Design for Business Website + Logo + Packaging + Advertising

How We Access Local News

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:37:00 +0000

Pew Internet: Diving Into How We Access Local News

Always interesting to see new data and trends in how we are using the internet,

Verve Creative 429 Cherry Street West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:42:00 +0000

Should You Like? Subscribe? Recommend? Or Share .....

For many small businesses, Facebook can be a great way to build a following and drive traffic to a website. However sticking Facebook logo on your homepage isn't enough. Using Facebook successfully can be an incredible challenge for a web designers - Mostly due to the complex, confusing and ever-changing nature of Facebook and their tools for integration.

Below is a link to a presentation by Facebook on the LIKE button. Required reading for designers and developers and anyone wanting to use Facebook on their website

How to Monetize Facebook

Verve Creative 429 Cherry Street, West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Dual-Core, Android-Powered Motorola Photon 4G To Hit Sprint On July 31st At $200 http://ping.fm/J4qgr

Business Owners: Checkout Yelp Deals

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Business Owners: Checkout Yelp Deals

From: http://ping.fm/S26ss

Accept payments w mobile phone

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:45:00 +0000

Square – Accept credit card payments with your mobile phone

I signed up for this and got the little devise that plugs into my phone in the mail a few days later. Anything that makes accepting credit cards easier for small business is welcome - although the 3.5% they charge can be tough to take.

Verve Creative429 Cherry Street, West Newton, Ma 02465

617-332-9588

New Website & Logo Peak Performance Insurance

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:44:00 +0000

Fresh new logo & website for fresh new local business - Needham-based Peak Performance Insurance.

Appealing to a 20-something, adventure seeking target consumer, this design is bold and current. Serving up casual bite-sized bits of information, a bright and bold design and an iPad/tablet inspired layout, this website is designed to be quickly understood by the snow boarding, trail blazing, hiker boy and girl - In the chance they have few moments of common sense before heading off to do that double-tuck-spin thingy.

Visit the full website: http://www.peakperformanceinsurance.com

Verve Creative 429 Cherry Street West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

Their first website: Apple, Twitter, Google & Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:41:00 +0000

We have come to expect beautifully designed corporate websites, but how high has the bar really been set? Take a look at how some of the most popular websites looked when the launched:

Verve Creative ~ 429 Cherry Street ~ West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

› Web Design Slideshow

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:22:00 +0000

› Web Video Wars - February 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:02:00 +0000

Recently Google dropped support for the video codec standard H.264 in favor of their own WebM (based on VP8 codec standard and Theora), a rival specification to H.264 that is open source and royalty-free. All current video codecs (Windows Media, Apple's MPEG) are owned by owned by ‘MPEG LA’ a licensing group who require hefty fees for their use - Typically paid for by the browser companies. H.264 is also owned by MPEG LA, however it does not currently require a licensing fee.

Supported by both Microsoft and Apple, H.264 appeared on the brink of replacing Flash video as the industry standard. Google’s rejection of H.264 for WebM is a play to have it's own video codec become the new standard recognized in the new open-source web coding standard HTML5 that is nearing completion. The new HTML5 standard will be adopted as the new coding standard for all web developers beginning in May of this year. HTML5 supports video embedding natively, thus browsers will need to embedded video files (using the new tag) in lieu of the plugins (Flash, MPEG, WMV) that they now use to do it for them. Although H.264 is currently free, HTML5 would prefer an open-source codec so that no one company owns the licence to the standard. Until recently, Adobe’s Flash was the standard for web video.

Last year, Apple dropped support for Adobe's Flash in favor of the H.264 codec, forcing Adobe to include H.264 support within it's Flash wrapper for Apple devises. Google re-encoded their entire Youtube video collection with the H.264 in Flash wrapper strategy this is how you can currently watch Youtube video on AppleOS devises such as the iPad and iPhone. Their switch to WebM means they will again need to re-encode video for all their Youtube users.

