Why Real Followers Are A Must To Use Social Media For Local Business

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80% of all Facebook, Instagram & Twitter accounts and followers are fake. Yes, you’ve  got it right. The large number of your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts’ followers are not genuine. Now, you might be thinking that how come this is true. This article will explain ‘how’. Also, you will come to know how to get real likes for Facebook or any other social media platform that matters.

Have you ever thought why a new post attracts only 10-12 likes for social media accounts having more than 50,000 followers? The answer is these social media accounts have fake followers. Let us discuss the concept of fake followers.

Fake followers don’t always mean that the followers have fake accounts or they are not real people. Instead, it means the followers are not related to your business at all. This means the audience who is following you comes from different business domains; consequently, it is not interested in what is being posted. If the audience is in line with your business, you will see genuine interactions taking place across all social media platforms once you publish posts there.

So, you should have an emphasis on having followers of your business domain. This will inspire the interaction between you and your followers, giving you full advantage of social media platforms. The need of genuine followers becomes paramount if you want to use social media for local business. Having real people as followers ensures real engagement, making it easy for you meet your social media objectives.

In addition to focusing on real followers, you should also understand which social media platform is right for you. Selecting the right social media platform can be tricky. You might not be able to decide which social media platform will fetch great results for your business. Hiring a company with experienced social media professionals is a good choice if you want to leverage the real power of different social media platforms. A leading company not only helps you select the best social media platform for your business, but also assists you in having real followers on the selected platform.

As of January 2014, 74% of online adults use social networking sites. So there are vast business opportunities for you. Hire a leading company for social media marketing to harness the powers of the Internet. In addition to increasing awareness of your products, social media marketing can improve the overall image of your company.

The New Google Local Search Display

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Looks like if you were relying on organic Local Search results with Google for better exposure for your business, you’ll need to spend some money on paid ads to get the same results as you did with the previous version of Local Search with Google.

Recently, Google has made several changes to how it displays local search results. Columnist Jason Decker explains these changes and discusses the impact for local search marketers. Click Here for the full story from Jason Decker at Searchengineland.com

 

 

Brand-Building Ways to Use Periscope

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In just a few months, live streaming has become the hottest new trend in social media. Users are flocking to new platforms, and Periscope is leading the way.

The live streaming platform, that is in partnership with Twitter, attracted one million users in the ten days following their App Store release.

If you are looking for a way to tap into this growing user base, here are a few ways you can use Periscope for marketing your business or brand.

What Should I Broadcast?

The tagline on Periscope’s website invites users to “explore the world through someone else’s eyes.”

This is a good mission to keep in mind as you broadcast for your brand or business. It is important to remember that Periscope isn’t a promotional tool — it is a connection tool.

Don’t use Periscope to show your audience what you want them to see. Show them what they want to see. Here are a few ways to give viewers what they want.

  • The Human Side: Invite viewers to get to know you and your brand by documenting what it is really like to work there (clips from meetings, the break room, inside jokes, etc.).
  • Live Events: Broadcast from behind the scenes of your event or share an attendee’s perspective.
  • How-To’s: Create explainer sessions where you give a tutorial or walk your audience through the steps of a task. Invite your audience to ask questions during the live session.
  • Q&A Sessions: Invite your audience to ask you questions during a live Q&A session discussing your business, products, or services.
  • Interviews: Live stream an interview with an influencer in your industry or other members of your staff. Include viewer questions as they come up.
  • Product Reveals & Demonstrations: Give the first look of your new product or walk your audience through the process of what it is like to receive, open, and use your product. This can include demonstrations that show the product in action.
  • Big Moments for Your Brand: Allow your audience to be there with you as you experience a big milestone for your brand (receiving an award, hitting a metric goal, receiving national media attention, etc.).
  • Release Special Offers: Reward your followers by offering exclusive special offers that are for Periscope users only. This is a good incentive for getting people to follow you and keep an eye out for your new live streams.
  • Have a Contest: You can host a contest through the platform or announce winners of contests live.
  • Tease: Show small pieces of products or service you are developing to create buzz and generate interest and curiosity.
  • Hold a Focus Group: Ask your customers their opinions and allow them to help shape the direction of your business. Invite them to participate in a focus group where they share their thoughts and opinions about your brand.

