Brooke Desmond
If you’ve ever worked with us or any third-party designer to create a logo for your brand, you know firsthand it can be a very personal process. You’re trusting an outside party to design something that represents your brand, and you want to make sure your brand has a logo that encompasses the tone/feel of your business/industry. However, if you’re working with a good designer, they will know how to steer you toward discovering the goals and needs for your logo. Whether you’re looking to work with a designer to create your business a logo or are interested in learning their process, the information below should give you a good idea for what to expect when working with a designer for a new logo. The Discovery/Research Process Anyone can create a nice-looking logo, but a good designer will try to understand your brand’s personality, company story, branding goals and anything else necessary to complete your […]
Read MoreBack in October 2015, Google announced that Gmail will be moved to a strict DMARC policy starting in June 2016. What You Need to Know This month, Gmail will alter their DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) authentication policy to reject emails sent “from” an @gmail.com email address if they are sent from an email marketing software, such as MailChimp, Constant Contact or Marketo. This change will cause emails using a Gmail “from” email address to either bounce or be sent to the spam folder for mailbox providers like Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and Comcast. The goal with these changes is to prevent hackers from getting into user accounts, copy their address books, then spoof messages from the hacked user to their contacts. DMARC is an email validation system that helps companies and organizations protect themselves from fraudulent emails being sent using their domain. How This Will Affect Your Email […]
Read MoreIt goes without saying that, nowadays, having a website for your business is not only crucial, but a fundamental business practice. For a nonprofit organization, it’s important to create a website that connects possible donors to your cause. Whether these online visitors decide to donate online or off, they will depend on your nonprofit website to show them more information about your mission, how your organization started, and how their donation will help. Because of this, your nonprofit organization needs to make sure its website is creating the best setting to inspire giving. Keep the following tips in mind when building your nonprofit website’s key pages that will leave a lasting, positive impression with your supporters. The Home Page The home page serves as the “front door” for your organization’s website. It will probably receive more traffic than the rest of your website, so the messaging here needs to drive […]
Read MoreWe’ve discuss our web design process before (you can see a video of it here), but this week’s All Things WordPress Meetup was a little more thorough. During this session, we discussed the tools and techniques to make sure nothing falls through the cracks along the way of completing a project for your clients. Check out the slides and video from the Meetup below. Be sure to join our next Meetup on June 16! Smooth website projects from start to finish from Mickey Mellen
Read MoreThe online marketing space is competitive, to say the least, and eCommerce businesses are all fighting to secure a top-ranking spot on Google for maximum online exposure. An eCommerce business’s success is measured by the amount of generated and converted leads, which is why these businesses execute digital marketing strategies to better reach their audience, increase their online traffic and drive more sales. Gone are the days when simply having a website was enough to get the online visibility desired. If you want your eCommerce website to thrive in today’s digital world, your digital marketing efforts need to be top-notch and pave a clear path toward converting a lead into a customer. Below are four digital marketing factors that encourage your leads to purchase from your eCommerce website and become loyal customers for life. Mobile-Friendly Website The people have spoken, Google has spoken, and it’s the number one way your […]
Read MoreIf you’ve recently started your own business, we applaud you and your courage to start your own venture! Your mind is probably racing with ideas on how you’re going to grow and better serve your customers, but one area where you should really focus your efforts is your digital marketing strategy. Why focus on digital marketing over traditional? While we don’t discourage traditional marketing for startups, digital marketing will get you the reach and exposure you need with minimal cost (which is something many startups are in short supply of). With digital marketing, there are plenty of organic ways to expand your consumer base without spending a lot of money. Digital marketing allows your startup to get more accomplished with sharper targeting, which leads to decreased time and resources spent. Also, when executed correctly, it will build brand awareness, bring a consistent flow of traffic to your website, and drive leads and […]
Read MoreAt our most recent All Things WordPress Meetup, Mickey Mellen lead a group discussion about the best WordPress plugins to handle every situation. If you didn’t have a chance to make it or want to review your favorite plugins mentioned, check out the list of highlighted plugins and video recording from the Meetup below. Be sure to visit our All Things WordPress page and save you spot for the next one. We look forward to seeing you there! Video (there is a slight break at the 10 min mark, but no information was lost): Plugins Mentioned: Admin Page Spider Akismet All-in-One Event Calendar Beaver Builder Backup Buddy Blank Slate BugMeBar Coming Soon Page Contact Form 7 Crayon Syntax Highlighter Crazyegg Heatmap Tracking Duplicate Post Envira Gallery Genesis Simple Edits Genesis Simple Hooks Genesis Simple Sidebars GM Block Bots Google Doc Embedder Gravity Forms Imsanity iThemes Security Jetpack Lucky Orange (mentioned by […]
