website | Aqua Vita

8.16.2010
Aqua Vita News, Serious Stuff

Racing Limos Rolls Out New Site

Published by Jessica Cox under Aqua Vita News, Serious Stuff

Racing Limos just rolled out a new website, thanks to Aqua Vita.

As the most-requested limo company for rock bands traveling the area, Racing Limos wanted to showcase their VIP experience on the web.

“I like to see the enjoyment people get out of renting our cars,” said Tracy Whyburn, Racing Limos owner. “We’re professional but not stuffy. With the website, I wanted a sophisticated renegade look.”

Visitors can meet the drivers, scope out custom limos, read testimonials, and catch a glimpse of their VIP customers at RacingLimosTulsa.com.

“I had a good experience working with Aqua Vita,” said Whyburn. “Everyone likes the site. They say it’s not your typical limo company website. That’s good; we’re not your typical limo company. We’re adding new cars every day. Coming soon: a stretch Jaguar, and a 50-foot Excursion with a private fog machine and a laser light show.

So what did Racing Limos website look like before the redesign?

Happy to help.

2.19.2010
Marketing Alchemy

Leveraging Word-of-Mouth in the Digital Age

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

Have you ever listened to one of your friends rave about a person they’re really excited about? After hearing them talk, you might say to yourself “Wow, they sound really great.” You’re looking forward to seeing them. You can imagine how great it will be to finally meet this person.

But when you get to that first introduction, their handshake is limp. Their eyes dart nervously around the room. They can’t string a coherent sentence together. They smell funny. Within seconds, you’re looking for the nearest available exit.

What happened? Your friend was completely sold on this person. But if your experience didn’t match up to their word-of-mouth, that praise turns to dust.

Word-of-mouth leads to research

Word-of-mouth is only the first step towards earning a customer. Have you thought about what they do after they hear a recommendation?

In the past, they might’ve looked you up in the Yellow Pages. These days, phone book usage has plummeted as more and more people look for instant information online.

The Internet allows people to research word-of-mouth recommendations within seconds. That’s right. People can hear about your business from their friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbors, and jump online to research you.

This is a significant shift. Before they ever step into your store, before they ever pick up the phone, they are checking you out online.

Take a moment to think about what impression your website gives potential clients. Are you satisfied with this or embarrassed?

Your website is your handshake to the world

Many times, your website hosts the first interaction between potential customer and your company. Make sure you’re sending the right message. Website design, content, usability, everything has to work for your clients.

Think of your website as your first chance to provide great customer service. Make sure you’ve done everything in your power to satisfy their needs for information, education, and convenience. What questions do people have about your company? What information do they need to do business with you?

Constantly think of ways you can improve their experience. This is a good faith promise that you will be there to help them every step of the way. Remember, these first online impressions can convert word-of-mouth recommendations into a customer, or drive them into the arms of your competition.

Word-of-mouth can echo across the web

The good news: word-of-mouth spreads just as fast online as it does in the real world. Review sites are springing up all across the Internet, and these opinions can make or break a prospect’s opinion about your business.

Yahoo! Local, Google Local, Yelp.com, InsiderPages, and a host of other sites are dedicated to providing consumers with information about your company. Make sure your information is updated, and encourage your happy customers to share the news about your company. And of course, make sure you post testimonials and reviews on your website as well.

Press releases and articles are another way to boost your credibility. People searching for your company can see a wealth of information about your success, philosophy, and business practices. Everything they need to feel secure doing business with you.

Word-of-mouth is still a powerful tool to drive business to your company. Your website can help convert these recommendations into satisfied customers.

Need help making that first impression? Give us a call; we can help.

2.12.2010
Naked Writing

Does Your Website Answer These Five Questions?

Published by Michelle Pierce under Naked Writing

All first-year journalism students have this fact drilled into their heads: Every story you write must answer the following questions within the first paragraph, if not the first sentence:

Who? What? Where? When? Why?

