South Alabama experienced the rare treat of significant snowfall yesterday. I told the employees they did not have to report to work and recommended they spend the extra time with their families. Like many youngsters who have grown up in this area, this snowfall was my son's first real opportunity to experience the joy of snow. Following my own advice, we had a great time together starting with a snowball fight. I had forgotten how cold snow is when it gets down inside your shirt! We ended the day with a pretty well-built snowman with red coke bottle top eyes, carrot nose, cowboy hat and black mouth set to one side giving our "man" a sarcastic look.

I told a client the other day that our office hours are Monday through Friday, 9-5, but as the business owner my office hours are totally different. More like 8-7 Monday through Saturday, plus Sunday afternoons between church. I believe proper priorities should be God, Family, then Work. As any successful businessman knows, it is easy to let Work become the first priority when deadlines loom and work has to be completed. Our Pastor has quoted a statistic many times that the average time a father spends with his children is only 37 seconds per day. Yesterday's snowfall was a welcome opportunity to right the priorities, to spend some family time that will remain in our memories for a long time. I hope you spent time with your family too.

My personal background is a degree in marketing from a top business university with emphasis on entrepreneurship. What does that mean for our clients? I know how to market small and start-up businesses. Our clients know that Wiregrass Advertising, Inc. is not a simple web design company. Instead we are a marketing company whose primary niche is internet marketing, but we can help our clients in many avenues of getting their message out to their target market. Yes, we build great websites that WORK for our clients, but the game does not end there. A small business should understand that a true marketing campaign is an all around experience.

Every marketing campaign needs to start with one question. "Who is my target market?" Once that question is answered in specific terms then the marketing falls into place. The website is designed to appeal to that group of people and the ads are placed wherever those people would be most likely to convert from a viewer to a customer. In addition, if the marketing model calls for it, the client should be willing to do additional non-web related advertising to reach their target market. This may include brochures, business expos, calling on prospects, developing a client list, direct mail and more.

This article stems from a wonderful conversation I had with new clients yesterday. They came into my office with the initial thought of simply having their website redesigned. Part of their problem is that they have been using Yahoo Web Builder. With limited website building knowledge they found making changes was time consuming, therefore the site did not get updated as often as it should. They had known for over a year they needed a new, professionally designed website, but were fearful of the expense. The bottom line is, their company has been in business for five years and only pays the bills. Like many other business owners they feel strapped, tired and depressed because they have not been able to successfully build the business to the profitability level needed to sustain the business.

I immediately understood the problem. Although the client does need a website that allows quick and easy updates, they need more than a website. The problem is, over the course of the past five years they have failed to effectively reach their target market. Today their primary source of future income comes from word-of-mouth from previous customers. Although word of mouth can be great, it is also one of the slowest ways to build a solid and profitable customer base. I showed them my recommendation that would solve the website update problem and provide them with a website that will WORK for them. But over the course of the hour we spent a considerable amount of time just brainstorming ways to get the message to their target market in addition to the website. The ideas we came up with were things the client could do today and tomorrow while the website is being developed and then continue as the business grows.

After our conversation I have a great feeling. It is going to be exciting to watch this fledgling company grow over the course of the next two years as they follow advice and properly implement a full marketing campaign that will certainly meet their budget and their needs and provide then profitability freedom. After all, that is what Wiregrass Advertising, Inc. does...

There is a beautiful TV commercial running right now. It talks about a $6 haircut store opening across from an established barber shop. Instead of rolling over and giving up, the established barber hung up a banner saying, "We Fix $6 Haircuts." The ad continues that a few months later the cheap haircut store was out of business.

As the owner of an established website design business I can relate to this commercial. Few businesses are as cutthroat as web development. There are two reasons for this. First, there is an entire group of people who think because they own a computer they can develop websites and then they offer their services for free or a couple hundred dollars. Second, since the internet is still a relatively new market, the average business owner is not aware of what a properly designed and developed website can do for them. The average person calling our office asks for a couple page website that simply shows what they offer. I have to agree with them. A website like that may only be worth a couple hundred dollars in labor, but is usually worthless as a marketing tool.

As the public becomes more internet savvy they expect more from the websites they visit. Competition on the web is fierce. Every website needs to be able to convince the consumer to do business with the respective business or the website viewer will simply move on. Today, websites that "work" are not cheap to develop. Websites that "work" take many hours to build.

But getting back to the TV commercial. Like the established barber, Wiregrass Advertising has continued to grow and be stronger every year we have been in business because we never offered a cheap website. We have watched many competitors come and go who have offered cheap website design. And the emphasis is on "go." Why is the competition gone? Because the cheap websites did not WORK for the business owner and the cheap web designer was unable to stay in business. And like the established barber, let me hang my banner that says, "WE FIX CHEAP WEBSITES!"

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 is Wiregrass Advertising's sixth birthday in Enterprise, Alabama! Although our founder (now Corporate President, Tim Alexander) had been designing websites since the mid 1990's, our very first website after opening in Enterprise was built for Faith Independent Baptist Church (www.faithibc.com). Next we built some automotive sites and an air freshener website. Our first e-commerce website was built for ME Products and Gifts (www.meproductsandgifts.com) in Daleville, Alabama.

From those humble beginnings we have grown to over 200 clients in about 14 states plus two other countries. Currently we are growing at the rate of one new web design client per week! But what is really nice is that, except for a couple that have gone out of business for one reason or another, the clients from our first year are still our clients today. Not a single first year client has switched to another web designer!

With that said, Wiregrass Advertising realizes that our corporation is comprised of our clients. Without them we could not exist. It is the clients that have allowed us to grow, expand and become what we are today: the largest company offering our range of services in the southeast! We're proud to call south Alabama home. Providing web design in Dothan, Ozark, Daleville, Enterprise, Geneva and all the communities in between has been great for us. We say, "Thank you" and please join us in singing "Happy Birthday."

• E-commerce (Online Store) Value and Tips
• Is Your Web Master a Graphic Designer, Website Designer or Web Developer?
• A Comparison of Southeast Alabama Website Design Companies
• Marketing Consultation Update
• When Websites Don't Work
• Marvin Salter Construction's New Website

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