SpeakShirt.com Features:

• Automatically updated Top 12 T-Shirt feed
• Automatically updated popular products from hundreds of other categories
• Directory of Zazzle Designers/Sellers that they can self-maintain including featured banners and product feeds
• Dynamic banners throughout the site for “featured” sellers

Under the hood:

• Joomla! CMS
• SEO Optimized
• SOBI2 Directory Component – custom implementation
• Zazzle Store Builder – custom implementation
• Custom product feed search field

These people generally fall in one of two camps.

1. They’ve heard of WordPress and think its just for blogging.  Their kid might use it.  Their friend might use it.  Their own company might use it, but just for the company blog (after they finally upgraded from blogger).
2. They have no idea what WordPress is, but it doesn’t sound like something a high-profile business might use.  There’s no MS in front of the name, and it sounds very uncomplicated… not something for the corporate environment.  Their own marketing and computer guy suggested some custom-programmed-whatchamacallit.

The response to both camps is the same.  Yes, WordPress is predominantly thought of as blogging software.  Yes, you can have a free or cheap personal WordPress website at WordPress.com.  Yes millions of people use it, mostly for personal journals and small-traffic sites.  But most businesses don’t use WordPress.  Smaller companies often deploy a static html site that makes updates a chore.  Larger businesses usually opt for some custom programmed alternative or industrial CMS that requires months and months (maybe years and years) of development time and requires someone with specialized training to alter and maintain.

But none of those things are negative.  That low barrier of entry and mass appeal is exactly what should make a business consider using WordPress for the backend.  And the fact that your competitors may be using something less capable, more complex (and more expensive) should also grab your attention.  If it takes them longer and costs them more, doesn’t that give YOU a competitive advantage, at least in regards to your online marketing?

The fact is that WordPress is a VERY CAPABLE platform.  While most of the typical WordPress blogging sites look the same, they don’t have to.  The power behind WordPress is both its simplicity and mass appeal.  With millions of people using it, and thousands of people developing for it, you have the benefit of the collective experience when troubleshooting problems or finding a way to implement new features.  There are off-the-shelf solutions for virtually every task in WordPress… off-the-shelf solutions that will reduce development time and costs.  And even if there isn’t a ready-made solution that works for you, the sheer number of WordPress developers means you can generally find someone to code your custom project that is both experienced and inexpensive.  Imagine that your “web guru” or “marekting guru” could spend their time customizing the look and functionality of something to fit your business and brand instead of spending weeks just getting it to work.

The other huge benefit to WordPress is something many web designers would never suggest and why many web development firms steer away from using it.  With millions of other WordPress users out there, if your current web developer leaves you behind, you have a large pool of competent people to choose from to take over the reigns.  No longer are you locked into one company for post-launch site management because the CMS they used is uncommon or even worse, proprietary.  No longer are you stuck with some guy who won’t call you back or has a bad attitude, because he is the only one who can make it work.  Yes, you should hire a professional with a designer’s eye, a teacher’s heart, a business man’s mind and the experience to put them all together… but you would never buy a car that only one person in your town could fix, so why would you pay for a website that only one company could maintain?

We strive to keep our customers for life… to not just be their “web team” but their “marketing consultant” and the “design firm”.  We want to develop your sites, maintain your sites, and tweak them along the way to make your website and your market share grow.  Using an “open” platform that so many other individuals use keeps us and our prices honest.  No, we don’t believe your high school nephew could (or should) develop your website, nor do we believe the firm down the street is just as capable as we are.  But knowing your site is accessible and adaptable both now and in the future should give you, the client, peace of mind.

WordPress isn’t the only platform we deploy, but for most sites it is what we recommend.  Contact us today and find out if WordPress can work for your business.

NOTE: We suggest downloading a running a local version of WordPress on your own server from WordPress.org.  WordPress.com sites are great for personal sites you need to get running fast but don’t offer the same customization potential or professional development that a localized version of WordPress offers.

In college I had a small little start-up company with a college friend. I distinctly remember getting into a heated disagreement with him over a simple fax cover sheet. For some reason our standard fax cover sheet was unavailable and he just wanted to handwrite the cover message and fax on a blank sheet of paper. “It’s just a fax,” he insisted. But it wasn’t just a fax. It was communications from our company. Consciously or not, we were sending a message about our company, our relationship with the fax recipient and our brand. And I didn’t want to send them the kind of message articulated by a handwritten fax on plain paper.

