It is common knowledge that social media has become a great platform for retailers to share their products with web-savvy consumers. The use of images on these websites has proven to be so effective that Pinterest was created solely around visually-driven content.

So how can online merchants use Pinterest to drive traffic to their site?

Use impressive images.

Quality and creative images have the most impact on Pinterest users. The photo quality not only represents your product, but your brand identity as well. They are also more likely to be clicked on and re-pinned or shared. In addition to choosing the best product images, our Raleigh internet marketing firm can also improve the image quality to improve sales conversions.

Start link-building.

With Pinterest, the images on users’ boards each link back to the retailer’s website. This is a dream for internet marketers who wouldn’t say no to free high-traffic link-building content. As most businesses know, they will only benefit from web images that have optimized keywords attached to them. Our Raleigh SEO providers at TheeDesign recommend consistent and strategic keyword choices that will help drive traffic to your site.

Review your web analytics.

Web analytics will show you how much incoming traffic Pinterest is providing. It will also show you which images on Pinterest are giving you the most exposure, which will help you choose similar effective content to further grow your traffic. If you don’t have analytics on your website, or are not sure you have traffic tracking software, TheeDesign’s SEO content experts can show you how to take advantage of free analytics providers.

Add a price banner to your pinned image.

Pinterest has a useful feature for retailers showcasing their products on pinboards. When you type the price of a product into the description of the picture being pinned, Pinterest automatically creates a banner across the left corner of the image that shows the price. This is a great eye-catching tactic that can grab the attention of your customers, especially if it is a sale price!

Add “Pin it” buttons to your website.

Your website should already direct users to your social media connection through the iconic Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn icons. Now it’s time to add a “Pin it” button. If you’re not sure how to do this, contact our web designers to learn how.

Contact pages play the role of facilitating communication with a website’s visitors. A well designed page encourages the visitor to give plenty of details about themselves and insight on the services/products they are looking for, without overwhelming or turning them away.

A Well Designed Contact Page Should Include:

• Contact form (including fields for: name, email, and message)
• Phone and fax numbers
• Directions to your office
• Google or other online map with physical address
• Photo of your real office or a nice call-to-action graphic
• Online chat, especially for ecommerce websites and service providers

Here Are a Couple of Creative Contact Page Ideas for Inspiration

The 411 on 404

The 404 (or Not Found) error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not find what was requested. So the site generates a 404 page when users attempt to follow a broken link.

The Impact of a 404

More often than not, when a visitor arrives on a 404 page, they immediately leave the website and go somewhere else. This not only gives a website a bad first impression to visitors, but it also increases a website’s bounce rate. High bounce rates are noticed by search engines like Google and can negatively impact the site’s search engine ranking.

404 pages can be annoying because the visitor doesn’t find what they were looking for. Fortunately, a well-designed default 404 page can help create a more positive user experience and encourage them to click around on the rest of the website instead of giving up and leaving. The following are a couple of our favorite designs that will make you smile!

Step One: Spray ‘Website Cleaner Pro’ directly onto computer monitor.

Step Two: Rub thoroughly into screen until all pixels are covered.

Make It Fresh

When was the last time you updated your blog or news section? If the answer is “more than 2 months ago,” you need to make some updates. Search engines and site visitors alike both look for new and relevant content.

Trash Broken Links

If you have links on your website to other sites, like a partner page or resources list, check that all of those links still work! Some of those organizations may have gone under or moved domain names. Either delete them completely or update them with their new urls if possible. Broken links are bad not only for your professional image, they can negatively impact search engine rankings.

Pest Control

Update your plugins. If you’re using a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or an eCommerce platform like Magento, make sure to update the installed plugins when they become available in order to prevent technical bugs.

Bring In Some Color

An easy way to update your website is to add new and colorful photographs. A picture is worth a thousand words, so make room in your budget to get high resolution, professional photos. Stock photos work well or you can give your site a personal touch by adding current pictures of your staff.

