The media is a flutter with Twitter talk these days. From Oprah and Ashton to your local news, Twitter is the hot new thing. According to comScore Twitter is the fastest growing site on the web, growing 131% last month.  It's no wonder that marketers and businesses are wanting to capitalize on this explosive growth. Currently 88% of marketers using social media tools like Twitter to grow their business. Twitter has tremendous potential to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their customers.  In fact it already has.  When used properly, Twitter can be an extremely valuable ...

People have short attention spans. I know I do.  I am constantly bombarded with messages. I don't have time to devote myself fully to each message I come across. I scan Web pages and text. I don't read them. Chances are you are the same way. Heck, you may not even have the attention span to read the rest of this post. So if we are all so A.D.D. stricken why on earth do we feel the need to fill Web pages with gobs of text that will go unread? I think it's human nature. We want to be as detailed as possible. That's not a bad thing. There is a time and place for it though. And that place is ...

With all of the media hype social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook have received in the last couple of months, it should be no surprise that 88% of marketers are now using social media as a part of their overall marketing strategy. Of those, a whopping 72% have just taken the social media plunge in the past couple months. It's important to note that it's not just the big fish like Oprah or Starbucks that are turning to social media tools to communicate to their target audiences.  Small businesses  are leading the way and reaping the many benefits social media has to ...

Are you looking for an easy way to drive additional traffic to your site and help with your search engines rankings? Try beefing up your company's Google Local Listing. There are several bits of information you can update and customize and best of all, it's free. To get started, first type your company's name along with the city and state where you are located into a Google search field. Most likely your company and basic contact info will be listed along with your location on the map. Don't worry if you didn't personally create the listing, Google scans other directories like the Yellow ...

I firmly believe that ALL businesses need a professional looking Web site. However, the type of Web site and the level of complexity depend on a number of factors. Typically the more dynamic and interactive your site is the more you will get out of it. There are some advantages though to having a one page Web site. Short development time: If you are a new company that needs to get the word out about your product or service quickly, a one page Web site can  accomplish that. Inexpensive investment: It's no secret that a Web site is one of the most cost effective forms of promotion and ...

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) are two key ways to drive qualified traffic to your Web site. Because 80% of a Web site's traffic comes from search engines I would suggest using both techniques (depending on the product or service) to boost traffic to your site. Each method is very valuable but is entirely different from one another. SEO and PPC differ in the following ways: Process SEO works by optimizing the structure and content of a Web page for a set of determined keywords so that it is viewed as reputable and valuable by the search engines. SEO also relies on ...

A homepage that is designed to be clean, simple, and direct users where to go next is a great way to make a solid first impression to new visitors.  Why is a first impression so important you ask? Basically because Web sites are often a potential customer's first detailed encounter with your company. In less than five seconds visitors are making judgments about if they are at the right site or not,  what the quality and value of your company are, and whether or not they want to do business with you. Guiding users where to go next on your site is a great usability practice and will make ...