<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247</id><updated>2012-04-27T01:25:08.201-04:00</updated><category term='Search Engine Optimization'/><category term='New Blogs and Websites'/><category term='Marketing Momentos'/><category term='About Snap Creative Group'/><category term='Resources'/><category term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><category term='Website Design'/><category term='Good Information'/><category term='Good Business'/><title type='text'>The Creative Concierge®  at Snap Creative Group</title><subtitle type='html'>ideas, observations, reviews and comments about marketing and promotion from your Creative Concierge®. Nancy Suchoff works with businesses and professionals in Boca Raton, South Florida and beyond to help them achieve greater exposure and profitability.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>21</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-3721650125884507058</id><published>2008-09-08T14:11:00.004-04:00</published><updated>2008-09-08T14:15:59.304-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Resources'/><title type='text'>Free Shipping and Free Personalized Envelopes for Holiday Cards</title><content type='html'>Order holiday cards for the 2008 season before September 30th and there is no charge for personalized envelopes!  &lt;strong&gt;Ground shipping is ALWAYS free.  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;Snap offers a great selection of holiday greeting cards at super prices.   Please visit &lt;a title="blocked::http://holidaycardwebsite.com/suchoff" href="http://holidaycardwebsite.com/suchoff"&gt;http://holidaycardwebsite.com/suchoff&lt;/a&gt; for a great selection of cards for all occasions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanksgiving&lt;br /&gt;Chanukah&lt;br /&gt;Christmas&lt;br /&gt;New Years&lt;br /&gt;Business appreciation&lt;br /&gt;Birthdays&lt;br /&gt;Calendars&lt;br /&gt;Thank you&lt;br /&gt;Photo Cards&lt;br /&gt;Birthdays&lt;br /&gt;Calendars&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff6666;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Once you place your order we will contact you for payment information.  MasterCard and Visa accepted. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-3721650125884507058?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/3721650125884507058/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=3721650125884507058' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/3721650125884507058'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/3721650125884507058'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/09/free-shipping-and-free-personalized.html' title='Free Shipping and Free Personalized Envelopes for Holiday Cards'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-2635259120857630639</id><published>2008-08-21T15:00:00.006-04:00</published><updated>2008-08-21T15:20:13.299-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Search Engine Optimization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Website Design'/><title type='text'>Why Google?</title><content type='html'>Why Google? The search engine that is a noun and verb remains the significant dominant search engine in the U.S, grabbing a little of the market that Yahoo lost.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.comscore.com/"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237051302250452946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SK2-aY0il9I/AAAAAAAAABs/NhXic3ICw48/s400/google-stats.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;p align="right"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt; Data source: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.comscore.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;ComScore&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;When designing a website I always keep in mind, “What would Google like?” Thinking about their spiders and algorithms keeps me on my toes. Knowing they index sites that get updated more frequently gives my clients reason to keep the info on their websites fresh. When a pay-per-click campaign is considered, it’s Google I suggest first. While Yahoo and MSN might have a bit more to offer in ROI for larger campaigns, in local search Google’s targeted geographic areas advertising is easy to use, to understand and to implement. And I’ve seen clients such as &lt;a href="http://www.fightforeclosurecases.com/"&gt;The Ticktin Law Group&lt;/a&gt; in Deerfield Beach and &lt;a href="http://www.aaariteway.com/"&gt;AAARiteway&lt;/a&gt; in Boca Raton benefit by this precision targeting in their PPC campaigns.  They  don't need to advertise to homeowners in northern Florida or out of state.  Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties are all that matter.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every website needs the best organic design to attract all the search engines. But if Google can’t find you, you might as well be three miles from the center of town with no road to your door. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-2635259120857630639?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/2635259120857630639/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=2635259120857630639' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/2635259120857630639'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/2635259120857630639'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-google.html' title='Why Google?'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SK2-aY0il9I/AAAAAAAAABs/NhXic3ICw48/s72-c/google-stats.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-4536872424339721021</id><published>2008-08-15T16:42:00.007-04:00</published><updated>2008-08-15T19:14:34.410-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Business'/><title type='text'>Giving Thanks for Business Referrals</title><content type='html'>I had lunch today with a friend who has referred the car salesman she bought her Lexus from to five different people. Four of them purchased cars from him. She has never gotten as much as thank you card, never mind a small token gift of appreciation. "Why do you continue to refer him?" I asked. "Because the dealership is really great," she replied.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;May be. But the Lexus salesman is stupid. My friend sells multi-million dollar homes in Boca Raton and Delray Beach to people who drive expensive cars. This salesman should make her HIS best friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When a friend, colleague, acquaintance or client sends a referral your way, you should &lt;strong&gt;always &lt;/strong&gt;send a thank you. First, send a written note or, if it's someone you know well, an e-mail acknowledging the referral. Even if he or she is in your networking group (such as your &lt;a href="http://www.bnibocaraton.com/"&gt;BNI chapter &lt;/a&gt;or chamber leads group), keep them in the loop. If you get the business, send them a real thank you. At minimum a gift card or flowers. Or spend some time and find out what means the most to them and select a gift that is more appropriate. A spa-package for someone who would love to be pampered or a gift certificate to have his or her prized sports car detailed are gifts with heart and thought behind them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They will remember you for a long time for your thoughtfulness and certainly refer others again as they know how much you appreciate them.