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Web Design with Marketing and Online Strategies a Key Consideration

September 8th, 2011

Local Tyler businesses have great web design companies to choose from in this area like Group M7 who you often hear on the radio and see featured on local news websites from the syndicated column at: http://www.mahfood.com/

There are other web hosting and web creation companies that do not advertise as much through the mediums of radio and billboards but are still quite good. One of the considerations to web design needs to look at not just the previous clients they have but what are they doing to keep up with where the internet is going. Consider that many websites get 80% or more of their traffic from search engines and social media without any advertising costs in traditional advertising channels.

It is always good to combine traditional forms of advertising like radio and billboard with newer forms like search engine and social media advertising but the whole process can seem a little confusing as to how it will all end up fitting together if this is new territory for you.

Fortunately there are benefits to going with web design companies that you don’t see on a billboard or hear on the radio simply because they get more than enough business from word of mouth. Web design companies that can take a company that was previously receiving no online leads and traffic to getting 100 targeted unique eyeballs a day are typical results rather than an off the wall fluke. These web design companies get all the referrals and work they need from happy clients referring their friends which is likely why you may have never heard of web design companies like (keep in mind some in this list are not that great):

http://futurelinemedia.com/ Scott Howard with Future Line Media offers some of the most modern, snazzy websites you will see which is showcased on his own company website. I know a few people who used Scott for their websites and each site I visit knocks my socks off. Scott offers a good price for what you get that you will find to be much cheaper than some of the more well known brands in town.

http://www.taabsink.com/ TAABS Ink is your one stop shop for your entire marketing, advertising and branding needs. One of the things they do is website design and they are very good at it. I have seen a few local Tyler sites they have done and all of them meet my standards for excellent creative work. Definitely keep TAABS in mind for a web design company to choose from.

http://texasbizsolutions.com/ These guys respond fast and offer integration with social media as a part of the web design process. I found them to be very accessible, easy to work with and they had several client sites in Tyler to show me from their portfolio of work.

http://www.vertstudios.com/ – Tried calling these guys but did not receive a call back and it’s going on a week now. Nothing wrong with a small web design company but a callback is the minimum I would ask.

http://www.spyderinternet.com/  – I have heard that their largest client is ETMC which apparently is going out of business. Not sure how many more clients they have than this. I created a paid listing on their awesome looking city portal at www.tyler.com but each time the listing has been screwed up. Right now it shows my number as 190-3484 which isn’t right and doesn’t even contain an area code. I also see no website link going to my website.

azaleahttp://www.azaleatech.com/ These guys were very professional on the phone and from what I understand they focus more on system admin and computer tech type stuff. The web design part of their business seems to be a less prominent part of their business model from my understanding. An interview with this company should help me understand if I have them right. They now have a physical place of business that is quite nice and located on Old Grande across from Citizens National Bank and Nutrition Destination.

http://www.silversoapmedia.com/ I called this company but have not heard back from them and it has been over a week. Not sure why I would want to use a company that cannot do a follow up. I was also not able to contact them at their place of business during regular business hours after 1:00 p.m.

http://www.sevenpoint.net/ I have not spoken to this company yet. I have seen their place of business over by the square and they are also known as ETV Software. One thing that is funny that I heard is that the person who started this business used to work at Group M7 and has named his business Seven Point? Why would you make your brand similar to an old employer?

http://www.cypressinteractive.com/ This company must be a pretty decent web design company as I have personally visited with the company they bought out, 3 Degree Media. The 3 Degree Media web design company were a group of professionals that seemed to be very good and efficient at web design and hosting. They offered a good price for the professional websites they designed for their clients. I am not sure what Cypress charges at this time.

http://www.ktravisj.com/ This site looks a little different only because the margins seem to be off on his website creations compared to the other companies in the list but he has a decent amount of clients in East Texas. One thing I keep hearing is that Travis is easy to get a hold of and is able to customize your site exactly how you want it. Travis gives his customers a lot of attention and strives to make each and every client happy. I have personally spoken with at least two of his clients that were very pleased with his work. Some of his sites look much better than the others so it could just be that some clients preferred margins one way while others liked the industry standard cut.

