Temptations of an SEO Saint 

 “I can help you with that,” he whispers over your shoulder.

You glance back from your keyboard. “No thanks. I’m fine,” you reply, quickly returning to work.

A few seconds pass and you can still feel warm breath on the back of your neck.

“You don’t understand,” he continues, setting a hand on your shoulder. “I’m a search engine optimization professional.”

A part of you believes him, but you remain silent. You feel him scanning the wall of text on your computer screen.

“Again, I’m fine,” you say, your voice cracking.

“Tell you what,” he chimes, feeding off your uncertainty.  “I’m going to set my perfect, award-winning, best-in-the-industry strategy right…. here.” A single sheet of paper glides onto your desk. “And when you’re ready for me, you just give me a ring.”

You let out a sigh of relief as the SEO demon’s hand slides off your shoulder. As you readjust the halo floating above your head, your gaze drops down to the ketchup-speckled paper on your otherwise clean desk.

Smiling to yourself, you crumple it up and toss it in the trashcan. Why? Because you, sir (or ma’am), are an SEO Saint.

5 Paths to SEO Mastery
By: An SEO Professional Demon

***Editor’s Note: Please never do these things.***

1. The Shotgun Approach

Shoot for a bunch of keywords at once and you’re bound to hit something! Why waste your time “researching “and focusing on a single keyword or subject when you can just cover everything in one go? The people at Google don’t want you to know that, by using a variety of keywords, your page can rank number 1 for as many search queries as you want. It’s a flawless strategy, my friend! And they’ll never notice what you’re doing!

2. Buy Links

I’m sure you know how important inbound links are for rankings. Don’t listen to all those SEO hippies trying to play the “natural link building” card. They ain’t got money like you and me! I know a guy that knows a guy who will put some links to your page on their website – and tons of others – for some cash. Cheapskates are going to try and say that the quality of the website linking to you matters – that your page could potentially rank worse. My professional opinion: Why in the heck would quality matter?

3. Write For The Crawlers

Try and argue with this statement: “More traffic equals more money.” You can’t! That’s why, when we create your webpage content, we are going to focus solely on getting it ranked numero uno. How? Repetition and redundancy, baby! As an SEO professional that is professionally trained in SEO and SEO professionalism, I know that the more times a word appears on a page, the more relevant and professional the page looks to search engines in terms of professionalism. It may look a little weird to customers at first, but they get used to it. 

4. Borrow From Friends

Let’s face it. You’re going to have writer’s block at some point. When this happens, don’t waste time scanning the blogosphere for inspiration. Rather, use a quick Google search to figure out what content is already ranking, and copy it. Asking for guest bloggers is a waste of effort when you can just blog on their behalf. If their stuff worked once, it’ll work twice! 

5. “What They Can’t See Can’t Hurt You”

All that alt text and HTML is a giant window of opportunity, my friend! Customers can’t see it when they look at your page, so stuff everything with as many keywords as you can. This way, the search engines will think your content is mega-relevant, especially if you ran out of places to stuff keywords in the content!

This is just a little taste of the SEO mastery I embody. I will valiantly lead you in a battle to the tip-top of every search engine in this unfair world! Who else are you going to trust? 

(Dearest guardians of SEO, please remember: these are all bad ideas. A lot like sticking a fork in a toaster.)

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most critical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and feature “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

Gather ‘round, ye halo-wearing brethren! Those bruises, those tired eyes… search engine optimization is quite the uphill battle, huh? Especially with all of the pesky algorithm changes. Being such virtuous folks, it’s not like any of you took a real hit to your search rankings anyway, right? I’m sure you already have them memorized, but let’s have a quick review of some of the most prominent SEO virtues… for all the other people, of course.

8 Virtues of an SEO Saint

1. Page Relevance

Just as their actions parallel their beliefs, an SEO saint’s webpage parallels its domain name, remaining relevant and searchable from its very core. The name of the website or company always relates to the subject of the page, as does the URL. There are always multiple means of finding the page throughout its website design. An SEO saint also never forgets that the ladies (and gentlemen, and search engines) love site maps and archives.

