If you’re reading this as a small business owner with products and services and to sell, Tyrus Design can help. Chances are, your small business targets certain demographics in Michigan based upon age, sex and even geographic region. If your small business is already marketing to particular demographics in Michigan, great! If it’s not marketing to certain demographics in Michigan, you should start. But either way, Tyrus Design can help you create a new small business identity or even build upon your small business’s identity to properly brand it in your customer’s minds.

This starts with Tyrus Design’s affordable Website designs, print designs and identity solutions. And in particular, our focus on search engine optimization (SEO) content writing that will get your Website found. As we mentioned above, reaching your target audience is vital to selling more products and services. That’s why every affordable Website from Tyrus Design is carefully crafted with SEO in mind to get you found. But let’s focus in particular on how Tyrus Design’s affordable SEO solutions can get your small business found by using geographic keywords.

Geographic Keyword SEO

Tyrus Design can tailor your small business Website’s content toward certain geographic regions and locations in Michigan and beyond. This means that although your small business may be located in Cheboygan, Michigan, you can target customers anywhere in Michigan. Many small business owners – such as realtors, landscapers, designers, contractors, parts dealers, shipping companies – find geographic SEO extremely useful since their Website can target audiences far beyond their business’s physical location and in regions where traditional marketing, such as radio, TV, newspapers and direct mail do not permeate. In short, Tyrus Design’s affordable Website designs will get your small business found in almost any region where you want customers to find you!

How it Works

We won’t bore you with all the SEO logistics, but keep in mind several important factors that will help get your small business Website found:

• Your Website address (also called a URL): As you can see, our URL at Tyrus Design is http://tyrusdesign.com/. But if you’re serious about selling and marketing to a particular region, consider adding your geographic region into your URL. For instance, if you’re a realtor looking to target Central Michigan, consider making your URL http://www.centralmichiganaffordablerealty.com or something to this effect that displays your geographic region at the forefront of your URL.
• Keywords: As we previously said, “The Key is Keywords”. We stand behind this truth and build your affordable, clean Website design around these crucial keywords. For all SEO campaigns – and in particular geographic SEO – keywords must be strategically placed throughout the text, within in the page title and in the Meta Tags. Have no fear! If you know nothing about properly placing keywords throughout your text and into your page titles and Meta Tags it doesn’t matter! Tyrus Design does this for you with your affordable, clean Website design.
• Blogs: Blogs are a fundamental foundation to any SEO campaign. Without diving too deep into the concept of why a blog is great for SEO, just consider this. Blog posts are FILLED with relevant keywords that can target any geographic region. Blogs are updated regularly and expound upon your page content to add even more keywords. Blogs force search engines to update their indexing and re-reference your Website. Blogs make your Michigan small business’s Website an authority on its subject matter. Enough about blogs! Just keep in mind they’re great for SEO!

If you’re serious about improving your small business’s success and brand identity, contact Tyrus Design to discuss our affordable Website design solutions, print identity and small business identity solutions.

About Tyrus Design

We’re a small business located in Michigan, and we take pride in helping other small businesses in Michigan succeed! We offer amazing Website design services at a far more affordable rate than our competition. Our professional services include:

• Affordable Web design
• Affordable Print design
• Affordable email marketing
• Affordable identity design
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

Quality Content

Just because your Website contains your small business’s unique story and your products and services, keep this isn’t necessarily enough to get your Website found. A good SEO campaign will properly tell your small business’s story and give a compelling reason why customers should use your products and services instead of your competition. Plus it will integrate those all-important keywords that search engines look for to rank your small business’s Website above your competition.

At Tyrus Design, we write quality content for you that will convey your small business’s mission and values while integrating those vital keywords into your Website’s text. We know that one, you don’t have the time to sit down and write your content with keywords in mind. Plus, you may be uncertain what keywords to use and where to strategically implement them into your small business Website. We’ll take the time to ask about your industry and location in Michigan so we can professionally implement both of these necessary pieces of information throughout your clean Website design. We do all of this convenient and professional work for you at a very affordable price.

Why SEO will help you!

