VBWebSites

Hampton VA E-Commerce Grant Receives Additional Funding

2010-01-28T11:17:00.002-05:00

SUMMARY

HAMPTON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE PROGRAM

Program Intent

To assist Hampton small, minority and women owned businesses with electronic commerce technology and aid in the stability and growth prospects of Hampton companies, potentially increasing tax revenue and jobs within the City of Hampton, Virginia.

Definitions

Small business is defined as a business which is at least 51% independently owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are U.S. citizens or legal resident aliens, and together with affiliates, has 250 or fewer employees, or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years. One or more of the individual owners shall control both the management and daily business operations of the small business.

Minority/Women owned business is defined as one in which one or more minority individuals control at least 51 percent of the voting stock or ownership and manages daily operations. Minority groups are defined as:

African Americans
Hispanic Americans
Native Americans
Asian-Pacific Americans
Asian-Indian Americans
Women

Minority/Women owned businesses must be certified by the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise.

E-Commerce Program Grant Amounts

Grants are made on a first-come, first served basis and eligibility is determined at the discretion of the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Administrator.
Maximum individual awards of $1,500 may be granted once every three years and Virginia certified minority and women owned businesses can receive a maximum of $2,500 once every three years.
Grant amounts shall not exceed 50% of total project cost or the allowable grant, whichever is less.

Approval Criteria

Must be a for-profit business currently licensed in and with its principal office located within the City of Hampton.
Projects must be legal, no adult only material, ethical, and commercially viable.
Applicants must use preapproved Certified E-Commerce Grant Service Providers.
Grant funds cannot be awarded for a project which has been initiated prior to the approval of a grant application.
Grants are to be used for the creation or enhancement of e-commerce sites and cannot be used for domain registration, web hosting, general maintenance services, or annual subscriptions.
Certified Service Providers are not eligible to receive grants for their own websites or to create or make enhancements to an affiliated business website.

Approved Grant Uses

Consultation Services – information technology strategic planning, ecommerce needs and marketing assessments, domain name registration assistance, hosting service needs assessments, website analytics, and website security assessments and testing tools.

Web Design and Development Services – custom website design, information architecture and graphic user interface planning, database driven website design and development, content management solutions, usability testing, advanced scripting and programming, custom database development, collaboration and social networking (Web 2.0), website accessibility analysis, and maintenance contracts.

E-Commerce Services – Shopping carts, donation and membership systems, and online security assessments and testing tools.

Internet Marketing Services – email marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, eNewsletters, blogs, RSS, Wikis.

Other e-commerce innovations as approved at the discretion of the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Administrator.

Grant Application Process

Qualified business obtains printed application from City website or by other means.

Applicant contacts at least two (2) certified service providers to obtain a minimum of two (2) quotes for work it wants done. Applicant, at its discretion, selects a service provider to perform the work.

Applicant completes the application form, signs and submits the application to the Hampton Department of Economic Development (HDED) with the two (2) quotes via fax, mail, or hand delivery but no on-line submittals allowed (see attached application).

Letter and e-mail are sent to the Applicant verifying the receipt of the application.

Application is reviewed and is approved or denied by HDED, in its sole discretion, within three (3) to five (5) business days. (Requires checking status of Hampton Business License, current on Hampton business taxes, Small, Women and Minority-Owned Business (SWAM) status, review scope of work to verify the eligibility of services, etc.).

Letter and e-mail are sent to Applicant informing it of the decision and, if approved, providing notice of the amount of grant funding it is eligible to receive.

Applicant must obtain a contract with service provider setting forth the scope of the services to be performed and work done by the service provider. The contract must be approved by the IDA and will be attached to, and become a part of the Grant Agreement between the Applicant and the IDA. The contract with the service provider should be conditioned upon the approval by the IDA and the issuance of the Grant.

Once the project is completed the Applicant must complete a “Customer Satisfaction Survey”.

Service Provider Application Process

Service provider obtains application form from the City of Hampton website or by other means.

Service provider completes the application form, signs and submits the application to HDED.

Letter and e-mail are sent to the service provider verifying the receipt of the application.

Application is reviewed and is approved or denied by HDED, in its sole discretion, within five (5) to ten (10) business days.

Letter and e-mail are sent to service provider informing it of the decision and, if approved, providing it with a contract which stipulates its willingness to participate in the Hampton E-Commerce Grant Program and that it will abide by certain terms and conditions for payment and assist in the promotion of the program.

Grant Payments
Authorized service provider completes the project as quoted and invoices the grantee for its services and a grant check will be issued to the service provider for the grant amount.

