About 15 years ago, I took my first and only “real job” in the internet industry (at MD Technology in Jacksonville, Florida — they are no longer around). I was hired as an hourly intern to help with some basic website design and coding. I was 15 years old at the time and couldn’t have been happier to go sit in a cubical and hack away in Photoshop and craft up what was likely horrible HTML in a text editor. I’ve always been an entrepreneur (started my first concession business at 8) and I quickly realized I could do a lot better than sitting in a cubical for the rest of my life.

At the age of 17, while a junior at Nease High School, I starting doing web design and development work  outside of my “real job” with my friend, Justin Filoseta. Thirteen years ago, Design Extensions was born. Justin went off to college and I decided to keep growing the business… slowly. I think our total revenue for the first year was about $5,000. But when all you’ve got to pay for is movies on the weekend and gas in your car, it was a start.

I took any work I could get and would do it for just about nothing. Honestly, some of my early work was bad — really bad. But it was a starting place and it was a planted seed.

Just after getting married (9 years ago this month), I worried I wouldn’t be able to grow the company large enough to support a family, have children, allow my wife to stay home with them, etc. I was running the business, waiting tables, and going to school. Something had to give.

My uncle, Tim Owen, runs a very successful insurance agency with his wife Wendy. He has given me a lot of advice over the years that has been a huge component to the company’s growth. I remember early one morning at his house, I was about 12, and he helped me craft an acronym for my latest business at the time: Jay’s Action Yard Service. I later turned that name that into my first flyer design on our faithful, family Performa 575 at home with my dad.

My uncle’s business is very successful and I thought it might be a new path for me. I talked to him about working for him. I figured I could learn his business and one day, he could fade out and I could fade in. Money problems solved — or so I thought.

He gave me the job and my plan was to just run Design Extensions as a hobby because I enjoyed it. I worked with him for about six months. During that time, I learned more about running a business, managing clients, and helping people than school could have ever taught me. What I also learned was that the insurance business was not my cup of tea. I remember telling my wife how I felt and she told me to follow my dream. That dream was Design Extensions. The next morning I broke the news to my uncle that I had decided to focus on my business and “take it to the next level” (whatever that means). I was so thankful for the time I spent with him and the knowledge I gained.

Since that time, the business as grown year over year (in revenue & profit). I’ve gone from being a one man show to having an incredible team of guys that are great to work with and take our quality to a level higher than I could achieve alone.

There are a few key things that I believe have allowed the business to continue to grow and prosper over the years…

1. Faith that God is in control and I am not (often easier said that believed)
2. Caring about people more than money (a slowly learned behavior)
3. Keeping expenses low (lean startup before that was a “thing”)
4. Having a purpose behind growth (for me, it’s my family)
5. Doing great work and asking for referrals (referrals, referrals, referrals… I can’t stress it enough!)

A huge thank you to the many of you who have helped Design Extensions grow along the way. There are too many to name, but you know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We’re not perfect, not by a long shot. Some folks probably wouldn’t even say we’re that great. We screw up a lot, but when we do, we work hard to correct it, learn from those mistakes and try not do the same thing again.

We may not be the biggest, baddest, coolest design agency around, but to me, it’s family and that’s good enough.

To my team, thank you for making us look good, for working hard, and for putting up with me. Here’s to the past 13 and many more to come (Lord wiling).

- Jay Owen

The post 13 years and counting… appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

One of the most interesting speeches was in regards to the way the world changed with the invention of the automobile, and how subsequently the screen is the game changer for our generation. The world adapted and the way we do life was forever changed. Similarly the screen has  revolutionized our lives in almost every way. And with advances in size, and cost it will continue  to do so.

The best benefit from the weekend was the sense of excitement that everyone leaving seemed to have. It truly is a great time to be a designer, and with the prevalence of the internet, it is especially a great time to be in web design. For designers, and programmers, if you get the chance to attend the Front-End Design Conference next year it will be sure to be a pleasure.

-Joe Dykeman

Project Manager

The post Front-End Conference appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Networking and internet marketing have a lot in common regarding this…

Many people show up at networking events and shuffle around the room handing out their own cards and talking about their own businesses as quickly as possible. Later, they get back to the office and wonder why they don’t have a flood of calls coming in. They then assume that networking or the group they attended are a bust because they didn’t get any business from the first visit.

Internet marketing is much the same. Many business owners expect to launch a website and magically start seeing business flying in the door. If their site is not #1 on Google the first day out the gate, there must be something wrong with the website. Or business owners on Twitter and Facebook spend countless hours talking about themselves and then wonder why it’s not working. It must be the fault of the social media networks, right?

The reality of course is far from this. Networking and internet marketing take time. They are not vehicles of instant gratification, but they can be HUGE assets to your businesses growth in the long-term. It’s all about planting seeds, building relationships, and laying a foundation for the future with both of these.