Periscope communication goes both ways, so always look for opportunities to both share and gather a unique perspective. Use the platform to talk and listen to your audience.

How Do I Get People to View My Broadcasts?

Screen Shot 2015-09-15 at 12.56.38 PMPeriscope enables users to discover broadcasts by following users and browsing through the map and list display to find new streams.

Get discovered in the list by using a specific, descriptive, and interesting title. A great title is a primary way to get users to notice your broadcast.

Get discovered on the map by sharing your location. In your settings, enable the location feature. That way, Periscope can show your general vicinity as your share (although they will not give your exact address) so viewers can find you based on your streaming location.

Make sure that you are promoting on Twitter. Periscope is in a partnership with Twitter so they made it easy for you to cross promote between the two platforms. Set up your account so that every time you broadcast, an automated tweet will notify your Twitter followers of your live stream.

Once you get users to discover you, keep them interested and engaged. Remind them to follow you so that they can catch your next live stream.

How Do I Get the Most Out of My Broadcast?

watch&interactIf you are going to use Periscope to promote your business or brand, take some time to get involved as a viewer first. That will help you get ideas about what the experience is like from the other side of the camera.

Then when you are ready, use these other tips to get the biggest reach out of your broadcast.

Don’t be stuffy. Remember, this is an opportunity to show the personal side of your business or brand. Don’t be overly professional or stuffy or else your viewers will see through it and change the channel.

Expect mistakes. Don’t obsess over the details before, after, or while you stream. Part of the allure of the platform is that it is live and anything can happen. Don’t focus on perfection. Expect that you will make mistakes, and know that your audience will appreciate seeing the human, uncut side of your business.

Respond to comments. Periscope is a two-way street so don’t ignore the comments as they come in. Respond to comments as much as possible to keep up audience engagement.

Get Started Now

Unlike other social media platforms that are already saturated with brands and influencers fighting for attention, Periscope is a relatively open playing field. Get in now before the crowds arrive and you have to fight through to get attention.

Periscope is a new platform which means that the rules and best practices are not set in stone. Continue to try out new tactics, test out new strategies, and watch what other big brands are doing.

Let us know how you are successfully using social media’s hottest new platform by tweeting us on Twitter or Facebook.

Techniques For Effective Digital Marketing

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It is an ideal solution for any business which is looking out to increase its revenue by attracting more consumers. Now digital marketing is simply another type of advertising your company’s products. Whereas other traditional advertising methods use newspapers, flyers and billboards, digital marketing just needs electronics including the radio, television, cell phones and the internet. Today, as a result of incredible usage of the internet, more and more digital marketing tactics have dedicated to the internet. Now you can use many digital marketing options such as for example banner ads, web blogs and paid search engines. The main element to any successful business is now effective marketing.

Due to the fact that most businesses need to earn high profits at an inexpensive, they decide for these strategies which can be most cost effective and that leave the best effect on the consumers. This is actually the sole reason why many agencies and consultancies have opened up and have been in high demand. These agencies and consultancies basically help plan out effective strategies and also guide companies detailed in the whole procedure. However, if you only want some methods for on how to advertise online most effectively then you have come to the best place. In the remaining of this informative article we would be discussing various ways in which you can advertise most effective using Google Ad Words and other methods to improve your ad’s click through rate (CTR) and website conversion rate.

To increase your advertising, start using social media. This can be a guaranteed win-win solution while the more you connect to people the more you win them over your side. Next for increasing your web site conversion try a few of these tips. To begin with, to increase your click through rates you must try to increase delivery details. Also try to put in actual charges for authenticity to make your ads look realistic. Also, a percentage of capitalization adds a personal touch to your creative’s. They are basically tip for Ad Words users.

Lastly, it is important to know what folks assert about you, your company and your products. The best way because of this to get feedback from consumers but most of us know the harsh reality that it’s quite costly and sometimes impossible to adequate feedback. Here social networking comes into the picture. Not merely could it be a price effective way you uncover what people consider you but in addition it gives the image of you being thinking about what your clients have to say and increases the amount of communication.