Think of it this way. If you have a particular product or service that you want to brand in your customer’s minds, you may use traditional marketing methods – such as direct mail, radio and TV ads, email marketing – to spotlight your chosen product. SEO does the exact same thing and can spotlight your small business Website and even particular pages within in to drive customers to it. For instance, SEO uses specific keywords with more repetition than others. When someone types these specific keywords into their search engine, your Website’s SEO content will help your Website get found based upon the relevance of these keywords. Good SEO content will also use geographic keywords so that your Website will get found in your chose regions. So, you could potentially market to customers anywhere in Michigan and beyond if you strategically use these geographic keywords to your advantage.

Consider this example. If you’re a small business mechanic shop that specializes in affordable break jobs, and you want people to find you based upon “affordable break jobs”, SEO content will drive people to your Website based upon these keywords. What’s more, let’s say you’re located in Lansing, Michigan, but you want to target consumers in Detroit, Michigan. No problem! Tyrus Design’s inexpensive Website design and SEO solutions will get your page found in your region of choice based upon your industry’s keywords of choice. And Tyrus Design does this service at a very affordable price on a gorgeous-looking clean Website design you’re going to love! So don’t leave your small business Website’s success to chance, contact Tyrus Design and let’s talk about how our affordable Website design services can help your business grow!

A Little About Tyrus Design

We’re a small business located in Michigan, and we take pride in helping other small businesses in Michigan succeed! We offer amazing Website design services at a far more affordable rate than our competition. Our professional services include:

• Affordable Web design
• Affordable Print design
• Affordable email marketing
• Affordable identity design
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

But have no fear! At Tyrus Design we’re SEO experts and we keep keywords in mind as we design your small business Website. We optimize your Website full of strategic keywords that will move it to the top of the search engines without comprising the integrity of business’s message. But enough about us, let’s talk about why keywords are so important and how they’ll get your small business Website found.

What is a Keyword

Keywords are words that are used more repetitively throughout your Website’s text in comparison other words. These words need to correspond to both your industry and your geographic location. This is because first, customers will enter a search string into their browser (Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN) based upon your small business’s industry. In other words, if you sell flowers, a person searching for flowers in Michigan will enter “affordable roses” or “inexpensive bouquets” into their search engine. Therefore it’s imperative that your Website is filled with keywords that correspond to your small business identity.

Next, customers will search for your small business based upon geographic keywords as well. So again, if you’re selling flowers in Michigan, your Website design needs to repetitively mention that you’re located in Michigan. This is because a person looking to buy flowers in Michigan will search for “affordable roses Michigan” or “inexpensive bouquets Michigan”.

So you can see that keywords lay the foundation for your Website because they are related to your business’s identity and its geographic location.

Keyword Relevance

As we mentioned above, keywords should be used more repetitively than other words in your Website design to optimize SEO. This is because search engines rank Websites upon their relevance and keywords play a vital role in this process. Plus relevancy is based solely upon the search string a customer enters into their browser and how your Website’s keywords – along with other SEO factors – stack up against the competition.

Why Tyrus Design is the Best!

We professionally write your entire Website’s content with keywords in mind. We don’t dilute your small business’s identity or core message as we strategically integrate keywords throughout the text. You’ll find our affordable Website designs and small business solutions will deliver your compelling story to your customers while at the same time propelling you to the top of the search engines with our rocket science SEO. Plus, we offer blog and article services that will increase your keyword relevance to boost your Website even higher against your competition.

So if you have story to tell and a customer to who’s looking for it, contact us at Tyrus Design. We specialize in affordable SEO solutions and clean Website designs for you small business.

SEO
SEO is an art and a mastery that uses various factors – keywords, relative links, Meta tags, HTML changes – to improve a Web site’s page ranking in an organic search. Now, before we lose you here with this technical jargon, keep in mind that we’ve perfected the art of organic SEO at Tyrus Design to provide affordable small business Web design solutions that will get your Web site found organically.

