VBWebSites.net

Punchout Catalogs and the future of eProcurement

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:38:00 +0000

We launched a new brand and new business for our Punchout Catalog Solutions, PunchOut2Go.com. Punchout is by far one of the most exciting endeavors we have introduced to the market. Since 2001, VBWebSites, has been providing unprecedented web solutions to companies nationwide. Known as pioneers on the web, we have always been driven to come up with the unexpected. Now, enter and meet ... Punchout Catalogs by PunchOut2Go

A Punchout Catalog is a connection between a buyers procurement system and a suppliers e-commerce site for e-Procurement. It helps suppliers provide real-time catalog information to buyers.

We developed our first Punchout Catalog in 2007 and today, PunchOut2Go is breaking major ground by introducing the most flexible and robust Punchout Catalog Gateway in the world and to the world. There has been a major void in the B2B procurement world for a True Punchout Gateway, a gateway that can be implemented in just about any e-commerce platform using web services.

"What's the skinny" on Punchout2Go's solution?

Our solution for Punchout is the only solution of its kind on the Punchout Market
Low cost to deploy

Starting at $1,000

Rapid Deployment for Punchout with Magento Commerce

Can be implemented to Magento with very little effort - Take a look

No Transaction Fees, easy monthly licensing fee

Customers are appreciative and highly motivate us to keep evolving this much needed punchout gateway solution "Thank you for your existence", "PunchOut2Go just saved us 30k"

To learn more about ...

Punchout Catalogs, visit PunchOut2Go
Punchout for Magento
See what's brewing, visit the Punchout Catalog Lab
Punchout2Go on Twitter

Punchout Catalog Visualization from PunchOut2Go

Who's using Punchout and Procurement? The Government, Fortune 500's, Fortune 100's and more and more added daily - Here's a few ... :)

7-Eleven, Inc.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Accenture
Accenture (NC E-Procurement)
Ace Hardware
Acklands Grainger
ADM
ADP
Advocate Healthcare
Aetna
AGCO Corporation
AHI Facility Services
AIG
AIMedia Solutions
Alaska Airlines
Albemarle Corporation
Alcoa Inc.
Alkeon Capital
Ally
Alphanumeric Systems Inc.
American Electric Power
American Express
American Red Cross
Amerinet
Ameriprise Financial
Amgen
Amtrak
Andre Rego
Anglo American
Anixter Inc.
Ann Inc.
APL Limited
Apollo Group
Ardent Partners
Arrowhead Promotion & Fulfillment
AstraZeneca
AT&T
Atlanta Special Events
Atlas Air
AutoNation
Avani Technology Solutions Inc.
Avendra, LLC
Avery Dennison
Aviall
B&H Photo Video Pro-Audio
BAE Systems
Bank of America
Barrick Gold Corporation
Bausch and Lomb, Inc.
BBVA Compass
Beam Inc.
Bell Canada
Bemis Company
Betagro Public Company Limited
BMO Financial Group
Booz Allen Hamilton
BP
Brand Keys
Briarlake Partners
BSN Sports
C&H Distributors, LLC
C9 Solutions
Cabot
Caesars Entertainment
Cairn India
CalOptima
Calpine Corporation
CAMC
Car Wash Partners, Inc.
Career Education Corporation
Caterpillar Inc.
CBRE
CBS Corporation
Celanese
Central Garden and Pet
CertaPro Painters
CETRA Language Solutions
CGI Technologies and Solutions
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Cherry Logistics Corporation
Chevron
Chick-fil-A, Inc.
Cintas Corporation
Clariant International Ltd.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC
ClearEdge Partners
Cleveland Clinic
Cliffs Natural Resources
Coach, Inc.
Collective Brands Inc.
Colson Jonesboro
Colson Monette
Columbia Sportswear
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Community Health Systems
Complete Book and Media Supply
ConvaTec
Cooper Industries
Copy4les
Corinthian Colleges

Cornerstone Data Strategies, Inc.
Corporate Imaging Concepts
Corrections Corp of America
Coverbind Corporation
Covidien
Cox Enterprises, Inc.
Crawford & Company
Crown Melbourne Limited
CVS Caremark
Cyber City Teleservices Marketing, Inc.
D&B
Darden Inc.
Davey Coach Sales, Inc.
Dayton Mailing Services, Inc dba DMS
Delhaize America
Dell
Deloitte
Dick's Sporting Goods
Direct Impaqt
DirecTV
Discover Financial
Doe Run Resources Corporation
Dollar General
Dollar Tree Stores
E&J Gallo Winery
Ecolab
Elemica, Inc.
Emcon Associates Inc.
Emdeon
Employment Plus
Energy Future Holdings
Entergy
Erie Insurance
Ernst & Young
Executive Management Services, Inc.
Exel, Inc.
Experian
ExxonMobil
Fastenal
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Fifth Third Bank
First American
First National Bank of Omaha
Five Star Quality Care
Flint Hills Resources
Forrester Research
Fortress Investment Group
Freescale Semiconductor
Freshspot Marketing LLC
FTI Consulting Inc
Fullidentity
GAF
Genentech Inc.
General Dynamics
General Dynamics C4 Systems
Gexpro
Giant Eagle
GIX Logistics
GlaxoSmithKline
GrafTech International Holdings Inc
Grand Island Express
Green Air LLC
Grupo Posadas
Guitar Center
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
H&R Block
Hallmark Cards Inc.
HAVI Global Solutions
Health Care Service Corporation
Helix Global Solutions
Herman Miller, Inc.
Hess Corporation
Hewlett Packard
HHMI
HNTB
Honeywell FM&T
Hosmer Services Group
HSBC
HubCast
Human Genome Sciences
IBM
IBM Global Business Services
IDC
IFF
Illinois Tool Works
Infinite Computer Solutions
ING
Ingram Micro Logistics
Insight
Insight Sourcing Group
Institute for Supply Management
Institute of Finance & Management
Integrated Building Maintenance
Interarbor Solutions
Intuit Inc
ISODISC
Ixia
Japs-Olson Company
Jazz Aviation LP
JELD-WEN
JetBlue Airways