We’re trained to answer all the major questions readers will have in the shortest amount of space possible. Why? Because readers skim.

People also skim on the web. Does your website answer all the major questions they’ll have? Take a page out of the journalist’s book, and make sure you answer these questions on your home page:

Who?

Who are you? And more importantly, who do you do business with? If you create education products for K-12 instructors, then you don’t want copy that targets doctors and lawyers. Make it clear up-front who you are and who your audience is. You want your copy to target potential buyers, not “everybody.”

What?

What do you do? If people aren’t clear about what service or product it is that you provide, then how are they to know if they even need it? What’s in it for them?

This is one of the most important things for a website to answer, and it should be on the very front page, where it’s easiest for people to see.

Where?

Where are you located? Where do you do business? If you’re an exclusively local company based in Georgia, it’s not going to do you any good to attract clients in Timbuktu. Make sure people know where you operate.

When?

When are you open (if you have a brick-and-mortar store in addition to your website)? When can people contact you? Do you have special discounts, seasonal products, events, or training sessions coming up? All this information should be on your home page.

Why?

This question is the granddaddy of them all, because every person is going to ask it at least once. Why should they go with you? Why are you the perfect match for them?

Why are you so special?

Online, you’ve got a lot of competition. Make sure people know what it is that has you standing head and shoulders above everybody else, whether it’s your eco-consciousness, your obsessive attention to detail, your timeliness, or your sheer amount of experience in the industry.

Bonus Question: How?

How do you do what you do? Give people a little insight into your work process, and you’d be surprised at how that bit of transparency can make them feel more connected to you.

If you can answer these major questions effectively on your website, you’ll make a much greater impact on potential customers. They’ll know immediately if you’re the company for them.

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Picture by Marco Bellucci

11.10.2009
Naked Writing

So You Want to Be a Web Slinger

Published by Michelle Pierce under Naked Writing

So you’ve finally realized just how darn beneficial the web would be for your business. Now the biggest question: how on earth do you get started?

HAHA! Worry not, my friends. Here are a few useful things to know to help you make the most of your site.

Getting started with design

Design is the part of the site you see, so you assume that’s where you should start, right?

Well, not exactly. Design is the shiny part, but you need to know the content of the site before you ever commence with design.

Now, by “content,” we don’t mean every single word of copy that will grace the pages. By content, we mean you have to have these questions answered:

Who will be reading your site? What do they expect?
What information do you want to convey there?
What do you want it to do? (Do you actually make sales on the site? Do you want to encourage prospects to call you? Are you an informational resource?)
What kind of mood do you want on your site?

These questions will influence the design, the colors, and the structure of your site, and the answers will ensure that you appeal to your audience/demographic/prospects/pick your term. That which intrigues middle-aged engineers is far different from what will appeal to teenage girls starting their first year in college.

Don’t forget browser compatibility! Not everybody uses Firefox (and much to my surprise, some people actually hate it! *mind is boggled*), and that which looks beautiful in Internet Explorer can break when viewed in Safari.

For the record, here’s the breakdown of browsers that people use to view our site:

Firefox: 57%
Internet Explorer: 21%
Safari: 17%
Chrome: 3%

If we only made sure our site was compatible with Firefox, nearly half our visitors would be unable to view it properly. And that? That’s no good.

You must make sure that your site will look great, no matter where your visitors are viewing it.

Creating content – research, research, research

I’ll be honest. I’m not a huge fan of keywords. However, you can’t argue with their effectiveness. Research what terms people are using to search in your niche. Try every possible combination that you can think of. (Use Google’s Keyword Tool for some help there.)

Once you’ve done that, pick one or two keywords and incorporate them into your title tags, h1 tags, content, and META description to aid in search engine optimization.

When it comes to home page content, PLEASE, avoid “happy talk”(to paraphrase Steve Krug). These are words that the visitors’ eyes glaze over, stuff like “Hi! Welcome to our site!” Tell people what you do. Identify the problem that you solve immediately, so they know that they’re in the right place. (If you are not a good writer, hire one.)