Organic Improvement
Organic improvement does not deploy annoying advertising elements throughout your small business Web site. Instead, it’s a process that advances your Web site to the top of a search engine’s first page by playing upon their algorithmic search results. In short, organic SEO knows how search engines function and it anticipates what search terms – or keywords – a person will type into their browser. Now that we’ve briefly covered how SEO works in an organic search, let’s discuss how Tyrus Design affordably implements this strategy to get your small business found.

Keywords
It’s all about the keywords! Tyrus Design keeps this important factor in mind as we create your Web design and write the text for your Web site. We anticipate how a person will enter keywords into a search query and we fill your Web site full of both industry and geographic keywords. For instance, let’s say you own a small bakery in Michigan and you sell cookies, brownies, fresh baked bread, muffins, pies, etc … You have to consider that a hungry cookie lover will sit down at the computer and type “cookies in michigan” into their search engine. If your Web site is filled with pastry relevant words in Michigan, it’ll most likely get found. Therefore it’s vital that your Web site contains industry and geographic specific keywords so that it will get found.

Links
Keywords are extremely helpful for SEO, but a full campaign does not stop there. In going and outgoing links also help get your business found. Why is this? Because there is a program – or a little thing called a Webcrawler or spider – that combs the ENTIRE internet around once a month. And when we say the ENTIRE internet, we mean more than 20 billion pages! This little guy needs help finding all those pages, and that’s where links come in. When you establish back links to your site, you’re essentially giving this spider a shortcut straight to your site. And that’s great! Because the more the spider finds you, the higher it will rank your page in an organic search.

If you’re a small business owner that has answers to someone’s question, Tyrus Design has an affordable solution. We’re a small business Web design company in Michigan that specializes in SEO, small business identity design, print design and logo design. Contact us today and get your small business found.

About a month or two back, through much research, I decided that there wasn’t a good app on my iPhone that would take care of my calendar and task items. There are apps that tried, but ended up falling short. This made me decide that the only way to stay organized was to find a separate calendar and task managing program that I could install on my phone and have with me at all times. I started my search for the task program and virtually tried every free or purchased app out there.

This was my criteria for what I wanted in a task managing program:

1. 1. A clean interface that was easy to navigate through
   2. One that I could update from my computer.
   3. One that I could add large lists too easily instead of having to type everyone list item separately.
   4. One that I could share lists with other people

You would think that having such a short list of wants would make it easy to find an app. It wasn’t.

And then one day (and I don’t remember how I came across this) I discovered the single greatest task managing app for the iPhone. Wunderlist by 6Wunderkinder.

It started out as just a great app for the iPhone. The interface for Wunderlist is very clean, and you can alter the look to fit whatever type of style you prefer. I picked a dark slate look cause that fit me.

Adding lists and then tasks for the list is a piece of cake and very easy to stay on top off. But that wasn’t the best part. Through the app, you can email a list to yourself with the list name in the subject line and the tasks in the body on a separate lines. This made it so easy to update a list or create a new one with task items already in it. Amazing!

But wait, it gets better. Not only can you create a list through email, you can share a list with someone by emailing it to them, and their Wunderlist app will be updated. If you have several workers working on a client, you can continually update the tasks for them.

But just when I couldn’t think this app could get any better, they outdo themselves and not only give you a desktop program to update your Wunderlist, but they go out and make an extension for your web browser so you can update it on any computer! And the interface on both is exactly like the app, so there is no confusion. All my needs were met.

The Wunderlist is by far the greatest task managing app out there. Believe me, I am not a app review specialist, I am just someone who runs a business and tries to stay organized. I have tried all the apps out there and they all fail in comparison to the Wunderlist task managing app. The only thing that would make this app better is if it were free. Oh wait……it is FREE!

I am keeping my fingers crossed for a Calendar app from the same company.

If you have any questions about this app or any other app I have reviewed, please contact me.

Don’t be a twit…..tweet!

The last ingredient to add to your site is a Twitter Feed that displays your Twitter updates and the people you’re following on Twitter. If that seems a little too technically scary, you can easily add your Twitter link to your website, allowing people to click on an image or hyperlink to your Twitter page. If you have not set up a Twitter account for your small business you should. You might be wondering what Twitter has to offer and how it works. Twitter is another social networking opportunity for you to grow you small business. Twitter is one of the most popular social networks and is a fantastic way of gaining more traffic to your website. Twitter allows you to encourage people from all over the world to check out your offers and services. That is why you have a website, right? Whether you’re a Michigan small business or a thriving Dubai Hotel, Twitter welcomes everyone.

