I recently had the pleasure of working with Stephanie Fish of Buckeye V.A. on her new website design for her Virtual Assistant business.  Her previous design was very dark with a black background and a bright white contrast.  It wasn’t portraying the look and feel that she wanted for her business.

I suggested that we try to soften things up with Stephanie’s new custom WordPress Theme and make it pretty while keeping it very professional-looking.  The gray pinstripes of the background is a symbol of a suit (professional) with pink accents (pretty), throwing a few swirls in just for fun.  Stephanie was very pleased with the result.  She wrote:

It’s taken many website designs and designers, but finally, I have a website that I’m thrilled about! It’s so nice to start the new year off with a great looking website (it makes a world of difference as a business owner when you are thrilled about your web presence)

Stephanie Fish of Buckeye V.A.

As an appreciation for my clients and friends, I have created a desktop calendar for each month in 2010 and will share each new monthly download here, on my blog.

The January 2010 desktop calendar is a scene from the shoreline of Mackinac City and Lake Michigan.  It was taken in October and it was quite cold.  You can almost feel the cold by looking at the water.  It was beautiful, nonetheless.

I hope you will enjoy and download the January 2010 desktop calendar for your computer.  Once you download the calendar, just right-click Please feel free to share this link with your co-workers, family, and friends.   And check back next month to download the February calendar!

EdenPURECanada.ca was a unique site to create.  The owner wanted to portray the feeling of “warmth” in the design.  In order to achieve this look and feel, I consulted a color specialist who recommended an orange and purple combination.

• orange gives the feeling of warmth, without being too hot
• purple/blue is the compliment to orange
• gold gives it a richness and brightness

The background design of the wavy lines helps to depict the heat radiating and filling the space, while the pattern in the header with the gold gives a soft and airy feel.

However, after a short time, the site owner discovered that the majority of his visitors were male, so we darkened up the site a bit to try to pull out more of the colors in the heating unit, changing out the purple for black, thus, keeping the “warmth” feel to the site, but making it a bit more masculine.  We made some other adjustments and the site has done very well.  You will see the finished product to the left.

In fact, this client chose the optional statistics package with his hosting and loves to optimize his page according to what he finds.  The site continues to rank in the top three positions on www.google.ca, www.bing.com, and www.google.com, much of this due to the excellent SEO copywriting of Cindy Bidar.  Cindy is excellent at what she does! Here is a screen shot of one aspect of his statistics:

These are daily stats.  You can see that the EdenPURE.ca site rarely dips below triple digits (blue).  This client has also found that many of his returning visitors (orange) have become buyers, which is GREAT news!

I have to tell you that working with you has been a joy.

Being new to the internet “game” I was more than a little worried about how I was going to build and manage an effective website. You have put all the fear to rest with your creativity and professionalism.  Working with Dramatic Design has proven to be one of the best decisions I made.

Thank you!

Dave Carstens

Dadec Enterprises LLC

www.edenpurecanada.ca

Business Card Printing

I have written before about which valuable information should be  included on your business card; however, I would like to address another related issue today.  The quality of the actual card and printing.

A new service that I have recently been able to offer to my clients is business card printing.  The printer uses a heavy, high-quality glossy cardstock that really makes the colors on your card POP!

As much as I like VistaPrint, the quality of their business cards is somewhat less than stellar.  When I saw the difference between the two, I was floored.  The image was crisp and clear and the card just felt more durable and dependable–which are the qualities that I want to portray.  I know the correlation isn’t automatic, but think about it…if a company displays quality in it’s marketing materials, doesn’t that impress you a little more than if they don’t?  I know it’s true for me–and I’m sure I’m not alone.

The pricing is really good for these quality, glossy cards, too!  It works out to be less than five cents per card.  That’s only $49 for 1,000 cards–and shipping is included!  You can design your own or outsource the design for the card (I do that too, of course).  Postcards, brochures, flyers, and presentation folders are also available at great prices.

I love being able to offer new services to my clients and helping them wade through the often confusing waters of marketing.  If I can help in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Remember, your customers or clients are already familiar with you and trust you in one area, so it is easier for them to trust you with new services than to go with another provider.   What additional services can you offer to your clients and customers this week?

Successful Chow Chow breader, Mary Kay McCleve has found the value in taking her business online.  She writes -

Just want to say thank you for all your hard work on my web site. I have been getting a lot of positive comments. The fast response to getting my pictures posted has really helped me with my puppy buyers. The consumer friendly way the whole site is set up is a GREAT feature. I feel my web site has really increased my sales and given me a lot of education in how important the web site is to my business.

While Mary Kay was already known around the world for her champion Chow Chows in certain circles, she is finding that having a web presence is exposing her to a whole new audience of people who want to buy her Chow Chow puppies.  We’ve been posting photos of the pups from birth…and they are just adorable!  Be sure to check out the Creole Chow Chows website–the puppies are sure to make you smile!