Say for example you have an update for an event or a coupon. Make that update first on your company website and have the Facebook update pulled from your site. That way you get the interaction from your customers on your site and on Facebook. This is a slightly technical feature to install as it means that you need to have your developer get an API from Facebook and install that functionality on your site. This is a really handy feature to have and we do it lots of our customers. It means that you post it once and it goes several places.

Also this allows you to control how information gets distributed. 149 million people use Facebook in the US but the vast majority that actually use it are communicating with friends and family but are not using Facebook to communicate with businesses. So you communication needs to be at your website as well not just on Facebook.

As always, just email us or give us a ring if you have questions or are interested in hiring us to help you.

Part of this increase in business is coming from very strong referrals. Another part is a more explanatory style of what it takes to have a successful web presence. I am taking more of an educational approach and customers are really responding to that.

In unrelated news, I have been expanding my use of Twitter. It is an interesting medium. I finally found a way to explain Twitter to my customers in a way that they understand it.

“Twitter is like an email. But it is like a very short email. And everyone can see that email. And most importantly, they do not feel compelled or obligated to either read it or to respond to it. But sometimes they do read it, and sometimes they do respond.”

People seem to get that. I thank the guys over at LosGrillosCollective.com for turning me onto the Fresh Air NPR interview by Terry Gross of Biz Stone (a founder of Twitter). He said some things that sparked me to come up with that analogy. I actually I may have just paraphrased him.

Regardless of why, we love to work on good projects. So bring on the new website and web marketing!

A particular website will attract different users.  There are websites that I have developed with significant traffic whose visitors consistently use FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Chrome in that order.   It is a different audience with more computer savvy users sometimes.

If you are not a web developer, then I recommend Chrome as the best browser to use.  It is made by Google.  It is fast, and dependable.  It will save you time over Internet Explorer especially and also over FireFox too.  Give it a try.  Just Google “Google Chrome.”

Browse Market Share

Looking at data from builtwith.com we see that Drupal and WordPress are the most commonly used technologies for the building and implementing of Content Management and Weblog websites.

This is interesting data from a development standpoint for our customers, especially because AustinBusinessWeb.com designs sites in each of the these major technologies. (Primarily WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.) Normally a client doesn’t care what technology is used, they simply want a specific feature set. That is what we deliver to our clients, the results they want without them having to learn the specific technology to deliver it.

Combing the data for Content Management System and Weblog systems we have the top five used technologies.

Top Providers- Content Management System/Weblog
1 WordPress 3.02%
2 Drupal 1.56%
3 vBulletin 0.70%
4 Joomla! 0.37%
5 MovableType 0.33%

Feel free to contact us should you have any questions about what technologies would be most useful in implementing your small business website.

Using the internet skillfully, you can reduce advertising costs. Part of this is done by high rankings on the search engines for searches relevant to your business. Part of this is done by persuasive and appropriate calls-to-action on your site for potential customers when they do arrive at your site. This applies for whether they arrive from a search engine or from a business card that you hand them.

Seth Godin had some interesting thoughts on this topic.

If I can sell you something without a sales call or expensive ad campaign, I can sell it cheaper.

This not only applies your business, it applies to how we do business at AustinBusinessWeb. We sell by word of mouth. We also sell by getting search engine traffic from people that are actively looking for a new and improved website. Our advertising costs are very low, so we are able to charge lower prices than if our customers were subsidizing expensive advertising channels such as Radio/Print/TV.

Just because someone can watch TV…
does not mean that they can make a hit show.

Just because someone can use the internet…
does not mean that they can make a web page that sells.

Making a web page that converts casual internet searches into actual customers is difficult to do. It requires skill and experience. My point is that making websites that are effective is not as simple as having an idea for your site. It requires executing that idea in a way that gets you customers. What you think drives customers on the internet may not be what you think. That is why you should get a professional that knows what they are doing to work on your site.

If you would like to learn more about how to make your website more effective please send me an email or give me a call. Building websites is a passion of mine, and I would love to talk with you. Please see the Austin Business Web contact page.

2009 has been an extremely good year for Austin Business Web.

In addition to the launching of our parent company NationalBusinessWeb.com, we have gained many small businesses as customers. Those customers are benefiting from increased exposure that a properly designed and implemented website can bring.

For a taste of what the year has brought check out:
Roger Coyner’s site at www.CoynerCpa.com
Polvos Mexican Restaurant at www.PolvosAustin.com

We hope that your 2010 is full of happiness and good fortune!

1. We will never sell or distribute your email, contact, or any other information from our customers or potenital customers.
2. We do not send out unsolicited emails from any third parties.
3. We do send out business updates to our clients and potential clients.   This usually occurs once a quarter and not more frequently than 12 times during an year long period.
4. Anyone can unsubscribe to our business updates at any time. Users will receive a unsubscribe link or alternatively can just email the email on the contact page.
5. We make no warranties about the suitability of any of this website’s products for commercial purposes for any specific intent.  We specifically make no warranties whatsoever about any information given or received.   To the extent that third parties may compromise information contained and/or associated with this website, we are not responsible for such compromise and users of this website acknowledge so by use of the site.
6. You can contact us at any time with any questions you may have.  Just drop us an email and we will get back with you.
7. Summary, we treat your information as if it was our own.