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-4536872424339721021?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/4536872424339721021/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=4536872424339721021' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4536872424339721021'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4536872424339721021'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/08/giving-thanks-for-business-referrals.html' title='Giving Thanks for Business Referrals'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-5467327454691596532</id><published>2008-07-23T20:13:00.004-04:00</published><updated>2008-07-23T20:43:58.865-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing Momentos'/><title type='text'>Lessons from a Country Fair</title><content type='html'>My friend's daughter is a 15-year old with a passion for baking. She attends a magnet school in NJ with a program in culinary arts and often bakes her all-natural breads and cakes for local fund-raising events.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a recent vacation in Vermont, Mariel asked her mom if she might bake some breads and sell them for charity at the fair held every Saturday nearby. Recipes in her head and magic in her hands, preparing the baked goods was easy as, well, pie. But selling them proved a bit more of a challenge. She was a stranger in those parts and her reputation did not extend from NJ to New England.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She stood quietly behind her table of delicious treats until a neighboring vendor encouraged her to put some on a plate and offer samples. Realizing it was her only chance of getting some attention, she followed the woman's advice and ventured beyond her comfort zone behind the table.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Within a few short hours all 75 of her loaves were sold and the sale was a success. All because she took a few courageous steps and tried something new.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Selling our own products or services is often a daunting task. Fear of rejection or failure oft times limits our ability to push forward and connect with people – in life or in business. Mariel offered her prospective customers something of herself – a product sample and her winning smile. If we all offer our prospective customers a bit of knowledge of what is to come if they buy our product or use our service and complement it with a positive attitude, the sales process becomes nearly effortless.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-5467327454691596532?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/5467327454691596532/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=5467327454691596532' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5467327454691596532'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5467327454691596532'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/07/lessons-from-country-fair.html' title='Lessons from a Country Fair'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-4505571340894699783</id><published>2008-07-17T16:19:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2008-07-29T18:31:27.927-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='New Blogs and Websites'/><title type='text'>New Websites From Snap Creative Group, Boca Raton</title><content type='html'>New Websites this past spring and early summer:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Absolute Limousines, Deerfield Beach, Florida&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="blocked::http://www.absolute-limousines.com/" href="http://www.absolute-limousines.com/"&gt;http://www.absolute-limousines.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cook Ease Catering, Dallas, Texas&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="blocked::http://www.cookeasecatering.com/" href="http://www.cookeasecatering.com/"&gt;http://www.cookeasecatering.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saraga &amp;amp; Lipshy, PA. Attorneys, Delray Beach, Florida&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="blocked::http://www.slpalaw.com/" href="http://www.slpalaw.com/"&gt;http://www.slpalaw.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Ticktin Law Group, Deerfield Beach, Florida&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.legalbrains.com/"&gt;http://www.legalbrains.com/&lt;/a&gt; Main Website &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.fightforeclosurecases.com/"&gt;http://www.fightforeclosurecases.com/&lt;/a&gt; Foreclosure Defense &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;CMM Floor Specialists, Carpet and Floor Cleaning, Boynton Beach, Florida&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.carpetandfloorcleaning.com/"&gt;http://www.carpetandfloorcleaning.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Preferred Corporate Travel, Boca Raton, Florida&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.preferredcorporatetravel.com/"&gt;http://www.preferredcorporatetravel.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-4505571340894699783?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/4505571340894699783/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=4505571340894699783' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4505571340894699783'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4505571340894699783'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-websites-from-snap-creative-group.html' title='New Websites From Snap Creative Group, Boca Raton'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-5433952528810401964</id><published>2008-06-30T13:33:00.008-04:00</published><updated>2008-06-30T15:04:25.419-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><title type='text'>Untitled Document - poison for SEO</title><content type='html'>If searching for a good read on the library shelf, would you pick up a book with a bare spine or one that has a title, the author and maybe a little bit of a graphic to entice you?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Search engine spiders are like that. They skip over the websites that have barren or lackluster meta-tags. How descriptive is “HOME” or “ABOUT US”? They’d rather feast on (and index) title tags and description tags that offer information about the company:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What’s more descriptive?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Title: &lt;span style="color:#330099;"&gt;Cooking Classes, Team Building, Personal Chef CookEase Catering, Dallas TX (&lt;a href="http://www.cookeasecatering.com/" target="_blank"&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;vs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff0000;"&gt;Title: Home Page&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217752186748782546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SGkt-BEtx9I/AAAAAAAAABU/Vo5iZVZwB_A/s400/UD2.