If your domain has already been registered, you don’t need to register it again.

The annual renewal of your domain will suffice to keep it registered. Google will scan and index your site automatically for free. You don’t have to pay anything to get your site on search engines. Listing your website is not about optimizing it for keywords. That’s Search Engine Optimization (totally separate critter).

A small business owner may not be able to distinguish between a real notice from the domain name registration company they are using and a scam. This blog is written to assist clients and any who are unsure about their domain name expiration dates or who they should contact to renew it.

These scammers often use very generic company names to make it seem like they are important and have been around for a long time. They can also look up your contact information and make it appear that they own the domain. This allows them to refer to you via email as if they are familiar with you. They will usually list your address as if you were a customer. However, they have only done a small amount of research and are technically attacking your identity.

These are ways to spot a scam or fake domain name registration notification:

These are not proof of illegitimacy, but they can be used to confirm it.

• This price is far lower than what you paid previously for your domain name. The average annual cost of domain names without private registration is $10-15 Private registration usually costs around $10 more. If it exceeds $25, it is almost certain that it is a scam. GoDaddy, Register.com Domains.com Domains.com NetworkSolutions, SiteTechSupport  are the major Domain Name Registrars. Do more research if it isn’t you!
• Do you recognize the company?
  This is a common mistake. They may name their companies in a generic manner in the hope that you will recognize it.
• The deadline is very close (in 7 days).
• You have never received notifications from this company or person in the past.
• The person asking for a check to mail is not requesting any money. Although they may not be trying to get your money, sometimes they are looking for your credit card information. If they ask you to send them checks, it is likely that they will try to take your money. After they have been cashed, checks are irrevocable and cannot be challenged.

Although this may seem redundant, it is vital. In case it’s more difficult for people to grasp and can be applied to their business.

There are two ways to confirm that a Domain Name Registration Notification is real.
These are not proof of legitimacy in themselves.

• Renewing domain names costs between $10-15. This is the average annual cost for domain names without private registration. Private registration usually costs around $10 more. It is more likely that it will be legal if the total amount is $25.
• Do you recognize the company? GoDaddy, Register.com Domains.com Domains.com NetworkSolutions, SiteTechSupport (which we… Modern Web Studios) are the major Domain Name Registrars. Do more research if it isn’t you!
• Automated email notices will be sent to you at 30 days, 15, and 5 days before the expiration date. Every customer is given a phone call or personal email to let them know when it expires. Look for emails that have been sent by the same contact or person before it expires.
• If you are a legitimate domain name or hosting company, they will ask you to log in to your account to renew it. It doesn’t matter if the email is legitimate. Instead, click the link and go to the domain you use to register your domains. It is best to give us a phone call so we can tell you where and when your domain expires. If you have any questions about the expiration of your domain name, please call.

Here are some steps to take to stop domain scammers.

1. You should make sure your domain registration is private. Most domain registration companies charge a fee for this service.
2. You should ensure that you do not list any personal information on your website, such as your home address or phone number. It is natural for businesses with physical locations to need this information. However, it is best to remove that information from websites that don’t have any.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate calling us even if you’re not a current customer. We are happy to help someone avoid being scammed.

The post How Can I Tell if a Domain Renewal Notice is Real or Fake? appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..

It’s easy to select your branding colors if you understand what you want to say. Building a brand begins with determining your brand’s personality. Your company should be viewed like a person: who are they? What do they value?

In order to determine what colors will work best for your brand personality, you need to determine what your brand’s goals are. Learning how colors affect people is the first step.

Why branding colors matter

 “Colors, like features, change along with our emotions.” -Pablo Picasso

What do you think of when you hear the word “love?” Whether positive or negative, it mostly likely conjures a stronger emotional response than when you hear a phrase like “bike rack.”

In spite of our best intentions, emotions are powerful and influence our decisions. It’s important for a brand to cultivate an emotional connection with its customers. Logos and storefronts can’t tell your company’s entire story-but branding colors provide a shortcut straight to the hearts of your customers.

The words “love” and “bike rack” evoke different emotions, and colors like red and blue do the same. What’s more, people from Montana to Timbuktu have similar responses to the same colors; for instance, yellow has similar meanings to people from Montana to Timbuktu. Shades of individual colors, such as deep dark blue and light sky blue, will also have different effects.