More Details can be found here or call VBWebSites at 757-271-8293.

Syndicate Your Website - it helps!

2010-01-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

Greetings Everyone..

I wanted to take a moment of your time and give you some positive ways to better position your website on the web.

First off > In today's market, It's not just a matter of having a website, those days are gone. In order to achieve results you must have a sound dynamic site that you can manage in house and keep updated.

Secondly > Use Social Networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc) to create awareness of who you are, what your company represents and put emphasis on the services and or products you provide and then syndicate this content. With the platforms we develop, we make it so when you update your site, your content is automatically syndicated to various channels, networks.

Why is syndication important?

A Mock Example:

1. Say for example you own a Vacation Rental Company
2. Then let's say your focus is summer tourism
3. Then let's take it one step further - Weather stations are predicting a tropical storm to hit in a few days.
4. Now you have a dozen cancellations or date changes.
5. Guess What, The Weather Man was wrong, Imagine that.
6. Now, if you had a following on Facebook or twitter you could instantly announce a weekend special to hopefully recoup what you may have lost due to incorrect predictions from the 'Weather Man'.

- end example

So now, go analyze your website and think about the scenarios in your industry and how you might be able to dig into social networking opportunities. Chances are, you don't have any way to syndicate your site so you will just need to work a little harder to manually syndicate your info or better yet Contact VBWebSites.net @ 757-271-8293 to develop your cutting edge web presence (sorry, shameless plug).

Hope this message helps shed some light and open your eyes to web possibilities outside of your actual web presence. I have a ton of other ways to achieve results under my belt but can't give away all my secrets :)

Thanks for reading..

If we can help, visit us online http://www.vbwebsites.net

Love a Local Business - Nominate VBWebSites.net

2010-01-12T13:09:00.001-05:00

Intuit is awarding over $100,000 in grants! You determine which 10 local businesses deserve them.

VBWebSites entered in the content - Nominate Us

Thank you to our clients who already nominated us. We appreciate it very much!

VBWebsites – Is professional and pleasant to deal with. We appreciate all of their hard work and professionalism during the creation of our website.
Dorothy (01.12.10) Dominion Law Group

Very good at what they do & professional results!
Vince (01.12.10) Eubank Frames

Great customer serve and innovative business model.
Susan (01.11.10) Suntrust Bank

Working with http://www.VBWebSites.net had been a great customer experience! Very helpful and at a reasonable price. Please take a quick look at what he has done to our website; http://www.mooreclocks.com
Terry M (01.11.10) Moore Clocks

Starting a business is a lot of work, and knowing you have a company you can trust to handle your website and doing it right the first time is a key step in being profitable.
Jason (01.11.10)

VBWebSites provides responsive/reliable services and a quality customer service scarce in today's market. They strive to understand the client need and provide the absolute best product in a timely and cost effective manner.
Gayle (01.11.10) Command Decisions and Solutions (CDS2)

Brady is incredibly responsive and personable. We are so lucky to have VBWebSites.com on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
sara (01.11.10) Sara Baldwin Designs / New Ravenna

I love this business because the developed a great web site that was user friendly. I can call Brady and work through any problems I have within a few minutes.
Lynn Gray (01.11.10) Cape Charles Realty

I love this business because of the personal customer service and their continuous new/innovative ideas. Investing in this company is like investing in cutting edge technology to build and grow your own business!
Tee Daniel (01.11.10) Harper Hardware

Good people and good business practices!!
shana (01.11.10) Marine Concepts

VB Websites is dedicated and driven. They've worked hard to earn my trust and respect. They certainly have it!
Vicki M. (01.11.10) Moore Clocks

I recently found vb websites and these guys are fantastic at what they do. dedication and desire! Good Luck vb web sites
Bryan (01.11.10)

I have trusted in VBWebSites.net for 6 years and they have never let me down only delivered beyond expectations.
Jeff (01.11.10)

Please take the time to Nominate Us

Year-End Customer Testimonials

2009-12-18T08:01:00.002-05:00

Moore Clocks: VBWebSites.net turned our website, MooreClocks.com, into a tasteful and relevant online presence. Site management is easy and the technical support is incredible. We've had excellent results and have no regrets! Thank you VBWebSites.net! Terry Moore

Terry, Thank you for the kind words. It was a real pleasure working with you as well. Hope you and Yours have a Happy Holidays, best of luck in 10'. Brady Behrman, VBWebSites.net

Blue Crab Bay Co.: VBWebSites handles Blue Crab Bay's wholesale and direct to consumer e-newsletters, they are fast, creative and most importantly, we get business from the campaigns! Pam Barefoot

Thank you Pam, we really enjoy working with your company! Your team of professionals that work with you are very helpful and a joy to work with. Have a Merry Christmas! Brady Behrman, VBWebSites.net

December 2009 Newsletter

2009-12-10T13:59:00.000-05:00

The year is quickly coming to an end, it is time to enjoy the Holidays and work on strategies for 2010. 2009 was a good year for the Internet, usage increased everywhere and more and more companies are shifting marketing efforts to the web. If you don't yet have a website or have a website that is not achieving results, you are likely missing out on business.

