Strategic Website Architecture is the Secret to Large, Successful, Engaging Business Websites

Jun 5 2013 by Nikita Semenov
When I started writing this, the idea of a skyscraper construction project came to mind.
I thought of a huge skyscraper with restaurants, retail stores, offices, gyms, and residential spaces — a large self-contained, compact community all by itself.

Source: Bernt Rostad
No one would ever start the construction process of a skyscraper like that until everything is properly planned and drawn out.
Source: Steve Newfield

I’m not a building architect or construction contractor, but I can still see the innumerable requirements you need to draw out before proceeding to construction. Room planning details, sourcing of good construction materials, managing the different teams involved in the building’s construction, zoning permits, funding allocation, natural disaster planning in case of earthquakes, the list goes on.

Everybody considers design as an important component of things; whether it’s the design of a skyscraper or the tires of your car.

Design is about not only bringing convenience, innovation, and comfort into people’s lives, but also in many cases such as skyscrapers and your car tires, people’s lives and safety becomes dependent on it.

I’m not an architect.
I’m an IT person. I’m a concept designer to be more exact.
For years, I’ve been designing strategies and conducting research for very large, ambitious website projects.

Concept design is the foundation of a robust website architecture. Like in the construction of a skyscraper, you need to have a sound blueprint for building large-scale websites.
In this article, I’ll share our company’s process for architecting large websites.

The Website Architect

Let’s first figure out whose role it is to do this thing called website architecture.
To me, this job is carried out by a website architect.

I deliberately avoid mentioning UI/UX designers and the IA guys here because website architecture goes beyond — or rather encompasses — the user interface, user experience, and information architecture of the site.

The website architect needs to have a solid understanding of usability, in-depth knowledge of web development tools, online marketing technologies, and everything else involved in the construction and maintenance of a website.

Just like an architect of a skyscraper or a residential home, she must be well-versed with the tools, materials, and processes of construction in order to plan the product efficiently and effectively.
This person, our website architect, should possess strong logical thinking, has an analytical mind, is smart with commercial aspects of websites, and be attentive to details.

Of course, for a guaranteed quality product, the architect can/should consult other specialists: designers, developers, etc.

As you see, the ideal web architect in my mind should be a broad specialist, because, as you’ll soon see below, there’s no getting away from that.

Overview of the Website Architecture Process

I’ll give you just a general overview of my company’s website architecture process.

The process is divided into these 11 stages:

1. Project Brief
2. Website Goal Definition
3. Define the Target Audience
4. Competitor Analysis
5. User Goal-Problem-Solution
6. Scenario Mapping
7. Mind Mapping
8. Information Architecture
9. Prototyping
10. Prototype Usability Testing
11. Project Specification

As you can see, all these stages are related to each other, and we’ve organized it in a sequential manner. Let’s discuss each stage.

Stage 1: Project Brief

Gathering the needed data from the client and your team can usually take 2 days. Though you should be as thorough as possible, also keep in mind that there’s always room for elaboration and additional data-gathering in the other stages of the website architecture process, so don’t get too off-track if some pieces of information haven’t been transmitted to you.

Determine Goals and Expected Outcomes

What is the client’s goals and expected outcomes of this project, and how does she envision the end result of the project? You should be clear about the evaluation criteria of these goals and expected outcomes to make sure you’re both on the same page. You have to be as specific as possible; goals and outcomes should be quantifiable and measurable.

Brainstorm with the Client

Ask the client to tell you everything he has on his mind. Listen to what he says patiently and thoughtfully. Take notes. Focus on what they’re saying and resist the urge to chime in. Your ideas and remarks can wait. If the client is passionate about his ideas for the project, he can spend hours talking about it, which is completely normal. When the client is really into the project, he’s a great help and pleasure to work with.

Client Idea Summary

At the end of your brainstorming session, you should ask the client to sum everything up — if he succeeds in boiling his idea down to one sentence, then the idea is clear. If not, you will need better clarity and focus.

Determine the Target Audience

Who is the client’s target audience? Who’s going to use this site, and how might they benefit from the site?
The client should have a clear idea of who the end user is, so that we can produce a website for them. Otherwise, it’s like playing darts with your eyes closed: You know where the target is, but it’s going to be nearly impossible to hit it.
You can also start discussing what the client already knows about their target demographic: gender, age, location, etc.

Determine Competitors

Who are the website’s direct and indirect competitors? The client and the website architect should be aware of the existing competitive environment.
There are always competitors. Even if the website’s idea is completely unique, there are at least indirect competitors.

Meet the Decision Makers

Meet with the people who make decisions. Discuss the deadlines, the budget limit, resource availabilities, and so forth.
Organizational matters, matter.

