I good friend of mine a sailing instructor, who loves teaching sailing. Just gave a great sailing lesson in Westport CT.
Many people taking sailing lessons, really need a larger boat.
Here’s a photo of david.
Westport Sailing Lessons
Blog
Google+ Business
If you have a brick and mortar company Google+ Business is perhaps the most cost effective way to market your business. Google’s mantra has always been to give the user the best possible experience. They know that 97% of consumers look for local business online. Thus they recognize the importance of local search and recently made some sweeping changes in response to this demand.
Google+ Business and Google Search are directly linked and Google Search is the largest search engine in the world. Thus it’s imperative that any local business create and optimize its Google+ Business page.
Below are the highlights of the importance of having a good Google+ Business page:
- free and fast way to get number one ranking on Google
- drive more traffic to your site/store
- help you stand out from your competitors
- boost engagement with images/videos/blog
- ability to offer coupons
- feedback from your potential/existing customers
- increase profits
This short primer will discuss best practices to ensure that your Google+ Business page ranks well and serves as powerful magnet to attract customers to your store.
First and foremost claim your listing. Unbeknownst to you Google is usually able to glean information about your company and create a simple Google+ Business page. However, this is a very thin page and you should claim it so you can manage the page.
The easiest way to go to http://plus.google.com/pages/create Follow the wizard, and choose the most appropriate option to classify your business. You will then need to verify the business sometime they will send a postcard or make a phone call to the number associated with your account. This procedure ensures that only the actual owner of the business can make changes to the page. Once you are verified you can administer your account. Below are some best practices.
1: Edit your business information – In this section you list basic company information there’s also a spot for a description of your company. This should be short but compelling and persuasive. You also can list various categories. Please make certain you belong in the categories. Lastly don’t skip and sections, 100% completing is critical for high rankings.
2: Add photos and videos – You can add up to 10 photos and 5 videos. At the very least you should upload 5 photos. Maxing out your photos and videos will really help push you to the top.
3: Get reviews – 90% of people trust reviews from people they know, but 70% trust reviews from people they don’t know. This is way reviews are so important as they establish “social proof”. However, it’s very difficult to get customers to add reviews to your Google+ Business page. That’s the bad news, the good news is that all your need is a handful of reviews to climb to the top. Lastly too many reviews can actually hurt you, ideally you want to get a maximum of one review a month.
4: Monthly postings. Writing a short blog post about your business is a great way to engage your audience, learn about and show of your knowledge.
Couple of things never to do
1: No gaps fill out all fields, even optional ones
2: Set it and forget it, update on regular basis and read reviews
3: Post fake reviews
4: Stuff your page with key words
FAQ –
1: How to get high rankings – Complete all section, add photos with good description, try and get one review a month. Add a new post once a month.
2: How to handle bad review – Respond publicly, this can be a PR win because it proves that you take review seriously. Negative feedback can be helpful, they might be correct. You can adjust and then publicly thank them. Also a few negative reviews adds authenticity to your overall listings. Plus we all know that nobody can make everyone happy all the time.
3: Why isn’t my listing showing up in the search results – Google+ Business is starting to get competitive, it’s imperative to follow the steps outlined here.
4: Why is there already a listing for my business – Google spiders can crawl the web and create pages on their own.
5: Why do I need to claim my listing – You now control and have access to stats, such as how people asked for directions to your business.
Kaoud Antique Rugs now online
We were very excited to work with Rumzi Kaoud of Kaoud rugs located in Guilford CT. The gorgeous showroom was filled with hundreds of antique rugs many of them over one hundred years old. It took over a week just to photograph the rugs. But it was a real pleasure working with Rumzi learning about rugs and being surround by their ageless art.
Here’s a peek at part of the site, you really need to view in a large monitor to appreciate its beauty. Click here to view the site.
There were so many gorgeous rugs so it difficult to pick my favorite. But this one is on top of my list, an elegant vibrant antique Serapi.
A Colorful New Business Launch
Background
Local Real Estate executive Larry Lupone and Cafe aficionado Greg Munroe wanted to launch a totally unique eating establishment where Guilford locals and tourists could enjoy gourmet food, premium coffee and frozen yogurt in a relaxed, spacious and comforting environment. They came to Walden Pond Design with a concept and an opening date; we gave them an identity and then helped launch Colors Cafe.
Objectives
From the get-go, Colors Cafe wanted a brand identity consistent with the level of quality and uniqueness that their establishment would represent. Given their high-profile location on the Guilford Green, they wanted to launch with impact, flair and set the stage for continuity. They also wanted to harness the efficiencies of local, social and content marketing.
Our approach
Initially, we were all concerned that Colors Cafe not get lost in the “oh, another frozen yogurt place” shuffle; it was important that their brand identity appeal to a more sophisticated customer. Additionally, the owners wanted to leverage their deep ties to the Guilford community as well as communicate the quality and uniqueness of their cafe offering and space.
