JAZ Design Company BLOG

So, you're doing your best to insert your business into the evergrowing craze of social media and you've got a Facebook Fan page. You're slowing, but surely, becoming more "liked" by Facebook users and you're doing your best to add fresh and diverse content that is both interesting and valuable to your target audience.

But, what is the value of your Facebook page? How do you determine the ROI for the time and effort you've put into this social networking?

We've stumbled across a new (beta), FREE tool that evaluates your Facebook Fan page and puts a dollar value on your page's fans. The Virtue Social Page Evaluator takes many factors into consideration, including but not limited to, Fan Count, Post Frequency and Link Posting to determine how valuable your content is to your fans and what dollar amount you can pin on those fans. It's kind of like asking yourself, "How much would I pay someone to become a fan of my page?"

You can find the tool here , and you can also read much, much more about how it works and their breakdown of how they figure their ROI calculations here .

If nothing else, we feel this is a fantastic way to show social media disbelievers that there truly is value in ensuring that your business is active in the social media world.

Need help with building your Facebook Fan Base? Contact us today and we can help you!

Regards,
The JAZ Design Company Team
Jason, Adriane and Terry

If you’ve ever said that your industry doesn’t apply to social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, we’re sorry to tell you that you couldn’t be more wrong.

Last week’s announcement by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerburg about their new platform to launch a universal “Like” button across the world wide web is capable of spreading the word about your product, service, or website to literally thousands of people. Of course, in order to use a universal “Like” button, you must first have a Facebook account. And in order for people to “Like” your blog, website, article, and so forth, you must have the “Like” button on your site.

Click Here to go to Facebook’s official “Like” button code generator.

Don’t know how to use the code? Contact us and we’ll take care of it for you!

Whatever your business, there is a good chance that creating an online marketing video for your website will greatly improve your website traffic, sales, and bottom line. But how does someone do this correctly the first time?

Click Here to See One of Our Client's Videos

First, know how powerful this marketing tactic is: From June to August 2009, American Internet video consumption grew from 19.4 billion to 25.4 billion views—a 30 percent increase in just 90 days. YouTube alone had nearly 10 billion video views in August 2009, according to comScore data.

Products, services, and locations can all be marketed through Internet video. We’ve outline some basic points to help you get your creative juices flowing.

You’ll need:
• Camera: A consumer camcorder, flip video recorder, or even a plain old digital camera that also shoots video. (For the best results, you'll want a camera that has the capability of using an external mic, so that you can use a cheap wireless mic and get much better audio than just using the camera's built-in microphone).
• Video Editing Software: Windows MovieMaker is free for video editing, and iMovie is included with Macs.
• Uploading your video to your site: The easiest way is to simply upload your video to YouTube, and then embed the YouTube video on your site. It's free, and you get the added benefit of people being able to find your video when they are just searching around YouTube. JAZ Design Company can also place it on your website.

Tips:
• Poorly placed videos make it harder for your video to generate revenue. Make sure you consult with us to find the best placement for your video to bring in optimal traffic and revenue.
• Keep your video under two minutes. People don't like to watch long videos online. Anything longer than two minutes starts to get really boring.
• Make sure your video is well lit. Nothing is worse than watching a video of a person explaining a product or service when you can't see what they’re talking about.

This is just a brief overview of what you can do to get started with internet video. If you’d like to discuss internet video options and placement strategies, call us today!

Regards,
The JAZ Design Company Team
Jason, Adriane and Terry

Hilton Head Island in South Carolina is a wonderful vacation spot. Our family visits every year and stays at this great house steps from the ocean. It sleeps 16 people comfortably and we have a ball. With this number of people activities and amenities are essential because everyone likes to do something different. There really is something for everyone at Almost Heaven Hilton Head http://almostheavenhiltonhead.com .

The house is a well designed 3 story 6 bedroom vacationers’ delight. Complete with a pool, third story suite, and an elevator to make groceries and luggage more manageable. The open floor plan on the middle floor allows everyone to comfortably coexist and mingle. Look out the glass doors for views of the ocean and sunrise from the balcony.

They call it Almost Heaven Hilton Head maybe because it is almost on the beach but it is definitely heaven. The first floor consists of four of six bedrooms and the laundry facility. Separated by the entry hall, each side of the house has 2 bedrooms; one with a Queen and the other with two twin beds, sharing a bath. Each bedroom is quite spacious and has an appeal of its own.

The stairway leads to the main floor of the home. This floor features a large open kitchen with counter and bar stools which overlooks an open living room, a private formal dining area, and the master bedroom suite. With a partial view of the ocean, this suite has a King bed with television, and a private bath with Jacuzzi tub.

The third floor has another suite with a King bed, a private full bath and a sitting room that overlooks the ocean. There is a sleeper sofa available that sleeps two.

Amenities include private pool with Jacuzzi (heated at an additional cost), outside wet bar, poolside bathroom, two separate sitting porches with rockers, and the elevator makes taking luggage and groceries up to the living areas easy.

Something for everyone includes plenty of golf courses for every budget and skill level, water sports including parasailing and kayaking. Fishing for mackerel and other game fish is a blast. Go to Harbor Town for a variety of tours both ½ day and full day adventures 10 miles out to sea. Everyone is bound to catch something even if it is only a good time.

Plenty of restaurants are nearby with any type of cuisine from sushi/hibachi, seafood, steak, fine dining or casual. Visit http://almostheavenhiltonhead.com/hilton_head_island_area_attractions/index.shtml for some ideas for dining or recreation around the island.

October, 2003

There are various ways of getting people to your website. One way is using print: business cards, letterhead, newspaper ads, and even billboards. While printing your business website on everything and anything is a good start, there are some additional, more important ways to increase your website's prominence on the Internet. Because more people are using the Internet everyday a business must have a good Internet presence to survive. Sure, people still use the Yellow Pages, but more often than not they also (or only) check the web for the information they are seeking.

