10 Characteristics of Great Blogs: Dos and Don'ts

Blogging can be a somewhat arduous endeavor; for one thing, you have to find good content to write about and pair it with good images. Also, you have to have a blog that has pleasing design, a good purpose, and connections.

To make things a little easier, here are 10 tips for making your blog even better. Or, if you are just getting started, here are 10 tips for getting off on the right foot. These tips are courtesy of our Los Angeles marketing company copywriting team.

1. Do make sure your blog platform is mobile responsive. Or, if your blog is hosted on your website, then make sure that your site is mobile responsive. With more and more smartphones and tablets being used these days, especially out of the home, more web searches and navigating is being done away from desktops & laptops. If you are not sure, then contact our Los Angeles web design team, they can help you figure out if your site is responsive, if not, what can be done about it. 
2. Do have a purpose for the blog. This purpose is not just so you have a place to write your thoughts but the content always needs to circle around a specific theme. A visitor to your blog should know what the subject matter/purpose of the blog should be apparent within a few seconds. 
3. Do watch spacing. Have some whitespace, don't pack everything in so tightly, like a can of sardines. Let the text, the images, and the reader breathe! 
4. Don't clutter. Sure, there is the sidebar for things like widgets and other links but avoid filling it so much that it becomes crowded and aesthetically displeasing. 
5. Do watch the header heights. Avoid making your headers so tall that it takes a couple scrolls for viewers to see your content. 
6. Do make sure your site has great navigation. If your blog is on your website, then your website needs to have good navigation. If it does not, then visitors to your site will find the site frustrating and that will lead to visitors leaving. You want your web visitors to stick around! This is important for good blogging, web design, and search engine optimization.
7. Don't have auto-play music or videos on the blog. As soon as the sound starts to play, the visitor will either get scared or annoyed; whichever is the result of the auto-play sound, the person will hit the mute button on their keyboard and your song or video will be rendered useless. 
8. Do have contact buttons or links on your blog. Make it easy to move over to your site and specifically, the contact page. It makes your blog much friendlier and engaging. 
9. Do be focused on your reader. Is your blog welcoming and helpful? Make it look and feel trusting. 
10. Don't use bad background or font colors. One poor choice of blogs is to have a light text on a dark background. Another mistake is to have too many colors with the fonts. 

Enjoy your blogging. Make it great! If your business needs helping getting a blog started or want someone to manage your blog, then email Integraphix about blogging services, SEO, or social media! 

13 of the Biggest Product Fails in History

Sometimes, even with the most creative marketing and business minds around a product, it just doesn't deliver. It's how business is. Not every product that is introduced to the market will be a winner.

Here are 13 of those examples. Researched by our Los Angeles marketing company development team.

1. Ford Edsel in 1957. This car is pretty much synonymous with "product failure" in the marketing world. Ford invested a whopping $400 million into the car, which is a lot of money now but consider that much in 1957! Americans didn't buy the car. It was removed from the market in 1960

2. Coca-Cola New Coke- 1985. In the early 1980s, Coca-Cola was losing its market share to its main competitor, Pepsi. So, to win back consumers, they wanted to release a game-changer, New Coke. It was supposed to be a similar taste to Pepsi, which is sweeter than Coke. What is morAfter a few short weeks, Coke went back to their original formula. This was when they introduced a new name for their flagship product: Coca-Cola Classic.
e surprising here is that taste tests showed the product would do well; however, once it hit store shelves for real, it flopped.

3. Pepsi AM- 1989. In the late 80s, Pepsi believed they could reach a new market, morning coffee drinkers. They released Pepsi A.M. to appeal to breakfast cola drinkers with this breakfast variety of cola. The product was pulled from shelves after only one year.
          3b. Crystal Pepsi. In 1992, Pepsi tried to intrigue the clear soda consumers with their Crystal Pepsi option. It lasted a year and was pulled in 1993. We could get into Pepsi Blue but we'll hold off on that for now.

4. Coors Rocky Mountain Spring Water- 1990. Sometimes brands can have product extensions that work, while other brand extensions just don't work out. For example, this one. In 1990, consumers were not ready for a popular beer maker to make water.

5. Apple Newton- 1993. This is a great example of when Apple was in its "forgettable" days and not the world's most valuable brand. This device flopped because it was too expensive ($700), was tall and thick (the world wasn't ready for tablets) at 8x4.5 inches, and its handwriting recognition was horrendous. See this joke from The Simpsons.