 

Scam Alert: Best of Business Awards for Local Businesses

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Screen Shot 2015-09-09 at 7.14.39 AM

Yet another wave of scammers are taking advantage of local businesses with their “Best of Business”  awards or similar equivalents.  This one didn’t even bother to check the information and note that we are no longer in McMinnville, and haven’t been for a few years.

We will have a sudden influx of client businesses that have received awards for being the “best” in their local market for their industry now that this scam which first appeared in 2013 is now operating in 2015.

While we think all of our clients are the best, some are brand new and have done little yet to earn such “prestigious” awards.  We have also heard stories of businesses with 1 star ratings and an ‘F’ in the BBB who are receiving these awards, not to say that star ratings or BBB scores are necessarily accurate.

Most of the emails from this new wave started going out again about 2 months ago from what we can tell.  In fact, we received our first ever award just today – unless it is real…  Take a look:

Gorge Design Studio has been selected for the 2015 Best of McMinnville Awards for Website Designer.

For details and more information please view our website:  2015 Best of McMinnville Awards – Website Designer

If you are unable to view the link above, please copy and paste the following into your web browser: (Link Removed)

Once you follow their link, you are immediately offered a free digital award, such as a customized Press Release.  The goal is for them to keep pulling you in deeper and sell you on physical awards and trophies, etc.  Once they find a sucker, they take advantage of it.

Here is what they offered us for being the BEST:

Receiving Your Award 2015-09-09 07-08-02

The difficult thing with this scam tactic is the scammers use a variety of domains, so it is tough to track how many scams are occurring at any given time.  If they were simply using one domain, you could find a lot of complaints online, including sites like Rip-off report.  Most of the domains we have seen have been .net, .org, and .us, but we assume the use more.

So, what do you do if you get such an award? PlaqueBlue.png.lg.cc.DEZN-RBC9-57WW

First, look to see if it is from a reputable company or organization that you are familiar with.  Not all awards are fake!

Next, use your instincts. If you have look at the examples above, including the stories in the links, then you should be equipped to recognize potential scams

Once you suspect or recognize the scam, there still might be a dilemma for you.  By receiving such an award stating that you are the best business in your category in your market, you could use this for promotional purposes.  Or you may need some bling for your office desk or wall.   The scammers understand this; in fact they count on it.

Even if you figure out that it is a scam, you still may want to leverage it for the “credibility.”

Is there anything wrong with that?

It really is up to you.  If you choose to go down this path, be careful about providing payment information, such as credit card numbers, for their tangible gifts.  I would not give the scammers anything, personally, and do not recommend you do.

If you want to use the “award” for credibility purposes, you could just reference it.  There is a fine line here.  If you know without a shadow of doubt that it is a bogus company and award, I would not use it.  On the other hand, if you are unsure and don’t have the time to do the research, you could reference it.

Example: Awarded Best ___________ in ___________ in 2015

If you choose to do this, save the email you received as proof that you received this recognition from the sending company.

Final thoughts…  

Unfortunately, a side effect of good marketing and local SEO, is that businesses are listed in lots of online directories, internet yellow pages, and review sites.  It is very easy for scammers to “scrape” these sites and pull your business data.

This means you will get a lot more spam emails, scams, and telemarketing phone calls, and this is expected to increase greatly over the upcoming years.  You need to have a policy in place so that you can filter these distractions appropriately.  Most of our clients simply forward all emails and telemarketers to us, so that our team can review and make recommendations.

If you found this article helpful, please share it with as many people as you can.  Not only will you be helping them, but they will get to see our shiny new blue award!

 

Gorge Design Studio Launches New Project Management Tool

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We’ve launched our new Project Management Tool. Now you can manage your project, submit support tickets, request quotes & estimates on current and future projects, as well as pay your invoice. No more playing phone and email tag wondering if your request has been received.

Once we receive your Request for Quote from our RFQ form, it will be entered into our project management system and you will receive an email with your login and password where you will be able to revise and update your request, accept the quote, and start your project on the road to launch.

So what are you waiting for?

Visit https://gorgedesignstudio.com.192.168.1.10.xip.io/request-for-quote/

10% Discount on Website Designs

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Your would be customers are using the Internet and their favorite search engine to find a product they want (that you carry) or a service they need (that you offer) and if your business is not online, guess what, they will go to your competitor!

