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In the digital realm, the first page of Google search results is often considered a holy grail for businesses seeking online visibility. Such was the aspiration of Reno Pro Services, a company offering a comprehensive array of professional furniture services. The challenge? The digital sphere is crowded, making visibility a steep mountain to climb. However, they chose not to navigate this complex landscape alone – they turned to the experts at OCG Creative, and the rest is an SEO success story.
In today's bustling online marketplace, standing out from the crowd is no easy feat. Reno Pro Services recognized that a robust digital presence was critical for growth. However, capturing the attention of potential customers amidst a sea of competitors was an uphill battle. The mission was clear: to increase their website's visibility, drive more organic traffic, and ultimately, convert this traffic into loyal customers.
OCG Creative accepted the challenge with a clear plan: to leverage SEO best practices and transform Reno Pro Services from an invisible entity into an invaluable service provider in the eyes of search engines and customers. The agency identified keywords relevant to the client's business that held the potential to drive meaningful traffic and conversions. In this example, we will focus on the 5 following keywords:
"Furniture assembly reno"
"Reno furniture relocation"
"Furniture repair reno"
"Furniture assembly and repair reno"
"Reno commercial furniture installation"
OCG Creative's SEO approach was both technical and creative. They curated keyword-optimized content, focusing on relevancy, engagement, and quality. The agency also built high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites, boosting Reno Pro Services' domain authority. Additionally, they meticulously crafted metadata to ensure that every webpage communicated effectively with search engines. This blend of techniques ensured that the website was not only search engine friendly but also compelling and intuitive for its visitors.
The impact of OCG Creative's work was nothing short of transformative. Their expert strategies propelled the targeted keywords from obscurity to prominence. "Furniture assembly reno," initially with zero ranking, saw a significant rise in just a few months. "Reno furniture relocation" experienced similar success, climbing from zero to an impressive ranking of 48. This pattern of exponential growth was mirrored across all the targeted keywords, cementing Reno Pro Services' robust online presence.
OCG Creative's contribution to Reno Pro Services went beyond mere SEO. They played a crucial role in shaping their client's marketing strategies. Through their consultancy, they provided insights into customer behavior, identified market trends, and advised on effective promotional strategies. Their expertise enabled Reno Pro Services to refine their marketing efforts and establish a strong brand presence.
Furthermore, the agency ensured the website remained updated, user-friendly, and secure through regular maintenance. By prioritizing the site's health, they not only improved user experience but also furthered the SEO efforts, as search engines favor well-maintained, user-friendly sites.
The collaboration between Reno Pro Services and OCG Creative is a tale of digital transformation. By leveraging advanced SEO strategies, comprehensive marketing consulting, and continuous website maintenance, OCG Creative transformed their client's digital landscape. This case underscores the power of effective SEO, the role of an expert digital marketing agency, and the profound impact they can have on a business's online visibility. Whether you're a business owner seeking to enhance your digital footprint, a prospective client of OCG Creative, or a reader fascinated by digital marketing triumphs, this success story offers compelling insights and inspiration. Come to the Reno SEO experts for all your digital marketing needs.
Internet Marketing BackgroundAuthor of 13 books and presenter of over 50 keynote speeches a year, it’s no wonder that Guy Kawasaki is our internet marketer of the week. A venture capitalist, entrepreneur and advisor to Google among many other titles, Guy has worked with clients including Nike, Audi, Apple and Microsoft. But what sets Guy apart is his enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship.
A marketing icon, Guy Kawasaki spent much of his early career learning how to sell. After he graduated from Stanford University with a BA in psychology, he enrolled in the MBA program at UCLA. While there, he worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer, which helped him learn the principles of selling. Later, he took a job at Apple as a “chief evangelist” – a position that required him to “maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult.” Since then, he has worn many hats, including advisor, writer and speaker.
