Asking the Pro’s

Posted on April 15, 2012 by ianotr

I have been working a trade show to showcase one of our new products and I am always amazed at the diversity of people that wander by the booths. At a trade show open to the public you will get the good, the bad and the ugly!

My first experience, the first day and just as the show opened was an older gentleman who started out by asking me, “If I thought this Social Media stuff was going to impact business today”? I responded by saying it is impacting business already and went on to speak about how important Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and your blog was to business. I explained the concept of the blog and how it added relevant content to your website and how over a period of time you would add a great number of pages to your website. I explained how to use your blog as content for your Facebook and Twitter pages - feeding people back to your blog and from there to your website.

He nodded and looked like he was listening and then asked about adding new content to your website and how he had read that it was important for your search results to have regular new content.  I responded by saying yes that is true and that is one of the benefits of having a blog on your site. He looked at me and said … “Well I don’t think a blog is important!” and I not so brightly responded that I would have to disagree with that conclusion. He looked at me anger all over his face and said, “Don’t tell me how to run my business!” and stomped away.

The booth across from me is a computer store and repair service. I would no more go to them and ask for them to fix my computer and then tell them how to do it because I had read an article somewhere. They are the professionals and they know computers and how to service them.

I had occasion to have a drywall installer in my home a while back. He was installing drywall in a room we were redoing. I watched and asked a lot of questions. The fellow was very generous with his time and my seemingly never ending questions. When he was finished the job was first class and I was very pleased. I decided to make one more change adjoining the area that had been done and with all of my new-found knowledge I figured I could do this myself. What a disaster – I quickly discovered a bit of head knowledge does not replace experience!

On the other side of the experience two booths down was a gentleman selling children’s books he had written and published and wanted to know about how Social Media might help his business. He listened and heard and we set an appointment to talk about this further at a later date. Am I going to make a lot of money of this future meeting … nope, but that is not the point. The gentleman wanted to learn and he will most likely use our software to deploy his Social Media Campaign and we might get a website out of it down the road. The thing is he acknowledged he wanted information and was willing to listen.

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions a web development company since 2000 with offices in Canada, USA, Europe and South America. The newest project by OTR is OTR Web Host – websites for small business.

Posted in Social Media Integration, Web Design | Tagged | Leave a comment

Facebook Traps

Posted on March 10, 2012 by ianotr

I was sent a notice today about some wardrobe malfunctions and to click on this link to see the video behind the scenes! Spammers and virus spreaders know to prey on our inner dark curiosity … and often they can be successful if we don’t guard ourselves.

Following are 10 suggestions for Facebook users:

1> Don’t tell us something bad will happen if we don’t forward your prayer or make a wish and then forward to our friends. It won’t and it really makes you look silly.

2> You will not get a free ticket to an airline or a gift certificate for some sexy lingerie if you only will like a page … what you will get is a scam survey at best.

3> As horrid as a picture of a sick child or animal might be … Facebook will not donate money for every Like. Don’t send it on we really do not need to see it.

4> If you are tempted to read the lurid account of I can’t believe he did this to his girlfriend, daughter, wife etc. … well you probably deserve what you get … a virus and some embarrassment as all your friends see what you have been tempted to view.

5> If you like games … good on you and play away. However when you join a new game and it asks who to send invites to, don’t select your entire friends list. A lot of us don’t play and the farm will have to grow without our help. Just sayin’

6> When you click on application and you get to the screen that states “Request For Permission” think long and hard and make sure you know the application. When it states the app can then post to your Wall as you … that is exactly what it means. Do you really want to give the ability to someone to post your wall as you?? Of course then all of your friends get your/their spam product posts.

7> Hoaxes from – A Killer In Your Fridge to the Zulican Fish Virus. Take a moment to do a bit of research in sites like http://www.hoaxbusters.org/ BEFORE you send it on … PLEASE.

