How much is a good idea worth?

What's a great creative idea for a business marketing strategy, such as a logo, slogan, branding if you will, worth?
If it's a brilliant concept does it have more value? Most people wouldn't recognize a brilliant concept if it bit them on the ass.
Does it depend on who it's coming from or what you can afford? How about the ROI, to be determined once it's implemented. You can buy a logo online for $50.00 or you can go to a great design shop, such as Pentegram or other branding company and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If your starting a new business do you go to the neighbor's kid and pay him $20.00 to do your logo or do you get the best ideas you can possibly afford from a certified designer... hint look for the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval tattooed on his or her arm.
I'm always amazed at what people will put out there as a representation of their business. "Oh well, it was cheap." Guess what everyone thinks about your business?
I guess an idea can be valued by the amount of thinking behind it. The kid next door isn't going to really get into the true meaning of your company and translate that into branding. A pro at various levels will.
Generally, great ideas do not come cheap. If your smart enough to recognize that then you're headed in the right direction. Nike's "Just do it" priceless. 
If you want to learn more about the value of a good idea contact us. Please check your bank account before you call.

A funny thing happened on the way to a funeral.

My dad passed last week in our home, peacefully in his sleep. He was 94 and had severe Dementia.
All his life he was very funny and had a great sense of humor. He loved to make people laugh. All his nieces, nephews and his only grandson always got a big kick out of him.
In honor of his sense of humor and with all due respect, I will tell you about the funniest errand I ever ran.
I had to deliver a set of false teeth to the funeral home. They were in a green plastic case. Think about it.
It made all the difference in the world and I'm sure he's smiling down on me from the heavens above.
Why? Because now he can.

Why you should put money into Organic Search Engine Optimization instead of yellow page ads.

Over the years I have worked with companies that have put thousands of dollars into yellow page advertising and that was a major part of their marketing effort.
The results were good for most up until a few years ago. Then I started hearing from the same people  how there was much less of a return on their dollar.
Where is the first place you go now adays to look for products or services? Google, Yahoo and Bing of course.
Wouldn't it be great if your company came up on that first search ranking page? I'm not talking about paid listings or ads.
People are 85% more likely to ignore paid listings. A natural or organic listing can get 60+% more click throughs.
Professional Organic Search Engine Optimization can cost thousands of dollars less than those Yellow Page print ads and online listings and deliver a lot more.
This is the time of year that the Yellow Page sales reps are hounding you to renew your ads and listings with them. Save your self a lot of money and possibly make a lot more money by hiring a professional Search Engine Optimization expert and get your web site optimized organically.
Let me leave you with this - organic Search Engine Optimization converts 30% higher than pay-per click advertising.
Save money and make more money, a natural win/win.

Diversity has helped my business grow.

The thing I've learned over the years is it's not so bad to do and develop a number of related skills.
Which means being able to offer clients different but related services. This has been a particularly challenging year but by being able to do web development, Search Engine Optimization and graphic design work, when one area is slow another area heats up. If no areas are hot then we go out and play: ) Can't wait for that to happen!
I made a serious effort to develop more skills as I went along so that I could grow even when the economy is tight.
Along the way, clients have asked for a particular need and if it made sense, I went out and provided it for them and learned by doing it. Don't get me wrong, If I can't do something at a very high professional level, I will bring in an expert in that field. There is something to be said for being a specialist but to offer 3 services sometimes is better than one. So diversify and gain new skills and new business.

Simplify your web site experience.

Web sites in general have become so overloaded with information that they are confusing to look at.

Especially small business web sites that want to put out everything they do and the kitchen sink.

This is an era of specialization. So lead with what you specialize in. Simplify your site so the viewer knows how to get to what they are looking for easily. Get rid of clutter. What would you like them to do once they get there? Is there a process in place for them to follow?

How can you make the site easy to navigate. Provide a call to action. A really good web site has that all planned out before it is even constructed.

It's the Fall, time to review your marketing material. Your web site should be one of your major marketing tools. Take a good hard look at it and determine if there is a process in place for viewers once they land on it. Promote your one specialty and simplify, simplify, simplify. I'm sure you will get much better results.

Is organic SEO really important?

Organic SEO is more important than Pay Per Clicks by a long shot.

First of all, it needs to be done anyway, regardless of whether you have a PPC campaign going or not.

There is a credibility issue with paid ads. Viewers are more likely to click on a general listing than an ad on the top or side of the search page.

In general, you will pay less overall for the organic optimization than for bidding on keywords.

You should have your web site optimized by a professional because there are so many tools available and knowledge of their usefulness is critical. Unless of course, you want to purchase them and have the time to learn how to use them yourself.

It isn't just formulaic, there is a certain amount of creative judgement involved. Things change by the minute so a professional, if he or she is good, will be on top of current trends.

Why not try organic first before you spend money on PPC? You may get the results you want. You can always add the paid campaign to increase what is happening naturally.