T&S SAID WHAT?!
Our thoughts, inspiration and words of wisdom
Happy Mother’s Day, from the Orangites here at T&S! Enjoy this wallpaper of a robot family.
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To save the image, right click on the version above, then click on Save Link As. For directions on how to update your wallpaper, see these links:
It’s been three years since we launched our last website for ourselves. In that time, a ridiculous amount of things have changed on the internets. Seriously, it’s been insane. So it’s finally time for a new T&S website!
I’m going to thank a few people, but be sure to read on to see how you can win some prizes!
This site has actually been in development for over a year, although not in this final form. Still, a lot of T&S designers, including those no longer at T&S, have worked on it. Thanks to Emily Spirek, Elyssa Dolinger and Audrey Hicks. Most of all, thanks to current Orangite Holly Titus for helping finally get it launched.
Ready for the free stuff?
We’ve been using this robot on our promotional stuff for quite awhile now. Although he’s usually not this sad. “Why is he so sad?” you may be asking yourself. Simple.
He’s nameless!
Don’t worry, you can help. We’re having a Name That Robot contest for the next few weeks. So get creative, and enter the contest! You can enter as many times as you’d like.
Angry Birds in real life, courtesy of the Orangites here at T&S. This was the last video we shot with Emily Spirek and Jessica Green before they both left to start their own companies. We’ll miss you guys!
I have met a handful of business owners out there for whom a website was not an absolute necessity. It happens occasionally. But every single business owner and nonprofit out there can benefit from running a consistent email newsletter.
Let’s take a look at four great reasons to start a newsletter.
Demonstrates Good Communication
First, a newsletter demonstrates good communication. That assumes it is published on a regular, consistent schedule with good writing. How often depends on your audience and your business, but I generally recommend anywhere from once a month to once a week.
My potential clients are people looking for a website, help with social media, or some other online marketing assistance. They are frequently business owners or executive directors for nonprofits. Their online marketing is only one of many things they have to think about. So we send out our newsletter on a monthly basis.
Someone who provides ongoing training for salespeople has a target market who lives and breathes sales day in and day out. That audience is much more likely to want to hear tips more frequently. So for our client who provides such training, we send out a newsletter on a weekly basis.
Shows Your Expertise and Professionalism
Second, an email newsletter shows your expertise and professionalism. This takes both a well-designed newsletter and well thought-out content.
Your newsletter may be the main way a prospect hears about you and your business on a regular basis. So you’ll need to put your best foot forward. Since a newsletter is design plus content, make sure you put a lot of thought into both.
Although you may come up with more than one design for different purposes (announcing new services, event invitations, etc.), in general that is a one-time effort and expense. Your content, on the other hand, is not.
You do need to spend some initial time making a plan for your newsletter’s content, so that your subscribers know what to expect from email to email. But then you have to maintain that consistency over time.
Establishes Trust
Which brings us to the third reason, a good newsletter establishes trust. And really, that’s a byproduct of the other things we’ve talked about.
In your newsletters, you should demonstrate good, regular communication, consistent professionalism, and dependable expertise. And over the course of time, that establishes trust.
But do as much as you can up-front to help that trust along. Provide clear unsubscribe instructions and contact information. That’s not just a good suggestion, it’s the law.
Reminds People of Your Presence
Finally, the fourth reason is simply to remind people of your presence. Although social media is another fantastic way to do this online, nothing replaces putting a regular reminder directly in the inbox of someone who actually wants it.
If you look at those four reasons and think that you could benefit from just one of them, then it's time for you to start an email newsletter. If you’d like help from us at T&S Web Design, contact us today.
Are you in need of inspiration for your Facebook page’s Cover Photo?
Some of the big brand names (and many smaller companies, too) have already switched their pages over to the new Timeline look, even though the March 30th deadline is still a few weeks away. Holly and I recently sat down and combed through Facebook to find pages that had good examples of Cover Photos. From all the examples we looked at, they seem to fall into four different categories.
Let’s take a look! We’ll post links to all the Facebook pages in each section. But just in case they change, we’re including a gallery at the bottom as well.
Many Photos
These take the approach of the profile photo being one of several photos that are part of the Cover Photo.