With networking, get involved in your local community through different types of groups. We’re a part of a great BNI group, The St. Johns Business Network and also members of the St. Johns Chamber of Commerce. Our goal in each of these organizations is to grow relationships and help others first. When you reach out to help others, they will want to reach back and help you!

The same goes for online marketing. Spending quality time building a network of relationships on Twitter and Facebook is valuable for business, but it takes time to turn that into business. Search engine optimization is the same way, it takes time to build good results that will last a long time.

On that note, how can we help you today?

The post Networking, Internet Marketing, & Instant Gratification appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

But while their grief is understandable, there seems to be a huge misconception about changes to Google’s search algorithm. That’s because they aren’t really changes at all, but small shifts designed to make the world’s largest search engine better at the same things it’s been trying to do for years.

Simply put, Google doesn’t like “over-optimized” websites because the searchers who use Google don’t like them, either. It isn’t helpful for men and women who want to find answers, or products, to come upon pages filled with copied text or stuffed keywords. And so, all the major search engines are doing what they can to deemphasize those listings – and will likely continue to do so in the future.

That doesn’t only say things about the current state of search engine optimization, but where the future is headed, as well. Here are a few trends you can expect to continue:

Search engines will keep looking for natural value. In other words, they want to prioritize websites that seem to be focused on giving the most information. Where does that line fall, and what is considered “over-optimization”? There aren’t any clear answers, but expect that scrutiny will get tighter.

Google and the other engines are paying attention to the way searchers treat you. The surest indicator of a high-value website is the way searchers use it, and how other webmasters link to it. In addition to links, it’s also possible that factors like bounce rates and time on site will become increasingly important in the future.

The social media element of SEO is increasing. Another way that the major search engines can measure interest in your website is by monitoring social media posts, updates, and links. Expect the relationship between search engine optimization and social media marketing to keep growing stronger.

Google isn’t going to want to see anything it considers cheating. These include copied content, keyword stuffing, buying links, and so much more. As a general rule of thumb, if you are doing something only for the search engine optimization benefit, it’s likely to get decreasing returns as time goes on.

Search is changing all the time, but the biggest shifts in Google’s algorithm aren’t due to a whole new set of ideas, but the narrowing focus on the same priorities that have been there for a long time.

The post The Biggest Misconception About Changes to Google’s Algorithm appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

I had the privilege of attending the LessMoney Conference last week. It’s hosted by Steve & Allan from LessEverything. This was a two day event held in St. Petersburg, Florida.

This is NOT your typical conference. Most conferences you show up, get a name badge, grab a snack and get comfortable listening to a speaker preach from a stage. LessMoney totally blows that format out of the water. The format was casual but still highly informative.

While they did have some terrific ”speakers” lined up, including Geoff DiMasi from p’unkave, Carl Smith from ngen works, Chad Pytel from Thoughtbot, and Steve & Allan from LessEverything, the focus was not on listening to them stand up on stage and talk. Instead, the room was setup with chairs all around the edges (probably around 50 total). Steve and Allan would help kick off discussions that were led by the speakers. The biggest part of the event was attendees being able to ask questions and get involved. No question was left unanswered.

The limited size of the event gave attendees more access to the speakers for questions.

The other thing I loved was that the speakers didn’t always agree on certain topics. That showed there are many ways down a successful path. (Or… ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ as they would say ‘back home’) The biggest disagreement point was probably over how pricing was handled. From the four speaking companies, there were three different ways they handled billing: Hourly, Weekly, and Flat/Value based pricing. Attendees got to hear pros and cons for each of the billing styles. We have always been a flat/value based pricing setup and think it works best for us and our clients.

Other topics included team time management, marketing vs. selling, hiring, prospecting, web design, graphic design, Internet marketing, app development, and much more.

This event was all about getting questions asked, kicking around ideas, and learning how other very successful business owners handle things. The crowd was a mix of programmers, business owners, & designers for the most part.

Event after 13 years of business, we have a LOT still to learn and LessMoney conference was a great resource of varied information that will help us grow.

If you can’t handle a kicked back, casual event, it’s probably not a good fit for you, but if you want to be around a lot of smart, funny, and engaging personalities who have proven success, be there next year.

The post LessMoney Conference Review appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Want to learn some of the latest news in online marketing, for free? Check out our May 2012 newsletter below:

While many of our clients are in the local Jacksonville or St. Augustine, Florida area, we’re not limited to the customers we can serve and work with SEO clients around the country.

The post Free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Newsletter appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

JOB DESCRIPTION
If you’re tired of the corporate grind and looking for a team with a flexible work environment, keep reading. Our environment is fast-paced, hard-working, and constantly learning. We work with small and medium sized businesses all over the country and need more team members to help improve our constantly growing process.

