Designing for “5’s” – Tips for Designers Creating On Demand

Hello World! and Greetings from Scranton, Pennsylvania on this beautiful Monday evening.

I listened to a podcast on Accidental Creative about expectation and striving for more creative work. The podcast explained it as having a “portfolio of 3’s” and a “portfolio of 5’s” where as the 3’s (3 stars out of 5) are what designers who create on demand eventually get stuck into a rut of doing. While 3’s are more mediocre work, the client is still going to be happy with the work (those who have been designing long enough know that the work they’ve done, while it’s not award-winning, is going to make the client happy). Maybe it’s not the most ‘out there’ creative boundary stretching solution that they have ever come up with, but it meets the requirements of the project at hand and allows the designer to comfortably function in their work environment. Let’s face it, creating on demand is a daunting task. Every single idea and every single site can’t be “the best”. There’s always room for improvement, and if given more time, designers can come up with more creative solutions.

But the question of time is obviously the real question. While designers need more time, Graphic Design companies (or companies with in-house design teams) more often than not, cannot afford to give the designers more time. They need to stay profitable and efficient, and the designer gets caught in the ‘Creativity on Demand’ trap; How do I make this project the best it can be, when I just don’t have enough time or creative energy left in me today to do that?

Something’s gotta give, right?

While all projects can’t be 5’s, it doesn’t mean that none of them can be. I feel that the more opportunities that designers have to really stretch their creative thinking, the quality of all the work will eventually increase. Creative work does have peaks and lulls, it’s not completely steady throughout. The goal is to get designers to strive for the “5’s” as often as possible. This will ultimately increase the median as time goes on, and they have time to develop their creative skills.  As I’m writing I’m realizing that it’s much easier to explain with a drawing. (see below)

Creativity on Demand Diagram

Anyone who manages an Art Department can benefit from this blog post. Anyone who creates on demand can also benefit. By giving your team a little extra time for research and development, you can increase the quality of work median over the whole department. If designers are given the time to choose one project that they are really interested in, and are allowed to take that design to the next level (Strive for a 5), it’s going to give them a chance to explore new techniques and concepts.  Overall this will increase their worth to the company they work for, help them to better themselves as a designer, and research and learn new techniques that they would otherwise not have time for.

Let’s be honest. Almost every designer I’ve ever met LOVES being a designer. They WANT to work. Giving them the time and resources to be MORE creative is like handing them a big box of chocolate and saying “I appreciate you.” And believe me, the designers will appreciate you just as much for giving them the opportunity to “go crazy” once in awhile.  Everyone wins!

Questions, comments, and thoughts are encouraged.

As always Bullzeye Design thanks you for reading!

Amy Fedele, Creative Director
Bullzeye Design – Targeting your Web and Graphic Needs

Search Engine Optimization Tips

I came across an interesting whitepaper on Blogging, regarding how to target yourself locally and how the use of multiple blogs can be helpful in targeting several different local markets. I thought about these main principles and came up with a list of small things you can do to help your own search rankings (whether it be on a blog, or a website).

Make Your Page Titles Relevant to your Keywords and Key Phrases

Once you know the keywords that people use locally to find the product or service you offer, it’s critical to create individual pages that are titled with these phrases. For example, if you are a business consultant trying to get clients in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania you should use that statement as a base for your keywords as well as your page title.

If your keywords are “Business consulting, Scranton, Pennsylvania” and then title your page with “Amy’s Advice Website” you are not using search engine capabilities to your best advantage. It’s more effective to create a page title and header that coincides with your keywords such as, “Scranton Pennsylvania Business Consulting”.

Promote Your Company Name and Local Location

Matt MaGee the famous search engine optimizer says: “Imagine a law firm in Philadelphia with four offices and one Web site. A common mistake is to list all four locations on a single page of the Web site. This page would list an office in South Philadelphia, an office downtown, an office in Yardley, PA, and one in Cherry Hill, NJ. That one page will never rank highly for any of the appropriate keywords. If each office had its own page, the firm could optimize each page for terms like “Cherry Hill NJ lawyers” or “South Philadelphia Attorneys.”

• Use your company name in combination with your keywords when possible. For example, my company name is Bullzeye Design. Whenever possible I use phrases such as “Bullzeye Design Website Design and Development” or “Bullzeye Design Band and Music Flyers” – any way you can combine your company name with your services will be helpful.
• Use your local phone number - You offer customers an 800 number for customer service, but that doesn’t help a search engine crawl for your location. Use your local phone number, with the area code, to help the engines connect you to local searches.
• Use your local address on your website – If your business doesn’t have a street address, rent a post office mailbox. Renting a box can give you a street address and will make you start appearing in many more online searches, nearly overnight! Consider choosing a store location that’s easily found using a mapping website such as Mapquest.com or Google Maps. If those mapping utilities can pinpoint your address location, it will help with your rankings.
• Mention the obvious – Describe your business, services and products in detail. This may seem like common sense, but eliminating copy that is very keyword intensive will hurt your rankings. Search engine users are looking for information and solutions. They will only find you if you provide them with the information and solutions they need. Again, blogging is a good way to expand on your products and services using multiple posts.

Frequently Update Your Website With Fresh Content

This may sound like a difficult task, but often times, updating and adding new content to your website helps you gain better search rankings. It’s helpful to update the content of your pages to better reflect your keywords and phrases, or add new content and unique descriptions. If you like your website the way it is, and don’t have the flexibility to change it frequently, it might be in your best interest to start blogging. By using a blog, you can update the content regularly which will help with your search engine rankings. The more you write about a subject, the better it is for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

For example, if you own a dog grooming business, you can come up with countless articles related to dog grooming. How, you ask? First, you can start off by writing about your business and location, how you groom the dogs, and about your staff or facility. After that, perhaps you can write about different situations you’ve experienced throughout the week. Maybe a dog came in that was sprayed with a skunk, or you helped a local shelter at their ‘doggy wash’ fundraiser. You can use these little stories and anecdotes to write an article in your blog — be sure to pepper the article with your keywords, and you are good to go!

