• Why FolioType?
• Creative Services
• Testimonials
• Portfolio
• Blog
• Contact Us

// Design, Business, Experience, Branding & The Web.

Of all the different aspects of internet marketing one of the topics which is both most important and most often misunderstood is that of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. SEO is a broad term used to describe any action taken to attempt to get a web page to be at the top of the search engine results pages for engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. Of course, Google gets the majority of all searches so that is the primary area where people doing SEO focus.

There are two major sub-categories of SEO which are “On-Page SEO” and “Off-Page SEO”. They are just as they sound like they would be. On page SEO is any action taken on your own web page to attempt to make it rank as good as possible for Google and other search engines for the keywords you are targeting. There are many strategies to on-page SEO and using them all properly is the best way to ensure proper ranking. Things like having the HTML tags set properly with your keywords in them (including H1, H2 and H3 tags and the Title Tag).

Using these tools helps Google to understand which types of keywords you are attempting to target. In the past, setting some of these tags was all that was required to get a good ranking in the search engines but that is not the case anymore. Today you also need to have excellent off-page SEO strategies in place to compliment your on-page efforts.

Off-Page SEO has many different strategies involved, all of which are important. One of the most important pieces of this type of SEO is link building. To put it simply, link building is any effort put into getting other web pages to have a link back to your site. The quality of the links back to your site has a huge effect on how much they will improve your position in the search engines.

Using a contextual back link, for example will help not only get Google to see your page but also will help Google understand that your page is seen as an authority in the subject since other sites are linking back to it. Having a large number of well rounded links is the ideal strategy because it makes the links look like they were built more naturally which is what Google prefers compared to attempting to manipulate their system.

I’ve been on quite a business book reading kick this year. Mostly in an effort to better the practices with my own company, but also to learn about current technology trends to keep up with the "big guns". Every day we hear of more and more people using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I’ve been trying to make sense of the current social media phenomenon. After several books I think I have it, and The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk is one book that outlines very clearly why all businesses need to participate in social media during this economy.

Most of the principles outlined in this book don’t have to be practiced with just social media tools. They can be put to use with traditional media tools as well. However, the individual and/or small business can have more of a voice by paying close attention to what Gary is saying and putting the techniques he describes to practice.

In Part V: How to Win in the Thank You Economy, the Quick Version Gary briefly summarizes the book. If you already have a successful business you can review the points below and decide for yourself what is useful. If you’re looking to find new strategies, I recommend purchasing the book to get the details. The information described in this easy 234 page read could change the way you approach your businesses marketing strategies and prove to give you a jump start on your companies future growth.

For the most part I enjoyed the book. Gary has a great personality that continues to shine and reaches out as an extension to his already well know videos on Wine Library TV and the Daily Grape websites.

Part V: How to Win in the Thank You Economy, the Quick Version

• Care – about your customers, about your employees, about your brand – with everything you’ve got.
• Erase any lines in the sand – don’t be afraid of what’s new or unfamiliar.
• Show up first to market whenever possible, early the rest of the time.
• Instill a culture of caring into your business by:
• Being self-aware
• Mentally committing to change
• Setting the tone through your words and actions
• Investing in your employees
• Hiring culturally compatible DNA, and spotting it within your existing team
• Being authentic – whether online or offline, say what you mean, and mean what you say
• Empowering your people to be forthright, creative and generous
• Remember that behind every B2B transaction, there is a C.
• Speak your customer’s language.
• Allow your customers to help you shape your brand or business, but never allow them to dictate the direction in which you take it.
• Build a sense of community around your brand.
• Arrange for traditional and social media to play Ping-Pong and extend every conversation.
• Direct all of your marketing initiatives toward the emotional center, and to the creative extremes.
• Approach social media initiatives with good intent, aiming for quality engagements, not quantity.
• Use shock and awe to blow your customer’s minds and get them talking.
• If you must use tactics, use “pull” tactics that remind consumers why they should care about your brand.
• If you’re too small, play like you’re big; if you’re big, play like you’re small.
• Create a sense of community around your business or your brand.
• Don’t be afraid to crawl before you run.

One of the many things I’ve had to work on after our relocation to Morgantown was a new business card. I wanted something simple, but much nicer than what I had in the past. After much thought and re-design (and re-design and re-design) I opted to invest in a nice thick card with an embossed logo that would just scream my studio’s name. Since I really spend $0 on advertising I could justify the expense of a nicer quality card. So here are the specs for what I ended up with:

• 2” x 3.5” Size
• 24pt Coarse Uncoated Card Stock
• 4/0 Color
• Logo Emboss Via Letterpress
• Rounded Corners
• Green Painted Edges
• 1,000 Pieces

(The emboss is tough to see in the photo, but it really pops off the card.)

I just received my cards yesterday and have to say that PremiumCards.net did a great job. Virtually every card was perfect. In the end, I had cards that pretty much achieved what I was after. They may have cost me almost 50¢ a piece, but it was worth it. You have only a moment to make a lasting impression on someone when handing out your business card. In my opinion it’s worth every penny you invest in a quality designer and good printing services.

So let me give you my card virtually and when we see each other in person I’ll give you the real deal.

It’s not uncommon to have potential clients ask “What does it cost to build a website?” and as you’re probably aware, this is not an easy question to answer. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when quoting the development of a website project or any design project for that matter.