This position will focus on providing immediate programming support to client projects as needed. It will also include managing a team of diversified programmers to accomplish client projects within the scope and timeline required.

We work in a virtual environment with lots of online collaboration, so your physical location doesn’t matter to much. You do need to be available for standard business hours from 9AM-5PM as well as for any project emergencies (if needed and hopefully very rare).
ABOUT THE PROJECTS & SYSTEMS
We work with a variety of projects and systems, from very basic CMS systems to very advanced, custom developed PHP apps. Some run a modern, current codebase and some were built over a decade ago and still need to be maintained. We need someone who is flexible enough to work in a variety of projects and systems

• Manage a team of up to 6 other programmers for various client projects.
• Assign tasks, review work, bug test, troubleshoot, and communicate clearly with the client.
• Assist with correcting coding errors or bugs in projects that may be a priority.
• Collaborate with the design team to provide input on features.
• Provide feedback to the team regarding ideas on improving programming workflows, frameworks, and plans

MUST HAVES:
4+ years of real world experience in web application development with specific experience in PHP, MySQL, Javascript, jQuery, AJAX and HTML/CSS. Experience with WordPress development as well as working with e-commerce systems written in PHP.

Project management and team leading experience also needed.

LOCATION:
One of the perks? Work from wherever you like. One exception, we’re looking for someone on the east coast time zone. You do not need to relocate, but we’d prefer you be in our timezone for easier communication during regular working hours.

The post JOB OPENING: Web Applications Lead Developer appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

JOB DESCRIPTION
If you’re tired of the corporate grind and looking for a team with a flexible work environment, keep reading. Our environment is fast-paced, hard-working, and constantly learning. We work with small and medium sized businesses all over the country and need more team members to help improve our constantly growing process.

This position will focus on providing immediate design support to our clients with the guidance from our Creative Director. Tasks will include general print design work such as logos, business cards, brochures, flyers, newsletters, etc. and could include design of website layouts and frameWe work in a virtual environment with lots of online collaboration, so your physical location doesn’t matter to much. Since this is a contract-hourly position to start with, you don’t need to be available within specific time-frames, just need to be able to complete tasks by the assigned dates.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
• Creatively design client materials (web & print)
• Work with our creative director to achieve client requested results

MUST HAVES:
2+ years of real world experience with Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, etc.) and example portfolio of both print and web design work completed.

LOCATION:
One of the perks? Work from wherever you like. One exception, we’re looking for someone on the east coast time zone. You do not need to relocate, but we’d prefer you be in our timezone for easier communication during regular working hours.

Interested? Contact jobs@designextensions.com

The post JOB OPENING: Assistant Graphic Designer appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Not surprisingly, the same principle applies to search engine optimization.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to be everything for every potential customer, or targeting a half-dozen potentially profitable keywords and phrases on every page. Resist the urge. The best SEO content isn’t the longest, or even the most keyword-rich, but the content that’s pointed firmly in the right direction.

Here are three quick tips to help you study your SEO aim:

Target one keyword or phrase per page. Pick one term to focus on, and then devote your webpage, blog post, or article specifically towards it. That will keep you from having to form awkward sentences and headlines to mention it two or three times. Once you have targeted that keyword or phrase a few times, move on to the next one.

Make a keyword list and move through it. That approach is going to take more time, but you’ll achieve better longer-term results by thinking week to week and building slowly, rather than trying to optimize your site for dozens of keywords at once. Remember that good SEO takes a little bit of patience.

Know where your profits are. The keywords you should target first aren’t necessarily the ones that get the most traffic, but the ones that convert at the highest rate. Know your metrics well enough to identify them, and concentrate your firepower where it matters most.

Concentration, focus, and persistence are more important to search engine optimization than almost anything else. Keep that in mind and you’ll always be firing your optimized content with a steady hand. SEO can be confusing and many businesses don’t understand how it all works, Design Extensions can help your website rank higher, for the keywords that people actually use, that convert searches to dollars.

The post How Steady is Your SEO Aim? appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

The goal today was to run for 30 minutes. I don’t like to run for time, I prefer to run for distance. When you run for time, there is no incentive to go faster or at a higher incline. The goal is simply to run for 30 minutes. Now “running” for 30 minutes at a 4 mph pace is very different than running at a 7 mph pace. But if the goal is to just last 30 minutes, there is no incentive to go faster because it’s going to take 30 minutes regardless of how fast you are going.

I like to run for distance because it pushes me to get done sooner. You can run 3 miles in 30 minutes or you can take an hour to do it. I’d rather get it done and over with. I’d rather do it well than drag my heels all day about it.