JM Family Enterprises
JM Huber Corporation
Johnson & Johnson
Jones Lang LaSalle
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
JT Electronics
Jupiter Solutions
Kaiser Permanente
Keane
KeyBank
Keystone Foods
Kimberly-Clark
KKR
La Fancy Kay
Labelmaster
Larsen & Toubro, Limited
Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Lawson Products
LCD Express, Inc.
Lenovo
LexisNexis
Liberty Mutual Insurance
Lifetouch
Lincoln Financial Group
LinkedIn
LiveVox
LPL Financial
M&T Bank
Mailing Services of Pittsburgh
MarkMaster
Marland MicroSolutions, Inc.
Marsh & McLennan Companies
Masco Corporation
MasterCard
Materion Corporation
Mattel, Inc.
McAfee Inc.
McDonald's Corporation
McGraw-Hill
McKesson Medical Surgical
McMaster-Carr Supply Co.
Medco
Mediafly, Inc.
Mentor Graphics Corporation
MetLife
Microsoft
Milacron
Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Moody's Corporation
Morgan Stanley
Mrs. Fields Gifts
MSC Industrial Supply
MTS Allstream
National Bank of Canada
National Business Furniture
Nestle
NetApp
New York Life Insurance Company
Newark
Newark element14
Next Day Toner Supplies, Inc.
Nisource Corporate Services
NNSA/Honeywell FM&T
Northwestern Mutual
NOVA Marketing Services
Nova Southeastern University
Novant Health
NTT Data
NV Energy
Office Depot
OfficeMax, Inc.
Ogilvy CommonHealth
Ohio State University Medical Center
ONEOK, Inc.
Onex Corporation
Opus Software Solutions, Inc.
Orion Systems Integrators, Inc.
P.F. Chang's China Bistro
Paladin Associates Inc.
PAN Communications
Panda Restaurant Group, Inc.
Paragon Language Services, Inc.
PayStream Advisors
Pearson
Pentair
PepsiCo
PetSmart
Pfizer, Inc.
Pitney Bowes
Plaid Enterprises, Inc
PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.
PolyOne
PPG Industries
Priority Sign
Private Eyes, Inc.
Professional 50 States Protection, LLC
Proforma Idea Press
ProxiAd
Prysmian Group
and so many more...

Mobile Web: It's here to stay, Embrace it!

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:15:00 +0000

20% of traffic to your website is likely coming from a mobile device or tablet (up from 15% in Q4 2011). Whether your company provides services or hard-goods, Mobile web is definitely an effort you should take to convert more leads to sales. Mobile Web is not based on a fad. It's now, more than ever, a necessity.

A mobile designed website is generally less graphical (fast loading) and more to the point. More importantly, a mobile designed site will render to the width of the device (iPhone for example) which eliminates zooming to read or scrolling left to right. A mobile site needs to only scroll up and down not side to side. There are generally two different types of mobile websites.

Separate Styled Mobile Website, an approach that actually has two separate designs (styles) for the website (Example: Ballard Fish & Oyster Company). The website would give the correct design to the user based on the device. Try it from your phone and try it from your computer, also pictured to the right. With this particular project, we used the same Content Management System and the Same Content and simply detected the visitors device in order to display the correct styled version of the website.

Responsive Mobile Web Design, The responsive website renders and scales itself responsively based on the users device. Responsive Design is cutting edge and went mainstream in 2011. A simple demonstration would be to visit this simple restaurant website we recently launched (Example: The Eastville Inn). When you visit the site, manipulate and manually and re-size it manually or visit the site from your device. You will see that the website itself changes it's flow to accommodate not only the 3" wide mobile browser but tablet and non mobile users as well.

We pay close attention to traffic trends and stay on the cutting edge of web development. It's all about engaging the visitor and converting that visitor in to a customer (Let us show you how). How does your website work when it's accessed from mobile devices or tablets? The percent of mobile users is only going to increase, and increase fast. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of our clients reach 40% mobile visitors by the end of 2012. Don't fall behind, Get Mobile and let us help you convert your mobile visitors to customers. A mobile website design will give positive results to your company's online marketing efforts.

Marketing & Web Trends to watch for & embrace in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:51:00 +0000

So much evolved on the web in 2011 and so much more will be introduced in 2012. Many think the web is just fine - why change it? Well ... change is good on the web as it opens up new opportunity and keeps users on their toes. Your company should not only embrace it, your company should utilize it! If you don't, you will surely see a decline.

Below are some trends that we have come up with through our interactions, online sources and based on facts from industry practices.

Trend #1: Mobile E-Commerce will skyrocket - Embrace it!

Mobile Commerce has already soared and guess what? It’s not over yet, not even close! Transactions made on mobile devices will significantly increase in 2012. If you’ve never bought anything on your phone, watch yourself in 2012. You may personally contribute to this trend.

In 2010, e-commerce sales from mobile devices on Black Friday were 3%. In 2011, this number jumped to 9.8%. This year will be the tipping point for the ecommerce portion of the mobile trend. We forecast 25% + in 2012.

Retail spaces will still be stores, but more than ever, will become showrooms for their Web sites. Big retailers will make it easier to order online from the store on your phone. For small brick-and-mortar retailers, “buy it where you try it” will be the rallying cry. Either way, in 2012 shoppers will realize they can scan, price shop and order any product in front of them, then have it delivered tomorrow.

Trend #2: The Decline of Apps - Be Prepared!

Well - not an actual decline, but a decline relative to the growth of mobile sites. 2012 will be the year when people who say “I want an app” also say “...unless the same thing is possible with a mobile site.”

Potential mobile application builders are starting to figure out that building an app really means building two apps (one for iPhones and one for Android) or else leaving out a big chunk of the audience. Mobile Web sites don’t have that problem. A properly built mobile site will display on any mobile device.

When something is purchased through an app, there’s a middleman who usually takes a cut (Apple takes 30% of purchases made through iPhone apps, for example). But when you sell something through a mobile site, you don’t have to worry about this. Sales are handled through the company.

App development is expensive and time-consuming and usually has no advantages over mobile sites. They have to be downloaded and installed. Apps can’t be linked to easily, so they’re harder to promote. Mobile "Websites" will be the way.

In 2012, marketers will begin to realize that mobile sites can do virtually everything an app can do, Cost effective, easier, faster and far better initiative.

If you have an APP Developed and need to make a change, the end user will need to update the app to see this change. By choosing a native app (mobile website) - changes can be made on the fly not requiring any downloads - traditional web experience.

Trend #3: Social Media Becomes a major factor in Search

Social media networks are growing and for that reason, Social Marketing has grown. In 2011, Facebook’s social signals were integrated into Bing search and Google+ emerged with native integration into Google search.

Companies also started using social media in earnest and began experimenting with ways to influence their rankings using these social factors. In 2012, this trend will continue with social media becoming more of a key component of Search Engine Results Page (SERP) algorithms. For companies looking to preserve or improve their rankings, social marketing activities will no longer be optional; they will be a necessary element of traffic driving success.

Trend #4: Customers and employees become a crucial part of companies marketing initiatives

As social networks are used ever more frequently for aggregating and sharing interests, expect opinions, both positive and negative, about products and services to spread with lightening speed. As a result, businesses - customer relationships will become increasingly focused on creating and managing perceptions.

In 2010, companies began listening to customers wants and needs via social buzz. In 2011, they focused on responding to digital customer commentary. In 2012, companies will need to proactively scale their marketing efforts by creating and sharing information with employees and influential customer evangelists to help define their brands, products and services from the ground up.

Salesforce.com’s recent extension of their Chatter feature, allowing businesses to share information and files with their customers through a hosted network, is early evidence of this.

Trend #5: Hello Content Marketing - Content is King (always has been - more so now than ever)!

This is the year that millions of companies large and small realize that content marketing, rather than pay per click advertising, is the way to go. By content marketing, we mean writing and promoting content using search marketing, social media, blogging, email marketing and PR.

As we begin year four of the recession/recovery, marketers are still cost-conscious. They will find that inbound marketing takes time, but the out-of-pocket expenses are low. Business-to-business companies seem to be leading the charge, but everyone will be on board soon, (Meet ... Punchout Catalogs - enables B2B Commerce).