Logo
With a name like Colors Cafe, the use of polychromatic imagery in the logo was a no-brainer. Care had to be taken, however, to avoid pastel or juvenile colors stereotypical to the froyo space. To do this, we married a more earth-tone color bar with a workmark consisting of block and cursive fonts.
Positioning
Beyond the premium quality of the gourmet food, frozen yogurt and coffee, the physical setting of Colors Cafe is unique: a very spacious, well-appointed pair of rooms within a historic building on the Guilford Green. Unlike many ‘hipster cafes’ long on attitude but short on space, Colors Cafe is a place where people can readily feel comfortable and stay awhile. Therefore, our messaging focused on the fact that Colors Cafe is “Guilford’s living room where one can linger and take in the local color.”
Launch
We utilized a multi-channel approach to launch Colors Cafe: traditional print media for awareness, direct response to generate trial and traffic and social media to create deeper connections and an ongoing communications channel. Given the local and newsworthy nature of the launch, we developed half-page print ads communicating the essence of Colors Cafe in the context of it’s location: bringing some local color to the Guilford Green.
Our direct mail invited residents of Guilford and Madison to bring a friend to Colors Cafe to share a “cup of color”: coffee, tea or froyo. For launch, we also rolled out colorscafe.com – the digital hub for Colors Cafe marketing efforts. And finally, given the social nature of Colors Cafe positioning, we leaned heavily into social media to grow loyalty and engagement, as well as setting the stage for an ongoing communications channel.
[easymedia-gallery med=”2234″ filter=”1″]Opportunistic Marketing
Two events coinciding with the launch of Colors Cafe have proven to be fortuitous. First, as part of the town of Guilford’s 375th anniversary, a Civil War re-enactment was held on the nearby Guilford Green. Colors Cafe was the official coffee vendor and we created a promotion focused on the role of coffee in The Civil War.
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Second was the FIFA World Cup. Colors Cafe have three large-screen video monitors; two situated in the Whitfield Room. We created a promotion for Team USA games where the Colors Cafe kitchen team would create custom menus for USA game days, as well as Frozen Yogurt discounting based upon Team USA’s performance. We communicated this promotion via low cost social media promotions targeting local fans of World Cup football. Reaction to the promotion has been significant.
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Sustain
After a month of awareness-producing advertising activity, our efforts shifted into a lower-cost sustain phase. Centered around small-space ads and social media posts which celebrate hero products (Lattes, Desserts, Smoothies), the sustain phase will maintain Colors Cafe’s growing awareness and positive predisposition among Shoreline residents.
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Results
Colors Cafe has launched “with a bang”. It’s one of the most talked-about cafe destinations in Guilford and during most lunch periods, to quote Greg Munroe, ‘we are slammed’. While it’s too early for any significant empirical analysis, it is noteworthy that in a month, Colors Cafe Facebook Likes have grown to near those of long-established local competitors such as Cilantro and Cafe G in Branford.
Testimonials
“We contacted Walden Pond Design for a logo, initially. What we got was a fully-integrated communications program that touched all aspects of our business in as creative and exciting a manner as we could have hoped for. Hiring Andrew and EJ was such a great move,” said Colors Cafe owner Greg Munroe.
“Andrew and EJ are that unique breed of communications professionals who never stop coming up with ideas. We’ve probably only executed 10% of the thoughts they brought to the table and we couldn’t be happier. Thanks to Walden Pond Design, Colors Cafe launched with the image and impact we needed to be a real player in this space,” said Colors Cafe owner Larry Lupone.
The Dangers of Losing Net Neutrality That Nobody’s Talking About
You might have heard the recent hubbub about and wondered what exactly is “net neutrality”. Here’s a very short overview and should allow you to handle yourself when the topic comes up during casual dinner conversation.
“net neutrality” – the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.
As a result of the recent ruling cable and phone companies like Verizon and AT&T can now legally block any website, webpage, blog, video from their network. Even as an extreme example they could block this post.
One action might hit closer to home. Perhaps you are one of the growing number of users that are scaling back on your expensive cable channels and saving money using Netflix, HULU and other streaming services. Comcast or Time Warner Cable can now block Netflix. Last month there was little Comcast could do, however, now they can slow down Netflix streams, or charge a premium to stream that content. Upset want to learn more ? Below is a link to an excellent article on recently published in Wired magazine.
Latest Launch – High End Custom Headphone Cable site
We were very excited to finally launch this site. The owner, James Serdechny a former Sennheiser Applications Engineer, musician and long-time audiophile designs custom headphone cables. After designing cables for audiophile recording studios started his own company to developed custom audiophile and high-end cables for headphone systems.
Site was developed in WordPress using Woocommerce for the shopping cart.
Over 100 different products with numerous variations were imported. It was easy to add special discount coupons as well as special shipping discounts.
Click here to view the site.