Why do you need Twitter?

Some of the best things you can do with Twitter is post free, quality content about your services and goods. No one likes an over-linker so don’t link in every Tweet. The best way to gain followers is to follow people who are in your niche of business. The more people you follow, the more followers you’ll gain. You can also use Twitter to meet people who are on Facebook. A double whammy! You can explore Twitter for new Facebook Fans. More people spend time on the internet than watching TV, which means you better be social networking about your business if you want to more customers.

Facebook me!

Whether you offer digital or physical product and services or you should include a link to your Facebook account from your website. It’s easy to do and will encourage higher rankings. If you don’t know already know, you need a Facebook account for your business. If you haven’t opened one already, you should open a Business Facebook page in specific. The reason you want to open this kind of Facebook page is so Facebook knows you’re a business therefore allows you to have different privileges than a regular Facebook user. You can post ads (for a price) and you can have more “fans” than “friends”. Facebook is the most popular social network and if you’re not plugged into it you’re not keeping up with the times. It may seem intimidating but it’s not. It’s easy to understand, easy to upload content, and will only give you more exposure. Social networking is becoming one of the most strategic ways to generate traffic to a website. The internet has changed into a social network of people conversing about materials, products, people, celebrities, and more. What are they saying about you? Do they know about you and your small affordable business? They should.

Distance shmistance.

Proximity no longer plays a crucial roles in relationships or customer contact. Regular ads don’t work like they used to. More people turn to Google and their friends (word of mouth) for advice on products and goods. Where are people talking the most? Answer: social networks. It’s easy to add your Facebook link to your website or better yet add the option to “like” your offers and letting viewers leave comments about your content through your website while also sharing that info on Facebook. Imagine, someone comes to your website and reads or watches your content. Underneath the information you post there’s an option to comment about it and a Facebook feed of people commenting about it. The conversations are happening on your website and “echoing” on Facebook, like a drip feed. Having said all this, why wouldn’t you get a business Facebook Fan page for your small business? Time to start networking.

It’s always frustrating to get bad directions. But it’s something that everyone encounters at one time or another. People who give bad directions don’t put themselves in the shoes of the person who has never been to that particular location before. They write down to “turn here” and then “turn there”, but they never give you specific details that will help you get there.

The same can be said for directions in your website … or in website terms “Navigation”. If your website has poor navigation, you’re giving your customers bad directions. It can frustrate them immensely and you might lose their business. For instance, if a potential customer calls your store and asks for driving directions, your directions should be as specific as possible. The same can be said for your small business website.

One to Two Click Rule

The general rule of thumb is that a customer should be able to locate information on your website in one or two clicks. And since the internet is becoming faster and faster every day, customers are growing more impatient. Customers demand information quickly and they’ll become frustrated and leave your site when they have to work to find your information.

Now, this one or two click rule isn’t be true for all websites. Businesses that offer a lot of information or products – like government websites and online stores – will take more than one or two clicks to find the information you need. But if your business doesn’t fall into this category, customers should be able to find the information they need on your site with ease.

Where should your navigation go?

The main navigation on your website should be displayed in either the header or on one of your side bars (if you have more than one side bar). You should never use all three for navigation. Using navigation links in all three places can really confuse someone and eventually result in loss of business. The header menu, as seen below, is typically where you will find the main information for your site. The Home, About Us, Services, Contact Us, FAQ, and even Blog typically occupy this menu bar.

Consider consolidating links. For example, let’s say you offer more than one service. In the past, people displayed their numerous links to their services on one particular page. If that specific page was the only page with more than one link, then navigation wouldn’t be too bad. But think about if you have more categories under About Us and FAQ and even more links on these pages? This can be a problem. People become overwhelmed with the choices and will to take their business elsewhere.