You can see that the fewest pages fall into this category. That’s probably because it takes someone skilled to pull this effect off without looking cheesy.
One Continuous Picture
These examples are one continuous photo or image, with the photo being a cut-out section of that photo that also makes sense as a profile photo.
Of course, this one takes some graphics software skills, and isn’t for the faint of heart.
Great Graphic Design
These don’t utilize neat tricks, but do have fantastic graphic design elements in their Cover Photos.
If you’d like to take the graphic design approach, contact us and we’d be happy to help you out!
Fantastic Photography
These also don’t use any special effects, but do use great photography.
- Auntie Anne’s
- Candie’s
- Car and Driver
- Charleston’s Edmond
- Louis Vuitton
- Macy’s
- Muppets
- The U.S. Army
- Windows
- Wingstop
In addition, you also have those who have at least switched and are trying Cover Photos out. They’re the rest of the early adopters. Maybe theirs doesn’t look that cool, but at least they’re trying!
Inspired? Contact us for help with your Cover Photo, or for more general help with Facebook’s Timeline for Pages.
On February 29th, Facebook rolled out Timeline for Pages. And boy, are there a lot of changes. And you only have until March 30th to figure them all out, because that’s when they’re forcing everyone to switch over. How can everyone get it all right?
You don’t have to learn it all, you just have to learn what not to do when converting your page. Let’s take a look at four mistakes you need to avoid.
Read all the way to the bottom to see how you can win a professional, custom-designed Cover Photo and Profile Picture for your page.
1. Don’t convert without a Cover Photo
Your Cover Photo, or lack thereof, is now the first thing that visitors to your page will see. Previously, you could have set a default landing tab for visitors to go to first. Although custom tabs are still there (and wider than before), your Timeline is now the default landing tab, and there’s currently no way to change that.
Your Cover Photo should be 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload anything smaller, it will be stretched to that larger size. If you upload anything larger, Facebook will let you reposition the image, changing what portion of the image is shown.
While you can just upload any large image, try to be creative with your Facebook Cover Photo!
2. Don’t ignore your messages
By default, your page will now have Messages turned on. This means that instead of giving out an email address, people can send you a message directly from your page. The message button is below your Cover Photo on the right, and the messages themselves appear on the top right of your Admin Panel at the top of your page.
Of course, you can turn this off. To do so, click the Manage drop-down menu at the top right of your Admin Panel, then select Edit Page.
You should then have Manage Permissions highlighted in the left menu. On the right, one of the checkboxes is for Messages. To remove the option for Messages, simply uncheck the box and click Save Changes.
Note: In our tests, no admins received email notifications of the messages, and we were unable to find a setting to turn that on. Although this could change, if you don’t check your Facebook page often, I suggest turning messages off.
Also, incidentally, pages can’t currently message other pages.
3. Don’t forget to customize your application shortcuts
Previously, applications and custom pages were linked to in the left column with a simple list of pages with a small icon next to them. Now, they’re a series of thumbnails on the bottom right of your Cover Photo, right under the spot for the Message button. And you’re now limited to a maximum of 12 apps whose thumbnails you can display.
The good news is that you can rearrange them, customize their thumbnails and customize their names. And to make your page stand out, you should definitely customize everything.
The first thumbnail is your page’s photos, and you can’t move that one from the first spot. However, all the rest of them can be re-ordered and the photos can be changed. And those are both important, especially considering that you only have three customizable spots visible before visitors click the down arrow on the right!
Let’s rearrange them first.
- Click the drop down arrow to the right of your four thumbnails. (At that point, all your thumbnails should appear.)
- Hover over one of them, and a little pencil icon should appear in the top right of the thumbnail.
- Click on that to reveal a drop-down menu with a list of your applications at the top.
- Simply click on the name of another application to swap their positions.
Now let’s change the thumbnail for one of the applications. Our first three steps will be the same.
- Click the drop down arrow to the right of your four thumbnails. (At that point, all your thumbnails should appear.)
- Hover over one of them, and a little pencil icon should appear in the top right of the thumbnail.
- Click on that to reveal the drop-down menu.
- Then click on the Edit Settings link, and another window will pop up.
- Next to “Custom Tab Image,” click Change. Another window will pop up (again).
