Challenge

When we met with Jorge we talked about his business, strategies, and goals. We took a look at the way he was showing customers’ homes for sale and rent in Tampa/Manhattan via his web site. He was reliant on himself to update his web site. If you didn’t know HTML you couldn’t update the site. We recommended that he go with our content management system so that anyone in his organization could update his web site.

The solution

We designed the myfinancialconnections.com web site using our content management system. Since he needed to constantly add new properties to his site, the content management system worked perfectly for him. It’s easy for his employees to create a new listing and have it automatically show up in certain parts of the site. No web design experience needed. The quality design builds credibility which breeds requests for information. His web site was designed to help stream line the web site update process, increase leads, and requests for information.

Challenge

Chris Lietz (owner of Data-Tech and Graphics Tech) came over to meet with us to discuss the launch of his Versa Appliance line of IT Systems. We decided that an Ecommerce site would be a substantial way to increase visibility and would also help automate the sales process. The site needed to manage the entire sales process, document uploads, product management, inventory, and sales reports.

The solution

We developed a system that would run as a bolt on to our content management system. The versaappliance.com web site has a unique design and layout that gives any employee at Data-Tech the ability to update and add new products.

Demo the site >>

Social Media Marketing is one of the best, and fastest, ways for an individual or company to spread information. An example of this is the recent buzz about the Old Spice videos that appeared on YouTube in the last couple of weeks. These hilariously silly videos made their way across the internet, with frequent postings on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

In an article for ComputerWorld.com, Augie Ray, an analyst with market research firm Forrester is quoted as saying, “The Old Spice strategy makes brilliant use of social media. The response has been terrific. Social networks are buzzing. Video resharing has been very high, and the Old Spice YouTube channel now has 75 million total upload views. And this effort shows evidence of going even more viral.”

Social Media Networks can be hugely beneficial to companies who know how to employ it properly. If just one person posts a video or link on their Facebook or Twitter profile, all of their friends see it. If one of those friends reposts it, all of their friends see it, and so on. The information spreads like wildfire.

This is called viral marketing.

When a company uses existing Social Media Networks as a tool for viral marketing, it can be very cost effective. For example, in the Old Spice campaign, the bulk of the cost most likely came from the production of the video itself. Once the video was available online, people who watched it and liked it did the work for Old Spice. Each person who posted the video on their Facebook, or linked to it from Twitter helped Old Spice advertise their product, for free.

At Graphics Tech, we love our customers! July is Customer Appreciation Month, and to celebrate, we are offering some great deals to our existing customers. This month only, we are offering 20% off website design, free hosting setup and several other bargains as a way to say thank you to our valued customers.

Web design is key to good online business

Having an up-to-date website is key to happy customers. Many consumers regularly search the internet to find products and services. If your website is outdated, potential customers may look elsewhere for services.

Graphics Tech can help!

We have the tools and resources to give you an up-to-date, attractive, and user friendly website that your customers will love. Whether you are looking for a static website, or a content management system for your website, we have something to suit the needs of every business.

Static website v. Content management. What’s right for you?

A “static” website design is a website that we will set up for you, containing all of the information that your customers need to use to purchase your products or services, contact you, and anything else you would like to include. We will design and customize the website for you. Just tell us what you want to appear on your website, and we will do the rest.

This is a website we customized for Colorado Mountain Limo:

A “content management” system is for the website user who would like to update information on their website more often. With our content management system, we build and customize a website for you and give you the opportunity, through an easy-to-use system, to update your website as often as you would like. You can add new information to your site when you want, how you want, and at your own convenience.

This is a website that uses our content management system, customized for V&V Real Estate:

Should I update my website?

Has it been a while since you updated your website? In the past couple of years, web design has advanced and has been updated to be more effective for marketing purposes.

The internet is one of the fastest growing markets, and customers have a multitude of websites to choose from when they want to find a business or purchase something online. If your website is out of date, it is all too easy for a potential customer to move onto the next website. A well-designed web site increases the number of customers who will likely contact you for services.

How can Graphics Tech increase my business?

