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Mar 27
1

The basics of SEO: A short video

By | search engine optimization | No Comments

4-minute video on the basics of SEO

Here’s a nice video that tells you the basics of SEO and how Google ranks web sites. Some good info here, including:

  • 94% of people on Google only click results on the first page. If they don’t find what they are looking for, they adjust their search terms and start over.
  • The role of Keywords and Backlinks in how Google ranks pages
  • The difference in the on-site SEO component vs. the off-site SEO component
  • How to get effective backlinks

http://youtu.be/ypQ36yAY7ko

 

Mar 15
1

Nice Webinar and screen sharing tool that’s free

By | great tools, recommendations | No Comments

Looking for a Webinar and screen sharing tool?

I’m always looking for great tools to help small and medium businesses get stuff done. I recently signed up for Meeting Burner, a Webinar and screen-sharing tool, and gave it a thorough test drive. I’m pretty impressed.

What you get with the Free version

Like many services, there is a free version and then various paid versions that offer upgrades. The differences between the free version and the two paid versions are relevant, but you get a lot with the free version, including:

  • Meeting scheduling
  • Instant screen sharing
  • Audio conferencing
  • Instant changing of presenters
  • In-meeting chat
  • Automated email reminders
  • Streaming video

What’s missing?

Probably the biggest thing missing from the free version is that it only allows 10 attendees, whereas the Pro version ($39.95 per month) allows 50 attendees, and the Premier version ($99.95 per month) allows 1,000 attendees.

My 1.5-hour online meeting and the quality of the entire process was flawless. Create a free account and give this Webinar and screen sharing tool test run. You can give the free version a try, and upgrade if you need the additional features. Full disclosure here: If you upgrade and purchase the service, I get a small cut. But of course, I wouldn’t recommend this service in the first place if I didn’t feel that it was excellent.

 

 

Feb 22
1

Useful WordPress plugin lets you add hidden notes

By | plugin review | No Comments

Another Woody Creative useful WordPress plugin

Peter’s Post Notes lets you add notes that don’t show up when published

As a builder of WordPress web sites for my clients, I get a lot of requests for various types of web functionality. Often I have to stop and think: “Can WordPress already accommodate that? Or, is there likely a useful WordPress plugin that will do it?” The answer, almost always, is yes.

In this case, a client said they needed to be able to allow multiple site admins to log in and write notes on a post or page that would not be visible once the page was published. After a quick search, I found Peter’s Post Notes. It’s a very simple plugin that adds a small text box — titled “Add note:” — just above the “Publish” button in the right sidebar. Any admin can log into a page or post and type notes into this box. The notes are saved in the respective page/post’s admin view, and even are listed chronologically by admin, so you can see the history of the notes. And, as mentioned, they do not show up in the published page.

Also handy: When you are viewing the main Posts page, it adds a column that displays the “Latest Note” so you can get a quick view of which posts contain notes.  A nice, simple, useful WordPress plugin that I recommend. Download it here.

Feb 21
1

Fancy-schmancy Yelp study by Harvard

By | social media, Yelp | No Comments

Yelp and Woody CreativeNo, that’s Matt Damon

I know what you are thinking: “Wow, Harvard, huh? Isn’t that where they have janitors who are so smart that they figure out super-complicated math formulas that were left on the chalkboards overnight?” Harvard is indeed chock full o’ smartypants, but that janitor was from the movie, “Good Will Hunting.”

A 5-9% increase in revenue

This Harvard Yelp study is called “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com,” which sounded ultra Harvardey to me even before I read (um, scanned) the paper. The thing that caught my attention was that the study says that a one-star increase on Yelp leads to a 5-9% increase in revenue for a local (non-chain) restaurant. Wow. That factoid was worth the price of downloading, which of course is free. It’s one more reason to remember to nurture your Yelp following, as well as your presence across the entire realm of social media.

Nov 13
0

Infographics best practices

By | great design, infographics, marketing consultant, marketing specialist, marketing writer | No Comments

Infographics best practices

An interesting and well-designed infographic that leverages infographic best practices can draw a lot of attention and improve search-engine optimization for your business. Here are a couple of tips.

