WordPress SEO Class Overview:

This WordPress SEO Class series is designed to help small business owners, with WordPress websites*, learn the basics of search engine optimization to increase the visibility of their business in the search engines. By learning and executing these techniques you will be well on your way to creating a better online presence.

Classes are taught in a webinar format, with homework assigned each week. Each class is also recorded in case you are unable to attend the live session, or simply want to review it again.

WordPress SEO Sessions

• Session 1: The Basics of WordPress SEO Class.  How it works (the English version), we will discuss how the crawler works, and what it looks for.  We’ll define what is important to your site through ‘Keyword Research’, and you’ll leave the session with the tools  necessary to choose the right Keywords for your website.
• Session 2: Page Content. The way the words appear on the website page often affect the SEO for the page. In this session, we’ll talk about keyword density levels and formatting tricks. We’ll also discuss images and pictures and how to SEO your media library, one of the most overlooked SEO techniques.
• Session 3: Meta Information and Citations. In this session, we’ll talk about how all three meta elements (Title, Description, and Keywords) work together, and why they need to be integrated into the content (and where to find them in WordPress SEO).   We’ll also cover how ‘citations’ affect your site ranking, as well as and how (and where) to get citations, local directories.



• Session 4: Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. Learn and understanding analytics as well as the important role it plays in SEO research.  Adding Page Depth, how important page depth is and can be.  Incorporate blogging into your website and SEO.
• Session 5: Pagerank. How to do ‘White Hat’ backlinking.  Create more ‘SEO Juice’ to your site and raise its pagerank, as well as creating much more traffic to your site.

* NOTE: You don’t HAVE to have a WordPress website to benefit from this class, however we will be demonstrating these techniques on a WordPress website and are unable to support specific questions on how to implement the techniques on sites other than WordPress.

The post Do it Yourself WordPress SEO Webinar Series appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

Start with a strategy

Photo by Flickr user Rosaura Ochoa

Your online interactions will always need to be rooted in honesty and should accurately reflect your offline life, but it’s also important to guide your online actions with professional goals. Are you looking to be an industry thought leader? Are you looking to make more connections? Do you want to increase page views for your blog?

Once you have a purpose for your digital brand, determine what channels are best for achieving your goal. If you’re looking to make connections with people in your industry, join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions. If you want to increase readers for your articles, build a strong network on Twitter and share other interesting news. If you want to become a more popular videographer, set up a YouTube channel for your creations. Focus on the channels that will best help you achieve your goals, and optimize them to look professional. That means having a classy head shot and building your profile with keywords you want to rank for in mind. Ask for help editing for misspellings and grammar, if you need it.

Build Relationships

Now that you’ve chosen your networks and the types of content you’ll be disseminating, start building relationships. As you start those online conversations, keep in mind what your values, talents and passions are. Start cultivating online relationships with your existing offline connections, and grow your online network based on common connections. Successful social media and personal branding techniques depend on mutual respect, which includes two-way discussions, politeness and trust — all similar to offline relationships. Find out how you can help each other, maintain contact, and be genuine in your interactions.

Also, consider registering a web domain with your name, suggests web marketing and public relations professional Brandon Uttley on Social Media Today.

Keep in Mind

Everything you do online, whether it’s as small as a Skype conversation or a lengthy email you send, reflects on your personal brand. Unlike conversation, these may also live on the Internet in some form forever — or might even appear in search results when people type your name. Remember that the digital world constantly reflects on your personal brand. Include your ideal tone of voice in your personal brand strategy, and make sure to stay consistent in interactions. Don’t hit send hastily without making sure your personal brand is well-represented.

The post Tips for Personal Branding in the Digital Era appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

How important is Mom in the scheme of things? Check out this infographic about how is spending how much on Mom. Some of the numbers surprise us…do they surprise you?

Thanks to FTD.com for sharing this Mother’s Day infographic.

The post Miraculous Moms Want Ravishing Roses appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

photo credit Mikecogh

Whether you’re coding websites, writing content or selling advertisement, time seems to slip away before that to-do list is kaput. With so many distractions (social media, Netflix, Reddit.com), it’s no wonder workers struggle to stay focused. A Gallup study found that employees with access to a desktop computer, paper document, mobile device and desk phone spend two minutes and 11 seconds on a single device before switching, on average.

Workers aren’t helpless against the wave of workplace distractions, however. Simple strategies can help you focus on the task at hand and get the most out of your work day. From software that helps you tune out social feeds to breaks that recharge your batteries, these tactics will ramp up your productivity.

90 Minutes on, 15 Minutes Off

You’ve felt that subtle push from your employer. “It wouldn’t hurt if you stayed late today.” “Be prepared to work some weekends.” That means longer hours, shorter lunches and fewer vacations. A growing amount of research indicates that isn’t always better when it comes to productivity, according to Nytimes.com. Research at Florida State University found that elite athletes and musicians produce in uninterrupted 90-minute sessions. After that, they take a break and forget about work. Watch the clock if you’re looking for more focus. Whether you’re planning cash management strategies for your business, researching ideas for a blog or building a social media presence, once 90 minutes is up, take a break and stop thinking.

