Blog

Are you missing out on local business?

2012-04-26T15:41:32Z

If you have a brick-and-mortar business, the most popular information on your site is your contacting information. This is how potential customers will find your location, hours and phone number.

The following information should be on every page of your site:

1. Include the name of your town and state

Not all websites are meant for the entire world. A lot of small town businesses only cater to customers in their town, so it's imperative to include your town and state.

2. Your location, phone number and hours

This information definitely needs to be in the header or sidebar of your site, on every page. If someone lands on your about page or services page from google, they'll have that information immediately available. This is also helpful for mobile users so they can quickly see where you are located.

Optional, yet important, information to include on your local small business site:

1. Photo of your store front

People are visual by nature and when they're driving around looking for you business, having a snapshot in their head of what the building and store front looks like is very helpful. This can be great on the home page and/or contact page.

2. A map

So simple, but rarely used. You can go to google maps, put in the address of your business and they'll give you a simple piece of code that you embed in your site so a map of your location will show up.

So taking the above into consideration, we went on the hunt for local businesses in our town (Salisbury, NC) to see how they stacked up. A few sites included this information on their contact page, which is great start.

One site we ran across has it all. Pottery 101, is including their location, hours, phone number, plus a photo of their storefront on every single page (big points!). They also have a handy link to directions which includes a map!

All of this information is vitally important for small town businesses. If customers can't find you online, they won't be able to find you offline. Are you doing everything you can to ensure your customers can find you?

Recently Launched: Kitty Cradle

2012-04-10T23:49:08Z

When I'm not fawning over fonts and lusting after pumpkin, I am passionate about pet related products. As we've mentioned only a few times, we have 2 dogs and 3 cats and we consider them family. It's so important to us that they get the best, from the food they eat, to the beds they lay in. Of course they're totally spoiled and that's just how we like it.

So, it's no surprise that I was completely thrilled and excited to work on a site that offers a first-to-market product for cats. It's such an awesome product and something I know cat parents need.

We had the pleasure to work with Kitty Cradle, a space saving cat hammock that fits under your chair and gives your cat a comfy place to hide out and spend 22 hours of his day snoozing. It's the perfect cat accessory! Not only will your kitty love this, but you will too. Forget about huge cat furniture that take up precious space and use existing unused space. It's a win win for you and kitty!

This one page site, with custom illustrations by Green Couch Designs, allows customers to view product images, understand the key features and also see how easily it is to use. And of course there's an easy Reserve Now form so you can get in on the action as soon as the Kitty Cradle launches.

Be sure to reserve your Kitty Cradle today!

Cover Photo Guidelines for your Facebook Timeline

2012-03-06T15:18:06Z

So it won't be long until the new Facebook Timeline hits all brand pages (March 30th to be exact). If you haven't noticed, you have the option of turning the timeline on now, however before you do, you'll want to get your Cover Photo setup.

The new Facebook Timeline cover photo size is 850px X 315px. We just finished creating the cover photo for our Facebook page.

Beyond the size of the photo, there are also some restrictions that Facebook has put into place and that you should know about. This is pretty important and I think also most overlooked by small businesses that don't necessarily go looking for all the fine print.

Facebook Cover photos cannot include:

Price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it at our website".
Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s "About" section.
References to Facebook features or actions, such as "Like" or "Share" or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.
Calls to action, such as "Get it now' or "Tell your friends".
Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties' intellectual property.

Source:Facebook Pages Product Guide

I'm not keen on a lot of these restriction, especially since we no longer can have tabs or welcome pages, but it's not enough to prevent us from keeping our business page. Whether we like it or not, Facebook is where the masses go and as with everything they do, I'm sure the new timeline will evolve and perhaps even some other options will emerge.

So are you using the new Facebook Timeline yet? What do you think?

If you need a design for your Facebook Cover Photo be sure to let us know. We're giving a 25% off discount if you book before March 30th.

Color Palette #5: Blush & Bashful Popcorn

2012-02-24T23:08:28Z

If you haven't seen the movie, Steel Magnolias, than the name for this color palette will definitely not have the same effect as it does on me.

Truvy: What are your colors, Shelby?
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful."
M'Lynn: Her colors are "pink" and pink."
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful" Mama!
M'Lynn: How precious is this weddin' gonna get, I ask you?

Pink and Pink! I probably would have said the same back in 1989. I wasn't a fan of pink. Not until I reached 30 did I find my sweet love of pink. And now, as I type this, my office is bursting with Blush and Bashful, on the walls, on my desk, on the windows.

When I saw the photo in today's color palette over on The Crafting Chicks, I knew immediately that I wanted pink popcorn and I also wanted to use this photo to create a color palette. I'm very thankful that The Crafting Chicks gave me permission to do so.

Pink! Popcorn! Will wonders never cease?

(For the Steel Magnolia fans, I do realize that these pinks are not the same as Shelby's Blush and Bashful, but the lovely play of pinks here made me think of them)

And now, let's make some popcorn!

What should I blog about?