How many local Tyler businesses have experimented with all the forms of media? You might have spent $10,000 plus on things like billboards, print ads, TV, and radio only to find that radio might have been the only possible successful campaign and even that may have taken some time to see a return on investment?

Sometimes allowing a savvy web design and marketing company to produce an overall website and online strategy for your company is the number one way to capture that cheap low hanging fruit without spending the kind of money other forms of media require.

We recommend checking out a web design company like Texas Biz Solutions that has a dynamic approach that tackles the look and user experience of your website while also investing time into marketing the online visibility of that website on search engines and in social media channels. This type of approach insures that you come away with not only a website but traffic to that website that will pay for itself over and over again as new people visit your site searching for the services you offer.

Southside Bank in Tyler TX and obtaining a business loan

January 24th, 2011

Southside Bank Tyler TX Banks
Southside Bank is considered to be the most convenient bank in Tyler TX because they are in just about every grocery store in town and they are scattered throughout the city in several much larger facilities. Their recent billboard campaigns encourage you to use them for family loans for things like vacations and old antique cars. I have tried getting a loan for an antique car before and let me tell you if you want to see a bank loan officer give you a blank stare just ask the question about a loan for an antique car, very few know if this type of loan is even possible accept for the uber wealthy.

Southside Bank Locations in Tyler and Phone Numbers

 

  • 1201 South Beckham Avenue, Tyler – (903) 526-8682
  • 6201 South Broadway Avenue, Tyler – (903) 581-9773
  • 113 N Northwest Loop 323, Tyler – (903) 535-4463

Southside Bank has been around Tyler TX for some time and most who have lived here for awhile have noticed how well they have spread themselves out over the city.

They have not only created large brand new facilities going out as far as Lindale TX but they have gotten into almost every Brookshires grocery store in town as well.

Southside Bank also happens to be in the SuperOne food Store on Hwy 110. When visiting the Southside Bank website it looks a little old school when logging into their online banking but the functionality is all there.

I have been pleased with the online banking this far as I can easily check my bank account on my computer or iphone. I have made transfers between accounts through their online system on my phone as well.

When talking about loans with Southside Bank I have had great conversations with one loan officer there while another one sort of gave me as little information as possible.

As you can imagine banks get asked by thousands of people a year for loans and many of these people simply have no credit and have done no research in regards to a business plan or how a business idea may succeed.

When you walk into Southside Bank asking for a loan you need to come with an easily understood business plan. Although it is good to have a complete business plan with figures to back it up a loan officer will usually glance over one page that outlines what it is you want to do and make their mind up for there.

A trick to getting a loan for a business idea is to visit 100 banks if you have to. Tweak and redefine your business plan and make it easy to read. Be a pleasant person to talk to and don’t come across as begging the loan officer.

One last few bits of advice is to attempt ahead of time to establish some kind of business credit.

There used to be the things called pass book checking accounts in the old days but these are no more. The pass book account allowed businesses to slowly build up credit.

A better way to build up business credit is to buy a CD (Certificate of Deposit) at the bank you are trying establish a reputation at and take a loan out on that CD.

Pay the CD off over a few years time and never be late in making your payments on that loan. Once your business loan is paid off you will have a better credit score to use in getting that business loan.

Also try opening up a cell phone business account using your tax id as this will assist in building business credit. Go out to mint.com and find a good low interest business credit card and apply for that as well. By having the credit card, bank loan, and cell phone account you will be establishing credit using 3 different business accounts, just don’t be late on your payments.

If you haven’t already you will need to setup an LLC which will allow you to get a tax id to establish credit on. Rather than building up credit on your personal social security number you need to build up business credit. Go out to legalzoom.com and they can automate much of the tasks involved in setting up a new Limited Liability Company. You will get a tax id that you can use to open up a business banking account.

Be sure to buy that CD and take a loan out on that CD using your business tax id number and not your social security number so that you are building business credit and not personal credit.