Meet Justin Davis of Traffic Source SEO

Justin Davis is a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert and internet marketer. He also has a website development company that builds websites for businesses and organizations. He is 31 years old. He travels as often as possible (which is quite a bit). In his spare time he watches documentaries, studies new business trends, hangs out with old friends, goes fishing and camping, visits with family, and studies his SEO (even when he has told himself he is supposed to be working).

Justin is a familiar face in the SEO world and on social media. He is a certified Google partner. His personal goal is perfecting the science of manipulating and removing bad Google search results in favor of his clients. He specializes in identity restoration services and other forms of search engine optimization tactics involved in fixing the search results page on the world's biggest search engine.

Learn more about Justin's business, Traffic Source SEO, by visiting www.trafficsourceSEO.com.

1. How did you first become interested in SEO?

I started getting into search engine optimization because I just believe in the power of it. It's marketing that happens in live time, as the person is using a search engine and transcribing their thoughts into keyword phrases. It's at this moment, possibly right before the buying moment, that I want to be in front of the prospect with my product or service. Hence, search engine optimization.

2. What are some of the advantages for a small business when it comes to hiring one company to handle both web design and internet marketing, rather than working with separate firms for each?

I believe that most people in the internet marketing or web design industry generally prefer sticking to one specialty. It's pretty rare that someone is good at both. I personally specialize in SEO, and I have a designer to do all of the design aspects of my websites and ads, and a developer to bring it all to life. That's why I say we are so good at both. But my attention is on marketing. I let the website guys deal everything else.

3. I sometimes see people working hard on creating new content for their websites and not seeing results. What do you see as the secret sauce in terms of content being effective in gaining return visitors to a site?

I think you have to create content that adds value to the user. If they are not coming back, it is probably your fault for not getting their attention again. Did you retain their contact information when they visited your site? Are they part of your e-mail list? When you noticed a surge in traffic what was the source? Did you follow up with more high quality content down that avenue? Question everything, and monitor the results. Duplicate what works, and throw punches in bunches.

4. What added benefits to you bring to your business in being a certified Google partner?

It just verifies that I'm authorized by Google to have a high level of competence in various forms of marketing and how it is seen by Google and other professionals innovating the web. I think it just shows a validated credential. People like to know who they are doing business with. That's why I'm in business.

5. What else would you like readers to know about you and your work?

You can check out my website or call any time with questions on what we do and how it can help your business or organization. Also, check out our blog for updates and interesting topics in the search engine optimization industry.

Thanks, Justin!

Meet Akhtar of GoodWPThemes.com

Akhtar is a web designer who specializes in designs and code themes for WordPress websites. With his company GoodWPThemes.com, he has also worked with many clients as a freelancer to enhance their online presence. Learn more about his company and work by checking out his site, goodwpthemes.com or connect with him on Facebook and LinkedIn.

1. How and why did Goodwpthemes.com first get started?

GoodWPThemes has grown from a small company with just one developer back in 2013, when the WordPress was a very different place. The site is a great for responsive WordPress website themes and Bootstrap based templates. The concept of the site is to provide a one-stop shopping solution with high-quality themes for your development needs. The company's perspective is customer-centric, with a focus on design, implementation, and support solutions based on the individual desires and concepts of each new customer. The visitors come from all over the world, with 60% of visitors from the United States, UK, Germany, Australia, and several European countries. We made a decision to focus on custom WP themes development.

2. What makes a WordPress theme stand out, in your opinion?

We discover premium WordPress themes to be always an ideal choice to create something unique and exceptional which is impressive and eye-catching to bring targeted traffic to your website. Even though there are a lot of cost-free themes to choose from, most of them have similar designs and layouts.

There are only a few themes that will help you stand out from the crowd, and improve the blank WordPress installations into a cool looking site which people will visit and share. Check our most popular collection of Creative WordPress Themes for more design ideas.

3. What are some of the features of your website that are available for people to use?

There's a great collection of premium themes as well as some free themes you can download, but the premium themes are priced very competitively with some available for just $5. These are beautiful and nice-looking themes; several are aimed toward specific kinds of businesses, such as real estate, artists, authors, retailers, and much more.