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Title: &lt;span style="color:#330099;"&gt;Boca Raton Emergency Dentist Fort Lauderdale Area Emergency Dentist Eric E. Mohr, DMD (&lt;a href="http://www.drericmohr.com/" target="_blank"&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;vs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff0000;"&gt;Title: Dr. Eric Mohr&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#330099;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Title: &lt;span style="color:#330099;"&gt;Corporate Travel Specialists Business Travel Agents PCT Boca Raton FL (&lt;a href="http://www.preferredcorporatetravel.com/" target="_blank"&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;vs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff0000;"&gt;Title: untitled document&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff0000;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SGktmaJ0QAI/AAAAAAAAABM/7bnZZ2D4eL0/s1600-h/UD1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217751781164204034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SGktmaJ0QAI/AAAAAAAAABM/7bnZZ2D4eL0/s400/UD1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Details like well constructed meta-tags and text that is written (not loaded as graphics) to attract those looking for your product on service are just two of the fundamentals of good organic SEO and website design&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-5433952528810401964?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/5433952528810401964/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=5433952528810401964' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5433952528810401964'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5433952528810401964'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/06/untitled-document-poison-for-seo.html' title='Untitled Document - poison for SEO'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/SGkt-BEtx9I/AAAAAAAAABU/Vo5iZVZwB_A/s72-c/UD2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-1003547637566256482</id><published>2008-03-31T11:24:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2008-03-31T11:25:10.492-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><title type='text'>Good marketing is like flossing daily.</title><content type='html'>My phone is ringing a lot lately.  Good for me, bad for my prospective clients.   “Business is bad, I need help with my marketing” is the most often heard lament.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In today’s economic downturn, it seems the only ones making money are auction houses and eBay as everyone is getting rid of material goods to pay the mortgage.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beefing up a marketing program during a recession is kind of like starting an exercise program after you have a heart attack.  Important and effective, but you might not have had the heart attack if you were exercising all along.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Keep your name and product or service in front of your prospects year round.  Always be asking for referrals and networking.  Keep your website fresh, your marketing materials up-to-date and your message current.  Don’t wait until the phone stops ringing to find new ways to promote your business.  It’s like flossing your teeth.  If you do it every day you will have a strong “bite” in the market forever.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-1003547637566256482?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/1003547637566256482/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=1003547637566256482' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/1003547637566256482'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/1003547637566256482'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/03/good-marketing-is-like-flossing-daily.html' title='Good marketing is like flossing daily.'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-5884732110153404559</id><published>2008-03-25T13:41:00.003-04:00</published><updated>2008-03-31T11:10:59.043-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='New Blogs and Websites'/><title type='text'>Blogs for my clients</title><content type='html'>New Blogs from Snap Creative Group:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.lifeonthelinks.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://www.lifeonthelinks.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt; Barbara Levine's Life on the Links. Barbara is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; real estate expert for buyers in golf club communities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.floridarealestatelawyers.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://www.floridarealestatelawyers.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt; Saraga &amp;amp; Lipshy PA is a real estate and business law firm in Delray Beach FL&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.askdrarlene.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://www.askdrarlene.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt; Dr. Arlene Krieger's comments on relationships, love, dating and intimacy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://marnexproducts.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://marnexproducts.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt;    Marnex Products offers promotional items, imprinted products and advertising specialties in Cleveland and nationwide.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-5884732110153404559?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/5884732110153404559/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=5884732110153404559' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5884732110153404559'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5884732110153404559'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2008/03/blogs-for-my-clients.html' title='Blogs for my clients'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-6833754765903999066</id><published>2007-10-26T21:36:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-10-26T21:40:45.469-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Information'/><title type='text'>Forrester Research: US Interactive Marketing Spending To Reach $61 Billion By 2012</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color:#333333;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Barriers Between Traditional And Interactive Marketing Will Dissolve Within Five Years&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CHICAGO-- (&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;BUSINESS WIRE)&lt;/span&gt; -- Interactive marketing spending in the US will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012, according to a new Forrester Research, Inc.&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt; (Nasdaq: FORR)&lt;/span&gt; report released today at the Forrester Consumer Forum 2007 in Chicago. Forrester expects that a maturing perspective about interactive channels coupled with technology advances will eventually lead to interactive technologies infusing all marketing efforts, and the interactive marketing organization will dissolve.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“As firms continue to make customer centricity a higher priority, they will recognize that maintaining separate marketing teams to manage different sets of channels that all target the same customers makes no sense,” said Forrester Research Principal Analyst Shar VanBoskirk. “Over the next five years, we see interactive technologies gradually infiltrating all media — including such traditional paragons as television, billboards, and direct mail — and the concept of a separate interactive marketing organization will disappear.