Category: services

Email Marketing

Posted on by Stephen

For those who need to remind their clients that they are active in their field, I recommend email marketing. Email marketing is also great for organizing and communicating with potential clients. I understand that email marketing for the receiver, can be annoying, but email marketing software companies make it easy to unsubscribe with two clicks at most. Before sending to anyone, be mindful of the policy most email marketing companies have that you are only sending to people who have subscribed to your email list. At very least only send to people who you sincerely believe would benefit from the service you offer. These policies are there to prevent spam.

Mailchimp would be my recommended email marketing software. My second recommendation is Constant Contact. If you are wanting a more serious presence, Contant Contact has branding that fits that mature presence, and this may be inportant to you if any of the branding of the email marketing software appears along side yours. But, if you don’t mind the playful and sometimes goofy Mailchimp branding, this company gives away so much of their services for free that almost all of my clients needs fit within the free tier of services.

Mailchimp used to offer an unbelievable free service. Accounts on a Free plan that were created before August 29, 2022 include up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 2,000! I have this account. But, my guess is that too many accounts fell within that amount causing Mailchimp to work too much for free. So, recently they cut back. The Free plan now includes up to 500 contacts and 2,500 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 500.

My account was grandfathered in to allow for 3 different contact (audience) lists. They got rid of that a while ago, and now only allow for 1 list. But, if you want to send different mini-lists out due to different subjects or kinds of clients, you can cut up your list with the use of tags. For example, if you are a house painter and provide kitchen renovations, you can tag your contact list with two tags, painting and renovations.

People often come to me for a website. But, some fields, your website has little return on investment (ROI). Some businesses just need to remind people they are out there working. A good example is a carpenter who does renovations. Time and again I have been told by clients in building that their website doesn’t get them new work, it is just confirmation that they are active. But, websites are a passive form of marketing. Email marketing is active and goes one step further by going to client or potential client to relatively unobtrusively remind them you still there for them.

Social Media Marketing

Posted on by Stephen

Many of my clients are in such competitive fields that they come to me looking for a way to get their business found. Long ago the solution was print ads and word of mouth. Word of mouth is still powerful, and Yelp has become the digital version of word of mouth, but there are still many sectors of people who may want your service or product, but don’t know you exist. Organic search is important, but recently, for some business sectors, there has been a drop in potential customers and clients committing through websites.

One solution I have found to finding people who can’t find you is Facebook marketing. Just to briefly mention my morals on the topic of Facebook Advertising: I’m against Facebook selling the public’s data for outside business’ profit, and I even find it creepy how much Facebook knows about each and every one of us. But, what I do see useful about Facebook’s collection of data is (as long as the person who uses it has “good intent”) it is a great way for very small sectors of the population who actually would need your service or product to find you without the waste. Just think of all the junk mail you get in your physical mailbox that has nothing to do with your interests and buying, that you are getting just because of your address, or you bought something with a credit card. Think of all the wasted resources and energy that takes. With Facebook advertising, you can strategize a small list to just the people you want to see your services or product, and hopefully they will not mind seeing what you have to offer tucked in their Facebook and Instagram feed.

Schildbach Design is offering small Facebook Advertising packages to start. At the time of writing this, we have only done 5 campaigns. So, yes, we are new to this. But, in a short time we have discovered some new strategies that you may not know about. The biggest mistake we see small business owners make, is they try to do it themselves, but don’t take the time to dig in deep to the most effective technologies of the service. Some small business owners are great at their own marketing. But, there are several tactics you may not be implementing, and there are details you may be overlooking. For example, how familiar are you with Facebook Pixel—the code that allows you to retarget? And, are you using snapshots from your phone for the images? That is a subconscious message to your customer that bad photography reflects badly on a business. Or, are you spending thousands of dollars because your parameters for your audience is too large? Schildbach Design will be discerning about your ad settings. We do photography both in house and has excellent photographers in their design community. And, we work with you because you know your business best. Together, we come up with the best content and landing page to bring customers and clients to you.

Do Facebook Ads Work?

Well, does it work you ask? It really depends on your business. In your business, if you are able to pinpoint a small audience that you can be certain will be interested in your service or product, then there is a very good chance you will have success. The important thing to know is in the way Schildbach Design strategizes the campaigns, the cost is low risk. And, we back up all of our work with the data results provided by Facebook, your contact form results, and your website activity. Three month packages are recommended. The average 3 month package is $1,200 including FB advertising costs.

Inquire about Facebook Advertising with Schildbach Design.

The Single Page html5 Website With No Database

Posted on by Stephen

(Revised from March 9, 2017)

Schildbach Design One Page Scrolling Website Examples

In 2018, Schildbach Design is offering html5 one page websites for clients who want to simplify their life. This kind of website is for the client that hands their edits to the web designer and don’t edit their site much. The design is based on the design and development seen on my Home Page. Or, designs from the templates offered by html5up.net. Of course you can make it your own with your own personal colors, fonts, imagery. You will notice that their are several vertical and horizontal panels to this home page. You are allowed up to 10 panels (vertical and/or horizontal). This would be a great start to selling a project or a simple portfolio for a visual artist, designer, photographer, musician, or other creative. Just contact us through our contact form and mention “The html5 (no database) website”. Let’s work together on your single page website!

