Atlanta Website Design and Marketing

eTest launches SEO campaign

2006-11-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

eTest launches their new SEO campaign to gather new clients. eTest helps improve your company's human capital. Results attributable to pre-employment assessments include: reduced turnover, decreased search costs, and better performance. To see more on eTest, please visit eTest.net

Influence For Impact Launches

2006-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

We all want to understand, persuade and influence others. But how many of us do it well? According to our research, not many! Now you can build the insights and skills to do a better job of it through Influence for Impact. The art of influencing is a learned skill. It is a primary quality of every successful leader, although most successful leaders also still need some improvement here.

If you want to know more, please visit influenceforimpact.com.

Software, Corporate Litigation, Trade Secret Litigation

2006-11-15T06:50:00.000-08:00

For help with software litigation, corporate litigation, trade secret litigation, and technology litigation please contact Larry Kunin at lkunin@mmmlaw.com.

Larry Kunin practices in Morris, Manning & Martin’s Litigation Department with a concentration in technology and intellectual property litigation, including software performance, trade secret, trademark and copyright litigation, as well as general commercial and reinsurance litigation. Prior to joining Morris, Manning & Martin in March 2000, Mr. Kunin practiced in Miami, Florida and is a member of the Georgia and Florida Bars. Mr. Kunin gained computer and technology experience while employed as a computer programmer and analyst for The Miami Herald from 1986-92.

During his career, Mr. Kunin has litigated disputes in state and federal courts in Georgia and Florida, as well as throughout the country. His experience includes litigating issues related to computer performance disputes, breach of software licenses, trademark, copyright infringement, unfair competition, trade secret disputes, breach of contract and business torts. Mr. Kunin’s clients have ranged from large publicly traded technology companies, including Microsoft and McKesson Corporation, to startup companies and individuals. Using his background in the computer field, Mr. Kunin is able to understand and investigate complex technology issues and present such issues to a court, arbitration panel or other dispute resolution forum.

For more information on Larry, please visit Larry here.

Froogle versus Pay-Per-Click

2006-07-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, we had a client request information about Froogle. As something relatively new, we figured we would investigate. What we found was amazing.

As developers at heart, we chose to create a rss file based on Froogle's recommendations. We ran a test with one product. Edited the feed to include as many attributes and properties as we could. After all, Google wants a lot of information, so, we figured Froogle would too.

It took about a day or two of playing with the file on the side, the results were phenomenal.

We posted this one product. We went to Google a couple of days later to see what had happened. Holy cow, when we searched for the product, it showed up at the top of a Google search. That's right, for fee we were at position number one. So much for pay-per-click. Now granted, we don't want you to shy away from pay-per-click, because it can be beneficial. But, using Froogle is definitely a step in the right direction!

Website Subcontractors and Subcontracting

2006-07-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of small businesses out there. A lot of them are 1 or 2 person companies too. In our industry, we see a lot of small design firms that specialize in graphics, small sites, networking, etc.. All of these are good companies with excellent clients. And inevitably, the client will ask for one or two requests which are out of the knowledge base for these companies. So, what do they do? Well, they either say it can't be done or find someone to outsource to. If they choose to outsource, then more questions arise.

If you choose to outsource this work, then you have to decide if you want them working under your name or not. Here are a couple of pros and cons. If you choose to have them work under your name, you assume the risk of their deliverables, but you can make money off of their work. If you choose to have them work under their own company name, then they are responsible and it's only a lead to you. Don't be shy to ask for a cut of revenues. In the back of your mind though, you'll always wonder if they could take your client away. So, be sure to get a non-compete agreement.

So, to make my final sales pitch. We do offer subcontracting offers to all of those design firms out there. So, feel free to contact me. In addition, we have noticed that we don't have to market anymore. Now, we just network with each other and everyone makes more money.

Free website design quotes

2006-07-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Blue Creek Web offers free website design quotes. I know it sounds odd, but a lot of times, clients are more comfortable with submitting a request online. Even if you're curious, click here for a free website design quote.

Pay-Per-Click strategy - use your credit card

2006-07-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

When using a qualified pay-per-click manager, make sure your credit card is charged for the hits. Don't be fooled by setting a budget. For example, who knows if you're actually using the budget unless you are seeing the bills.

Are you a hosting company looking to make more money?

2006-03-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

Being in business for several years, we've found that forming excellent alliance partners is an excellent way to generate business. Many times, we may send or receive referrals. We've found that the conversion ratio when someone refers a potential client to us is 99%. Wow, what a converstion rate.

So, at this time, we are looking to form alliances with hosting companies all over the United States. We'll admit it, we do have some hosting partners at this time. But, don't let this stop you from contacting us. What we do is form an alliance with you and help you to generate money. With each project or referral you send to us, we will give you a commission on the work. Pretty cool. Think about it. How many times have you referred a client to someone and you've never received anything in return. Now is your chance.

Here's an example. About 1 week ago, one of our alliance partners sent over a client. This particular client will generate approximately 50k in services. I know they're not all like that. But, we'll pay you a commission of 10%. That means, 5k. Not bad for just sending a referral. That's a lot of hosting contracts.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me joe@childsplaytech.com or 678.222.1758.

