Creating great copy for websites is easy!

Websites need to have a focus and a clear definition from all parties that are involved so that the branding remains in tact.  Objectives may include, product advertising, promotion, sales, fulfillment, service, data collection, relationship building, investor relations, public relations, press relations, recruiting, product development and more.  Think of your site as a

How to get folks to open your emails

Subject lines on email need serious creative development.  You only have 2 seconds for the reader to determine if he/she will open or delete the email.  The worst times to send are weekends and Friday evening.  Do not email on a Monday at all (offering that is).  The trick to the subject line development is to

How to correctly manage databases for B2B

The aim of marketing is to know your customers so well, that when your prospects are confronted with your product, it fits them so exactly that it sells itself! This sort of sounds like personalization right? Right! To be able to effectively personalize your message you need to have a great database with information that you can work with.

The one key here, is to know your

How to get over writers block

Writing

To break through writers block, recognize the difference between preparation and procrastination.  Review background, take notes, make lists of key points, jot down spontaneous ideas.  Talk with people about the project.  To get started use “Cluster Writing”.  Cluster writing is a technique where you put one word

Designing your website content in 4 seconds

When designing your web page for content, you need to try to communicate who you are in the first 4 seconds.  You need to express why a user should do business with you and tell how you make their life better.  You should not just say “We do this and we do that”.  You need to sell to the needs and personality of the visitor and provide action-benefit language and links.  It is critical to appeal to

To Blog or Not to Blog

Blogging is one of the most current technologies available on the web.  There are millions of users who blog and who read blogs.  Most major corporations have a blog about their products.  People will come back and subscribe to your blog once you become an “expert” on your topics. Your blog should remain focused on a main topic. As people begin see that your content is of value, they will depend on your posts as a matter of information that they need. This will take time and not happen overnight, but if you keep these main points in mind it, will keep you from posting meaningless articles and instead stick to rich, creative information that people really want to hear about. Also, remember not to

What’s the best way to brand your product on the internet?

Branding on the internet is very different than anything we would put in print.  Because the human mind wants to have everything faster when they are looking online, our marketing has to do just that, help a user get to the point in a few short seconds.  If you have pages and pages of content going on and on, then a user will just move away from your site until he finds the particular words in his mind that relate to what he is looking for. One of the more critical elements to designing a website that is often overlooked is

How Search Engines Index

When a search engine crawls your site it is referred to as a spider. We want them to do this so that we are indexed for many words. A spider killer or something that immediately stops them and will turn them away or cause them to ask the question is this a valid website, are things like “Flash” designs, Javascript, duplicate content, session id’s and poor navigation. These things do not necessarily have to disappear from a website, but they must be done correctly. If a website is done completely in flash, it will not register at all in search engines. However, if a website has flash on the home page and has good content surrounding it then a search engine will find that friendly and will index it just fine. Always have a “skip intro” button to allow a user to have an option. Otherwise you may lose your audience from staying on your page. Although we think our video is something users want to see, we do not know that and some people may not be interested. The idea is to keep users on our page not to lose them. Additionally, do not make a website that has more than one click to enter the site or the search engines will ignore you. Some people do this asking for location and then trying to drill down further asking for zip code or what are you looking for Widget A or Widget B. This is a way to get google, MSN and others to mark you as a spam site.

Navigation on a home page once were thought of as being good if they were in a menu style but this is not the case anymore. Now, to be indexed faster and more often by search engines, it is recommended to have a navigation system that is done more in sentences. This can be tricky. An example of this would be to have the sentence “Are you looking for widgets to increase productivity?” The word “widget” would then link to our pages about widgets.

A Social Media Year in Review

This is a great review of social media’s path in 2009 with a cartoon that Rob Cottingham, of the “Noise to Signal” created.

From Rob’s blog:

From the election of the first American social media president… to a nod to social media from the mainstreamiest of mainstream media (Oxford Dictionary, for god’s sake!)… it’s been a big, tumultuous sprawling toddler of a year, prone to tantrums and potty accidents but adorable nonetheless.

Here, then, is 2009 the way it was meant to be remembered… in doodles.

Creating 3D Type in Adobe Illustrator

On a new document type your text. Select the type with the Direct Selection tool (this is the second arrow on the pallet over on the left hand side with the arrow tip filled in white). Go to Effect, 3D, Extrude & Bevel. Check the preview box and move that big box around. You’ll be able to see how your text will look without accepting the changes this way. Choose a custom color and you have just created your Custom 3D Text! See examples below:

Click to enlarge

And here is the final(Click to enlarge)