- To the right of the image, click Change.
- Upload your image.
- Close the window.
- Click Okay to close the other window.
Finally, we’ll change the name of an application shortcut. This time, our first four steps will be the same as changing the thumbnail.
- Click the drop down arrow to the right of your four thumbnails. (At that point, all your thumbnails should appear.)
- Hover over one of them, and a little pencil icon should appear in the top right of the thumbnail.
- Click on that to reveal the drop-down menu.
- Then click on the Edit Settings link, and another window will pop up.
- Next to Custom Tab Name, type in the new name you want it to have.
- Click Save.
- Click Okay.
Make sure you customize those three elements of your shortcut, and you’ll stand out from the crowd.
4. Don’t forget to change how your important posts appear in your timeline
You have some options to modify how your post appear down in your page’s actual timeline. When you over over an individual post, a star icon and pencil icon appear on the top right.
Click the star icon will make the post stretch across the entire timeline. And if you have images in your post, highlighting it makes the images much bigger.
If you click on the pencil icon, you’ll have a few options, including Pin to Top and Change Date. Clicking Change Date lets you change the date of the post. Big surprise, right?
Clicking on Pin to Top makes the post the first one in the top right, just under the box that lets you write a new post. Only one post can be pinned to the top at a time, though. And when you pin it to the top, a little bookmark icon appears on the top right that everyone who views your page will see.
And that’s not all!
Those are the four biggest Facebook Page Timeline mistakes that page admins should be aware of. Of course, there are tons of other features and changes as well. Without going into major depth, here’s a few of them:
- Custom tabs went from 520 pixels wide to 810 pixels wide (and designers everywhere rejoiced).
- If you’re set to use your Page as yourself by default, you can now switch to being your Page under the Manage drop down menu in the top right of your Admin Panel.
- There’s now an Activity Log of all the activity on your page. It’s also on the Manage drop down menu.
- When using your Page as your Page (but not when using it as yourself), you can add Milestones, with a featured image, to your timeline. It will ask you to first add the year your business or brand began, but then you can add any milestone.
- On the top right of the timeline area, you’ll see your friends that like the page, a post by a friend that mentioned the page in their status, recent posts by others on the page’s timeline, and a list of the pages that page likes.
- By default, only “highlights” show up in the timeline. Whatever that means. To change it, click the extremely light drop down just below your photos thumbnail. You can limit it to posts by the page, by everyone but the page, or by friends.
And, of course, there are lots of other even more minor changes. When you get a chance, get in there and play around with everything.
Wait, did you want a free Cover Photo and Profile Picture?
Want to win a custom Cover Photo and Profile Picture for your business’s page? Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of Timeline for Pages, and you’ll be entered to win.
Comment before the end of the day Friday, March 9, and we’ll pick a winner the next week. Make sure you include your email address, or we won’t be able to contact you!
If you’re a small business and are at all aware of the social media world, you’ve probably heard of Google Plus. The latest big-name newcomer to social media, Google’s social network is growing quickly. Since its traffic is not yet even close to Facebook’s, many small business owners are asking the question: “Do I really need to be on Google Plus?”
Yes, yes you do. And here’s why.
It really doesn’t matter if none of your friends or potential customers are on Google Plus. The fact is, Google is on Google Plus.
When you stop to think about it, what’s the whole point of being on social media, being found on social media, having an email newsletter, or even having a website? You want to make it easy to find your company online.
And while Google Plus is low compared to the older Facebook, the data from Google Plus factors into the search results for Google itself.
Did you catch that? Your company’s presence on Google Plus direct affects where you show up in search engine results. So you need to take a couple hours and set up a Google Plus account for yourself, and a page for your business.
If you use already have a Google account you use for other Google services, you should use that same account. In fact, a Gmail or Google Apps account will let you import whatever contacts you’d like out of your inbox. That means anyone you’ve exchanged emails with is a potential Google Plus contact.
If you’re looking for a mutual friendship type relationship like Facebook has, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Relationships in Google Plus are probably closer to Twitter, if anything. Basically, you can add contacts and place them in circles. One person can be in multiple circles. Think groups, if the word “circles” weirds you out.
