Banana Bulletin

If you are looking for a unique gift for that special someone, or even yourself, check out this site. These aren’t your typical hum drum gifts. Enjoy! ~ Danielle

www.threepotatofourshop.com

A team of copywriters, designers, and developers has come together to create the greatest web site your industry has ever witnessed. After months of meetings and many late nights, the moment has finally arrived — the web site launch. At last, a beautiful home page quickly appears on screen. And then….

Nothing happens. No visitors. No traffic. The web site disappears into cyberspace.

What went wrong here? The team created a web site without any regard for the role of the search engine spider — a program that routinely combs the internet searching and indexing web sites. A large number of expensive web sites are designed beautifully from a human perspective, yet all but invisible to search engine spiders, and thus those searching on the web. You see, there is quite a difference in what is seen on the screen and what is seen by a search engine spider.

Here are a few common web site elements — what search engines can see, and what they cannot.

A Search Engine Spider Can See

HTML Text. A search engine spider relies heavily on HTML text to determine the subject of a web page. Spiders, therefore, index HTML text and will even make distinctions between differences in how the text is presented. For example, the text that is present in a headline or appears bold is assumed to be slightly more important than the regular body text.

Links. Outgoing links on pages are easily understood by the spider, especially if they are text links. The wording of these links can, like HTML text, give the spider an idea of the content on the page. However, if your web site team embedded your links in a drop-down menu that uses JavaScript or other scripting language, it will prevent most search engine spiders from seeing them.

Tags. There are several different types of tags, not all are important to search engine spiders. Meta tags include the “keywords” tag and the “description” tag. The keywords tag should list all key phrases or words that describe the page. The description tag is one or two brief sentences that describe the page. The “title” tag contains the words that appear at the top of your browser’s window. All of these tags should directly relate to the product or service your company provides.

A Search Engine Spider Cannot See

Graphic Text. When a designer uses text in a graphics form on a web site (where the text is actually an image vs. HTML), the search engine spider cannot read the text. The main reason for using text as a graphic is to have the ability to use a font that most visitors do not have installed on their computers. It is also a way to control what the visitor will view. This is often done to maintain consistency with other marketing materials and works best in moderation.

Images. A search engine spider is not yet able to look at images or pictures and determine their relevance in visitor’s searches. A way to get the spider to see the images is to attach an “alt” tag that describes the image. In general though, a spider will ignore logos, pictures, and any other graphic element.

Flash. Flash animation, or any other form of animation on your web site will not be seen by search engine spiders. However, this does not mean that using Flash elements will render your web site invisible. Just that you should not rely on text in any animation on your web site to be indexed. If the web site is built entirely in Flash, it could potentially be an overall search engine ranking killer. While some spiders are getting better at indexing web sites built entirely on this platform, it is still wise to use Flash in moderation.

These are only some of the elements that affect a web site’s visibility on the Internet today. The list is changing as fast as technology is progressing. So, before designing and developing a web site, it is important to research and examine all of the elements that could affect your web site’s success, or hire a professional that can help.

Author, Danielle Mai, Banana Creative, www.bananacreative.com.
Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

It may be easy to design a pretty postcard or a clever advertising campaign. However, for any marketing attempt to be successful, several key factors should also be addressed.

Here they are.

1. Know your goals.

Okay, I know. Your goal is always to generate more income for your business. But specifically, you need to ask yourself—Am I trying to generate new leads from this piece? Achieve direct sales? Educate my clients? Develop existing relationships with clients? All of the above?

Once you get a clear idea of the goal(s) of your specific marketing efforts, then each step of the marketing process should be designed to bring you closer to your intended results.

2. Know your target.

In order for marketing to be successful, you need to know who your audience will be and what they are looking for. Are you marketing to first-time home buyers? mature pet owners? college grads looking for a job? To help you determine your target, just visualize your ideal client and make sure your product or service fills a specific need they may have.

The more you know about your target, the more successful your marketing efforts will be.

3. Know the message you want your recipient to walk away with.

After seeing a marketing piece you always walk away with a message and/or a feeling about that product or service. This could be positive or negative. Of course, your goal is a positive reaction, which would lead to a positive result.

Choose a single message by asking yourself, what do I want to say to the recipient? What perception do I want him/her to form of me, my product or service after viewing my piece? Note that mixed messages get mixed results.

4. Know your competition.

Yes, it’s time to do your research. You need to determine how many businesses in your area offer the same or similar products or services? Who are these businesses? What are they doing to market themselves? How can you set yourself apart from these businesses? A good starting point is the yellow pages or the internet.

It’s best to know your competitors so you can market smarter.

5. Be consistent.

Once you’ve established a visual look and feel in your marketing pieces based upon the previously outlined steps, it is crucial to be consistent. Have every piece you produce reiterate your “brand” so that people recognize you. Repeat visual elements like a particular color and/or typeface. And, always use your logo and contact information.

Consistency creates a familiarity with your audience, which is more likely to elicit a response.

6. Be unique.

From the time they wake up, until the time they go to sleep at night, consumers are bombarded with over 1,000 brand names, radio ads, television ads, direct mail, bulletin boards, email advertising, etc. This is why you need to be different from the rest and get noticed.

For example, if you think a direct mail piece would receive the best response, then create a piece that is a slightly different size from the others. Use a unique offer to entice the consumer. Or better yet, use an innovative technology such as variable data (or 1:1) printing to imprint each recipient’s name on the piece.

You get the picture. Being unique pays off.

7. Track your success.

Before launching any marketing piece, determine how you will track the results. Will you do an informal tally by asking how your respondent found out about you? or will you have the consumer send in a reply card included with your piece?

Whatever you decide, information about your marketing performance will help your future marketing efforts be more successful. And, in the end, will save you both time, energy and money. Happy Marketing!

Author, Danielle Mai, Banana Creative, www.bananacreative.com.
Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Use this blog to ask Danielle questions related to Graphic Design - or not! Most importantly keep it clean and have fun.