Content Marketing isn’t a fad or the next “shiny object,” it’s a long-term commitment of real time and energy. But as word gets out about the clever ways to combine search marketing with blogging, social media with PR, hordes of marketing departments will jump in.

At VBWebSites, we have been well on our way of utilizing social strategies and organizing unique content for clients so they do achieve positive search engine results.

Trend #6: Video Marketing and Interaction - Watch, Understand and Share!

Video has continuously evolved on the web over time. Video is an excellent way to drive traffic and as a company, you must utilize every angle possible to drive traffic. Video traffic has proved to be an effective measure for Search Engine Optimization and now more than ever is the time to capture these leads.

(Source: Web Video Marketing Council) - For the past few years, while growing quickly, video advertising has been relatively basic in its approach. The set of technologies to place video on a level playing field such as contextual and behavioral segmentation, inclusion into the real time bidding landscape, brand safety and ad delivery verification have become available in 2011. However, most video advertisers were not in a position to take advantage of these features. In 2012 the advertisers will catch up to the market and begin taking advantage of these capabilities at scale, deploying campaigns and creative video that drive ever improving ROI's.

Just as the advertisers will catch up to the new capabilities in 2012, publishers will do the same. The ability to place video into context will become a priority in 2012. Whether it is matching the right video to the right article or vice-versa, creating contextual experiences from a video’s timeline, or the mainstreaming of the “second screen” experience, a winning video publishing strategy will seek to differentiate using context.

Do you have any predictions for 2012? Comment below and let's revisit this post in 2013.

Wishing you the best of luck in 2012.

Brady Behrman
President, VBWebSites.net

"When the conversation turns to the web, we hope that you will remember VBWebSites"

Defining a Budget: Website Design & Your Online Marketing Intitaives

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 14:43:00 +0000

Budget defines what a web design company can offer a business. Often times we are asked, "How much is a Website?", Well, unfortunately, there is no real answer to that question and no general standard to web design and online marketing prices. The answers are always broad.

How much is a website? Websites range from free to infinity. Yes, There is no secret and you know you can get a website for as little as $9.95 from Godaddy or even free at other places. Cheaper is never better when trying to market your company. Competitive pricing however is important.

Depending on what's involved, prices vary. The best thing a company can do when searching for a web company is first ask themselves "How Important would or could a web initiative be for my company?" and then come up with a realistic ballpark budget. This too can be cumbersome and we understand that. When you factor your budget, also factor what you currently spend marketing your business elsewhere (Print, TV, etc.) and then figure that if your website can achieve more than all other avenues of marketing, more budget could be put into your web initiatives. When I say "initiatives", there are many initiatives your company can leverage from the web. No Longer is it just having a website but it's also driving customers to your site which involves ad campaigns, social media and other "initiatives".

The basic "skinny" on web design pricing is as follows:

What's involved?
How much time will it take to research the industry and competition?
How much time will it take to discover and plan the structure of the website?
What will we be involved to differentiate your company from the competition?
How much design emphasis is involved?
Who will produce the Content (Text and Imagery)?
Beyond the website, will we look at other driving measures to the website?

Our web design company has done well for companies with web marketing budgets of all sizes. If the budget was too low where we knew we would not be able to help much, we have always been honest and forthcoming.

We hope that this article has been helpful and if we can offer any assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Follow us on Facebook, RT and say hey at Twitter. Give us a call if you wish at (888)623-2374.

QR Codes + Mobile Web Design = Smart Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:34:00 +0000

Mobile Website Design

Every business wants to know how much Bang for the Buck they get. With 15% or more of your website traffic being Mobile, QR Codes are a great way to measure marketing initiatives.

"A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data." More at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

There is no doubt that you have seen the recent influx of companies using QR Codes within their ads in your local newspapers, magazines and more.

There are several great QR Generating websites that we use and Google also offers this QR Generation through their Short URL service (http://goo.gl) which offers not only QR Code Generation but storing and tracking as well.

If you have a Smart Phone and want to try it out, Check out the Red Laser App (http://redlaser.com/) for your iPhone or Droid.

Spend wiser, measure success or unfortunate failure and increase interaction within your print ads.

Does your company have a Mobile Designed Website?
If you answered No, you are likely missing out of 15% of your users or more. The time is now to get your mobile designed website and bundled with a Custom Content Management system that allows your company to manage and keep updated in house. Let us know if we can help in your website design / development and marketing initiatives.

What is a Mobile Designed Website?
A mobile designed website is a version of your website that has a less graphical interface focused on content designed for ease of use for mobile / smart phones.

How the VBWebSites CMS System displays the mobile version of a website?
When a user enters the site, our system recognizes the device. If the device is a mobile device / smart phone, the website will render the mobile template. A mobile template is fast loading and enhanced.

Want to Go Mobile? Let's discuss how we can help your company's web presence. Contact VBWebSites

SaaS CXML Punchout Catalog Systems: Next wave of e-Business

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Having a CXML Catalog System that ties into ARIBA, Xign, ReQlogic etc. will open up new avenues to larger buying entities and organizations. CXML Catalog development has been a hot topic over the past few years.

Buyers want an easy to use interface to buy products and services and Sellers want an equally easy to use interface to manage products and accounts.VBWebSites develops unique CXML Catalog and Punchout solutions that enable seamless business to business (b2b) online transactions.

If your company needs to create a PunchOut website to connect with Ariba Supplier Network or other networks, contact us to discuss your needs. Our CXML Solutions are Hosted SaaS (Solutions as a Service) model. Beyond the initial setup, we manage the maintenance of the Punchout application, server, updates and provide the secured environment. You have access to manage your catalog.

VBWebSites develops Custom Punchout solutions for CXML Commerce or integrate our proprietary ariba / CXML punchout module for Magento. We are always interested in additionally further extending CXML to other platforms.

Opening up this new channel of commerce will allow your company to sell it's products to State Entities, Government Entities / Organizations and many other opportunities will become available.

General Questions for Opening a CXML Store. - Contact us

Please review the following questions about your store and current e-procurement relationships. This will help us understand your business, needs and punchout requirements.

Punchout Providers

1) What procurement systems are currently working with?

2) Can you briefly describe your current account with those companies and how you receive orders from them?

Existing Store Front

1) Do you have an existing online store front?
(if no skip to next section)

2) What platform is running your store front?

3) Do you want punch out users to shop through your existing site or are you interested in a separate hosted storefront specific for punchout users?

4) Is your online store your primary management system for fulfillment and order management?

Your Products or Services

1) Are your products “Services” or “Hard Goods”?

2) Are your products organized as variations?

3) Are your products customizable?

4) Please estimate your product count? Your individual sku count? Your category count?

5) Does your product change frequently?

6) How would you identify your industry?

7) If you provide services, please provide a short summary of the service. (one or two sentences)

8) Will punchout users receive different pricing than general store users?

