One of the hardest and most frustrating things about blogs is breaking the 100 views per day threshold. Your blog has quality content, it’s intriguing, and you have a steady following. But you want to make the leap to get thousands, not a hundred, views a day. So, how do you do it?

The first step is to write one killer article per week. A killer article is a really informative, creative, and alluring article that is sure to capture your viewer’s attention and keep them reading. It’s an article that’s so helpful, so enticing, that viewers will tweet it, facebook it, and repost it to their own blogs. Killer articles take a long time to write; you’ll want to work on it for one hour every day of the week until it’s finished.

Unfortunately, posting one killer article a week won’t be enough to get you lots of exposure, even if the article is earth shattering, life changing, or the best thing you’ve ever written. You have to make sure you network with other bloggers in you niche. You can comment on other blogs that relate to your company, post links to other blogs on your website, or contact other bloggers about their work. Build relationships with people in your blogging niche so you can create a support system. These people may start reading your blogs and reposting them on Twitter or adding your link to their websites. You can also post your own blog on social network accounts so that your friends and followers can get access to it. Do these networking activities every day.

Along with networking, promote your blog. It’s important to take advantage of social networking accounts so that your friends and followers have easy access to your blog. Get friends to submit the articles to bookmarking sites or put links on their Twitter and Facebook. Send out a mass email to your friends and family telling them about the blog and encouraging them to tell their friends. You can also post the article in online forums as to expand your readership.

Killer articles are a great way to attract readers and promote your blog, but also remember to post daily. Each blog doesn’t have to be a work of genius; you can post just a few thoughts or a link to a relevant article online. You could even start a discussion and ask readers to respond. Write a smaller article to get people’s thoughts flowing.

It is definitely frustrating to see that the views on your blog are stagnant. But if you dedicate time and energy to promoting, networking, and writing quality articles, your hard work will pay off. It’s all about making those connections and engaging in a conversation with your online niche.

For more blogging and website design tips, contact Codank Web Design. We are dedicated to helping you create a successful web presence with our custom designed websites. 

Socialize your Website: Why it’s important for your company to reach out with social media.

Let’s Socialize: Social media has made the internet an extension of our social lives; it’s become a place of sharing thoughts, ideas, and interests. Getting on facebook means connecting with friends through pictures, posts, and articles. Getting on Twitter means opening up the line of communication between you and people all over the world. The online experience has become a portfolio of favorites; you can share favorite recipes, articles, quotes, ideas, and much more with all your friends while sitting at your computer. Getting online means exchanging ideas and entering into a conversation about the things you like and the stuff you’re interested in. 

That’s why it’s vital to incorporate social media into your company’s website design. Having pages on facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and others puts your company’s website into the social world of the internet. Without the help of social networking, it’s like you’re sitting on the bench at a high school dance; you’re watching and can see what’s going on, but you’re not hanging with the crowd. In order for your company’s website to get the best exposure, you have to get up off the bench and dance your way into the online conversation. If you immerse yourself into the social lives of potential customers and clients, you are guaranteed to have more success.

Brand Recognition: Social media websites get lots of traffic, so if you make a facebook page for your company and your company’s website, then you’re guaranteed to get some views. People will see your pages and start to recognize your brand. Check your stats daily to see how many likes your pages get and how many people are frequenting your facebook page. If your numbers are low, include social media share buttons on your company’s website. This will encourage people who visit your site to share your page with their friends on facebook or tweet about your company.

Social Media is About Sharing: Having a facebook page isn’t just for posting information. As stated before, facebook is a way to share and exchange ideas and enter into a conversation about the things we like and take interest in. Use videos and pictures on your facebook page to attract more visitors. Think of your facebook page as a giant advertisement. Include pictures, articles, videos, and quotes. Make it eye-catching and stimulating. Also, take advantage of other people’s ideas. You can re-post an article from someone else’s page or use a video from someone else’s website (as long as you give them credit). Social media is about sharing, so share other’s ideas on your pages if it is relevant to your company.