I first became aware of Guy Kawasaki after being given his book The Art of Social Media in one of my university classes. As any college student, I quickly scanned through the book, wondering if it was worth my time. But I quickly realized that this stood out against the towering pile of textbooks we were expected to read. It offered immediate and tangible value. Guy capitalizes on the idea that positioning and branding come down to what the consumer decides, not what you decide. As marketers, we do our best to communicate to the world that our services and products are unique and valuable. But we must remember to continue to innovate, to look out for the next curve, and to roll with the decisions of our consumers. At OCG Creative, innovation is in each of our practices. From creating content strategies, to web development and lead generation – innovation is defined in each thought, definition and creation. For more information on Guy Kawasaki or to view his speech on innovation, visit him at guykawasaki.com.
Seth Godin is a public speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur and marketing ideologist. He has published 18 books and founded both Yoyodyne and Squidoo. Not only does he have an MBA in marketing from Stanford, but was recently inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame in 2013. But what sets Seth apart in my mind is his model of marketing ideas in the digital age.
A brilliant marketer, Seth’s focus lies on the nature of ideas. How they are conceived and how they are spread. He brings back the concept of tribes- a human social unit linked by common ties. Seth describes tribes as being about leadership, and about connecting people and ideas.
As a writer, Seth’s reintroduction of the “idea of the tribes” strikes a chord. Converted to marketing, it’s about connecting people to a product that tells a story. A shoe company that gives a pair to the needy for every pair bought. A company grown off the backs of hardworking founders. Writing is about telling a story to people who want to hear it. To create a tribe of like-minded people and lead a movement - even if it is just drawing attention to a company or issue. To me, his lesson is about reinventing how you relate. Being a storyteller turns you into a leader, which sets you apart. In Seth’s words - “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.” Finding what makes our clients unique is what helps drive our marketing strategy. You can find out about his books and speaking engagements by visiting www.sethgodin.com. Or, just type Seth into Google.
Picking colors may seem like an easy chore that can be done in five seconds, right? Wrong, picking a great and impactful color scheme requires some planning and thought to how well the colors work together.
“Colors must fit together as pieces in a puzzle or cogs in a wheel.” - Hans Hofmann
To help you with your own palette, I've put together examples of website color schemes, to take for inspiration, as well as a few things to think about when you go to pick your website's color scheme.
Using warm colors with cooler ones will create a complimentary color scheme that is bound to impress viewers whether you choose a deep blue and bright orange, or a dark purple and vibrant yellow. Something to write down so you'll remember is, warmer colors are going to pop more than cooler colors, so you'll want to make the highlights and features of your site the warmer color of your palette.
Purples, blues, grays and sometimes green.
Yellows, oranges, pinks and sometimes green.
Forest green is a cool color, and lime green is a warm color.
Keeping things simple is always a good thing when it comes to building website color schemes. Using tints and shades of two colors will add dimension to your website's design while keeping a minimalistic look that won't overwhelm readers.
A high contrast website color scheme is a great way to direct readers' eyes through your website. Having a contrasting palette will allow you to highlight the key points of your website by using a pop color that stands out above all the other colors.
Keeps things professional, while also picking a palette that is fun and modern. Grays are neutral tones that compliment any color, having some grey in your website will set you up for any color combination you choose for your professional color scheme.
A color scheme that has one POP color paired with neutral colors is an easy way to build a dynamic palette in less than a few minutes. Neutral colors offer a professional look, by adding one bright color like cyan or a punchy pink you can have a sleek yet playful website that is bound to impress.
Having an impressive website color scheme will keep viewers on the page, as well as aid to the branding of your site and the business you've worked so hard to build. If you're not sure if the colors on your site are hurting your site's overall performance, let OCG Creative check it out. Our Reno web design and internet marketing team can help make your site more impactful and effective.
The best creative web design for clients all have one thing in common; image quality. Images are the number one visual way information is communicated and in the day and age of increasing demands for quick information, images do a great job at telling a story quickly for site visitors. Images are crucial for efficient web design because they break up content on pages which can be overwhelming for visitors. Essentially, people want information fast, and when they don’t get the answer to a search phrase, they leave the site (contributing to high bounce rates, low conversions, and lowered SEO scores). What better way to convey information quickly than through pertinent images paired with good keyword-heavy content aiming to match a visitor’s search phrase?
