I live and work in Reno Nevada. I think it's the best place in the world to live. There are so many options and fun things to do in and around the Reno area. This fits me perfect because I really enjoy spending time outside doing the things I love. One of my passions is skiing.

I am 45 minutes away from the best ski resort in North America: Squaw Valley USA. For the past 5 years I have been a dedicated pass holder and lover of Squaw. I consider myself an expert skier... although, nowhere near as good as some of the guys ripping it up at Squaw.

Recently, I found a website that offers everything I want to see and read about Squaw Valley, and other things skiing. This website is: Unofficial Squaw.

The team behind Unofficial Squaw are doing an incredible job of online marketing and delivering a website people love and visit quite often (myself included).

So what's their secret? Well, first, the layout and design of the site is really nice. They spent some time putting everything together, and either have in-house designers, or they hired a great web design company. The website is visually pleasing and has a nice grid-based layout making navigating the site very easy.

They've also incorporated some really great technologies in their website, including: weather widgets, Twitter, Vimeo video technologies, Slideshow Pro, Flickr and others.

But what really makes Unofficial Squaw so popular among ski fanatics is the content! They are delivering exactly what their visitors want: great content!

I am sure you've heard, "content is king." Make no mistake, this is absolutely true! If you want to have a website with tons of traffic and visitors... deliver great content with an easy to use website. Give your audience what they want!!

At Bullsprig, we consult business owners and individuals every week about how they can get more traffic to their website. Besides having a custom designed website, you must give users what they want. What are you selling? Do you have products, services, ideas? What about those products or services makes them "sellable"? Talk about it. Help your audience see the benefits of your offerings.

You started your business because you were passionate about it. Tell the world why and success will follow! 
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I am a huge fan of Napoleon Hill. Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal and business success.

Recently I read the following by Napoleon Hill:

Where will you be ten years from now if you keep on going the way you are going?

Many people fail to realize that big success is the result of little successes achieved, often over a very long period of time. Truly successful people are long-term thinkers. They know that they must build upon each achievement and constantly learn new and better ways of doing things. A regular review of your progress is an essential part of goal-setting. A goal is little more than a wish unless it has a timetable for completion. Make sure your plan for your life includes short, medium, and long-term goals. Revise your goals as circumstances dictate, check them off when they are completed, and set new and bigger goals for yourself as you grow. And take time to reflect often to make sure you are on the right course-for you.

Pretty powerful stuff. Let me break down this information.

Truly successful people are long-term thinkers.
Thinking long-term is easier said than done. Especially in the current business climate. You might wonder where you next sale is going to come from. Or, will my business survive this period. Every business owner has these thoughts. What's important is that you do something about it.

You need to look hard at your current marketing initiatives. What are you doing now? Is it working? Is your website working hard for you and your business? What is your conversion rate in your pay-per-click campaigns? Did that email blast generate any leads or sales? And so on.

If your online marketing initiatives are not working, you must do something different.

Successful people constantly learn new and better ways of doing things.
How much time do you spend on your website? Are you updating content, photos, FAQ's? How often do you talk with your web design firm / marketing agency? What type of funnels do you have on your website? Are they generating leads or selling your products?

There are so many better ways of doing business online. At Bullsprig, we have modules that allow you to update your website from any computer with an internet connection. How much time do you spend on social media? Ever wonder how to reduce the time you spend? If you have a Google AdWords account, do you have any keywords with a low quality score? What are you, or your web design agency doing about it?

With Bullsprig as your online business partner, we can help you find new and better ways of doing business online.

Make sure your plan for your life includes short, medium, and long-term goals.
At Bullsprig, we have an internal roadmap of goals. We are constantly working and moving forward to create new, better ways of marketing online. Better ways of designing websites, building ecommerce stores.

What are your online goals? Do you have any?

It's okay if you don't have goals... you might not know where to start. Listen, we know the web is complex. We're in business to help people and companies understand the web. We’re about streamlining the complex stuff so that anyone can understand it. Our products are designed so business owners and individuals can start small and grow with it as their business does.

We are actively involved with each of our clients. We work with business owners to define online business goals and make a roadmap to complete those goals.

Reflect often to make sure you are on the right course-for you.
Success online is the result of constant communication. We talk with our clients once a week: What's working? What's not working? How can we fix it?