6. Orbitz Soda -- 1997. The cool thing about Orbitz Soda was that it looked like little lava lamps, which appealed to kids. However, it tasted like cough syrup and the "lava" bits were awkward to have in your mouth with a liquid. It was pulled from shelves a year after debuting.

7. Cosmopolitan Yogurt -- 1999. The famous women's magazine, Cosmo, decided to make a yogurt back in 1999. The problem was that consumers were already satisfied with their yogurt selection in stores and the product connection wasn't logical, consumers couldn't figure out why they should buy the yogurt simply because they liked the magazine.

8. Mobile ESPN - 2006. Back in 2006, ESPN thought they had a great idea, offer a phone that would feature exclusive ESPN content via Verizon. The fail was so bad that it is considered one of the largest fails in mobile history. The only device equipped at product and service launch was a Sanyo flip phone that cost $400. ESPN shut down the service and moved on.

9. HD DVDs -- 2006. The race was on in the 2000s between the HD DVD, led by Toshiba, and the Blu-ray, led by Sony. Blu-ray won the race and it was mostly due to Warner Bros. it would no long support the HD DVD, in favor of Blu-ray.

10. JooJoo- 2009. During the emerging days of the iPad, which cost $499, another tablet computer was coming onto the scene, the JooJoo (also known as CrunchPad), which also cost $499. It emerged in 1009 and was gone by 2010.

11. Qwikster- 2011. When Netflix decided to split streaming and DVD services into two services, it spun off Qwikster as a DVD rental business. Consumers hated this decision. Netflix quickly retracted this decision.

12. Facebook Homescreen - 2013. Facebook tried to do one of the biggest mobile moves of all time with their "Facebook Home" service, which resulted in turning your phone's home screen into a Facebook feed. It flopped. For one thing, it was "too much" Facebook for users and it cost $99 for 2-year plans. It used up a lot of data and battery, too. It was quickly pulled.

13. The Nook- 2009. Barnes & Noble wanted to enter the e-reader market, which made sense since they were known for books! But they soon saw badly suffering sales, spun Nook off into its own company, and looked the other way.

Did you have a fun trip down memory lane? We sure did. Is your business looking to launch a new service or product? Then email Integraphix, a Los Angeles marketing agency, to help you make sure it is not a flop like these products. 

Throwback Thursday: Urban Outfitters' Blood Splattered Kent State Shirt

In honor of #ThrowbackThursday, our Los Angeles marketing firm went down memory lane; we didn't go too far, just back a few months.

Back in September of this year (2014), the internet witnessed Urban Outfitters put a shirt for sale that may or may both have been trying to capitalize on the Kent State shooting that happened May 4, 1970.

Urban Outfitters evoked the emotion still tied to that tragedy with the bizarre sweatshirt, displaying the school's name on the front and covered with what appear to be blood splatter marks.

The item was first discovered by +BuzzFeed soon after the retailer put the faux-vintage sweatshirt up for sale on their site; they claimed to only have one for sale and that consumers should "get it or regret it!" Then they slapped a jaw-dropping $130 price tag.

The sale of the sweatshirt sparked intents backlash against the retailer on social media; this was not the first time the retailer has been caught possibly being insensitive towards a controversial/sensitive event or group of people. Urban has been caught with Navajo-Indian (coming in white charcoal, Obama/black) inspired clothing and shirts that seemingly glorified terrorism, and a t-shirt that is reminiscent of the shirts Jews had to wear during WW2/Nazi Germany.

It is possible that the shirt was an elaborate PR stunt, regardless, it was one bad marketing mistake.

Sometimes, a creative team does not realize a mistake is a mistake until after it is made; however, a great marketing firm can spot a mistake before the launch. If you want a creative agency that knows a bad idea before it is published, then hire Integraphix -- a Los Angeles creative agency.

Star Wars' Holiday Special: A Marketing Goof

Inspired by the #ThrowbackThursday theme, or #TBT for short, we looked back at some of the worst marketing ideas that we have witnessed. It was November 17,1978, the world was hot off the recent release and blockbuster Star Wars movie.

George Lucas was looking to create another hit in between his previous movie and the next release, scheduled to hit theaters in 1980 (The Empire Strikes Back). George decided that a holiday special would keep his fans happy and tide them over.

The result was one of the most embarrassing things to air on TV and made 13 million CBS viewers its victims. Yes, you may be wondering, "What about Jar Jar Binks?" And the answer is, yes, it was more embarrassing than Jar Jar Binks. Why was it so bad
? You tell us; would you want to watch a move about Chewbacca needing to get home to his family on the planet Kashyyyk so he could celebrate Life Day with them in their treehouse home.

