Sunday, August 16, 2009

Minneapolis Web Design Firm Launches Custom Website for SkyBlue Creative Group



Agency Couture, a Minneapolis web design company, and SkyBlue Sales Group are pleased to announce the launch of the Sky Blue Creative Group website. SkyBlue Creative Group offers their clients freelance sales to their creative services.



"When you're busy, life is good. When you're not, it's time to dust off your portfolio and hit the streets. Wouldn't it be nice if your new clients just walked right in your front door? With SkyBlue Sales Group, it's almost that easy. Whether your craft is advertising, graphic design, photography or web design, you know how expensive and frustrating business development can be. SkyBlue specializes in setting appointments with qualified prospects for companies just like yours. Click Here to learn more..."



In the past, creative business owners would have to spend hours on the phone trying to sell their services. With SkyBlue, a photographer, web designer, or branding service can pass off their sells to SkyBlue. No high pressure sells calls. SkyBlue connects you to the high powered decision makers and marketing contacts that your business needs.

Nancy Schapiro, President of SkyBlue Sales Group and SkyBlue Creative Group, has nothing but praise for Agency Couture's innovative solutions to their website design's, dedication and resourcefulness. "We love our new website and the showcase of our client list," said Nancy.



Author Information

Desarae A. Veit
Agency Couture

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Re: cambell mithun and Famous footwear makes a misstep in trying to go glam by adage

The post (link): http://mobile.adage.com/site?sid=adage_ip&pid=JuicerHub&targetURL=http%3A%2F%2Fadage.com%2Fgarfield%2Farticle%3Farticle_id%3D138360

My response: I agree with the ad being disconnected from the brand,
but I think it's too brazen and over the top to completely say that
this advertising was completely awful. The photos are beautiful,
tastefully done and (again other then a disconnect and a few other
points that only other industry people woul notice) I think it's a
nice ad. I agree it could be any payless or target ad with this type
of imagery, but aren't they at the same level and general target
market? I did notice a couple of cute shoes, and isn't that the real
point?

Furthermore how is that type of advertising much different then a
vogue ad or any other kind of gucci/prada/pretty girl or guy in a
beyond perfect setting with clothes that have been clearly adjusted to
fit him/her perfectly?

I'm not saying I completely disagree, just playing devils advocate
because people seem to jump on the throwing stones bandwagon a little
too quickly.

What do you think? I'm interested to hear your feedback and opinions.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Ideas for Hotels and Hospitality

I recently read a post by Chris Brogan called, Ideas for Hotels and Hospitality. I agree with this post so much I wish that every hotel manager would read it and implement the items he listed. Which leads me to think of what people want from their marketing specialist, web designer, project manager and advertising agency. What do you want? What has been missing in your experiences? How can we make your life easier and better? When you hire a personal assistant you do it to fill some need or free up some time in your life, right? So what happens when you attempt to hire an employee and they do just the opposite? It frustrates and confuses me. Fill me in, how can I be all you need and make your life easier?

--
Sincerely,

Desarae A. Veit
Direct: 515.250.0760
Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

Web. Design. Search. Marketing
Email: DesaraeV@gmail.com
Agency Couture: www.AgencyCouture.com
Newsletter: www.agencycouture.com/newsletter.php
Interactive Portfolio: www.dveit.com
Fine Art Portfolio: www.desaraev.com
Blog: www.interactivemedias.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/desaraev
Gtalk: desaraev
Skype: desaraev
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/desarae

Check out other projects I participate in:

Race Charity Fundraising: http://bit.ly/xMu7W
Social Media Research: www.sniki.org/about
MN Bacardi Events: http://bit.ly/YObsE

This note is off the record (blogs too) unless we agree otherwise.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

How to Get More Twitter Followers

First things first: Why would you want to get more Twitter followers? Having more twitter followers does not make you popular, famous, or automatically guarantee your company more business. I receive numerous leads monthly from my twitter and facebook relationships, and I have over 5,000 followers but I did not get these 5,000 twitter followers overnight. We found each other over a year of sharing stories, giving each other advice, and promoting each other. Having a lot of twitter followers has its benefits, but not if you do it as an end to justify no means. You need to do it the right way, no scams. Twitter is a great way to connect with your clients, meat new leads, gain new friends but should not be used as just a marketing platform.

So, how can you increase your Twitter followers and have more people actually reading your updates? 

You can build a prominent profile by being real. Be human. Be friendly. Be YOU. This is one instance where it's less about who you know but what you say (TWEET) that matters. The topic of growing your Twitter presence has been very popular lately both as an honest post, scams, and satiracle.  The primary goal is to teach you how to use Twitter and offer real value and in turn you will naturally increase your Twitter following. 

