ImageWorksBlog

If you blog for your business at least three times a week (which is optimal for SEO purposes) then you understand how hard it can be to create new, fresh and useful content. Sure, you may know your business backwards and forwards, but don't you ever feel like you've run out of creative and interesting things to tell your audience? Trust us, we've sat scratching our heads trying to come up with blogging content ideas before - and it's not fun. The best way to solve this problem is to come up with a blog content planning guide that will help keep your business blog running like a well oiled inbound marketing and content machine.


Create a Calendar

As a CT inbound marketing company, we often field questions from businesses on how they can get more from their content marketing campaign. If you want to drive business to your website, create awareness about your brand or maximize your marketing efforts, then it all starts with content. According to Velocity Partners, nine out of ten b2b marketers will be producing much more content next year than they did this year. Good content will drive business but great content will drive business, increase your audience, build your brand and create a culture.

Have you ever entered a store and were so overwhelmed by chaos and messy displays that you walked out almost immediately? Well, if you have an improperly designed online store, instead of walking out, a visitor who clicks on your mess of a website will navigate away from your page probably for good. If your website includes ecommerce, there are certain best practices that should be followed in order for your website to be effective. Good ecommerce websites can decrease costs and lead time, increase sales, increase global reach, and ultimately generate more revenue for your business. If you have ecommerce on your website, read the following characteristics of the best ecommerce sites to ensure that your business is offering its customers the best solution available. 

1. Thoughtful product descriptions. The description of your product is one of the most important elements of selling a product online. The description can make or break the sale. The likelihood that the manufacturer's description is enough to sell a customer on the product is small. Your product description should reflect the voice of your brand and business, not to mention the image that it is describing. When thinking of how to describe the product, it helps to keep in mind why the customer is looking for the product in the first place. Be descriptive! While customers enjoy the fact that they don't have to leave their homes in order to buy a product, they are not able to physically touch the product. Use as many descriptive words as possible and remember to highlight the most important features.
   
   
2. High quality photos. The images of your product are just as important as the description. You'll want to use the highest quality photos available and include multiple perspectives for your customer to get the full visual representation of your product. Make sure that the image can be enlarged without becoming distorted or pixilated. The better the photo, the less questions your customer will have about the product, which means they are more likely to actually purchase it. 
   
   
3.  Visible policies. Customers will want to know what happens if your product does not suit their needs, who to call if they have questions, and what your policies are in general. An effective website that includes ecommerce will inform its customers of its return policies, customer service hours, FAQs, delivery dates and more. Don't make your customer look around for these answers. Have them readily available and easily acccessible. 
   
   
4. Clear call-to-action buttons. Your website should clearly display buttons that invite your visitor to take action. These buttons should be spread throughout your website and advertise different products. These buttons should lead to landing pages that either have form or purchase options. Make sure that your buttons are visually attractive and easily understood. 
   
   

The Internet is a very powerful and resourceful entity that can also be an amazing marketing tool for any business. Too many times we see organizations fail to use the full potential of the Web for marketing purposes. While we have blogged about Internet marketing tips in the past, and even revisited the topic once again, we still feel like there is more to learn.

ImageWorks has been designing websites for over 15 years and can recognize talented web developers when we see one. If you are looking for a CT web design company, you have a few options in the Greater Hartford Area. The following firms are good examples of web development companies who like us, can create high quality web sites. 

It's a Brave New World

A few weeks ago we posted a very popular blog on Internet Marketing Tips from an Inbound Marketing Agency. The post was such a hit that ImageWorks LLC is here to offer a few more essential tips for your business. As a social media marketing agency, we are constantly inundated with the latest and greatest of inbound marketing and Internet marketing tools of the trade. Trust us, don't jump on the most recent Internet marketing bandwagon until you have decided if it will work right for your business.

One of the interesting aspects to the Web design market in CT is the fact that CT Web Design companies are often turned to as alternatives to the Boston Web Design and New York Web design communities. This is likely due to the somewhat lower costs and incredible education pool exsiting in the Connecticut market. As a result, businesses have a large selection of talented Web designers in CT to choose from, especially New Haven.

In today's internet marketing industry, losing sight of what's important is getting easier. Email advertising, social networking, geo-targeting… all these vague terms and practices can be overwhelming for the marketer. It's important to remember that in the end, lead generation is what matters. Attention grabbing headlines and catchy infographics are all for naught if you aren't successfully recruiting prospective clients. Turning your readers into buyers is a process we fancy-internet people refer to as lead nurturing. We've written about lead generation before, but we've never examined the process of snagging new clients in detail. Below is a guide to help you get started.