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The Business Dictionary defines branding as “the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme.” 

Your company’s online presence has got to be an effective extension of the branding you’ve already created. Here are 4 tips to improve your branding online. 

Decide on a handle and stick with it. 
People shouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to find your Facebook page because you named it differently than your website. For example, if your business is called Okie-Built New Homes and your website references this exact name, all of your profiles won’t be able to match this phrasing. The name is too long for it to be your handle on some social media platforms. Your brand name is usually set in stone, so you’ll have to choose the next closest thing and make sure your brand’s full name is still located on the page. Your Twitter name might have to be @okiehomes, if that’s not already taken, then your name and about us section should contain your company’s full name so your profile easily appears when searched for. 

Be active as much as possible online. 
The more daily content you produce, the more visible your company will be digitally. This could be blogs, quick blurbs about things going on internally or directing people pertinent news going on in your field. This will help you spread your brand further and establish it as an authority in your field. One of the biggest components of branding is getting inside people’s minds. The more exposure you give your brand in front of web users, it increases the likelihood your brand will stick with them. 

Match the design and marketing strategy with the content.
The overall look and feel of your design should match the content you’re putting out there. If you’re a home builder, it would be strange to feature pictures of puppies on in your marketing material. Choose a color palette and stick to it. Colors, moods and images are easily remembered. 

Be deliberate and consistent with your phrasing. 
Make sure your content is designed around your core audience’s perceptions of your field. If you’re blogging for older professionals, newspaper-style blogs might fit for that audience. If you’re writing for people under middle age, try writing more informal, concise messages. Taglines aren’t mandatory for every business, but if you decide to introduce a tagline, don’t change it every other month. Your tagline should reinforce the message you want others to know about your company. 

Your website should never be a finished product. Your business is constantly changing and evolving and so should the content on your website. The entire site design doesn’t need to change regularly, but it’s necessary to regularly update the meat of your site for three main reasons we’ll give you in this blog.

Fresh Content Can Influence Rankings
Search engines value new content over old. Google measures your web content for freshness. It tries to judge if your content is applicable now or outdated?  To remain ahead of competitors, Google only wants to answer searches with the best possible options for the searcher. In a search engines view, fresh content includes recent events, hot topics, regularly occurring events or frequently changing details (technology, laws, etc.). Old posts aren’t completely worthless. In some searches, your older post may still be one of the best matches available no matter its inception date. With the vast amount of Internet content, your business can’t rely on old content to stay relevant. It’s much more uncertain when and if it will come up in a search. 

Give Visitors a Reason to Return
Having the same old information and visuals on your site will only encourage one time visits. That shouldn’t be one of your marketing goals. Use your site as a communication tool. If someone wants to know something about your company or field, people should know they’ll probably be able to find the answer on your sight. If you don’t have it, your competitor might. You’ve got expertise and knowledge in your area. Share it and in return your site will receive more views and leads. Your product might never change, but the world does. You can update people on new insights to your field or even just unknown inner workings of your business. 

Blogs are Critical to SEO. 
By posting diverse blogs pertaining to your field, it’s more likely for unique visitors to find your company. People search for a whole range topics and keywords on search engines. When they search, if you’ve got a blog pertaining to the topic it’s likely to land in the search. Content on your site should anticipate what people need to know about facets of the business you are in and approach those topics as an authority. If your blog posts are interesting, readers might return to read the next one. 

Your website is your first impression. It’s often your first and sometimes only chance to attract new business online. Having a sleek-looking and functional site design will attractively display your company after a search engine directs them to your site. Your website doesn’t have to be the most intricate ever designed, but it shouldn’t be a treasure hunt for consumers to find out information about your company. Whether it’s good or bad, here are four things your website is telling visitors. 

If your business is trustworthy and professional 
Like I said in the first paragraph, your website is often your first impression with prospects. Prospects are less likely to call to learn more about a business. According to Search Engine Journal, 88.1% of US internet users ages 14+ browsed or did research on products online in 2012. Regularly updated content lets prospects know you’re in business and you’re prepared for their Internet visit. It shows you care. The modern consumer is cautious about what they view online. Internet scams have contributed to this attitude. Your website should be as personable as possible, so prospects feel like you’re a professional company and worth their business.     

Your attention to detail
Just having a website isn’t enough. You might’ve thrown together a basic website just to get started and haven’t chosen to upgrade to something better for a million different reasons. Think about your website like a proposal. You wouldn’t submit a proposal to a client that has errors, is hard to read and lacks the content needed to choose your business. You’ve got a lot on your plate running a business, but your site or lack of a site could be restricting your growth. If your website is old, poorly designed or lacking updated information customers will think that’s how you treat your business. 

Your level of success
If I attempt to visit a company’s website and it doesn’t exist or it’s an absolute mess, I keep searching until I find a business in that field with a website. If these statements apply to your business, you’re inadvertently sending negative messages to prospects. In the mind of the consumer, every successful business has the ability to maintain an easy and functional site.

Your attention to customer service 
Bad, old and plainly designed websites miss out on the opportunity to relate to their customer. You can show them they’re not just a customer number with a personal touch on your website. Home builders can exhibit happy families that end up owning homes they constructed. Manufacturers can highlight how their website utilizes software solutions that reduce data errors and streamlines customer ordering. Be one step ahead of your competition and ensure that your online activity is creating an environment that encourages sales. 