When it comes to promoting your company’s business model, social media can integrate you into the intimate part of people’s online conversation. If you can wedge your way into their social activities on the internet via facebook and Twitter, your company can become part of their interests. When considering website design and social media networking, consider contacting CODANK Web Design. We can provide more tips and tools when it comes to your company’s website presence. We also create one of a kind websites for our clients and assist with social media marketing. Contact us today for a free quote.

Do I Need a Separate Marketing Website for my Products?

Lots of ecommerce merchants use a main website to advertise their products and provide important information about their company. But when the time comes to promote or sell a certain product, separate marketing websites are essential to increasing your sales and marketing your products effectively.

People may browse your ecommerce website because they need information about your ecommerce business, but they may not look there specifically for product sales and reviews. Contact a website design company, like CODANK Web Design, to make separate websites to market your products. If you sell a variety of products in your ecommerce business, create different websites to target each category of products. Customers shop online by the product they want. If they need shoes, they will browse ecommerce shoe products. If they are looking for power tools, they will search for sites that sell power tools. Having those separate ecommerce websites for your products will reach more customers as you narrow down the inventory to match their interests.

The website you use for your ecommerce marketing business is usually run by an IT team. If you use a website design company, they will be dedicated to making sure the product is marketed in the best way possible. CODANK Web Design understands the art of making marketing websites to attract customers to a certain product. Our team will design custom websites to help market your products and contribute to the growth of your ecommerce business. Our ecommerce websites are enabled by content management systems (CMS) to help you add and change updates, coupons, or special promo deals on your products.

If you want to see tangible results in selling your ecommerce items, you have to capitalize on the services of a website design team. They will know what it takes to market your products to attract customers. Expand your ecommerce business and customer base by contacting a website design team. CODANK Web Design can help you make these external ecommerce websites. Contact us today for a free quote.

Take Control of Your Website

Many website design companies have IT staff and professional web designers on hand to make updates, revisions, and additions to their clients’ websites. But, as a client, being able to revise your own website makes it easier and more efficient to keep your company’s web presence up to date. That’s why CODANK Web Design employs content management systems as a part of our web design platform. We let you take control of your company’s website.

When handling updates and revisions with a website design team, the process can take more time than necessary. Let’s say you want to add something to your site—a calendar event, a blog post, or a new page. Let’s also say that you aren’t too computer savvy. Well, first you’ll have to get in contact with the web design company and IT department, or a web developer. Then, you’ll have them make the change, approve the change, and then see the revision live on your website. What if you want to make several changes? You’ll have to have a lengthy, descriptive conversation with your web design firm or internet technician about the additions you want put on your website. With a content management system (CMS) enabled website, you can make all the changes easily by yourself. You can make revisions and additions whenever you see fit without being at the mercy of the professionals on the web design team.

CMS enabled websites allow you to update your site as you see fit. CODANK’s custom made websites are all CMS enabled to ensure that the client will always have access to the website. We believe that the website is yours to mold and shape as your business changes. With our system, you can manually add calendars, upcoming events, links, images, blog posts, pages, text, contact information, and more. CODANK creates websites for the client, so we believe the site should be user friendly.

When it comes to online marketing, your website is an extension of your business; therefore, it should be yours to maneuver and control. For a custom designed, CMS enabled website, contact CODANK today for a free quote.

A New Year, A New CODANK Charlotte Web Design

With the recent rise of Web Design companies in the Charlotte area, one company has worked very hard to stand out from the rest. Established in 2007, CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company has dedicated itself to delivering top-notch service to the surrounding area.

A commitment to outstanding Search Engine Marketing, Web Hosting, E-Commerce, and Internet Marketing - CODANK Charlotte Web Design Company offers superior web development portfolios for all of their clients.

Not all Internet companies are able to provide customers with visual efforts that shine through their websites. With the support of CODANK Charlotte Web Design, every client is presented with an impressive web design that conveys an effective user experience needed to draw in that desired traffic flow.

CODANK has grown into one of Charlotte’s most incomparable full-service companies within the last two and a half years. Ready to explore new ventures, CODANK is very excited about the New Year.
A brand new year means a brand new opportunity to provide our clients with exceptional work. In 2010, CODANK promises to continue transforming business strategies into tailored Internet solutions that meet every company’s marketing needs now and in the future.

