Moran Media

Graphic Design and Instruction

marketing monday

Expired Domain, a hiccup that could cost you $$$

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Expired Domain? DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!!!

expired domain - a problem you don't want - listen to Moran Media on how to avoid thisJust this week three of my clients experienced an expired domain. What’s a domain?  It’s the URL that is your website. As in www.mywebsite.com or in my case, Moran Media’s domain is www.remoran.com. This happened on three different platforms. Each time it was something silly, like not having auto renew enabled, having old credit card information, or insufficient funds in their account.
Depending on who they were registered with the repercussions were different for each. One had a grace period where they had time to correct the information and get their domain back before their site went down. Another missed the notice their transaction failed and only noticed when their site went down. Another got a notification as soon as the transaction failed but their domain registrar turned off their site right away without giving them a chance to correct the information.
For some people this could be disastrous. Most domain registrars give you a grace period to get everything in order, some may not. Make sure you know what your registrar will do if you miss a payment. If you don’t catch it in time your domain could be sold off to the next bidder, this is not something you want. You’re reputation could be ruined by a competitor or a detractor, your site rankings could be harmed, your customers might think you have closed.

How can we avoid this?

Just follow a few simple steps

  1. Make sure you know the rules of your domain registration and it’s a company you can trust.
    • What’s the grace period?
    • What happens on expiration?
    • What’s their customer service number if you have an emergency?
    • How’s their customer support?
  2. Make sure your information is accurate and up to date with your registrar.
    • Email goes to an account you check daily.
    • Phone numbers are accurate.
    • Credit Card information is always up to date.
  3. Set your account to auto renew.
    • If you can, use a credit card rather than a bank card or paypal so it can renew without much effort from you.
  4. Mark your calendar for renewal time.
    • This way you can change the card that is used to pay if you need to.
    • You can pay for multiple years if you like.
    • You can add a promo code or coupon code and save some money.

In the old days of the internet there were a lot of scams. You’d get a renewal notice from a company, pay for the renewal and then suddenly you switched registrars.  Thankfully that scam is seen a lot less these days, but it’s still good to note who your registered with. This will save you headaches later. I always advise keeping that information with your passwords and all of your other business information, so you always have it.

Have you ever had your domain expire?

Marketing Monday: Spotlight on Bridge Therapy Center

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BridgeMassage.com - Full site design, layout and management.
BridgeMassage.com – Full site design, layout and management.

Today I’d light to spotlight one of my customers, Bridge Therapy Center, found at bridgemassage.com. Bridge Therapy is a small business in Colorado. Owner Irene has put her personal touch into her brand. She offers Yoga training and Integrated Bodywork (Massage Therapy), so it’s important to put a face to these types of services. With her blog she is able to convey her point of view and make future customers more welcome to visit the center.

By utilizing the social media Irene was already using she was able to reach people on facebook and draw customers to her site. I always say, only promote on social media you actually use, otherwise it’s wasted energy. People want a conversation, a relationship; they don’t want you screaming ads at them.

Marketing Monday: What’s your elevator pitch?

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elevator-44012_1280Elevator Pitches, often meant to describe an idea, but what about describing what you do? Last week I listened to a podcast where the hosts were talking about describing what you do in the form of an elevator pitch. If you listen to the podcast (which is fairly short and worth listening to) you can hear how simply stating your job title can lead to confusing information and awkward conversation. In this podcast they demonstrate how to turn this simple question into an engaging conversation.

Normally when people ask me what I do I say “Graphic Design and Educational Consulting,” which is a mouthful and doesn’t illustrate what I do to anyone. Coming up with a title for myself is hard enough since there is so much that I do. I build websites, specialize in print publication, create art, am a photographer, manage and teach how to use social media for your organization, teach computer applications, broadcasting, work with schools to implement 21st century tools with project based learning, logo design, branding, you name it. So today I’m going to try and pitch myself, and you can tell me if it works.

What do you do? I have a great job, I help charities and businesses focus on their mission. How do you do that? I give them the tools they need to handle all of the things that aren’t their primary concern but are essential to carry out their goals. I make websites for people who don’t know how to code, make it so they can blog with the same ease they use Word. I do the grunt work of publications and printing so they don’t have to think about it, and everything they put out looks professional and encourages people to use their services. I help with making sure their staff are well trained and can use everything I design for them. I make sure they they have complete control over everything pertaining to their organization, so they can focus on the stuff they do best.

So how does that sound? Is it more interesting? Would it make you ask me more questions about my job? What’s your elevator pitch?

Chuck Chat Freestyle: What’s your Elevator Pitch?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Marketing Monday: Spotlight on Gagliano Associates

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Screen shot 2015-02-17 at 12.14.41 AMToday I’m showcasing one of my clients Gagliano Associates, LLC. These tax pros out of Colorado first contacted me to redesign their website and with this redesign they branched out into social media and blogging.

I always tell my clients that adding a blog and putting new content on their site that can be searched by google is a good move. I also tell them that social media is a tool they can use to engage their customers. Gagliano Associates took this advice and ran with it. If you go to their website you can find all sorts of information that you need, but on their blog they are always posting useful information to keep you up to date with the latest financial tips. On facebook they engage their audience and put a personal touch to their small business. Having operated since 1987 they have been able to stay up to date with the changes in technology as well as they have stayed up to date on the latest tax codes. If you’re in Colorado, check them out.

Marketing Monday: My favorite way to get rid of spam and manage email

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spam1SPAM, newsletters, shopping emails, and other nuisances

We all get them, and it bothers us all. Our inbox gets cluttered and it’s hard to deal with. Spam and other email that you may want, gets in the way of important emails. So how do you manage it? Well we all have a spam folder, and that’s great for taking care of the low mortgage rate, cheap prescriptions, and items we really don’t want, but what about things that say you’ve subscribed to but no matter how hard you try, you can’t unsubscribe. Not to mention how often clicking an unsubscribe button just puts you on more lists.

unrollme-logoMy favorite tool is Unroll.me. This is a website that you grant access to your email account, and it organizes it for you. Things you don’t want, it will delete. Things you want, it puts into a single email that you get each day. And things you want to stay in your inbox, stays. You can even block individuals from emailing you, so you can finally stop all those emails from that annoying old classmate. You can try it free for five subscriptions, or unlimited by simply sharing a to link to the website on your social media site of choice. I swear by this project so much that I’m going further by making a blog post about it.

The words “it goes into your email and filters it for you” sounds scary, but it’s not, well not for me. I use gmail and I have full control over how much access unroll.me has. I can pull it’s permission at any time and while it has access it can’t send out emails. Gmail is reading my email anyway, that’s how it knows to advertise flights to NY when I am talking about it in a conversation with my mother.

I’ve been using unroll.me for almost a year I think, and it has made life so much easier. Between that and gmail’s filtered inbox I can control what I see and what I want to see. That brings me to my other trick, gmail. I use gmail as my email client. I use it because I can manage multiple emails in one place and gain access to it from any computer. I find gmail’s spam catcher is quite good, and it holds onto the spam for a while so I can check and see if legitimate email is in there.

How do you manage your spam?