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Social Media Archives - Natalie Crowe Designs | Web Design Company Australia

Category Archives: Social Media

Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket

Web Design - Don't put all your eggs in one basket - You need more than Social Media Presence. Hunter Valley, Web Design Australia

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER – Not to put all your eggs in one basket.

So we recently saw social media crash in a big way, some of you may or may not have noticed but many of the big social media platforms had a major meltdown earlier this week with many people unable to access their accounts, faults only being able to see partial posts – or see names but not content, and other were completely disconnected from their pages and unable to response to feedback, which meant users weren’t able to communicate with others.

Facebook Tweeted:

In the instance of business, this is such a massive issue, when you’ve focused solely on one form of communication with your prospects and customers. For example Facebook, or any other single platform . There’s such a great deal of risk there if something does go wrong.

Social Media Websites, Blogging and Email Marketing - Newsletters - Why you need to use a combination of platforms

Social media are tools to increase your exposure but shouldn’t be your sole point of contact with prospects and customers.

Whilst Facebook and other social media platforms are amazing tools, we don’t essentially own our pages, our contacts and communication. These means of contact are governed by an external source – policies and procedures and we really don’t have full control over any given platform… However, if something did go wrong and by chance your business page was part of a glitch that saw it either temporarily or permanently shut down, would you still be able to connect with your prospects? The answer for most people is No.

This is why it’s so important not to focus all of your attention on one platform and making sure the connections you have are meaningful that filter through to mediums that give you the ability to make backups, account for your communications and manually if need be engage with your community.

How do you connect with prospects outside of social media?

3 Ways to connect with prospects via your website.

  1. Start Your Own Business Website:
    First and foremost, I’d recommend getting a website or  making sure your current website is up to date so that you still have a consistent online presence that represents your business.
  2. Create an online Blog  for your business:
    Secondly I’d be setting up a blog for your business ideally on your own website where you share with your prospect at least once a month.
  3. Setup an email newsletter for your business: 
    And lastly I’d be getting yourself setup with a newsletter and means for your prospects to signup for a newsletter via your website, this can be done by setting up a free account with Mailchimp and connected to your website, so users can sign up for your newsletter.

All of these elements will ensure that irrespective of what’s happening in the social media world, you are still able to communicate with your following.

If any of you would like to arrange a free 30 minute Skype conversation to discuss your options, please feel free to contact us today either online via my contact us page,  via email support@nataliecrowedesigns.com or phone 0423285233

How much does a website cost | Web design Australia

How much does it cost for a website : Guide to Web Design Australia

How much does a website cost | Web design Australia

As a freelance web designer Australia, the most common question I get asked is “How much does a website cost?”  

Now depending on whom you ask, your answer will usually come back with varied results.   

There are web designers  in Australia that are charging in excess of $5000 – $8000 depending on your requirements and the label /brand credibility attached to the company you’ve requested a quote from. 

I’ve had clients contact me saying they’ve received quotes for more than $6000 with the expectation because the package is more expensive it MUST be better for their business? Then looking at the items they’ve been quoted for  as an experienced web developer, and questioning what they anticipated they were getting for their money? More often than not… it was all about their perceived valued and expectation they’d be looked after…

However, I’ve worked with dozens of clients who have come to me and said they’ve paid out a fortune with 1 or more other companies, they experienced substantial loss, they know their business needs to be online but they honestly don’t know if they can do this again. They just want someone to HELP them.

Helping business owners is a passion of mine and utilising my decade+ of experience and knowledge as web designer. I pride myself on taking care of my clients.  My aim is to offer down to earth support and affordable website solutions for all business owners.

I offer to custom quote all of my clients however I also offer a 5 package Starter website (stand-alone website)  or 3 off the shelf complete packages which include website development + setup integration of some essential business profiles for marketing and growing your business.

So what’s the differences between a Stand Alone Website and a Complete Website Package:

The differences between a stand-alone website or a complete website package are primarily the contents of each offering. Whilst I pack as much as I can into the delivery of my websites, I understand that pricing is super important when you’re looking to get a new website, so I offer  my 5 page starter website as a stand alone website option.

My 5 page starter website is a great foundation, it combines all the basic things you need to have a website and maintain that website for 12 months. The package includes 12 months Website Hosting, Email Hosting & Domain Configuration +  12 months  of monthly Core WordPress backup and maintenance.  This 5 page starter website retails for $880, and is our recommendation for those just starting out.

From there I offer 3 Complete Website Packages tailored  dependent on your requirements.
These packages include:

  • The development of the website of your choosing:
    • 5 page website + blog
    • 8 page website + shop
    • 10 page website + blog ( including 4 blog post starter pack) + shop
  • Setup of key social media and marketing tools:
    • Facebook Business Page +
    • Google My Business/  Google Maps,
  • On Page Search Engine Optimisation for your primary pages
  • User Guide & Skype Consultation time so you can work directly with me.
  • Along with all the resources you’ll need to make the most out of your website.  

