• You differentiate yourself from the competition. Demonstrate the benefits you offer with a testimonial interview, or a behind-the-scenes look at your business or organization.
• You get up close and personal. An online video can showcase the human side of your business – being more personal and accessible can lead to more business.
• You grab your visitor’s attention… fast. A video quickly displays your brand and message, and is much more entertaining than reading pages of text.
• Forrester Research found that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than traditional text web pages.
• You invite feedback from your audience. Internet marketing revolves around interaction – customer comments, thoughts and reviews.

Why should a business create a Facebook page, or Tweet about a new project? Executives over the age of thirty might not understand this purpose, but the concept is actually quite simple. It’s free, and it’s an advertising medium in which you have the full attention of current and potential clients.

It’s a numbers game

Social Networking allows your organization to create an online network that increases in size with little effort (although more effort certainly pays better dividends). People want to share information with their networks; if your organization offers valuable information your clients will pass it along. The results are new leads and relationships that cannot be obtained using any other advertising medium. The current business arena culture shift is one that leverages communication, interaction, and collaboration. Social networking sites provide the ideal platform to build and grow these profound capabilities.

You get personal

Although social networking platforms are not quite a networking meeting, they are the next closest thing. In many ways they are even more effective. Instead of passing out business cards, you can create dialogue, and continue an on- going correspondence with individuals or groups. These conversations can be public or private based on the nature of the topic. Social networking also allows others to see the personal side of your business. By showing pictures, creating more relaxed content, or writing blogs with a humorous undertone, you can provide your network with a taste of your company’s personality. Most corporate websites do not show this side of their business for fear of looking unprofessional or disreputable. Social networking eases these anxieties by providing a different outlet for information.

It’s a culture change, not a fad

Social networking cannot be dismissed as a blip on the Internet radar – we are experiencing a culture change in its infancy. For example: companies who were pioneers in accepting user interaction, collaboration, and communication continue to benefit through intranets polls and discussions. As executives get real and honest feedback products are improved, ideas are more abundant and employees have greater job satisfaction. We are watching leaders grow, employees participate, and quiet cultures contribute.

It makes you cool
That’s right. You’ll be cool.

Better Google rankings
Google loves content, and if you are writing content related to your industry you’ll be bettering your chances to get ranked higher. A simple monthly blog adds twelve pages of industry related content to your website a year. I could provide many more examples of this principle, but I’m hoping you’ll call us to hear more.

It’s easy

We can get you set up with a social networking plan, manage your accounts, and provide reporting on the benefits it has created for your business. Call us at 410-750-6499 to get started, or visit our Facebook page!

I bought a domain name called www.shopgeorgetown.com, put on my best (and only) suit and went door-to-door trying to sell my new website directory – one site with everything Georgetown had to offer. The value was apparent to me, but after months of trying to explain my concept to local merchants I realized I was a little ahead of my time. People weren't quite ready to buy something they couldn’t touch or see… not yet anyway. Although ShopGeorgetown.com didn't make it, I learned the importance of web strategy, and the level of service and support necessary for small business owners.

By 1998, with the crazy Dot Com boom in full swing and two whole years of web development under my belt, I was ready to launch my next great idea: JoeRomance.com, a site for men to be romantic and sensitive even though they are not. The concept was unique, inventive and brilliant -- articles on how to buy a diamond ring, ideas for weekend getaways, a mad-lib style love letter generator, metro-sexual grooming products… you name it, we had it. I was in final negotiations to raise a few million dollars for Joe Romance to go big-time, when, boom, the bottom dropped out. The dot com bust hit, every cent of my venture capital disappeared and poor Joe Romance never saw the light of day. But during that time I learned something truly revolutionary: how to create a system to post content to a website without any real programming knowledge. Eureka!

In 2000 I started DC Web Designers. There weren’t any web-authoring tools for non-programmers at the time, so companies paid a fortune to developers for simple website changes. I envisioned a simple tool that would change this dynamic and transfer control from the designers to the clients. I began working on a Content Management System (or CMS) and later that year SmartSite was born: web based software that would allow everyday computer users to add, edit, and delete their website content.

