Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Have you noticed the fancy little graphic at the top of our site announcing our new directory? Web Design Ideas is pleased to offer our Outsourcing Directory to graphic designers, writers, programmers, advertising/marketing specialists, and web designers.
Over time, we want to create a fantastic directory that is full of people and companies who excel in their particular field. We are hoping that this directory will become a great resource to all of us. List your services here with us! There are already some fantastic listings in our directory right now. Feel free to check them all out.
Why list your company on our site? Here are several great reasons:
• Right now it’s free. Free is a good price for advertising. As the popularity of our site and this directory continues to grow, we will be creating a fee system to place ads in the directory. Get it now and you’ll never be charged for your listing!
• Outsourcing various aspects of a project just makes sense these days. It’s the best way to get a project done with the help of highly skilled people who can increase your effectiveness while at the same time giving your customer the best results for their investment. We highlighted this topic in some detail with our article discussing the need for web designers to use good, quality writers to create the necessary content for them. Check out the article. http://www.wbdesignideas.com/2008/03/07/finding-a-great-writer-for-your-content/
• It just makes sense to take us up on an offer to provide a great, high quality link to promote your own website and services. Rest assured, we will not bombard you will senseless emails or pass/sell your contact information on to spammers. We simply want to create a great resource with our directory.
So, if you are interested in taking advantage of our offer, please click here to apply!
Popularity: 18%
Posted in Developers, Freelancing, Marketing, Web Designers | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Web Design Ideas (that’s us!) was recently featured in an excellent article at the Elite Web Design Blog entitled 105+ Logo Design Tuts and Resources. This article has some excellent resources contained within it. Some of the sites are ones that we have featured here from time to time as well. We were extremely pleased that they chose to highlight the the articles discussing the Four Principles of Logo Design. They referenced our 10 Worst Logo Designs article too.
Anyhow, we just wanted to “toot our own horn” a little bit and bask in a little bit of recognition for some of our work! Ahhh….that’s nice. Okay, we’re back to work!
Popularity: 4%
Posted in Logo Design Articles, Logos, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
I had a reader leave a comment on another post and decided to check out their website. While doing so, I found a page entitled, “Top 10 Reasons to Hire 3rd Eye Solutions.” This is a great page. It’s a combination mission statement and a great marketing page for their company.
My question to you is this; do you have this same type of information on your own web design services site? Are you straightforward and confident enough to list reasons as to why a potential client should enlist your services? If you are competent and confident in your skills, then you should consider creating a page to tell the world why your services are the best! Promoting your skills and services is not an egotistical approach to business…it’s a wise approach. Being confident in your craft and being willing to tell everyone is a powerful way to gain additional customers.
By the way, if you have such a page on your own site, please feel free to let me know. I would enjoy reading it. Thanks!
Popularity: 3%
Posted in Marketing, Web Designers | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Quite a while back, I wrote an article and posted it here about The Long Tail and how it applies to web designers. I came across an article entitled, 5 Powerful Website Niches that are Here to Stay. I think this article is a great example of 5 niches that web designers can take advantage of as far as soliciting potential customers. In your local market, my suggestion would be to target businesses in these 5 industries and see what you may be able to do for them and their websites (or lack thereof).
Just some food for thought…
Popularity: 5%
Posted in Making Money, Marketing, Web Designers | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
ExposedSEO.com has put together a great collection of creative advertisments from a variety of formats. When you have a moment, go check out all of them and let us know which one is your favorite. Hopefully by reviewing advertisements such as these, it will spur us all on to greater creativity. Perhaps one of these days, we’ll have an ad or two that pops up on lists such as this one!
By the way, my favorite one is pictured here in this post. Honestly, those shoes remind me of my oldest son’s shoes. Holy cow, he has stinky feet, haha!
Popularity: 3%
Posted in Ads, Design, Graphic Design, Marketing, Photoshop | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
I found this article today at the SmallFuel Marketing Blog and it relates well to pretty much anyone who works over the Internet. The article is called “How to Get More Business by Commenting on Blogs.” I would encourage you to read it and glean some useful tips and ideas for your own business. I especially think that the section entitled “Targeting Your Market” is especially valuable for web designers. Check it out and let me know your thoughts!
Popularity: 3%
Posted in Internet, Making Money, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
In part of Starbuck’s revitalization plan, they chose to “go back to their roots” and run with their original logo design. Along with a host of other marketing plans, the choice to change from their iconic green logo is receiving mixed reviews. This should serve as a wake up call to anyone considering a logo change for their business. One of the vital components to a successful business is brand recognition. While the decision to go back to an old design isn’t a complete change, it’s still risky.
Personally, I think it’s a bad decision for Starbucks. To me, it further emphasizes the fact that they are a company that’s unstable. Yes, they’re big. Yes, they have iconic status. Yes, they can probably make big changes without it being too adverse to their bottom line. But, I still think it’s a bad idea. If they really want to “restore” goodwill with their customers, I’d recommend the following:
Get rid of the automatic machines. Retrain their staff to perform as real baristas on real, quality espresso machines. “Just say no” to button pushers.
Everyone hates the tall, grande, venti verbiage. They always have. How about small, medium, and large?!
Spend more time and effort putting together a better roasted, fresher tasting coffee. Quit wasting time on more ‘clever’ marketing schemes. Stop acting so ‘corporate’ and become real, local coffeehouses again.
So, as you can see…for me, it takes much more than changing a logo to get me to darken the door of one of the numerous local, Starbucks near me.
What’s your opinion about Starbucks’ choice to change back to an older version of their logo? Do you see their decision as a positive or negative one? I’d be interested to know…
Popularity: 3%
Posted in Graphic Design, Logos, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
I read an article last night written by David Airey that discussed the importance of what your website conveys about you to your visitors. Quite honestly, I’ve been thinking about it all day. Valik and I are in the process of creating a new site for my writing and editing business. I want my website to convey three things about me: professional, honest, and friendly.
David also asked his readers to evaluate his website based on the three things he wants it to convey about himself. So far, he’s received a lot of feedback, both positive and negative (he has over 3500 subscribers). He has also offered to do the same for other folks too…offer his feedback about their sites.
So, once my site is up, you’ll be hearing from me again, haha. I want to see how well my website is accurately representing me. Now, I pose the question to you: How accurately is your website portraying you or your business?
Let’s be brave and forthright here! If you wish, please leave a comment here telling us what you want your website to be saying about you and we’ll take a look at it and evaluate its effectiveness. I think it will be a very useful exercise for everyone involved. I’d go first, but my site’s not done yet. However, I promise I’ll submit it!
Popularity: 4%
Posted in Design, Marketing, Web Designers | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical component of any site’s overall Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plan. If SEO is part of your web design portfolio, how well are you executing it for your customers? Here’s some stunning information I found today:
“Developed countries account for 70% of the Web population and people use search engines as their starting point most of the time. Therefore, being found at the top of a search results page is deemed critical. Google has shown studies that after the 3rd link on a search results page, clicking drops by over 86% and less than 3% of people go to the second page.” intevix
This is just food for thought to those of us who are involved in SEO. What are you doing to get into the top 3 for your clients? If you want to let us know, feel free to share your tips here. If you have alot to say (which is fine), let me know and I can post a ‘guest article’ here with your information.
Popularity: 4%
Posted in Internet, Marketing, SEO | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Start by marketing yourself offline. You have friends, family, clients, etc., make them remember who you are and how to find you and information about your business. This company, Ooprint has introduced a Fasebook business card that you can customize and have them printed. A Facebook business card is a great idea for marketing offline. Check them out and get 100 FREE ooprint biz cards.
Popularity: 2%
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