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The growth in interactive marketing spending represents a 27 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years. Interactive marketing — which currently comprises 8 percent of all ad spending — will grow to 18 percent of total ad budgets in five years.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Forrester forecast is based in part on a survey of 344 interactive marketing professionals and their budget decisions affecting display ads, search, email marketing, online video, and emerging media (social, mobile, and advergaming). Forrester’s breakdown of spending includes the following:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Search marketing will triple in five years. Mainstream marketers’ aggressive use of search marketing will grow the category at a CAGR of 26 percent to $25 billion by 2012 due to the increasing costs of paid search, additional spending on optimization tools and services, and international expansion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Display advertising will reach $14 billion by 2012. Display ads will be a key factor in the interactive marketing budget by having an essential supporting role for all interactive campaigns.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Services and integration — not volume — will drive email marketing growth. Spending will focus on improving email relevancy with analytics and data management, and will grow to more than $4 billion by 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Online video ads will significantly increase. Growing consumer adoption of online video will result in a dramatic 72 percent increase in online video ad spending to $7.1 billion by 2012. More customer-centric online video applications will increase the medium’s appeal for consumers and marketers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Social media will drive emerging channels to $10 billion by 2012. Mainstream adoption will boost spending in emerging channels such as social media, mobile, game marketing, widgets, podcasts, and RSS. Spending on social media alone will grow to $6.9 billion as marketers understand how to use and measure this channel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mobile marketing will grow to $2.8 billion. As consumers become increasingly tied to personal computing handsets, they’ll want to extend their mobile utility to accommodate transactions. This transition will drive mobile marketing to grow to $2.8 billion by 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“These changes will not only affect the budget structure of marketing organizations, but it will also give interactive marketing professionals a more legitimate seat at the marketing table,” VanBoskirk continues. “In fact, with interactive marketing gaining executive visibility as much for its popularity with young consumers as for its measurability and cost effectiveness, we see a class of marketers emerging who will involve themselves with a few high-profile interactive experiments in order to catapult themselves into the CMO seat.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2007 To 2012” is currently available to Forrester RoleView clients and can also be purchased directly at &lt;a href="http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=42463"&gt;http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=42463&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#333333;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Forrester Research&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. For more than 24 years, Forrester has been making leaders successful every day through its proprietary research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more information, visit &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.forrester.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#333333;"&gt;www.forrester.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="color:#333333;"&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;© 2007, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester is a trademark of Forrester Research, Inc&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-6833754765903999066?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/6833754765903999066/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=6833754765903999066' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6833754765903999066'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6833754765903999066'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/10/forrester-research-us-interactive.html' title='Forrester Research: US Interactive Marketing Spending To Reach $61 Billion By 2012'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-2780684075129447608</id><published>2007-10-24T22:35:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2008-03-31T23:42:22.070-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='About Snap Creative Group'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><title type='text'>Kudos to the SCORE volunteers at the SBA in Delray Beach</title><content type='html'>Last week I had the pleasure of addressing the SBA's &lt;a href="http://www.score.org/"&gt;SCORE&lt;/a&gt; volunteers at their office in Delray Beach. This group of retired business owners and executives give generously of their time and talent to mentor small business owners as they start-up or aim to expand. Working for no fee and confidentially, each volunteer works in their own specific area of expertise. The Delray Beach office is one of nearly 400 nationwide established to help entrepreneurs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My presentation was on the cost effectiveness of &lt;strong&gt;online pay-per-click vs. traditional yellow pages advertising&lt;/strong&gt;. By demonstrating how a retailer would have to spend over $10,000 a year in the Real Yellow Pages (a "dollar bill size" ad) to reach consumers from Delray Beach to Deerfield Beach, it would be far more cost effective for most businesses to establish a local pay-per-click program with Google or Yahoo to drive traffic to their websites. A flooring store, for example, could develop pay-per-click campaigns for a variety of products - rugs, tile, laminate, restoration, etc. whereas each Yellow Page section would require either a separate ad or a referral to the main ad. The Yellow Book's ads are less, but their circulation is smaller.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While the Internet Yellow Pages saw growth in 2006, usage of print Yellow Pages declined 7.6 percent (Data: Yellow Pages Assoc.) . In contrast, roughly 750 million people worldwide over the age 15 conducted a search on the Internet in August, according to data released by &lt;a href="http://www.comscore.com/" target="_new" s_oc="null"&gt;comScore&lt;/a&gt;'s qSearch 2.0 service. (Data: &lt;a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/"&gt;SearchEngineWatch.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As more and more people turn to the Internet to search for local goods and services, it's wise for most new businesses to devote only a small amount of their marketing budget to Yellow Pages in favor of Internet advertising that will reap a stronger return. I was pleased to provide the SCORE volunteers with this information so their clients can make smarter decisions in preparing their business plans and marketing strategies.