Small Business Website Design Blog
Nuggets of info that help you make an informed decision for your website design strategy.
Google LOVES a good blog so we’ll own it: This slog…er…I mean BLOG is mostly about executing effective SEO. Let’s call it like it is. If you’re reading this page, it must be working, eh?
Avoid Inbox Fatigue: The Right Email Frequency for Small Business
Email frequency directly affects engagement, unsubscribes, and deliverability. Most small businesses should start with one email per week and test higher cadence only for engaged segments. Keep unsubscribe rates below 2% and spam complaints under 0.3% to stay in inboxes. Use segmentation and automation to send relevant content, and run re-engagement campaigns at 60–90 days of inactivity to maintain list health. Daily sends work only for short promotions or launches, with clear subscriber notice. Follow CAN-SPAM and Gmail/Yahoo rules for one-click unsubscribe and fast opt-out processing. Track open, click, and complaint rates to refine strategy over time. Why Does Email Frequency Matter? Email works when it’s welcomed, not resented. Studies show email marketing still delivers one of the highest ROIs — $36–$42 per $1 spent depending on industry — but only if people keep opening your messages. Over-mailing can: Push subscribers to hit “unsubscribe” or mark you as spam. Lower open rates because your name [...]
Winning The Domain Lottery: Selling A Valuable Domain
When A Domain Was Caught Up In A Bidding War AKA: The Good Old Internet Gold Rush Days Back in the mid-1990’s (or more fondly, “ancient times” as we know the internet ages at the same pace of a dog), I had a fine civil servant’s job in Sonoma County, CA. And like everyone else I’d found myself quite amused by the new internet and my Mac Performa (rockin’ the 4 megs of RAM, baby!). To get perspective on just how long ago this was, my co-worker Sue did a little moonlighting as a realtor agreed with me that the internet had genuine possibilities as a tool for selling houses. This was a cutting edge idea, no doubt about it. Put up the house listing, add pictures and sales information…it was pure genius. Armed with a recent dalliance with “Photoshopping” my face into famous pictures and scenes (alas, those are long lost) and emailing them to amused friends at [...]
Why We Don’t Offer Email Accounts
Looking For A Company Email System? Run, Don't Walk From Accounts Tied To Your Hosting Small Business Insights: Email Any self-respecting website designer that includes hosting as a service likewise offers email accounts as well, right? That's just how things are done. I mean not only email accounts, but unlimited email accounts with unlimited storage. And a free dessert. And a ride home after the show. At The Affordable Web Guy, we've decided to not offer email accounts and here's why. The big boys do it better and we can't match the services, scope, and scale of major players like Google Suite (Gmail) and Microsoft's Office 365 (I just threw up in my mouth). Yes, it's true. While we appreciate your confidence in our top shelf personal service, we don't offer what some might consider a cornerstone feature. It's not a complicated explanation. The long-story-short answer is: We could offer free accounts but we've found them regularly unreliable and stripped [...]
It Ain’t Magic. It’s Just Good Service
Earn Your Client’s Trust & Keep It Small Business Insights: Customer Service Just about every time I turn around, there is some new piece of technology or some new buzzword-filled marketing trend, that is claiming to be the magic pill that web-based businesses have been searching for to get more sales. Just do this one unique thing, they tell you, and all your e-commerce dreams will come true. The “one thing” almost always conveniently involves spending money on a product or service that promises to be the “it factor” you’ve been missing. Can I tell you a secret? In all my decades of experience as a small business owner myself, I’ve only found one thing that really works, and it’s as old-school as it gets. What I’m talking about is great customer service. Taking care of people is the oldest practice in the book, but it works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten contracts because, according [...]
Everybody Hates Laundry, But That’s No Reason Not To Do It
Everybody Hates Laundry, But That’s No Reason Not To Do ItSmall Business Insights: MarketingA Guest Blogger post by Daniel TitusEarlier this week I was meeting with a colleague who has designed a massive site for a large and ever-evolving organization. The site has been built; the code is working; everything is ready to go, but they still haven’t launched yet. Why? Because the week before the scheduled launch date there was a change in the information—then another and another. The information can’t stay current enough for approval, so the launch gets delayed.Exasperated by it all, my colleague exclaimed, “Look, you’re always going to have changes; that’s why I have a job! You can’t wait until all of the changes are finished to do something or nothing will ever get done. It’s just like the laundry!”I thought that was very insightful. In the past, I’ve compared websites to everything from houses to dentistry, but laundry was a new one on me. There is [...]
Perception Is Reality: We Can’t Be Bothered By Facts!
Making The Most Of What You HaveSmall Business Insights: MarketingPerception is reality...don’t let anyone sell you on anything else. So why not alter perception to your advantage? I pulled into my local gym the other day, noticing an ever-increasing phenomenon...a powerful indicator of human awareness, or more accurately---the lack of it.Walking through the parking lot, I neared the front entrance, noticing two women verbally going-at-it, because one had squeezed a massive vehicle into a slot way too tight, banging the other's paint job… and they weren’t alone. The nearest four rows of parking were packed, most of which were Soccer mom SUV’s stuffed into “Compact Cars Only” spaces.Furthermore, this gym is attached to a massive city park, where there are---no joking---a thousand parking spots in the area. It’s become such an issue the gym’s management has had to allocate resources toward solutions.Now, these are people who're about to physically kill themselves for upwards of an hour on any number of [...]