Once you have those circles set up, you can share content with people in the specific circles you indicate. Or you can share updates with anyone who happens to look at them.
While those circles are important for you to have personally, it’s important that you set them up for your business as well. I suggest also having a catch-all circle for people who add you or your business to their circle, but you don’t really know where to place them.
The bad news is that as of this writing, no third-party apps let you update your Google Plus stream, which is similar to your Facebook status. So if you’re used to using HootSuite or TweetDeck to update all your social media accounts, you’re out of luck for now.
The good news is that HootSuite is one of a handful of beta testers for Google Plus, and will hopefully be rolling the feature out to all it’s members soon.
Feel free to connect with me (Tim Priebe) on Google Plus, or connect with T&S Web Design on Google Plus. And if you need help setting up your business’s Google Plus page, you can contact us and we will help you out!
If you can't find your website on Google, Yahoo or Bing, T&S Web Design is here to help. We have process that allows us to improve your placement in the search engines. This process is often referred to as search engine optimization, or SEO.
While all of our sites are set up search engine friendly, we can help further with either a up front option, or with some ongoing options.
Up Front Search Engine Optimization
Our up front Search Engine Optimization can make a huge difference, even when performed just once. We've had clients go from search engine obscurity to first page search results.
Because we aren't Google (or Bing or Yahoo), we can't guarantee specific rankings. But we can typically estimate what kind of results we can expect. Then you can decide whether you want to make the investment or not.
Our optimization includes:
- Keyword and key phrase research
- Meeting with you to determine the words and phrases we'll actually optimize for
- Reworking of your website's content to incorporate those words and phrases
- Installation and configuration of several SEO plugins, both by third parties and developed by T&S
We typically experience very good results. That's especially true for our SEO clients in Edmond and the OKC metro area. And if you would like to set up a meeting with us, we can go over some of those results in detail.
We do recommend you reevaluate periodically, generally every six months to yearly. You may benefit from having us do that SEO overhaul again from time to time.
Ongoing Search Engine Optimization
As part of that initial SEO work, we will recommend that you do some things on an ongoing basis. Two of those things are to blog on a regular basis, and to maintain updated social media accounts.
If you don't have time to blog or keep up with social media on your own, but your search engine rankings are still important to you, T&S Web Design can blog on your behalf, and maintain your social media accounts for you.
When blogging or updating social media accounts for you, we will meet with you on a monthly basis, either in person or by phone, typically at the beginning of each month. We interview you, write your content, and send it to you for approval. Once you've approved it (or requested changes), we schedule it to appear over the course of the following month.
If making sure your website can be easily found in search engines is a priority for you, feel free to contact us for an hour-long SEO consultation. You can email us at info@tandswebdesign.com, or call us at 405-285-0348.
If your website was not made in the last couple years, chances are good that you need special software to update your website. And if you have more than one person updating your site, you have to pay for a copy of the software for each of them. And you may all still need knowledge of HTML and other web programming languages.
Get a new look and edit your site…whenever you want
T&S decided a long time ago to do things differently. Our clients in Edmond, Oklahoma City, and around the world can go to any computer, log into their own website, and update their own website. We use a content management system (CMS) called WordPress, which allows our clients to…
- Edit the text on pages
- Upload new pictures and remove existing ones
- Delete pages when needed
- Add new pages, and insert those into their menu
- Blog
We install the WordPress software for you, along with a few plugins we've found and developed that make WordPress even easier to use.
Keep the same look and gain editing capabilities
You may be saying to yourself, "That's great, but I don't need a whole new website. I'm actually pretty happy with how my site looks, I just need to be able to edit it."
Great news, we can still help! We can actually take your current site and convert it to use WordPress. Typically there are very minor tweaks here and there so your site is compatible WordPress. But once we're done, you have basically the same site (with just a bit more consistency throughout), and you can log in and edit the site on your own.
If you need to be able to edit your site on your own, contact us at info@tandswebdesign.com or by calling us at 405-285-0348. If you're in the Oklahoma City metro area, we'd love to meet with you in person to discuss your options. And if you're elsewhere, we'd be just as happy to set up a phone meeting.
Check out our next blog post where we discuss a solution to Issue #3 – trouble finding your website on Google and other search engines.