Join TheeDesign Studio’s 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party & Halloween Open House!

Enjoy a spooktacular night of pumpkin carving, decorating and all around family fun with TheeTeam! Everyone who RSVP’s will be provided with a FREE pumpkin, design templates and some carving tools. All you need to bring is your pumpkin carving skills!

This year we are also holding our first ever costume contest! Dress up in your favorite costume and enter to win tickets to a local haunted house!

We’ll also be providing food, drinks, outdoor games, and other Halloween fun surprises. Check out last year’s fun by watching the video below!

Who?

Friends of TheeDesign Studio, and our clients, our prospects, and of course our web design and internet marketing gurus with their families.

When?

Friday, October 17th, 2014 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM

Where?

TheeDesign Studio
5206 Hollyridge Drive
Raleigh, NC 27612

What to Bring?

After you RSVP below, we ask that you print and bring your ticket(s) to the party to pick out your pumpkin(s). And, while we will be providing some carving and design tools, we also encourage you to bring your own carving and design tools.

It’s been a great year for content marketing! We’ve covered a wide variety of topics – from Google updates to social media tips to web design inspiration – sharing our expertise and knowledge to help you grow your business.

We’ve put together this blog roundup as a way to review 2014 and a way to see what are still the most important topics to web design and internet marketing.

We ran the numbers, and thanks to our loyal readers, we had an another super year with visits to our blog.

Here are the top 10 blogs written this year as well as the top 10 blogs of all-time:

Top Blogs Written in 2014

1. SEO Audit: Why Design Doesn’t Bring You Traffic
2. Parallax Scrolling in Modern Web Design
3. 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party & Halloween Open House
4. TheeTeam Takes on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
5. TheeDesign Studio’s Marvel-ous 10 Year Anniversary
6. Pets at Work: A Twitter Marketing Case Study
7. Best Places to Watch July 4th Fireworks in the Triangle
8. Trick-or-Treating Tips in Raleigh
9. Help! Why is an Ugly Website Ranking Higher Than My Newly Redesigned Website
10. Being a Superhero in Your Business Blog Series

Top Blogs Written All Time

1. What is a Vector Logo?
2. Evolution and Rumors About the Apple Logo
3. Creative & Effective Contact Pages
4. The Difference Between Hexadecimal and Pantone Colors
5. Setting Up Magento with USPS
6. The Most Common WordPress Functions
7. Setting Up Users and User Roles in Magento
8. SEO Audit: Why Design Doesn’t Bring You Traffic
9. Parallax Scrolling in Modern Web Design
10. 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party & Halloween Open House

We’re excited to announce that our Raleigh web design team has won two more 2014 web design awards.

Our New Web Design Awards

TheeDesign Studio won two 2014 Gold web design awards for our work on DoyleDivorceLaw.com and VanCamp-Law.com. Both websites are designed and developed with responsive web design technology, allowing them to adjust to the screen size and resolution of the device used to view the site.

What are the Horizon Interactive Awards?

The Horizon Interactive Awards are a leading international media awards competition, recognizing excellence in interactive media production. The competition has a long history of identifying the “best of the best” websites, videos, mobile apps, and more – aiming to shed light on the work and the people who produce outstanding work, regardless of company size.

The 2014 Award Competition

The 2014 competition saw over 1200 entries from all over the world. Entries were judged by an international panel of industry professionals with varying backgrounds in media and advertising.

Not only were entries judged by industry professionals, they were also judged by a panel of end-users, making the results one of the most comprehensive and well-rounded of any interactive media competition. Each entry was judged on the following:

• Solution creativity and originality
• Overall graphic design / appearance / user experience
• Communication of message
• Technical merit
• Effectiveness of solution

Roughly 65% of all entries were awarded with a Bronze, Silver, Gold, Best of Category, or Best of Show classification. All Gold winners were eligible for the Best of Category and Best of Show award, in addition to other special partner awards.

Everyday I’m asked by individuals and businesses to review their website and tell them if it’s been properly optimized for the search engines. Believe me, this is no simple task – however there are a few signs to look for to expedite the review process.

This always makes me think back to Van Halen concerts. You may remember hearing rumors about eighties hair bands back in the day, and this one rumor has been repeated over and over again. The rumor was that unless all the brown M&M’s were removed from the candy bowl in their dressing room, Van Halen would not play and they would still receive their fee. Funny thing is, this rumor wasn’t a rumor, it was true!

Van Halen & SEO

Back when David Lee Roth was touring, no one had ever done enormous shows in small towns. Their concerts were so big that the power supplies needed to meet certain equipment requirements and the stages would need to be reinforced to support the additional weight of their sets. Some doorways had to be expanded just to fit the equipment! All of this information was relayed to the venues in the contract, but many smaller venues didn’t bother to read the technical requirements. The band would often pull up to a venue that was ill-equipped to handle all the equipment they brought.

Van Halen then came up with the idea of putting, “No brown M&M’s” in their contracts to see if someone actually read the terms. When the band would walk into the dressing room upon arrival, they would immediately look for the M&M candy bowl. If the brown M&M’s were still in the bowl, they knew the technical aspects of the contract had not been read and they would be in for a rough few days.

So, what does this have to do with search engine optimization? Well, when someone asks me to look at their website and SEO, sometimes they don’t realize how in-depth the review process really is. Website audits can sometimes take a professional a day or two to review. I find it easier to look for the brown M&M’s first.

Look For the Brown M&M’s

Here’s how you should look for the brown M&M’s:

• Do a quick search for obvious terms relating to your business.
• Look for copyright date at the bottom of the site and make sure the year is current.
• Are alt tags being utilized properly for photos?
• Is there a decent amount of text on multiple pages?
• Are H1 tags being utilized? And are they descriptive?
• Are the URL’s descriptive?

Just like a mechanic looking at a truck and seeing that the tire treads are worn or that the engine is leaking oil, this does not give him a full assessment of the maintenance of the vehicle. It does indicate some warning signs and help the mechanic when investigating further.

And on the flip side, if there are a few warning indicators this doesn’t necessarily mean that your website isn’t properly optimized. It’s just means a few details have been overlooked and that there is room for improvement.

The post Search Engine Optimization and M&M’s appeared first on TheeDesign.

Big news! We’re designing, coding, and strategizing out of a brand NEW OFFICE!

Our New Web Design Office in Raleigh, NC

Our new web design office is located at: 7901-112 Strickland Road, Raleigh, NC 27615

TheeNew Office

While we’ve been sharing photos of the remodel on Facebook, below are some of our favorites:

We’re loving our new office and hope you’ll be able to come by and see the space for yourself soon.
—
Our new office comes at a really exciting time for our team. Not only are we working in a pretty cool new office, but our company is turning 12!

And we’re throwing a HUGE party to celebrate. Join us on April 8th, 2016 from 6 – 10 PM at Mash & Lauter in downtown Raleigh for our 12 Year Anniversary Paw-ty.

Get your tickets below, and we hope you see you at the paw-ty!

The post We’ve Moved to a Brand New Office! appeared first on TheeDesign.

2016 was an exciting year for us at TheeDesign. We celebrated our 12th year in business, had an amazing Halloween and Pumpkin Carving party, hired some pretty amazing people and worked with amazing new and current clients. The biggest event was moving into our new office in Bent Tree Park on Strickland Rd. We’re excited about what’s to come in 2017.