2. Research Diligence

A renowned SEO saint manages to spread a message without being stoned to Google death by planning ahead. They know that standing on a soapbox while highly outnumbered is a losing battle. Thus, before ever saying a word, they research keywords and subjects that are popular but not saturated by fellow SEO evangelists. They also know that longer keywords (i.e. “how to lose 10 pounds” vs. “lose weight”) are best.

3. Focus and Consistency

An SEO saint is never distracted by the beauty of their own voice. Having planned around a specific set of keywords, they talk about one thing and one thing only. They understand that algorithm angels will have a rough time categorizing (and ranking) the page otherwise. The wisest SEO saints make sure to post consistently and predictably, too, for predictability delights the convenience-hungry people of the Internet.

4. Genuineness

A true SEO saint writes not for the gods of search, but for the readers of the page. For two reasons:

1. Conscious, sober readers (usually) don’t like to see a word – or variations of a word – repeated dozens of times in a single paragraph. Rich, true content goes beyond simply attracting readers to the page by actually keeping them on it and increasing the perceived legitimacy and usefulness of the domain, along with the likelihood that people are going to share the page. Traffic is useless if the people do not like what they read.

2. The algorithm angels are constantly getting better at seeking out writers trying to sneak their way into Google heaven. Writing straight to the gods of search (i.e. Keyword Stuffing) is the oldest trick in the book, and doing so will just come off as an insult to their intelligence. 

5. Uniqueness

All SEO saints know that no two webpages are alike. And if any are, they might as well not exist anyway. People like original content. And search engines like people. To assume that search engines like original content would be a logical fallacy, but there’s no fallacy here – we checked.

6. Friendliness

Some believe that professional success is all about knowing the right people. So do SEO saints. A genuine SEO saint treats others as they would like to be treated, making and nurturing friendships on a daily basis. They link to other saints’ (rich, true) content within their webpages, and openly support websites that they believe to be relevant. They reach out to social media outlets, respond to followers, and offer ample opportunities for readers to interact and offer input. As a good friend to others, an SEO saint’s content is genuinely shared and praised by like-minded individuals, promoting natural link building.

7. Resourcefulness

An SEO saint never gets bogged down by tradition. They understand the constantly evolving nature of the Internet and search engine optimization as a whole. For that reason, they are always reading updated information on SEO, willing to change their methods at the drop of the dime. As silent heroes, they utilize all the tools at hand, never forgetting to include images and fill out meta descriptions and alt titles with accurate – yet relevant – text.

8. Patience

Once click-happy Internet users like anyone else, the hardest task for any SEO saint is to wait. The greatest of saints do not expect instant results. After an update of any kind, they give time for search engines to crawl their website, for users to discover their page, and for authentic success to engulf them. They comprehend the idea that webpages grow more legitimate with age.

Stay tuned for Part 3: The Temptations.

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most crtical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and features “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

What are some other virtues of an SEO saint?

The best logos come in all shapes and colors, but – just like a cake – their essential ingredients never change. Assuming that you don’t want a tasteless, indigestible, and likely burnt monstrosity representing your brand, I’ve gathered a few tips to ensure a recipe for success.

1. Be Unique

Why spend so much time sweating over a hot stove if your logo is going to look like everyone else’s? By adding the right toppings and a garnish or two, you’re sure to create a logo that stands out as the memorable face of your brand and everything it represents. It should be just as unique as you are.

2. Keep it Simple

The best logos are adaptable and extensible; they are stretched and sized to fit all mediums. If the ingredient list for a logo is too complex, you are sure to run into trouble.

3. Know the Occasion

Birthday or wedding? Hair care or law consulting? A delicious logo not only fits the personality of the brand, but also its industry and service. What you “do” should always be clear to the masses.

4. Cook for Your Guests (Not Yourself)

There’s nothing wrong with sneaking a taste or two, but you should always cook your logo as your target audience would want it. (You did establish a target audience, right?)

5. Be Smart with the Food Coloring

What color do you get when you mix green, pink, purple, and orange?  I’m not exactly sure, but I doubt anyone would want to eat it.  If you want your logo to look appetizing, be strategic when using more than 3 colors. Assess the environment that your logo will thrive in; fewer colors maintain simplicity, especially within an industry where your logo will often be printed onto letterheads and t-shirts, but this may not be as important to an internet-based company. You may also want to question whether your logo will look just as tasty in gray-scale.