Color theory goes way beyond the statement that “pink is a pretty color.” Psychologists believe it dates back to the very evolution of humans; connections with certain colors have developed after years of associating them with particular objects. People are alerted to danger by a blood-red color, for example; dirt and rotten food are unappealing browns.

Even so, it isn’t always accurate, because some farmers (and chocolate lovers) may love the color brown, and humanity only evolved to see blue in recent millennia-but when you consider millions of years worth of biological conditioning, it’s easy to see how color affiliations go beyond mere preferences… something humanity has known for generations.

Not to mention the cultural associations. The green currency we use every day is a clear example of this association with money in the United States. While foreigners may not understand the phrase “spending greens,” a company that goes green will be understood by most people.

No one can ignore the psychological effects of branding colors, not even the most cold-hearted of business people. Given the mountains of evidence, the question isn’t do brand colors work, but how do I make brand colors work for me?

What do different branding colors mean?

Now that we’ve studied the abstract meanings of colors for branding, let’s look at some of the hard facts (or at least some guidelines). A summary of colors and their meanings as well as their effect on people can be found here:

• Red — Red stands for passion, excitement and anger. It can signify importance and command attention.
• Orange — Orange stands for playfulness, vitality and friendliness. It is invigorating and evokes energy.
• Yellow — Yellow evokes happiness, youth and optimism, but can also seem attention-grabbing or affordable.
• Green — Green evokes stability, prosperity, growth and a connection to nature.
• Light Blue — A light shade of blue exudes tranquility, trust, openness. It can also signify innocence.
• Dark Blue — Dark blue stands for professionalism, security and formality. It is mature and trustworthy.
• Purple — Purple can signify royalty, creativity and luxury.
• Pink — Pink stands for femininity, youth and innocence. It ranges from modern to luxurious.
• Brown — Brown creates a rugged, earthy, old-fashioned look or mood.
• White — White evokes cleanliness, virtue, health or simplicity. It can range from affordable to high-end.
• Gray — Gray stands for neutrality. It can look subdued, classic, serious, mysterious or mature.
• Black — Black evokes a powerful, sophisticated, edgy, luxurious and modern feeling.

Your branding colors will have an impact based on the style and design they are used in, as well as the color combinations you select. The connection between color and our emotions goes deeper than this. Choosing a single-color brand is the easy part. But for most of you, you’ll want a more complicated color scheme with a variety of hues. It was hard enough to choose one color, now you have to choose multiple colors that blend well together.

Formula for building a brand color scheme

Color schemes for branding are a personal choice. There is no one right way to choose them. It’s difficult and unwise to apply rigid rules to abstracts like brand identity. In spite of this, the process can be confusing and daunting, so a little guidance can be useful. Here we’ll explain how we build a color scheme you can use as a framework, rather than a step-by-step guide.

1. Plan on choosing 3 colors

You need a neutral, an accent, and a base. Color schemes for brands can range from 1-4 colors (see below), but even monochromatic schemes require some variation in hues for different purposes.

2. Choose your base

What is the most important personality trait of your brand? In addition to reflecting your brand personality’s most dominant characteristic, your base color should also appeal to your desired audience. Depending on how well each color matches this one, you’ll choose the remaining ones.

3. Choose your accent

After your base color, the accent color will be the one you use the most. In addition to matching a brand personality trait, your accent color must also match your base color visually, not to mention appeal to your target audience.

4. Choosing your neutral

Neutral colors are usually chosen as background colors, in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Gray is common, but beige, white and off-white also work. There is also the option of black, but be careful; it tends to overpower any color scheme it is a part of.

As you choose your branding colors, keep in mind the end goal: what color scheme do you plan to use? The most common brand color schemes include:

A color wheel is one of your most useful tools when choosing branding colors. Colors are arranged on the wheel in relation to one another.