Verve Creative ~ 429 Cherry Street ~ West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

Facebook Pages vs Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:19:00 +0000

Facebook Upgrades Pages Feature
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150090729064822&id=1038

The Difference Between Your Facebook Account, pages and Groups

With over 550 million users who log-in over 250 million times daily, Facebook has become a powerful tool enabling small businesses to easily communicate directly to customers. For every website that we design, we explore how a Facebook integration can provide additional value for the business.

Facebook has done lots of tinkering with how their site works in this past year - Including the re-defining of the different types of account structures that a user can have. Below are the three main account structures and the differenced between them.

1. PERSONAL PROFILE
2. FAN PAGE
3. GROUP

PERSONAL PROFILE ----
A Facebook PERSONAL PROFILE is your initial account page - Your personal home which MUST be based on your name and not your company. You MUST begin here, even if you don't ever intend on using Facebook for personal reasons. You need this account to create a FAN PAGE or GROUP for your business.

Advantages:
- The most direct interaction with friends.
- e-mail box
- Chat feature
- Can post directly to friends’ pages

Disadvantages:
- Limited to 5,000 friends
- Cannot mass e-mail friends

FAN PAGES --- --- --- ---
Anyone with a PERSONAL PROFILE can create a FAN PAGE. Facebook wants businesses to have FAN PAGES and these pages can have multiple administrators. Pages can only be created to represent a real organization, business, celebrity, or band, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. Groupscan be created by anyone and about any topic, as a space for people to share their opinions and interest in that subject. Groups can be kept closed or secret,whereas Pages are intended to help an entity communicate publicly.

View Facebook's Manual on Using PAGES here:
http://www.box.net/shared/9e5jiyl843

See Facebook's Feb 2011 PAGES feature update here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150090729064822&id=10381469571

Advantages

- No fan limit
- Can send updates to your fans
- Can target updates by city, state, sex and age
- Is indexed by Google
- Provides useful statistics
- Pay-per-click campaigns available

Disadvantages:
- Updates go into a fans “update” box, not their inbox
- Less interaction with fans/friends and is not as personal
- No notification when fans post to your wall

GROUPS --- --- --- ---
Groups are generally meant for smaller groups of people you know personally, and have limiting functions in place when the group members exceed a certain number. Pages are intended to be a place for organizations, businesses, celebrities, or bands to connect with users who like them.

Advantages
- Mass e-mail directly to your members’ inbox
- Pay-per-click campaigns available
- You can have several groups for different purposes

Disadvantages:
- Limited to 5,000 members
- No notification when members post to your wall
- Not indexed by search engines
- Can not target messages to member

Verve Creative ~ 429 Cherry Street ~ West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

› Strategies: LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:25:00 +0000

On-the-mat Strategies for Using LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook

For my business, I have found it useful to maintain well honed profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, posting a few interesting (i.e. useful or entertaining) short posts per week.

Although there is some overlap between the three social websites, my followers, friends and links on these websites are largely different. To reach the largest audience with least amount of effort, I have linked these 3 websites so that posting to one automatically posts to all 3.

How to Build Your Links & Followers
I actively encourage connections with anyone that I come into contact with in the course of my day. Tacit invitations to connect are in my email signature, my website and business card.. Also most social media websites offer the ability to check your email accounts and contact lists for people you may want to connect with.

And here's a nugget of gold; Either before or after a business meeting with a new prospect, send a invitation to link via LinkedIn. (Note: Only if the person maintains an active LinkedIn account) This is an exceptional way to add depth to the

You must be mindful to evaluate each post making sure that you are adding value. If done well (i.e. honestly and thoughtfully), this practice can provide the following benefits:

1. Educates colleagues, family and friends of what you do

2. Reinforces your reputation as an expert in your industry

3. Builds relationship through familiarity

4. Keeps you 'top of mind'

5. Communicates that you are on top of your game

Respect, Permission & Privacy

I know for some people, having 'private' information on the internet is an uncomfortable-if not excruciating experience.