8> Urban Legends and these range all over from – FDA health advisory regarding drugs containing PPA (phenylpropanolamine) to Cut Onion Contamination again PLEASE do some research before you forward or post. Here is a good site for Urban Legendshttp://www.snopes.com/

9> Any application offering to show you who has viewed your profile, who your Facebook stalkers are etc., are guaranteed to be fraudulent. Facebook doesn’t allow developers access to the data required to create apps like this. Many unsuspecting users might be under the impression that if it’s on Facebook then it must be legitimate. That is totally not the case.

10> Lastly your privacy is important. Take the time to review your privacy settings. Here is the official Facebook page on Privacyhttps://www.facebook.com/help/privacy and this offers some insight as well http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-now-2011-10

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions a web development company since 2000 with offices in Canada, USA, Europe and South America.

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The Truth About Web Design

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ianotr

You are sitting with the IT Manager of a potential new client, they have been through your portfolio and like what they have seen and recognise that their website needs some professional help. This would appear to be a very good scenario and it is time to go in and close the deal. But wait the IT Manager just asked me what I thought of the corporate logo or the old website design? I had presumed that was why they had called us … because well it is brutal to say the least.

Like a lamb to the slaughter I tell the truth. The design is horrid and needs a complete rework and that is one of  the first places we will start in our brand exercise. There I have said it and I know the client will appreciate my professional honesty, except the look on his face tells me different. I just attacked his work, his baby he was the one that built this, this, what words can describe this brutal attempt at design! There is no place to go, backtracking is a waste of time and the meeting is rapidly coming to a close … but not the deal. No that deal is not going to close, at least with me.

You would think if you have done this once (and I have) you would never do it again! But alas sometimes you get so caught up in the honesty of the moment (and I have) that you forget and blurt out again how bad something is … and again go home without the deal in your pocket. Generally I presume it is not because you want to show the client how bad something is, but rather it is because you are so excited, as you know your team can make a very good impression and build something that works for the client.

Lessons learned in over 14 years in this business? First designers design, sometimes well and sometimes not so well, but for the most part they make very poor software coders. Second software coders write code and again sometimes well and sometimes not so well, but for the most part they make very poor designers. Third, it is probably best not to tell either group that generalisation to their face. It does not go over well.

Lastly and I know this so well from my years in the life insurance sales, a lifetime ago, when you know you have closed a deal and everyone is comfortable and chatting with their guard down … shut up!

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions a web development company since 2000 with offices in Canada, USA, Europe and South America.

Posted in Corporate Branding, Web Design | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Social Media – Luxury or Necessity

Posted on February 3, 2012 by ianotr

Ask yourself this question. Will my business succeed without regular interaction with my customers and employees? I think most business people recognise that they will not be successful if they eliminate or restrict communication with their customers and employees.

What is Social Media? Quoting direct from Wikipedia,  … define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”[1] Social media is media for social interaction as a super-set beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate.”

Well that was a mouthful … in simpler terms social media allows people and business to communicate and interact within a public forum. Customers and employees are expecting companies today to listen, engage and respond and that is what Social Media does best.

The ever-present fear from many businesses is that if we implement a Social Media platform for our business, people or employees will say something bad about the company, our services or products. The truth is they are saying it regardless and what a Social Media strategy accomplishes is to allow you to monitor your reputation and deliver your message. The other side of that coin is people are going to say good things about your company, services and products. Social Media interacts with every touch-point within your business from sales to customer service to human resources.

Another aspect of Social Media or what is now often called Social Business is the corporate blog which allows for you to become recognised as an expert in your field. People read what you write and you give them the opportunity to ask questions and you answer … well it doesn’t get much better than that for positive reinforcement of your business. Another benefit of the corporate blog is that it adds regular pages of fresh content to your website and I cannot think of a single search engine that does not like that to take place. People read your blog, “like” your blog on Facebook, share your post or Tweet your post and all that creates links and traffic to your website. So aside from interacting with your customers and employees you are also building traffic to your website!

Again quoting from Wikipedia,  … According to a report by Nielson “In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.”