• Monochromatic — When you have one personality trait that you want to focus in on, a monochrome scheme will emphasis the meaning of that one brand color. While great for minimalist brands, the challenge here is differentiating the hues enough that your sight doesn’t become visually stunted.
• Analogous — Colors next to each other on the color wheel have harmonious relations, since adjacent colors usually have similar emotional connotations. Analogous schemes are safe bets, but as such not the best for standing out or drawing attention.
• Complementary — Color complements — or opposites — are colors directly across from one another on the color wheels. Because they’re opposites, they bring out the best in each other when paired; you see complementary colors a lot in sports teams. Complementary colors are great for dynamic, stimulating visuals, but be careful of copycatting another brand since they’re so popular.
• Triadic — A stable branding color scheme, triadic colors draw in equal parts for three different sections of the color wheel. Triadic schemes are stable like analogous themes, but offer a more stimulating variety like complementary schemes. The hardest part is getting the three colors to coincide with the traits of your brand identity.

The combination of your branding colors will show up in many different areas of your business. Your brand color scheme influences your website, logo, store design, advertisements, etc., and even the look of your social media accounts. Be careful when selecting yours.

Know when to color outside the lines

The choice of colors for your branding is not governed by any rules. Consider this article more of a guideline – an educational tool that will help you make an informed decision. However, don’t disregard your gut instincts. In choosing colors for your brand, don’t neglect your own emotions. Colors affect us emotionally, so don’t ignore your own feelings.

The post What is Your Brand Identity? appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..

A brick-and-mortar retailer will clean up their store every day they show up to work, but it’s normal for a business website to go months without an update.

Is Your Site Mobile-Friendly?

One of the easiest ways to find out if a site is outdated is to check if it is mobile-friendly or not. This means assessing how well the site displays and performs on both tablet and smartphone screens.

At present, mobile-friendly websites usually get between 50-70% of traffic coming from mobile gadgets. Therefore, if your website does not use a mobile responsive design, it could end up costing you a lot of potential web traffic, and consequently, good business since it will also be a cause of frustration in the customer experience you offer your clients.

Are You In Need of Maintenance?

Managing your website involves checking up on the pages regularly. It is not a “set it and forget it” effort. Just like you would with a physical storefront, you need to do maintenance checks ever so often in order to keep the website functioning as it should.

This will help you provide your clients with a satisfying customer journey. A poorly maintained website will only result in a site that is very slow and in extreme cases, does not load at all.

At times, such problems are the result of poor hard-coding from certain customized features or functionalities, or outdated plugins. It could even be large-sized images in a blog but these issues often end up being server-related and you’ll have to reach out to your web hosting service provider.

How Secure Is Your Site?

Evaluating a website’s security will most definitely affect your website’s overall performance. Unfortunately, this is another area of expertise that involves a competent web developer.

Even if your website is performing well, security checks a few times every year is a good idea. You need to confirm if your website’s security systems are up to date. You also need to check if your site is being backed up, how often it does, and that the server hosting your website is secure

Your website is your digital office. The slightest ounce of protection can cost your small business a lot of money.

Does It Work as You Want?

It may come off as a stupid thing to ask, but how many times do we find a business owner with a website in a state of denial about if one of their most significant assets is efficiently serving his or her business needs and goals.

Most times the answer is a complicated one since there is a lot of room for “potential”. This assessment needs the expertise of an internet marketing expert who is well versed with search engine optimization (SEO).

Is Your Website’s Design in Line With Existing Trends?

It may come off as a surprise, but it’s not by accident that this is the last concern on our list, and here’s why.

For starters, if your website is not so outdated and you started this list with updating your website’s aesthetics as the first point, you may not have made it to number five to realize that your website is truly in dire need of some crucial maintenance or a complete web overhaul in total.

Let design follows function as far as websites go. In light of the recent focus on mobile technologies, a good website must be designed for smaller screens. The traits of good design nowadays boil down to navigability, clarity, and simplicity.

There is, however, a significant amount a web developer would have to do to evaluate the functionality, long-term reliability, and security of a particular theme.

As such, you need to consider these five factors first. You may come to discover that what is holding you back from progress in the digital space has more to do with how your website works than what it looks like.

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The best websites offer more than an appealing layout. They take visitors through a well-thought sales funnel, thus helping them to perform a specific action or to gain a better understanding of the company, or of its products. An effective website is the result of sharp visuals, compelling calls-to-action, and branding elements working together towards a specific and measurable goal.

