Erich Stauffer

Tag: Indianapolis

  • Erich Stauffer Reviews “6 Website Fixes to Make Now”

    This is a review of an article originally published on Entrepreneur.com on April 28, 2009 entitled, “6 Website Fixes to Make Now,” by Mike Werling. This article is for small business owners and entrepreneurs who may or may not have a webmaster or web designer and it assumes that everyone is on the same page that every business needs a website.  Werling’s thesis is that, “Relatively minor issues can drag down your site’s effectiveness,” and that these issues could be costing your business money.  We couldn’t agree more, but lets go down the list.

    Website fix #1 is, “Increase the speed.” It’s not about streamlining your site for dial-up users anymore.  Even broadband users can enjoy a fast-loading site while other are increasingly browsing the Internet using their cell phones or PDAs, which also can have slower connections.  Werling writes that technology for tech’s sake is no longer in fashion, which is also Website Fix #3.  Even Flash, which is on 99% of all computers is not as sought after as it once was even, “just a few years ago.”  Werling quotes Ben Rushlo,  director of Keynote Consulting for Phoenix-based Keynote Systems, a service provider that improves online business performance, “People now view [Flash] as annoying. They’d rather read information.” Rushlo recommends using the smallest file sizes for images as well as putting any, “non-essential” pictures towards the bottom of the page to, “help the important information pop up quickly.”

    Website fix #2 is, “Write better product descriptions. ” This has mostly to do with e-commerce solutions and shopping cart design, but we can apply some of these suggestions to anything message you are trying to get across online, whether it be selling a product, service, or an idea.  Werling says all descriptions should be, “Succinct and filler-free.”  One of our web designers tells the story of a supervisor at a previous job declaring a, “No Fluff Zone,” for all client-facing material.  Werling agrees, but says it, “Can be difficult because, as Amy Schade says, you need to, ‘Convince [users] the product meets their needs,” but the verbiage. ‘Has to be short and descriptive.’”  Werling goes on to say that, “There’s no salesperson available on a website, so [users],  “Should be able to see a product and know what it does,’ says Schade.” A director at the Nielsen Norman Group in New York City, Schade is also co-author of the second edition of the “E-Commerce User Experience” report.

    Website Fix #3 is, “Delete tech used for the sake of tech.” This fix is sort of a combination of fixes 1 and 2.  In order to speed up a website, you get rid of slow-loading flash (Fix #1) and any fluff (Fix #2) that doesn’t really propel your website’s goal forward.  Rushlo says, “[Site owners] need to evaluate if things like music, video and 360-degree views are necessary.”  Werling writes that Schade subscribes to Rushlo’s view, “[Schade] says to beware the trendy and new. Anything business owners jump on because it is the latest and greatest has the potential to backfire, especially if entrepreneurs don’t have the resources to keep up with all of the moving parts of their sites. Things like Facebook pages and video are fun; and social networking is quickly becoming an integral part of many businesses’ marketing platforms, but business owners need to weigh a technology’s popularity against their ability to utilize it fully.”

    Website Fix #4 is, “Improve shopping cart and payment options,” but we are going to call this, “Improving the functional design of your website.” Users can be irrational.  The smallest hangup or hint of mistrust can make them change their mind on whether or not they are going to use your product or service.  Yes, shopping carts should have the same look and feel of the rest of the site, but they shouldn’t require setting up an account, for example and of course the site should be trusted and secure.  If you cannot afford a secure certificate for your website or do not want or need to setup that type of environment, Paypal is a perfectly acceptable solution that users trust.  The checkout process or any other primary aim of your website should instill confidence, not regret.  Be as transparent as you can.  Let users know how the information will be used and kept.  This is sometimes called a privacy statement.  Transparency is also a top business trend for 2009.

    Website Fix #5 is, “Use unique page titles on every page.” This is more of a SEO tip than anything, but nevertheless true.  SEO stands for search engine optimization.  It’s what you do on your site to make it more appealing to search engines like Google or Yahoo.  Page titles, what is displayed at the top of your browser window, are important and they should be different for every page.  Each page should have a different description, keywords, and H1 tag, just as a baseline.  There are many other things you can do to improve SEO, but changing the titles on your page is one of the most important.  If you use H1 tags, make sure they are only used once per page.  Use H2 or font tags for other titles on your page.  Use a Strong tag around items that are especially important.  Some CMS programs like WordPress default to using Strong instead of Bold tags.

