Ten Questions With Our CEO Ken Butler
How do you treat your customers?
I want our service to our customers to be a blessing. We work very hard to make sure we have satisfied customers. We depend on referrals so having satisfied customers obviously is working well for us. Besides being called the most honest person they know in business by clients I take the time to explain how the internet and technology works. I have worked on all kinds of systems, networks, hardware and types of businesses through the years so I can usually relate very well to our clients and explain technology in a way that they can understand and feel comfortable with.
If a client needs a website address (URL), how do you handle that?
First, we want the client to realize that they own the URL name that they choose. It is a brand name for their business and they should safe guard it no matter what company they use to handle their Web site. Once we get that understood we will buy the URL for them and set up an account in their name as the registrar or they can buy it themselves. We just need to be designated as the technical contact so we can change the DNS or Dynamic Name Services to our hosting location - i.e..this points the URL name to where the web pages are. Also, a company should never buy a URL name and hosting as a package deal. Have you seen those deals? You keep your URL name for as long as you keep hosting that company. So, when you leave you can lose your company name!
What size client is too small for your firm?
No client is too small. We can meet the needs of even the smallest budget. If a client just needs a working website for email and to send customers to so they have a location on the World Wide Web that is fine with us. If they don't need to do online advertising or search engine marketing we can still build their website with search engine optimization in mind so that people will still find them when surfing.
What do you charge for Search Engine Marketing / Online Advertising?
That again depends on what the client's needs are and what their budget allows. There are a lot of companies around now that perform this service and manage Google Adwords accounts. Google Adwords has to be constantly updated because the competition is always changing. That is one fact about the internet - it is always changing. Most of our competitors charge a flat rate of something like 30% of the client's Google Adwords billing per month and a large upfront fee to setup their Adwords ads and keywords. We have plans tailored for different size companies so that even a very small advertising budget can afford us. We interview the client and then suggest the plan that will work the best for them and their budget. And, we are nowhere near 30%!
What do you think about the web hosting sites that offer site generation software?
Something like that is fine for an individual like for a personal or a family website. But a company website should be something that portrays the client's company image and for that they cannot do that with a canned template from website generation software. There are severe restrictions when using that kind of software and if the client decides to move their hosting to another company because say the site is not available 24/7 or their prices go up they are stuck and have to start their website all over again. Also, a company website is supposed to be an extension of a company's overall marketing strategy including graphics and content. That will be very difficult to do with a "canned" website.
How does the process work when you meet with a new client?
First, we discuss what the client wants out of their website. Once we understand the functions that will be necessary and an idea of the number of web pages and connectivity required then we can discuss graphics. With graphics we can use a template to start with and customize it as necessary or build complete custom graphics. The graphics of the website need to compliment the literature and signage that a company already has so there is a seamless corporate brand and identity. Once we get all of the layouts figured out then we can discuss content in detail. We can write the content for the client or they can send use specifically what they want to say.
Have you seen the ads that say they will show their ads before all search results?
Yes, I have seen those. They say that the client ads will show above any search engine's search results both paid and non-paid. It sounds good but actually they invade an unsuspecting person's computer and install a plugin to the browser like another tool bar that shows under the tool bars and before the actual display in the browser. To me, that is bad all the way around because besides being something that I don't condone as soon as the person happens to figure it out they will remove the advertising plugin from their computer and the ads are gone.
What are organic search results?
These are the free search engine results returned from the keyword or keywords used in a search. The organic search results are non-paid. The organic results are displayed on the left side of the screen of search results and the paid are always along the right side of the screen and sometimes 1 to 3 paid advertisers are also listed across the top of the organic results. There is a notation around the advertised search engine results that says that they are advertisements.
What is the most popular form of paid advertising?
The most popular form of paid advertising or search engine marketing is Google Adwords. Adwords is a per click method of advertising that means the advertisor is only charged when their ad is actually clicked on. The keywords used by someone in a search determine whether an ad will show based on the keywords stored in the advertiser's Adwords campaign. All of the advertisers with ads for the same keywords are then shown in an order determined by Google in a secret algorythm that include the use of the maximum cost per click settings and the click through rate - how often the ad is clicked on per times shown. Google also has a content network of sites where those sites contract with Google to display ads and in general the content of those sites is used like keywords to find relevant ads to show.
Does paid search advertising help organic search results?
Definitely. In recent years all of the major search engines have increased the importance of a website's authority in search rankings. Authority is how many links a site has to it and how many hits it gets. So, the more authority or importance a site has contributes significantly to its search rankings. When a site is using Google Adwords and using good ads and keywords for their products and services they will also be shown on the Google content network and all of those links add to the authority of the advertiser's website. Also, if site A links to site B, site B gets all of the authority from site A added to site B. There are many tricks to increasing authority. We work constantly with our clients to build the authority of their sites and use only reputable practices.