A couple days before the movie aired on TV, they had the promo that said, "Will Chewbacca get home to his planet in time for the big Wookiee celebration?" *face palm*

As a professional copywriter for a Los Angeles creative agency, I cringed when I read that line from the promo… I cringed when I heard about the idea for the TV movie. I cringed when I realized a marketing guy at CBS gave this the green light.

Well, you have to have bad marketing to appreciate great marketing, right?

Has you company had bad marketing in the past that rivals the Star Wars Holiday Special and wants to change that? Then hire Integraphix to see what good marketing can do for your business!

A Brief History of Digital Advertising

With sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, AdSense, etc. ruling the digital ad world, there has been a lot going on over time. Here is a brief history of digital advertising.

Does your brand want to expand its reach? Then you need advertising and internet marketing work! Talk with Integraphix, a Los Angeles marketing agency with over 20 years of digital marketing and advertising experience. 

3 Marketing Lessons to Learn From Horror Movies

The season of costumes, candy, corn mazes, haunted houses, and other things that scare us in the night is upon us. Due to this, our Los Angeles marketing agency thought it'd be fun to think of marketing lessons

from horror movies.

Horror movies go up in popularity this time of year; however, there is more to learn about horror movies other than we make poor decisions when a knife-weilding murderer is chasing us. We can learn about marketing.

So what can we learn? 

1. Begin with a plan. Better yet, plan before you begin. Every good killer in a horror movie comes to the starting gate with a plan; the good ones have a plan that is different than the other killers in the world. In the movie Scream, the killer (actually two of them) go in with their plan that they will call their victims to scare them into submission before entering the house to finish the job. As for going in with a plan that is completely different than his competition, look at Freddy Krueger; his plan was to get teens when they fall asleep. As a LA marketing firm, we can tell you that the ability to plan, and be unique, is going to be huge for you and your chances of being successful. 
2. Don't get yourself stuck in a corner. In every horror movie, we see one of the victims get stuck somewhere with no exit because they ran without thinking. Their panicked state of mind has blinded them and they are now stuck in a trap. Sometimes, we do the same thing with our marketing efforts, we act before thinking; we chose to hide in the closet instead of actually running out of the building that the killer has cleverly booby-trapped. 
3. Don't be afraid to adapt and edit. If you have ever seen the movies I Know What You Did Last Summer then you know all the different ways that guy gets his victims. The man in this movie is not afraid to switch things up to get the job done. The worst way to attempt success is to not be willing to switch things up and adapt to what the landscape demands. 

Now, keep in mind we are not advocating being a murderer but in these movies, these guys have some lessons to teach us about marketing. If you need assistance help with your marketing, then contact Integraphix! 

How To Create A Facebook Post Worth Engaging

Just about every company has a company Facebook page. This means that there are millions and millions of corporate Facebook posts made every day. It can get quite overwhelming when you see 20 companies post something within 10 minutes of each other and all you went on Facebook for was to see who liked your photo.

The worst part about corporate Facebook posts is that they often lack something that encourages consumers to engage. Companies like to think that people engage with corporate social media the right way takes a lot of effort and creativity.
a post simply because it's from that company. Let me tell you, even my most favorite brands don't encourage my engagement unless it's a cool post. Doing

Part of the reason companies sometimes put out less than stellar posts is because of time; creating a creative, engage-worthy post can be difficult when you have only five minutes. So what can you do?

1. Use an idea that has been proven to be successful
We're not saying to rip off someone else's post and use it for yourself, no, that is plagiarism and just
lame. Don't do it. Rather, a famous quote that is relevant to your business that your consumers will like is a great idea (you can use other ideas too). Then, put your own spin on it. Put on your own colors, theme, fonts, etc. Make sure the branding is consistent too.
2. Create a graphic to go along with it
Every post you put on social media should have some sort of graphic or photo to go along with it. Studies show that people are much, much more likely to engage with a post when it has an image or graphic rather than just words. When your content has an appealing graphic or image, you'll get 94 percent more views than without that image or graphic. As a Los Angeles marketing company, we use Canva all the time (we were not compensated for our endorsement, we genuinely like the site, check it out).

Always make sure you have permission to use a photo or graphic- either buy it or create it. If you simply pull an image off the internet and use it, you can wake up to a nice letter from an attorney with a fine. (The fines can be THOUSANDS of dollars). Buy some stock photos, subscribe to iStock, create in Canva, etc.

3. Create a superb headline & summary
Creating a headline that generates interest can be hard, even for those of us in a creative marketing firm. When you read newspapers, the headlines are what draw you in to read the article; that same principle applies here. Once you do that and apply it to the graphic, write a summary of what is being talked about.