VBWebSites is a Virginia Web Design Company and the reason our focus is Virginia is we know and understand virginia. Knowing Virginia regions, we are able to help our Virginia Clients that focus on their immediate service areas. We are not limited to Virginia by any means, just have a greater understanding of Virginia.

We pay attention to search trends and are able to better position our clients websites to effectively reach the clientele they seek. You may be asking yourself if a website would help you, take a look at Google Trends. Search for the service you provide and then you can further analyze. Through Google trends, if we search "website design" we can see what areas are searching "website design". This can significantly help our actual marketing efforts. Go search your services @ Google Trends.

VBWebsites comes up with unique solutions tailored to our clients needs. We provide our clients with the tools to be able to manage their sites respectively through our Custom Content Management Systems (CMS) and Solutions. We pay attention to detail and deliver unprecedented and modern technologies that help our clients achieve results.

When the conversation turns to web design, we hope you remember VBWebSites.net

Find out what you are up against on the web

2009-10-30T08:27:00.002-04:00

When a client comes to VBWebSites seeking a re-design and optimization, we first start off by analyzing what they currently have. Then we look at page content and organization of the site. We further analyze their target keywords and phrases.

After we gather the keywords and phrases, I then go out and check the competition. Many people aren't aware on how to do this so I am going to tell you.

Lets take this key phrase for example at Google: how to come up in search engine or Click Here (by the way, as of today, VBWebSites holds 1st place!). Now, depending on where you are you may see slightly different results. Google has many many servers around the world and it takes time for all the servers to catch up with each other. Anyway, for me, The keyphrase how to come up in search engine is showing Results 1 - 10 of about 70,800,000. Now I know if i want to market "how to come up in search engine" then I am competing against about 70 million websites. Go test your keywords / key phrases and see where you are in the results and most importantly see what you are competing against.

Seems like a hard task, right? We didn't even mean to do that and that's what makes it so much cooler. I noticed people were searching that exact term by analyzing my traffic reports, to the tune of about 1600 searches this week.

After you have a website setup correctly and setup tracking you too will see a trend of keywords and keypharses you never even thought about.

If your company is lacking a great website with logical search engine optimization, let VBWebSites help. Get a Quote

I have a ton of tips and tricks under my belt and will share them from time to time so follow this blog and follow us on facebook. After reading this, remember the most important factor in SEO, write clear "off the hip" content. You don't have to get very technical, just tell it like it is. Then look at your content and revise it a bit throwing in a few key words and key phrases. It takes time to prosper on the web.

November 2009 Newsletter

2009-10-27T14:29:00.001-04:00

Each and every day there are new opportunities for your company on the web. We aim to enlighten you on the greatest web trends. Social Networking, the latest BUZZ. We have all heard of FaceBook, but are you using it? It doesn't much matter what you're services are or what you sell, Facebook is great way to brand and market what your company does and how your company is reflected. Facebook can also can open up many doors to your company & website.

We were lucky to attend an e-Conference that was held in Washington DC, The "Grow Smart Biz" Conference shared many key elements for the small business achieving positive results from the web. Read our Notes Here: Personality in Business , Brand Equity , Top 10 - Good SEO Tricks , Common Barriers. I promise it's a worthy read no matter how savvy you are and if you have made it thus far, you may as well.

View Newsletter

Always value what our website design and development customers say

2009-10-06T14:33:00.000-04:00

We can't say enough about the endless hardwork that VBWebsites has put into the design and maintenance of http://www.harperhardwareandtools.com/. It has been a pleasure working with the VBWebsites' Team and we're looking forward to moving on to the next phase of development integrating puchout catalog for EVA via ARIBA Network.

VBWebsites has a firm grasp on search engine optimization which has been the key to driving sales to our website. We are excited about the progress thus far. It's refreshing to work with straight forward professionals that value the importance of educating the customer as well as providing them a quality product and service.

