Monthly Archives: February 2014

Do You Need Responsive Website Design?

By Jay Ehret on February 18, 2014

The most effective website gives every visitor what they want. But consider this: even if you have everything they want, your visitors still might not see it. There is an assault of devices accessing the content on your website: desktop PC’s, laptops, tablets of all shapes and sizes, smartphones galore. All have different screen sizes. How can your website handle those screens? Not very well, in most cases.

multiple devices access your website

Photo credit by londoncyclist on Flickr

It’s time to respond, with responsive website design. Responsive website design is your answer to the device assault on your website. What is it and is it for you? Responsive website design makes your website content universally accessible across a number of devices, in an optimized format for that device. Sounds like magic. But is it?

In this episode of the Power to the Small Business marketing podcast, we ask an expert web developer to weigh in on this hot new trend in website design. Cory Webb is an web developer, author and Joomla specialist, and he joins host Jay Ehret to discuss the pros & cons of responsive web design, content management systems, and how to hire a responsive design web developer to create your website.

Guest: Cory Webb – Web Developer, Joomla Expert
Host: Jay Ehret of TheMarketingSpot.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Responsive Website Design Cheat Sheet

Responsive Website Design – An approach to website design that takes your existing website content and makes it accessible to all devices accessing your website.

CSS: Cascading Style Sheets – A programming language used by developers to design the look and feel of a website.

Javascript – A programming language used by developers to make websites more interactive.

CMS: Content Management System – Software on your website server that allows you to create, publish, and edit content on your website. The three major CMS platforms are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Show Notes

Tips to hire a responsive website developer:

  1. Look for developers who have a lot of front end development experience.
    – HTML, CSS, media queries
  2. Look for developers who are familiar with the popular frameworks:
  3. Look for examples of responsive designs the developer has done.
  4. If they try to sell you a template, ask to see what your site, or others, look like with that template.
  5. Examine the examples across multiple devices.

Selected Podcast Quotes on Responsive Website Design

“Whether you do a mobile website or responsive website, you probably should do something. Because it really makes you look bad to the customer if you are not paying attention to those details.”

“A website is the most efficient and effective way to communicate with your customers.”
~ Cory Webb

Show Links:

Cory Webb responsive website designCory Webb on Twitter

WordPress
Joomla
Drupal

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What Great Brands Do

By Jay Ehret on February 4, 2014

In a company built around a brand, it’s up to the business owner or CEO to understand the difference between the the business and the brand. There is none. That’s the big idea that underpins Denise Lee Yohn’s new book: What Great Brands Do.

What Great Brands Do Author Denise Lee Yohn

Branding is not a marketing function. It is a business function. According to Yohn, brand building cannot be delegated to the marketing department. Instead your brand must be “operationalized,” meaning, you use your brand as a guide and compass for all activities of your core business operations.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, What Great Brands Do author Denise Lee Yohn discusses her new book and her seven brand-building principles. It is a book that will help you get a grip on how your brand and your business are connected. And Yohn asserts that if you make your brand your business, you can have both: a great brand and a great business. Press the play button on the player below and get started.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download


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Show Notes – What Great Brands Do

Brand: The central organizing idea of your business.

  • A brand is a bundle of values and attributes that define the value you deliver to people through doing business, that forms the basis of your company’s relationships with all your stakeholders.
  • Your brand is what your company does and how you do it.
  • Your brand is not what you say you are, it’s what you do.

Selected Podcast Quotes from Denise Lee Yohn

“Marketing and advertising only play a very small role in shaping brand perception.”

“Great brands don’t delineate between their brands and their businesses. They’re one and they same.”

“It takes an enlightened leader or team of people to realize that there is a lack of alignment between what they’re saying and what they’re doing and at the same time, have the aspiration to have a great brand.”

~ Denise Lee Yohn on Power to the Small Business

What Great Brands Do Show Links:

The Book: What Great Brands Do
The Tools: Branding Worksheets and Templates
On Twitter: Denise Lee Yohn
Denise on the Podcast: Marketers Roundtable Discussion of Current Issues

If you liked this podcast, you might also be interested in these episodes:

The Keys to Transformational Branding
Branding Lessons from the U.S. Marines
Small Business Branding Clinic

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