Plain and simple: Keyword research is the foundation of a successful search engine optimization (SEO) plan. Yet many businesses overlook this critical step, and optimize their website for keywords that they have little chance of ranking for in the search engines. Or even worse, they optimize their website for keywords that, in fact, do not accurately target their business.

Choosing the correct keywords for your website involves looking at your business from a completely new angle, and rethinking how your potential customers search for you. Your customers often view your business and its products or services differently from you, the business owner or marketing director. For example, they may use different “industry” terminology (e.g. “online marketer” vs. “internet marketer”). Or they may use an industry trademark name (e.g. Xerox vs. “copy”). When conducting keyword research, it is important to explore all keyword possibilities that existing and potential customers use to find your business.

Additionally, the use of plurals is another strategy that many businesses overlook. The phrase “professional painter” is very different from the phrase “professional painters” in the world of search engines, and can make a world of difference when it comes to ranking your website in the top search results.

We’re not normally ones to boast, but we do offer some of the most advanced and detailed keyword research techniques available in the market. First, we work closely with you to seek out all of the keyword possibilities that describe your business and its offerings. We then use a variety of tools including our custom keyword application to mine search data for each keyword. Finally, we use that information to make data-driven decisions and determine the most profitable keywords for which to optimize your website.

Don’t waste another dollar on failed SEO! Contact Tres Hermanas today to learn more about our keyword research and SEO abilities, and put your website’s SEO plan back on track!

About a month ago, I attended a Robe Offering Ceremony at a local Burmese Buddhist temple. And doing so got me to thinking about various life experiences and how they influence designers. As you may already be aware, part of our mission at Tres Hermanas is to “…see the world around us as a diverse and beautiful place and … reflect that in our design work.” And we’re pretty serious about it. So when the opportunity arose not long after for me to learn how to do Burmese dancing and perform (a mere two weeks later) at Thingyan, the Burmese Water Festival, I jumped at the chance.

I love dancing and I love the fact that I’ve recently found myself in a place where I’m getting to learn a variety of different types of dance from all over the world. Each step of the way, I’m reminded that while each culture has its unique differences, they also all have incredible similarities as well. And, going back to how this ties into the world of design, I realize that this jumbled mix of similarities and differences is where I find quite a bit of my inspiration. I love broadening people’s horizons and sharing with them the beauty of the world. It’s invigorating!

We really do feel that while it’s important for designers to have the skills necessary to design (in this day and age, this includes the ability to use professional design software, knowledge of a variety of coding languages for web design, and so much more), the most important part of any design project is the inspiration that the artists and designers bring to the table with them when they begin to work. This is why we’re constantly reaching outside of us to meet new people, experience cultures, music, dance, literature and adventures that give us a greater, more complete view of the world. (Plus, it’s just a whole lotta fun to live that way, too, ya know?)

So, if you or anyone you know of is looking for a design company that appreciates the diversity of the world, as well as the inherent qualities found within every individual, every culture and every company, drop us a line. We’d love to talk more about all of this with you. (Heck, we’d love to talk more about all of this with you even if you’re not looking to hire a designer at the moment.)

With summer winding down, and the perpetual bombardment of signs and advising, it makes me happy to be able to recall the eight days that I spent on Horn Island. I hope that this little glimpse of what the days were like bring you as much joy as they brought me.

What/where is Horn Island? It’s a small island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 10 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. Once lush and full of life, it suffered greatly from hurricane Katrina. Luckily, the years after have allowed the island to slowly regain its glory.

We started out trekking down from Memphis to Pascagoula, MS, stopping by Ocean Springs, MS to learn more about our influence; Walter Anderson, a watercolor (see image to the left) and mural artist from the 1930-60s. Having found refuge from his Schizophrenia on the island in his later years, his work drew me in from the moment I stepped into the museum honoring his works.

Moving down through small cities to a desolate island made for a slightly easier transition, but not knowing what I was facing going into added just the right about of anxious excitement. Eight days with just a tent, food, and the fresh watered that we’d brought with us on the island.

As a student, we were required to trek the shorter width of the island to set up camp. At first, in the hot sun and packed down with camping gear, I thought we’d drawn the short end of the stick. After getting to spend the week waking up to schools of dolphins that would swim along the coast, rising with the sun wasn’t that bad either.

Each day there was to be dedicated to the experience, getting to know the island. An early shortage of sun block ended-up restricting my movement, but waking up to take pre-sunrise walks allowed for the few photographs that I paired with this post.

Watching the birds soar overhead and the tiny ghost crabs skitter across the cool white sand showed the beauty of the world untouched by the fear and quest for progress that we see around us. Progress in its own right is extremely important, but valuing the grace and beauty in what occurs naturally needs to be better integrated into our daily lives.