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-2780684075129447608?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/2780684075129447608/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=2780684075129447608' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/2780684075129447608'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/2780684075129447608'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/10/kudos-to-score-volunteers-at-sba-in.html' title='Kudos to the SCORE volunteers at the SBA in Delray Beach'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-939169734790177006</id><published>2007-10-02T17:01:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-10-02T21:14:40.220-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Resources'/><title type='text'>Snag It  - Love It</title><content type='html'>I've been using TechSmith's SNAGIT software for years. I just realized that I've used it about six times today alone, and would have really missed it had it not been available.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;I've grabbed screen shots of an animation for a client who has browser issues (can't see the animation - big problem!). &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Recorded the non-functioning "Continue Shopping" button in a PayPal shopping cart to send to PayPal's non-helpful customer service people to prove that the problem is on their end.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Captured an entire window of a new website I dcsigned to add a screenshot to my online portfolio&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Grabbed some other screen shots to use in a proposal.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Screen captures can be copied to a clipboard, saved to a file or printed. It's a very robust and time saving application for designers and non-graphics people alike. More at &lt;a href="http://www.techsmith.com/"&gt;http://www.techsmith.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-939169734790177006?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/939169734790177006/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=939169734790177006' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/939169734790177006'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/939169734790177006'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/10/snag-it-love-it.html' title='Snag It  - Love It'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-6573954094796284814</id><published>2007-09-08T08:40:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-09-08T09:00:57.368-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Information'/><title type='text'>AOL? Get rid of it.</title><content type='html'>A client recently questioned why the work I did to update his site wasn't displayed.  When I asked what browser he was using, he said "AOL."  Aha!  AOL's browser is notorious for caching (or keeping old files) and not refreshing itself to display new content.  When he checked the site using Internet Explorer, everything was as it was supposed to be.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I used to use AOL for my personal email.   I paid 9.95 a month since I used my DSL connection to get on the Internet, not AOL's connection.  It was easy to use and I had a couple of different screen names for various purposes (friends, online subscriptions, website registrations and one for posts to various bulletin boards I followed for travel, business and hobbies). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few years ago AOL offered free email accounts if you brought your own connection (as I had).  Well, it soon became evident you got what you paid for.  Writing emails became an annoyance as advertisements would impede the progress of typing.  If checking via the web interface it took a number of pages to get to the mail.  I eventually wrote friends and family and asked them to use my main email and have switched my other email addresses to Gmail and Yahoo.  I deleted AOL from my PC altogether and am no longer held hostage to their insistence on downloads and cookies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;AOL was, for many people, the first experience with the Internet.  Actually, for a long time, AOL was confused with the Internet.  It is no longer that&lt;em&gt; be all -end all.&lt;/em&gt;    I'm not crazy about Gmail because you can't put messages in folders, but it is certainly easy to use and I can preview my messages on my personalized Google homepage.  And it doesn't slow down my computer or bother me as I type. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for the client with AOL browser issues, we put a message on his site urging viewers to use IE or Netscape as AOL is not appropriate for a website that gets updated once a week.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-6573954094796284814?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/6573954094796284814/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=6573954094796284814' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6573954094796284814'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6573954094796284814'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/09/aol-get-rid-of-it.html' title='AOL? Get rid of it.'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-3045772290321626085</id><published>2007-09-01T17:00:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-09-07T21:07:17.520-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Business'/><title type='text'>Take a vacation for the benefit of your business</title><content type='html'>&lt;a name="OLE_LINK7"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a name="OLE_LINK6"&gt;For the first time in my 25+ year career I took a two week vacation. I went to &lt;/a&gt;Alaska and had a wonderful time. I saw all kinds of wildlife, marveled at the majesty of Denali and was awed by the glaciers. The near silent entrance of our cruise ship into Glacier National Park and College Fjords made the sights all that more humbling as I considered our small presence during a brief moment in time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The weeks leading to my vacation were fraught with deadlines and putting all my ducks in a row. Making sure files got to the printer in time, proposals for future work delivered, and of course, current projects on schedule. I took my laptop with me with so I could check email, monitor my clients’ Google AdWords accounts, start some website designs and the intention of working on my own marketing. (I’m the typical shoemaker’s kid who goes barefoot while everyone else has shoes.)  Currently working without an assistant, I enlisted the help of a friend to check my voicemail messages during the second week when I knew I’d be with spotty cell service and four hours behind.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An amazing thing happened. I barely did a thing! Of course I checked email and monitored Google. But the only other times I opened my laptop was to upload all the photos from my digital camera every night! I was relaxing. I was not thinking about deadlines and responsibilities. I was smiling all day and sleeping through the night. Occasionally something would creatively inspire me and I’d jot it down into my PDA, but for the better part of two weeks I was completely out of my “how can I help my clients?” mode.