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Over a year ago, we decided it was time to give eVision Media an updated look. The colours were getting old and tired, the website was definitely out of date, and none of our marketing materials were truly depicting the quality and scope of services we offer.

We were definitely suffering from the old Shoe Cobbler’s Son Syndrome! Well, our poor son finally graduated from wearing a pair of cheap thongs to having nice, new and shiny shoes!

In order to re-brand, we first needed to get clear on who our ideal target market was so we could make some changes to our brand positioning that would allow us to specifically attract new entrepreneurs as well as established business owners.

The first step to our re-branding was to update our logo. As much as we loved our old logo, it was time to make it more polished and professional looking. (Many thanks to Daniel’s mom for drawing that first penguin and her chick, it will be cherished as our first baby forever!)

During the logo design process, we also made changes to our brand colours. These new colours are not only fresh and more contemporary, but  were specifically chosen to appeal to our target market.

Many proofs and logo versions later, we finally decided on the one you see on the site today. Our new brand had been established!

Now it was time to get busy and re-design and develop our website along with all our other marketing materials.

It took our whole team to get involved in this process. Due to us being such a busy firm, it was hard finding the time to spend working on it! Many months later, we can now proudly send people to our site!

While you are here, please sign up for my brand new free report called, “10 Key Strategies You Need to Know Now to Prevent Your Website from Being a Marketing Disaster” over on the right hand side or click here.

I guarantee this report will enlighten you on important aspects to consider when developing your website and marketing your business.

Thanks goes to our whole eVision Media team for all the hard work and effort in getting our new brand and new website launched!

Sue

PS Along with this new launch, we have also added a new service offering. Well, it’s not really new but let’s just say it’s official now! Click here to find more information about my new mentoring packages!

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Let me start off by asking you a question…. How long has it been since your website’s home page has been updated with fresh new text and images? How about your blog? Has it been weeks… months even … since your last entry? What about the last time you sent out a newsletter?

If you had a strong urge to click the delete button after reading the above due to the sudden guilt pangs that just hit you, hold off on the temptation and be assured you are not alone! There are many business entrepreneurs that have neglected their website for many different reasons and now they are left feeling the whole “website thing” has been a bust. But there’s hope yet! Don’t abandon ship until you read this article…

Before getting started, it’s important to remember that your website is NOT a brochure! Its purpose was never to just build it and forget about it and then expect it to provide any kind of return on your initial investment.

So before you abandon your website all together and end up losing business to your competition, let’s talk about the reasons why it is vitally important to keep your website updated with fresh material and some things you can do now to get it back on track:

1. Your website is your most primary marketing piece for your business. Period. This is due to it being accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It never takes a holiday and is never not seen by anyone who visits it. Ask yourself what impression are others getting if they visited your site right now?  You want your site to give an accurate impression to not only your prospective client, but also your current clients so they can trust and believe that your business is in good shape too. No one ones to do business with a failing company.
2. Google and the other search engines will only love your site if it’s got something new to show its searchers.  If it detects that nothing has changed since the last time it indexed your site, then it will downgrade you in the search results. This is a critical point – you don’t want to get poor search result rankings!
3. Search engines are only going to display your site that matches a user’s search string if you have the right keywords placed within the text of your home page. Changing these keywords to match what your ideal client is looking for is very valuable so they will find your site easier when searching for products or services that match their needs.
4. Prospective clients can tell if a site has been stranded and will immediately get the impression you are either out of business or are not attentive enough to bother updating it. Either way, they have formed a negative impression on you and the credibility of your business.
5. If you have a newsletter signup box on your site but never or rarely send out a newsletter, this also gives the impression you are not on top of things and really don’t care about building your business. This topic is a whole ‘nother article to write on the importance of newsletters though….
6. Your website no longer accurately depicts your business direction anymore. Every business goes through the evolutionary process and it’s critical your website stays current with your product or service offerings. If you find yourself telling people, “oh sorry, my site doesn’t actually say anything about that particular service…” what kind of message is that person is getting about how well you run a business?
7. Your website looks like it was created in the 90′s. Yes, even sites I designed several years ago are looking old and outdated Avoid your site looking old by giving it a fresh redesign; otherwise, it looks like you don’t care enough about your business or about technological advances to keep it up to date. Keeping your website looking modern will improve your credibility and will give the impression you are attentive to the success of your business.
8. Your website looks “broken” in more recent versions of browsers. Have you ever looked at your site from a friend’s computer and wondered, “Why is it looking so funny?” This is a result of your site’s build being too old to be compatible with the newer browsers like IE 8 or Firefox 3.5. Back when your site was first built, it probably looked great across the more popular browsers but as browsers evolve, so must your website programming to ensure it continues to look good no matter what browser is used.
9. Along the same lines as the look of your site being old, so can the technology and coding used behind the scenes to build it. Old technology can create many problems including security threats and costly programming to work around the old scripts and code if new features need to be added. Often it is more cost effective to re-develop your site than to continually patch the security holes and do programming work-arounds that can be precariously unstable as soon as the next version of web browser comes along.