This is why thinking of Web Design should be your first and highest priority if you want your business to be found online.

Moreover, if your business is not on the world wide web, next to your competitors, then a) your existing customers will think you are not serious about running a professional business, and b) you will be making it easy for your competitors to reap the rewards of having an online presence!

Think about it! In this day and age, how many would be customers are still using the yellow-book to find a service they need, or a product they want to buy, and that you carry?

Mostly, none! And that’s because they are using the Internet, via their desktop, laptop or their smartphone to find your business! At Gorge Design Studio, we make professional web design affordable to small businesses!

Whether you like it or not, a would be customer will someday search for you online, and when they do, what do you want them to find?, nothing, or worse still, your competitor’s business next door?

Don’t let customers slip from your hand – Make them come to you instead and reap the rewards of having thought of website design now, and not later!

Your small business can grow and make you more money

Don’t you want to grow your business, reach more customers and make more money? We all do! Or are you afraid of not being able to manage your growing business? Don’t worry because when that time comes, you will be able to hire someone else to manage your business, while you are sitting at the beach with a large glass of ice cold lemonade (Did you think I was going to say ‘Beer’?)

There is a lot of money to be made online! And if you don’t start thinking of designing a website for your business, and get your share of the pie, your competitors will have no problem taking your share! So get up and start now by calling us at 541-965-1897

Who we are? A full-service web design company!

We are a full-service, US based web design company headquartered in The Dalles, Oregon! We focus on small and mid-sized business owners, like yourself, unique website design needs. We have years of web design experience, for national and international clients, and would be more than happy to work with you and your organization to develop a high-quality website to meet your unique needs.

Why choose us for all your website design and development needs?

Simply put, you should choose us for all your web design needs because we want you, and your business, attain a web presence, attract more customers, and boost sales all while keeping your cost low!

Today’s design trends are leaning more towards adopting the ‘minimalist design’ idea than the old ‘Let’s add more bells and whistles – that serve no purpose, and wow the visitors’ approach! 

At Gorge Design Studio, we believe in bringing more targeted traffic that came to your site for the sole purpose of buying your product or your service, than visitors what will just ‘wow’ your site, and leave – Leaving your register just as they found it!

We will design a site from the ground up, or redesign your existing site to make it more effective for your customers and your business needs.

Save up to 10% on our web design services

Call us today, at 541-965-1897, to save up to 10% on our web design services! We can help you choose the best design package suited for your business needs and budget.

Bad Web Designers

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Hiring a web design / development professional is often like an episode from Kitchen Nightmares.  The cook really believes he or she is great.  But a quick peek into the kitchen almost always reveals frozen, pre-made food.  The “cook” usually was a great construction worker or successful business person–but for some reason they thought cooking was a good idea, despite their inabilities.  They price their food either far too high or far too low.

The world of so-called “web designers” is incredibly parallel.  These folks might be great print designers, IT professionals, or advertisers.  But somewhere along the way they thought a jump to web would be easy, and since there’s so much pre-made stuff out there–why not make some money?

So how do you know when to hire someone, when to do it yourself, and how much a site should cost?  Here are a few tips:

To Cut Cookies or Not to Cut Cookies

No one likes to think they need a “cookie-cutter” website.  But if your budget is less than $1,500 or so–it means you’re going to get a cookie cutter site (unless someone is a beginner, fairly desperate, or will cut corners).  What I mean by “cookie cutter” is that someone out there has created a website that is fairly generic and easy to edit.  Simply swapping out the logo and making textual changes will take the template and make it “yours”.  This can be just fine if you’re a very small business with a low budget.  If what you need is nothing more than an online business card, just so you don’t look outdated, these options can work.

However, if you fit any of these categories, you should probably save up or shell out the cash for a professional, unique design:

  • You’re a business with serious competition in your area
  • You would benefit greatly from search engine optimization
  • Your business is a “parent” business that others look to (a manufacturer, a distributor, product supplier, network of professionals, etc.).
  • Your annual advertising budget is over $20,000
  • You advertise your website in radio, tv, or other publications

Cookie Cutter Hybrids

To be fair, there’s another viable alternative to having a completely “blah” template, cookie-cutter website.  A good designer can start with a pre-made template, and customize it enough to make it very unique.  This can minimize cost and still give you a unique design.  True web professionals may suggest this option if you have a lower budget, but still want a customized look beyond changing a logo or a header.

