Internet Marketing Tycoon

**LeetPCUser** · 06-12-2008, 03:02 PM

My web design company, located in my sig, has had a hard time drawing customers. Our work and prices are good I am just not sure how to drive internet sales. With a pretty saturated market it makes it quite hard to get users to go with my service. I can always get local and small town places, but that involves time I do not have to spend.

Any ideas on how to market my services would be very helpful.

**vangogh** · 06-12-2008, 10:30 PM

You're going to have to spend the time I'm afraid. Web design is a competitive market. Your work and prices are good. So are mine and so are many other people here. And all of us combined make up only a very small part of all the web designers online.

I'm not trying to be obnoxious at all, but ask yourself why should your site rank well at the moment for web design related phrases? Does it honestly deserve to rank higher than all the other web design sites out there?

Having said that it doesn't look like any optimization has gone into your site. Have you done any keyword research beyond the obvious 'web design' logo design' etc? I see every page title on your site is the same. It's your domain name followed by 'solutions at a great price' Are people searching for the phrase 'solutions at a great price'? Probably not and even if they were is there any reason to think the solution they want is web design?

You can optimize online for your local market. When I search 'web design' (no quotes) at Google 247,000,000 results are returned. When I add Wisconsin to the end of the query (again no quotes) the results drop to 626,000. I don't see specifically what part of Wisconsin you're from, but going even more local should continue to reduce the competition.

Optimize for phrases longer than 'web design' too. Try things like:

web design services wisconsin
professional web design services wisconsin
affordable web design services wisconsin
custom web design services wisconsin
web design company wisconsin

and those are really the obvious ones. The idea is you're site is small and new and isn't going to rank for the phrases with the most searches for awhile. You have to go deeper into the search tail and find phrases where you can compete and target those.

web design services wisconsin

also targets

web design
web design services
design services wisconsin

Do the same for logos, graphic design, etc.

Build out your site too. Were someone to land on it you're not doing much to convince them to contact you. Your home page is all about you. Potential clients don't care about you. They want to know what you can do for them. Put the emphasis on the client.

Your portfolio is nice, but it's not enough. From the moment I land on your site you need to be persuading me that I should contact you instead of any of the millions of other companies that offer the same services and also have a nice portfolio.

That's one reason I suggest the local market. You're no longer one among millions, you're now one among thousands. Much better odds. That also gives you a way to focus your content specifically to the market. I've never been to Wisconsin, but I feel safe in saying the people there are different from the people in NY or LA. They'll respond to different things.

Many people like to work with someone who's office they can visit even if they never do. A client of mine chose me solely because we belonged to the same chamber of commerce. She wanted to know here web designer was close by just in case. We've never met and maybe never will.

it doesn't have to be a local market you go after either. You could decide you're going to be the web designer for the medical industry or the auto industry and focus on industry instead of geography.

The gist is find a market where you can compete and expand from there. You are going to have to spend time though and it is going to take hard work. You have to accept that before anything else.

Hope something above helps.

**LeetPCUser** · 06-16-2008, 10:20 AM

Thank you. I am going to start implementing these practices into my site.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 03:36 PM

I'm a little confused as to why you don't have time to spend getting local and small town places? If they bring you in business and money, isn't that what your goal is? I can understand if you don't want to canvas businesses by going door to door because that takes a lot of time, but why not run an ad in local papers? Ask businesses that you've done work for to write up a little testimonial that you can put on your site. (Edit: I just saw that you have a few testimonials, but a few more wouldn't hurt.) You can also ask them to refer you because word of mouth is a big deal.

Do you have business cards? Everywhere you go, you should be a walking, talking advertisement for your company. Not that you have to be aggressive, but your career will probably come up in a lot of conversations at social functions. People should know that you do web design and you should be prepared to give them contact information when they ask for it. If you find that you're not getting a whole lot of connections this way, network. I'd be willing to bet that there are business breakfasts or networks that you can attend in your area.

**LeetPCUser** · 06-16-2008, 04:18 PM

I meant I couldn't go door to door at businesses. I work full time and by the time I get home I don't have a lot of time to run around. I didn't even think of a newspaper ad. Do you think the ad would actually work? I was thinking of trying Google Adwords, but I want to get my site redesigned a bit. I am going to try and change the keywords as well as the information on the front page. After that I think I should make my portfolio look a bit different.

**LeetPCUser** · 05:33 PM

I have been working on some things and thought I would put this for my main text. What do you guys think?

