Simply put, there’s a ton of money involved in the conference game (some $12 billion to be more exact). While the event organizers are certainly raking in a fair amount of profit, the majority of attendees follow the same pattern – walk around, pick up some swag, and maybe some light conversation at a few interesting booths. This amounts to a big expenditure without any of the potential benefits to be found at a conference or trade show.

We’re going to teach you how to be a trade show ninja and get the most bank for your conference buck.

Engage in Conversations
The real advantage of a conference (and why those high prices can be charged) comes from the fact that so many industry specialists are in the same place at the same time. If you’re just aimlessly walking around, then you’re missing the point.

When you see an interesting booth, engage in a real conversation about what the company is doing and how it could be of interest to your own business. Need a few icebreakers? Ask specific questions about the person’s role in their organization and figure out the parallels between their job and your own. The person is there to build their business and is waiting for an opportunity to explain what they’re about. Give them that opportunity and you may find a connection just waiting to happen. This is real networking.

Take Notes
After each conversation you have where there might be some potential, be sure to take written notes, including contact information. If you’re using a smartphone, take a picture of business cards to make sure they don’t get lost and make your notes as detailed as possible. If you’re working the room right, it will be impossible to mentally remember everything relevant.

Go To Parties
Yes, you read that right. Anytime there’s a conference lasting a few days, there’s bound to be a few parties. These are where the real magic happens. Outside of the formal conference setting, people will be more willing to open up with information and will not have the pressure of talking to as many people as possible in a short amount of time. Use this opportunity to focus on some of your top leads and plant the seeds for a solid business relationship.

Follow Up
Once you’re back at the office, it’s time for the real work to begin. Using all of the newly acquired contacts and ideas you’ve generated, start contacting the people you met and begin fleshing out ways that you may be able to work together. In addition to simply purchasing products and services, think about partnerships that could grow both of your businesses at the same time.

Now that you’re a trade show assassin, it’s time to put those skills to work. Show your boss what you gained from the next conference you attend and you could become the go-to person for all trade shows in the future.

No, it’s not a typo. While most of what we preach is about how to get your website to rank higher on Google, this post is about the exact opposite – how to make sure that not all of your pages are showing up in search results.

Why in the world would you want to do such a thing? Well, there’s a good reason and we’re about to let you in on the secret.

Let’s say you’re using a capture form to build new leads. The carrot at the end of the rope is a free e-book or series of informational videos that the visitor will have access to once they give you their name and email address. If you’re indexing every page of your website without the right controls in place, a person searching will be able to use a search engine to find the exact page with the videos or ebook. In time, these pages could easily rise higher than your home page in search results, meaning that your whole capture form idea turns into a pointless step.

Fortunately, there is an answer to avoid giving away the kit and caboodle – it’s taking those specific pages off of the search engine results. There’s two ways to accomplish this and both are quite effective.

Adding A Tag
If your programming/coding skills are a little bit rusty or nonexistent, adding a basic “noindex” tag will only take a tiny bit of work. First, copy the following code (that’s CTRL+C):

<META NAME=”robots” CONTENT=”noindex,nofollow”>

Now, look in the page HTML and find the header section. It will start with <head> and end with </head>. Add a blank line somewhere inside the header (a good place is directly following all the meta information) and use CTRL+V to paste the code in the line. Lastly, save and close the page file.

Voila! Your page will now be skipped over by the search engine robots and will not show up in search results.

The Robots.txt Solution
The other way to get rid of your indexed page woes is to create a robots.txt file. No, this isn’t going to add some scary AI element to your site, but it will instruct search engine robots what to index and what to skip. While this technique is a bit more technical in nature, you’ll have more control and it’s a better long term answer.

We would love to give the full lowdown on how to build a robots.txt file, but the truth is that Google has already beaten us to it. Their explanation is not for tech newbies, but is a concise guide to how to create the file correctly. The following link will tell you everything you need to know about a robots.txt file.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156449&topic=1724262&ctx=topic

As your site gets bigger and more complicated, you’ll probably find other pages that would be best suited by not showing up in search results (order thank you pages, just to name one). Now that you know the remedy, you’ll be able to streamline your website and make sure that searchers only see the pages designed for their eyes.