Anti-Social

Social media are an integral part of marketing and customer service for many businesses, but it has also become common distraction for cubicle-bound professionals. As technology creates problems, technology creates solutions. Anti-Social is an application that turns off social elements of the Internet, thus reducing the potential for tweets, post and pics to derail you from the task at hand. When it’s time to get social at work, disable Anti-Social and join the conversation.

Check Emails Later

Most of the time, it’s not laziness or a poor work ethic that prevents professionals from digging into their assignments. Rather, it’s the menial tasks that drain time and waste brain power. Microsoft program manager Scott Hanselman suggests that professionals should rethink their priorities when they sit down in the morning. His first tip is to avoid email in the morning. “Email in the morning is how you time-travel to 2 p.m.,” Hanselman said, according to Linkedin.com. Give a quick scan, if you must, and trust that anything urgent will make it to your desk eventually. A productive morning will set the tone for the rest of the day.

A Change of Pace

After weeks and months at the same desk, it’s easy to feel out of ideas. In a job that requires fresh-thinking, creativity and inspiration, a new setting can spark productivity better than any program or time-management technique. Work outside, work in the lobby, (or if you’re lucky) work from home. A new environment can reinvigorate your work life and tap into unreached potential.

The post Strategies for Jumpstarting Productivity — 4 Tips appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

As Steve Cuno writes at Deliver magazine, “I have seen companies launch costly campaigns without regard for such details, only to flounder about in an attempt to measure success afterward. That’s like throwing a dart nowhere in particular and then trying to evaluate your aim.”

License: Creative Commons image source

Of course, tracking your direct mail results helps you make future decisions. What lists perform best? Which offers? Which mailing formats?

A “typical” response rate is somewhere between 1% and 2% for a purchased list (people who don’t know you or your brand), according to the Direct Marketing Association. A response rate between 5% and 10% can be achieved with an internally compiled list of people who already know your brand, also known as a “house list.” However, these numbers tell only part of the story.

To begin, a “response” does not necessarily mean a purchase. It can also refer to the action someone took in response to the direct mail piece. For instance, did the mailer instruct the prospect to send in a pre-addressed postcard, go to a specific website, call a toll-free number, or visit a showroom? Each of these has different methodology.

A straightforward approach to calculating results involves some math — before you send the first piece of mail.

First, project the total of your campaign costs. At minimum, this includes all creative costs (design, writing), print production costs, and postage. Next, calculate the potential profit you’ll clear with each sale stemming from your campaign. Then, divide costs by actual profits.

Do your research — has this, or a similar product been sold via mail before? If so, you may be able to find response rates for certain kinds of products. You may also discover data on the responsiveness of demographically targeted lists, too.

Then, test your direct mail piece by sending it to a smaller mail sample. This can give you some idea of response rate before sending to a larger list. Testing may offer insights to tweak offers or your call-to-action. Results depend heavily on both.

Once you launch your campaign in full, it’s time to start tracking the response. Tracking methods will largely depend on the action you request of the prospect. For instance, tracking Web clicks versus tracking showroom attendance.

For small mailings, have a member of the staff track inquiries related to the promotion in a simple spreadsheet, including what the inquiry was about and the date. This isn’t perfect but it is a start. It can track responses that trickle in later, too.

Evaluate two kinds of response data. The first, the “front-end” data, looks at how many people took the exact path as requested by the call-to-action (even if it did not result in a sale). Second, measure the “back-end” response and direct sales conversion. (How many people ended up purchasing?) Then, evaluate the numbers and look for a narrative to explain the results.

For example, if 400 people followed the call-to-action and requested additional information from a website, 200 abandoned a Web shopping cart, and 100 people purchased the product, why the gaps? Was the response constrained by a confusing online shopping cart? Were the prospects provided with the timely followup to their questions? Did the mailing list include too many people who were not qualified (hopefully this would be revealed in your test mailing)? The numbers will shake out an explanation.

Remember, direct mail is most successful when the prospect experiences repeated exposure to the brand. It is also paramount that the list be especially targeted to the best prospects, and speak to them directly. There are many factors to test. Consider the response rate the first feedback in an ongoing series of connection with the prospect.

The post How To Track Direct Mail Results appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

The answer to this problem may be simpler than it seems. They’ve taken the time and effort to carefully plan out each aspect of their business. This means everything from graphics commonly used in the lien of business to the motto they use have been carefully tweaked to click with their customers. Even with all of this considered, there’s still one element that these businesses use each day that affects success each day: the logo of a brand.

You should just think about it. Have you ever seen a top brand with a logo that was anything less than amazing? Every logo you can probably think of inspires some feeling or deeper motivation to trust that company or their products. The quality of a logo can be the determining factor in a sale. That still begs the question of just how these logos are made to be so persuasive, which is an answer that you may find stunning.

Infographic authored by TastyPlacement.com.