Punchout Capabilities

A basic punchout install includes :

    - Posting of a Punchout Catalog
    - Session for Punchout Users to Shop.
    - Order Punchout (submitting the order to the procurement system)
    - Order Modification (reloading an order for modification)

1) Do you currently post a catalog to your procurement system(s)? If so do you know what format?

2) Do you want to manage your orders from punchout through your online store or through tools provided by the procurement system(s)?

3) Do you want to manage invoices through your online store or through tools provided by the procurement system(s)?

Get a quote for your B2B needs.

Google trends to Better understand Search Keywords & Key Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Mon, 02 May 2011 12:41:00 +0000

Google Trends has been around for a long time and some may have used it and some may not know. Over the years the way people search has changed and it's a good practice to look at your industry specific search trends. "You Say Potato, I Say Potatah" and this rings true in your industry search terms.

In this example, relatively simple yet enlightening. When we look at the search term "Website Design" and compare to "Web Site Design" we see that in the early years of Google Trends, more users searched "Web Site Design" with two words for web and site. You will notice by the image attached that the trend went down and now the predominant search is web and site as one word., Website Design. "Website Design" has been a constant where "web site" has steadily declined.

There has always been a debate over what's correct, Web Site or Website. We use both and now we know that website is a better marketing keyword than web site.

What now? Think about the most relevant words related to your business and compare. If you have tracking installed, analyze your search terms. Tweak your website to use these keywords within text content and stay ahead of the competition by being that much savvier of what your customers are searching.Visit Google Trends.

Google to focus on Quality Content, a huge win for our clients

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:39:00 +0000

VBWebSites has always preached the importance of quality content that is unique and logical. We work with our clients to incorporate this content correctly into their website design and results are always positive. Now they will achieve even better search engine results.

This major change coming to Google's search algorithm will increase rankings for web sites that have quality content.

Change is Good! Google's goal is to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of Google algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.

"Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what's going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on."

With this change, the search results will focus on quality content and terminate their high search results for all the junk sites out there that house massive amounts of one liners and junky content. These "farm" sites aim to just have you land at their site in hopes that you click on some of their PPC (Pay Per Click) ads thrown about on these sites.

Content is King: If you write clear, unique, logical and relevant content, your company's web presence will prevail.

Supporting Articles:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/25/google-cuts-its-content-farm-subsidy/

What about AOL, Bing, Yahoo? It has been proven over time that Bing and others piggy back off Google. Exhibit 1,2 and 3: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-search.html

If you would like to get positive results from your website presence, look no further than VBWebSites for your website services and web solutions.

Part 2: Facebook and Your Company - Doing it the right way

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:47:00 +0000

Part 2 - Extending your facebook Business Page. Missed Part 1? click here

As Promised, this month we are going to talk about extending your business facebook page. By now, hopefully many of you (our friendly readers and clients) have setup your business facebook page the correct way. If not, refer to Part 1.

I received a few emails last month saying Thanks and also "Why are you giving away all these tips". Bottom line, in these tough economic times, it's important to utilize what you can to reach a broader audience. Our core of business is small business. If we can help some business's achieve success on the web, even if they can't afford our services, then it's our way of giving back to our small business community. All we ask is to remember VBWebSites.net and tell a friend about us. When the conversation turns to the Web, remember VBWebSites.net.

Part 2: Now you have your facebook page setup and hopefully you have been pushing it with your customers, friends, and colleagues.

It's a given that you are able to post specials, services, products etc. Depending on your setup or if your company has a web presence already, you may be able to automate posts. For Instance, the sites we develop use technology called "RSS Feeds" (Real Simple Syndication). We hook these RSS feeds up to automatically update facebook, twitter etc using a variety of top secret methods. If you have a blog or a setup that has RSS feeds then you can easily setup a easy syndication method using TwitterFeed.com. Twitter feed is a rss feed aggregator that syndicates your content as you update you blog or site or certain e-commerce setups. When you update, rss feed can update your social media outlets.

Don't have RSS Feeds? Well you are not alone, we would suggest you setup a blog at blogger.com or better yet, contact us for a cutting edge web presence. Once you setup blogger and your blog you should update it at least once a week and you can talk about new products, new services, industry related info etc. Make sure your content is unique, DO NOT Copy and paste from another site. A Blog could be a great method for you to start attracting new business.

Once you have your first blog post, you can setup your feed with twitterfeed and syndicate to facebook, twitter, etc. If you look on the right of our blog for example, look for "Atom". Click it (notice its just raw content). Then take a look at our Facebook page, you will notice our articles are on our facebook page and this is done automatically using that Atom "Rss Feed". This provides a great way to get your content out on the web easily and also builds strong inbound links which is important for search engine optimization.

Give us some feedback about what your company has done, send us a link or two and let's see how we can help your company in "Part 3" of this coversation "Facebook and Your Company". Every company model is unique, now it's time to dig deeper into your industry and see what better ways you can get your message across. Blogger / Blogging may be a good subject next month as well.

Remember, nothing happens overnight. It takes a time but the details that I have shared with you WILL increase your business if you do it correctly. That's a Guarantee!

If we can help with your web site, let us know.

We look forward to your comments and questions.

Thankfully,
Brady Behrman
(757) 271-8293
brady@vbwebsites.net
http://www.VBWebSites.net ~ facebook.com/vbwebsites

Facebook and Your Company - Doing it the right way

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:35:00 +0000

Many companies make the huge mistake of setting up a facebook page for their business as a "profile". There are major differences and it's best to do it correctly. If you go to a facebook page for a business and it says "Add as a Friend" then that's wrong. A facebook business page should have the "Like" button. Someone should not have to wait to be approved to like your business. The biggest part of having a facebook page for your business is increasing awareness, so don't slow that process or do it incorectly. These steps will guide you in the right direction.

You must first have an account with facebook.
Step 1: Login at Facebook

Step 2: Once you’ve logged in to Facebook, scroll to the bottom and click on Advertising. Then click Pages and Create a Page or click here and then "Create Page". Select the type of business you own and start filling in all the details. The more info you add, the better your page will be (and remember: Google thinks highly of Facebook in its search engine results).

Step 3: After you have your page, put some posts on it. You can link to your website, your blog, your products etc. In General, it's best to startup conversations.

Step 4: Many companies we deal with have several key users for their Facebook Page. If you want to let someone else help administer your page, this can be done easily by first inviting that person and once they "Like" the page you can View Users from the left side of your page and make that person an admin by finding their name in the list and clicking "Make Admin".

If you look at our facebook page, you will see what we do and how we get articles connected. Click Here

Once you reach 25 users that "Like" your company you can get a custom url. For example, our custom URL is facebook.com/vbwebsites . After you reach the initial 25, Go here (http://www.facebook.com/username/) and setup your shortened custom URL. Be Carfeul here, you only get one chance and you can't go back to change it.

Up Next Month ...
Extending Facebook will be next months topic which having your Business Page setup CORRECT is a must. Over the next month or so, get that page setup and start gathering people to your Facebook page. You can include it in your signature, link from your website. If you don't have a website, we have some guys who can do it :) Click Here.

If we can help with your web site or facebook presence, let us know.