Think again. Using just a few quick tips, you’ll probably discover that you know more about design than you think.

It doesn’t take a billion dollar Silicon Valley entrepreneur to recognize a professional website. While they may have the inside track for advanced marketing strategies and complex tech innovations, the truth is that we all have a sixth sense about appreciating strong website design, in a know-it-when-you-see-it way.

Less is More
We know that the huge selection of apps, widgets, gizmos, and whatchamacallits can be pretty tempting. After all, who doesn’t want a live feed instant IM chat window on their website? Well, us for one. Still, to paraphrase an old saying, functionality is only skin deep. Avoid the allure of newfangled website accessories and go for the punch of a simple design. When you want a visitor’s attention, a minimal design will give focus to the important parts of your website and not to some half-thought-out widget on the sidebar.

Color Choice
Just because you CAN use every color in the rainbow on your website doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Think about what you want your website to achieve and then build a palette of colors that will reflect that vision. If you’ve got an online store that sells baby bibs, then light blues and pinks may make sense. Likewise, if you’re a bankruptcy lawyer, the same colors are obviously not the right choice. A general rule of thumb is to select a muted base color (different hues can be used to add contrast) and one accent color that work well together.

Drop Shadows and Other Effects
Sure, a drop shadow used in the right place can do wonders to highlighting specific content on the page. However, if you’re throwing them everywhere, then the whole point of the effects will be lost. Reserve using drop shadows and other effects to the times when you really want to make certain elements shine and not just as a general go-to design trick. Your readers’ eyes will thank you for your restraint.

The Marriage of Images and Text
This is the trickiest web design concept to master. Achieving the right balance between the sensory attraction of images and the informative nature of text is where the true winners of the design war are determined. Think about it this way – your visual content should capture interest and push visitors to actually read the accompanying text. How many images does this take? Well, it’s less than you think. On a given page, more than one or two visual cues can be overkill and distract a visitor enough that they miss the whole point of the text on the same page.

So, are you starting to recognize your inner web designer?

If you’ve got a clear vision but don’t have the technical know-how, then maybe we can take your ideas and bring them to life. Our designers are agile, inventive, and know how to build a site that delivers. Get in touch with us and we’ll show you just what we mean by professional web design.

How important is it to have a strong logo?

Just ask Arby’s.

The fast food restaurant chain made a big misstep in 2012 with their logo redesign and are feeling the consequences pretty hard. Going for a more modern look, the new logo used a similar cowboy hat shape, but threw some 3D effects and a new sans serif font into the mix. Consumers were quick to criticize and there’s no telling how much business the company lost from the debacle.

What happened with Arby’s is that their new logo didn’t match what they do. The restaurant is in the roast beef business, which implies the ideas of being western and rugged, something that the old logo conveyed well. In contrast, the new logo feels more like some gussed-up city slickers trying to play at being cowboys.

Now, ask yourself. What do you want your brand identity to be and is your logo effectively communicating those ideals?

Nearly every time that someone interacts with your business, whether it’s receiving a business card, visiting your website, or nothing more than seeing an ad, your logo is present. If it’s sending mixed signals about what you want your business to be, your potential customers could get turned off, even though they might not be able to explain why. Here are the three core concepts to keep in mind when designing or redesigning your logo:

The Heart
If you had to describe your business in one word, what would that word be? That word is your company’s heart and what your logo should convey. A great example is Volvo, whose bold circular design and extensive brand identity give a feeling a safety – exactly what their cars are known for.

The Face
The face is the personality of your business and your logo can use certain tactics to reinforce the mental connection to the heart of your company. Have a fun, outgoing, and playful company? Use a sillier font choice (within reason, of course). Are you a serious lawyer that gets the job done? There’s plenty of dead-serious fonts out there like Times New Roman.

Color is another way of transmitting certain ideas about your company. Ever wonder why nearly every organic and eco-company out there uses green in their logos? Because green identifies directly with being environmentally-friendly. Customers that are concerned with these same ideas are automatically drawn to the green color logos because of the subconscious connection.