Search engines are the primary way to find information on the Internet. Approximately half a billion, yes billion, searches are done per day between the two search giants - Google and Overture. The way search engines operate is by searching the content of web pages for relevant phrases. Webpages are found by robots that crawl the web constantly looking for new and updated content. The search engines then use various algorithms to compile this information and deliver it as results for a keyword or keyword phrase which was typed into the browser. Although Google is the leading search engine using this method, there are "second level" engines doing the same thing. But for all intents and purposes, Google is the main focus as recent reports suggest that Google currently powers around 73% of all search engine results.

Along with free indexing search engines like Google, there are paid-inclusion and paid-placement sites offering a different way to get your website listed. These help to power the rest of the 500 million searches done everyday. Overture and its affiliates deliver the majority of paid placement results today. Paid-placement methods allow an advertiser to bid on keyword phrases to determine placement of their ad in "sponsored results" on sites that include Overture's content. Advertisers are billed by the click, meaning every time a searcher clicks that link which came up as a result of a search, they pay the corresponding bid amount. This is where the term pay-per-click (PPC) was derived.

Paid inclusion is a bit different. Certain databases providing content to certain search engines require website owners to pay to have their website listed. The pages are found if they are relevant to a search. This requires a renewable annual fee. Any knowledgeable Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company will be able to get your website included in these important databases.

All three of these methods are important because they make up the majority of search results. However, SEO should be regarded as the most fundamental part of a website's Internet presence. You may say that you are getting traffic to your website, but is everyone able to find it when searching for your products or services? Every website has a target audience and it is very important to optimize your website's content for target phrases and search terms relevant to your products or services. This is the essential aspect of ranking. Google is constantly changing their algorithms to deliver more quality content and SEO companies are constantly working to keep up with these changes modifying pages and content to gain quality rankings. This is the main reason one should obtain the services of a SEO company. Most business owners are busy running their companies and have very little time to learn about website ranking. JAZ Design Co., LLC, a professional SEO Company, is familiar with the ever changing industry and able to help with your website SEO and managing PPC campaigns.

Ok, I made my plug, but here is some free advice: The first things to consider about your website are your target keywords and keyword phrases. Some questions to ask yourself: What is my product? How would I search for it? How would my friends search for it? (Ask them!) What will they expect when they find my website? And finally, how will they find your website if they don't know the correct address? Maybe they have your business card and with your website address printed on it or maybe they took a wild guess and found it, but most of the time they've done a keyword search. The question is did they find you or your competitor? This is where an SEO company can make some valuable recommendations and get your website equipped to rank higher on the search engines.

This concept applies to regional companies too. As everyone continues to use the Internet more, they are turning to their computer when looking for local services. This aspect of the Internet is just starting to evolve and does still have a long way to go. Eventually, a business without a website will suffer even if it is only a local "mom and pop" store.

Your website will be found by its content and the robot's ability to crawl the web, find your pages, and index them in their database. Many website designers neglect to utilize important 'tricks' causing pages never to be found. You may have good content, but if robots cannot index your website it will not be nearly as valuable. It is said that 20% of the pages currently published on the Internet are not indexed with search engines. This means most people never see them. For example, websites built with frames and ones built with a lot of fancy graphics or flashy multimedia will not be sufficiently indexed. It is the job and responsibility of website designers and business owners to make sure their websites are found. Of course there are some websites that we would not want anyone to find by doing a search such as personal sites and confidential business information. If this is the case, the responsibility also lies with the website developer to make sure these pages are not indexed. Various methods are used to keep parts of your website from being indexed such as special tags used in the code and/or password-protected directories.

To keep the Internet full of easy-to-find quality content, the publishers must take the responsibility for making it that way. Through experience and constant research, JAZ Design Company ( www.jazvt.com ) can help your business develop an easy-to-find and successful online presence.

The Foxfire Inn , a Stowe Vermont Bed and Breakfast and Italian Restaurant glows with warmth and charm. This This fine dining Italian restaurant is a favorite among Stowe, Vermont locals. The charm of the decades old building is inviting as you walk through the front brick patio with views of Mt. Mansfield to the left. A cozy bar welcomes you into the quaint restaurant while greeted by the professional host. After being seated be sure to check out the extensive wine list featuring Trebbianno, Placido as the house white Italian by the glass and Sangiovese, Placido as the house red. Some favorite menu items include appetizers as Clams Casino or the Stuffed Mushrooms Foxfire Style. People continually rave about the Eggplant Parmigiana thinly sliced fried eggplant layered with tomato sauce, mozzarella and romano cheese, baked and topped with our house tomato sauce for an Entrée and the Veal Marsala Combination veal marsala, fettuccine alfredo and steamed broccoli. Entrees Include; tossed salad with our home-made Italian vinaigrette dressing and our freshly baked garlic bread sticks. Reservations are recommended due to the popularity of the Foxfire Inn.

The Foxfire Inn Bed and Breakfast in Stowe, Vermont has five cozy guest rooms which are furnished with antiques, all with private bath and air conditioning. Inviting living rooms inspire guests to linger over coffee and liqueurs, perhaps play a few rounds of checkers or chat by a crackling fire.

A short history found on their website tells the story. Introduction into the restaurant business began when the Segreto Family purchased the Inn in 1975. They offered family style dinners to their guests. Now, more than two decades later, those dinners have evolved into a ninety seat restaurant serving Northern and Southern Italian specialties. Our full service bar features an extensive Italian wine list. Guests are welcome to dine in the restaurant or at the bar. In addition to our regular service, we're happy to host your special function.