Graphics Tech goes beyond just building and customizing your website. We also offer services, like search engine optimization and pay per click to make your website more likely to be featured on search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. We understand how your potential customers use the internet to find products and services, and will make your website searchable to customers who are looking for your business.

Now is the best time for our customers to update their website. Take advantage of 20% off of your website’s new design, get free hosting setup, we can copy and paste text into your new design through our content management system and make your website attractive to your potential customers.

This offer is only valid for the month of July, so contact us today!

If you are interested in having your website designed (or redesigned), there are two basic options. Two commonly used website designs are Content Management Systems (CMS) and Static Web Designs.

Okay, but what does that mean?

Static Web Designs tend to be cheaper because they require less labor and only need a designer. You tell the person designing your website your vision and what you want on the website, and they input all of the information. This is one of the easiest options for creating a website because you tell the designer what you want and they do the rest.

A Content Management System allows you to update your information any time, any place, at your convenience. A website will be designed and customized, and then you are taught an easy-to-use system that allows you to update your information as often as you would like.

Is updating a website through CMS difficult?

It’s really not. When you want to post new information on your website (in the following example, information about a new piece of real estate that is available for rent) you simply start a new post, and fill in all of the information, pictures, links, etc that you would like included.

Here is an example of an update done by V&V Real Estate Associates:

As you can see, the user updating the website simply enters information into the easy-to-use system. If you have ever written a blog before, this template will look familiar to you. After entering in all of the desired information, simply click “publish.”

Here’s the result:

It really is as easy as it looks, and gives you the ability to add or update posts as often as you’d like.

Now that you know the difference between a Content Management System and a Static Web Design, all you have to do is decide which one is right for you or your company.

What is Print-Ready?

Print-Ready is a term we use which means the submitted print file meets the following criteria for print; before you send your document to your printer, make sure your file meets the following criteria:

• Convert all RGB images into CMYK color.
• File is in proper format (PSD, EPS, AI, High-Resolution JPG, PDF, TIF).
• Check if final image has enough resolution (300 dpi minimum at 100% size including bleeds).
• Contains only high-resolution image data
• Has links to placed graphics and images
• Includes all fonts
• Check if all text pages have enough bleed (1/8″).
• Included are trim/crop marks, center marks, and page info.
• Includes paper size with indications for bleeds and page marking
• Does not require any additional modifications or tweaks before being sent to the printer

Other Terms You May Not Be Familiar With:

Bleed – Bleed is a printing term that refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming. The bleed is the part on the side of your document that gives the printer that small amount of space to move around paper and design inconsistencies.

DPI – Dots (or pixels) per Inch; Resolution that varies across media. For print, image files are optimized at 300 DPI. For the Web (GIF and JPEG file formats), files are optimized at 72 DPI, the number of pixels across one inch of most monitors.

Crop Marks – A set of horizontal and vertical lines which indicate where a photograph, illustration, or page should be eliminated or trimmed.

RGB – Red – Green – Blue: the three colors in the color scheme of an illustration on screen. This is not suitable for printing.

CMYK – The CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black. Suitable color mode for printing.

If you have further questions; please post a comment below.
-AF

We’ll be there to present our quality web site design, internet advertising, and social media marketing services. We focus on helping organizations define and achieve sales goals using our formulated Internet Marketing strategies. Visit our booth! Find out how we can extend your reach with advertising channels and effectively convert the traffic we generate.

Our brother company Data-Tech will also be there to present their cloud computing/virtual office solution and their Versa Appliance product line.  Graphics Tech is currently working on the Data-Tech virtual office campaign. I found after a few comparisons and calculations that they can reduce your network infrastructure (business network) cost of ownership up to 75%. If you’ve ever invested in a business network you know the extraordinary start up and maintenance costs to owning your business network. Their cloud is the future of business computing, if you’re new to the cloud we definitely recommend you stop by their booth and check out their Versa Server and Network systems.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, come check out Graphics Tech and Data-Tech at this years coolTech event hosted by MOSI. I’ve included a map to Mosi, just in case you haven’t had the chance to visit the museum of Science.

