Buddy Web Design

Practice what we preach – Great SEO results in Somerset West

“ Got a new client yesterday via Google. Our business is to help people get clients via Google. Going to sit down and blog (invest time) about blogging. Or maybe do some Google my business work, ask a satisfied client for a Google review. Local search has been good for us this past year. Thought about doing a book or manual but time is the problem for most small businesses as well as the idea that SEO is complex. So shorter would be better. Short like this status update. Get it? ”

Social Media Marketing for small businesses

The previous paragraph is actually my current Facebook status.

I quickly reminded my Facebook friends that I am good at what I do. Who knows which of my friends have been mulling about the idea of getting a website? Maybe this coming holiday season will see someone asking me to assist with a website or help with SEO? Small businesses are baffled or mesmerized by buzz words like Social Media marketing and the opportunities it presents. Updating your own Facebook status now and then , showing people that you are passionate about your work is a simple , free and effective way of doing social media marketing. It’s all about online relationships. Having a Facebook page for your business or even as a sole proprietor your own personal page is just an extension of who you are in real life.

Monthly newsletter – Keep in touch with current and potential clients

You are receiving my blog entry / newsletter because somewhere in the past we talked about getting a website for your business or perhaps assisting with SEO work. Maybe you attended a Kwikwap training session which I presented. Maybe you are family or a friend. (Hi to everyone!) Here is what’s news:

I used to regularly do a monthly newsletter but the past year has seen me not doing it as I should. The problem is that it is difficult to keep on writing interesting things about web design. For example the one topic as per my current Facebook update is about blogging about blogging. This would not be the first time which I have done so. I find myself going back and repeating the basics of having a successful internet presence and doing the basics well.

Add to that the fact that people are busy. People being small business owners.  I am delighted and surprised every time someone tells me that they actually read my longer blogs or newsletters. Well I guess maybe some people find the soul of a web designer interesting or maybe some people genuinely want to do better with their websites.

So what’s new? - Facebook scheduled posting

Facebook came up with scheduled posting. This is great news for people like me. Take for example this blog. It’s a Saturday morning and I have inspiration to blog. I feel a good blog coming up. Once done it would be added to my website and emailed to my subscribed mailing list. (As always I change the heading and introductory paragraph to do better with SEO and to have a better chance at bypassing Spam filters). Now I might be super keen to immediately share this with friends on Facebook. But it’s the weekend and who wants to read about websites and SEO on a Saturday. It’s also just about payday and time to pay bills and do Christmas shopping. I would do far better by scheduling a post for Monday or Tuesday morning when people are more possibly more receptive to reading my blog or to give thought to the idea of getting a new website or having some SEO work done.

So we will definitely be scheduling  posts. I am considering to sit down today and experimenting with one or more of my Facebook pages and to work out posts for every day for the next week. By the way we are now paid by more than one client to do exactly this kind of thing for them. Like we are excited to get a web design or SEO client via Search Engines we should be getting clients via Facebook if we expect people to pay us to help them get the same results.

Unless you are a rock star, photographer then I find it difficult to understand other Social Media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram with a view to establish a brand or to gain more clients. Maybe large corporate companies will be successful on these platforms as well even though at a cost. Our Social Media marketing  services are thus mostly limited to Facebook. I have started to explore Twitter mainly because I find the news feeds interesting when there is action happening like a court case or coup in Zimbabwe and you have people on the ground tweeting about events as they are happening.

I am not sure people will follow a dentist as he performs a root canal treatment or a plumber as he…

Off-the-shelf websites (amazing designs)

Kwikwap has come up with Off-the-shelf websites to which new designs are added daily. These designs are sorted by industry categories making it super easy to get a great looking website in a matter of a few minutes. The time has come to change the design of our own website as well. The picture of me and Melanie which forms part of our Logo was taken about 7 years ago on Houtbay beach. I dislike the spiraling out of control globe which found its way into our Logo. I do like our faces as being part of our Logo. It fits in nicely with Facebook and hopefully portrays a non-corporate attitude when dealing with clients. The idea to target corporate companies and even companies in countries like England has presented itself. There are large web design and content creation companies based in Cape Town which almost exclusively target the UK market.

2018 for Buddy Web Design

As some of you might or might not know I am now a full time financial manager at a clothing factory. May 2018 would see me back in the accounting seat for two years. I feel like I have regained a valuable skill which I almost lost after solely focusing on web design for 7/8 years. The danger is that I now might lose the web design and SEO skill I gained if I do not pay attention to industry changes. Melanie is still full time running Buddy Web Design in-between changing Ella’s nappies. Fortunately we have a great nanny who comes in on Mondays and Fridays.

The problem in the web design industry is that there are many part time web designers entering the market. One gets desponded when someone asks on Facebook for a web designer and you see in your area 30 “companies” being recommended. These “companies” are people like me and Melanie.

Hard to believe that there is only 3 weeks left before our 3 week holiday break and then we can face 2018.

Another credit rating industry downgraded South Africa’s government debt to Junk status yesterday. It seems difficult economic times are here and will remain with us going into 2018. I do have faith in a post Zuma South-Africa. I hope he is not as lucky as Bob from Zimbabwe to escape prosecution by way of indemnity or Presidential pardon. The ANC will hopefully lose more voters and we can look forward to a South-Africa that can rebuild itself from the disaster of almost absolute power.

Chances are that I might start working half day as an accountant and then focus on building our web design and my accounting and tax practice the other half of the time. Or maybe I might jump full time into doing both. I will re-register as an accountant and tax practitioner before the end of February 2018.

Improving current content on websites

There is some great manuals or books I wrote on marketing your website and SEO. Also on Kwikwap CMS training. Instead of writing new manuals or books I could consolidate and edit this information and perhaps even consider presenting a book to a publisher. Most of this information has been on the internet and have been freely available for some time so I might find getting a publisher difficult. I have always maintained that a website is an electronic book. I do get paid for my books when I gain a client via a Google search or where I get commission / sell an advertisement from one of my tourism websites. So maybe I can claim to be a paid, published author.

This holiday break might possibly see me working on improving the content of my electronic books. (My websites.)

It also costs me money to annually renew my domains. Some of my own websites are not bringing in enough money because I only have so much time. But I have noticed as the years pass that these websites do better and establish themselves. Age is a factor search engines like Google consider when ranking websites.

Ideally 2018 and beyond would see me being a full time content writer. For my own websites and for clients. The phone will ring and we will get web design clients. Here and there we do gain clients via Facebook.

Merry Christmas

We wish you and your families a merry and blessed Christmas. Our tree is up already and we have a lot of joy in the house with our Ella. She is now 2 years and almost three months. The cutest thing ever.  We will stay at home during these holidays in Strand as we live on an estate that is bordered by a beach.