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Search Engine Optimization (SEO for Short)

Jamie Kadavy — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:27:56 +0000

Benchmarketing… kind of a catch phrase really… It’s a topic that I like to use since search engine optimization (seo) is a topic of hot debate as well as the costs associated with it. A good SEM Campaign, make no mistake, first starts with Benchmarketing against yourself using the following metrics: impressions, clicks and CTR, leads and money spent, in order to determine the cost per click (CPC), total cost of the SEM campaign and the return on investment. Honestly, the search engine optimization marketing is competitive and benchmarketing against competitors leads the way using the following metrics: Coverage, share of the market, share of the costs to market, overall costs and of course ROI… we love ROI.

There are a number of items you can benchmarket your site and your company against, but I believe that none are more important than natural search verses paid traffic. According to ComScore qSearch data, the total traffic from paid and organic varies from 5% paid/95% Organic all the way up to 50/50 and more tilted towards paid. The average across all categories is about 89% of search traffic is organic. Car rental actually gets 54% of its traffic from paid search. This is very useful data on an aggregate/category level. Considerations include weighing the proportion of natural versus paid against the absolute volume.

In any case, when dealing with thousands and tens of thousands of keywords, so many things to consider. Even as deep as the delicate balancing act between PR teams and sales. So: used a centralized organizational structure for all search program management. They set up best practices, then moved on to tactical SEO and SEM execution, followed by establishing the reporting and analytics software framework. Also, then line up search with other marketing efforts… The Intel Viiv press release resulted in 15,000% more Google searches! He ends up with two quotes: Andrew Lang “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts – for support rather than illuminations.” Sherlock Holmes: “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data…”

What does this mean? Marketing is changing, and online is going to con tin ue to be a larger percentage of the overall mix. Measurement becomes that much more important. Must use solid data to make sensible decisions.

Contact 92 West for additional information on how you can optimize your website and become a top competitor through not only pay-per-click campaigns, but through natural search as well.

Best wishes!

Jamie Kadavy
SEO + Media Specialist
92 West

13504
Suite C
Omaha, Nebraska 68137
t. 402.237.8235
f. 402.953.4395
http://www.92west.com

92 West… we’re in the ideas business

92 West — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:51:27 +0000

Creative and Original Graphic and Web Design

92 West is a results focused design firm offering a creative blend of marketing, strategy, technology and design.

Our diverse experience in branding, web design, application development, print campaigns, displays and signage enable us to guide you through all aspects of your project, from strategy to launch and beyond.

Marketing… Advertising… Creative Design… Programming (Yea… we do that to
Put simply, this is more than a job to us; it’s a passion. We’re proud of what we do and we think we’re a good fit for businesses of any size, looking for any design or development service, whether it’s in print, online or signage.

Branding and Logo Design
Corporate Identity Design / Branding
Creating a brand requires us to asses your business, how it operates and define the message that you want to deliver. An effective brand communicates your image and business personality instantly, across all mediums.

Website Design
We develop world class, award-winning website designs that transform our clients’ businesses online. Focusing on the latest web standards, we deliver engaging sites both on the traditional web environment as well as on CDROM’s.

Marketing Campaigns
Developing a campaign for your business enables us to use all aspects of our design abilities around a single theme. This often includes: trade show exhibits, branding, print collateral (direct mail, ads, brochure), signage, and web design.

Print Collateral
We have extensive experience in the print industry. From design through production, manufacturing and delivery, we can coordinate and oversee the entire project for our clients.

Contact 92 West for a Quote on your next project or even with any questions you might have to help make your current campaigns more effective.

Best Regards,

92 West :: Design with Impact

identity + print + web

13504 Stevens Street
Suite C
Omaha, Nebraska 68137
phone: 402.237.823
direct: 402.677.6241
fax: 402.953.4395

Web Design. It’s a Well-Defined Plan

92 West — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:45:26 +0000

Design Firm Overview
92 West was started by two brothers in the Summer of 2000 with a goal of creating a passionate and pragmatic thinking design studio. Our marketing experience and innovative design help our clients realize the full potential of their vision and assist in achieving their marketing goals.