How to get started:

How to Connect Twitter to Facebook Status Updates

Verve Creative 429 Cherry Street West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

› Connecting Twitter Facebook & Linkedin

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:25:00 +0000

Most businesses I work with want to leverage social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, but are unsure how to manage the use these sites.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for using social media for business advantage. Successful use of social media requires examining both your company's business model and a target customer; Looking for opportunities to connect with customers who are already online doing other things.

Fish Where The Hungry Fish (or Whale Watchers) Are
One primary tactic for driving traffic to a website is to learn where concentrations of potential customers already are online and find ways to connect with them.

For example, Boston.com is one of the most trafficked websites in New England - Especially for local, active, people who are often seeking new and interesting activities. Most people are unaware that Boston.com has an events calendar that is free to the public for posting events. Last year we posted the opening of the whale watch season for one of our clients 7 Sea's Whale Watch. This opened up an unlikely new market of customers from greater Boston eager to make a 1-hour day-trip to Gloucester. Given the many Whale Watch companies closer, 7 Sea's had never considered this to be a likely customer segment.

Verve Creative 429 Cherry Street West Newton, Ma 02465 617-332-9588

› 4 Important Website Trends

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:47:00 +0000

Forrester has identified four attributes that will define the future of the online customer experience:

Consumers will not only control what they get online, they’ll control the form that they get it in to a much greater degree than they do today.
Aggregated at the point of use. Content, function and data will be pulled from different sources and combined at a common destination to create a unique experience.
Relevant to the moment. This customized, aggregated content will appear on the device that’s best suited to the customer’s context at a given point in time.
Social as a rule, not an exception. Social content will be integrated into most online experiences, not segregated into today’s blogs, micro-blogs and wikis."

› Elements of a Successful Website

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Elements of a Successful Website: Presentation Mike delivered to the Massachusetts Association of Landscape Professionals:

+ Click to view or download presentation

+ Visit VERVE Boston website

+ 617-332-9588 direct

› How much mobile traffic do you get?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:44:00 +0000

Back-to-Basics: How much mobile traffic do you get?: "

More and more people are surfing the Internet from their phones these days. Take a look at the following graph. It shows the number of monthly visits to googlestore.com from Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry devices over the past 2 years. There were 277 visits in Sep, 2008. But in July of 2010, there were over 13,000 visits!

Given this kind of growth, it makes sense for many businesses to set up a mobile device-friendly site. If you’ve been considering whether to create a mobile site, you may want to check out the Mobile Devices report in the Visitors section. You can see how many visits you received from each mobile operating system, how many pages they visit on average, how much time they spend on your site, as well as see conversion and ecommerce information.

In next week’s Back to Basics, I’ll show you how to create your own trend graph like the one in this article, so you can really dig into the numbers for your own site.

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

› Can you be Trusted?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:15:00 +0000

Does your web site undermine your trustworthiness?

A recent Stanford study examined the factors that caused a visitor to trust or mistrust your web site and your organization. Below are the top positive and negative factors that visitors to your site use to evaluate your trustworthiness.

Attributes That Illicit Trust in Your Web Site (And your company)
1. The site provides a quick response to customer service questions
2. The site lists the organization's physical address, phone number and employee photos
3. The site looks professionally designed
4. The site is by an organization that is well respected outside of the Internet
5. The site is linked to by a site you think is believable
6. The site sends emails confirming transactions
7. The site has been updated since last visit
8. The site represents a respected organization
9. The site is arranged in a way that makes sense
10. The site offers information in more than one language

Mistrust in Your Web Site (and your company)
1. The site makes it hard to distinguish ads from content
2. The site is difficult to navigate
3. The site is rarely updated with new content
4. The site links to a site thought to be not credible
5. The site has a link that doesn't work
6. The site is sometimes unexpectedly unavailable
7. The site has a typographical error
8. The site requires a paid subscription to gain access
9. The site has one or more ads on each page
10. The site automatically pops up new windows with ads

