The world wide web is well past the inceptive stage. It is a full-bodied content delivery system that virtually every industry has leveraged to some degree. Every modern company with any marketing budget whatsoever has a web presence. Most are marketing their company or their services on the internet utilizing pay per click ads or organic search optimization. That should be the norm. If you aren’t marketing an Internet presence for your company you missing out on this enomormous revenue stream.

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A recent #SEO411 twitter chat spurred a side conversation about the pros and cons of working as an in house internet marketer vs. working for an agency. The participants were all search marketers and the split was pretty even down the middle between people who were in house or contract/agency.

I myself have recently made the switch, going from a technology manager with a focus on web to specializing here at Alter Imaging almost exclusively on new media marketing. It has been a huge adjustment to say the least. I hope I can document my experiences effectively to aid both new media marketers in their carrer arch (aim high, friends) and the companies that employ us make informed personel decisions.

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Setting up our Web design shop in Raleigh, NC has been great for us so far, but it isn’t all work! We’ve found some truly unique and fun stuff in Raleigh, and we wanted to share!

42nd Street Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill
508 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27603   (919) 831-2811 

This establishment has been around for nearly 80 years, starting life as a grocery selling beer and oysters. Despite changing management multiple times, the bar has retained its classic feel and fun atmosphere. It was, and is, the place to go for oysters and a cold beer, though they serve much more as well.

Goodnight’s Comedy Club
861 West Morgan Street, Raleigh, NC 27603   (919) 828-5233

Goodnight’s is a nationally recognized comedy club, and has seen a great deal of notable comedians perform. The club offers a lot of laughs, and a lot of food at great prices. Its earned national acclaim too, making a list of “10 places to sit down and see stand up” in USA Today.

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People tend to focus entirely on Web design for adults. It hit us the other day, “why not look at web design for kids?” Doing some searching we narrowed down some of the most popular, best designed, and most unique websites for kids. Some are a lot like typical ‘adult’ sites, while some are vastly different. Keep an eye out for trends, I’m sure you’ll spot a few.

Silly Poems
With a bright design, big buttons and pictures, and an overall kid-friendly look, Silly Poems nails the “for kids” style of web design.

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Alter Imaging is opening a new office to bring our unique approach of web design to Raleigh, NC.

Now that we’re working out of Raleigh, we thought it would be fun to find our favorite Raleigh business websites. We chose 5, and rated them based on speed, design and usability. Each site is the best of it’s type; we didn’t want to pick 5 Sushi Bar websites (though they were all great!) We also gave them each an overall rating, partially influenced by the other 3 ratings.

In no particular order, here’s the top 5 business website designs from Raleigh:

Sono Raleigh
For one reason or another, Sushi bar websites seem to have a much higher design standard than other local attractions. In Raleigh, the best of the bunch is Sono. Sono’s website loads quickly, has just enough Flash, and generally just feels awesome. 30 seconds on the site and you’ll want to get up and go grab some Sushi!
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Every once in a while I browse through my followers list and often find very poor business accounts. Here’s a few things that take very little time to do, but will really help make your Twitter account better.

1. Get a Better Username
Make sure your username will clue people in to your business. Adding information about location or services might be good for you, depending on how well people know your brand. Best Buy doesn’t need to create “BestBuyElectronics”, but you might need to add a descriptor to your name. Adding location information might get you more followers too, as people are inherently more interested in what is around them. I have no reason to follow a pet store in Oregon, but one in Charlotte could prove useful.

2. Change Your Background
This should be a no-brainer, and it’s near the top of the list for a reason. A custom background shows you’re committed to this “Twitter” thing, much more than a plain background, or poorly done one. Things to avoid are backgrounds which require a high-resolution display to read (keep the side content slim), tiled pictures, and pictures that are too small.

3. Change Your Avatar
Another no-brainer, many businesses don’t seem to understand how important a good avatar is. You want your avatar to be instantly recognizable as your brand, that is your number one goal. At the very least, tie it in to your background; I should click your avatar to find out more about you, and see what I’m looking for very quickly.
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Podcasting got its name when the words “iPod” and “Broadcasting” were combined. The concept of creating a broadcast specifically for an mp3 player has really taken off in the last 5 year and podcasting is now consider mainstream. Major broadcasting companies have turned much of their content into podcasts, and podcasting networks like TWiT have begun to spring up. Many businesses already use podcasting to talk about their product, brand, or industry, and so the question is: should you do the same?

When podcasting for your business, the chief issue is to build trust; the same as it is with blogging. You may find that you aren’t a great writer or are simply better at expressing ideas out loud; those are great reasons to consider starting a podcast. Additionally, podcasting allows for you to have a conversation, while blogging is usually a one-writer affair. Plus, you can always do both. Producing several types of content is certainly not a bad thing. The first step to podcasting, before everything else, is figuring out what you want to talk about. Because the issue is building trust, not advertising so much, you don’t have to focus on exactly what you do. In fact, you can even podcast about something unrelated to your business and still benefit from the trust your show will build. While that is possible, it still might be better if you talk about something somewhat related to your business.
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Email Marketing can be a tremendously useful way to get a message directly to your customers, and it can also be a way to annoy them out of doing further business with you. The concept of email marketing is essentially the same as mailing out a short catalog or flyer to customers. You create a message for a specific audience, then send it off to them. Despite the simplicity of the concept, there are plenty of things to consider when putting together an email marketing campaign.

The very first thing you need to consider is how to get people to open email. After all, chances are you don’t open everything you get from businesses. There are three things to consider when you are thinking about how to get customers to open your message: title, frequency, and past usefulness. You can fill an email with liquid gold and still have people delete it on site if you aren’t careful with these things.

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Internet forums, or message boards, are essentially the oldest social networks online. They are places for like-minded people to chat about certain topics, get help, and more. Today it is easy to overlook forums when thinking about social media. Their age plays a part, and the “niche-ness” of them prohibits massive amounts of members. Still, forums have an important place in the online world. They are go-to sources for knowledge about specific topics, and thanks to the crowdsourcing nature of forums, tremendous amounts of information can be provided to users.

So what does this have to do with business? Simple. Chances are there are one or more forums in existence for your particular industry or specialty, and it’s up to you to get active on those forums! Forums tend to like having businesses as active members. As long as the business owner is helpful and fair, members will often push clients to them. You just have to answer questions when you can, “get” a little of the forum culture, and don’t over-promote. Typically a link in your signature (a space after your comment) will do. Over-promotion on Twitter may get people to stop following you; over-promotion on forums can get you banned.

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A company’s logo tells people a lot about the company. A well designed logo can be many things, but it will almost always benefit the company it represents. On the flipside, a poorly designed logo can make a company look lazy, old-fashioned, or simply less attractive. A quality logo should not only look great wherever it is placed; it should also make people want to know more, or purchase whatever that logo is selling.

A great modern example of good vs bad logo design can be found in the energy drink section of any gas station. There you will find some of the best logo design next to some of the worst. The designers of energy drinks have gotten so focused on standing out on the shelf that they have forgotten to build trust with their designs. After all, just because you have the brightest can doesn’t mean I’m interested in consuming your beverage! Look at these energy drink cans:
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