We believe in providing you great technology, built to help you succeed, at an affordable price.

If your website design agency is not helping your business succeed online, it's time to look elsewhere. Contact Bullsprig today. Let's start the conversation. 
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We recently said goodbye to one of our longtime clients. They said they could not afford our services any longer, but really appreciated all the work we had done in the past, and would look forward to working with Bullsprig in the future, once the economy picked-up.

Looking back at our relationship, one thing kept eating away at me. You see, they decided to go with another marketing service provider (yes, one that was cheaper). That’s fine and good--we get, it every penny counts--except this other company isn’t providing a better service (in my opinion). So why would they bail on us?

The answer is plain and simple: lack of communication. On our part. Period. Our mistake, we will learn from it.

Our goal as a web design agency is to have all of our clients trust us and keep the communication lines open. It’s important that we deliver the very best service at a reasonable price. We want our clients to rave about our services and the results we deliver... recommend us to colleagues and friends.

I think it gets back to trust. Inspiring trust is a critical component to business, especially a service business like website design and development. I am a believer now that trust comes from communication. People will not recognize Bullsprig as a leader unless they trust us. People need to be convinced that we know what we’re doing and that we can deliver.

Recently, we have started having weekly conversations with our clients. These conversations are generally not long and take place over the phone. But, what we’ve noticed with these conversations, is that our clients are coming to us for more and more services. They are asking us more questions, keeping the conversation going.

These conversations have also given us an opportunity to talk about all the other services we provide, in addition to web design and development.

With the ever-changing economy and strains on your business, we need to know where you stand today. What your current business goals are (they change frequently), and how we can deliver ROI. What are your key business indicators? How can we leverage your website and online marketing initiatives to achieve these goals?

Our services should ALWAYS help you move your business forward and be worth the investment; otherwise, it is time to talk and revisit goals and deliverables. 
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing and enhancing your website to help potential customers find it on Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. SEO is a process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via "natural" or unpaid search results (defined by Reno SEO companies as "organic" search results).

The term "search engine marketing" (SEM) deals with paid search. Search engine marketing seeks to increase the visibility of a website by promoting that website with the use of paid ad placement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion. Search engine marketing includes the use of Google Adwords, contextual advertising and other forms of online advertising.

Having your custom website design optimized for search is important because the higher your website appears in the search results list, the more traffic your website will receive from the various search engines. Website traffic is key if you want to have a successful online business!

Search engine optimization includes a lot of different kinds of search strategies in addition to your keyword search strategy. Image search, local search and video search are all components that should be included in your search engine optimization. By incorporating all these strategies in your SEO, your website will have a much better web presence, thus more traffic!

As part of your internet marketing strategy, SEO tactics should be incorporated into custom website development and design. Valid code is the foundation for effective SEO strategies.

Search engine optimization focuses on how search engines work and what specific terms people search for. SEO efforts should start at the bottom level of your website. That is, your HTML code!

The majority of web pages on the Internet are written in computer languages (such as HTML). This allows web designers and web developers the ability to structure text, images, multimedia content and more on a web page.

All software and applications written with computer languages are supposed to follow rules. This includes websites and web pages! A common mistake made by many web developers and designers is to NOT follow these rules. This is a huge mistake if you want quality search engine results.

Optimizing a website for search begins with valid HTML code. Quality, valid HTML code will remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines and make your online business search engine friendly. All of our Reno web design clients have websites built with quality code. In addition, we send an xml feed every 24 hours to all the major search engines, which helps our clients tremendously with their search results!

The term "search engine friendly" describes the overall layout and design of your custom website. Designing search engine friendly websites begins with valid HTML code. That code powers your overall layout and design, including: navigational menus, content management systems, images, blogs, forums, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that make up your online business.

In today's competitive business environment, proper SEO is critical to the success of any website. Whether you want to optimize your site yourself or want a professional Reno SEO agency to help you, Search Engine Optimization should be a keystone of your online marketing strategy.

The goal of your search engine optimization strategies should be to gain more visibility on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. Increasing traffic to your website is the only way to grow your online business.

If you need help with your SEO, SEM or your website design and development, contact Bullsprig today! We are a Reno web design and Reno SEO website design agency. But, Reno Nevada is just where we call home... we have a lot of clients all across the US and would love to work with you wherever you live! 
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With every custom website design project we undertake, we stick to specific guidelines to complete the project on-time and on-budget. That is, of course, easier said than done.