Results and Deliverables

Some of your other questions will need to wait to be answered later on in the website architecture process. What you get out of the project briefing stage will be basic data and just to get a general feel of what your client already knows about his project.
It’s crucial to understand the client’s needs and expectations at this early stage, and to choose the right direction for the project right at the starting line. The price you pay for not giving enough time to this simple but critical first stage exponentially grows as the web architecture process and website production progresses.
A project brief template. Source: docstoc.com
The deliverable of the briefing stage is a written document with detailed information given to you by the client and the decision-makers. This document should be approved and verified by the client. It can be in the form of a design brief.

Stage 2: Website Goal Definition

A website needs goals. The client’s goals might be these: to monetize the site, to increase the offline market share through online marketing, to better engage customers online, and so forth.
The goals define the direction of the entire website production process.
Besides determining the website’s goals, you also need to define success criteria according to the client.
A good way to establish goals is by using the SMART criteria. That is, each goal should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

For example:

• Generate $50,000 income within 5 years through ads, information products like e-books and paid subscription plans
• Assist users in making a choice of what pet to own
• Provide users with advice on pet issues
• Create a marketing platform for pet products

Results and Deliverables

As a result, you will have a document containing 2 lists:

• A list of project goals
• A list of the client’s goals

This document needs sign-off by the client/decision-makers.

Stage 3: Define the Target Audience

This stage involves researching the target audience. We need to identify what types of users will go to the site, and also define the needs of each group.

Gather Characteristics Data

We need to create a common persona for each group. The user interface design depends greatly on the results of this stage. To get started with this, we first need to define what our audiences’ common characteristics are.
Define Socio-Demographic Characteristics: We should figure out the sex, age, education level, and occupation of our target audience. Targeting teenagers (15-18) is going to differ from a site meant for people over 60.
Define Psychological Characteristics: We should determine the lifestyle, personality, temperament, motivation, value system, philosophies, etc. of our target audience. This information is even more important than socio-demographic characteristics in terms of user interface design. If, for example, our users are early adopters, the user interface and pre-launch strategy will be different than other websites.
Define Wants/Needs Characteristics: We should figure out why our user would want to sign up to our website, what problems they’re looking to solve with our site, etc. We define their pain points and aim to solve it with our website.
This information is vital, though it’s hard to find. If you’re working on a website redesign project, the client may already have this information if they have user feedback tools in place.
Sometimes the competitor can have it (but good luck getting them to share it with you). In this case, you need to perform user research studies and conduct surveys.
Geographic Location Characteristics: Country, city, region, continent — these are all helpful information. Being online does not completely eliminate the location factor.
Sometimes geotargeting is the first thing to think of when creating a national site, government website, or any location-dependent website.
Moreover, website content and website copywriting is heavily determined by the audience’s location.
You will need this when you’re in the information architecture (IA) stage.

Create User Personas

When the target audience portrait is well-defined, we can then create personas.
Example of a persona. Source: uxmag.com
The main goal of the web architect here is to determine all the possible groups of users, starting from the largest (core) group, and ending with the smallest one.
Then we create a persona for each group.
Each of the personas you develop should have a:

• First and Last name (Don’t use the names of real people to avoid distortion of the story)
• Photo
• Age
• Location
• Occupation
• Marital status
• Hobby
• Skills
• Problems they need to solve
• Personal and professional experience

To get a better image of your target audience you can interview potential users. This is about marketing research at this point.

Results and Deliverables

After finishing this stage, you should now have two things:

• A document presenting the general characteristics of the target audience
• Personas

Stage 4: Competitor Analysis

To ensure the success of the project, you need to know your competitors and have good ideas on how to get ahead of them. You should discover their strong points and weak points.
There are several methodologies involved in conducting competitor analysis research, including market participant polling, and Internet and print media research.
If you’re creating a local website, don’t limit yourself only to your country. Look through international websites that are doing similar things. Most likely, there are similar or analogous projects up and running somewhere in the world. Some of these projects can be rather inspiring.
For example, we’ve been working on a social networking site for pet lovers for a client in Russia. We didn’t find direct competitors in the local market. However, there are several foreign sites and indirect local competitors. They are:

Competitor	Characteristics
www.dogster.com	international, popular, quality
www.dogster.ru	Russian project, quite popular, satisfying quality
www.catster.com	international, popular, quality

Your website’s competitors can be direct competitors or indirect competitors.

• Direct competitors can be defined as any website operating for the same user base and who offer analogous products. For example, a direct competitor of Microsoft Windows is Apple Mac OS.
• Indirect competitors are competitors who offer similar products, but only partially satisfy the target audience’s needs.

SWOT Analysis

There are different approaches towards competitor identification and analysis. I like SWOT analysis the best.
SWOT — which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats — helps indicate the strong points and weak points of your competitors, and more importantly, aids you in figuring out project opportunities.
SWOT matrix. Source: wikipedia.org
While analyzing competitors, you can discover useful site features and ideas worth adapting onto your own website — general, universal site features like commenting systems, web forms, etc. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel in these cases.
All good ideas you end up with during the competitor analysis stage will be needed for the mind mapping stage (which we’ll discuss later on).