As we’ve grown and have developed our web design / development process it became very apparent that the source of our success was with our project management. We always make sure that we have a well-defined plan for every project; before we put a pen to paper to start concepts. This has proven true with both the large database projects and smaller web design / development projects. The following items will help you in your own projects and will also let you know where we are coming from as well:

Planning. Concepts. Marketing:

Begin with the end in mind. It’s a simple thing to say, but a great deal of people in business keep their vision on the narrow rather than seeing the bigger picture. Do you already have a short tag-line or welcoming text? What attracts customers to your product and how is your business unique? Can you describe your target demographic? What’s your compelling “call-to-action”? Remember, your audience should have a clear action to take when visiting your site.

Do you have a detailed plan? Do you need help developing one? A good start on any web or interactive project would be to create a list of pages that you’ll want the consumer to see and make those pages into a site-map. Follow the site-map up with a flowchart and you’ll find that, upon examination, your team will see potential problems and will be able to solve them before you hire a design firm to assist.

The time required for planning, concepts and overall strategy will effect the overall cost and success of the finished product. Truly, it’s imperative that your decision makers are chosen and that they are all on the same page. Have your team establish a firm start and end date. Typically 30 to 90 days is a fair expectation when creating interactive media.

Photography. Graphics. Copyrighting:
We live in a microwave world. Everything is made to give immediate gratification. If you make your website visitors “over think” rather than just “scan” they might just lose interest. Your site should be self-evident, points of interest should be obvious and self-explanatory. The message should be concise, direct and in-line with your “call to action”. If they are not on the hook yet… you have to direct your audience to the bait. Web pages should be divided into clearly defined areas. You may need some assistance with your information architecture (it’s a good thing to consult with an outside expert as we’re the people skilled with building the user interface). Additional items to think about is how you are going to drive traffic to products or relevant information… rotating promotions… testimonials… video content?

Another item to consider is why your demographic should come back? Do you give them a compelling reason? Is your text written to drive people and do your images and photography stir an emotional response? If not, it’s wise to invest time and resources into creating or finding the appropriate solution. Remember… we’re a visual species… if it’s not made to inspire or generate a need we didn’t know we had… we’ll probably just walk away from it.

Web Design. Optimized Graphics. Award Winning Layout:
The design of the site is one of the most important factors that will influence cost, time and, of course, the quality of the finished product. Every design will be different based on the business type, region and desired goals for the site. Quality projects require a minimum of 8 to 20 hours from the time you call us to when we give you final and approved concepts. If you don’t know what you want to begin with the rounds of revisions can add hours to the project and increase costs. (We here at 92 West typically will have a fixed bid with the revisions written into the scope of the project… not everyone does that so it’s good to speak to the point of contact to see how changes to the concept will effect budget.)

Breaking it Down. Web Development:
It’s the process we take to transform the idea into the finalized web design and the site-map into a functional and easily navigated website. The process the 92 West uses is built on a solid foundation of skills in the areas of HTML, XML, CSS, AJAX, Flash, ActionScript, Databases, PHP and ASPX. The list can go on, but I think you get it.

Also, at 92 West we’re fortunate to have both sides of the house… meaning we can create an idea and code it to work. Make sure that your web partner can bridge both sides of the development process or you may have issues with the finished concept not being able to function. The final step in the process is putting the information into a content management system (CMS). Not everyone will want to spend the extra dollars to do this, but it will save you time and money in the long run. 92 West can build custom CMS sites with Flash or develop a site to use an existing platform. We’ve had huge success with Soholaunch, WordPress, Joomla, OS Commerce, CubeCart and Noahs Classifieds to name a few.

Please keep in mind that the more pages you have the more time it will take to implement. HTML pages can vary but 1 – 3 hours per page is a good estimate. If your planning on a flash site it may take as much as four times that amount depending on the needs of the site.