With every client wanting the absolute best work for their online business, it's best to stick to your project management guide or your design contract to fulfill your end of the bargain.

The absolute most important point in your contract is the one defining the scope of work. In our web design contracts, we are as detailed and precise as possible when dealing with project scope and reviews/revisions. If you let the project get out of control with client revisions, your project will be drained of any profit you calculated in. Nothing drains more dollars than unnecessary client revisions.

Stick to your project goals. What was the original business goal for this project? Sometimes we have clients try to make changes after they have approved the original design. This happens. More often than not, the original design was the correct decision. We always go back with our clients and review the project goals and articulate the logic behind the original design decision.

Sometimes client revisions are due to another, higher-level manager in the company. It's vitally important that you get the names and information of each key decision maker on the project, and involve them!

How important is client involvement? There are several phases of web projects where client approval is necessary to move forward. We let clients know how many revisions are budgeted in the project scope. And, when formal revisions take place, we always get a signature for approval.

It's important your web design agency takes the time to educate clients on the web design process and business goals that will be solved via your custom website design. If you're working with a web design agency, you've probably chose them because you liked their work. Trust them! At Bullsprig, we're in business because our clients trust our judgement when it comes to the design and layout of websites.

At Bullsprig, our clients are responsible for providing constructive feedback at each revision cycle. Each revision cycle is designed to move the project forward, to solve business goals as specified by the client.

At each milestone in the web design process, we insist on client approval and involvement. The website design and development should be completely 'client approved' prior to launch. This will prevent last minute delays and unexpected costs due to revisions.

After the site is launched, the education process continues. Clients need to know how to use their website, how to get traffic and how to evaluate strategy moving forward. Successful business owners know that in order for their website to gain traffic, convert visitors, and solve important business goals, the website has to be constantly updated, reviewed, tested, linked and maintained.

We build all our websites on an advanced technology infrastructure that makes it easy for businesses and individuals to maintain and grow their online business. After the launch of any website, we train all our clients how to use this platform. The Bullsprig platform boasts a wide array of powerful modules for empowering your website.

If you have a business in Reno Nevada, and are looking for a Reno web design agency, let's get in touch. 
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Let's cut right to it: First impressions matter. A lot. Both personally and in business. In this article we're going to talk about the importance and impact of your marketing design... both online (custom websites) and offline (your print marketing materials).

We just finished a huge project for DirecTV. It's just the beginning. We created a 50 page capabilities presentation for their VP of marketing to review. Getting this right was super important. Presenting the ideas in the best possible light was worth all the extra time and effort.

But, let's step back for a moment. You might be wondering how a Reno web design agency located in Reno Nevada could get the opportunity to present concepts for a huge company like DirecTV. The answer is great design.

So what is great design? Design is like art, it is subjective. At Bullsprig, we classify great design as work that solves business objectives... and so do our clients. Every single one of our clients has come from word-of-mouth marketing. These businesses love our work, and they tell their colleagues. It's pretty neat to see... overwhelming at times.

Just this week, we're received 3 requests for proposal. "How'd you hear about us?" we ask. "Oh, a friend told me about you. We looked at your website and really like the work." Boom.

We got the lead from word-of-mouth. But the connection happened when they visited our website and looked at our work. First impression. Well maybe second impression, but you get the idea--first impressions count.

Presenting your business in the best possible light is well worth the investment. It is worth the time, effort and money to get it right. Your website is the connection between your customers and your business. The quality of a site's design and functionality tell a lot about a company and its values.

What about your print marketing? Same thing. We educate all our clients about the right way to design print materials. More than 90% of our interactive clients contract Bullsprig to handle their print materials. If you are looking for a Reno design agency (or any design agency) ask them if they can handle both print and online marketing. It's super important to have all your marketing materials come from the same place. Using this strategy will insure your brand's integrity.

The quality of a company's graphic design and interactive design speaks volumes and builds trust. It's important to contract with an experienced design agency when putting together your website and building your print marketing materials. Quality design is critical for a company to get results and solve business objectives. 
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Every business must recognize that their web site is an extension of their brick-an-mortar business. Sometimes, even more so! Your web site should be the center of as many activities as possible. Business owners should use their web site for many more items than they currently do.