Results and Deliverables

You should now have:

• A list of direct and indirect competitors
• A SWOT analysis for each competitor
• Research summaries (ideas generated, market opportunities, etc.)

Stage 5: User Goal-Problem-Solution

Proceeding from the personas we’ve developed, we can start working on goal-problem-solution.

User Goals

Every person has short-term and long-term goals.
There can also be sub-goals. For example, a person might desire to improve his career, but first he needs to find a job. The sub-goal is finding a job to reach the goal of improving his career.
For our website project, we identify a person’s goals, problems, and we look towards providing solutions for them.
All goals should be designed well. Fuzzy goals won’t help, as it’s impossible to solve all problems within one site. Focus on primary goals and keep the list of goals short.
Some clients think if users listen to music online, their site should also provide such a service, even if their website isn’t looking to solve this problem. The more features we add, the more diluted our core objectives become.

User Problems

When we have a list of concrete goals, we can determine concrete problems.
For example, a user goal on our website might be to find a contractor that can build his construction project. That goal is more complex than it seems: How do we locate the right contractor for the user’s specific construction project? Is it important that the contractor is located close to where the construction project is? How do we allow them to quickly evaluate many candidates? Due to questions like these, you’ll generate ideas easily.

Our Solutions

When we’re done identifying goals and problems, it’s time to design and develop solutions for them.
This process brings great fulfillment to the website architect because she’s looking to solve pain points that her users have.

Results and Deliverables

As the result, we’ll have a goal-problem-solution matrix designed for each persona we’ve developed for our website.

Stage 6: Scenario Mapping

Scenario mapping is the stage dedicated to revealing possible user flows.
User experience mapping. Source: adaptivepath.com
Once again, we need to think like an end user and create probable scenarios of his actions on our website.
Every goal of every persona has his/her own set of scenario maps.
These scenarios help reveal weak points in our existing ideas and knowledge. Scenarios also help the website architect develop good user flows later on.

Results and Deliverables

We should have scenarios mapped out for critical site goals that we’ve established in the previous stage.
Here’s an example of a scenario:
User Goal:
Choose a dog
Scenario:

1. Go to main page
2. Go to "Zoopedia" section of the site
3. In "Zoopedia" section, find topics and discussions about dog breeds
4. Read topics and discussions of interest
5. Go to the Read Also section, located at the end of the topic because there’s more information there
6. Choose 3 preferred dog breeds
7. Return to "Zoopedia" top-level web page
8. Read some more
9. Find links to people selling dogs of these breeds
10. Make an informed, final decision
11. Go to a pet store to purchase a pet

When we wrote out this scenario, we ended up adding these site features:

• "Zoopedia" rubricator
• "Read Also" widgets
• Links to pet stores and dog sellers on the breed information pages

As you can see, scenarios help us find opportunities for improvement.

See Also:

• Customer Journey Maps

Stage 7: Mind Mapping

When we have a bunch of ideas, it becomes helpful when we start visualizing and interconnecting them.
The mind mapping stage is dedicated to creating a solid system of logically connected ideas and also helps us cut out unnecessary things. It’s a popular design conceptualization tool.
To create mind maps, we should use Xmind.

Find your list of ideas and divide them into logical categories. For example, let’s say we’re working on a real estate website. The real estate website’s sections might be:

• Property Catalog
• Community Forums
• Articles/News
• Information Center

Map all of your ideas into one of these categories.
If an idea fits in more than one category, choose the best fit for it.
Brainstorming will help sift out the useless and unneeded features, web pages, etc.
Each website section should be planned logically. Don’t forget about section-dependent features (such as the user being able to rate each property, in our example). Mark this connection with an arrow to remember the dependence (in our example, it would go to the Property Catalog).
You can design your own symbols to indicate different functional sections. If the web architect, for example, is undecided in terms of which section a certain site feature belongs to, she can mark it with a question mark. These symbols are really important if the project is large.

Results and Deliverables

As a result, we have a bird’s-eye view of the interconnections of site features and sections.

Stage 8: Information Architecture

Now that we have a detailed mind map of our website, we can start working on the website’s information structure, which will be the foundation of the website’s prototype.

The website’s IA can be created with the help of flowcharting software like Visio.

Results and Deliverables

You should end up with an information architecture (IA) design after this stage.

See Also:

• Information Architecture 101: Techniques and Best Practices
• How to Create Content Maps for Planning Your Website’s Content

Stage 9: Prototyping/Wireframing

You will need prototyping software for this stage. I recommend Axure, though there are a number of other similar programs.

