Blog
Experienced advice and important information about small business operations, marketing, and websites from our office in Fredericksburg, VA.
The ONE Thing
The principles in this book have really guided me and challenged me in every area of my life. They're especially been influential in my business life and in the way I approach things as a business leader, and that's why I wanted to share the principles that I've...
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
I read this book in the mountains while on vacation in West Virginia. As soon as I read it, I could not wait to get back to where I had a cellphone signal and a data connection, so I could start making some of the changes in this book. I read this book three or four...
What Is A Relationship Website?
A relationship website is an information centered website designed to help a potential or existing customer get to know your company better. It is leveraged to strengthen existing relationships and turn word-of-mouth and referrals into paying customers. Relationship...
What Should I Put On My One-Page Website?
If you’re a brand new business or one that just needs a calling card website, you might just want a one-page website. We're not talking about the “one-pager” web design fad from a few years back. We're talking about a legitimately single-page relationship website. If...
Which Website Package Is Right For Me?
If you're asking yourself this question, most likely you've been staring at our Website Packages & Pricing page, scrolling up and down, trying to wrap your mind around the differences, fretting over what's right for your business and your budget. To make matters...
What are some of your more affordable options?
If you're reading this, then you've probably already checked out our website design packages over on our Packages and Pricing page. You've decided that they either include more than your business needs or are simply outside of your budget right now. We still want to...
How Long Does It Take To Get A New Website?
The answers to this question are as varied as the businesses that ask and answer them. It depends on what you need, who you're working with, what you consider "new" and what you require to consider the website "done." Here at Websites For Anything, it typically takes...
3 Reasons to Have a Newsletter
I don’t know how many emails you get from big corporations every day, but I get tons of them. But it seems like most small local businesses here in Fredericksburg aren't sending emails like that. Now to be fair, the things that work for a much bigger business won't...
How Long Is The Contract?
A 12 Month Agreement All of our website packages are designed around a twelve-month initial agreement and include Professional Hosting with Secure Site Guarantee and Advanced Support (unlimited content changes and complete back-end maintenance.) You can upgrade at any...
Will I Own My Website and Why Does It Matter?
If your website is designed and built by us here at Websites For Anything then YES, you will own your website. Why Would I Ever Not Own My Website? Unfortunately some companies only "lease" you the website. They own the design, the files, and sometimes even the domain...
What Do You Need From Me In Order To Build Our Website?
In order for you to have a great website, we have an open, honest relationship with one another supported by responsible communication. One of our main goals is to make this as easy for you as possible. So when you provide your feedback and any "homework" we need on...
Small Business Marketing Is Wrong
The premise here is simple. When it comes to your micro business, small business marketing is wrong. And the reason for that is also simple: There's one very important word missing from that sentence. “Small business marketing” is wrong because micro business is all...
Where Will Our Website Come Up On Google?
If you've asked other small business website providers this question, you might feel like you've gotten the run-around. So here's the truth... We don't know how high your website will come up on Google. What We Know About Your Website's Google Rank What we do know are...
You’re Trying to Find Referrals Backwards
I learned a valuable networking lesson from my business coach last week. This one simple change will turn your referral approach on its head and dramatically increase the success rate of your referrals. It will make everything about giving a great referral easier. And...
Website Customer Profiling
Most small business websites are ineffective because they’re designed completely backwards and they fail to profile the customer. While “profiling” can have serious connotations elsewhere, creating a good customer profile is a key step to designing and building a...
Tools to Use for Promoting your Small Business
We have been talking about relationship websites, and how microbusiness can get more from referrals as a result. We suggest you use this tool as a central hub for bootstrap marketing, to build your website for your small business in Fredericksburg. Today we will be...
8 Ways to Maximize Your Relationship Website
Do you have your website proudly displayed on your business cards and marketing materials, but are having trouble getting customers to come back to your page? Your page could be your primary means for customer access, stepping up your levels of service, and getting...
How Relationship Websites Work
In the previous blog, we discussed how Relationship Websites encourage warm leads to cross into your digital doors, but how do we extend the engagement to offer continuous points of connection? While you are out and about building your business in the greater...