In response to many of these articles I've been writing a Social Media 101 E-Book. FREE for you to download, not $30 or a hundred or even $20. Why am I giving away this E-book for FREE? The knowledge is out there anyway, parts of the book has been compiled from other peoples posts (noted), but mostly because people need to know how to properly use these platforms. Click here to download the FREE Social MEdia 101 Ettiquette Guide.

The following is from Dosh Dosh:

Take a look at this list of Twitter users with the most followers and you'll see that almost everyone on it is famous or well known for reasons other than Twitter. For example, you'll notice that the top 10 users are mainly all people who own popular websites/businesses and brands or have established a reputation through their involvement in different activities.

twitterholic

Run your eyes down the list further and you'll notice the same thing: these Twitter users built their large audience through their already established popularity. They didn't start from the ground up: it's likely that they started with a decent amount of followers and will continue accumulate them passively through the strength of their reputation or personal brand.

Many people have built their following because they are well known away from Twitter, not because they were inherently entertaining or helpful as a Twitter user. In other words, they grew large follower base because they cleverly integrated their brand or what it is they do, with their Twitter profile. They used their websites or platforms to promote their Twitter profile.....

Maximize Visibility: Treat Your Twitter Profile Like Any Other Website

tweet
Image Credit: Tweet via QuickSilver

The first step is to understand that your Twitter profile is like any other website. You should treat it no differently from your own blog or a free opt-in newsletter. This means that if you want to increase your Twitter subscriber base, you just need to do one thing again and again: Drive web traffic to your profile. The more targeted the traffic, the better.

This sounds obvious but many people overlook this fundamental principle and focus instead on less relevant details like Twitter usage times/frequency. I'm sure that causing controversy or learning to tweet a certain way might get some extra exposure to your profile but in my opinion, the benefits are minimal. How, when and what you tweet is not crucial.

With this in mind, you can play around with a myriad number of marketing strategies, just like how you would promote a website. Think in terms of incentives. Why would someone want to follow me on Twitter? How will he or she benefit from it? Assuming that someone doesn't know who I am, what would motivate him or her to subscribe to my Twitter profile?

Here are just some examples of traffic-driving strategies (there are many more):

  1. Create a tool/application and promote your profile alongside it.
  2. Buy a banner ad to target tech-savvy audiences, link it to your profile.
  3. Use Twitter as a tool for tech/customer support.
  4. Organize a contest through your Twitter profile
  5. Include links to your profile in email/forum signatures.
  6. Evangelize Twitter on your blog/other blogs and include a link to your profile.
  7. Connect your blog and other social media profiles to your Twitter page.
  8. Learn to pitch Twitter influencers with articles relevant to their interest
  9. Explicitly ask another user to recommend your profile or exchange recommendations.

Mass Following Twitter Users: The Favorite Methodology of 'Spammers'

Twitter is similar to many other social networks in numerous aspects, particularly when it comes to friending behaviors. Like Myspace, its possible to befriend a massive amount of users, some of whom will add you back as a friend. Continually adding Twitter users as friends allows you to increase the amount of followers you have.

This is a strategy that has worked remarkably well for early adopters when the Twitter was still a relatively new phenomenon. For example, I know a marketer who followed over ten thousand users and got thousands of followers in return. He then cut down the amount of people he followed and changed his username to make the account look legitimate.

Nowadays, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these 'spammers' and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build an large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.

Take for instance, Osen Komura. A fake profile set up by another Twitter user in February 2008 as a social experiment. The Osen account followed 41,798 Twitter users in one month and 7,847 users added him as a friend, a 17%+ follow-back rate.

osen

And Osen is not only the only profile out there with thousands of followers all derived through mass user following. The question is: Should you consider using the same strategy?

Apart from the risk of being labeled a Twitter spammer and increasing the noise on your Twitter stream, this method still works. However, know that following so many users inevitably reduces your ability to keep track of individual users since they are drowned out by other updates, unless you conscientiously keep track of your Twitter stream or use RSS. But keep in mind that this is not essential. Here are some good reasons why you really don't need to mass follow twitter users.

Scoble has suggested that it's beneficial to follow many Twitter users because you get more access to information and it shows that you're listening and more open to communication or meeting people. Perhaps so, but I would recommend increasing the people you follow on Twitter gradually, while making sure that you're maintaining conversational interactiveness.

In any case, only viewing Twitter as a broadcast platform to drive traffic to your websites is a limited perspective, especially when your Twitter followers offer a wealth of knowledge, connections and opinions you can use to improve your business and personal skills.