6. A Few Preservatives Are Okay

While spreading cucumber-infused chili paste over your cake is a novel idea, sometimes your diners just want the classic stuff: vanilla frosting. You’re not going to have the luxury of changing up your logo to fit the yearly trend (like your marketing). For that reason, it should be timeless. Be weary enough with your ingredients that the style and theme of your logo will always be relevant. 

7. Let it Cool Down!

When your delectable logo is fresh out of the oven, it’s going to be hot. You may even be surprised by its mostly unpredictable appearance. No matter the case, don’t go about trying to change things. A new logo needs time (a lot of time) to cool down and settle into everyone’s mind. 

For some, cooking the best logo just requires a lot of trial and error. The slightest adjustment can make a world of a difference. Personally, we like our logos lightly seared on each side with a hint of orange in the middle.  

What are some logos that do it right?

Because we don’t want to see you repeating the same kinds of blunders, here are 10 in particular to look out for:

1. Missing pages and links. Few things are as frustrating on the web as thinking you found just what you are looking for, only to discover that it’s missing or has been removed. Keeping your site current can be tedious, but it’s also an easy way to keep visitors returning.

2. Overly aggressive advertising. From pop-up advertising to blinking banners and other overused tools, customers don’t like ads that are too aggressive – regardless of whether they are for your company or outside sponsors.

3. Automatic sounds, music, or animation. This isn’t as common as it once was on the Internet, but if your page automatically starts playing things like music, sounds, or animations, you can bet that potential customers are abandoning your site within seconds.

4. Terrible stock photography. Although stock photography has become a staple of business web design, over-using it (or choosing the wrong kinds of generic images) instantly takes away your credibility. If you have to use stock images, make sure they are at least interesting and relevant to your business.

5. No contact information. So, the customer has spent enough time on your website to become interested in what you offer and want to find out more… or even make a purchase! If they can’t find your contact information – or have to deal with a complicated form to send you a message – then the opportunity is probably gone before it really materialized.

6. Too much corporate-speak. Far too many business websites have a lot of text that says absolutely nothing. If yours is filled with paragraphs of things like “market-driven initiatives,” then you can bet that bored buyers are clicking elsewhere.

7. Pages written for Google, not humans. We all realize that search engine traffic is important, but live human beings should come first. If your site is “over-optimized” for SEO, it’s almost certainly discouraging sales and inquiries. Visit this site for a great explanation of SEO.

8. Misleading titles or ads. This isn’t necessarily referring to deceptive advertising, although that’s always a bad idea. Instead, we mean that a customer should be able to find exactly what they are expecting on your landing pages, based on the ads, headlines, and links that came before.

9. Pages that are too long. Few people have the time and patience to read dozens of paragraphs of unbroken text. If you really have so much to say, write it up into different sections or pages on your site.

10. Sites with no real value. What are you offering visitors that they can’t find elsewhere on the Internet? All of these other issues are small compared to the relative value of your site’s content, so make sure yours is interesting, current, and unique.

If you’re just getting started on your website, or want to know what you should be doing instead of what you shouldn’t, read some of our previous posts about Content Strategy and Content Marketing:

Content Strategy: What is it and why do you need one?

10 Content Marketing Tips To Build your Website Acumen

10 More Content Marketing Tips To Build Your Website

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most crtical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and features “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

 What kinds of mistakes have you seen businesses make with their websites?

Maybe you’re in a fancy restaurant (it’s nice to treat yourself now and then). Maybe there’s a lull in the conversation and you start eavesdropping (no judgement). You hear the following: “…full-bodied, dark, and handsome,” and then, “vivacious, bubbly, and…effervescent?” Those aren’t people they’re describing, it’s wine.

Though it can be taken seriously or lightly, the uncorked truth is that every bottle of wine is different, even from the same producer and year. Wine is exciting for the way it transforms meals and moods. Indeed, oenophiles like to describe wine as being alive: opening the bottle today produces a different experience than opening the same bottle tomorrow. Choosing wine, even for the most knowledgeable also involves serendipity.

