Categories
Development

The Benefits of Custom Websites

The modern internet world is filled with free websites bearing countless iterations of templates. Though templates can serve a purpose and provide a quick entrance into the online medium, cookie cutter template websites aren’t as unique or useful as a custom website. When dealing with a personal website, the ability to manipulate the look and content attached to it should be a flexible, yet easy, process. Search Engine Optimization Generic free sites generally aren’t built to be SEO friendly. For this reason, individuals will find it is very unlikely the site will rise in search results. With a custom website, the entire spectrum of SEO can be utilized to make a website more visible and discoverable. Custom websites can help funnel potential customers to a target site to provide services or products they are searching for. Branding Custom websites can be tailor-made to mimic branding preferences and achieve a cohesive look between products or services offered by a company. This attention to detail will make a business seem more reputable and distinguished in the eyes of potential customers. A custom, professional website can create a positive first impression to generate sales. Tech Support  If a custom website is designed and hosted by a trustworthy firm, technical support is guaranteed to be included. This means business can focus on sales and not on the technical side of keeping a website functional. Content updates and expansion can always be a delicate procedure without ruining a website’s functionality, having a professional to implement it will save time and money in the future. If your business is in need of a professional, functional website, with the ease of use customers will appreciate, call us today or contact us through our online form! We would love to help build the custom website needed to grow your business.

Categories
Marketing

It’s 2016 Do I Even Need a Website?

It’s 2016 Do I  Even Need a Website?   Many small businesses believe a Facebook page or other online profile is sufficient and there for no real reason exists to invest in an individual website. With all the misinformation and scam artist in the “Web” industry, it is easy to see how one would arrive at this conclusion. The reality is, that it is more important than ever for organizations, especially small business, to have their own website. Did you know that recent case studies have revealed a 20% reduction in the average adult attention span since the year 2000? Bear with me, in order to explain we need to create a little back story so the explanation makes since. Imagine that Sunshine Furniture is a local furniture store. Sunshine Furniture does not have a website instead they have a Facebook Business Page. The owner has reasoned that since they did not waste the money on a website they can in turn invest in regular updates/posts to their Facebook profile. Now that you understand Sunshine Furniture’s marketing tactics, let’s imagine that you happen to be in the market for a comfortable new rocking chair. While on Facebook looking at new photos recently posted by someone in the family you happen to notice a recent post announcing a, what looks to be, huge sale at Sunshine Furniture on their rocking chairs. We all know how quickly the Facebook feed updates so at that moment you have to make a choice, make a note to visit Sunshine Furniture or click on the post to find more information. Since how Sunshine Furniture does not have a website when you click on the post you are taken to a page within their Facebook profile. Now you are looking at the event page for the sale and receive a new notification “You are now eligible to move to the next level of Candy Crush”, remember the thing I mentioned earlier about reduced attention span… that’s right boom you’re off working hard to stay ahead of your friends on Candy Crush. At some point in the future you are going to remember you had seen an ad somewhere regarding rocking chairs on sale, even if you remember it was on Facebook the post is now long gone. If Sunshine Furniture had invested in a website the sale, would likely have been posted on the website. Then upon clicking on the Facebook post you would have been directed to their website allowing you to focus for just a few short minutes on exactly what was on sale and whether or not you needed to check out the sale in person. Since Sunshine Furniture controls the website they can in turn control the environment and rest assured that there will be no popup notifications within that few minutes and you will be able to receive the full message they are wanting to communicate.   Conclusion: there is no “silver bullet” when it comes to maximizing your online presence, instead there are many puzzle pieces that need to play together in order to maximize the desired result. A website is most definitely an important puzzle piece as it is the ONLY online asset where an organization can insure that there are as few distractions as possible while trying to communicate a message to their audience.

