The Idea People predicts you will use SEO in 2010!

If you are in business in 2010, you will be needing basic SEO principles and techniques applied to your website and marketing strategy.  You have to!

Test yourself and answer each one of these questions:

• Are you always going to need a properly coded website?
• Are you always going to need good content?
• Do you want people to find your content?
• Do you want people to find your images and videos?
• Are you always going to need people "quality linking" to you?
• Do you want people talking about your business?
• Do you think you might use Google, Yahoo or Bing in 2010?

If you answered "yes" to at least 5 of these points, you will need SEO as an important part of your overall marketing plan.

Now, SEO is not the "end all" to marketing quests and economic comeback in 2010.  But SEO should be embraced as a part of your business' plans of growth.  SEO helps you gain exposure in front of customers and prospects.  SEO helps prospects find and learn about you.

We can help your business with a simple or sophisticated approach to search engine marketing.  Call The Idea People at 704-398-4437 or email jay@theideapeople.com to talk about your business and how SEO could help you grow in 2010.

The Idea People Close to Launching New Bendel Site!

The Bendel Corporation, one of Charlotte's oldest manufacturing companies, is nearing the launch date for their new website and Internet marketing program.

"We have been working with Bendel Corporation President Bill Beaver since August of this year to pull together a comprehensive website and Internet presence," said Jay Joyce of The Idea People.  "Beyond a website overhaul and redesign, we are developing these custom set of engineering calculators and online tools that Bendel clients will be able to use 24/7"

Bendel Corporation has been a leading designer and manufacturer of large industrial storage tanks, pressure vessels, reactors and shell and tubesheet heat exchangers in Charlotte since 1962.  Bendel services clients across many industries, including chemical, petrochemical, paint, textile, waste water, and pharmaceutical.

"Another exciting part of the Bendel Internet program is that we have developed a custom desktop widget that their clients can download and use these engineering tools and calculators directly from their desktop with instant access to large databases of numbers online," said Joyce.  "Bendel is one of those rare companies that has extremely strong history, a wonderful industry reputation, and a desire to evolve and grow with their client demands.  It is a real joy to work with this team at Bendel!"

One of The Idea People’s Clients Launches a New Project!

WaterScapes Pro, one of our most colorful clients, has just completed their latest Pondless waterfall project at Kannapolis Medical Plaza in Kannapolis, NC. This is a new medical plaza and the general contractor wanted to add a peaceful water feature to complement the beautiful building architecture and eventual landscaping treatment to come in the spring.

WaterScapes Pro owner and master pond builder, David Weekley, says of the project, "Every one of our waterfall and water feature projects include our signature stones and stonework."  David continues, "We grow and collect our own species of moss and incorporate it into each water project.  It makes for a dramatic, unique and beautiful addition to every water project."

 
This is the “before” shot.

The “after” shot.

Technorati Tags: the idea people,waterscapes pro,charlotte graphic design,charlotte pond builder

WaterScapes Pro designs, builds and maintains custom natural ponds, formal ponds, water features, water gardens and rainwater harvesting systems for residential and commercial customers across the Carolinas.  Please visit the WaterScapes Pro website to see a snapshot portfolio of their creative work and to learn more about these artistic builders!

The Idea People Charlotte Clients Launch New Brand!

The Advantage Software Company just released a new brand and logo design for their Software User's Group! The logo was designed by The Idea People.

The Users Group has grown substantially since its formation in 1985. Every year hundreds of agency professionals gather at the annual conference for three days of idea sharing, intense workshops and professional networking. The annual conference and regular board meetings provide confirmation and direction on the dozens of enhancements that will result from the regular contact with the group.

The Users Group is run by an elected Advisory Council (AAC) who plan and direct the annual conference and periodic AAC meetings. The AAC members work very closely with Advantage staff members to ensure that enhancements are designed and implemented to meet client requirements.

The next Users Group Conference will be held in Orlando, FL, May 23-26, 2010 at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando!

About The Advantage Software Company
We Work the Way You Work™. From our unique workflow systems that conform to the way you work, to building real client partnerships, we work the way you do!

Whether you’re an Advertising Agency, Creative Shop, Marketing Firm, Public Relations Firm, Media Buying Company, or related organization, Advantage provides a suite of products with features you need to monitor and improve productivity and increase profitability. Advantage is completely scalable to fit the needs of any size business.