Flash. Video. Shopping Carts:

Anything is possible in the realm of the web. Some items to consider:
Purchase / develop a robust CMS, include shopping cart options, database-driven applications, your payment gateway (PayPal, Authorize.net, PayPointUSA etc.), merchant account connectivity, flash content, video integration, social media, gaming applications or even micro-sites made for the cell phone specifically.

Programming and implementing these items into your site require a high level of planning that is clearly defined before an estimate of the time and cost can be created. The special features you add to your site will give your users that extra push to come back and will also give you the edge over your competition.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
People find you through search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing are the primary entities to focus on, but there are over 250 secondary sources and literally thousands of smaller search engines that can help your audience find you. It’s important that your web provider has the knowledge and the tools to make your site successful and easily found.

Page name, title, key words, meta description and how the copy is written are key factors in SEO work. It’s also important to know that it’s a never ending struggle. Content is king of the web… it’s a necessary task to keep your copy refreshed and perhaps build additional links back to your site. A good way to build links is to have a company blog and start a twitter or facebook account. Make sure that you include relevant links to your products. A little time each week will garner huge results.

Testing. Training. Launch:
Small and large web projects need to have testing done. Verify that all of the links work. Web developers will also verify that the code functions on multiple browsers, different systems (PC, Mac & Linux) and that your hosting server can handle the bandwidth / traffic that your site will demand.

Training your employees on the site’s content and CMS is also important. If you have a specific individual that is going to handle the content updates of your site then that person should be trained and maintain that knowledge by continuing to update content regularly.

Launching the site… the moment you’ve waited for! It’s exciting. It’s new and going to be wonderful. You’ll have to make sure that you have all of your domain name information pointed to the right server. Also, people who need e-mail accounts should have them built and be given the ability to access the information. It’s also important to know that if you have a new domain name it may take awhile (30 to 90 days) for search engines to list your site after you have submitted it.

92 West :: Design with Impact
The measure of our clients success is the ruler that we use to gauge our own — we design to impact and strengthen your customer relationships. We are the best value you’ll find for your graphic or web design needs as well as SEO, Social Media and Brand Strategy and would be happy to quote on your next project. Please contact us at 402.677.6241 or fill out our request for proposal form.

Troy Kadavy
Creative Director
92 West

13504 Stevens Street
Suite C
Omaha, Nebraska 68137
t. 402.237.8235
d. 402.677.6241
f. 402.953.4395
http://www.92west.com

92 West Launches Crane Connection!

92 West — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:18:11 +0000

Crane Connection, LLC

Crane Connection, LLC approached 92 West to create a website that utilized a content management system, flash and video elements, displayed banner advertisements and also allowed crane buyers, sellers and manufacturers to meet and put their equipment online so that they may better move their inventory.

The site took three months to develop and is still in the process of improvements as I type currently. We’re incorporating an e-mail marketing tool, a blog for crane industry events / information, RSS feeds for various sections of the website and are implementing a google adwords campaign to generate awareness.

Future updates will also include a members section that will have information on how to optimize their own website’s search engine optimization.

The logo and identity of the site / company was also developed by 92 West; my advertising and marketing company. All in all I think the site will be a great success and I’ll be involved in future marketing efforts with them.

Additional Information:

Crane Connection Categories:

Hydraulic Truck Crane | Carry Deck Industrial Crane
Rough Terrain Crane | Crane Crawler/Dragline Crane
All Terrain Crane | Conventional Latticeboom

Boom Truck Crane | Gantry/Overhead Crane
Knuckleboom Crane | Tower/Self Erecting Crane
Drywall Material Handling Wall | Bucket Truck/Sign Crane

Down Cab Rough Terrain Crane | Pedestal/Marine Crane
Parts and Attachments | Featured Crane Listings

Please contact Troy Kadavy of 92 West at 402.677.6241 for any additional information.

Troy Kadavy
Creative Director / Owner
92 West

92WEST :: Branding and Logo Design

92 West — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:02:42 +0000

92 WEST has developed a number of logos and has creating branding for a variety of companies large and small. Below is a selection of logos we have developed over the years for your viewing pleasure.

Please feel free to contact 92 WEST with any questions or for a cost estimate.

Download Logo Examples