Why is it so important to be on Instagram?

With so many social media platforms available, you might wonder why you need Instagram. Here are some stats that should convince you:

• Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users.
• 70 percent of Instagram users look up brands on Instagram.
• 80 percent of Instagram users follow a business on the platform.

The customers you want to reach are using the platform to connect with friends and businesses like yours — they’re looking for engaging content, so start giving those users what they want!

What should you post?

Remember that Instagram is all about photos. Yes, you’ll want to write a caption for the images you choose, but people are seeing the visuals first.

Photos of your team, product, and services

Keep in mind framing, lighting, and angles. Make sure the images you share on Instagram are edited, well-cropped and high-quality.

Your events, giveaways, and specials

You can use these as opportunities to run contests on Instagram encouraging followers to tag their friends.

Video or Boomerang content

(Boomerang takes a burst of photos, speeds them up and plays them forward and backward to create a looping video). Take advantage of Instagram’s features to switch up your posts.

In-the-moment content on Instagram Stories

Have something to share, but don’t want to dedicate a post to it? Add it to your story. After 24 hours, it will disappear, but your audience can enjoy and engage with it during that time.

Customer quotes and testimonials

Show off how much your customers love you! Let positive customer quotes and testimonials speak for your business.

User-generated content

Let your followers do the work for you. Instagram users love to tag and geotag brands and businesses that they visit — monitor these actions (by checking your notifications) and share those posts with your audience.

Click on the heart icon on your Instagram account to see who’s tagging and mentioning your business, and find the best posts to share on your own Instagram account. Just remember to ask for permission to reshare, and when posting, thank and tag that user.

When should I post on Instagram and how often?

One of the most important best practices from this Instagram guide is to make sure you post relevant, compelling content at the times your followers want to see it. This is what pulls new customers in and keeps loyal customers coming back, but it’s difficult to know the best times to post on Instagram.

Social media is now, more than ever, a means of connecting small businesses with their customers. Think about it: Right now, your current and potential customers are online looking for small businesses to spend their money with. They’re visiting Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find great content, and reading and writing reviews on sites like Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor. What are they looking for? Consumers are looking for businesses with an authentic, engaging online presence — social media that shows off their unique offerings and review sites that have personalized, thoughtful review responses. Being social media savvy means using these platforms effectively to reach new and loyal customers and spread the word about your business. When used well, these platforms can help small businesses:

• Build brand awareness
• Increase reach and visibility with potential customers
• Strengthen relationships with loyal fans
• Stand out among the competition
• Drive more revenue

1. Engage With Customers on Social Media

Interact with your audience on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to start conversations, increase engagement, and get more customers.

2. Use Social Media to Extend Your Customer Service Online

Posting on social media is not enough. Consumers these days have come to expect quick and effective responses to their comments, questions, concerns, tweets, and wall posts — be responsive to extend your customer service online.

3. Manage Your Business’ Online Reputation

Respond to reviews and maintain your pages on Facebook, Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor to
protect your reputation to keep your legacy intact.

4. Use Paid Media to Increase Your Exposure

Reach new audiences and engage with customers by mixing in boosted content to your marketing strategy to get more eyes on your Facebook page.

If your company website is not mobile-ready, more than likely, you’ve been missing out on potential customers. When mobile users try to access websites that are not mobile responsive, it’s a truly frustrating experience. Most of these searchers move on to your competitors’ websites and never return to yours. So as you can guess, these are lost leads. But now, there’s another crucial reason to mobilize your website; Google is making some changes that will negatively impact any website that is not mobile-ready.

What is changing?
Mobile-friendliness has been a factor in Google search for several years now, but no one knows exactly to what degree. However, Google has announced that mobile-friendliness will now be heavily weighed as a ranking signal. On February 26, 2015, Google wrote this statement on their Webmaster Tools blog: ìThis change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact on our search results. A Google mobile algorithm update will start on April 21, 2015, and will roll out over a period of a few days to one week – influencing the organic results for web searches performed on mobile devices. The search industry has labeled this update as Mobilegeddon.

Why the change?
More than 60 percent of all Google searches are now performed on mobile devices. So Google’s overall goal with this update is to provide a faster, smoother experience for mobile searchers. When mobile users try to access websites that are not mobile-ready, it’s pretty much a waste of time. In order to match mobile users with the most beneficial websites based on their searches, this algorithm update will ensure that mobile-friendly websites get the most search engine attention.

