Frequently Asked Questions
Commonly asked questions regarding websites and SEO.
A domain name is like your online street address. When you started your business, you went and got a business name and registered it. You had to use a mailing address for that business. A domain is the same thing, only it’s on the web. Example: bluefinservice.com
Websites have come down significantly in price over the past several years. They used to be priced so high that it limited them to larger businesses with a lot of capital set aside for marketing and advertising. Now they are more reasonably priced so that everyone who has a business can have their voice on the internet. The larger firms have not yet adopted the new, decreased price point on a professional small business website; mainly because they do not have to. They deal with larger corporations who will pay top dollar for their website, so their price point will remain the same for quite some time.
80% of all businesses within Chicago, IL are small businesses. A good majority of them either do not have a website because it is just not in the budget right now, or they do have one, and it is not doing what they thought it would do. Our mentality is that everyone should be able to have a presence on the internet and be able to compete with the larger companies for a slice of the pie. We give a lot of credit to those who branch out on their own to fill a niche in their community, town, state, and even country; it is not easy to take that step. We want to support those efforts and build websites to expand small businesses, and chip away at the first-year failure rate, which is at a staggeringly high 90%. With the growth of a small business, come more local job opportunities. So in essence, we are trying to create more local job opportunities by expanding small businesses through increased website visibility and traffic. We are accomplishing this by offering our services at a reduced rate that is tailored to businesses with smaller pockets.
SEO is short for search engine optimization; a collective process of many techniques to rank a website higher in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The higher you rank for your target keywords and/or phrases, the more traffic you will get to your website. SEO is broken down into 2 main categories, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to how the website code is written. Off-page SEO refers to things like Google AdWords and links from other websites.
The process is not long or complicated at all; a lot quicker and easier than you might imagine! You have already done the hard part, starting the business. Once the ball is rolling, it all happens very quickly, sometimes less than two weeks.
In this modern age, people rely heavily on the internet for more than we care to admit. Some people will not even leave the house for a new destination without first “Mapquesting” and “Googling” it. Websites are no longer just pages to put a bunch of pictures, specific information, and your contact information on; they double as marketing tools that have functions built into them to aid in your success.
Adding a website to a business card or any other form of literature increases your validity to the public. It says that you are dedicated enough to invest in your business, which says a lot!
The earlier, the better. Every day that you hesitate starting the process is another day that your business’s visibility is limited to those that just notice your storefront sign. Domain names are being bought up every day and resold at a premium. Snatch yours up today, even if you are not planning to get started on your website right now – secure your brand today before it is too late and you will have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for your domain name.
There are several ways to increase your chances of getting to the top of search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. We use only reputable methods to gain rankings through content and reputation.
Organic SEO is automatically built into the code we write for all of our websites. Proper code writing and quality contents are often enough to get you noticed. If it is not, we have other methods to help you achieve the ranking you want.
Being on the first page of Google means that you will be in the 92% of traffic earned for each search. This leaves only 8% to be divided up between the rest of the hundreds of pages of listings.
Bluefin Service is your one-stop-shop for all your online marketing, and graphic design needs.
We will sit down with you and discuss how your business could benefit by having a website, and how to achieve it. We handle it all for you; from domain registration to hosting it on the internet for you, and making sure you GET FOUND.
SSL, or Secure Socket Layers, is what makes secure sites secure. You can tell a site has an SSL certificate by looking in the address bar. Instead of the traditional http://…, you will see an “s” in it: https://. Never give out any personal information (like SSN or credit card numbers) without that “s” in the http://..