The home page prototype doesn’t necessary have to be prototyped first. For example, in the case of an online shop or a blog, the product page or blog post page should come first, because these are critical pages, and will typically be the landing pages of most users on the site.
The website architect is going to lean on the mind map and information architecture diagrams to develop this prototype.
When creating each web page prototype, you should focus on how the user can achieve his/her goals. Before prototyping, you should refresh your knowledge of your target audience using the previous stages in the website architecture process.

Prototype the Primary Navigation Menu

The primary navigation menu is the first to create. We need to figure out the number of menu items and the number of drop-down menus.

Prototype the Header Section

Then we design the header section that typically contains these items:

• The primary navigation menu
• Search form
• Contact information
• Website logo

Prototype Contextual Areas

Now we start designing contextual areas, which will differ depending on the web page you’re prototyping. We will make content blocks, some of which are constant for every page, some of which won’t.

Prototype the Website Footer

The footer typically stays the same on each web page. Usually, the footer duplicates the main menu. It also contains auxiliary information such as the website’s privacy policy, links to social networks, contact information, copyright information, and so forth.

Client Feedback

The first web page prototype should be shown to decision-makers, and the reason for the layout should be explained to them. The client might revise and suggest some adjustments. That’s OK, because having this done on a low-fidelity prototype is much easier than if we had a higher-fidelity prototype.
After the first page is approved, we can move to the next prototypes. All the ideas represented in our mind map should be found in these prototypes. It’s crucial not to forget about the smallest detail, as it can turn to hell in the long run if you do.

Test the Prototypes Against Scenario Maps

Our scenarios will help test the mockups to ensure the logical order of every action.
This is the most time-consuming component of this stage and requires a lot of patience and attentiveness. In the case of large websites, there could be over 100 unique interface prototypes.

Results and Deliverables

The deliverables after this stage are low-fidelity prototypes/wireframes of all web page types.
Examples:



There are 90 some such prototypes for the example project above. As you can see, each prototype was broken down in detail. This way, no questions and uncertainty arose during the design of the functional prototypes and finished web designs.

Stage 10: Prototype Usability Testing

This is one of the best ways to quickly validate the effectiveness of the website architecture and make changes before things progress further.
Axure generates HTML from prototypes, which make them interactive and ready to test on users.

Usability testing at this stage will help you notice gaps and flaws in the architecture.
For testing purpose, we invite some representatives of target audience and observe how they manage to reach certain pages and results within the site.
Then, the users can be interviewed regarding the site in general.
After usability testing we make final corrections.

Results and Deliverables

As the result, we will have validated and improved the user-friendliness of our web page prototypes and we get a better picture of how users would be interacting with the site.

Stage 11: Project Specification

The final stage of the website architecture process is to create the project specification document. This should contain a detailed description of each stage of the website architecture process.
The project specification is the result of all the stages you’ve gone through. It typically will contain a detailed description of each prototype, user flows, and so forth.
The specs should be full and unequivocal. Be detailed and thorough, but also keep it as succinct and as concise as possible.
The project specification should contain all the information regarding software and web technologies required for the website.
Design requirements should be clear.
Once the project specification is approved, website development starts.

Humans Need A Compelling Story To Act - Marketing 101

The lack of communicating a compelling story is why many businesses and web sites fail. This is so fundamental to marketing, yet many businesses miss it and end up struggling instead of enjoying the lion's share of the profits in their arena.

Your business may be missing its proper share of profits because you made the mistake of developing your web site and marketing collateral with someone stronger in information technology than in truthful storytelling.

Integrated Marketing Communications plus the technology to deliver it are necessary to effectively deliver a message to the mind, heart, and wallets of the customers. Many businesses brochures and web sites contain the proper information and all the right reasons to buy - but they are emotionally uninteresting and therefore fail to create the right response.

Emotional engagement is necessary to cause the intended action. 

A story is what creates meaning and we act once something becomes meaningful to us.

It is not just enough to know. Just think about how many exercise and health practices you know, but rarely do. Instead you must also feel -- feel the benefits to yourself personally.

People talk about business-to-business marketing or of business-to-consumer marketing. But at a more fundamental level we are all people that make up the businesses. People are the decision-makers.

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Content Marketing - Internet Marketing and Strategic Social Media Marketing

As a business wanting to attract more customers through the Internet, are you struggling with content creation? We hear that all the time. First, we understand – you have a million other things to do and don't have time to blog or tweet, right? Well, here are a couple of time saver ideas to help your company come up with content for your blog program:

Outsource Content Creation - Promise Productions offers professional content creation at really low prices, if you just don't have the resources within your organization, this may be the best option for you. By "professional" we mean, not only well-written but marketing savvy – filled with keywords and positive links to best benefit your company's visibility and image.

Employee contest - if it's difficult to get your employee's to blog, try asking them to submit stories to you (the administrator). One idea - send an email out asking for the top questions your sales team and customer service reps get from their customers and what answer they give. You can turn each of those Q&A's into a post. And you could reward the person who submits the most Q&A's.