The post What is the Most Powerful Marketing Strategy? [Infographic] appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

photo credit joebeone

1.  Adage: Nobody Really Cares About Your Brand, by  Tom Denari - This is a bold, in-your-face discussion on what the average, everyday person probably really thinks (or doesn’t think) about your brand. It’s a great wakeup call for all marketers to get out of their offices and actually talk with their target audience.
2. Brand Strategy Insider: The Rising Value of Brands in the Digital Age by Greg Satell – This article is a great analysis of what it means to try to create a brand in this new digital age, online and off. The playing field has changed, and this post helps to frame that change.
3. BrandSavant: The Single Best Question You Can Ask Your Customers, Audience or Partners by Tom Webster – This post examines one question that we should all think on, spend time with, and develop a plan for. It’s an insightful and interesting way to think about branding.
4. ProBlogger: A Key to Building a Sustainable Online Personal Brand by Darren Rowse – While this post is written from the standpoint of managing a personal brand online, it’s lessons are applicable to corporate brands as well.
5. Inc.: The New Rules for Marketing by Geoffrey James – This post takes a hard look at the old marketing rules and the new marketing rules. No doubt about it, the world has changed.

What do you think? What have you read lately that has evolved (or confirmed) your thoughts on marketing in general, and Branding in particular? I’d love it if you could share at least one below.

The post 5 Great Branding Articles You May Have Missed appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

What isn’t so straightforward is how that topic is shaped and presented as your blog grows and evolves over time.

That process is more than just the topic you choose and write about. In addition to simple subject matter, the topic of your blog moves forward on what one could describe as a three-lane highway.

Each lane represents a category of how your blog’s topic is delivered.

• Format –
• Presentation –
• Type of Information –

What this boils down to is that in addition to having a particular topic, your blog will also have a distinct and particular flavor which should set it apart from the other blogs in your niche. A topic in and of itself probably isn’t enough to do that, since there are so many blogs for just about every subject.

Through a combination of these three lanes your blog has the potential to stand out and make itself unique even in the wake of a familiar blogging topic like fitness or finances.

Let’s look a little closer at the three lanes and see if we can’t put some skin on each one.

Format –

It might be tough to distinguish between format and presentation, but recognize that format shouldn’t be confused with the layout of your page of the styling of it. Format is simply the tendencies you have when arranging paragraphs, using bullets and constructing sentences.

While it sounds trivial, the way you approach this will become familiar to your readers and become somewhat of a trademark of your blog and writing style.

It might take some time to standardize, but you’ll find yourself gravitating to a certain writing format even if you aren’t doing so intentionally. Try and identify how long your paragraphs typically are, when and why you use bullets and how your format the arranging of your information and your sentences.

Presentation –

You might present information in long or short posts, with a lot of photos and videos, or perhaps none at all. How you chose to use the various types of media you have at your disposal will determine this aspects of your information delivery. For example, photography blogs are often exclusively comprised of photos, with little or no text.

While the presentation will be somewhat determined by your topic, it can still take a variety of different forms regardless of what the subject matter might be.

If you use photos a lot, make that a staple of your blog and use it as a centerpiece to give your site more of a unique flavor. Same goes for text and video. Your blog’s unique character will be shaped by how often you use these things and how consistent you are in that process.

Type of Information –

A blog’s chief assignment is to deliver some type of information to the reader. Once a topic is chosen, that information will probably do one or a few of the following things:

• Entertain –
• Provide solutions –
• Provide instruction –
• Offer alternatives –
• Offer another (or new) perspective –

Now it might sound like your blog should do all these things, and certainly it can, but these are all different types of information that can be potentially delivered by your writing. If you write for the same blog topic long enough, you’ll start to realize that you do some of these things well and others, not so well.

Essentially, you’ll bend towards a few and have a harder time delivering the others. For example, you might have a blog about fitness, but you’ll specifically be really excellent at providing alternative body weight exercises, or offering different perspectives on exercise philosophy. That gives people a lot more to go on than, “I have an exercise blog.”

Evolving Over Time

Developing your blog’s format, presentation and type of information takes time and while you can plan for some of it initially, a lot of it will evolve over time, and you’ll end up with a lot of old posts that you can’t believe would have ever passed in your own mind as decent material.

To be honest, that’s part of the process. You want your blog to evolve and improve as you standardize your own writing style and tendencies.

Don’t worry too much about planning these three lanes out. Just be aware that these are the primary variables you’ll be faced with when it comes to delivering information for the topic of your site. Try to identify how you process the information in your own mind and what kind of articles and posts seems to flow better for you and likewise which ones become more popular with your readers.

Once you narrow your topic and your niche, you’ll start to really engage your audience and make a name for yourself as a reliable online commentator.

The post The 3 Lanes of a Blog Topic appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

My solution: Evernote. According to their website, Evernote‘s proposition is threefold.

