Peter founded Bear Web Design in Nashville, Tennessee in May of 2000 and has been actively involved in web design & development, web content management & education, web hosting & management as well as internet marketing. His experience gained by working with clients from the sales cycle to launching a new website to overseeing a client’ s second generation redevelopment has given him a unique understanding and perspective of the internet. This allows him to serve our client base with expert leadership & service with a completely hands on approach.
With COVID-19 continuing to provide new daily challenges that now includes minimizing interactions with other people some of our daily tasks such as going to the bank and going the post office are now becoming more problematic. To help us work together more effectively during this Pandemic I wanted to share with you a method for paying your company invoices online with Bear Web Design using your company check and our secure Quickbooks System (Intuit Payment Network).
Most companies are familiar with paying invoices online with credit cards but for companies that traditionally pay thru their bank account the Check Transfer (ACH) is a good option. Over the last year or so many companies have been paying Bear Web Design online so if you are already doing that we thank you!
Here are some of the advantages to paying online via company check:
It is fast and secure – no printing of checks, stamping envelopes and mailing out. (all you need is your bank routing number & check number – no other setup).
It eliminates mistakes as you can only pay invoices that you owe.
It processes directly into our accounting system (no entry at our end).
Our cost is 1% with a $10.00 cap with Quickbooks Online versus higher rates and fees for Credit/Debit card. (so it is our preferred payment method)
It eliminates us going to the post office, entering in transactions at our office, writing our deposits and going to the bank (which is significant in time savings as well).
Here is a quick video to show you how had to pay your Bear Web Design Invoice via our secure Quickbooks System:
During this extremely tough time we want to thank all our clients for working with us and we hope both you and your business remain healthy and strong.
With the rapidly changing landscape that is being caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic we wanted to ensure you that we remain at full operations in terms of the running of our business at Bear Web Design.
It is our top priority to ensure that your websites, e-mails, social media, e-news & marketing campaigns are all up and running smoothly and communicating effectively to your clients and prospects. Our team members are continuing to work remotely in their normal day to day roles serving our customers.
Currently we are working on new web design projects, existing client projects, as well as managing and supporting our client base. We are providing timely updates including home page banners as well as many blogs & news posts for clients that are communicating their changing world to their customers.
Operationally our team continues to communicate via our helpdesk, e-mail and phone with client and prospect meetings via web conferencing technologies. We are available to provide online/phone training & website reviews for clients upon request. We are dedicated and determined to be fully available to help you as best as we can during this very difficult period.
On a personal note I want to share my thoughts, prayers and hopes to all our clients, their families and friends. We stand with you during this storm and we will continue to stand with you when this storm is over.
With modern websites becoming more and more sophisticated in both look and behavior the expectation that a standard web hosting company will take care of everything your website needs is simply not correct. The game plan of hiring a web designer that builds a new website and then moves it to a hosting company to sit indefinitely is no longer a viable plan for you or your website. Today you really need a webmaster.
Just about every company and organization today has a website. Pending how long you have been in business you may have had a company website for 10 plus years. That website has probably been thru several redesigns and upgrades while remaining a constant primary marketing tool and/or e-commerce vehicle for your company.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union (EU). … GDPR came into effect across the EU on May 25, 2018.
A company can spend a lot of money, time and resources developing a new website. It is an exciting time filled with great expectations as the internet provides a constant supply of users searching for products and services and a great looking website can really help attract customers. It is easy to think that if you get everything right during this design and development phase you are going to be all set in upcoming years.
Social Media has become a dominant force in our world ranging from personal socialization to business marketing. Over the past 5 years or so businesses have been putting more and more effort and resources into using social media in the aim of building their brands and marketing their products and services. It has clearly been a revolution to be able to add a great photo and a small paragraph or two and be able to share with your friends and fans reaching 100’s or sometime 1000’s of people in real time.
Girls that Code from Wilson County visited Bear Web Design in Nashville today to learn about the opportunities for programmers & developers in the 21st century! The girls are taught programming by web designer/developer Jennifer Folsom and were treated to pizza after their visit.
Have you recently heard the term “Digital Profile”? it is becoming a key focus area for companies as well as individuals that provide services that are searched for on the internet. That means just about any company that operates today should be paying attention to their Digital Profile.
A Digital Profile as it sounds is a profile that has been establish online through your internet resources and usage. Google is the best place I know of to check out your digital profile to get a feel for what people will see when they type your companies name.
Thanks to Google My Business (formerly Google+) we have really seen the development of the Digital Profile over the last 12-24 months. Google My Business includes Google Reviews, Google Maps & Directions, Google Search Results, hours of business, photos as well as links to your website. On mobile it is as powerful as it appears on a desktop and it can heavily influence whether a customer communicates with your company directly from google (e.g. calls you) or links to your website for further information.