Design Implications:
1. Design Web sites to convey the real world aspect of the organization.
2. Make Web sites easy to use
3. Include markers of expertise such as a blog, articles, and resources
4. Include markers of trustworthiness such as street address and photos of management
5. Tailor the user experience to the different users of your site - give them easy access to what they want 6. Avoid overly commercial elements
7. Avoid the pitfalls of amateurism

Link to the full study: http://captology.stanford.edu/pdf/p61-fogg.pdf

Verve Creative Boston MA Web Design Firm 429 Cherry Street West Newton, MA 617-332-9588

› 10 question web site evaluation

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Is your website helping customers do business with you or driving them to your competition? Are you leaving money on the table because your web site is not optomised for Google?

Answer the following 10 questions. If your not satisfied with your answers call us for a free web site consultation. We'll show you the business you've been missing out on and get you back on the mat.

10 question web site evaluation:

Are my current web site visitors being converted into leads or sales?
Is my web site easy to navigate ... Is it easy to find information?
Does my web site show up when I do a Google search for my services?
Are competitors' web sites more professional looking and current than mine?
Does the content on my web site deliver the right message?
Is my web site a good representation of my business as it
Does my current web site instill trust and confidence in my business or brand?
Am I easily able to update my web site?
Are visitors who come to my web site being tracked and analyzed?
Does my web site make it easy for web site visitors to contact me?

Call 617-332-9588 or contact us online to learn more about our website design services.

Verve Creative

The Best Web Design Firm in Boston

429 Cherry Street

West Newton, MA

617-332-9588

› Google Offers Free Web Dashboard

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Google Local Lures Small Businesses With Their Own Web Dashboard

If your not taking advantage of Google Local Search Services you could be missing out. Call us for a free consultation. Click on text above to read the article.

Mike Ciolino
617-332-9588
Boston Web Design Company
Verve Creative Inc
www.getverve.com

› Time to Consider Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:27:00 +0000

We launched an email campaign last week for a client who called immediately after the launch concerned about how the message looked when he opened it on his Blackberry PDA. Being a owner of a shiny new Blackberry - I quickly picked the devise and understood his concern. The fairly simple email Anniversary Party invitation looked as if it had been put through a blender.

Now given that this message was intended for businessmen and executives who are known for reading their email on Blackberry PDAs this was a problem that needed fixing.

As usual, we had tested this campaign on gmail, hotmail, yahoo, aol. outlook, thunderbird and entourage - but that still was not enough. We now had something more to learn about how people are viewing our email marketing campaigns.

Mobile users are often looking for specific pieces of information, rather than browsing. Content providers need to consider how their work is being consumed and make adjustments so that the users have a useful, instinctive experience.

So this is what we learned:

1. Keep image files away from the top of the message - and certainly below the message text. Some Blackberries by default display the image file name in place of the image. This is made worse if you are using Constant Contact or Vertical Response because they a lengthy naming system to your images.

2. Stick to the facts - Title and text need to be short and sweet. Use words that are descriptive and create strong tangible images for the reader:

Cigars and Fine Cars.
Your Invited.

Is stronger than:

The Thompson Cigar Company
invites you to an exclusive
evening to celebrate one year
of fine Cigars in Boston

3. Keep text line lengths short and Flush left.

4. Use ALT Tags for images. Often the image will not initially display but the ALT tag will. So use your alt tags wisely - Instead of "Thompson Logo Image" use "1st Anniversary Party - RSVP Now"

5. Use full html "mailto: links and full phone numbers "1-617-888-7777" so that the receipients can reply with a click

Some words of advise:

For the Designer and Marketing professional - keep ahead of the curve. Own or have access to a Mac, A PC, A Blackberry, an iPhone, A laptop, A netbook. The environments that we are designing for changes weekly and it's our responsibility to keep up.

For the Client - Work in partnership with your creative and marketing team. Your input and perspective is a valuable resource. Your customers may not let you know that they couldn't read your email - and your creative team may have tested it on everything they thought to test it on - however given all the possible variable that still may not be enough.

