Redwood Productions, Inc. is always looking for web/graphic designers with advanced WordPress experience. You must be proficient in: WordPress (including theme customization, ecommerce & plug-ins integration) and Photoshop/Illustrator. Applicants must be able to work in a fast paced environment and self direction is a must.

Print design/production experience is extremely beneficial.

Experience may not prove to be as crucial as a good portfolio of work.  We want to see a diverse portfolio that involves WordPress customization, logos, business cards, brochures & postcard designs.

Initially the work will be onsite on a contractual basis but may lead to regular full time/part time employment. To apply, please email your portfolio to: design@redwoodproductions.com

Our new address is 1784 Heritage Center Drive, Suite 202, Wake Forest, NC 27587.  Our phone number will remain the same (919) 570-5050.  Take a look at our new office!

Some of these differences will undoubtedly have to do with the reputation of the web design firm, or their experience in your industry. To be sure you’re getting the most from your budget, however, you have to pay close attention to exactly what’s being offered. Here are seven business web design “options” that can affect the price you pay for a new website:

1. Quality and originality. Obviously, you don’t want a site that looks just like someone else’s… and especially not a competitor’s. Having a layout that’s tailored just for your business costs more, but it’s worth it.

2. A content management system (CMS). This is another one that’s well worth the investment. That’s because a good CMS will help you keep track of visitors to your site, as well as make it a snap to expand or update in the future.

3. A search engine optimization and online marketing plan. What will you do with your business website once it has been launched? How will you attract new buyers to it? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you aren’t getting your money’s worth.

4. E-commerce functionality. This is a business website feature that can literally help pay for itself quickly. If you have the opportunity to sell products online, then don’t miss out on the chance.

5. Conversion-focused copywriting. Is it worth it to have a professional write your website? That depends: How much do you need the extra customers and sales that come with a strong marketing message?

6. Web hosting. You might not think it matters where your website is hosted, but you will the first time your site goes down and you see what sort of difference a few dollars a month makes.

7. Ongoing support. In the same way, there will come a time when you need your web design team to come back and help you out. Like roadside assistance for your car or truck, ongoing web support is invaluable when you need it. Redwood Productions is always available to answer questions about your website – give us a call today 919-570-5050.

View the flyer: http://trentinifoundation.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/general_casino_flyer.pdf

We’re also accepting donations from businesses for prizes & a silent auction that night – please consider donating to this great charity!

In other words, Google decided to punish those who seemed to be trying to game the system.

Looking back, it was a completely logical shift that more people should’ve expected. After all, nobody likes finding junk articles and nonsensical pages in their search results. It was only a matter of time before the team at Google started filtering them out.

Looking forward, however, there could also be some implications for the future… and especially social media marketing.

Right now, companies seem to think that the name of the game on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is to gather as many friends, fans, contacts, and followers as possible. But, as more and more people turn to these sites daily, it’s becoming clear that some of these associations are next to useless.

Is it possible that the major search engines, or social media sites themselves, may start penalizing marketers who seemed to be engaging in “friend spam?” It’s not impossible. And even if they don’t, it’s very likely that users will start screening their messages and friend requests more carefully than they have in the past.

With that in mind, here are a few quick tips for staying on the right side of the search engines, social networking sites, and people in your web of contacts:

• Have a reason to connect. If you want someone to “friend” or “like” your company, give them a reason (like a discount, or access to exclusive products).
• Don’t act like a spammer. If all you do is broadcast offers from your profiles, then no one’s going to pay attention. Be sure to share breaking news, new content, and other items that are useful to your contacts.
• Form relationships, not lists. Try to engage your fans and followers in a one-on-one way. It takes a little more time than just sending out random tweets does, but it’s also the key to using social media marketing to build customer loyalty.

Social media marketing is new enough that it’s constantly changing, and will be for a while. If Google’s Panda update can teach us anything, though, it’s that making smart connections is always a good strategy for the future.

For that reason, not everything from the old era of marketing is irrelevant. In fact, here are three enduring truths that still count today… and what they could mean for your company’s Internet marketing plan:

You can’t sell everything to everyone. The Internet enhances competitive strength, but it doesn’t take away the need for them. Your business website should practically scream the reasons that customers want to do business with you and not one of your competitors. If it doesn’t, then there’s a good chance that you are trying to be too many things to too many people, rather than simply finding a profitable niche and exploiting it.

Prices can always be undercut. In the first days of e-commerce, it seems that people would buy anything over the Internet, so long as it was cheaper than they could get it in their local stores. While that has proven to be true for certain types of products and industries, we have since seen that lots of shoppers will still pay for quality and convenience. It’s best not to rely just on price savings to attract customers, if possible. That’s because there’s always someone who can sell for less, and you don’t want to have to undercut them even further to find customers.