Even more than food package design, wine choice is guided by the emotions (let’s call price an emotion too). With a variety of customer knowledge levels, the wine world takes many different approaches to attracting the attention of its customers. For those who summer in Dijon, swirling and sniffing with the big boys, wine choice will come down to prior knowledge and current interest. Prior knowledge means: what have I tried and liked or disliked, and what do I know about the characteristics of this wine-growing region, varietal (grape type), or vintage (harvest year). Current interest comes down to the magic of pairing: what is the occasion and what will I be having this with. When pairing wine with in-laws we generally suggest an alcohol content level of at least 14%. But we digress.

Before handling the emotional and crafty aspects of the label, the designer must take into account the information essentials that must legally appear on the bottle. There are five basic levels of information that will appear on a bottle:

1)   Grape Variety (Appellation for many European regions)

2)   Region where the wine was grown

3)   The name of the producer or vineyard

4)   The alcohol content % (usually regulated by law for a region and grape)

5)   The Vintage (year harvested; not always included on cheaper bottles)

Information will usually appear on the front with more details and perhaps some pairing options or vineyard history on the back. Some wineries choose to use the neck of the bottle as well. More details, like personal notes about the founders or tasting/pairing notes can go a long way towards gaining the trust of a skeptical consumer. Wine is lyrical and the label should be too. For more information on the legal requirement of wine labeling, refer here.

Though many wineries use Old World grapes in wines that mimic the best of France and Italy, legally no wine produced outside Champagne can have Champagne appear on the bottle. Same goes for Chianti, Porto, Brunello di Montelcino, Burgundy, etc. Though New Jersey wine might not evoke rolling hills, endlessly joyous Sunday feasts, and country estate the way a Chianti Classico from Tuscany does, no fear! In the New World countries like the US, Australia, and Argentina, the trend is to label the wine with the appellation (where it was grown) and varietal (grape type). By eliminating jargon, the purchase decision becomes a little easier.

Even so, designers have tremendous power over the indecisive customer. Though mascots and furry creatures tend to adorn wines with less subtlety, including a cat or koala on a bottle might be appropriate when the brand calls for less fussy faire. As with food package design, the brand is king. Just as winemakers should only bottle wine that lives up to their standards of quality, the label must reflect the company’s values. Before sitting down with a designer, it’s helpful for the Wine company to summarize their three main values or objectives in producing the wine. This way, the imagery and font can work together to reflect and enhance the brand of the winery.

Until recently, wine labels tended to evoke prestige and established tradition. This made sense because the wines available for public consumption in Europe were produced on fancy castled estates from families with long-standing vested interests in the wine. Today some companies that still emphasize tradition, prestige, and elegance choose to use faded labels with family crests. This is meant to speak to the high quality of the wine, and in some cases, justify the price.

Wine isn’t all about reputation or about being serious either though. While more old-fashioned-minded wineries will keep the crest and go the way of effusive script fonts, many wineries have bold approaches to both wine and design. With something as finicky as producing transcendent juices from grape juice, why not be brazen with your design? Here are some interesting examples:

50 of the Best Wine Bottle Designs

61 Exceptionally Creative Wine Label Designs

Braille Wine

The Fallacy of the SEO Saint

We all strive for it, but it’s hard. Being a search engine optimization (SEO) saint takes dedication, fortitude, and often a significant other to remind you that you’re not as cool as you think you are. Those of you who have ever attempted to sell a product online, dabbled in website design, or even just written a blog post may understand the internal yearning for attention that comes with it. “Why aren’t people all over this?” you ask your screen. “I just want to be famous,” you tell your pet. “Maybe everyone’s still sleeping,” you reason into the mirror. And who can blame you for wanting your pride and joy, after hours (upon hours) of work, to be recognized for its awesome-ness? Keeping these proven virtues close to your SEO-loving heart, and avoiding these juicy temptations, will help to keep your website or blog from falling into the deep, dark depths of Google hell (aka “everything past page 5”).

Meet Your Guardian Angels

These popular search engines are more than just miracle-workers. Beneath each of their hoods lay a unique search algorithm. These secret algorithms are the key to your happiness and each search engine’s success, fighting by your side to make sure that you get what you ask for, no matter how vague or specific, and that the low-quality content and SEO demons (read: cheaters) are kept out of sight. You cannot see them – they spoil you so much that you may have even forgotten about them, but rest assured that they are there, and that you definitely don’t want to be put on their naughty list.

