The DreamPix Studio

Social Media 101

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Which social media platform should I use and how should I use it?

I am asked that question time and again. The answer to the first portion depends upon which platform is better suited for the business and the level of commitment that the business owner is willing to make. When answering the second piece of the question, I often relate engaging in social media to being invited to someone’s home for dinner.  As an invited guest you should never arrive empty-handed, would be engaging without monopolizing the conversation, would be a good listener, and just as importantly, a good sharer.

Recently, I found a cute little scenario that was written about a doughnut that helped to explain the virtues of each social media platform. I thought that I would expand on that scenario using one of my favorite foods, cheese, in order to illustrate the differences.

Social Media

Twitter:

Good Wine. Good Friends. Good #Cheese.

Facebook:

I could live on CHEESE alone.

Foursquare:

This is where I go for good CHEESE.

Instagram:

Here’s a vintage photo of my favorite CHEESE.

YouTube:

See the proper way to serve CHEESE.

LinkedIn:

My skills include eating CHEESE.

Pinterest:

Here’s a recipe for making homemade CHEESE.

Is Your Website Working?

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With over one billion live websites on the internet today – it is a feat to stand out among the competition. Today, visitors need to be wowed when they land on your website otherwise they will click the back button and check out the competition within a matter of seconds because, well, because they can! Business owners should answer yes to five simple questions about their company website if they want to be real players in an online games.

Is our website engaging and usable?

Your company website is your showroom. Potential customers must be able to find what they are looking for easily without rifling through the clutter. Clean, uncluttered pages with clear headers and easy to read information is a must.

Do your own eyes glaze over when you read the content?

My motto has always been less is more in just about every category. It’s always better to leave a potential customer wanted just a little bit more in order to prompt a call to action. When selecting pieces for your online portfolio, only showcase the work that you are most proud of.

Is your URL memorable?

Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts when you are searching for a domain name.

  1. DO Whenever possible use your brand name
  2. DO make .com your first pick with .net as a runner up … if they are both taken, pick another name. Seriously. Your tagline.com would make a great choice.
  3. In print DO consider capitalizing the first letter of each word in the URL.
  4. DON’T use acronyms, hyphens, dashes, or underscores
  5. DO try to keep them short
  6. DON’T use all caps
  7. DON’T use a subdomain

Do you ask for the sale?

Your website must have a clear Call to Action or CTA – Ask visitors to take the next step – whether it is to pick up the phone or click a button to formalize your budding relationship.

Is your website mobile responsive?

Is your website as easy to read and navigate on a smartphone or tablet as it is on a desktop computer? That means that the user doesn’t need to zoom in on the text or scroll sideways to see the other half of a sentence. With 40% of internet time spent on mobile devices, you can’t afford to have a website that is designed on a fluid grid.

Mobile Responsive Design: Fluid and Flexible

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The word mobile-friendly or responsive is now part of our daily vocabulary – but what exactly does it mean?

A website that is ‘mobile responsive’ is designed to provide an optimal viewing experience in all browsers. This means that rather than simply re-sizing the entire site to fit proportionately into a browser window, a responsive site will creatively reorganize the elements in a way that promotes easy reading, navigation, and scrolling in order to optimize the user experience. All of the elements are placed on a flexible grid and simultaneously resize accordingly as the browser window changes. Photos, for example, may realign themselves from a row to a column for a better viewing experience. To witness the effect, try dragging the handlebars on the browser window on your desktop computer or just compare the difference in the appearance of a website as it appears on different devices.

With more than 50% of online traffic coming from mobile devices – mobile responsiveness is a trend that is not going away. In fact, Google is penalizing those websites that have not adopted a responsive theme. I have included images below from a site that I recently upgraded from a WordPress theme that was not behaving well on mobile platforms. Open Meadow Homes now has a thumbs up from Google.

A view of the homepage of Open Meadow Homes on a desktop computer. Notice that the navigation menu spans across the width of the page. As the user scrolls down the page the next section features three widgets side by each.

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A view of the home page of Open Meadow Homes on an iPad displays the navigation menu in a minimized form. The widgets too, re-position themselves for optimal viewing. If they simply resized to fit in the window the content would be too small to read without forcing the user to zoom in.