4. Give people a reason to engage- call to action
You want people to do something about your post. Ask a question to generate interactions or encourage people to read further, perhaps visit your site, etc.

5. Hashtags are your friend
Using hashtags increases interactions. When you use 1-2 hashtags, posts average just under 600 interactions, 3-5 equals about 400 interactions, etc. The more hashtags you use, the fewer interactions because then people just get annoyed and ignore it. Hashtags connect your post to topics of various discussions and searches. You can use them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, even Google+. 

6. Post when people will see it. Each social network site has peak times for businesses. Facebook, your best bet is between 1 and 4 PM during the week, especially Wednesday. Twitter: 1 and 3 PM weekdays, especially Monday & Thursday. LinkedIn: 7-9 AM, 5-6 PM weekdays, especially Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. Google+: 9-11 AM weekdays. Pinterest: 2-4 PM and 8 PM- 1 AM. The afternoon is best for weekdays while night to morning is best on weekends, Saturday morning is prime.

Do Copyright Laws Matter for Marketing?

When it comes to marketing, one has to be extremely creative and efficient. A lot of the time, a marketer or marketing team is able to create an idea that is truly original; however, sometimes a creation is inspired by an idea that is already done.

Is that copyright infringement? No. As long as you abide by the copyright laws. When you create a work and copyright it, that work is yours and no one is allowed to reproduce it without your permission.

You can get around copyright by changing the words, design, work, etc. enough so that it does not reflect the original work and does actually become your own; however, if you let your work show its true source, such as purely copying it, then you will get hit by a lawsu
it or fine for the infringement.

Why does it matter? For one thing, it is a matter of ethics/not being a jerk and also showing that you can be creative without stealing. Although, on a more legal level, it matters because otherwise you will face serious penalties if you get caught… when you get caught.

Using an image, music, art, graphics, literary works, dramatic works, movies, etc. without expressed permission from the creator and copyright holder are ways that people get caught for copyright infringement.

It can be hard, however, as a Los Angeles marketing firm, we know that you can definitely be successful in marketing and creativity without breaking the law. Be smart and be safe when creating work, my friends!

If you have any questions about the issue, then contact Integraphix. 

Marketing to Millennials According to Millennials

Any smart marketer knows how to identify the ways to their target market and how to appeal to them. However, many "smart" marketers claim that Millennials are too hard to market to, or, they claim that Millennials are something they are not. Sure, Millennials love to take photos with their smartphones, use the internet, and other electronics. However, that is not hard to market to.

As a marketer and a millennial, I always find it interesting when companies fail to identify the needs of the generation. There are 86 million people in the Millennial generation and they all have money to spend, especially as some are now in the working force and have salaries (of course, some are paycheck to paycheck too).

One of the best ways to reach into the minds of a Millennial is to do social media marketing as well as other forms of internet marketing. Of course, we still respond to plenty of traditional marketing, like ads on TV or along the streets. Companies who ignore this generation are missing out on a huge segment of the consumer world. There are some tips for fellow marketers who may not be graced with the awesomeness of being a Millennial as well.

1. Remember, we're a smart bunch. Yes, we do tend to engage more with the world from behind a screen but that doesn't mean we are misinformed. Due to our love for the internet, we are a well researched group and love absorbing news about everything. We see something we like, we research it and post about it, gaining more knowledge from peers. The point? Make sure information is accessible. Have a marketing tool, like an ad, with something quick and easy to understand and then put more information on the web and/or social media. Marketing to Millennials has to show why the product is necessary and will make life better, even when a life is full of everything it might need. 
2. Keep buying online easy. We do a lot of our shopping online, especially tech, clothes, and media. As long as the purchase process for online is easy, then you will get the sale. Customer service and shipping will be a great touch. 
3. Be conversational, social, and human. We don't care if your company has something go mass viral on the internet, we would rather interact with a company that is human and engages with its consumers. The generation enjoys conversing that is one of the biggest things Millennials do with brands, talk/engage. The more that it's done, the more brand loyalty is established, which turns into steady sales. A viral video is not a bad thing with Millennials but if it does not generate conversation, then it will fall flat when it hits this generation. 

Tailoring marketing and branding efforts to Millennials is something that many companies are doing and it is paying off. As a Los Angeles marketing agency, these are things we believe in.

QR Codes, Where Are They Now?