    Website Fix #6 is, “Shorten forms.” This dovetails into Website Fix #2 and 4.  Basically,  Werling recommends removing what isn’t necessary. If you don’t need the user’s physical address, for example, don’t ask for it.  Werling writes, “Only ask for the information you really need. ” In summary, business websites should be fast-loading and fluff-free.  Give the user just enough to make a desicion. Remove anything that isn’t necessary in order to not annoy the user and improve speed.  We think this is great advice.  If you would like help making any of the above changes to your company’s website, please contact us.  Erich Stauffer is  an Indianapolis web design firm serving the entire Midwest region and beyond.  We offer web design and development services for all types and sizes of businesses.

  • Does Your Local Business Need a Website?

    If you want to attract new customers, the answer is easy.

    Websites may be the most overlooked vehicle of advertising for local, small office, home office businesses. We believe every business, no matter how big or small needs a website. Every dentist, lawyer, accountant, and church needs one. Every café, restaurant, coffee shop and nightclub needs one. Every wholesale supply or landscaping company needs one.

    We’re not suggesting that all businesses need to transact business online, we’re only saying that everyone listed in yesterday’s yellow pages needs to also be available on the Internet today. Why? Because your customers expect it. That’s where they are looking first and foremost.

    If you’re thinking you might not be able to afford putting up a website, think again. Roy H. Williams of Entrepreneur Magazine said that, “For a simple website, a budget of $2,000 to $5,000 for construction and $100 to $400 for monthly maintenance and updates should cover it. Robust sites with streaming video, opt-in subscriber functions and other, more complicated features can run between $12,000 and $20,000 for construction and $500 to $2,000 for monthly maintenance and updates.”

    A properly constructed website allows your prospects to gather the information they need from the privacy of their Internet connection. Ask yourself what questions your sales team gets every day? Then ask yourself how would your best sales team member phrase their responses on his or her best day? This is the type of information that needs to be available 24/7 on your website.

    Think of your website as a relationship strengthener, a kind of halfway point between your regular advertising and your front office. Do you think it’s easier to convince customers to visit your website or to convince them to get in their vehicle, drive to your establishment, park, get out, and walk in your door?

    The Internet has allowed the introverted half of our population to explore in ways they never would have otherwise. Introverts strongly prefer to gather information anonymously and are unlikely to dial your phone number, except as a last resort. Even more unlikely is that they’ll choose to walk into your store and engage a salesperson. Introverts aren’t necessarily shy–they simply like to gather all the facts before they put themselves in a position where they’ll likely be asked to answer questions. Half of all your customers strongly prefer to know what they’re coming in to buy before they walk in your door. And even the other half of your target market, the extroverts, will appreciate an informative website that functions as an expert salesperson during all those hours you’re not open for business.

    Don’t think for a moment that your customers aren’t already on the Internet looking around at your competition. When several hundred people were recently asked, “How many of you have used a search engine within the past seven days to research a product or service that you were considering purchasing?”, 85 to 90 percent of the crowd raised their hand, according to Williams. He goes on to tell the story that occured during a trade show in Las Vegas, he was the keynote speaker for a trade
    organization whose 1,600 delegates had been gathered from around the world. He was there to deliver a speech on the keys to more effective advertising. The trade organization published a full-color magazine for their members, and prior to this conference, the executive council had been complaining to him privately about the high cost of publishing and shipping that magazine. He was waiting offstage and while the emcee was introducing him, the chairman leaned over and whispered to him, “Almost all our membership is over 55 years of age, so you probably don’t want to mention the Internet.” Once again, Roy asked this roomful of oldsters, “How many of you have used a search engine within the past seven days to research a product or service that you were considering purchasing?”. The answer? Roughly 95 percent.

    Does your local business need a website?

  • Congratulations Vermillion Christian Church!

    Vermillion Christian Church of Alexandria, Indiana has decided to update their website in order to serve their community better. We wish Vermillion Christian Church the best as they move forward with this project. Vermillion Christian Church believes, “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.”

  • Erich Stauffer is Active in the Fight Against Homelessness by Supporting Homeward Bound of Indiana

    During these tough times it so easy for us get caught up in the news headlines about a tough economy and rising unemployment. We have become quick to shut our doors in an attempt to “weather the storm” that we hear and read about everyday. Despite the hardships that we have all gone through, almost all of us can say that we at least have a safe, dry and warm house to go to at the end of the day. We have so many blessings to be thankful for in our lives.

