Wednesday, December 30, 2015

How to Do Your Own Personal Year End Review for a Better 2016

Why a Year End Review…

How would you like to approach 2016 with much more insight, wisdom and focus than you’ve ever possessed?

How would you like plans and decisions to jump off the page?

How would you like 2016 to be the best year it can possibly be?

You can with this simple, but profound exercise as 2015 closes out.

In order to maximize 2016 you need to properly assess 2015. You do this through a simple but profound Year End Review process.

You can always go forward better if you know where you’ve been and where you currently are.

We suggest each of our clients (and personally to our friends) to do your own Year End Review.

Ideally, you set aside a large block of time, or several extended blocks where you can give your Year End Review special focus.

Try to avoid interruptions during this time.

The review consists of simple questions that we guarantee will provide profound insights.

What You Need for Your Year End Review

You’ll need (if you don’t have some of these don’t worry, these are ideal):

  • a piece of paper or computer to record your answers
  • a list of 2015 goals (if available)
  • your 2015 meeting appointment calendar
  • a print out summary of your personal and/or business finances (expenditures and revenue)
  • a time audit (if you completed one, if not just do this in 2016).
  • a journal or diary

I try to print these things out as I like to complete this process as offline as possible so I don’t drift into other areas. But whatever works for you best is best.

Here is the Simple Process for Your Year End Review

These may seem like simple questions. They are simple but not easy to fully answer. Reflect deeply. They get progressively more challenging.

Review Your Goals

Hopefully you had formal written business and life goals, but even if you didn’t, probably had some internal goals, some things you wanted to accomplish.

Ask the following questions of each goal:

  1. Was this the RIGHT goal in hindsight?
  2. What the result of accomplishing or not accomplishing this goal?
  3. What obstacles slowed or prevented the goal from being accomplished?
  4. How can I eliminate those obstacles in the future?

After the Year End Review, you’ll be more prepared to set, clear written 2016 Life and Business Goals.

Review Your Challenges

Life has a way of dealing us some unexpected problems, challenges and obstacles.

  1. What expected problems occurred?
  2. What unexpected problems cropped up this year?
  3. Is there any way I could have better foreseen these problems?
  4. What were the solutions to each of these problems?
  5. How did I arrive at the solution (useful for this year’s problems)?

At the end of this exercise, you can create a list of best solution methodologies for 2016 for the problems that will arise.

Review Your Appointments

Time is more valuable than money. Therefore it is important to review each appointment you had to see what “fruit” occurred from them.

Grab your calendar or appointment book and do a quick assessment of each appointment.

  1. Did I go into each appointment with a clear objective (even if it was to improve the relationship)?
  2. How well was that objective accomplished?
  3. Where expectations clearly set? How could I have set them better?
  4. Did the person(s) follow through on action items? Did I?
  5. What fruit occurred because of the meeting/appointment?

Every meeting you have should now be more filtered and focused because of this insight.

Review Your Finances

Print out a business or personal lists of budget, expenditures and revenue/income.

  1. What money was well spent? (good expenses/investments)
  2. What money was poorly spent (sounded like a good idea, but didn’t pan out)?
  3. What money was carelessly spent (not enough research put into the expense)?
  4. How could you have increased revenue/income (upselling or parallel services, better pricing models, asking for raise, etc.)?
  5. What financial and or investment opportunities did you miss out on?

You now have more financial wisdom on how to approach 2016.

Review Your Time

Each year you should strive to do a time audit. We do ours on 15 minute blocks for two weeks four times per year. (Plus as an agency we are always running timers, so we have that backup, as well.) The time audit seems cumbersome, but it is one of the best tools to show you how you are REALLY using your time.

You can use one of many online time tracking tools or do it on a spreadsheet or notebook paper.

I once had an intern who said he didn’t have time to read an extra book a month for self-growth. Once he looked at his time audit, he realized just how much time he had spent on TV and gaming. Soon he was reading a book a month easily.

For personal use, I recommend doing the time audit from when you wake to when you go to sleep. This will give you the truest since of how you invest your time.

Categorize your time into blocks.

My personal blocks are (not in order of priority):

  • New business acquisition
  • Moon and Own internal work (working on the agency)
  • Client Work (I have several sub-categories)
  • Spiritual Development (self and others)
  • Personal/Business Skills Development
  • Exercise
  • Focused Family Time
  • Entertainment/Relaxation
  • Eating
  • Sleep
  • Other

Warning: You will say, but this wasn’t a normal two weeks. I have reviewed many time reviews with people. They say this every time they hand me one. I have news for you. It was the week that was. You do this exercise enough and you’ll find there is NO such thing as a normal week…ever.

Review Your Legacy

Why are you on the planet?

What do you MOST want to leave behind?

Maybe it’s the way you shape your children to shape future generations, maybe it’s a book full of wisdom, maybe it’s a group of men or women who are more successful because of your investment in them, or maybe it’s a solid business that lasts into the future.

  1. What primary legacy do you want to leave behind (take your time)?
  2. What did you do this year to foster that legacy?
  3. What legacy work should you have done in 2015 that did not get completed but could in 2016?

Your legacy is your most lasting impact. It is what remains of your life and work long after you leave this earth. You can now better ensure you spend time creating it.

Review Your Journal

I am a BIG proponent of journaling. My journal includes wisdom, quotes, and verses that spoke to me.

I also include how I was feeling emotionally/energy-wise and what challenges, opportunities, and goals I had in front of me. It also includes relational challenges as well as any blessings that occurred. I try to have a gratitude list, too.

Mine has prayers in it, but yours doesn’t have to.

If you didn’t journal, reflect on key moments of the year.

  1. What are the three biggest life lessons I learned this year? (Look for patterns)

Take these lessons with you as life learned. Put them into continual practice.

Review Your Relationships

This is perhaps the most vital because the key to your success is the relationships you have. This is true both personally and in business. People will best carry on your legacy. People will gather around you when you are on your death bed. People matter!