Hourly billing is just like this. Some folks take an hour to do what another can do in 10 minutes. Should the person who can do it in 10 minutes be paid less than the person that takes an hour? Absolutely not. That’s why VALUE billing (or project billing) is far superior to hourly in most cases. While the amount of time something takes can sometimes indicate the value, that’s not always true. The experience and expertise of one person can allow the project to be completed in far less time which is actually of MORE VALUE than taking longer to do it.

If you’ve never run, you can’t just jump on the treadmill and run 3 miles at a 7mph pace though, it takes time and experience. The more you run, the better you get at it and the faster you can knock down the miles. This goes for all kinds of work too, the more experienced someone is and the more time they have invested in a skill, the better they are at it. As a result, they can often complete a task much more quickly than someone who is newer.

Value billing is more specific, you get X for Y, there is no guessing involved. Same thing goes for the treadmill, if someone says they’re going to run for an hour, that doesn’t mean much unless you know how fast they can run.

Now I know that value billing or project billing doesn’t always work. If the scope of the project is very loosely defined or it’s a long list of maintenance type updates, hourly billing may be the only way to manage it, but for most things, we prefer value billing because we’d rather get it done and get off the treadmill.

The post Hourly Billing & The Treadmill appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Bestselling books and blockbuster movies are continually filled with the theme of heartache. That’s because most of us have, at one point or another, known the terrible, sinking feeling that comes with losing someone we love.

Of course, online marketers can feel the same way when they see their best customers slipping away.

While you might not feel the same kind of depression over a missing account or decreased orders that you do when you lose a lover, either one can keep you up at night wondering what went wrong. And, believe it or not, there are some similarities, both in the way you are left and what you can do about it.

Here are some bad breakup tips you can use to fix your online marketing plan:

Don’t expect your departed customer to tell you what went wrong. You can ask all you want, but once a customer is gone, they aren’t likely to give you the real reasons they left, so it’s going to be up to you to figure it out on your own.

The exception to this rule, of course, is when your company messed up badly enough that it’s obvious to everyone why they took their business elsewhere. In those cases, learn from the experience, improve your customer service, and move on.

You can learn a lot from your customer’s next partner. If you really want to know why someone isn’t buying from you anymore, figure out who they are buying from now. What does that vendor offer that you don’t?

Often, if you lose out on a big account, it isn’t that difficult to find out where it went. Or, if you’re noticing a trend of smaller orders dropping off, see if you can find out which of your competitors is benefiting the most. Either way, you’ll learn something about what they are offering that you can’t match.

Sometimes it really is about the simple things. Differences in price, a more competitive product, a cleaner online reputation, or even better site layouts and navigation structures can all be obvious reasons that a customer might stop responding to your online marketing efforts. The answers are usually simpler than we think, so look for the big explanations first.

Losing customers is tough, but the pain doesn’t last forever. Follow these tips, find out why your online business isn’t stacking up, and then use the knowledge to either win your buyers back or find new ones. And if you want even more powerful tools to bring in those new clients, or find the lost ones, Give us a call at Design Extensions. We’d love to hlep.

The post How Online Marketing is Like a Bad Breakup appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

These are all decent guesses, and maybe half-correct. That’s because the biggest mistake in online marketing is making any mistake over and over again.

How do you stop yourself from repeating costly errors? By evaluating the effectiveness of what you’re doing in a subjective way. In other words, by studying the numbers behind your business website. A lot of business owners can talk about the number of visitors their website is receiving, or how many sales they’ve been making, but getting a good understanding of your online business requires a deeper look than that.

Here are three easy to use and understand metrics you definitely want to keep an eye on:

The numbers of visitors coming from certain sources or advertising campaigns. Often, it isn’t possible to tell that a certain message is or isn’t responding to a segment of your market until you take a closer look at your traffic sources. Viewing these with a critical eye could show you where you need to tweak your offers or benefit statements.

Your most popular pages. In many cases, business owners see this kind of data as simply “the products and prices that customers respond to most.” That’s a starting point, but high numbers of views in your frequently asked questions or shipping policies, for example, could indicate that buyers have concerns about how quickly they’ll receive their order. This is only a simple example, but it’s representative of the kind of trend you should be looking for.

Parts of your site where visitors exit. This is even more important, since they can help you to identify parts of your site that aren’t fully optimized for conversions, or that buyers are responding to. If potential customers are leaving you at any point other than the one that brings them closer to buying from you, then it’s costing you money.

There is any number of mistakes with your content or marketing message that you can inadvertently make on your business website. The real mistake, however, is to keep reproducing errors by failing to study the numbers closely enough. Need help studying those numbers? Let Design Extensions help, and we’ll do what we do best so that you can do what you do best.

