The new content site we launched for the Screen Actors Guild in June 2011 has already been used by over 1,600 producers who have used the site to sign signatory contracts and conduct business over the web.  This new site is revolutionizing the way business is done in the entertainment industry. The site is featured in this cool video that demonstrates how easy we’ve made it for producers to work with SAG.

We’re pleased to announce that we have been recognized for our work on a new content site for the Screen Actors Guild. Graphic Design USA, a resource for designers since 1963, has recognized our work in tandem with our client, SAG. Our consistently high-quality work has earned our talented team multiple awards from this and other organizations.

1. Social media isn’t just experimental; it’s real ROI and can be tracked and measured

• Similar to website analytics that come with most hosting accounts, there are tools and analytics applications that measure real-time activities within social networks such as Radian6, Infegy Social Radar, Scout Labs, and Alterian
• Free sites like SocialMention.com and HowSociable.com quickly measure your influence and visibility over a broad social media spectrum

2. Get intimate with smart phones

• Social network activity is becoming more local and mobile with GPS in smartphones
• Location based services and features create competition, promote offers, and reward participants. Examples include Yelp, Foursquare, etc.
• Localized results help people connect more intimately

3. Niche social networks are rising

• People are beginning to seek out niche social networks and online communities to access in-depth information and focused discussions (i.e. Facebook links your interests or “likes” to others that share the same).

4. Search engines are becoming more social

• Search Engines are employing real time content
• Search engines are collective in nature. Social network interactions from users help in determining the relevance of search results.

5. Slow economy = rewards for shared expertise

• Consumers respond favorably to no-strings-attached advice and/or expertise from brand ambassadors, CEOs, professionals, etc.
• Engaging customers and prospects via social media develops thought leadership and credibility
• Consumers are less likely to interpret shared experience or product reviews as advertisements but rather, credible user experiences

6. Social media marketing is scalable and strategic

• Social media provides several outlets to promote and define a brand.
• Savvy brand marketers not only utilize social media as a way to market a product, but also a lifestyle, cause, or channel for customer service

7. Less Clutter, More Efficiency

• It’s easy to filter out the “noise” in social media networks with simplified design and user experience
• Posts and feeds distributed via social networks are often short and concise
• Streamlined news feeds and fresh content are now the forefront of user profiles

8. Blogging/ Micro-blogging (twitter)

• Blogging is one of the best ways to create fresh content around your brand
• With the creation of blog posts (unique landing pages), this allows visitors to easily share content across their social networks, which in turn boosts page views and site traffic
• Blogging is often a crucial strategy in enhancing organic (free) search engine ranking
• Add personality to the lifestyle of your brand and offerings

9. Social Media is becoming a part of every business’s lexicon

• SMB’s to Fortune 100 companies have already incorporated social media practices as part of their corporate culture or have hired agencies to manage their growing social networks
• Every industry has a unique approach to social media marketing, from brand enhancements to customer relations to promotional marketing.
• Social media is the new PR hub

10. Quality of relationships on social networks is improving

• The act of sharing and conversing motivates participation and exchange of information and gives users a sense of “belonging”
• Improved privacy settings enable users to strategically engage their personal and professional audience

Los Angeles (April 25, 2010) - The Screen Actors Guild National Young Performers Committee launched a new website specifically for SAG young performers on Saturday with a lively indoor carnival.

Approximately 450 young performers and their families visited the carnival at SAG headquarters in Los Angeles to check out the new features available at SAG.org/YoungPerformers, which include an interactive on-set feature, quizzes, videos, resources, frequently asked questions, and an online version of the SAG Young Performers Handbook. The site was funded through a grant from the SAG-Producers Industry Advancement and Cooperative Fund.

The carnival also included games, a Wii lounge, raffle, photo booth, dancing and the requisite popcorn and cotton candy. Each carnival booth was “presented” by SAG departments that shared information about the Guild with actors and their parents.

Among the young performers in attendance were Robbie Amell (True Jackson VP), Kasey Campbell (Brothers & Sisters, Weeds), Madisen Beaty (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ashley Fink (Glee, Fat Girls), RJ Mitte (Breaking Bad), Daniella Monet (Victorious, Nancy Drew ), Nikki SooHoo (The Lovely Bones, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish), twins Frank and Morgan Gingerich (above), and National Young Performers Committee members Jillian Henry (Ramona and Beezus, Lilo & Stitch: The Series) and Elizabeth McLaughlin (The Clique, Ugly Betty).

“The carnival was a great event for SAG young performers and their parents to be able to preview the new website, play games and get important information about SAG,” said SAG National Young Performers Committee Chair Justin Shenkarow. “We wanted to create a website where kids and their parents could go to get information in a fun, cool way, and with the new Young Performer’s site, we’ve definitely achieved that.”