  1. Make a list of your key relationships.
  2. How well did you invest in that relationship (What did you well? What could you have done better?)
  3. Did you exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control towards that person?
  4. What was your relationship with God like in 2015?

You now have greater insight into which relationships to focus on in 2016.

NOW You are Ready to Prepare for 2016

Completing the review takes time and energy, but I promise it will pay huge dividends in terms of 2016.

After you complete the review you should be set with a strategy for:

Set Goals

Create 3-5 meaningful goals for you, your business or role in it, and your family (if applicable).

Try to make them measurable with milestones.

Prepare for Challenges/Problems

Have a solutions methodology in place for problems that arise (who you call, what processes you use to problem solve, etc.) and hopefully foresee them earlier.

Secure Finances

Make a list of what expenses you will eliminate or reduce, create a better budget, and make a plan to increase revenue or income.

Set Appointments

Better schedule meetings and appointments with the right people and lead them in the most effective way.

Set expectations and objectives better for each meeting.

Plan Time

Better spend time in your core blocks, know where you are spending your time, and eliminate wasted time.

Schedule your weeks of vacation for 2016 NOW so you have that refreshing time blocked out.

Build a Legacy

Ensure you spend energy and effort on securing your legacy in 2016 by planning concrete activity towards it.

Start Journal 2016

Bring the three life lessons clearly stated into 2016 with you. This can keep you from having to painfully relearn them. If you are faith based, this will give you insight on what you want to change in terms of your relationship with God, as well.

Grow Relationships

Know whom you need to invest in and grow your key relationships. Put down some real-world investment in others strategies.

DO IT!

Your Year End Review is KEY to accomplishing all this. I beseech you, carve out time to do your Year End Review in the next two weeks, and GOOD THINGS will come from it. I guarantee it. There is no better way to spend your time in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t let 2016 “just happen” to you. Lead 2016 to where you want it to go.

The post How to Do Your Own Personal Year End Review for a Better 2016 appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Small Business Logo Design: The Morgan Electric Rework Case-Study

Recently, Morgan Electric called upon Moon and Owl to redesign their small business logo and their website. After having the same logo since 1983, an overhaul was desired. (But an overhaul that could serve multiple decades into the future, too.)

Small Business Logo Design: Where to Start

Creating a logo for your business may seem like a challenging task for the non-creatively inclined owner . A good designer will help you first understand the purpose of your logo and how it can complement your brand.

We worked with a small business in Fort Worth, Morgan Electric, to  create a logo that can stay with them for a long time. We know that a logo has to be workable in multiple mediums, on their website, signage, print, billboards, events, vehicles and more.  Your logo is like the visual mascot of your business. It is the symbol that people will quickly identify with your brand.  With all that amount of exposure, you’d better not just like your logo. You’d better LOVE it!

Morgan Electric Before and After

Morgan Electric’s logo had been adequate for them for since 1983. However, it was very complex, not easily legible and definitely needed an upgrade. It also quickly lost recognition when placed in a black & white or gray-scale presentation.

Moon and Owl listened to owner Ronnie Morgan, and we quickly understood the deep sense of Texas pride that saturated him and this Dallas-Fort Worth Company.

They had originally thought they’d merely use MEI (short for Morgan Electric, Inc.) on their logo, but in our research people who were already very familiar with this Keller, TX iconic company didn’t recognize the MEI shortening of the name. In fact, everyone tends to call them “Morgan Electric.”

The client agreed to keep his name in the longer form. We wanted something that worked in a simpler color scheme, including gray-scale and black & white.

Previous Logo

small business previous logo

Morgan Electric previous logo before M&O redesign

small business logo previous

Morgan Electric Logo Created by Moon & Owl

small business logo design

Morgan Electric Logo Design by Moon and Owl

Works well in grayscale, too.
small business logo design gray
This new small business logo clearly states both the company name and reinforces the rich heritage of Texas ownership. The client is extremely happy and is getting very positive feedback from their commercial and residential customers.

When Designing a Small Business Logo, Remember

1. Simpler logos are typically better.

Keep your logo clean and simple. Too much clutter, color, and text can be distracting and unattractive. they All the extras will detract from your objective, being remembered. Develop a brand color palette and focus on one, two, or three colors that fit your brand. Don’t select a random symbol. Find one that connects to something unique about your relevance to your customers and to the products or services you offer.

2. Reinforce the tone and persona of your business in your logo.

Your business has a “tone” or a persona to it. No one is going to want to trust a high-authority-needed business (think physician, lawyer, etc.) to a business with a quirky, cartoonish logo. You want certain businesses to emanate steadfast professionalism.

On the other hand, some businesses are quirky, fun and lite and your logo design should reflect that fact.

3. Differentiate from your competitors.

Take the time to look at your competitors’ logos. Make sure your logo sets you apart from your competitors in no uncertain terms. But to do so don’t violate #2 above.

4. Avoid symbol only logos if you are a newer business.

Yes, Nike, McDonalds, and Apple can get away with a symbol only logo. Most likely, you aren’t there yet. These companies have spent millions on brand recognition and have earned the right to drop the print version of their name and still have you recognize them. While this is where we all want to end up in business don’t start this way.

Ideally, you’ll pick a symbol and typefont that are unique enough that, one day, should you achieve such a milestone as these major companies, you’ll be able to go symbol only if you want to. Keep in mind, giants like IBM, Ford, and others have kept the typefont (word version) logos of their names throughout their existence.

5. The more colors, the more the logo will cost.

That rainbow gradient logo might look great on your computer screen, but when you the printer quotes you the cost of full 4 color process printing on a piece that could have been two color if only your logo would submit to such a rendering, you’ll be not nearly as excited. Each color will cost more in print.

In fact, make your designer show you a grayscale and black and white version of the logo so you can see how it translates.

5. Be picky about the final file format in which your logo is delivered.

We’ve had people call us who had a designer design a logo and deliver it to them in a moderately sized jpeg. Then that organization wanted to use the logo on a large billboard or print piece and the logo gets grainy and pixelated (ugly). They then panic when they cannot reach the original designer.

