Archive for Marketing 101 – Page 3

Advertising Campaigns Should Be Truthful and Easy

Truth in Advertising

Not only should your ads tell the truth, but what you are offering should also be fairly easy to accomplish. Whether you are giving something away or having a sale, you should make it very easy to do.

Here’s an example of what not to do. Ralphs and Shell have been advertising their 10 cent deal for quite some time.

I visited Shell and saw no place to scan or enter a Ralphs club card. A big sign said bring in your receipt to Ralphs for double rewards points.

I did so, but the checker at Ralphs says the receipt was missing the proper numbers. The manager said the same thing.

“Go back to the Shell station to get the proper receipt”. Yeah, I’m going to go out of my way to do that.

The result: this blog post. Bad karma for Ralphs and Shell. It probably won’t have any real effect but I feel better and I got a post out of it.

Back up your claims

If you run a small business, the best thing to do is to back up what you advertise. Even if you lose a little money, it’s better to make a customer happy than to have them bad mouth your company online for all the world to see.

The Results of Bad Advertising

I will continue to go to Ralphs because it is convenient and I’ve been going for years. Overall, I like the store and it’s products and prices.

But unless it’s an emergency, I will avoid Shell. Why Shell and not Ralphs? Not only did this Shell not have the proper receipt, but they advertised one price for cash on their big sign, and another price for credit on a little sign I did not see.

Plus they put a tiny little notice on their pump saying the cheaper price was for cash only. Not a good idea to tick off your customer. I will not be back. At least not at that Shell station.

These Days It’s Best Not to Upset Your Customers

Social media is everywhere. With places like Twitter, Facebook and Yelp to voice your opinions of companies, it’s always best to follow through on your promises and don’t tick off your customers.

12 May

5 Reasons Why the Cheapest Website is Not the Best Choice

You Don’t Want to Look Cheap

Times are difficult for a lot of people. Making ends meet is very important. But in business it’s all about image. When it comes to how people perceive you and your company, how you represent yourself is vitally important.

Make Your First Impression Count

To be a successful business you must have a web presence. Just having your name out there is not good enough. You need to showcase your products and services. You only get a few seconds to make an impression.

You Won’t Find Your Web Designer at The 99 Cent Store

Here’s five things to look for when you shop around for a web designer and why cheap is not always a bargain.

You get what you pay for. This is not just a cliché. The cheapest web design is not necessarily the best representation of your business. Do you really want your business to look cheap?
Keep your navigation simple and easy to follow. People notice when a website is poorly designed.
Most cheap websites are either copied from a template or from someone else’s site.
Will that web designer be there if my site has errors or ceases to function properly? Do you really want to pay someone new to fix your broken site?
Do they have a knowledge of SEO and how it works? Even a little search engine optimizing helps get your site noticed.

A modern, clean, fully functioning and easy to navigate website says a lot about your business. Update your content and website regularly and you’ll increase your chances of getting noticed.

To that end, why not call (310-791-5803) or e-mail Chuck at Creative Juices house of design. We create websites that fit your personality, business and budget. And we’re friendly too. (Chihuahua kisses are optional).

Blogging to promote business. Branding Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design

29 Mar

What is a Favicon and Why Do I Need It?

“Favicon” is short for favorites icon. It is the tiny little image you see right next to your domain name in the browser’s title bar and bookmark.

Creating a Favicon is easy, sort of

All you need to do is create a 16 x 16 pixel .ico file. Start off in Photoshop or any image editing program. Use your logo or brand image and create a mini jpg file.

Then can go to a site like favicon and upload your jpg image.

Convert your jpg into an ico

Once you upload your new jpg icon into a favicon generator site, you just have to name it favicon.ico and export that ico image to your hard drive. Then, using FTP or Dreamweaver just place that image into your site’s root folder.

Even easier if you use WordPress

If you’re using WordPress, the “Shockingly Simple Favicon Options” plugin is an easy way to set up your favicon.

If you don’t use WordPress, check out Dynamic Drive’s Favicon Generator or Free Favicon Generator from Website Planet.

Adding a favicon to your website is a great way to help build your image or brand. It also makes your site look a little more professional.

Branding Design Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Technology

01 Feb

What Everyone Ought to Know about E-mail and Content Marketing

What is E-mail Marketing?

Simply put, e-mail marketing is sending out regular e-mail to your current and potential customers. They need to be consistently reminded that you exist. Write from your own voice and don’t copy other people. Once people get to know the real you, chances are they will want to do business with you. You’ll become more than just a symbol or logo.

What should I put in my e-mails?

You could create a newsletter with helpful tips relevant to your business. For instance, if you have a landscape company you could write about how to prune roses.

You could tell a little bit about yourself and what you’ve been up to. How about promoting a new product or service and explain the benefits. Reviewing other people’s products can also be helpful.

What is this Content Marketing thing?

Content Marketing is not new, but is becoming very big. It often takes form in a blog. A brochure type website no longer cuts it. Creating a constant stream of new content on your website makes it popular with search engines like Google as well as site visitors. People love information they can use. Gear all your content toward helping the reader. They want to learn about something useful. Teach and inform and you won’t go wrong.