It’s now 2010 – a decade may have come and gone, but not much has changed from my original goal. Our SmartSite CMS has been installed in over 80% of our projects; whether it’s a local business, a regional company, or a national or international organization, SmartSite is customized to fit the individual needs of each and every client. Our client roster has grown to include the likes of World Bank, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Harvard, Virginia Tech and George Washington Universities, Swissport America Airlines, The US Army and many, many more. Pardon the shameless self-promotion, but we’ve come a very, very long way from JoeRomance.com.

Today, DC Web Designers is recognized as a premier design and development company. We have grown our product line to accommodate almost every need and budget, and now offer a variety of consulting services to help organizations organize and plan successful website projects. Most importantly we have stayed true to our tagline, and continue to produce websites that are Smart and Good Looking.

I want to thank you for your business and for tagging along with us on this incredible journey.

Sincerely,
Mark Cyphers
President, DC Web Designers

1. Understand the services – It is important that you and your organization get a clear understanding of our services. We will certainly do our best to educate you during our initial conversations, but you’ll need to make a conscious effort to understand the depth and scope of the services we offer. In addition, by understanding our services, you’ll feel more comfortable speaking with us regarding our recommendations, and how they apply to your organization.
2. Tell us about your company - Please provide us with a document that describes your business, the purpose of the website, and your goals for the project. This information is usually in the Request for Proposal (RFP) document, but if one wasn’t created for your project, now would be a good time to do so.
3. Prepare your content – Preparing new website content is a great opportunity for you to look at your business goals, focus on your users needs, and condense your content, making it readable and easier to navigate.
   
   In addition to the words on your pages, you must also be thinking about the architecture of your content. You want to do so with two approaches; the top-down, and the bottom-up. The top-down approach has you focus on the big picture and objectives of your content. You’ll be looking at the top level navigation and making it simple and intuitive. In addition you’ll want to think about the labels you use for navigation. Make certain they are clear for your users and not your employees. Once you have top-down clarity, you’ll need to look at your content from the bottom-up. This approach looks at the details of the content. It includes reviewing the page titles, making the content web friendly (using short paragraphs, bullet lists, text styles, and imagery). Here are a few resources on writing user friendly web content:
   
   Formatting Rules to Live By
   10 Tips for Good Web Writing
   
   The best way to organize your content is through a site map. This can be completed in outline form, or a diagram. Once you have organized your content, we can then begin to make our recommendations regarding your website architecture.
4. Prepare your website hosting information – If you have an existing website, you are currently using a third party to host your website, or you have a dedicated server. Make certain you understand the hosting requirements of your new vendor. If you are using a Content Management System, they require the website to be hosted on their servers because of security and support reasons. You also should have all of your account information for your existing provider ready, as well as your registrar information (where you purchased the domain). By not having all of this information ready, you can slow the process of the project, because sometimes it takes a few days to get all of these issues worked out.
5. Think about the purpose of the website from your clients’ perspective – It is important that your organization begins thinking about how you will present your website message to clients in the easiest, friendliest, and most pleasing manner. To do so, start thinking like your clients not your employees. This is referred to as the “user-in” approach. Businesses have a bad habit of throwing everything they can on their homepage, never thinking about how their users process this information (“organization-out”). This often yields an unorganized layout and too much content. The user-centric methodology is a challenging process that must pay close attention to the needs, wants, and limitations of your websites end users at each stage of the design/content process. A properly-executed process requires your educated assumptions of how users will interact with your website, and the testing to validate these assumptions. Start by answering these questions.
   
   Who are the users of our website?
   What are the users’ tasks and goals?
   What are the users’ experience levels with our website, and our competitor’s websites?
   What functions do the users need from the website?
   What information might the users need, and in what form do they need it? How do users think the website should work?