While we can recreate your original logo for you, you shouldn’t have to do this and unfortunately we do have to charge for these services.

A properly delivered logo file comes in a vector form, which is a fancy graphic design way of saying it can be expanded or shrunk by a designer with zero amounts of degradation of the image. Sure you can have them send you a .tif, .jpeg, or .png file too but make SURE you get a vectorized file (.ai, etc.).

If you need help with your small business logo design, branding, or messaging, call us at 817-889-1487. We’ll be glad to sit down, listen to your needs, and help design a stunning logo.

The post Small Business Logo Design: The Morgan Electric Rework Case-Study appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Monday, September 14, 2015

Create a Great Brand By Using Brain Science

create a great brandFace it. We like patterns. The human brain actually craves recognized patterns. Our brain “thinks” by taking in information and comparing it to existing stored information in our heads. We are always looking for a predictable pattern we’ve encountered in the past. Because of this natural wiring, our brains are constantly predicting and setting expectations.

This brain science can help you to create a great brand. . .

In a recent NPR report, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins David Linden, stated:

It helps to consider how the brain looks for consistency and predictability in even a mundane event like reaching for a cup of coffee. Long before your hand reaches the cup, your brain starts making predictions about everything from how much force will be required to lift the cup to how the coffee will taste.

Once the brain makes its predictions, it starts to “use sensory information as it comes in to compare the prediction with what actually took place,” Linden says.

You grasp. You smell. You taste.

If the coffee’s flavor, smell and even the coffee mug’s weight match the predictions, your brain declares victory. If not, it tries to figure out what went wrong. Where did the disconnect between our prediction and experience go wrong?

(Note: Very rarely will we say, “My prediction was off.” We are all very confident in our brain’s internal ability to predict. Instead the problem will be seen with have the experience was delivered to us.)

The same thing happens when a client, customer or patient encounters your brand. Not your brand as a logo or color scheme or website, but your brand as their experience in reality as compared to the experience their brain predicted they would have.

If they expected their doctor’s office or a restaurant would be clean with a courteous staff and you deliver that experience, the body actually releases dopamine, a chemical reward of good feeling for the brain toward your brand.

If they had to wait longer than expected or were treated unprofessionally, the brain makes a deep mental note of displeasure that the experience did not match what the brain predicted.

How to Create a Great  Brand

Striving after excellence in every aspect of how others experience you IS YOUR BRAND. Your business should be seeking to deliver a customer experience so great that it surpasses the brain’s predicted expectations and launches a chemical reminder to the customer, client or patient that your product or service is exceptional. Here are a few examples of branding at which the brain makes predictions and sets expectations:

  • The ease of finding needed information on your website.
  • The walk up appeal of your parking lot, store and/or office. They are already formulating an impression and matching it against other patterns.
  • The cleanliness and décor of your store, office or practice. You expect a hole-in-the-wall joint to have concrete floors and industrial fixtures. You don’t expect that of a high end restaurant or surgical  office.
  • The quantity of time they will get with you as their service person, doctor, salesperson, or representative. Will they feel like a rushed burden or like they are the most important person on your calendar that day?
  • The quality of that time. Were you engaged and in the moment? Did they have your undivided attention or could they tell your mind was elsewhere? Were they interrupted?
  • Your subsequent availability to answer questions and concerns about your service, product or procedure. Customer service and tech support are more important to your brand than any color scheme or logo redesign.
  • The cost they expect to pay for a service, product or procedure.

Avoid the Mismatch

If there is a mismatch between their expectation and a lowered reality, dopamine levels in the brain actually drop. This is what could be deemed “bad brand aftertaste.” We have all eaten something that had an unpleasant aftertaste and most of us didn’t go for a second bite. The same is true for our brains. A bad brand aftertaste usually results in a “no” decision by a client, customer or patient. It ensures they won’t repeat the experience with us, but will seek an experience that better matches their predicted expectation somewhere else. It often leads to them broadcasting their displeasure with your brand to friends and family, and with social media, their megaphone of discontent just got much bigger.

A great way to assess this is to hire a secret shopper who is not intimately familiar with your business to call and visit your store or office. (Moon and Owl provides this secret calling/shopping service.) Before the secret shopper arrives have him or her write down the expectations they have of their visit. After the visit, have them rank whether each expectation was met.

Avoid the Everything Is New Approach

While exceeding their expectations at every point possible, make sure their experiences with your brand do include enough of a predictable pattern match to their brain’s expectation that they can relate to it. If you are too outside the box and haven’t managed the way your customer will predict their experience, your creativity can actually backfire on you.

This actually happened in Boston years ago. In an attempt to introduce the concept of the telephone, a novel idea was constructed where theater goers in both Boston and New York would watch a play, and afterwards patrons could walk to the front of the theater and pick up this new invention and talk to someone in the other city about their thoughts and feelings about the play. Cool brand development? Not so much. The idea was so beyond anyone’s predictable pattern of expectation regarding the product brand that exactly zero patrons participated in the exercise.

The morale? Exceed expectations but have enough of the familiar that the brain says, “YES! This is exactly what I was looking for!” This is the making of a strong brand.

Give them what they expect PLUS MORE and you’ll soon create a great brand for you business!

Call us today for your secret shopping experiement, 817-889-1487.

The post Create a Great Brand By Using Brain Science appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Friday, September 4, 2015

Client Keene ISD reports 100x Return on their Investment

Congrats Keene ISD!

We enjoy our great relationship with the folks at Keene ISD. The Texas school district near Fort Worth selected Moon & Owl Marketing to help them grow and fill their available number of transfer students spaces. Each student allows the district more tax dollars to expand programs and offerings across the district. Because Keene is the second smallest land mass area district in Texas, we reached out to nearby students of larger districts who may not get the opportunity to participate in larger school activities such as sports and academic events.

Moon and Owl coined the phrase, “Big School Opportunities. Small School Experience” as the official slogan of the campaign.

