I’m happy to announce the new Lewis County Republican central committee’s web-site was launched Tuesday Morning! Be sure to check it out and offer any feedback you may have.

Here are some features the LCR web-site was built with:

• Automatic RSS feed from Headlines
• A “Related Articles” feature which uses tags to link similar articles to one another.
• A full featured Wordpress Blog skinned to match the web-site.
• A fully dynamic Resource section.
• A customizable front ‘Block’ which allows the party to switch between important announcements and a political cartoon gallery.

The LCR Web-site was built on Intrinsic’s new Content Management System which gives them the ability to update content as often as they want without calling me up!

Hope you like it!

Intrinsic Studio teamed up with Joli Winsett, of Jo Designs and created a web-site for the Centralia Downtown Association. Joli handled the art direction and Intrinsic tackled the development and Content Management System.

The Centralia Downtown Association is basically a cooperative of Centralia Washington downtown business owners who are passionate about developing the historic nature of the Downtown area, while promoting the Benefits of the Downtown Experience within the city. For more information on the Centralia Downtown Association, go here.

Check out Intrinsic’s new Flickr account for photos of the Intrinsic office, print materials, and all things Intrinsic!

I’m happy to say that Intrinsic Studio has had an incredible first year of business, and are eagerly awaiting what may develop in 2008 as a company. I’ve been able to meet so many incredible people these last several months and serve some incredible clients as well!

Many changes are in store for Intrinsic Studio in 2008 including a repertoire of marketing and information materials to better assist our clients. In addition, Intrinsic Studio has been, as of today, officially re-branded with a new logo and image that better suits our upcoming creative angle. And here it is:

In addition to the new logo, a new web-site is in the works for mid 2008. Please let me know what you think of the new look! I wish you an amazing 2008!

I’ve just launched the Blue Earth Farms Website! Make sure to check it out and learn more about the amazing organization lead by Mark and Kari Winsor.

The appeal to have a web presence seems quite simple at first. You may have a product or service you want to promote or sell and feel the need to market yourself on the web. It is a great idea, and can definitely improve the health of your cause. Like most things, however, ‘throwing up’ a web-site is not as easy as it sounds, even if you have a great web-designer and developer to help you out. Good web-sites can be propelled by a good design and a slick user interface, but a great site has had much more thought behond this. Here are a few steps to turn a good web-project into a great one:

1. Create an Outline
   As a giddy future web-site owner, your first inclination is usually one of two things: style and time. Style, meaning the ‘wow’ of your web-site, and time, meaning how quick you can get it up and functional. The biggest favor you can do for your new web-site is to table these two elements for a short while, and devote some focused time in creating a detailed outline for the content of your site. Start by writing down the main pages of your website, followed by the content that will flow within them. Good, ole ‘ fashion outlines with Roman numerals work great, although some people prefer the more interesting thought, or brainstorming bubbles. The more detailed you can get in this stage, the easier it will be implementing and organizing the your content in the later stages of the project. Having this ready before the design process begins will also help your designer better build the web-site around the content, which enables a better user experience.
2. Hire a Photographer
   Yes, I understand, your budget is quite tight. The web-site cost itself may be a bit overwhelming; even so, I still highly recommend professional assistance in the area of photography. In my design experience, great photography can take your site from a 5 to a 9 with an extremely low cost for the amount in return. Most professional photographers will charge a small ‘on site’ fee on top of their hourly rate to come out to your place and take photos. An hour’s worth of photography yielding 50+ digital photos usually only runs from $100 - 300 dollars. Still not convinced? Chances are you know someone who owns a decent camera, or has some impressive camera skills. Consider asking them for assistance or to borrow their camera and take them out for dinner. Do anything you can to get some great shots for your web-site.
3. Hire a Copywriter
   Okay, I know we are talking more money, but we’re also talking about valuable investments. A copywriter is an individual who has been trained in the area of writing text to market products. Many copywriters these days specialize in web copy, which not only greatly improves the user’s experience on your web-site, but is heavy on ‘key-words’ that attract the targeted market to your web-site. Many web copywriters have a good knowledge in search engine optimization and can greatly help your web-site move to the top of the search engines for specific key words relating to your venture. Great writers can make your site fun, witty, and professional, enabling you to keep visitors for longer periods of time. Chances are, your web-developer can refer you to a great web copywriter.
4. Create a Blog
   Even though Blogs are a dime a dozen these days, I am a huge fan. A blog can turn a static, boring product or business into a dynamic and fun connection point for your customers. It can also help keep your site fresh and appealing to the Search Engines by driving more traffic to your web-site. Apart from a marketing standpoint, blogging is fun!

I often encourage my clients to approach their web-project as the most important piece of marketing material they will have. Don’t skimp on planning, invest in great copy and photography, and have fun with it by starting a blog.

What is a CMS?
Intrinsic Studio’s new custom Content Management System is finally complete and works great! A content management system is basically a password protected back-end users can log into to add, delete, or change the content of their web-site without having to know anything about web languages or how websites even work.