Did it matter? It mattered to me. Every opportunity you have in front of a potential customer or current client is an opportunity to send a message about your company and how you value that individual. Will you strengthen your brand or will you hurt it? Will you open up new opportunities or close existing doors?

Sales is no different. Everything your sales people do is marketing for your company and representing your brand. How do they generate new leads? How do they answer questions? How responsive are they to criticism? How do they react to being told no? How do they follow up after making the sale? Just like their punctuality and appearance sends a message, so does every interaction with the client. And that message directly relates to your brand.

Business people like to say that you’re business is either growing or dying. The same applies to your brand. And if the message sent doesn’t help your brand then it can only hurt it.

Some aspects of marketing only indirectly affect your sales, but everything you do, every action you make, be it sales, customer service, accounting, or fax cover sheets are marketing. They help paint a picture of your company, and that picture helps people make value judgments about you. What message does your sales team send? What picture is your marketing painting about you?

The Identity.

Irish and I talked quite a bit about her company and the detailed drawings she does for every client before embarking on a remodel or interior design project. We also talked about her love for Irish heritage and the intricacy and deep meaning behind Celtic imagery. After a few drafts of more modern logos we decided to go in a different direction and actually licensed a Celtic Tree of Life design from Canadian artist Cari Buziak to form the basis of Design Matters Studio’s logomark. We tweaked the original artwork a little to make it her own, but the original style and complexity is clear. We believe there is no better form to showcase the renewable nature of the custom cabinetry Irish Hafke designs as well as the psychological renewal one feels after spending time in a well appointed and well designed home. The tree of life also shows both the complexity and elegance that you will find in every project Irish Hafke is involved with.

The final identity includes an optional watermark of the logomark in reverse. It is designed to be shades of black as standard with the ability to take on the color of project at hand (i.e. the logo could mimic the palette of an interior design project or be a complimentary color to the finish of some cabinetry).

The Magazine Ad.

After completing the corporate identity package, the next step was a 1/3 page magazine ad to appear in the premier issue of Gulfshore Life At Home Magazine, a publication targeted to southwest Florida’s most affluent neighborhoods. The concept for the magazine ad was straight forward – showcase the attention to detail Design Matters Studio puts into every project while retaining simple elegance. The focus needs to be on the interior and required a design that could change the photography and color scheme while retaining the same recognizable style.

After providing a couple options, Design Matters Studio chose the ad featured here, which is included in the January 2010 premier issue of the magazine.

The Website.

In conjunction with the identity and magazine ad, we worked closely with Design Matters Studio to develop their website. The website needed to have the same elegance as an Irish Hafke project and contain a wealth of information for current and prospective clients. As every project is as unique as the customers she serves, it was imperative to put a large focus on the customer relationship by featuring testimonials and photography from a variety of projects. The site also needed to be modular and easily upgradable while working on a variety of platforms.

For this website we worked on a 960 grid system and developed a custom site to work on the Wordpress platform. In order to showcase the dual focus of Kitchen & Bath with Interior Design we utilized a cream fabric background (representing interiors) along with a dark wood highlight (representing kitchen and bath). The site went “live” on December 23, 2009, and we will continue working with Design Matters Studio on the addition of new content, gallery photos and website features.

Visit Design Matters Studio at http://designmattersstudio.com.

We don’t have a price list on this website nor can we provide a price to a customer without consultation. And I suggest any web design company that does is a company to run away from. All businesses are different and have different needs. So are their marketing efforts. Sure I could sell someone a package with default content, features and pages to reach a certain page count, but would that package meet their needs, represent their brand, or generate additional customers and revenue for their business?

Initial Consultation.

When a customer contacts us about developing a website, the first thing we do is sit down and talk.  We can do it over the phone or we can do it in person, but the purpose of the conversation is the same – we want to understand your business.  During this conversation we strive to understand the following:

• What do you expect to accomplish with your website?
• Who is your target demographic/market and how we can reach them?
• What bells and whistles do you want?  Which ones do you really need?
• Will you provide content or do you need a copywriter and/or photographer?
• What are your existing marketing efforts?  How can we develop a site to work in concert with your marketing plans?
• How hands on you plan on being after the site is complete?  Do you need someone to work with you in an ongoing basis to maintain your site, grow your content and enhance your site’s search engine placement and market penetration?
• If you are planning on updating your site yourself?  Will you really do so?