The 100x ROI Results!

With a very modest public relations/marketing expenditure, Keene ISD saw a 100x return on their investment, topping 1000 students district wide K-12 as they gained over 101 students and $700,000+ in additional revenue.

We used outdoor billboards, print, direct mail, and digital marketing to make nearby students and parents aware of the opportunity to transfer into Keene ISD. Welcome nights and walking tours were held to orient the parents towards the benefits of Keene ISD including:

  • Small student to teacher ratios allows for extra attention to be provided to each student.
  • The district’s Junior High and High School are not the colossal 5-A or 4-A districts surrounding them where it can be tough to gain a sports team position without having played club or select leagues from an early age.
  • The district also is very highly rated by US News and World Report and is unique in its awards and recognition in Johnson County.

Here is a Cleburne Times Review article on the new-found growth and continued success of the Keene ISD district.

The district is working on a new masterplan made possible by the dramatic growth.

Keene ISD masterplan

Way to be Keene ISD! Keep up the great work and GO CHARGERS!

The post Client Keene ISD reports 100x Return on their Investment appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Home For Sale 506 Bent Tree Ln, Haslet, TX 76052

506 Bent Tree Lane, Haslet TX 4 bedroom, 3 full bath, Study and Gameroom, large mud-room/laundry. 3045 Sq Feet. FOR SALE!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Why Your Shopify Blog is Horrible for SEO and How to Fix It

HOW TO FIX YOUR SHOPIFY BLOG TO GET MORE WEB TRAFFIC

Shopify offers a solid ecommerce solution.

However, their blog platform is absolutely lacking in comparison with WordPress for any real search engine traction (SEO) on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Why does this matter…

With a Shopify blog you aren’t being seen online as much as you SHOULD be.

Therefore, you are LOSING MONEY from potential customers.

We urge-beg-even cajole all our Shopify clients into using a WordPress subdomain on their Shopify site.

You should be getting the revenue being spent on products and services you sell into YOUR pocket, not a competitor’s.

Here is how a blog helps you gain site traffic…

Placing fresh content on your site’s blog that includes keywords (terms people search such as “outdoor kitchen contractor dallas”) is the chief way to gain search engine ranking increases.

You should have a list of strong keywords on which to write articles.

You should also have a calendar with due dates so the articles get written. (By you or a ghostwriter who can write in your tone—hint: we do this)

Once you have a solid article written that is beneficial to your customers, it’s time to optimize it so Google will gobble up this content and rank you on that keyword.

This is where the Shopify Blog Problems Emerge…

There are several things wrong with the Shopify blog platform that are essential to SEO that Shopify fails to offer but WordPress has built in.

Because of the list below, you should STRONGLY consider using a WordPress blog on your Shopify site to get FOUND on Google. If not, we have a workaround, but it’s a bit ugly.

Here are the important differences with as little “tech speak” as possible. Let’s pretend you own an outdoor kitchen building company in the Dallas Fort Worth Area.

SHOPIFY BLOG VERSUS WORDPRESS BLOG:

⇒ Shopify Poor Link Structure | WordPress Solid Canonical Links

When you post on the Shopify the link that Shopify generates is bizarre.

It places a long strand of unneeded numbers in the URL.

The post should be simply:

http://ift.tt/1SdEMH7

Instead Shopify turns it into :

http://ift.tt/1SdEOip

This violates every good rule of SEO.

The URL should be as streamlined as possible. Google prefers the keywords you are targeting to occur early in the URL.

This unnecessary insertion by Shopify does three things:

1) It pushes important keywords farther back in the URL.

2) It includes meaningless terms into the URL, which “confuses” Google.

3) It can cause keywords to be truncated altogether.

In contrast, when you post with WordPress blog posts generate URLs that are beautifully attractive to Google and other search engines.

⇒ Shopify No Categories | WordPress Solid Category Options

A key factor to being found on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing is to stack posts under categories that are parallel to frequently searched terms. An example of a good category might be outdoor-grills.

Shopify offers no ability to categorize post, instead requiring you to you use tags which don’t work nearly as well as categories (OR you can start a separate blog for each needed category which is an end user NIGHTMARE!)

An ideal URL link should read, where the category outdoor-grill is a highly searched term:

http://ift.tt/1UKuwud

You cannot even get close to this in Shopify:

http://ift.tt/1UKuyCm

Adding categories would be super easy for the Shopify folks to remedy and it is a bit mind blowing as to why this hasn’t been done.

WordPress blogs come default with categories and tags enabled. It is as simple as checking a category box to apply before you post.

⇒ Shopfiy NO Attribution Links | WordPress Simple to Use Attribution Links

The name of the game in gaining search results is getting your blog posts linked to and shared on other sites.

For our clients, we use a large syndication network.

When one of our client’s blogs posts, it shoots out ‘automagically’ to 20+ other sites. This creates huge gains in search.

BUT key to this working is to have an attribution link on the post on syndication site.

An attribution link occurs at the bottom of each syndicated posts that looks like this.

The post Best Grills in Dallas first appeared on Manchester Outdoor.

Otherwise, Google can see these posts as duplicate content (copied content)and can apply a rankin penalty for having multiple pages with the same content.

It is nearly impossible to place a solid attribution link without a hackathon on Shopify.

Because the syndication fires off the moment you publish, and since you can’t know what random numbers Shopify is going to put in front of the URL, it becomes almost impossible to create the first link.

Even if you figure out the blog link through some sort of psychic powers (see the P.S. below), you then have to place that sentence on the actual Shopify blog, publish it and leave it until if fires to the syndication networks, then quickly go back in and pull it off the original Shopify post…a PAIN!

Shopify Blog Horrible for SEO

WordPress offers a simple plug-in to make this easy. It shoots out an automatic attribution link on every blog you publish.

Plug-ins, Plug-ins, Plug-ins

Shopify has no real blog plug-ins to upgrade search engine boosting, keyword frequency, measures alt image tag checkers, and other things needed for good search engine optimization.

