Your Web Site
Your site is your welcome mat, your portfolio, your first impression for many of your customers. It needs to reflect your business as it exists today, not as it did 5 years ago. You are a professional, and your site should be too.
Whether you need a brand new site from scratch, or you need to refresh a site that has gotten a bit tired, I can help you craft a solution that fits your business, your budget and your time frame.
Social Media
Social media is important to your marketing strategy. Many of your customers are there, but not all of them. I can help you establish a presence on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest and theme your profile there to match your web site. Have you considered displaying your recent posts, tweets or pins on your site? Ask me about it – it is an easy way to bring new content to your site.
Bulk Email
You can reach your customers with targeted newsletters, notifications about events or sales, coupons, and much more. Using a bulk email service allows you to make sure your content displays the way you intend, and makes you look more professional. It allows you to get feedback about how many people open your message, who clicks through, and which campaigns didn’t make an impression. It also allows your customers to opt-in or opt-out, and that makes them happy. Ask me about budget friendly bulk-email solutions.
Added Functionality
You can make technology work for you. Have you considered adding an event calendar? Selling gift cards? Allowing folks to register online for your classes or events?
There are so many possibilities for making your web site take some of the work off of you and your staff. Let’s brainstorm together.
Going Mobile
These days, many of your customers will be accessing your site from their tablet or phone, and no one wants to look at a microscopic version of your full-screen site. All of the sites I develop are “responsive”, meaning they adapt automatically to any size screen and they look good doing it. With this method, there is no need for a separate mobile site, saving you money.
Latest Work
Helping small business find their place online is my passion. Here are a few of my recent projects.
See MoreAbout Me
My name is Cindy Hood-Siegal and I have been programming and designing web pages off and on for 22 years. I have been living in Birmingham, Alabama for, oh, a long time. I feel passionate about helping small businesses find their online voice. I like to talk to my customers and find out what the real goal is for their web connection, be it a web site or presence on Social Media.
I worked in the corporate world for many years until my two kids came along. I spent several years at home with them, volunteering for positions at school and in our community and I realized that there was a real lack of technical knowledge in my volunteer circles. I took it upon myself to help out, creating a web site for a volunteer library group and serving as the webmaster for the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. Now I am helping small businesses like yours find their connection on the web. I know what it means to multitask and to meet a deadline and I pay attention to the details.
I won’t overwhelm you with geek-speak – my strength lies in talking with non-technical folks and interpreting what they are saying into a workable, strong business presence. It won’t be a scary process, I promise. Contact me and let me help you craft a reasonably-priced solution to email marketing and being on the web.
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Technology moves quickly
which is why you need a responsive partner to help you keep up. We can empower you to update your site whenever it suits you, or we can do it for you so that you can focus on your core business.
Getting Started
How do you start planning a web site? There are two fairly distinct divisions to consider: The Way it Looks and What it Says
The Way It Looks
The way it looks is the first thing someone notices about your site. It includes the color scheme, the layout of the pages, where the menu is located and how up-to-date everything looks. Do you have photos? Are they good quality? Do you have wild and crazy neon flashing fonts? (please don’t!) Fonts can make a big difference in the overall look of a site and should be given consideration. Google Fonts is a great resource for free, web-safe fonts. Don’t forget about the white space – the open space between elements. Nice open spacing makes pages easier to read.
The look gives the overall impression and should represent the way you want your business to be seen. Fun or serious? Modern or traditional? Colorful or spare? There are many decision to be made for the look, and the best way to figure out what you like is to pay attention to those details as you visit other sites on the web. Perhaps they are sites in your industry, and perhaps not. Try to make a note of the web addresses of sites you like, and what you liked about them.
What It Says
What about the actual content you place on your pages? Can people find what they are looking for? A very basic site will have a a Home page, a Contact page that protects your email address against spam, perhaps an About page. It is important to make sure the wording fits the tone you want to set for your site, and is grammatically correct with no spelling errors.
What else can you add? The possibilities are nearly limitless. It just depends on what your business requires.
- A calendar of events/classes/meetings
- A photo gallery, of your store or an event that took place
- A blog, which allows you to post timely updates about your group or business. It does not have to reveal your innermost thoughts unless you want it to.
- Directions with a link to a Google map
- Your restaurant’s menu
- Links to other sites or blogs related to yours
Gathering all of this information can be time-consuming, but when it is well done it will reflect well on your business. It is best to start on this process as early as you can. If you need help writing, ask me about copywriting services. Photos do not have to be professionally taken, but they should be bright and in good focus.
When we begin working together, I will give you a checklist of items you will need to put together.
What Can I Do For You?
Ask me a question. Tell me what you have in mind. Send me a link to a site you love (or one you wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole). Let’s work together to create something that represents your business.