Customer contest - have a contest for your customers - send out an email to customers and ask them to share their story (or video) of how they use your product. Then the best story could receive a prize and you could submit all of those stories as blog posts.

Content creation is key to the success of your business blog program. Blogging strategically for better business is not just about having a blog, but USING it. Like that piece of exercise equipment, the more you use it, the more you benefit.

So too, you must also write consistent, relevant content. We are happy to help on the track for success with social media marketing, so call Promise Productions at 972-822-3587.

Our Gift - The Right Change For Success

It's time for the Holidays, the season of giving. The season of gratitude, giving and family. We're all busy thinking about how to make the people in our lives happy. Let me suggest, as you look out towards future of your business, if that future looks like the struggles you've continued to have all through 2009, you may not feel like celebrating.

What is needed is the right change for success. There are many companies dying right now. There are also many companies experiencing unprecedented growth and profits.

As a strategic marketing communications agency, our daily job is to develop and implement savvy marketing strategies to attract your ideal new business. It is a task that challenges us each day, and yet we are more optimistic than ever! Why?

Because, if you are really willing to adapt to today's marketplace, we can provide effective strategies for appealing to today's customers. We work to answer the questions of what really get's results. And our value is in how we provide these answers that apply to your business' needs.

So the BEST GIFT we at Promise Productions can give you is the Right Change For Success. The best gift you can GIVE YOURSELF or give your company or employees, is not an electronic gadget, cash bonus, or the like. It is a BETTER FUTURE.

How can we talk so confidently about a better future when many are in fear and uncertainty? Are we in denial of the negatives all around us? No, but we know that a higher degree of success comes through smarter marketing that brings new leads and new clients / customers your way.

Let's start with a real conversation with your company. A conversion about your past, present and future. A conversation about your goals and desires. About your dreams and the vision of the company.

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• Change in perspective / mindset / attitude
• Change your presentation to be most compelling
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To enjoy all this you need the right strategy where hopes become a reality. Let us give you this gift. Give yourself the gift of receiving the services Promise Productions provides -- they really are "services" because they exist to serve your business.

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Covenant Designs Gets Marketing Results

Promise Productions offers the right marketing strategy and visual presentation to attract your ideal customers for maximum profits. We differentiate you from your competitors by communicating your value proposition with clarity and power.

Our marketing services provide strategic solutions for effectively accomplishing your business goals. Whether you need video production, website design, internet marketing, catalogs, brochures or photography, we present you in the best light for optimum results.

Enjoy the fruits of success. Let us call attention to your distinctive value to attract both the hearts and budgets of your prospects.

Promise Production creates lasting positive impressions that express the essence of what your services are about. Get seen at the right place and time. Enjoy targeted visibility for higher recognition and profits.

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We welcome your call at 972-822-3587.

Give Customers More Ways to Find Your Business

The Value Of Blogging For Your BusinessDo you still regard blogs as a means of expression only for teens to talk about their favorite bands, or citizen journalists to support the political party of their choice? While it's true that these types of pages exist by the thousands, a blog can also be a powerful business tool for a company looking to increase search engine exposure and to connect with clients. At Promise Productions Marketing Communications, we focus on blogging in a strategic way to build your business.

Having a Website is Not Enough
Company blogs are a rapidly expanding area of the Internet, and businesses that are currently communicating this way have established a significant advantage over their competition.

Chances are you already have a website, but blogs provide an effective means to expand your online presence, to connect with more clients, and to build traffic to your website. In fact, it might be easier to get your blog on the first page of Google, than your website! Let us show you how.

It Internet is now the main way your customers and prospects find out information about your company, your product or your service. The easier it is for them to find you, and the more information you can provide when they do, the better your chance to earn their business.

Four Steps to Effective Business Blogging

1. Write about something you know.
The hardest part about blogging for some company executives is finding subjects to write about. But these are the same people that have built a successful business - in part based on their industry knowledge and ability to serve their customers. These are the subjects that should comprise the majority of your blog entries.

What new products or solutions have come into your industry? What are the questions and concerns that are foremost on your customers’ minds? In what areas could your industry be doing a better job serving its clientele? All of these are ideal subjects for a blog.

2. Focus on helpful information, not promotion
While a blog can help to sell your product, you do not want your readers to presume that this is your only purpose for its creation. When written effectively, a blog should communicate information that is helpful to the reader, while subtly communicating how your company is suited to serve their needs.

Think of a company profile article in a business magazine. The article will contain information about that company’s history, employees and achievements. By doing so, the reader will learn more about the company and hopefully want to do business with them, without being hit with an overt sales pitch.

That same strategy should be utilized when writing a blog. And by toning down the marketing aspect, you may find your blog entries will be quoted on other business websites that are also looking to inform their readership without endorsing a particular product or company. The more places online in which your company’s name and capabilities are mentioned, the more traffic you can drive to your website.