    What if you didn’t have doors to shut, or a safe/warm home to protect you or your family from the storms of life? Homelessness is a very real and growing issue in all the communities where we live and work. So many people have lost their jobs due to a tough economy and cannot provide that safe haven for themselves or their family. This year our team at Erich Stauffer is joining thousands of Hoosiers to raise money to provide housing and fight homelessness in Indiana, and we want you to be a part of our team.

    On Sunday, April 26 at 2:00 PM, we will be joining hundreds of thoughtful Hoosiers for a 5k walk at the Millcreek Civic Center in Chesterfield, IN. We would love to have you walk with us to show your support for this wonderful organization that helps those in need. You can register to walk from the Home page of the Homeward Bound website.

    In tough times it is easy to grasp onto what we have and lose sight of what we have to give. I sincerely thank you for your thoughtful gift. You are truly making a difference in the lives of others.

    Thank you for caring,

    The Team at Erich Stauffer

  • Business Success

    At Erich Stauffer, we are concerned about one thing…making sure that your business is and remains successful. We believe that our success will ultimately be defined by our ability to lift others up and help them succeed. At Erich Stauffer, our way of lifting others up is to design premier websites, provide reliable hosting services, and engage in beneficial promotion activities to help market your website and your business.

    The success of your business could be defined by a number of different metrics; increased sales/profit, increased customers, increased products/services per customer, increased locations, etc. To achieve your metrics for success, there are a few basic necessities to consider in today’s environment.Subscribe to Erich Stauffer's RSS Feed.

    • Visibility
    • Good Communication
    • Providing Value For Your Customer
    • Education About Your Products/Services
    • Education About Your Business’s Message, Mission or Vision

    In today’s economic environment, consumers are doing more research than they have ever done before. They research what products and services are available to fit their needs, and a big part of that research is about the company or business that is selling those products or services.

    So how does that effect you, and how can we help?

    Having an attractive website to gain visitors, and having an informative website that is easy to navigate will help the consumer (and hopefully your future customer) feel comfortable and confidant in your products/services and your business. Promotion activities will increase the visibility of your website to get consumers to come to your site, and our web design services will ensure a pleasant experience when they get there.

    Get a free quote today!

  • A Smattering of Twitter Directories

    Twitter, a micro-blogging service which allows users to post up to 140 characters at a time, is still in its research phase, but in Web 2.0 terms, its fast becoming a juggernaut. You may have noticed its use in mass media like CNN and NPR. Although Twitter usage has grown 1689% in the last year (2008), it is still dwarfed by Facebook which has more than 175 million users compared to Twitter’s 1.78 million. It may be unfair to compare the two however, as they are two completely different types of services. Facebook is more full featured while Twitter does one thing, but does it very well. One thing they don’t offer is a directory services, so a few companies have been filling that need and piggybacking on Twitter’s success by creating Twitter directories.

    Currently the five major Twitter directories are Just Tweet It, We Follow, Twit Town, Twit Dir, and Twibs. Just Tweet It is currently the most popular, but Twibs and We Follow have a strong chance of overtaking Just Tweet It. Twibs is a business directory and is currently paying for online advertising until their SEO base can allow their site to rise to the top. We Follow is ran by Digg founder, Kevin Rose so it is sure to be a player, but in this Economy 2.0, nothing is for certain. One thing you can count on is content and right now the only ones creating it are the Twitter users themselves. If that dries up, Twitter, and all its directories, go with it. That does not seem to be happening though. Even MySpace, which has stopped growing as fast, has not started to decline even in the face of its biggest competitor, Facebook. There is probably even room for Twitter competition like Plurk in this vast, virtual place we call the Internet.

  • Is a “Green” Website Possible?

    What makes a website “green”? Green can be defined as using less energy because the less energy used, the less needs produced. Fossil fuels are a large part of energy production, but they also create gasses that harm our environment. There are things we can do in the real world to be more green. A home, for example, is much easier to make green by adding insulation or turning down the thermostat. Buying a vehicle that uses less energy is also considered green, but how can a website be green? Lets take a look at how a website works from a physical standpoint and then from a virtual one to determine if a website can indeed become green.

    A website is hosted on a computer running somewhere on this planet Earth. That computer is most likely a server running in a data center, which may or may not be eco-friendly. It is probably greener than it was a couple of years ago due to computer chip manufacturing companies like Intel and AMD who have been producing chips that use less and less energy. This helps cut electricity to run the servers and in air conditioning to cool them down.