Can I do anything else with all my new content?

Certainly. Once you have a collection of informative and helpful content on your website, you can reuse that content in many ways. For instance, why not send your great content to your customers in your regular newsletters. Update and rewrite it to make it new even for those who view your blog regularly.

Organize your blog and newsletter content into an e-book. You can sell your e-book and add to your income. Advertise your e-book on your blog and in your newsletter (and Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Sign up with an affiliate service and let others sell your e-book too.

Sign-up for your newsletter

Don’t forget to add a sign up link or form on your blog/website for your newsletter. Collecting a list of email addresses for your mailing list is a powerful tool to gain and retain happy clients.

And don’t forget to sign up NOW for MY fun and informative newsletter.

Free Marketing Tips

Plug for Constant Contact

I’ve been using Constant Contact for many years and recently signed up to be an affiliate. I like promoting a service I’ve enjoyed using. Constant Contact is a great way to stay in touch with your clients.

Place a link on your website for subscribers to your mailing list and you will soon receive a bunch of e-mail addresses you can use to send your newsletters to.

E-mail Marketing from Constant Contact is the perfect fit for small businesses, associations and consultants. It doesn’t cost much, starting at only $15.00 per month. It doesn’t take a lot of time. And it’s effective.

Constant Contact makes it fast and easy for you to create and send high-impact, professional-looking email newsletters and promotions. They have a wide variety of pre-made templates which you can customize with your own brand image. And you can track your results and monitor your success, to see how many people opened and clicked on your email communications. Plus there’s a great iPhone App so you can keep track of your stats anywhere.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101

16 Nov

How to Switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and Save Your SEO Ranking

Why Should I Switch to WordPress.org?

WordPress.com is a great way to begin blogging. It’s a free service, easy to set up and use, plenty of free themes and plugins, and, well, free.

But WordPress.com does have it’s limits. For one thing, your blog’s domain name is branded for WordPress (yourblogname.wordpress.com). If you’re serious about your blog and/or website, it is vital to promote your own brand name in your url. Yourblogname.com, for example, is more professional and promotes name recognition. Being your own entity is much better than being part of someone else’s.

Also, you cannot easily monetize your WordPress.com blog. For now they do not allow Google AdSense, for example. That is why a self-hosted, WordPress.org site is a much better choice. WordPress.org is also free but there are more options and functionality. You just have to find a host and pay yearly hosting fees and domain name registration. Getting a unique, professionally designed creative WordPress theme to fit your brand image couldn’t hurt either.

I’ve been using WordPress.com for a while now. Can’t I just start a new blog using my own domain name?

Of course you can. But if you’ve been blogging for a while you will have probably built up a following. Search engines will have already found and ranked you. People may have already bookmarked your site or linked to you.

You don’t want to lose that ranking or those links. And while you can and should migrate all your blog posts to a WordPress.org system using your new url, it is also a good idea to redirect your old url to the new name. That way, anyone who has bookmarked your old site will be instantly redirected to the new site. And you will maintain your search engine ranking and permalinks.

WordPress.com now offers Offsite Redirect Support for $12 per year. I am not an affiliate of WordPress and am not getting paid to promote this service. I just think it’s a good idea. But don’t forget to renew the redirect yearly. You will not get a reminder.

Blogging to promote business. Branding Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

19 Oct

Why Your Website Should Be a Hub of Information

Websites Are No Longer Just a Showcase

The days of showing pretty pictures and awesome special effects are over. People want information and they want it now. A good way to lose your audience is to have them wait for a Flash splash page to download.

Make your website a hub of useful content

Today it is important to fill your website with “useful” information. Write about what you know. Show your voice and passion. Explore how to do something in your field. Comment on related news events. Review products. Create a links page that points to related sites your audience might be interested in.

Include a blog on your website. This will allow you to regularly post information related to your business, product or service. Writing a series of articles greatly enhances your search engine optimization. People, and Google, like to know the site you have is current and relevant. Plus this is a great way to get people coming back to your site.

Easy to Navigate

Your website should have an easy to understand navigation system. The look of your site should be clean and simple. The text should be large enough to read clearly and should be on a white or light background. Did you know white type on a black background is difficult to read? It strains your eyes. A lot of people click “next”.

Link to your social marketing efforts

Twitter is a great way to send out mini blasts of information. Facebook is great for social networking and letting people know about you and your business. LinkedIn is also a good place to have a business presence. YouTube is great for video tutorials and product reviews.

But all social networking should lead to your main website. This is where you have room to show what your business is all about and teach new things about your business.

Branding Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Website Design

08 Sep

Take Control of Your Website

Are you a New or Small Business Owner?

Smart Preservation

Then you really need to get a website. Let the world know you exist.

The question is, where do you start?

Start your own blog/website.

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). It has a completely accessible back end that is easy to learn. You will be able to add an unlimited number of pages, posts and plugins with unbelievable functionality. This includes photo galleries, PayPal shopping carts, Twitter and Facebook links, calendars, search engine optimization and tons more.

Market your business by adding content

Search engines love it when you add new content to your website. So do readers. Adding useful content to your site on a regular basis is a great way to increase your Google page rank.