Getting results online begins with getting your employees and your customers to regard your web site as something of great value. Your web site should be seen as an online business. Something that is constantly evolving, changing... getting better. Something that is working for you all the time.

Your web site should be the center point of all your communications, internally as well as externally. Need to tell clients about an important product upgrade? Post it on your web site and refer to it often. Do you find that certain questions are being asked by your customers? By employees? An FAQ page is a great spot to put all the answers to these questions. Do you have print materials about your company? Great! You should. They should be on your web site as well, available for download in pdf format, or Word doc, or CAD drawing, anything. If clients and employees are looking for a document, they should find it on your web site.

Another important aspect of your online business is your support center. Your web site should be the first place customers look for support. You need to train your clients to do this. Instruct your employees to mention the web site all the time to people. Get your staff in the habit of referring everyone to your web site. As a business owner, you need to do everything to keep your employees and your customers thinking of your website as the place to find the information they need.

One great tool of custom website design are online forums. It's a great idea to let your customers talk to each other--get the conversation going about your products and services. You should also have interactive forms where users can fill out to request support or to be contacted. Online blogs are also a great tool in creating a community around your online business. Your web design company should help you determine what web services can be used effectively on your web site.

Your business will have lots of additional needs. One of your marketing tools should include email marketing design. This is a great way to stay in-touch with your customers, and your staff! Email marketing should go hand-in-hand with your web site, they should work with each other. This is a great tool to get more business from your current client base.

Now, you're probably thinking, "sounds great, now what?" Well, you need to find a website design and development company. You can always start locally. Let's say you live in Reno, Nevada. You could start a web search for reno web design and see what comes up. Or, search website design reno. Additionally, if you really like a certain web site, find out who designed it and talk to that web design company.

One of the best things about the internet is the world-wide reach. Custom web site designers can be found everywhere. At Bullsprig we have clients all over the country. The majority of our clients are in the San Francisco / Bay Area and Los Angeles. We're bidding a website now for a client in New York City! The power of the internet has allowed this great opportunity.

You need to use the web to reach your customers, and create value behind your web site. It takes work, but people are doing it every day. Our clients have been having tremoundous success with their web sites. Each website powered by the Bullsprig Platform.

The Bullsprig Platform is a high-powered, user-friendly web infrastructure, designed to help companies with their online web sites. We use this technology infrastructure on every website we design and develop. This technology allows us to deploy custom web sites in a short amount of time. We design custom web solutions that not only look good, but function seamlessly.

If you need help designing and developing a custom web site, let's talk. 
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What Do You Want Your Online Business To Do? 
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Your business can compete with the big guys on the block. However, you shouldn’t try to beat them at their game, using the same old set of marketing rules.

We often see small businesses trying to compete against larger rivals using the same advertising and marketing methods to attract customers. The outcome? Smaller businesses are often outgunned.

What the big guys do is focus on branding. They’ll put up a billboard, they’ll run a TV or radio commercial, or even an ad in a newspaper. Their name recognition and reputation are at such a level that often all they have to say to the public is, “Here I Am.”

Most small businesses don’t have the name and brand recognition, or the kind of money to spend on marketing to make it feasible.

We advise our clients to get more out of their advertising dollars by basing advertising decisions on measurable results. You don’t have a limitless budget, like the big guys, so you need to make sure each dime is spent wisely and accounted for. When you’re a small business owner, you should know what your return on investment is. You need to find out what works!

Two great examples of measurable marketing are online advertising and email marketing.

Need more traffic to your web site? Online advertising is a great method for driving traffic. There are many options for business owners to advertise online. One of our favorites is Google Adwords. No matter what your budget, you can display your ads on Google and their advertising network. Pay only if people click your ads!

We also utilize conversion tracking so you can see if your online ad is doing what you want. A conversion occurs when a click on your ad leads directly to user behavior you deem valuable, such as a purchase, signup, page view, or lead.

Need more foot traffic to your physical location? You can create an email campaign that has a coupon or some other type of response device to encourage actual traffic to your physical store. Other email marketing campaigns can take the form of a discount or gift.

The bottom line is your business CAN compete with the big guys on the block! However, you shouldn’t try to beat them at their game when it comes to marketing. Let’s get creative and apply these new, cost-effective technologies! 
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