All in all, it depends on your goals and how you use Twitter. Feel free to share this article with your Twitter friends. I'll love to get more feedback on this topic.


--
Desarae A. Veit
Direct: 515.250.0760
Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

Web. Design. Search. Marketing
Email: DesaraeV@gmail.com
Agency Couture: www.AgencyCouture.com
Newsletter: www.agencycouture.com/newsletter.php
Interactive Portfolio: www.dveit.com
Fine Art Portfolio: www.desaraev.com
Blog: www.interactivemedias.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/desaraev
Gtalk: desaraev
Skype: desaraev
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/desarae

Check out other projects I participate in:

Race Charity Fundraising: http://bit.ly/xMu7W
Social Media Research: www.sniki.org/about
MN Bacardi Events: http://bit.ly/YObsE

This note is off the record (blogs too) unless we agree otherwise.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Minneapolis Affordable Web Design and Marketing


Despite the recent problems with the American and global economy their has been a substantial increase in online retail sales throughout the past decade. Thanks to this rise, good Minneapolis web designers are in high demand. The internet will continue to grow and expand. As the world wide web grows so will the percentage of users which means their will also be more chances for the up and coming web design firms.

If you or your company is new to using computers or the internet you will want to explore the markets that have the most opportunity for empowerment. Minneapolis/St. Paul area is home to numerous well established web service companies. There are many Minneapolis web design firms in the uptown and downtown areas that cater to a variety of industries with numerous services like design, website hosting, internet marketing, search engine optimization, and more. In this diverse marketing you will notice a difference between the large full service web design firms that can offer you the full gamete of services and the smaller firms that will provide a more personalized service will attention to customer service.

One of the larger full service Minneapolis web design firms, Agency Couture, not only offers web design services but also includes a wide range of hosting options and technology solutions. Some of these services include hosting, Minneapolis search engine optimization, global search engine optimization, multi media web design, ecommerce web design, database integration, and internet marketing. This company has seen steady growth since its inception ten years ago. Since they are a larger sized firm Agency Couture has the ability to serve both the small businesses and the large corporations. It's no wonder clients keep referring their friends and associates. Agency Couture can offer their clients the ability to make the most of this rapidly expanding online marketplace.

Now, more than ever, people are shopping online. Judging by the latest sales statistics it doesn't look like the use of the internet is going to slow down any time soon. So if you're looking to expand your business, take advantage of the internet by hiring Agency Couture to build your company a powerful web site that can increase your sales without adding a huge amount of overhead to your bottom line.  The better your website the more visitors you can attract to your site to increase your sales.


--

Desarae A. Veit

Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

Web. Design. Search. Marketing
Email: DesaraeV@gmail.com
Agency Couture: www.AgencyCouture.com
Newsletter: www.agencycouture.com/newsletter.php
Interactive Portfolio: www.dveit.com
Fine Art Portfolio: www.desaraev.com
Blog: www.interactivemedias.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/desaraev
Gtalk: desaraev
Skype: desaraev
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/desarae

Check out other projects I participate in:

Race Charity Fundraising: http://bit.ly/xMu7W
Social Media Research: www.sniki.org/about
MN Bacardi Events: http://bit.ly/YObsE

This note is off the record (blogs too) unless we agree otherwise.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Alphabet Bash - August 20th 2009

I've been asked by the Advertising Federation of Minnesota to be the direct point person, "police commissioner" for the Social Media Wall at the Alphabet Bash. (It may even be up on stage as a centerpiece for the Bash.)

We are going to have 2 projectors up on the wall facing one another; one with Twitter feeds going and one with a Facebook feed.

I will be facilitating the ongoing movement and constant Twittering and FBooking, as well as have my fabulous friend Jessica Tijerina by my side. I'm very excited for the event and look forward to reading your tweets and seeing everyone live at the Alphabet Bash!

--
Sincerely,

Desarae A. Veit
Direct: 515.250.0760

Web. Design. Search. Marketing
Email: DesaraeV@gmail.com
Agency Couture: www.AgencyCouture.com
Newsletter: www.agencycouture.com/newsletter.php
Interactive Portfolio: www.dveit.com
Fine Art Portfolio: www.desaraev.com
Blog: www.interactivemedias.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/desaraev
Gtalk: desaraev
Skype: desaraev
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/desarae

Check out other projects I participate in:

Race Charity Fundraising: http://bit.ly/xMu7W
Social Media Research: www.sniki.org/about
MN Bacardi Events: http://bit.ly/YObsE

This note is off the record (blogs too) unless we agree otherwise.

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