Why Intrinsic CMS?
Intrinsic CMS is unique in the fact that is is extremely simple and intuitive to use. There is nothing you don’t need present on the CMS interface so as to relieve confusion. The looks and colors of the CMS is also completely customizable so it can blend in to your current look and branding.

Who Can Utilize Intrinsic CMS?
Anybody with a website that would like to have control over their content can greatly benefit from Intrinsic CMS! This is a great solution for website owners who often find their content becoming out of date or stagnant with time and don’t want to call a webmaster every time a change needs done.

What Can Intrinsic CMS Actually Do?

• Add, Edit, and Delete text.
• Upload Images, Galleries, PDFs, and other documents to your website.
• Create Calendar Events.
• Manage your links.
• And many other uses…

So, What does it actually look like?
I’m glad you asked! If you are interested in viewing the Intrinsic CMS interface, contact me and I’d be happy to send you a demo link!

SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” is perhaps the most misunderstood phrase floating about the Internet these days. From the myriads of meanings and definitions it carries, to its grossly misunderstood employment, SEO seems to be the new Internet gimmick. It is not a gimmick because it is unimportant, but rather, a gimmick because of the ignorance surrounding it.

SEO can be compared nicely to exercise. We all know that exercise is very important to the health of our bodies, as is SEO to our web-sites. Everyone is trying to buy the newest and “quickest” way to get in shape. Thousands of treadmills and hokey workout gadgets are bought, then resold at garage sales each year. There is no quick and easy solution to getting into shape. Health requires work, planning, time, and a lot of determination and consistency.

Here are a few misconceptions many people have about Search Engine Optimization:

1. My web-developer should know how to get me to the top of Google.
   Your web-developer may “know” how to get you great rankings on Google, and if he / she does, you should expect to pay for it. Many large companies are solely devoted to SEO and can charge anywhere from 1 - 20k per month to keep a site ranked high. SEO is NOT a one time service, but a service that requires extensive time and research on a month to month basis.
2. I just read an article and found the secret to Search Engine Optimization!
   Wrong. Beware of gimmicks. There is no secrets to SEO; only hard work, time, and money. Just like exercise, good results can’t be seen by a one time effort. If you are short on hard work and time, forget about seeing great results on the search engines. If you are short on money, there are things you can do to improve your status over time like promoting the snot out of your website. Ask your friends to link to you. Pass out brochures and business cards with your web address around town. Start a blog to increase traffic. Give away something free to get people to visit your website. Create a newsletter to promote your service or product. Make sure to use great key-words in your copy. Have your web-developer submit a site-map to Google and Yahoo. Submit your site to a design gallery. Get your friends to submit your blog articles to social networking sites like Digg or Reddit. Two of the most important keys to getting good results are to drive traffic and get reputable websites to link to you. All of these things can be done by you, but they take a lot of time that usually don’t show results for awhile.
3. People aren’t finding me on Google; I’m doomed!
   Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself! You may not have 40 hours a week and 10k a month to fork out for SEO, but there are other ways to drive traffic to your site. SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, may be much more effective to get your new web-site off the ground and your products and services in people’s hands. SEM simply involves taking advantages of services that promote your website and drive targeted customers to your site. Google Adwords are a great way to kick off your website. This service allows you to pay-per-click, or set your maximum amount of money you are willing to pay for a click to your website. You can also target only people in your geographical area to refine the type of visitors you are getting to your site. Other similar services to check out are Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft’s adCenter.

So, Even though SEO may not have been as easy as you thought, there are still some great options to promote your website and gain interest in your product or services. Some great targeted SEM coupled with a little patience and hard work will eventually pay off! If you have any more questions about SEO or SEM, email me.

I’ve finally escaped the bouts with squeaky toys and smelly diapers this week: I’ve moved into a new office. Is was definitely nice to work at home while it lasted, but I’ve come to appreciate a quiet, designated area to meet clients and get things done. I’ve un-cleverly named my office ‘My Space,’ mainly to celebrate my great feat of not actually using ‘My Space.’

Apart from the joy of having a nice smelling office and seeing real people throughout my day, I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to grab a space within the newly renovated / restored Stahl building in downtown Centralia, Washington. I love being downtown and being able to walk to a coffee shop or grab a bite to eat that is not Top-Ramen or canned soup. Perhaps you will have the opportunity to visit me soon!

Here is my new Address:

Intrinsic Studio
106 West Pine Street Suite 11
Centralia, Washington 98531

I am proud to announce a brand new, custom, Content Managment System will be added to Intrinsic Studio’s tool belt. This new CMS will provide a great looking, simplistic backend to your web-site that will allow you to control the web-site content. If you are looking for a solution to update your web-site yourself without having to know any fancy code, stick around — The new CMS will be here in about a month.

Already have a web-site? The new content managment system can be integrated into your existing web-site giving you control over its content.

Be sure to email me with any questions you may have about the new CMS.

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