Tips to build a website

A new feature is online for your website. You can now activate the WebSelf Utilibar for your site. It is a series of convenient buttons for your site, all included in the same bar, that is featured in your template. Each button has its own function. You can choose which buttons to display with a checkbox. You can also use the arrow buttons to change the order in which the buttons are displayed. When all buttons are displayed, the utilibar has 6 buttons:

1. Back to Homepage : This button gives your visitor the possibility to go back to the homepage of your site with a single click.
2. Sitemap : With this button, a visitor can access a page that contains a list of links to all the pages of your site. This is handy to find content quickly
3. Add to favorites : With one click, your fans can add your site to their favorites to have a more direct access on their next visit!
4. Print site : Prints the contents of your site, to read later, at your leisure
5. Send to a friend : With this button, allow your visitors to recommend your site to friends by sending an email
6. Contact us: It is very important that your potential customers can reach you. This is why a contact button is integrated to the utilibarre. You can choose the contact page of your website as a landing page.

You can set these buttons to your needs, change the order or disable the ones you do not want. You can find the Utilibarre option under Site in the WebSelf Editor.

You released a new article in your blog : you're happy, all is well. You think the work is all done? Hold on!

The biggest part of the work of a blogger begins once the text is written and published. You write these articles for a reason, to be read and viewed, and to help your SEO! Here are some points to remember when creating your website and once your words are online!

This part is not really after you’re done writing, but better to tell you before it is too late : remember to include your keywords in your article! No need to overdo it, but try to put a little in for good measure. For more details on your keywords, check the WebSelf blog regularly and read our previous articles on SEO! Share your articles! Do not think that they will be found without efforts. Take advantage of social medias to publish your articles: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn: so many channels are available to you to talk about your business. Choose the ones where your target audience is carefully and share! Act as an "expert" on other blogs that deal with the same subject or a related subject. You're probably not the only one who’s writing on your subject, so take the opportunity to participate in discussions and to get people to know your name, website and of course, your blog! Add an interesting article to your email signature. If you have an article you’re proud of, a strong headline or some articles that are popular, add them to your email signature. You can even take the opportunity to rotate or feature your latest article. Every way is a good way to get yourself known. Share your articles with targeted customer. You know your customers and wrote an article with some in mind? Well, tell them! Contact them by email and send them a link to the article with a note "I thought this might interest you!' Be a guest bl...Read post

A good website can do you a lot of favors : recruit employees, inform potential clients of your products and services, give you credibility in front of your target audience… But let’s be honest, the SME that invest money in developing a website expects it to pay back by gaining new customers.

Leitmotif? We want customers! We want customers!

However, most websites fail to make the phone ring. In my experience, there are five reasons that explain the majority of failures webmaster and SME live with when it comes to converting a web user into a customer.

1. No one can find you
It’s rather hard to convince people to do business with you if you nonexistent in their eyes. Your website needs to be on one of the first two pages of results when someone searches for your target keywords, that’s it. It’s not easy, but with the right strategy, you can do it. Visit WebSelf’s blog often for SEO tips and advices to help you . Unfortunately, if the level of competition in your field of activity is high, it may involve recurring effort and investment from your behalf. This is normal though, considering that SEO is your best weapon in advertising, especially in B2B (business to business)!

2. We don’t understand you you do
A confused positioning or lacking an interesting value can often explain the silence of many phones… Can a 5 seconds visit allow your potential clients to know and understand :
Who you are What you do To who you offer your services How you differentiate yourself from other businesses If it’s not the case, you will need to take the time to fix that situation!

...Read post

Flyte.biz published a list of little tips and tricks on web design and web marketing we judge relevant to our customers and we decided to repost it for you. Feel free to take note!

