Tag: effective web design

The Art Of (Online) War

Photo credit Felix Mittermeier

All industries have competition and that not only applies on the ground but also online. The goal of any marketer should be to position their clients to give them the advantage over their competition and, of course, make them money while they do it. At Web Force KC, we’ve seen our share of competitive industries and have successfully marketed them to help them grow but not without a fighting a few battles along the way and having to declare all out war on their competition. It’s not a simple task because there really is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for online marketing because the internet is an ever changing landscape and each industry presents its own marketing challenges. The ultimate goal is to get our clients’ websites onto the first page of the search engines, more specifically Google as it sees 92% of all search traffic because once you show up there for what your business does, people can easily find and more importantly contact you to do business. It is all out war in marketing and the competition is always looking to get an edge on you and your marketing strategy.

Local Web Design and SEO in Kansas City, MO

Photo credit Birmingham Museums Trust

At Web Force KC, we take these battles personally which is why we constantly monitor, track, and analyze our clients’ competition. We do this for several reason which I’ll explain in a moment but in the initial stages of putting together a marketing plan, it’s more to get an feel for how the industry works, what the common keywords are, and ultimately learn about the business itself so that we our content writers can speak to it and write about it confidently. We’ve seen our clients’ competition blatantly stealing website content, product images, keyword strategies and their overall marketing plan which sucks but it’s just part of the game. Web Force KC has had to go so far as to install anti-copyright software on many of our clients’ website due to repeated incidents of copyright infringement which, to be quite honest, was somewhat flattering when it first happened but is quite infuriating now (PSA: we have filed suit and will continue to sue for copyright infringement when we find it). Unfortunately, there’s not much that can done legally when our clients’ competitors use a keyword strategy we create or revamp their entire marketing plan to keep up with ours unless of course they slip and accidentally copy content word for word. No one really owns the rights to any keywords or keyword sets (unless perhaps they contain a business’ name which is not a wise idea) so it then becomes a matter using keywords more effectively to win. Tracking how our clients rank for specific keywords and keyword sets on Google that apply to their business is a way to show progress and performance but we also track the competition as well to keep ourselves in check. Slowly but surely as our marketing plan unfolds, we topple the competition that are sometimes huge companies with massive marketing budgets that have no idea what happened until it’s too late which is exactly where we want them: scrambling on the defense. We exploit the competitors’ online weaknesses using our strengths and protect our clients’ rankings and online presence with a continuous assault of content and adjusting strategically when necessary.

It’s not all out war in a traditional sense but it has become more and more apparent that many of our clients’ competition have had to make dramatic adjustments to their marketing plans due to our efforts which we take a lot of pride in and thoroughly enjoy. It’s not a matter of working harder on a clients’ marketing campaign by producing more content more frequently but instead it’s working smarter, more strategically, and always being one step ahead of the competition. When our clients’ competition is trying to play catch-up and we continue to relentlessly move forward, that’s a win and that’s what Web Force KC does. Winning the war online against your competitors will better enable you to win the war on the ground which is what effective marketing should do.

Call Web Force KC at (816) 462-9128 for web design and online marketing in Kansas City.

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April 23, 2020
What Does Your Website Do?
Photo credit Carl Heyerdahl

What does your website do? Seems like a pretty simple question, right? But when I meet with business owners for the first time, they can rarely give me a good answer. More often than not, they say, “nothing,” which is probably why they are meeting with me. So, I’ve learned to ask this instead: “What do your want your website to do that it isn’t currently doing?” and it’s at that point the answers start flowing like a river. Of course, you can probably guess that the most common answer is “make me more money” and that’s a perfect answer because that’s what a website should do, right? The question then becomes “How can your website make you money?” and that’s when things get interesting.

Local Web Design in Kansas City

I am lucky enough to get paid to play on the web pretty much all day, every day with very few exceptions and I see a TON of websites. Over the years I feel like I’ve become a mean critic of most of the websites I see because it seems like they are more of a design dog and pony show without a quick call to action which is typically how websites generate income. For the most part, the local businesses that I work with want 3 things from their websites:
- Phone Calls
- Customers getting directions to their location(s)
- Email inquiries/quotes on services
Seems pretty cut and dried right? It’s actually not so easy. You see, just because you build a website, doesn’t necessarily mean your customers will come (Field of Dreams was somewhat misleading). In order for a website to generate traffic, it must be easily found and not just for the name of your business but rather for what you do (lawn care, copyright attorney, handyman, bar and grill, pizza delivery, smoke shop, gas station, brewery, dry cleaner, car wash, tattoo shop, etc.). That’s where Web Force KC comes in. We’ll never claim to build the most gorgeous websites you’ve ever seen but you can be damn sure that they will be found by potential customers when they need your product(s) and/or service(s) locally.

Photo Credit Christian Wiediger

The way that we approach web design is by asking simple questions like “How do you want your customers to find you? Do you want more calls, emails, or both? Do you have a physical location that you want customers to come to?” The answers to these questions are how we design your website meaning a business that wants more phone calls would have their phone number listed prominently and repeatedly through the website along with perhaps a ‘Click To Call‘ button for mobile searchers. The same applies to a website designed to capture more emails. Obviously a simple and easy to fill out contact form would likely be placed and more importantly visible all over the site. (We discourage displaying actual email addresses as it will tends to generate a TON of spam.) Brick and mortar locations that want foot traffic coming through the door will rely heavily on Google maps integration and calls to action that suggest visitors to the site “Click To Get Directions.” So I guess the real question becomes ‘What do you want people to do when they are on your website?‘

You would think that this is all common sense and the average web designer would have a firm understanding of how this all works but the fact is that most don’t. We’ve rebuilt countless websites that literally had no coherent direction, no call to action and worst of all no traffic going to them. We refer to these types websites as “billboards in the middle of a very vast desert.” No one ever sees them and they do nothing for the business.

Think of your website as the frame and interior of a vehicle. It may look ultra cool and have fancy functionality but without an engine, it just sits there, going nowhere, doing nothing. Web Force KC builds websites that cater to the search engines and ultimately make money for our clients. With every web design project we’ve taken on, the results and stats have been overwhelmingly positive for our clients as their websites begin to show up on the search engines for what they do and convert the searcher into an opportunity for them to add new customers. If you’re website is doing nothing for your business, call Web Force KC at (816) 462-9128 for a free consultation.

Call Web Force KC at (816) 462-9128 for web design and online marketing in Kansas City.

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April 21, 2020