This is all over the news and so i figure that it is a good thing to discuss. Twitter, like facebook or other Social Networks, is merely another way for people to communicate. Twitter allows you to put in 140 characters to say your latest thoughts and then people “follow” you so they can get a constant stream of your latest posts. This sounds a little journal-like and not-so-business-like at first glance.

Admittedly, i still have my doubts as to the marketing benefit of using twitter. Partly because it seems like this would be hard to translate into actual business and partly because this seems like a lack on continuity between thoughts that you share to the world (remember that you can only use 140 characters per post).

That being said, this may also be another tool for reaching an audience. This will allow you to have direct access to an audience, and therefore, to either a potential market or a peer group. This means that this may not effect sales directly, but over time, this could lead to your expertise in a field which would translate to sales, finding competent employees or problem-solving through twitter. I am current checking twitter out myself to see it this holds any weight. Feel free to check out my page. http://twitter.com/jeremywold

Try it out, but try this with the expectation that is a very small avenue for getting your marketing message out in a very ADHD sort of way. This is still it in its baby stages.

jeremy

We have just completed our first site that is completely web 2.0 (user generated material based on permission levels at logins). This has been an exciting project that was based on the need to have a website that could be added onto by users as well as expandable by administrators as time goes on. This is a wiki with CMS (content management system) that we custom-made to match their needs.

In other words, they have a framework that can be expanded, refined and added to by users with ease.

A couple of the major goals that we addressed through the creation of this site included creating an online knowledge center for their medical-rich content as well as create something that will help them in the recruiting process for the neurology department at the University of Utah.

Because this does deal with sensitive medial information, all of the site is password protected with the exception of the homepage. Check it out at www.neuroresident.com

For some reason, lately a lot of people have asked me about cheap websites for the smaller business that isn’t looking to spend a lot of money on a full website. Perhaps it is the shade of the looming financial situation that is causing some to want small, cheaper sites, but regardless, we just need to talk about what this really means to the balance sheet.

Cheap website options. Firstly, there are a few options to choose from. The most obvious choice is a template. Templates are pre-constructed websites that are already designed and developed where you just take the files (flash, dreamweaver, CSS, HTML) and work within them to change your site to your liking. This could be good for some that are already familiar with code and the programs mentioned before, but even then, there are a few things to consider.

A template is not branded for your business, it is, well, a template for anyone to use. This not only effects how your brand (company image, logo, identity) is perceived within the public, but it also has a adverse effect on how easily your website is found (search engine optimization). There are elements within a website from the meta tags, page titles, alt tags, header tags, html links, html text, xml site maps to submission of site maps to google that greatly effect how "visible" your site is to the greater public. This effects how people find your website through the search engines (organic search is what it is referred to). Having a template site usually means others out there will have the same site (structurally speaking) as you and google and the other search engines discount that.

Another cheap, small option is to use a web-creation online service. This is a step down from templates since you have to relinquish some elements of control. Generally, these options require you to host the website through them and then you can update some text on the site. These are not optimized sites for your business and i cannot recommend any that i have seen to-date.

Blogs are another cheap option for those do-it-yourselfers out there. In fact, instead of a template or an online website creation option, i would and have recommended a wordpress blog as a cheap/free option to those that have asked. The reason for this is that a blog can be expanded and added to over time and, thus, add to your visibility over time. That is one of the reasons that we often incorporate a blog within a website.

The final option is to have a basic site created for you. This would require some expense to have this designed and developed. As stated previously, it is a choice of whether to spend little to nothing on branding or have a site that is branded and easier to be found online.

Over time, i think that you will find that you get out of a website what you put into the website. In other words, if you are looking for the cheapest option, you will get less of a return. This is a basic marketing principal but one that is often thought about for websites, for some strange reason.

Another principle for websites is that a website that is not found doesn’t do a lot of good for you. This means that both the creation of the site as well as some marketing afterwards should be considered so that you ensure traffic to the site.