But before we ring in 2017, let’s do a quick review of the top blog posts we wrote in 2016. We authored a number of informative posts that help you become a little smarter and give you the insights you need to succeed online with your business.

TheeDesign’s Top 10 Digital Marketing Blog Posts of 2016

10. How to Master Content Marketing in 2016
Remember that funny cat video you just watched on YouTube? You found it by someone sharing it on Facebook right? That is a perfect example of content marketing. As we go into 2016 with Content Marketing at the forefront, you need to ensure your marketing company understands how to maximize content marketing for your brand. Read this post ->

9. How to get Positive Reviews for your Local Business
When it comes to doing online business, your customers can be one of your biggest marketing tools. Roughly 70% of online consumers are more likely to trust a product or brand that has positive reviews. Read this post ->

8. Top 10 WooCommerce Plugins for Small Business Owners
WooCommerce can be upgraded using plugins to give you even more functionality for online success. We recommend 10 plugins for small business owners to use that can increase your WooCommerce site’s revenue. Read this post ->

7. Website Design and Marketing for your Target Audience
When designing your website, It’s important to “start with the end in mind,” and know who you’re talking to, what they care about, and what functionality the website may need to offer said audience(s). How can your web design and digital marketing team work with you to identify the right segments? Read this post ->

6. We’ve Moved to a Brand New Office!
We’re designing websites and creating digital marketing strategies out of a new web design office! Read this post ->

5. 2017 is the Year of SSL and HTTPS for Websites
Having an unsecured website from this point forward could give you more issues than just Google. Your visitors may no longer trust your website. Learn why now is the time to secure your website and how we can help. Read this post ->

4. Why is my Website not Ranking in Google?
Ranking in the top spots of Google’s search results takes hard work, determination and a few trade “secrets.” Find out how you can boost your website ranking by following a few of these Google ranking factors. Read this post ->

3. Is 2016 the Year of Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (Google AMP)?
In February 2016, Google will release Accelerated Mobile Pages (or AMP for short), a new code-type that will deliver lightning fast web pages to smartphone users. Read this post ->

2. What are Backlinks and do they Still Matter?
Quality content and backlinks could quite possibly be the two most important ranking factors in a search engine optimization strategy. Read this post ->

1. How to Create a Google Review with the new G+ Layout
Want to give your customers an easy-to-use link to get more Google Reviews? Lisa Arrington shares step-by-step instructions to link directly to your Google Review page! Read this post ->

In 2017, we plan to continue writing about search engine optimization (SEO) and WordPress web design. With the new talent we’ve hired and the expertise they bring to TheeDesign, you will begin to see more about Ecommerce, marketing automation, email marketing, Google AdWords and search engine marketing, social media advertising and online reputation management. In addition, you will be sharing insights on business topics like management operations, sales, and customer service. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter below to get them as soon as they are published.

The post Our Top 10 Digital Marketing Blog Posts of 2016 appeared first on TheeDesign.

WooCommerce and Magento are two of today’s most popular ecommerce platforms.There is much debate about which is the best. The key is to understand that they both have strengths and that they appeal to different needs.

WooCommerce
WooCommerce, which came onto the ecommerce scene in 2011, is one of the most popular plugins for WordPress. Unsurprisingly, WooCommerce backers are often WordPress users. If you are already using WordPress, using WooCommerce will mean not having to migrate your site to another platform and not having to learn how to use another interface. It’s very easy to use.

Magento
Magento is a standalone product, now owned by eBay. Users of eBay are staunch supporters of this platform. It is popular with larger businesses or with agencies that are managing ecommerce sites for their clients.

Similarities

WooCommerce and Magento are very similar. You could say that the main differences between the platforms are their target market and how complex the needs are of the ecommerce store.

They are easy to set up.

WooCommerce is ideal for beginners. Customizing through WordPress is easy because there are many plugins available. WooCommerce has many tutorial videos to help, making this platform a popular choice for small business owners and people who want to have a go at creating a DIY ecommerce site.

Magento also has tutorial videos and documentation. When it comes to adding extensions to a site, however, it’s worth hiring a specialist Magento developer.

Magento’s flexibility regarding customization is legendary. It needs someone with design, developing, and coding skills to make the most of it. While Magento has the most features out of the box, businesses that are ready to scale up would be wise to employ a professional to handle their Magento site.

They are easy to use.

If you are familiar with WordPress, using WooCommerce will not be too much of a leap. It was designed specifically to work with WordPress, so it’s ideal for businesses that already use WordPress for their website or websites.

Magento is not necessarily difficult to use, once it’s up and running. It is a standalone content management system, though, so using it will be more complex than using WooCommerce. Being platform independent can be an advantage though.

They have minimal setup costs.

Both platforms are free to use initially. Costs are incurred when you are ready to grow your business. Doing so with Magento is more costly than with WooCommerce, partly because it requires a developer’s skills to carry out the upgrades. Its flexibility and powerful functions, however, place it in the arena of larger businesses or individuals who have the technical skills required.

Open source

Anyone can build on the source code or modify it for their needs. Developers then share their own versions of the software. This is part of the reason for the large communities behind both platforms.

Support

Having large communities emotionally-invested in the products means that there is plenty of free help available online. This is particularly useful for a small business tackling its first ecommerce site, which is more likely to be the case with WooCommerce.

Magento sites are much more likely to be developed by professionals on behalf of their client. They are typically owned by full ecommerce businesses looking to grow their business.

Freemium Products

Both products work on a ‘freemium’ business model. They are free to use, but as businesses grow they tend to need extras, for which users must pay.

Customizing your website to use your own branding, for example, will require paying for plugins with WooCommerce or paying for a developer with Magento.

To increasing the range of payment options you offer visitors, you must pay for plugins in WooCommerce. Magento requires additional extensions if you want to offer your visitors an above average shopping experience.

While many options are free for WooCommerce, others can cost anything from $5 to $500 per year.
Magento has more functionality out of the box, but extensions can cost as much as $1,000. They will also require a specialist to install them, making Magento more suitable for businesses with big goals and a healthy budget.

Customizability

With self-hosted products like WooCommerce and Magento, you can make your ecommerce store your own. Both platforms have many free and premium themes.

For those who are thinking of using Magento, it’s worth keeping in mind that adding your own extensions can be tricky and time consuming. Magento developers are also harder to find than WordPress developers. They are a worthwhile investment for businesses that can afford it and aim to have large volumes, because they can use the power of Magento to turn dreams into reality.

Unlimited Products

Good news. You can upload as many products as you like and manage them effectively with either platform. Magento has the edge on classification of products though, which is great for businesses with extensive product ranges in various categories and sub categories.

SEO and Blogging

Both WooCommerce and Magento recognize the importance of blogging by making it possible to add a blog to your site. Both platforms are very SEO friendly too, providing plenty of opportunities for optimizing pages for search.

Hosting

WooCommerce works fine on WordPress’s hosting. If your business is already using WordPress, then using WooCommerce is an easy and reliable way to provide an ecommerce solution.

Magento requires dedicated servers or your own cloud plan as your number of products grows, otherwise your site is likely to run slowly. The added cost gives you more control, however, which is ideal for bigger players.

Integration Ecosystem

As one of the most popular ecommerce platforms, and supported by loyal developers, WooCommerce integrates well with a vast array of systems and applications.

Magento works with Android, Windows, Mac, and web-based devices. It will integrate with many systems and applications and works particularly well with eBay.

