ATILUS - Web Design | Internet Marketing

Lutgert Exchange Mentions Atilus, Harry Casimir

It’s not too often we toot our own horn, but from time-to-time we do like to keep you informed of what’s going on at Atilus, mention our awards and/or acolades in order to give you, our friends and clients, a taste of what is going on.

With that said we are proud to announce that our very own Harry Casimir was recently featured in the Lutgert Exchange newsletter. The Lutgert Exchange Newsletter is the quarterly newsletter for the Lutgert College of Business and includes the latest news and information on Florida Gulf Coast University’s College of Business.

Download The Newsletter (PDF)

You’ll need to scroll to page 9 to see my friend and business partner Harry Casimir. Here’s an excerpt from the mention:

Atilus Director of Operations Elected to FGCU Alumni Board of Directors

Harry Casimir, Director of Operations and co-founder of Atilus, a web development company, has been elected to the board of directors of Florida Gulf Coast University Alumni Association. Mr. Casimir is a 2005 graduate with BS in Computer Information System. Harry founded Atilus with classmate Zach Katkin in 2005. Since then the company has developed over 500 websites for large and small businesses and nonprofts.

I would like to personally congratulate Harry for both the mention and the appointment to the Alumni Association. A big thank you is in order for Harry as well as the other members of the alumni association who, through donating their time and expertise, have provided such a great alumni experience for FGCU alumni’s.

A Website on time - Planning For Success

If you have recently had a website designed/developed, one thing you may have realized is that your web developer asks a lot questions. Why is this?

The answer is very simple; there are a lot questions because no one knows your business and your industry better than you. A web development company can research, study and analyze both your business and industry, but at the end of the day you still can teach the professional a thing or two.  Most people and companies don’t understand this concept as basic as it may sound. A great web developer will use you to marry your expertise in your business and industry with their expertise in web development & Internet marketing.

A web project can sometime feel like you’re riding a train or flying in an airplane – completely out of your control and rife with delays and complications. But the same way you can plan ahead to avoid headaches during your travels, you can take measures to ensure your web project gets off the ground on time and delivers as far as timeline and budget.

A Word of Caution

Planning is boring and working on the actual “thing” (web design, marketing technique, etc.) is fun, so most people prefer to skip the boring part and move directly to the fun part, but the result is always the same – disaster. By providing a web Design/Development company your wish list of what you want, they can better help you craft an accurate proposal and plan that will meet your deadline and budget.

Here are some approaches you might want to try next time you tackle a web project (this is both for developers as well as businesses thinking about implementing a website change):

Write down what you want for your web project. Assuming you are about to create or redesign your organization website… write down what you want and what you expect from your new website! Sounds simple enough right? And it is. Don’t worry about having the technical knowledge to know exactly what to write, just use plain English, highlight things you’ve seen on other websites you like. It is the web developer’s job to decode this and figure out what it will take technically. To help keep things simple, divide this list into 2 sections: Must have (requirements) and Nice to have (things that would be great if budget and timeline permit).

More specifically, here are some things you should be able to provide.

• Add basic a description about your organization, about this project and what it needs to accomplish.
• Be clear on whether this is a new website or a re-design of an existing website.
• State the website objective, for example, ‘to start we want an online brochure or basic website with about 10 pages. Our short-term goals: having an online presence to start attracting local businesses to use my company service more. For long-term goals: add a login for business to manage their account and so on.’
• You can even add how you hope to track the success of the website; for example: ‘I will know the website is successful if I start getting about 2 leads/potential customers a month from the website’.
• Provide some ideas about your target market, some relevant keywords you would like to include in your website. Let it be known whether you already have a domain name and hosting. Be clear whether you want to host your website with the new company or with another company.
• Give some ideas on the kind of look and feel you would like for your website, for example, ‘we would like to have a business and high-tech look and feel to our website since most of our client be in the high-tech industry.
• Unless you just invented a new product or service, your organization probably has plenty of competition and complements; find those websites you compete with, as well as websites you like (consider design, message, marketing, etc.) and don’t like and write why you like them and why not.
• Be clear on when you need the website to go live (specific date) and a budget you are working with. Giving a budget helps you and web designer save time, because some web designers have budget limits they work within so by proving your budget, it help the designer determine whether they can tackle your project or not.
• Also mention whom you wish to maintain your website after it goes live. Don’t be afraid to ask about things you are not sure about.

Prepare your website pages and content. If you know your website will have about 10 pages, write your content and have someone with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experience edit the content.

This may sound like a lot of work, but writing your website content before launching the website will help and your web designer layout the website better and make things go much smoother and quicker.

Here is the list:

• List all the pages want to have in your website
• Write a basic description about each page
• Write each page’s content. Try to keep short as possible, but be very descriptive and precise as possible because you have little time to capture your website visitors’ attention before leaving.
• Determine if you want image/photo in each page and if so, give basic descriptions on the type of images you would like to see on each page.

Be understanding and anticipate delays. Not every web project delays and runs over budget, but if you factor in delays then you will not be caught off guard when they eventually happen. But you can eliminate the headaches and frustration by planning ahead (see above steps). A web development project typically involves work from both your developer AND you; understanding that your obligations to the project help or hinder the timeline are very important in making sure you stick to your goals.

