Bold Type wishes all our clients a successful and prosperous 2011

It’s nearly 2011. Forget all the new year’s resolutions that you’ll make and break – it’s time to make the decision to do whatever it takes to make your website work at its maximum potential and earn you more money. To do that you need to aim for page one for Google searches for the goods and/or services you provide.

However, getting to and staying on page one of Google is an ongoing process. Savvy website owners know this and continually add content and update information on their websites and on related Internet directories and social media sites.

There is no doubt that the Internet has had a great impact on people’s lives. It’s how people find things – and with mobile devices such as the iPhone 4 providing super fast access, it’s easier than ever.

Because of this shift from analogue (phone books) to digital searches on the Internet, the Internet has the potential to significantly improve the bottom line for small business owners. In fact, the Internet allows small businesses to compete with larger companies for a bigger slice of the Internet customer pie.

Your business needs to have a strong Internet presence

Business owners who are continually improving their websites are getting a huge advantage over their competitors with this new growth market: the Internet shopper.

But just as every successful business has always had to keep up with advertising and marketing trends, Internet savvy business owners are modifying their websites regularly so that their website is accessed by Internet shoppers over their competitors.

‘We quadrupled the number of targeted visitors to our website with Bold Type’s support. And our enquiry rate has gone up substantially as have orders that have come from our website enquiries.’
Ben Beard, Captivations

Make your website improvement your no. 1 new year’s eve resolution

Smart business owners update, reskin or rebuild their websites at least every five years – at the very least. And with CMS-built websites built using programs such as WordPress, it’s easy to continually update websites to ensure a high Google ranking.

An outdated website (or worse, no website at all) is not going to be effective in today’s Google-centric Internet world. A business’s website needs to be the centerpiece of their online presence which incorporates effective Internet marketing strategies including free (and paid) search engine optimization (SEO).

Bold Type build websites for small and medium businesses using WordPress – voted no. 1 open-source website content management system in 2009. We also consult on search engine optimization, write content and news items for your website, can improve your overall Internet performance and help manage your email marketing – all of which help make your business more profitable.

Related website development articles

Websites need to capture the essence of your business

Read some articles on the importance of search engine optimization

Contact Bold Type today to find out how we can help you make more money from your website.

Our new website that focuses on Bold Type's web publishing business

Bold Type has set up a ’sister’ website that focuses on the web publishing aspect of our business.

Because we hail from Balmain in Sydney, it made sense to call this subsidiary website, Balmain Website Designs, although we do both design and development. We also help ‘design’ a complete web presence using directories, search engines, social media and email marketing systems.

Why businesses need a strong Internet presence

The Internet is a significant component of a business’s standing in the marketplace. To quote a successful business person, ‘a business that doesn’t have a website today is equivalent to going to a business meeting without a suit – you just don’t count’. And while some of the Google and Apple executives might disagree with the suit analogy, not having a website these days certainly stops a business from growing. Studies show that 90% of people who have access to the Internet use it to search for services and products they are looking for.

Making sure people can find your website

Importantly your website needs to be ‘findable’ and when found create a great first impression. It’s not good enough to ‘have a website’, it needs to have a contemporary look and work effectively with good SEO (search engine optimisation) that allows web browsers to find your business.

Balmain Website Designs – and Bold Type – can make sure your website is using the latest technology and the latest in web design to keep your website vibrant and successful. You can contact us via both Bold Type and Balmain Website Designs for a free appraisal of your Internet and website requirements.

Have a look at our new website, Balmain Website Designs.

Homepage of website for Liza McKilliam, real estate specialist

Bold Type has just completed the website for Liza McKilliam, real estate specialist for the western suburbs of Brisbane. Liza works under the RE/MAX brand but wanted her own presence on the web showing her properties for sale and giving her clients the information that is particular to the western suburbs of Brisbane.

See more websites developed by Bold Type.

Features of a great real estate website

A great real estate website needs to clearly present properties and present them in a way so that web visitors can find what they are looking for.

Liza’s new real estate website features everything to make her business stand out on the web.

Comprehensive homepage

Liza’s homepage prominently features rotating images of all properties for sale. It also allows web visitors to access selling tips, buying tips, latest news and a detailed list of all properties that are currently open for inspection.

Properties for sale listing pages

Each property for sale is shown in a ‘for sale’ list and has it’s own comprehensive listing page that includes images, a detailed description, Google map locator and contact form.

An additional ’sold’ list shows properties that have been recently sold, the price and location so that web visitors can get an idea of the current real estate market trends.

Real estate information pages

Providing information for clients and web visitors in a main feature of Liza McKilliams real estate website. There are information webpages for sellers, buyers and general real estate information that provide tips and advice

Latest real estate news

Things can change rapidly in the real estate market which is why web visitors to Liza McKilliam.com.au can find the latest real estate news articles that are of interest to real estate buyers and sellers – particularly those interested in what’s happening in the western suburbs of Brisbane.

