Category: Websites

What is a Domain?

The internet is a technological landscape of many different parts that come together in a way that is so seamless, most people take it for granted. These parts all work in the background to provide your internet experience. Most of the internet is made up of web pages that you access every day for various services.

Most small business web pages seem to have been an afterthought in the beginning of their business. They are usually small with a brief description, contact information, and a picture. The older the business, the more likely the information is out of date and the page is forgotten.

So what exactly is a web page?

Well, now we are getting too far ahead because you haven’t asked what a domain is. It’s okay. DNS or the Domain Naming Service is the boring part of the internet for many people. A business domain is often an overlooked asset, because people do not understand it.

Domain names were developed, because people are bad at remembering numbers. People know they can type Facebook.com into their browser, but no one is going to remember 31.13.66.35. That number is called an IP address and is used to tell the internet where the Facebook.com server is. Domain records also tell the internet where to send your email. Think of it as the internet house address for your business that tells the world where your website and email lives. Both live on a server, which is usually run by a company that is called a hosting provider, which has a server that has an IP address. You buy your domain through a registrar. It is the registrar’s job to know who owns what domain and the IP address of the server hosting the domain. The DNS hosting provider in turn tells the internet where the e-mail, webserver, and a variety of other services are located.

Get More Done With Sales Automation

Are you using automation effectively for your business?

One of the clients that we encounter frequently is one that is in the position where they are so busy that they couldn’t possibly take on anymore work. The response is that they don’t need any marketing, because what would they do with the extra business?

You might think that we can’t help this person, and you would not be alone. The person we are talking to thinks the same thing. They are so busy and have been doing things a certain way for such a long time that they miss opportunities to automate certain tasks they do every day. You may have more time than you sometimes realize.

Employees are not a reliable source to tell you that parts of their job could be automated or made more efficient. Their job security relies on the hours they spend doing something, and showing you that they are doing something.

As a small business ourselves, we know the power of automation. We can help your business utilize the same automation tools that we use that save time, reduce mistakes, and save labor costs. Free up time for yourself and your employees to do the important tasks, and automate everything else.

We offer custom websites with the ability to automate many common tasks that businesses spend time on. A tasks that takes five minutes a day is one that eats up 25 minutes of your week or an hour and 25 minutes of your month. How many five minute tasks do you have? How much time would you save if your didn’t have to do it?

Our websites are configurable to your business process.

• Calendar plugins so your clients can schedule meetings without having to call
• CRM systems that allow you to track clients, send quotes, and send invoices
• Automated emails to keep customers informed of the next step
• Payment systems that allow clients to pay on your site
• Booking systems that allow customers to schedule and pay for appointments on your site so you don’t have too
• Design plugins that allow customers to design their own products
• Contact forms that are designed to provide the information that you need

Marketing is an investment into your business’s future. Small investments in digital marketing can have a big impact over time and helps secure your customer base. The time to do this is not when your business is slow, but when you have the money to spend on these investments. While we are creating and executing a marketing plan, we can add automation to your sales process, saving you time, and increasing your income.

We offer a Free assessment that looks at your current business needs and shows where changes could be made to improve both your digital marketing and your sales automation. We present this to you and provide documentation for you to refer to later. It’s useful for your business whether you decide to go with us or not.

What is a Computer Algorithm?

People talk about algorithms like they are a mystical code embedded in the internet. Algorithms are just sets of instructions for a computer to follow and are used by search engines to determine what results to show when a user searches for keywords. Search Engines use algorithms to rank data from websites in order to display the most helpful information.

Google uses algorithms to rank websites on it’s search engine results. You would think they use magic the way some marketing companies present their services. Google actually has good documentation describing what they want and they provide free tools to test your website.

It’s less magic and more boring reading and site testing. The magic comes later when your site starts ranking and people are able to find your services. The non-magic part comes first and involves things like;

• Creating a Google search console account
• Creating a XML site list
• Research keywords and include them effectively in your content
• Submit the XML site list to the search console
• ‘Run the PageSpeed Insights and fix any issues
• Use Social media and content marketing together to increase back-link traffic.
• Use Meta data to introduce your page.
• Use Snippets to display various categories

You want to make it as easy as possible for Google’s algorithm to index your content and display it correctly. Not doing any of this, usually means a site that sits several pages back from the coveted first page results. All of this work is what marketing companies call Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and it’s important when you want your company to appear at the top of the search results when users type in keywords related to your service or product.

Websites provide the code that informs the algorithm what content type is being displayed, provide relevant keywords, and proves the validity of the content by having various independent sources link to it. With constant updates and site traffic, the website will grow in the Google ranking system and enter first page results.

Content Marketing is a great way to increase traffic, updates, and back links to your website, which also contributes to website ranking. It also provides a source of keywords through relevant articles.

If you combine all of this with a robust advertising campaign, you will have a website that shows up when your customers are looking for your products or service.

All this is enough information to get you started. Brayson Managment provides all these services and can help you come up with a good marketing strategy. Our free Digital Marketing Effectiveness Assessment shows where your business needs help and provides tips you can use to increase the effectiveness of your business digital presence.

Digital Marketing Effectiveness Assessment

Domain Email Gives that Professional Look

Engaging with your customers is best done with a domain email you have control over. You don’t want to use a personal email. Having your customers email Bigdaddy1968@aol.com is not just unprofessional and tells the world you are 52, it makes your company look small. You also have no control over that email. Your email is controlled by the provider. This is bad if you have a business that uses print ads. If you decide to switch email providers, you have to get all new printed materials, and these costs add up. You can’t just make any email you want because the name has to be unique to their service. You can’t just be Bigdaddy because that name was taken long ago. Any new name you create is going to have a number at the end because it has been used.

Domain email allows you complete control over your email. Say you owned a company and you started out emailing customers as bigdaddy1968@yourdomain.com. You decide that you hate that name, but you have boxes of business cards. Just create a new email box and forward the email from the old email box to the new one. What if you hate your email provider? Find one you like, sign up, and have your registrar point to the new provider. Maybe you want six new email boxes named after anime characters? You can do this easily by just creating new boxes attached to your domain. You own the domain, so you have control.

You pay for your domain when you host your website. It just makes sense to use the service fully and get an email address. Brayson Management adds this service on when you get a website with us and we host your email boxes. We even help you get your email clients connected. You run your business while we take care of your email.