The concluding fact is that business cannot ignore Social Media and they must participate and have a Social Media strategy in place. Social Media is not a luxury or even a necessary evil, it is a positive tool for business to hear, communicate and interact with their customers and employees. Without a Social Media platform and strategy in place, you risk being left behind your competition.

What is a blog post without a call to action … if you recognise that your business needs to participate in Social Media, OTR Web has solutions for your company. Visit our website, our Facebook page or contact OTR and we will discuss how we can help work with your business.

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions a web development company since 2000 with offices in Canada, USA, Europe and South America.

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Waste of $40K or Building Your Brand

Posted on January 30, 2012 by ianotr
Putting Paint to Canvas

If there is no art and if there is no feeling then all we have is a graphic.

Some years back I went into a town office and spoke to the person responsible for their web development. We chatted away and I made mention of their logo, which I felt was rather strong, and asked why it was not part of their website? The answer I quite huffily received floored me “… it is not necessary for a logo to be part of a website.” I left shortly thereafter as I have found through experience it is of little benefit to try to work with or educate a person who evidently knows far more than you do about a subject.

I sat down some time later with another person who had asked me to look at their non-profit website, which I did and we put a plan together for them. Knowing beforehand they had little money we put a proposal together that we were knowingly going to lose money on … actually a lot of money; but my thought was if we develop this we could market to other organisations of the same type. Similar to the meeting above I ran into someone that had been to a couple of seminars and knew far more than I did about web development … and to top it off our price in their opinion was ridiculously high. I withdrew our proposal for the same reasons as above.

On the other side, there was a particular town that put out an RFP to re-brand. On the face of it this is a good idea, particularly if you are looking at defining and positioning the town and understand you need a consistent message, look and feel across all the touch points of your town. This town received a number of proposals, (I was not one of them for the record) ranging from a low of about $35K to over $100K and after deliberation and presentations they chose a contractor that came in around $40K.

Surveys were taken, discussions held and a brand book was developed. The brand book was  done in the usual formats and laid everything out as to how the new look was to be delivered complete with a definition of the town’s message. Then came the unveiling of the new logo … everyone was excited and the town proud of the design chosen. My personal opinion when I saw it some time later was “Oh My” as it looked to me like they were graphically saying, don’t come to our town as we have nothing to offer.

The description was the usual, this colour depicts this, and this other colour portrays this thought, and the graphic so clearly shows this and this and this. I read it and what came to mind was the fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes. We spent $40K so it must be good and we will roll it out across every touch-point in our town. At least they recognise that the logo needs to be a part of their website which put them way ahead of the other town group.

On the surface it seems this town did everything correct. They sent out an RFP, they narrowed down to a choice of 2 or 3 and then had the selected groups make presentations to the selection committee and then chose and awarded the contract. Using that method, you often can luck out and the design team can come up with a winner … and other times it can be a $40K disaster.

Have you ever sat on a committee? Everyone has an opinion and in their own field they are probably very good and, their opinion in their field probably has some merit. Remember the first paragraph of this article? If the person “… it is not necessary for a logo to be part of a website” was on the committee and had a strong voice or if someone who had been to a seminar and now was an authority was part of the group … well I pity the contractor.

So what could the town have done to protect themselves? In my opinion they should have hired a consultant to create the RFP and assist in selecting the short-list. Then the consultant could have guided the committee through to the final choice and been the contact point for the contractor. Professional to professional and the town ends up the winner.

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions Inc., a Web Development company serving clients across North America. It takes a team to create a website that works.

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SEO – SEM – Social Media and your Blog

Posted on January 17, 2012 by sendible

The ultimate purpose of your corporate website is to deliver your brand message, facilitate your site visitor’s contact with your business, and to be easily found by the search engines thereby creating site visits. The fact is that search engines focus on content. Now before you say, “what about? …”, I do recognise that site structure and key-phrases form the foundation of your website and links back to your site from authoritative websites are also critical; but how can you legitimately accomplish significant site visits and develop back-links to your website? The best method I know of is excellence in content or you might have heard the more market savvy phrases “liquid content or content marketing.”

