Vance Bell - Web Design, Web Development and Online Marketing » Online Marketing

StyleMatters Website Launch

Vance Bell — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:23:55 +0000

StyleMatters is a Philadelphia-based entity delivering a full suite of professional writing, editing, marketing, website development, graphic design, video and strategic communications services. Lead by Suzanne and Robert Murray, StyleMatters has completed an impressive number of developmental editing projects for clients at home and abroad. Additionally, the organization provides a wide variety of writing and communications services both on- and offline for corporations, government agencies and individuals.

A pleasure to work with, I can recommended them wholeheartedly. So, if you are seeking to bring that book concept to fruition, need to revitalize your company’s online presence, or just having difficulty organizing that annual report—reach out to StyleMatters.

Services Provided:

Web design
Web development (CSS & XHTML)
Information architecture
Search engine optimization
WordPress installation and configuration
PHP development
Strategic consulting

Ethreations eCommerce Store Launch

Vance Bell — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:56:04 +0000

Ethreations is a new online storefront dedicated to becoming your online resource for refined, artisanal paper media products. Their first product is a line of hand-made CD/DVD media holders—perfect for professional wedding and family photographers, or anyone wanting to simply jazz up a gift for a friend or loved one.

Personally, I am rather fond of the ‘rusty copper’ version with two sleeves over on the side, but there are enough variations for any taste.

Services Provided:

Web design
Web development (CSS & XHTML)
Shopify theme development

Stephanie Churchill Website Launch

Vance Bell — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:55:17 +0000

Stephanie Churchill is a talented yoga instructor and massage therapist based in Philadelphia, PA. It has been a pleasure to work with her on several projects including her Totally Zen health and yoga blog and e-commerce store.

Stephanie wanted her personal site to reflect the simplicity of her yoga practice and spiritual outlook. We settled on a spare, almost modernist, design approach, incorporating a wonderful series of photographs showing Stephanie practicing various yoga poses.

If you would appreciate a personal approach to your yoga or wellness practice, contact Stephanie through her website today!

Services Provided:

Web Design
Web Development (CSS, XHTML & PHP)
Project Management
Information Architecture

Center City SIPS Banner Ad Campaign 2009

Vance Bell — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:17:40 +0000

Given the weather today I can almost believe it’s summer—and once again Center City District is planning their SIPS Happy Hour events. From June 3rd through August 26th, 2009 participating bars and restaurants throughout Center City, Philadelphia will be offering summer drink and food specials.

Every summer the Center City District promotes these events through regional publications and websites, such as Philly.com and Philly2Nite.com. This banner ad campaign was designed in the visual style of the events’ print advertisements to form the final piece of unified media campaign.

So, support your local establishments and take advantage of this great way to enjoy your summer. If you see me walking back to my table with a curacao margarita shaker, feel free to say “Hello!”

Services Provided:

Banner Ad Design
Image Optimization

Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 423 KB) and take a look up close.

Nocella Roofing Website Launch

Vance Bell — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:31:49 +0000

Have you seen the average small business website? If so, then you know the horrible state they are usually in—poor design, broken links, missing information, bad HTML, no search visibility and little traffic to speak of. Well, as a independent business person myself, I’ve made it a point to seek out projects that directly benefit other small business owners. Nocella Roofing is the latest example.

Nocella Roofing has been roofing homes and businesses in the Philadelphia area since, well, model T Fords lined Broad St. As you might imagine, their roofing expertise and understanding of Philadelphia’a unique construction requirements are second to none. Furthermore, owner Ray Nocella is true roofing innovator, holding patents for several winter roof ice abatement products and roof drainage systems. Recently, Nocella Roofing has even been developing environmentally beneficial and energy efficient green roof projects.

So when it was time to move the family business online, Ray and I first discussed the overall plan and strategy (like all good tradesmen), before getting down to work. The first fruits of our collective labor—a newly designed website—launched and immediately began to generate new business leads. Next, we’ll execute the rest of the online marketing plan and build that site into a solid, long-term vehicle for business growth.

Services Provided:

AroundMainLine.com Prelaunch

Vance Bell — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:44:40 +0000

Typically, I don’t mention work-in-process on this site, but this one time I am making an exception. Recently, I’ve been asked by the publisher of aroundmainline.com, to spearhead design and production on their new site—an online magazine dedicated to the Philadelphia Main Line area and surrounding region. Aroundmainline.com will offer interesting feature articles, reporting and resources highlighting Main Line businesses, events and people in a fresh, fun, quirky and visually stimulating manner, while reaching an important niche audience that has long been ignored by other regional publications.

Look for upcoming aroundmainline.com launch information throughout September. Early visitors can sign up on the placeholder site below for an invitation to a special Fall Around Main Line launch party.

Services Provided:

Center City District Sips Happy Hour Banner Ads

Vance Bell — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:03:59 +0000

It’s almost Summer again! The Center City District is organizing a series of Sips Happy Hours June through August for thirsty downtown Philadelphians—great happy hour deals at participating bars and restaurants throughout Center City.

