Uh... doesn't necessarily mean that the 600+ million cyber surfers around the globe will come flocking to your digital door. True, a professionally designed website is certainly the most essential foundation of any E-biz endeavor. But even the most wowzer website will be lost in the vast sea of cyberspace if nobody knows it's there. Thus - whether you've just launched your brand-spanking new website in digital lights, or you're a veteran E-biz digital landlord, success on the Web depends most decidedly on marketing your website, along with regularly "freshening" and maintaining your site's content. Website Marketing and Maintenance Tips BlissBytes sincerely wants you to succeed on the vast (and crowded) cyber super highway, and we're happy to share our digital experience and help you with both site marketing and maintenance. For starters, you'll certainly want to include your website address on all print materials (business cards, letterhead, etc.), as well as add a fully clickable site address to the signature on all your business email correspondence (i.e. http://www.yoursite.com). Romancing the search engines is certainly another (deep, dark 'n mysterious) marketing strategy to attend to and BlissBytes is happy to help. As each Web search index has its own unique submission rules 'n druthers, we strongly recommend hand submitting your pages to a variety of (both majors and specialty) search engines/directories, as well as monitoring the results, and following up with periodic keyword tweaks and resubmissions. There is also much you can do to enhance your potential standing in the search indexes by scattering bountiful relevant keywords within the content of your site, as well as tweaking the names of your site files and "ALT" tags on all your graphics and images. And while such diligent search engine wooing is surely recommended, BlissBytes has found that alternate creative marketing strategies can often be even more effective in spreading the word, increasing traffic, building site loyalty, and expanding your niche on the Web. For example: We encourage our clients to seek out complementary websites (sites that offer resources that enhance your business niche) and politely request a "reciprocal link" (i.e. both site owners agree to post a hotlink on their site to the other's site). This marketing strategy offers a triple-bonus:  1. augmenting your site content with related links to additional Web resources increases the "value" of your site for your visitors (and encourages them to bookmark your site as a convenient, robust doorway);  2. having links to your site on other sites will attract potentially more traffic to your site; and  3. (most importantly) many of the search engines rank a site higher in their results based on the site's "popularity" (i.e. how many sites link to yours). Here too, BlissBytes is happy to advise you on how best to garner effective reciprocal links, check for your site's "popularity", and (above all) continually ensure that all of your external links remain viable (i.e. a site visitor's/owner's worst nightmare: a dreaded "404 Page Not Found" error.) You'll also want to periodically analyze your site's server logs which can reveal a wealth of both fascinating and helpful bits of info on your site visitors - what browser they're using, where they came from, what pages of your site they visit most, how long they stay, etc. Depending on your host server, these logs can be a bit daunting, but BlissBytes is happy to help guide you in how to decipher your site's log information and utilize it to further the success of your website. And last but (most assuredly) not least - from a marketing standpoint (and after all, that's really what it's all about), the number one way to both attract (and more importantly) keep visitors returning to your site (not to mention, telling their friends and associates about it) is... <drum roll pleeeze> Adding fresh content and ever new nuances to keep your site from getting stale. No one visits a comatose website (even the search engines will eventually discard a neglected site), and thus - regularly scheduled site updates and maintenance is vital to your website's success.  Unlike print, cyber is d-y-n-a-m-i-c.  And while that is not to say that BlissBytes advocates tweaking your site daily, nor drastically redecorating your site from top to bottom each 'n every blessed season, nonetheless... Web citizens are nothing if not exceedingly "spoiled brats"  (ask me how I know <grin>).  They expect "fresh", they demand "fast", and more than anything - they lust after ever new i-n-f-o-r-m-a-t-i-o-n. Furthermore, while they don't necessarily fancy oodles of bells 'n whistles (especially if the digital toys don't work - or worse yet, crash their precious browser), Web studies show that even the most staid 'n studious surfers relish ever new interactives (such as relevant polls, short quizzes, and oh yes - anything that's "free".) Indeed, absolutely anything that sets your site apart from the crowd, keeps it "fresh", and gives click-happy surfers (with alas, the attention-span of a fruit fly) a reason to linger - and return again and again... These are but a small sample of the myriad of site marketing and maintenance notions that rattle 'round the Bliss' brain. No mere mortal can ever presume to know (nor has the time to research) but an Nth of the digital possibilities that abound (much less stay halfway abreast of the dizzying, ever-changing technology/rules-of-the-game.)  