Tee Daniel
Vice President / Sales & Marketing
Harper Hardware, Co. Inc.
Richmond, Virginia

Top 10 - Good SEO Tricks

2009-09-29T12:38:00.001-04:00

Here's the top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tricks

#10 - Use keywords in your URL's. Words that people use to find you in a search engine. These words help your site rank for those key words. Example: yourdomain.com/your-service/
#9 - Use a descriptive Domain Name - Be certain that people know what you do by looking at your domain.
#8 - Use logical and simple Navigation - The search engines must find your internal pages to rank them.
#7 - Create Theme based Pages - based on keywords you select
#6 - Use tags and meta tags correctly - Search engines can use meta data to better understand the page. Title, Description, Keywords. Dont confuse the search engines. Don't overuse.
#5 - Use keyword rich anchor text - Example, Dont use the word link when linking to your page. Link to your page by using the keyword for the page that its heading to.
#4 - target good effective keywords - Understand your potential search - what words do customers use?
#3 - Create Good Original Content - Unique content, don't copy!
#2 - Linking, Linking, Linking - Inbound, Outbound, Internal. It's very important. Google built itself with link analysis. Anywhere you can link from helps.
#1 - Know what you are actually up against - Don't think about beating the engines. Write good content and you will prevail.

Get a quote for your website design and optimization.

Brand Equity - Small Business

2009-09-29T12:16:00.003-04:00

Notes from Grow Smart Biz Conference - 11:30 am - 12:30 pm 9/29/09 - Washington DC

Brand Equity - as a Small Business owner, you are nothing without your brand.

When you are out there building your relationships, you need to have something backing you.

Inside Out Branding - How you execute as a small business

Don't refer to your logo as your brand. As a small busines you dont have the money to market like larger companies. How does your company stand out from the rest is how well your company can perform.

5 Steps of Building a brand

Have a Good if not great product / Service
Know the needs of your customers
Establish relationships
Take no with a "but". "can we still have coffee, can I still call you".
Listen to what your customers say.

E-Mail marketing - Branding online - from John Arnold, Constant Contact.

Keep your brand simple, it needs to translate seemlessly.

How do you find new customers?
Find your market through research. Identify target audience. get qualified leeds. Thats the challenge. Give value to your customers. Make sure your marketing efforts pay off and you achive more than you put out.

Educate your customers. Depending on what you do, you may offer something nobody else does, therefore you really have to educate, teach.

Lower your costs by using key technologies on the web. SEO Search engine Marketing, RSS Feeds allow you to syndicate and spread the word about your offerings, use the social marketing sites available (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc).

Your website needs to be an assett and empowered salesman to your company.

Have value with what you offer.

Valuable offers - give incentives
Facts, Give facts on how you seperate from your competition.

Personality in Business - Grow Smart Biz Conference

2009-09-29T11:34:00.002-04:00

Notes from Grow Smart Biz Conference - 11 am - 11:30 am 9/29/09 - Washington DC

Personality in Business

Doing business today is different than it was years ago. Different ways now to market what you offer. Besides web sites, Add Personality to your business:

Through your website.

How many of you have a website? Your About pages is in the top 5 of what website visitors look at. Your visitors want to know about your company. They want to like you / your company and what you offer. Best way to come up with "about" content is to write it and read it to a normal person who may not know what you do. See what they say, what follow up questions they may have.

Show a Sense of Humor so people can relate easier.

Like in life, a man may may want a woman who understands his joke. Woman say, "He makes me laugh".

Apple actually marketed "humor". For instance for their ipod shuffle, the second point is "Do not eat Ipod Shuffle". Apple marketing determined the ipod shuffle was as small as bubble gum so they were able to market the humor in dont eat your ipod shuffle relation.

A smoothie company printed on the bottom of their container, "stop looking at my bottom". They didnt need to do that but used that so people would appreciate a good laugh and share the laugh with someone else.

A restaurant in Vegas has a "Gambler's Special". Its a steak dinner, baked potato and 3 shrimp for $7.77. This item is not on the menu, its just a word of mouth special.

Most important fact here is relating to your customers, coming up with ideas that will get passed around from people.

Customer Loyalty

Because your customers are buying from you today are not necessarily who will buy from you later. Customer Loyalty. Customers telling their friends about your products / services is of upmost importance.

#1 effective way to market is through word of mouth. Word of Mouth Just happens.

Now with tech you can help build word of mouth. Social Marketing. Creating and contributing in networks, forums, etc will help you. Dont focus on the tools, focus on the underlying information. Allows you to connect with people.

Notes from Grow Smart Biz Conference - 8:30 am - 10:30 am 9/29/09 - Washington DC

2009-09-29T10:52:00.003-04:00

We will have a full review but here is some key notes from the beginning of the "Grow Smart Biz" Conference.