Thankfully,
Brady Behrman
(757) 271-8293
brady@vbwebsites.net
http://www.VBWebSites.net

Online Event Registration, Event Management + CMS = Custom Development

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Eastern Shore of Virginia Festivals came to VBWebSites to develop an entirely unique platform that would handle and manage online registrations. The system we developed is truly unique as the event in itself is unique and consists of three days with 10-20 activities per day. Our system will not allow conflicting registrations for activities that may have conflicting start or end times which was a crucial element of the platform.

This development was wrapped around our completely Custom Content Management System and also included custom modules to handle:

Events Management
Products Management
News Management
Site Pages Management
Reports and Custom Reporting
Facebook Syndication
and much more...

Preview the Eastern Shore of Virginia Festivals website.
Look at our Content Management System

When you are seeking a platform customized for your event registrations, look no further than VBWebSites to tackle your needs.

How to write good content for your website to better position your SEO efforts

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:47:00 +0000

One of the hardest things we come across is getting good content from clients. Below is an example of how to achieve good content. We will take some of the services we offer to get the point across.

Some Services

Website Design
Content Management Solutions

Our approach after looking at the service lines is explaining to our clients that we must create some corresponding content to backup the services to achieve strong SEO.

Example:

Website Design

VBWebSites is highly skilled in designing for the Web. We understand how to apply the latest design techniques and technology to create clear, easily-navigated web sites that are effective and appealing.

Then you would lead into a page designated for the service line and have a couple paragraphs if possible that go into detail on the particular service.

Content Management Solutions

VBWebSites programmers have developed a variety of 'do it yourself' content management tools that put the power to update content in the clients' hands. Depending on the needs of the client, VBWebSites develops tools that allow a wide range of client control.

Then you would lead into a page designated for the service line and have a couple paragraphs if possible that go into detail on the particular service. Example, Our company does a lot of custom content management solutions and we have a landing page that explains Content Management as well as shows screen shots of the system itself as well as some clients that use our systems.. Take a look

What you would want to do is break open word or maybe even a sheet of paper and bullet out your services. Then the daunting task of explaining your services comes into play. If you draw a blank, it's ok. I tell our clients "Think as if someone called and asked about one of your services", You would explain.. Now that explanation is a great start to coming up with content. Your content must be unique and must correspond in some way shape or form to the service entity.

Remember "You say potato, I say patattah". Same goes here on the web, do you say web site or website? I look at my traffic and see both in what people search to find us:

web design company
website design virginia
web site design company
and even "webbsite" and "web page"

There is no real answer to that one and I am sure that in your line of work someone may refer to your service differently so no real need to get totally technical in your writing of content. Write off the hip and tweak. Then once you get established, look at your traffic to get a better understanding of what people are searching to find you. Then look for a company that can help you increase that traffic, maybe try VBWebSites.net <--- Shameless Plug

Some of our clients prefer using a copywriter which we do have on staff. Our copywriter does pretty much just as I said above and interviews the client. Then the copywriter and I look at the industry and tweak the content to achieve strong Search Engine Optimization that will be relevant and rewarding for the client.

Thanks for reading and go write some content, Let it flow and Tweak it.

All the Best,

Brady Behrman
(757) 271-8293
brady@vbwebsites.net
http://www.VBWebSites.net

Web Marketing, web design and web development for Bed and Breakfast Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:41:00 +0000

This will likely work for many industries but for the purpose of this posting, it's for B&B website design and development.

Of Course, first things first - A Solid website that can grow with you.

So many companies make the mistake of having a friend of a friend who has a cousin who just graduated middle school build their website. Your company has some type of Branding, Spread That Brand professionally. With that in mind, you really need to do the job right. That's my shameless sales pitch.

Web Marketing can be a long and daunting task but here are the some keys to succeeding on the web as a B&B.

1 a. Establish a solid Base for a website. If you can't afford one, start off with a blog and facebook (If You can, skip down below). Blogger.com is free and can help you drive in traffic. Each week, share an experience a visitor had. In the post, explain where the customer traveled from, what they did while vacationing at your B&B and maybe ask them to fill out a comment card and then relay that message to your blog posting.

Example Post:

Harry and Sally came to Shenandoah Valley to relax and unwind from their busy life in Richmond, VA. They requested a room with a view of the ski slopes and we gave them the perfect room fit with a king size bed and breathtaking view of the mountains. The room came equipped with a large bath, complimentary champagne and comfort controlled heat and air. After their night of relaxing and peaceful sleep, they were served a breakfast fit for King and Queen that included Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes, Coffee and Orange Juice. We made arrangements so the couple could go skiing and off they went. Then you can sum it up with their comments on their stay.

There are many key phrases that are important for Search Engine Optimization in the above posting. Here's the clicker.. When you write, write off the hip. Eventually you will get a grasp on keywords and optimization practices. Don't try to jumble a bunch of keywords into the posting, it will come natural as you keep posting.

1 b. You can afford a solid base and superior website. You are fortunate and have come to the right place. We will make things automated for you and provide the custom website solution for your Bed and Breakfast. Our system allows you to maintain your entire site without the knowledge of HTML. We will also train you and help you along the way to achieve the best presence possible. Our B&B Systems start off at around $5,000.00 with some exclusivity within your region. After all, you re the lucky one who stumbled upon VBWebSites and we want you to do well!

2. Facebook, Twitter and Social Media

Whether you go with choice 1a or 1b, you can syndicate your content to facebook to help raise awareness. Facebook as well as twitter can be a great way to position your Bed and Breakfast ahead of the competition. Syndication means that when you add a post or within our system add events, news, etc.. you can supply facebook with website feed URL. Facebook will take that URL and when a new post is made it will automatically sync up with social media platforms. There are also third party application like TwitterFeed.com that can help. If you are doing this yourself, take a look at TwitterFeed.com. If you have VBWebSites setup your Bed and Breakfast website, you don't have to worry about it. In entry # 4, I will explain how social media can help your B&B.

3. More syndication

Trip Advisor - If you use Trip Advisor, which most B&B's do, they provide an RSS feed as well. For example, here is one we dealt with for a B&B website design we did recently. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Feeds-d82807-treviews.xml . Now we take that feed and put it on the website and at Facebook. So if a review is left, it automatically goes to the website. I am sure all of the B&B's work 110% to make the visitors stay as pleasant as possible so hopefully you don't get bad reviews. TripAdvisor also provides a "Badge" you can put on your website. This doesn't do much more than make TripAdvisor website stronger on the web. RSS feed at least puts that Content (The Reviews) on your website as textual content.

There are other ways of syndication, but the above is most important for B&B Websites.

4. Utilizing Social Media

After a while and some work on your end promoting facebook to your friends, customers etc. you will have a nice group of followers. The biggest plus on Social Media and Business is that you are able to stay fresh in people's vision. They will remember you, your hospitality and recommend your facebook page for example to your friends. Let's propose it is February and you have all your rooms available. Now, lets propose you have 500 followers on your facebook page. You could put out a special that may say "Couples Retreat in the Shenandoah Valley - 25% off includes Dinner, Champagne and Breakfast". You will get some responses and hopefully fill those vacant rooms. This was just an example and I am sure you understand the logic here. If you are in our platform, you would put this special on your website and it would syndicate automatically to your syndicated channels and social media instruments.