Efficient use of images can be hugely beneficial to a site and can add to a business’s branding, their tone toward visitors, their business’s image, efficiency in converting visitors, guiding efficient site-navigation, SEO, and much more. Images work hand in hand with creative web design and are increasingly recognized in their importance in conveying information:
“A common finding is an observed processing superiority of pictures as compared to words, suggesting that pictures have a faster and more direct access to meaning, while words are discussed to require additional translational activity...” -Schlochtermeier, et al. (2013).
Given the importance of images to visitors, it is good to know what constitutes as good images for a website to make the most of creative web design.
When people think of the best web design they typically only think of a site’s layout. However, most people forget that a large portion of layout is where to place high-quality images and content. The best web design is unique for each client and their business. However, there are similarities with site layouts and how images are arranged:
Simple and effective designs use layouts with images that do not confuse visitors, help them navigate the site, sell your unique message, and help convert visitors into a customers. Good layouts also use images to guide visitors toward pertinent pages or locations on their site.
There is a misconception that images need to be small for a website. Images need to be as big as possible to get high resolution, only their file sizes need to be small. Thankfully OCG takes care of all file compression so even if you give us massive photos, we ensure they are optimized on your website. Images that are too small are 'pixelated' or 'low-res' and look bad on websites and can hurt your online appearance and brand identity.
High Res Image
Low Res Image
The images need to be well lit. Avoid using a flash because it tends to wash out all images. The main source of lighting should not be behind the subject either and you should avoid highly contrasted images that add a lot of distracting patterns. This is very important because many images on a website have text over them and high-contrast images make it difficult to read the content and can be strenuous to look at on their own.
Good Lighting
Bad Lighting
Having everything in focus can make the image too cluttered and distract from what you really want to viewer to see in the image. A ‘soft-focus’ pulls the viewer’s eye toward the object you want site visitors to pay attention to while softly blurring the rest. This can also help de-clutter busy images.
Good Focus
Bad Focus
Many people think that if you want to draw attention to something it needs to be centered in the image. That can get repetitive with many images on your site. Take images from close up and far away with the subject in different places. It can be a mistake to take all of your images from one perspective using one composition, unless you are taking product shots.
Good Composition
Bad Composition
You may hear web-designers or account-coordinators talking about ‘mastheads’. Mastheads, banners, or site headers are the images that display at the top of each web page. These images need to be large (to work with a responsive website) and need to be ‘landscape’ not ‘portrait’. Additionally, because visitors only see a tiny part of the whole image, it is a good idea for the image to capture 'depth’. For example, instead of taking images from a top-down angle on a subject, try taking shots from different angles that emphasize perspective. A good way to do this is taking a series of images starting from the ground-level and moving up.
Good Perspective
Bad Perspective
Many clients find sites and ask what we can do to make their site more like the example they choose. The most common site people tend to ask for is Apple or other sites for technology companies. So what do they do that makes their layout work so well?
Designing a website is a lot like buying a car, you want the car to be fast, attractive and affordable, as well as being just the perfect shade of race car red, while also accommodating your need to impress everyone by having all the latest gadgets and gizmos. I am no car expert, but I do have a few knowledgeable pointers for anyone designing a website. Web design, just like everything else, creates new trends every year (I think to keep people on their toes), but really to improve on last years trends that were successful or to replace things that had as much success as Pokemon Go. 
This will drive the reader's attention to the places you want to focus on the most, it also adds a great deal to the design. Typography is all about hierarchy the largest fonts are read first and the smaller fonts are read after. Make sure your headlines POP. When reading a website, I'm sure you will agree, you're looking for specific information and when that information isn't easy to find, or read, you'll move on.
Nothing turns people off faster than an unattractive and hard to read font. Pick fonts that aren't over crowding, preferably a Sans Serif, also pick fonts that have the option of being bold and light and everything in between. It's easy to play with fonts when there are more options to choose from.
While, script fonts are elegant and provide visual interest, they are very hard to read. There are very few applications where script fonts are a can do, wedding invitations and tattoos, web design is not the place for a beautiful script font that no one can read.
