For those of you who follow Kella Design on Facebook or Twitter, I am sure you have seen our numerous updates talking about a project that is near and dear to our hearts.

Since it’s so important, I felt I should write for those who may not be utilizing social media, offering a bit more information about Cleft Awareness. Our daughter Ella was born on November 26, 2008 with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. As first time parents we struggled with finding comforting resources to help us through the process. We vowed that once we made it through the first year and initial tough surgeries, we would give back in anyway we could. Thus, Cleft Awareness Foundation was born.

Our Goals

1. Since support groups are more effective when there is a local presence, we hope to build a support group consisting of individuals in Wisconsin.

2. Through social media, networking, brochures and a website we hope to become THE place for providing up-to-date information, resources, stories and photos to parents and children dealing with cleft lip and palate.

3. Everyone knows of Smile Train, however we would like to create awareness that clefts occur approximately 1 in 700 births and it doesn’t just affect third world countries.

We have very high hopes and if we are able to help even ONE family – it will all be worth it. Stay tuned for bigger and better things from Cleft Awareness Foundation!

In the meantime, if you or anyone you know has a story they are willing to share please send it our way, kelly@kelladesign.com. For more info on Ella’s story please click here.

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Vinopal Title & Abstract

Vinopal Title and Abstract contacted Kella to “refresh” their logo and re-design their website. We believe their new website helps feature all of the services they offer.

Vinopal, located in Eau Claire WI,  is a full service title agency established on the premise of customer service. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff is eager to assist you in your home purchase, mortgage refinance or home construction.

STS Concrete Solutions
Kella provided STS Concrete Solutions with the complete package; Logo Design, Business Cards, Promotional Flyer and Website Design.

STS Concrete Solutions, located in Spring Green Wisconsin is dedicated to serving Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois for all concrete flooring and sub-flooring needs. They specialize in fixing un-even floors, epoxy finishes, concrete work and even provide steel system construction in a wide variety of building choices.

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There are three types of search results returned on a SERP (search engine results page): local, organic and paid.

Red Arrow: Local search
Yellow Arrow: Organic search
Blue Arrow: Paid search

What exactly is paid search? Paid results require a fee in order for the search engine to showcase your ad. The most popular form of paid advertising is Pay Per Click (PPC), where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad and visits your website. Since organic search results take time, paid search can be viewed as a quick way to get your website listed at the top of a SERP. Some people view paid search as an auction, where the highest bidder gets the best spot, however that is not the case and running a truly effective and optimized campaign takes time and skill. As advertising competition continues to increase across all markets this task becomes much more challenging. There are MANY factors that go into how well your ad performs.

Google knows that in order to make money search users need to click on the ad’s ranking within the Sponsored Links at the top and right-hand side of the SERP. For this reason they are constantly improving the user experience by providing the best search results possible. Quality Score is the main factor that determines how relevant an ad is and where it will rank. As an advertiser, if you want potential customers to see your ad – you need to pay attention to Quality Score. This score influences your ads’ position, and it partially determines your keywords’ minimum bids, which can help reduce your budgets.

I recommend setting up paid search within the two major search engines; Google & Yahoo. If your dollars are limited, stick to Google. When trying to determine how to allocate dollars, I suggest breaking it out based on the latest market share numbers. Google currently controls around 75% of the search market while Yahoo holds about 15% and other smaller engines make up the remaining 10%. Based on that – if you are spending $100 per month on PPC advertising, you should allocate $75 – 80 towards Google and $15 – 20 for Yahoo. As and FYI, in my experience Yahoo never performs like Google – so make sure you set realistic expectations and benchmark standards.

Which reminds me, even if you master one search engine, the other doesn’t necessarily use the same algorithm when determining ranking and relevancy. If you refer to the Yahoo SERP below you will see it returned completely different results than Google, even though I searched for the same keyword term, “madison wi restaurants.”

All that being said, do I think anyone can set up a paid search campaign? Yes. Do I think anyone has the ability to set up a fully optimized and effective campaign where the keywords are purchased with the correct tactics and the budget is maximized for the life of the campaign? Maybe.

The moral of my story —-when I was younger my grandma taught me, “If you aren’t going to do it right, don’t do it at all” and I still live by that motto today. When allocating dollars to various marketing tactics it’s important to make sure you are using your dollars wisely so you can fully realize the value of the advertising medium. If you don’t you might deem paid search an ineffective advertising medium, when in actuality it proves to be one of the most effective and targeted ways to drive traffic and awareness to your business.

