Caramel apple? Treat.
Snickers bar? Treat.
Blizzard before Halloween? Definitely a trick.

A pre-Halloween storm that dumped as much as 30 inches of snow on some areas of New England and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands was among Mother Nature’s most fearsome pranks. But there are things to learn from this fluke October storm if you’re considering a new or redesigned website for your business (yes, we’ve got Web design on the brain). Here are five things our fickle New Hampshire climate can teach us about Web design:

1. Leave some things to the pros

Does your website say “poor schmo trying to dig two feet of snow off his car with a six-inch scraper from CVS,” or is it more like “I’m going to call their plow guy next storm?”

When your company has a professionally-built site, you look more like the guy with the clean driveway, the generator and a halogen headlamp. Some work just takes training, style and skill. Web design is that kind of work. Investing in a professionally designed website that includes a content and lead generation strategy can help you weather slow times by gathering leads and attention. A WordPress content management system on your site means you can have a business blog to post original content as often as you like, can do wonders for your SEO ranking.

2. Be ready to change your plan

Before a big storm, you buy groceries, fill your gas tank and stock up on batteries (or at least you know you should). Even if you don’t need these supplies, you’re ready to act if things take a turn for the worse. Independence and flexibility are also advantages of having a Web site built professionally. For one, you’re getting expert input on the organization of your site. Also, with a content management system like WordPress, you can change things yourself quickly. For example, if your store is closed because you have three feet of snow on Oct. 30, anyone from your company can hop online and update customers on your Web site in minutes.

3. Make your needs clear

If you were affected by the storm, you probably heard repeated pleas of power companies to notify them if your power was out, because they have no automatic way to tell if power is down in a specific house or building. They don’t know what you need unless you tell them.

The same goes for your site visitors. Your new website needs to have a clear, user-friendly navigation system, because otherwise your visitors (i.e., potential new clients) don’t know what you want from them. Do you want them to buy something? To fill out a contact form or call you? Make an appointment? Make sure that you’re directing your visitors to the right place so they can take advantage of your services as easily as possible. (And become leads for your sales team.)

4. Be social

No cable. No Internet. Laptop’s dead, phone’s dead…it’s no wonder you learn a lot about people during a blackout. Used well, social media can be the online equivalent of a candlelight game of Monopoly. It’s a great chance to build relationships and learn more about each other. A storm also leads to a lot more people helping each other out–checking on elderly neighbors, sharing supplies, or pitching in with the post-storm clean up. Sites like Twitter and Facebook can be your opportunity to help out in a different way: by answering questions and providing information that is interesting, useful or just plain cool to your customers and prospects. You’ve heard us say over and over that your business needs a social media strategy, and part of that strategy is having visible, easy to use links or widgets for your social media accounts. On-page feeds of your social media accounts are also a great way to give visitors a preview of the kind of content you post before they start following you.

5. Be found

It’s safe to say that nobody was ready for the October blizzard. Snow shovels, winter boots and warm clothes were still packed away. Everyone was scrambling to find their winter gear. And just like your ski coat can’t keep you warm from a dusty corner of the attic, you can’t reach customers from the 15th page of search results. Having a search engine optimization strategy is absolutely key to building a successful online presence. You might have an amazing company with a terrific website, but if no one can find you, that site ain’t gonna get you found. Deciding what you want to be found for, choosing your keywords and optimizing your site for those keywords is the beginning of an SEO strategy that will help your business get found easier and faster. And it just might get you rescued from a blizzard. (Not really, but we had to tie this together.)

Ready to make some moves? Web design, SEO and social media are what we do best. Click here to contact us or drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter.

Now that you’ve got your company Facebook page and/or Twitter account up and running, it’s a great idea to set a few guidelines for use. As a creative agency offering social media marketing, we urge our clients to have a social media policy to give employees guidance for using company social media outposts. If you don’t use a social media management tool such as Hootsuite, CoTweet, or Radian6, here are some tips to help you get control of your social media marketing.