4. Do you have resources that are helpful for newbies to WordPress--and what about for more advanced users?

We're working on the helpful resources section of our site, which covers a series of tips and tutorials about WordPress for both beginners and for advanced users. It will bring a lot of exciting and useful content. Stay updated! It will be worth waiting for! In addition, if you just want to focus on the videos, you can check out GoodWPThemes YouTube channel.

5. For someone who has been thinking of switching to WordPress but hasn't made the switch yet, what would you tell that person?

I think people should think about switching to WordPress, because it is a great choice for all websites owners, when compared alongside other CMS, and it has a big community that supports of the wide range of features.

We also offer additional WordPress installation services that include custom installations and a free installation service, which includes themes, plugins, and much more. This service is currently free but there are plans to expand it into a paid service in the future. To get more info about these services, you can visit our website contact page.

Thanks, Akhtar!

Introducing Bootstraphunter.com

If you're looking to design websites that work equally well on desktop computers and mobile devices like phones and tablets, you're going to run into Bootstrap, an open source project that helps you build responsive and easily navigable sites. Bootstrap is meant to make web development faster and easier, and it has a nice, clean look.

A great way to get started with Bootstrap--or to expand your repertoire--is to check out the free and affordable themes and templates for Bootstrap that are available on Bootstraphunter.com. This site is a digital marketplace for responsive HTML website themes and Bootstrap templates. The idea of the site is to provide a one-stop shop for your development needs.

There are some free themes you can download, but the premium themes are priced very competitively with some available for just $5. These are nice-looking themes, and some are geared toward specific types of businesses such as real estate.

If you're a web developer, you can partner with Bootstraphunter.com and make your themes and templates available for sale on their site. When you license your work with the site, you receive royalties when your work sells.

There are already some great designs available on the site, and the site only launched a few days ago. I'm sure the site will grow very quickly as word gets out.

How to Find Virtual Assistants for IT Help

Have you ever thought about hiring a virtual assistant? Did you know that some virtual assistants can provide you with IT support? Primo Virtual Assistant LLC is a great example of a company that provides virtual administrative services for small to medium-sized business owners. The VA services offered by Primo Virtual Assistant include a variety of IT tasks, such as hardware consulting and troubleshooting. They work to find the best solutions for businesses to use their technology as efficiently as possible.

If you're just starting out or scaling up your small business, you may not be able to hire a full-time assistant, so VA services are a great way to only pay for the hours and services that you need. Primo Virtual Assistant has a particular focus on database management and data analysis. They can work with you to design databases to your specifications. Their data analysis services include designing different kinds of graphs and charts. You can also work with Primo Virtual Assistant for help with web design.

You may have noticed that a lot of VA services--especially tech-related ones--are based overseas, but Primo Virtual Assistant is based in the United States. It was founded by Martin Bartalsky, who holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems, as well as an MBA.

To learn more about the benefits of hiring a VA with IT experience, check out this recent article from the blog on the Primo Virtual Assistant site.

Introducing GreatWPSites.com for WordPress Inspiration

Are you a web designer and/or a blogger who wants some WordPress inspiration? Check out GreatWPsites.com, a cool site designed to promote, inspire, and motivate web designers who use WordPress to build their sites.

1. What made you start the greatwpsites.com website?

I've been building WordPress sites for a number of years and often been frustrated by the lack of websites which display and show off completed WordPress sites, rather than the Demo themes created by the Theme Author.

2. Who is the site aimed at?

I wanted to create the site for people similar to myself, who understand the basics, but aren't masters when it comes to PHP or CSS.

3. What plans do you have for the site in the future?

We would like to accept useful content from WordPress masters with a view to helping our visitors create some of the wonderful sites we are displaying on GreatWPsites.com. Although we do feature sites that were fully custom coded, we prefer to focus on sites that were built using off the shelf themes that are available to one and all.

4. How do you attract visitors?

So far we have been relying heavily on outreach and also social media to promote the site. We have been doing very well with our traffic numbers considering our advertising and promotion budget has been less than the cost of a nice meal!

5. Which is the favorite site you have featured so far?

I would have to say Crunchbistro.com. It was actually a site that I had come across prior to starting GreatWPsites.com and saved it as a bookmark in my browser. I've been using Stumbleupon.com to find new great designs for a number of years and that one just stood out. I've researched the person who created the original design, and her work is just amazing; I'd love to be that talented.

Thanks!