During the New Year, CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company is excited to introduce our new customer portal – CMSenabled. This highly thought-out Content Management System is a user-friendly tool made specifically with CODANK clients in mind. CMSenabled will allow our customers to not only better communicate with us but also receive Search Engine Optimization updates, easily pay invoices, view project progressions and request necessary changes to their websites.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Charlotte Web Design - Ugly Doesn't Sell

A lot of people have decided to become “graphic designers” without the proper training needed to actually succeed. Because of this, companies and their SEO rankings are suffering.

Some web designers build beautiful websites but aren’t functional, and then there are others who find it necessary to use every graphic design tool available – making a website pretty but unusable.

Even though a start-up business may think that they cannot hire a well-known designer, actually there is no correlation between good web design and dollars. It is very much possible to spend lots of money and then not be satisfied with the finished product. Companies should take a look at a designer’s past work or portfolio before committing to their services.

In the Search Engine Optimization and web design world, ugly does not sell! According to Search Engine Optimization for Dummies: 3rd edition, ugly can be the following:

Color combinations that do not work for a website
Cutesy backgrounds that look – cutesy, not professional
Unorganized page layouts that look very amateur
Awful typeface choices that make the pages close to unreadable
Combinations of fonts and colors that make the text close to unreadable – such as white text on black backgrounds
Clunky, unprofessional images and photos
Companies such as CODANK Charlotte Web Design provide potential clients with a web portfolio of all of their past and present projects. You can view CODANK’s portfolio here. Giving potential clients the opportunity to see their work allows for a fair judgment. View a web designer’s work and then you make the decision of if they are worth hiring.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

SEO & SEM 101

CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company has briefly explained the questions on every potential clients mind, what is Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and their elements?

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the following information before choosing a Charlotte Web Design company. They should be able to fully take advantage of these services. If not, you should consider finding a company that does.

What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization, also referred to as SEO, are the design strategies you use on and away from a website to enhance search engine rankings. This simply means altering your website, design content & other elements to improve its presence.

Keywords and phrases are both very important aspects of Search Engine Optimization. They are the link between a site and the sites potential traffic.

What is Search Engine Marketing?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a type of Internet Marketing which seeks to promote websites by increasing visibility in search engine result pages.
The ultimate goal of SEM is to attract more traffic (people) to your website.

Search engines will naturally change and advance as technology and theories that enable SEO and the engines themselves progress. For this reason, a modifiable Search Engine Optimization plan should be set in place to help keep you on track.

Search Engine Ranking
To achieve a high position in search results, your site must be beyond recognizable by a search engine crawler. Your site must comply with a set of criteria that gets your site cataloged above most other sites that may fall within the same grouping or topic.

Ranking Criteria
Anchor Text Topical Links Keywords Site Maturity
Site Popularity Title Tags Site Language
Link Context Keywords Content

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Design Flaws to Avoid

A good web designer knows there are certain things that you just shouldn’t ever do to a website. Some of them have to do with loading times and others are just faux pas and will turn visitors away from your website. The problem is that many websites out there are outdated and thus display many of these qualities. Also, many websites have been designed by the owner of the company using a free design tool or by an inexperienced amateur who, while they may know some things, isn’t a seasoned web designer with a team of designers behind him or her. Does your website have these basic flaws?

Slow loading graphics or videos. The Internet is where people go to see what they want and when they want. If you are holding them back by posting a high-resolution video of your latest product on your homepage or having intricate logos and banners on every page, visitors will respond by not staying very long. This a web design flaw seen in websites from the previous “web generation.”

Browser Compatibility. Firefox reads different than Internet Explorer reads different than Safari reads different than Google Chrome reads different than Opera reads different than… well you get the point. There are tons of browsers out there and you don’t want to chance leaving some of your viewers out! Do plenty of testing with the biggest browsers and you should be covered if all looks the same with each browser.

Grammar or Spelling Mistakes. It seems simple this is actually something that turns me away from a website almost immediately.

Too Many Colors or Fonts. It’s definitely ok to integrate visual appeal into your web design and pretty fonts and colors are a great way to do it. I’m writing about the website that uses eight fonts on one page, all of them a different color. In my opinion, once you get more than three fonts or colors, you are out of the design theme and that’s when the clashing begins.