Whilst I am more than happy to custom quote your website development and package up services for you.  We have so many clients initially contacting us to ask for “Ballpark figure” so they can budget for their developments and we’ve found these combinations are the best suited.

Our Complete Website Packages include:

  • Growth – Website + Blog – $1760,
  • Foundations – Website + Online Store$2640,
  • Premium Plus  – Website, Blog + Online Store$3520

To browse the full list of package includes visit our Website Package Prices page

WordPress Website Maintenance Packages:

I also offer 3 Maintenance packages that  are designed to support you with general WordPress Backup+ Updating your WordPress website, and provide you with options where you can opt to have content changes made on your behalf on a monthly basis.

Core WordPress Maintenance:
All WordPress websites should be backed up and updated regularly. Many clients find this task to be complicated or uncomfortable and often don’t have the time to spend doing this each month, so they hire Natalie Crowe Designs to do WordPress website maintenance for them.   In this, we take a full backup of your website, then complete the WordPress updates listed on your dashboard. This process is essential for security and is vital for smooth restoration should something go wrong with your website.

Some clients opt to learn to do the WordPress backups and maintenance, however prefer to have Natalie Crowe Designs make content changes and monthly page updates for them. 

Some clients opt to have both of these services monthly WordPress Backup + Update & Monthly Content Updates billed together due to the bulk saving on hourly process.

Learn more about the WordPress Website Maintenance Plans via our WordPress Website Prices Page.

 

Lastly,  I also offer a variety of other services such as business mentoring and training and support on an hourly rate of $80/hr. 


Once your website is built you’ll have 12 months before you’ll be required to pay a website hosting free / domain renewal again. This gives you sufficient time to put funding away to cover the cost of keeping your website online. 

With flexible payment, affordable pricing and a passion to see you succeed. Client testimonials that rave about our services and so much more.  We’d love to here from you!

Have a great day and if I can be of any assistance, ask a question, prepare a quote or discuss your options.

Request A Quote Here

Importance of having BOTH a blog and social media

Do you really need a website + blog and social media?

Prospective customers are looking for what you offer. You have a base website with your credentials and general page content a gallery, your availability calendar and so forth.   The pages aren’t going to change all that often in any grand scheme,  whilst you can add new content to them, the overall purpose of those pages won’t change.  This used to be fine, however now that the search engines are looking to offer their users the best of the bests.  It’s no longer just a set and forget process.

The search engines are constantly receiving new and improved content and improving their algorithms. This means they will be ranking your website pages with relevance other sites, where users are spending most of their time in addition to their own continually improving checklist. ‘They’ are looking to give their users the best experience and want to ensure the end user keeps using their services – so it’s all about the benefits their users get. If the searches can see users going to your site, exploring it and continually coming back you will see more of a result in the search rankings. This means in order to keep up, you are going to want to ensure that your users have a reason to keep coming back to your website. If you’re not adding new content… Then WHY would they come back?  There’s nothing additional to explore…. What now? This is where the blog comes in…

Whilst it may seem like a complex process, what you need to understand here, is that things have change dramatically for websites and website technology. There’s a whole process now, to what you need to have on your website in order for it to be seen as legitimate – most people base the authenticity of a business as to whether they have an active social media page – because “EVERYONE” is on Social Media… – A Stereotypical response – yes… but it’s how it is…  And through the diversity of creating additional resources for the search to explore, this helps to keep your business on top of the search engines.

Whether we like it or not… we either have to take the leap and implement new measures in order to stay current or get left behind.. and whilst you may be apprehensive at this stage, you never know, you may find that this becomes something you enjoy.  A creative outlet.

BLOG:

What is a blog?  A blog on your website allows for content creation.   By producing content ON your own website, you’re creating more of an authority.. Each blog post has it’s own link, which means there are more “pages” online for people to explore.. The more times people are going to your website to view things and exploring the more you’ll see positive interaction on your search engine rankings….  When Google sees that your website is getting more interaction it will move it up the ranks.   

Content for your blog can be done monthly or more frequently if you feel comfortable, It’s basically a case of ensuring you’re creating and distributing your content on a regular basis.  For example:

On the 3rd Wednesday of the month every month, you sit down and write 3-4 paragraphs about a topic of interest to your market;
For example:  
Events on in [Your Area]  or other topics of relevance

You’ll then pick :

  • A focus keyword or phrase relevant to the article.
  • A title.
  • A Call to action some sort of message or call to encourage them to take action on your site.  (we can discuss)
  • A picture/s that suits the article

And from here we hit publish and that post is visible on your website.

