iMarketing2.0 - Aqua Blue Creative Development

Networking IS Business Development

Everett Steele — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:30:19 +0100

My 10 year high school reunion is this weekend, and I’ll be honest, it is not without some hesitation that I bit the bullet, shelled out the $80 for two tickets, and booked a hotel near the venue. It isn’t that I didn’t like high school, or that I anticipate being harassed in some sort of Carrie-esque fashion from guys who just didn’t get their fill of bullying a decade ago. The real truth is that I’m busy, I don’t stay in touch with anyone from my high sch...

Making Sense of the Chirping: Twitter’s New Interface

Allison Steele — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:40:19 +0100

Twitter, the micro-blogging sensation, is rolling out a new, media-rich format to the public soon. The format will include side-by-side panels, where videos and pictures will be integrated into a panel next to the usual live feed. They’ve added endless scrolling, shortcut buttons and suggested people to follow. They’ve also added recommendations based on hash tags, which is intended to make Twitter feeds themselves easier to put into context.

Intellectually, Twitter trend...

Backlink Checkers: The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

Allison Steele — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:08:34 +0100

SEO is a constantly evolving process. As internet marketers, our goal is to deliver quantifiable results using a series of different analytic tools. And yet, any kind of work-rhythm remains completely elusive — we find a decent way of track what we're doing and two months later the site has moved, changed or disappeared forever. Google Analytics is amazing, slick, and heaven-sent, but it isn't a complete, self-contained SEO tool. Constant research is required. SEO marketers have to ...

4th Generation Entrepreneur Joins Growing Atlanta Interactive Marketing Team

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:27:21 +0100

Aqua Blue Creative Development is pleased to announce the addition of Everett Steele and his wife Allison to its leadership team. Everett Steele is a fourth generation entrepreneur and a former United States Army officer, and Iraq veteran. Allison is an experienced marketer and has worked with brands including Louisville Slugger and the Department of Defense. Many Atlantans know Everett’s father, Ricky Steele, as a serial entrepreneur and guru of networking in the Atlanta tech community...

Reaching Your Mobile Audience

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:19:28 +0100

With an influx of interest towards mobile marketing, many companies are wondering why the need to get involved and how they can build a mobile site and apps. Many people are now asking what is the "ROI" of entering the mobile space. Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO of Eastman Kodak Company, asks what is the "ROI (Return on Ignoring)" the need to enter the mobile market.

Below is a short list of benefits of testing out a mobile site or app to promote your brand:

Mobile Websites:...

Fear of Social Media: Can Social Media Hurt Your Business?

BB Richardson — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:35:08 +0100

There is a lot of fear around implementing social media in business. Because social media seems new to a lot of traditional organizations, many companies are trying to balance the harm of exposing their organization to social media against the harm of not entering the market. So what is the best answer?

The concern for many revolves around the inability to control the medium. Social media and consumer integration gives the consumer a voice in the reputation of a product. Now, consumer-...

Aqua Blue to Lead AiMA’s Digital Development- Press Release

BB Richardson — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:19:26 +0100

Atlanta, June 2, 2010 - Aqua Blue Creative Development, Atlanta interactive development and marketing experts, announced today a strategic partnership with the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) to manage development of AiMA’s digital presence. The partnership includes developing and managing the new AiMA web site, www.atlantaima.org, member database and deployment of communications across channels. Aqua Blue Creativ...

Business is Changing... But How Much?

BB Richardson — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:26:13 +0100

In gearing up to start this blog, I thought I’d garner a little insight from Peter Drucker. Drucker’s Managing for Results is one of the pinnacles of business, as we know it today. Written in 1964, Drucker is a pioneer in conceptualizing “business strategy” (the term “strategy” was never really applied to business before this).

This question was posed by Shana Keith (CBeyond) this morning at the TAG Marketing event where I had the pleasure of hearing Paul McKeon (Content Factor), Jennifer Jones (Porter Novelli), Hope Dlugozima (Mother Nature Network), and Jeremy Porter (Definition6) discuss using social media as a part of your company's marketing mix.

While there was some controve...

5 Tips for a Successful Website Launch

Alexa Ellis — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:56:40 +0100

Launching a new website is kind of like having a baby- the process is long, and patience is a virtue. Like any birth, the process goes much more smoothly with careful thought and planning.

1. Time Allocation: Successful site launches take at least eight weeks, if not longer, from start to finish. You can push the timeline, but that might not give you enough time to carefully consider user interface (UI), usability and design. Even the most simple websites should take weeks of pla...

The Importance of Clean and Valid Code

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:54:46 +0100

Coming from a development background, I can attest to the fact that, in general, developers have their own methodologies and do not like to be forced to do things in ways that are not their own. However, when it comes to creating or editing a website, there are certain requirements that you should insist your developer meet.

Although good content is the greatest contributing factor to your website's SEO, there are a number of coding strategies which can also help with your SEO, a...

Accessibility for Your Users (and Search Engines!)

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0100

There is a law known as Section 508 which requires federal agencies to make their electronic data accessible to people with disabilities. While 508 compliance is of course not required for most websites, it is a good standard to adhere to, for a number of reasons. You always want visitors to your site to be able to find what they need without a problem. And if you want search engines to easily find your content, 508 compliance will improve your SEO as well.

508 compliance focuses...

6 Ways to Grow Your Online Community

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

One of the latest trends in web development is building online communities rather than non-interactive websites to promote a product or service. I found this article, "How to Kill a Community in 10 Easy Steps," and its a valuable resource for anyone building a community-based site as a stand-alone site or to promote a product/service. Sometimes its easier to tell people what NOT to do rather than pointing them in the right direction. Here are the best strategies for buildin...

Drawing the Line: How to Establish Social Media Guidelines for Your Company

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:49:57 +0100

A few weeks ago, I saw a tweet from a Sales Director (Joe Schmo) of a local IT company that said "I'm looking forward to working with Company X." Since I know Joe Schmo and his relationship with Company X, I know the intent of his tweet was to make a few of his competitors that follow him jealous. But does Joe Schmo have prospects or clients who compete with Company X, and did they see his tweet? If so, he may have lost a potential client.

Broadcasting potentially damaging inform...

Why Won't This Page Register?

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Because many businesses rely on web traffic for a large part of their revenue, search engine optimization is still a hot topic in the IT industry, and probably will be for years to come. SEO is a complex beast with many ins and outs - one important piece of SEO is search engine friendly URLs (SEF). SEF URLs are those which are easily human-readable, and do not contain querystrings with variables (i.e. http://aquabluemarketing.com/marketing-20-blog instead of http://aquabluemarketing.co...

Which Social Networks are Best for My Company?

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

With the growing number of websites available that allow us to engage with others online, a very common question is: "which social network should my company be on?" Some people will make generalizations such as "LinkedIn is great, Twitter is too cluttered," or "Facebook is great, don't waste your time on MySpace." However, there is no one right answer for everyone (if only it were that easy!): you must first assess your goals and target audience. Here is a guideline for choosing the bes...

5 Steps for Good Website Copywriting

Aqua Blue Creative Development — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:58:56 +0100

The easiest way to explain website copywriting is to point out what it is not: brochure copywriting. Your website copy should not resemble what you'd write on a brochure (or anything else) for two major reasons:

1. Website copy should be full of commonly searched terms so it is search engine optimized. In normal copywriting, your goal is literally the opposite of this: to avoid common industry jargon. Thus, website copywriting presents a unique challenge in that you must write effectiv...