What are the steps required to create an effective web presence on the Internet? The first would be to build a professional looking website that integrates the designs to attract site visitors and to populate that site with sufficient content to deliver your message. I read about a start-up recently that specialises in creating single page websites for small business, and a single page is definitely better than your business having no web presence at all, but a single page is not going to accomplish your goals on the Internet today. There are many good web development companies including our own OTR Web Solutions and so if you need help with your website do a web search, check references and view their portfolio … then contract a website with the web developer of your choice.

After your website is up and running and presuming your web developer has looked after your web content with market ready content, SEO built into the site and keyword/key phrase research and implementation (and all of the foregoing is critical to your success) then it is time to look at your Social Media.

Online Corporate Blog

Let’s start with the importance of your business web blog, which cannot be underestimated. It is here that you can develop fresh, relevant content on a regular basis. Always integrate your blog with your website, it should be a seamless transition to your blog pages from your, or within your website. It is important to understand that your blog is predominantly about relevant information that pertains to your readers and is not “hitting them over the head” with “buy my product or service.” Your blog must also be published on a regular basis and not hit or miss as you remember to write an article. If you can only write once a month then write every month … but make it good and make it consistent. Generally speaking an effective business blog has new content at least once per week.

Continuing with your business blog, it is important to make certain you have performed the SEO (search engine optimization) functions necessary for each blog entry. Keyword and keyphrase implementation within your blog is part of what draws the search engines attention to your blog and as your blog is part of your website, to your website. Each entry to your blog is another page to your website and relevant content is still king. Your blog should invite interaction by having a clear place for your readers to respond and should have clear links to your Social Media pages. Take notice of the floating Social Media links on the left of this blog as well as static links at the bottom of the blog. this allows for you as the reader to simply pass along content that you find relevant.

Lastly your corporate blog is not very useful if all it does is have good information but there is no call to action to your readers. Give your readers the opportunity to contact you at least once as a bare minimum at the close of your blog. A closing paragraph like, “Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions Inc and you can follow him on Twitter @otrweb or from theOTR Web Facebook pages. If after reading this blog article you recognise that your company could use some web development assistance and/or Social Media Management then please make contact with OTR and we will follow up with your request.” These two sentences clearly state who we are and allows for multiple contact opportunities without being in the readers face.

Social Media

There are a multitude of Social Media options for you to choose from and what you make use of is mostly dependant upon your business. For the most part many businesses want to create a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ andLinkedIn business pages as well of course as the corporate blog. Many aspects of a Social Media Campaign were covered in an earlier OTR Web blogSocial Media Campaigns which you can read here. You will want to make use of a Social Media Managment tool to manage your SM campaigns … otherwise the task can become overwhelming. You can see the tools we use here at OTR Web to manage our clients Social Media Campaigns on these pages. Lastly your website again must be fully integrated with your Social Media campaigns. Make it simple for your readers to pass on your information to their followers by having your Social Media links on your website pages.

When your website contains the elements that the search engine bots deem necessary, combined with creative designs and images, and excellence in your copy content then, you have a website that your readers will refer their circle of friends to via Facebook “Likes”, Google +’s, and “Tweets”.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

Aside from web design from overseas “companies” there is no greater spam attack on your mailbox then SEO companies or individuals. The number of companies that claim they will move your website to number 1 on Google are limitless … if you will just sign here and contract with us for 12 months to get the job done. OTR Web has written a previous article on SEO here in more detail. The truth is SEO begins with the overall strategic plan and architecture of your website, research into copy and keyword phrases and interviews with key people to determine your brand message … finally implementing that information into your website. Social Media and your online blog are key components of your SEO action plan.

Some unscrupulous SEO firms do all kinds of nefarious tricks to try to fool the search engines, but in the end such SEO tactics will fail. Why? Because the search engines, more often than not will penalise websites for such questionable tactics. When considering enlisting the aid of SEO firms promising the moon, consider whether or not a short term gain is sufficient to balance the effect of a long-term penalty?

