Organic Vs Sponsored Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

With regards to Search Engine Optimisation and paid Search Engine Rankings
 
In simple terms. There are 2 types of rankings.

1. organic
2. paid or sponsored.

The organic side of things can be manipulated and improved with some analysis and research and some adjustments on the home page. We often improve existing websites by applying our years of knowledge and testing. In a basic report we also add some recommendations for additional aspects outside of your website. Girling Design is often asked to put together proposals for organic optimisation. This is one of our areas of greatest knowledge.

The Sponsored links are worth testing but not always worth persisting with. They can be managed via your google account. Much of the same considerations  and thinking of organic optimistion can be applied to sponsored links.
The Girling approach would be to review the organic aspects first  and then consider the sponsored options. There are plenty of businesses who don't even look at sponsored linking.

Great movie still

bandfinder upgrade a resource for live performers

Bandfinder is a project that I and my business partner have been working on for the last year and a half. Work has continued on the project to make it more user friendly for live performing artist members.

We have made the latest round of changes and can invite people who are in live bands or solo artists or session musicians to join for free. They can take advantage of the useful promotional tool.
This is also a useful tool for artists to give to their managers or their agents.
It's designed to save everyone time who is involved in getting gigs and promoting them.

We think that artists agents and managers would love the system as it allows them to keep their bands organised.

The target audience are those musical people who perform live at venues, weddings, parties or anything else that requires live acts. We have a number of DJ's already listed within the system.

If you know some existing live performing artists, let them know about www.bandfinder.com.au
We also have a twitter page (usename: bandfindercomau) and a blog (www.bandfinder.blogspot.com)

Selling a business without any brand recognition is stupid

I had a chat with a chap who was retiring after a successful career. He was ringing us because as he said "They told me that I need a logo"... He went onto say "I've been working for 45 years on my business, I'm now retiring and in order to sell my business, they tell me I need a logo. I asked him a few questions. He responded with some interesting information. "I haven't needed a logo until now. I still don't know that I need one. I said "what's the problem" He replied "All of my network are retiring or have already retired and with them has all the work. We've got no work for the first time in 45 years and the industry itself is thriving".

I could see from his initial request that he still was not convinced that his business ever needed a logo or any advertising. We both realised that his business needed to be relaunched with a considered marketing and branding approach.

The desired outcome in many business cases at the end of the business life, or during the career is to sell the business to the highest bidder. Selling a business with a great track record but with zero recognition within the thriving market place might not be as profitable as it might have been.

The answer is not as simple as just having a logo. We agree - A logo at the end of a career means absolutely nothing. But what if they had one at the beginning. Better yet, what if they had a highly memorable logo and brand values that stood for something that the business did believe.

Take away the American flag from the patriotic American and what do you have? Probably a patriotic American looking for something else to hoist.

The logo is only valuable after it is recognised. It's what you do with it that counts. It's running with the flag through the whizzing bullets and planting it at the top of the hill. It's the placement of the flag over the casket as it returns from battle. It's the ceremony associated with the folding of the flag. It's a tangible reminder of it's associations. It's a trophy and it's a sign of peace or aggression or of prosperity or of what ever it needs to be.

What's a policeman without their uniform? The uniform is as much a logo as it is a piece of cloth. It represents something and it is recognisable. A uniform as part of a brand is mostly recognisable if it is amongst people wearing casual clothing. The moment that the policeman walks through a group of security guards in full uniform, they might be a bit harder to spot. Now we are talking about standing out. Another role of the logo.

So needless to say, we don't wish to deal with the unconverted. We wish to continue producing interesting concepts which support the attributes of our valued clients businesses.

Tactical goals versus Strategic goals

Understanding what a goal is can be a life long journey for some and for others it is like second nature. Often goal oriented thinking can use phrases that may be a little confusing. Below I have turned an explanation of two potentially confusing types of goals into one of the most powerful methods of communication. An anecdote.