Don’t feel comfortable setting up your own paid search campaign? Have more questions about paid search? If you’re spending any money on paid advertising, this should be of significant interest to you. Kella Design is definitely interested  and would love to handle your paid advertising for a fraction of the cost of our competitors. Contact us today!

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Lately it seems I have blogged a lot about social media and the benefits it can have for business’ or brands. Since Kella Design is a full-service firm I felt it was time to move onto one of our other specialties, Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

What is Search Engine Marketing? SEM is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of search engine optimization, paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.  In my last blog I spoke about search engine optimization and through a series of blogs I plan to talk about each of the tactics mentioned above.

It’s important for local business owners to take advantage of any and all marketing tactics that can help gain an edge in search engine marketing. One tactic that Kella Design highly recommends is to take control of your business listing through Google Places.

So, what is Google Places? Once known as Google Local Business Center, Google realized the sophistication level of the general public and the way they searched. People are no longer searching for an oil change, but want to know where they can locally get their oil changed, i.e. Oil change Madison WI. For this reason, Google re-prioritized their SERP listings and moved the Google Maps feature to where the eye focused (through heat map technology —->), increased the amount of listings shown and created Google Places (April 20, 2010).

Within Google Places you are able to claim and sumit your business listing. In order to verify the process Google mails a postcard with a PIN to the physical address within the listing. This usually arrives with a few weeks. Once your business listing is verified, you are able to fully customize your business listing. Some of the major benefits include: manage your business listing, post coupons and live updates and monitor performance.

To learn more about Google Places and the benefits of taking control your business listing view the video below. Want all the benefits but don’t have the time? That’s why we’re here! Contact Kella Design and let us optimize your business listing for you.

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SEO, stands for Search Engine Optimization and for most people, is a pretty confusing topic. Everyone knows you can’t judge a book by it’s covers and the same applies for websites. You may have the most creative graphically designed website but, without completing the other pieces of the puzzle, no one will see it. 

SEO is the other necessary piece of the puzzle but, what does that mean? In short, search engine optimization is the process of improving ranking in search engine results. There are many tactics to improve “organic or natural” rankings and it’s no longer enough to simply add META tags, stuff keywords or do search engine submission of your site to a thousand search engine indexes and directories. SEO is a multi-step process that requires detailed research, exceptional programming, planned link building and patience.

Many web firms will provide you a pretty website, accompanied by a high price tag and no optimization. At Kella Design, we know how important it is to have Google on your side. That’s why all our proposals include SEO – so we can continue to build your relationship with Google, the most powerful search engine in the world!

Questions? We realize there is a lot of information to digest. Feel free to contact us!

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Lately it seems like there is not enough time in the day! Between both of us having full-time jobs, being the parents of a crazy little monster and juggling everyday life and Kella Design, I am surprised we find time to lay our heads on our pillows most nights.

Don’t get me wrong, we are so grateful for all of the things mentioned above and truly appreciative of the success we are experiencing with Kella Design. All the hard work put in has given us quite the pretty portfolio. We have been pushing out so much work lately that I wanted to take the time to show off some of the most recent projects:

Dunner’s Lawn Service
Shaun Andersen approached Kella looking for a logo, website, business cards and trifold brochure to give his new business venture a professional look. We really like how the finished product turned out.

Sew Country
Cathy Lee, owner of Sew Country, located in Clear Lake WI, knew it was time to take her business online. Kella Design provided the fabric store with a website that allows Sew Country the opportunity to feature their many fabrics as well as sell them online through an e-commerce solution.

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When I blog I usually try to offer something informational and educational that just may help someone out. However, this post is solely to toot Joe Leschisin’s horn for being featured on a website called LogoGala.com for his work on the Red Door Realty logo he created. A lot of “creative types” get designer’s block from time to time when designing a logo and that’s where LogoGala comes in. The site aims to be an outstanding resource for logo inspiration and showcases fantastic designs in the gallery for public viewing pleasure.

Congrat’s Joe – we are all so proud of you

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If this is true, why does it seem everytime a new marketing tactic arises everyone’s a skeptic? When Social Networking sites came on the scene I expected the same type of scenario. Everyone, specifically business entities, is always hesitant to get on the bandwagon until many others prove success.  The typical questions are usually:

• What’s my ROI?
• Is it really worth my time?
• Isn’t it just teenagers talking to one another?