A good website is organic.  It is born out of the company’s need, works in conjunction with the company’s brand, and evolves based on the company’s growth.  This can not happen in a vacuum.  One size does not fit all.

Think about building a house.  Much of the time is spent planning long before construction ever begins.  How many rooms do you need?  What features do you want?  How big will it be?  Do you need a three car garage?  Should your bedroom window face the sunrise or the sunset?  Once you decide what you need, an architect draws up the plans, and often things are amended again.  And you still have to choose materials, finishes and even a building site.  The actual construction time is minimal so long as your plans are firm up front.  Most of the time that went into that home’s construction was the prior planning.  Planning that was necessary to make that house your home, one the fulfills all of your wants, needs and dreams.

What would happen if you built the house without all the prior planning?  Would you have multiple change orders throughout the process?  Could inspection or construction problems crop up along the way?  Construction jobs without proper planning often mean longer build times and budget overruns.  And when construction is finally complete, people are less pleased with the end result or the process.  And what if you didn’t interview your contractor upfront and he didn’t understand your needs?  Do you think the end result would be your dream home?

Just as one home doesn’t fit all, one website does not either.  This is your business online.  It is the first, and potentially last impression some prospective customers will ever see.  Will it represent you or your brand?  Will it sell your product or service?  Will it act as a 24hr salesman on your behalf or is it just there?

Contact Maxwell Sydney Design Group today.  Let’s talk about your website needs and develop a strategy to help you achieve your goals.

Be Detailed.

The fastest way to lose people from your e-mail list is to send a sales pitch. Most people don’t pay attention to commercials on tv, and they certainly don’t want to see them in their inbox. Instead of a hard selling advertisement, offer your readers information that they will find relevant and useful. Highlight new trends in your industry or how new products might improve their lives. You also might want to highlight staff achievements or testimonials from clients that your e-mail recipients will relate to.

Focus on the details. The details are what separate you from your competitors and help your customers trust your product. Don’t just say you have a high quality product or service, show them one aspect of your offerings in detail that makes the case for you. If you are a furniture manufacturer, show a photo of the intricate carvings on a table leg and explain the craftsmanship that goes into the product. If you are a real estate agent, show a photo of a staged home and explain how that extra effort can make the sale.

Be Concise.

Don’t lose your audience. Most people read e-mail on mobile devices like blackberries and iphones. And even if they read e-mails on their desktop, the e-mail preview may take up only a small portion of their monitor space. Time is precious and your reader is being pulled in multiple directions all day. If your e-mail is too long they may put it off for later, never to see it again. Remember, your first sell is not the product you are pitching but the e-mail you are enticing them to read.

Show a photo related to your content and a paragraph or two explaining the details. If you need to write more, link to your website for “the rest of the story”.

Some marketers will disagree with me, but I believe in a professional environment, your e-mail marketing should only have a few topics, especially if you send them out more than once a month. Save the lengthy copy for your website or product manuals. Think about how busy you are during the day and how much time you spend reading e-mail. Use that as your guide to determine how much content is appropriate for your audience.

Be Consistent.

Think about your day. When you get to work, do you follow through the same routine every morning? Do you check the same websites or newspapers in a pattern? People, especially Internet users, are habitual by nature and feel more comfortable with some structure and pattern. So pick a schedule for your e-mail marketing and stick to it. Whether its bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly, do so with the same frequency every time you send the message. And don’t just make the time between the message consistent, make the time of day and day of the week consistent as well.

Consistency isn’t just important with your publishing schedule, it is important with your style too. Keep your branding and e-mail template the same. Your e-mail template is your electronic letterhead. You wouldn’t send a customer a letter on letterhead one week, and on notebook paper the next. Time Magazine doesn’t change their logo and cover layout with every issue. Only the content and the photos change so the reader becomes familiar with the source and recognizes the brand.

Be Lawful.

The fine for violating The CAN-SPAM Act can be $16,000 per occurrence, so it is your responsibility to send compliant e-mails. The CAN-SPAM Act requirements are also good business practices, so you should follow them even if there wasn’t a hefty fine looming over head.

For most businesses, following The CAN-SPAM Act is simple.