Starting your company blog also helps to connect you with potential and current clients. It’s a way for you to be creative too.

Custom Designed Templates

Stand out from the crowd. There are plenty of free WordPress templates available. But you want your website to be unique.

It’s easy to get your own company website.

I can design your custom template and set up your entire site.

Many options are available:

Domain name and hosting. I am an authorized GoDaddy affiliate.
Quick lessons on how to access your Admin page and make changes yourself.
Search Engine Optimization. Includes Title Tags, Meta Description, Keywords and Registration with major search engines like Google and Bing.
Widget setup. I’ll install the most popular and useful plugins to meet your individual needs.
Backup and maintenance available. Keep all your plugins and WP operating system up to date and your files backed up online. You can also get a regular backup of your files emailed or sent to you on disk.

Call Chuck at 310-791-5803 for more information and prices.

I will design and set up your unique website that will meet your budget. Special package deals available upon request.

Advertising Branding Website Design

09 Aug

The Truth About Logo Design Companies

There are many ways to get a logo today. You can create one yourself if you have design capabilities. You can buy a logo design software package for $29 and put a few graphic elements together along with your company name.

You can go online and find a logo design factory that charges only $99 or $149 for a logo with unlimited changes. Realize, of course, that your logo will most likely be designed by students or recent graduates with limited experience. And you will be encouraged to order something else to help the logo design factory generate enough money to make up for that cheap logo.

Or you can hire an experienced graphic design company and pay a fair price for a product that will best represent you and your company.

Get Your Online Logos Now

It used to be that a professional logo design would cost you a minimum of $500 and an average of $1500. You were dealing with professional artists and graphic designers who had many years in the business designing logos. They had talent and experience. They knew how well your logo would stand out in color and black and white. What colors would go with your product and service and what design would create the best public image for your company. You met with the artist in person and discussed your preferences and options. And they took the time to follow their creative process. Creativity is not instantaneous.

Today you can go online and get an instant logo for $99 or $149. How much time and effort do you think was spent on creating that logo?

Keep in mind that your business logo is a graphic representation of your brand. Typically you keep your logo for many, many years. When people see your logo they get an immediate feeling about your business, whether it’s conscious or not. Do you really want that image to be cheap?

Professional Logos Cost Money

Think about big companies like Apple, Nike, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, etc. Do you think they contacted an online logo factory and paid $99 for their logo design. I think not. They took the time and spent the money to carefully research their image and brand. They spent thousands of dollars. Maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars building a brand image that matched their product or service.

Choose Your Logo Creator Wisely

So when it comes time to choose a company or person to create your own company’s brand image, don’t you think you deserve to get something that best represents you? I think you do.

You want to be proud of your company. You want to be successful. And you most certainly want to present an image of yourself that is both professional and exudes success. To achieve this you have to spend a little bit of money.

And always remember. You get what you pay for. This fact almost never changes.

Advertising Branding Helpful Hints Logo Design

20 Jul

Why You Should Consider a .co Domain Name

Starting today you can register a .co domain name.

This is known as a Top Level Domain (TLD) which started in South America but is now available worldwide.

The abbreviation .co can be interpreted as any number of things, from company, community, commerce or any other word you like that begins with “co” such as con.

Is this just another way of wasting your money?

True, some people think this is just another way of getting you to pay a premium amount of money to reserve yet another version of your domain to prevent others from getting it. While .com is the most popular choice, you also have .net, .org, .info and much more. How many people reserved a .mobi domain for mobile phones and now wonder why they bothered?

On the other hand, if you have a company name and cannot get a .com domain for it, now’s your chance to reserve a .co version. I’ve already registered creativejuices.co and cjuices.co. See if your domain name is available at my Creative Juices Domains website. And if you do reserve it there you’ll be contributing to the survival of Creative Juices since I am a GoDaddy registered reseller. Yay me.

How this plays out remains to be seen. Will search engines like this new domain extension? Will people get confused between .co and .com thinking it’s a misspelling and end up going to your competition by mistake? Do you want to take a chance and ignore this opportunity and let somebody else get your desired domain name… again?

Read “New domain .co goes up for sale” by Jennifer Scott from ITPRO for more information.

Branding Creative Juices News Marketing 101 Technology

15 Jul

Promote Your Brand the Twitter Way

Custom Twitter Backdrops

Any kind of social networking involves sharing your “brand” with the world. You want to present your best image and you want people to recognize your company wherever you are.

So if you’re into twittering for your business, you really need to create a custom backdrop. It is the first thing people will see before they decide to follow you. So at the very least you should have your company logo and design/color scheme that matches your website. (What, you don’t have a website? Contact Chuck at Creative Juices immediately.)

Always Build Your Brand

Besides building on your brand, your custom twitter backdrop also allows you to give more contact information on yourself and your company, beyond the 160 characters twitter allows. That’s 20 characters more than an ordinary Twitter post. This is a great opportunity for you to show how professional and creative you really are. And it’s all free. Unless, of course, you hire someone to utilize their creative juices and create an outstanding twitter backdrop for you.

Branding Business Practices Helpful Hints Logo Design Marketing 101 Website Design