If you’re wondering if any of the above is applicable to you, then ask yourself if your site is performing the way it was intended. Are you getting sufficient leads? Are people finding your site and signing up for your newsletter to get them into your marketing funnel? Is your conversion rate where you want it to be?

If not, it’s a sure sign to take a close look at your “busting” website and have a talk with your web developer on ways to get it up-to-date so that it can provide you with the results you desire.

Your site can be a constantly evolving, powerful business tool if you treat it as such. It’s important to view it as your important, dynamic marketing collateral in your business and marketing plan. It can be as exciting, innovative and interactive as you want it to be, all you have to do is ask; the technology is available to create an amazing marketing piece for you like never before!

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About the Author: Susan is president/founder of eVision Media, a web development and eMarketing firm specializing in building effective brands for entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations for over 10 years. With a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, she is able to provide an authentic and personalized service for those wanting a trustworthy member of their team for their brand & marketing design, website development and SEO/eMarketing needs. Contact Susan today for a free 30 minute consultation on helping you build your website presence to be the effective marketing tool is can be. susan@evisionmedia.ca or visit www.evisionmedia.ca.

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Before approaching web developers for estimates on building your new business’s site, there are a few things you should think through first so you are fully prepared for the questions you will be asked. Here’s a list of ten things to be clear on before making that important next step:

1. Be clear on your business plan. This may sound obvious, but it has happened where I’ve been asked to build a website when the potential client only had an idea of what they wanted and no business foundation planned out at all. Are you sure you have a viable business idea that will provide you with a reasonable ROI or is this more of a hobby that you just want to dabble in? It is important to be clear on your intensions of what you want to accomplish first.
2. Be clear on your business name.  Make sure you have a registered business name before creating any of your marketing materials. It could be a costly mistake to have to go back and change everything if you find out your business name has been rejected.
3. Be clear on the product you sell or service you provide. Ensure you are clear on the product or service you offer so your developer knows what site features and design will work best to enhance them. Ask yourself if they are digital products or systems or a service for hire? How many products and how are they sold?
4. Be clear on your brand. This does not mean you have to have your logo already designed (some web development companies can also design your logo and other stationery/marketing materials for you as well), but it does mean you need to be clear on the message you want to give others about you and your business. This is actually not an easy or quick process but makes a significant difference if you are clear on this before moving on to anything else. Often the designer/marketer that you hire to create the visual brand for you can help with this process or I recommend checking out BrandU where they help you through your brand definition process step-by-step. Once done, you will be very clear on not only the essence of our brand, but also the “look” of your brand so you can simply hand over your results to your designer to create it for you.
5. Be clear on what you want your website to accomplish. A site that does not have a clear call to action is not going to be effective in fulfilling its purpose. When visitors come to your site, what do you want them to do once there? What is your primary call to action?
6. Be clear on how you are going to get site visitors into your database. The odds are slim that someone is going to purchase from you on their first visit to your site, so you need to plan out a way to capture their name and email address so you can keep in touch with them on a regular basis and develop a relationship with them.
7. Be clear on what features you want on your site. Will it be a static “brochureware” site with standard 4-5 pages or do you want something more dynamic with features such as a blog, calendar, search function, photo gallery, shopping cart system, newsletter system, membership signup etc.?
8. Be clear on your budget. Your developer needs to know a price range that you’re looking at so they can recommend a site build that will fit within your means. Keep in mind that your website is your primary marketing piece due to it being accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You don’t want to skimp with such an important and prominent showcase of your business! Don’t be fooled by the cheaper template options or “do it yourself” applications out there where, unless you have studied the intricate nuances of how the Internet works, search engine optimization and effective layout design, you run the  risk of scaring off your perfect customers instead of attracting them!
9. Be clear on website maintenance. Once your site is built, who is going to maintain it? The reason why this is important to determine before your site is built is due to the different ways it can be built. If you want to be able to update the site yourself, then you need your site built in a CMS (Content Management System) platform. This will put your site design into a template where you log in to make updates. Now before you get excited about the thought of saving all that money on doing this yourself, consider these points:
   1. Do you know enough about content layout and copywriting to make an effective marketing piece that looks professional to your perfect client?
   2. Do you know how to optimize images so they don’t slow down your site’s performance?
   3. Do you have enough time to do updates to your site?
   4. Are you aware you can’t write off your time that you spend on doing things yourself where you can if you have a professional take care of the updates for you?