Let WebRevelation take your website woes off your hands. Contact us for more information on how our software technology can easily assist your business in maintaining a more positive digital presence.  

To be successful in 2013, every business has to have the mindset that you’re going to do whatever you can to connect with your consumer online. Specifically, in the case of home builders, you’ve got to have an impressive site to showcase your art. An accompanying mobile site will help land customers that check out your company on a mobile device. Once you’ve got an attractive site, it’s important to focus on other ways to draw people into your brand.

Blogging is an important component of any brand’s online presence. With fresh, relevant content on your site, essentially Google will think you’re more important and that will increase your online reach potential. Beyond the Google math and more importantly, blogging is a personal, immediate way to communicate with potential home buyers online. Your consumer can get information and news without any added pressure to purchase. Here’s some topic ideas to get you started:

Behind the Scenes: Potential home buyers are interested in your company and how you do your work. Update them on upcoming developments, the building process and the design process. Are you involved in a lot of green building with high energy efficiency standards? Do you know specifics on how much manpower and material goes into a specific home? This is a good opportunity to go into detail on topics that you wouldn’t have time for otherwise.

Showcase Finished Products: Taking the time to feature a location you’ve just finished is both an easy topic (you already have all that data on your fingertips), but also a great way to bring attention in.

Special Events: Do you have a new community you’re opening? What about a sale or event at a model home? This is a great way to get the news out – and if you’re the only one talking about new homes in that community, you’re sure to get noticed.

Local Events: What’s going on around your communities? You have an ear to the ground in the places home buyers are looking in, so share what attracts you to the area and post news! It creates a real sense of community for your readers already moved in and others following you too.

Homeowner Tips: What if there’s no news to share? As a builder, you have an internal database of information first time homebuyers need. Whether that’s a brief explanation of mortgage terminology or suggestions on preparing a home for winter, your insider information is great for the slow weeks.

We hope these ideas help jumpstart your blog. Home buying is one of the largest financial decisions a person can make. The more information you put out, the better chance you have to earn the buyers trust and secure the sale. If you’re an Oklahoma home builder, you’re in the right place. WebRevelation is an approved OSHBA Affinity Program! Find out more about the specials we offer to OSHBA members here.

Attentive customer service is at the heart of most successful companies. In 2012’s American Express Customer Service Barometer, 75% of American consumers have spent more with a business as a direct result of positive customer service. Advances in technology and website design allows WebRevelation to help you streamline the customer relationship management (CRM) process.

Billionaire Richard Branson once said, “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”

To help you understand why so many businesses are adopting CRM software, here are the 4 major benefits of CRM:

• A Streamlined Sales Process- This technology has the ability to organize, automate and synchronize everyday business. This will result in higher sales productivity, reduced expenses and better customer profiling and targeting.
• Cost Savings- CRM takes a small initial investment, but in the long run don’t worry about combining sales information from a variety of platforms. CRM helps businesses streamline time consuming activities. Carbonite, a Boston-based online data backup company, found in a survey that 48% of American small businesses with under 20 employees lost data in 2012. In this economy, your business can’t afford any losses and CRM software can help you avoid this downfall.
• Improved Lead Generation- CRM increases cross and upselling opportunities by pointing businesses toward and maintaining lists of warm leads. This encourages a productive sales environment and ensures that customers are pursued appropriately.
• Shared Knowledge- Web-based CRM enables knowledge about existing and potential customers to be shared throughout the business and accessed from any remote location. Your staff will have the most information on your customer possible in real-time at one place.

CRM solutions offers a chance for small and medium-sized businesses to manage customers, increase customer retention, improve effectiveness, benefit from higher close rates and have a higher overall profitability.

My grandfather used to say, “Drop your line where you see the fish.” In 2012, mobile traffic made up a significant portion of all Internet traffic. For the average business, having mobile compatible websites changed from a luxury to a necessity for 2013.

Walker Sands’ Quarterly Web Traffic Report found that mobile web traffic quadrupled in the last two years. As mobile adoption continues to boom, marketers have to monetize mobile traffic or die trying. Here’s the top four reasons why you need a functional mobile site:

More than half of U.S. consumers own a smartphone.

There’s a lot of mobile sales potential that’s still unrealized. According to the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Research Series, 46% of smartphone users browse the internet on their devices several times a day. By providing a great mobile experience, you have an opportunity to pull ahead of your competition.

Mobile users need a simplified browsing experience.

Smartphones can’t render full websites with quality. Full sites vary in how they translate on mobile devices, but they aren’t generally designed to be easy to navigate or load quickly. in 2012, Google Data found that 71% of smartphone users who see a TV, print or online ad, do a mobile search for more information. Often, people can’t read full sites on a mobile device.

You could lose business.

If people have a hard time accessing your site, you might not get a second chance and forfeit that business to your competition. In a Compuware study, they found that if your website is slow or breaks down 57% said they wouldn’t recommend your business and 40% would turn to a competitor.

Mobile users are using phones to research and purchase.

By 2014, mobile internet usage should surpass desktop internet usage. It might not be something we’re all proud of, but 86% of mobile Internet users are using their devices while watching TV. According to Go-Globe statistics, some of the reasons customers prefer mobile commerce is the on the go convenience, special discounts and easy to compare prices.