• Capture anything. Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see.
• Access anywhere. Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there.
• Find things fast. Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

You’ve probably heard of Evernote, you may even use it. I know I had, and until recently used it intermittently, only to clip web pages that had bits of code I hoped to be able to find again at some point in the future. But this year, I discovered the real power of Evernote and its true power. And this was that moment…

My Evernote Ah Ha Moment

I have about 100 Brand Books from various companies in PDF form that I have collected. And every time I wanted to find an example of “Venn Diagrams” or “Manifesto” or “Brand Personality“, I had to open each and every Brand Book until I found the two or three examples that I could use to refer to. As you can imagine, this was tedious and time consuming. Of course I had a pretty good idea of the 10 or so that I regularly used, but sometimes, I want more variety. The answer? Evernote. Since Evernote can search within PDF documents (and Microsoft Documents), all I had to do is get the documents into Evernote. And it turns out, that you can setup your Evernote Desktop program to import a folder on your computer. So I simply setup a rule that any document in my Brand Book folder should be automatically imported into Evernote. Now all I have to do to find a Brand Book that references “Brand Keywords” is to open Evernote, go to my Brand Book folder and search for “Keywords.” Any Brand Book that contains the word “Keyword” will automatically appear. Then it’s just a matter of paging through the Brand Book to find the specific reference. This ensures that I can find all references, quickly and thoroughly.

Of course you probably don’t have about 100 Brand Books that you regularly search, but think about all those documents you do have, from your friends, colleagues, and co-workers, from bloggers you like to follow, and from all that internet content we are exposed to on a daily basis. You just have to get it into Evernote to harness the power of all that relevant and interesting data. And Evernote makes it so easy.

• Use Web Clipper, which simply sits in your browser and when you push it, sends the page you’re looking at to your Evernote account.
• Grab the mobile version for your smart phone and you can take pictures of documents you just received in a meeting and send them to your Evernote account — and the text in those images is SEARCHABLE!
• Check out Evernote Hello to take a picture of the business card you just received (and have it send the picture of the card to Evernote, simultaneously scan the card for data, read the contact information from the card, go out to LinkedIn and look for a complete contact profile, AND load it into the contact list on your phone in under 30 seconds). WOW!
• Take handwritten notes on a regular-old-ordinary notepad during your meeting, and take a picture of those notes with your Evernote App on your smart phone and… you guessed it, the image is sent to Evernote and yes, it’s searchable. (Even bad handwriting is inexplicably searchable–it’s miraculous really.)
• Powerbot Apps makes a little program that sits inside your email client (Google Apps/Gmail or Outlook) and gives you a button that allows you to send that email directly to your Evernote account.
• And for that Google Reader replacement? I’m liking Feedly a lot, but they don’t have an integrated conduit to Evernote (yet–one can hope). But they do have the ability to send the post by email, and the ability to specify an autopopulated bcc. All I had to do is load my Evernote email address (yep, you get a private address to email directly to your Evernote account) in as the automatic bcc on any email sent. Then if I find an article I want to keep tabs on, I click the email button and “send”, it automatically goes to my account.
• Want more? Want to see some really interesting integrations? Check out IFTTT for Evernote uses that may spark your imagination.

Now here’s the real killer-app element….you can access all your Evernote notes, wherever you are. On your mobile phone, on your computer, on the internet, on your tablet…well you get the idea. It’s all instantly accessible. 

Evernote: The Killer-App for Marketing and Beyond

As you can see the opportunity to become a marketing super-star is palpable with the power of Evernote. All your research, all your meetings, all your contacts, ((all your starred items from Google Reader)), and all the content you come across on a daily basis, at your fingertips. Plus, if you’ve got Evernote Web Clipper enabled in your browser, those documents searched and returned to you every time you open Google to search for anything. That’s powerful.

Of course, Evernote only gets better as you expand its use beyond your Marketing life and into every aspect of your life. All the same principles that work for Marketing documents also work for Recipes, Thank You notes, scribbled bits of paper that you need to keep, your diary, etc., etc., etc. The possibilities are literally endless.

So, do you use Evernote? How do you use it? What are your favorite apps for expanding its features? Please share your thoughts below!

The post Tips for Using Evernote in Marketing appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

License: Creative Commons image source

Are you a little lost at how to present your brand to your target audience? Every brand needs refreshing from time to time, and sometimes the best move can be to hire a branding agency to help you achieve the very best results.

There are numerous ways that you can refresh your brand to transform your business. Here are some of the best.

• What is your competition doing?

Yes, you have to focus on your competition just as much as your own business. What are they doing that you’re not? Could you completely revamp your business to ensure you provide them with worthy competition in the race for customers?

• How well are your calls to action performing?

License: Creative Commons image source

Every message must have a call to action, and you have to put it in the right place too. It must be above the fold if you are to get the very best results – not everyone has the time or inclination to keep reading to the end of your message.

• Don’t be afraid to get help.
  

License: Creative Commons image source

As mentioned above, a branding agency could be the difference between struggling to achieve your goals and achieving more with your brand perception than you could ever have dreamed of. Use their knowledge and experience to boost your business still further.

• Give people something to sign up for.

