BB Creative Blog

Is the Wizard of Oz Hiding Behind Your Website?

Another great article from Karrie Kohlhaas who wrote the article we commented on 6/14/06.

One problem we see when working with clients to create websites, is they are scared to discuss their organizations size and use “We.”  Often they portray themselves as less substantial then they are.  In a way the below discusses the opposite problem: when a business discusses itself is much bigger then it is in an discreditable way.  No matter the organization’s site a company or person must discuss themselves and their experience on the website.  Potential customers have to have a way to identify with the PEOPLE behind the site and feel like there is a real legitimate company behind the website as well as specific people who you feel deliver will deliver great service.  You will be out of the woods if you:

1. Easy to find contact info.  List an email, address, and PHONE NUMBER!  If you don’t have a brick and mortar location list a PO Box or at least the city and state you are in.
2. Have bios of the principals and all employees if possible.  Pictures are a great addition.  Our clients are often resistant to adding photos because they are self conscious.  You have to let this go, as the objective of a website is for people to connect with you (and feel that they can trust you) and get in touch or buy something directly from the website.
3. Have some combination of the following …  company history, overview, mission and/or vision.
4. Testimonials are probably the best way to can web customer trust!

Click to read the article on this topic!

Long time client, Hunter and Equitation trainer, Beverly Jovais and her business, Chestnut Hill, have been profiled in the July issue of Sidelines Magazine. Sidelines Magazine is well-known hunter jumper magazine that is “devoted to the people and personalities that make the horse world exciting.”  Each issue, the magazine features prominent trainers in different equestrian sports in a “Five Questions” column.  Among the items discussed, Beverly shares the story of her move West from the East Coast.  In addition to being a trainer, Beverly is a “r” judges license. To read the article, click here!

One of the easiest thing we all can do to” Go GREEN!” at home or in the office is to replaced existing light bulbs with compact fluorescent.  It seems that nothing is easy and we thought we would post this notice.  Please still replace those blubs (just be careful when they break!).  Article from snopes.com.

Claim:   When broken, energy-saving light bulbs (CFLs) loose dangerous amounts of mercury into a home.

Status:   Multiple:

• CFLs contain mercury, a dangerous substance:   True.
• While mercury stays safely contained in intact CFLs, it escapes from broken CFLs into the immediate surroundings:   True.
• The amount of mercury contained in one CFL bulb poses a grave danger to a home’s inhabitants:   False.
• But folks do need to handle the breakage of a CFL bulb with a great deal of care and follow certain procedures in removing the broken bulb and its contents from the home:   True.
• An environmental clean-up crew needs be called in to deal with the mercury dispersed by one broken CFL bulb:   False.

Just a quick note to check out the updates on Alder Lane Farm’s sale page, click here!  All the photos are by a professional photographers (mostly at horse shows).   Can’t you see the tremendous difference and sense these horses are high quality?  Excellent photos are essential when selling “quality imported show horses.” This is our favorite photo.

Mail Washer Pro

It seems like one of the biggest battles in Business is Spam.  We all spend too much time sorting through Spam.  Here is a tool for Windows based computers.  I used to have it and dearly miss it.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work Microsoft Exchange Servers but does work with all standard pop boxes (and comcast, etc.).  It’s only $40 and you can try free for 30 days.  Click here for more info.

Just a useful spam filter tool for Mac’s SpamSieve. It looks like it’s only $30, and think of all the time you will save!  Here are just some of the features…

• Powerful Bayesian spam filtering results in high accuracy and almost no false positives. It adapts to the mail that you receive to get even better with time. Some other e-mail clients include Bayesian filters, but SpamSieve is more accurate.
• Integrates with your e-mail client for a superior user experience. Plus, you get the same great filtering if you ever switch e-mail clients or use more than one at a time.
• Integrates with the Mac OS X Address Book (and also Eudora’s and Entourage’s address books) so that messages from friends and colleagues are never marked as spam.
• Automatically maintains a blocklist so that it can instantly adapt to spam messages sent from particular addresses, and catch 100% of them.
• Automatically maintains a whitelist to guarantee that messages from particular senders or mailing lists are never marked as spam, without cluttering your address book with these addresses.
• You can customize the whitelist and blocklist, adding sophisticated rules that match various message headers, or the message body. The rules can match text in a variety of ways, including using regular expressions.

We have the pleasure of announcing a new website launch:

This website will support Cynthia’s new EFT Practice. She’s already an established Certified Life Coach.  Some of the extra

• Email “News & Updates” Sign up form on every page of the site.  The list stores in a handy downloadable Excel friendly format.  She can also upload a list of her existing clients to alert them to new workshops and events.
• All new sign-up’s go directly to Cynthia so she choose to contact each person with a personal “Hello!” This is a great way to build an emerging practice.
• Paypal.com buttons are on her Teleclasses and Workshops page.  Clients and participants can quickly pay for Cynthia’s one-on-one services and her many events.
• Affiliate Programs: Cynthia will save time just pointing people to her site when referring to her favorite websites and EFT products.  The big perk is that she will generate passive income from her website!

Sometimes discussing marketing gets so dry and confusing for the novice.  The below takes the Fundementals of Marketing and explanations.  Find out what the below mean in Marketing Terms and how to use them with your website…

Click to read the Article!

“You’ve got to think (think!) ’bout what you’re tryin’ to do to me.” (Think)

“Chain, chain chain. Every chain’s got a weak link.” (Chain of Fools)

“R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find out what it means to me.” (Respect)

“Forever and ever you’ll stay in my heart and I will love you.” (Say a Little Prayer)

“Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me.” (Respect)

Click to read the Article!

Just heard a story on the radio about candidates and campaign. They are trying to figure out how to deal with with negative rumors (Swift Boat in 2008). The strategy is managing first page placement on search engines. Have enough pages, articles, and blog posts on the candidate\’s website or a related site, that addresses the story or rumor. The pages either refute the story or spin it positively. Campaign marketers figure when a voter googles the story they will see all proper on message page. They also don\’t think that people won\’t look past the first page to see more web listing that might deal with the story unfavorably. One quote was “the [on message] response becomes the story.” The lesson? You can’t control information but you can control first page placement…

We are all for Client Education! Check out these FREE Web Seminars.  When you watch and listen to these seminars, it’s easy to see how you could give them to your own client base (and potential client base).  Stay tuned for more free webinars!

Five B2B Web Analytics Driven Marketing Lessons You Can’t Afford to Ignore by Michael Katz & Elana Anderson Thursday, June 19 @ 1pm EST, 10am PST Cost: FREE | Register now!

Writing Compelling PPC Ads
July 9, 2008 1:00pm (EST)
Cost: FREE Webcast | Register now!

Getting clicks on your paid listings can be a challenge. You need to compel the consumer to click through, yet your ad must also comply with editorial standards controlling what you can say and even the punctuation you can use. You also want the RIGHT type of click. Choose your words poorly, and the wrong audience will come, costing you money and offering no hope of conversion. This webcast looks at ways to get the right clicks.Writing Compelling PPC Ads
July 9, 2008 1:00pm (EST)
Cost: FREE Webcast | Register now!

Getting clicks on your paid listings can be a challenge. You need to compel the consumer to click through, yet your ad must also comply with editorial standards controlling what you can say and even the punctuation you can use. You also want the RIGHT type of click. Choose your words poorly, and the wrong audience will come, costing you money and offering no hope of conversion. This webcast looks at ways to get the right clicks.