1. When updating Twitter or Facebook for your company, it’s a good idea to use a carrot and your initials to show who has made the update, such as “^BD.”
2. When updating Twitter or Facebook, check to see if anyone else from your organization has posted recently, and if they’ve posted on the same subject. (Tools such as Hootsuite or CoTweet let you assign and track activity.)
3. If you have a company blog, consider whether the update you are posting to Facebook or Twitter would make a timely blog post. If you write a post first, you’ll then be able to share links back to your site.
4. If you want to post as your company’s Facebook page, visit your company page and click “Use Facebook as (your company page)” on right side under the admin pictures. If you want to switch back to yourself, click the link in same location that would now say “Use Facebook as (personal account)” For more info on using Facebook as your page or your personal account, see our post on using Facebook’s new updates.
5. If you’re posting a text status update on Facebook, such as a generic, “It’s beautiful out today and we’re busy,” try to include a photo or video. By including a photo or video, you allow your fans and others to easily share the post on their pages.
6. If you want to mention another page on your Facebook page (which will let your status appear on that page), type “@(name of page)” in your status update and select the page you want to mention from the suggested drop down menu. This will make the post appear both on your company page and on the page you mention.
7. If you don’t see the page you want when you type “@”, you may need to like the page as your company first. To do that, use Facebook as your company and then like the page you want to mention (such as Coke). Then use the @ sign before their name in the status update you post to your account.
8. To edit your company page admin account so that you can both post to your company Facebook page and like or comment on posts on your company Facebook page as your personal account, here are steps:

a. Go to your company’s Facebook page.
b. Click “edit page” in upper right.
c. Select “Your Settings” at top of left nav.
d. Uncheck the box in Posting Preferences.

This will make your personal account the default option for posting on your company’s Facebook page.

What do you think? Are you finding the recent Facebook changes useful for marketing your business on Facebook? Any more tips or suggestions to share? Feel free to comment below or contact us at Vital Design for questions on how your organization can use social media marketing.

It’s time to update your website. Take a deep breath. You can get through it.

Planning a new website design for your small business can be daunting. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but there are a few basic functions and content areas you should include to make it an effective marketing tool.

1. Contact information on every single page.

This seems simple, but a lot of companies miss this. Include the phone number you want people to call for sales inquiries. Preferably at the top of each page. Include a clickable “email us!” button that either opens an email client or links to your contact form.

2. A blog.

All social media marketing and other online marketing requires quality content. So if you’re considering any online marketing effort, you should start with a blog. To get maximum SEO benefit, your blog should be listed under your domain (something like www.yourcompany/blog) instead of off-site through a service like Blogger.com. A blog can help your business in so many ways that you may be crazy if you’re not considering a blog for your business.

Benefits include:

- search engine optimization (SEO)
- communications channel for your company that produces content shareable on social sites like Facebook and Twitter
- a way to establish your company as an expert in your industry and connect with your customers

3. An SEO strategy that targets your services and products

The customers who know your name can find your website. So optimizing your site so that people can find you through Google when they search “your company’s name” isn’t necessary. Of course you should include your company name on your website and in the metadata, but the fact is that your company’s name is going to be on your website so much that you probably can’t help but be found on Google for it. Instead, focus on generic terms that customers who may not know your business are searching for. For example, Vital Design wants to be found on Google for “Website design, Portsmouth, NH” rather than just “Vital Design.”

4. Geographic information in your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

Most businesses with brick-and-mortar locations rely on customers within a certain geographic area. Fortunately, when most people search for a product or service, they include a location. For instance, if you need a plumber, you might search “plumber in Portsmouth, NH.” This is why you should use your location in page titles and other metadata as well as in the text that appears on your website. If you have two or three main cities that you serve, you should consider creating landing pages on your site for each location.

5. Testimonials or case studies.

Potential customers need to trust you before choosing to work with you. Use your website to build your credibility and to share your expertise and track record keeping clients happy. Often, a testimonials page is one of the most-visited pages on sites we create for our clients. When you do get testimonials, ask your clients for permission to use their real names. Real endorsements from recognizable community members means a lot more than an anonymous testimonial.

If you provide case studies on your site, come up with a consistent, concise format to explain what problem your company solved and what process you went through to get there.

