Mystic Liquid

Mystic Liquid was created to help the small business owners in our local area grow their businesses through interactive, easy to use websites. I like to think that’s what allows us to stand out from the competition as a Scranton website design company. One of our first recommendations to these businesses is to get blogging.

I’m going to let you in on a pretty important business fact. Blogging is a proven and effective marketing tool for a wide range of businesses. While it may seem obvious to those of you who already are aware of this, there are far too many small business owners missing out on customers and sales because they are not using blogging as a marketing tool.

The problem is so many people don’t either realize a blogs full potential or they have far too many misconceptions about them. Here is a list of four of the most common reasons they don’t want blogs along with Mystic Liquid’s counter-argument:

As you can see a well run blog can greatly enhance your business’s exposure to the world. Don’t be one of those people who miss out on this great opportunity by letting these misconceptions keep you from giving business blogging a chance.

The future of Web 2.0 is in video. The success of video aggregators like YouTube is only the tip of the iceberg. More and more blogs are taking notice and using this trend to monetize their websites. One of my personal favorite blogs, 1938 Media, uses videos almost exclusively in his posts instead of content and you know what, it works. Loren’s built himself a nice little following by creating a niche in the blogosphere through his innovative use of video.

Personally, I love it when a website mixes a combination content and video successfully. The page contains enough content to inform the visitors and feed those spiders while the video does all the work in grabbing the attention of the user in the first place.

Don’t be shocked when you start to see more of our posts using videos. We are also starting to weave into our small business website design with some positive results so far. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

The problem so many designers run into with video is finding the correct format to use. Here are some of the more popular plugins, players and video formats commonly used as a quick refresher course in video implementation.

· Flash - From everything I’ve seen, read, and used, I can honestly say that Flash is by far and away the most popular format for videos to go along with the widest computer support. The major problem with using Flash, well one of the major problems, is that Flash isn’t much value to the mobile market. Hopefully, we will see some vast improvements on that front.

· QuickTime - This video app made by Apple is one the cleanest players you’ll find. Anyone who owns an iPod knows about QuickTime. It used to be a poor choose to view videos with if you were running a Windows based PC but over the last year or two, that has improved by leaps and bounds.

· Real media – This dinosaur used to be extremely popular back in the day because of its compression and cross-platform capability but the increased developments in the other players left Real Media players behind the times. The one plus is that it is supported through some of the popular mobile devices.

· Windows media – Everyone who owns a Windows computer has used a Windows media player at one point or another. I really don’t recommend using it just because of compatibility issues. It isn’t the most user friendly video player going.

· Streaming video – Of all the video formats I mentioned, this may be the easiest to use. The only thing you really need is a camera. The only drawback is you need to get yourself a streaming media server as well as a decent understanding of firewalls and ports. Other than that, it’s a snap to use.

What do you use or recommend when you use video on your website? Leave a comment with any suggestions you have.

We here at MysticLiquid are often approached by small business owners wanting to know how they can grow their business through establishing a web presence. Some keep their ambitions small, looking to increase their sales in a certain local region, while others like to think big and show the world what they can offer and that’s their intended market. Now, how they plan on doing that and how they go about it is a whole different question.

From the start, if you’re looking to establish a presence online, you first need to get online. You need a website. Once you have that you can start making money. Think about it. Most people use websites to make money in one way shape or form. Some people use their site to sell products and then there are those who write a daily blog with AdSense ads all over it.

So as you can see there are countless ways to make a buck just from owning a website. Don’t believe me? Here are at least five different sites we have built for a few local Scranton small businesses:

· Sell your products – This is easily the most popular reason why small businesses must develop an e-commerce website of their own. You are free to sell your own products, while also controlling how much of a profit you make with every sale. A small business sees the biggest profit margins through choosing this route. Your customers appreciate good value and love low costs. Cutting out the middleman is a great way to provide them competitive prices while getting them back as repeat business. All you need is the products, pages developed to display it and a shopping cart to order it. You now have an e-commerce site selling whatever you want.

· Sell your services – No, I know not all small businesses sell products but offer services instead. So they are left wondering how their business can be helped through a web presence. While most of the technical stuff is vastly different, the overall theme and message of your site would still remain the same as one selling products. The only drawback with selling services through your website is the fact your potential for revenue is limited to the amount of time you can provide to a set number of service jobs.

· One of the main ingredients in building a website that sells service instead of product is the fact that since you are selling a relationship between a customer and yourself, you need to spend more time and effort establishes credibility. We do this on sites like this through developing rapport with the website’s visitors and then trying to show them the benefits of the service you’re offering them.

· Drop ship products – Maybe you love the idea of selling product but don’t have space to store it or the funds to set up a system of inventory tracking. I would recommend a drop-shipment website. These websites allow you to sell whatever type of product you want, even brand names too, with the ease of a few clicks from the customer. These business ventures are often profitable to a business since they require so little work to be done to it. Some companies run such a smooth drop shipping service that it nearly automated. You place the products on your site and the order is then filled and shipped from a third party warehouse.

· Recommend affiliate products – One great way to make money through a website is through an affiliate program. These are no-risk partnerships in which through your website, you promote another company’s products. Afterwards, depending on the amount of traffic and sales you directed, you earn a percentage of their sales. It works much like you receiving a commission for the sale you helped make. These are commonly done through ads such as banners or links on your site directing a customer to their site. You can actually make a lot of money if you market yourself wisely through affiliate site.

· Sell ad space – This one you really can’t do unless you already have an established and high traffic website. If you can show advertisers that your website can reach a large number of their target audience, they will be willing to buy ad space on your website. Don’t plan on making this your fulltime job because it really doesn’t pay that well. It works great as a second source of income but don’t expect it to be your business’s only source of income. You won’t be keeping your doors open for long.

As you can see there is a lot of potential out there for businesses to make money online. All it takes is the right idea combined with determination to make it work. The good news is that we possess both when it comes to working with and for you. Send us an email to see how we can help you with your website goals and aspirations. We’ll be glad to help.