Interestingly enough, 69% of small biz under 100 employees showed profit in 2008

Small Businesses that used internet services correctly excelled and stood out against competition.

Reduce expenses for websites by choosing a company that can provide turn key solutions and Creative Approaches. Not just a website. Productive web presences need a complete solution and careful planning.

Common Barriers of Website Development

Don't know where to start
Fear of Cost
Fear of time commitment
Lack of Technical Knowledge

Here are the answers to the barriers relevant to VBWebSites and you, hopefully our next client.

Don't know where to start? - Contact VBWebSites to get your website planned correctly.
Fear of Cost? - Websites can get costly, only one way to find out and that is getting a quote.
Fear of time commitment? - This is often a task and we have ways of making this web presence possible. However, we will of course need your help.
Lack of Technical Knowledge? - Trust in VBWebSites to help you achieve what you need. We have the know how and understanding.

Team up with a website development company that can provide everything your company needs to be effective on the web.

Companies that use 6-14 Internet tools do 41% more than companies that don't.

Such tools as:

email 64% have email - @yahoo @hotmail, etc is not carrying your brand
website - 50% have a company website - How many are actually functional
Online Directories - Public Directories
Search Engine Optimization Plan - 26% have a plan. Leverage the best marketing tool
shared networks

Our Promise
Great looking websites
Ready for Search Engines and prospective customers
Fit to Grow your business

The web is 20 yrs old this year (2009)

Internet allows unprecedented opportunities for small biz- less risk and Extraordinary opportunity to have a website presence. Reach out!

Specialized forms of online advertising works for all industries.

Kids are Back to School and Parents are back to work!

2009-09-08T12:33:00.001-04:00

We took are two girls, Hailey and Hannah (Photo to Right) to school this morning after a wonderful summer of basking in the sun and enjoying everything the summer offers.

Now it is time to get back into the grind as adults and parents so next summer is equally as fun or better. We as adults have to work hard and work smarter to make sure we can provide the best lives possible for our children who don't quite understand "The Real World" nor should they have to at their young ages.

I personally am excited about the future and most of all helping my clients achive the best website presence possible. The VBWebSites team will be delivering unprecidented solutions and coming up with ironclad plans so that our clients benefit from being on the web.

Brady Behrman
Presdint, VBWebSites.net
757-271-8293

Website Design for Assisted Living and Elder Care facilities

2009-09-02T14:31:00.002-04:00

After many years working with the largest Assisted Living company in VA, we have uncovered all the target key search engine phrases to help other assisted living companies not located in VA as well as come up with a rock solid website solution for the industry.

VBWebSites will develop your assisted living website that is not located in VA. If your company needs expertise website design and development, Contact us. To review the Commonwealth Assisted Living website, click here. The VBWebSites solution includes a full custom content management system, news manager, events manager and more. Get a Quote for your assisted living facility website development. This solution is the ultimate presence you could possible desire for your assisted living facility or network of communities.

Additionally we can setup Pay Per Click campaigns targeting only potential visitors in a specific region or area.

So if your company is located in a state below, we will work with your company and no other in your state. Assisted living website design and development exclusive to your state:

AK, ALASKA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
AL, ALABAMA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
AR, ARKANSAS Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
AZ, ARIZONA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
CA, CALIFORNIA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
CO, COLORADO Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
CT, CONNECTICUT Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
DE, DELAWARE Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
FL, FLORIDA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
GA, GEORGIA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
HI, HAWAII Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
IA, IOWA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
ID, IDAHO Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
IL, ILLINOIS Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
IN, INDIANA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
KS, KANSAS Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
KY, KENTUCKY Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
LA, LOUISIANA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MA, MASSACHUSETTS Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MD, MARYLAND Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
ME, MAINE Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MI, MICHIGAN Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MN, MINNESOTA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MO, MISSOURI Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MS, MISSISSIPPI Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
MT, MONTANA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NE, NEBRASKA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NC, NORTH CAROLINA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
ND, NORTH DAKOTA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NH, NEW HAMPSHIRE Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NJ, NEW JERSEY Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NM, NEW MEXICO Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NY, NEW YORK Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
NV, NEVADA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
OH, OHIO Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
OK, OKLAHOMA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
OR, OREGON Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
PA, PENNSYLVANIA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
RI, RHODE ISLAND Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
SC, SOUTH CAROLINA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
SD, SOUTH DAKOTA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
TN, TENNESSEE Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
TX, TEXAS Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
UT, UTAH Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
VA, VIRGINIA Assisted Living Company - EXCLUSIVE
VT, VERMONT Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
WA, WASHINGTON Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
WI, WISCONSIN Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
WV, WEST VIRGINIA Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote
WY, WYOMING Assisted Living Company - Get A Quote

Solution for Direct Check to accept online payments

2009-09-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

Online Payment ProcessingVBWebSites has developed a unique solution that allows companies to accept credit card payments via FirstData and accept e-check payments to be exported and downloaded directly into Direct Check.