6. Photos or video of your work, your venue, or your team.

Customers like pictures. And they like to see that you know what you’re doing. If your company provides a service such as landscape design, custom cabinetry or IT cable clean-ups, show before and after pictures of your work. If you don’t have a portfolio (take some pictures) but in the meantime, you could show your impressively maintained fleet of trucks and equipment. If your service is something less tangible, such as insurance or life coaching, show pictures of your friendly staff and your clean, comfortable office. Better yet, include video. If you don’t have any of these kinds of photos, think about including imagery of the recognizable landmarks from your area to show you are part of the community.

7. A newsletter sign-up.

Give people a way to stay in touch with your company such as a newsletter sign-up. This will let you share information about your company through email marketing. Yes, you can certainly send out a newsletter by email each month, but you can also use this list to share information you think your clients and prospects will find valuable whenever you have it. If you have a blog or news page, an RSS feed subscription button is another good idea. This will let you stay in touch with your clients each time you add a blog post.

8. Social media accounts.

If you’re active in social media, include a page (or a section on the Contact page like this) where you list which accounts you have as well as how your company uses them.

What do you think? Have more questions about a website design? Comment below and be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to get regular Vital posts when they’re fresh.

But that’s only half the circle. If you go into a relationship with the understanding that by helping each other, everyone benefits, then you are really onto something.

Call it synergy, call it enlightened self-interest, call it a rising tide that lifts all boats. It doesn’t matter what you call it, the effect is real. So why don’t more business do it?

Business Relationships Take Time

This is not a quick fix. It takes time and effort to develop a genuine relationship with your partners. The Music Hall is a 900-seat historic theater in the heart of downtown Portsmouth, NH and it seems that every production we create or event we host involves partnering with a business, non-profit organization, or charity.

A great example of what I’m talking about is “Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth,” a collaboration between living history museum Strawbery Banke Museum, The City of Portsmouth, downtown hotels and the local chamber of commerce to make Portsmouth a destination in December.

By partnering, we expand our reach. We can offer amenities we couldn’t individually. And we have increased ad-buying power. Instead of competing for holiday dollars, we generate more money for everyone involved by making it easy to book a hotel, find a restaurant, go on a candlelight stroll, see a live show in our gorgeous theater, and get around Portsmouth’s lovely historic downtown.

Heading into its seventh year, Vintage Christmas is a boon to all involved. The hotels are happy to have something unique for guests. The Music Hall and Strawbery Banke are happy with increased ticket sales. The City and the chamber are happy because it is yet another way for Portsmouth to be a focal point in local, regional, and national media. The restaurants and shops are happy because we deliver customers to their doorsteps in December.

This is how the synergy works. When the restaurants are full, The Music Hall benefits. When The Music Hall has a show, the restaurants are full. There is a feeling that there is something going on and that feeds the feeling that there is, well, something going on. Portsmouth’s most prolific restaurateurs, Jay McSharry, points out the importance of The Music Hall in drawing business as a key reason he continues to support The Music Hall.

“For my business and many others downtown, The Music Hall is a key factor for success, an engine for growth,” said McSharry.

The Vintage Christmas example is a huge undertaking with a lot of staff resources. But collaboration can be simple, too. For example, you could host a social networking event that raises money for charity through foursquare checkins. It can be really easy. Really. Here are some tips.

Find the Right Collaborators
Many great ideas falter because one or both parties don’t follow through. You have a meeting and everyone is really excited about the idea, but nothing happens. Avoid this by choosing partners carefully and making your expectations clear. Do your homework, and make sure you’re not the problem.

Maintain the Relationship
Once you have that first collaboration with someone, make sure that you do a post-mortem. Find out what worked and what didn’t, make plans to do it again, better. Keep notes. Remember that these things often work best when it is not all about sell, sell, sell. It is a chance to engage your customers in a different and meaningful way.

Get Out There And Do It
While it may seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be. The best way to learn is to do. Once you start looking with fresh eyes at the possibilities around you and start talking to people, the ideas will start pouring out. Not all the ideas are feasible. Knowing the difference is a learned skill. Start small, and know when to say when.