The post The Biggest Online Marketing Mistake Most Business Owners Make appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

While it’s true that your on-page SEO and inbound linking strategy is likely to have the biggest direct effect on your search engine position, your choice for web hosting may factor into the mix more than you think. Here are three reasons finding the right post could affect your search engine rankings:

A good hosting plan will load your site quickly and keep it online. All other things being equal, the major search engines seem to prefer websites that load quickly for users. They also place a preference on sites that don’t experience a lot of downtime. In other words, Google and the other engines don’t want to send searchers to a destination that’s likely to frustrate them, or not be there when they need it – both good reasons to choose a quality business website hosting plan.

Your business website could share server space with a blacklisted site. If another webmaster or business owner has been using the same server as you, and using it to spam people or run a shady online company, then there’s a small chance that you could be penalized for their indiscretions. Keeping good company, and staying in the right neighborhoods, is important to your SEO campaign.

Having the right hosting company makes it easy to add new content. The easier it is for you to go into your site’s file manager or CMS, the fewer reasons you’ll have to put it off. You want it to be a simple process to update and optimize the content on your pages, which is an area where a good business website hosting plan can be worth its weight in gold. Fresh content is the cornerstone of any sustainable SEO plan, so choose a hosting plan with that in mind.

Finding a business website hosting provider might not be your first SEO consideration, but it’s one that matters more than you might think. Given that the top spots on Google are more competitive than ever, doesn’t it make sense to have every possible advantage on your side?

With all of the different ways Design Extensions can help your business be seen, isn’t it about time to give us a call?

The post Three Reasons Your Business Website Hosting Could Affect Your Search Engine Rankings appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

We’ve had the pleasure of launching OVER 100 websites this year and working with countless other projects from logos to brochures to banners and more.

When we started, we just did basic websites. Our range of services is much larger now, from graphic design to websites and online marketing. This year, we’re going to be improving our online marketing services and offering some comprehensive plans that are not only affordable, but trackable and effective. We want to help our clients take their businesses to the next level and believe we have the tolls to make that happen.

There is lots of turmoil in the world right now… Politically, socially, religiously jobs, etc. There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on, but we still believe in what made this country great. Individual exceptionalism, team work, community, faith, and family. We believe that 2012 will be the year of startups, where people decide to step out and make something happen.

We are ready to help be the partner others need to grow and expand online and off.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our clients, partners, friends, and families who have made our continued success possible. We couldn’t do it without you and wish you all the happiest of new years.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The post 2012, here we come! appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

That’s a great thing to think about, but it overlooks some of the most common and important steps along the way. That’s because great SEO isn’t always as straightforward as it seems, and it’s not only about bringing traffic to your website – it’s about making your business more visible and profitable in the most efficient ways possible.

With that in mind, here are three parts of a successful search engine optimization plan that are often overlooked:

Planning. Sure, you want more traffic – but what kind of traffic? You might think you know what your best potential customers are likely to search before they find you, but first impressions aren’t always the best ones. It takes a lot of research and planning to figure out which search terms are preferred by buyers, rather than information-gatherers, along with the fastest ways to outpace your competition.

Conversion optimization. As we mentioned, gaining traffic is only half the battle; for it to have any effect on your bottom line, you need to persuade all of those wonderful prospects to actually do something. That’s where conversion optimization comes into play. Whether you receive one visitor to your business website each day or one thousand, your pages have to convince them to take the next step.

Adjustments to your plan. Over time, your search engine optimization goals are going to change. This might be because you discover new keywords and phrases, because your company has grown and changed its focus, or even because you’re trying to appeal to a different kind of buyer. Regardless of the reason, making adjustments – and getting more efficient at every step of the way – is a prerequisite for finding true and lasting success in SEO.

If you hadn’t thought about any of these parts of your SEO campaign, you’re certainly not alone. Why not work with a web design and search engine optimization team that knows what it takes to find bottom-line success and can help lead you in the right direction?

Design Extensions has a range of products to help you with your Search Engine Optimization needs, and we’d love to hear from you.

The post Three Parts of a Successful Search Engine Optimization Plan That Are Often Overlooked appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

I’m going to say something you won’t hear from many business owners, I don’t believe we’re the best at what we do. WHAT?! Who says that? I do.

Let’s be real though, there are better web designers than us, there are better graphic designers than us, there are better marketers than us. We live in a time with a lot of ridiculous talent in our industry. Don’t get me wrong, I care about quality design, clean code, and all the latest industry standards, but we don’t always deliver perfection on every project, there is always something that could be done better. That’s called reality. The truth is that there is almost always someone better at you or your business at what you do — and that’s OK!

But here’s something else, I don’t believe you have to be the best to be the best choice. Like many things, I believe it’s about balance. We provide a high level of experience (we’ve been doing websites since the internet started), we have a large portfolio (from plumbers to plastic surgeons), and we care about people (our clients, our staff, our families, and others) — those things matter.

