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Crowdsouring Logo Design

The new logo design for webin4.com has been chosen and the new site design is well underway.

I was pretty suprised by the general calibre of the logo designs, out of the several hundred we received the majority of the entries were excellent.

Some where a bit amateurish but I would highly recommend using 99Designs to run a logo competition for something like this.

Logo Design for Webin4.com

We are currently doing a rebranding and simplification of our webin4.com website and we are using 99 Designs to 'crowd source' the logo design.

See our entries so far for our logo design competition

This will be the third redo since the site started last year and we are using the feedback from customers to do so.

It's a long process to get a website like this right and properly off the ground.

The design finishes next week and we are really excited by the designs so far!

It's really hard both explaining what you want for a logo let alone choosing a logo from the designs. Generally for clients we just get given a logo and we design around it or for it, but having our own logo designed is a far more challenging experience.

Quoted in Business Technology Article

A few months back I was quoted in a business article about Google and yahoos offer for 'free' credit towards online Ads and what I thought of this both from my own business and my clients.

I am strongly for online advertising on Google for many of our client's businesses.

For example one of our primary markets Florists have huge success in online advertising for their websites with Google Adwords and I strongly recommend these clients use these marketing channels.

Flowers have an immediacy need, someone needs to send flowers for an event, birthday, wedding, funeral etc they turn to Google type in 'flowers delivered sydney'.

This potential customer then has a very high likelihood of completing the transaction on the website provided the site looks good (works obviously) and the price is right.

The same thing with plumbers, electricians etc, people have a need specific right now need, and Search Engine Advertising is great for that.

But things like websites (that we sell) there is less of an immediate need, sure we do get clients from searching the web and doing web searches for eCommerce Packages etc, but when you have to bid 20 / 30 / 40 dollars a click through for some of the popular keywords you place some serious thought into how much the actual customer acquisition will cost you.

We have also had a multi faceted marketing strategy:

• Advertising;
• Referrals
• Cold & warm calling;
• Direct Marketing;
• eMail Newsletters; and
• Search Engine Optimisation.

If I was selling something with an immediacy need I would be more prone to using Paid Google Advertising, however I would not seriously consider using Yahoo for the same, as there is just not the same traffic from the site.

By the same token though if you are going after huge awareness and customer acquisition phase and you have cash flow, the PPC and Google Adwords will do wonders for your business.

Read the article here

Giving Away Free Stuff to Small Business

One of the really interesting aspects of working with small business is their resistance to technology.

A recent blog entry I read suggested that this resistance is due to two factors:

• The Upfront Costs
  
• Inability to see the ROI on the costs
  

In the same article (which is American figures) it suggests that 70% of SMBs don't even have websites which is a truly sad indictment on SMBs in my opinion.

But I can see the point of the article, the high perceived cost of entry for a small business to get a website and the technical mumbo jumbo are huge barriers to actually getting a website.

The technology model that is suggested for small businesses is low cost of entry and higher subscription costs. We see it all the time in printers, where a brand new excellent colour laser printer may only cost $400, but the printer cartridges can cost up to $600 for a full set after the initial trial cartridges have been used.

In the software business this is in effect the Software As A Service SAAS model, where you use software online and pay virtually no up front cost only a subscription based on your usage.

We sell our services and products in effect as a SAAS, with Webin4.com being a truly virtual product, although we charge an upfront fee to get your website done but at a significant discount to the normal costs charged by bespoke designers.

The problem with technology for SMBs is it's complex, expensive and has for years over promised and under delivered.

Whilst I believe that a company without a website is truly archaic, even if the site is just a small group of pages with a mission statement and contact details. I can understand why small companies haven't taken the plunge yet.

Web 2.0 was all about democratizing the web and making it easier for people to contribute online and OWN the process.

I am not so sure about offering 'free' upfront websites with subscription costs, but it's an interesting model nonetheless.

Maybe in time I will change my mind though...

Tommorow is launch day of Webin4

So tomorrow is the official launch of http://www.webin4.com.

I have started to do the media interviews and have scheduled the press releases for the morning.

I did my first media interview today and I really need a lot more practice on this whole media thing!

But I am eternally grateful for all the hand holding and help from my friend Gabriel who has helped shape and target the official media launch.

You will be able to read the press release after 8:30 AM tomorrow morning on http://www.webin4.com/blog/

I am really very excited about this!

The Webin4.com product has been a concept in my mind for a very long time indeed and it's now a reality and an amazing site!

I really have to thank everyone involved in the development it has just been such an amazing experience.

Based on the number of clients that are already buying the product and their feedback it truly is a revolutionary web solution for small to medium business wanting a professional website at an affordable price in just 4 easy steps.

Upgrade of My website to a Webin4.com website

I have upgraded my website to use one of our popular products, Webin4.com - Websites in 4 Easy steps.

Webin4.com is a very exciting online product which merges the gap for micro business and small businesses to purchase professional websites that are customised to their needs at an affordable price.

For as little as $495 companies can choose a layout from our library and they are then guided through a process to tell us how they would like their site to be customised.

They can choose almost any of the templates and we will change the:

• Colour Scheme;


• Images;


• Navigation;


• Logos etc; and we will even uplaod their basic content for them.

This means that the end product often looks nothing like the base template and the business gets a professional website along with our very easy to use Content Management Tool Sliced Bread, all for an affordable price.

Webin4.com was created to fill the market need with professional SEO friendly websites that are affordable for businesses without having pay for a designer and developer.

We are finding that as new micro businesses start up, they really need a website that has all the bells and whistles, but they simply do not have the budget to have something built from absolute scratch.

My website for example is this template:

I liked the basic layout and the main image in the banner, but I didn't like the orange colour of the menu.  So we changed it to a green whch I think works much better.

I didn't need Testimonials on the right hand side either so we just got rid of them.

The focus of my site is my blog, so we placed the blog on the front page and I can update my blog from within Sliced Bread, which means I no longer have to use the blogger interface, but I still use www.blogger.com as my blog engine.

Timing and Delivery

The site was converted and set up in less than one day, which is about the average time it takes to set up a www.webin4.com website.

Webin4.com is not a DIY Website Builder

When customers purchase a webin4.com website they are not buying a DIY Website Builder, they are buying a fully functional website that is set up for them with all the features available through Sliced Bread Content Management. 

Website builders do not create websites that are easy to use, nor do they allow people to easily manage their website in the future.

The Market Experience

It's interesting that one of our largest growth markets is personal websites where people want a website just like this with a blog, biography or CV and a way to protect their name online.

It's becoming increasingly important to not only own your name as a domain name, but publish content to the web that is professionally savvy.  Otherwise when people Google you they may only find fragmented information.

We will be launching a special 'Protect Your Brand' marketing offer soon which will give you:

• Your own Domain Name * Subject to Availability


• A Professional Webin4.com website


• A Blogger.com blog account that you can post to from Sliced Bread;


• Sliced Bread Content Management Tool so you can grow your website as you see fit; and


• Twelve months free hosting!

All for $495! Thats a saving of almost $240 for the first year.  It's a fantastic offer at a totally affordable price!