What do you think? How have you partnered with other businesses in win-win situations? Let us know what you think below and be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to get regular Vital posts when they’re fresh.

The new Facebook Pages upgrade offers a lot of the changes that the personal page accounts received at the end of last year. Most noticeable are the photo thumbnail feature at the top of the Pages wall, shift of navigation from top “tabs” to the left side as on your personal account, and the ability to interact in other areas of Facebook as your business Page.

This last one is huge for using Facebook for marketing because you can essentially use your business page in the same ways you use your personal account. It also gives us the ability to further separate personal accounts from business pages, which is good.

Facebook lists the new capabilities as:

But there are so many reasons your small to medium-sized business can benefit from a blog that you might be crazy if you didn’t consider it.

If you own or run a small to medium-sized business, I bet you can feel the economy improving. As people start to spend more, your business is ready to capitalize. Customers need and want your services.

Maybe you have a Yellow Page ad. Or you get leads every few months from your networking group. The prospects trickle in. Maybe your website sends leads once in a while.

But what you really want is a steady stream of prospects who find you online.

Because there’s a good chance that every single day, potential clients are looking for your services, products or expertise. The trouble is, they may not know you’re out there.

That’s why you need a business blog.

Because a blog can be a marketing tool. Say it with me, “Our blog is a marketing tool.” It can build your credibility, help your search engine optimization, and allow you to build trust and relationships with customers by communicating and connecting with them regularly. And it could be argued that a blog will do more for your business than a traditional website (especially if you have to pay a developer anytime you want to make changes). It can also help you set up an automatic newsletter that gets sent through email.

What is a business blog?

You may still think of a blog (short for web log) as a personal journal or diary that details your exciting adventures with your cat or your remarkable video gaming exploits.

Maybe that was the case 10 or 15 years ago. But at this point, you could argue that the term “blog” should just be replaced with “easily updateable website.” If you’re more comfortable thinking of your company’s blog as a news section, that’s ok. Because a blog is just a way to provide regular updates to your audience. It is simple enough to use that it can be updated by you or by your internal staff. One of the most common blogging platforms is WordPress, which is slightly more complicated than Microsoft Word. Just be sure your blog is integrated into your site under your website so it ends up having an address of something like www.ourcompany.com/blog (this is very important for search).

A blog for your business can take on whatever form you make it. You can define how you use it. It can be just a news channel where you post press releases. But it should be much more. It should be a way to share what you know, as well as a way to share your company’s culture and encourage your customers and audience to join in and interact with you.

Will a blog will help my business get found on Google?

One of the biggest benefits of a blog for your business is that each new post becomes a new page on your website – as long as your blog is set up properly. It’s no secret that Google, Bing and other search engines return to crawl your site when you have new content. And you can target each of those new pages for certain search terms. Want to be found for a term like “New real estate listings in NH” or “business blog development in the NH Seacoast“? ; ) Write a post about it.

You can also share each new blog post through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. The people who follow you in those areas (as well as their friends and followers) can easily share those posts with their friends and followers. We’re talking exponential exposure here.

So each time you create a new post, you’re not only offering valuable content (hopefully) that builds your credibility, you’re also creating shareable content that will generate inbound links to your site for the terms you want to be found for. Building these inbound links to your site is a huge portion of search engine optimization, which is what pushes you to the top of Google results.

Think about that. Are you paying a company for search engine optimization (SEO) services? Or paying them to build landing pages to capture leads? Those are great things to do, but if you had a business blog, you could target a specific search term in each post you wrote. You could write posts aimed at certain keywords that perhaps your competitors are being found for or are overlooking.

What do you think? Have you considered a business blog? Already have one? Let us know what you think below and be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to get regular Vital posts when they’re fresh.

Consistent and accurate branding can be a huge factor in stimulating consistent growth for your company. For Sperry Tents Seacoast, founded in 2006, developing a recognizable, distinguished brand – including logo design but also messaging and identity – for our high-end event tent company has been important for our marketing and word-of-mouth referrals. Sperry offers sail-cloth canvas tents that are hand-sewn and crafted by master sailmakers.