So using Bear Web Design’s Digital Profile as a starting example lets look at some of the basic elements… (see our Digital Profile above)…
Google Ad Words and Organic Information sit on the left hand side of the search page result. Adwords are an online advertising services by Googler where advertisters pay to display ads that are tied to key search terms and phrases. Organic search results are website listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms.
Google My Business sits on the right hand side and consists of photos, address & location, directions, website link, reviews, business hours (absolutely critical to being correct) and links for action – phone number to call, driving directions to come visit and website link to learn more about your business.
Notice the Google Post that is under Google My Business (this is a new featured offered by Google allowing business owners to feed their content directly into their search results page! Google Posts will stay active for 7 days and I have seen some posts that receive 1000’s of views.
Google Insights which shows you how many searches that your Google Digital Profile appears in including (Discovery) – those searching for your services or products but don’t know you directly and (Direct) – those that do search for you directly.
So if you haven’t checked out your Digital Profile it is definitely time to do so. It will be a critical part of your online success! And if you need some help managing and updating your digital profile please be sure to contact Bear Web Design!
You have a website that has been up and running for a number of years. In actual fact many organizations have had 2-3 generations of websites now a days. It looked great when the website was launched (they always do) but over the years it has become less and less of a focal point in your companies marketing plans. You don’t really know how much traffic is coming to the website (as the reports you used to get stopped coming) and the big part that bothers you is that you don’t seem to get any inquiries from your website any more…
Website technology and design has changed quite dramatically in the last 2-3 years. One of the biggest changes came with responsive design (mobile friendly websites). Responsive design is the process of designing a website that responds to the device the website is being viewed on (giving an optimum visitor experience).
Google really started pushing this technology around 2014 when they commenced listing website as “mobile friendly” that were optimized for a mobile device. In other words if someone was searching a service your company provided and your website came up in the search and was NOT mobile friendly google would clarify this – basically telling the user that this might not be a great experience. (SO basically don’t go to this website). Since 2015 there are more mobile devices than desktops and that trend has continued to grow so bottom line is you can assume long term that half your traffic will be mobile based.
If your website is not responsive “Mobile Friendly” then it is time for a new website.
The next most critical aspect about your website is your design layout and home page content specifically. Today a prospect may give your website 5-10 seconds to establish whether you match his/her needs (and that they like your website). A slideshow that showcases your company (4-5 slides) that include clear specific captions can go a long way to helping a first time visit quickly get a feel for what you have to offer. These slides should lead to more in-depth information if the visitor wants to find out more. If photos are vibrant and really appropriate in those slide shows then you might just have a home run on your hands with a good design.
Besides the slideshow (the elevator pitch) you want to clarify what you do, where you are, and samples of your work (or services and products)…. We are Bear Web Design, we design websites, we are located in Nashville, TN and here is our portfolio of recent work. And here is some action buttons or links for you to choose from (Contact Us, Call us) as well as links to more details about our company. But the bottom line is that if your home page cannot give me the most important facts and information about your company in a professionally graphic based design “quickly” then I will probably moving on to the next website.
If your website home page does not tell your companies story professionally, graphically, clearly and quickly then it is time for a new website.
Then comes your websites content. Content used to be a paragraph of “let me tell you about us” but content today is sophisticated, exciting and really focused on selling and getting your messages across. Multimedia is starting to dominate the content landscape and even if you are not ready for video productions yet great photographs are definitely within your reach today. (Big bold photos that really showcase you and tell your story). The key to updating your content is to make sure it is current. If you had a key selling feature 3 years ago (new office, new renovations or a new factory) that information should not be a key promotion today. (Why because when the office doesn’t appear new or the renovation aren’t new trust will be lost and a prospect may feel like they were misled. So old content must be updated. Establish what your primary services are today and expand on them with text, photos and multimedia. Another key area that I look for a website is “Meet Our Team” which should include photos, bios, and background. I want to know who I will be potentially meeting with and working if I move forward with your company so please don’t have “Contact Us” with no location, no people, and no intimacy and expect to get good results. With google being so location centric today it is crazy not to promote where you are. People really think locally today when searching the internet.
If your website content is out of date and your website does not do a great job showcasing your products and services as well as your team and location then it is time for a new website.
And if you do decide it is time to look at designing a new website we would love to help you! Let’s have a chat about your company’s website and what we could achieve together. Combine add-on internet marketing items such as e-NEWS, Blogging, and Social Media and your website could truly become the focal point of your companies marketing efforts.