Introducing IT Craft, A Company Offering Web Solutions

IT Craft is a software developer and service provider with almost 15 years of experience. Learn more about IT Craft by visiting their about page. They offer a variety of support solutions for companies of different sizes. Services provided by IT Craft include server administration, web design based on WordPress and Magento engines, LAMP, web apps development, and development of apps for iOS and Android.

The company's perspective is customer-focused, with an emphasis on being able to design, implement, and support solutions based on the individual wishes and concepts of each unique customer. Their customers come from all over the world, with forty percent of clients in the United States and clients in Germany, Australia, the UK, and several European countries.

IT Craft has grown from a tiny company with just one developer back in 2001 to a company with over 130 employees at the end of 2014. They have a keen understanding of a variety of applications and work with customers to create solutions meeting the customers' needs.

I enjoyed reading the customer testimonials on their website, and IT Craft creates a clear plan early in the process with customers to let you know just what to expect and what they can do for you. I think IT Craft will definitely be a provider to watch in 2015 and beyond.

Introducing Will Web Hosting

How can you resist a web hosting company that names its hosting packages after pandas? At https://www.hostwithwill.com/ you have the choice of the Baby Panda, Little Panda, and Big Panda, depending on your hosting needs; the packages start at just $2.95 a month for the Baby Panda, designed for people who are just hosting a single domain.

Will is a green, wind-powered hosting company that was founded in the UK in 2013. Using green power, they've maintained 99.9% uptime for their servers. They also pride themselves on quick customer support, with live chat and the promise to respond to customers' questions within minutes.

Will's website is clear, informative, and easy to navigate. They have reseller packages available for web designers or anyone else who wants to sell web hosting services to their own clients. And if you want a Wordpress site custom-built for you, Will can do that, too.

I really get the feeling from the website that Will is a small, responsive team, and they value their business and their individual customers. I like their emphasis on green power and customer service. The tone of the site is light-hearted yet direct and serious. If you're tired of giving your web hosting dollars to a big, faceless company, why not give Will a try?

Meet Ross Barber, Web Designer for Bands and Musicians

Ross Barber is a web designer who specializes in design for bands and musicians. With his company Electric Kiwi, he has worked with many independent and unsigned artists to enhance their online presence.

1. What inspired you to create a web design and marketing firm specifically geared toward the music industry?

I've always loved music, and studied BA (Hons) Popular Music Performance at university. I started my course with the idea of becoming a professional singer/songwriter; however, as I progressed, I found I was becoming more interested in the promotion and marketing side of the industry. I had been designing websites since I was around 12 years old, and it made sense to me to combine the two things that I loved: web design and music. From there, Electric Kiwi was born!

2. What do you see as some specific/unique needs for music artists when it comes to building a website?

I create completely custom websites for each musician, as I think everyone's needs are different. However, I'd say that every musician's website should have the following sections: a way for people to listen to/buy your music, a way for people to contact you (you'd be surprised how many artist websites DON'T have contact information), a news section so people can see that you're still active, show listings (if you play live), and a design that reflects who YOU are as an artist.

3. In addition to having a great website, what else do people need to do to get noticed online in the music world--both by industry professionals and by fans/listeners?

I think with everyone being so easily connected via social media, fans and listeners expect artists to be available and want to connect with them on a personal level. For this reason, I think it's so important for artists to be engaging with their audience on social media. Of course, good music comes first, but you can't underestimate the power of building relationships and connections with your fans and industry professionals--it can make a huge difference.

4. I've often read the advice that with social media and online marketing, it's good for an indie artist to choose one network and commit to posting there rather than trying to "do everything" with social media. What are your thoughts on this?

I agree. There's a lot of overwhelm, especially for artists who are still in the DIY phase of their career. It can be tempting to be everywhere all at once, but ultimately, something is going to slip when you're spreading yourself so thin. It's good to have a presence on all of the major social platforms, but the main thing to bear in mind is where your audience is, and also what platform you enjoy using the most. My suggestion would be to be active on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube (if these are relevant to your music and fanbase), but to also have profiles set up on the other platforms so people can find you there.

5. Would you tell us about your new podcast interview series and what listeners can expect to hear?

Absolutely! I've just launched a new podcast show with my friend Marcio Novelli, called Bridge The Atlantic. We interview musicians and creative professionals about their careers. We're aiming for a balance between entertainment and education, so we try to keep it lighthearted and fun, a little more like a TV talk show than most other music business podcasts. We're on YouTube and iTunes, but the best starting point would be our website: http://bridge-the-atlantic.com.