1. Goal identification: We work together with our clients to set the main goals of the website. What do they want people to do after they visit their website?

2. Scope definition: After we define the main goal of the website, we determine the elements required to achieve this goal, as well as a an activity plan and a timeline for the project.

3. Wireframe and sitemap design: Once we know the scope, we can proceed to defining pages and design elements, as well as an overall sitemap to help keep everything interconnected.

4. Content creation: Now that we know what pages our website should have, we can start creating content to fill thee pages with useful and relevant information. We always focus on keyword research and on-page SEO, in order to secure a good visibility in search. For best results, you should strive to create high-quality content, in order to proceed to the next stage of the process.

5. Visual elements: Once we have the site architecture and some information already in place, we can take care of the visual brand identity. Some clients already have this identity defined, but others require work from scratch.

6. Testing: As soon as you have all pages and all layouts in place, it is time to test the website to see how it performs. We browse it manually, but we also use crawlers to detect all errors that may prevent users from having a seamless navigating experience. We fix all errors.

7. Launch: Now it’s time to execute the carefully planned launch! Make sure you plan your timing and your communication strategies as well.

The post Website Creation Stages appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..

With years of expertise in designing quality websites, Emerging Business Systems provides the ideal launching pad for passionate business owners. This is a great opportunity to move forward with a quality website and feel good about how it is going to set you apart.

Let’s take a look at what makes Emerging Business Systems a legitimate option for those looking to build a fantastic website.

Crisp Finishing

A professional website needs to look the part and that includes crisp finishing. Whether it is the images, links, or the way each sentence reads, all of it has to flow. If not, the website will remain second to its competition!

SEO-Friendly

Want to beat your competition and make it look easy?

It all starts with an SEO-friendly setup where the website is able to rank on Google and Bing. This is the only way to continue to bring in free leads while building a good website.

Interactive

An interactive solution is of utmost importance as users expect a lot more from business owners these days.

This includes having videos, images, and easy-to-click links where things don’t fall apart as soon as one gets started. This is essential information for business owners hoping to get a leg up on the competition.

Safe To Use

There is nothing worse than visiting a website and then being inundated with pop-ups, spam, and viruses! This is one of the worst feelings in the world and can completely ruin a business in a matter of seconds.

To avoid this issue, why not make the most of a high-quality setup and know it will be designed the right way? A quality service is able to take control and make sure all safety measures are put in place well in advance. This keeps the website in good hands and ensures it doesn’t break down as soon as someone visits.

This is the best way to make sure the competition starts to slip away and lose ground on what your business has to offer. With the help of Emerging Business Systems, it’s possible to get to the top of the niche and stay there for years to come using a world-class website. All it takes is a quick call to (651) 204-0455 and a professional will be ready to get started on your virtual needs.

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All of this can be initiated and improved upon with a creative consultation. This step is ideal for startups as well as established businesses.

A creative consultation takes place in person with a team of experts in digital marketing, web engineering, and project management. You get a personalized assessment of where your business is at and where you want to take it. Through the consultation process, you will be guided to creating a strategy with these professionals to get where you want to be.

You have a vision for your business. You may feel you cannot expand on it for a variety of reasons. With the help of your expert consultation team, you will find ways to do this. Your team will help you assess which customers you want to attract, and they will come up with ways to attract them primarily online through your website.

They have a team of writers, graphic designers, and developers ready to implement the strategies you both discuss. The initial consultation is only the first step. Once it is complete your team sets about getting your marketing plan up and running together with your new, fully optimized website.

The project manager will stay in touch with you through the entire process from start to finish. They will let you know what is going on every step of the way. If you have questions or concerns, they will be happy to address them for you to make sure you are getting the results you expect.

When the project is complete your rep will visit your office to see how everything is going. This is your chance to test everything out with their help. They want to make sure that the results are exactly what you wanted, and they want to make sure that you are getting the increased business and expansion you needed.

A better business starts with keeping up with the evolving times. The first step is going through a creative consultation to pinpoint what your business goals are so that you and your team of experts can make them happen.

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