I’m going to start posting LOCAL Na8ion projects in our portfolio section and our first project is a brand and service we created start-to-finish in less than 24 hours. It’s still a work in progress and I’ve got tons of editing and ‘tightening up’ to do but it’s a solid start for a days work. The idea with our portfolio section is to show you the variety of project work we do. While most of our clients think of us as web designers we’re really delivering integrated internet marketing services that span branding, Local SEO, copywriting, social media optimization, online video production, logo design, etc.  But it’s hard to show those things in a portfolio so we show you the website so you can at least take in one or two parts of what we’re doing. This particular project is 100% ours except for the web design itself. As you may know, we’re big supporters of using WordPress design themes (yes templates!) for your business website and packaging them up with our services so we can use your marketing budget to drive people to your website (from places like Google, Yelp! and social networks). Once we have your prospect on your website our focus is converting lookers into buyers which is an art form unto itself. This particular site launch is an internal project for a sister service of LOCAL Na8ion called brand trampoline. The design essence of this site drives home the whimsical and boutique design aesthetic I was looking for. The theme cost me $20. It would have taken me and my team three to seven days to make a theme like this from scratch (it has a lot of time consuming hand drawn elements). The point of all my rambling is that you don’t always need a custom web design to have a great web presence. If a company like us that offers custom web design uses an off-the-shelf theme then why can’t you? So here’s the design. It’s called On The Go (this link goes to the 100% stock version made by Nick Roach at Elegant Themes). Nick offers this and all his other themes for $19.95 a year (check out the other themes here and follow Nick on Twitter. You can experience our live deployment of this WordPress design here at brand trampoline or view the picture below just to get an idea. click to see live version of brand trampoline's new home page Note: As of 2010 LOCAL Na8ion does not accept affiliate money from this or any other source so you can trust that the sites we write about have nothing to do with an exchange of money. Related Posts:Where you are it where it’s atThe biggest mistake in web designSpot Runner for hireFinding your next star employee with Local Internet MarketingGet on page one of Google with jQueryPowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Here we are in a New Year and our business challenges remain as invigorating as ever! I want to know what subjects you’d like to see me cover this year in our Local Knowledge video tutorials? Here are some categories I already have planned but feel free to get more specific or venture out into other areas.

Content Marketing Strategies for small business on the Internet Blended Online Marketing Strategies (Local SEO, Social Media, Blogs) Local Internet Video Marketing Video SEO How-to use WordPress for your business website Local Search Engine Optimization How to rank well in Google’s Blended Search Results in your town Safe ‘auto-blogging’ methods to keep your website fresh for visitors and SEO Tips, tools and tricks for keeping your website relevant, awesome and top of mind

Please let me know! Julian Seery  Gude, ed LOCAL Na8ion Related Posts:Top 3 secrets for local and small business blog marketing that you need to knowGetting StartedYou can do it all with the InternetHow to edit photos for your website using Picnik | Local Knowledge Episode 22The best kept secret for quickly creating new content for your blog and web sitea

The problem with 99% of small business websites is that no one finds them. That’s why a common refrain goes something like… I searched for myself on Google and Found Nothing. Small to medium sized business owners focus on the flash of a new design instead of the effect they’re looking for (higher sales). At LOCALNa8ion we recommend you transform your website into your next star sales person. A website with the right Local search engine optimization (Local SEO) applied to it will drive offline sales to your store for pennies on the dollar compared to traditional advertising costs like Yellow Pages or Direct Mail. Local Searches Drive Offline Sales Florists Miami House Cleaning Wellington Savannah Italian Food These are the local searches happening on Google, Yahoo! and other search engines and online directories that are leading to offline sales for local small businesses everywhere. In fact, for every $1 spent online the Internet drives $3.45  in offline store sales. Each lead that you get from your organic search engine results is 100% free. That’s why we offer you advice on our blog and how-to videos on how to utilize free and low cost Internet Marketing tools and methods! We can build it for you If you want us to build you a website that’s a true web marketing platform we’re in the final days of a great sale for our Percolator Package. For $558.88 we build out your small business Website on WordPress, fine tune it for Local SEO, and turn you loose with hosting, training and other support so you can start getting free sales leads from Yahoo!, Google and other online sources.