Thanks, Ross!

Meet Michael, Owner of SnapMarket, a Marketplace for Royalty Free Photos

SnapMarket is the marketplace for some of the cheapest, most flexibly licensed royalty free photos. SnapMarket has the highest quality photos, images, and illustrations, all from as little as $1. SnapMarket also pays their contributors some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world. Check out this link to learn more about how to sell your photos on SnapMarket.

1. What gave you the idea to start SnapMarket?

As a web and graphic designer myself, I found that I was always purchasing royalty free stock photos and usually spending a fortune. The idea came about when I spent over $600 worth on photos for a client's website and it got me thinking: there must be a cheaper way to purchase good quality images. I had a good look around and could not find any stock photo websites that were offering high quality photos at a cheap price with flexible licensing terms, so this is when I decided to start SnapMarket.

2. What are the benefits your site offers for webmasters, designers, and other people who need to buy royalty free photos?

The benefits that SnapMarket offers are much cheaper images (from as little as $1), very flexible license terms, and no minimum spend. A lot of the other stock photo websites I have dealt with require that you sign up with them for a subscription or buy copious amounts of credits, even if you only needed just one single image.

3. How do you keep your prices so affordable?

We can keep our prices affordable simply because of repeat business. Our photos are high quality yet very affordable; this is what keeps our users returning and gets new users on board every single day. A website like SnapMarket is quite expensive to run, but we felt we needed to offer something different from all of the other overpriced, tightly licensed micro-stock photo websites.

4. Why do contributors like sharing their work through SnapMarket?

Contributors love sharing their work through SnapMarket because we pay some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world, our website is user friendly, and we get our contributors' photos sold day in, day out.

5. What are some qualities that make a great photo for the web, in your opinion?

I feel that any photo can make a great photo for the web; it really just depends on what people are looking for. Obviously these photos must be high quality and convey the correct message to the target audience. The image size should also be scaled for fast loading times yet still be of reasonable quality for viewer enjoyment.

Thanks, Michael!

Introducing the 540 Design Studio Blog

540 Design Studio is a website design firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut with clients all over the United States. They do design for websites and mobile platforms, and they also offer help with branding, social media, and graphic design--including print work. I think it's always refreshing to find a firm that brings knowledge of and experience with print media to their work in design for web and multimedia formats.

On their website, 540 Design Studio hosts an informative and very nice-looking blog. The blog covers a range of topics of interest to entrepreneurs, and the content is presented in a clean, clear format. A nice thing about the blog is that it's not self-promotional at all: the emphasis is truly on providing useful and relevant content.

Recent topics on the blog include a list of useful WordPress plugins, an overview of SEO, a comparison of two different eCommerce solutions for different sizes of businesses, and some thoughts on why Pinterest is an important social media avenue for reaching a large number of customers.

I find this blog to be a nice example of a blog done right: the content and design demonstrate the quality of 540 Design Studio's work, so the business owners don't need to spend time in their blog posts convincing readers that the company has something helpful to offer. As a blogger myself, I know that when I look at their site, I think to myself that it might just be time to hire a designer so that my own blog would have such seamless integration of form and content!

SharkyNet Donates Websites to Charitable Groups

Charitable organizations often run on a super-small budget, and they may not have the resources to pay for a professionally designed website. SharkyNet is a European-based company which offers web design, development, and hosting services--and the company gives back to the community through the SharkyNet Charity Program. Through this service, charitable organizations get a professionally made website free of charge!

SharkyNet chooses one area of charitable work per month to receive the donated web services. Groups who provide services in that area can apply to receive the free help. The current call for applications is for animal rescue groups, and there's a very nice example depicting a local dog rescue site based in Indiana.

Having recently expanded its commercial services to the US market, SharkyNet has found a nice way to connect with the community and showcase not only their web design skills but to showcase the work of service groups through well-made websites.

Meet Manjula Fernando, Founder of Websi.com

Websi.com offers free web design by professionals. Customers pay $40 a year for their domain and web hosting. If they find a better offer, Websi.com will match it too. Click here to see the range of Websi services.