License: Creative Commons image source

 If you have an email list – and you really should – you need to ensure you are getting plenty of sign-ups. This means inviting people to sign up above the fold on your web page, ideally on every page of your site. It’s no good using outdated tools or working on your email newsletters if you’ve got no one to send them to!

• Remember your brand permeates through everything to do with your business.

License: Creative Commons image source

 Brand perception is what people think of your business. Every part of your business is affected, from your website to your emails to your calls to action. Ensure you focus on every detail and brush up everything by taking care that the message is consistent.

Just as you may be preparing to spring clean your home, you can spring clean your business. If you want to refresh your brand and how people think of it, now is the time to put these steps into action.

The post How To Refresh Your Brand This Spring appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

Many business owners spend in ordinate amounts of time ensuring that they are the legal owner of an idea (patent), the legal owner of their logo (trademark), the legal owner of their business space, equipment, etc. Yet, for one of the most valuable assets any business holds, they turn the purchase of it over to someone else and then never bother to get the account credentials and legal ownership of the domain name.

I’m willing to bet that nearly 90% of those of you reading this post — who have a website, can’t tell me right now who the legal owner of your domain name is. And what is particularly sad, 75% of those ARE NOT THE LEGAL OWNER.

Ready to find out if you’re the legal owner? It’s easy to check, just go to your favorite domain provider (or click here) and put in your domain name. Once you decode the ever-exciting human-proving captcha, you’ll see a page that looks much like the image to the right. What you’re looking for is the “Registrant.” If you are not listed as the registrant, you are NOT the legal owner of the domain. It needs to not only display your name (or your company’s name) but also your contact information in this area.

This means that whoever is listed as the registrant is the person or company that can determine what website displays at the address, how your email addresses behave, and whether you ever get the opportunity to make any of those choices about that domain name ever again.

If you are listed as the Registrant and your contact information is available — you can call the Registrar and (eventually) get complete control of the domain. If you are not listed — or your contact information is missing or wrong you have NO RIGHTS with regard to the domain. And you are dependent on the goodwill and availability of the person or company who is listed.

So, now that you’ve looked up the legal owner determined you’re not it…you’re probably wondering what to do. First things first, call the person or company listed as the Registrant and see what it will take for them to change the Registrant information to be you. AND while you’re at it, ask them to push the domain to an account that you can have the username and password to. Be kind, patient, and understanding — at least until you get control of the domain. Keep at it, owning your online presence is a fight worth fighting.

The post Who is the Owner of Your Online Presence? appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

First figure out how much of your work space is actual “work space” and how much you have either to decorate or make you feel good. You may share an office with a spouse or roommate, you may have a tiny corner in your condo or you may actually have a working office with about 10 x 10 feet of space to work with.

A window is important and if you have more than one it is very important to place your working area near a North/South facing window. The morning sun will make your office “hot” from the East and the setting sun will heat your office to the point of putting you to sleep from the West. A North/South window give even temps from the outside all day long.

If your space is small your desk must also be small but still the most important part of your office. It doesn’t matter if you have a window on the world if your desk is not manageable. If your space is small you might look to the best corner of the office and go for a corner desk. A corner desk serves a small office nicely. It gives you a natural place for your computer with usually enough work space for other items and a space in front of you to write.

If your office is very small you will need to work in file drawers or cabinets to fit the space. Open slots are great and you can get do it yourself multi-slot wall pieces at any of the major office stores. They are inexpensive and come in different depths.

Computer towers are shrinking in size it seems daily so if you have a smallish one put it nearby or even under your monitor to save space. A larger tower will need to find a space on the floor, preferably elevated a few inches. Your scanner should be within reach, your printer can go underneath on a small storage box to save space. Use a nice mug for pens and get a desk top unit to sit over your monitor which will save a lot of space for storage.

Do not neglect the decoratives even in a small office. You need something soothing during any part of the day when your eyes get too much monitor. You will take a few moments to lean back in your chair to stare at the wonderful painting of the Amalfi Coast, the greens at St. Andrews or your favorite Mickey Mantle signed photo. This will be enough to re-energize your batteries.

The larger office will afford you two things; storage space and more decoratives. If your space is a good square 10 x 10 your desk should go where you have a nice view if you have a good window. While a corner may not be your style it might save space. The nice thing about a corner desk is it is one less corner to compile useless junk and stacks of files. You are forced to file the clutter or get rid of it.

Metal file cabinets are fine and don’t worry about the esthetics.  They work and the metal ones are cheaper than wood and just as functional. Don’t delude yourself into thinking matching wood furniture is going to be impressive. How many times do you really have clients come to your home office? If the answer is daily, then consider the matching wood and make it the good stuff.

If you only use a few file drawers get small ones which fit underneath the desk. These are more convenient and definitely out of the way. When it comes to the printer, scanner and storage space, see the small office space paragraphs above. The same applies only you have more space to work with.

Again select a nice north/south window for viewing because nothing says “relax a moment” like a view. If you are fortunate to over look water or mountains and blue sky consider yourself lucky. If the building next door blocks all views, oh well, you tried.