Tools Every Webmaster Should Use

Here are some tools that help you make sure that search engines can read your site (and that your visitors don’t see a mess in their browser):

XML Sitemap: No, this isn’t that page you have that outlines your site for visitors. This is an XML page that outlines your site for search engines. You can get one from Google, and it’s just a little HTML file that you drop in your main site folder.

WC3 Validation: They have tools to do both XHTML and CSS validation. This will scan your site and let you know where you have errors, which can trip up browsers and search engines trying to read your site. That way, you can fix them!

Google Webmaster Tools: I love this because it tells you where there are 404 errors on your site. That way, you can fix them and ensure that all the incoming links on your site are going to regular pages, not a 404 error. It also has a list of outgoing links and incoming links, so you can see where people are linking to you.

Google Analytics: There are other analytics tools out there, but this one is free, and gives you most of the statistics you need to gauge the effectiveness of your site. Find out where visitors are coming from, which pages of your site they’re landing on, and where they’re leaving.

What’s your advice for people getting started online? Answer in the comments!

Need some help with your website? Have questions? We’re here for you. Click here to contact us.

5.26.2009
Marketing Alchemy

What Would Kirk Do?

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

7 Marketing Lessons from Star Trek

Celebrating the recent Star Trek movie, we’re sharing marketing wisdom from around the universe. Find out how to apply the wisdom of Starfleet to your business and marketing efforts.

An Outdated Website is the New Red Shirt

Many times, you can tell at a glance which crew members will survive the surface trip, and who will be cannon fodder for the aliens/monsters/space beams/earthquakes. Likewise, your customers make assumptions based on how your website looks. Make sure you’re sending the right message. Boredom can sink your marketing efforts faster than a proton torpedo.

Avoid Assimilation
Unless you’re marketing to the hive-mind, avoid conformity. That last thing you want is to look like every other business online. Just as Spock’s human/Vulcan ancestry gave him unique advantages, so the strength of your business stems from your uniqueness.

Reinforce your distinct advantages on every page of your website, in every email newsletter, every ad, and every print piece you send out.

Embrace the Power of Diversity
Klingon, Human, Vulcan, android; they all work together in Starfleet. Likewise, all your marketing efforts need to support each other across various mediums. By striving for diversity in your marketing mediums, and maintaining a cohesive message, you can achieve a greater return, and strengthen your position in the market.

Analyze Before You Beam Down
Before the surface party ever sets foot in the transporter room, the captain always scans the planet for life signs, planetary conditions, and potential dangers. This analysis is a crucial step for any successful marketing endeavor as well.

Before you jump into any new marketing or advertising arena, make sure conditions are favorable, and prepare your campaign accordingly.

Keep an Eye on Those Engines
Without Scotty, the Enterprise would never make it out of space dock. With a crack engineer watching over the ship, the captain always had a status report at his fingertips, and expert help when things went south.

With online marketing campaigns, you can view detailed information on your website traffic, PPC advertising clicks, and email marketing. Your marketing team can see strengths and weaknesses, and find ways to improve.

Androids Are Your Friends
“Computer, calculate the loss of productivity due to inefficient software. Cross reference cost of lost time.” Rapid advances in technology have resulted in powerful software platforms for sales, accounting, inventory management, customer relations, and beyond.

Not everyone needs e-commerce solutions or custom software. But if repetitive tasks and outdated software are eating away your profits, automated alternatives can improve your bottom line. (Emotion chip is optional.)

Don’t Be Afraid to Push the Boundaries.
“Things are only impossible until they are not,” said Jean-Luc Picard. The science of marketing online is new, and yet old as the cosmos itself. New pathways are being forged. We are all exploring the new frontier.

Things are changing so fast, none of us can afford to sit still. We must continue to seek out new tactics and new ways to reach our target markets.

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stasiuwong
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