Drop it likes its hot

Dropdown menus are a great way to clean up sites. They allow you to consolidate your links and will help you keep your future customers happy. Sidebars are usually used for links to pages that you know your customers want to find pronto. Store location, prices, and special offers are commonly found here. The biggest thing you can do to ensure your customers’ happiness is to keep the one to two click philosophy in mind when you plan your site design. Plan out the pages you’ll show and strive for simple navigation.
Nobody wants to lose a potential customer because they took a right turn rather than a left. Simplify your navigation so that doesn’t happen.

“Oh, I already have a website and I’m happy with it.”

This awful phrase sticks in my ear like water after a swim. And it annoys me to no end. It’s not the fact I’m losing a potential client, it’s the fact that they’re choosing to remain stagnant in the ever evolving World Wide Web. After someone utters that phrase to me, I immediately make a note on their business card to check out their website.  Nine times out of 10 what I find is appalling.

After going to someone’s website – who just finished telling me in their own words “I’m not interested,” –  and seeing an outdated template from 1999 for their 2010 business tells me one simple thing … they aren’t interested in growing their company to reach their target audience.  It’s a sad fact, but it’s true.

Small business owners need to realize that times are changing and their virtual store front needs to be just as impressive as their physical store front. For instance, people now check out a company online before they visit it in person. What will a customer think of your company when they initially see an outdated website? I can tell you this much … you just lost a potential customer.

There are many web design companies out there who offer you a cheap alternative to a custom web design … the awful cookie-cutter template.  Templates are cheap, but not in a good way. What does that say about your company when you choose a design just like everybody else’s? Although your business probably offers many of the same products and services as many others, this doesn’t mean you should market yourself just like your competitors.

Re-designing your company’s website can be a very scary thing for a small business owner, mainly because of price. It’s easy to plan a remodeling of your store because you know exactly how much it will cost – thanks to retailers such as Home Depot. But how many hours do you spend researching web design and how to design a website? My guess is probably none.

Not knowing or realizing the cost versus benefit relationship is what makes custom web design scary. But it doesn’t have too. If you are a small business owner looking to improve your virtual storefront, look no further than Tyrus Design. We provide an amazing alternative to the dreaded template and specialize in helping small and startup companies effectively market their name in the virtual world.

Social Networks as a whole may serve more good than evil. Because of social networks we can now spread the word about products, agencies, organizations, and companies–whether it is good news or bad. Social Networks are crucial to our digital health because they are so viral. It only takes one bad “Tweet” to send your company on a rollercoaster ride through Hell.

So where do you go when you need something specific done? Nowadays most of ask our friends and family because the billboard ads and junk snail-mail just don’t cut it for us anymore. They are interruptions to our daily lives. This is exactly why social networks are SO important: they are full of conversations about what we like and what we are up to. Where do you go when you need affordable small business design or small business identity design? A niche this unique may call for use of good ol’ Google! Most people go to Google these days when they need to and look specific information. So what will Google have to say about you and your business? Consider this: are you plugged into the internet’s many social networks? If you are…what are people saying about YOU?

Google is amazing in that it provides it’s researchers the information they want and need QUICKLY. The difficult thing about Google is understanding how they work from a marketers stand point. Google changes something about themselves TWICE a day. It’s hard to keep up! Just when you thought you had AdWords figured out they change the rules and modify the Keywords Tool. Now Google caters to your city or state for example doing a search on “Michigan web design” or “Michigan small business web design” is no necessarily needed if you’re in Michigan; Google actually knows where you are now. Google may not be a social network (Google Buzz is) but the social networks you are plugged into are crucial! It’s important that whatever you’re selling on the internet be it: BBQ recipes or affordable logo design that you are keeping your Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, and HubPages up to date with original and valuable content. Social Networks are taking over our lives and how we communicate with each other. It used to be so hard for people in unique fields like massage therapy, small business web design or print design, for example, to find their clientele because, well maybe they just weren’t big enough and word-of-mouth can only go so far. Today is possible for the smaller business to get the exposure they need to survive thanks to social networks. Take advantage of this new digital movement and start talking about what you offer and what you can do. If it’s possible to tell the world (or large masses of audiences) about yourself and your business, what are you waiting for?