But BlissBytes is plugged-in verily 24/7 here and is happy to help should you seek a hand to hold in marketing and maintaining your website. Website Maintenance and Marketing Options Do-It-Yourself Fiddle So just how much help might you need? If you're familiar with HTML code and FTP (File Transfer Protocol - uploading files to your host server), you can probably manage minor content edits and simple link updates yourself. And while there are various WYSIWYG (WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet) website editors that can help manage the task of site maintenance, do bear in mind that many of these are notorious for adding extraneous (and often nasty) codes that can glitch your finely tuned website.  So if you're determined to tweak your website yourself, BlissBytes strongly recommends that you fiddle in a simple text editor (such as Notepad) so as not to risk botching your page design and inviting a major site repair bill. Trust Your Pixel-Pusher Better yet, as no doubt a busy professional yourself, best to focus your precious time on what you do best (providing quality service to your customers) and leave pixel-pushing to a skilled website specialist. In addition to the assurance that your website will be technically top-notch (in a fraction of the time it would take you or one of your staff), BlissBytes can also help with auxiliary tasks inherent in website ownership (including scanning and image optimization, host-server administration, site log statistical analysis, site marketing tasks, and advising on the latest website tools and software options). In short, BlissBytes can assist with most any of the chores, decisions and dilemmas that are bound to arise now that you're a digital E-biz landlord.  And while we're happy to whittle whatever you like "on-the-fly" whenever you need it, we invite you to consider one of our flexible website "M 'n M" (Maintenance 'n Marketing) plans below.  By opting for a reserved maintenance account, not only will you save money, but you can be sure that your website needs will get BlissBytes' highest priority attention. BlissBytes Maintenance 'n Marketing Plans With BlissBytes M 'n M plans, keeping your website in tip-top shape is easy - whenever you need something tweaked, just pick up the phone (or whiz us an email) and tell us what you need. We'll give you an estimate of the time it will take, and reshuffle our schedule to put your site work at the top of our list. Whatever you need - be it technical site adjustments or cyber marketing advice, all BlissBytes' prepaid M 'n M plans cover the full spectrum of website maintenance, marketing and consultation - at discounted rates. Site updates can include any sort of content adjustment, from simply changing a product price or correcting a dead link - to adding a new page or even developing entire new sections on your website (including graphic design, interactive forms and java scripting).  So do consider one of BlissBytes' M 'n M plans for management of your website. BlissBytes M 'n M Options 3 Month Prepaid Plan 6 Month Prepaid Plan 12 Month Prepaid Plan 6 Hour Reserve $240 12 Hour Reserve $432 24 Hour Reserve $720 Each Addit'l Hour $40 Each Addit'l Hour $36 Each Addit'l Hour $30 % Savings* 10% % Savings* 20% % Savings* 33% *Savings over "on-the-fly" website service rate of $45/hour. With the convenience of a BlissBytes Maintenance 'n Marketing plan we can make changes to your web site as often as you need it - a quick fiddle here, a new page there - and all at the discounted rate of your selected M 'n M plan. We keep precise track of our time on each individual M 'n M client's work (indeed, ask us about our handy "TimeSlice" stopwatch software - we simply couldn't live without it!), and we'll send you an account status report at the end of each month. The prepaid "Reserve" of each plan has been economically set at just 2 hours per month (certainly no professional website deserves any less).  But should your site require additional work over the span of the M 'n M plan that you choose, your discounted rate will apply to all extra hours til your plan expires.  And speaking of "expire" - if you renew your M 'n M plan without interruption - we'll transfer any unused hours forward - and add them to your new batch of "reserves". As a BlissBytes M 'n M client, we'll also store a copy of your entire website (including all page files, scripts, images and graphics) here on our system (for speedier maintenance tweak) - as well as a duplicate full backup (on disk) - "just in case"... And finally, as a little "thank-you" for entrusting the care of your precious website to Blissbytes, each quarter we'll do a full review of your site and advise you of any broken links or other technical glitches, as well as offer suggestions for enhancing your site and increasing your success on the Web.
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