An important TRUTH about both our customers (and ourselves)
Over our seven years of business designing and building websites in Fredericksburg, Virginia, we have come to some determinations about how we run things and what differentiates ourselves and many of our clients, from the traditional company. Like the majority of our...
The Bug Box? We’re Moving to Our Permanent Home!
This weekend we're moving to our permanent home! You may recall that for the last four months we've been graciously hosted by our sister ForAnything.com companies at the main office. This weekend we are moving into a building on Courthouse Road near 4-Mile Fork in...
5 reasons why you should use Google AdWords
Google launched its Self-Service Advertising Program back in October of 2000. Today, we know this as Google AdWords, and as a small business owner here in Fredericksburg it’s definitely something you should think about using to your advantage. If you’re not familiar...
Win over Google using these 4 Tips
Google is extremely smart when it comes to sniffing out the sites that make their way to the top of the search results. It’s hard to trick Google, and you should never try to as you put yourself at risk for receiving a penalty. Ultimately, Google’s goal is to give the...
How Does Google Work?
It’s important for all small business owners in Fredericksburg to understand how Google works because it can drastically affect the amount of traffic your website receives. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? What determines your ranking on Google? In the next...
Leading Your Team
When you’re in a leadership position, sometimes it’s hard to find a good balance in the workplace. Employer-employee relationships is a tough topic to tackle because it’s such a sensitive one. For my fellow small business owners in Fredericksburg, here are some great...
5 Interview Tips for Small Business Owners
Once you have figured out exactly what you are looking for in your ideal employee then you can begin working on finishing the rest of the process. Here are four tips on making the rest of the hiring process as efficient as possible. Create a good job post. Now that...
Hiring Great Employees – Preparation
As a small business owner you know that the people on your team greatly impact the success of your company. It is absolutely critical that you choose wisely. Here are some tips (and an example!) on setting yourself up to make an excellent hire. Identify...
Show Social: A simple way to collect leads
It should come as no surprise that connecting your website to social media can help you capture leads in Fredericksburg or around the world! Using social media on your website will help connect with thousands of customers that are more & more inclined to respond...
Interactive & Engaging: Step two for gathering website leads
There are several things a good website will do to help you capture leads. Last week we talked about the importance of clarity to lead conversion. Another way your website can help you to capture leads is by being interactive and engaging. This doesn’t mean that you...
Clarity: The first step to capturing more leads on your website
When someone follows a link to your website, you want them to be sure you capture that lead! You want them to understand what you do, who you are, and what makes you different from your competition. Sometimes this can be accomplished with a tagline, but sometimes...
Have you gotten distracted?
Owning and Operating a small business is not for the faint of heart. The daily struggle to meet deadlines and satisfy customers can wear you down. It's difficult to find the time to work on marketing or pursue potential contracts. And don't even get me started on...
Community Give of Fredericksburg Virginia 2015
If you haven't already heard, the Community Give is TODAY until midnight. The Community Give is 24 hours of monetary giving to support local non profits serving our area. We come together as a community in one giant effort to collaborate, encourage, and support local...
Click & Give — Supporting Fredericksburg Non-Profits
Help make history and support the local community by participating in The Community Give cyber-event on May 5th, 2015. This program was started by the Community Foundation to help increase philanthropy and give assistance to local non-profit organizations. For 24...
What are (c)(3) Saturdays?
On the third Saturday of each month, we open up our shop and offer our time and talent to help the non-profit organizations of Fredericksburg with their websites for FREE! We call these Saturdays "(c)(3) Saturdays." Last weekend marked 6 months that we have been...
The Bonus of Business
One of the challenges we all sometimes face as business and organizational leaders is maintaining a balance between the important areas of our lives. Family, Friends, Work, & Church/Community. It's important for our own lives that we find ways to regularly connect...
Breaking Down Social Media
Now that you've created your monthly calendar and strategy, working with already established daily themes will help you better bucket the content you want to create/share. You’ll also want to get more accustomed to following social media best practices. Use a theme...
Creating a Social Media Strategy
Now that you’ve identified your demographic, social media platforms and content sources it is time to start putting together a plan. Having a plan will allow you to be current without having to be tied to social media every day. Identify a Monthly Theme The first...