Features

Both packages give you a shopping cart facility, infinite products, and the ability to categorize them. Google Analytics is available in both, too.

Magento offers more than WooCommerce in its basic setup. You can cross-sell or up-sell products, compare products, provide discount codes, and offer visitors an advanced filter for navigating the products.

WooCommerce can be appealing because it is less complex than Magento, but it also has fewer features included out of the box. For smaller businesses, this can be an advantage not a disadvantage. You can add plugins when necessary and some of them are free, so this is good for new businesses or those that have plans for growth but are not there yet.

Which platform to use depends on the size of your business, its resources, and its goals.

WooCommerce is built to fit around WordPress. It is sophisticated, but more suited to small and medium-sized businesses, and for people with less experience developing websites. It is scalable through plugins that can be added to improve the customer experience.

WooCommerce is ideal for businesses or individuals who are already using WordPress and are familiar with the WordPress interface, as well as being highly suited to businesses that are new to ecommerce or lack developer talent.

Overall, Magento comes with better basic features. When your business is ready to grow, Magento Connect offers thousands of site extensions, but you’ll require a developer to install them properly.

Magento is a complete content management system specifically designed for ecommerce stores. It is geared more towards large businesses and those with grand designs. It has powerful extensions and is very scalable.

To get the most from it, it requires a larger budget than a WooCommerce store. You can work with different currencies, payment options, languages, and run multiple storefronts through one dashboard, making it ideal for anyone managing a number of websites or working with local variations of their stores.

This makes Magento popular with large ecommerce retailers, agencies managing stores, or businesses that are looking to take their ecommerce offering to the next level. When a business is focused on large-scale ecommerce, and a healthy budget is available, Magento is ideal.

The post WooCommerce vs. Magento appeared first on TheeDesign.

Part 9: Your Location

Choosing a location for a new business is a huge responsibility and one of the most important decisions a business owner will make. Location can affect how a business markets itself, how it operates, its sales, and its plans for future growth. And we know this firsthand, as our Raleigh web design office has only added to our success, allowing us to empower small businesses for 10 years.

As Uncle Ben once said, “With great power comes great responsibility, especially when picking the right location for your business”. Ok, he might not have said those exact words to Peter Parker before becoming Spiderman, but they still ring true for business owners looking to set up shop.

To help local Raleigh businesses reach the same success, we’re offering tips for determining the right location. Keep the following factors in mind:

Competition

A business’s location can affect the competition it faces. What is your competition like and where are they located? Setting up shop in an area with few direct competitors can help increase the chances of attracting customers and clients.

Also see what your competitors are doing online. Just because they aren’t physically located in your city doesn’t mean they aren’t marketing to people who live in it.

Marketing

Your location should complement your marketing campaign, both on the street and online. Is your store/office visible from the street? Do you have a sign or other marketing materials outside promoting your business? These are key marketing materials that can get you noticed by potential customers and clients.

A well-designed, responsive website, that is consistent with your brand, should also include your physical address and phone number. This will help customers find you online and get them into your store or office. Local SEO can also help make sure you’re visible online, promoting your business through both organic search results and PPC.

Plans for Future Growth

When looking at locations for your business, think about where you want to be in 10 years. How many employees will you need? How much storage space, store-front space, parking, etc. Preparing for the future can save you time and money further down the road.

Also keep in mind up and coming neighborhoods and cities. Neighborhoods and cities that are being developed or even re-developed can be great starting points for getting your brand/company noticed.

Other factors to keep in mind are:

• Local Labor Market
• Proximity to Suppliers
• Zoning
• Safety
• Taxes

Use your “spidey-sense” or business-intuition when picking your location. After all, you know your industry and customers better than anyone else.

Soon you’ll be the next friendly neighborhood Spiderman… err business!

Join the Celebration!

Our 10 part series leads up to an exciting celebration: “TheeDesign Studio’s Marvel-ous 10 Year Anniversary Party“. Join us June 19th, 2014, 6-9pm at The Hive bar/restaurant in downtown Raleigh. Register now for this free event!

The post Being a Superhero in Your Business – #9 Location appeared first on TheeDesign.

We’ve got a great team of some of the best web designers, developers, SEO strategists, and digital marketers around. Our team works just as hard (if not harder) than we play, and we love sharing the fun when we can. We hope you enjoy this fun blog that describes our marketing teammates using cat memes!

The marketing team believes in giving credit where it’s due and recognizing when another teammate gets a win. Today, that win came in the form of Lindsey — our branding and content marketing cat — out-ranking a fellow team member, Ryan — our customer service and analytical cat — for a highly competitive accounting term.

We had just watched the infamous “Thug Life” cat video on YouTube, and so the friendly competition was sparked between the two rock star marketers to see who was the top “Marketing Life” cat for that keyword.

Luckily, the interwebz are plentiful with marketing-related cat memes. We couldn’t help but notice that some memes described our fellow comrades dead-on, and so the fun began.

Raleigh’s Best Digital Marketing Team… In Cat Memes

More Digital Marketing Cat Memes

Cat Tax

The post Raleigh’s Top Digital Marketing Team Explained in Cat Memes appeared first on TheeDesign.

At the start of summer, I walked into TheeDesign a complete novice in internet marketing. Now, as I prepare to return to school, I’m walking out a more experienced and professional student marketer. This internship was more than another workplace to list on my resume. My time here was… dare I say it… fun?

Yes, this was a fun internship. My days of fetching coffee, filing mountains of paperwork, and running errands were over. In walked people who cared about my professional development and always ensured that I had a relevant task to complete.

The enjoyable experiences didn’t come without their challenges. I went outside my comfort zone at times and tried things I’ve never done before. Participating in an actual client meeting intimidated me at first, but it turned out to be my favorite experience. Not once was I assigned busy work; I only worked on tasks for real clients. Such hands-on opportunities characterize my time at TheeDesign.

Building My Professional Digital Marketing Portfolio

I’ve picked up a plethora of industry-savvy vocabulary and an understanding of basic internet marketing concepts. To top it off, I learned new skills and became proficient in essential tools over the course of this internship including:

• WordPress experience
• Google Analytics training
• Google Search Console training
• Search engine optimization
• Link building
• 301 redirects
• Creating custom graphics for social media
• Writing effective alt and title tags
• Image optimization
• Setting up website content
• Writing blogs and website content
• Strategic planning for marketing campaigns
• Experience in the daily functions of a marketing firm

Digital Marketing Managers Who Care

My managers took the internship seriously and that made all the difference. They held me to the same high standards as the rest of the employees, which contributed to my professional growth considerably. At the same time, they exercised a certain amount of understanding and compassion for incorrectly written assignments, lack of knowledge, sick days, and all manners of mistakes. I was encouraged to try again if the first time around was less than successful. No matter what, my managers went out of their way to get feedback and make sure my internship experiences were in line with my career goals. They inspired me to do my best and to constantly improve myself, even on bad days.

These professionals also know how (and when) to laugh. Employees and employers alike find humor in the mundane, which adds to the sincere but relaxed atmosphere. I found it very easy to work with those around me – and the open floor office plan made those interactions fairly frequent. Group lunches, birthday doughnuts, and cookouts keep the marketing team close and gave me an opportunity to get to know my co-workers. But make no mistake – when at work, they work hard!