5. Update Update Update

A good practice to at least update a "Solid Base Website" monthly. If you are doing the blog route, you may need to do it bi weekly so you can get content rolling. Update upcoming events in the area, etc. Example for upcoming events.. If on your website you advertise for example: "Fourth of July Shenandoah Fireworks Valley". Now say, someone searches "Fourth of July Shenandoah Valley", your website will appear. It's a good practice to publish events at least a month ahead of time so the search engines have to get your content.

6. Email Marketing

Not spam, but actual people that want to get updates from you. VBWebSites is a listed expert of about 50 companies around the web at MailChimp, a third party email newsletter management company. They offer incentives for those who use an expert, take a look. Same concept goes here as it does for facebook and social media. Stay current with your base, stay fresh on their minds. Have an opt in "Sign Up For Newsletter" on your website, in your B&B, etc.This will take some time to establish, but down the road will be helpful!

7. Online Advertising

Spend a little money to make some money as the saying goes. You can setup an account, or have us do it, at http://adwords.google.com . Depending on your market, you may only what to target specific geographical areas. You can also define a daily spending budget.

8. Image is Everything

Have a Professional photographer take your pictures, it will go a long way.

9. More Coming Later, or contact us for more info

Written by Brady Behrman

New Website Launched - Bay Beyond Inc.

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Company Bio: Bay Beyond Inc. is the wholesale entity for Blue Crab Bay Co.. Blue Crab Bay Co.®, now a brand of Bay Beyond Inc., has won top honors and prestigious awards at international competitions and has been featured in many national publications.

Website: http://www.BayBeyond.net

Mission: Bay Beyond needed a unique solution developed for their needs. Most importantly, Bay Beyond needed the ability to easily manage their website.

The End Result: VBWebSites developed a complete custom environment that allows Bay Beyond the ability to easily and effectively manage their web presence that includes custom modules such as:

General site page

Ability to manage Site Pages Imagery

Products management

Ability to associate products with departments
Ability to manage Product Imagery

Category / Department management
Recipes Management
Dealer Management

Dealer Login / Dealer Pricing shown once logged in.

Upcoming Events Management

Further Extending: Smart Development @ VBWebsites

We developed the ability to correspond recipes with Bay Beyond / Blue Crab Bay Products and backwards correlation between Products and Recipes.

This is key for Search Engine Optimization and User Experience.
Example: http://baybeyond.net/recipe/view/jims-bloody-mary-chili

Notice on the right, you will see products that correspond with associated products.
Further More, From a Product page that has Associated Recipes, These recipes are accessible from the product page.

Example: http://baybeyond.net/blue-crab-bay-brand/food-service/sting-ray-bloody-mar_00071

Smart Product Linking to Consumer website, Blue Crab Bay.

This website is geared towards wholesale dealers. We have hidden elements in this development that show when a dealer is logged in. If a consumer (non-dealer) stumbles upon a product page from Search Engines etc, they are displayed a “Consumers Click Here” Link that redirects them to the product they are viewing on the consumer site. By doing this, there are no missed leads or opportunities.

Blue Crab Bay Company has trusted in VBWebSites since 2008 for all of their website needs and online marketing strategies that include e-mail marketing, online advertising, Facebook & Social media elements integration and much more.

Does your company require unique solutions on the web, Visit us at http://www.vbwebsites.net or call (757)271-8293.

Website - Visit VBWebSites
Facebook - Become a Fan
Twitter - Follow us

Hampton VA E-Commerce Grant Receives Additional Funding

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:17:00 +0000

SUMMARY

HAMPTON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE PROGRAM

Program Intent

To assist Hampton small, minority and women owned businesses with electronic commerce technology and aid in the stability and growth prospects of Hampton companies, potentially increasing tax revenue and jobs within the City of Hampton, Virginia.

Definitions

Small business is defined as a business which is at least 51% independently owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are U.S. citizens or legal resident aliens, and together with affiliates, has 250 or fewer employees, or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years. One or more of the individual owners shall control both the management and daily business operations of the small business.

Minority/Women owned business is defined as one in which one or more minority individuals control at least 51 percent of the voting stock or ownership and manages daily operations. Minority groups are defined as:

African Americans
Hispanic Americans
Native Americans
Asian-Pacific Americans
Asian-Indian Americans
Women

Minority/Women owned businesses must be certified by the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise.

E-Commerce Program Grant Amounts

Grants are made on a first-come, first served basis and eligibility is determined at the discretion of the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Administrator.
Maximum individual awards of $1,500 may be granted once every three years and Virginia certified minority and women owned businesses can receive a maximum of $2,500 once every three years.
Grant amounts shall not exceed 50% of total project cost or the allowable grant, whichever is less.

Approval Criteria

Must be a for-profit business currently licensed in and with its principal office located within the City of Hampton.
Projects must be legal, no adult only material, ethical, and commercially viable.
Applicants must use preapproved Certified E-Commerce Grant Service Providers.
Grant funds cannot be awarded for a project which has been initiated prior to the approval of a grant application.
Grants are to be used for the creation or enhancement of e-commerce sites and cannot be used for domain registration, web hosting, general maintenance services, or annual subscriptions.
Certified Service Providers are not eligible to receive grants for their own websites or to create or make enhancements to an affiliated business website.

Approved Grant Uses

Consultation Services – information technology strategic planning, ecommerce needs and marketing assessments, domain name registration assistance, hosting service needs assessments, website analytics, and website security assessments and testing tools.

Web Design and Development Services – custom website design, information architecture and graphic user interface planning, database driven website design and development, content management solutions, usability testing, advanced scripting and programming, custom database development, collaboration and social networking (Web 2.0), website accessibility analysis, and maintenance contracts.

E-Commerce Services – Shopping carts, donation and membership systems, and online security assessments and testing tools.

Internet Marketing Services – email marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, eNewsletters, blogs, RSS, Wikis.

Other e-commerce innovations as approved at the discretion of the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Administrator.

Grant Application Process

Qualified business obtains printed application from City website or by other means.

Applicant contacts at least two (2) certified service providers to obtain a minimum of two (2) quotes for work it wants done. Applicant, at its discretion, selects a service provider to perform the work.

Applicant completes the application form, signs and submits the application to the Hampton Department of Economic Development (HDED) with the two (2) quotes via fax, mail, or hand delivery but no on-line submittals allowed (see attached application).

Letter and e-mail are sent to the Applicant verifying the receipt of the application.

Application is reviewed and is approved or denied by HDED, in its sole discretion, within three (3) to five (5) business days. (Requires checking status of Hampton Business License, current on Hampton business taxes, Small, Women and Minority-Owned Business (SWAM) status, review scope of work to verify the eligibility of services, etc.).

Letter and e-mail are sent to Applicant informing it of the decision and, if approved, providing notice of the amount of grant funding it is eligible to receive.

Applicant must obtain a contract with service provider setting forth the scope of the services to be performed and work done by the service provider. The contract must be approved by the IDA and will be attached to, and become a part of the Grant Agreement between the Applicant and the IDA. The contract with the service provider should be conditioned upon the approval by the IDA and the issuance of the Grant.