2012-02-08T14:15:10Z

As small business owners ourselves, we often struggle with what to blog about. Maybe that's not the greatest thing to admit, since we do consult with other small businesses on what they should be blogging about...however it's not always easy to see the answer for your own business. Just as it's far easier for us to design for others than it is to design for ourselves.

If there's on thing that's true about blogging it's that blogs help businesses. How do they do that?

Blogs help build your credibility by being transparent; being you
Blogs show your expertise by giving your clients things they need to know
Blogs allow your clients (and potential clients) to get to know you by being more than a voice on the other end of the line or an email address
Blogs deliver a platform for instant feedback
Blogs can also significantly effect your google ranking (who doesn't want a little piece of that pie?)

Now that we know why you should blog, we need to know what the hell to actually blog about?

The quick and fast rules:

Blog about topics that your target audience is interested in or needs help with

How do you know the answer to that?

Surveys - you can actually go out and ASK them what they need help with. This is a very straightforward and often underrated way to get feedback from your customers. (check out surveymonkey.com) You can also use twitter and facebook for this.
Emails - review client emails. What are their biggest frustrations? What are their most common questions? Chances are these same topics will be useful to other clients as well.
Google suggestions - we all use google so you have probably seen google give you suggestion based on what you type into the search box. These come from real searches from other people and you can use them to narrow in on what your niche is searching for. For example, our client Heather Jarvis might look up "student loan" and see this:

Then based on this information, she could write blog posts about any or all of those topics.
Ask in your newsletter - you have a newsletter right? Good! (if you don't we can help you set one up) The best newsletters engage your readers. A perfect way to do that is to ask them what they need help with. You might think they'll get annoyed but in reality, they'll be happy that you actually care about them enough to ask. Trust me.
Hang out with them - if your business is local, you could become a member of your local chamber of commerce or networking groups (check out meetup.com) or for online businesses visit forums and message boards, social media sites and blogs.

These are just a few simple and easy suggestions on honing in to your target market. What's your biggest challenge when it comes to blogging for your business? (see what I just did there? I'm sneaky!)

Anyway

2012-02-08T00:53:08Z

Color Palette #4: Roasted Red Swirl

2012-01-27T21:37:11Z

About two weeks ago, I found hummus. Sean had some at a client dinner and really liked it. Then I decided to make some, and I really liked it. Then we were out at a Coopers, local restraurant for dinner last Friday and they have a hummus appetizer which was delicious.

I'm kinda in love with hummus. It's seriously like the New Crack, at least that's what we call it around the office.

But the best part, it happens to be so easy to make. I wish I had tried it a long time ago. I have a lot of catching up to do!

This weekend, I'm going to make either a Roasted Garlic Hummus or a Green Herb Hummus -- both sound delicious. The one that I've been making lately is a simple Roasted Pepper Hummus that has just the right amount of pepper flavor and garlic. It's also the inspiration for today's color palette.

This palette is filled with lovely fall colors (which happens to be one of my favorite seasons). It's warm yet bold. It's gotta a little pumpkin feel to it, but not overtly so. I'm digging it for the richness and overall cozy feeling.

The hummus isn't so bad either!

Custom Illustrations and Letterpress Design

2012-01-19T17:40:15Z

I was recently looking for letterpress prints to hang up in my newly painted office. I wanted something fun, a little whimisical and pet related. While I didn't find many prints that struck my fancy, I did come across some really fabulous card sets. I've purchased letterpress cards before and then just framed them to hang on the wall. Not necessarily their intended use, but it works just the same.

Sweet Harvey offers ready-made gorgeous original illustration letterpress and screenprinting designs and I've fallen head over heels. There are prints, pillow covers, even embroidered hoop art, but what caught my eye were the notecards and greeting cards.

The cuteness. The simplicity. The whimsy. The clean design. They have it all. I kinda want one of everything, but Sean would flip out if I did that. I've yet to decide which to get, but the Fox and Owl are high on the list.

Here a few other noteable mentions as well.

How cool is this vintage typewriter?

And this pup with a little red eye patch? *dies*

And of course, this sweet pumpkin!

I'm not sure I'll be able to decide. I think it might be easier if there was a package of 10 assorted cards to choose from (*hint**hint*), but for now I'll have to pick just one because they are simply to lovely to pass up.

Color Palette #3: Black Raspberry Sorbet

2012-01-14T23:08:26Z

When I’m choosing a color palette for a web design project, I find inspiration in so many places. Finding the right colors is an important aspect to the overall tone and feeling a website conveys.

I love how colors influence how people feel and it should be an important aspect of your branding message.

Today my inspiration came from a simple and delicious snack I whipped up between some SEO work and some brand positioning research that I’m doing on a new project.

A mixed berry & banana sorbet, which also happens to be completely dairy free (my thighs are thankful). I love the play of purple here. I don’t always love purple, but I think this palette comes together nicely, not just for eating. The richness in the purple meshes well with the softness in the pink and peaches. I’m ready for another scoop!