Our products and services combined with our dedication to a partnership with you ensure your success! Please visit their website at http://www.gotoadvantage.com/

The Idea People Clients Rack Up the Awards!

One of our clients, Metro GreenScape Outdoor Living, has been awarded the NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry) Contractor of the Year (COTY) award for Home Remodel under $100k!

"This is a significant honor, and we thank our peers and the NARI organization for recognizing us! "I would like to thank our partners and Metro GreenScape team members for working so closely together this year," said Metro GreenScape's Darin Brockelbank. "Quality work, excellent project materials, and proper planning all contribute to helping our teams build beautiful outdoor living spaces every year!"

Metro GreenScape is Charlotte's cutting-edge outdoor living, premium landscaping, and organic lawn maintenance company. They make your outdoor living spaces gorgeous! Metro GreenScape can do small maintenance items like Fall Leaf Removal, landscape maintenance, and exterior home staging. Then they also excel at large items like patio and outdoor living space design, general contracting, swimming pools, deck and gazebo construction, irrigation shut-offs and start-ups, and anything else involved with your outdoor spaces!

Call owners Darin or Heather Brockelbank at Metro GreenScape at 704-504-0980 or visit them online at http://www.metrogreenscape.com/. You'll be very happy that you did!

The Idea People SEO Terms & Definitions

As you begin to learn more about SEO, you will be interacting with these terms. So there's no time like the present to become familiar with them!

301 Redirect - Method of redirecting an old webpage to a new location. More simply, to display another web page for the web address that you are trying to visit. 301 implies that the move is permanent (as opposed to temporary, etc.)

Alt Tag – Adding an HTML tag to each image within a website so that the images are included in search engine results, as well as the website text.

Back link - Links originating from one website and pointing to another website or web page. Back links aid in organic search engine rankings.

Black Hat SEO - The use of unaccepted or frowned upon SEO practices in order to get higher rankings and more traffic. These websites are usually caught and removed from the search engines!

Bot (Robot) - Programs written to scour the web automatically for various reasons (to index web pages, for spamming purposes, etc.) aka web robots, web crawlers, internet bots, and spiders.

Cloaking - Showing a different web page to a search engine spider than what is normally seen. Method typically used by spammers.

Conversion - Web traffic that fulfills a pre-established goal, such as purchasing of a specific product or filling out a registration form on your website that comes from a search engine.

Keywords - Words that are used by search engines to determine the topic of a given web page. They are used within the web page text and behind the scenes of a web page.

Landing Page - A content-rich web page geared around a particular topic, product or conversion goal. This is where people “land” on your website from a search.

Meta Data / Meta Tags - Web page specific, descriptive information that helps a search engine identify the purpose and topic of a given web page. Common Meta data include a web page's description and keyword listing.

Organic Search - Search results in a search engine that are not paid advertisements. The results that come up naturally based on their indexing within a search engine. Organic search results are good. We all want to come up on top for organic searches using keywords we are optimized for.

Paid Link Building - Websites who are willing to link back to your site for a fee in order to boost your rankings/weight in the search engines.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing - The act of marketing a website via search engines, whether this be improving rank in organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of these and other search engine-related activities.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization - The art of manually working within a web site so that it will rank higher in organic listings of search engines.

Spider - Programs written to search the web automatically for various reasons (to index web pages, for spamming purposes, etc.) Also known as web robots, web crawlers, bots, and internet bots.

Static Website - A website or web page whose content is fixed (does not change or has to be manually changed).

Title Tag - A Meta data element that determines the actual "title" of a given webpage. The title is what shows up in the top bar of your browser. It is also the hyperlink that shows in search engine results listings.

TLD - Top Level Domain - The three main domain extensions: .com, .net, and .org.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. Or, more commonly, a web address.

White Hat SEO - The use of accepted SEO practices in order to get higher rankings, more traffic, etc. (Opposite is Black Hat!)

The Idea People Selected as a "Top 25 Web Design Company"!

"We were very surprised and excited when we heard that The Idea People had been selected as one of the Top 25 Web Design Companies in Charlotte," said Jay Joyce of The Idea People. "This came out of the blue and means a great deal in helping us further differentiate our company from others."