QR codes were once the coolest thing you could see on a poster; people would get excited to see a QR code and think, "Awesome, I get to use the cool app I downloaded for this!" (Or something like that). They once served a purpose, however, the problem was that the "purpose" they served was not uniform for all industries and those who had the most control over the success or failure of the QR code, retailers, did not make sure they were effective. Why did retailers have the most control? Well, they are some of the most dominating marketing forces in the world, they're everywhere, and they have the most merchandise.

However, the usage of the QR code by retailers was not one that consumers enjoyed very much and it has cost the QR code its power and its life. Retailers were lazy in their usage of the technology; what most of them did was use the codes to direct people to their website or something equally unexciting. The codes just became another vessel for information we already knew about and could get to, they weren't doing anything fun and new. They also did something that turned out to be fatal for the QR codes by putting them just about everywhere; you couldn't walk through a store without seeing at least a dozen of the codes for the same thing, even in the dressing rooms of clothing stores!

It got to the point where consumers were ignoring the codes because they knew it would not lead them to anything worthwhile and so why bother scanning it?

Now, QR code slamming aside, they do have a purpose and can still succeed; they won't disappear completely but they have been reduced. Look for the codes to connect you to things like product descriptions, ordering products, and linking you to more things; for example, some stores are using QR codes to link you to more products that are kept in back so they can keep fewer things on the sales floor (it's a spacial issue, not laziness). Some clothing stores have started using the codes as a way to try on clothes; you scan the code for a clothing item you'd like to try on and then make your way to the dressing room and find that item in a dressing room, ready for you.

If you have any questions about marketing or advertising, then contact Integraphix - a Los Angeles marketing firm. 

5 Social Media Marketing Tips

Social media is a blessing and a half. It makes it easier to connect and stay in contact with your friends and family; it also makes it easier for companies to do marketing and public relations. Social media marketing makes it so you can do marketing on the go and in real time. Now, despite social media being an easy tool to use, there are certain tips one should know to really try and get the most out of their social media efforts.

1. Post in open windows. This is not literal, there are no windows. What I mean by this is that you should look for those times throughout the day when your social media posts will be seen the most, especially by your target market. For example, say your target market is the American businessman/business woman. For this group, your ideal time to post to social media and have them see it is between 9-5, Mon-Fri. If you want to break that down even further, then shoot for typical lunch hours and five minutes before to after the hour, for example 1:55-2:05; why that window? Meetings are scheduled on the hour or every half hour, say, 1 PM. If a meeting is at 1 PM, then it will get out around 2 PM; you want to catch people checking their social media on the way to the meeting (so just before the hour) and people heading back to their offices (so just after the hour). 
2. Pick and choose your social media. There are a lot of social media platforms out there, it can be tempting to simply pick them all! However, your target market may not use a certain social media platform. Granted, social media is becoming attractive to people of just about any age but there are still limits. For example, if your target market is grandparents (ages 60+) then there is a good chance that using Twitter or Instagram will not prove fruitful; using Facebook would be your best bet. If your target market is middle-aged men, then Pinterest would most likely not be a good platform to use. 
3. Utilize Twitter's Advanced Search. When using twitter, you have a neat little tool to help you discover people talking about things that might matter to you. For example, say you're a dentist in the Chicago area and you want to find people in that area talking about dentistry. Log into your twitter account, go into Advanced Search, and type in the necessary information. 
4. Give things away. It seems scary to think of giving something away for free, such as a product or service. People seem to think that if you give something away, then people will take it and run and never ever come back to purchase your product or service. This is a legit fear but it is not true. Think about it, giving things away for free encourages people to actually try your company since there is no commitment on their side; if the product or service is worth it, they will want to go back to your company for more! Social media is a great place to notify people of your deals and promotions! 
5. Social media is a publicity engine. If your company is on social media, then you can use it to let people know who you are and what you can offer them. The content you post on social media functions as marketing. You want your content to direct traffic to your site that will create more clients or customers. You can use your social media to put messages out there that are creative and attention-grabbing and that people can share to those who may have never heard of your company. 

Social media is a fun venture for any company to be part of. Don't be afraid of it, embrace it instead. If you have questions about social media or are looking for a social media marketing firm to handle your company's social media, then contact Integraphix - a Los Angeles creative marketing agency. 

Small Business Marketing TIps

Do you own a small business? If you do, then marketing is more important to you than ever, even if your business is not marketing related. When you have a small company, marketing has to be tip top shape to make an impact since all the large, fortune 500 companies have the ability to make a splash with their marketing even when they do next to nothing.

What can your small business do to improve its marketing? Well, there are a few things.