My co-workers are dedicated to their personal development and take steps through training, certifications, and proactive meetings to make sure everyone is on top of their game, and that the agency is only putting out their best work. Customers are central to TheeDesign’s business practice and we often discuss what it takes to produce good results and happy clients.

I Was Awarded the Coveted Digital Marketing Superstar Award!

TheeDesign is an award-winning web design and digital marketing agency for a reason. I urge you to check out their online portfolio, which boasts some heavy-hitting clients with incredible reinvented websites and thriving businesses. I’ve watched companies go from no Google ranking to one of the top listed as a keyword search result. It’s impressive to watch success unfold before my eyes.

TheeDesign Could Be Your Successful Digital Marketing Internship Experience Too

I highly recommend an internship with TheeDesign. It’s the best I’ve ever had, and I trust it’ll be the best internship you’ll ever have too. If you’re interested in applying for the digital marketing internship, contact TheeDesign!

The post My Experience as a Digital Marketing Intern appeared first on TheeDesign.

We are proud to announce that our Raleigh web design team won two Summit Creative Awards! TheeDesign web designers snagged a Gold Award for our work on the ImagineOptix website, and a Bronze Award for our own website redesign. Both awards are in the Business-to-business Website category.

The Summit Creative Award is an international competition that recognizes small and medium sized creative agencies.

	ImagineOptix.com	Gold	2017 Summit Creative Award
	TheeDesign.com	Bronze	2017 Summit Creative Award

Our Award-winning B2B Websites

Designing B2B websites comes with a unique set of challenges that often involve communicating complex ideas to a broad audience. Our web designers rose to the challenge!

ImagineOptix.com

Gold Summit Creative Award

TheeDesign.com

Bronze Summit Creative Award

Celebrate (and Compete) with us!

As you can see from our long list of awards, we enjoy competition, especially when we WIN! What better time to celebrate a victory than Halloween?

The post TheeDesign Wins 2 Summit Creative Awards appeared first on TheeDesign.

Digital marketing is complex and has many moving parts – SEO, social media, marketing automation, PPC, email marketing, and more. It’s also incredibly important to be in the know. New technologies, techniques, and ever-changing Google and Facebook algorithms constantly keep TheeDesign’s digital marketing team on its toes! A large part of the job of a digital marketer is to constantly stay up to date, so our clients’ digital marketing campaigns remain effective. In the past year, we saw the rise of video, VR, machine learning, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. 2018 will be the year that we bring it all together.

With so much new technology, there’s a lot to cover. We’ll try to make it as simple as possible! Digital marketing trends for 2018 can be boiled down to seven Vs: visualization, visceral, visibility, voice, venturesome, veracious, and vital.

Visualization Through Video, Images, and Infographics

We witnessed the rise of video over the past couple of years and this trend is only getting stronger. Current predictions indicate that by 2019, video will account for 80% of consumer internet traffic. Still not convinced? Here are a few more fancy stats for you:

• 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
• Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than those who do not.
• On average, consumers spent 2.6x more time on pages with video than without.

Part of the reason video is becoming increasingly popular is accessibility. Even just a few years ago, videos took a long time to load and were difficult to access on mobile. Now, they are easy to access and there are entire social networks dedicated to video, such as Snapchat and Periscope.

During the past couple years, we were also introduced to Facebook Live, an entirely new avenue of live stream video. Brands could instantly connect with customers via video. If you haven’t jumped into live stream video yet, 2018 is the time to do it. People are watching – according to Facebook, Facebook Live videos are watched 3x  longer than Videos that aren’t live.

You’ll notice this section is titled “visualization” and thus far, it’s all about video. It is much more than that. In 2018, images and infographics are just as important, but users are no longer content with simply looking at images. Expect to see a rise in interactive infographics. Here are a few amazing examples if you need some inspiration!

Visceral experiences with VR and AR

Another reason video continues to rise in popularity is that it enables brands to connect with consumers on an emotional level. This brings us to to the next V – visceral. The word visceral relates to deep, inward feelings. Advances in technology allow brands to connect with users on a deep, emotional level by creating experiences using virtual and augmented reality.

Earlier this month, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg introduced Facebook’s new virtual reality platform, Spaces, to the world by virtually touring a hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. While this introduction was ill-advised in a PR sense, it’s an example of where digital marketing is headed in terms of offering deep, meaningful experiences. With access to VR and AR technology, brands can offer tours of facilities, take users through the process of creating products, and create interactive 3D models so users can thoroughly examine products.

Visibility through native advertising

Visibility is the whole point of marketing, but what frequently changes is how you become visible to your targeted audience. In 2018, increased visibility will come with native advertising. Native advertising is a form of paid advertising where ads appear as part of the natural experience. An example would be an ad showing up in Facebook’s newsfeed as you scroll, as opposed to the ads in the sidebar. The trend of native advertising comes to us as a result of the declining performance of pop-up ads, which are disruptive and pretty much universally hated.

As you plan your use of paid advertising in 2018, be sure it’s used on native advertising to increase your chances of success. Native ads are also a display of goodwill towards potential customers as you won’t be annoying them by disrupting their online experience with annoying pop-ups. Today’s internet consumers expect seamless experiences. Give them what they want and you will see your traffic and conversions increase.

Voice search

In the last year, we saw the rise of digital assistants. Sales of the Amazon Dot/Echo and Google Home dominated, even though the technology is still new and being honed. Consumers also have access to digital assistants on their mobile devices in the form of Siri and Cortana. Access to these technologies has led to a rise in voice searches and digital marketers must pay attention to this as part of their 2018 strategy.

Voice search will especially come into play when it comes to keyword selection. People search differently with their voice than they do with other methods. For example, a person looking for the nearest Indian restaurant might type in “indian restaurant raleigh” into Google, but might ask Cortana, “where is the closest Indian restaurant?” Be sure to include phrases and long-tail keywords in your 2018 SEO strategy.

Venturesome

Digital assistants, virtual reality, augmented reality – all of this new technology is exciting, but it’s also a little scary. That being said, taking risks can often reap a lot of rewards. Get an edge on your competition by being venturesome. Be the first in your industry to use VR as part of your digital marketing plan and consumers will be sure to remember you.

Veracious

Honesty is a trend that never goes away. Always be truthful and forthcoming in your advertising and marketing efforts. Information is readily available and untruths are easy to uncover. Consumers have so many choices and they want to work with brands they can trust. Be mindful of your online reputation by addressing customer complaints and reviews. All of the cool VR technology in the world can’t help you recover from a bad reputation, so make it a policy to always be honest and open with your customers.

Vital

This brings us to the last V – vital. Updating your digital marketing plan frequently is absolutely vital. Trends and technologies constantly change and falling behind can mean a loss of revenue. Plus, it can be difficult to catch up when competitors start to outrank you. Virtual reality technology is amazing, but if customers already can’t find you, it could all be for naught if you are using outdated keywords and SEO strategies.

The post The Hottest Digital Marketing Trends for 2018 appeared first on TheeDesign.

TheeDesign’s web design team is obsessed with the latest trends and web technologies. That passion drives our design process and assures the development of high-quality websites that thoughtfully incorporate technologies that make sense for your business. We want our clients to have the latest and greatest when it comes to your website and we are already thinking about next year’s web design and development trends.

2018 will be all about rich experiences. Technologies such as virtual reality, machine learning, and voice user interfaces have been honed and are now mainstream. Expect to see clean, simple designs that make way for these immersive technologies. Read on as we take a deep-dive into what websites will look like in 2018!