Good luck!
-jeremy

Say what you will about the economy being in the tank but i say that design will flourish during 2009. There are a few things that lead me to this conclusion.

First of all, color has come back in style. With the 80’s back in style for a little while now, we will now see a muted 80’s style that steps away from the florescence colors but leaves us with a heavy use of color. Use of a broader color palette will also happen due to the fact that more marketers will try even harder to get the ever-needed attention of a audience that may be less apt to spend any money. 

Secondly, since the economy is the way that it is, designers and marketers must be more creative in how how they develop marketing initiatives. I personally think that this is a very good litmus test for designers. If they can still create effective design within a market that is generally apprehensive, then they are thinking outside of the box of normalcy and are moving our industry in the right direction.

Lastly, with a bad economy, some design will inevitably get worse due to organizations’ budgets tightening or disappearing altogether. While some organizations choose that direction, others will realize that potential that this means within their market. If your competition is not presenting themselves well via ads, web or design, then it goes to follow that you will stand out if you do make that effort. A good example of how this works is currently within the fast food industry. Arby’s has recently gone cheap on some really poor-quality commercials without much direction while Wendy’s has stepped it up considerably with commercials and, more importantly, creative direction. There is no doubt that Wendy’s has taken some market share from Arby’s.

So, in 2009, i think that we will see design flourish with broad use of color and with creative ideas that will propel some companies to the forefront while their competition is caught sleeping. 

-jeremy

We recently completed a website for a law firm in Salt Lake City, the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman. While focusing on effective design, we also incorporated contact forms, dynamically fed news as well as increased SEO standings through text and html links, titles, meta information and a XML site map (all standard within every website we produce).

Click below to visit the site…

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Beyond Partnership, an organization that connects Americans with nationals within countries throughout the world. Where they are unique is by approaching the humanitarian and other needs through the globe through subjugating to the local leaders. In other words, instead of imposing their ideas upon locals, the local nationals decide where their needs are and then Beyond Partnership helps the local nationals see it happen by sending teams out there to assist the nationals. Very humbling and proven to be very effective.

We are currently working with Beyond Partnership on their identity (logo and then brand) as well as their website. Welcome.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Sage Environmental. Sage is a Salt Lake City based firm that provides environmental consulting services to commercial, industrial, and governmental clients. Wold Creative Group has been brought in to help revamp their logo (identity/branding) for various applications as well as a complete overhaul to their website. We are excited to be working with Sage and are looking forward to assisting them to reach a broader audience with their marketing.

Wold Creative Group is currently working on a very interesting website for the University of Utah’s Department of Neurology. Unlike most of the websites that we have put together for clients, this site is not going to be used primarily as a marketing piece but rather as a knowledge center. In other words, we are creating a custom back-end application that will allow there to be file sharing, discussions, online scheduling, feedback and many more features that all center around sharing knowledge and information.

Just because this site is largely internal, don’t think that it won’t look good as well. With this knowledge base, we are developing a site that will help move the department into national prominence with the best website for their residency program in the country. That is our goal.

We have recently finished a complete site re-design for Powder Mountain. With dynamic, yet searchable, content throughout the site, we have created a website where data is automatically fed through databases  and can be changed very easily everywhere else throughout the site. In other words, instead of having a very static 100+ page website, we have created the site to be agile in order to adapt to the changing seasons.

In order to have this fit within the marketing strategies we have going for Powder Mountain, we have provided copyrighting, photography, graphic design, development and strategic direction for the new website.

We also think that it looks cool too.

Click here to check it out.

With extensive courtroom and litigation experience both defending and prosecuting, Ben W. Lieberman has recently started the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman. Being a smaller law firm, they have the experience to handle large cases but have the unique position of accessibility with all clients.

Wold Creative Group will be providing branding and website strategies and implementation for the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman. Starting with branding, we will help guide them through the competitive market of marketing law firms. We are looking forward to it.

Welcome.