Center City District markets these events through regional publications and websites, such as Philly.com, Philly2Nite, Philadelphia Weekly and WISQ. This set of banner ads will support the Sips Happy Hour and get the word out to Philadelphians. Each graphic was designed in the visual style of the events’ print advertisements and other collateral to form the final piece of unified campaign across all media.

A cold drink with friends on a hot Summer’s day is a nice thing! Maybe I will see you there!

Services Provided:

Banner Ad Design
Image Optimization

Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 525 KB) and take a look up close.

Email Marketing for Small Business (Part 1 of 3) – The Do’s and Don’ts

Vance Bell — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:57:07 +0000

Year after year it has become increasingly difficult for marketers to reach their audience using email. On a typical day some of my older email accounts may receive over 200 spam email messages. Even emails with a compelling, well-crafted subject line are destined to become just another unread annoyance. Nevertheless, email marketing remains inexpensive, and, largely because of this, an effective way to reach and grow an audience over time — when managed properly.

The best way to successfully market via email is to ensure people wish to receive your message in the first place. To accomplish this, you must be effective at developing your permission-based email marketing and contact lists. Commonly, small business owners overlook this simple task. Many small business clients (and even some large corporations!) I’ve worked with over the years share this tendency — having made only minimal efforts to build and maintain a proper customer contact list, or email address list of interested parties.

Building an Email Marketing List for Your Business

To begin the list building process, you’ll need a mechanism for gathering email addresses. At a minimum every small business website should offer visitors the opportunity to sign-up for mailings, newsletters and other email updates in a simple and unobtrusive manner. In additional, the same sign-up opportunities should be presented to purchasing customers whether online or at the physical point-of-sale. As your list grows, first to a few hundred, then a few thousand and eventually to tens of thousands of subscribers, you will possess an increasingly effective marketing tool — dramatically extending your ability to reach your audience, affect customer actions and create sales.

Many small businesses will try to circumvent the work of building a quality email list by purchasing large quantities of segmented email addresses from a bulk email provider. In the end this is inefficient and can potentially hurt your business or brand image by associating you with spamming and unsavory business practices. List purchase is at best a short-term solution. If you do decide to buy or rent an email contact list, consider using it only once-to send an enticing invitation to receive additional offers or promotions from your business. Those individuals responding positively will then become part of your core permissions-based list.

Getting Value from Your Email Marketing List by Giving Value to the Reader

However you decide to build your list, you need to use it intelligently, or else your marketing efforts will quickly become ineffective and ignored by your list members. A quality email campaign should have the following characteristics:

Value — High quality content that is useful to the reader
Brevity — Succinct, clear calls-to-action and messaging
Appropriateness — Highly targeted messaging designed with the audience in mind and using appropriate tone and voice.
Timeliness — Nothing is better than getting the right information at the right time. Promote for the season, holiday or event as best fits your business

Value

To avoid the dreaded delete folder, each email should be compelling. This could mean offering a novel or compelling promotion, extending a personalized invitation, or providing an opportunity for feedback on your product or customer service efforts. In short, meet the reader halfway by understanding their wants and needs as customers. Don’t try to get them to act as you wish; get them to act as they wish in a manner that benefits you.

Brevity

Unless you are using your email list to send a newsletter, keep it short.

Appropriateness

Know your recipients and track additional information regarding each contact as best possible. Understanding your customers in detail allows you to properly segment your general list and create better messaging and more compelling promotions for each target group. Avoid trying to market the same messages to all your list segments. Instead, create variations of your primary messaging and craft an email for each group. Accomplishing this takes less time than you might think and will payoff in better conversion and customer relations.

Timeliness

As part of every campaign, make certain you allocate enough time for the reader to receive, be impacted by, and respond to your marketing message. Never execute at the last minute. For time sensitive promotions (such as limited time offers or events), begin each campaign with a teaser email, or initial statement of your promotion. Float the idea to your list once in this manner, and then return to them again when it is time to act. Think of the first volley as the soft sell; the second as the hard sell. The tone of the first should be congenial; the tone of the second more urgent.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this series: “Writing and Designing a Compelling Marketing Email”

Prime Image – Repositioning a Product Line

Vance Bell — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:43:10 +0000

For over 20 years Prime Image has engineered and manufactured professional electronics for the broadcast industry. Their gear is used by the majors, including ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. Prime Image has a superior product line, but wanted our assistance to position it clearly in a unified voice.

We started with their most public marketing effort—their Web presence—reworking it strongly to reflect their proper market position. Marketing messages, product descriptions, were strategized and developed or rewritten on deadline.

The site launched on time and ready for a major tradeshow!

Services Provided:

Marketing Strategy
Information Architecture
Copywriting
Copyediting

Center City District Gallery Night Banner Ads

Vance Bell — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:23:01 +0000

Center City District organizes great events in Center City, Philadelphia. This time it’s the April Gallery Night. Spend the evening of Friday, April 18th exploring Center City District’s galleries with special exhibitions and complimentary cocktail receptions from 5-8:30 pm. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see Philadelphia culture in action.

I was happy to support Center City District’s online marketing of this event by designing a set of banner ads for use on regional event and media websites. Each banner ad or header graphic was designed in the visual style of the event’s print advertisements and other collateral yielding a unified campaign across all media.

Hope to see you there!

Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 460 KB) and take a look up close.