Adding quality images or videos will help you sell more products. It doesn’t even matter if your product is physical or virtual – you can create concept images or infographs for them.

Out With The Old

Does the copyright line at the bottom of your site say 1998? Do you have content on your homepage promoting past events? Nothing says “unprofessional” more than outdated information.

In With The New

Many times, an old and outdated website can be far beyond repair and it makes better sense to start over. Many old technologies are no longer used or simply do not work correctly on modern computers and mobile devices.

A website redesign can be critical if your current site is inhibiting customers to do business with you, costing you more money in the long run than it would take to simply redesign.

This post lists common PHP codes used in custom WordPress theme development. We provide a basic overview of how to incorporate these functions into your WordPress site, and you’ll need access to a WordPress site to follow along.

How to Use WordPress Functions

One strength of WordPress that has contributed to its widespread use is its intuitive user interface for content producers mixed with enough configuration options for any serious developer to tailor the CMS to meet unique needs.

The WordPress functions listed above are provided by WordPress and can be used when developing a WordPress theme, but WordPress is extensible and allows for custom functions to be written. Fortunately, in many cases, the functions that WordPress provides are more than enough to build or change a business or organization website.

If you’re creating your own custom WordPress theme, or you want to know how to edit one that you already have installed, then perform these steps:

1. Log into your WordPress site. A common place to do that is at:
   www.your-wordpress-site.com/wp-admin
   However, the exact location of the WordPress login page will depend on how your site was set up.
2. Once logged into WordPress, you will see a page called the Dashboard. On the left side should be a navigation menu, and you’ll want to find the Appearance → Editor section to view the relevant WordPress files.
3. The Editor page will have a list of files you can view and edit on the right side. To get started, you can choose index.php from that list by clicking on it.

The first line of the index.php template might look have this piece of code: <?php get_header(); ?>. That’s simply snippet of code that says “Place the header content at the top of this page.”

In another file, one that is commonly named header.php, there’s code that specifies what the header actually contains. If you’re still in the Editor section of WordPress, you can select header.php from the list on the right to see how that is built.

That should be enough to whet your appetite! Below you will find more useful code snippets commonly used in WordPress.

The following are a couple tips on wardrobe, makeup, and rehearsing to make your video shoot go as smooth as possible.

1. Do not wear green!

Since will we will be using a green screen for your video, any shade of green will produce transparently on video. Choose colors that wouldn’t be mistaken for green. Certain shades of yellows and blues sometimes have green qualities. White is also a challenging color to work with on some shoots because it reflects the green.

Depending on your video setup, you most likely do not need to worry about what shoes you are wearing. Most of the videos we do for clients are shot from the knees or waist up.

If you happen to have bright green eyes, or really really need to wear green, we also have a blue backdrop we can use to shoot your video. Just let us know in advance and we’d be happy to make it work!

2. Allow time for retakes.

Try to not to schedule an appointment immediately following your shoot. Even if you only have one video that you anticipate will be a minute or two in length as a final product, it can sometimes take several retakes before the best delivery is recorded. A typical video shoot appointment lasts 45-60 minutes.

If you’re rushing to get to another appointment, your on-camera energy and delivery won’t reflect the natural and confident tone that is most effective in finished videos. Which leads us to our next point…

3. Imagine the camera is an audience of friends.

When you visualize friendly faces, as a reflex your posture will change to a more natural angle. Viewers will find you more credible with a natural stance. A common problem people have with “acting” natural on camera is a lack of confidence.

While we will edit the footage to show off the best angles and vocal delivery possible, we can’t splice-in confidence. It needs to shine from within! Rest assured that we will take as many takes as you need to get comfortable and confident on camera.

4. Apply makeup a little heavier than normal.

If you wear makeup, or plan on wearing makeup for the video, try to apply a little more than you normally would for everyday wear. We will have bright lights shining on you during the filming which has a tendency to wash out some people’s skin. Applying a good amount of mascara, blush and/or lipstick can help your features pop.

5. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Though you don’t need to memorize your lines since we have a teleprompter for you, the more rehearsals you can do outside the studio, the less time you will need behind the camera. Try rehearsing in front of the mirror, your colleagues, friends, and family to get good feedback. This will also help you make script changes if you notice some phrases sound unnatural or you left out a key piece of information.

6. Send us your script!

Email a team member at TheeDesign a Word document of your script a day or two in advance to your shoot so that our video professionals can prepare your teleprompter. Our teleprompter is completely customizable. We can adjust the font size, spacing, scroll speed, and colors to suit your needs. We can also make any last minute adjustments to the script wording when you are here!

According to the search engine giant, their standards were amended in order to “reduce rankings for low-quality sites.” Websites that are weighed down with more ad space than quality content on the upper portion of their page are not considered as useful. Our Raleigh web design agency has compiled a few tips to make sure your website is ready for the new layout requirements.

How to make sure your website is recognized as a quality site:

Provide quality content.

The definition of quality web content has changed in the past few years, especially since last year’s Google Panda release and the latest changes in layout guidelines. Engaging content that helps your site’s visitors is key for rankings and for engaging visitors. Most site owners have a difficult time producing enough fresh content for their site; that’s when SEO experts can help create an internet marketing strategy.

Reduce advertisements and images.

This underscores the need for quality web content. The new page layout guidelines that Google is enforcing automatically reduce the rankings of websites that are buried in ads. Schedule time with our Raleigh web design consultants who will review your site with you and recommend the most effective placement and image selection choices that will ensure your site is recognized by search engines as a quality source.

Pretend you’re visiting your website for the first time.

When you look at your website objectively, do you have a hard time finding quality content? Are there too many ads that take a long time to load? Raleigh Internet marketing professionals at TheeDesign can create custom web layouts that still incorporate your ad needs while fitting the new page layout guidelines enforced by Google. Your website’s user experience is one of the most important investments you can make. It’s essential to retaining and attracting traffic and keeping your site ahead of search engine changes.

The Hunger Games are much like the battle for top position in search results. You practice not only your combat, survival, and other skills, but also perform other tasks in an effort to gain a higher ranking (i.e. sponsorship and rewards) going into the games themselves.

No matter how unique you think your organization might be, chances are that you have at least one other competitor out there – vying for the same keywords and search result placement as you.

So in a fight to the death, does it make more sense to cooperate or betray? Our SEO experts say “both.”

Assess the Strengths of the Competition

In the Hunger Games, one of the challenges that the tributes faced was that they had no idea what the strengths of their opponents were. Some were better at being nimble and avoiding danger, while others were more brute force and willing to face danger full-on. It was only out in the arena that each contestant was able to pick up hints on the strengths of their competitors.

The same holds true in the business world. Think about all of the hefty security measures organizations of all sizes go through to protect their intellectual property and corporate strategies. True, information leaks happen on occasion but are not a dependable source. The only way to really see what you are up against, is to step into the arena and observe.

Take stock of who your online competition is by searching for services related to what you offer. Where on the search results page do they show up? Are they above or below your listing? You will be able to get a sense then of how they measure up to you. You can also use certain SEO tools that can help you identify how many backlinks their website is getting, what keywords they are optimizing for, and stats on their average page ranking.

Take Advantage of Their Weaknesses

What is your competition NOT doing? Where have they left a hole in either their marketing tactics or website design? Maybe they don’t have any active social media accounts, or haven’t setup their Google Place Pages. Find out where your competition is not advertising, commenting, or link building and capitalize on those resources to give your site an advantage.

Formulate a plan based on where your competition is lacking in order to take them down.

Form Alliances

Alliances were formed between contestants in the Hunger Games. They pooled resources like food and weapons as a means to survive. Strategic alliances can also be useful for similar or complementary businesses.