But our branding goes well beyond having consistent colors and a professional logo on everything we put out. Our brand is about relationships, how we work with people, and how our representatives present themselves. In addition to the great graphic design Vital provides, we’ve used three key elements for building our brand:

High resolution photos of our event tents

We partner with photographers and are happy to pay for the best shots of our tents, flooring, and lighting in action. We have a vast library of photos to choose from whenever we need to produce marketing materials, a website or an email.

Clean, professional uniforms, vehicles and signage

The Sperry brand means respectful, professional employees who are courteous and treat our clients’ property as if it was their own – but better. You’ll never see a Sperry employee on a job site without a tucked-in collared shirt or a jacket featuring the Sperry logo. Additionally, our trucks are clean, well-maintained and always feature consistent Sperry signage and logos.

Attention to customer service

Sperry Tents Seacoast always has a manager on-site who can make decisions quickly to answer customer questions and take care of concerns. It might be more lucrative in the short-term for us to have fewer staff at each event. But it would be a mistake – and a disservice to our customers – in the long run.

All of these things and many more have helped Sperry build a brand that clients often know before they even see our high-quality canvas tents or hear about our attention to customer service. In short, many of our prospective clients, whether brides-to-be or event and wedding planners, understand that the Sperry brand is a promise of high-end quality as well as a high level of personal customer service.

Sperry has worked closely with Vital Design to help translate the quality products and services we offer into what has become our Sperry brand. But it wasn’t always this way.

The beginning for Sperry was a fast grass roots growth fueled mostly by word-of-mouth referral. As we continued to grow, we looked to organize our unique services and customized approach into a uniform message for consumers and vendors alike. Vital has helped us establish a recognized brand with a clear promise. They’ve also helped translate this promise to our website, our social outposts, and our print and Web advertising.

In the events industry, it is extremely important to stay current and maintain relationships with everyone involved in the event planning process. Our social media and Web presence has also enabled us to keep the conversation alive with vendors and with brides-to-be.

To stay competitive and to really carve out a niche in your industry, a strong, established brand is essential. It’s the face of your company – the first thing prospective clients and your community see. A consistent messaging and brand strategy is about building relationships, trust and credibility so your audience and customers know what to expect from you.

Ideas on simple, authentic ways to build your brand? Please comment below!

We work with a lot of businesses to help with SEO and marketing here in NH and each one would like to be at the top of Google results for certain search terms. But one of the easiest ways to get there is the free, local search tool Google offers called Google Places. It’s the first step for being found by local searchers.

Google, Bing and other online tools are rapidly replacing the yellow pages as the preferred search tool of your potential customers. Many companies are missing these free, public listings (Local Listings on Bing) which allow you to to reach thousands of local users.

Google is already collecting your data from sources like the phone book to create these listings so take advantage of that and claim your business’s listing by adding descriptions and photos and making sure your information is correct.

And neglecting your Google Places listing can hurt you. When I needed to find the church where my cousin’s baby was being christened recently, I Googled the church name. The second result – and the first with an obvious address – was a Google Places entry, which I clicked. I got Google directions to the address and sent them to my phone.

I followed the directions and arrived in a residential neighborhood because the Places listing was actually the parish priest’s house where he received parish mail. I had a word with him about the importance of filling out his parish’s Google Places listing after the christening and why it’s so important to take control of your Places listing. He asked me why a Catholic boy like me didn’t know where the local church was to begin with. Touché.

To get started on Google Places, follow these steps. You can also visit Google for help with Google Places. If you have trouble, feel free to contact us.