      As you can tell, I am biased on this point… the reason is from working with over a  hundred clients over the years, these points always come up and they soon find out that even though it seemed they could “easily” update their site themselves, it rarely turned out that way. I heard from many that were extremely frustrated because they were working in an environment and medium totally foreign to them. Meanwhile they were wasting valuable time trying to learn to be a web developer instead of spending it on getting clients! Mind you, some people are more computer literate and can pick up on the more technical aspects required and they manage fine; however, it is still important to learn good copywriting skills and understand what makes an effective website before going the DIY route.

10. Be sure you do your research on who to approach. You want to find someone with experience and skill who will partner with you to help you build your business. You want to avoid programmers who only do exactly what you tell them as opposed to others who can offer ideas, suggestions and be a part of your  team to be there as a valuable resource when needed . Always ask to talk to their clients to see what their experience was working with the developer. Be aware of those that claim to be developers when in reality, all they learned was how to use a “do it yourself” software like Microsoft Front Page. The quality of your site – both in design and in how it is coded – is very important on many levels so ensure the person you hire understands how to design and build a quality product for you.

Susan Friesen
susan@evisionmedia.ca

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About the Author: Susan is president/founder of eVision Media, a web development and eMarketing firm specializing in building effective brands for entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations for over 10 years. With a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, she and her skilled team are able to provide an “all-in-one” personalized service for those wanting a member of their team for their brand & marketing design, website development and SEO/eMarketing needs. Contact Susan today for a free 30 minute consultation on helping you build your website presence to be the most effective marketing tool is can be.

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I am happy to announce a new site launch for The Southwest Hearing Clinic located in Surrey, BC. This is their first website for the clinic since founded in 1977 and we are thrilled in being a helping hand in bringing their presence to the Internet!

Peter Slobin is dedicated to ensuring you have good hearing. As a registered audiologist, Peter opened the Southwest Hearing clinic, located in Surrey BC, to help others with a wide variety of hearing services. If you’re in the lower mainland area of BC, go get your hearing tested by Peter!

We designed and hand-built built their website for optimal SEO performance.

www.SouthwestHearingClinic.com

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Are you a true business owner and entrepreneur? Or are you just having fun at what you do and are treating your efforts more like a hobby?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help – you might be surprised with some of the answers if you’re being honest with yourself!

• Are you clear on your business’s focus – have you defined the product or service you provide and have stuck to it or are you continually trying out other things?
• Have you registered your business name with your local government?
• Do you have a business licence with your local community?
• Do you have a dedicated business phone line? A toll free number?
• Do you have business insurance?
• Do you have legal contracts in place with the various aspects of your business?

• Do you have a clearly defined mission statement?
• Do you have a business plan? A plan that gives you a solid blueprint on how to achieve your business goals and how much it’s going to cost?
• Do you know who your competitors are and what they are doing?
• Is your business scalable in a way that it doesn’t depend on you being hands-on 100% of the time?

• Do you have a marketing plan that provides you with specific steps on how you are going to attract your perfect client and how much it’s going to cost?
• Do you have a set budget for advertising and marketing to build your client base?
• Do you know who your target market is?
• Do you have a professionally designed logo to establish your brand and appeal to your target market?
• Do you have professionally designed business cards, letterhead, promotional materials and other items to market your business?
• Do you have a professionally designed website that represents your business brand effectively, 24 hours a day – 7 days a week?
• Do you continually update and employ SEO tactics to your website to ensure optimal results?

• Are you outsourcing certain tasks to help you with the things that are not your core competency such as bookkeepers, web developers, marketers, virtual assistants or graphic designers?
• Do you have a separate office space where you can shut the door at the end of the day and leave it closed until business hours start again?
• Do you have set business hours where no emails and no phone calls occur after hours?
• Is your office space organized and systemized so that anyone could come in and take over where you left off?

• Do you keep proper books and track all of your business receipts? Or is everything stuffed in a shoe box or file folder until tax time?
• Are you aware of all the tax write-offs that you’re entitled to and use them to the fullest?
• Do you have a dedicated business bank account?
• Does ALL of your business income go into this business account and you pay yourself on a regular basis?

• Do you take whole summers off and tell yourself you’ll get busy working again in the Fall?
• Are you telling yourself you’ll kick things into gear after…. (fill in the blank)?
• Are you truly happy and passionate about doing what you do?
• Is your business fulfilling your life’s purpose or are you just going through the motions of trying to make some money?

The questions above do not cover everything when considering what is involved in running a business, by no means, but I hope they got you thinking enough to help you determine whether you are running your business like a hobby or are you seriously running your business to earn a healthy living.