The Mind
In addition to satisfying the heart and face requirements, your logo will also need to consider the mind. Essentially, the mind is the value that you are offering clients. Thinking about your industry rivals, does your logo acknowledge any of the reasons why a person should choose you over others? A classic example would be the Starbucks logo. The design looks like an award, which presents the idea of a higher quality than the competition.

Getting your logo right is an essential step to creating a successful brand identity. If you need some help giving a shape to your ideas, give us a call and we will develop a new look that has all of your business’s ideals in mind.

If your business is on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or any of the million other social networks out there, you’re probably doing it for a reason. You want recognition. You want engagement. And obviously, you want new customers.

This means that you want your social reach to be as high as it possibly can be. How do you go from a paltry smattering of followers to a robust network of interconnected clients, thought leaders, and future customers? It’s a simple solution – you grow your social reach.

And exactly how do you do that? Well, that’s what we’re about to tell you.

Add Social Sharing Buttons
Have you noticed how everywhere you look now, there’s an option to share content (a product, a blog post, a cute picture of kittens in a bucket)? Those little links that send the content to social networks are your sharing buttons and they’re easy to add to your existing pages. Depending on the platform of your blog or online store, look for extensions/plugins that will bring this extended capability.

Side note: If your site is responsive or mobile-ready, make sure that the social sharing buttons appear across different types of devices and browsers.

Be Active On Social Media
Lots of places see on-the-clock Facebook time as being unproductive, but if it’s for the right purpose, it can help to grow your social reach tremendously. If you’ve got a FB or Twitter junkie in the office, why not put them to work to engage with your followers and those people you want to be your followers? Active engagement not only gives a personal touch to your social media account, but in the case of FB, it means your content will appear higher on News Feeds. If you’re looking to build your base, then re-tweeting on Twitter or getting involved in a LinkedIn group conversation can bring new faces to your accounts.

Realize The Visual Difference
As evidenced by how FB has recently changed how their News Feeds look, it’s clear just how important content with visuals has become. Whenever possible, add a picture or other image to go with your content – it will grab attention and attract more people than a simple text-only post.

Team Up With Others
Of course, the whole idea of growing your social reach is about getting in touch with people who are not currently aware of your brand. One way to find a different circle of potential audience members is to team up with someone else, although probably not one of your competitors. Look for a prominent blogger or thought leader that may be interested in swapping guest blog posts. If you want to really diversity your audience, look at industries outside your own for partnership opportunities, such as a nearby local restaurant or charitable organization.

Doing just these four simple things will go a long way towards boosting your count of followers. In addition, there are other ideas that may be worth exploring, such as paid advertising on a social media network. Every new follower you gain is a chance to add a new client to your roster.

Got a WordPress blog?

Congratulations, you’re one of over 62 million. Yeah, that’s right – 62 MILLION.

WordPress is clearly the leader when it comes to an easy-to-implement blogging solution, but even WP needs a little extra SEO attention from time to time. We know you’re busy focusing on cranking out great content, but we have a few quick tips that will elevate your WP SEO game and make sure you’re getting the high ranking you deserve. Let’s look at a few common situations and the best SEO practice associated with each.

Permalink Structure
If you’ve had your blog for a while, there might be a subtle issue going on with your permalink structure. The generally accepted best practices have changed over time and if you’ve updated your WP installation to later versions (3.3 and newer), then you may want to revisit how your permalinks are being handled. They should follow one of the following two formats:

/%postname%/
/%category%/%postname%/

This format should be applied automatically, but you can should go into your URL settings just to verify. If something is amiss, you’ll need to change the setting AND add a 301 redirect to make sure there are no sloppy dead links out there.

Fixing Redirects
Without getting too technical, what you want is a 301 Redirect, not a 302 Redirect. The former is especially important in search engine rankings, but WP is set to use the latter by default. How to get around this problem? Like many things WP, the answer is a plugin. There are a ton out there that can achieve the same thing, but John Goodley’s Redirection is probably the best. Just make sure to install it BEFORE you change your permalink structure.