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Lastly, here’s an example of a view of the home page of Open Meadow Homes as seen on an iPhone 6 plus. Virtually all of the items have moved to a vertical position on the grid.

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What is a BLOG?

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One of the more common questions that customers ask me is … “What is a BLOG?”

Derived from the two words, weblog, a BLOG is a page on the internet that contains is a chronological complication of POSTS or articles that examine various topics. BLOGS are used by businesses, organizations, and individuals to spread the good word and build credibility in their field. I just completed a website for Ana Patuleia Ortins from PortugueseCooking.com and she plans to use her blog as a way to share recipes and Portuguese culture with her followers. In time, BLOGS can become a cluttered mess resembling a pile of loose papers. For this reason, most Blog POSTS have the ability to be sorted into CATEGORIES similar to folders in a file cabinet. Categories allow users to easily find what they are looking for. My Portuguese chef has categories for Recipes, Travel, Culture, and Hot of the Stove. She also has sub-categories for the Recipe category that include entrees, desserts, bread, and more. TAGS, another term that is tossed around, are used for SEO purposes so that BLOG POSTS be found in internet searches. They are keywords and keyword phrases that are attached to blog posts. Ana may attach the keywords Portuguese Holiday Food to a recipe for Portuguese Sweet Bread. While BLOGS may seem complicated at first glance, the actual function is similar to a Table of Contents and an Index in an old-fashioned book!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall .. whose the cleverest Brand of All

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Staying on the cutting edge of trending topics in the marketing world is a must these days.  It appears as though brands are having the time off of their lives competing with each other especially on social media platforms which offer so many opportunities to shine.  Whether it is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, and Google+ the key is to be trendy without jumping on every trend. In recent weeks the trending topics of choice have been the release of Minions movie which many mega brands have taken advantage of including McDonald’s, Puffs, and Jello-O. Two weeks ago the newly released up close and personal photos of Pluto by NASA  provided a vehicle for marketers who had a field day trying to outdo each other.

Disney, Google, and Behr Paint were the three brands that I feel topped the competition on Twitter with their timely blurbs referencing Pluto’s long-awaited close up.

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Timing is Everything

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loungehogcolor3nologo-sWatching the calendar makes perfect sense when developing a marketing plan – in fact, watching the weather in New England works equally as well. Whether you ride the waves generated by the 4th of July, Shark attacks, or Summah time heat, timely ideas help to create buzz and boost SEO. The American Barbecue Company on the North Shore of Boston has a terrific collection of pig graphics that they use in their marketing. How cute is the pig in a lounge chair to promote a pig roast or summer BBQ?

The key is to know who your target audience is and understand their motivations. If your business is selling toys you likely have a different clientele around the holidays than you do year-round. Be sure to utilize social media platforms that, by nature, follow seasonal trends and are hot promotional outlets. Lastly, be sure to launch your seasonal campaign in time to catch the wave of interest for the best ride … ideally before your competition gets their feet wet!

DreamPix Overview

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The DreamPix Studio is a website and multimedia design studio providing clients with creative design solutions.

I help small to medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations capture their online market niche. My designs stand out above the rest in creativity & style and yet I have the technical know-how to bring the website to the top in Google search engine results.

For the purpose of a BNI presentation I thought I would offer a glimpse into my world by sharing a few projects that I am currently working on that include:

  • Website Design
  • Logo and Graphic Design Services
  • Branding
  • Social Media Marketing
  • and much, much more …

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Mobile Responsive

Google is now punishing those websites that are not considered mobile-friendly by demoting them in the SEO rankings. While Open Meadow Homes has a fairly current site built on a WordPress platform, it is not considered Mobile-friendly by Google’s standards. Sometimes that just means that the images are not set to adjust to various browsers but it can mean a whole lot more. To see whether or not your website is mobile-friendly just visit Google and plug in the URL of the website. Here’s an example of the work in progress.