Thanks for reading -

Amy Fedele, Creative Director
Bullzeye Design, Graphic and Website Design

What you need to know About Search Engine Optimization… BEFORE you get your site designed

Basically, there are no secrets to Search Engine Optimization. The steps are outlined in Google’s Webmaster guidelines. You can read and follow them just as easily as anyone, but it requires some work. There are a few things you could do that would go a long way in your quest for SEO.

1. Domain Name
If you’re starting a new website and have the opportunity to select a domain name, try to select a name that includes your keyword(s). This provides you a valuable relevancy to the services you are providing on your website. For example, if you are starting a website that sells soccer jerseys you may want to think about including those words into your domain name (EX: www.affordablesoccerjerseys, www.soccerjerseysforless.com, www.bestsoccerjerseys.com). By including your keywords in the domain name you will help your search engine rank right off the bat.

2. Selecting a Web Host
There are some free hosting companies but I don’t recommend using them. Some free web hosting companies bombard your site with ads that drive traffic away from your site, or clutter the content so much that the site doesn’t look “reputable.” Often times, if it’s a busy time of day, your customers or vistors may not be able to access your site because there’s not enough bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred to or from the website or server. Since you’d be sharing your website space with other sites, the ability for visitors to access your site is completely dependent on the popularity of other sites hosting with that same company.

You want to select a web host that meets its promises to keep your site running 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that offers great support with a bandwidth that is not limited for your business use. You only have a few seconds to hold on to that visitor once they’ve reached your site, so don’t risk losing them by saving a few bucks which could potentially cost you a lot of business.

3. Search Engine Friendly web design
Your website homepage should be aesthetically pleasing and attract attention, but you also want it to be “friendly” to search engines. Search engines read the text and code of your page and use that information to determine how relevant your site is to it’s keywords (compared to other sites with the same keywords). If you optimize your site correctly, you will gain a competitive advantage over other businesses providing similar services.

Make your home page rich in keywords. This is something you can start to think about before you get your site designed. Thinking about your copy and it’s importance ahead of time is very beneficial. Use keywords early on the page to obtain more prominence or importance. The rule of thumb is about 8% max. That means no more than 8 words per 100 should be keywords. If you use more than 8/100 ratio, you are setting off a red flag that the text on the page may not be relevant data that people can use.

Be sure to share your optimization plan with your graphic designer before they start working. There are a lot of ways a designer (and programmer) can organize your page content and structure to give you the best organic search engine results.

4. Selecting key words
Keywords/phrases are the search terms people use to find the information they’re looking for. Search engines use those to find your site so they can display it in the search results. For example, for my business, which is designing websites, a good key phrase would be “unique website design”. Choose words you think people are going to use to search for your goods or services. There needs to be a balance between using unique phrases (to set you apart from competition) but not TOO unique that your target customer would never type it into a search engine in the first place.

You can use a program such as Google Analytics to track your keywords. It allows you to see where you traffic is coming from, and even what words they’ve typed into the search engine to find your site. Remember to keep an open mind and flexibility and trial & error are key to finding good keywords and phrases. By tracking your keywords you will be able to see trends and which words are working better for you. Use that to your advantage to improve your site’s optimization.

Resources:
Google’s Webmaster Guidelines – Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site.

Google analytics – Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. Google Analytics is free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners.

New Clients Means Inspiration and Innovation

Greetings From Scranton Pennsylvania,

I’m just checking in because it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. There are lots of great things happening at Bullzeye Design. We have a few more clients to add to the Bullzeye family and I can’t wait to introduce you to them.

First, we are currently working on a website design for a jewelry company called SH Zell & Sons.The business is definitely more masculine than feminine and 47th Street, where they are located, is much more fast paced, no bullshit type of area (unless you are a tourist and don’t know who you are talking to!). The Zells are unique in that they really spend a lot of time with their clients in a casual, no pressure way. The initial website concepts are complete so look for some updates in the future regarding their official website launch!

Secondly we’ve been working with a local original band called The Five Percent with some poster designs to promote their shows in the area. We’re also planning to help with a website redesign in the near future which I, personally, cannot be more excited about! Being a fan of the music and working with a group of wonderful guys… what more can you ask for?

Lastly (for now), I’ve recently met an amazingly talented photographer from the Las Angeles area who stumbled upon Bullzeye Design and became immediately interested in working with us to develop a website along with several full screen flash galleries to display her work. Enter: HollyPhotographie.com; our newest project. So far things are going great. Get ready for some wildly creative design here! Music, animation, and breathtaking photography will unite as the minds of two talented and fearless women join forces to produce an amazing final product.

More to come in the near future – hope all is well with our friends, family, and supporters. We’d love to hear from you so don’t hesitate to drop us an email: contact@bullzeyedesign.com

Amy

Crescent Wedding Rings Goes Live!

Just wanted to let everyone know that one Bullzeye Design’s latest projects has officially gone “live”.

Crescent Wedding Rings is located on 47th Street in New York City and has been in business since 1954. They represent the finest in custom made, hand crafted platinum and diamond rings, as well as custom designed pieces. I must say it was an honor and a pleasure to help create a beautiful web-presence for these wonderful people.

Check it out if you dare:
crescentweddingrings.com

Amy Fedele, Creative Director
Bullzeye Design – Unique, Creative Website Design
Scranton, Pennsylvania