DON’T FALL FOR THE Websitebackup.com SCAM A popular scam may be hitting your mailbox soon. A company by the name of Websitebackup.com is sending unauthorized… Read More »DON’T FALL FOR THE Websitebackup.com SCAM
So much has been said of Nationwide Insurance’s totally depressing Super Bowl XLIV commercial that featured a dead child. “Who thought this was a good idea?” “Who approved this?” These are things I keep hearing. I figured I’d try and make some sense of this ad and break it down a little more.
Watch it here if you somehow missed it:
Read More »Making Sense of that Horrible Nationwide Super Bowl Ad
So you’re looking at doing a Do-It-Yourself website and you like the new looks of Wix and Squarespace. But which is better? What are the pros and cons? In this installment I’ll explain what’s good about these services and what’s bad and how to identify what’s best for your needs.
Wix vs Squarespace
The first question to ask yourself when trying to decide what type of website you could benefit from is this:
Read More »Wix or Squarespace? Which is better?
Have you ever gotten an unsolicited email from a so-called “SEO expert” telling you what your website is missing and why you need them to improve it? Does it seem like a scam? Or is it just an ambitious person scouring the web for business doing you a courtesy? How do you know? Here’s the deal with that…
I get about 5-10 of these SEO spam emails each day. There are generally two types of these messages I receive.
1.) The “I happened to notice your site needs SEO improvement” Spam Message
2.) The “I’m wondering if I could help you improve your site” Spam Message
Regardless of the message, first thing’s first. I RUN AN SEO COMPANY. Clearly they are not even paying attention to whom they are sending their unsolicited SEO spam emails to, because if they’d just take a second to look at what type of business I am while they’re on my site hunting for the contact form, then they’d probably realize that hounding my business about SEO is a waste of their time. It would be like me emailing a taco shop to tell them why they’re making their tacos wrong (when I’ve never even tried their tacos) and that they need me to make them better for them.
So clearly there’s the evidence that these “seo experts” are not even paying attention to who you are and what kind of business you have. But step back another few feet and think about this. I am getting about 40 of these SEO spam emails per week and not only am I an SEO company, our website is optimized extremely well. We show up 1st page for just about every keyword that we target. (I’m not saying this to brag, it’s just what we do for a living). So when I get that email that says “Hi, I noticed your site is missing key SEO components and you’re missing out on traffic and leads, etc, etc.” I know that’s a pile of bull because they obviously didn’t take a second to look at my site or run any kind of SEO diagnostics on it. It’s simply just unsolicited email spam.Read More »SEO Scams, SEO Email Marketing Scams – For Shame!!
2014 is poised to be an exciting year here at CCM not only for us but for our customers as well. This week we launched our new and improved site www.ccm-web.com which showcases our new focus of building responsive website designs that render as mobile sites on mobile devices and normal sites on larger format screens. You can learn more about responsive web design on our page here.
As excited as we are about responsive site designs, it is the expanded full marketing services that we now offer our clients that really has us pumped for 2014. In addition to custom web design, hosting, site management, printing and SEO, CCM now offers amazing print solutions like vehicle wraps for business fleets, food trucks, delivery vehicles, trailers or pretty much anything on wheels. We also have added banner and tradeshow booths, stands, kiosks and professional signage at discount small business rates.
With out partners at Adams Outdoor, CCM now offers billboard advertising and placement in over 12 markets in the U.S. including the Hampton Roads region here in Virginia. Our wholesale small business rates for billboard advertising are so attractive businesses even save money by using us instead of going straight to the big outdoor companies directly.
In late 2013 we added full service video and…Read More »Launch of Our New Website and Expanded Services
What’s the Best Deal On Business Cards? Three years ago when we started our company, it was a web design company. That’s all. After a… Read More »What’s the Best Deal On Business Cards?
By now someone has probably told you that you should blog. They may have mentioned that it’s “good for SEO” if you blog but they probably didn’t tell you exactly how or why. Here’s the deal… you can blog all you want but if you’re not optimizing your blog the right way it won’t do much good.
There are basically two reasons to blog. 1. You want people to read what you wrote about a topic. 2. You want to help increase your site’s SEO and traffic. Personally, I could almost care less if anyone read my blog. I blog for SEO purposes mainly. So how do you blog for SEO?
Well, the first step in blogging for SEO purposes is to write Read More »Blogging for SEO using WordPress
The Commonwealth of Virginia is a great place to do business because it’s a fairly easy state to operate in with fair tax rates. Some states make it more difficult, a few may make it easier, but very few states offer the diverse demographics and geographical beauty, options and cultural diversity that Virginia does, making it an ideal grounds for clientele for any business. Whether you’re thinking of starting a new business in Virginia Beach, Richmond, Fairfax, Roanoke, Danville or Abington, it’s all basically the same. The following is a helpful list of things that you’ll need to do in order to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavor.
1. Write a business plan.
2. Know your competition.
3. Develop a Marketing plan.
4. Identify what “kind” of business license you should have.
5. Come up with a budget.
6. Market your business.
Why are you going into business? What will you sell? How will you sell it? What makes you different? Why are you special? How do you want to be seen in the marketplace? From whom will you get your supplies? What will you offer that will make people come back for more? What is your budget? (see budget below, later). Write out about a 3 pages business plan. Identify the basics and what’s important, but don’t get too in depth with it, spending weeks and months formulating it. The reason why you shouldn’t is because your business Read More »Starting a Business in Virginia
Early on in my career I got a “thrown to the fire” introduction to Corporate America. Out of college I worked for a large corporation that had clients that were even bigger corporations. Even though I wasn’t working for an “ad agency” like I’d wanted to, I was gaining solid business experience. It didn’t take long to figure out I didn’t really enjoy the corporate atmosphere of being monitored all hours of the day, the ties, the shoes, the reports, the pep rallies and so on. I kind of imagined myself doing my job unbothered by bosses and only bothered by people who needed my help… and me sort of acting as a central helper and having time to have fun while I worked. I wanted to wake up excited to go to work, not dreading it. I also wanted to wear flip flops but I knew that was pushing it a little.
I finally gathered up enough “business experience” in my field that a real, respected Ad Agency deemed me acceptable to hire. It was a great feeling and I finally felt like I was doing what I’d always wanted to do, working in the environment I’d always wanted to and with the types of people I dreamed about. What I learned next Read More »Why We Love Working With Small Business
Knowing that you need a website, or that you need a BETTER website is one thing. But in order for a web designer to be able to knock your socks off by constructing what you have imaged in your head is the most important, and sometimes tricky part. As an owner of a web design firm, I see a big mix of clients come in my door. Some know exactly what they want and lay it all out on the table for our staff to clearly see. Others just seem to be unhappy with their current/old site and want something new. The later always seems to segway into several meaningful conversations about what “you like” and you “don’t like”, what you’ve seen out on the web that you like, and how you envision your new website looking and working. It’s okay to be somewhat unprepared with knowing what you want. Part of my job is to help my clients figure that out. But in an ideal fantasy world, it sure would be nice if every client coming through a web designer’s door had an answer to these five questions:
1. Why do you want a new site? To be more specific… Why do you hate your current site? Does it not generate enough leads? Is it too difficult to navigate? Does it look old and boring? There are many, Read More »5 Things a Web Designer Needs in Order to Build You a Great Site