Your website is your businesses single most important marketing tool. It’s usually the first thing a potential customer sees and sets the tone for your relationship. A great website is a fusion of functionality, technology, simplicity, and good taste. It should be beautiful, easy to navigate, informative, and motivate the viewer to take action.
Creating an effective site requires a myriad of skills including graphic design, content writing, video production, and the technical ability to develop and host the site. We’ve been building compelling websites for over twenty years. Whether you’re building a site from scratch or updating an existing site, we have the artistic and technical skills to build a compelling website.
Our websites conform to web standards and look as good on a mobile phone and tablet, as they do on a computer monitor. This “responsive” design is imperative as 52% of all web pages in 2018 were served to mobile devices. (1) If your site is not mobile friendly, your visitors will leave.
Unlike “static” websites, content management systems (CMS) sites couple a front end interface with a backend database. Content or “Posts” are stored in the database and called upon as needed. Pages are created “on the fly,” drawing content from the database as needed. Posts (content) can be added over time, and simply “flow” into the site automatically.
Another advantage of CMS sites is the ability of owners to edit content directly in their web browser without the need for technical assistance. Every user is assigned a role with a discrete privilege set. “Contributors” can write posts in draft mode. Drafts can then be reviewed by “Editors” before any content goes live. Only “Administrators” have the power to alter the structure of the site. Sites can also be private intranets; so only “Subscribers” can view password protected content.
WordPress is presently the preeminent CMS solution. There is simply no reason not to build your website on a WordPress development platform. Since WordPress is “open source,” it’s basically free to use. Literally, thousands of developers are working on the platform daily to fix bugs and build plugins that can extend the functionality of any WordPress site. We develop complete WordPress solutions, simple brochure sites, content managed sites, and e-commerce sites.
SEO is the art and science of making your website visible to search engines such as Google and Bing. Good SEO ensures high “organic” page rank. The trick is to formulate your content so “web crawlers” see it as valuable and revenant. Liberal use of keywords, alt text, descriptions and other metadata (data about data) ensure that search engines see the true nature of your content.
Good SEO is a lot of work. It involves analyzing every piece of content on your site to optimize readability, key phrases, headings, and other text elements to ensure optimal page rank. SEO goes hand in hand with content writing. We can analyze every page and post of your site to ensure the best possible page rank.
SEM or “paid search” is digital advertising that appears in search engines like Google and Bing when customers search for “keywords.” Google Adwords is the most common form of SEM. “Campaigns” are defined by first choosing keywords your potential customers are likely to search when investigating products like yours. When those keywords are typed into search engines, you bid against other Adwords customers to win a place above the “organic” search results.
If done right, SEM is extremely cost effective and the king of ROI. You determine in advance how much you’ll bid and how much you’ll budget monthly. You determine the geographic region and demographics of those that will see your ad. Best of all, you only pay when customers “click” on your ad. For SEM to be effective, each ad must be linked to a landing site specifically designed to the “convert” the prospect into a sale.
Good SEM is both an art and a science. It requires designing a compelling campaign, then tinkering with the keywords and ad design to achieve optimal results. This “split testing” is an ongoing process requiring constant analysis. We design and optimize SEM campaigns, and present you with reports demonstrating total impressions, clicks, conversions, and ROI.
Like search engines, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest extract a lot of information from the content members provide. These platforms assimilate this information to facilitate targeting display advertising. Like AdWords, advertisers determine campaign demographics, locations, and budgets. Based on those parameters, your ads are only shown to those exhibiting interest in your products and you only pay per click.
We design compelling online ads and videos that catch the visitors eye and compel them to click. When the ad is clicked, the visitor is taken to a landing site that speaks to the ad and leads the visitor toward a sales conversion.
Giving a prospective customer something of value when he is researching his purchase builds a sense of obligation. It’s the cheese in the mousetrap. The trick is to offer content that has real value for your customer. It must be informative, relevant, compelling, concise, well documented, and error free. Selflessly supply him with the information he needs to make an informed purchase decision. Content marketing also positions you as an expert. Each article, blog, or paper you write builds trust, showcases expertise, and strengthens your relationship.