No Database Means No Hackers, No Plugin Updates, & No Headaches

Schildbach Design specializes in building WordPress websites. But, we have noticed that some small businesses and individuals are too busy to update their site, and come to us for content changes. If you don’t ever log in to your own site, and you ask your web designer to change content for you, you don’t need a CMS like WordPress, or a web builder like Squarespace. All you may need is an html5 website. Your site may need more than one page, but the main change toward simplicity is a website without a database. No more plugin updates, no more hackers, and no more headaches.

What I’m Hearing

If I could give any recommendation, no matter how much you think it doesn’t matter for your particular business, if you don’t have one by now, you need a website! Sure, I understand, some people really don’t want a website, and that is fine. But, for those of my colleagues who have small businesses or are individuals with creative projects, these are some of the following untruths I have heard:

“I don’t need a website because I get all of my work by word of mouth.”

Even if you get all of your work by word of mouth, you still need to show people your work or your credentials. Even when you have a loyal client they may want to see what you are working on outside of their project, and this will deepen your relationship with that client.

“Having a Facebook page is all I need.”

Don’t underestimate the value of branding or your business identity, people want to associate you with a particular look or feel. And, when you primarily use Facebook, you look like, well…Facebook. The same goes for LinkedIn, Instagram or any other social media.

“Funnels and landing pages are replacing websites.”

My response to this is an ethical one: If all you care about is making money and nothing else, then yes, funnels and landing pages, pound for pound, are more effective. But, for those of use who have a passion for our work, and value the substance behind our businesses, funnels and landing pages are the pushers on the street, while websites welcome customers in to your door.

“I can’t afford a website, or don’t have the time to build a website on my own.”

You don’t have to start out with a 100 page website. In fact with how little time people have to read these days, a small business or project should not have more than 10 pages, excluding the pages on their blog. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the prospects of the work and cost of a new website, try a single page website.

Thank you to Alvaro Trigo for developing fullpage.js, the core behind my single page websites and scrolling home pages. Without your generosity, I would not have been able to offer this service at such an affordable rate.

 

Promotional and Fundraising Videos

Posted on by Stephen

A Video Can Be A Great Companion To Your Website

I am not just a web designer, and Schildbach Design does not only build websites. Schildbach Design is actually moving toward Branding Design and Business Identities. In addition to all the web design and graphic design services Schildbach Design provides for Businesses, my assistant Shaun and I have started offering short promotional videos as a service. A short promotional video can be a great companion to your website for those customers and clients who want to get a feel for who you are. And, a fundraiser video can be a great way to raise money for your project or non-profit.

We Have Access To A Photograhy Studio For Filming Video

Not to disregard the years of learning and work it takes to be a videographer, we are not competing with videographers with years of experience and thousands of dollars of equipment. Instead, we have quickly figured out a way to make affordable promotional videos for businesses and for individuals with projects that need a short video. As you know, your website is not the only tool for marketing that you need to promote your business. A good social media presence, and now video, are needed to round out the promotion of your business or project. Schildbach Design has access to a photography studio for filming at their Gelb office. We can do basic set design for formal interviews. We are initially taking a low tech approach to the video recording using an iPad. You would be surprised at the video quality once adjusted in the editing process. And, our sound quality is excellent—we are using high-end microphones and audio interface for sound. Finally, we do video editing in Adobe Premiere which has all the editing and effects capabilities for a film, let alone a short promotional video.

2018 Video Package

In 2018 we are offering a promotional video package for only $400. This includes:

  1. Planning, Strategy, and Storyboarding
  2. Filming (Video and Audio)
  3. Editing (Video and Audio)
  4. A Final Video of up to 5 minutes for any web platform (YouTube, Kickstarter, Website, Etc…)

This is an amazing opportunity for any business who needs to attract more clients or make more sales. As we buy more video equipment, prices will go up in 2019. You will need to be in the Seattle area for this offer. See an example of what we are providing. Go to this Kickstarter campaign. We made the video.

Secure Your WordPress Website with SSL

Posted on by Stephen

In 2017 hacking is on the rise, and most browsers are requiring website owners to add an SSL certificate to their site if the site has a database. This includes all CMSs, which includes WordPress sites. You may have noticed that if your site is still “http” you either see an insecure lock icon or text that reads, “Not Secure” in the upper left hand corner of your browser. This is obviously bad for a number of reasons in addition to your site not being secure. Your web visitors are going to not trust being on your site and now Google and other search engines may even dock your SEO.

Schildbach Design offers a service where we will secure your site with an SSL certificate for $50 if it is a WordPress site, and $100 for any other CMS. With some research, you could also do this procedure yourself. If you have purchased a website maintenance package with Schildbach Design, I can apply the time it takes to do this procedure to the package. So, if you are seeing those security warning messages or icons, it’s time to switch to “https”. Contact me for more information.