We’re not the best and I’m ok admitting it. What matters to me is that we are able to provide what our customers need at a price that provides a high level of value for the services provided.

My advice? Stop trying to be or pretending to be the best. It’s ok to not be the best. Be what you need to be, what your clients need you to be, and not what meets someone else’s arbitrary standards.

We’re not the best, but for our clients and many others, we were the best choice for them. I’m thankful for that.

The post We are not the best. (Did I really just admit that?) appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Of course you should, but a lot of small business owners and online marketers don’t. They go through the hard work of generating a strong article, for example, and then post it to their blog, where it sits on the Internet for all eternity. That’s not a bad start, but it isn’t getting the most value for something that can help grow your business online, either.

To help you avoid making the same mistake, we’d like to offer a valuable tip: Get the most out of your web content by sharing it with the biggest possible audience. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is, as long as you’re following a plan. Here are a few steps to help you get started:

Find a central point for publishing your content. Typically, this would be a company blog, but it could also be a page set aside for articles or breaking news.

Use strong headlines. Make it so that people can’t help but want to read what you’re posting. A good title can easily double or triple the number of views your content will ultimately get.

Write teasers. Create a one or two sentence “ad” for your content. Like the title, this isn’t designed to describe everything about it, but to create interest.

Post your teasers everywhere. There should be links to your content in your e-mail newsletter, on your Facebook fan page, leaked in tweets, and anywhere else you can think to spread the word. In off-line marketing, they call this “generating buzz”; online, it’s just spreading the word around.

Follow the trail left by your readers. Over time, you’ll notice that certain topics and traffic sources yield more views than others. As you gain this information, set up future content updates accordingly.

Great content isn’t easy or cheap to get. So when you have an interesting item to post, make sure you get the maximum amount of value and exposure from it.

And as always if you feel the need to hire a professional, Design Extensions would love to help you realize the full potential of your site’s blog posts.

The post One Way to Get More Out of Your Blog Posts appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Hopefully, your business web design team put you in a position to be in the first group, and you’re now enjoying some prime search engine real estate.

Whether you were or weren’t, however, there’s one thing that has become clear: Google and the other major search companies are having to go farther than ever to determine which sites are legitimate and which ones aren’t. As part of that process, they aren’t just ignoring certain types of links and content – it seems like they are actively targeting low-quality sources of content, along with the businesses they link to.

In other words, if you’re trying to get the most out of your search engine optimization campaign, then it might be time to find some new friends for your website to link to and from. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

Scrutinize your link building strategy. Have you been purchasing links, or getting them from copied or spun articles? If so, stop now before you do even more damage to your website.

Don’t give links for no reason. It can be tough to say no to friends and colleagues, but if another website isn’t closely related to yours, then think carefully before giving a link – it could cause the search engines to have second thoughts about your site.

Or ask for unrelated links. In the same way, don’t just ask anyone for a link to your site. Only request one if it makes sense to assume that some of their readers might want to check out your content.

Focus on your customers. Speaking of content, think less about what search engine spiders might be looking for and more about what actual humans want to find on your pages. It’s a much better long-term strategy, both for SEO and your profitability.

Google and the other major search engines have no choice but to pay attention to the company you keep online. Don’t give them reason to think less of your business website by giving or taking low-quality links.

Design Extensions can help screen links, and will work with other businesses to get you the link-backs that convert to new customers.

The post Does Your Business Website Need New Friends? appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

What’s a QR code? It’s those strange, square, barcode looking things that marketing agencies and “pr gurus” everywhere are telling their clients they must include on everything. I even saw a company with a GIANT QR code on a billboard this week, who’s idea was that?

There is no question QR codes are being used more and more by advertisers, but the big question is, are they being used by users?

There are all kinds of statistics out there, but here are some facts that drive me to believe QR codes are not actually being used by most mobile users currently.

1. iOS Devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, etc.) take up over 60% of mobile web traffic. (Net Applications Mobile/Tablet Top Operating System Share Trend Nov ’09 – Oct ’11)

2. No iOS device comes pre-installed with a QR code reader, meaning users need to download an app to scan and use QR codes.
3. The highest ranked, free, QR code reader in the app store is #35. There are only 2 QR code readers currently in the top 200 apps!

Based on this data, it seems pretty clear that the majority of mobile users are NOT using QR codes on a regular basis.

Maybe that will change in the future, but in most of the current examples I have seen, QR codes are not a huge time saver and seem like a clumsy solution to quick input of data and sharing information.

With that said, QR codes are very easy to setup. There are tons of web sites and tools that will let you create free QR codes and put them on anything you want. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing they are expensive or complex to create.