3. Proofread, proofread, proofread
Although a blog can be written in a more casual tone than a press release or a marketing document, spelling and grammar are no less important. It doesn’t matter how interesting or informative your message if it is expressed in a way that questions your professionalism.

4. Get the word out
Don’t just post your blog on your website. Cross-post each entry to social networking sites such as Facebook, and promote the appearance of a new entry on Twitter. We are experts at maximizing your blog's effectiveness this way. So contact Promise Productions for strategic blogging at 972-822-3587.

Fall 2009 Marketing Strategy HOT TIPS

A lot of companies are afraid of the present. They are afraid of the future. They want to know that there is a strategy that will make tomorrow better than today. Many businesses are letting the pressures shape them and have fallen into a passive "wait and see" approach. That is like parking your car on the highway of change –– you are certain to get run over!

The rules to advertising have changed. But has your marketing changed to attract today's prospects?

Plunge in to where your best customers are waiting, but with a smart strategy! The fact is that things are changing faster than ever and Promise Productions has found the sweet spots! The landscape of marketing is filled with exciting new ways to:

1. Share your value proposition,
2. Interact with potential customers,
3. Take advantage of customer reviews,
4. Brand yourself in the minds of your prospects with all kinds of "current news" sources

Think about it, let's talk about that last one -- ways to use "what's new" with your business to keep your brand / your products / your services on the forefront of your prospects' minds. There are more ways than ever to make your marketing "Web 2.0" savvy -- Twitter, E-Newsletters, Email Blasts, Company Blog, Reviews You write on other Social Media Sites, and much more.

The great thing is that these ways I listed above are not expensive advertising! BUT they have to be approached strategically if you want to truly get profits from them!

Used to be if you wanted this much power to be on the minds of your prospects, you had to have massive, full-page yellow page ads and you had to have a massive TV commercial campaign. Both of those are massively expensive!

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We keep saying it -- VIDEO MARKETING is one of your best bets for huge exposure on a not-so-buge budget. Video Marketing and Search Engine Visibility are the two BEST ways to promote yourselves to an audience that has migrated online. Call us for how to apply smart marketing strategy to Your Business today at 972-822-3587.

SEO Should be Integrated into Your Web Design From The Start

Creating a business website that is a success in the largest sense of the word means that is accomplishes three core things:

1 • Your website's look and feel appeals to your target audience
2 • Your website clearly communicates your value proposition
3 • Your website is found by your best prospects

Today we will focus on the third aspect -- being found. Your value proposition Promise Productions, we believe that search engine optimization should be as integral as possible in the creation and web site development process.


This is where the full-featured skill sets of Covenant Designs comes in. You see, we are marketers at heart. That means that beyond a modern design, beyond efficient programmings, when we build your web site, we build it to (a) appealing to, (b) earning the trust of and (c) attracting new business profits.

When web design, web programming and search engine optimization are all built into your website at the core level, the result is all that more powerful - powerful to attract the right kinds of clients that lead to optimum success. Yes it is more work to think of SEO from the start, but that is a higher level of strategic planning for a higher level of results.

What Does It Mean To "Build In" SEO?
It means many specific things. It means using programming structures that are inherently friendly to search engines such as Google and Yahoo. It means avoiding web programming practices that create web pages that can look fine on screen to humans but are unfriendly to the search engines (i.e. Javascript and Flash). Smart SEO affects the way you build your menus, the way verbiage is displayed on screen and the way your company blog integrates with the web site.

There is no single magic formula and one size does not fit all. As with all lasting success, it involves building your website to accomplish specific goals. Our strength is marketing and making every area of your business communicate a cohesive message that best resonates with your target audience. This can be simple or complex, straightforward or multifaceted. The key word here is "Smart Strategy".

Call Promise Productions to consult with you about your business growth goals, and where our web design services, marketing communications services and social media services can best support what your business is up to. We welcome your inquiry at 972-822-3587.

How I Captured 5 of Google's Top Ten Positions in 10 hours

A Strategic Social Media Marketing Strategy Case Study.

Now first of all, you don't really expect me to tell you EXACTLY how I did it, but I did. Here's what I can reveal:

I have been developing powerful social media marketing strategies for Promise Productions and I tested my latest one out last night. This morning I check the results on Google, and happy news, I had dominated the first page (just 10 hours later) - capturing 5 out of 10 organic positions.

This would not be possible without strategic social media marketing. The power our strategies give you for virtually instantaneous visibility is unlike anything I have ever seen or used. OK, in my excitement, I might sound like a commercial, but it works and I have proof!

Oh, and I should mention, all this is ABOVE and BEYOND the company web page. Meaning that these additional coveted rankings on Google are in addition to where your corporate web site ranks through traditional SEO services or through Pay-Per-Click search engine marketing.