Links lists of businesses

To help people to find suppliers in the property and real estate sector, Liza’s website includes links to businesses that vendors and buyers may need to access, for example, local tradespeople, conveyancing agents, and government departments

Google maps integration

Visitors can easily find the location of a property and print the page so that they will have no problem finding the place when heading to an open for inspection. Web visitors can also find the RE/MAX Kenmore office too using the Google maps integration system.

Send to a friend feature

Visitors can send a page to friends who are interested in the information on any webpage on www.lizamckilliam.com.au.

Search Engine Optimisation

Having a website that is prominent on the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN is vital to the success of a business. Liza’s website has SEO title tags for news posts and every webpage that are recognisable by search engines. With excellent content and well tagged webpages, Liza’s website is SEO friendly giving her website every advantage of being visible on page one for a key word search.

XML sitemap

The sitemap on Liza’s website not only helps visitors to find what they want easily, but it also helps with SEO. The sitemap is  important as search engines can easily crawl to identify every webpage on the site: great for SEO.

Google Analytics

Liza’s website, as with all Bold Type websites, has Google Analytics installed so that Liza’s team can analyse search trends and make adjustments to the website so that it better suits web visitors’ needs.

Wordpress editable webpages

Liza’s website has been built using Wordpress, an open source software application that was voted no. 1 in 2009.

It’s a dynamic program that works beautifully and it’s easy to use so that Liza’s support team can add properties, make minor or major text changes, add pages, images, videos or other files to any page at any time with the click of a few key strokes.

Bold Type can build your website to your particular requirements

Whatever you need to make your website work for your business, Bold Type can design it and build it.

And you (or one of your team) will have full control over your best marketing tool ever.

Contact Bold Type for a free consultation on revamping or developing your website.

Go to www.lizamckilliam.com.au.

The latest website built by Bold Type

The latest website built by the Bold Type web development team brought its own challenges with rotating images on the homepage that enhance the visitor’s experience rather than annoy, collection galleries for a range of garments, and building content for the client that will continue to increase the number of visitors to their website.

The secret to a productive website that works 24/7 to bring the right type of visitors to a website is having the right content that is search engine keyword friendly. This is something that Bold Type specialises in.

Call Sue Stevens today on 0410 037 635 for a free consultation about how we can make your website (and extended web presence) work for you.

Find out more about why Bold Type web development can improve your web presence.
See Bold Type’s portfolio of websites constructed recently.

Glitterbox website is a unique design that captures the essence of this hair salon in Newtown Sydney

The Bold Type team – web designer, developer, content editor and project manager – have just completed the unique and quite wonderful website for Glitterbox, a unique and quite wonderful hair salon in Newtown.

Sue Stevens, who managed the project, researched hairdressing websites from salons all over the world including New York, San Fransisco and London, not to mention others in Sydney and Melbourne too. Not that we wanted to copy any, but it was good to see what is happening in the world of hair salon websites. Not much was the verdict!

Armed with the belief that we could set a new standard in devising a uniquely designed hair salon website using the open source software, Wordpress, the design team went to town – Newtown to be exact.

The result is a website that reflects the energy of the salon itself. It is also SEO friendly so that more visitors are finding the salon when searching for a hair salon. Also, it can be managed easily by the team at Glitterbox without having to pay ongoing costs to a web expert. It’s a win-win-win situation. We, at Bold Type, just love to see our clients happy. And we’re thrilled to be able to give them exactly what they want – a website that is uniquely theirs.

Link to Glitterbox hair salon, Newtown

Contact Sue for a free consultation about your website needs.

This website was designed specifically for Sydney civil celebrant, Deborah Bedford.

Every website is different and should be. Why choose a standard web design that looks like so many other websites when you can have a website that is uniquely yours? You can have your own website, designed to suit your business at an affordable price.

A bonus with Bold Type built websites is that once your website is live, you can easily manage it. Developed in open source software that is easy to use, you will be able to add content, change content, add pages, images and video content, change data and more.

We not only build your website, we do much more by developing your web profile with directories, linking and social networking.

Benefits of a Bold Type built website:

• the development of a complete web presence to improve search engine optimisation
• a dynamic website (open source software) with a built-in SEO enabler
• online shopping cart software and purchase software (for online businesses)
• set up of website analytics so that you can track visitors and their viewing habits to use as a guide to improve your website
• advice on web hosting and how to get the best value for your needs
• free style guide and user manual specifically written for your website and related web-based content.

Related links
Bold Type’s website portfolio
Difference between dynamic and static websites
Website marketing

Call Sue Stevens for a free consultation about website design and web development on 0410 037 635 or complete our email contact form.