View full press release and photos >

By James Copper

There are millions of websites on the internet all competing for the attention of users. This makes the design of your website very important if you want to stand any chance of surviving. You can spend huge sums of money promoting your site, but if the website design isn’t up to scratch then it’s not going to make any difference.

Before you look at SEO or other promotional campaigns, you should first experiment with the design of your site. All good web designers should already be aware about the importance of good website design.

Simple

Sometimes simple is better and this is true on the internet. It is possible to create stunning and very advanced sites. These are time consuming and can also take a long time to load. It is almost always best to stick to simple website designs.

Be careful if you are ever using pop-up windows as most people have pop-up blockers. These can also cause irritation if used too often. Simple websites will load quicker and will be indexed by search engines much quicker.

Titles

Every single page of your site should be valuable. All of these should have a clear aim in mind and should have a title. The title must contain your keywords as this will help to get your site indexed in search engines.

You can find out about keywords which you might like to use by using keyword tools like the one offered by Google.

Images

Using images on your website is great and will look fantastic. However you need to be careful not to overdo it. If you include too many images on your site then this can slow it down and make it take much longer to load.

The same goes for flash. Flash may make sites look professional to some people but it also makes it slow down. It also means that many people will have to download additional software to view your site. If you must use flash then keep it to an absolute minimum, not that many people appreciate flash websites anyway.

The main problem with flash and images is that search engine robots cannot see what they are. They will only index a site based on the text content. Set the alternate labels to try and reduce the impact this has on your site.

Meta Tags

When you’re designing websites it might be tempting to ignore meta tags and other information. However the meta description is used by search engines and should be able to encourage surfers to visit your site. Make sure you create a unique meta description and put the right one on each page.

Text Links

You must be very careful to create text links to different pages of your site even if you have another form of navigation. These are normally displayed at the bottom of each page. This will make it much easier for web spiders and robots to crawl your website and index it in search engines.

You need to be able to consider SEO at the time you design your website. If you design your website correctly then you should be able to make it look appealing to search engines.

James Copper is a writer for http://www.thebigagency.co.uk, and can be reached at info@thebigagency.co.uk

LivePerson is a cool concept. They claim “30,000 experts ready to chat”. The business model is that “LivePerson is an online destination, community and marketplace where individuals can chat live with experts in a broad range of categories”. Experts can get paid by users for their advice. I signed up as a “Web Design Expert” in order to see if it could help our business. This morning I got an email from LivePerson that there was a question on Web Design so I went online to provide my opinion on the issue. See the entire image of the question and the “expert” responses by clicking for “More” below. As my first experience with this system here are my thoughts:

• The expert responses (in this case) are not giving useful advice
• The experts did not spend anytime thinking about the holistic aspects of the request
• The experts did not do any research into the request
• I’m guessing the majority of the experts are offshore web development mills

The talismanclick.com website that the individual wanted to duplicate is not a good solution in my experience and it is a shame that these experts are going after a quick sale rather than promoting a better solution.  Click “More” below to see my response. This is not to say that LivePerson cannot help people with questions but in this situation I’ll let you be the judge.

Richard Parr
CEO Executionists, Inc.

1) Organic Traffic: With their Universal Search protocol, Google has started showing press releases in organic search results. If your press release is well-optimized, it can rank for two to three days in Google organic results. The press release can also get traffic from Google News and other news aggregator websites.

2) Link Building: You can use your important keywords as anchor text and link them to relevant pages on your website. When the press release is distributed these links will be picked up by distribution partners. Links from many of these sites will not be counted, but some of them will.  No matter how big or small your business, link building within your website is a great way to get aggressive on the web.

3) Reputation Management: If someone has criticized your company, one sure way to get the criticism off the first page of Google Blog Search or Google search results is to issue multiple press releases. Of course, if you want to do a professional job, then you need to get external links to your press releases and bookmark and tag these releases.

4) Bloggers and Web 2.0 Audience: Many bloggers subscribe to online press release distribution services like PRWeb. If your press release interests them, they might blog about it and give a link to your press release or your website. If you consistently reach out to this audience, you can get significant links, traffic and sales from them.

5) Traffic from Traditional Media: If your press release interests journalists, they will follow up with you and write a story about your business.This will most certainly lead to a short term boost in your website traffic and sales.

By: Milind Mody

Article Source

Executionists proudly announces our presence on the Better Business Bureau.  This is our second year as an accredited member with a A+ rating. We will continue to uphold our accreditation rating, which includes a commitment to act in accordance with ethical business practices and to respond to our customer feedback.