1. Sketch it out first. The purpose of an infographic is to quickly communicate information visually because we all have frighteningly short attention spans and are too lazy to read. That might sound cynical — and admittedly, it is — but it’s also true. You have to get your point across quickly, and an infographic is a great way to do it, but you have to plan ahead and make sure your infographic is extremely clear. Sketch it out with pencil and paper before you open up Photoshop and Illustrator. (Note: Yeah, you’re gonna need to either be a good/great designer, or know where to find one. Stressed about this part? Reach out to us … I can help.)

2. Share it with three or four people and ask them if it makes sense.You’d be amazed at how many usability errors you can uncover just by sharing your infographic design with a couple of people. According to usability guru Jakob Nielson, you can discover up to 85 percent of usability issues just by sharing your design with 5-8 regular folks.

3. Represent the data in an interesting way. Don’t just slap down a bar chart that looks like it came from Excel. If you are trying to show that there are twice as many dogs than cats in the U.S. (not true), why not make a chart that uses little doggie and kitty icons? Also, consider being clever. It doesn’t mean you have to be hilarious, but if you can thrown in a clever Justin Bieber reference (see Reason No. 3 in the infographic below), that never hurts.

4. Guide the reader through the infographic. Use some kind of combination of numbered steps or arrows and dotted lines to walk the reader through the proper flow of the message. An otherwise great message can be confusing if the reader doesn’t know where to start and where to proceed. If you give them a clear path to take, they will follow it. (And, as Yogi Bera said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”)

5. Don’t get lost in the design. As a designer of infographics, I recognize the temptation to go a little nutty with beautiful and rich graphics, but don’t just create cool artwork for the sake of showing off. If the graphic element does not contribute to the quick and simple communication of the message, ditch it. Lead with data and always design around that premise.

Looking for something like this to promote your business?

Check out the infographic design I developed (below) to promote Woody Creative. Interested in having something like this created to promote your business or service or product? Woody Creative does amazing infographic design. Contact us to discuss what you are trying to accomplish, and let’s create something that will help people recognize your expertise and draw some attention to your business.

Let us use infographics best practices to help promote your business

Yep, we can create one of these to help your promote your business or service or expertise. Give us a call for a complimentary brainstorm on what you are trying to accomplish for your business. We do marketing consulting and online marketing. Not only are we are good at it, but we’re super easy to work with. Call us.

Nov 13
0

Unnecessary quote marks are kind of bugging me

By | funny stuff, other | No Comments

I’m confused. Is the game not really tonight?

tonight-lake-travis-basketball

Why are there quotes around “Tonight”?

Dear sign-maker, forgive me for being a grammar nerd here, but is the game tonight or not? When people use quote marks like this, there are a couple of possibilities:

  1. It’s a quote. Did someone actually say the word “tonight” and the sign-maker felt the need to attribute this quote on the sign? Perhaps we have an overzealous journalism student who is a stickler for always quoting his source, dammit.
  2. It’s an attempt to communicate some degree of uncertainty, as in, “The game is ‘tonight,’ which of course means we have no idea if it’s tonight or not.”
  3. It’s a display of sarcasm, as in, “Oh, riiiiight the game is ‘tonight’ … yeah (scoff), like that’s gonna happen.” (Note: This version, which is the most irritating, often is accompanied by “air quotes,” meaning that in 34 states you legally can punch them in the face.)
  4. The quote key got stuck. (Not very likely.)
  5. Those ain’t quote marks, they are the vicious claw marks made by the fightin’ Lake Travis Wildcats! Whoop! (Not likely, as the mascot actually is a Cavalier).
  6. Sign vandals with a spare role of No. 6 Jet-Black Vinyl and a portable high-pressure Viking vinyl steam-iron added the quote marks on a ridiculously wild dare from the English Department. (This scenario gets my vote. Those English Department people can get pret-ty nutty.)