Our solution and completed project can be found here (Online Payment Processing).

Many Companies already have a system in place from providers such as Calitech, Callipay, Checkrelay and others.

The VBWebSites solution can be fully integrated into an existing design or new professional website design.

Refer to Website design for Collection Agency

Seasonal Marketing

2009-08-03T09:54:00.001-04:00

Fall will be here soon and we have already been working with our existing as well as new clients to establish marketing efforts that will prove to be a key strategic factor for their company over the upcoming months. Many companies have specialized services or products that are specifically marketed during specific times of the year. For Instance, Chimney Sweepers may peak in October/November.

Does your company provide specific fall services or items? If so, let VBWebSites help. It typically takes a solid month to get established on the web search engines.

A general rule of Thumb for Seasonal Marketing is to start publishing these seasonal strategies at least one month prior to the season.

July 2009 Newsletter

2009-07-08T07:40:00.000-04:00

Since 2002, VBWebSites has been working with the small business sector. We pride ourselves in helping businesses succeed. We have been on the front line of the ever changing web to ensure we stay on top of the World Wide Web in order to deliver the best possible presence to our clients and their customers.

Over the years, a huge trend for clients having the need and desire for custom content management solutions has been a fun task as we deliver precisely what our clients need so they have the ability to maintain their own sites. Every site is unique. We develop each solution custom. Learn More

e-Commerce and the opportunities to sell on the web. Attract + Convert = Growth, Expand Your Market, Versatility and Freedom. e-Commerce sales will experience double digit percentage growth in the coming years.

e-Commerce Video Tours

Frontend Tour

Backend Tour

Video as a doorway to your website

2009-07-08T07:38:00.000-04:00

With Google giving more and more attention to video in the search results one can really gain a good deal of traffic by utilizing video search engine optimization. I stress the word “optimized videos” because its not just about uploading videos to YouTube and other sites. Its about making sure that the videos are tagged with the right keywords in the right places for the search engines to pick up and drive relevant traffic to your website.

Here are some tips for optimizing videos on your own site. Take the source video file and infuse it with your keywords; in the Title, Description, and Keywords tags. Make sure your video is the main feature on a page and surround it with relevant text and embedded links.

Syndicating your Store

2009-07-08T07:37:00.000-04:00

Getting your store on the web is a task. Once your site is up, you need to be able to get your items everywhere possible to achieve better traffic and more sales.

Google Base is an online tool that allows your store to be syndicated. We launched a new Hardware and Tools website for Harper Hardware of Richmond, VA. Once we published the website, we syndicated 20,000 of their items to Google Base. Look HERE. Google Base equates to almost half their traffic.

Google Base is a place where you can easily submit all types of online and offline content, which will be made searchable on Google. You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they do related searches.

City of Hampton Website Grant

2009-06-25T10:11:00.000-04:00

VBWebSites is proud to announce that we have been approved to be a Certified Service Provider for the City of Hampton, VA e-Commerce Grant Program and wanted to pass this information along to you.

If you have a business located and licensed in Hampton and don't quite have the web presence you deserve or have no presence at all, Grants are now available up to $2,500 for qualified companies. Certified minority and women owned businesses (SWAM) are eligible to receive awards up to $4,500.

Grants are made on a first-come, first served basis. Get a Quote here and Follow the guidelines as instructed at Hampton Economic Development website.

The Hampton IDA along with the assistance of the Hampton Department of Economic Development has created a E-Commerce Grant Program aimed at assisting Hampton businesses in order to optimize productivity, marketing and technology plans that will assist in retaining and growing employment, and business profitability.

The type of assistance includes, but is not limited to the following e-commerce services:

Web Design and Development Services including custom website design, information architecture and graphic user interface planning, database driven website design and development, content management solutions, usability testing, advanced scripting and programming, custom database development, collaboration and social networking (Web 2.0), website accessibility analysis, and maintenance contracts.
Consultation Services including information technology strategic planning, e-commerce needs and marketing assessments, domain name registration assistance, hosting service needs assessments, website analytics, and website security assessments and testing tools.
Internet Marketing Services including email marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, e-newsletter, bogs, RSS, Wilkins.
E-Commerce Services including shopping carts, donation and membership systems, online security assessments and testing tools.

