For the third consecutive year, 9pm Studios is proud to have the opportunity to support the City Dogs Rescue & City Kitties Annual Online Auction. This year’s auction showcases artists, restaurants, theaters, sports, media, and small businesses from across the District of Columbia metropolitan area. From wine tasting in Virginia’s rolling hills to sessions with expert […]
9pm Studios supporting City Dogs Rescue’s online auction
For the second year in a row, 9pm Studios is proud to have the opportunity to support the City Dogs Rescue DC Annual Online Auction.
This year’s auction showcases artists, restaurants, theaters, and small businesses from across the District of Columbia metropolitan area. From wine tasting in Virginia’s rolling hills to sessions with expert pet photographers, and items from many popular retailers, you’re sure to find something you love, while helping to save dogs and cats from overcrowded and high-kill shelters.
Among the hundreds of items up for auction is $400 worth of 9pm Studios services, including web design, digital marketing, branding, and graphic design.
How to start a business: Practical tips and insight
Ask Google “how to start a business” or “tips for starting a business” and it will answer with roughly two billion and 186 million results, respectively. Most, if not all of the tips or advice we found offered nothing of real substance to the reader. Generic “advice” is fine for those who are only interested in reading about how to start a business, or explaining the process to a toddler. However, if you’re interested in actually starting and running a successful business, read on.
Celebrating the dog days of Summer
9pm Studios is proud to have the opportunity to support the City Dogs Rescue DC Annual Online Auction this year.
Web design tips: Four things every website must have
For most businesses (and 99.9% of websites in general) your website home page is the most visited page of your website. But are you inspiring your visitors to take action, or driving them away with poor design? Your website visitor must get a clear understanding of what you do and be able to find the information they need. If you “make them work for it,” they will leave and go to a competitor instead.
The web design tips infographic below outlines four basic things that any website must have, regardless of industry or personal style.
SEO statistics and tips all website owners should know
Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as “SEO” is important. Period. It should be a non-negotiable piece of any website you build, or hire someone to build. Unfortunately, many people and business owners do not know what SEO is, or why it’s so important, if they’ve heard of it at all. In fact, SEO is one of the most important “under the hood” pieces that make up a website. If your SEO is lacking, or non-existent, your website isn’t going to be seen.
Publishing a website without optimizing it for search engines is like publishing a print ad to a single piece of paper that you immediately throw in the garbage. You can point someone to it and they may go visit, but you’re not going to experience any business growth. And businesses that don’t grow, aren’t in business for very long.
What we’re trying to say is: search engine optimization is critical if you want your website to be found by potential customers.
Effectively using social media to promote your business
Over the past ten years, I’ve spent countless hours developing, launching and managing social media accounts for businesses and non-profits. In that time, I could have doubled my annual income had I collected a dollar from everyone who expressed a belief that having a personal account on any given social media site automatically qualified an individual to run a business account on the same site. That’s kind of like saying that having sent an email to a friend qualifies one to oversee an email marketing campaign seen by thousands of people every time it goes out. Unfortunately, like most other things in life, it’s not quite as easy as it seems. There is a steep learning curve, even if you have personal profiles setup on a given social media website. And social media is an ever-evolving animal, too.
Open for business!
It’s rare for new businesses to have customers lined up before they even begin to advertise their services. We were lucky enough to have multiple clients approach us before we were even out of the starting gate, and we’re thrilled to be working with them. Because we value our relationships with these incredible small business owners, we’re giving them our full attention at this time. Unfortunately, that means our own website leaves quite a bit to be desired. And no, the irony of a web consulting company without a fully built website isn’t lost on us.