When decorating an office a plant is almost always a must. Something “live” (and not an iguana) makes life much better and helps production. If it needs watering keep it away from anything electronic and try to keep it down low so it doesn’t fall.

Photos? Certainly. Children, your best girl, your wife, memorabilia or anything else which makes you smile. Family photos are great but should be limited. Don’t use your office for that 15 slot photo holder on the wall. Save it for the den. Your office is still a workplace and while you should display the kids make it a few single shots.

When it comes to memorabilia don’t overdo it. Three or four items are more than enough. If you have more and you simply need to display them, rotate every six months. Put up a few photos, a signed ball and a NASCAR 1:24 scale car. In six months replace the baseball with a football and a different car.

Your office is your life at times and it needs to be livable and workable. Forget the mini fridge though; get your exercise by walking to the kitchen.

The post Creating the best office space, large or small appeared first on Paradux Media Group.

Eagle Point, OR – 4/3/2013 – The Telly Awards has named Paradux Media Group as a Bronze winner in the 34th Annual Telly Awards for their piece titled “Asante: Principles of Place” in the Corporate Image Category. With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this is truly an honor.

Asante: Principles of Place is a video introduction for employees and stakeholders to the new corporate image at Asante. The new corporate image was the culmination of years of work creating a master brand, including a logo redesign, naming conventions, and brand position for the hospital and medical system, which provides comprehensive medical care to Southern Oregon and Northern California.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.

A prestigious judging panel of over 500 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly and a member of The Silver Telly Council, judged the competition, upholding the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents. The Silver Council evaluated entries to recognize distinction in creative work – entries do not compete against each other – rather entries are judged against a high standard of merit.

“The Telly Awards has a mission to honor the very best in film and video,” said Linda Day, Executive Director of the Telly Awards. “Paradux Media Group’s accomplishment illustrates their creativity, skill, and dedication to their craft and serves as a testament to great film and video production.”

“Paradux Media Group was honored  to be chosen to help Asante create and launch their new corporate image to their employees and the world.” Said Tisha Oehmen, Chief Operations Officer at Paradux Media Group. “We were thrilled to learn that Telly Awards chose to recognize the work that was accomplished on this project. This project was a team effort by many extremely talented and dedicated individuals, the end result is something we are all proud to have been a part of.”

To find out more about the Telly Awards visit their website at www.tellyawards.com.

About Paradux Media Group

Paradux Media Group was formed in 2008. They are not described as a regular advertising agency. They are a unique combination of strategists, planners, designers, and writers. Paradux Media Group launches brands, create promotions, and put their clients on the first page of Google. Paradux Media Group specializes in advertising, branding, website design, and social media management. They provide the integrated resources needed in today’s changing business environment. Learn more about Paradux Media Group at http://paraduxmedia.com.

Please contact Tisha Oehmen, Paradux Media Group for inquiries: tisha@paraduxmedia.com or call 541-727-0627.

-END-

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Social media is fast becoming—if it isn’t already—the biggest component of a powerful digital marketing campaign. It adds great value to your brand and opens the door to interactivity with current and untapped customer bases. Proper engagement in social media will produce positive effects for your company. Here are a few quick tips on how you can expand your reach and use social media more effectively in 2013.

Give Your Brand a Human Element

Simply being present on social media is one thing; but a genuine presence is another. Gaining traction and engaging customers on avenues like Facebook and Twitter require that you add a human element to your brand and website. Customers want to know that they are interacting with an actual persona – this means you should share links, react to comments, post photos and videos; things that a real person would do. The browsing public is more likely to interact with your brand if you operate this way.

Dedicated Engagement and Interaction

After the introduction of a human element to you brand’s profile, it’s time to start acting like it. Reach out to your customers by starting relevant discussions. Give your followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ something more — answer questions, ask for feedback; and comment or tweet on any related activities. Failure to interact with your customers basically defeats the purpose of your being present on social media. Remember that the number one goal on social media is simple: be social.

High Quality Content

One of your top goals is to get the stuff you post to go viral. Encourage followers to share links, photos, videos, blogs, articles and whatever else by making sure it is of top caliber. Content is the base of all your marketing efforts, and you must see to it that it is always high quality. Combine this with great social media positioning and you’ve got a combo that will deliver the results you want to see.

Make the most of social media and see the difference it makes to your digital marketing campaigns. Sign up with Paradux Media today and allow us to help you optimize your presence on social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. (Click here to learn more.)

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Basically the changes focus on a new website design, but the design also integrates few powerful, new features. The webmasters at YouTube.com are also concerned about the changes in the algorithm of Google. Let’s explore how these changes will help you spread your words better.

1. Major changes in the YouTube home page:

YouTube home page has got a clean, new look. Every user has been enjoying the new look, more convenient interface. Navigation has become easier, the suggestions have become more accurate and helpful for someone interested in a specific niche. The subscription option has also evolved this time and the accessibility will definitely help expert YouTube video creators. An expert marketer can use the changes and reap more profit using video marketing strategy at YouTube.