Grant Amounts

Individual awards range from $1,500 to $2,500 each. Certified minority and women owned businesses are eligible to receive awards up to $4,500.
Maximum grant amount shall not to exceed 50% of total project cost or the allowable grant, whichever is less.
Funding is subject to appropriation and grants are made on a first-come, first served basis.

Requirements

Technical and business assistance will be available to all Hampton for-profit businesses which are licensed in and maintain their principal places of business within the City of Hampton, Virginia.
Projects must be legal, no adult only material, ethical, and commercially viable
Grants are made on a first-come, first served basis.

Get a Quote Today: Click Here
More Information can be found at: http://www.hampton.gov/ed/business/e_commerce_grant.html

Thankfully,
Brady Behrman
President, VBWebSites.net
Office: 757-271-8296
e-mail: brady@vbwebsites.net

May 2009 Newsletter

2009-04-30T06:34:00.000-04:00

There is light at the end of the tunnel

It seems as though things are getting better and more and more companies are focusing new marketing efforts to the web. We all know and understand the importance of a professional web presence. Your business represented well on the web proves credibility and is your doorway for new exciting opportunities.

The problem many companies face is Where to Start. Here is a list of what to do when seeking a presence on the world wide web.

Contact a Web Design Company that has proven results.
- Whether you choose VBWebSites or not, the following info will help you along the way.
Whichever Web Development company you contact, if they do indeed care about their clients, will help you devise a plan and structure for your website.
- This plan is achieved by researching similar companies and learning what your company offers.
Once a plan is made, the web design and development company will start working with you to establish the content.
- This is often the most tedious task. In our practice, If our clients have problems creating their own content, we call and setup an interview with the client by a professional copywriter that will work with our client to help establish this content.
Once the structure / content is figured out, design and development begin.

Based off the content, it is important to use images in the design that best represent your company and services. Images and Pictures play a huge factor in a great design.

From here, it's just putting the left over pieces of the puzzle together.
Final Steps pre-launch are checking for Search Engine Optimization.

By doing this, your website will have effective results from launch.

After the first month, We carefully review the website traffic reports to analyze and make sure we are focusing our efforts on our clients niche key words and search terms to ensure up most optimization.

We hope that this helps you get your website established. Again, whether you choose to inquire with VBWebSites (we care and deliver results.. shameless plug) or go elsewhere, make sure the above is handled correctly so your web site investment proves to be a positive experience for your company.

Last but not least, don't have your friends sisters uncle who has a friend who knows someone that can build a website do your website. This often is wasted time and money. Your company deserves the best presence possible, go to a reputable company and get results that you deserve.

We hope you enjoyed this newsletter, feel free to share it.

Thankfully,
Brady Behrman
President, VBWebSites.net

VBWebSites.net on Twitter

2009-04-15T07:44:00.000-04:00

Four Old-School Reasons Why You Can Thrive in this Recession

2009-03-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

So, how’s the economic meltdown treating you? Excited about the opportunities, or sick to your stomach worrying about how your bills will get paid?

Exhilarated or freaked out?

Maybe a little of both?

It’s impossible to really see massive change when we’re still in the middle of it. But there are a handful of things you can bank on. One of them is that human nature doesn’t fundamentally change, even though the environment can change radically.

And if you look back over most of the time we human beings have been on the planet, you realize that it’s in our nature to be entrepreneurs. In most times, most people created something valuable, then arranged to exchange that for something else.

The Industrial Revolution came along and we started to think it made sense for most people to work for somebody else. Just a few people knew how to do very complicated things like run factories. Most of us had to settle for being the faceless masses who could be trained to work in those factories.

The shake-up we’re in now could change our lives as profoundly as the Industrial Revolution did. Every week, thousands of employees are becoming entrepreneurs, whether they wanted to be or not. A job, once seen as a necessity, might be a pretty scarce resource for awhile.

So it might be time to think about the ancient traits that have helped entrepreneurs since the dawn of history, and how they relate to the emerging 21st-century economy.

1. Self-reliance

Back when we moved from farms to factories (and later, to cubicles), once we got a few things like child labor and worker safety straightened out, a lot of us got into the habit of letting a company take care of us.

An 18th-century farmer and a prehistoric cave dweller had one thing in common: if they didn’t hustle their asses off, they starved. There was no benevolent employer who would make sure things turned out OK.

Often, things didn’t turn out OK at all. But you worked hard and you kept your eyes open and you made your own luck.

Today’s version of self-reliance is unimaginable luxury in comparison. You’re highly unlikely to get eaten by a saber-toothed tiger, if you get appendicitis it probably won’t kill you, and if you need to figure out how to do something, you can tap into the better part of human knowledge at any public library.