To the question. what is the difference between a tactical goal versus a strategic goal.
Our answer is this;

Reaching the first floor is a strategic goal – either walking up the stairs or taking the escalator or taking the lift or scaling the outside of the building are the tactical goals.

You must do the tactical (task) in order to achieve the strategic outcome within a certain amount of time.

Spam and the potential of the good

There are a lot of misguided but likely intelligent people using their knowledge of the internet and email to rip-off other people. Are these people born bad or can they still be influenced to show an act of kindness rather than an act of unlawful behavior. I don't know. Can we influence their future behavior by providing some insight into goodness and its potential benefit for all.

I received an email from a spammer using a known credit card fraud technique.

Here is a different approach to just ignoring those who look to pilfer money through devious emails. I'm not saying that I only respond to spam in this way but it might make you think differently. Imagine the spammer being responded to only by goodness.
If you were surrounded by goodness, what affect would it have?

I know that this is a bit "Ra, Ra, Ra" cheerleader style - but perhaps it's what they need.

--- the spam response message starts here.

Dear child,

A better way to earn money, rather than stealing credit cards is to provide a service to someone who really needs help.
Get together with your friends who have also taken this wrong path and explain to them that you can use your brains for good and not evil.
Just because other people are doing what you are doing doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
If you can come together with your friends with a common goal of planning a good operation, rather than a negative one, you will make far more money.

Think about it. How many people do you know who need something other than money. Something like food or shelter, happiness, laughter, education, excitement, love.
What is that something?

Do you think you could get that something for them?
Rather than thinking, yes, I could get it if I had money – think, how can I use my smart brain to work out a way to get that thing that everyone wants through doing good deeds rather than bad ones.

All you need is one seed to plant to grow and produce many seeds. And when you plant those seeds, before you know it, you have thousands of seeds and plenty of food. If someone says it can’t be done, then prove them wrong through doing it – but you don’t have to show them – show yourself.

Look for the problems and look at how they can be solved through using your mind.

There are good answers to all problems – they just need careful thinking and planning. Plan to be happy and not sad for the rest of your life. If you continue on the path that you are on – you will be sad for ever. You will be happiest when helping other people for good.

If you think of something that is achievable, that is good for you and good for everyone else, then you are on the right path. And good for everyone else doesn’t mean that it helps other people do bad things. It needs to be something that is truly good for everyone. Can you imagine how that would make you feel inside.


Did you know that one small act of kindness has a huge amount of change on everyone around you.
Imagine what 2 small acts of kindness would do. Imagine what it would feel like to not have to worry about getting into trouble with the law or your family. You can feel this way by putting the bad things behind you and spending the next year of your life being good and being kind to people. Even to the people who you don’t know. The biggest and most powerful thing that you can control is your own mind. Even if all the people around you are bad – you can still be good and work out how to move towards other people who are good.

First you need to decide on who are the people who are not ready to receive kindness – and that doesn’t mean that you need to be mean to them – It just means that they are not ready and they may never be ready.

Look to your friends and family, look to your neighbors. Think about helping a lot of people by organising other friends to help.

Start a help group with people who are ready to receive kindness. Don’t place expectations on anyone – allow them to set their own tasks and for them to work out what the best good result is and challenge them to be the best they can at something that is good.

Paul Rand on logo design

I found many of Paul Rand's takes on logo design to be quite compelling. Especially the topic of dogs and crocodiles. It is also interesting to me that the word brand or branding is not used.
This is a great short video for customers considering having a logo designed.

Interview link

Paul Rand on design

Oh how I drool at Paul Rand's sense of colour and turn of phrase.
I would like his scissors.

Getting niched in the customer's mind

Creative ---->
adj.

1. Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals.
2. Productive; creating.
3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative: creative writing.

n. One who displays productive originality: the creatives in the advertising department.
<---

OK, now it says that all humans are creative. That doesn't niche us very well then.
The other words attributed to it that we like are; expressive and imaginative.

More often than not, we are these things. Even so - most people and companies are expressive. Even a potato is expressive.
That leaves imaginative. we also like the word'animals'. It sounds more exciting to be imaginative animals.