Clean Layouts

In 2017, designers and developers began creating clean and simple websites for better mobile performance. Image-heavy websites are slow to load and frustrate mobile users. The number of mobile searches is going ever-upward, so we can expect this trend to continue, but for an additional reason – new technologies! Websites in 2018 will feature interactive animations, chatbots, augmented reality and more. You simply do not need a website with flashy, distracting graphics when you have fancy new interfaces to engage users.

Typography

While website layouts will be clean and simple, you can expect to see web designers unleash their creativity on typography. Websites with text-based designs quickly communicate messages to users and also lend themselves well to mobile. In 2018, expect to see lots of bold headers and the use of text links instead of buttons.

Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) uses technology to connect devices to the internet. Examples of IoT include smart light bulbs, such as the Phillips Hue and apps that help you track down your lost keys (how did they end up in the refrigerator AGAIN?). Websites will most definitely be using IoT technology. In 2018, expect to see IoT interfaces on websites that allow you to interact with smart devices. A smarter website means a more complex backend, but a professional web developer will get you connected and create an interface that’s simple to use.

Virtual Reality Video

In 2017, we witnessed the rise of video on websites. It seemed like every website has a video intro, so we could see the faces behind the products and services we use every day. We also saw a rise in apps and services that make it easier to create videos. Websites in 2018 will take video to new, immersive places that once seemed like science fiction only a few short years ago. Expect to see websites tricked out with 360 videos, 360 modeling, video mapping, and interactive videos. Though these videos might seem costly and time-intensive, there are actually quite a few apps already available to make creating virtual reality videos more accessible. At TheeDesign, we’re ahead of the game. Just last year we created a website for ImagineOptix that featured an interactive 3D model and it won a 2017 Summit Creative Award.

Subtle Animations

Technology has advanced and web browsers handle animations much better than they have in the past. Animations used to be flashy and distracting, but 2018 will usher in a new era of subtle, useful animation. Expect to see scroll-triggered animations and animated logos. In this example, the designers created a subtle fade so they could display more content. It’s also a great example of a typography-driven design.

Chatbots, AI, and Machine Learning

Over the years, we’re increasingly communicating with bots. You probably spoke with one the last time you called your mobile service provider. At first, these bots seemed to make it more difficult to solve problems, but over the years, they’ve gotten smarter thanks to improved artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. This is also why Facebook knows us so well. Facebook has learned what we look like and asks if we want to tag ourselves in a photo. It also uses location data and learned our reading habits so it knows exactly which ads, events, and information to show us in order to hit a “like” button.

In 2018, we can expect this technology to continue to be perfected and incorporated into company websites. Soon, web interactions will become seamless. Imagine a website that already knows exactly what your customer is looking for by simply analyzing their past interactions with your company. Customer service via the web is becoming faster and more efficient every day thanks to these new technologies. Don’t overlook them in your web design.

Voice User Interface and Search

A voice user interface is sometimes referred to as natural language processing, Simply put, it refers to human interaction with a computer in the form of speech. Examples of voice user interfaces include Alexan, Siri, and Cortana. This technology actually dates back to the 1950s when the Audrey system was developed. The system only recognized digits from a single voice, so obviously we’ve come a long way! Voice user interfaces can now understand and act on complex voice commands. When combined with machine learning, these interfaces can predict your needs before you even complete the command.

Expect to see websites with their own voice user interfaces or integrating with existing ones. With voice search also on the rise, be sure your website content is conversational, as people tend to interact differently when they use voice commands. For example, a person looking for the nearest flower shop might type in “flower shop raleigh” into Google, but might ask Siri, “where is the nearest flower shop?”

Seamless Interactions

Seamless interactions are another theme for 2018. Implementing chatbots and voice user interfaces allow customers to interact with your website without having to click or wait for a page to reload. Micro-interactions are another design element you can sprinkle throughout your website to improve communication. An example of this would be allowing a user to leave a simple review by scrolling over a number of stars instead of submitting a form.

Security

It seems like every time you read your favorite news site, there’s a story about a malicious hacker, a serious data breach, or a malware attack. Security is at the forefront of our minds and it’s taking center stage when it comes to web design and development. Google has already taken steps to notify users of potentially harmful websites. As you think about your web design, be sure to consider the security of your customer’s information. Make sure your security certificate is updated on all pages. People will only interact with your website, download your content, and share their information if they trust you.

Taking Risks, Reaping Rewards

Creating rich web experiences means using new technologies and introducing them to your clients. It can feel a bit risky, but the right web design team and the right tools are only a click away. The future is now and it’s a great opportunity to WOW your customers. Make 2018 the year you throw caution to the wind and finally create that 360 video of your awesome production facility or that 3D model of your newest drone. Give your customer the experience of a lifetime and you will have a customer for life.

Future-Proof Your Website

The post Top 10 Web Design Trends for 2018 appeared first on TheeDesign.

Google recently released a new feature called “Post.”  Leveraging the new Post function allows Google My Business pages to highlight events, products, or services. The benefit of a Google Post is being able to place timely content directly in front of your customers in Google Maps and in the Google Business Knowledge Graph. To learn how to set-up a Google Business Post and to track effectiveness in Google Analytics please read John Bowman’s recent blog post, “How to Properly Track Google Posts in Google Analytics.”

Businesses That Can Benefit from Google Posts

Businesses Opening a New Location

Using Google Posts to advertise a new location is an excellent way to inform current and potential customers about the opening of a new location. Couch Oil Company of Durham recently published a Google Post advertising the opening of a second business location in Holly Springs, NC. Couch Oil Company’s marketing plan to advertise the new location included using Google Posts on the original location Google Business listing to announce the opening of the second location.

Businesses with an Upcoming Event

Any event open to the public is ideal to advertise with Google Posts. Events such as an upcoming sale, grand opening, wine tasting, workshop, volunteer opportunities, classes, open mike night, or a special event are perfect to promote with a Google Post. Tina Peterson of Real Estate One in Howell, MI planned an open house event and used Google Posts to advertise the open house.

Businesses Collecting Charitable Donations

Using Google Business Posts to advertise a charitable cause or request for donations is a terrific way to increase the reach. Recently, TheeDesign collected donations through the GlobalGiving Foundation and used Google Posts to help clients donate to the recovery efforts for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Businesses with Open Enrollment

Insurance providers and schools can use Google Posts to advertise open enrollment. Children’s Campus of Greenville used Google Posts to promote accepting new students for the 3-4-year-old daycare program.

Other Businesses That Can Leverage Google Posts

Businesses have a lot of flexibility when it comes to advertising with a Google Post because Google allows the following items to be included in a Post:

• One image,
• 100-300 words in the post,
• Call-to-Action button, and
• a Link to any URL.

This means that there are many options when it comes to what a business can publish to Google Posts.  Here are some other ways that businesses can advertise using Google Posts:

• Restaurants have the ability to drive visitors directly to their website reservation page.
• Retailers can announce sales, new products, and new inventory shipments.
• Doctor and dental offices can announce they are accepting new patients.
• Sports teams can announce an upcoming game.
• Musicians and musical acts can link to their concert schedule.
• Art museums can announce upcoming shows.
• Hotels can advertise room availability and special discounts.

Find Out How to Leverage Google Posts for Your Business

The post Leveraging Google Posts appeared first on TheeDesign.