We provide comprehensive content writing for websites, blogs, and articles. In order for blogs to be effective, articles must be posted at regular intervals. We can provide a single article, a series of posts, or ongoing blog posting.
Brand is the sum of all experiences, memories, and interactions you have with a product. Those experiences can be first hand, or communicated to you via friends or advertising. The key to building a strong visual brand is consistency. Every touchpoint must communicate the same messaging, both factually and esthetically. The “holy grail” of any marketer is to build a brand that can be represented as a singular symbol. Think about how you feel when you see the McDonalds arch, the Nike swish, or Apple’s logo. When you see those symbols, you know exactly what to expect from those products without any messaging. To achieve that level of recognizability, strong brand guidelines must be created and enforced.
We can work with you to design your corporate messaging and brand identity. The end result is a brand standards manual that documents your messaging and defines your company’s visual representation.
In spite of all the buzz regarding digital advertising, print is still a necessary and integral component of any marketing mix. Good print design is an art and requires a skill set often forgotten by a new generation of marketers obsessed with the digital world.
We haven’t forgotten how powerful a beautiful print piece can be. We’re print production experts. We’ve produced hundreds of compelling printed brochures, catalogs, flyers, forms, etc.
Keeping track of the myriad of information you must assimilate each day can be a daunting task. Many times, information is duplicated or kept in multiple places. Keeping it all synchronized can be very difficult and lead to expensive mistakes. Additionally, many of the routine tasks you perform with data can be automated with the right software.
The solution is a relational database application. Relational databases store information in one place and then “relate” it as needed to create any report you wish. For example, think about keeping records of your employees. They all work at the same place, right? What happens if your company information changes in some way? Will you have to change each employee record to reflect this change? A relational database keeps your company information in one place, then “relates” it to each employee. Change the company information once, and the change is made to all related records.
Many companies use Excel to keep track of data. But Excel spreadsheets were not really designed to manage data. True relational databases can mimic any input window or output report you wish and thereby automate many aspects of your business.
We build interactive relational databases for a wide range of applications. Start small and let your database grow to encompass all aspects of your business activities. The end result is a vertical application specifically designed to run your business.
We can facilitate email marketing campaigns to any audience you wish, whether you want one blast, a series of blasts, or timed releases.
In spite of all the buzz regarding digital advertising, print is still a necessary and integral component of any marketing mix. Good print design is an art and requires a skill set often forgotten by a new generation of marketers obsessed with the digital world.
We build interactive relational databases for a wide range of applications. Start small and let your database grow to encompass all aspects of your business activities. The end result is a vertical application specifically designed to run your business.
One of the main goals of any marketing effort is to build a database of “opt-in” customers that are delighted with your product and welcome information regarding future offerings. It’s much easier to re-sell a current customer than to find a new one. Ideally, a company should have a dossier on every customer with information such as name, address, phone, email address, past purchases, etc. Once a database is assembled, a company can notify customers of specials, sales, new product offerings, grand openings, etc.
Email can be a valuable tool provided your customer wants to receive it. Making your email notifications valuable is key to email marketing success. Sale notifications, new product announcements, product updates, birthday coupons, and special event notifications can provide real value and be welcome email in any customer’s mailbox.
We can facilitate email marketing campaigns to any audience you wish, whether you want one blast, a series of blasts, or timed releases.
In the world of marketing communication, video is king. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. There is simply no more compelling way to communicate your message than video. The good news is that great video is easier and cheaper than ever to produce. Cameras, lighting equipment, drones, and post-production software are better than ever. If you’re not communicating your message with video, you should be.
We can create storyboards, write scripts, compile scene shot lists, shoot footage, edit, add special effects, sweeten sound, and deliver finished video for any venue.
Sometimes you just need someone to advise you or train your staff; then take on marketing challenges “in house.”