Your contact page is one of the most valuable opportunities to connect with your visitors and motivate them to get in touch with you.  It is an essential element to most websites and it is the best way to display your contact information to give your visitors a way to get in touch with you. But simply putting your address and phone number may not be enough.

There are many different ways to beef up your contact page so that you give your visitors more information and encourage them to contact you. Typically, a contact page includes the address, phone number, email address, and any other main contact information for the business. In addition, you can include a contact form and map to your location. These are all great things to have, but there are things you can add to make your contact page stand out from the rest.

Consider adding contact information for different departments so that visitors have specific contact information if they know what they want to ask. You can also include your social media and blog links so that visitors can find you elsewhere on the web. You can offer a specific phone number for immediate or emergency requests, or encourage them to sign up for email updates from your company. This can all be done with additional text, buttons, or calls to action on your contact page.

Now let’s talk about the contact form. It is a great resource to include on your contact page so visitors have an easy and immediate way to get in touch with you. But did you know you can collect much more information with your contact form? Generally, contact forms collect names, addresses, other basic contact information, and the visitor’s question or comment. You can take this one step further and ask them if they would like to receive further updates from your company, give them an opportunity to enter a testimonial, or specific information about your products and services.

Essentially, one of the main goals of a website is to get visitors to contact you or act on a certain item. Your contact page is an integral part of your website and you should use it to its full potential in order to motivate your website visitors to get in touch with you while displaying and collecting information.

There are some things that users get tired of seeing, or not seeing on websites. These things may seem like great ideas in the beginning, but really, they may just turn users away from your site. If your website has some (or all) of these things included, you may want to consider updating your website and adding or removing some of these things to create a better user experience.

1.    Pop-ups
Users generally do not like to be bombarded with a pop up windows when the first visit your site. Let them make their own decisions about what they want to do once they get to your site.

2.    No contact information
Leaving off contact information is always a bad idea. That is one of the top things that people visit a website for. You want to give them a clear way to get in touch with you. After all, you want them to buy your product or services don’t you?

3.    Automatically playing multimedia
Again, people want to make their own decisions about what they want to hear or see when they visit your site. A video or music automatically playing can distract them and make them close the window on your site.

4.    No social media links
With the ever-growing popularity of social media, people want to be able to connect with you on all levels. Plus, it is a great way to stay in contact with your customers and clients and reach them on a more casual level.

5.    No blog
Blogging is like social media. It gives you another way to connect with people in a more casual way and allows you to present more information on your site. In addition, that content is always changing and it gives people a reason to come back to your website.

6.    No call to action
It is important to show people what your ultimate goal is for them. You can guide them with calls to action on how they should navigate through your site as well as the purpose of your website.

7.    Confusing layout and content
Just like with calls to action, your content and overall layout of your site guides people to what they need to look at. If your content is laid out in a confusing way, people will get lost in the information.

8.    Flash websites
Flash websites may look cool, but they cannot be viewed on phones and tablets. This is a major downfall if you do not have a separate mobile version of your website.

9.    Slow slideshows
Let’s be honest – people are impatient. They do not want to wait for a slide to change so that they can see the next deal or special. If you are going to use a slower slideshow for a certain reason, be sure to give the user controls to navigate through the slideshow on their own.

10.    Dizzying background images
Your background image and colors should be pleasing to the eye and not too distracting from the main information of your website. You don’t want to hurt someone’s eyes because they stared at your intense red colored background too long!

These things tend to drive people crazy when they visit websites. You want to provide your users with a pleasant experience when they visit your site, so that they come back for more.

Do you have business cards for your business? Do they match your brand? Is your logo on it? Does it list your contact information, location, and website address?

These are all important things to think about when creating your business card. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to your business cards. This is your branded material that you hand to people to remember your business and contact you in the future. If it is poorly designed and laid out, then they can easily get overlooked and lost in the shuffle. You want your business card to represent your business and stand out in the crowd at the same time.

Your business card should match your overall branding. You want to include your logo and brand colors so that your cards are consistent with your website and other branded materials. If your brand is consistent, it becomes recognizable.

Your business card should be pretty to look at. You want it to be eye catching and appealing to people so that they remember it and know what to look for when they are trying to find your card in the pile of cards they may have. Your card will stand out in the stack and people will be more drawn to it.

Your business card should have all of your contact information. The point of your business card is so that people know how to find or contact you in the future. What good would it do if there weren’t enough contact information for them to easily get in touch with you? Make sure you include your company’s name, your name, title, phone number, fax number, email address, physical address, and website address if they apply. This way people can contact you in whichever way they find most convenient.

If you think your business card doesn’t stand up to the test, we can help. A business card redesign may be in your future.

Does you logo represent your brand?

Is it easy to understand what your business does just by looking at your logo?

Do you really love your logo?

Your logo is often the first impression of your business; and you have to capture your users within the first few seconds, or that potential customer is lost. It is on your business card, website, brochures, and even your office location. (Well, if it’s not – it should be. Talk to us about that, too.) Your logo should represent your business and it should be able to speak for itself. Your logo should convey your business identity. Your customers should see your logo and know what you do or what you sell.

So, do you like what your logo says to your customers?

Whether you are starting a new business, or have an established business, it is never the wrong time to work on your logo design. It is the basis of all your branding and marketing. If it sends the wrong message, then so does all of your other branding and marketing. It sets the tone for your brand.

Every business should have a logo that they love, so why don’t you? If you are ready to get a logo that speaks volumes for your business, give us a call – we can help with that. We can create a logo design for your business that represents what you are all about. And we promise you will LOVE it.

"Rachel is a graphic designer who is passionate about combining function and style into stylish websites that truly do the brand justice. Rachel uses her experience in a variety of areas including design, marketing, advertising, and social media to give clients the complete package."

For all who have wised up and invested in a business website: Good for you!  Now for a tough question…are you maintaining that site as you should? 

Like any other form of marketing, websites need to be adjusted over time.  As with any medium used to advertise your business, you need to be certain that the information available on your website is current and reflective of your business now and tomorrow, not yesterday.  Maintenance of your website comes with the territory.  Otherwise, the up -front investment is only worthwhile for a year or two.

Regular updates to your website offer many benefits to you and your over-all website marketing needs:

• Keeps you current with search engines
• Offers accurate information to your site viewers
• With-holds your brand identity for your business
• Updating with website add-ons helps make your website a more profitable tool
• Regular updates to your site are an easy and very cost-effective method more so than updates and changes to print pieces, signage, print ads, commercials, or radio ads.

There are several things to keep in mind when preparing to update your website, especially when the changes have been a long time coming:

• Is your website in-tune with current website standards and sizes?
• Is the information on your website accurate?  Have you altered any services, hours of operation, locations serviced, or team members?
• Does your site look like a leading, ahead-of-the-competition sophisticated design?  Or does it look old, historic, and unappealing to those viewing it?
• Are there any tools you could invest in now, to make your job, the tasks of your employees, or ease-of-use to your consumers a top priority in the near future?
• What exactly do you need from your site going forward?  What functions do you need from it---what do your viewers need to be able to do through your website to become loyal consumers?

Updating your site may be a little tedious.  It may not appear to be a top priority—but bear this in mind: Your website is available when you are not.  Be certain that the statement that it makes is the best message you can send out on behalf of your business.