Web Design Tips

To increase contact form conversion rates keep the number of fields to 5 or less. Good web design is not just about pretty pictures. It’s also about having a user-centric philosophy. When designing a web site give priority to the website user’s needs. Before designing a web site, clearly define the objectives of your company and your user. Before the design process begins, create wireframes to help define the overall structure of the website. Hire a professional web copywriter to write your website content. Include a site search on your website. Limit primary navigation categories to eight. Limit the number of fonts to 3. When developing navigation naming, the text should be clear as to where the navigation button is taking you. Each page on your web site should contain a “call-to-action”. No two web users are alike so make sure you offer multiple ways to navigate your web site. Don’t make web users think. The web page should be obvious and self-explanatory. Limit the number of clicks it takes a user to locate the information they are looking for. Keep it simple. This principle should be the primary goal of web site design. Limit the primary color palette to 3 colors. Utilize video on your web site. It’s another great way to deliver content. To avoid overwhelming, confusing and frustrating the user...Read post

Iberestudios published the results of an European study on search results and e-shops. Those results are surprising! We don’t pay enough attention to details and in the long run, they can get pretty expensive! Here’s the study (original in spanish):

According to a FACT-Finder study, a European firm that specialize in online searches and browsing, sales lost because of spelling errors or translation error have reach an all-time high of 20%. The study adds that 40% of searches in an online stores offer no result because of differences in the text typed by the potential customers and the text on the content.

What ‘s the all-time winner of all mistakes? Multilingual e-shops. Mistranslation don’t come up in search engines and also give the website a bad image. Thus, the search engine optimisation efforts and content updates can be full of mistakes without you knowing it. It’s an error that’s so easy to remedy!

These loss ratios are so high for a solution that is so easy. All you need to do is proof your texts for mistakes and make sure your translations are ok before you publish your website, whether you trust your first draft or not! This simple habit could improve your sales!

Oh what a popular question! We all ask ourselves that! Well, there are a lot of possible answers.

First, if you’re still in a WebSelf trial period, your website simply won’t appear on Google. Usually, a website takes from 5 to 10 days minimum to appear on a search engine, but the trial sites are only online for 14 days. Also, websites are indexed by Google with their URL address, the trial websites only have a temporary URL that will change when you register. If you want to be on Google, you will need to subscribe to one of our 3 advantageous plans .

If you’re registered and your domain name is settled (which means it’s not in transfer), there is still more than one reason why you wouldn’t find yourself at first glance. Did you subscribe more than 5 to 10 days ago? If not, you will need to wait. If it’s your case, then there are a lot of chances that your website is indexed after all. It’s simply not indexed with the words you search with. To know quickly if your website is in the result pages, search with your domain as a keyword (ex. : www.MyWebsite.com). If a result shows up, then your website is indexed. Now, you need to focus on your keywords!

Easier said than done, right? This step is crucial and you need to understand it properly. First, what’s a keyword? Keywords are a series of words or an expression used to locate your website online via a search engine. Great! Now, don’t rush this and really think about your choice. What will the common man or woman type to find you? Put yourself in their shoes, they don’t know you yet. If you’re a realtor, for example, choosing your name is not a very good decision. That keyword is only useful for people who know you. If your website’s goal is to gather new customers, then maybe something like realtor + your region could be a good idea, or...Read post

There's a lot of misconceptions around social medias. When you're a self-run small business, sometimes, these misconceptions can cost you your e-reputation or prevent you from building the right fanbase and get more potential clients! Mashable posted a list of 6 ways that small businesses usually get social media wrong. Since this information is relevant to most of our customers, here is the list, as posted by Mashable, to help you get your social marketing right!

Facebook has 900 million active users, there are more than 200 million Twitter users, and then there’s Pinterest, the latest darling. That's not counting Tumblr, Google+, LinkedIn and many others.

Given this reality, it’s impossible for small business owners not to feel a sense of urgency to master the social media landscape. But in the rush to join the social media party some small businesses are making critical mistakes. Here are five common errors that small businesses make when it comes to social media and how to avoid them.

1. Social Isn’t the Place for the Hard Sell

This might be the most difficult lesson for the small business owner. After all, we don’t have large marketing budgets to waste. Every dollar must count and we’ve been trained to close every potential sale. However, the social universe requires a subtler approach. This means no BUY ME buttons or blatant promotional copy.

In fact, if your social media strategy is just about marketing or sales, then you’re not approaching it right. Yes, you can use social media for marketing and you can increase your sales figures from it, but it can’t be your focus 100% of the time. As a gener...Read post