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It’s been a month since my return and I’m still a lot more stress-free than before I left. All that relaxation energized me…physically, mentally and creatively. I may not take a two week vacation next summer, but I will certainly get away for enough time to totally disengage myself from my business.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Any entrepreneur or professional who thinks it’s impossible or irresponsible to leave for a vacation is doing him or herself a gross injustice. Stepping away and getting out of the day-to-day is as important as replacing batteries in our computer back-up systems and upgrading to the latest software. Flight attendants tell you to put the oxygen masks on yourself before helping your children. By breathing deeper and getting a grip on your own well being makes everything else in your business so much easier.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-3045772290321626085?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/3045772290321626085/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=3045772290321626085' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/3045772290321626085'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/3045772290321626085'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/09/take-vacation-for-benefit-of-your.html' title='Take a vacation for the benefit of your business'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-9185274550723917647</id><published>2007-06-09T00:56:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-06-09T01:06:44.682-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><title type='text'>Drop the Drop-Down Menu and Flash for Search</title><content type='html'>I've been telling my clients for years that Flash is pretty, but it is going to inhibit their ability to be found organically (naturally) on Google, Yahoo and all the other search engines.  And what's the point of building a website if no one is going to find you?   Unless you're a major brand like Ford, Ralph Lauren or Sony who can afford to use lots of Flash and script because the world knows them, you need a well optimized site to grab your potentional customers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A recent blog entry on one of my favorite websites, Media Post, has discussed "un-crawable technologies." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From Darrell Long's post:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#660000;"&gt; &lt;em&gt; "If your navigation was built in java script and uses drop-down menus to showcase particular sections, the search engines most likely will not be able to follow those links. This limitation can also be felt by visitors who currently have java script disabled within their Web browsers. "&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To read the story in full (and you should!) vist : &lt;a href="http://blogs.mediapost.com/search_insider/?p=539"&gt;http://blogs.mediapost.com/search_insider/?p=539&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-9185274550723917647?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/9185274550723917647/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=9185274550723917647' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/9185274550723917647'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/9185274550723917647'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/06/drop-drop-down-menu-and-flash-for.html' title='Drop the Drop-Down Menu and Flash for Search'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-5866158653281537354</id><published>2007-05-24T12:01:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-05-24T12:15:10.811-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Information'/><title type='text'>Americans Spend Half of Their Spare Time Online</title><content type='html'>&lt;td width="347" valign="top"  style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fa=" target="_blank"&gt;MediaPost&lt;/a&gt; reports that "according to Netpop I Play, a new report from Media-Screen, broadband users spend an hour and 40 minutes (48% of their spare time) online in a typical weekday, and more than half of that is spent accessing activities related to entertainment and communication.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Josh Crandall, managing director of Media-Screen, says "Many broadband consumers go online for entertainment, and to talk about entertainment with other fans. Marketers need to leverage that interest..."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report indicates search engines and social networking sites are gaining in popularity. And only two online media activities, sending email and visiting Web sites for personal reasons are more important than watching TV.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"&gt;For more information, please visit &lt;a href="http://www.media-screen.com" target="_blank"&gt;Media-Screen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-5866158653281537354?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/5866158653281537354/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=5866158653281537354' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5866158653281537354'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5866158653281537354'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/05/americans-spend-half-of-their-spare.html' title='Americans Spend Half of Their Spare Time Online'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-4868846437127122658</id><published>2007-05-01T17:29:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-05-07T00:38:47.590-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing and Design Strategy'/><title type='text'>Image is Everything</title><content type='html'>I'm working with Chesed Dog and Cat Rescue as we redesign their &lt;a href="http://www.Chesed-Rescue.org"&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;. Part of the site is being managed by volunteers who post the animals available for adoption, the new posts to the &lt;a href="http://chesedrescue.blogspot.com"&gt;Blog&lt;/a&gt; and info about current events.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the volunteers questioned why some of the animals chosen to appear on the site are so sad looking. "We should have happy dogs so people will adopt them," she suggested.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A website promoting dog and cat adoption is marketing a message; These animals will suffer and might even die if homes are not found. We &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; people to feel sorry for them. A plaintive face behind a cage is a lot more compelling than a cuddly puppy safe in a rescuer's arms.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Selecting images for a website or a Blog should be done with as much care as the words you choose. Think about the overall message and complement the photos accordingly.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-4868846437127122658?