Back when these guardians were still young, the goal of every search engine was simple: give the user what they ask for. To aid in this task, website designers came up with a multitude of ways to let the search engines know what their webpages represented. “The websites can provide keywords in their html!” someone no doubt exclaimed. “And alternative, readable text for their images too!” they probably cheered. Individual search engines were left to come up with their own crafty ways of using these resources, like analyzing word order or prioritizing sites with more inbound links (links from other websites). Some did it better than others (anyone remember Ask Jeeves or Dogpile?), but the land of the internet was a searchable utopia, nonetheless. That is, until…

The Rise and Fall of the SEO Demons

As websites fought in their own crusades for page rankings, slowly developing the in’s and out’s of ancestral search optimization, malevolent domain owners – SEO demons – began to rise. Disguised as simple cyber-folk, they assured the rapid spread of mental plague across the once peaceful, malware and pornography filled land. Mischievous individuals began to hide keywords in every html nook and cranny possible, self-proclaimed geniuses threw walls of keyword-stuffed text behind page elements and onto backgrounds of the same color, and immoral entrepreneurs founded “link farms” and accepted cash in exchange for adding links to their surplus of purchased domains. The worst part is that many of these methods worked.

While the façade of many search engines never changed (like Google), their algorithms evolved, growing more complex, wiser, smarter. One by one, internet demons and their methods were condemned. Gone were the days that searching “dog food” resulted in “food that is dog.” Rather, doing so gave you ample webpages about dog food and access to pictures of dog food. Accurate, rich content rose to the top, along with the popularity of search engines that made it happen best and the idea of SEO being a full-time profession.

The Lesson

Despite the inevitable evolution of their algorithms, search engines and – more importantly – the people who use them will never cease to value high-quality content. Thus, as a web designer or copywriter, content should be your highest priority, not page rank or keywords. The temptations of an SEO saint are more than just shortcuts; they are a sure-fire way to get knocked out of first page heaven (if not now, later).

Stay tuned for Part 2: The Virtues and Part 3: The Temptations.
 

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most crtical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and feature “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

Contrary to what you may think, picking a website development firm or website designer is not your first step. There is some groundwork you should do before you get to that point although a qualified web development agency can certainly assist you if you encounter any issues early on.

Brand

As is true when starting any marketing project, the first step is to make sure you know yourself. Examine the following elements in detail for a solid foundation for your website.

1.)  Brand: Who are you…really? How do your clients, prospects and competitors currently perceive you?  How would you like to be perceived? Is all of this currently represented in your logo, or should you examine a logo update prior to a website design?

2.)  Competition: Where do you stand in relation to your direct and indirect competitors? How will you differentiate yourself?

3.)  Target: Who is your target market? Look beyond the industry and try to define the person. Are they male or female, are they generally within a certain age range? Do they share any preferences or prejudices?

Goals

After examining your company or organization, it’s important to define your goals.

1.)  What is your objective in creating a new website?

2.)  What is the number one thing you’d like people to do before they leave your new website? This should not be “get more information.” It should be something actionable such as “call our 800 number”, or “request a quote.” 

3.)  How will success be tracked and measured?

Budget

Now you have to define a budget. No one wants to tell an agency how much he or she is willing to spend, most likely out of fear that the agency will then miraculously determine that the site will cost exactly the amount of the budget you specify. However, a general budget will help you to determine what size firm you will be able to work with, and which functionality items you will be able to have on your website.

Functionality

The next step is to start to define what you’d like your website to do, or what functionality your site should have. A conversation with a website development firm might be helpful here but the more you’ve thought out your user experience, the better. Some examples of common functionality are:

• Content Management System (CMS): a database driven site that allows you to edit and maintain website content easily from any Internet-connected system.
• Blog
• News Module
• Rotating Home Page Banner
• Rotating Testimonials
• Contact Forms
• Mobile Versioning
• E-Commerce

After defining all of the information above, it’s time to find your web design and development agency. Our previous blog may help you determine the size of agency you’re looking to partner with.