There are definitely many other common mistakes that web designers make… maybe we’ll see more in the future here. My suggestion is to look for these in your current website design or consider all of these as you plan for a new website. CODANK of Charlotte, NC can help you makeover your obsolete or otherwise outdated website. Call for a free quote.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Is Your Site Mobile Friendly?

Blackberrys, iPhones, and Palm Pilots are rapidly becoming the standard type of device for the average businessperson to own. The convenience of checking your e-mail, having a full browser, and being tethered to the World Wide Web at all times can change the way someone’s job is done. For this reason, it is important for company owners to adapt and make their websites mobile friendly. In doing this, you will please more and more customers and make it easy for them to choose you.

You will need to do a little more than register for a sub domain. For a website named “www.CharlotteWebDesign.com”, simply registering for “www.mobile.CharlotteWebDesign.com” isn’t going to quite do the trick. These viewers have tiny screens and often their browsers display the text and graphics in a constrained manner. For this reason you are going to have to get a little more involved than copying your current site over.

Simplifying your website’s design is a good first tip. For an ecommerce website, most mobile users know what they’re looking for if they are viewing it from their mobile phone or device. Also, for other websites, most people aren’t just browsing the Internet from a tiny screen. The majority of people have a good idea of what they want to find and your web design should help them in that. This means that trying to employ navigation as usual is probably not the greatest idea. Make sure that everything important from your normal site is still available and don’t let the web design suffer but remember that most mobile users are going to prefer to click through links as quickly as possible and be able to search for exactly what they need. Another good idea is to make sure your company is known well on your mobile site. Displaying company logos and contact information frequently is a good way to start this off. In addition to all this, increasing your font size can really help your visitors out since they are on very small screens. This may take some of the frustration that comes with technology away! Also, don’t forget to display links to your standard page if some prefer it!

Having a mobile friendly website is definitely something serious companies should consider. More and more tiny devices are putting the Internet in your pocket and we should have the web design tailored to the people that we want to visit our websites. Getting your mobile friendly website up and running can be more complicated than you bargained for if you aren’t a web developer yourself so if Googling “how to …” doesn’t work out for you, contact CODANK. CODANK of Charlotte, North Carolina is ready to start planning your mobile friendly website today.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Now is the Time

The Internet is popping up all over the place. The latest news is that Airlines are providing broadband service to its customers. So far, three airliners provide Wi-fi access on some of their planes. That means people can browse websites during their entire flight. Blackberry users can even access the Internet through some services. This is just a good example of how the Internet is booming more and more and will definitely be here to stay.

This means having a web presence will only be more and more useful to you as the years progress. If you have a small business in these times, a solid web site with good web design is invaluable to your exposure and is an absolute necessity. The reason why now is the best time is because the world is turning to the Internet as a resource more and more every single day. Newspapers are becoming less and less popular as people look for their answers on Google or Yahoo. So if you are planning on being a legitimate business in the times to come, a solid focus on your web design is your next step. More and more companies are upgrading their web presence, optimizing for search engines, and paying top dollar for it. This only makes the web more and more competitive when it comes to attracting traffic and ultimately, making a sale.

Whether you are brand new to this or you have had a business for a while, you should be seriously considering going online. Think of it as a global storefront for everyone to see your product or service. A good website with great web design is definitely a worthwhile investment because times are only moving closer and closer to an Internet based society. CODANK of Charlotte, NC handles every part of the process from brainstorming, development, design, implementation, search engine optimization, and upkeep. Contact us for a free quote!

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Your Home Page Needs To Suck!

I recently came across a very informational article called "Great Homepages Really Suck" written by Cameron Moll. This article really helps to explain what a good homepage should aim to do and how to employ those techniques. The fun title suggests that home pages need "pull" visitors and let them gather useful information rather than "push" them around and feed them information they may or may not be looking for. So I decided to share my thoughts on the subject and apply them to the more recent times considering that this article was written in 2003.