Conclusion

Web Development, SEO and Social Media are a combined package and if done right will help to propel your business into the forefront ahead of your competition. If you understand that your business requires a web presence that will work and deliver your brand then you are on the right track. Not every business has the skills required to deliver a successful web presence … and that is understandable. If you asked me to build your house you could have a problem on your hands as I am not a carpenter, or electrician or plumber or architect or roofer or contractor … well you get the idea. It takes a team to build a house and it takes a team to build a web presence that works. If you need a team to work through the processes then we at OTR Web are here to help you. You can contact us on our Facebook pages, Twitter pages, join us in our Google+ circles or just contact us direct.

Take a moment to connect to our Social Media links on the left and below and if you Like us on Facebook we would be very pleased. As well your comments (below) are always appreciated.


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Why Social Media Works

Posted on December 29, 2011 by ianotr

What I have found is missing from many businesses today is old fashioned customer service. The kind of service where you connect with your customers and take a moment to chat with them. It was this type of customer service that built long lasting relationships and kept customers in the past coming back to business.

You can have a great product or service … but that can be replicated by your competition. What the competition cannot replicate is your relationship with your customers. Social Media is an excellent tool to build lasting relationships with your customers. Imagine writing a note or posting most anywhere and you get a direct response from the company president or a person within the company? These are the type things that make you go, “wow I can work with this company.”

How can you make this happen within your business and where can you find the time in your busy schedule? First off in today’s market you just have to make the time to get the job done and done right. Your competition is or will be soon … it is as simple as that. Second you are missing out on a great opportunity if you do not take advantage of Social Media.

It is not difficult to create a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages and that is probably the easiest aspect of the whole process. Search on Google for creating a Facebook page or any of the others and you will find step-by-step processes to get that aspect accomplished.

Once the pages are created that is where the work begins. First add links to your website direct to these accounts so that your site visitors can connect to your social media accounts. Then you need to add content to the pages. If you are a reasonably decent writer you can write your own content, though make certain the spelling and grammar is correct before you publish. It is always good to get someone else to edit your content before you publish.

What not to write … blatant advertising. Your readers are looking for help and information not another ad to go to your website to buy this product or that service. For example one of the tweets I will use for this blog is the title, “Why Social Media Works” which will include a link to this blog … which of course at the very bottom has a call to action if you the reader wants to see how OTR can help your company with their social media management. You always want to attract business but the key is to be low-key about it.

A very important aspect of Twitter is the capability to search for specific phrases that people are speaking about. For example OTR’s Twitter name is “otrweb” or @otrweb and I have that term as well as some industry terms in my search grouping. For example if someone is posting a question anywhere about #html5 I can get a notification about it even if it has nothing to do with OTR Web. This gives me the opportunity to answer their question and build a relationship … and maybe a new client over time.

I can hear you saying to yourself, who has the time for that? Searching through Tweets … there are thousands that come through my box every day. That is where Social Media management software comes to play. From a single interface you can have the software select relevant people you wish to follow, schedule Tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts and deliver to your desk those people that have made mention of your company. Follow up on those posts and you are building relationships.

Lastly there is the on-line blog … it is from here that you can write relevant information that can help make you a go-to guy in your industry. When you provide information that will help people it is then that you have built some credibility about you and your company. So take the steps to create your pages … get your blog up and providing good information about your industry and see the traffic to your website increase exponentially.

If all of this seems daunting to you still …  then as I stated earlier OTR is here to help manage your social media platforms. We can even write your blogs for you, create and enter your Facebook posts and schedule your tweets at optimum times. If you would like more information then contact OTR.

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Web Errors That Will Cause Your Visitors To Bounce Away

Posted on December 27, 2011 by ianotr

I received a notification today from a company via one of the Social Media sites about some tech predictions for 2012. It was an interesting headline so I clicked on the link and waited as the page loaded line by line for this HUGE image to download. At first I thought maybe my connection was acting up so I reloaded the page and the same thing … the image loaded line by line and after 30 seconds I could see that I was only about 5% into the image.

