i-point web design

Leah Helfgott

You may have read our previous story, entitled “I Use the Web, But What’s This Twitter? The Social Media Revolution Explained,” where we explored the impact of social media in politics, business, and culture. Here we take a practical look at social media, offering you and your company or organization a guide on how to get started with your own social media campaign.

No doubt about it, it’s been a tough year. From back offices to board rooms, everyone’s been feeling the pinch. And somehow, suddenly, there just isn’t a whole lot of money for getting your message out. Ads and direct mail campaigns are too pricey and maybe you’ve been eyeing the Internet as an inexpensive option. Indeed, you realize, people are flocking in droves toward social media, and isn’t it time you get on the band-wagon?

Yes, it is time. If you have a website, it is almost assumed at this point that you also have some of those social media icons on it. You know, the blue “f” for Facebook, the aqua “t” for Twitter, and maybe an icon for a Blog. And if you don’t have a website yet, you’re probably thinking it’s cheaper to start with social media. It is.

But where do you start?

Read the Full Article on page 56 of In Fashion Magazine’s January Issue >

 #1 – “I Don’t Need a Twitter Account”

Or so I thought. I think many of us thought that. We just assumed that Facebook was enough. But we were wrong. As it turns out, Facebook is for chatting with people you know and sharing family pics, but Twitter is for meeting new people and sharing thoughts and ideas. How enlightening! Every day I find more and more interesting articles that I never would have read if not for Twitter. Twitter has been a real eye-opener for me.

#2 – “Fax it to me”

In case you are still in the 90’s, faxes are becoming obsolete. In fact, the “fax number” I give out isn’t even a real fax number. It’s a code that PDF’s their fax and sends it to me via email. And half the time, the client isn’t “faxing” anything either – they’re just scanning it in. I wonder if my grandkids will even know what the word “fax” means. They’ll probably just laugh at me; you know, the way I laugh when my grandmother tells me she went to see a great “picture” at the movie theater.

#3 – “I Should Charge More”

With the economy still reeling from last year’s bottom-out, I have honestly felt guilty raising my prices. What’s more, my clients come to me with much lower cost expectations. They see people charging a lot less for websites. And with blogging sites so popular, everyone seems to think “I can have a website too!” Blogs are great, don’t get me wrong, but the day will come when a client decides they don’t need a website because they can start a free blog, and I, the designer, will lose out. I dread this day, but hope that people will still value web artists and the custom designs we offer.

And there you have it: three things I said in 2009 that didn’t happen. What did you say?

As the blog world has evolved, so have we. We now invite you to join our conversation about websites, web design, writing, and social media. Please keep comments appropriate and on topic. Thanks, we hope to hear from you soon!

These days everybody’s talking about blogs as the wave of the future.  But how can a blog enhance your business?

1. The first reason to blog is that you can form a personal connection with potential clients through your blog. Your “voice” comes through on the blog, and a community can be formed through conversations which take place on comments. Because blogs are less formal than websites, a blog on your website gives you an opportunity to combine the two styles.
2. Blogs give people a reason to keep coming back to your site. If your blog is updated periodically, it draws your readers back again and again. Your product or service remains fresh in their minds, making them likely to think of you next time they need what you offer or hear of someone who does.
3. Search engines love blogs because they are always producing new content. It is therefore fairly easy to rank high on search engine results with a blog. People searching for information about your niche will find your blog, and once they’ve seen your blog, they are likely to check out your website too.

Whether you are creating a new website, or thinking about improving an existing one, consider adding a blog. It’s like having a second website – blog readers will be referred to your website and website users will automatically look for the blog tab. You’ll get more traffic AND more clients.

I-point web design announces the launch of the new Venturis Capital website at www.venturiscap.com. Venturis Capital is a private real estate investment firm based in New York City that specifically targets distressed real estate debt. Venturis Capital and Venturis Inc are part of the Venturis group of companies. See www.venturiscap.com for more information.