1. Social media. Doing social media marketing is a much bigger deal than you think. Social media enables your company to engage with consumers in a way that is immediate and personal. When you do social media, you can update your consumers with up to the minute news and promos; it is a great way to facilitate promotions and things of the like. When your consumers know that you know they exist and that you appreciate them, their brand loyalty is likely to increase. This aspect of your marketing brings a human side to your company as well. People like to see that companies have emotions, brains, and are not robotic. As a social media marketing company, we have seen the impact just a few social media accounts can have. 
2. Search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is a great way to promote your business. Why? Well, because it gets your website noticed by search engines which means the likelihood of getting your link to your website placed on the first page of search results is much better. Why does that matter? It matters because the majority of people do not go past the first page of search results when looking for a link to answer their question. 
3. Have a website. Having a website is not only encouraged in business but it is a necessity! Businesses in the 21st century cannot survive without a website, well, it's at least VERY difficult to survive without one. Hiring a web design company will greatly increase your chances of creating a magnificent website that will be optimized for SEO and be pleasant to use. 
4. Create a branding strategy. Branding is perhaps the foundation to your marketing strategy. If you do not have a branding strategy set in place, then your marketing will be scattered; nothing will flow with anything else and there will be no concentration for your marketing efforts. What do you want to focus on with your marketing? What do you want people to think of when they see your business or logo? These are some of the questions you will consider when planning your branding. 

Smart marketing is important for the success of any business but it is even more so for a small company since there is often little wiggle room in the money side of things. If you need any of these services, consider hiring Integraphix - a Los Angeles marketing company . 

DYK The Top 6 Marketing Trends for 2013?

In 2013, we saw a lot of progress made in the marketing world and there were a few things that really peaked the interest  of marketers. Some of the moves made in marketing this year have been really good and some were questionable. In this blog, we will look at the top 6 marketing moves made in 2013 and perhaps why they were good moves, according to this Los Angeles Creative Marketing firm.

1. The first major trend in 2013 was *drum roll* SOCIAL MEDIA. What, that was not a surprise? No, of course it was not a surprise that social media made a huge dent in the marketing world. But does it make it any less of an important and awesome trend? Well of course not. Social media marketing has forced its way into the hearts of everyone, everywhere but especially for companies that love their marketing. Social media has enabled so much more engagement and quick updates with consumers than was ever capable before social media. Before social media made its impact, marketing was much more one-way; companies would talk to the consumers but the consumers could not talk back to the companies. Now, with things like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, the conversation between company and consumer is, well, a conversation. Both sides of the equation have voices to be heard and can be heard. 
2. The second major trend for marketing in 2013 was *drum roll* MOBILITY. How many apps are there in the App Store or Google Play store? Thousands? Millions? Bottom line is that there are a lot of apps out there for you to view on your smartphone and/or tablet. The web and information is no longer confined to that computation machine you have stored in your basement but is accessible anywhere! If you want to update your status, just pull out your smartphone and type it up; we no longer have to wait to see that you are eating Chinese food, we can see it as it happens. WOOT WOOT. Outside of apps, companies have gone ahead and made mobile websites; sites that are like their traditional site but more mobile-friendly so you can easily navigate the site on such small screen. This has greatly impacted the internet marketing world. 
3. A third major trend in marketing this year was *drum roll* REAL TIME BUYING. This year, we saw the emergence of real time buying. What is this? Real time buying is the mixture of location services, social media, and mobility. What this means is that when you are nearing a store while walking downtown, if you have your location services turned on for a store's app, it will know you are near one of the store's locations and then pop up with some sort of buying incentive, like a coupon. WHOA, cool huh? 
4. A fourth trend in marketing for 2013 was the QR code, sorry, no drum roll. QR codes have been around for a year or two but they did not truly catch on until this year. They seem to have been slow to catch the eye of marketers and companies; perhaps because smartphones were still getting popular and not enough people could use QR codes yet. What is great about QR codes is that they are able to link a website or something else to the code and not have to take up much space. A lot of companies use these on things like mailers or small signs so they can just put the title of whatever they are promoting and then have the QR code with the rest of the information. 
5. A fifth trend for 2013 was GOING GREEN. As more and more people are becoming aware of the problems with weather patterns, the O-zone, etc. they are demanding that companies respect nature and become more eco-friendly. 
6. A sixth trend for 2013 was MEASURING METRICS. This year, a lot of companies hopped on the train of being able to know every click, every movement of consumers both on the web and off. Many companies realized that the ability to know all the little things can help marketing efforts because marketing reports are much more detailed and thus, allow for better forecasting. 

