas and the development process progress.  In all cases, make sure you have a lot of content going on with your new or updated pages.  Once you get into the groove of ideas flowing and regular upgrades to your website, you can add to the basics and manage your site with ease.  Add that video clip or flash logo later.  Get the heart and soul of the idea done first.

4.)  SO YOU WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE:  Most websites are built to make money whether there is a shopping cart involved or not.  It is your online brochure or storefront designed to sell an idea, a product, or both.  However, if you are not going to take the time to continually develop your site, maintain your site or market your site when it is launched, you will most likely not become a millionaire and you will most likely neglect your website which will set your site on a perpetual downward spiral with the search engines.  This will kill site traffic.

5.) STAY POSITIVE:  Think positively about your ideas and your website will pay off.  Avoid negative naysayers and work hard at your idea and goal.  From this positive thinking will flow great direction that will set your website on a path of prosperity.

6.) LOVE YOUR WORK:  If you have a great interest in your ideas your website will exude with this enthusiasm.  Don’t rely on a third party to write your content for your web pages.  Only you can breathe live into your ideas and your company.

7.) GET FRESH:  Search Engine Optimization 101 - Update your content frequently.  You will see repeat site users coming to the site and search engines will even send you new users as a reward for being fresh.

8.) KNOW YOUR COMPETITION:  Make sure you know what your competitors are doing correctly and incorrectly on their websites.  Make adjustments to your site accordingly.  Doing a monthly sweep of your competitors will actually clear the cobwebs in your own head and spark new ideas for future upgrades and content to your site.

9.) KNOW YOUR DEVELOPER:  Your website developer is your biggest fan.  They want you to succeed with all of your ideas and website goals.  Call your website developer often and discuss your ideas.  It will be an absolute certainty that they will set you on a path of reaching your goals.

10.) FOLLOW YOUR STATS:  Your website host should have traffic statistics for your site.  Review that information often.  Make sure you are attracting the right site visitors and the traffic targets you need to drive site revenue.  Follow your online marketing efforts through your traffic statistics as well.

Looking for a catchy domain name for your company’s Web site? Well, you may have your work cut out for you, considering that more than 100 million domains have already been secured.

But that doesn’t mean you should settle on just any old moniker for your site. Finding the right domain name takes time and a bit of creativity, say experts. 

“There’s the right domain out there for everyone,” notes Joanne Henig of NY Design Group in Bohemia, which specializes in web site development, search engine optimization and domain name registration. “You just have to open your mind and try different things.” To get started, try securing your company name first, she suggests. While the exact name may not be available, you might try different combinations of your name.

For instance, if BobsDryCleaning.com isn’t available, you could try LongIslandDryCleaning.com or RonkonkomaDryCleaning.com, she says. Having a geographic location in the domain name can help customers find you through search engines, notes Henig, pointing to her own domain, nydesigngroup.com, as an example.

To help brainstorm, jot down about a half-dozen keywords or phrases that best describe your services or products, advises David Montalvo, director of business development for Active Web Group, a Hauppauge-based Internet marketing agency.

Then try different combinations of these words to see what’s available, he says.

There is a variety of free search tools you can use to check domain availability, including DomainTools.com, Dotster.com/products/domains, Ajaxwhois.com and Domjax.com. 

You can also search for pre-owned names at such sites as Afternic.com and Buy
Domains.com, says Phillip Davis of Tungsten Branding, a Brevard, N.C.-based name-development and brand-strategy firm. But keep in mind that these pre-owned names can run in the hundreds to thousands of dollars, adds Davis.

It’s less costly finding a domain that hasn’t already been taken, he says. You can then claim it through a domain registration site like GoDaddy.com (for a list of registrars see internic.net/alpha.html). It generally costs anywhere between $7 and $15 annually to register a domain, depending upon the site.

“You can register up to 10 years,” says Clint Page of Dotster Inc., a Vancouver, Wash.-based Internet company that offers domain search tools and registration. It charges about $15 annually to register a domain. 

It’s best to stick to the .com version of a name, notes Page, only because that’s what Web surfers typically search under by default. You could purchase the .net or .biz version of your domain name to lock it up from competitors, but it should redirect people to your .com site, he advises. “You can buy multiple domain names and then monitor where the most traffic is coming from,” says Page. 

Maura Halligan of AdvantEdge Sales Training Inc. in Massapequa Park has found it helpful owning multiple domain names. In fact, she may secure up to 10 domain names by year end. Most of her domains incorporate either her company name or sales in the keywords, like her site advantedgesales.com.