According to the article, statistics show that 75% of Internet readers are searchers and gatherers while the remaining 25% know what they want and are searching specifically for it. While this may not apply across the board, it is a fair measure of how the average person uses the Internet. If your homepage consists of a visually appealing logo, a welcome statement, and a few links, this article suggests that you may be missing out on a large amount of customers. Loading your homepage almost to the point of being considered "busy" is not necessarily a bad thing. Users will be able to gather an array of information and will be able to sort through what they think they might need. A good principle outlined in the article is to design your website with a bottom-up theme. Whether it is you who are doing the web design work or you have decided to use a professional agency like CODANK, having a good idea of where you want your customers to be is always good. From there, you can highlight the important parts of your website on your homepage and thus, attract visitors to these parts and allow them the option of going there directly from your home page.

Content is the other major idea of this article. Good copywriting is a must for your homepage due to the fact that it is almost always a visitor's first impression and you want to have their attention from the start. Boring them with all sorts of facts or features about your products may not be the best idea. Invest in a solid company like CODANK to boost your content while making it keyword rich. Also, including a good visual is always a great idea. An example of your work or two are very welcome on a good homepage.

Examine your homepage closely and decide if it uses the kind of web design that your average visitor will find interesting, efficient, and easy to use. If not, then a makeover should be on your to do list. Remember, you want your homepage to suck! CODANK can develop a solution for every web need you have. From optimization to revamping a home page, CODANK has the tools and experience to get the job done.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Backing Up Your Data

How many times have you been carrying on with your computing like you normally do and all of a sudden, your computer crashes and you lose everything forever. Your answer is very likely either never or maybe once. This is because computers have become fairly reliable and the likelihood of a hard drive failing is becoming more and more a thing of the past. Does this mean that we can now go on in life free of safety and never worry about losing our data again? Most definitely not.

Computers, while they are wonderful machines and perform tasks almost magical in nature, are mechanical. Mechanical things can be built very reliable but they will break at some point. This may seem off topic but if you are going to do any web design or store any important data pertinent to your website, you need to back up your data. If you have decided to design your own website, make sure to keep a copy of every page and every bit of code stored safely away from harm’s way. Obviously we all think about what we could’ve saved had we thought about it but now that you know, you won’t lose all the important things that your website counts on you having.

This goes for work you are doing on your desktop. System or application crashes are far more likely than a hard drive crash and if you happen to be working on the latest product or shopping cart idea for your e-commerce site, you could lose it forever. So don’t be afraid to save, save, and save again!

Well, consider yourself warned. It is always good to pass on some advice that I’ve learned the hard way (don’t ask). Get an external hard drive or even store it remotely through a good company like Carbonite or Mozy. I would prefer to store it myself but most companies do a great job of doing it for you.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Effective Blog Writing

Many businesses out there have decided to start a blog on their website. This means that they have joined the blogosphere consisting of an estimated 112.8 million other bloggers. This is a statistic found in June 2008 by Technorati. That is a lot of blogs! How can you purpose your blog and write with the ideal voice to attract business to your company?

Blogs are new and exciting. This means that the way they are written should follow suit. No longer are people attracted to mounds of information contained in a brochure or catalog. Sure they are still functional but the information age has brought a whole new wave of businesses communicating their businesses’ ideas or inner workings in a fun and personal way.

Keeping it fun and personal is difficult sometimes when you are used to informing the heck out of your customers. Blogs are supposed to be relaxed reading so writing interesting and laid back content is a must. Try writing an anecdote about recent happenings in your industry. It is refreshing when a visitor comes to your website, sees good web design, and then experiences a personal voice associated with your website. You will need to remember though, that your blog is not an online journal or diary. What this means is that even though your blogs need to be laid back, an e-commerce website will not need to blog about a lawn mowing experience and a web design company will not need to blog about a day at the beach. Write about content that is relevant to your industry that way you will draw visitors to your website.

So remember that when you get out into the blog world, you are almost expected to make it fun, laid back, and enjoyable for your readers. The information you want to get across can still be important but if a blog is drab and boring, there are 112.8 million blogs to choose from so why wouldn’t a potential customer just move on? Blogs can increase direct traffic to your website, improve your web design, and make your site more linkable. CODANK can help you start up your company blog today! Call for a free quote.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Link Exchange

Search Engine Optimizations is a complicated industry. One facet of this task is getting your URL out on the Internet and directing people to your website. Not only is this good in that people are more likely to travel to your site but search engines index this and it all adds up to get you higher on the search results page. Because everyone knows this, there is a crazy world out there consisting of forums, companies, directories, and the like all devoted to exchanging links. Let’s explore some of the situations and whether or not this should be important to you.