Content

As you go through the process of elimination with your design and development agencies you should be working on your content. Your content should be based on the information we discussed earlier. Your web designer will want to know what your ideas for main menu items will be and what elements or action items you feel will need to be on the home page. Also, as you create or organize your subpage content, also keep in mind which pages will need more design attention, and what calls to action would work on certain subpages, such as signing up for a newsletter or subscribing to a blog or news feed. While it’s not absolutely mandatory, it’s preferable to have all of your web site content complete before you launch your site so you may want to start on this well in advance to beginning the design process.

Technical Information

Last but not least, you will want to register your domain as soon as possible to start establishing credibility with the search engines. Keep your usernames and passwords for your domain registration, hosting, and email all in the same place and provide them to your web developer as soon as possible so that if there are questions they can be answered before it’s time to launch your site.

As I mentioned early on, your agency can assist you with each of these areas but you will know your business better than they do, so the more you have prepared before you engage in the design process, the more successful the entire project will be.

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most crtical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and features “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

Have you recently engaged in a website redesign project? What tips do you have for someone thinking of starting a new website project and what would you do differently?

 For brands and the designers they hire, effective design means appropriate and engaging communication. Food is a low-involvement purchase with often only small ingredients differentiating a product. You say tomato, I say to-mah-to, but when buying groceries, package design influences which of the same or similar products will end up in the customer’s basket. (Whether we’re ready to accept the tomato as a fruit is another story).

Candy Land: The Game of Capturing the Customer’s Attention

The modern supermarket is a fantasy land of unlimited choices and impulsive behavior (did you really need the six bags of frozen pierogi). Actually, though supermarkets abound with options, the modern consumer, on average, doesn’t spend much per trip. According to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), US supermarkets held 38,718 items per store with an average checkout total of $27.18 per customer in 2010. To further complicate that, customers process the image of the products they pass by in just 1/10th of a second. Suddenly the critical considerations of food package design have come into focus.

Back in June 2011, the Envision team identified three ways package design has power over the customer’s purchase choices in the blog post “The Power of Packaging Design“. When buying food and other similar products, customers are influenced by 1-Desire, 2-Brand Recognition, Image, and Loyalty, and 3- Convenience and Price. Though price and convenience are essential elements for products and 70% of purchase decisions are made at the shelf, carefully directedemotions can outweigh the benefits of higher convenience and lower price.

New Products: Communicate Benefits

With so many new dieting fads and associated products, how might a designer help get food off the shelves and into baskets? New products must, first of all, capture all the benefits, attributes, and unique (differentiating) factors of the food item. One problem marketers face with new food products is communicating health benefits. The FDA recently begun regulating so-called Better for You and Functional Foods by mandating “qualified health claims.” Items making claims that do not meet SSA or “significant scientific agreement” on their benefits, such as “will lower risk of lung cancer” or “helps maintain healthy blood pressure.” Marketers, healthcare professionals, and food industry people expect qualified claims to be an increasing trend.

The Emotional Appeal of Food Packaging

Grocery shopping might not be as emotional as daytime soap opera (though the price of turnips has been known to induce a tear or two), but the choice of products based on package design is indeed guided by the emotions. The key asset of any food company’s offerings is its brand identity. This is the emotional appeal of the tangible product. The current brand identity and brand elements (logo, color, slogan, mascots, etc) must inform any choices for packaging visuals and color schemes. Though the choice of color might depend on the brand’s logo color, this is an aspect of design that should never be neglected. For ideas on color choice, consider the emotional perception of different colors, beautifully explained in this info-graphic from printmediacentr.com. The brand not only speaks to the company values, but also the values of their target consumer, though brand loyalty can easily sway with low-involvement decisions like choosing a can of beans. Improvements in design tools and software have made designing competition even more intense, but also better.

Who Spilled the Beans? Analysis: No Name Brand

Speaking of beans, I’d like to draw your attention to a peculiar case in both branding and food packaging design.

Founded in 1978 by Loblaws’ Companies (Canada’s largest food retailer), No Name Brand began a trend of supposedly un-branded products. Instead of offering an emotional appeal, No Name (or Sans Nom for all the Francophiles in the house) offered transparency in an industry known for exaggeration. More importantly, their emphasis was on low price. When p eople buy this can of beans, they know exactly what they are getting – a can of beans in tomato sauce. The color yellow is also often used to indicate low price. So is this an effective strategy to attract the highly-distracted consumer’s attention? Is this truly an unbranded product, or does the package design communicate something more than the product inside the can? Would love to hear our reader’s thoughts.