Because of the wide-spread connecting nature of the web, you can easily link with key online players to pool resources and capture a greater share of the market. By affiliating yourself with carefully selected partners and sharing your strengths, you can fast track your online presence straight to the top.

Use your strategic alliances to:

• Exchange online testimonials. Reciprocal testimonials can lend valuable credibility for each other’s businesses.
• Increase your geographic reach. Partnering with businesses located in different cities or states can help you find an online presence in that area as well.
• Build links. Links to your site from partner websites can increase search engine ranking for both parties.

Create a Compelling Story

All of the citizens of Panem watched the televised Hunger Games religiously. Like any reality show, the characters can either be beloved or loathed by the audience for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Katniss had an emotional and heartwarming story before even entering the arena that made her a national sweetheart. We see sites like Facebook and Pinterest rise to the top of our radar in much the same way.

Gaining audience support is crucial for survival in both the Hunger Games scenario and in search engine optimization. Search engines favor websites who have loyal followers and backlinks to websites with authority, thereby asserting that your website is a trustworthy source of information.

Ultimately, the Capitol Decides if You Live or Die

Like the Capitol is for Panem, Google is the be-all and end-all for search results. Disobeying their rules can lead to punishment (by degrading your ranking in search results) or death!

Following the guidelines of good, organic SEO and avoiding the trappings of bad link building and spam attempts will keep you in good standing with Google’s web spiders. One slip up however, like publishing duplicate/stolen content, being misleading with your page titles, or cramming too many ads onto your site and you’ll feel the bite of the spiders by noticing a big drop in your SERP ranking.

Search engine optimization is powerful in the right hands. Trumping your competition not only takes fine-tuned skills in your industry, but insight and strategy as well. The key is to use the arena around you and rework it to your advantage.

Even the Apple logo, of which there have been three since the company started, has folklore surrounding it.

The first apple logo was introduced in 1976 — the year Apple was established . The logo was a woodcut representation of Sir Isaac Newton, with the inscription of “A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone.” The logo didn’t last long; Apple introduced its second logo in late 1976..

Rob Janoff designed the rainbow “bitten” logo that was used by Apple for 22 years. There have been rumors that the logo was a tribute to Alan Turing, a computer scientist who committed suicide in 1954 by cyanide poisoning, and had been found with a half-eaten apple next to his bed.

There’s also the theory that the apple in the logo represented knowledge, a reference to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Or that the logo referenced the fruit that led Sir Isaac Newton to discover gravity.

But it turns out that the bite in the Apple logo is there for scale, so the apple would not be confused with a cherry.

“…it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he probably bitten into it and that’s what you get.” – Rob Janoff

And while speculation about the Apple logo will continue, one has to wonder: Why was the company named “Apple” in the first place?

The Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA) is hosting their second annual Web Doctor event and TheeDesign Studio has been asked to participate as one of the “Web Doctors.” This year the Web Doctor will be held on Wednesday, March 13th at Spy, an upscale lounge in Raleigh. The event is open to the public. Admission is $15 at the door and free for TIMA members who preregister.

The TIMA Web Doctor event brings experienced website specialists in the field of web design, internet marketing and search engine optimization together from around the Triangle to present “Before & After” case studies of client websites. At the end of the presentation audience members will offer up their own website design troubles for on-the-spot diagnosis from the experts.

This is TheeDesign Studio’s first year presenting at Web Doctor and is sending team members Heather Curtis and Laurence Valachovic.

The presentation will unveil a new ecommerce website that TheeDesign Studio web developers have been working on for a client these past couple of months. The site was built on Magento, an ecommerce platform and content management system. The new website will also feature some exciting interactive marketing and social media strategies that the audience will have to wait to be revealed on Wednesday!

About TIMA

Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA) is a Raleigh-Durham community of interactive marketing and design professionals dedicated to enriching members’ careers and knowledge in digital media. They focus on uniting interactive technologies and traditional marketing principles through networking and education.