2. YouTube analytics just got better:

Video creators will have better control over the statistics at YouTube.com. The integrated tool is empowered by new technology recently. Now, one can dig deep into the video stats, make changes in the strategy whenever necessary and get more audience for your videos. A business YouTube account will be easy to control and manage. The managers are also comfortable with these powerful elements added to the platform. These together have made YouTube as a standalone video marketing resource now.

3. Powerful channel interface:

Many talented video creators often fail to get audience for their high quality videos. They struggle to get more views on YouTube. Some users seek expert help about how to get YouTube views. The secret lies within how you use the platform. Creating a dedicated niche-dependent channel will definitely help you rank higher in the search engines, even on YouTube’s own video listings. This time, YouTube has come up with a more powerful channel interface that can outdo many popular videos easily. The new channel interface will simply help you create your own media network and get more videos on YouTube.

Tips on how to get YouTube views: how to make your videos go viral

You have to pay attention to the quality of the video you’re going to share on YouTube. Then, you have to concentrate on researching on the topic and optimize the videos for YouTube properly. Take some time and find the best tags, keywords and titles. You should encourage the visitors to share the videos on social websites like facebook.com, twitter and other popular websites. This can only help your videos go viral and make profit out of the video-marketing strategy.

It’s time to re-explore YouTube, it has got numerous surprise element to help you fight better. You should create an innovative plan and implement that to get better results.

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Umbrella Brand Architecture

Photo Credit Muffet

Umbrella Brand Architecture is the most identifiable. It is one brand that creates a single powerful image, often paired with descriptive names for products, services, divisions, or locations. In this architecture, marketing is most efficient, offering economies of scale linked to the variety of products and markets that the brand covers. Put another way it allows “increase[d] advertising efficiency by providing an umbrella for several brands that reduces the need for separate brand budgets.”[i]  One brand, one unified effort, all money and energy expended strengthen the whole brand. In this type of architecture, reputation is linked inextricably with size and power. “Masterbrands are a company-wide brand force, composed of a central set of associated meanings and benefits, whose scope stretches from the company’s strategic core, throughout its people and partners, enveloping its customers, and beyond to its outer perimeter of influence.”[ii]

Photo Credit Cart208Fall12

Product Brand Architecture

Product Brand Architecture is favored by decentralized companies targeting diverse markets. This architecture makes sense when the sub-brands have distinct markets that are not directly related to each other. This style of brand architecture is the most costly, in both time and money, to execute for the parent brand. In a limited resources situation, it is also the least effective. These brands are separately run, ideologically disparate, and often compete against each other for internal and external visibility as well as market share.

Photo Credit Jessi Modi

The Best Brand Architecture?

Which is right for your company? The answer is … it depends. It depends on your goals, on your market, and on your business itself. But it should be a choice, not an accident. So consider your options and make your choice.

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Blogging Tips

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photo credit shawncampbell

I can’t do anything about the overseas spam. But, there is a class of email spam that is worse in my opinion. That’s the local business, unscrupulous add-me-to-their-list move. I can’t count the number of times someone has attended a meeting I regularly attend, as a guest, and collected business cards from everyone at the meeting. Then, miraculously, the following day I (and everyone else) receives the first of that company’s email newsletters. Not an invitation to connect. Not an invitation to receive their newsletter — their actual newsletter, they actually subscribed me to their email newsletter list. In that moment in which I received that first email, two things happen in my world.

1. My regard for their business practices plummeted through the floor. After all, attending the same meeting I attended did not give that person the right to spam me with their email news. While I might have been interested in the product/service that they sold before — there is absolutely no way I would ever try that product/service.  As if that wasn’t enough, I have to assume that their business practices are more than shady if they subscribe me to their list without ever asking…what else will they do with my information? In my opinion, subscribing me to their email list without my request or permission is a non-starter. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and definitely do not collect my business…ever.
2. I take a significant amount of glee in unsubscribing from the list and reporting to the email list manager the fact that I never subscribed to the list. If you’ve ever tried to build a legitimate double-opt-in email list, you know that most legitimate email list managers take their requirements for double-opt-in seriously. And with good reason. The more individuals who report a email list manager as spam tolerant, the more difficult it is for their legitimate email clients to get through to their client’s email boxes. Some email list managers, Mailchimp for example, enforce a strict 1 abuse complaint per 1000 email sent. You get two warnings — and then you’re done. Period. So by taking the added step of reporting the fact that I never subscribed to the list, I’m helping them to have to find a new email list manager….my own special gift of thanks for failing to ask me to join their list.

Now don’t get me wrong — I am on A LOT of email lists. I get lots of newsletters in my inbox everyday. But I asked for them, I put my name and email address in the form AND pressed the “I really want to subscribe” button on the email that came. And that’s the key. I want the information they are providing me. I think highly of the brands that offer me information I need/want free of charge. I appreciate the ability to receive their information in my inbox. My regard for their brand goes UP.