Percolator Package Sale Ends next Friday 13th Until next week you can grab one for $558.88 before it returns to its regular price of $999.99. Related Posts:Internet influences over three dollars of in-store sales for every dollar spent online12 examples of WordPress flexibility for small businessI searched for myself on Google and found nothingYour web site should be your star sales personSelling online video ads to car dealersa A website that generates sales leads

12:50pm Re-write your website title for better local search results

12:59pm Posted 2 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

RT @DocYankee New blog post: 8 Great Ways To Promote Yourself For Free http://tinyurl.com/bhbz5u {I especially like the last one} My post on re-writing your website title for local seo & improved local search results. http://ow.ly/wqe

Related Posts:Shorties for 2009-02-11Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

5:03pm

        Posted 7 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

For great content on how to manage your small business read @whatworks here at http://www.whatworksforbusiness.com/ Three local web sites you should be on http://ow.ly/qQw Most small businesses don’t realize how many local offline leads and purchases their website drives. 70% of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping LOCALLY for products and services. The Kelsey Group @ChrisKrysinski Still in need of WordPress hosting? I use MidPhase. 3 Mo free+free domain for life-use code GOTAPEX-ROX-01 http://ow.ly/qSz @ChrisKrysinski craigslist is a great local online sales channel (eBay too). Items like furniture, music eqp are better purchased local Measure offline leads & purchases by installing Google Analytics. Make a specials page & use unique tracking codes on your specials.

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

3:31pm

        Posted 2 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

You can connect with me on @jinfinite8 for my personal tweets. Warning: I’ll tweet anything on my @jinfinite8 account… There are lots of nice inexpensive Pro WordPress themes available at WooThemes for Small Business http://ow.ly/pny

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10a Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

10:10am

        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

3 women in local small business beat the recession http://ow.ly/onc Twitter can drive leads for small business. Example from SMB Namecheap.com Thanks @liajen for the link! http://ow.ly/ok0 Search Engines outperform print Yellow Pages. They forgot to mention that Local SEO is free. http://ow.ly/onf

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

4:11pm

        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Interested in Small Business? Check out @tweetsmallbiz #FollowFriday @teedubya Small biz can utilize local seo for FREE and gain access to (by comparison) a much larger volume of searches. Designing new website? "Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations." -Paul Rand

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

6:03pm

        Posted 2 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Free Local Internet Marketing is the sum of WordPress+Local Search Engine Optimization+Google Analytics+Publishing Specials/Offers Just added http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/ to my RSS feed reader. Thanks for the links and RT’s @tweetsmallbiz

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

11:16pm

        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

The Art of Generating Buzz | Guy Kawasaki interviews author Emanuel Rosen on his Word of Mouth Marketing Book http://ow.ly/kZN Google enhances local maps with supplemental info. Read about it on Google’s LATLONG blog here: http://tinyurl.com/c4kvy8 Some Small Biz use MS Word to write blog posts & then post them into WordPress. This tip will help prevent problems. http://ow.ly/kLq

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

6:58pm

        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Local online analyst @gsterling counters BusinessWeek article about local advertisers not using Internet ads http://tinyurl.com/cbjjvg Google stops local map listing hijacking http://tinyurl.com/buetxo Local online analyst Greg Sterling makes great counter points to BW article about local adv not using Internet http://tinyurl.com/cbjjvg

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

8:57am

        Posted 5 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Small Business Mavericks discusses link building & differences in link quality on SEO http://tinyurl.com/coc5pu If New York City is successful with their .nyc top level domain what impact will it have on Local SEO? http://tinyurl.com/agmn23 Looking for an inexpensive Pro WordPress theme? WooThemes are $70 http://tinyurl.com/b6gksr {see Vibrant CMS} StartupNation post, 3 ways to get more out of your website copy http://tinyurl.com/bnnmuv Support local business with online reviews http://tinyurl.com/cytff4 (this one is the restaurant we went to Valentines Day)

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

9:23am

        Posted 2 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Small businesses should read this post about Local Search Engine Tactics for tough economic times http://searchenginewatch.com/3632718 Matt McGee of smallbusinesssem.com has good Google Local Search info in this post. e.g Maps Hijacking Dig in: http://tinyurl.com/a9oh2e

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10a Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

6:42pm

        Posted 4 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Track the ROI of any ad, offer, web page or whole site with Google Analytics WorkHappy.net article http://tinyurl.com/aaphy5 @seerysm I’ll send the PGA Learning Center an email about their website being down since you notifying them by phone didn’t work! RT RodSloane Starbucks to sell instant coffee!! http://bit.ly/zOSCh {@LocalNa8ion says: I may not drink it but it might mean they survive} Forbes talks about search engine optimization (SEO) for small business with former clickz editor http://tinyurl.com/b2b2uk

Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayShorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Episode 9c: Social Media for Small Business and Local Marketersa Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

10:45am

        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Local Search | Related to my previous Tweet read Mike Blumenthals post Google Maps and the wrong URL http://tinyurl.com/b8gu38 When Google’s Local Algorithm goes WRONG seomoz.org article (must read Blumenthals comments on this post!) http://tinyurl.com/bdzt2b 44% of small businesses have a website. http://tinyurl.com/b7kmb5 | 1 Solution = use free WordPress for your next web site with Local SEO.