WordPress has hundreds of thousands of plug-ins to help improve user experience AND get you blog its best for search engine results. One of the best is the YOAST SEO plug-in.

HOW TO FIX THIS SHOPIFY BLOG SEO PROBLEM.

Keep using Shopify for you main ecommerce site

BUT…

Do NOT use the blog inside of Shopify unless you absolutely have to. By absolutely have to, we mean like you or a loved one are under a threat of death if you do not continue using it.

The best way forward is to park a WordPress blog as a subdomain on your main Shopify site.

Your blog would be WordPress powered and appear at:

http://ift.tt/1UKuySF

Instead of

http://ift.tt/1UKuySH

Ideally you will skin the blog to look exactly like your full Shopify site with ALL the same navigation functions on the blog as on your full shopify site. In this way your users won’t realize they are jumping domains.

(By the way, subdomains DO pass on Search Engine Credit to the main url. This use to be debated, but now it has been shown by testing and stated by Google to be so.)

So http://ift.tt/1UKuySF passes on SEO credit to http://ift.tt/1SdEMHf

While the initial set-up is not for the faint of heart (you’ll need a knowledgeable designer/coder to blend the WordPress and Shopify—we have deep experience with this project), once it is establish keeping your WordPress site up to date is SUPER EASY (literally one or two clicks) and posting new content is also a breeze.

If you have a Shopify site, Moon & Owl will be happy to get your WordPress blog in place and skinned to match your Shopify site.

We can also create your syndication network to launch your content to 20 sites once you hit publish.

Call us 817-889-1487

P.S. If you do decide to band your head against the wall repeatedly by syndicating your Shopify blog posts, here’s how to do it:

1) Make sure you DO place in a hard coded attribution link on your original Shopifyblog post. Strongly consider including a rel=”canonical” in the attribution

2) To see what the final link will be, “publish” your post on a future date. *This prevents the post from triggering your syndication network yet allows you to see what the post’s final link will be.

3) Then when you preview the post, the true Shopify URL will be present

4) Cut and paste this true URL for use in your attribution link.

5) Hard code the attribution link into your scheduled post.

6) Change the publish date to today’s date and time.

7) Hit publish and the post should be syndicated to your IFTTT.com triggered platforms.

8) As soon as you sure all the syndicated platforms have posted, eliminate the attribution link from your original blog. *This needs to be done VERY soon after you publish the original post.

9) Your syndicated blog platforms like Tumblr etc. “should” retain that attribution link.

OR

Just let Moon & Owl set up a WordPress subdomain all the needed plug-ins (especially with YOAST SEO plug-in and a Semantic Mastery Plugin) and going forward one simple click when as you publish your post does all of this for you…BOOM!

The post Why Your Shopify Blog is Horrible for SEO and How to Fix It appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Monday, July 6, 2015

How To Supercharge Your Business Blog for Website Traffic

Why supercharge your business blog content?

“Publish, publish publish,” you’ve heard. So you spend time writing a great blog or article for your small business website, you post it, and wait, wait, wait…and nada.

Not many views and no increase in how high you rank on the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) for the keyword topic you thought would get you increased traffic.

You get frustrated and think this whole “publish fresh content to get found” idea is a sham. I quit!

STOP!

You can easily supercharge your business blog content to get more traffic to your website. With over 2 million blogs and articles posted daily, with this simple strategy you CAN make your blogs and fresh content COUNT!

HOW?

Create a supercharged network of other web profiles that syndicate your business blog content out “automagically.”

What if every time you posted a blog, article or content on your own website it got posted to 20 other power sites with links back to your original blog? This is largely how Google and other search engines measure how high to rank your article.

And what if you didn’t have to lift a finger to do this once you established this network?

We did exactly this, and soon we had front-page rankings for many of our most profitable keywords (like, Social Media Marketing Fort Worth, Fort Worth Social Media company, and more).

When we fly up a blog like this one, it gets instantly syndicated to these powerful sites:

1. G+ Profile
2. G+ Page
3. YouTube
4. Blogger
5. Page login
6. WordPress.com
7. Gravatar.com
8. Tumblr.com
9. Twitter.com
10. Delicious.com
11. Diigo.com
12. Evernote
13. Instapaper.com
14. Getpocket.com
15. App.net
16. Drive.com
17. OneNote.com
18. Bufferapp.com
19. Bitly.com
20. IFTTT.com
21. Blog.com
22. Facebook.com
23. Pinboard.in
24. LinkedIn
25. Nuzzel

The search engines like Google and Bing see this and say, “Whoa, this content has some serious backlinks on powerful sites, it should rank.” Not to mention loyal users of EACH of the platforms are introduced to our content.

GUESS WHAT? YOU CAN DO THE SAME THING

You can supercharge your business blog by building out your own IFTTT network if you know what you are doing and have about 6 spare hours, plus manage the learning curve…

OR

We can build out your supercharged network and soon your content will start gaining traction.

Once your network gets built, you have a powerful SEO tool that supercharges and amplifies your content.

HOW IS IT DONE?

By using a powerful little app called If This Then That (IFTTT) your content can be supercharged.

supercharge business blog with IFTTT

When you post your blog or fresh content it triggers this powerful little app, which shoots it out to all the other profiles that you’ve created, interlinked to one another and optimized for search engines to LOVE them.

There is are best practices that need to be in place, but if we build your network and then maintain the most up to date recipes, all you have to focus on is great content.

TAKE IT ONE STEP FURTHER

Then the next choice presents itself…

You can start writing your own content using highly searched keywords…

OR

You can let us do all the heavy lifting, giving you more time to RUN YOUR BUSINESS.

If you do decide to write your own content, the keyword research is crucial. Use the powerful tools like SpyFu.com and keywordsnatcher.com to help you know which keywords you can leverage to gain traffic.

business blog supercharge increase traffic

Use the keyword early in the title and in one or two headlines (called H1 and H2’s) in your blog. Also, make sure you don’t overuse the keyword or use it meaninglessly (called keyword stuffing), as the search engines frown on this practice.