Categories
Marketing

Advanced Pest Solutions Gets Website Overhaul

We’ve been telling you the past couple weeks about some of the amazing new websites the team at Skynet Solutions has been creating and we have one more we want to share with you today. When Advanced Pest Solutions came to us for a website overhaul, we were excited to have the opportunity to work with them because of the great reputation they’ve built for themselves in Bartlesville. As a local, family-owned and operated pest control company, Advanced Pest Solutions is a staple of the Bartlesville community and provides quality pest control services for communities across Northeastern Oklahoma and Southeastern Kansas. Working with a company that has such a good reputation and strong ties to its community is always fun. However, it also presents a unique set of circumstances to work within. Many local, family-owned businesses, like Advanced Pest Solutions, have customers who have been using their services for years, decades even. And when they change something about their business, whether it’s the location or the hours or the website, they have to do it in a way that is accommodating to their old customers. But, as any business-owner knows, you also need to continually innovate and improve to attract new customers and stay ahead of your competition. Advanced Pest Solutions wanted a new website to be able to better attract new customers, as well as better serve their long-time customers. They needed a site that was clean and inviting, informative and easy to use and that would be easily recognized by their old customers, even in its new and improved form. Our team got to work developing a new website, designing new graphics and images and writing fresh content for the site, including an introductory blog post to help them get their blog page off the ground. Skynet Solutions also hosts the Advanced Pest Solutions website, so we can help them troubleshoot any technical issues they have. One of the skills our team prides itself on, is the ability to meet the varied and unique needs of any client. We’ve developed and designed websites and written blogs and website content for multiple pest control companies, including Arrow Exterminators, Emtec Pest Control and Xtreme Pest Management. However, we’ve manage to make each of these sites and all of their content and blogs unique and different. We tailor all of our work, no matter the size of the project, to the client and their specific needs. The ability to make interesting, relevant and unique websites and content for all of these clients shows the creativity of our design, development and content teams, as well as the personal attention to detail that you get when you work with Skynet Solutions. We take the time to meet with each client, to really listen to them, to learn what they want and need from their website and then have a discussion about the best way to achieve that creatively, functionally and within their budget. The Skynet Solutions team takes the time to get a feel for your company and how you want your business to be displayed. You know what you want customers to see, think and feel when they come to your website. It’s our job to make that vision a reality. As a small business, we understand that the perception customers have of you is extremely important, and we want to work closely with you to maintain and enhance the good reputation you’ve spent years building. When you spend as much time as you do running your business, serving customers, training employees and more, the last thing you need to be worrying about is whether your website is sending the same message. Do what you do best and keep your business powering ahead; leave the website to us. Get in touch with the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with any design, development or marketing needs, including your online business listing, website development, marketing or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact form on our website to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

Categories
Marketing

Reveal Clear Skin Reveals New Website Design

The entire Skynet Solutions team has been working hard the past couple months to churn out new websites for small, local businesses around the country! Our team has been working hard to create everything from beautiful new logos and graphics to updated content and custom back ends. We’re proud to be able to show off some of the finished products now. One of these websites was for our friends at Reveal Salon in Tulsa. We had previously helped Reveal Salon update their business cards and logo and they were so satisfied with the work that they came back to us with an ever bigger job—a complete website update! We updated their content and graphics and redesigned the website layout and backend to make it easier for customers to navigate and Reveal Salon employees to use. Running a small business is a lot of work and we know that you need to take every advantage to stay ahead of the competition and on top of your customers’ needs. That means everything about your business needs to be sharp and cohesive, from the look of your store and the way your employees treat your customers to your logo and your promotional materials. So, when Reveal Salon came to us last year looking to update their business cards, we know how important it was to really nail it and get the new look they were going for. They wanted the new business cards to have a modern, unisex look that contained all their relevant contact information but didn’t look as feminine as their old business cards had looked. The salon owner wanted the new cards to appear more neutral so they would attract a wider client base and wouldn’t make you think “salon” as soon as you looked at them. Our design team worked hard to meet all these specifications. We know how important continuity of design is in marketing and branding. Everything about your business, whether it’s your website, your Facebook page or your business cards, needs to remind the customer of who you are and what you can do for them. Our team created a really attractive card which matched the theme of the company website (which at the time was not designed by Skynet Solutions). You can see the finished result below: The team at Reveal Salon was so pleased with the work we did on their business cards, that when they were ready to do some work on their website they came straight to us. Keeping your website up to date is extremely important for any business, no matter your industry or your size. Did you know that the lifespan of a website is only about three years? That means if your website hasn’t been significantly updated in the past three years, everything from the graphics to the backend are outdated and are probably less current that your competition and your website might not be mobile friendly anymore. This is even more important for local businesses. According to Google, the majority of searches are now made from mobile devices, not desk tops. So if your website isn’t mobile friendly, your customers will likely go to another site. Also, more than half of all mobile searches are made with the hope of finding local results such as an address or business hours; and two-thirds of those searches result in a purchase. The bottom line is, if your website isn’t up-to-date, mobile friendly and easily found in search results, then you’ll be missing out on tons of potential customers. Take some time today to look at your businesses website and see if it is up-to-date. Is it mobile friendly? Is it less than three years old? If the answer to both these questions isn’t yes, it might be time for you to overhaul your site. In the meantime, you can always get in touch with the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with any design, development or marketing needs, including your online business listing, website development, marketing or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact form on our website to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!