Related Posts:Shorties for 2009-02-11Local Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Episode 9c: Social Media for Small Business and Local MarketersDaily Drive By: Ingenio and The World Association of Newspapersa Local Internet Marketing Shorties for Today

2:51pm

        Posted 4 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Marketer Seth Godin and Business Guru Tom Peters on Blogging (quick video) http://tinyurl.com/5f5ovt RT @EconomyHeroes Boycotting the Recession: “We heard about the recession, and we decided not to participate” http://jijr.com/7qE RT @Patrick_Grady Dell is offering "social media for small biz" training - free. Some good info, but PDF?!? http://bit.ly/J5uSQ This story reminds me to use StumbleUpon.com to promote my fave local businesses AND use it to promote my own http://tinyurl.com/df64rj

Related Posts:Shorties for 2009-02-11Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Episode 9c: Social Media for Small Business and Local MarketersEpisode 9b: Social Media for Small Business and Local MarketersDaily Drive By: Ingenio and The World Association of Newspapersa Local Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12

9:54am

        GetListed.org | Improve local search results for your small business        






        7:26pm


        Posted 3 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Consider a ‘freemium’ product/service to spur business but have a plan to monetize it. C. Anderson of Wired http://tinyurl.com/awvm32 What should you spend on advertising for your small business? Business Week Article http://tinyurl.com/czj4cj GetListed.org is a good new service for local business. My post on it http://tinyurl.com/asjfnl

Related Posts:Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Get free conference callsDaily Drive By: Ingenio and The World Association of NewspapersGetListed.org | Improve local search results for your small businessWhy blog commenting is critical for your free social marketing campaigna Shorties for 2009-02-11

6:35am

        Julian posted 2 tweets on Local Na8ion. (Show Details)

Register.com is advertising Free domain registration for Small Business | http://tinyurl.com/2×4cq9 Why pay a designer to make one logo when you can get 20 for the same price? See my friends @crowdSpring http://www.crowdspring.com

Related Posts:Shorties for 2009-02-11Inspiring business cards to inspire your next web site designEpisode 9c: Social Media for Small Business and Local MarketersDaily Drive By: Ingenio and The World Association of NewspapersEpisode 9b: Social Media for Small Business and Local Marketersa Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10

Today I came across some creative business card ideas that could provide you with some inspiration to help you dream up a new logo, business card, marketing campaign, or even a new web site design. Feast your eyes on this Creativebits.org post on cool business card designs. The best designs tie the central ‘cool design’ to their business, product or service (rather than just being cool). Think of this as delivering your message. Being cool just for the sake of being cool won’t usually win you business but being relevant and memorable will. For example, the card with the teeth imprint or dental floss are both relevant for a dentist and they’re both easy to remember. That’s what you’re shooting for in all of your marketing material - whether it’s your business card or web site.

Design your next web site with your goal being focused on delivering your message in a relevant, memorable way. If you do this there’s a very good chance it will be cool as well. Another benefit of approaching your design with the message in mind is that it will help keep you from getting side tracked by the many things that derail design projects like getting hung up on specific layout, color, or typography. Does the font the dentist chose what makes the card memorable? No. Neither is the color. Both are important design elements but shouldn’t overshadow your design focus as they often do. Design your message. Acknowledgments Hat tip to Crowdspring.com and their Twitter microblog post (called a tweet) that brought the link on cool business cards from Creativebits.org to my attention. a Inspiring business cards to inspire your next web site design

I’ve written here before on Local Na8ion about the power of local online reviews. A story in USA Today on May 20th provides a nice summary of the pros and cons that should further wet your appetite. Here’s a quote and link to the full story titled “Businesses turn to online reviews to grow clientele” in USA Today.

“Reviews and star ratings are often cited in search results. A Google search for “Los Angeles chiropractor,” for instance, includes not only links to websites and descriptions, but also a 10-item list of local chiropractors with their addresses, reviews, star ratings and a local map at the top of the page. “You’re seeing a lot of businesses fighting to get into that top 10,” says Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “This is the most privileged position on the Internet. It’s a big, prominent placement. If you’re there, you benefit, and if you’re not, you don’t.” Julian ed, Local Na8ion a More news about online reviews