Why Focusing On One Platform Is Not Enough

For a very long time, Internet marketing dealt solely with desktop and laptop computers. When a marketing firm such as ours would develop new marketing ideas, those ideas would be centered around reaching people as they sat at their desks and utilized the Internet.

The laptop and the availability of free WiFi helped to weaken the tether that tied people to their desks. But it was the advancement of the smartphone and the proliferation of the tablet that helped to finally make computing truly mobile. Now, when we put together a marketing campaign, we have to focus on all of the various computing platforms for a variety of very important reasons.

Broad Exposure Is Critical

It used to be that an Internet marketing company could reach the majority of Internet users by focusing on reaching desktop and laptop computers. But more and more people are accessing the Internet through their smartphones and tablets, which means that a large part of your target audience may never see your message if it is only designed for a desktop.

In the world of marketing, the primary concern is reaching the largest audience for a sustained amount of time. That is why we must utilize plans for all computing and mobile computing platforms if we are going to get you the exposure you need.

Each Platform Is Different

Marketing pieces that look great on a desktop computer may not work well at all on a smartphone. On the other hand, tablet advertisements may not be substantial enough to work on laptops. Each computing and mobile computing platform is different and requires different marketing approached in order to be effective. When we put together your marketing plan, we have to take each platform into account and develop a different plan for each platform.

Balance Is Becoming More Effective

The biggest mistake an Internet marketing company can make is to ignore one platform in lieu of another. These days, text message marketing tends to be more effective than email marketing. But that does not mean that we do not use email marketing at all.

As mobile marketing methods continue to reach more and more consumers, it is extremely important that we focus some of our efforts on reaching your mobile audience. But we also have the experience to realize that ignoring desktops and laptops would be a huge mistake. You need balance in your marketing approach and our Internet marketing experts can deliver that balance and get you the results you want.

Internet Marketing Is Extremely Dynamic

In the world of Internet marketing, what works today may not work tomorrow. People may suddenly find good reason to go back to their desktops and the effectiveness of mobile marketing would drop. That is why it is critically important that your Internet marketing firm understands and utilizes all Internet marketing platforms.

Our marketing experts are constantly keeping an eye on the dynamic world of Internet marketing and we work hard to stay ahead of any trends. We want to make sure that the message we create for you today is just as effective tomorrow.

Internet marketing is no longer a single platform world. With mobile computing becoming more prominent, you need our multi-platform expertise to make sure that your marketing messages always get through loud and clear.

The Five Deadly Sins Of Web Design

You do not need to be a web design expert to be able to identify the five cardinal sins of web design. Anyone who owns a website and relies on that website to generate revenue should take the time to become familiar with the different design elements that can turn traffic away and cost you money. 

Neon Or Bright Colors

In the 1990's, it was popular to use loud background colors on a website to get attention. The bright colors definitely allowed websites to stand out, but the colors also proved to turn traffic away. Neon colors, or any bright colors, burn the eyes like a sandstorm and should be avoided at all costs. Subtle colors that help your text and images to stand out are much more effective at attracting and sustaining traffic.

Broken Links

Most professional web developers will tell you that you need to check all of the links on your entire website at least once a week. There are software programs you can use to check your links and find any broken ones that need repair. Broken links not only drive away traffic, they also cause your website to slide down in the search engine rankings. It may take a few minutes a week to check your links, but it is worth the time.

Bad Content

The content mills that made their living churning out keyword-stuffed content for years are not at all happy with Google because Google has demanded that Internet content be well-written and pertinent to the website it is on. In the old days, content was written by people who did not speak English as a first language and the results suffered. These days, your website content has to be the best possible content you can get if you want to attract traffic and get good search engine results. Be sure to take your time creating good content on your own or, better yet, hire a professional Internet marketing firm to get you good content.