What does this mean for your business?
Basically, if your site is not mobile-ready, it will suffer lower rankings on Google when users search for your type of products and services on their mobile devices. On the flip side, if your website is mobile-friendly, you may experience an increase in rankings; especially in cases where most of your competitors haven’t optimized their websites for mobile.

What should you do?
1. Make sure your website is mobile-ready. This may sound like a no-brainer, but just because your website looks fine on a desktop or laptop does not mean that it is the same for mobile devices. Google has provided a free Mobile Friendliness tool where you can test your website for mobile. Here’s the link: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly. You can tell within a few minutes whether or not your site meets the basic standards for mobile optimization.

2. If your website is not mobile-ready, it is time to change that. Whether you go with a complete mobile-responsive website re-design or a stand-alone mobile website, take measures as soon as possible to ensure your business is not negatively impacted by this major update. Having a website that is optimized for mobile viewing is critical. Not only is it important for providing convenience to your mobile customers and prospects; it is now a major factor in how well these mobile consumers can find your website when searching online for your type of products and services.

Contact the Island Web Solutions, the Long Island Web Design experts today!

1. Can I meet you in person?

The number one question that you should ask a potential web designer before hiring them is “Can I meet you in person?” It’s a simple question but we are strong believers in vibes. We can judge someone’s authenticity and integrity by sitting at the same table and just having a general conversation. Sometimes, a designer and a client just don’t mesh well together. So let’s meet up and see how it feels. On top of that, you want to ask if you can meet in person because you want to physically meet and shake the hand of the person that’s going to build your website.

2. Can I see your portfolio?

Ask your web designer if you can go through their portfolio together and no, you do not need to see something exactly what you’re looking to build. You want to find out their web design capabilities and if the websites look professional. Each project is unique. Some questions to ask are; What were you or your team specifically responsible for when building this website? How involved was the client in the design process? Are your clients thrilled with the end product?

3. Request to do a reference check.

“Do you mind providing a reference with these websites? We would like to contact them and see how their experience was working with you.” Now if they get all jittery that means that something is wrong. If they have work on their portfolio that they’re standing behind and claiming to be their own then they should gladly submit and surrender the contact email or phone number to the person that owns that website. If not, call someone else.

4. Do you understand my objective with this website?

Every website design is different so that should be a major part of the conversation. They should understand your actual business model and what you’re trying to achieve with an online website or e-commerce platform. Make sure they seem interested in learning your business as they will essentially become a digital branch of your physical business which will 100% represent you in every way.

5. Where will my website be built?

“Physically, where will it be built? Yes, we’re sitting at this location but is going to be built in house? Is it going to be built overseas? Or is it going to be built in your home office?”  Most clients don’t care where the website is built as long as the communication is completely open. Here at Island Web, absolutely everything is done in-house by us. For an extra fee, clients can even meet with us and watch minor edits being made.  That does not mean that there are not talented people overseas it’s just that you want to know if they are being upfront with you. You want to know exactly what you’re paying for.

6. Can I make updates to my own website?

“As the website owner, do I have the opportunity to do simple updates?” Every day we experience this. Other web developers sort of lock people into this never-ending cycle of difficulty. The website is done and they do not want to release the keys to the house. Every time there’s an update you have to go through the developer. Sometimes they don’t respond for weeks and you lose the motivation to even make the updates. You want to know who’s going to be responsible for updates and can you personally do those updates on your own. At Island Web, we will give you the logins to your website, however, we will have to walk you through the process of how to make these updates because we don’t want anything to break. For a small added cost, we can make a reference video for your team that will show you step by step how to make simple updates. Updates can also always be handled by Island Web. We get most of our updates done within 24-48 hours.

7. When this website is complete who will own the website?

Believe it or not, there are web developers out there that will register your domain for you under their company name. It appears that you’re the owner of the website until you want to move to another development company and then you realize that the domain is not under your personal or business name. This happens absolutely every single day of the week for us. It is a hundred percent morally wrong. At Island Web, you will always 100% own your domain name and website design.

8. What do you know about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Number 8 requires you to do a little bit of research first because you have to have a basic understanding of SEO. You want to ask the developer what does the developer or the designer personally knows about SEO. Designing a website has a lot to do with SEO. There are certain standards that Google allows us as developers to know. If they are not capable or do not have the understanding or education on SEO you’re putting your trust in the wrong people. If you ask them what they know about SEO and they go on and they seem educated, now you want to ask them for proof. Can you show me what your current ranking is on Google for certain keywords? You always want to look at this in your browser in incognito mode. If I’m looking on their computer, they’re always going to look like they ranked better than they do due to browser history. I want to see actual factual stats.

