On this episode of Overflow, we are joined by the Founder and CEO of Bella Web Design in Atlanta, Desiree Scales. She is celebrating ten years of providing exceptional web design and development services to clients.
We talked a little bit about her start in the business and the changes that have occurred since 1998, and the one that it most prominent, the rise of social media tools. These tools are on the cutting edge of helping to build communities around a web site via blogs, commenting systems and live chat functionality such as Meebo. These tools, many of which are free, support a web site by providing direct interaction between site owner and potential clients and customers. Community building helps to break down the firewalls and allows more personal brands to flourish.
The discussion turns towards the unique ways in which individuals can build their own community online through various social networks. Business networks such as LinkedIn provide ways to demonstrate expertise, and the micro-messaging tool Twitter can assist in pushing a personal web presence to a broader general audience.
Many web site owners have been hesitant to adopt these technologies and allow their web sites to languish without updating content or embracing social tools. These sites will not get much returning visitor traffic, nor high search engine rankings since the content has become stale and dated. Using social media tools such as twitter plugins, commenting, or other embedded content are simple ways of keeping a site fresh.
Video & audio podcasts are also a tremendous way to keep visitors on a web site.
A common mistake for web site owners is forgetting to include a call to action, whether it is a commerce site trying to drive sales or an informational site looking for RSS or newsletter subscribers. These elements along with community building tools should be top of mind in developing a site.
Desiree recommends reading Seth Godin’s Tribe as a fascinating study in the development of leaders among the community of the internet frontier.
Finally, using case studies from clients who have benefited from Desiree’s expertise is a great way to help others overcome their hesitancy in taking this next step in online marketing. She calls attention to a client Tricia Molloy and her business Working with Wisdom. Tricia transformed a low converting site into a highly trafficed one through a newsletter, twitter and a blog.
Thanks again to Desiree Scales from Bella Web Design for joining us on this episode, and we look for more in the future.