I never did read the article, though I suppose it had loaded below the image. I just bounced away and proceeded to write this blog article. The worst part was these people advertised themselves as web developers and designers! You can expect to see a non-optimized image in a personal website or blog … but from a firm that says they are web designers? As I started to compose my rant it made me think there are other things that make us go hmmm when we get to a website. Following is a short list of things that can make your website visitors go hmmm and inevitably bounce away.

Spelling it boggles my mind to go to a web page and find it full of spelling errors. How is anyone going to trust that you can deliver what you promise if their first impression is hmmm? Spell checkers are available … take the time to use them and then check the results, as you don’t want to just accept the revised corrections or you can end up with some very strange words that are entirely out of place.

Wrong Words - My dear oldest sister, who was a very successful mortgage broker almost always used “loose” instead of “lose” … that one will lose me most every time. Too many times we see “to” used when “too” was the correct word or accept when except was the right choice. There are some things we just cannot accept, except occasionally these word errors can cause us to laugh. The list of incorrect word usage goes on and on and I am sure we could fill an entire blog with just such words.

Grammar – This will be short as my wife (the copywriter) is always correcting my writing and if/when she reads this blog she will ask me politely if I would like for her to “fix” it. Most times I do send through my posts to her first, but today she is out writing for a client so you are getting the raw copy! The bottom line is if you struggle with grammar then make use of someone to edit your writing. Check back here in a few days for the “finished” post. :)

Color or Colour Usage the spelling of which depends on whether you are north or south of the 49th Parallel.  We write on our OTR site that anyone can build a website and it is true, today most anyone can build a website. However building a website that works and creates a good first impression is another thing altogether. Glaring colours, movement everywhere, a page that is not balanced and unwanted sound are all things that cause the visitor to your web pages to go hmmm and add to a poor first impression of your business or service.

Images are critical to your website. While it is true that the search bots read words it is also true that the search bots do not buy your products or services. People perform that function. Careful selection, optimization and page placement of relevant images will make the interest of your page increase exponentially. Clip art, irrelevant images, non-optimized images, annoying flash or too much movement will all drive your readers away and cause another hmmm.

Social Media Integration - How many websites even today do you go to and there is no social media integration into their website? Communicating with fresh up to date content and building a relationship with your target markets is vital to your overall web success. A blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all valuable relationship tools and can be managed with Social Media Management Software from your desktop. A workable Social Media plan can be found here that you can integrate into your web presence.

Search Engine Optimization – Often we go to  a website and it looks nice and can even be designed well, but the all important SEO aspects have been left out. Some web designers will throw in a few keywords in the meta tag and think that is what is needed for SEO … there is a LOT more to it. Key phrase research, niche market research, local area search, content marketing, website architecture, copy that incorporates the key phrases in a manner that is readable. Each page having a purpose and a call to action … the list goes on.

We have barely touched what goes into a website that works, and by all means build your website yourself … just take the time to research and do it right. If however you have come to the conclusion that you neither have the time or the necessary skills to create a website that works, then contact OTR Web Solutions and we will work with you to build a site for your business … that works.

Ian Conklin is the President of OTR Web Solutions a web development company since 2000 with offices in Canada, USA, Europe and South America.

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Tired Phrases – “Reach Out” How about “Bug Off”

Posted on December 26, 2011 by ianotr

You open up any email or web post or blog article and somewhere soon you will find one of those tired phrases like,we “reached out” to our readers …” Okay folks, I don’t want you to “reach out to me”. It just paints a strange picture in my head as the image of you reaching out through the screen to touch me and make personal contact. It is not likely you would reach out to me if we met in the mall or on the street. Why? Because you do not know me.  I am just a name or email address in a long list of people or non-people that you have acquired through some means or another.