The founder, Manjula Fernando, is an experienced IT graduate who has worked with leading brands in the UK.

1. When did Websi get started, and what separates your company from other hosting services?

We provide free web design. All you have to do is buy hosting from us, and we are comparatively cheaper when compared with other hosting service providers like GoDaddy, HostGator, or Yahoo.

2.When a new customer sends you $40 to register a domain and buy a year of web hosting, what do you provide in terms of free web design services?

We provide up to five pages of custom web design free of charge. We provide customers with three templates related to their business to choose from. Also, we submit to search engines free for a limited time.

3. If you've been hosting a site for a customer for a while and the customer needs additional work in updating or redesigning his or her website, what do you offer in terms of services at that point?

We provide additional services at just $10 a hour.

4.How do you compete with the "giants" in web hosting (such as GoDaddy)?

We are unique. We are the only company which provide free web design by professionals. All other free web design services use website builders which are hard to use for people with less technical knowledge.

5. Do you help customers install easy-to-update blogging clients on the sites you host--and what else do you do to make having a website an easier thing for people who want to manage their own sites but aren't super-experienced as webmasters?

We give our clients a free update on their site once a year. Also, on request we can build the site with WordPress, so they can change the contents whenever they want.

Thanks, Manjula!

Meet Rob McGuire of Blog Movers

As someone who moves blogs to WordPress for a living, it brings Rob McGuire great joy when he finishes a project and delivers a website that performs better than the client's original website, is cheaper and easier to maintain, and rekindles the joy they once had when they first had their website. Check out some samples of Rob's WordPress migrations, as well as this portfolio of his work.

1. How did you get into the website migration business?

I had been a freelance web developer for a few years when I noticed that I started received more and more requests from people wanting a new website, and having it on WordPress instead of the platform they were currently using. As more and more of these types of requests came in, I decided to focus most of my time on doing website migrations.

2. What do you think motivates most people to want to migrate to WordPress?

I think most people choose to migrate to WordPress either for the cost savings or for the amount of flexibility WordPress offers. For example, many people who have migrated to WordPress from HubSpot have saved over $20,000 a year from the switch.

3. What are the benefits in hiring a professional blog mover rather than figuring out the details of migrating or using a redirect url or...?

A professional knows all the steps that are involved with migrating a website. There are a lot of steps that one should take in order to successfully migrate a website or blog to WordPress without losing any visitors or search rankings. If done improperly, it's a lot like throwing all your hard work away and starting fresh with a new website.

4. In your own experience, what makes WordPress a great product for blogs and websites?

I find WordPress to be a great choice for most websites because of the huge community that supports it and also for the wide range of features it supports. Many of the most popular websites run on WordPress and it's rare to come across some type of feature that can't work with WordPress.

5. If you could give advice to someone who knows he or she needs to go through a website remodel but has been putting it off, what would you suggest?

I think anyone considering a migration to WordPress should definitely not procrastinate about getting started. The longer you wait to migrate your website, the more work it ends up being. If put off long enough, the task could seem to be overwhelming, which may cause a person to just leave things as they were, and they would settle for the website they have instead of the website they wanted to have.

Thanks, Rob!

Introducing Author and Entrepreneur, Mike Omar

Mike Omar is the author of How to Make Money Online, a book about building a passive income that's available for Amazon Kindle. Mike's strategy is to create a portfolio of websites, each of which generates a portion of your monthly income. He has a background in finance and over the years has taught himself a number of skills, starting with web design.

In addition to his e-book, Mike also is the founder of The Make Money from Home Lions Club. On the site, he provides a detailed action plan with step-by-step written and video tutorials that take you through such processes as generating traffic through search engines and marketing digital products. Better yet, he provides all of these tools for free.

I always like it when entrepreneurs share their own stories when introducing their products, and Mike offers an autobiography that will make a lot of readers say, "I can relate." He lost his job in 2008 as part of the economic downturn. Over the course of two years, he built up his portfolio of websites to the point where he was making a living through passive income. Then he decided to turn his entrepreneurial efforts toward teaching other people the skills that he used to build up his own business.

In his own words, "My best advice to anybody who is interested in entrepreneurship is START NOW! And always be working on side projects outside of your regular job."

Keep up with Mike on Facebook and Google Plus. And check out this video for an introduction to the free lessons in building passive income offered through The Lions Club.