BEWARE:  Opportunistic “wanna-be” web professionals are numerous.  These are designers, IT people, or advertisers who are just tech-savvy enough to install a content management system, buy a pre-made template to install, and make very minor changes.  They think “there’s money in that!” so they charge premium prices (either because it takes them longer than a real pro, or because they want easy money).  I cannot count how many times I’ve seen businesses pay tons of money for a website I could produce in a day or two.

Made from Scratch: The Real Deal

These websites tend to start around $5,000 as a baseline cost and go up from there depending on functionality needed.  These are websites that work like this:

  • A designer mocks up a unique concept in a design program and sends a jpeg (or similar file) to the client for approval.
  • Once the design is approved, the design / development team codes the site, line-by-line.  They don’t go out and purchase a template from WooThemes for WordPress or RocketThemes for Joomla; they write the code themselves.
  • It’s likely they’ll use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Silverstripe, Concrete5, Expression Engine, etc.  But the development company creates their own unique theme that can plug into such systems.

While the creation of a custom theme (design) is vital, and the ability to program custom modules (custom functionality) into a website is paramount–it’s also important to note there are acceptable, time-saving options that exist that real pros will use:

  • Real pro’s may very well use a CSS grid-system like 960.gs, Yahoo’s YUI grid system, or something similar–but these are not design templates, these are frameworks that make for efficient code.
  • True professionals will likely use a javascript library such as jquery.
  • Content Mangement Systems that are not “proprietary” are OK.  In fact, if someone’s CMS is “proprietary”, I’d be careful.  More on this in another post.  It’s not bad to use a CMS, but the key is whether your designer / developer really knows how to create custom themes (designs) or modules (programming).  If the answer is no, you’re dealing with a hack.
  • Modules that are provided by the Content Mangement System are OK, too, to add functionality more cheaply.  But the web pro must be able to make fairly serious customizations to such modules, and should be able to build his/her own when needed.

Is My Web Professional a Hack?

The sad truth is that many who deem themselves web professionals are not proficient enough with web code (HTML, CSS), scripting (Javascript), or web development (programming languages, SQL languages) to create unique, effective websites.

Here are some clear indicators of fakers:

  • They cannot program and either avoid programming or outsource it.
  • They charge serious money for websites that use a WooTheme, a RocketTheme, a ThemeForest theme, etc.  Their “customization” of these sites will be minimal (changing headers/footers, content, etc.).
  • They may be overly expensive for template websites, or overly cheap because they do very little to the website.

These folks are not all devious, though many are.  Some had to become all things to all people because clients demanded it.  So they’re learning or doing the best they can.  But when they become parasitic–claiming they’re in the same tier as web professionals who know what they’re doing–they always rip off their clients.  Whether they lowball for a cheap website that won’t be effective, or whether they charge top dollar but rely on cookie-cutter solutions–it’s you, the client or the business, who’s left with the website equivalent of a limp handshake.

How Can I Be Sure I Get a Real Pro

Despite whether you’re doing a cookie-cutter hybrid or a from-scratch, unique design, you should find a true web professional.  The middle-tier options such as a “cookie cutter hybrid” will cost you middle-tier prices from a web pro, so you actually save money for a better web professional.  And if you ever need customized functionality, your pro will already be equipped.  If you hired a hack, they’ll be glad to “help” by outsourcing and up-charging.

If you’re screening a web professional or web development company, here are some things to ask:

  • Are you capable of building a completely custom theme from scratch for a content management system?
  • Can you program using PHP, ASP, or another web language?  If so, what are some custom modules or programs you’ve written I can see?
  • Do you have any education in database theory?
  • Are you proficient enough with HTML and CSS to take a photoshop file and create a web page from it?
  • Can you write JavaScript?
  • Can you create a website that is search-engine friendly?  (If yes,) Do you rely on a CMS module to optimize your website for search engines, or do you understand SEO well enough to do this from your own expertise?
  • Do you outsource any portion of your work?
  • What is your primary business?  Branding / print design?  IT work?  Or is most of your time spent in web development?