Marketing is an ever changing business and it is very, very exciting. The trends Integraphix saw happen this year got us excited for the future of marketing. Hopefully learning about these trends excites you too and gave you knowledge. 

Three Ways to Take Advantage of Twitter for Business

Los Angeles Graphic Design

How can the brand develop relationships with customers?

• @ Replies – any twitter update that begins with a username. The update will appear in that person’s @ replies tab. 
• Mentions - @ replies have merged into Mentions. If your brand appears in a tweet, you’ll find it along Twitter’s sidebar. 
• Following – following allows the brand to subscribe to the tweets of its customers so they’ll appear in your company timeline. 
• Direct Messages (DM) – a DM is a private message, much like a tweet, that has a limit of 140 characters. 

How does the feature amplify the brand’s value proposition?

• Tweet – a tweet is a 140 character update that answers this question: how can I make my customer’s life easier/better? 
• Retweet – a feature that allows you to re-share what someone else has already tweeted. The RT convention is a symbol of attribution. 
• Shortened URLs – since tweets are limited to 140 characters, shortened urls let brands direct followers to their content. 
• Permalinks – the unique url of each and every tweet. These can be mailed, im – or even retweeted. 
• SMS – customers can choose to get your tweets via their phone by text message. 

How do brands find and aggregate conversations using the service?

• Trending – popular conversations on twitter 
• Hashtags (#) – used to aggregate tweets around topics. Tweets can be sorted and organized via hashtag as well. 
• Search – method of retrieving indexed tweets via twitter’s search tool. 
• Favorites – the ability to mark or save a favorite tweet. 
• Persistent RSS Feeds – the RSS feed for a twitter search can be used with a feed reader like Google Reader. 
• Favorites RSS – the RSS feed, like as above, for your favorite tweets. - http://www.twitter.com/favorites/[insert_your_id].rss

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Los Angeles SEO: Top 5 Google SEO Ranking Factors

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It's fairly comment to find clients who've worked with SEO firms in the past that really didn't understand all the factors that go into determining where a website ranks in the SERPs. Some people think it's merely a matter of stuffing your title tags and meta data full of random keywords and sitting back. 

A hint: Most of SEO is in the background and you'll never see it unless you look at the source code of a website.

By reading industry blogs, practicing Los Angeles SEO and Internet Marketing since the mid-2000's, we've gathered a massing of data about SEO techniques and have shortened a 5 inch binder full of information down to the top 5 most important Google SEO in LA ranking factors you should be implementing on all of your websites.

Age of Domain

This sometimes can't be helped, especially if you just started a business, but domain age is incredibly important to the search engines. It means you're established, and by association are more trust-worthy. If you have the cash, you can purchase a domain name that's been around a while (for a few grand). Otherwise...you've got a long road ahead of you.

Content, Content, Content.

Content is king, content is king! Hail to the king of Los Angeles California SEO. If you've got a beautiful website about Shoes, and all your content is about the great sweater you've got for sale, you can say goodbye to rankings for Shoes forever. The jist of the matter is this: write great, unique content using targeted keywords spread out naturally in your paragraphs. Never ever write solely for a search engine spider. It's a great way to lose customers and get black-listed at the same time.

Hidden Tags, Images and Internal Linking

Ok yes, this is three in one, but they're all important! A lot of SEO is unseen or brushed off by the human eye, but spider-bots read them all the time. Hidden tags include Title Tags, H1-H6, Alts, no-index, no-follow, etc. The most important of these are the Title Tags, H1 tags and Alt tags. They tell the spiders and therefore the search engines, what your website is about. Images? Important? Yes! Make very sure, when you upload an image to your website, that you include your keywords in the image name. Don't ever leave it the 'istock number' or the 'straight from the camera' name or even worse... header.jpg. As for Internal Linking, not only does linking internally show your visitors where to go, it tells the spiders where to go as well. Keep the clickable images to a minimum and make sure you incorporate the LEAST amount of flash as possible.

Keywords!!!

Keywords make the world go round. Without keywords, having an optimized website is worthless. Make sure you're doing your research and giving each specific page it's designated keyword based on the content and topic of each page. Example: If your page is about web design, don't talk about graphic design. Don't name your images graphic design related. 

Inbound & Outbound Links

Inbound links are better known as backlinks. Think of them like votes for your website. The key to building great inbound backlinks is to not BUY them. Develop them naturally and more links will follow! Outbound links are links from your website to others. If they're not relevant, don't bother.

For more information on Southern California SEO, Los Angeles Marketing, California Web Design and California Graphic Design, call us for a FREE skype consultation at 213.545.6697.