Read MoreWhen it comes to building a WordPress website for your business, the user experience must be considered throughout the entire building process. This should go without saying, yet there are thousands of websites that seem to ignore this cardinal rule. Even though your website is meant to highlight and showcase your products/services, it’s even more important to focus on your audience’s perspective first. With so many businesses missing the mark on capturing the interest of their clientele, there are plenty of ways to improve the user experience on your WordPress website. Check out our list of four easy ways to enhance the experience on your website. Homepage Improvements Your website’s homepage will more than likely be the most visited page on your site. It’s the entry point for your website, and every page will be linked back to this main page. Enhance the user experience drastically by showing your new […]
Read MoreThere’s no way in denying that online shopping has became the new norm in just about anything retail. In fact, over 70% of the US uses the Internet regularly to make purchases. With so many online businesses, how can your new eCommerce website gain attention and exposure? Unless you’re offering a one-of-a-kind, patented product found nowhere else in the world, you’re competing against everyone just like you. Luckily, there’s something you can offer that no one else can (at least not the same way as you). Online shoppers have come to expect a streamlined shopping experience from eCommerce websites and do business with those who offer an extraordinary customer experience. This is where the old-school, yet highly-affective, thank you emails come into play. Why a Thank You Email Will Set You Apart Showing gratitude goes a long way, online or face-to-face, and it generates goodwill for a brand, which leads […]
Read MoreAs a small business owner, you have to wear many hats and be involved in all areas of your business. Whether you’re handling most or all of your marketing, the one marketing task that might be a grey area for you is SEO. Search engine optimization is essential in your content marketing strategy, but its trends and methods are constantly changing. One day you may be advised to focus on building links, and the next day you’re being told to not build too many links. SEO can be frustrating, but there is a way to effectively do it yourself. Check out these five SEO trends to keep in mind when marketing your small business online. Local SEO As great as it would be to have people travel from all parts of the country just to see your business, your goal should be to attract your local clientele to learn more about you. Be […]
Read MoreAnyone who has worked with WordPress before knows that it is both flexible and extensible; mainly because of the sheer number of plugins and themes available. However, without hooks, WordPress would have no plugins and themes would be very limited in what they could do. Hooks have played a key role in WordPress’s success and it is vital for any WordPress coder to understand how they work. Guest speaker Micah Wood of Narwhal Digital hosted this Meeup and discussed: The two types of WordPress hooks: actions and filters- What hooks WordPress makes available Where to place your code to ensure it is run When code is run in WordPress and how to control priority How to leverage hooks in your own code Why the hook system is a great implementation of the open/closed principle Ways you could leverage hooks to do awesome things in WordPress Check out the slides and video from […]
Read MoreThe overwhelming digital sea known as the World Wide Web is, without a doubt, conquered by big-named brands that tower over the online presence of small businesses. To all small businesses that are fighting for exposure on Google and want to utilize digital marketing to be found online: We not only salute you, but want to reassure you that there’s hope! It might surprise you that being a small business has its digital advantages. As an agile, local business, you have the power to be more reactive than big businesses and can offer a more personalized experience to your community. As a small business ourselves, we’re rooting for you and know with the right tools and guidance, you can rule your industry’s space in digital marketing. Check out our ultimate guide to digital marketing domination below and soon your small business’s marketing efforts will be competing with the top dogs […]
Read MoreMany people are unfamiliar with the benefits of custom WordPress themes for their WordPress website, and it’s something often overlooked or not budgeted for. If your business is looking for a new layout and design for your current website or you’re planning to launch a website from scratch, developing a custom WordPress theme is a strong option that will bring a plethora of benefits. In this post, we will explore what makes a custom WordPress theme a smart choice for your website and what it can do for your business. Let Your Website Stand Out When was the last time a business said, “I want to be a cookie-cutter business” that wasn’t in the business of shaping cookies into fun shapes? A true entrepreneur or CEO knows better than to make this their goal. With custom WordPress themes, they are (you guessed it) customized to fit your website’s flow, needs […]
Read MoreThink about how far eCommerce websites have come; take Amazon as an example. In 1995, they launched their website as an online bookstore to compete with brick-and-mortar bookstores. Now, they offer everything you could ever want including grocery home delivery and on-demand movies. Amazon is a prime example of the capabilities for eCommerce websites, and although it took them some time to pivot into what they are now they used effective marketing strategies to help get them to the top of eCommerce. Whether you’re thinking about adding eCommerce capabilities to your website or want to increase sales and exposure of your current site, keep the following marketing strategies in mind to strengthen your eCommerce website’s web presence. Emails Not only does email marketing serve as a strong marketing component for your brand, it’s a great way to nurture past, present and future customers. If a website visitor doesn’t buy from […]
Read MoreInbound marketing and marketing automation remain hot topics, so our most recent Meetup was dedicated toward those impact strategies. We discussed how the processes work for both and took a deeper look at neat ways to use systems to your advantage. In case you missed this Meetup or want to review certain sections of the presentation, check out the video and slides below.
Read More