Of course, we can do the keyword research and write keyword optimized content in your own voice with your company’s persona and tone. All you have to do is approve the final blog or article, allowing you the time to do what you do best…run your business.

APPLY THE SECRET SAUCE

We have one other step we are using to see our dramatic increases in rankings. We have access to a restricted program that applies the real mojo, using live humans to click through to your blog article after searching it. This dramatically increases the initial value Google gives to your post launching it forward in its placement on search results.

WHAT KIND OF RESULTS CAN I EXPECT?

The speed at which you climb the search engine results totally depends on the competitiveness of your keywords.

If you are going after search results on a very broad term (ex. luxury bedding, prostate cancer, etc.), gaining rank takes more time.

By strategically using longer search terms that still have a solid amount of search, you will typically see the fastest results (ex. Tuscan luxury bedding, prostate cancer surgery side effects).

Local search term ranking tends to be more accelerated than national terms, though rank with even national terms can be gained (luxury bedding in Frisco, prostate cancer treatment in Dallas, TX).

BUT RANKING ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH—YOU NEED REVENUE

Ranking on a certain term doesn’t matter if it doesn’t lead to revenue. You need people to click onto your site who are ready to spend their money on your products and services.

This starts by watching which keyword terms most often turn into paying customers. Your Google Analytics tool, when set up properly, can show you which keywords and resources and leading to paying customers.

Your content must also be valuable to the reader, convincing them to move farther into your sales funnel. A dry, SEO-only written article might get visitors to your site, but unless it is practical and relevant, providing solutions to their needs, it won’t keep them on your site and convert to revenue.

Don’t get suckered into the ranking alone measurement. Your Google Analytics account will tell if you if people coming through your supercharged blogs, content, and articles are staying on your site and visiting subsequent pages.

If you don’t know how to read your Google Analytics Account, we can do a simple training session to:

(1)make sure it is set up properly

(2)tell you how to simply read the sometimes overwhelming report.

You CAN supercharge your business blog and fresh content to ensure the most people as well as the best possible candidates see it and respond.

Our supercharge your blog, content and articles programs start as low as $100 per month. Call us at 817-889-1487 for a FREE consultation. We’ll assess your needs and let you know what program best fits your business.

The post How To Supercharge Your Business Blog for Website Traffic appeared first on Moon and Owl Marketing

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Your Business One Word Persona. Do you know it?

Your business has an emotional one word persona. Can you name it?
Are you shaping it in the tone in which your present yourself online? In person? In design?

  • Sassy
  • Kitschy
  • Buttoned Up
  • Artsy
  • Luxurious
  • Casual
  • Peaceful
  • Agitating
  • Stable
  • Nimble
  • Old World
  • Emergent
  • Underdog
  • Juggernaut

The possibilities are endless. Write your persona down. It is important EVERYTHING you do in presenting your company take on this persona.

If you need help defining your persona, branding and message, give us a call. We’re here to help. 817-889-1487

The post Your Business One Word Persona. Do you know it? appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Two Types of Business Websites. Which Do You Need?

There are two types of business websites.

  1. Credibility Sites
  2. Lead Sites

Keep reading to see which type site your business reads…

 

CREDIBILITY WEBSITE

Credibility business websites are used by business owners who are sure most of their business occurs word of mouth or by a salesperson.

They believe a visit to their website occurs during the trust phase of the sales funnel/hour-glass process.

A credibility website serves to credential a business as legitimate and trustworthy.

Viewers of these sites have already heard about a business’s product or service. These visitors are looking for an online reinforcement of the good things they have already heard about this business.

Typical of providers using a credibility website are doctors, lawyers, real estate agents.

Any business which drives business from others talking about them OR has a first point of contact with a salesperson (ex. a roofing company after a storm) needs a credibility site.

A solid credibility site:

#1- Has a professional appearance.

Your small business website is your virtual storefront. No one wants to do business with a story whose physical facility is dirty or unkempt.

The same is true of your webpage.

I had once heard of two great bed and breakfasts near Olympia, Washington. I looked at both sites. One was gorgeously assembled and the other had a site that was a dated mess.

A close friend had told me both were great. But guess which bed and breakfast I booked?

Interestingly…

Both bed and breakfasts offered a similar quality of service and amenities.

Only one got my MONEY!

 

#2- Is up to date

Are you still running a promotion on your site that ended on Mother’s Day in the middle of June?

This lack of attention to detail can kill you, as customers think, “They aren’t on top of things on their website, perhaps they won’t be on point with me either.”

 

#3- Has Accreditation Logos.

Are you a member of a professional association, a network, a quality assurance program the BBB or earned specific licenses?

These logos should be on the front page of your website.

Even if people don’t know exactly what each organization does, these logos offer a sense of psychological security to your viewer that you are legitimate.

Of course, be honest and make sure you are truly a member of each organization you place on your site.

 

#4- Is Rich in Testimonials.

Nothing builds credibility more than real testimonials and endorsements from real customers.

A picture makes an even nicer touch–especially a photo of them using your product or benefiting from you service.

Make sure to get a waiver signed to gain their permission to use their statement and photo.

Remember…

 

A credibility page is for those potential customers who are already well down the sales funnel and are looking for an additional means of feeling comfortable with you on there way to saying yes.

It appeals to people who are already thinking of doing business with you. Your website doesn’t needs encourage them, not discourage them.

(We’ll be happy to do an assessment of your current site.)

But there is a second type of small business website…

 

LEAD GENERATION SITE

A second type of business website is a lead generation site.

This type of website contains many of the same attributes as a credibility site.

However, it must take things farther.

A lead site is designed to be an initial point of contact with your business’s service or product.

It is designed to help people discover you online when they have little or no previous knowledge of your existence.

It’s job is to get you leads!

 Here is what is needed additionally on a lead site:

#1- Search Engine Optimization (On-page and External)

Nothing is more important to a lead generation site than where it ranks on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.