The quality of images can really make or break a site. Web sites are marketing engines; however, if you have images that make your business look bad, your marketing efforts won't be as successful. Invest a little bit of time and money into taking images that really portray all the awesome things your company offers and does. High quality images will greatly highlight the content of your site and most importantly, keep the reader's attention longer. Images are great tools to help break up the content of a site and give people time to digest what they have just read.
If your website isn't responsive or mobile-friendly, you are loosing viewers. People always have their mobile devices with them and very few people sit at a computer just to surf the web. By making the conversion to a responsive website design, you'll have the potential to grow your traffic and help your business grow. So make the switch, web designers everywhere will thank you.
Just like with glue, less is more. An over designed website is overwhelming and hard to read, and often times, slow loading. Looking at a screen is already hard on our eyeballs, we shouldn't be adding to that pain by cramming a whole bunch of content, images and colored backgrounds into one hard to read monster. Creating negative space in a design will not only help reader's eyes, it will also help the overall design of your website. I want everyone to be aware that “award winning websites” often utilize the theory of negative space. So lets hop on the wagon and maybe we'll win some awards!
Sliders were the next big thing in web design, but what people don't understand is that sliders and carousels are very distracting to readers because sliders often times continue to loop after you have already moved on to the next section in a website.
A typical viewer scrolls past a slider without even seeing the second slide; meaning all of your efforts have gone to waste anyways. Sliders and carousels add to slow load times for websites, and are ultimately a downfall rather than a benefit.
Creativity reigns supreme right? It is common knowledge that only the coolest websites get top exposure. Part of me, as a web designer, hopes this would be true. However, creative web design only takes a business so far. Ultimately, there are thousands of terribly designed websites that get more traffic than award-winners. If you want your website to work for you beyond a cocktail party talking point, then you need to know that Web Design is a part of Internet Marketing and not the same thing.
As cleverly explained by the cartoon, you can have the most creative and interesting website in the world, but if you market it horribly, then not many people will see it and you won’t get a very good return on your investment. OCG Creative’s team of dedicated and nerdy Reno web designers and developers work hard to produce these award winning sites. We have done this for numerous clients for many years. Part of the creative web design also involves the user’s experience with the website, which is why an analogy of a website being a poster is only part-true. In reality, a website is a fluid document – it changes with input from the user and looks different on different devices. OCG works to build the coolest website imaginable for our clients, but we know at the end of the day that it is essential to market it correctly, and websites should never stop when the design is completed.
As a secret confession, I used to wonder this question all the time. There are plenty of online tools to build a website, and before I became a web designer, I even built my own portfolio using one of these tools. The issue with all of them… they’re awful. Even discounting the fact that all of them stop at the end of web design, the web design itself is clunky, confusing, and very limiting. I didn’t realize this until I experienced it first hand. A website should never stop at the end of creative web design. Instead, it should be a rocket-powered branding piece pushing the client forward to more exposure and spurring the start of a comprehensive effort to convert website visits into leads. OCG custom designs each website so it is beautiful and branded, but most importantly, they are scalable and sturdy for expansion in traffic and tailored to convert site visitors into customers.
After website design is completed, many people stop and never touch it again. It’s similar to making a cool poster and then never posting it anywhere. Why? Internet marketing takes effort, DIY site builders don’t have the resources to market each site created and the sites themselves are cluttered and reject efforts to market them. A lot of this is due to lack of on-site SEO support in addition to other elements such as effective landing pages and lack of Conversion Rate Optimization. It is much easier to stop after finishing the web design part.
The point is, OCG Creative is a dedicated and experienced Reno web design and internet marketing agency that has the resources. Websites should be built to be optimized for internet marketing. The issue with DIY site builders, is the website's inability to integrate with a meaningful and comprehensive marketing campaign for individual clients. This is because DIY sites purposefully exclude any means of integrating with an internet marketing plan, it is simply too much effort for DIY site builders to accommodate these features. Internet marketing takes time and a sturdy website foundation specifically built for internet marketing. Additionally DIY site builders don't want to manage campaigns because they take time and constant tuning. Hard work with SEO, Landing Pages, CRO, and other services, take time to gain traction. OCG maintains these campaigns, constantly tailoring our client’s Internet Marketing plans to coincide with optimal conversions including tracking page visits and valued keywords to get them ranking higher. You can’t get that level of detailed attention with do-it-yourself websites. It takes significant time, specialized data collection, and informed decisions to be implemented after data collection to market a website correctly.