    When a website is requested from anywhere in the world, the requesting computer is also using electricity as well as the all the networking equipment along the path to get from the data center to the computer. Initially you might think that adding up the servers at the data center, the hubs, switches, and routers along the way, and your computer might add up to a lot of energy and that websites might not have a chance to be green. And you would be right, but consider that these things are already on anyway and it doesn’t take any more power to run them whether you access a website or not and you might be feeling a little bit better about surfing.

    From a web designer’s standpoint, there are some things we can do. We can make black backgrounds which reduce the amount of energy cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors need to display the website, but everyday more people are switching to using liquid crystal displays (LCD) instead, which use the same amount of energy regardless of the color. Not every design can be done in black and so there are other things we can do, as web designers. We can encourage users not to print forms and create PDF versions or custom web forms to cut down on paper. Sometimes being green is more than just saving energy and reducing greenhouse gases. Sometimes its about saving trees which also help reduce greenhouse gases.

    So can a website be green? Absolutely. If all things remain the same and the only change we make as web designers is to keep the environment in our design process, then the website can be green. It is up to us, up to all of us, to do our due diligence to preserve our environment and continue to innovate in ways that help us all. If you need help innovating your website, consider the Indianapolis web design company, Erich Stauffer.

  • Erich Stauffer Hires General Manager

    Erich Stauffer welcomes Jason Cobb who brings his extensive management experience from the banking sector and applies it to business promotion at the brink of explosive growth as workers in the Midwest begin opening their own businesses “on the side” or to replace a previous job.

    Indianapolis, IN (TELABLUE) February 24, 2009 — Erich Stauffer announced today the hiring of Jason Cobb as the new Product Manager. Cobb has over 7 years of previous experience managing people and projects for the financial industry. “I am excited to bring data-driven marketing as a new addition to the Erich Stauffer culture, said Jason Cobb, General Manager at Erich Stauffer. “I am confident as we continue to move forward that we will can grow the brand of web design that Erich Stauffer has already established in the Indianapolis area to the rest of the Midwest.”

    “Jason Cobb is a welcome addition to our executive management team,” said Chris Hendrickson, Sales Manager at Erich Stauffer. “His approach to management through analysis and accountability will help us continue to improve our positive operating results in spite of the current challenging macroeconomic environment.” Jason has worked for several large institutions and looks forward to the growth potential and nimbleness of an up-and-coming business in the heart of the Midwest.  “Jason Cobb is a hard-working executive ,” said Erich Stauffer, Production Manager at Erich Stauffer. “I look forward to working with him as we help businesses around the Midwest, but especially in Indianapolis, grow.  That’s what its all about.”

  • Erich Stauffer Hires Sales Manager

    Erich Stauffer announces hire of Chris Hendrickson. With over 8 years of experience, Hendrickson will oversee the company’s sales division, delivering exceptional service to clients in the Midwest.

    Indianapolis, IN (TELABLUE) January 21, 2009 — Erich Stauffer, a leading provider for Indianapolis web design and web promotion products and services, is pleased to announce the recent addition of Chris Hendrickson to our team as the Sales Manager for the organization.  Chris will be focused on creating client acquisition strategies, further developing a positive client onboarding experience, and will lead product management efforts for the fast growing Indianapolis web design company.

    Chris brings 8 years of project and product management experience to the Erich Stauffer team.  His skills in delivering products and services to clients on schedule, within budget and with the highest quality are well-respected and admired.  Chris is a graduate of Ball State University with a B.S. degree in Finance.  He also acquired his PMP, Project Management Professional, certification in January 2008, and has been active member of the Central Indiana Chapter of the Project Management Institute since that time.

    “Chris will be a great addition to our team at Erich Stauffer.  His ability to interact with clients, understand their vision, and develop solutions that suit their needs will bring great strength to an already solid foundation to our Indianapolis web design company.  We are very excited about the growth of the sales division under his leadership,” says Erich Stauffer’s General Manager, Jason Cobb.

    “I am delighted to join Erich Stauffer and look forward to continue building strong partnerships with our clients and local businesses.  Erich Stauffer has established itself as an emerging Indianapolis web design and web promotion company, and I could not be more excited about being part of a team with such strong talent and innovative ideas,” said Hendrickson.