Salt Blog

Today's post is the last in a mini-series about ownership, and specifically the importance of being in control of the various facets of your business' online presence. I've already shared some of the reasons you should be the owner of your domain name and your company website, and today I'm going to be talking about email. Are you in control of your business' email address? Custom Email Addresses are Part of a Professional Web Design To start, let's talk about some of the reasons your business should, in fact, have a custom email address instead of an @yahoo, @hotmail or any of the other free email providers. The first thing people think when they see This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is that you're legit. Custom email addresses give your business credibility and an email from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is a lot less likely to be sent directly to the trash by the people who receive it....

Continuing with the ownership theme that was discussed in my last post, this week I'm going to be talking about website design ownership. Like discovering that you aren't, in fact, the owner of your website's domain name, many business owners are surprised to discover that they don't actually own any part of their website design. What?! You paid to have a website built so you should have control over what happens with the site's content, images and other property, right? Well, depending on the website design company or service you choose, this isn't always the case. In fact, some companies intentionally work their contracts so that if a client no longer wishes to use their services but wants to task someone else with updating or managing the site, the site won't be released.  It's true. We've heard of businesses paying significant fees to service providers to build them a site,...

Here's an important question that you may not have given much thought to in the past; do you actually own the domain name for your business' website? As web designers, we regularly work with businesses, and because we've heard the horror stories and know what's possible, we always make sure that our clients own their domain names. In today's post, I'll tell you why it's vitally important for you to be listed as the owner of your company's domain name when you're building a new site, or why you should find out if the domain name for your existing site is, in fact, your own. The Risks You would be surprised to learn of the number of instances where, after years of working with a particular domain name and building an online presence around that name, business owners discover that the domain is actually owned by someone else. In some...

This month, I've been sharing some proven tips for achieving more results through effective calls to action and other website copy. While a call to action and persuasive writing are fundamental to generating more leads and sales, they're not the only ways you can boost conversions. In fact, there are many facets of a website design that can and should work together to provide the user with a specific experience and, hopefully, elicit a specific response. Today's post will talk specifically about how to effectively use buttons to improve your site's conversion rate and deliver real results. Adding Better Buttons to Your Website Design A great deal of testing has been done over the years to determine how the look and placement of buttons affects their conversion rates. It's not enough to toss a 'Buy Now' button on your product page and expect people to click it. When considering your...

Last time, I talked about the importance of using calls to action in your website design. If the goal for your website is to attract and convert new customers for your business (and I'm guessing it is), you've got to tell people what you want them to do, when they're on your site. You can't expect that they will take it upon themselves to sign-up for your newsletter, purchase your product, or email you for more information, so you must include a clear and consistent call to action on every page of your site. Now, that's not to say that you can just write 'call us' at the bottom of every page and expect the phone to start ringing off the hook. There's an art to writing copy that grabs attention, keeps the reader interested, and then - BAM - hits them with a call to action. In today's post,...