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/4868846437127122658/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=4868846437127122658' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4868846437127122658'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4868846437127122658'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/05/image-is-everything.html' title='Image is Everything'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-6825581218647478718</id><published>2007-03-02T12:09:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2007-05-01T09:51:44.791-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Good Business'/><title type='text'>Don't get mad - get typing</title><content type='html'>We are a nation of complainers. But few of us know how to complain effectively, particularly to large corporations. When the phone company messes up, the airline changes your reservation without telling you, the messenger company comes four hours late or the laser printer arrives damaged, screaming at the minimum wage customer service rep will not make you feel better nor get satisfying results.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To get what you want, first find out who is really responsible for the problem. Or for solving it. Ask the phone rep to speak to his or her manager. Simply say you won’t take no for an answer. This person reports to someone. Sometimes you have to say thanks, hang up, and call again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I purchased a new Palm Treo through Sprint PCS last year, I had what should have been a small problem with its configuration. But one poorly trained customer service tech gave me instructions for the wrong model, and I wound up spending over six hours on the phone and visiting my local Sprint store. I was, of course, furious.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;                                    Rather th&lt;a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdFhQEP69I/AAAAAAAAAAU/LOnL9pNJIu8/s1600-h/typing.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059589143924829138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdFhQEP69I/AAAAAAAAAAU/LOnL9pNJIu8/s320/typing.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;an writing “Dear Customer Service” in an email, I went the old fashioned snail mail route. I did some homework, found the names of the top two executives – one in customer service and the president of the company, and wrote a letter. I explained that I’d been a long time Sprint customer, had always been happy with their service, and that this time they really dropped the ball. I detailed the problem, and was specific in what I wanted in return. As I wasted six hours, I felt I deserved to be compensated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To their credit, a very nice and sympathetic representative called about two weeks later, apologized for the inconvenience and did make restitution via service credit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So next time you’re at wits end re bad service, remain calm and polite. Don’t make threats or raise your voice. Send a letter and if after about two weeks you don’t hear anything, place a call to the executive you wrote. Always keep notes of who you speak with and the time and date.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-6825581218647478718?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/6825581218647478718/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=6825581218647478718' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6825581218647478718'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/6825581218647478718'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/03/dont-get-mad-get-typing.html' title='Don&apos;t get mad - get typing'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp1.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdFhQEP69I/AAAAAAAAAAU/LOnL9pNJIu8/s72-c/typing.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-7777639160616356933</id><published>2007-01-14T10:38:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2007-05-01T09:46:15.654-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Resources'/><title type='text'>The Secret to My Success....</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdEjAEP68I/AAAAAAAAAAM/ry55J9nfQLM/s1600-h/bnipin.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059588074477972418" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdEjAEP68I/AAAAAAAAAAM/ry55J9nfQLM/s320/bnipin.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;It's really no secret. BNI. I joined the Boca Raton chapter in the spring of 2000. I was invited to come visit a meeting by one of the members. 7am - is he kidding? But I hauled myself out of bed at the unGodly hour of 5:45am and made it. What an eye-opening experience that was. A group of friendly local business people working to help each other promote one another's businesses and services. The mortgage guy referring the payroll services rep to one of his clients. She, in turn, referred the realtor to one of her clients who mentioned they were looking to move. it's like having dozens of sales reps out in the Boca area working to get you business. Over six years later, I'm of the opinion that if you can't get up early one day a week then you're making too much money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://bnibocaraton.com"&gt;Our chapter&lt;/a&gt; has 35 members and we meet at Maggiano's for breakfast. What a nice group of people that I really look forward to seeing every week. Working alone from my home office, it's nice to network with a bunch of people I like and trust. If I have a quick question for one of the attorneys I can just pick up the phone or shoot off an email. I get calls from members who ask me to help them write a quick press release or tweak their yellow pages ad. We really help each other out. But more importantly, we're out in the world drumming up business for one another. In the last few weeks I referred one client to our chapter's IT guy, and another to our printer. When a friend from up north needed a realtor to sell her late father's condo, I referred our real estate agent. When one of my friends was at Club Med he met someone from Boca who needed an accountant - and told him to call me for her name! (I've got everyone I know trained - they know I KNOW PEOPLE).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-7777639160616356933?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/7777639160616356933/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=7777639160616356933' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/7777639160616356933'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/7777639160616356933'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/01/secret-to-my-success.html' title='The Secret to My Success....'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp0.blogger.com/_U-k7X8xEzPE/RjdEjAEP68I/AAAAAAAAAAM/ry55J9nfQLM/s72-c/bnipin.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-4049518223286113812</id><published>2006-10-06T16:05:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-03-14T11:13:55.154-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Resources'/><title type='text'>I do the work of a General Contractor. Who knew?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I like to discuss non-proprietary issues about clients and projects I'm working on with a colleague who specializes in copywriting, Gregg Havass of &lt;a class="" href="http://www.wordsperfect.net/" target="_blank"&gt;Wordsperfect, Inc.