When people search looking for a product or service you offer, you must show up on page one!

You must have your website and each page on your site optimized to be found on search engines. This is called on-page SEO.

An on-page SEO expert, like Moon & Owl Marketing, can ensure all the code on the site tells Google exactly what your business offers.

(They will throw around web jargon like meta descriptions, alt tags, and domain. Don’t get lost in that. Just make sure you are climbing in the ranks.)

You must also work on external SEO.

External search engine optimization efforts are an ongoing process where an expert garners quality links created on other high authority sites that point back to your website.

Unless you have tons of time—doubtful—and enjoy a steep learning curve, don’t try this on your own because if you get it wrong, Google will bury you.

Here is your goal…#1 ranking.

Fort Worth Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners

 

#2- Paid Digital, Online Advertising

While organic ranking is ideal. You MUST get in front of your potential customer.

People need to find your business organically (that is, they search a product or service you offer and you rank high on Google naturally takes time).

In the meantime, a paid advertisement on a search engine can get you in front of you audience quickly.

 

#3- Landing pages

These paid ads should point to SPECIFIC pages on your site that relate directly to the ad content.

Here is an example landing page template:

Types of Business Website

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

A landing page helps convert visitors because it is tailored as the solution to an exact problem or need that the person just searched.

 

#4- Strong Call To Actions and Capture Mechanisms

You need your audience to move down the sales funnel in some degree or another.

Bright buttons and phone numbers are important to gain contact. They should stand out sharply from other elements on your page.

An email capture field should be present.

Consider providing visitors free tips or content they will value in exchange for an email.

Once their email address is captured you can send them an email drip—a series of automated emails that continue to build trust and call for action.

 

#5- Ongoing Content

In order to target existing keywords that people search, you’ll need fresh posts, blogs and articles written.

Maybe you sell pickles and need an article written that targets the keyword pickles in Austin, because you are trying to grow sales in that city.

 

Which Type of Site Do You Need?

If you business is primarily word of mouth drive, consider a credibility site.

A credibility site can beautifully designed and placed on the web. Since most people will visit their AFTER they have been told about you by a friend or salesperson, the site doesn’t need as much tweaking or ongoing content.

Visitors are primarily looking to see you are legitimate.

In contrast, a lead site needs ongoing work and effort.

Before you decide…

ASK, “What would happen if my credibility site could become a LEAD GENERATION site to gain even more business? Can I handle additional business and revenue?”

If so, you should consider expanding your credibility site to a LEAD site.

Either way, your business website needs to WORK for you!

At Moon and Owl Marketing designs BOTH credibility sites to EARN TRUST and lead generation sites that get your FOUND! If you need a site assessment, a facelift, or updates, call us at 817-889-1487.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Two Types of Business Websites. Which Do You Need? appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Fort Worth Web Design 10 Questions To Ask Before You Hire a Design Company

Searching for a Fort Worth web design company?

If so, you might be confused by the broad discrepancy in prices you are hearing and all the lingo thrown around like CMS, CSS, CTA and CTR.

And those are just the words starting with C.

Don’t sweat that stuff.

As a service to you, we’ve put together a series of 10 questions to ask your web designer before he or she is hired to build your Fort Worth small business website.

These are the questions you SHOULD be sweating!

Hint: Click on the blue links to drill down into our unique approach.

Each link opens in a new tab so you can keep this article open.

Now the questions…

#10- What prep work do you do before the site outline is created for maximum site effectiveness?

Listen for a systematic approach where keywords are used to generate the silo sitemap/site outline. Many designers skip this phase.

Our answer:

This prep work is like the foundation of your house. It is crucial it be done well and thoroughly with elements like keyword research and silo sitemaps.

This prep work is actually the starting point to get you found on Google!

We have a proven system using SpyFu, Ahrefs and other software to research your keywords and build a incredible sitemap.

Don’t stop here…

 

#9- How do you ensure my site’s written content will get RESULTS?

Listen for some an approach to where copy is written from the end-users experience. People don’t care what you do as much as they do, how does this benefit ME!

The answer should not be, “We’ll put in there whatever you give us.”

Our answer:

Your site’s written content is 60-70% of your sites effectiveness. Here’s two ways it should be written…great website content and benefit oriented content.

We are often told our writing is one of the key things that sets us apart from our competitors!

Next up…

 

#8- How do you  design the site to convert visitors to customers?

Listen to hear what their approach is to gather leads. These include bright call to action buttons, e-mail list building, opt-in pages, large phone numbers and other mechanisms.

Our answer:

Your site’s ability to generate a profit from your Fort Worth customer’s needs to use our perfected Call To Action mechanisms designed into the site.

Ask this…

 

#7- How do you ensure my site loads super fast for my DFW customers?

Make sure you hear that  a load speed test will be run on your site before launch.

They should then state they’ll make adjustments made to picture file sizes, bloated plug-ins, and other items weighing down you site.

Our answer:

Google wants to see a super-fast load time, or you’ll slide down the ranks. Faster IS better and can be controlled.

We compress images and streamline any bloating issues specifically, one-by-one, on each page after testing.

We are committed to FIX anything slowing down your load time.

Don’t stop…

 

#6- Where do you see my site sitting in the sales funnel and relate to my other marketing?

Listen to hear if an official sales funnel map will be created. Make sure they explain how your new site fits into the overall picture of marketing. A website sitting in the middle of a desert does you no good.

Our answer:

You need to have a drawn out sales funnel. We will sit down with you and help you draw your sales funnel. Actually, we use an hour-glass model.

As a Fort Worth web design agency, Moon and Owl knows how to make your website receive the baton fluidly from your traditional, digital and social media marketing so they all work together for PROFITS!

Now take 5 seconds and do this…

 


 Help a fellow business owner out by tweeting out these questions :
Tweet: Ten questions to ask before you hire a web designer. http://ctt.ec/J3_9c+


And enjoy more…

 

#5- Can I see a sample contract so I can be sure expectations and timelines are clearly established?