A common way of exchanging links when you have a small business website is the old fashioned manual communication. For example, Charlotte Web Design company A approaches Charlotte Graphic Design company B and requests that links are exchanged. If both parties are up for it, a link to the other’s website will be placed somewhere where visitors are encouraged to click. Then, the next time a major search engine indexes the websites, it will take note of how many added inbound links there are for each website and it will increase the odds of a high ranking search result. Should the common person do this? The answer is maybe. You should definitely take your time in researching the company that requests your link. Make sure that their content is not primarily spam or completely unprofessional. It makes sense to not send your visitors to a bad website, not to mention the possibility of a fraudulent link exchange (this being where a website waits for your add and does not return the favor). Just remember that most people believe that you are guilty by association.

The other most common way of exchanging links is by using directories or companies that submit to directories for you. Whether this is free or not, it should theoretically increase traffic. The only thing is that you can’t really control where your links are being placed. Also, many of these sites require several back links or links to other websites that you may or may not be able to choose. Many paid websites offer one-way links. The best advice here is, if you are maxed out in your SEO and looking for something new, try this and if it doesn’t work out after six months or so, forget about it. This is known to increase traffic for some and have no effect for others.

Most importantly, do your research. Research the companies that request a link exchange to your website. Research the effects of anything that you might try. Research the companies that you may use to increase the volume of inbound links to your website. CODANK knows SEO and offers custom solutions to help increase traffic to your website. Call for a free quote.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Search Engine On Your Website: Why or Why Not?

Many websites are designed so that the user, not necessarily knowing exactly what they’re after, can browse through links, follow banners that look appealing to them, and generally let the website create the flow. On the other hand, there are sites in which the visitor knows exactly what they’re looking for and any landing pages, links, or ads they have to sift through are only slowing them down and frustrating them. This information is for the latter, the website that has multiple pages and wants to be able to allow the visitors to access what they want directly.
We’ve all seen web design that includes search engines. Not like Google.com or Yahoo.com, this is more like eBay or Amazon to name some famous ones. Can you imagine trying to find an item if you had to click only eBay’s links to find it? This is an extreme example of an inconvenient and frustrating web design but there are many smaller websites that are in need of a search engine. Including a search engine in your web design allows people to go directly to their desired information and this is good for both the user and the company.

There are many ways to allow users to search your site from your own site. Many times, good software is necessary to perform all the tasks involved in creating a personal search engine. Sometimes, you’ll end up spending some money on something that works for you. Usually something between $50 and $250 will do the trick. If this option doesn’t work for you, there are some free sites such as www.freefind.com that allows you to add a search box to your website. Basically, you allow them to index your site and then they create HTML that directs the search back their remotely stored index and allows users to find what they searched for. This is only free for a small amount of information so if you have a lot of content, you will have to pay. Most of these options do require basic knowledge of your website and website design.

Adding a search engine box can be very valuable to your website. Usually it depends on whether your typical visitor is going to even know exactly what to search for. Use common sense and think about whether or not your average visitor will even find value in a search engine box. CODANK can consult, develop, and implement search solutions for your website. Call for a free quote today!

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Why You Should Have a Shopping Cart

If you own a small business dealing with e-commerce, you have certainly entertained the thought of having a shopping cart. It seems like every other website has one so why not you? Well there are many reasons to have one and a few reasons not to. Let’s have a look.

First of all, many companies choose to use a CMS, or content management system, either instead of a shopping cart or in conjunction with one. The key is to choose which one is right for you. Using a CMS is very convenient for many because it separates the content of your website from the layout. What this in turn allows you to do is edit content without running the risk of hurting your layout. Many e-commerce websites with thousands of products use a CMS in conjunction with a top dollar shopping cart/e-commerce software. This may not be cost effective for the small business.