Video marketing is just as important for your search engine optimization (SEO) and brand awareness as the written content on your website. Honestly, it might even be more important.

Current trends show that video consumption has never been higher and the value it provides to your business cannot be overstated.

Why Should I Use Video on My Website?

Video is the way consumers are absorbing content on the internet and your business should be primed to take advantage of the opportunity that video provides. Statistics show that viewers will stay engaged longer with video than with reading and are more likely to convert to leads after viewing a video. This is because video allows your company to communicate to your customer base in a simple but effective way.

Statistics on Internet Video Consumption

• Marketing statistics from 2017 show increased video consumption, with the trend continuing to increase in the next few years.
• Currently, YouTube has over a billion users. This amounts to almost a 1/3 of all internet users.
• 85% of internet users within the U.S. consume content through video.
• By 2019, video consumption is expected to increase to around 80% of all internet traffic.

Reasons Why Your Business Should Have Video On Your Website

There are many reasons for placing a video or several videos on your website:

1. Improve Your Rank on the Search Engine Results Pages

The old saying, “Content is King” applies to videos too! Although the footage in the video may not be indexed by search engine crawlers, the way the data is optimized on the video makes the difference.

Keywords

Using keywords in the video title, descriptions, and tags help provide an additional SEO boost.

Optimized YouTube Channel

Additionally, Google owns YouTube. This is a built-in advantage for your company to have an increased presence in Google’s search engine results page.

Create an optimized channel that hosts all of your video content, even if you have the video embedded on your actual website. The channel and videos provide high-quality backlinks and information about your website.

2. Show Off Your Brand, Products, Services, and Company Personality

Video is a great way to humanize your brand and connect with your website visitors. This connection is part of relationship and trust building. People buy from businesses they trust, and a video can help bridge the gap.

Create Trust

Videos send signals that show you believe in your product or service. Even when a video is not watched, there is a subconscious trust signal being established between your brand and the viewer. This is why having a video for your services or products is a great way to create emotions within your customer base that triggers them to contact you.

3. Stand Out From Your Competition

A lot of businesses are still out of the loop on the importance of video, but that window of opportunity is closing. As more companies become aware of the success of online video marketing, your competitors may use the opportunity to get ahead of you in search results and brand message.

Videos will help you reach new website visitors and create a lasting impression.

Video Provides a Better Website Experience and Retention Rate

A video provides supplemental material to the static content on a website that helps to provide a compelling experience for the consumer. Videos are a great way to build a lasting relationship with online visitors.

Consumers are more likely to remember your video than the content they can read on your competitor’s website. Add in the fact that video links are easily shareable, and you have an opportunity for your customers to post your content across their social platforms.  Take a look at HubSpot’s infographic on Twitter Video Statistics for additional proof of how video and social media are interconnected.

Can I Use YouTube Videos on My Website?

Absolutely!

Since YouTube is owned by Google, and even by itself is the second most-used search engine on the internet, it is highly recommended to use this platform for your videos.

There are several plugins that can be added to the backend dashboard of your WordPress website to incorporate playlists from your YouTube channel. The actual YouTube plugin is a great one because it allows a high degree of functionality and control.

What Types of Videos Should I Make?

Take advantage of all forms of video media for your business. Each type of video should have a specific message in mind. There are a few options that all companies can benefit from using as promotional material.

Introduction to the Business

Think of this as your opportunity to tell your customers who you are, what your business is about, and WHY they should work with you versus your competition. Consider this as a mini TV advertisement, but for the internet. Often a video like this is best presented on the website’s homepage.

Here the Coca-Cola company takes you on an adventure just to tell you who they are!

Product and Services

Commercials and advertisements are an everyday part of life, but advertising space for TV and billboards is costly. Online videos on your website and YouTube channel don’t have to be restricted to a specific time slot, length, or style.

For example, the video below is much longer than a commercial, but provides more detail and is geared toward someone further in the buyer cycle. What the video does well is that it provides graphics, and examples of why you should purchase one product over a competitor.

Customer Testimonials

A customer’s personal experience with your company speaks volumes. Consumers are more likely to trust their peer’s experience over a sales pitch any day, and a good testimonial video that shows your client is going to elicit a more favorable response than a picture with a caption stating, “We loved our experience with Company XYZ.” People can be pretty skeptical and a video can help overcome the skepticism.

The video below offers perspectives from three different client on the success they received and the working relationship have from their service provider. The video is clean and crisp, but also the viewer does not get the impression that these are paid actors in a staged review. This is a great way to showcase how your business can help your potential clients.

Instructional 

Who wants to read a long instruction manual when YouTube is full of tutorial videos? Answers to a lot of questions for “how to …” are readily available online. Instead of giving a random amateur YouTuber more hits on their channel, optimize your company’s web videos to answer questions relevant to your business. You may be surprised at how well your videos are received and it can give your company the opening to attract new clients.

Examples of Instructional Video:

This video explaining how to finish drywall is a good example of an instructional video that understands the need to keep the viewer’s attention. First, the video is broken down into multiple parts so that the viewer does not have to watch a full 20 minute tutorial AND the viewer can select the video that corresponds with their needs.

What Should I Avoid When Creating Video for My Website?

There are definitely things that should be avoided when it comes to making a video for your website. Remember the goal is to create engaging content that causes the RIGHT emotional response to your viewers. Here are some tips to avoid creating a video that derails your marketing strategy:

Keep your message short and simple: Make sure you can hit all the hot points in your video during the time allotted. Don’t overextend your screen time as it can negatively affect viewership. If your topic is broader than the time you have, break the message down into multiple videos. KEEP YOUR VIEWERS ATTENTION!

Don’t bore your audience! Keep your video exciting. This will help engagement and allow you to effectively get your message across. People will zone out or leave a boring video that doesn’t grab their attention.

Shoot with a Script: This will help keep your video and message on track. Even if you are an expert on your topic, having a script will keep you focused. This will provide confidence to the person in the video or doing the voice over and will help them on during filming to eliminate awkward pauses and gestures.

Don’t Over Promote Your Business, BUT Make Sure You Have a Call-to-Action Included – Without a call to action in your video, you will lose some of the effectiveness of your message and marketing effort. Ask your viewer to complete the cycle by presenting a call-to-action that grabs them emotionally and causes them to act! But be careful – don’t over promote your business or you could turn off potential customers by selling to them too much. Keep the information clean and simple.

Get Help Adding Videos to Your Website

Now that you understand the benefit of adding videos to your website, it is important to take advantage of professional support to help your website grow. If you are in need of video marketing support, TheeDesign can provide that solution.

The post Why You Should Add Videos to Your Website appeared first on TheeDesign.

When it comes to web development, WordPress is king. 27% of the internet is powered by WordPress and top brands such as TechCrunch, CNN and UPS use it. In fact, TheeDesign uses WordPress exclusively for all our web design and web development clients. It’s user-friendly which makes it easy for novice website administrators to make small updates to their site, such as text changes and blog posts. WordPress also offers a massive library of plugins to its users, making it completely customizable to any web development need. All WordPress websites are also mobile and SEO-friendly.

WordPress trends are driven by overall web design trends in addition to new features provided by the company itself. Last year, WordPress gave us version 4.8, which included new and improved widgets for adding images, audio, and video to your website. On the advanced development site, the update added the ability to perform multi-site updates and improved its text editor.