We forget how clean and refreshing it feels to be swept up in a wave or caught in a smooth breeze untainted by fumes and toxins. To look around us and see nothing but the pure love of creation being allowed to live as it was meant to. Humans are giants among the animal kingdom, with the unfortunate habit of living house sized footprints.

Living on the island for this brief period of time allowed me to reconnect with nature. Meditating and teaching myself to breathe again has played in integral role in the projects that I am currently working on for the showed inspired by the trip (the show will be open August 24th through October 2nd).

Taking inspiration from nine endangered species that reside on the island and traditional patterns found throughout a variety of cultures, adapting the naturally occurring shapes into repeated patterns. These are getting engraved on glass plates that will be used to print 5 editions of each print. These will then be hung up forever, becoming part of three sculptures that will also be for sale and displayed at the show.

As I continue to work on these pieces, I’ll be putting images up at www.katyluxion.com. I’d love for you to follow my news updates on an RSS feed, but as I gather email addresses I’ll be weighing the options of email updates as well.

Feel free to email any questions about this experience or any other art related topic to info@katyluxion.com.

I am a very silly person
I am a person without shame
I am easily embarrassed
But not so quick to try and change

I am a very angry person
When I fight for what I love
And I wont give up until I’m done
Unless I have to learn the hard way

I am a very jealous person
When someone else is praised by friends
Because I feel like they’re more special
And I’m chopped liver once again

I am a very quiet person
When I want to be alone
When I want to be insignificant
And I feel afar from home

If I could stop being jealous
I would find life more easy
Being angry isn’t great either
But I’ll always be this silly

I’ll keep fighting for what I care about
But maybe turn my anger to passion
I wish I could heal my heart
Before it burns to ashes.

Tres Hermanas

They face this trial because, and only because they are members of the Bahá’í Faith.  You can read more from CNN here:

U.S. panel demands release of Bahá’ís facing trial in Iran

The local business results are one of the easiest and quickest ways to get the top search results.  And why wouldn’t you want to have a local business listing, especially when it’s free and only takes about five minutes to set up?

The local business listings are displayed at the top of the search engine results when a specific location is included in a search query.  All you have to do is claim your business listing.  Once you claim your listing, you can edit the contact information, add photos, offer online coupons and optimize the listing to ensure your local business listing consistently appears in the top listings.

Additionally, if you use Google Analytics (a free tool that is a must-have for every website owner) to track your website’s visitors, you can insert a custom URL to help you see which visitors arrived at your website using the local business results.

So what are you waiting for?

Claim your business listing and get on the map.  Contact us at Tres Hermanas to learn how to claim and properly optimize your local business listing.

Heather, Katy & Anna Luxion
Tres Hermanas

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Anna Luxion is an up and coming musician currently based out of the Minneapolis/St Paul area, but previously from the Western Suburbs of Chicago.  Though she’s known throughout the United States, it’s mostly her friends and family that make up her following.

When asked how she clarifies herself within the typical musical world, she said quite seriously, “I am not what you would think of when your mind pictures a musician in today’s industry; I am a creative and free-flowing artist first and foremost, and I’m not going to change the way that I write and create in order to be the ‘next big thing’.”

What makes her different from most musicians is that not only does she write and arrange her own music, but she isn’t even interested in becoming a part of the industry itself.  When asked what she’d like to do with her career, she replied, “Well, sure I’d like to have a larger, more widespread following, but I’m not going to compromise my identity to do that.  I think it’s silly and completely overrated to try and be the talk of the town or the new pop star of the century.”

So how does she plan on getting to be more than just another face in a crowd without kowtowing to the industry bigwigs?  According to her, it’s no problem.

“I just have to focus on the fact that I’m independent, unsigned, and out to change the world.  That and the fact that what I create is real music—no exceptions.”

Editor’s Note: You can check out Anna’s music online at www.annaluxion.com and you can purchase her current CD here.

This is one of the sites that we designed and assisted our clients in launching during the month of May.  Go ahead, click on the picture above to be taken to the site.  Just don’t forget to come back here and finish this article. ;)

Welcome back.  Nice, right?

What you can’t see there, is that behind the scenes, the Heartland Bahá’í School Committee is able to quickly and easily change any and all information on the site whenever they need to.  That’s the beauty of using a simple and easy-to-use content management system like WordPress.  Seriously, it’s VERY user friendly, which is why we recommend it to many of our clients.

And not only does it save them time in the long run, it also saves them money.  It might sound crazy, but we’d much rather have our clients have to be charged LESS by us over the long run because they doesn’t have to keep running back to us every time they need something changed on their site.  We’re all about the whole ‘helping people’ thing.

If you’d like to learn more about Google Analytics, WordPress or other content management systems, or if you just want to say “Hi!”, don’t hesitate to drop us an email or give us a call at 1.630.230.1789.

Heather, Katy & Anna Luxion
Tres Hermanas

She is learning to create art from the land as part of a program through the Memphis College of Art.  Check back next month for an article detailing some of her experiences!!