Enjoy the incredible benefits of the 21st century, but don’t lose that ancient human drive to make our own fates. Keep hustling.

2. Great ideas

Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom (two wild and crazy guys) argued in Funky Business that Karl Marx was right. The workers now control the means of production. Because in the emerging economy, the means of production are between your ears.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t (necessarily) about making physical things any more. The value you can create now comes from your own wisdom, perceptiveness, style, intelligence, flexibility, and creativity.

Even if you’re making an object, it’s the design and intelligence you put into that object that make it valuable, not the physical molecules.

In every market, you win by offering people what they want and need. The winners in the new marketplace will sell information, road maps, digital tools, education, and entertainment—often, all contained within one product.

These aren’t capital-intensive projects. They don’t require armies of workers to build physical infrastructure, or legions of slaves to dig plantations or build pyramids.

Every entrepreneur is the product of a specific cultural environment, and the environment we’re in now is information overload. The normal human brain was never meant to process this much data. Most people are completely overwhelmed by the endless tangle of information, and it just gets more complex every day.

As an information entrepreneur, you can navigate that roaring river and pluck out just what your customers need, then wrap it in the package that makes it exactly what they want.

Pay attention, keep learning, and keep evolving. Entrepreneurs have always prevailed by solving problems in smart new ways. There are more ways to do that today than there have ever been before.

3. The village is your customer

Once upon a time, the bread baker and his village were stuck with one another. If he baked lousy bread, he had to look his neighbors in the eye and face their scorn. The fact that his customers were his neighbors kept him on the straight and narrow. There was no difference between his professional reputation and his personal one.

Huge 20th-century industrialism made that seem irrelevant and quaint. We had no idea what kind of person made the toy or car or loaf of bread we just bought, and we forgot to even wonder.

Now the village is back. If we blow it, customers publicly rap on our window (with social media, blogs or Twitter) and give us a piece of their mind.

Once again, our reputation and our products are one and the same. What we create doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to show that we give a damn.

The inconvenient part is that the village isn’t stuck with you. If your baguette isn’t great, your customer can FedEx something from an artisanal bakery in Napa or Madison or Boca Raton.

The cool part, though, is that if you make something handmade (even if it’s delivered in pixels), personal, and/or magnificently useful, your village can and will find you. Whether you make homespun yarn or an interactive course on how to start a dog-walking business, your product can find its own profitable village of happy customers.

4. It’s in your DNA

The human being is an inherently creative, flexible, resilient creature.

You are an inherently creative, flexible, resilient creature.

The times may well get worse before they get better. But compared with a lot of history’s darker moments, this one’s pretty comfortable.

And the opportunities that have opened up because of technology and communication are nothing short of breathtaking. No, not everyone’s going to become an information entrepreneur.

But you can.

Embrace the entrepreneurship that’s in your DNA. Keep your eyes open for problems to solve and markets to serve. And buckle up. Like every exciting ride, this one’s got a few hairpin curves.

Credit for this article goes to: Copy Blogger

Small Business Prevails

2009-03-03T15:58:00.001-05:00

It is truly an amazing time for America. Stock Markets are crashing, people are losing jobs but now there seems to be a new scene of new start up businesses making their mark on the community.

More and more compainies are shifting their marketing efforts to the web. Why is that?

More bang for the buck
Increased web awareness
targeting customers
There is no form of better and cost effective advertising / marketing

In these times, a business without a professional web presence is not much of a business at all unfortunately. Companies as well as consumers seek and research who they do business with. Credibility plays a key factor.

We hope to help you and your company in this new year, a fresh start is just around the corner!

Visit us online: http://www.vbwebsites.net

Brady Behrman

Hello 2009, Goodbye 2008

2008-12-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

As 2008 draws to a close, a new prosperous 2009 is in our future. Statistics show more and more companies, especially in this economy, will be shifting efforts to the web. Your web presence is your diamond in the rough. Your website promotes your products and services to a much larger audience than any advertisement will do. Most of all, credibility plays a key factor when consumers seek your services.

Since 2002, VBWebSites has made it's place on the web, delivering websites that are effective and achieve results. We have the know how and most of all, pashion and desire. http://www.vbwebsites.net

Some known facts about the future of the 2009 web:

Geographically Based Search Strengthens
Rise in corporate use of social media marketing
Overused web design trends will become tired
RSS Feeds will increase in women-focused niches
Targeted User-Controlled advertising will be on the rise
Blogs are going to rule the Google-verse
New online startups are going to be everywhere
Sites that go mobile are going to have the advantage

It's our job to educate and help our clients. Visit Us now