Next time, we put these food packaging thoughts into play as we discuss different approaches to wine label design.

My point is – It’s difficult to keep up with all of the technological trends of the world, much less trends of the web. Since it’s probably not your job to keep track of such things, we thought we would give you a little snapshot so that you can see where you’re missing out, and what you might want to work in to your next website redesign or update. Notice, there is no mention of flash in this post, nor should there be.

Video Background Design

Video has become an integral part of every organization’s communication strategy… or should be. We typically recommend setting up a YouTube channel and embedding strategic and planned videos throughout your site. This will help with your search engine ranking and will provide an additional source of interaction and engagement with your customers and prospects.

Embedding video on your site, however, is entirely not at all what I’m referring to as a latest trend. What I’m talking about is way cooler. A lot of companies have created beautiful and incredibly engaging home pages that use video as their foundation. In most cases, an immediate perception of value is created and the visitor is instantly pulled in to the brand. There are a couple of things to consider before implementing something like this on your site.

1. The video MUST be extremely high quality production
2. The video MUST be optimized for the web – to have a decent load time
3. The video MUST be strategically planned to embody your brand experience
4. You MUST have an alternate plan for mobile – this is easily done, it just needs to be part of the plan

Here are a few great examples of websites that have effectively implemented video.

  http://www.ycoyacht.com

http://eagleclean.co.uk

Blog Style Website Design

We’ve all been told how beneficial blogging can be for SEO and retention of prospects and clients. Some organizations have taken the concept a bit further and organized all their content in a blog format. This has been going on for quite some time, especially with individuals and companies utilizing WordPress themes but we have seen a surge in style as more and more organizations realize the power of engaging content and not just brochure style websites.

The New Yorker is a fantastic example of a news based site that organizes their content in a clean and efficient blog feed format.

http://www.newyorker.com/

The site below is an incredibly designed social community called Good. It’s a fantastic concept and a brilliant blog design.

http://www.good.is

Responsive (RWD) Web Design

Responsive design is the developers’ answer to the bajillian (it’s spelled right, look it up) different viewing devices out there and the need for websites to be seen optimally on each. For most organizations it is not financially feasible to create a custom mobile application or mobile version of their site… and even if your company did invest in a mobile site, it may only be optimized for a particular screen width, making it an expensive and limited option. Designers and developers are now working together to create responsive sites. These sites will detect the screen width of the device and serve up the optimal site variation. In an effort to provide an extremely simplified explanation of how this can work… here’s a photo.

Notice that the image above shows three different versions of the same design, with content elements re-organized for the maximum viewing experience of those devices. Also, notice from the image below that as previously stated, there are a kajilliam (yep) different viewing devices out there and some of them change the viewing experience with the orientation of the device. It’s up to you whether you’d like to invest in trying to create an optimized version for every possibility, but as the world currently exists, two to four variations should suffice.

Parallax Scrolling Websites

If done right, parallax scrolling is an extremely cool element on a site for creating a greater sense of depth. Much like video, however, an alternate version must be created for mobile devices.

According to Wikipedia, Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, wherein background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera technique used in traditional animation since the 1940s, and was popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol.

See how new this is? Even Wikipedia hasn’t seen that this is a hot new trend that has jumped out of the video game industry and onto people’s websites… go check it out! This is a very well done example:

http://www.madwellnyc.com/

Click here to view a  recent post from Creative Bloq that highlights a few more sites using parallax scrolling.

Fixed Headers & Long Scrolling Websites

For many years, and even lately, business owners and marketing executives would request their site to be designed so that is “doesn’t scroll”. The idea was that you don’t want to have too much content on one page because you would lose the interest of your audience, or the audience would just simply not see the important information. Advances in JavaScript technology and new philosophies about website design have turned that concept on it’s head.

Fixed headers allow the main menu and any other relevant content or action elements to remain on the page while the user scrolls from page to page. See it in action.

Also, if designed correctly, a long page of content can be incredibly engaging. Nest.com site has taken the place of the Apple website as the most commonly used example of sites our clients like.

