Nathanael Padgett - Small Business Consultant

Small Business Blog

npadgett — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:35:49 +0000

Most of my updates will now be on my small business blog, which can be found here:

http://www.digitalsolutionsstudio.com/blog/

PPC Alone Is Not The Answer!

npadgett — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:28:35 +0000

A company can not survive on PPC (pay-per-click) advertising alone. They can not think that to get customers they MUST spend money. This is the day of social media; and a time to embrace the idea that if you’re a rockin’ business and have ACTIVE social media accounts, your advertising is costing you so much less than direct PPC. Sure, PPC is targeted directly to your potential customer, and I’m not saying PPC has no place in business, it certainly does… but if your whole revenue model is derived from PPC, than your bottom line is totally dependent upon how much you spend on advertising. It’s time to start taking advantage of social media and leveraging it for your business. Your competitors have probably already started!

UPDATE – 2010-06-09:

Just found an article on onStartUps that talks about this very thing….

“Google AdWords and most forms of advertising are addictive drugs to marketers. They make you feel good (leads!) but they are expensive, and when the good feeling is gone, you need to buy some more to feel good again. This leads to marketers being lazy, and not building assets that improve the value and business model of the company. A much more sustainable strategy is to build assets – just like equipment in a factory. Marketing assets are blog articles, subscribers, inbound links, SEO rankings, social media followers, opt-in email lists, and other tools that help you generate more and more leads over time without ongoing expenses.”

West Church Site – Complete!

npadgett — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:37:45 +0000

West Congregationl Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts now has a new website: http://www.WestChurch.org

A new logo is still in the works, but for now the site is basically complete. Hope you enjoy!…

Clients Still Need To Do The Grunt Work!

npadgett — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:32:57 +0000

Just a quick note to those wanting to blame their web designer on their lack of revenue or visitors…

ATTENTION CLIENTS: It is still your job to get people to your website. If you’ve hired a developer to make your site and they did a great job; their work stops there, unless you hired them for other services, like SEO, PPC or other marketing services. The best way to get people to your site is to provide great content that is continually updated and to promote your website vocally and in as many events, paper materials, and other guerrilla marketing methods.

If you require assistance in marketing and promoting your site, please let me know and I can assist!

West Church Redesign Coming Soon

npadgett — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:55:59 +0000

Currently working on a website redesign for West Church in Haverhill, MA. Here’s a sneak peek…..

Evangel Temple Website Updated

npadgett — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:24:23 +0000

Evangel Temple’s website has recently undergone some cosmetic changes. It’s been freshened up a bit with a new homepage and template. The sermons page now has search ability and the ability to play a sermon right from the page without downloading it. Check out the site to see the other changes: http://www.ETchurch.org

Merry Christmas 2009

npadgett — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:57:30 +0000

I’m hoping that your Christmas season is filled with peace, prosperity, and love and that you find 2010 to be a wonderful new year filled with abundant joy. Merry Christmas from your favorite web developer!

– Nathanael Padgett

Misconception #1: A Website Will Attract Clients

npadgett — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:48:45 +0000

I got the opportunity to speak to a gentleman today who’s looking to start a service business. We spoke briefly about how the service he offers can be advertised and how a website can/can’t help with getting new clients. Basically stated, a website is not the final solution to gaining new clients and business, it is only a tool in doing so. Prospective clients still need to learn about your website (word of mouth or PPC are good options). Once on the site, clients must know where to go to get in contact with you so the relationship can go to the next level (creating a funnel for the customer to travel through).

Getting Visitors To Your Website

npadgett — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:37:36 +0000

You may have a nice looking website, but it doesn’t really matter if people aren’t viewing it! Lets take a quick look at some ways to get traffic to your website.

Marketing a website has many of the same characteristics as marketing a brick-and-mortar store. The main goal is to get people to your business, or in this case, your website. The first step in getting visitors is to tell people you exist. People can’t visit if they don’t know about you!

Letting people know you exist can be as easy as having a website and hoping that people search Google or Yahoo for just the right words that they will somehow find your website. Though not usually that effective, this can sometimes get the job done; but what if you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level?

So as to not bore you, there are many steps one can take to go the extra mile to make sure people know about (and visit) your website. Here’s a quick list of some of them:

Word-of-Mouth – tell everyone you meet about you and your website. Leave them with something they can pocket for later (business card perhaps?).
PPC (pay-per-click) – Create an advertising budget and pay for people who click on an advertisement in Google or Yahoo. The visitor was searching for your service anyway, so your chances on making a sale are more than cold calling.
Social Media – Write blog articles, join Facebook – Essentially you want to put a link to your website in as many places as appropriate to let people know you exist!

While not all of these methods will fit into your business strategy, I hope that I have at least left you with a feeling to get out there and promote your business more than you currently are!

If you have any questions or comments for me, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Paying Professionals

npadgett — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:17:07 +0000

While paying a professional for their services makes sense, many people try to save a few bucks by buying from someone with less experience. These type of buyers don’t always dismiss professionals all together though. They sometimes use professionals for information and to obtain quotes. They then go on to buy from the wholesale guy down the street. Is seems that the days of paying professionals for all of their services are gone, so what is a professional freelancer to do?

Clients must learn that they are not just paying prodessionals for the product delivered, but the knowledge and experience that went behind making the product in the first place. There should be no FREE meetings for proposed clients because time is money and in today’s culture that client may very well be asking for free professional advice only to contract out to the cheaper guy down the road using your ideas.

Dear Clients,
If you’re using cheap web developers, make sure you have enough money left over to pay a professional to fix their mistakes! Better yet, if you’ve made this mistake, please don’t even contact me! Just keep using the cheaper labor and see where they take your business.