The moral of the story…take the time to build a legitimate double-opt-in list. It will enhance your brand reputation. You know you’ll be talking to folks who actually want to hear what you have to say AND who might be interested in what you’re selling.

Oh, and don’t bother subscribing me to your list if I haven’t asked to be there — it won’t help you one iota, and I might just be the one to get you kicked off your current email list manager.

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These magnets were created to be an extension of the Lovejoy brand. They are a simple business card size that facilitates easy reading while not being obtrusive and taking too much space on the all important refrigerator.

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The past pictures had all the items in the box, for this photo shoot we decided to have the items removed so we could create a more uniformed look to the page.

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Sarah Kessler, a writer for Mashable.com, recommends several free and online programs that you won’t even have to download to use. Many of these programs will work on both Mac and PC and it won’t matter if you use GoDaddy or VPS Hosting (a virtual private server hosting company). Here are the programs I fell in love with immediately:

Go Animate!

This online program allows you to create free and fun animations without having to download any plugins, files or software. You don’t have to draw, because all of the animation is created for you! These animations are created through selecting the body type of the character, background and props and building up from there. Once finished, your movie can be easily shared on Facebook, Twitter and embedded onto your site. Membership is free and offers users a dashboard that will allow you to know who and how many viewers have seen your animation. They have a burgeoning community of animators who visit often and share their ideas, thoughts and Go Animate movies. Plus, if you own a business and you want to create an inviting message that will amuse as well as inform your clients and prospects, there is a low monthly fee that you can cancel at any time. Go Animate also offers affordable packages for educational animations as well.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Dvolver

This program is more basic, but still fun. If you’re not as serious about your animation, but want to create a cool way to convey your messages, Dvolver is the program for you. Your choices for characters are limited and you can’t put as much variance in the animation that you create, but most of the users who create from this site use it for purposes of fun, rather than for creating professional videos. The program offers you choices for music and backgrounds, but you still get to provide the dialogue.

Voki Avatars

If you are looking for a program that will allow you to build a character that will simply convey a message in a cool way, Voki is the program for you. This easy-to-use program allows you to create avatars that can either speak with your voice (if your computer has a microphone), speak dialogue that you type with an accent that you choose, or you can call their number and leave a message of what you want the avatar to say. Once you’re finished creating the avatar, you can use the embed code provided and email it to a friend or place it in your website.

With these three free online programs, you will have the ability to animate ideas, concepts, pitches, or maybe even just a note to a friend. Try them out and learn how much fun animating can be.

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The print ad that was designed for the offer always takes into account creating a local feel while keeping the recognizable Papa John’s Brand.

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Photo Credit: james.holly

• What is a Brand Book?
• Why do I need a Brand Book?
• What goes into a Brand Book?

All of these are legitimate questions that many marketers struggle with. At it’s core, a Brand Book is an integral element to a well-functioning brand. It’s about articulating the elements of your brand in a concise and consistent manner.  It is generally written for two audiences, internal stakeholders and marketing partners. The Brand Book has a number of beneficial outcomes for businesses that use them.

Brand Books come in all shapes and sizes. You will hear them called a variety of names: Brand Book, Brand Guidelines, Corporate Identity Guidelines, Brand Bible, etc. The bottom line is that all of these different documents serve the following purposes for your business.

Your Brand Book Will…

1. Crystallize your brand position.
2. Add depth and resonance to your brand position by ensuring it’s alignment with your business strategy.
3. Get (and keep) your entire team on message.
4. Help to save time by not reinventing the wheel.
5. Save your business money because your brand is consistently being displayed.

While it is true that a Brand Book can be tedious and painful to put together, the benefits of having one usually outweigh the cost of creating one. The work that goes into creating a Brand Book is both rewarding and illuminating. This is WHY you need a Brand Book for your business.

Writing a Brand Book

Writing your own Brand Book is not something you have to hire a professional to do. In fact, it is something that would significantly benefit YOU, if you do for your own brand. If you are ready to get started, check out the Brand Book Tutorial right here on the Finding Brand Blog for step by step instructions. This is a FREE series that will walk you through the exercises necessary to craft your own brand book. You choose your own pace, work on your own brand and in the end, you are able to reap all the rewards that having a Brand Book can bring. Click here to get started now.

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UpCity Daily Tips

Congratulations to Co-Owner Mike Frey! His blog, Beyond the Pond, was just named as one of 25 Excellent Blogs on Local Search and SEO at Upcity Tips. Organic search is no longer just the domain of eCommerce and national businesses. Local search is a viable and necessary tool in any local business owner’s visibility toolkit. With the Yellow Pages going more unused everyday, more and more people are turning to Local Search SEO to fill that gap.

In naming the blog, Angela from UpCity explained:

Beyond the Pond by Paradux Media Group – While Beyond the Pond doesn’t focus solely on local SEO, there’s a ton of useful info here dedicated to the local aspects of search marketing.

We happen to agree with Angela, Mike’s blog is jam-packed with great ideas for small business owners. It’s a great resource and always educational.

Thanks to UpCity for recognition! We appreciate it!

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