While this describes how we see ourselves, it's not much use to our customers. We need to ask ourselves 'what's going on outside the marketplace rather than what's going on inside'.
'What business are we in?'
OK, in the mind of our target market - being primarily corporate marketing people who have worked with design firms before. We are a multidisciplinary design studio.
That might be too broad. To be properly niched we need to be specific and it might be wise to narrow it down even more.

Girling Design
id, print and web design by imaginative animals

The animals part adds a great point of difference. It makes me think of an interview with Steve Jobbs about Paul Rand and how he describes Paul Rands business methods. He calls his methods as having a clarity within the business relationship which is refreshing.



But more than anything, getting niched is also about associating your own business ideals with attributes that you aspire to having.

Second guessing creative briefs

I read an article from a marketing person recently. They are involved in the creative industry and the article was about briefing a creative.
The take-out from the article was important from both the client and the creative expert perspective. It was that the client needs to be specific about what they want.
After reading that article I could not help but to test that theory. After some further consideration I have found that the statement, 'be specific' is not specific enough.

What if a client doesn't actually know what they need? This is likely the case when they approach a professional design studio for assistance in the first place.
Should a new prospect know what they need and exactly the way they want it presented, then they should really go to a finished artist or desktop publisher to obtain the communication item.
In theory, if we went with the original sentiment about the client being specific, then the designer wouldn't be the best person for the job. This idea has cycled about my little mind for some time and I have some conclusions after further consideration.
The client still needs to be specific - but they need to be specific about the areas where they are not sure how to proceed as well as where they are sure how they want to proceed.
If the client would like the designer to solve the challenge from A - Z - then they also need to be specific about that request.

Conceptual: Product design - one-push pizza cutter

Push down and cut your pizza with one downward movement. Cut into eight slices fast. When positioned in the middle of the pizza, all portions are cut equally. Best suited for pizza shops with lots of quick orders. The arms holding the blades are flexible springs. Depending on the materials and spring direction, the flexible spring may assist in the downward pressure when the arms spread apart. The central arm serves a dual purpose: it acts as a stationary stabilising element and as the initial central 8 way dividing cut. The round blade wheels then spray outwards from the middle to continue to cut the pizza into 8 slices in one downward push. The central arm moves up the handle as the arms flex away from the centre. COncept design: ©Copyright Nicholas Girling 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Rainwater tank signage. A clear compact sign

Have you ever noticed the big ugly tank water signs in peoples front gardens.
I did and really didn't like the look of them. The reason for that is that they completely detract from the garden itself. You end up basically looking at the sign and miss the garden all together.

Girling Design has created a small range of versatile screw on signs and adhesive labels to bring the focus back to the garden.

For one - our signs are smaller but clearly marked.










Our focus is on manufacturing simple, professional and visible tank water signage to compliment attractive tank watered gardens."
Now available in the shop

Art and illustration a success

After several years of working on the illustrative side of Girling Design, we have presented our work in their own spaces.
Printspace and Otispepper have their own blog environments and share consistencies of layout. Our work is kept separate within the blogs and the etsy stores to enable a clearer snapshot of style. Both brands are are the brainchild of both Mara and Nicholas Girling.
Click here to learn more.

Introducing Bandfinder

Designed by Girling Design - bandfinder has been specifically designed to rock.
bandfinder is a publicity tool for bands and venues. As long as each are members, they can publicise their gig on the home page and on their own profile pages.
A CMS was custom developed to manage new members and their performances. The site also allows different groups to login and edit their own content.
Venues can request bands and bands can confirm requests from venues via the member admin areas of the site.
During the beta testing for this site, it's free advertising. If you know of a band in Melbourne Australia - they need to become part of the community. Best thing would be to lock-in their name.

everyone has them

There is no lack of great ideas, but there is a shortage of people willing to implement them.

Good old fax machine

Here’s part of a fax that a client of ours sent me to show the image in grey scale. It is of a design that I created in full colour. I like the way it looks as a fax and thought that I would share with you. It has a great tonal range still.