Each project can have various components and elements that will determine the time and materials necessary to create the final product. Below are a list of things to consider when calculating the cost of a website.

Content

• Are you able to supply content in a format suitable for the web or do you need help with copy writing?
• Do you have an existing content management system we need to work with?
• Do you have your copy and has it been checked by your legal and compliance teams?
• Do you need to integrate third-party services/APIs such as Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google Maps etc?
• Do you need to integrate video and if so, does that video need to be encoded for multiple devices?
• How many different types of content does the site need to have?
• Who will enter the site’s content?
• Does your site need to have content fed from an external database?
• Will you provide pictures or should the budget cover purchase of stock photography?
• Do you want FB, Twitter, other Social Media Plugins interacting with visitors on site – do they have special requirements?
• Would you like to incorporate user-submitted content, and how do you see it being utilized on the site?

Design

• Do you have suitable images or do you need us to source images or provide photography for you?
• Does your brand need creating as part of the website build?
• How many page templates require bespoke design?
• How much scope is there for pre-design planning (i.e. creating an information architecture) and how often is this likely to be reviewed?
• Do you have a company logo or will it have to be created within budget?
• Is it going to be Flash, CSS or Hybrid?
• Do you wish to have the design adapted for touch-screen devices?
• Is this site part of a larger brand campaign or will it stand alone? What are the design considerations?

Development

• Are you planning on including User Testing throughout the development of your site?
• Does it have to be written in a certain language in order to be compatible with your production environment or internal systems?
• Does the website need to scale to handle large numbers of visitors?
• Does your intended audience include small screen users such as those on mobile phones and should they still be able to perform all the functions of your website on any device?
• What level of browser support do you need for your website? Will this include older browsers such as IE6?
• Any of your pages need extra security for secure online transaction(s)?
• Is there any development you wish done for FaceBook: a page, app, ad, and/or a game?
• Do you have a requirement to run multiple sites on multiple domains from 1 CMS?
• Do you want your visitors to pay and enter card details directly on your website, or are you using a 3rd party, offsite service such as PayPal?
• Is this project going to be completed in one phase, or broken down into multiple phases, each with a separate budget?

Functionality

• Do you need any e-commerce functionality such as carts/basket, customer accounts, payment processing?
• Do you need search facilities within your website?
• Do you need to collect information from your visitors to store in a database?
• Do you need us to integrate with other external systems or applications?
• Do you require a content management system to power your site?
• Do you require any membership features such as members-only content with registration and login facilities?
• Have you already got a specification of features you would like to include or do you need advice and guidance from scratch?
• Do you plan to sell products or services and require an ecommerce solution?
• Will you need a search engine for your site?
• Do you want a blog, RSS feed, links to social media, comments, etc.?
• Do you want people to be able to personalise the site?
• Do you need to integrate product reviews into the site? If so, will they be moderated? Will the reviews be displayed with a star rating?
• Do you want the ability to add new sections, pages, subpages etc to your website through your content management system or will the architecture be fixed?
• Do you want users to be able to signup for newsletters?
• How many different types of access-privileges are required, for users logging in, if there is a web-engine powering it?
• Do you need any form of reports on site usage?
• Will you be adding downloads to the site? If so how would you like to upload and manage these – through the CMS or via FTP?

Hosting

• Do you have your own hosting already or do you need advice on the level of hosting and redundancy to provide?
• Will you need to us to transfer the website from your previous host?

Miscellaneous

• Do you have any rush timescales that may require additional resource at short notice?
• Do you need to copy data from a previous site?
• Will you require post launch support and management?
• If you have a site already have you tested areas where you want to improve it?
• Have you considered the potential for re-occuring maintenance / upgrade costs?
• What time frame would you like the site to be completed?
• Has there already been a significant amount of research (to support user and business goals) to prop up an information architecture, or will this research have to be done from scratch?
• Do you have specific software or hardware requirements or limitations we must work within?
• If this is an update to an existing site, how significant are the changes to the existing design, content, and underlying technology are you anticipating?
• Do you have written specifications and approval guidelines?
• Are on-site meetings required? How often?
• Will you need further training on using your website once the project is finished?
• What is your budget?

Marketing

• Do you actually have a marketing budget for your site?
• Do you have a plan to market/promote the website once it’s launched?
• Do you have a set measurable goals for your website, such as turnover, conversions or sales?
• Will you require any on page SEO (keyword density checking) or further online marketing to assist the website further to its launch?
• Do you need automated eMarketing, such as cross selling emails or emails triggered on certain stages (e.g. an automatic email after order dispatch to request a facebook ‘like’)?
• Do you want an SEO analysis and a your copywriting reviewed with the keyword obtained?
• If there are advertisements on the site who is managing & designing them?

FolioType has moved out of Upstate New York . . .

and down to Morgantown, West Virginia. Nestled in the heart of Monongalia County, we will continue to serve our growing national client base with quality creative graphic design and marketing services. Our phone number has changed and we have a newly designed website that will become the “hub” of our business.

Geographically, the area made sense for our relocation. Morgantown has been recognized as one of the best small cities in the country by Forbes magazine. World-class healthcare, recreation, education, and art facilities complement its strong business community. This move marks our 5 Year Anniversary. We have officially solidified ourselves in the creative spectrum and are focusing on better services to assist our clients. So give us a shout!

We look forward to becoming a part of the Morgantown community.

• Blog
• Recent
• Comments
• Tags