Having been [...]]]> Our job, at the DownRiver Group, is to create and manage websites that properly represent and enhance a clients business, making the client more money(and justifying our reason for being in business in the first place). We build & manage web presence and make it pay off for you. And we’re good at it.

Having been at this for better than 10 years, I can give you a knowledgeable appraisal of what causes your web presence to suffer, and what makes that web presence produce.

Common Web Presence Ills & Cures

The Ill ~ Using Cheap, DIY Services
I’m not averse to clients taking their sites “in house”, or using web-based services, provided they have an educated reason & the proper personnel for doing so. A real quick way to poison your web presence, though, is to try and take on a job without the right tools & qualified personnel.
Some people, who shouldn’t, try to change their own oil.
Some people try to do their own home self-surgery.
Proper web development fits somewhere between those 2 tasks and getting it wrong can cause a mess or a world of pain and aggravation. And then it usually costs even more to rectify, nevermind the fact that, from what I’ve seen, those “cheap DIY” services offered by most are grossly overpriced.
The Cure ~ Make sure you have qualified help. You’re friends’ cousin who plays video games and always wins? That’s not really a strong qualification. Nor does knowing how to “cut and paste” from the web make someone a web designer.

The Ill ~ Refuse to update the site.
Ever been in a waiting area where they never change the magazines? Would you like reading the same magazine, everyday, week after week after week?
Sites can become stale, easily, losing you visitors, search engine ranking and money.
The Cure: Freshen up your site. Build/hosting clients of the DownRiver Group get minor weekly updates, free of charge. A couple of paragraphs of text, some new pics every week or 2 works wonders.

The Ill ~ Insist on “bells and whistles”(especially the wrong ones).
Too many people fall into this trap. Yes, you want something to engage and interest your visitor; a little (of the right thing) is good but a LOT can kill your site deader than Mrs. O’Learys’ cow.
Case in point: Flash/Splash pages.
Lots of people ask me about them and in 99% of the cases they are the worst thing a client can do. Very fun, when they work right, very bad when they don’t or are cheaply constructive. Either way, they’re expensive(and, yes, we CAN do them but let’s talk, first).
They may be appropriate for what you’re offering and you have the budget but in terms of getting found on the search engines, they end up costing you more in that regard also.
The Cure: Employ the K.I.S.S. method(keep it simple, silly). Well, keep it simpler.

The Ill ~ Mistaking the Medium
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; having a web site does not necessarily mean having a positive web presence.
Your web site isn’t a business card, it’s not a magazine, it’s not an electronic flyer or poster. It’s all of these and much, much more.
Making this mistake and not utilizing this medium properly will, at best, waste time and money. Worse, it can damage your reputation and even cause you legal problems.

The Cure: Think through what you want to achieve with your web presence. Find qualified advisors and take that advice, just as you would a mechanic, a doctor or a lawyer.

Of course there are any number aspects that can effect your web presence, for better or worse. This is just the short list of most egregious ills that we see, along with the web presence cures we apply to our clients’ sites.
Proper web presence nets profits. Contact us when you’re ready to make money with your web site.

Of course, not everyone will actually DO it, even if it virtually guarantees success & it costs very little, nothing in fact, after one factors [...]]]> Are you ready? Keep this one under your hat, keep it amongst ourselves, leave it on the downlow.
This Secret is a game changer, and if everyone were doing it?!?
Chaos ~utter chaos!

Of course, not everyone will actually DO it, even if it virtually guarantees success & it costs very little, nothing in fact, after one factors in the positve return of whatever amount or type of investment one makes into this Secret process.
It’s true, even a marginal investment in this mystical method guarantees a positive return, with potentially HUGE returns, and this isn’t any of the internet snake oil promised on an ever-increasing “paid product placements” on the late-night cable channels, broadcast radio & dubious internet banner ads.

It’s a simple technique and won’t even make you sweat.

It’s contained in one, simple word.

Are you ready?

DO.

To achieve success on the internet(and in any field), one must “DO”! You must put yourself out there in some form appropriate to your customer base. You have to invest of yourself, in thought, in time and/or in money and you must do so consistently!
Want a better ranking for a search engine key phrase, i.e. Better Web Presence?
DO! Create a lens or a hub(contact us if you don’t know what these are).

Want people to send you money via the internet?
DO! Set up a shopping cart for products to offer on your website.

Want more of the local populace to visit your website?
DO! Create a photocopy flyer campaign and distribute it locally.