That’s just our opinion, what’s yours?

The post The Case Against QR Codes appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Customer Supplied Photographs

Perhaps you, or a relative is a hobbyist photographer. This is one of the lowest cost options for images on your website, but results do vary. With the availability and popularity of consumer digital cameras, this is a path many choose. While it is a lower cost option than hiring a professional photographer, but more personalized than stock photography it is also of the least “quality” options. Some of the industries best suited for using customer supplied photographs, are landscaping, construction, and other outdoor companies, where the ruld of photography are more forgiving and there is more available light.

Stock Photography

Stock photography is purchased for use on a website from a stock photography company. These companies; check, and sometimes rank images on quality and categorize them on many factors. It makes finding the “right” photo much easier. Prices for stock photography can range from a couple of dollars per image to upwards of $100 for very high quality work, or work that is by a master photographer. . . There is stock photography for almost any business out there, and this is a great option if you are not selling a highly personalized product or service, and is great for when you just need a couple of images to finish out a website design.

Hiring a Professional Photographer

This is genrerally the most expensive option, but by all accounts one of the best. If you are selling a highly personalized product or service, then this is the only option. If you have a storefront, or physical business that you will be enticing people to visit from your website this is also one of the best options. It is also great for bio photos of yourself, and your employees. Professional photographers combine the quality of stock photography with the personalization of taking your own photos. Professional photographers know how to “sell” ideas, not just take pictures.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, what are the photos on your website saying? Design Extensions has solutions when it comes to the images that you use on your website. We have professional relationships with photographers in many disciplines, (even one on our staff) and would love to help you make the web a more beautiful place.

The post What do your website’s photos say about your business? appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

The post New Facebook Timeline appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

The post New Facebook Features appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

The post You’re Great. . . Make Sure Everyone Knows it. appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

They were recently acquired by the also very popular EverNote app. It will be interesting to see what kind of integration happens with these two products in the coming months.

You can check it out at http://skitch.com/ You can thank us later (or in the comments).

The post Skitch: Free & Awesome Screen Capture and Notation appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

We live in a do it yourself culture. Most of us like to feel like we have full control over something and that goes for our company websites as well.

When we started building websites (over 12 years ago), it was very difficult to give a customer access to editing their website without them having some advanced coding knowledge and lots of training. Times have changed and there are lots of great systems out there that make it much easier to update a website directly. There are even many great free and open source products like Word Press (our favorite), Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine (not free), and others. Each of these products have their own advantages and disadvantages.

One of the key questions I often ask new clients is, “how often do you expect to change the majority of the content on your site?” If the answer to that is less than once a month, it usually does not make sense to spend the extra setup costs and go through training on how to manage and update content yourself. If you only plan to update information every few months, it makes more sense to send it to us (or your web development team) to take care of it for you. It’s kind of like me with my car, I COULD change my own oil and rotate my own tires, but it doesn’t make sense for me to do that with the time and cost involved. I’d rather just take it to a professional.

If you plan to make regular updates to your site on a weekly basis, it usually makes more sense to have control over the content of your website.

Another key point to consider is that you may not need control over ALL of the content on your site. Focusing in on the areas that really need regular updates like a news section, calendar of events, or blog, can help keep the setup costs down but give you the control you need to keep information fresh on the site.

Keep in mind too, that whoever does your website maintenance does not need to be in your area. We are located in St. Augustine, Florida and service many clients in Jacksonville, but we also have clients all over the country from Key West to Seattle. We can provide quick updates to any website (even ones we didn’t build) via e-mail, phone, or fax (yes, we still have a fax machine… although it just forwards to our e-mail).

Hopefully this has been helpful in the decision process of installing a content manamgenet system to edit your own website or not.

If you have any questions, we’d love to help. Just give us a call at 877-378-6101 or e-mail info@designextensions.com

The post Editing Your Own Website: Pros & Cons appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

In the design world many fads come and go, but brands that have staying power rely on something more important. They stay relevant. What is popular today, may be old news tomorrow and so while some elements of popular design are great to include is small doses, the best brands stay true to the businesses’ core values, customer base, and roots. Design Extensions will use your feedback and our experience to craft a website as well as logos, business cards, and other print collateral as needed to convey the image you want for your business.

Many businesses fail to realize their potential, simply by not maintaining uniform branding across all sectors of their business. Design Extensions can help, from business cards, letter head and other print collateral, to websites and online advertisements that keep your business’ image consistent. One of the benefits of utilizing all of the features Design Extensions has to offer is that our design team is all in house, and all files/logos/and content is accessible for use across all platforms to reach new customers. For the few aspects of your business that we may not have an in house solution for, (clothing, and novelties) we can recommend a service provider, and will be happy to design, or provide design elements to them.