Now that many of the big brands have seen real results, it seems as if there is no room on the bandwagon due to the masses rushing to get on. As if there were a deadline, everyone has begun to scheme up their social plans and create a presence – even Satan uses Facebook.

In the past, promoting your company via social networking was much easier than today. You simply set up a profile in Facebook and maybe posted a status update once a week. Since so many big players and budgets have embraced social networking as a valuable medium – today, you not only need an active profile in Facebook but, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a blog are a must. You should also be considering other more relevant networks depending upon your industry. Some of the fastest growing social sites include Xanga, Ning and Bebo.

In addition to creating a presence within the social networks, big brands have also shifted from promoting their websites to promoting their social spheres. And it’s not just big brands. Remember how I mentioned Satan is on Facebook – well so is God, and the big guy upstairs is taking it one step further by promoting his social presence via billboards.

Social networking is definitely here to stay and can be a very useful tool for businesses no matter what industry. The important thing to remember – you always need a strategy in place before rushing in. Define your goals and establish realistic time commitments to make sure you are doing a good job. In my opinion the most important thing to remember —— it’s called “Social” Networking because the intent is to be social, conversational, transparent, helpful, etc. Don’t try to control the situation – just go with the flow.

Further resources and tips that can help you strategize your social model:

5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Business

10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips

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Am I the only person who cannot seem to keep up with the latest smartphone technology? For the past three years I have owned the LG enV (not the 3 or the Touch but, just the basic). I use it for the usual, making phone calls and texting like a mad woman.

Recently I decided since I am constantly online and need to have access to the internet all times – it was time to take the plunge into data plan world. Currently we have Verizon and overall are pretty happy with the service (sometimes a bit expensive.) I have been holding out for the iPhone but since we are both originally from small towns, At&T coverage area is slim pickings. I had heard rumors (like always) that Verizon was going to get the iPhone but the guy at the store told me to not hold my breath So all things considered, I finally ordered the Droid Incredible and it will be here this Thursday.

The phone is not even here and I already have buyers remorse. Trying to make myself feel better about my purchase, I began to compare the Incredible to the iPhone. This did not help. Of course I came across an article that the 4G iPhone may be released soon! How am I ever going to keep up with technology if I have to lock into a 2 year plan?

Last week Mashable conducted a poll to determine “Which device do you want more: Droid Incredible or iPhone 4G?” Unfortunately for me, 51% of readers wold prefer the iPhone 4G. I guess for now I will comfort myself with the fact that iPhone has not yet released their new phone.

So, what do you guys think about the ever growing smartphone market? What is your phone of choice? I would take any advice at this point.

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As an avid Facebook user – both for business and personal use, I have noticed a lot of confusion lately surrounding the most recent changes to Fan pages. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to blog about what has changed, why it changed and what it means moving forward.

As most of you know Facebook has proved to be “the” social network for not only personal conversations with friends and family but,  also a key marketing medium for business’. In fact, a recent article stated that Facebook fans are valued at $3.60/each in earned media for brands.

Since Facebook is such a powerhouse they continuously make changes in order to appease everyone within the network. So, what is changing? Facebook no longer allows consumers to “Fan” a page. People will now connect with brand or business pages by simply clicking “Like” versus the old method of “Become a Fan.”

This all stems from an article published in December 2009 titled, “No I Don’t Want to Be Friends With My Butter.” Basically, no one wants to fan or friend their Land O’ Lakes butter and are no longer engaged enough to friend/fan a brand.

This change forces us to re-think our business social strategy and language. In the past I have encouraged clients to gain friends by enticing them with offers. Example, “Friend Kelly’s Ice Cream Parlor and receive a free ice cream cone.” This type of scenario is no longer possible however, the only thing that really changes is the terminology used.

If I own the ice cream parlor mentioned above, I am still able to set up a business page and when a consumer “Likes” something within my Facebook activity it will still populate their news feed and they will be able to view my activity.

Still confused? I don’t blame you – Facebook changes more often than some people shower (not me). Here is an example to share: Joe and I are not a Vikings fan however, that does not mean that we don’t like certain things the Vikings do. Therefore, we are more likely to “Like” their Facebook page activity versus actually stating that we are a “Fan” of the Vikings.

If you still have questions, feel free to read this article from Inside Facebook for more details.

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