NCD NOTE:
You can go through and write a heap of posts ahead of time and set the publish date at a later date – this will mean it won’t be released until the publish date.. So you can plan ahead and create content ahead of time.

Once you have your content – it’s time to distribute it.

FACEBOOK / SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION:

Facebook and Social media platforms in general are also important. They are designed for distribution and engagement. Here posting to these platforms IS exceptionally beneficial to your business, however if your social media platform was to close down ( I can’t see it happening but if it did) – how would you get in touch with people who have begun following you?? How would you encourage engagement and also reach those potential customers when you have openings for them.  It would be VERY difficult to reach all of them.. In most cases we don’t know the people personally who follow us on social media.  If you haven’t been building a following for any length of time, those efforts would still be ruined simply by not having a means to communicate with them if those  social media platforms were to vanish tomorrow…

With your blog post written, You  then talk about the post on your social media platforms.. aiming to encourage the users to take action on your site  ( I discuss this further down)-  Like it, Share it, Sign up for an email List, Contact You or Make a booking etc….
 

To distribute the post on your social media platform – ie Facebook 

  1. Write your status for example if you were offering accommodation in Lake Macquarie:
    • “Who will be heading out to Lake Macquarie  for Catalina Festival?  Have you got your accommodation sorted??  Check out our blog post  on our website about the history of the Catalina festival.   Link in the comments below. ” 
  2. Then include your link in the comments
  3. [Optional – Recommended] Choose a picture relevant to the social media platform  (For Facebook – 851px 315px )

YES it’s going to take some planning,  but I can guarantee you, you will see a lot more interaction with your business simply by visible to your prospective customers.  

Your website is an important tool which allows connection to your business, but it can be SO MUCH MORE than that…  

The aim of the game is to create engagement...connect with users on social media and likewise, draw them into your content on your website, and then eventually get them to take one  or more of the available calls to action, these include but are not limited to:

  • Making a booking, purchasing or contacting you
  • Sharing your content with their networks  to build your reputation and presence.
  • Obtain their marketing information – for example their email -getting them signing them up for a newsletter so that you CAN market to them directly to their inbox.
  • To develop rapport with your audience.
  • & delight your customers.

These are just some of the targets most businesses would consider.

Whilst it all seems overwhelming with all this information to consume, it’s truly something you CAN master.. .you can utilise and you can truly benefit from it.. You’re already updating Facebook, it’ll be just a case of writing a little more information for a blog post and then incorporating that into your Facebook posting schedule – which there are plenty of ways we could improve this process as well.

If you’d like some assistance getting this process under control please make an enquiry via  our contact page.

Copycats in Business

Apologies for the “real-ness” of this post.. but I found it highly relevant for some of you who are experiencing this!

COPYCATS IN BUSINESS!!
They say being copied by someone else is the greatest form of flattery 🙂
Knowing that every move you make is being watched so intently…
knowing that the person actively watching you has put you in such an
authority figure to read your every post, cultivate your every idea and
take action on what you’ve shared…is a real eye opener if nothing
else…

If someone has to do this 1) they lack creativity, but 2) also they must spend a whole lot of time thinking
about the awesomeness that is you! and your fan-freaking-tastic
business! They must believe you have a GREAT idea… and that you are
very much a worthy adversary to copy in the first place!!! If they can
not think for themselves or are looking to you for their next business
move what does that say about them and their business sense.. It takes
more than the ability to stalk another business and recreate what they
do… In any industry, similarities will occur, and keeping
up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry can be valuable tool,
but don’t let it consume you, especially when it’s more about the owner
than the business!

I know
it can be frustrating to know that your ideas are being poached but look
at it this way, you’re obviously doing much better than they are, they
really have way too much time on their hands if all they do is keep tabs
on what you are up to, eventually karma comes around, and it will
happen eventually that their clients will discover that their business
isn’t really what it appears to be… It takes more than a mimic to be
successful… Take it in your stride! All you can focus on being the
best you can be, things will fall into place that will show them that
you are superior in what you do for a reason…

With that said,
aside from rocking it in your business. Try not to waste your time or
energy on people who don’t deserve it.. Have the respect and belief in
yourself to know that you’ve got this!! You are AMAZING! So go on and
spread your gifts!! We believe in you!!

Your friends at Natalie Crowe Designs

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Massive Effort – 3 Websites in 3 days!

November 2013 Natalie Crowe Designs are running a promotion which we plan to develop 11+ websites in 11th month of the year. 
The promotion offers FREE advertising for the Month of November for the first 11 clients to have a website developed before November 30. 

There are still 2 places to be filled. 

We’ve successfully launched two partial websites and a brand new website as seen below: 

Overnight Reflectionshttp://www.overnightreflections.com.au/

ACME Solar & Electrical Pty Ltd – http://www.acmesolar.com.au/

Redrock Musichttp://www.redrockmusic.com.au/