The post Brand Identity appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

We are like the barber that never gets a haircut.

Why don’t we blog more often? For the same reason most people don’t… we are just too busy with actually running a business and serving our clients.

What most people fail to realize (and we fail to lead by example) is that blogging can be a great way to drive in new business! It can build an audience of people who are interested about a topic and drive search engine optimization results to your site.

You can easily get started with your own blog (for free) by using something like wordpress.com or blogspot.com.

The better solution, however, is to integrate a blog directly into your website. You can call it news, information section, or something else if you prefer not to use the blog term for some reason.

An integrated blog (like what you are reading now) fits right in with a website, keeps your brand consistent, and helps with your search engine optimization.

There are not a ton of business’ here in St. Augustine or Jacksonville currently blogging, but it’s a growing trend.

We are going to try and do a better job of leading by example and will let you know what the results are.

Stay tuned here for more news, ideas, and tips. If you have questions, or would like to see info on a specific topic, leave us a comment below!

The post Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog Blog… appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

Knowledge
The Friendly Receptionist would not be very good at her job if all she did was act super friendly, but not actually know anything. Similarly the best designed website is no good if the information isn’t easily accessible, concise, and above all pertinent. Many businesses, new to the internet, tend to want to include every tiny detail of their business online so as to reach every possible customer. It’s great if your Salon sells hair products, but if 90% of your business is made through selling hair cuts, then the information for your hair products does not need to be as featured as the information about hair cuts. A better approach is to think like a customer and assume your website is your Friendly Receptionist. What information should she have readily available?

Warmth
We all have experience with the other type of receptionist as well. The one who knows everything about everything, but is so cold, and unfriendly that you really try not to bother her and find out what you need on your own. That’s how some websites are. The information they have is great unfortunately it is just too “ugly” to access. The wonderful information that you need is hidden in such a cold unfriendly way, that you’d almost rather just find it elsewhere. This problem is just as serious as the lack of information on an otherwise “friendly” site. How can she help anyone if they don’t want to spend anytime with her, or are afraid to approach her?

You Care
The best websites have the information you need, in a “wrapper” that is friendly and easy to use. Why are these two things so important? It tells your customer’s, that you care about them. We want to feel like the people and businesses we interact with care about us and our satisfaction. We want those businesses to make us feel like they are working with us towards a common goal. Design Extensions is here to make sure that you feel cared about, by making sure that we adhere to the principles of the Friendly Receptionist when designing, and building your website. Simple, beautiful websites, with easy to navigate menus, easy to access information, presented in a friendly inviting way will keep clients coming back, and recommending you to their friends.

The post Your Website: The Friendly Receptionist appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.

You can still find the right designer, though, if you know where to look, and what to look for. Here are five things you definitely want to know about any web design team before you hire them:

1. 1. How past clients feel about their work. It’s one thing to look through a designer’s portfolio, but if you really want to get the story, you have to make a few phone calls. Talk to former clients and see what their impressions of the work, and the design process, were like. Whether you get good feedback or bad, these are things you want to know before you sign on the dotted line.
2. 2. If they will still be able to help you tomorrow. Your site might be basic right now, but there’s no guarantee it will stay that way. In fact, if your launch is a success, it’s probably not going to be long before your company needs help with online videos, secure site areas, databases, content management systems, and search engine optimization to name a few – services that smaller or newer firms might not be able to offer.
3. 3. Whether they have a bottom line vision. This is more important than most business owners realize. These days, when you hire a designer, you shouldn’t just be getting a layout and some HTML code – what you need is the first step towards a comprehensive online marketing plan. Be sure that any designer you work with can help you integrate your new website to search engines, social media, and more. You’ll need that exposure to gain new customers over the Internet.
4. 4. What their fees are… Obviously, the numbers are going to be an important part of the discussion. Be aware, however, that quality always costs more, and that more than one web design client has been burnt by falling for bid that was “too good to be true.”
5. 5. … and what those fees include. Web hosting, updates, content, and add-on features are just a few of the things you might want for your web design team, but might not be included in their rock-bottom bid. Find out exactly what you are paying for before you agree to any work. Or better yet, choose a vendor with a long reputation of quality work, no one that’s going to nickel and dime you at every step of the process.

There might be more web design companies to choose from than there were in the past, but that doesn’t mean that the right decision has to be any less clear. Take the time to do a little bit of research and get the answers to these five crucial questions – it’s not as easy as choosing the lowest bid, but it’s going to leave you a lot happier, and more profitable, in the long run.

(Republished from our recent article in Valacious Magazine in St. Augustine, Florida)

The post 5 Things You Want to Know About Your Web Designer… Before They Touch a Single Pixel appeared first on Jacksonville Web Design | St. Augustine Graphic Design.