This month we will be featuring images from Rick D’Elia, D’Elia Photographic and Cactus Canine. Most screens will use the size that is shown in the image(1900×1200), just click and then right click the larger image that appears and set as desktop background!

To enjoy (instructions): If the image size in not correct for your screen, click the size of the wallpaper you’d like below each image, and a larger version will open in a new window. Right click on this image, and select “Set as Desktop Background”. Then enjoy a beautiful custom calendar all month long!

About the images

Reeds, Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida by Rick D’Elia, D’Elia Photographic

Alternative desktop sizes: 1920×1080   1600×1200   1024×768

Sanderling on the beach in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida by Rick D’Elia, D’Elia Photographic

Alternative desktop sizes:   1920×1080   1600×1200   1024×768

What’s February without a Valentine’s loveable puppy by Cactus Canine

Alternative desktop sizes:   1920×1080   1600×1200   1024×768

Look forward to more calendars next month!

The first step in developing the strategy is determining your message.

1. What are you selling?  Is it a product or a service?
2. Who are you trying to reach?  What is your target audience?
3. What do you want people to know about what you can offer them?  Why should they buy from you and not your competitors?

All of these questions can be answered through careful research.  Look at companies that you’d like to emulate.  What do they do right, and what could they improve on?

Once you decide on what your message is, the next question is how you want to deliver that message.  There are many different ways to do so, and the Internet is an increasingly critical one.

The evolution of the Internet as a business tool has added an extra layer to any marketing strategy, and one that is not nearly as easy for many people to identify or implement as many traditional forms.

If you take a close look at what’s out there and what works, you’ll find that the online outlets really aren’t as different from the old standbys as you might think.  It’s adjusting your mindset to fit with the times.  For example, an advertising campaign five years ago might have consisted of a mix of TV, radio and newspaper ads combined with news releases, promotions and remote events.

Now, factoring the Internet into the equation, you’re simply adding a few versions of the same methods:

1. Display ads can be created for web pages, and a TV commercial becomes a video to post on YouTube.
2. News releases are sent to sites such as PRWeb, and can be released to sites that cater to your type of business.  They can also be posted on your own site and promoted through Twitter feeds and Facebook posts to your subscribers and followers.
3. Promotions can be done through your website, for both physical events and virtual ones, such as a product sale.
4. Events that might have once been limited to a radio remote can now be streamed live.

Again, research into what works and doesn’t for your competitors can shed some light on what can be effective for you. The Internet adds one crucial piece of information that was previously difficult to find, the ability to get instant feedback. Look at the comments posted on blogs or videos to see what potential customers really think, and adjust your materials to fit accordingly.

It’s important to remember that, like any other form of marketing or advertising, unless you or someone in your operation has experience in these areas, it may be best to find a company with extensive experience in not only assisting with development of a marketing strategy, but also how to integrate the Internet into that overall plan.

Also, the keywords that potential visitors use to search for content changes over
time. Being found on the net is the secret to having a successful web site and so
it is critical that a site keeps up to date with the keywords being searched for.

How we use the net is dramatically changing also… for example, with the advent of
mobile devices that are ‘always connected’ we are surfing all the time. We used
to think about cross browser compatibility (and of course still do) but we now
have the added consideration of different formats for mobile compatibility.

It is sensible to revamp a site periodically, and the practice is sometimes referred
to as developing a ‘phoenix’ site after the mythical bird rising from the ashes.
Redesigning a revamped site can simply be a change to the look and feel of the
site in terms of the colors, navigation and graphics. This will achieve the
objective of making the site look current and modern if designed well. Using
tools like WordPress makes this a relatively straightforward exercise as a lot can
be achieved by simply changing the theme.

It is important that any new design is tested with visitors and customers. The
last thing you want to do is revamp your site and find that your most important
asset, your customers don’t like it. That would not be good.

Beyond simply cosmetic changes to a site, it is important to periodically check
what keywords are being searched for by your target audience visitors, i.e.
prospects and customers. Search term keywords change over time, what is
searched for today may be referred as something else tomorrow. It is important
that the site design is optimized for the keywords that customers are searching
for. As a Phoenix web design firm we always consider this critical aspect of
the web site redesign. This can make the difference between getting visitors or not.

Obviously you will have a lot of content in your current site. This has to be
migrated across to the new site. Care should be taken here. If the content is
good and been accessible for awhile, it will probably have other sites referring to
it (commonly called backlinks). These backlinks are really important, as the
number of links you have to your site is a big contributor to how well you are
ranked by the search engines. Try not to lose these links – they are often hard
earned but easily lost.

Try to design the new site alongside the current site structure where
possible to allow content to be found by both the old address as well as the new
structure.

With the help of new technological gadgets springing up at every turn, it is now increasingly simple to browse the Internet on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Digital marketing is the only kind of advertising that spans all of these digital gadgets, increasing its effect and your business’s level of exposure. If you invest in digital marketing, your business will consequently gain access to anyone who owns a device capable of utilizing Wi-Fi.