If you’re starting to feel a little in over your head and scared that you might do something wrong, it’s a good idea to call in someone that knows what they’re doing. While the changes are not very difficult, getting it done right the first time is obviously preferable to spending several hours cleaning up the mess if it’s done wrong.

A Multilingual WP Blog
One of the biggest complaints about WP is that it’s not so easy if you want to support multiple languages. Because your customers may be more comfortable using their native tongue, it makes sense in many cases to offer your content in more than just English. Of course, this does mean you’ll be working extra hard to provide translations as well. Ask around and you may find someone on your team is fluent in a second language and can do the translations in-house.

Even though WP is not built for a multilingual site, the fix is incredibly easy, again with a plugin. Aptly named WPML, this plugin will give you plenty of options for adding another language and automagically sorts your posts according to SEO best practices.

Using WP is a great way to get a solid introduction to blogging, whether for business or personal reasons. In learning about how to optimize your WP blog for the search engines, you can stop worrying about SEO.

Now get back to that great content!

We’ve got so much to say about infographics, that we almost decided to communicate it via infographic. Then, of course, we realized that would probably rip a wormhole in the universe and transfer us all to Wonderland or the Neverland Ranch: two places we definitely don’t want to go.

In the interest of saving the universe, we’ll just stick to telling you why infographics are sweeping the digital world and taking it by storm. You do know what an infographic is, right? If not, here’s your crash course in INFOGRAPHICS 101.

Info, noun: an abbreviation of the word “information.” Information consists of some fact, statistic, how-to, morsel of goodness, or tidbit of tantalizingly tactile tidings. Alliteration is optional.

Graphic, adjective: referencing images or pictures. From the Greek word grapholisticos, or something. Meaning “to write or draw.”

Put them together, and you get pictures that communicate information. You’ve probably stumbled across them in a TIME magazine or in the recent Presidential election. Remember that big map of the United States that was colored red and blue? Infographic.
So, why are these colorful, graphically sophisticated pictures becoming so popular? The short answer is: people hate to read. The long answer is a little more intricate. Infographics are considered highly shareable content. Because infographics rely on a combination of real, interesting information and intriguing visual design, they are more likely to be shared via social media, linked back to via other websites, or simply spread around by word of mouth. Because infographics are so very shareable, they are slam-bang amazing SEO tools.
Wait, wait, wait. How can a picture be good for SEO? Isn’t search engine optimization all about keywords and meta tags? Shame on you for thinking this! SEO is about getting people to see your site. When you post an infographic about your business, services, or industry, people are going to share it. Shares equals site views. More site views equals GREAT SEO.

If you’re interested in the power of infographics, let our team of graphic designers create super-shareable content that is tailor-made for you and your business.

First things first: did you know Google Analytics is a free tool that is constantly updated by the search engine mogul? Did you know that Google Analytics provides in-depth information about your website, page views, viewer profiles, and conversion factors?

You didn’t? Well, now you do. And now, you’re going to go get Google Analytics for your website because, honestly, not having it is like saying “no” to an ice pick during the Zombie Apocalypse. First, though, you’re going to finish reading this post.

Now, Google Analytics is great for getting information about your various site and page visits. In fact, this is what most businesses use the application for. It’s exciting to see how many people are visiting your site each day and which pages are captivating (and holding) their interest. This information, while interesting, isn’t particularly helpful, though. This is why you need to pay attention to two other components of Google Analytics.

Mobile Stats

Today, parents are registering for iPads for their unborn children. Not really, but mobile devices today are even more prevalent than personal computers. The freedom of a mobile device means that more and more people are going to be accessing your website on-the-go. Your mobile site construction and development needs to be just as user-friendly as your standard view. You can view mobile stats on Google Analytics that will tell you how your mobile conversions compare to standard conversions. This information will let you know what changes and updates you need to make.