Current Website Mobile Responsive

Graphic Design

Eric Leeman wanted a piece of marketing collateral that was timeless and flexible in the sense that he could mail it or leave it in someone’s mailbox or on their doorstep. We decided to do a simple postcard that was printed by Greetings by Design in Newburyport. The card reflects E.H. Leeman’s familiar branding in terms of colors, graphics, and logo.

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Logo Design

The creative process is a process that evolves, albeit sometimes in a more efficient manner than others! I began a new project last week working with a client who came to me from the Boxford Mom’s website. She is launching a College Consulting business called Crimson College Consulting. The logo is the cornerstone of the marketing process which is where I begin. Here is the first draft of the logo design that reflects a combination of ideas and colors that she put forth combined with my own. I have not heard back from her yet … so stay tuned!

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Branding

Essex Financial Advisors has worked on making the company brand more visually cohesive. In the past six months, we have developed and implemented a style guide that is used on all print material and communication from Essex Financial Advisors. We also adopted a Winston Churchill theme that offers a personal glimpse of David Bunker and adds interest to his website and business cards. If any of you visit his office you will see a portrait of Winston as well as a bust and books. It is a conversation piece that has worked well with his marketing materials. His business cards feature a collection of four different quotes on the back.

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Social Media Marketing

Maison Esthetique on Facebook and they use the sight to share information, promote specials, and drive traffic to their website for online sales.
Maison Esthetique Christiane Bourque Spa in Danvers, MASocial Media platforms such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, YOUTube, Twitter & Instagram have emerged as the top FREE marketing tools for businesses. maisonWhichever social media platforms you choose the rule is that you must embrace it. It doesn’t help to have a page that is unattended, in fact, it may do more harm by compromising your credibility. Facebook is great for community building with current past and potential clients, Search Engine Optimization, insight into your market niche (through analytics), communication, and viral opportunities. If you are in the service industry such as a Day Spa or a Restaurant or a Landscaper – Facebook should be your go-to platform. Maison Esthetique in Danvers has nearly 1,400 Facebook followers.

Web Content Managment

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home_widget_bluecopy2Web content management is a daunting process for most business owners – in particular those small business owners who do not have a dedicated staff of professionals to handle the task. Thankfully there are a variety of solutions today that provide brands with the opportunity to maintain a marketable presence on the web without much ado.

The acronym CMS has become part of that our vocabulary and is a computer application that allows users to organize, publish, and edit the content on the web in a manner that is friendly to laymen. There is a multitude of platforms from which to choose and they vary in performance and cost as one would expect. Some are more geared towards one industry or function than another but never fear, there is a program that will work for every business big or small.

With so many options, selecting the right vendor for your business can be intimidating as well. The most popular CMS in the world today is WordPress – an open-source PHP-based platform that is free but priceless. It can provide most any business with all the bells and whistles that they need to market and grow their business for years to come. Some of the most notable big brands that use WordPress are The New Yorker, BBC America, Variety Magazine, Sony Music, Beyonce, Playstation, and Best Buy. If you are considering building a website on WordPress you are in pretty good company.

How to Prioritize Homepage Content

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seven_circlesThe homepage of most websites today is complex, featuring blocks of content that should be prioritized by level of importance. Here is a simple diagram that can help businesses define the hierarchy of their marketing information.

  1. The top circle represents the most important message that the company wants to convey when a visitor lands on the homepage of the website.
  2. As your eyes move down the chart (as they would a webpage) the next two circles represent secondary content that the company wants before the public eye
  3. The bottom row features remaining call-to-actions.

I have found that this approach helps clients who are struggling with the daunting task of creating appropriate content for their website.

More Mobile Searches Turn to Sales

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local_searchimageA recent local search study revealed that an astounding 80% of local searches on mobile devices resulted in a sale. It stands to reason that if a website is not mobile-friendly it is undermining the competitive potential of the business in its local market niche. Two other crucial elements that help to boost the success of a business in its local market is to be present on Google and Apple maps and to claim your listing on your Google+ local page. The two go hand in hand and will help to push a business up in local search results. Be sure that important information such as the business contact information, operating hours, ratings, and/or reviews are updated and available as well. All of this information contributes to the quick decision-making process of potential customers.