• Include your company name and physical address
• Allow people to easily opt-out by clicking a link or replying to the message
• The only thing someone has to provide to opt-out is their e-mail address
• No fees, no surveys, no phone calls can be required before allowing a reader to opt-out

And if someone does call you and request to be removed from your list.  Do so promptly.

Call To Action.

Every e-mail needs a call to action. Most often this is a link to additional content or information, but it could also be a survey, a contest, a chance to forward the message or follow-up in person. No matter what the call to action is, you need it in order to track the effectiveness of your message.

Track The Results.

You can’t improve your marketing efforts or capitalize on success if you don’t know how your message is being received. Fortunately, tracking the results of your e-mail campaigns is simple with popular e-mail services such as iContact, Constant Contact or Mail Chimp.

Track open rates, opt-out rates, click-thru rates, forward rates, and if your e-mail has been reported as spam. Compare these results to previous e-mails to analyze your success. If many more people are clicking on links or forwarding to friends, then you have hit on a hot issue that might warrant additional focus on your website or blog. Conversely if few people are taking action from your e-mail or even opening the message, then you probably need to work on the message and the product you are trying to sell.

You also need to pay close attention to your bounce rates and know which e-mails were actually bounced. Use the bounce-list as an opportunity to personally contact customers who didn’t receive your e-mail and make sure their contact details are up to date. This is a good excuse to connect to someone you may not have spoken with in a while and get your company back to the forefront of their mind.

Take a look at other websites who also have print marketing components. Yes, their logos and color palettes may be the same, but do they really have the same style or feel? Do they really tell a cohesive message? Good websites look like websites… good print pieces look like print pieces… but rarely would a good website design look good in print or vice versa. You’ve seen the sites that have tried, usually they fail.

We wanted to be different. As a company that develops both print and web projects, it is imperative that all of our marketing collateral portray that dual focus. This is not an easy task online, but we believe our new website accomplished our goals.

The typography is crisp, the layout is clean, and the design would look as good on the printed page as it does on the screen.  We believe all marketing efforts should tell a consistent message and showcase a consistent brand, and we hope our new site will portray that message to our friends and our clients.

Need help with your website, print collateral or unified marketing campaign?  The team at Maxwell Sydney can help.  Contact us today and learn how we can invigorate your marketing efforts and increase your return on investment.

Maxwell Sydney Design Group has worked with CollegeWatchStore.com since before it opened. We developed a customized Joomla/VirtueMart e-commerce solution and even helped them set-up their web hosting and security system. We also created many of their banner ads and offered marketing advice that led to, among other things, the College Watch Blog.  Recently we redesigned their site to be more similar to the company’s other sites and expand upon their product catalog.

Customized E-Commerce Solution

CollegeWatchStore.com sells licensed collegiate watches exclusively online. With their online storefront being their only store, it was crucial that CollegeWatchStore.com was accessible, easy to navigate, and built upon rock-solid security standards. In order to meet CollegeWatchStore.com’s goals, we started with the latest version of Joomla CMS and modified a version of VirtueMart to meet their shopping cart needs. We also enabled 256-bit SSL security and enabled processing of American Express, Visa and Mastercard through a merchant services account and gateway. In order to reach a broader audience, we also integrated PayPal into the CollegeWatchStore.com storefront and customized some Joomla modules for customer service and order tracking.

Visit CollegeWatchStore.com

The rendering is part of our “ArchiPrints” series of historic and residential homes.  These hand-drawn vector images are scalable for use in a variety of forms from printed & framed artwork, business stationary, and electronic media.  ArchiPrints make great gifts for businesses, churches, homeowners, and family reunions.

Please contact Maxwell Sydney for purchasing details of your own ArchiPrints image.

Recently Maxwell Sydney Design Group had the privelage of designing one such custom invitation for the rehearsal dinner of a customer’s only son.  After looking at the options available online and in various specialty stores, the customer contacted Maxwell Sydney to produce something unique.  Our customer wanted formal china depicted in the invitation and a pink and brown color scheme, but nothing too “cutesy”.  A couple days after our consultation, Maxwell Sydney provided the customer with two design samples meeting their requirements.  Below is the one they selected (names and dates have been changed to protect customer privacy).

Maxwell Sydney provided the creative and full printing for this project in house.  We also sourced matching envelopes with a slight shimmer per the customer’s request.  Please contact Maxwell Sydney for your custom invitation needs.