Naturally, we want to keep up with the latest WordPress trends so we can continue to deliver amazing websites to our clients. Here’s what we can expect from WordPress in 2018:

New WordPress Features and Improvements

WordPress 4.9 is already in beta and is expected to be released soon. This version includes fixes and improvements to the 4.8 release. Users can expect to see improvements in editing code, managing themes, managing plugins, and easier customizations. These improvements will help developers in addition to website administrators. These improvements are exciting as ease-of-use is one of the most important aspects of WordPress for our clients. Once we create a website, we want to empower our clients to make website changes on their own as their business grows.

Drag-and-Drop WordPress Themes

While WordPress offers many basic layout themes for free, customizable themes are often worth the price. Since WordPress prides itself on being user-friendly, there are themes that range from simple to complex at various price points. Last year, we saw a rise in the amount of “drag-and-drop” themes, which allow users to create and customize websites without writing any code. These themes are easy to use for both web developers and non-coders alike. Drag-and-drop makes experimentation with different layouts and plugins easy as well. Want to experiment with video headers? Simply drag and drop a video header widget and see if it increases time on site! Here are some examples of drag and drop WordPress themes:

• Foundry – Foundry is an elegant, visually stunning responsive theme that’s flexible and easy to customize.
• Uplift – Uplift’s drag and drop builder features 54 elements to completely customize your website with ease.
• BeTheme – BeTheme is an easy-to-use, responsive and fast-loading theme that’s great for beginners!

WordPress Video Headers

It’s no secret that video will dominate web design in 2018. Video headers and backgrounds might not be “new”, but it is becoming trendy in the web design world. Luckily, WordPress makes it easy to get on board with this trend by offering themes that feature video headers. Here are a few examples:

• Inspiro – This theme features a full-screen video that’s great for showing off a video portfolio.
• Naila – Naila is a single-page theme with an optional full-screen video background display.
• Balzac – Balzac is a responsive theme with full video support. It includes multiple layouts within the theme, so it’s incredibly flexible.

Virtual Reality WordPress Plugins

Web developers and designers on on-pace to start including virtual reality and augmented reality in web designs. WordPress fully supports virtual reality content as well as 360° videos and images. There are several plugins already available. Expect to see more WordPress websites make use of this content in 2018. Here are a few plugins that are currently available:

• MomentoPress – MomentoPress is a free plugin for displaying 360° photos and videos.
• 360° Panoramic Image Viewer – 360° Panoramic Image Viewer is a responsive plugin that allows you to add “hotspots” to static images, creating a completely immersive experience for your visitors.
• WP-VR View – WP-VR View is a popular plugin that allows you to display PhotoSphere images and 360° video on your WordPress site. Smartphone users can even get the virtual reality experience using Google Cardboard!

Enhanced Ecommerce Websites

Ecommerce makes up a large portion of WordPress websites with WooCommerce being the most popular plugin by far. Other ecommerce platforms such as PayPal and Google Checkout integrate easily with WordPress as well, making it a popular choice for online stores. Ecommerce trends such as mobile shopping, subscription-based services, and personalized shopping are easily addressed by WordPress in its newer ecommerce themes:

• Uncode – Uncode offers a ton of options to enhance your online store. It offers plenty of customizable shop templates and easy shortcuts for store-related features, such as pricing plans. It’s responsive and integrates with WooCommerce.
• Divi – Divi bills itself as “The Ultimate WordPress Theme and Visual Page Builder” and it is completely accurate! This is an all-inclusive, fully-customizable theme for any website, but it’s especially powerful for ecommerce websites. It includes sleek product pages and is completely responsive, dynamic, and integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce.
• Handmade – Handmade includes powerful ecommerce features such as a one-click demo importer, product filter widgets, and plenty of options to customize your online store.

The post Top WordPress Trends for 2018 appeared first on TheeDesign.

The City of Raleigh is growing. We’ve shed our “Sleepy Southern Capital City” motif, maturing into an urban municipality. With newly attracted high profile tech companies, nationally renowned Research Triangle Park, and a bustling downtown nightlife, Raleigh has been in the process of rebranding for years.

This week, the City of Raleigh unveiled a new logo designed by local firm The Assembly — a new look to represent the new brand. Many Raleighites are asking, “What does it mean? Is it just an oak tree? Why did they choose those colors? Why is it blocky on one side?”

Our designers checked out the updated look. We want to note that none of our designers have spoken to either firm involved. As designers, we’re just looking to explore the updated look, compare it with the previous style, and break down the design elements and symbolism of Raleigh’s new logo.

Comparing the City of Raleigh’s Old and New Design

New Design by The Assembly

Classic Design

As you can see, some design elements were inspired by the classic City of Raleigh seal, such as the yellow and green palette and, of course, the symbolic Oak Tree.

Minimalist Design

However, the design itself has been modernized. Clean, minimalist designs are the trend in 2018, so the extra flourish and busy lines in the classic wreath have been removed in favor of more flat features. Instead, the colors and shapes are blocky and clean.

Duo-Tone Color Gradient

The logo utilizes modernized duo-tone color gradients and minimal textures. Bright, eye-catching color palettes are also popular. Note how the matte, dull forest green and mustard yellow from the classic logo have been replaced with lighter, brighter versions of the color spectrum.

Modern Font

Large, bold typography is a modern design trend. You can see how the classic seal features a retro serif font with feet on the tips. Nowadays, typography designers prefer sans serif fonts. While this logo doesn’t reach too far outside the box on the typography, it does make use of prevailing trends.

Symbolism

The City of Raleigh, also known as the City of Oaks, has always drawn inspiration from the natural beauty of our landscape. Look no further than Moore Square, where historic oaks stand alongside the growing skyline of our city. We even lower a giant acorn for New Year’s Eve. So the new logo is centralized around a strong, sturdy oak, and makes heavy use of symbolism to convey the past and future of Raleigh.

• The Oak Tree – Representative of the City of Oaks and our natural history.
• The green-yellow palette represents our natural areas and parks. As much as the city skyline grows, this logo is meant to assure the viewer that Raleigh will always embrace parks and trees.
• The logo has a mixed theme of organic and digital, symbolizing the high-tech businesses and growth of Raleigh in digital industries.
• Half of the oak tree has wavy leaves and lines, indicating a soft, natural, go-with-the-flow personality.
• However, the tree evolves from left to right, growing into harder, more pixelated lines. This could represent the city’s growth into rectangular buildings, instead of wavy trees, as the downtown highrises grow. It also could indicate the city’s growth in the digital world.
• Note the change in the text from the old seal to the new logo. The classic logo says “City of Raleigh. North Carolina.” In the new font, the word “Raleigh” stands alone, no longer needing to provide details like state and status as a city. Much like a celebrity such as Cher or Beyonce no longer needs to write their last name to be recognized, this shows that Raleigh is now large enough and bold enough to not need a “last name.”
• The font is far less classic and serious. Instead, it’s bold and conveys a slight sense of playfulness. It shows we are developing our own personality — our own brand — as a city.

The Storytelling Power of a Simple Logo

Symbolism, style, color schemes, and modern trends are all a critical part of creating a logo, and rebranding requires careful thought and strategizing. How much should you change? How much should you allow nostalgia and history to inspire you?

A picture speaks a thousand words, and a logo speaks a million. Those 250×250 pixels tell your brand’s story to the world. It’s funny how such a small icon can have such a huge impact on how your customers perceive your company — or your city.

