Web Design & Digital Marketing Blog

The latest news & articles for Rhode Island Small Business Owners
Aug 07
marketing image

How Do You Know When It’s Time to Update Your Website?

By Website Design and Development, Wordpress Development No Comments

Almost every week we talk with business owners who express an interest in getting a new website but don’t know whether it’s the right time to make a change. We can understand because they have a point – your business website isn’t like a car or truck. You won’t see a blinking light that tells you when it needs to be replaced. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any obvious signs when it’s time to update or upgrade your web presence. Today, we want to point out a few of the most obvious signals that you need the help of a talented business web design team… You Hate the Way Your Website Looks The biggest reason to update your website is also the simplest. If you simply don’t like the way it looks, or think the web content you have isn’t doing a good job of promoting your unique…

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Jul 17
make sure you own your website

Small Business Owners: Make Sure You Actually Own Your Website!

By Client Services No Comments

There are a lot of things that bug us about the web design industry, but there’s nothing quite as infuriating as meeting a business owner who has discovered that they don’t actually own their own website. You may be thinking to yourself that you certainly own the website another company created for you. In fact, you might be sure that the fact that you paid a great deal of money for it would clear the issue up, but that isn’t always the case. Behind some fine print and terrible industry practices, you’ll discover a number of different ways that unethical web design companies can claim ownership to your website or hold it hostage when you try to take your business elsewhere. Let’s look at a few parts of your web presence that might actually be owned by another company… Your Business Domain Name Some web design companies will offer to…

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Jul 13
web site content

7 Proven Tips for Generating Great Web Content

By Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design and Development No Comments

Having unique and persuasive web content is essential to your online marketing success. That’s because what you write helps you to attract visitors from Google, to differentiate yourself from the competition, and to turn visits into customers. However, writing web content isn’t something most business owners are incredibly comfortable with. To help out, we turned to a veteran copywriter who has finished hundreds of websites for small businesses and Fortune 500 firms. Here is the advice he had to offer business owners who are struggling with their content. #1 Write for a Specific Person If you’re having trouble getting started with your web content, a good trick is to think about having your perfect customer sit right in front of you. Then, start thinking about things you would want them to know about your business. By writing for a specific person, you can make it easier to sharpen your thoughts…

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Jul 08
website hacked

The Hidden Costs of a Hacked Website

By Website Design and Development, Wordpress Development No Comments

At Black Door Creative, we spend a healthy amount of time and energy getting our buyers and readers to take reasonable precautions against having their websites hacked. One of the reasons we do this is because many business owners and executives actually underestimate the real costs of a security breach. When thieves find a way to get into the coding of your website, it’s probably going to cost you a lot more than you think to undo the damage. Let’s look at the major expenses you could find yourself paying when hackers strike… The Cost to Repair or Replace the Website Itself The most obvious cost associated with a hacker attack is the fee to repair or replace your website itself. In many cases, the underlying code will have been corrupted, and it’s possible that some or all of your content will be lost (particularly if you aren’t running regular…

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Jun 20
wasting money on bad website

Don’t Waste Money Promoting a Bad Website

By Digital Marketing, Website Design and Development No Comments

There is an old expression – Don’t Throw Good Money After Bad – that seems especially pertinent in the digital age. That’s because business owners are waking up to the fact that they should be investing in search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and social media marketing. However, pouring time and money into these campaigns is never going to result in real gains if their underlying websites aren’t strong enough. To put it another way, you should never waste money promoting a bad website. No matter how expensive or creative your campaigns are, it just won’t work. To really build your brand and attract customers over the internet, you have to have a strong web presence to begin with. It’s the foundation for everything else you do online. So, how do you know if your website isn’t good enough to promote? Here are a few tell-tale signs… Your Web Design Looks…

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Jun 16
website traffic

What You Need to Know About Website Traffic

By Search Engine Optimization, Website Design and Development No Comments

Most of the business owners we work with like looking at general website statistics, and in particular stats relating to traffic. They love seeing that hundreds or thousands of people have come to their pages through Google, Facebook, and PPC ads. Usually, their interest is in knowing whether more or fewer customers are finding their way to the company online. Beyond that, they tend to not have much interest in the figures themselves. However, if you’re a business owner or manager who wants to attract customers over the internet, then you should know a little bit more about your website traffic statistics. In particular, you should get together with your web design team on a regular basis to review a few key success indicators. Let’s look at the figures you should be paying the closest attention to… Web Visitor Stats and Trends We should start with the one set of…

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Jun 07
choosing the right web designer for your project

Choosing The Right Web Designer For Your Project

By Client Services, Website Design and Development, Wordpress Development No Comments

Finding a web designer to work with is easy. Choosing the perfect one for your business web design project can be a little bit tougher. After all, there are literally dozens of web designers and developers in the Providence, Rhode Island area. Add in the fact that most business owners and marketing managers aren’t experts in coding, HTML, or search engine optimization (as examples) and it’s easy to see why it would be so tough to make a good decision. However, you don’t have to be a web expert to hire the right web design partner. You only need to know how to start your search and narrow in on the perfect candidates. We are going to show you how to do exactly that in this short post. Before we get into the three criteria that really matter, though, let’s begin with an important tip: it’s much easier to choose…

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Jun 04
finding the right value in web design

Finding the Value in Your Next Business Website

By Client Services, Website Design and Development, Wordpress Development No Comments

“Is it worth the money to have someone design a new business website for my company?” We hear versions of this question all the time. It’s understandable that business owners want to know whether they’ll see a positive return on investment when they contact us for web design and online marketing work. However, we think this isn’t actually the best thing to ask. Instead, what new clients should want to know is how exactly they can find the value in a new website. In other words, the focus should be on all the different ways you can improve your bottom line with the right creative team. With that in mind, today we want to look at a few of the ways you can profit directly and immediately from an improved web presence. Let’s start with the most obvious benefit… Sales, Leads, and Walk-in Visits When you have a great website,…

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May 28
website content creator

Your Website Content Shouldn’t Be An Afterthought

By Content Marketing, Website Design and Development No Comments

Often, web content is the last thing that’s added to a brand-new website. That leads some business owners and managers to conclude they can leave it until the last minute, or treat the text on their pages as an afterthought. That’s understandable, but it’s not a good idea. Most of us don’t look back fondly on the days when we had to write reports in school, and so it’s only natural that lots of business people will put off the task of writing pages for a website. However, web content shouldn’t be an afterthought when building your web strategy – your message is central to everything you want to accomplish online. To help you understand why here are a few things you have to remember… Your Content Should Match and Influence Your Web Design When you start working on your web content early, you can use the ideas you generate…

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May 15
Rhode Island Custom Web Design

Custom Web Design vs. The One-Size-Fits-All Approach

By Client Services, Website Design and Development No Comments

Recently, we have been meeting with a lot of business owners who have questions about the best way to get lasting value from their web design projects. It seems that everywhere they turn there is another option – including some that are fast, cheap, and easy. For instance, take the trend of DIY web templates. You have undoubtedly seen these advertised on YouTube and even television. For just a few dollars a month, they promise the chance to build a brand-new web presence from some easy fill-in-the-blanks forms. Additionally, there are numerous freelancers and overseas web design companies who will build a website from an existing design for next to nothing. Given that many business websites look similar, and there are time and money savings to be had, it’s only reasonable for people to ask us whether they really need to pay for custom web design. The answer, of course,…

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