Multi-Channel Funnels

How many times have you opened your web browser, typed in the Amazon address that corresponds to a specific product, and purchased that product on the spot? We know: never. Nobody types in www.amazon.com/product/home/decor/bigblackshelf12345 when they’re looking for furniture online. Don’t follow that link, by the way, it’s bogus. Instead, you Google “furniture,” or you follow a Twitter link, or you check out a Facebook fan page. People do the same thing when they invest in YOUR business. The multi-channel funnels component of Google Analytics will show you the roads people are taking toward conversions.

Having trouble interpreting your Google Analytics information? Let us provide unique insights and great ideas for improving mobile views and jump-starting conversions today.

In starting up a new business effort or a new arm of an existing company, one of the big problems that you’re bound to face is in logo design. In many cases, a business owner will try to skimp on this particular area, usually entrusting a friend or colleague with a little Photoshop experience to come up with an “acceptable” design. While this method will keep startup expenses low, “acceptable” is simply not good enough for the image that will eventually become the face of your business. It’s a much better choice to outsource this job to a professional for a number of reasons.

Saving Time
In the end, you’ll find that it will take much less time to create a strong logo with a professional. These freelancers and design firms will not only be more familiar with the technical programs needed to create your logo, but they will also have the experience of knowing what questions to ask you in developing the right image. Regardless of whether you have a concrete idea or not, a logo designer will walk you through the process and will be able to formulate your logo thoughts for you along the way. Most professionals will also come up with several possible logos for the same price.

Avoiding a Logo Change
If your business does well, there is bound to come a time when you’ll want to upgrade from your “acceptable” logo design. Knowing this will happen is one of the main reasons why quality logo design should be done from the start. Not only will it avoid the possibility of confusing customers that are accustomed to the old design, but it could also play a part in the initial growth of your company if done well.

Bundled Services
Keep in mind that many logo designers actually bundle several of their services together, such as full branding, corporate identities, and even website design. In parceling out each of these tasks, it may actually be cheaper to choose one trusted professional from the beginning to handle all of your design needs. Do an apples to apples comparison of what you would pay for each individual service versus a bundled option to see the true difference in expenses.

At Point Click Productions, we offer a full suite of design services and would be happy to be your go-to provider. Our goal is to develop long-term partnerships and build your business, not just a single logo or website.

Search engine optimization can be an extremely competitive game. So competitive, in fact, that many companies engage in nefarious practices to try and steal your well-earned slice of the pie and high ranking. While you should always be playing by the rules and focusing on positive SEO, it does help to at least be aware of the ugly tactics your rivals could be using. Furthermore, knowing how to respond when these tricks rear their head will keep you from stooping to a lower level to deal with the situation.

PPC Trickery
Hopefully, your brand name is original enough that anyone searching for your name on Google is trying to find you. So, what happens when a rival starts a pay-per-click campaign targeting your brand name? In a worst case scenario, it could result in a higher ranking than your own page.

How to respond: In this situation, the best action is to wait it out. If the company wants to spend money to hijack your traffic, there really is nothing you can do to stop them. In the end, organic growth is always going to win and the search engines will eventually catch up and put things in their correct order.

Trash Talking
If your rivals are trailing your leading position, then badmouthing can be a common response. Instead of working on their own game, they start criticizing yours. This can be as small as saying negative things about your products or services or as large as telling pure lies about your business.

How to respond: Again, the best response is no response. Any time you’re at the top of the ladder, there’s going to be some complaints from competitors. Don’t dignify their attacks with a public war of words. If someone asks you about the lies, respond politely and give them the truth, but never resort to badmouthing your rival.

Content Theft
This is the big one that happens all the time. Your blog posts and other content are innovative, insightful, and entertaining, so your rivals steal it, reword it a bit, and try to pass it off as their own. No credit is given and the competitor tries to ride your coattails to glory.

How to respond: Do absolutely nothing. Starting to see a pattern here? What your business does is exactly that – your business. It is important to keep an eye on what your competitors are up to, all of these ugly tactics will fall short in the end and your better business will succeed.

While your rivals are out trying to pay for a higher ranking, talking trash about your business, or stealing your content, what are you doing? We love helping quality companies succeed and our services are designed to help your business grow. Contact us to see how our website design or SEO solutions can push you further ahead or your competitors.