“Keywords in your URL are your password to success,” says Halligan, who worked with Active Web Group to secure her domain names and optimize her site. 

Of course, you don’t always have to have your industry in your name, says Davis. After all, the name Best Buy was built on a key attribute rather than a single product, he notes. Finally, before securing a domain, you should check if it’s not already a trademark used by someone else, advises Aimee Kaplan of Collard & Roe Pc, a law firm in Roslyn. Not every domain name qualifies for trademark protection, she notes, and you may want to consult with a trademark attorney to see if your domain is eligible. 

Just don’t rush into anything.

“This is something you want to put some time and effort in,” says Page of Dotster. “This is your brand identity.”

DOMAIN TIPS

Avoid hyphens or spaces in a domain name. They’re hard to remember.

Try different word combinations. Obvious picks may be unavailable, but consider a company name with endings like Group Inc., Solutions, Agency or Systems, says Phillip Davis of Tungsten Branding.

It’s often wise to limit a domain name to 15 characters or fewer, says Joanne Henig of NY Design Group. An exception would be a distinctive memorable name, says Clint Page of Dotster.

By, JAMIE HERZLICH, Newsday 

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., August 4, 2008 — New York Design Group has been selected for the 2008 Best of Bohemia Award in the Web Site Design category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

Have you ever noticed that some websites feature their logo in the address bar of the web browser and even when a site is bookmarked to your favorites?

This little jewel is called a FAVICON, short for Favorites Icon.

A favicon is a great way to expand your brand.  Anytime someone visits your website they will see your logo as part of the web address in their browser.  And when they bookmark your site, your logo will appear next to your site title in the bookmark list of websites.

It is simple to create and publish the icon.  Let the experienced graphic art experts at NYDesignGroup add a favicon to your website for all the world wide web to see.

It’s your logo.  Show it off!

Click here to request your FAVICON. 

Today, many consumers and business executives are walking around with a mobile device that connects to the Internet.

.mobi sites can be seen anytime, anywhere by consumers and business executives with mobile Internet access!

Can your existing website be viewed on today’s mobile devices? Are you losing customers to your competitors? Are you ready to make YOUR COMPANY “the” competition to beat?

100% of .mobi sites must be optimized for viewing on a mobile phone. The main advantage of .mobi, from the users’ perspective, is that they are guaranteed a site optimized for their smaller, mobile device screens.

Creating one mobile domain encourages content that is designed and optimized specifically to help users navigate the unique environment of the mobile world.

dotMobi is backed by mobile network operators, mobile phone manufacturers, and Internet search and content providers including Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, and T-Mobile.

View our .mobi site from your mobile device today … http://www.nydesigngroup.mobi

Let NYDesignGroup help you take your business website to the next level for information gathering and viewing. We can help you register your .mobi name and build your .mobi site quickly and inexpensively.

View more information on this subject by clicking here.

I’ve just recently read an article in the Long Island Business News written by Jeffrey Gitomer, a sales trainer. The title of the article caught my eye. “The Internet, technology are the key to your success”. Being in the web design business for over 10 years, I thought I should take a look.

He confirmed a common business behavior. The New Year’s business resolution. But often resolutions fail because there is nothing new being resolved. We all want more sales. That’s not new. But in order to resolve to increase sales a business has to know what the trends of their buyers are. And if the buyers are shopping differently than the year before than last year’s sales methods will fall short.

“2008 is the year of the Internet - with or without your participation”. Many of us accepted the Internet as a viable source for information several years ago. Today we all depend on it. We race to our computers every morning to check our email, the weather, our stock portfolio or our latest bid on eBay. If our computer ‘bleeps’ to alerts us that a new email has arrived we stop what we are doing and go read the email. We carry mobile devices to have the Internet and email close at hand. In the middle of dinner we are replying to the newest email. Instantly. Immediately. It’s like an addiction.

So let me ask you. Is your business keeping up with the Internet? Are you investing in the best sales tool for your business, your website? Is your website cool, fun and informative? Does your website make your phone ring? Do you enjoy walking into a store where the shelves are dusty and the products are out-dated? When is the last time you updated your site’s content, look, feel or pictures?

Jeffrey Gitomer’s article reinforces what I have been saying for years. Print is dead. The Internet is now!

And, in this tricky economy, the message is LOUD and CLEAR.

GET YOUR WEBSITE CURRENT. And then, do it again and again and again so that your sales go up and up and up.

Click here to learn more … http://www.nydesigngroup.com/web-updates.html