I am all the more excited about real proof of value because there is a whole SWARM of bogus companies literally preying on your desire to put your company's products and services in high-visibility positions (like the Holy Grail of Internet Marketing -- First Page Google Results). But they all lack when it comes to delivering results. Well I did it not just once but 5 times, read on...

START WITH YOUR VIDEO MESSAGE
First I practiced what we have been "preaching" here at Covenant Designs -- the magic of using video to power your marketing. I made a fairly simple video. I put it on YouTube. (see our Dallas video production services here)

USING STRATEGIC BLOGGING
OK, then I referenced the video on a strategic blog I built for that purpose. Then I referenced the blog post on another strategic business blog. I am building a "chain" of social media posts, all referring and referencing the other link UP the chain. (see our strategic blogging services here)

STRATEGIC SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
Now I have these blogs all integrated with Other Social Media distribution systems (the secret sauce) to AMPLIFY their reach and effectiveness. The key is a smart network of automated re-broadcasters who are happy to promote you, so your own voice is distributed and amplified through a crowd as it were.

THE RESULTS
A mere 10 hours later, the rewards started coming in. Keep in mind that this is for a specific business product or service (I am not saying I can get this for you on something crazy like "Brittany Spears" in 10 hours). Our of 182,000 competitors, here are the first fruits on Google's First Page:

• 5th place with the Social Media Distribution system.
• 6th place with the YouTube video.
• 8th place from a 3rd party well-established web site that referenced my service (not the official company web site)
• 9th place from one strategic blog
• 10th place with the other strategic blog

NEXT NEXT LEVEL UP FROM HERE
You'd think I'd be thrilled, yes but I want more. The beauty is that this will ONLY BUILD. As other sites reference, view, forward and share the information, more links will build from a growing mass of positive PR. My next steps are to leverage our Twitter Marketing and Online Video Distribtion services.

Did I achieve this by "going viral"? No, that is not necessary. In fact, the YouTube video has been viewed less than 10 times thus far! No matter what anyone else might try to tell you; you can never control if something is going to "go viral" or not. Going viral is a nice intention, and it can be encouraged by certain strategies, but it is too unpredictable and never an element in our Social Media Marketing Strategy for corporations.

I achieved this through smart strategy. A social media strategy designed to create a CASCADE of links rippling out from my initial action. Call it leverage: get the biggest results from your marketing efforts. With a social media megaphone in place, even when you whisper, it still shouts.

What am I going to do next? I am going to Tweet about it and build the buzz momentum. So do I wish you luck in your marketing? No, I wish you "strategy."

COME AND GET IT
Covenant Designs is a Dallas-based Strategic Marketing Communications firm, catering to successful companies that are ready to enjoy greater success. We believe that success is designed. We believe in dominating your marketplace to enjoy the lion's share of the profits. We believe in working smarter for sweet success.

We're not here to hoard our success; we are here to share it with like-minded businesses. If you beleive what we believe and want any aspects of your Advertising, Marketing and Business Development goals amplified (Print, Web, Video, New Media, Social Media, etc.) call us today at 972-822-3587.

Adaprting Your Business To Today's Profit Sources

Mediocre companies are caught in a perpetual quicksand of sorts (see our earlier post on Avoiding Tarpits) -- struggling to squeeze every dollar from the same target market they have sold the same products to using the same marketing approach for year after year.

As we have noted, that is a recipe for extinction because the landscape has changed. Those who do not adapt their marketing (using powerful strategies like Covenant Designs offers) are basically setting themselves up for bankruptcy. But the good news is change is possible, and right strategy can put you right back on the track to success, the sooner the better.

What sets successful companies apart from the pack is an understanding of the need to balance today’s performance with a robust strategy for the future. To offer the richest future, these madkting and advertising strategies need to have a wholistic approach -- engaging both in a quick sprint to the easiest short-term profits as well as a marathon mindset to doggedly pursue longer-term marketplace domination.

Your business' success strategy must be complete with a strategic plan, creative approaches to making the right things happen, milestones towards those goals, and a commitment to investing the necessary resources for long-term success even though short-term profitability might diminish.

Think of is as climbing to the pinnacle of your industry's profit share. Such a victorious mindset replaces an anxiety-ridden future with a forward-looking plans for successfully adapting to an ever-changing marketplace. Marketing’s purpose becomes two-fold:
(1) To generate immediate responses for today's cash-flow, and
(2) To implement smart strategy – planting seeds for tomorrow's cash-flow.

Analogy From Nature - Migrate With Your Customers

Now, I DO want you to dominate your profitshare, but I do not want business to be predatory. Nevertheless, the following analogy from Nature holds true: A Spider weaves a web (in strategic places) hoping its prey will come to it. A Lion follows the heards; as its food source moves, it also moves - adapting.

