iDesigns Solutions | Website Design | Hosting | Logo Design

Can Your Potential Clients Find You on the Web?

Amy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:36:52 +0000

A great (free) way to advertise your business is to submit your website to popular, reputable online directories. People search different industry categories to find businesses — so the more descriptive you are about your company the better. With so many “virtual” companies these days, you don’t even need a storefront to be included in online directories. Submitting your website to online directories increases your backlinks (links back to your site from other sites) which, in turn, helps with search engine optimization (SEO).

Don’t have the time to submit your business to the directories? Contact iDesigns!

iDesigns Adds SEO to Services

Amy — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:20:24 +0000

Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting your website found by the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. With iDesigns’ SEO package, we make recommendations based on a comprehensive audit of your current website and work with you to move your site up in search-engine ranking. You would be amazed at the small (and sometimes, unnoticeable) tweaks that can be made to your site to increase your ranking. Much of the SEO process takes place “behind the scenes” in your site’s coding. The SEO process also includes submitting your business to several popular and reputable online directories – all with the goal to help your customers find you on the web!

For complete SEO package details, visit our Services page.

Custom Twitter Pages? Yeah, we do that, too!

Amy — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:03:03 +0000

Let iDesigns Customize Your Twitter Page

Tired of the boring background templates Twitter has to offer? Contact iDesigns to get a custom Twitter page that matches your website (or any other design you want)!

Not feeling creative? Check out some of our most recent custom Twitter page designs, including our own!

@iDesigns

@JamieFaith1

@12MelissaFrei

@boredpets

@PsychicKatt

@Laura333

In the meantime, have you written your Twitter bio yet?

CNN: Best of Tech for 2009

Amy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:22:22 +0000

We would like to end the year with a “Best of” list courtesy of CNN Tech. What were the top 10 tech trends of 2009? Which ones would you add to the list?

Smartphone craze – Thanks to these phones, people this year grew accustomed to sending e-mail, uploading photos and videos and posting status messages from anywhere, at almost anytime.

Facebook grows up - Facebook now has more than 350 million users. Half of Facebook users log on to the site at least once on any given day, and the average Facebook user spends nearly an hour a day on the site.

Bloggers threaten regimes – Individuals became publishers in 2009, using the micro-blogging site Twitter to post instant, bite-sized updates to the world. The site was founded in 2007, but grew exponentially this year.

Books go digital – Thanks to Kindle and other portable, electronic readers, e-books started to make inroads on their hardback cousins in 2009.

Info in an instant – In 2009, it’s no longer enough to search for information that was current 30 minutes or an hour ago. Now, Internet junkies look for their news, Tweets and links to be updated in “real-time,” just as they are on Twitter.

App mania – And they make calls, too! Droves of iPhone owners downloaded games, widgets and tools for their phones from Apple. By September, 2 billion of the applications had been downloaded.

Games leave the living room – Mobile gaming platforms shook up the idea that video games must be played from a consol, have great graphics and be backed by huge entertainment companies to succeed. They became social, too! A big shout-out to the cyber athletes out there!

Government gets techie – The Obama Administration launched DATA.gov, a clearinghouse of information on how the federal government works and how tax money is spent.

Search engine wars – Google is still the world’s dominant search engine, but it faced its first real challengers in 2009 as smaller search companies, such as Wolfram-Alpha and Microsoft’s Bing, came up with new ideas about the way people can and should find information online.

‘Smart’ electricity use – The economic recession and a federal stimulus package prompted a old-ish idea in frugal gadgetry to take off in a new way: “smart” technology invaded homes and public works projects in hopes of making our use of fossil fuels more efficient.

We want to wish all of our clients a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! Here’s to a great 2010!

Source: CNN Tech

AncientHealingCenter.com Launches – From Concept to Web

Amy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:13:53 +0000

Jamie came to iDesigns looking for a complete redesign of her site. When we began discussing a concept for her new site, Jamie had a specific theme in mind, which she felt would better reflect her business. Fortunately, we were able to incorporate many of the things that Jamie liked into her final logo and website design.

Step 1: New Logo Design
Jamie wanted her logo to have an ancient look. From a Celtic-themed banner on her old site, we were able to design a new logo with an emblem that means “ancient wisdom.” We used earth tones and a font style to complete the ancient look.

Step 2: Custom Website Design and Content Management System Development
Jamie wanted her new site to be warm, inviting and to evoke a feeling of “ancient” and “wisdom” like her new logo. Jamie had a vision in her mind of a woman standing on a cliff, with her long, brown hair and dress flowing in the wind and waves crashing upon the shore. It was also important for the woman to be interacting with nature, since that is a major part of what Jamie does in her work. She said that owls and dragonflies were very dear to her, so we wanted to incorporate those in her new site as well. In the end, we were able to take Jamie’s vision and create a custom header for her website that really sets the tone for the entire site.

The next step was to bring in a warm, ancient feel to the site. We used the browns and greens from Jamie’s logo and a parchment paper background to complete the ancient look.

When developing the site, we added a Content Management System, which allows Jamie to update the site herself with text, images, links, etc.

Step 3: Custom Twitter Page, Website Badge and E-mail Header
No website redesign would be complete without a matching Twitter page! We took the header and parchment background from Jamie’s site to create her custom Twitter page, which is also linked from her site with a custom Twitter icon. Jamie also requested a website badge to give other people to use on their site to link back to AncientHealingCenter.com. The last piece of Jamie’s project was to create a custom e-mail newsletter header using the header from her website.

Jamie’s company branding is now complete with a theme that is unique to her and her business. Visit www.ancienthealingcenter.com and be sure to let Jamie know what you think of her new site!

Your Twitter Bio Could Get You More Followers

Amy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:33:23 +0000

Many of our clients are on Twitter these days…sharing pertinent info in 140 characters or less. But have you neglected your Twitter bio? Yes, that small box in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen. Well, a study says having a bio influences the number of followers you have.

According to research by HubSpot, almost two-thirds of users don’t have a bio or link to their site listed on their Twitter profiles. Users with a bio had over 8 times more followers on average than users without a bio, and users with a link to their website had over 7.5 times as many followers as users without.

So, what information can you share about your company in 160 characters or less? Jeff Kelley of Capital Results says the Twitter bio serves as a way for people to get to know the person behind the company. You want potential followers to know you are a real person, not a robot. List some of your interests (football, romantic comedies, puppies, beach vacations). Or write why your company is different from others in your industry. Make it fun, intriguing and real.

Need help getting started on your Twitter bio? Contact amy@idesignssolutions.com.

iDesigns Clients Can Get a Free “AddThis” Button for Their Site

Amy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:13:28 +0000

Have you noticed “Add” and “Share” buttons popping up on sites all over the Web? With a few clicks, visitors to your site can share your content on as many social media outlets as you designate; Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many, many more!

It is the most popular sharing tool in the world, serving 30 billion times a month to 500+ million people in 50+ languages.

Get your free “AddThis” button today by adding the script below to your HTML code or contact Michael, and he will get you set up. One button. Your content everywhere. Enjoy!

http://addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=xa-4af1dd897c087852″> src=”http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif” width=”125″ height=”16″ alt=”Bookmark and Share” style=”border:0″/>