Bad Navigation

Website designers have a rule that says that no content on a website should be more than three clicks away from the front page. If a customer has to click more than three links from the front page to find the content they want, then they will simply go to another website. This does not include the search function on your site as most customers would prefer to click a few links than use search. 

A Complicated Website Address

You may think that you are saving money by using that free hosting service, but the truth is that the complicated website address is making it difficult for customers to find your website. A good website has a concise address that is easy to remember. These days, it is not nearly as important to have a .com as it used to be. But most savvy website owners know that it is always a good idea to buy as many extensions as possible for their website address to make it even easier for customers to find them. So when you create your simple website address, you should also look into buying as many extensions for it as possible. The extensions you should get include:

A website that is properly designed and marketed can help you to meet your revenue goals. But when your website commits one of the five cardinal sins of web design, then you are making it much more difficult to grow your business.

New York Construction Web Design Review

The Company

Redline Construction is the brainchild of Thomas Nicolosi, a contractor in the New York Metro area. The company specializes in luxury condos, estates and from time to time has been known to do work on high-end commercial properties as well. Their work is well known – as they were given the Award of Excellence by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce in 2011. Does their website live up to their outstanding reputation? Let’s find out!

Design

The site seems to be going for plain, but bold. Using the color red for the design makes some sense – as the company’s name is Redline, after all – but I can’t help but think they might have been able to do more here. The whole idea is that they’re selling luxury condo construction and frankly, the site feels like a workshop more than it feels luxurious.

Marketing 101 is that you always want to make things about the customer, not the other way around, so taking more of a luxury-driven approach probably would have been the better way to go.

That being said, the site is very easy to navigate and seamlessly shuttles you from page to page. No complaints there.

Marketing  

The first thing that hits you on the site is the very powerful, professional photos of Redline’s work. They do an awesome job of not only showcasing what they can do – but the way they’re presented and staggered really makes them jump off the page.

That being said there are a few things that could be improved here, too; first of which is more of a call to action. On one hand, the call doesn’t need to create a sense of urgency because, well – you’re dealing with luxury construction here, not wristwatches. It’s not exactly the kind of decision someone’s going to make on a whim.

That being said – simply having a ‘contact us’ bit just doesn’t cut it in 2014. When you think luxury, you also think ‘convenience’ and the fact that there’s no contact form on every page hurts the site as a whole. The wording could also use some help – as ‘request a quote’ or ‘request a consultation’ pages usually lap ‘contact us’ pages; so the content and some of the site’s verbiage could use a boost as well.

The second major flaw is the lack of content on all the pages. If it was just put up, then at least there’s a small reason for the lack of completeness; but this page seems like it’s been up for a while. Tisk, tisk.

The third and the fourth problems aren’t ‘problems’ as much as they’re simple corrections. The first is that the site could use some testimonials. Especially in the world of contracting, where your reputation is everything – it’s important to have others vouch for your work. That holds doubly true in the world of luxury construction where the name value of some of their customers could certainly lend credence to their brand.

The only other piece is featuring the award that they won a little bit more. Awards mean a lot to people! Don’t be afraid to showcase them!

Social Media

From a social standpoint, there isn’t much to talk about here. The buttons on the front page simply don’t work or go anywhere.

SEO

The problem here is that the page is only optimized to the company’s name. Unfortunately, that’s kind of redundant. If people already know your business and are actively searching it out, the chances are you already have that business. It’s more important – insofar as SEO is concerned – that people find you that don’t know who you are.  That happens through local search optimization, service specialty optimization, etc. This site certainly needs more of that.

Overall verdict: Overall, we’re looking at an overall average site with some fantastic strengths and some glaring weaknesses. A lack of social hurts, but not taking advantage of some of the smaller things it could do quickly – like testimonials and bringing some pieces forward, hurt it more. On the other hand, the site is simple to navigate and the photos are really captivating – which for a construction site, is incredibly important. All things considered, this site isn’t far off from being really good – so long as they take care of some of those issues.