Businesses across all industries are now jumping on the Facebook Page bandwagon to establish their online identity, and your company may need to follow suit. As more of your prospects and existing customers become avid Facebook users, having a Facebook Page can help you connect with a whole new group of people and establish some positive relationships. Facebook Pages for businesses are free, and in most cases, take less than an hour to set up. You can even customize your page to include your logo and banner, and create a custom “landing” tab page to highlight a special promotion, sweepstakes or other marketing message.

Here are five reasons why your business needs a Facebook Page:

#1: Keeps Your Business on “Top of Mind”

Since updates to your Facebook Page get pushed out to your fans’ News Feeds instantly, you can indirectly market your business and links to your website – and all for free. Doing this consistently will help to keep your company and brand at “top of mind” for many of your prospective clients. When a client is ready to buy, they may be more likely to get in touch with you just because you’re easily accessible within a few clicks!

#2: To Improve SEO

Google does index Facebook Pages fairly quickly – just make sure you set the settings to “Public”. This can help you capture top listings for certain keywords and phrases on Google, and makes it easier for prospects to find you.

#3: Free Indirect Marketing

If you struggle with reaching out and connecting to your target market, you can use Facebook Pages as an indirect marketing tool to generate business. People don’t like to be bombarded with advertising or marketing messages through email or even direct mail on a regular basis. Fortunately, the psychology behind Facebook marketing is a little different. Your fans have opted in to hear from you. Many will be happy to hear about a special offer, news or your latest blog post.

#4: Fans Can Check In to Your Business

When you have a brick-and-mortar business that attracts foot traffic and relies on in-person sales, some customers may want to “check in” to your establishment using the Facebook Places feature. When they do this, they are sharing their current location – and your business name with the linked Facebook Page – with all of their Facebook Friends. It’s free advertising for you and can help to further establish your online presence.

#5: Builds Customer Loyalty

Staying connected with current and future customers with a Facebook Page can help to open up the lines of communication and also make you appear more accessible. Accessibility is key when it comes to marketing and branding. After all, customers are more likely to do business with someone they can reach easily and someone they can trust. Be consistent with your Facebook updates and find ways to generate buzz about the latest happenings. Interact with people who post comments on your Facebook Page so that you can build some positive relationships. These relationships may be critical for building your client base now, and in the future.

Now that you have a beautiful, professional-looking website or blog set up, you need to make sure your target audience can actually find it! Having a website or blog go “live” on the web isn’t enough to make these marketing vehicles work for you. You need to take steps to proactively market and promote your URL, or potential customers won’t be able to find you easily. Even if you’re ranking high on the major search engines for certain keywords and phrases, there is an even bigger pool of potential clients and customers out there who can reach your site without using a search engine.

Here are seven FREE ways to promote your website or blog, and start generating more traffic:

1. Set up a Facebook Page. Create a complementary Facebook Page for your business and make sure to include details about your website and blog on the Page “Info” section. You can promote individual links as updates on your Wall, and can also interact with commenters and fans regularly. This is a free Facebook service that can help businesses across all industries.
2. Comment on other blogs or Facebook pages. Post comments on blogs relevant to your industry or services, and make sure you link back to your website or landing page when asked to enter personal information with your comment. If you’re on Facebook, make sure to “Like” other businesses in your niche or industry, and leave comments or posts on their Wall occasionally. This can help to generate some buzz and encourage other people to look at your Facebook page, website and blog.
3. Exchange links. Seek out links to websites and blogs that have similar interests as you and offer to link back to them in exchange for a link. This can be a simple and effective way to attract more traffic.
4. Add your URL to all marketing materials. Many small businesses overlook the value of this simple concept, and fail to attract hundreds of potential visitors to their site or blog as a result. Make sure you include your URL in all of your marketing materials – this includes business cards, postcards, posters and any direct mail pieces you send out regularly. Make it as easy as possible for potential customers to find your site’s address!
5. Submit your site to niche directories or local listings sites. Get listed on major niche directories by submitting your URL through the contact form. Some local listing sites offer a “free” option, and this can be very helpful in getting you noticed by your target market.
6. Publish press releases on your site, and online. Post press releases about newsworthy events and items related to your industry at least once per month. Press releases that get sent through the newswires need to include a link back to your website. This is a great way to get more exposure and increases the chances that potential customers will find you.
7. Promote your website or blog on Twitter. Twitter is a great social networking tool for promoting your business and establishing your online presence. Set up an account and post relevant updates regularly. Follow people in your niche, work on building a following, and post links to your website and blog content so that people can click through to your site directly.

