I took another great course on Coursera. It was titled “Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content” and was offered by the University of Pennsylvania. When I first saw the title, I was imagining “cat videos” and considered ignoring it. I’m so glad I didn’t. The professor, Jonah Berger, really dives in deep on...
I was flipping through our morning newspaper and came across a common advertiser that I’m sure many of you are familiar with: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. It’s a cringe-worthy abomination in the eyes of most designers. Crass typography. Cheesy illustrations of Ollie sprinkled throughout the flyer. Each page packed with hyperbolic descriptions of all kinds of...
I just completed a course at UCDavis on Optimizing a Website for (Organic) Search. There was a ton of valuable information conveyed in the course, but an area that I found particularly helpful was the section on Local Search. This is valuable for many of my clients that are local businesses that target almost exclusively...
First, I’ll start with a definition: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or web page in organic search results. The organic results are all the unpaid links that show up when you type in a request in a search engine like Google. Why is it important? If...
I was reading a very engaging story on infographics in the current issue of Smithsonian and thought it might be relevant to share my perspective on this subject. The story begins with a summary of how infographics and data visualization have influenced events throughout history. Incredibly, it’s a very old, dating back 8,000 years. However,...
Image courtesy of 6S I was reading an article this morning on internet marketing trends for 2013 on startupnation.com. There were 13 trends that they highlighted in 2013. While some that were mentioned fall more into the short-lived fad category, most were trends vital for remaining relevant and necessary in 2013 to maximize your revenue...
I came across an article online from Inc. magazine today about great logo designs. There are some incredibly good points made in this article. I’ve been creating logos for almost 25 years now and I’ve learned a lot of things during this wonderful journey. And this list summarizes some of top items. Take a look:...
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking...
I received an email from Xerox this afternoon with some tips for standing out from your competition. To me, they seemed quite worthy of consideration if your considering launching a new sales/marketing project. Whether you’re contemplating a website, brochure or ad campaign, I think these tips will help your project succeed. (source, with slight revisions)
Imagine this: try creating a story that explains what you envision for your next website, logo or brochure. I was reading an article in Inc. Magazine the other day that shared a vision statement for Zingerman’s Farmers’ Market: “It’s the longest day of the year; the sun is at its pinnacle of warmth and light....