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Pro Bono Work? Do You Do It?

I used to when I was first starting out in web design in 2001. If I was in your club or organization I offered to design your website or webmaster your website for free, but I no longer do Pro Bono work.

There is a place for free services and typically that place is for new start-ups or web businesses that are trying to get their foot in a market. You cannot demand top dollar when you are untested and unknown. But once you have paid your dues and established a clientèle base, most businesses, such as mine, no longer offer free services.

What do you do about Pro Bono or free work requests? Do you do them? If you do are you established or just getting started? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this as a reality check for my view point.

Why we are on that topic how about family work? Do you do it? Do you discount your services or offer them free? I have worked for family members and find that for me mixing business and pleasure is not the best solution. I do not seek to perform services for family members or friends. I value the relationship too much to have business stresses interfere. What about you?

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How Do You Monitor Google AdWords?

It is shocking, but there are business out there that are spending thousands of dollars on Google each month without any checks and balances in place to monitor the performance of their programs.

Before we start working with an AdWords client we want several things in place. (This is really in the client’s best interest.) We want to have metrics to evaluate the success, or lack thereof,  of their Google AdWords program.

This is what we recommend:

  1. Have a website statistics package installed. AWStats is not enough. We like Urchin and second best Google Analytics.
  2. Have a contact form on the website that when the script is triggered drops the client to a new URL for the thank you page. Contact forms that simply place text on the same page thanking the client for a form submission will never be able to have Google AdWords conversion tracking installed.
  3. Make sure that AdWords conversion tracking is installed on the thank you or order confirmation page.
  4. Have a budget established for $800 to $1,500 per month for clicks to start with. Less than that, you really should not use our services as we will add too much to your program’s overhead.
  5. Consider custom landing pages targeted to your ad group’s themes. Some clients don’t always need this as they may have a page on their website that is a good match, but we never recommend dropping the AdWords clickee on the home page of the website. When we do custom landing pages we always enable a form at the bottom to allow for fast questions and an additional way to capture the lead for further contact.

If you are not using metrics to evaluate your AdWords program, you are just leaving your pocket book or wallet open on the table for Google to grab your cash without accountability. You should only spend on Google AdWords when it is smart for your business.

I’ve seen and made happen some absolutely wild success stories with Google AdWords, but I’ve also told some clients that AdWords is not working for them and they should stop advertising there. If you don’t measure the activity and leads generated by your program, you will simply be guessing at whether AdWords is working for you. You should not be guessing, you should know!

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New Innovations in Web Design

Not everyone can afford our custom SEO-niche based web design services, but for those that need a simple web presence, using website templates can get you exposure fast.

GoDaddy.com has a nice template based simple web design editor that you can set up in under four hours. For a first time web presence this is enough to get exposure fast. I’ve taken their application for a run for a client and I think that their color choices and designs are fine. Once you’ve made your template selection adding content is as simple as typing.

For businesses who need a website and really don’t have the money to pay for services such as ours, this will give you a taste of the web possibilities that are out there.

For mature businesses who have already tasted the Web and now need serious “authority” and better placement, we’re a great match and we invite you to review our services, client ratings, and portfolio. We understand that we are not a good match for everyone, so if you need a quick and nearly free website, GoDaddy.com is a great place to start and do it yourself.

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The College Of Now

Colleges are becoming more and more technology oriented. Everything is moving to the web. Almost everything I need to do is accessible on the web. Here are the things you can do.

• School Email account
• Preorder books through college website (This is great when you get to school you just go to the bookstore and pick them up, they are all in a nice box for you. This eliminates the long lines.)
• Check class work and schedule online
• Check grades online
• Sign up for classes online(this tells you if classes are available and even how many seats are available)
• Converse with teachers
• Pay bills
• Pay fines
• Check for holds on classes and accounts
• Pay Tuition online
• check if your laundry is done online, or if there are any available washers and dryers
• get text message alerts for anything troublesome on campus

This is all very different from when my parents were in college, from what they have told me they didn’t have computers available and calculators were the size of textbooks.

This is my last post as I am now going back to college. Thanks for being patient while I blogged for my Mom. I found out first hand it is much harder being a blogger than I thought it would be.

Times have really changed and college has too by embracing technology making convenience come to you with the click of a mouse. One thing that hasn’t changed is the amount of work and participation to be successful at college.