The Charlotte Business Journal is known for researching, assembling, rating and compiling their annual on-going list of Top 25 businesses in most categories. "It certainly is nice to be sitting in the Top 25 of web companies in Charlotte," added Joyce. "Our clients are also happy to hear the news!"

The Idea People will continue to grow and expand within the web design, development and Internet marketing industry as new technologies and methodologies emerge. "Our largest differentiating factor with the websites that we design is the overall beauty and artistic value in each site," added Joyce.

"Our client websites have to creatively represent each client while attracting prospective customers. It is all the behind-the-scenes knowledge, experience, and technical savvy that helps our client websites generate new customers and subsequent revenues for those clients."

NC State Women's Basketball Legend Selects The Idea People!

We are very proud to announce that Dr. Genia Beasley of All Ages Vision Care in Charlotte has selected The Idea People as their web design and Internet marketing agency!

"Dr. B, as her patients call her, is a very successful, high-profile vision care therapy specialist and is known across the country," said Bill McCown of The Idea People. "She wants the very best web design, the very best Internet presence, and the very best patients from around the southeast...and we're going to deliver these needs to this large vision practice!"

In addition to being one of the most sought-after vision therapists in the country, Dr. Beasley is a former basketball superstar from NC State. Beasley, a 6-2 forward/center from Benson, established standards and records by which Wolfpack Women will be measured for many, many years to come.

Twenty-seven years have passed and Beasley’s name is still at the top of points scored and rebounds grabbed in the NC State record book. Beasley was the first NC State women’s basketball player to score 2,000 or more points, finishing with 2,367.

Only one other player in Wolfpack history has scored more points — Rodney Monroe with 2,551. She produced career averages of 18.5 points and 9.7 rebounds in 128 games.

Her jersey, No. 50, hangs retired in the rafters of Reynolds Coliseum.

"This is a very exciting client that we are very proud to work with," said McCown. "Their new website should be completed by the first of January 2010 with the Internet marketing to begin immediately after the launch."

Introducing the Charlotte Web Design Pavilion

The Charlotte Web Design Pavilion is the only workshop and meeting place of its kind in Charlotte! Business owners and marketers gather to learn, share and grow their businesses by learning the latest in web marketing techniques and creative design trends.

We will be holding a FREE web design, development and Internet marketing workshop on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 from 3p-5:00p. You will learn tips on effective web marketing and how to improve your website to convert visitors into prospects, and tips on how to target customers and lead them through your company's website. You are a small to medium-sized business owner or person in charge of company marketing. To RSVP, please call Jay Joyce at 704-398-4437 or email jay@theideapeople.com.

The Idea People is sponsoring a FREE SEO and Internet marketing workshop on Tuesday, January 5 from 3:00pm-5:00pm. You will learn basic SEO techniques, how search engines view your website, how to use a blog successfully, and how to increase the visibility of your website. You are a small to medium-sized business owner or marketing position. To RSVP for this FREE workshop, please call Jay Joyce at 704-398-4437 or email jay@theideapeople.com.

The Charlotte Web Design Pavilion will hold workshops every month. Keep checking our schedule for more dates and times!

Manage Your Website's Backend FREE with Refresh™!

The web has really changed. It's turned into a huge community where everyone is sharing ideas, collaborating, and conducting business. Its an online world! And the world of having a "web brochure" is becoming a thing of the past.


Meet Refresh™ from the Idea People...our proven suite of tools to help you grow your business while managing your website easily on your own!


Refresh™ from The Idea People was developed for marketing people and business owners as a simple tool to easily manage your website. !

Look at why you should be using Refresh™:


Easy to use. Easy to learn. Our clients enjoy the real simplicity of being able to control all of the content and photos, edit and freshen it on your schedule, and easily update every page in your website. Refresh™ was not designed for an IT mind.

We developed and designed it for you...the business and marketing mind because you need a quick and easy method to update your website without a steep learning curve...and on your own!
Edit your website's text...post new photos...start and manage a blog...send out E-vites...add a photo gallery...start a Podcast...manage Newsletters and email lists...create new forms...participate in search engine optimization techniques...manage events and seminars with a calendar...review your website visitor traffic and stats...plus so much more!

