The latest project coming out of our studio is one for Author Robert King. Robert has tasked himself with the responsibility of creating a dialogue with poetry writers and scholars about how contemporary poetry has lost its way.  Through the thoughts and words of poetry great Jose Garcia Villa, Robert sets out to set the story straight. Whi ...

Each year MetroCreate partners with Boston area nonprofit organizations to help them gain exposure for their cause with free and affordable marketing services. 2012 has been a special year in that we have had the pleasure of partnering with not just one organization, but two.  The Vincita Institute is a Boston based financial advisement organ ...

This week the MetroCreate team launched another author micro website. I have had the extreme pleasure of working closely with Literary Agent Carolyn Jenks to offer her clients small website to start their online presence. ...

Congratulations to Compass Education located in West Roxbury Massachusetts for launching their completely re-established branding yesterday. MetroCreate worked closely with Compass Education founder and operator to not only rebuild her company website to be more professional and functional, but we also put together a new logo for the brand as well. ...

I am excited to announce that today MetroCreate launched a new website for Boston author Edward J. Santella! Congratulations Ed! From Ed's about page: "Ed Santella lives in the Boston, Massachusetts area with his wife, Karen, and two feline life forms. Ed and Karen have two adult sons, two daughters-in-law, and a grandson. He remains addicted, de ...

Know Yourself Your summary is the bread and butter of your profile. This is what shows off your background, skills, and interests. Most people stop there, but you shouldn’t! As you fill in your education, past and present jobs, and specialties, think about how you would like to be found. You are a thought leader and an expert in your industry. W ...

Over the course of the last decade there has been tremendous focus on why Facebook and Twitter are essential for your business to be part of. As I have posted in the past social media in general can no longer be ignored or taken lightly, your competition is using it, you should be too. LinkedIn has been gaining perhaps the most momentum in the busi ...

A couple days ago I wrote about WHY it’s worthwhile to add video to your marketing mix, you’re probably wondering the best way to go about getting a video produced and promoted. Here are seven simple steps: 1) Consider what you have to offer and how you can best deliver it ...

A growing number of B2C and B2B companies are looking for ways to incorporate video into their marketing strategies, and with good reason. As of May 2011, more than 48 hours (two days worth) of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute (see Figure 1). And viewers are consuming all that video in droves. In the same month, the site’s hundreds of mil ...

When and how often you should produce content After you have decided on a work flow that distributes tasks appropriately among team members, you should aim to create a content calender, with deadlines and tasks outlined for each project. ...

When thinking about promotional items in general it is important that you are not simply offering the freebies for the sake of offering freebies. For instance, as marketers we are charged with constantly thinking of new ways to bring positive attention to the brand we represent. When you are considering what to put your companies name and logo on a ...

Swag, Tchotchkes. Trinkets. Freebies. Whatever name you give them, promotional items have been a go-to tactic for marketers probably as long as trade shows and events even existed, with companies plastering their logos on everything from tote bags to rain ponchos to squeeze balls in hopes of boosting brand awareness and generating leads. In recent ...

I had the pleasure of sitting with Marco Goldring, Administrative Director of Spontaneous Celebrations, to discuss a partnership for MetroCreate's 2011 Free Website Program. "Spontaneous Celebrations refers to both a building in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, United States which acts as an arts and education center, and to a community group which is ...

I am very happy to announce that for the 2012 Free Website Program, the MetroCreate team have decided to not offer only 1 free website, but 2! The response to this years Program was so great resulting in a very hard time for us narrowing down the selections. In years past and most likely in the future, we typically only select one Free Website Proj ...

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 i ...

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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 ...

If you want more traffic to your website from Facebook, don't bury your address on your Info tab where visitors can’t find it. display your website address in several places to make it easier for someone to find it and click on it.The first place to showcase your website address is in the About field of the Info tab. The About field appears in the ...

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. ...

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 p ...

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-op ...

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 ...

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 ...

As you begin to optimize your Web site based on a comprehensive SEO strategy, clearly defined goals and a phased action plan, you will undoubtedly run into challenges. Integrating strategically sound copywriting with optimal layout, design and functionality can sometimes seem like the proverbial mixing of oil and water. Yet the results are clearly ...

While “organic” (unpaid) searches are usually the most cost-effective form of long-term Internet marketing, building dramatic results can take time, typically a matter of some months. By far the fastest way to start attracting traffic immediately is a Pay-Per-Click campaign. Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) services ar ...

One of the most important aspects of a successful SEO effort is the overall structure of your site itself. The search engines need to be able to crawl the site effectively; even minor errors in code or overly-difficult navigation can thwart the spiders and leave important pages excluded from the final results. And the design and internal mapping of ...

A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS: THE IMPORTANCE OF LINKS. In addition to evaluating and ranking keywords, search engines place varying degrees of importance on the links between Websites. The vast majority of web pages in most search engine databases have been found via other Web pages that the search engine has already indexed. The more active li ...

YOUR BEST PROSPECTS ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU! You’ve built a great Website. It’s strategically sound, professionally designed, and quickly meets the needs of various types of site visitors. Congratulations! Now what? A recent Forrester Research report estimates that 80% of overall Web site visits begin in a search engine or directory service. Why ...