Websites with Large Background Images

This design choice has been working its way onto the scene for a while but is just now finding its place in the main stream of popularity. Much like having a video as the backdrop for your site, utilizing a single large image is a quick way to present a strong statement and pull in the attention of your users. It can be done in a very traditional way like this Resort website, or in an in-your-face modern fashion such as the Dojo site below. If utilizing a setup similar to the Dojo site, be cognizant of providing enough content for your new visitors to know what you do. Cool only gets you so far.

http://macallanridge.com

http://www.dojofuckingyeah.de

Engagement and Marketing Automation In Your Website

Wow, that is a lot to cover in one post, but it’s pretty awesome stuff and just the tip of the ever-changing iceberg. I’d be remiss, however, if I didn’t add User Engagement and marketing automation to this list of website trends that are working well. Everything I mentioned above is an element of design and development that will help to establish and solidify your brand experience. Once you get their attention, however, you need to keep it. That is where multiple areas for engagement as well as strategic marketing automation can keep their attention and turn those browsers into clients. I’ll talk more about these elements in future posts.

Are you considering a web design or redesign?

The effort poses many questions: What will make my site better and more effective? What do I absolutely need to take into account for my end users? Are there serious SEO issues or new search engine rules that I should watch out for? The following free eBook answers the most crtical questions related to a successful web redesign project:

• Key elements and features “must-haves” for your homepage.
• Critical steps to protect your SEO and content during a site redesign.
• Steps you can take to improve your site right now while the redesign project is underway.

What trends do you see in marketing, and what are your thoughts about their effects on business? 

The answer isn’t the same for everyone, but generally it’s a yes. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when determining whether or not you need a brochure or marketing collateral and if so, what form it should take. 

The Questions:

Do you communicate with your prospects directly?

A lot of organizations still have face-to-face meetings, in which case, it’s great to have a piece to refer to as you walk through your pitch. This piece can also serve as a tutorial if the prospect needs to sell your product or service internally.

Are your prospects and customers aware of all of your services?

It’s easy for your clients to pigeon hole your company as great at X and completely miss the fact that you do Y and Z as well. When meeting with a prospect about one service, your brochure or collateral could serve as a reminder about other offerings.

Do you attend tradeshows?

With all of the competition for attention on the tradeshow floor, you have to give tradeshow attendees something to walk away with and a koozie and some candy is not enough. At the very least you need a line card highlighting your basic service offering and value proposition along with your phone number and website so that they know how to contact you and remember your name.

Are you relying on individuals to communicate your brand position?

Sales people are awesome and you can train them on your product but can you be certain that they are communicating all of the messaging points and brand positioning accurately at all times? Your marketing collateral should serve as a reminder to the sales teams and help keep your brand consistent.

If the answer to any of these questions is yes then you do need printed collateral and I’ll provide some examples in a bit. If you answered no to all of them then you’re still in the grey zone but it may be that digital communication is the best option for you…that doesn’t mean that you don’t need collateral, just maybe not the paper stuff.

The Options:

No matter what form your collateral takes, be sure to give a lot of thought to the goal of each piece, the specific target, and the perception of value each should provide. A tri-fold brochure is a quick and easy solution but is not the best fit if you are looking to make an impression. Sizes, shapes, and number of pages should all be determined by the goal of each individual piece. 

Traditional Brochure
Collateral Sheet
Collateral Shell
Sales Kit Folder System
Line Cards and Post Cards
Posters or multi-fold pieces
Creative Packaging

Within these options there are a lot of details to consider. I would highly suggest talking with your designer or agency to determine some of the following and how it will affect the perceived value or your product or service.

Offset v. Digital Printing
Paper Weight
Paper Type – options may include textured paper, recycled paper, metal, plastic, and a mountain of other options
Die Cuts
Special Coatings
LetterPress
Emboss / Deboss
Binding Solutions: Saddle Stitched, Singer Sewn, Perfect Binding, Case Binding, Wire-O, Post Binding,

Keep in mind, that almost every printed piece can have a digital version. Talk with your design firm about creative email or downloadable versions of your brochure, collateral sheets and other collateral. If it makes sense, you could also create an interactive brochure or catalogue.

In essence, the answer to the question of what you need always comes down to a true understanding of who you are trying to target, what information they would like to learn from you, and in what format works best for them. If all else fails, ask!

What are your thoughts about printed marketing collateral?