If you’re not sure where to go from here knowing all of this or if you still think an awesome looking website is the most important thing for you or your business, give us a call or browse our other topics. We’ve been doing this for a while and know the internet marketing world front and back.
Several days ago I was doing some online market research when I recognized a wondrous and disturbing pattern. A pattern of modern advances through automation, the mathematical narrowing of my vision for the sake of a potential sale. I acknowledged the presence of some kind of fancy-pants algorithmic doodad working inside the machine that narrows down my choices into related searches and previous purchases. I suddenly felt restrained. I felt tethered. I felt as if the opportunity for true digital exploration and market research, for the adventure inside the great unknown, was suddenly truncated. While one part of my brain accepted and welcomed the predigested feed of comfortable info, there was another part of me that felt a wee bit worried and anxious. In this new age of "recommendations" and automated Facebook ads we may be in danger of having our identities predefined by our previous searches and purchases. Leaving us no room to open our little minds to new ideas and influences outside of our own limited perspective. Earlier today, I found myself stepping outside my usual research comfort zone of design sites and kitty cat blooper videos, and stumbled upon a blog post regarding tips from filmmaker David Fincher. The subject of the blog was "5 Filmmaking Tips" from the director. And while I’m not a filmmaker, myself, I figured I'd dig in and see what the director could teach me about my field of advertising art. I soon found myself basking in the warm glow of some tasty wisdom nuggets.
Some of the points which translate nicely into our field of expertise:
A quote from David Fincher -
"Do the best you can, try to live it down,’ that’s my motto. Just literally give it everything you got, and then know that it’s never going to turn out the way you want it to, and let it go, and hope that it doesn’t return. Because you want it to be better than it can ever turn out. Absolutely, 1000 percent, I believe this: whenever a director friend of mine says, ‘Man, the dailies look amazing!’ … I actually believe that anybody, who thinks that their dailies look amazing doesn’t understand the power of cinema; doesn’t understand what cinema is capable of."
There is a distinct gap between the various flights of fancy that pop into the mind of a creative designer and of what is actually applicable or functional in the world of print and web. The challenge of day to day designing for an agency can be found in the collaborative efforts between directors, designers, vendors, account managers and the clients. There is only so much we can control, and for the rest of it, we need to keep on trucking, ever open to better processes and more concise communication to move the process forward.
While the jury is once again out on the whole concept of left versus right brained-ness, the point is still valid. Multiple points of perspective can give a designer a fresh set of eyes or a new point of view. I often turn my designs sideways to see if the composition holds water from different angles of attack.
“I think that Fight Club is more than the sum of its parts, whereas Panic Room is the sum of its parts. I didn’t look at Panic Room and think: ‘Wow, this is gonna set the world on fire.’ These are footnote movies, guilty pleasure movies. Thrillers. Woman-trapped-in-a-house movies. They’re not particularly important.”
Not every website you create needs to be a portfolio piece. Not every client needs or wants a portfolio piece. Each varying company has it's own specific needs and preferences. A photographer's website is going to look very different than a dollar store, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some aspect of artistry and craftsmanship in the dollar store site. Each design has it's own demands, and an artsy-fartsy coating isn't always the answer.
Breaking a project down to more digestible chunks is something any designer can identify with. It's easy to become overwhelmed by multi-week or multi-month projects. Sometimes the big picture isn't necessarily the BEST picture. Remember to take a step in, break the project down, and don't forget that the whole whale needs to stay somewhere in the back of your mind.
I've somewhat liberated my online market research by spending some time outside of my specific market. If you are feeling bogged down in the narrowing filter of the neo-web, try looking outside your field and open your mind to how people in semi-like fields are achieving success. You may find yourself surfing the latest trends in celebrity needlepoint or dolphin obedience training and learning something valuable. You can gain more knowledge by making an effort to explore as well as conduct market research.