Once the project is completed the Applicant must complete a “Customer Satisfaction Survey”.

Service Provider Application Process

Service provider obtains application form from the City of Hampton website or by other means.

Service provider completes the application form, signs and submits the application to HDED.

Letter and e-mail are sent to the service provider verifying the receipt of the application.

Application is reviewed and is approved or denied by HDED, in its sole discretion, within five (5) to ten (10) business days.

Letter and e-mail are sent to service provider informing it of the decision and, if approved, providing it with a contract which stipulates its willingness to participate in the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Program and that it will abide by certain terms and conditions for payment and assist in the promotion of the program.

Grant Payments
Authorized service provider completes the project as quoted and invoices the grantee for its services and a grant check will be issued to the service provider for the grant amount.

More Details can be found here or call VBWebSites at 757-271-8293.

Syndicate Your Website - it helps!

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:20:00 +0000

Greetings Everyone..

I wanted to take a moment of your time and give you some positive ways to better position your website on the web.

First off > In today's market, It's not just a matter of having a website, those days are gone. In order to achieve results you must have a sound dynamic site that you can manage in house and keep updated.

Secondly > Use Social Networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc) to create awareness of who you are, what your company represents and put emphasis on the services and or products you provide and then syndicate this content. With the platforms we develop, we make it so when you update your site, your content is automatically syndicated to various channels, networks.

Why is syndication important?

A Mock Example:

1. Say for example you own a Vacation Rental Company
2. Then let's say your focus is summer tourism
3. Then let's take it one step further - Weather stations are predicting a tropical storm to hit in a few days.
4. Now you have a dozen cancellations or date changes.
5. Guess What, The Weather Man was wrong, Imagine that.
6. Now, if you had a following on Facebook or twitter you could instantly announce a weekend special to hopefully recoup what you may have lost due to incorrect predictions from the 'Weather Man'.

- end example

So now, go analyze your website and think about the scenarios in your industry and how you might be able to dig into social networking opportunities. Chances are, you don't have any way to syndicate your site so you will just need to work a little harder to manually syndicate your info or better yet Contact VBWebSites.net @ 757-271-8293 to develop your cutting edge web presence (sorry, shameless plug).

Hope this message helps shed some light and open your eyes to web possibilities outside of your actual web presence. I have a ton of other ways to achieve results under my belt but can't give away all my secrets :)

Thanks for reading..

If we can help, visit us online http://www.vbwebsites.net

Love a Local Business - Nominate VBWebSites.net

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:09:00 +0000

Intuit is awarding over $100,000 in grants! You determine which 10 local businesses deserve them.

VBWebSites entered in the content - Nominate Us

Thank you to our clients who already nominated us. We appreciate it very much!

VBWebsites – Is professional and pleasant to deal with. We appreciate all of their hard work and professionalism during the creation of our website.
Dorothy (01.12.10) Dominion Law Group

Very good at what they do & professional results!
Vince (01.12.10) Eubank Frames

Great customer serve and innovative business model.
Susan (01.11.10) Suntrust Bank

Working with http://www.VBWebSites.net had been a great customer experience! Very helpful and at a reasonable price. Please take a quick look at what he has done to our website; http://www.mooreclocks.com
Terry M (01.11.10) Moore Clocks

Starting a business is a lot of work, and knowing you have a company you can trust to handle your website and doing it right the first time is a key step in being profitable.
Jason (01.11.10)

VBWebSites provides responsive/reliable services and a quality customer service scarce in today's market. They strive to understand the client need and provide the absolute best product in a timely and cost effective manner.
Gayle (01.11.10) Command Decisions and Solutions (CDS2)

Brady is incredibly responsive and personable. We are so lucky to have VBWebSites.com on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
sara (01.11.10) Sara Baldwin Designs / New Ravenna

I love this business because the developed a great web site that was user friendly. I can call Brady and work through any problems I have within a few minutes.
Lynn Gray (01.11.10) Cape Charles Realty

I love this business because of the personal customer service and their continuous new/innovative ideas. Investing in this company is like investing in cutting edge technology to build and grow your own business!
Tee Daniel (01.11.10) Harper Hardware

Good people and good business practices!!
shana (01.11.10) Marine Concepts

VB Websites is dedicated and driven. They've worked hard to earn my trust and respect. They certainly have it!
Vicki M. (01.11.10) Moore Clocks

I recently found vb websites and these guys are fantastic at what they do. dedication and desire! Good Luck vb web sites
Bryan (01.11.10)

I have trusted in VBWebSites.net for 6 years and they have never let me down only delivered beyond expectations.
Jeff (01.11.10)

I enjoyed working with the team at VBWebSites. You'll are truly professional in what you do. You know how to tackle problems from all angles and you are friendly and easy to work with. I will definitely recommend VBWebSites to my friends and customers. Again, thanks. Leon (06/01/2010) propane delivery company web design

Please take the time to Nominate Us

Year-End Customer Testimonials

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:01:00 +0000

Moore Clocks: VBWebSites.net turned our website, MooreClocks.com, into a tasteful and relevant online presence. Site management is easy and the technical support is incredible. We've had excellent results and have no regrets! Thank you VBWebSites.net! Terry Moore

Terry, Thank you for the kind words. It was a real pleasure working with you as well. Hope you and Yours have a Happy Holidays, best of luck in 10'. Brady Behrman, VBWebSites.net

Blue Crab Bay Co.: VBWebSites handles Blue Crab Bay's wholesale and direct to consumer e-newsletters, they are fast, creative and most importantly, we get business from the campaigns! Pam Barefoot

Thank you Pam, we really enjoy working with your company! Your team of professionals that work with you are very helpful and a joy to work with. Have a Merry Christmas! Brady Behrman, VBWebSites.net

December 2009 Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000

The year is quickly coming to an end, it is time to enjoy the Holidays and work on strategies for 2010. 2009 was a good year for the Internet, usage increased everywhere and more and more companies are shifting marketing efforts to the web. If you don't yet have a website or have a website that is not achieving results, you are likely missing out on business.

VBWebSites is a Virginia Web Design Company and the reason our focus is Virginia is we know and understand virginia. Knowing Virginia regions, we are able to help our Virginia Clients that focus on their immediate service areas. We are not limited to Virginia by any means, just have a greater understanding of Virginia.

We pay attention to search trends and are able to better position our clients websites to effectively reach the clientele they seek. You may be asking yourself if a website would help you, take a look at Google Trends. Search for the service you provide and then you can further analyze. Through Google trends, if we search "website design" we can see what areas are searching "website design". This can significantly help our actual marketing efforts. Go search your services @ Google Trends.

VBWebsites comes up with unique solutions tailored to our clients needs. We provide our clients with the tools to be able to manage their sites respectively through our Custom Content Management Systems (CMS) and Solutions. We pay attention to detail and deliver unprecedented and modern technologies that help our clients achieve results.