&lt;/a&gt; As sole practitioners it's good to touch base with others who work in the same way to find, keep and help clients. He mentioned how he was working with someone to rewrite their corporate mission statement and brochure. When finished, they asked him who to hire for the design and new website. Then, they asked who to use for the photography. "I sometimes feel like a General Contractor," he said today. "I write the copy but then I point them towards all the other people they need to get their message out in the world."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a GC, he's much like me. But I call myself a Creative Concierge&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;(sm).&lt;/span&gt; I help my clients by finding the resources that I don't do myself. I wouldn't be able to create a database for one of the websites I design if my life depended on it. But I know great programmers who can. We work as a team. When I'm all done designing a direct mail postcard, I depend on a list house I trust to help with the mailing. And when the text for a website or brochure requires another marketing pro with whom to collaborate, I call Gregg. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being a Creative Concierge is not being a &lt;em&gt;Jack of All Trades, a Master of None.&lt;/em&gt; It's being the marketing go-to person with the skill set to get bigger projects accomplished with a trusted core of resources. Being a Creative Concierge is knowing my clients' needs sometimes before they do. I've been working with some of them so long I know their habits, their business cycle, some of their other vendors and often their clients. It's being able to do the things I love to do and do well, and carefully collaborating with others to fill in the pieces to get the job done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-4049518223286113812?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/4049518223286113812/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=4049518223286113812' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4049518223286113812'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4049518223286113812'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-do-work-of-general-contractor-who.html' title='I do the work of a General Contractor. Who knew?'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-4381460131020709459</id><published>2006-10-01T11:20:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2008-03-31T23:41:53.886-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='About Snap Creative Group'/><title type='text'>What is a Creative Concierge ® ?</title><content type='html'>When staying at a fine hotel on vacation or business you often turn to the Concierge for advice on where to dine, what tour to take, or getting the last-minute shipment of samples for a tradeshow redistributed to your colleagues’ rooms.A concierge is the person who takes care of your every need. Someone ready, willing and able to be there to respond to those needs immediately – and sometimes intuitively - without even being asked.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So what makes me a Creative Concierge&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;®&lt;/span&gt;? I am the person who hits the ground running, learning your business and focusing on its success as if I have a personal stake in it. I become an integrated part of your company as its creative force. I have the skill sets, contacts and resources you need to market your business professionally and effectively. I myself am an entrepreneur so I understand your drive&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-4381460131020709459?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/4381460131020709459/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=4381460131020709459' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4381460131020709459'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/4381460131020709459'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2007/03/when-staying-at-fine-hotel-on-vacation.html' title='What is a Creative Concierge ® ?'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3159307143264353247.post-5278774304750020534</id><published>2006-09-07T00:42:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-03-17T00:53:25.824-04:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Resources'/><title type='text'>Off the Hammock - Autumn is (almost) here!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Getting Back to Business&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a name="1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even businesses get that anticipation of "back to school" season. Summer winds down, most of our colleagues, clients and vendors are back from vacations, and even if you're here in hot Florida, there is that autumn anticipation in the air. Rather than new pencils and loose leaf binders, I've invested in some new software to enhance my repertoire of services and made plans to visit some business events to strengthen my networking circle. How are you preparing for the new back to work season? Whether you're an owner of a large company or a one-man operation, it's time to roll off the hammock and get back to business!Here are a couple of quick and inexpensive (free!) ways of promoting yourself today:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get your business listed at &lt;a href="http://www.superpages.com/"&gt;http://www.superpages.com/&lt;/a&gt; Even if you have a home-based business and a residential phone line, you can sign up - it won't cost a penny! And if you already have a business listing you can have up to five categories.. Example: A chiropractor's regular listing may only be under health care. But if your practice offers nutritional guidance or massage therapy, you can add yourself to those categories as well! My free listing includes: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Web Site Design &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Communications &amp; Public Relations Consultants &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Advertising &amp;amp; Design Agencies &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Logos &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Graphic Design&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt; Make sure that your email has a complete signature that provides all your business information including a link to your website.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Update your business cards. Add some info about your company on the back. It's a great excuse to hand someone your card even if you've met them before! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3159307143264353247-5278774304750020534?l=creativeconcierge.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/feeds/5278774304750020534/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3159307143264353247&amp;postID=5278774304750020534' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5278774304750020534'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3159307143264353247/posts/default/5278774304750020534'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://creativeconcierge.blogspot.com/2006/09/off-hammock-autumn-is-almost-here.html' title='Off the Hammock - Autumn is (almost) here!'/><author><name>Nancy</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07780605918476772638</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>