If You Build It They Will Come … Baloney!
Today, if you type, “cabin rentals smoky mountains” into Google, you will get 618,000 pages back. Just a moment’s thought and most folks will realize the odds of being number one in this category are extremely low. You can get there, but not unless you are ready to spend thousands of dollars every month for a year.
Most small business owners will be forced into another tactic to locate customers. Enter knish keywords; something called a long tail, PPC, and Social Media. It’s the combination of several well-executed efforts that bring success.
Feel free to click on the names below and look at the style of each website. Click on the website art to see the site. This is only a sample of the total body of work.
Briarwood Ranch, Auto Safari
Briarwood Auto Safari has been a customer from the time they opened several years ago and (late Sept. '09) a complete refresh was due. The site now features a iPhone version, store, spam proof Contact page and a tricked out Photo Album. Notice the two videos on the Home page, these are there to increase the conversion rate.
Dr. Win
Lighthouse Leadership Coaching works in the oil & gas sector to improve executive performance. This website has several impressive features. To see one, go to the Services page and hit one of the links at the bottom.
Williamsburg Heritage Dancers
Here is a nice project, completed the second week in February, 09. The site is for The Williamsburg Heritage Dancers. The Menu is unique, it was made by printing paper out on a regular Inkjet, then adding a few water spots and baking in the Kitchen oven. Click the logo to visit the site.
Bee Spas
The Bee Spas site was updated in early May, '09 to reflect new Hot Tubs the company now has in stock. It's a pertty site and is well ranked in Google (hot tub repair Gatlinburg). The photographic work and logo are mine.
Newport House Bed & Breakfast
Newport House wants to improve their numbers, we were hired to do a complete rebuild of the site with the goal of increasing conversions. We succeeded brilliantly! Their Bounce Rate was cut by 2/3.
Kegler's Consulting
This website reflects Dorothy's taste: the butterfly is from a book she published and the iris has always been her symbol. It's quite pretty. You may want to check out her shopping cart.
Wendy Ghebrhiwet
Wendy has a powerful life story. As a child from a war-torn country Africa, she has survived things no one should have to. This is a neat website, built on AJAX. As you flip from page to page, watch how the pages load. Very cool....just don't ignore the message
Heather Christie
The colors on this site are really beautiful. It's clean and modern with a nod to the influence of Social Media.
Clancy Consulting Service
Tom Clancy is not only a good customer, but a good guy. He was so pleased with the first website we built for him, he asked us to do a second!
Many folks don't realize is that there are actually three parts to each site:
1• The website – this is the part many first time owners think is everything.
2• The domain – the domain is the name of your site and must be recorded in a kind of phone book for computers so you can be found.
3• Hosting – Your website will need a place where it can be found. A server is just like any other computer except it is connected to the internet with heavy-duty communications gear.
Often, many don't realize that this means there will be three different bills from three different places. Two of the three bills will come again. Hosting and domains must be renewed for different time periods – anywhere from one to ten years. Customers who are not Internet savvy have been confused and sometimes even feel cheated.
One way Dean helps those who have never owned a site before is to handle all these details. In order to offer a true turn-key option, it was necessary to offer not only website design, but also complete hosting and domain registration. This all happens in-house. Dean Lewis can provide the prospective owner with all three elements without having to rely on outside vendors.
The cost for this superior hosting system starts at only ten dollars a month; that's one hundred twenty dollars a year! Domain registration is twelve dollars. This is the turn key cost. Nobody will ask your DNS or IP address and you only need to ask Dean Lewis to create your site. It's a better, easier way to do business.