How to submit a press release

2006-03-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm not sure if everyone did this. In high school, we always had an English paper to write. I didn't enjoy writing. So, I would wait on the assignment until it was almost due. Then I'd spend hours writing and rewriting my paper. Uggh. After the paper was complete, I was still never satisfied with the results.

When I learned that creating press releases was an excellent idea to boost search engine results, I thought of those many times back in high school. So, I was caught. How do I write a press release so that is was professional? And, how could I do it in 10 minutes. Ah-hah! The answer came.

Here are some tips on how to write a professional online press release and fast!

Decide on your topic. Make it simple. For example, "Launching a new website"
Go to a press release website like prweb.com
Search for your phrase
Browse a couple of articles to find one that you like.
Review the article to find out how it's built.
Copy the article to Word. Please note, we do not condone plagiarism.
Under each paragraph write a similar paragraph using the same concept. For example, the first paragraph typically promotes the company name and has a brief description. The following paragraphs describe more on the topic. The last paragraph is typically an About Us section.
Save your file.
Each time you have an idea from a press release, bring out this document. Now, just edit it.
We've found that this has allowed us to write press releases within 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Georgia Security One

2006-03-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the team at Security One. Another great team to work with producing excellent results. If you would like to know more about saving money with your home alarm system, please visit www.gasecurityone.com.

Phillips Medical Equipment

2006-03-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the team at Phillips Medical Equipment. For more information on renting medical supplies, please visit www.phillipsmedequipment.com.

Atlanta Dogwood Festival

2006-03-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

This year, we had the priviledge of working with the team at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. Congratulations on another great year. Feel free to visit their site at www.dogwood.org

Advice from the top

2006-03-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Although we deal with customers every day. Remember, always get a contract. It seems that each year we encounter one company that doesn't want to sign a contract. And, they always become the first person to stop paying. Take it from us, no signature, no work.

I used to believe that everyone was honest and would abide by these rules. That was when I was a full time employee. Now, that I'm out in the private sector, it happens all the time.

Common answers from a potential client without money or wants free work:
-Can you start the work now, I'll have my attorney look at it.
-Can we work out an arrangement, this idea is going to make us millionaires
-I don't believe in contracts
-Can you take out the part about due upon reciept.
-Can we work out a payment plan for over a year ( on small monetary values )

Common signs it will be hard to collect money:
-Fights every invoice causing a delay in payment
-Wants to change payment options on due date
-Constantly criticizing the work
-Asking you to finish all work before payment. This occurs because the client may want their product before paying. This causes you to lose leverage.
-Ignoring emails about payment but responding to emails about work
-Laughing about how tough the accounting department may be

Marketing, is it task driven or strategy driven?

2006-03-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

When we started out as solo entrepreneurs, our goal was to obtain clients. Once we had the client, our goal was to finish the task, then get paid. Somewhere along the way, I became caught up in completing the task to get paid. As we grew, this became an issue.

So, now we are finding that we must be savvy in offering advice. Too much advice and we bore the client. If we give a little, it sparks more business. So, each time you talk to the client, remember, are you completing a task or offering a solution to your client?

It's very hard to grasp at first. This concept is very simple to forget. But, unless you take the idea that you are helping your client, then once your task is complete, you must move on. So, think of yourself as a marketing person for the client. It definitely involves more time but can build very profitable and satisfying clients.

Where do you optimize on a page?

2006-02-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

This is a long answer of course. Here's a good starter tip. When someone looks at a web page, they focus in one area. This area is a triangle with the three points located in the bottom left, upper left, and the upper right. So, make sure you put your most important information here. When optimizing also keep this in mind. Reason being, the way code is structured most of the time, this code is towards the top of the page. So, keep your optimized information here also.

For more information on our company, please visit Child's Play Technologies.

A little discovery with Atlanta Law Firms

2006-02-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

It's always amazed me what people optimize for in our area. I have one client Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP. After analyzing some search keywords, I found that everyone is optimizing for Atlanta law firms instead of Atlanta lawyers. So, do people optimize based on the business or the tool the business provides? Which is better? We'll find out. Also, I sometimes wonder how much our results and reports are skewed because of us running reports.

If you're interested, feel free to visit Morris, Manning & Martin:

SEO and the blogger

2006-02-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago, I took an SEO certification class. Mostly this was taken to help out to further my understanding of SEO and to add a little marketing pizazz to our solution. What I found out is that SEO is now infiltrating all of my thoughts when viewing websites. Here are a couple of things I've noticed recently:

The prettiest sites are not always the best seo sites. As a matter of fact, we've seen lately a lot of those "squeeze sites" (sites with one page to get you to buy or sign up for an email) are receiving great results.
Choosing a blog template. I know I just started this blog, but I found out that this was effected. For example, I chose this template because the verbage and my keywords and phrases could be found closer to the top left which is a prime location for seo.

Welcome to the Atlanta Website Design Blog

2006-02-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Atlanta website design blog. This blog is maintained by Joe Bailey, of Child's Play Technologies. Joe has worked with hundreds of websites and continues to lead the strategic solutions for all websites designed by Child's Play Technologies. So, welcome and enjoy!