9.Have you ever built a successful website?

How are they going to build me a successful website if they have not built one themselves? Show me one website that you built that’s been successful. The definition of success can mean many different things. For an e-commerce website successful means, they’re making a profit. Yes, we understand as web developers that we’re not responsible for the profit. Maybe it’s a horrible product and horrible customer service. If I hire a boxing instructor because I want to become a professional boxer then the first question I’m going to ask the coach is, “what fights have your guys won? When is the last time you participated in a major event? If you never ever won a belt, how do I think you’re going to win one for me?” How can you request for a company to build a successful website for you that’s going to make a profit if they have never built a successful website in the past?

10. Will, you be around when we need you?

“Can I call upon you for help?” Your website gets launched and three months down the road something happens and it crashes.   Once this project is done is the company washing their hands-free of you or can you still approach them with simple questions and requests? What happens when the website is done and you need help? At Island Web, we bundle our hosting and maintenance costs to provide our clients with continued support once the website is built and live on the internet. Our prices are affordable and are determined according to how often each one of our clients will be needing our services.

Island Web Solutions believes that business owners need to know the real questions to ask to find reliable and integrity based web developers. You want somebody you can count on. Contact our Long Island Web Design specialists today!

To answer the first question, “Why is it important for me to have a website?” According to the Pew Research Center for Internet, Science & Tech, “Today nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone, and 19 percent of Americans rely to some degree on a smartphone for accessing online services and information and for staying connected to the world around them.” That is a large number of Americans using the internet to make purchases, book vacations, and get informed about companies they are looking to hire for their needs. Without a website, you are automatically out of the running as a choice and that is why it is important to have one. Get yourself in the running with a beautiful customized website that captivates potential customers and grabs their attention. Give your business a shining online presence.

“What are the benefits of having a website?” There are many benefits of having a website that you may have not considered. Maybe business is working fine for you, and it has for 30 years! So who needs a website anyway?! A website should be looked at as an online storefront for your business. The website becomes a place to tell your companies story, a place to showcase partners and affiliates, a central area to display your best testimonials and showcase photos of your best work. A website is a place where a potential customer can view all there is to know about your business from the comfort of their couch. These are just a few of the basic benefits of having a website for your business.

One of the most important questions! “What are the important things to consider when choosing a website designer?” When choosing a website designer, choose the company that will give you unbeatable customer service and allow you to be involved in the design process. Choose the company that you hear great things about. A great company will always provide references when asked. A credible website company with be more than happy to show you a portfolio of their past jobs on the internet for potential clients to view. Here at Island Web Solutions, we don’t just want happy clients, we want ecstatic clients. We want them to rave about us and the platform that we build for them.

Island Web Solutions strives for client satisfaction. We are small and family-run and take great pride in the end result of our websites. We believe that what we provide for our clients is a lasting component of the lifetime of their business. Click here to get started.

Contact the Island Web Solutions, the Long Island Web Design experts today!

If you run a small business, you probably already know how vital social media can be in increasing your bottom line.  Getting started on social media, however, can seem daunting because there are so many options and ways to gain followers. We have gathered a few tips to help you build a loyal social media audience.

Use Keywords
No matter what social media site, whether Google+, Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr, using keywords is vital to increase your followers. For most of these sites, hashtags work best, especially if you have your social media accounts connected with one another. This allows you to post something to all of your social media sites without having to do it physically.

Using keywords in your profile can help you attract people who are interested in what you have to offer.  If they like what they see on your profile, they are likely to become an ongoing follower.

Comment Wisely
Customers and clients love hearing from the small businesses they follow. By commenting on posts related to your business, you can get people interested in your business. You do have to remember to comment wisely, however, so that it does not feel like spam. You should also consider following people back if they start following your business on any social site. People are much more likely to purchase from a business with which they are more friendly than one that is not on any social media sites.

Post Regularly
People want to hear from your business. The more they engage with you, the more likely they are to become customers or clients, so be sure to post regularly on social media sites.

Try to be as consistent as possible by posting special offers, giving tips, adding pictures, polls, or anything else you want without overwhelming your followers. Look at which posts get the most attention to see what your followers are interested in seeing. This will not only allow you to provide content in the future that is relevant, but it will also give you a good idea of the demographic engaging with your business.

Social media sites can make a huge difference in your revenue if you are a small business owner. By keeping up with trends and ensuring that your content is what your followers are interested in, you will start seeing a boost in the people that engage with your content. This social interaction will ultimately translate into sales for your small business.

Contact the Island Web Solutions, the Long Island Web Design experts today!