Be Patient ... The internet isn't finished yet.

Mike Ciolino
617-332-9588
Boston Web Design Company
Verve Creative Inc
www.getverve.com

› Local Search for Small Business

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:27:00 +0000

When it comes to keeping up with technology, most small business owners I talk to are confused, skeptical and a little embarassed at how little they know or understand. And for good reason. I sit in front of my computer more hours a week than I'm willing to admit to and I can't seem to keep my head above water.

Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, ... For most businesses there are some powerful opportunities to use the internet to attract new customers, web traffic and sales. The problem is knowing what they all do and how they can be integrated into your work-flow to actually make a difference.

OPPORTUNITY #1: LOCAL SEARCH

In the early days of internet search we realized that it was unlikely that a small local company - say an insurance company in Newton, MA was going to be able to compete with all the other small insurance companies across the country to land on the 1st page of Google, Yahoo or MSN.

Making matters worse - through the years your customers have replaced their phone book, yellow pages and newspapers with a computers, cell phones and PDAs. This has left many (or most) small businesses impossible to find.

Have you ever gone to Google, Yahoo and MSN and searched for the product or service you provide? Do this now. ..............
(note: think like you customer. Would they search for "car insurance" or "John Jones Insurance Agency")

-------------------
WHAT YOU CAN DO

In the past couple years, the search engines have changed search results to show more local listing based on the location of the search. They know where your computer is geographically and provide results that are appropriate for your local area. This is a huge opportunity for local small businesses, who should have a website SEO (Search Engine Optomization) plan in place.

Below I list a few items that are necessary to rank well with the search engines. You may need to consult with your web designer to

-------------------
7 UNIVERSAL LOCAL-SEARCH TASKS YOU CAN DO NOW

1. Register your business with Google Local Business Center and Google Maps

2. Make sure your website's back-end code has a site-map and that it is registered with Google Webmaster Tools

3. Register your website's sitemap with MSN's Live's Webmaster Toolsm

4. Your website homepage title bar should include the name of your local town(s) or sales region

5. Open a Twitter account under your company name and link it to your website (even if you never ever use it)

6. Set up a profile on LinkedIn.com and link it to your website.

7. Register your company (and website) with the top business directories - Both National and Local.

Often this is a free service. The more traffic the directory gets, the greater the potential impact on your website's search rankings.

A few directories that we recommend:

http://www.local.com
http://www.yelp.com
http://www.dmoz.org/Business
http://dir.yahoo.com
http://YellowPages.AOL.com
http://www.yellowpages.com
http://www.searchboston.com
http://www.Yellowbook.com
http://www.superpages.com
http://www.switchboard.com

— Integrating the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Ciolino) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:34:00 +0000

By now we all know that the Internet has become the primary source for consumers to gather information and purchase products or services. Most every business, especially in an uncertain economy, needs a professional web presence that educates the consumer and provides as much value as possible.In the past couple years thousands of innovative web sites have been launched that provide access to information, technology or services in new ways that are useful for consumers.

I seem to always have a mental list of websites that I want to go back to so I can figure out exactly what they do.As a web designer/architect I see a trend- and an opportunity for small business own-ers to use the collective intelligence of the Internet to provide customers with additional value. Websites such as Dunn & Bradstreet, Ebay, Reuters, and Google are providing an opportunity for the average small business

The Collaborative Internet: Using Free Web Services to Gain a Competitive Advantage owner by allowing web developers to integrate features seamlessly into their website for free – and they even write the code! (This is called an API – Application Programming Interface.) Google has been a leader in developing APIs allowing programmers the ability to integrate Google’s products such as Google Maps, or Google Calendar directly into a website. Google Maps has become the standard for small business websites to provide maps and directions that point your customers to your place of business.We’re entering into the phase of the col-laborative Internet – Where small businesses can provide customers with up-to-date, rel-evant, useful information by using the collective intelligence of the Internet. Most every information or service technology website now offers the ability to integrate their best stuff into your website.