Select a web company wisely. It’s true, not all web design and web companies are created equal. Most freelancers and companies will have a portfolio of websites they have done. Here are a few things you can look for while searching for a potential web designer, see if they have done any website that match your taste or something you like. You may even want to take it as far as calling companies in the portfolio and asking about the project whether they would recommend such a company.

• Do your homework about the company(ies) you have decided to bid for you project.
• Shop around, there are HUGE variations in price in this industry

Although this basic information is best suited for basic brochure website, you can apply the same techniques to a bigger web project. A well planned project is the best executed one because it saves everyone involves some headache at the end.

Windows 7 – What it Means For Your Business

Microsoft has finally listened to the users of its Operating System and decided to build Windows 7 around users’ feedback.

Did you submit your feedback to Microsoft for the Windows 7? If you did, I have to say thanks because the new OS is awesome.

I had the chance to mess around with the new OS and yes, they have worked a lot of kinks out.

Will you upgrade to Windows 7 this year? Do you might telling us why?

2009 Tech XPO III - Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce

Who would have known? Southwest Florida is teeming with technology companies! Get an opportunity to meet, view, or present your own technology at the 2009 Bonita Spring Chamber’s Tech XPO.

I am very proud to announce the 3rd annual Tech XPO. I’ve been working on the committee to help throw and market the event this year and it will be much bigger than last year! We are working with FGCU in order to get more students as well as more general attendance, so we are expecting a very large audience!

The event is one of the areas largest collaborations of business technology. We have a total of 29 area companies presenting their technology, or their technology products, and demonstrating what they do or how they use that technology to better service customers.

The event will feature interesting and amazing technology from all around Southwest Florida.

Location, Directions, Details:

March 12, 2009
Embassy Suites - Fort Myers (right off of Corkscrew)
10450 Corkscrew Commons Drive, Estero, Florida, United States 33928
Directions/Map
Free Technology Preview (open to everyone) - 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Formal Exhibition Hours - 5:30 - 7:30pm

Would you like to Exhibit?

There are still a few opportunities to exhibit your technology and business at the event. For more information please give me a call at: 239-243-4298.

2009 - The State of Web Development

This post is primarily for web developers, but might contain some valuable information for business owners, and marketing & sales directors as well.doe

2009 is sucking!

Well, for the most part right? We’re having plane crashes, and fires galore, not-to-mention, the too often mentioned collapse of the global economy sparked from the downfall of the real estate market (and real estate backed securities) that subsequently toppled some of the oldest, and most prestigious financial institutions in U.S. history. There seems to be little hope.

But, I truly believe there is. Tight money is forcing businesses, small and large, to really take a look at themselves, and their spending, and demanding that changes be made. We’ve already started doing this and are continuing to do so on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Everything can be done more effectively, efficiently, and for lower costs if one really tries. Processes can be refined and new technology implemented to really make your company sing.

And, this brings me to the meat of this article. 2009, and years to come, will be phenomenal for the web industry. Personally, I believe this global crisis is really the match that will give blaze to the web as the de-facto way of doing, marketing, and managing your business - regardless of size or industry.

How To Grow Your (or Your Clients’) Business

Although there are many examples of the Internets power in terms of reach and exposure I can give you one simply and quickly. A client recently came to us, asking for assistance with their web development and internet marketing. This client was ahead of the curve. This particular business had a website, had some content, and had even made the time and money investment (and foresight) to participate in online marketing (pay per click marketing through Google AdWords).

Now, they were doing OK. With an average 3 - 4 leads/sales from the web per week. Not a bad deal. Does your newspaper ad bring in that kind of business? After evaluating their whole setup we came up with an action-plan (and are continually meeting with the client to refine and come up with additional creative ideas) in order to get more leads and sales in. The client is now averaging:

• 2 Leads/Sales Every Day
• Approximately $200,000 in annualized revenue per month (client service is monthly)
• At this level they are poised to bring in approximately $2.5 Million this year just from the Internet

Now keep in mind, this is over a 500% INCREASE from a company that was ALREADY ahead of the curve. Additionally, this is a COMPLETELY LOCAL BUSINESS. In this particular industry, conventional wisdom (as my team and I have come to learn) is that for this product’s consumers will never travel more than 5 - 10 miles to use it - it is VERY GEOGRAPHICALLY SPECIFIC. Additionally this does not account for sales that originate from the Internet, but are not being tracked (phone calls or walk-ins).

And this is a trend across the board. We have business owners who are finally switching their $5000 - $10000 print budgets over to digital mediums (albeit much less than before) and receiving the same or more traffic and sales. And they are bringing in 10’s or 100’s of thousands of additional dollars every month.

So what does this mean for us web developers? Well, the tides are finally turning. Magazines and newspapers are dropping left and right because they are just too heavy. Their infrastructure is so expensive and this can only be supported by expensive advertising. And, unfortunately, for the time being, the advertising is too expensive and does not get enough results to justify this expense.

So, 2009 and the years to come will offer a lot of opportunity for web developers, stemming from new and existing businesses looking to get the most from their advertising dollars. Keep in mind, it’s not about the best looking design, the best customer service, or the trendiest office, but it’s about results.

Does your marketing product (website and the steps you take to make it search engine friendly and marketable) deliver?

If the answer is no, or you simply don’t know, and you are simply trying to get your customers online as quickly or inexpensively as possible with no consideration for what your website must REALLY do Get out of the business, or start studying!

Because your website must get in front of your clients’ target audience and provoke them to act (purchase, signup, etc).

This is the direction every web developer should be looking.