For those of you not familiar with the Free Website Program you can learn more on this page. In brief the program was established in 2009 to offer marketing services to non profit organizations in the Metro Boston area. To date we have worked with Artspace Maynard, Cambridge Art Association, and Spontaneous Celebrations.

Spontaneous Celebrations is the 2011 recipient and we are in the final stages of launching that website. Look for their new site to be live this spring.

For 2012 we have recently received a number of great inquiries, and have today closed the request aspect of the process. Myself and team are currently reviewing 6 Boston area non profit organizations-all offering such amazing services to the city and state. We are geared to pick the 2012 recipient on Wednesday February 8th, and making final announcements on Thursday February 9th.

If you are a NPO interested in this program and would like to be considered for 2013 please contact me today.

Thank you to all that have expressed interest in the program!

Does your company have news that your industry would find interesting, useful, and important? Perhaps your company recently hired a new person, finished a big project, won a big account or is attending a trade-show; this is all press release content that if optimized correctly could be leading more to your website and generating excitement for your brand. 

If you are already writing and distributing press releases, how are you optimizing them to rise to the top of Google searches? Are you adding in key words, links, social media, and multi-media?

If you are not currently using the power of press releases to your advantage, perhaps you are not sure where to begin. Here are some great tips to get you started. Please note that MetroCreate Studios offers PR SEO as one of our services. If you are interested in a consultation or project quote please contact us today. 

Now. On to the good stuff:

Embarking on a website redesign project is never an easy undertaking – such projects can be cumbersome, intimidating, and expensive. Getting approval to start the project is the first hurdle, but once you do then comes the work of evaluating your project needs and establishing a strategy for execution. Regardless of whether you are outsourcing the project or handling it internally, for the average marketer or business owner knowing what needs to be taken into account for a successful website redesign is a foreign concept.

I've created this Website Redesign Checklist to help you focus your thoughts and formalize them into a clear framework. By answering the following questions you should be on your way to developing a comprehensive RFP or project-scope plan that has the potential to lead to a redesigned website that delivers on your organization’s core goals and objectives.

Please note that this blog post is pretty long. If you would prefer to discuss this via telephone with me, please feel free to contact me.

We are excited to announce the launching of our latest web project. Over Our Heads is a company founded by Lauren Briere, a Massachusetts native. The company is wonderfully unique in that Lauren paints and decorates the under side of umbrellas, for the user to find enjoyment from. 

The website features professional photography of Brian Furbush. In order to allow the photography to communicate the usefulness and beauty of the umbrellas, it was decided that going with a very large slideshow on the homepage is the best way to accomplish this. Big bold photos are found throughout the website.

Over Our Heads is now taking preorders for two of their popular designs, which you can learn more about here.

Be sure to catch Over Our Heads article in the February edition of Oprah Magazine. 

Live site: www.overourheads.net

When you are thinking about the frequency of your blogging, start doing the math backwards. If you need five new leads a month who you can follow up with, then how many new visits to your blog do you need?

Perhaps the most straight forward way to think about frequency in blogging is to think about how often you want people to pay attention to you. You need to do it a couple of times a week to once a day, etc.

Perhaps the largest challenge faced by those companies that have decided to start blogging is: where do I find content?

Finding topics to blog about is one of the most common challenges marketers face.

Its often recommended that you start by answering some of your customers’ most popular questions--reviewing industry trends, comparing prices of products or services in your industry, or conducting brief interviews with experts from your organization. These creative efforts seem time-consuming, don’t they?

That is why in this section, I cover a few easy ways to generate the right content for your blog, from repackaging existing resources to involving others in the process and finding guest bloggers.

First some stats: "Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors."

The facts speak for themselves. Marketing data clearly shows that blogging is a critical piece of the inbound marketing methodology and directly correlates to better business results.

But merely blogging won’t dramatically transform your marketing. Your blog has to be well-optimized and promoted, and most of all, rich with content. Frequency of blogging plays an important role in this equation, too. Companies that blog 20 or more times in a month see the biggest return in traffic and leads.

A contest can draw attention to your business and give you a list of people who want your product or service.

A recent Exact Target study showed that the number one reason people will ‘Like’ a Facebook Page is to be notified of special offers and promotions. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to run a contest on your Facebook Page.

A key strategy to driving traffic to your website will be the content that is available on your website. If visitors find nothing more than a sales message, you’ll have a hard time getting them to come back.

Think of the reasons you visit a site. usually, you are looking for tips or answer to a pressing question. If you can host that type of content, you can both refer people to it and have the search engines display your website prominently.