Your web success is the yield of your investment, much like a crop harvest ~say corn, or pumpkins~ is the result of a season(or many) of investment to a field, to a crop. Try as they might, farmers have yet to develop a method whereby they can throw some VERY expensive seed to the soil outside their window, then, feet up on the sill, watch out that window a few hours per week as the crops pop up quickly, magically shoving mystical fruit through the window and into strategically placed baskets.

The Method of DO, applied to your internet endeavor, is the closest technique of which we know for those “Jack in the Beanstalk” type returns.
The Method of DO, mixed with the magic of the internet creates an alchemy that will give you a return, too.

DO:
…write a blogpost.
…hand out 3 business cards.
…update your website.
…participate in a discussion.
…advertise your website in a local paper.
…call a customer(DON’T call JUST to sell them something).
…give a good customer a freebie.

This is just a short list. I’m certain you can come up with some more ideas(and, please, feel free to share some of them via the “comments” at the bottom of my post)

An important key to DO is to be frequent. Like crops, the seeds of success you plant need some regular reinforcement. Just as a crop needs cultivating, your web presence needs regular care and attention and, if one is very attentive, the yields will be worth the efforts.

Try it for the rest of the calendar quarter. I think you’ll like your “harvest”, should you employ the proper amount of DO.

The short analysis claims that web presence is what turns up on the internet(Google/Bing/Yahoo searchs, primarily)about you or your business. It may be reviews, it may be a directory listing, it [...]]]> If you talk with me about web sites and web development, you’ll hear me go on and on about “web presence”.

Web Presence ~What is it?

The short analysis claims that web presence is what turns up on the internet(Google/Bing/Yahoo searchs, primarily)about you or your business. It may be reviews, it may be a directory listing, it might be a court report, a news story in the local paper online or your name in some blogpost; and you may not like your web presence.
I can instantly think of 3 situations where a client discovered that their web presence wasn’t helping them in the least.
One instance involved a blogposting about the clients first business operation, from more than a decade ago in a small town hundreds of miles away. The posting claimed that “[So-and-so The-Client] was no longer in the business of [So-and-So's Fine Business Operation], having closed back in…“!
This was the extent of the description that came up on Google’s page 1 when you went looking for this client, by name.
He had web presence and he didn’t even have a web site at that point!

Another client had a website but anytime one went searching for the business, even by name, an article that referenced a former business associate would turn up all over page 1, without the business itself ever getting named. The business did show up in the search results but, typically, 2 or 3 pages back in the ranks, where few folk bother to tread.
Again, web presence with little benefit.
There are various flavors of web presence and you may not like them all. Police logs, court reports and all manner of ambiguous, or worse, purposely malicious postings can, and will contribute to your web presence; you can, and should do whatever you can to take control of your web presence.

Web Presence and DownRiver Clientele

One of the services of the DownRiver Group is to provide web presence that makes one stand out in the extraordinarily-crowded web and that flaunts, that proudly parades, your valuable, your necessary, your transcendant services and/or products.
Achieving the web presence you deserve starts with giving you a winning web site, it doesn’t end there. It can include a whole host of tactical tools from the world of web 2.0, and it should include some basic, physical world tactics to enhance web presence.

Some examples of what we mean:
Web 2.0 Tools/Tactics ~Get a blogging account, with a name tailored to your business niche and type out a business relevent blogpost, every day. Make sure it
includes your keywords/phrases without being “spammy”. Get a Twitter account and use it(and not for sharing your lunch details).

Physical World Tactic ~Put your domain name, your url on every piece of printed material. Take out ads in the relevent section of periodicals; newspapers,
trade magazines, etc.

How To Tell You’ve Got Web Presence

Acheiving web presence requires a certain investment; either in time, or iin money but usuially in both. The agenda though, is the same with any marketing strategy and tool; Get Proper Web Presence Get Return on Investment.
The only way to properly determine if your theories and tactics are working and making you money is by employing some accurate metrics. These may be in the form of an online coupon that’s redeemed by new customers, it may be the email response to a free offer or contest. The metric for tracking your web presence may be free tracking services whereby proprietary code, embedded within your site, allows viewable tracking of unique vistors per day/week/month/year along with a host of data including how the visitors found you, where they came from, how long they stayed and more.

Get The Details of Web Presence

Contact us about getting the web presence you want and need. While we’ve laid out the bare basics to help you get that web presence, that web success, there are many tools and tactics that can be employed to take you to the top of the heap of web sites, web search terms and web competitors, and we know what they are and how to employ those web presence tools and tactics.
After all, you found us, didn’t you?

Safe surfing!