If you have a low budget, I commend you for recognizing the need for a website anyway.  I hope you create the best DIY option possible.  But inevitably, as you grow and recognize how high the return on investment (ROI) is with web services, you’ll need to upgrade.  Just be ready to weed out a lot of professional print designers, IT professionals, ad agencies, and inexperienced freelance desperadoes.  True web professionals aren’t scarce, they just tend to get buried under a pile of wanna-be bakers who have pre-made cookie dough, and cookie cutters at the ready.  Just be sure to peek into the kitchen when they pretend it’s from scratch.

50 Business Directories For Local Marketing

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As a local business, attracting new customers can be a major challenge. Quickly disappearing are the days when people go to the Yellow Pages to find local businesses. Today, people are turning to the internet as a way to find trusted business recommendations.

One way local businesses can get found is through inclusion in online directories. Adding a listing to these online directories is easy, but if you only list in a few, you’re really missing a huge opportunity to get found by online searchers.

Every individual directory that you submit to is another chance to get found online, so it’s important to make sure you’re listed in every directory possible. I have compiled a list of many popular local directories available on the internet. Filling out the forms over and over again can be a big pain, so here’s a link to an autofill add-on for Firefox that should help prevent carpal tunnel.

 

50 Business Directories For Local Marketing

1. Google
2. Bing
3. Yahoo!
4. Yelp
5. Merchant Circle
6. LinkedIn
7. YellowPages.com
9. Whitepages
10. Supermedia
11. Yellowbook
12. CitySearch
13. Mapquest
14. Biznik
15. Local.com
16. Foursquare
17. ThinkLocal
18. CitySlick
19. USYellowPages
20. SuperPages
21. Outside.in
22. Dex
23. BizJournals.com
24. TeleAtlas
25. JustClickLocal
26. Discover our Town
27. Metrobot
28. EZ Local
29. twibs
30. LocalEze
31. Kudzu
32. CityVoter
33. Manta
34. Zipweb
35. MatchPoint
36. UsCity.net
37. Local Site Submit
38. InfoUSA
39. Axciom
40. Infignos
41. Yellow Assistance
42. Get Fave
42. My Huckleberry
43. GenieKnows
44. MojoPages
45. Brownbook
46. Magic Yellow
47. CitySquares
48. TeleAtlas
49. Navteq GPS
50. Judy’s Book 

Making sure that you have a presence everywhere your potential customers might find you is critical to any local marketing plan. Don’t wait! Add your local business to these directories today!

 

 

Things To Know Before Designing A Website

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The website is an important part in today’s generation. In the 21st century, a business or a company which doesn’t have any website is really lacking behind in this big digital world. A website plays a vital role and consider one of the most valuable and marketing tools which really boosts the business throughout 24×7. It not only attracts large number of audience, but it also provides service throughout the day and night which can be a huge help to the people. At anytime, at anywhere whenever people would  like to get any information about a company or  service,then in that case they don’t have to come to the company, instead they can directly visit to the website and seek whatever information they want. But, if you really want to grab much attention, then in that case you should make a website which has all the information and people would easily get it at a glance.

A website should be catchy:

One of the most unique feature of a website is that the website should be attractive and appealing. According to a research, a person visits the website only for 10 seconds in the beginning. He can stay for longer if he finds something relevant, interesting or finds an answer to the questions he is seeking for. A website should be easy, simple and convenient when it comes to navigation and the content should be attractive, appealing which can grab attention of the spectators.

Design your website according to your target audience:

A website can be termed as a smart and perfect website when it will be able to grab much attention and will also be able to understand its visitors in a wonderful way. A website which understands its visitors perfectly is an ideal website. Different designs, templates are used to make the website attractive, but it different for different purpose and audience. An easy navigation system, simple content, correct information can grab much attention and will also help the visitors to know more about it.

Avoid a vague content:

A content should not be vague and long. A short and simple content with adequate information is much attractive than any long content. Every website has content, but the thing which is important is the beautiful display of the content on the website. A content should be perfectly crafted so that it doesn’t look boring. For more info visit Gorge Design Studio and get wonderful websites of your choice.