Breakpoint Designs

Breakpoint Designs is a professional web design company specializing in custom web, logo and graphic design. With every design we make we promise to uphold Internet standards in a timely manner. We promise to make your website viewable to the widest audience possible. We have provided websites for non-profit organizations, social groups, city groups and small businesses.

Why Choose Breakpoint Designs

2 years of web design experience
We are easy to work with and get to know you
Ordering a website through our company is fast and inexpensive
Our websites are held to the highest Internet standards and are search engine friendly
Excellent customer service
Unlike other web design companies you are in charge, not just a number

Our Philosophy

At Breakpoint Designs we believe the customer should have control of their website at an affordable rate. It is our belief that web design companies either charge too much for complete customization or they charge too little and do not give you much of a choice. We provide solutions at great prices!

Side Note: below are the keywords I plan on using and the META description.

Web Design Services Milwaukee
Logo Design Services Milwaukee
Graphic Design Services Milwaukee
Web Design Services Wisconsin
Logo Design Services Wisconsin
Graphic Design Services Wisconsin
Web Design Services Madison
Logo Design Services Madison
Graphic Design Services Madison
Website Redesign Services Wisconsin
Website Redesign Services Milwaukee
Logo Redesign Services
Logo Redesign Services Wisconsin
Custom Web Design Madison
Custom Web Design Milwaukee
Custom Web Design Madison
Freelance Web Design
Freelance Web Design Wisconsin
Freelance Web Design Milwaukee
Freelance Web Design Madison

Breakpoint Designs is a Wisconsin based web design company specialized in website design, logo design and graphic design.

**vangogh** · 06-16-2008, 07:54 PM

Looks pretty good. It can always be improved, but it seems pretty good for the most part.

With the keywords keep in mind you can't optimize a page for all of them. You might try creating one page specifically for each of your web design, logo design, and graphic design services.

You could then use a page title on your web design page like:

Freelance web design services Milwaukee, WI

Then you'd use the phrase again in your copy and use words like custom and the other cities in the area on the page. Don't force the words into the page. Write naturally and always write for real people first and search engines second.

**LeetPCUser** · 06-17-2008, 01:13 PM

I like to include a header file so that doesn't exactly work. Look at my website. I changed the front page, description, keywords, title and portfolio. Does this lure you in more as a reader?

**vangogh** · 06-17-2008, 06:14 PM

I'm not following what you can't do with the included header file. I include header files too. Sometimes I'll leave the <head> section on each page and not have it as part of the include, but even if you do you can set up variables to make the info unique on all pages.

I think the home page is pretty good. It instantly lets people know what you do and directs them to the most appropriate place. I wouldn't worry about meta keywords. They aren't going to have an effect on where your pages rank. It's fine to leave them, but know they aren't useful.

You might want to write your meta description in a way that entices someone to click. What you've written isn't bad, but you might start with something like "Get a unique logo at an affordable price" or something similar. Something with a call to action to invite the click.

**LeetPCUser** · 06-17-2008, 06:43 PM

That is a really good idea. I would have that different on each page? Would it be "Get a website, logo or graphic at an affordable price!"?

**vangogh** · 06-18-2008, 07:50 PM

I would write the title to match the content on the page. So your logo design page might be:

Affordable logo design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Breakpoint Designs

and your other pages would focus on the keyword phrases related to the content on those pages. I'd probably add the geographic location on all or most of your pages to help you rank locally. I think it's a good idea to add your company name for branding purposes. Some people like to place the company name at the front, but I think unless you already have a strong brand it's better at the end. You could always mix it up. I might opt for branding on my home page for instance.

You'll want to do some keyword research in order to find phrases where you can compete and then use phrases you find in your titles, copy, etc.

You don't want your title to read like a series of keywords. Have it read well for real people. Remember that it's a real person who's going to click the link to your site in search results. You'll find phrases when researching like:

web design
web design services
affordable web design
professional web design
web design templates

etc.

You'd pick the phrases that best represent a given page or even develop pages around a group of phrases. Using some of the phrases above your page title could be:

Professional Web Design Services in Madison, Wisconsin | Breakpoint Designs

That title is optimized for:

web design
professional web design
web design services
professional web design services
web design services madison
web design services madison wisconsin

That's how you get several phrases on the same page. Web design is competitive so you aren't going to rank well for the phrase 'web design,' but you might be able to rank for 'professional web design services madison wisconsin' Obviously not as many people will search for the longer phrase, but if you can be above the fold on the first page for that phrase you should get traffic from it.

As you page and site gathers more links you'll be able to rank better for the more generic phrases.

Note that the phrases above are just off the top of my head for example. They aren't necessarily the best phrases. Just some quick examples based on phrases I know people are trying to rank for.