Word of mouth is everything. When it comes to important purchases like cars, life insurance, or premium electronics, people still want to go with the stores and brands they trust most. The growing field of “online reputation management” is a testament to this – online or off, having customers say the right things about you can make or break your company.

Business is changing all the time, but the principles that drive it aren’t. Do you have the right online marketing team steering your company in a profitable direction?

If there could be said to be one source of friction between business owners and the professional search engine optimization teams that they employ, it could be summed up in one word: patience.

Clients almost always think the SEO process should move faster than it does. It’s almost always a bad idea to rush things along, however. Here are a few reasons why:

It doesn’t work. When you’re writing the checks, it makes sense to want a higher Google ranking now. But when you’ve been through the process a few dozen times, you know that it takes a while for the major search engines to crawl your pages, update with your new optimized content, and generally catch on to the fact that you’re making a big-time effort.

Your business site may not be ready for lots of traffic. Is anyone who was ever run a failed restaurant can tell you, a bad opening night can kill your business. Why? Because the last thing you want is crowds of people flooding through the front door at a time when your recipes haven’t been perfected, your wait staff hasn’t been trained, and your location still smells like wet paint. The same thing can be true of your business website. If it isn’t ready to convert visitors into buyers, then speeding up the process is only going to increase your losses.

It doesn’t make much business sense. SEO is going to require an investment of time, money, or both. Like all investments, it’s smarter not to risk everything at once, until you’ve seen some positive results. Putting too much into SEO too quickly can easily set you up for disappointment, not to mention that it could leave you short on cash when you want to expand your search engine optimization campaign or invest in other online marketing ideas.

Search engine optimization for your business website can be incredibly valuable, but resist the temptation to rush the process along. A good SEO professional will improve your rankings on Google as quickly as possible, and trying to hurry them through isn’t likely to do much good for them or your business.

There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorites is by giving a promotional product as a thank you. I can’t tell you the smiles I see when I give a customer a mug, writing cube, tote bag or even a simple pen. It’s like Christmas every time I meet with someone.  It’s also a great ice-breaker when asking for referrals or a great incentive to offer if people are referred to you.  Can you imagine the results if you set up a marketing plan to regularly maintain your relationship by just giving a few gifts? People want to feel appreciated – bottom line – and this practice makes them feel that way.

Not convinced? Take a look at these staggering statistics provided by the Advertising Specialty Institute:

• 60% of recipients do business with the advertiser after receiving a promotional product.
• 22% more referrals are gained by a salesperson who hands out promotional items compared to those who don’t.
• 83% of recipients remember the name of the company when a promotional gift is given to them – in comparison to only 53.5% of those advertisers seen in a magazine or newspaper and 27% remember a banner ad.

Did you know that a simple pen receives more than 10 impressions in a single day! Wow!

Give it a try and see the results.  Be sure to post your results on this blog.

When users click on your business’s Facebook link, what do they see? Your Wall?

Boring! Not a bad profile picture, but there’s no visual interest to keep their attention! Not to mention you’re missing a HUGE branding opportunity! Your Facebook Page should be a marketing tool – not just a networking tool. Besides, better marketing yields a bigger network and more interested new contacts!

Here’s what Redwood did to “spice up” Southeast Med-Spa’s Page:

Yowza! What a difference! Now, instead of landing on a drab Wall, users automatically land on this page first! It’s basically an active ad built into your Page. Like a mini-website, there are clickable links, making Facebook a portal for more web traffic on your main site! It’s even an opportunity to encourage users to “Like” you (meaning they are added to your Page’s contact list) – notice what we did on the purple bar across the top.

Don’t let your social media just sit there! Take action and get a Custom Facebook Page today!

Click here to see more Custom Facebook Pages.

Contact Redwood about customizing your Facebook Page!

Once solely a blogging platform, now we can build your entire site based around a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to update, add pages, optimize for searching, and more!

But why should YOU switch to WordPress?

It eliminates the middleman: Once we’ve set up your completely customized site, we’ll show you how to log in and make changes yourself. No web design or coding knowledge necessary! You can make changes as soon as you need and never have to wait on updates again.

Blogging is soooo simple: With a WordPress site, your blog and all your web pages are accessible in the same place. Adding new blog entries can be done with a few clicks, so keeping your content current has never been easier!

Google loves it: Every time you make an update or add a blog entry, the entire site “pings” Google (meaning that it notifies Google of your site’s updated content). There are also tools for quick Search Engine Optimization, like adding keywords to your blog entries.

It’s clean, modern design: While we can customize a site to suit any client, WordPress sites are – by nature – attractive and organized, with neatly arranged information. It’s the website all your competitors wish they had!

There are so many more reasons I could list – when it comes down to it, WordPress is one of the best web options I can think of to recommend to my clients. And with our web packages, your budget can handle the investment in a new-and-improved web presence.