View Larger Map

Data-Tech’s blog was created by Graphics Tech to provide them with an outlet to not only inform their customers about new services and products, but also to let them know of any upcoming upcoming technology events in Tampa Bay. They have been trained in the art of  Search Engine Optimization to make sure that every post is effectively optimized containing their targeted key words and phrases for each individual post.

Not only did we make the blog searchable via Google and other major search engines, but the design reflects the marketing materials and website that were also developed for Data-Tech. When making the blog we made sure that the user would be able to recognize certain branding aspects that we’ve applied in reference to Data-Tech’s brand; such as the Eye.

When consulting Data-Tech on their blog we made sure to find out who their target audience was and what they were interested in so that we could apply this information to our development effort in making the blog more engaging as well as informative and searchable.

Data-Tech also expressed a key component they wanted to have integrated as well; and that was the ease of automation with their social media accounts. We’ve made it so that when Data-Tech writes and publishes their blog post, that it is also sent out to their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. We’ve used key tools that allow us to connect all their accounts to the blog so that this can be accomplished.

Its pretty cool to see the blog already showing up for top event searches in Tampa Bay. Be sure that you connect with Data-Tech on their social accounts as they’ll be announcing special offers to their friends and followers.

I recently participated in an event we hosted – the Internet Marketing Seminar on March 4^th, which was a highly successful and interactive experience for everyone involved. At this event, we partnered with an ultra-creative design company, HD Interactive. The group was a big hit when they showcased one of their latest and greatest additions to their products – virtual messages delivered via augmented reality. This company is making it big by working closely with its customers to come up with high impact designs and solutions. Trust me, taking one look at what they can do at HD Interactive will leave you impressed, just as our audience was at this recent event.

Get more Augmented Reality News from this great web site.

Who is HD Interactive?

I learned that in 2002, CEO Sean Carey founded HD Interactive in Tampa, Florida. He has built the company on the premise of providing quality customer experiences; hence, most of his clients are repeat customers. This client experience is assured by what Sean states as, “taking client suggestions and making the project perfect before we consider ourselves finished.” It’s easy to see how a company with an incredible product and superior customer service would excel so quickly. The highly talented team of developers and designers has created some interesting projects for some big names, such as Pepsi, Electronic Arts, Valpak, Universal, Disney, Seimens, Hilton, and Warner Brothers (examples and demos are available at www.hdinteractive.com. The company specializes in Adobe Flash software, Flex, and Air applications, and, in addition to augmented reality, offers website development, iPhone application development, interactive training, online game development, and related virtual applications.

Augmented what? Augmented reality is a new technology that combines the use of web camera tracking (using a simple web cam), Flash software technology, 3d artwork, and a symbol to create an interactive experience for the user. The graphics and video seems to “pop” off of the screen during the simulation, offering an interesting way to interact through greeting cards, games, promotions, and other creative concepts. Interestingly, the symbol used to activate the game or application can be placed on a greeting card, a piece of paper, a business card, a hat or shirt, or any piece of marketing material. You can read more about these virtual reality applications and see a live demo for yourself by visiting one of the HDI Blog posts for augmented reality. See more examples In addition, I found these examples of the company’s work to be particularly impressive:

• ChessJam.com
• DrSkully.com
• Puppiesndogs.com
• Jibidee.com

I really find the virtual reality concepts to be an interesting addition to a marketing strategy, where interactive applications can intrigue individuals to engage with your company. If someone searches for your company website and your site shows up, assuming you have the proper internet marketing tools being utilized, than this would be a great way to ultimately capture their attention and gain some trust. We know that trust is really what we want to build with potential customers. This technology would tie in great with social media outlets, where a real “buzz” could be created around the virtual experience. As we learned from the seminar, nearly everyone has a web cam for the camera tracking abilities and nearly everyone is using social media outlets today – so it is very feasible and far-reaching.  Check it out for yourself…. Learn more about what HD Interactive can do by visiting the company website (www.hdinteractive.com) or connecting with them on the HDI Blog (www.hdiblog.com). If you’re interested in promoting a new virtual concept or application, Graphics Tech can help spread the word via search engine optimization and social media strategies.