Likewise, to enjoy the lion's share of the profits, you too must adapt to your cutomers and prospect's movements. A lot of companies are struggling today for the basic reason that they have not sufficiently admitted that their landsape has changed, the heards are moving, and they too must move. Sadly, they are being left in the dust as a result.

But that does not have to apply to your business. Clearly, you need to MOVE WITH your customers and engage with them where they are today (using Video, using Social Media, using more Relational instead of Dictatorial marketing methods). Once you move with them, yes, set up attravtive value propositions in strategic places, but learn this process -- as your prospects migrate, you too must migrate. Keep your marketing dynamic and relevant.

If you want expert help with that, our marketing communications professionals are just a call away-- 972-822-3587.

Long-Term Market Share Domination
First you must identify the factors that will impact your company’s long-term success. You might not have a perfect understanding of every competitive, economic, legal, sociological or technological force that looms on the horizon, but at least you will be alert to the possibilities.

Armed with information on the longevity and profit potential of your present market’s life cycle as well as budding market opportunities, you can begin positioning your business for tomorrow, today. Read our previous post stressing the key role that Innovation plays in this process.

From a front-line marketing perspective there are many ways to foster future business opportunities regardless of your business size or budget. Here are three of these ways:

1. Provide Platinum-Standard Customer Service. Your goal is always to exceed your customers’ expectations, but if you fall short, admit it. Many loyal repeat customers result from perfectly corrected errors.

2. Reward and Cultivate your Preferred Customers. Your best customers—those who are easy to work with, really like you and have a positive history with your company—are a goldmine of quality referrals. Strengthen existing relationships and build new ones by inviting these special clients and their guests to preview your innovations.

3. Create top-of-mind awareness. Not everyone needs your product or service today, but many will at some point. Capitalize on your vision about emerging needs and wants and new technologies and capabilities to get your product or service in front of tomorrow’s customers now.

Conclusion
It takes time for the seeds you plant today to germinate into future business. Foundational to all of this is the need to communicate effectively with your target audience. Consult with Promise Production Marketing Communications to learn how our technology and expertise can guide and boost these efforts.

Let us help position your company to enjoy the largest harvest from the many opportunities that lie ahead. Call 972-822-3587.

Dallas Marketing Innovation and Strategy

When it comes to your business making profits, there are really only two ways: marketing and innovation.

Innovation offers your marketplace something better. Marketing tells your prospects about your innovation – attracting new business clients. Strategic innovation is the "value" in your value proposition. Strategic Marketing is the "proposition".

The key to both innovation and marketing is STRATEGY. Strategy tells you what your market needs -- and how to make it bigger, better, faster, smaller, cheaper. Strategy tells you how to reach those most interested -- how to reach them better, faster, cheaper, quicker.

Many companies offer valuable products and services but have a lousy value proposition because they do what they do -- meaning they consumed with day-to-day operations and cannot have the perspective that a full-time marketing communications firm can. They are too involved with their innovation or operations to market strategically. The present operation must also apply forward thinking and that is where we come in.

Strategic marketing is about identifying your ideal business prospects, and then engaging them in a conversation about value and opportunity for them. To do that right you have to know them and their values and their needs – but also be innovative enough to look ahead -- to what the marketplace is GOING to need around the next curve in the road. You want to be the next "big thing"? Well that is how its done.

As my last post stated: success is not accidental. Successful companies not only have innovation going for them, but also have strategic marketing informing they prospects about the amazing benefits of all their innovation.

Today, any effective market plan has to address where your prospects actually are. Sounds obvious, right? But you'd be surprised at how many traditional ad agencies and companies themselves are "doing the same ol thing" in a new day and age. That means they are still aiming at where the target USED to be. If you are not hitting your sales goals or your profit milestones, could it be becuase youre marketing is in a rut? Could your strategy of yesteryear, be stagnant today? That explains a lot of bankruptcies these days.

Where is your best audience? Are the in print? (mostly no these days) In a lot of cases, they have migrated online. In a lot of cases, they respond best to Video. In a lot of cases, they are heavy users of and heavily influenced by Social Media.

Search Marketing, Video Marketing and Social Media Marketing have been around for a few years BUT it is in this last 2 quarters that they have outright exploded! If your market plans are not already adapted to this, face it, you are aiming at the shadow of where profit used to be found, and no longer aiming at profit itself.

The good news is you do not have to invent today' success strategies from scratch. Covenant Designs is a Dallas-based Marketing Communications firm. We are fluent in Web Design, Search Engine Marketing, Video production (for any destination from DVD to Website to smart phones), and Social Media Marketing.

Our innovative and strategic approach to brining in profits will delight your company. So take the toe tag off of your marketing, and let Promise Productions breath new life into your image, your branding, your corporate messaging and your Master Strategy that integrates it all for optimum profits. Call 972-822-3587.