Color Palette #2: Peppermint Snowflake

2012-01-10T18:47:25Z

Another thing I love is baking. I spent a good portion of our winter break baking all sorts of festive treats.

Sean’s favorite Christmas treat is Peppermint Bark which his mom makes for him. She gave him a big bowl for his birthday on December 10th and then another batch on Christmas. I’ve never been a huge peppermint fan. I like the occasional candy cane, but I really need to be in the mood for it. However, I tried a piece (or 3!) of the Peppermint Bark and loved it. So I decided to try to turn the idea of Peppermint Bark into a cupcake.

Behold, the best chocolate cupcake ever with Peppermint Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. It was heavenly. And it’s my inspiration for today’s color palette.

If you’re interested in the actual recipe for this decadent dessert, here ya go…

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
Peppermint Swiss Meringue Butter Cream

Color Palette #1: Found Everywhere

2012-01-09T22:47:31Z

It’s not really a secret that I love color. I love fonts more, but color is right up there at number #3, right after Fonts and Sean

I was over on Pinterest today, filling up on some daily inspiration when I my eye caught this pin. I won’t discuss my love for Container Store because that would take another post and a few hours. But these adorable CableDrop Cords inspired me today.

With the grayness of winter upon us, and the shorter “daylight” days, I tend to be drawn to brighter, warmer, happier colors.

The pink and orange scream summertime and sherbet. They totally make me happy. And the greens balance out the brightness/cheerfulness a bit to bring together a well-rounded palette.

What’s your favorite color/color palette?

Adding your Pinterest feed to ExpressionEngine

2012-01-07T14:21:20Z

Super easy and totally painless.

First you’ll need your Pinterest RSS feed url, which you can find on your Pinterest profile page. Ours is http://pinterest.com/emtwo/feed.rss

Next you’ll need to install the SuperGeekery Tag Stripper plugin so we can extract the image url from the RSS pinterest feed and get rid of the rest of the html added by Pinterest.

You’ll also need the Magpie plugin (which ships with current versions of EE) so we can actually display the feed.

On to the code:
{exp:magpie url="http://pinterest.com/emtwo/feed.rss" parse="inward" refresh="720" limit="5"} {items}{exp:tagstripper:tagsToSave tags="img"}{description}{/exp:tagstripper:tagsToSave}{/items} {/exp:magpie}

All you need to do is change out the URL parameter to your Pinterest feed url and adjust the refresh rate (in minutes) to your preferred rate. You can adjust the limit to show 1 item or all your feed items, like we do here.

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T15:28:03Z

We wanted to take a moment to say Happy New Year and to wish you all a fabulous 2012. We are back in the office after a great December break. I’m so excited to be diving into some great new projects. For now, everyone here at Emtwo HQ is getting back into the swing of things.

Happy 10th Anniversary Boobie-Thon

2011-09-30T17:16:00Z

We’re sorta getting ready to kick-off a week long celebration of boobies. This year, Boobie-Thon is celebrating 10 years of raising money and awareness for breast cancer. In those 10 years, Boobie-Thon has posted over 6500 photos and raised over $74,000. I am so proud of what we all have accomplished.

Please join us again this year as we try to break $10,000!

Finding new customers locally

2011-08-11T12:35:28Z

As an online business owner, It can be very easy to over think your advertising and marketing strategies. Even worse, we tend to overlook the most obvious group of potential customers. Your local businesses.

Every week we visit these potential clients while running our normal errands, but how often do you introduce yourself and tell them what you do for a living? Do you hand out business cards everywhere you go? Probably not. One of the reasons we fail to do this is due to either being shy or out of fear of rejection. We think “What if they say no? I will be embarrassed and humiliated in public!” First of all. No you won’t. The worst case scenario is that they will say no thank you and guess what? You didn’t have them as a customer before so you lost nothing. The most successful people in history have been rejected many times before they succeeded. One of the best examples of this is Abraham Lincoln. Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times - but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country.

The best case scenario is that they will say “I’ve been looking to redo my website ( or hire a caterer, photographer or whatever your business may be). Or maybe their brother or neighbor is looking for someone. Just think about it. How many times have you been looking for a company whether it be a contractor, plumber or landscaper and asked around to your friends and family who they recommend? We do this because we want to do business with people we know or someone we know KNOWS. We feel more comfortable spending our money this way. The point is, you’ll never know unless you ask!

I have to be more mindful of this advice myself. Just the other day I was at a car dealership I used to work at, giving some former colleagues a few business cards and one of them said that a friend of hers owns a beauty salon and is looking to set up a website. When I got home I mentioned this to Melissa and it turns out that my sister in law works for the very same salon. Clearly, I haven’t been networking locally at my fullest potential! The moral of the story here is that as an online business owner, it can be easy to hide behind the keyboard and get lost in the vastness of the world wide web of Twitter and Facebook. So next time your at the local pizza parlor or dry cleaners, introduce yourself and hand them a business card. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get a discount on your shirts for providing them with such great service!