1. The first step is to set up a Google account that will be used only for your business to manage your Google Places listing. Try not to use an existing personal account or let a marketing company use their account because you won’t be able to transfer the Places listing unless you share the account information. It’s easiest to keep it simple and start a new account or use the company account associated with your other Google tools such as Feedburner or Analytics.
2. Visit http://www.local.google.com and look on the left side for a link that reads, “Put your business on Google Maps.” You’ll be prompted to log in to your Google account again.
3. Click “List Your Business.”
4. Enter your business’s phone number. Make sure it is the phone number associated with the physical location of your business. Next, you’ll be able to select your business from a list and edit it or enter it as a new listing.
5. Completely fill out the listing keeping in mind search terms that users will use both if they don’t know about your business or if they do. The more information that you provide, including generic search terms for your industry, the easier it will be for customers to find you. A few tips: Select multiple categories and payment options and upload photos or video. Be sure to enter descriptions for your photos and video. As you fill out the info for your listing, it will be automatically previewed in the side bar floating on the right.
6. Next, select if you want to verify your listing by phone or mail and then click finish. You’ll receive a PIN by phone call or a Google letter in the mail. (Go for the phone option. It’s immediate.)

If you have multiple locations, go ahead and add new, separate Google Places listings for all of them. You’ll just need an individual phone number for each physical location.

Search engine optimization is a constantly evolving, involved industry but there are a lot of little steps your business can take to help your chances of being found on Google. Taking a few minutes to set up your Google Places listing is a great first step.

I wasn’t sure how to react when I first heard about the new Mac App Store, but after updating my MacBook Pro and using the store, I think it’s the best idea Apple’s had since the iPhone.

Think about it – You can download software a la carte and you’re reminded whenever there is an update. No wasted packaging. No un-necessary included software. Plus you get the benefit of more developers creating more applications.

Apple just released OSX 10.6.6, which includes the all-new Mac App Store. Once you install the update, the App Store will show up in your Dock and be ready to use.

If you’re familiar with how the App store works for iPad, iPhone, and the iPod Touch, then the Mac App Store will look very familiar. The only difference? It’s available without launching iTunes.

All downloads and purchases are made by logging into an iTunes account, but the Mac App Store has it’s own user interface and organized application store. Apple will notify users of any updates, just as they currently do in iTunes.

Buying apps is done in one step to make the apps readily available both in your application folder and in the Dock. Originally, this feature was going to be part of the next major OSX release (OSX 10.7 – Lion), but Apple must have seen the incredible success of the iTunes app store, making the Mac App Store a top priority.

If you want to purchase or update an app for your iOS device, you still have to open iTunes, but perhaps within a few years they will merge and be one. Or, I’m sure someone will create an app for that.

What are your thoughts on the new Mac App Store? Please comment below!

When EepyBird contacted Vital Design for a new website this year, to be honest, we didn’t recognize EepyBird’s unique company name.

Their YouTube videos, however, were unmistakable.

“When we saw their iconic videos, we knew we had an opportunity to work with legends,” said Julia Ahumada, one of Vital’s managing partners.

Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz – collectively known as EepyBird – are the two gentlemen in white lab coats and goggles who make 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke erupt by dropping in Mentos mint candies. This hobby has made them viral video marketing geniuses and a symbol of the power of the Internet. They’ve appeared on TV on The Late Show with David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres, and Mythbusters, to name a few. They’ve been named to Time Magazine’s 2010 List of YouTube’s Greatest Hits, been nominated for two Emmys, appeared in music videos for Weezer and Barenaked Ladies, and have created viral videos for Coke, Mentos, Office Max, ABC Family, and Blue Man Group.

And now EepyBird has a new website, http://www.eepybird.com, courtesy of Portsmouth, NH’s Vital Design. The website empowers the duo to connect and interact with their huge fan base.

“We are extremely pleased with the work Vital Design did to make the new EepyBird site a reality,” said Grobe. “They listened very carefully to what we needed and developed a beautiful, functional new site that we’re very happy with. Awesome work!”

Through the integration of a Twitter feed, a video blog, and Facebook Connect, fans can now participate in the Eepybird community on the site. Visitors can see the most recent EepyBird tweets, comment on videos, watch video demos, see other EepyBird fans, and buy EepyBird merchandise.

The site launched earlier this year, coinciding with the release of EepyBird’s new video featuring a rocket car powered by Coke Zero and Mentos, leading to additional appearances on Letterman and the Early Show.

Featuring WordPress as a content management system, the new website design communicates who EepyBird is, shares their ingenious videos with their fans, and encourages fan interaction. EepyBird’s internal staff can quickly update new videos and news using WordPress as a content management tool.