So marketers and copywriters, it is time you “stepped up to the plate” because the goal of readership and contact will only be attained one step at a time. I am reaching out to you in the hope that you will create a new phrase that not only you can believe in but one that clearly portrays my life has never been so good.

Truthfully, (does that mean everything before this was a lie?), if I could leverage this blog to produce a paradigm shift in copy content that is outside the box … well it just doesn’t get any better than this. (That really was bad bad wasn’t it!)

We all desire products of the highest quality and of course we want great value for our money. Furthermore, we expect you to deliver amazing results even extraordinary results all the while showing that you care for me your customer … and of course we expect this 24/7.

I am ” reaching out to you” this one last time to let you know that if copy is not your forte then we, the OTR copywriters, will compose professional, affordable and unique web copy for you that will provide solutions to your business web copy by taking your copy “to the next level!”

OTR Web Solutions Inc.


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Your Website Delivers a Message … for Better or Worse.

Posted on December 14, 2011 by sendible

How often have you searched for a product or service, and the sites you have come upon speak about themselves, their history and their great products or services? You, the potential client are then left to determine the “if” or even “how” this particular website can meet your businesses specific needs.

The reality is that many of your website visitors will then “bounce” away because they are looking for a solution to their problem and really do not care about you or your products … unless you can portray that your site can meet their needs. The question then is how can this be accomplished effectively?

  1. Determine your specific market. When I was in the life insurance business (a lifetime ago) I was told that if you throw enough mud against the wall … some of it will stick. I suppose there was/is some merit to the comment but I did not like it then and I do not like it today. To my way of thinking it made more sense to make 10 targeted calls and close them than to make 100 mud-on-the-wall calls and hope to close 1 or 2! If for example my target market is “trucking web designers” then we need to build the web pages to attract and qualify within that specific market and not dilute the message and impact by attempting to appeal to a broader market.
  2. Resolve a need. To accomplish this you must be knowledgeable about the market and the specific needs of that industry. Sticking with the transportation industry as our example, determine the needs and relate a story of how you can resolve that need in a manner that the reader can relate with and to for their business. Some of the example transportation needs:
    1. Driver Recruitment and Retention
    2. Market penetration to pre-determined segments
      1. Regional Carrier
      2. Over The Road Carrier – National
      3. Dry Freight – LTL, TL
      4. Refrigerated Freight – LTL, TL
      5. Bulk Carrier
      6. Household Mover – local, regional long distance
      7. 3PL
      8. Brokerage
      9. Warehousing and Storage
    3. Social Media Campaigns
      1. Facebook
      2. LinkedIn
      3. Twitter
      4. Blog
      5. Social Media Console Manager
  3. Tell Your Story. Once the specific market has been determined and the needs of the industry established then it is time to relate a story of how your company can resolve those needs. A short story with images that are relative to that story creates a memorable image within the readers mind and will bring about the all important next step … contact. Again using our example of “trucking web design” we could write about how a client called concerned that one of their customers had been looking for 3PL services in a particular city and when doing a search their trucking company came up … but not relative to 3PL services. Can you get that corrected  for us so that our trucking company shows for 3PL within this city when a prospective client searches for that phrase? A few weeks later comes back the response … that is fantastic, we are on the first page. How do you do that!? Or you can tell a story about Driver Recruitment and how with the new web pages, blog and Facebook we actually have drivers calling us and posting to our Facebook telling us that they are applying. You guys took the time to find out about us and delivered our message.
  4. If you caught my interest I might want to know more about your products or services features … but my first impression had better be about the benefits you bring to me because that is what is going to capture my interest. It might be relevant somewhere that you have been doing this for over 12 years as that shows me you will probably still be around when I need you again, but only if you can show it as a benefit to me.

Professional web development is a team project. In the same manner as truck drivers by themselves do not form a transport company; a web designer cannot make a website development company. It takes a professional team to build an effective website that works. If you are looking for a team approach to your website development then take the time to contact OTR. We are here to build for you … a website that works.

OTR Web Solutions Inc.

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