Digital marketing will greatly benefit any business regardless of whether you sell shoes or repair lawn mower parts. Consider for a moment that over 200,000 Wi-Fi hotspots exist throughout the world. As a result, digital marketing is the most productive form of advertising for the least amount of effort. Your business website has the potential to have an impact on consumers in London just as well as in the U.S!

Keep in mind that appearance accounts for a lot. Dedicate your efforts to creating a web design that clearly represents your business in a clean and functional fashion. Your website should be comprehensible and easy to read and navigate, yet attractive and tasteful. If necessary, hire a professional to do the job. You are great at what you do, find somebody that can help you express that.

Search engine marketing is another highly effective digital marketing strategy. Working with vendors like Google AdWords will increase the reach of your business’s exposure tremendously. These companies help to promote websites like yours by increasing its visibility in search engines. When a consumer googles your line of business, it makes a difference whether your website shows up on the first or last page of results. As you know, most people never make it past the first few pages. You want your website to be within those first few pages, so investing in search engine marketing is a great way to make your business seen.

Maintaining regular website updates on what your business is up to is another key factor to success. Customers like to be informed on news, changes, and specials. Additionally, customers tend to be loyal to those businesses with which they feel a connection. Ongoing updates to your business’s website will help keep things fresh, as well as generate traffic since customers will come back often in search for the latest news.

Have a tagline for the homepage that gives the details regarding the organization, product and services in an easy sentence. When visitors land on the homepage, they should understand what the website and company is all about by just reading the tagline. If you have an attractive tagline, you can draw the attention of your visitors and they will remember your company and services.

Be very careful about the title tag of your homepage. The title tag should be meaningful and should have the organization’s name followed by a concise picture of the website. It will better if you stay away from words like ‘WELCOME’ or ‘THE’, because these types of words just occupy the space without any value addition. Try to find some related keywords and phrases for the title tags and use them effectively.

The homepage of your website should work as a navigator for visitors and assist them to easily finding the other pages i.e. there should be apparent links for the major pages of the website which are helpful for online visitors to find the information they are interested in reading more on.

A small but highly essential add-on to the homepage is a Search Box. Most of us either forget or don’t bother to add this small box to our homepage. Online visitors are impatient and they are always trying to find something that cuts short the action steps. Search boxes allow visitors to search for the accurate info that they are looking for by just writing a phrase or word instead of surfing through all the pages. Also note that the search box should have a minimum of 25 characters wide, so that it contains numerous queries.

The homepage of a website is the place where you can display different information and attract visitors to surf more of the website and other pages. It’s recommended to put pictures or post the topics of the main content within your website.

The last and most important thing to keep in mind is don’t load the page with useless design elements and flash animations, as it will increase the page sizes which will result in the homepage taking longer to load. Long loading time increases the chance that your visitors will get irritated and leave.

First of all, you need to figure out whom you are trying to reach and what are the objectives for your model. The objectives might be to use someone traditional, conservative, fun, disciplined or authoritative. Make sure you know how you want your message conveyed so you pick the right spokesperson.

Secondly, after deciding on your spokesperson you need to select a short but effective script. The script should be written in such a manner that it can give an overview of all the services and products you offer and why you are the best.

The third step is to choose the position on your website. Do you wish to place your spokesperson on the top right or bottom left? Do you want them fixed in front of an image or would you like them to move around your site? Make sure it fits appropriately into the layout of your website design.

Now that you have chosen a Virtual Spokesperson and have determined the placement, the next and last step is to pick the size shown: Full Body vs. Half Body vs. 3/4 Body Shot. The advantage of a full body is that the virtual spokesperson may be able to point and gesture at different places on the webpage. They can show their entire body, which may be attractive to your visitors.

Always keep Visitors in mind; you want your visitors to relate to the virtual spokesperson, not be annoyed and leave the site.

Most everyone is aware of web advertising, as it is considered one of the most popular forms of advertising today. One example is the pay per click (PPC) advertising. PPC advertising can earn you a good amount of money in a very short interval of time. Many think that it is quite risky to invest in pay per click (PPC) advertising, but truly speaking it is the best and easiest way to earn a good amount of money in a short period. The key is that it depends on how well you have implemented the internet marketing strategies.

The responsibility of getting more and more traffic on to the website is taken care of by a search engine optimization company which tries to get and convert as many customers as possible to visit particular sites, which then can be converted into heavy traffic. This process will always be beneficial for anyone, but one should be aware that a relative amount of the exchange process and the PPC costs, which are a major factor, and should be considered as high as possible to ensure no surprises on the expense end. The entire process should be high quality, resulting in huge earnings and less expense.

There are various means to perform SEO on the website. The most recent and easiest way is thorough Social Media Websites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.) The higher number of clicks you receive, the higher your website will be in ranking. The higher your ranking and the better the chance to get perspective customers’ clicks increased to your website.

98% of the people Google their requirement and only look up to page 2 of their matches. If they found it on Page 1 or Page 2 that’s good enough for the prospect and generally no one bothers to see what’s on Page 3 or beyond. This makes it necessary to properly utilize the correct Meta Keywords and Meta Tags in order to connect your website to the right Keywords on the search engine and be seen by the Prospective Customer.

So if you have an Online Business, you must have a powerful SEO tool.