Domain – Maroon Interactive

April 15, 2011

Do Small Websites Need a CMS?

So you are getting ready to launch a Website to promote your business and your Web developer is recommending that you use a content management system (CMS) to manage the Website – is this a good idea or just an additional expense? Here are five reasons you should use a CMS to manage – and take control of your Web presence:

1. There’s a CMS for every budget. Content management systems are great at managing data publication. Although there are many great expensive CMS platforms out there, some of the best platforms are free to use – even thought they might attract a modest fee for set-up and customization. Check out this review of a variety of CMS platforms.

2. Manage your Website’s ‘look and feel’. Whether your Website has 4 Web pages or 50, a decent CMS will make it easy for you to seamlessly apply your Website’s design to all content pages and provide a consistent user-experience for visitors. For example, if you decide to change your logo or information that appears on all pages of your Website, a CMS could make this process a breeze by removing the need to update each Web page individually.

3. Save time with a CMS. The CMS will reduce the amount of time (and cost) required to add content or make changes to your Website. If you’d like to update your Website and don’t know much about Web development and coding, a good CMS will also make it easy for you to make simple updates your Website.

4. Faster, uniformed deployment of helpful Web applications. If your Website is informational, you might think all you need to get your point across are a few Web pages – this might be true, but a CMS will also make it easy for you to engage in search engine optimization (SEO) or add Web applications to your Web pages that will help potential customers find your Website and share it with others.

5. Stay up-to-date with interactive marketing technology. Most developers of content management systems (CMS) review and update these Website management tools quarterly. The updates usually apply user feedback and the latest Web technology to the platforms – for example, a robust CMS will let you know when your Website is not secure or if your site’s code is outdated.

There are content management systems (CMS) for every budget – many reputable systems such as Drupal and WordPress are even free of licensing fees. If you care about consistency and maintaining a high quality Web presence, it’s well worth it to invest in a CMS.

January 4, 2011

Facebook Vanity URLs – Get your name in there!

Good vain - facebook vanity URLs

There is a big difference between the URLs below – even though they take you to the same place on facebook.

The first URL is called a ‘vanity’ URL, because it gives you the opportunity to say something unique about your facebook profile and help to promote your brand in the network if you are managing a page for your business.

Vanity URL’s are great, they are –

Easy to remember.
Work better on printed materials than the long-form facebook URLs (see second example above).
Makes it easy to direct someone to your page or profile.

But there’s a catch – think very carefully before you set one up because you will not be able to edit or transfer your new username/URL once you set it! That said – it’s fairly easy to set up a vanity URL:

Have a list of 3 possible unique usernames/URLs you’d like to use
Go to (or click) the following link – http://facebook.com/username, and follow the steps.
Check to see if any of your unique usernames/URLs are available and if they are – voila! You are ready to be just as vain as the rest of us.

Now go claim your brand name before it’s too late!

May 6, 2009

Branding Across Borders

Cross-cultural marketing of your brand or product is easier and cheaper today thanks to growing Internet access around the world. Moving between .jm, .nz or .jp is easy, but buyers usually start searching within their country-coded domains before they search abroad. A country-coded domain (other than your own) can help improve your search engine results in foreign markets and improve your conversion rates.

Here are three steps to consider as you take your brand Continue reading “Branding Across Borders”

April 6, 2009

Expand Your Reach: Country-Coded Domains

Entrepreneurs that dream big know that having a Website is not enough to get your brand and ideas out there. If your product is as vital as say… food, medicine or a tourist destination, you might want to add to your to-do list a strategy to go international by obtaining one or more ccTLDs- country-coded domains assigned to other independent countries (e.g. Jamaica uses .jm, and the UK uses .uk.)

3 good reasons for acquiring a ccTLD outside your home country (Caribbean or otherwise) are-

1. Send your brand where it could be more profitable
It’s simple, if you want to get paid in pounds, euros or yuan – go where you can get it! Acquiring myhotcaribbeanproduct.co.uk, .eu or .jp will get you more play in search engines queried abroad that at home.

2. Protect your brand in a shrinking world
If you’ve got a great product with cross over appeal (and who doesn’t?), save yourself the headache of dealing with international domain squatters who can hold your URL at ransom for big bucks later on. Websites such as Sedo’s is a weeping ground for businesses that underestimated the value of their brand or that they would want to open up shop elsewhere in our shrinking world. A domain that you can purchase for $20 today, could cost you $2000 tomorrow.

3. The grass looks sexier from the other side
It’s no mystery why marketers and businesses are scampering to secure domains in places like Tuvalu, the Federated States of Micronesia and Montenegro – with extensions such as .tv, .fm and .me your message could be made clearer and hotter in your own home market. It’s true that few in your home market will be thinking about Tuvalu if they saw hotcaribbeanthing.tv; but they sure would be logging on to “watch” it –and that’s the point!

Until next time when we’ll talk about some things to know before you go ccTLD.