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Los Angeles Creative Marketing: Rules for Typography

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As a Los Angeles Graphic Design Firm, we deal with all aspects of graphic and web design; everything from ease of usability to SEO website design to visual hierarchy. One subject that our team of design professionals is especially skilled at is typography; something that can often be misused in everyday advertisements. Not sure what typography is? Watch this short video introduction by the Vancouver Film School:

As you can see several elements are utilized in the creation and use of typography: kearning, leading, serifs, san-serifs etc. (A good way to remember the difference between serif and san-serif is to know that “sans” means without.) To expand your typographic knowledge here are few rules to live by when you sit down to design:

Don’t leave widows and orphans bereft on a page
Widow: When a paragraph leaves fewer than seven characters on the last line.
Orphan: When the last line of a paragraph won’t fit at the bottom of a column and must end itself at the top of the next column.

-These elements are not only visually unappealing, it also makes it more difficult in the readers’ mind to process. Like
this.

Make only one space between sentences
Use only one space after periods, colons, exclamation points, question marks etc. Forget what they taught you about double spacing in school.

Dashes
Don’t substitute a hyphen for a dash. Hyphens are fine for word continuation (which should be avoided if possible as well), dashes should denote a break in the sentence – just like that.
Hypen: -

Dash: –

Avoid Underlining
Use italics instead of underlining, it appears more professional for noting the names books, movies, magazines and newspapers. It’s also best to italicize the space before an italicized word.

Kerning
Adjust the spacing between letters according to your visual perception– optical kerning.
A great trick for perfect kerning: turn the letters upside down so that your brain is not distracted by your ability to read the word. By turning the letters upside down you will be able to identify the negative space between each letter to make sure it is perfectly kerned.

Tabs and Indents
Use tabs and first-line indents properly. The space bar should never be used to align text.

Paragraph Distinction
If you chose to indent the first line of a paragraph don’t add a space between paragraphs too. It needs to be one or the other.

Leading
Keep your linespacing consistent. It’s best to tighten up the leading for text that has all caps or few ascenders and descenders.

Serif & Sans Serif
Serif type is more readable for body text while sans–serif type is more legible and is best used for headlines.

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Los Angeles SEO: Google Image Search Enhanced

Los Angeles Creative Marketing & Los Angeles SEO

Recently, Google launched a new search feature called 'Search by Image'. While experimenting with the feature, we defines 3 places where Google's search by image has a real advantage over traditional ways to find link building opportunities.

What is Search by Image? You can use images (either the url or uploaded) as your search term! The goal of Search by Image is to point you at websites that are related to that image. You can find more at the Google Blog.

Get Background on Industry Influencers

As we've often discussed, pinpointing the mass internet user's interests using them to creative connections, is an amazing way to get in influential people and businesses radar. If you do this correctly, using Twitter, Facebook or Los Angeles SEO Marketing Agency, this can produce exposure and links to your website.

Not surprisingly, the most successful SEO consultants, are also the best at personal online branding. We've written a post or two about making your brand more consistent online and offline. Being very consistent in your use of logos in blogging websites, social media and in your marketing materials is extremely important.

When testing the new Google features using a our logo, I found an enormous amount of image results attached to comments and similar images (Dontcha love how BMW pops in there?).

Los Angeles Google Search SEO

This also gave us a view of all the blogs we've commented on in the past few months. If used on a competitor, it could give you a distinct advantage because you can filter results by simply using their logo. 

Identifying Link Building Opportunities

Search for Popular Guest Posters! In the SEO community, Ann Smarty is THE person that is most synonymous with guest posting on blogs. Not simply because her over her website, myblogguest.com, but because she's a prolific guest poster in her own right. Regardless of this, she's very good at maintaining her personal brand. So using Google Search by Image, you can search her profile image to look for guest posting opportunities, and link building opportunities on top of that.

Find Coverage That Didn't Result in a Link

Another great technique to find PR opportunities is to mine for stock CEO photos and participation that didn't result in a link for that company. Search branded logos and photos to find great pages where companies and employees are getting spotlighted.

Try it with any Fortune 500 Company and you'll find significant RP presence that can result in you getting a backlink.

Another way you can use Search By Image is to mine for press coverage and participation in offline activities that didn't result in a link. Searching by brand logos and "stock" CEO photos are a great way to find pages where a company or employee is getting highlighted.

For more information on Google Image Search, contact us at 847.537.0067 or visit us online at the following:

- Los Angeles Marketing Agency

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- Los Angeles Creative Agency

- Los Angeles SEO Company