When the conversation turns to web design, we hope you remember VBWebSites.net

Find out what you are up against on the web

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:27:00 +0000

When a client comes to VBWebSites seeking a re-design and optimization, we first start off by analyzing what they currently have. Then we look at page content and organization of the site. We further analyze their target keywords and phrases.

After we gather the keywords and phrases, I then go out and check the competition. Many people aren't aware on how to do this so I am going to tell you.

Lets take this key phrase for example at Google: how to come up in search engine or Click Here (by the way, as of today, VBWebSites holds 1st place!). Now, depending on where you are you may see slightly different results. Google has many many servers around the world and it takes time for all the servers to catch up with each other. Anyway, for me, The keyphrase how to come up in search engine is showing Results 1 - 10 of about 70,800,000. Now I know if i want to market "how to come up in search engine" then I am competing against about 70 million websites. Go test your keywords / key phrases and see where you are in the results and most importantly see what you are competing against.

Seems like a hard task, right? We didn't even mean to do that and that's what makes it so much cooler. I noticed people were searching that exact term by analyzing my traffic reports, to the tune of about 1600 searches this week.

After you have a website setup correctly and setup tracking you too will see a trend of keywords and keypharses you never even thought about.

If your company is lacking a great website with logical search engine optimization, let VBWebSites help. Get a Quote

I have a ton of tips and tricks under my belt and will share them from time to time so follow this blog and follow us on facebook. After reading this, remember the most important factor in SEO, write clear "off the hip" content. You don't have to get very technical, just tell it like it is. Then look at your content and revise it a bit throwing in a few key words and key phrases. It takes time to prosper on the web.

November 2009 Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Each and every day there are new opportunities for your company on the web. We aim to enlighten you on the greatest web trends. Social Networking, the latest BUZZ. We have all heard of FaceBook, but are you using it? It doesn't much matter what you're services are or what you sell, Facebook is great way to brand and market what your company does and how your company is reflected. Facebook can also can open up many doors to your company & website.

We were lucky to attend an e-Conference that was held in Washington DC, The "Grow Smart Biz" Conference shared many key elements for the small business achieving positive results from the web. Read our Notes Here: Personality in Business , Brand Equity , Top 10 - Good SEO Tricks , Common Barriers. I promise it's a worthy read no matter how savvy you are and if you have made it thus far, you may as well.

View Newsletter

Always value what our website design and development customers say

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

We can't say enough about the endless hardwork that VBWebsites has put into the design and maintenance of http://www.harperhardwareandtools.com/. It has been a pleasure working with the VBWebsites' Team and we're looking forward to moving on to the next phase of development integrating puchout catalog for EVA via ARIBA Network.

VBWebsites has a firm grasp on search engine optimization which has been the key to driving sales to our website. We are excited about the progress thus far. It's refreshing to work with straight forward professionals that value the importance of educating the customer as well as providing them a quality product and service.

Tee Daniel
Vice President / Sales & Marketing
Harper Hardware, Co. Inc.
Richmond, Virginia

Top 10 - Good SEO Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Here's the top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tricks

#10 - Use keywords in your URL's. Words that people use to find you in a search engine. These words help your site rank for those key words. Example: yourdomain.com/your-service/
#9 - Use a descriptive Domain Name - Be certain that people know what you do by looking at your domain.
#8 - Use logical and simple Navigation - The search engines must find your internal pages to rank them.
#7 - Create Theme based Pages - based on keywords you select
#6 - Use tags and meta tags correctly - Search engines can use meta data to better understand the page. Title, Description, Keywords. Dont confuse the search engines. Don't overuse.
#5 - Use keyword rich anchor text - Example, Dont use the word link when linking to your page. Link to your page by using the keyword for the page that its heading to.
#4 - target good effective keywords - Understand your potential search - what words do customers use?
#3 - Create Good Original Content - Unique content, don't copy!
#2 - Linking, Linking, Linking - Inbound, Outbound, Internal. It's very important. Google built itself with link analysis. Anywhere you can link from helps.
#1 - Know what you are actually up against - Don't think about beating the engines. Write good content and you will prevail.

Get a quote for your website design and optimization.

Brand Equity - Small Business

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Notes from Grow Smart Biz Conference - 11:30 am - 12:30 pm 9/29/09 - Washington DC

Brand Equity - as a Small Business owner, you are nothing without your brand.

When you are out there building your relationships, you need to have something backing you.

Inside Out Branding - How you execute as a small business

Don't refer to your logo as your brand. As a small busines you dont have the money to market like larger companies. How does your company stand out from the rest is how well your company can perform.

5 Steps of Building a brand

Have a Good if not great product / Service
Know the needs of your customers
Establish relationships
Take no with a "but". "can we still have coffee, can I still call you".
Listen to what your customers say.

E-Mail marketing - Branding online - from John Arnold, Constant Contact.

Keep your brand simple, it needs to translate seemlessly.

How do you find new customers?
Find your market through research. Identify target audience. get qualified leeds. Thats the challenge. Give value to your customers. Make sure your marketing efforts pay off and you achive more than you put out.

Educate your customers. Depending on what you do, you may offer something nobody else does, therefore you really have to educate, teach.

Lower your costs by using key technologies on the web. SEO Search engine Marketing, RSS Feeds allow you to syndicate and spread the word about your offerings, use the social marketing sites available (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc).

Your website needs to be an assett and empowered salesman to your company.

Have value with what you offer.

Valuable offers - give incentives
Facts, Give facts on how you seperate from your competition.

Personality in Business - Grow Smart Biz Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Behrman) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Notes from Grow Smart Biz Conference - 11 am - 11:30 am 9/29/09 - Washington DC

Personality in Business

Doing business today is different than it was years ago. Different ways now to market what you offer. Besides web sites, Add Personality to your business:

Through your website.

How many of you have a website? Your About pages is in the top 5 of what website visitors look at. Your visitors want to know about your company. They want to like you / your company and what you offer. Best way to come up with "about" content is to write it and read it to a normal person who may not know what you do. See what they say, what follow up questions they may have.

Show a Sense of Humor so people can relate easier.

Like in life, a man may may want a woman who understands his joke. Woman say, "He makes me laugh".

Apple actually marketed "humor". For instance for their ipod shuffle, the second point is "Do not eat Ipod Shuffle". Apple marketing determined the ipod shuffle was as small as bubble gum so they were able to market the humor in dont eat your ipod shuffle relation.

A smoothie company printed on the bottom of their container, "stop looking at my bottom". They didnt need to do that but used that so people would appreciate a good laugh and share the laugh with someone else.

A restaurant in Vegas has a "Gambler's Special". Its a steak dinner, baked potato and 3 shrimp for $7.77. This item is not on the menu, its just a word of mouth special.

Most important fact here is relating to your customers, coming up with ideas that will get passed around from people.

Customer Loyalty

Because your customers are buying from you today are not necessarily who will buy from you later. Customer Loyalty. Customers telling their friends about your products / services is of upmost importance.

#1 effective way to market is through word of mouth. Word of Mouth Just happens.

Now with tech you can help build word of mouth. Social Marketing. Creating and contributing in networks, forums, etc will help you. Dont focus on the tools, focus on the underlying information. Allows you to connect with people.