Click here to read the full story on how easy Refresh™ will make your life on keeping your website up-to-date!

FREE SEO Analysis for your Company's Website!

Search engine optimization improves your website’s rankings in search engines. By choosing and embedding targeted keywords and keyword phrases throughout your site’s pages and “behind-the-scenes” code, our proven method results in higher visibility to people who are searching for the products and services that you offer. This is the organic side of SEO.

It really does work, too. When you contact us for your Free SEO Analysis, we will evaluate your existing website and give you back a "grade rating" on how well your website performs within search engines and directories. We measure website statistics like keyword effectiveness, meta tag and title penetration, blog performance, competitor's relationships, and 20 other important aspects.

We can then use this as a starting point for how we can help you improve your website's performance within the search engine and directory environment. Plus it will mean better traffic and better conversions on your website...which means more business and sales! Click here to sign-up for your FREE SEO Analysis today!

One of our clients, Metro GreenScape, teams with Breezeplay.

One of our clients, Metro GreenScape, has emerged as the premier sponsor in an incredible new "green" program launching November 14, 2009, in The Palisades subdivision.

Breezeplay's EnviroScape Energy Management and Control Panel is the ONLY residential consumer product on the market that is monitored "24/7" to provide actual usage and rate data, and that can provide controls to automatically adjust systems to effect consumption and automate savings. It saves energy and money!

Metro GreenScape is their premier sponsor and will be staging special "green" outdoor landscaping events in The Palisades beginning November 14, 2009. Metro GreenScape initiated "the Green Life" 3 years ago as a non-profit venture to promote educational and entertaining programs for families to do in their own yards that are healthy and "green" to our environment. You can visit Metro GreenScape by clicking here.

Metro GreenScape is Charlotte's premier outdoor living, custom landscaping and seasonal lawn management company. You can call them at 704-504-0980.

Charlotte graphic design from The Idea People

Charlotte web design from The Idea People

A new client website is launched!

We just launched a new client's website for WaterScapes Pro! David Weekley is the owner and his company designs and builds these gorgeous ponds, water gardens and water features.

Check out his new website at www.waterscapespro.com. And if you need a pond designed and built, call him at 704-365-6700!

The Idea People are Moving & Shaking

The Idea People's Jay Joyce was among the honorees last night at Business Leader Magazine's Annual "Movers & Shakers of Charlotte" Awards.

"Jay has worked tirelessly over the past 3 years building new business relationships and serving on various boards throughout Charlotte," said The Idea People's Bill McCown. "He really has transferred our success from Atlanta here to Charlotte."

Darin Brockelbank, owner of Metro GreenScape and a client of The Idea People, nominated Jay for the award primarily for Jay's unselfish sharing of time and resources to help people solve problems in and grow their businesses.

This is the 7th year that Business Leader Magazine has honored Movers & Shakers in Charlotte.

Listening to New Ideas Leads to Opportunity

Do you know people who don't listen? They always say, "yeah, but..." Back in 1986 I learned from a very savvy sales trainer that you "can learn more by listening than talking." I've never forgotten it.

Even if the other person is blowing hot air and ranting and raving, you still can learn something. If nothing else, keeping your mouth shut gives you time to formulate a gameplan!

Try listening more than you speak. It will open up a new world of ideas and you'll learn more!

Charlotte Web Design Magic Bullets

Here's a free tip!

We forecast the action on the Internet in 2010 to be a combination of unique and creative web design coupled with "magic" bullets that emotionally connect and pull people through your web prospecting funnels.

Let's face it. We all want to increase our conversions of web traffic into prospects into customers. But it's so darn easy for John Doe to click out or click to the next result. What is the magic "thing" that is missing to keep him or her there and follow our funnel?

We believe that it is the emotional magic that helps you close sales and build relationships in person. A warm smile? A confident voice? A unique personality? A rags to riches story? Yes to all of those. This is where one of the action points will be on the Internet. And the magic will come through video.

Don't hide and watch this happen. Be proactive and be a part of the evolution of the magic bullets. It's going to be as close to a magic 8 ball as we can get with website marketing and conversions.

Trust me. (I'm smiling and glowing warmly at you!)

Transform Your Website from Brochure to Sales Rep!