If you are a small business owner and your site is mainly for showcasing your products or services and you are considering giving visitors the means to purchase them, a simple shopping cart solution combined with a good CMS is probably right for you. Also, if you are a larger e-commerce website with a few hundred products with little else to add, a good e-commerce/shopping cart solution is right for you. Having to sift through your content isn’t the end of the world if you need to update major things across the board.

The most important thing to remember here is that you can yield results from either of these systems. If you have good content and good SEO, you will draw people to your website. If you then have a good product or service, you will make a sale. Of course it is more likely to make a sale if you enable your visitors to purchase right then and there with a shopping cart. And the great thing is, everyone know how to use a shopping cart these days… they’re tried and true!

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Web 2.0 and How to Make Use of it

Web 2.0 refers to the supposed second generation of web technology. This means everything from blogs and Facebook to interactive flash based web design. With this new wave of web development and web design comes a whole new mess of tools and technology to exploit for your business. Lets survey some of the tools considered to be a part of web 2.0 and how they are used.

Social Networking – Your most common options here are Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter and possibly even LinkedIn for an ecommerce approach. These sites allow different people to exchange communication through the website and create “friendships” by making and accepting friend requests. How can this be valuable to your business? The logic here is to link businesses to consumers and consumers to businesses. If consumer B sees that consumer A is “friends” with or is interested in Business A, then consumer B is more likely to accept your company. It’s not always this simple as most users are turned off by an obvious ploy to get a consumer’s dollar. While this is sometimes difficult to achieve, this is where the most important 18-25 year olds are found so it is most likely worth the investment.

RSS Feeds – RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, feeds are basically the easiest way to upload frequently updated content such as blogs, news, articles, or audio/video. This gives your users a way to stay connected with your website and makes them feel connected to your business. If you are constantly posting fresh content that is valuable to your potential customers, they will want to stay up to date with what you have going on and if you give them the option to subscribe to your content as an RSS feed, it will only be easier for them.

Various widgets – There are many different Web 2.0 widgets and applications. One that almost every person has heard of and likely used is Google Maps. Countless companies are implementing Google’s brilliance on their websites and helping their potential customers find their place of business. “Bookmark This” is another good example of a popular widget. This is an application that allows you to create a button for users to share the content on your webpage, subscribe to the content, or simply bookmark it. For the record, these are just two of the countless tools out there for free. Search Google for web 2.0 applications or web 2.0 widgets. You won’t be disappointed.

Even though Web 2.0 can be complicated and overwhelming, it is just another part of our ever-changing technology that you are going to have to keep up with if you plan on keeping a good reputation. Social Networking, blogs, RSS feeds, and other tools are just some of the examples and there are always going to be more and more new developments to be a part of your business.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Small Business Websites

No matter what industry you are in, your web presence should be important to you. Whether you are running a construction business, law firm, day care, or a talent agency, having a good website will keep you ahead of the pack and help you to look more respectable than your competition. As always, more and more companies, smaller and smaller, are showing up on the Internet. Here are some good reasons to make sure you are advertising yourself on the Internet and some tips on how to do just that.

Just like every other cost associated with your business, you want to make sure that you are saving as much money as possible and getting the best value for your money. This is becoming especially easy with commonly available resources and free web development tools. Reading web design blogs just like this one is a great start for a better business. Unlike the web design of yesterday, business owners are able to build and edit their own content to some degree and a multitude of free tools are surfacing. My personal favorite resource is Google. I’ve featured Google’s Adwords and Keyword Tools before, as I am very impressed with what they are doing. Searching the net for what you need will almost always surprise you pleasantly when you can find so many free resources at your disposal.

For those of you with fewer resources, there are still plenty of great options. Though your business may not be ready to invest in a high dollar website, you can still have a functional presence on the web. There are many companies that provide you web hosting and provide a free site-building tool. These are typically very limited but easy to use. This type of thing would definitely be for the small business that needs a web presence now and wants to wait to invest in a solid website and good content. Keep in mind that having a good website design is of utmost importance and is almost always worth the investment.

Running a small business is understandably stressful. Trying to add technology and its learning curve to the mix just makes things more complicated. Fortunately, it’s becoming easier and easier to get yourself on the web. With all sorts of free tools and inexpensive, temporary solutions to more expensive, permanent issues, you should be ready to have a web presence right now. CODANK is your full-service web development company. Do everything here or just host your website for now, one thing is for sure, CODANK is here to help you.

