Wordpress Plugins
I will be trying out some new Wordpress plugins over the next couple of months. Here’s a few that I’m working with.
These free plugins are revolutionizing the way websites can be built and maintained. With these three plugins, I get photo galleries for my sites, e-commerce solutions, and a RSS feed and multiple Web 2.0 sharing solution. While custom built applications are still a viable and neccesary function of web development, plugins allow smaller sites with limited budgets to built content management solutions without breaking the bank. Plugins will never completely replace programmers and web developers like McDera, based in the Portland area and one of my clients. As a matter of fact, they can be a great way for a web application company to market their wares by developing several free plugins and releasing them to the market. This marketing model plays upon the Creative Commons, file sharing idea of giving away something to create value for something else. From an SEO standpoint, releasing free plugins into the market can drive people to your site through links within the plugins and links inserted by end users and bloggers referring to the product. Within the Wordpress dashboard for example, most plugins contain links to their source for troubleshooting, software updates, and for branding purposes. I know that I personally visited all three of the sites offering the plugins I’m using before I downloaded them and then again once they were downloaded and installed in wordpress. Because I believe they are useful products, I have linked to them in this post, creating another viable external link source.
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons subscribes to the mantra of saving the world from failed sharing. In my opinion, organizations like this are revolutionizing the music industry. Instead of me rambling for three paragraphs about how, check out their website and then Google Nine In Nails. You’ll see how Trent Reznor is using file sharing and the Creative Commons concept to completely change his marketing and album distribution methods. Oh, and then read the pdf I referred to in the last post. I promise you won’t be wasting your time.
New Media - Online Marketing for the Musician
I just finished reading “The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online,” by Andrew Dubber. This is a 96 page pdf available at newmusicstrategies.com that concisely organizes the online music world into an easy to understand essay. I’ve recently become a huge fan of Pandora and Last.fm for discovering new music. I love the fact that more and more artists are giving their music away. The market has changed and less labels are able to make money off the traditional record. Using free music as a marketing tool for an artist seems to make the most sense in a market where the industry is losing the file sharing and piracy war. As a marketing and advertising professional, I have always been intrigued by the product. For me, the essence of marketing is figuring that out. For musicians, the faster they realize that they’re the product, and not their CDs or T-shirts, the faster they’ll begin to think outside the box in terms of marketing. With Web 2.0 marketing, musicians can capitalize on the word-of-mouth advertising model by allowing their music to be shared. Music listeners have traditionally listened before they bought. A working band can gain an impressive growth of fans by giving music away. These new fans can then buy older catalog items, attend concerts, and tell their friends. If you are a young, struggling independent artist, please take the time and read the above referenced guide. It will competely change your marketing mentality.
McDERA, LLC Begins the Optimization Process
McDera, LLC is a web development company with offices in Memphis and the Portland, OR area. They specialize in high-end, commercial, database-driven web applications. Formed from the founders of two separate companies, City Storm Media and PyschTech, Inc, they are targeting the Oregon and Washington State areas as their primary market. Formed with a mission to, “provide the highest quality solutions, innovations, and consulting for the World Wide Web,” they utilize PHP programming, CSS design, and strict accessibility standards and compliance for all of their projects.
Entering the online market in that area presents a unique challenge becuase their competition is well versed in the same type of services that McDera offers. Web Standards, Accessibility, and CSS design form the SEO background for this project. In terms of competitiveness, our first evaluation of their site and market shows potential to begin placing for specific, niche search phrases. While it may take a while for McDera to be number one, the company’s philosophy behind their site design creates a great opportunity to move them in the rankings fairly quickly. Let the games begin.
Signs First Downtown Memphis Search Engine Results
Recently, we updated one of our client’s meta information and content. This client happens to be a Memphis sign company owned by my father. Three years ago, we set up a Google Adwords account for his new site, and then let it be. While he has received a fair amount of business from the paid results, we thought it was time to use our knowledge to boost his organic search potential. We are happy to say that once indexed, his site began popping up regulary on the first page for many Memphis searches. He already had site history, a good amount of traffic, and a pretty established network of links. It simply took tailoring his content to fit Memphis searches better. While content is great, having that history and link structure will really help his site stay high in the Memphis sign search results.
Memphis Web Design
As a Memphis web design company, we are constantly looking for ways to better serve our clients. Right now, we have two companies who offer franchises as our clients. We are now in talks to develop CSS templates for the individual franchises to use as their websites. This would give each business owner the opportunity to move into a unique web solution, complete with search engine optimization and the ability to expand and customize as needed. The great advantage to CSS is that you can use one style sheet to control the look of more than one design, while keeping the overall appearance uniform. This serves as a great tool for these companies as they require consistency in their brand image but want to allow individual franchise owners some freedom in their design and use of a website. Please check back soon as we will be unveiling more details as we work on these exciting projects.