Why would you want a "brochure" as your website? Is your website just a brochure? There is a new wind that has blown across the land of brochureware-websites. Hopefully it is blowing out those outdated websites!

OK, here's why you want a sales-oriented website instead. The marketing action is on the Internet. Period. You still have to keep other marketing channels open, but the Internet is where decisions are being made.

Now, you want your best sales person where the action is. That's your website. Your website should be guiding prospects to what you want them to do. Sign-up for a newsletter? Download a widget or special paper? Fill-out a contact form? Call you? Buy something?!

Think like you're in a real person-to-person sales presentation. That's how your website should be built. Guide prospects. Show prospects. Lead prospects. Answer their questions. Pique their interests. Satisfy their demand for education and information. Help them buy from you.

"Help them buy from you." We say that a lot at The Idea People. We believe in proactive websites. People like to buy things. Re-align your website with this simple strategy in place. Then launch your Google AdWords. Now the keywords are linking to a clearly thought-out buying process on your website!

Sound simple? In theory it is. But it sure makes more sense than just putting up a brochure on your website, doesn't it? Call us at 704-398-4437 and let us transform your website!

Don't get caught in the Google AdWords trap!

We all know that a proper strategy with Google AdWords can generate targeted traffic to your website. All search engines have the ability to do that.

But what do you do when you've proven that AdWords can generate traffic to your site, but you're not getting any leads or conversions? It will frustrate the heck out of you.

So let's review some extending strategies to help your AdWords work:

1. Be sure to ask, direct and lead visitors once they click to your page from an AdWord. Tell them what to do next! Lead them. Instruct them. Excite them. Inform them.

2. What is the activity that you want them to do when they get on that page? More often than not you want to get a lead. But most often it takes more than a link to the Contact form.

3. Video is a good option. Tell them a story through a simple web video on the landing page. Even go as far as tell them what to do next in the video. "We want to help your dreams come true with your plans for building a pool in your backyard. We invite you to click on the button next to this video that will take you to a planning form on what you should do next to get the pool of your dreams. After you fill out that form, please call us at xxxx to set up your free design and planning consultation!"

So the takeaway from this would be to lead, inform, educate and guide the visitor once they arrive on your landing page.

Then you should start to see some additional activities with your paid clicks. You should do the same with your organic clicks and referring clicks as well!

The Value of New Ideas

New ideas. The very mention of "new ideas" conjures a fresh feeling, a heightened sense of expectation, a raised level of enthusiasm, and a new sense of hope. Why do new ideas do that to us? Is it the word "new"? Or is it that "new ideas" really give us more than just the actual ideas?

We think "new ideas" come with added value that most people never get credit for using. All of our "new ideas" come packed with value:
- Energy and hype
- Solutions and hope
- Relief and vision
- Guidance and support
- Ammunition and target
- Sense of renewing and purpose

New ideas unlock our potentials and push us past where we are (or were). New ideas give us freedom, power, momentum and status.

So why not get some more value by getting some new ideas. That doesn't mean change. It means to enhance, polish, advance, grow, propel and flourish.

Call us at The Idea People and let us give you those things. Oh yes, and we'll give you the good ideas, too!

Charlotte Web Design is a Keyword for Us!

We've been doing a neat exercise around the agency that we invented back in April. We call it "Keyword Table." The object of the game is to take a single product or service that one of our clients offers and only speak in appropriate keywords or keyword phrases for 15 minutes (in the tone and likeness of the vintage TV game, Password!). We write it all down. Then we hone (neat word) it down to the most impactful keywords and move into our analytical mode with Google. This serves as our basis for generating our initial lists of keywords. We've done this game so often that we actually do it away from office when we spot a product or badly-wrapped service van!

Logos and Branding, Oh My!

Why are people now "brand" crazy when they really are just "logo" crazy! Let's set it straight. A logo is a graphic representation of your company. A brand is the entire experience that your company has with customers. A brand includes positioning, unique features and benefits, your voice mail, how you dress, how your company acts, the value of your product or service to your customers, and about 19 other things!

Logos are part of a good branding strategy. Brands are what people feel, emote and desire when they make a purchase.

Now that we have that settled, how about developing a new logo leading to a new brand from The Idea People!