The post Breaking Down the City of Raleigh Logo: A Designer’s Look at Symbolism appeared first on TheeDesign.

Veteran’s Day is not a day about freebies, discounts, or even a deal on a new car. It is a day to reflect back and remember the sacrifices that so many have made to protect the freedoms that we all take for granted. Some join the military for the camaraderie, money for college, opportunities for travel, or learning new skills. I joined the U.S. Army for the adventure, the pride, and as the old recruiting slogan said, to “Be All I Can Be”.

As a special operations soldier, I served in the Army as a military intelligence analyst and a psychological operations specialist. I learned and utilized skills that paved the way for a successful career in digital marketing.

I joined the army arriving for basic training at Fort Knox, KY looking just as lost as everyone else. With proper motivation from the drill sergeants, we were molded into shape and became fine-tuned machines. I was taught leadership, teamwork, and communication skills that would follow me into the civilian world. Being a paratrooper taught me confidence and helped me quickly get over a fear of heights.

But it was my role within the intelligence community and within the special operations command that guided me to where I am today.

Below is a brief and unclassified look at how my military service became a successful career in the field of digital marketing.

From Soldier to Search Engine Optimizer

As members of the Army special operations community, we were responsible for:

• Analysis, development, and distribution of intelligence used for information and psychological effect;
• Researching and analyzing methods of influencing populations from a variety of intelligence sources;
• Determining the appropriate mix of media for the proper dissemination of information;
• Analyzing and evaluating intelligence reports to determine changes in capabilities and vulnerabilities; and
• Deciding on multiple probable courses of actions.

From a digital marketing perspective, the skills and experience gained in the special operations community mean you are able to produce more effective and highly targeted campaigns. The more you know and understand your target audience, the easier it will be to connect and create a rapport with them. The research and analysis skill I gained during my time as a member of the Army special operations community empower my ability to build successful digital marketing campaigns today.

Information gathering, analysis, and distribution are all useful for:

• Website Audits,
• Website Design,
• Social Media Managment,
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC).

I am proud to work for TheeDesign, a digital marketing company in Raleigh, NC that understands the value and service that military veterans have brought to our country.

The post How The Military Prepared Me for a Career in Digital Marketing appeared first on TheeDesign.

Stranger Things can teach you a lot about how to build a marketing campaign. First of all, look at how effortlessly Stranger Things tugs at our nostalgia strings with vintage ads and clothes from the 1980s. The writers literally scoop up memorable retro ads from that era and build us an ice cream cone of sweet childhood memories. Even the logo for Stranger Things, that bold red serif font on a black background, conjures images of the original Dungeons & Dragons books, which are central to the plot of the show.

And guess what? Every good marketer does this. We build on the generations before us, and we harken on the deeply felt bittersweet traditions of childhood. That’s why the Coca-Cola Polar Bears at Christmas remind us of sweeter, simpler times. It’s why vintage ads always catch our eye. We remember the good old days.

Vintage Brand References in Stranger Things

Stranger Things takes their nostalgia a step further: they incorporate all of that vintage branding and sweet childhood simplicity into their storyline. Just hearing the sound of an old television jingle when Eleven turns on the TV suddenly makes me remember my own childhood in the 1980s. The kids sit down to a game of 1983 Expert Edition Dungeons & Dragons; they ride their bikes with giant headlights (a nod to ET); they eat Eggo Waffles; they dress up like Ghostbusters. This isn’t just good storytelling; it’s actually benefiting from branding built by companies decades ago. It stands on the backs of giants.

And because it’s all so familiar, it transports me back to that time. I’m not just watching these kids, I’m identifying with their childhood – that’s good storytelling.

So enthralled am I by the magic of Stranger Things, I wanted to dig deeper into what we can learn about digital marketing from the story and characters in the show. It turns out, for a time without digital marketing, it can still teach us quite a lot about Google, SEO, and life.

1. Friends Don’t Lie

Eleven tells it like it is, so likewise, SEO Masters shouldn’t utilize dark magic and trickery (Black Hat SEO) to lie to Google and try to trick the Googlebots into ranking their site well. Google is clever, and eventually, it’ll catch you keyword stuffing and building phony link chains. If you want Google to rank you, you should be Google’s friend. Tell the truth.

So how do you tell Google the truth?

Let’s think of Eleven as Google. Just like Google, she knows how to find things. She’s good at searching through the upside-down — the internet.

But in season one, Eleven had limited language skills. Her friends communicated to her using simple keywords to signal what they needed.

Likewise, you have to use words Google understands when you write your content. If you’re running a landscaping company, you may realize the correct term is “Irrigation Winterization,” but your customers are probably just searching for “Sprinkler Shut Off.” You need to use words Google understands and that clients would search for. This takes a little keyword research.

2. If You Want to be Seen, Be Flashy

When Will Byers wanted to be found, he made a scene. He sang loudly; he lit up Christmas lights; he screamed through walls. Those Christmas lights are one of the most memorable motifs of Stranger Things.

So if you need to be found in the upside-down, you need to make your website dazzle. Google recognizes great content, dazzling SEO, multimedia pages, use of voice search, and using new technology and design. Creating this great content, especially if you bolster it through social media, amplifies your presence and helps Eleven (Google) to find you in the upside-down.

So make music, design animations, write creative content — and then reach out through social media. Hopefully, Eleven will find you and save you.

3. Level Up Your Digital Psychokinesis

If Stranger Things taught us anything, it’s to rely on your team. If you’re a healer, don’t cast Fireball – cast Protect. Otherwise, you spend the rest of the season trapped with a Demogorgon.

But when you combine your strengths:

• Content Sorceror,
• Link Building Barbarian,
• Social Media Bard,
• Technical SEO Wizard,
• Web Design Warrior, and
• Analytics Zoomer.

You now have a D&D party that can build an interconnected strategy.

Bringing this back to a real-world example:

If your Content Sorceror publishes a creative article but has no idea how to build links or share on social, how will it be found? Or if your Technical SEO Wizard casts a great optimization spell, but the page they cover is a boring or uncreative blog, it may rank on Google, but never convert.

It’s only when the team works together that your digital marketing strategy can really be effective — i.e. don’t split the party.

4. Get the Wrist Rocket Out

You don’t have to take down the Demogorgon with nothing but a slingshot. There are a ton of tools to help you properly analyze your situation in the upside-down. Google Analytics will help you see what’s working and what’s not, which provides valuable data as to how to build a strategy for moving forward. Search Console and all kinds of WordPress plugins work like magic spells to help you navigate and create a dungeon map so that you can navigate the upside-down.

5. “Mornings are for Coffee and Contemplation”

When your brain is just fried, take a break. Go for a walk around the building, sip a cup of coffee, and do something to recharge your creativity. It’ll be hard to find your way through the upside-down unless you take a break every now and then.

The post 5 Lessons “Stranger Things” Teaches Us About Digital Marketing appeared first on TheeDesign.

Could your business benefit from a free website or design upgrade? TheeDesign is giving away one free website for the New Year, utilizing modern design trends and updated SEO strategies!

From December 15 until January 30, we’re hosting a contest to give away a free, brand new website to help one business or non-profit start 2018 with a new design!

Want a little inspiration for your new website? Check out some examples of our award-winning designs!

The post New Year, New Website: Win a Free Website from TheeDesign appeared first on TheeDesign.