About CODANK Web Design of Charlotte
CODANK is top rated Web Design firm, and Internet Marketing Experts located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to provide the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. Here at CODANK, we understand that web design can present complex issues for our clients. That's why we work closely with you to develop a custom solution that will fit your every need. We take great pride in our ability to analyze each individual situation and apply the most appropriate, proven technologies in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the initiative.
We offer full application design and development services, world-class e-Commerce web development, and custom content management solutions to name a few. All of these products and services are backed by the most important asset CODANK has . . . employees. Each individual works diligently in an open teamwork atmosphere, to bring our clients superior products that deliver great results while providing friendly and responsive customer service. CODANK is your one-stop shop for a custom solution tailored to your specific issue.
Contact us for a free quote today! For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com

Google’s NewsShow Wizard

Google always comes up with the best toys for your website. The latest is what is called NewsShow Wizard (http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/documentation/newsshow/wizard.html) This little tool helps you build the code to embed a Google NewsShow on your website. This is a slideshow of news that Google compiles for you based on different parameters that you choose yourself before Google writes the code for you. Let’s look at how it works.

At first site of the page, you will see several fields that you can fill. Among these are style (size and shape), search expressions, search topics, News edition, User interface language, and result set size. After you’ve made all the decisions, the code is right there for you to copy and paste.

The value of this tool is what? Not only is it neat to offer your visitors a little bit of news and culture while they view your products or services, but if you are entering the right search expressions and topics, it could draw new visitors that otherwise would not have seen your website. For example, a website like CODANK’s would use the terms “Charlotte Web Design” or “Charlotte Technology News”. This would lead to news stories about our industry eventually ending up on the page. Also, if you have a new website and not much content, Google’s NewsShow is a neat, clean way to spruce it up a little and add some more filler to your website.

Google’s NewsShow is not for everybody. It is always nice to see what Google is coming up with though and who knows… maybe having a scrolling news marquee is exactly what you were looking for to add some goods to your current web design. It’s also important to mention that for javascript and programming experts, the sky is your limit for this tool. Google provides extensive information and tips on how to make this work for your custom needs. CODANK is the leader of Charlotte Web Design and is ready to help meet your needs today. Give us a call!

E-mail Marketing

It is becoming the standard in the web design industry to make everything visually appealing. This holds true for almost everything in the technological world. If you are going to sell something, it better be arranged nicely on a neat website… its just the standard these days. So why wouldn’t this apply to e-mail marketing? It does.

Lets talk about colors and fonts. Just like your good website is designed, we should all employ the same methods when we start and e-mail marketing campaign. Your company colors are usually a good starting point. It’s not terrible to use some more to draw the readers’ eyes but we don’t want to overdo it. The same goes for fonts. Using the fonts that you already use for your website is a good way to make it look decent without racking your brain for new ideas.

Another good idea is to keep the general feel of the e-mail pretty simple. Find some good ideas for your subject line, write some informative, unobtrusive copy, and let those e-mails be opened. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier blog, a good idea for a subject line is to make it personal when you can, but send your potential customers an e-mail the same way you’d send a friend or a co-worker an e-mail. Excessive CAPS or asterisks are last generation’s tools and are almost always overlooked. When it comes to the body of your e-mail, make sure that it is very clear and intriguing. Most people are very busy these days and they barely want to read the e-mail they got from their mom. Use the least words possible and arrange them strategically so that the reader can see where the important information is and what they need to know. Remember that most people use an e-mail program that has a preview feature. This means that if your copy looks obnoxious, then people will most definitely delete. Most people feel better about copy when there is plenty of white space to rest your eyes on, excessive fonts and colors aren’t used, and headings and sub-headings display content in a hierarchal fashion.

Getting readers to open your e-mails, read them, and then follow-up is a difficult task sometime. Making your e-mails visually appealing can be one of the most important steps you take in promoting your e-mail marketing. Following the general rules of a good website’s design is always a good place to start. The good thing is though, that you don’t have to know everything about graphic design to get this job done, CODANK is experienced in designing successful e-mail marketing campaigns and implementing them in the most efficient manner.