When Drew Armbruster approached Arranging Pixels last month he was faced with a dilemma.  He had spent a ton of money on building a WordPress website, but he was not seeing the conversion rates he had hoped for.

After reviewing the website analytics and conversions for a few weeks we knew exactly what FindMyHomeDenver.com needed.  A simple facelift!

The facelift included:

• Fresh new color palate to match the logo
• Clearer call to action buttons on the homepage
• A reduction in the number of navigation choices
• Relocating the navigation to a more intuitive place.

We relaunched the new FindMyHomeDenver.com just over a week or so and Drew is  a happy camper… in fact he said “the site has been doing amazing since you finished the new look!!”

If you’re looking for a home in Denver- take a look at www.findmyhomedenver.com and give Drew a call!

Your website is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can have for your business. You need to not only make sure the page design and layout are visually appealing, but also ensure that your site visitors stay on the site for more than a few seconds. If the text is too small or the colors you choose don’t complement each other, your website visitor could disappear in the blink of an eye.

Working with a professional web design company or specialist can increase your chances of having a high-quality and attractive website, but you may still be responsible for making some key decisions about the overall look of the site. Here are just five basic rules for great web page design to keep in mind:

#1: Navigation

Your website visitors need to be able to jump from page to page with ease. Make sure that all of your hyperlinks are linking out to the correct landing pages, and that any graphics and images are linked appropriately. Your header navigation – the lineup of pages under the address bar – needs to include your key pages.

#2: Readability

Use simple language and make sure the text size isn’t too small – or too large. Align the text so that it stands out but doesn’t overpower your website. Make sure all graphics with text are easy to read, and that your visitors can “scan” the copy easily to get the main idea.

#3: Search Engine Optimization

You will need a website that is optimized for the search engines. This means that it’s designed and coded in a way that will attract the attention of search engine web crawlers and can get indexed easily. You’ll also need to promote your site online using different types of online marketing strategies. Consider working with an online marketing company or a consultant to make sure your website is optimized for the highest possible search engine rankings.

#4: Consistency

Your company logo, the color of the text, size of pictures and any special text formatting you use needs to be consistent throughout your site. This helps to create a professional appearance and will create a better user experience. Make sure you are begin consistent with all fonts, images and text attributes you use, even when each page is customizable.

#5: Download Speed

If it takes too long for your web pages to load, your website visitor may just leave your site and go to your competitor. Overloading your site with too many graphics, media-rich files and animations can bore your visitors and prevent them from even getting to a landing page, product page or contact page. Make sure you consider page loading times when selecting a web page design or layout. Stick with simple and clean layouts to ensure a speedy download time.

Are you an existing Arranging Pixels client with a WordPress website?  Maybe you’re just thinking about building a WordPress website… or you’ve built one with another company and they’re just not supporting you…

If you’d like to learn more about WordPress then this collection of videos is for you!

Add an image from your Computer

Add Heading style to a Post or Page

Add Image from URL

Add Links to a Sidebar

Upload Media to the Media Library

Add New Page

Add New Post

Add Paragraphs to Posts and Pages

Introduction to the WordPress Admin Bar

Approving and Editing Comments

Working with Categories

Change Password on the Your Profile Page

Introduction to the WordPress Dashboard

Delete an Image from a Post or Page

Edit Image in a Post or Page

Editing Posts or Pages

Edit Links

Introduction to Post Excerpt

Set Featured Image for a Post or Page

Creating Hyperlinks

Introduction to the Image Editor

Introduction to Link Categories

Ordered and Unordered Lists

Introduction to Media Library

Embed videos, images and media

Paste from MS Word into Posts and Pages

Working with Quick Press

Replace images in a Post or Page

Restore Page from Trash folder

Restore Post from Trash folder

Working with Tags

Introduction to the visual editing toolbar

Trash a Page or Post

Using the image editor to crop or scale

Using the image editor to rotate or flip