You need to see a complete agreement. A spit-in-the-palm handshake doesn’t clarify expectations and spell out all the necessary details.

Our answer:

An agreement should be thorough and benefit both parties. Agreements set expectations, which reduces misunderstandings on scope, etc.

We’ll be happy to email you a sample Moon & Owl web design agreement. Just give us a call or fill out the form on the contact us page.

We have nothing to hide!

Get this answer…

 

 #4- What ecommerce platforms do you prefer and why?

If they only use one platform simply because they are comfortable designing on it, it might not be your best fit. Listen for the availability of multiple platforms and experience on each.

Our answer:

Though there are many ways to sell online, there IS a best ecommerce fit for your specific needs.

If you sell directly online, we  isten to your process of order completion, the available man-power of your Fort Worth area business, turnaround times, and even your leadership style to assess those needs.

Keep reading…

 

#3- Do you hand me my site and say thanks or keep working to develop it into a conversion machine?

Listen for what is the follow-up plan to promote and optimize the site AFTER it is live. One-and-done site development is a dead art!

Our answer:

Your site is like a living entity that should be tweaked for effectiveness.

We  can do A/B testing to get you the  best conversion rates possible, including:

  • Call To Action optimization
  • Headline and copy variation testing
  • Layout and presentation testing

Not to mention, we’ll stay on top of your site and server maintenance to ensure your site stays unhacked and live.

We are always happy to create an ongoing optimization package for you at a reduced rate because you trusted us with you site design in the first place. You won’t pay as much as someone who merely called us to “fix my site.”

You’ll want to know…

 

#2- Does your Fort Worth web design company do only web? What other marketing services do you offer?

Listen for a breadth of services. While it might initially sound great to go to a specialized we-only-do-web-firm, that view is short-sighted. A lone site gets lonely!

Our answer:

Your website is the hub of ALL your marketing activity. You don’t want it to be disconnected from your other marketing efforts.

Going with a broad service agency–like Moon & Owl–ensures ALL your marketing is coordinated and works together (example, landing pages can be created around certain online ads, etc.)

We call this approach STACKING and it works!!!

We even offer you these FREE small business marketing tips.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE….

 

The Most Important Question

#1- Show me the numbers which reveal how your websites create LEADS and REVENUE?

This is where buzzwords like brand awareness, top-of-mind, brand recognition DISAPPEAR. You need REVENUE and PROFIT from your site!

Make the agency get rid of the “marketing speak” that means nothing.

Our answer:

We will be glad to show you case studies on our clients’ growth.

We will never disclose a specific name tied to the data and we protect the proprietary processes that our clients use like Fort Knox, as loose lips sink ships.

But we can give you a clear picture of how our sites DELIVER RESULTS!

 

So Let’s Chat

We are a local Forth Worth ad agency who does excellent web work and offers comprehensive small business marketing solutions to help you grow.

These include

  • web design
  • social media marketing
  • pay-per-click
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services
  • print
  • direct mail
  • billboards
  • outdoor
  • press release writing and placement
  • media buying for TV/Radio/Print
  • production for radio/TV
  • guerrilla marketing
  • public relations
  • and more!

All to aid your Fort Worth small business’s growth.

We offer broad services so that we can be the LAST CALL you will ever need to make regarding your small business marketing.

We say last because we are 100% confident your expectations of our customer service and your marketing results will be SURPASSED!

We love the uniqueness of our fair city, sometimes called Cowtown, and are okay with Dallasites, too. We would love to be considered to do your Fort Worth web design project.

And yes, if you live outside of DFW, we’ll do you site, too. With JUST as much passion.

It is our pleasure to sit down with you over a cup of coffee or one of our Fort Worth brews and hear your story.

We’ll listen first and then tell you our story. We’ll also recommend what you should and shouldn’t do with your marketing efforts.

We’re Texan. We’re friendly. And we’re professional.

We are the Fort Worth web design firm of choice for MANY local and national brands and will be glad to serve you!

Call us at 817-889-1487 or shoot us a friendly HELLO through our Get Started form.

Let's get started flat straight150 copy

P.S. Want proof our methods work? We got you ALL THE WAY to the BOTTOM of this article!

 

 

 

The post Fort Worth Web Design 10 Questions To Ask Before You Hire a Design Company appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Brand CTR and Google. It’s Vital. Does Your Small Business Have It?

A recent Google leak has confirmed the something IMPORTANT about your website.

YOUR site’s Click Through Rate (CTR) on Google іs very important to how well you rank!

And the most important CTR is your brand CTR.

What is BRAND CTR?

When someone searches your brand by specific name on Google (example “Jordan’s Feather Factory”) and then your brand name appears in the Google search jordansfeatherfactory.com, it is VERY important that at least 50% of the people click that link and not a competitors.

Google is looking to see that your brаnd name has а СТR rаtе оf at least 50%.

It’s reported anything less than this could be a red flag which triggers an review or even a penalty. Why? Because Google is trying, like always, to keep people from gaming the system.

IF YOUR BUSINESS DOESN’T HAVE A BRAND CTR of 50%, YOU ARE LOSING RANKING and MONEY THAT SHOULD BE YOURS!

But don’t fret:

How can you BETTER INSURE you have at least 50% CTRs on your branded search?

1. Have a strong benefit statement description on you home page.

Tell people in the Google search result the BENEFIT they will receive from clicking to your site. If you have a WordPress site with the YOAST SEO plugin, you only need to enter a great description in the field labelled meta-description.

SEO Brand search Google

2. Have a Google My Business Page set-up. 

This increases the chances of it auto-populating to the right when people search your brand specifically. (see the picture below)

3. Own the front page of Google with your own brand!

Create enough properties on Facebook, LinkedIn, About.me, and any other site so that NO competitor shows up on the Google page one of a direct brand search. (see the picture below)

You can see all three at work in our Moon and Owl Marketing search results. (click the pic to enlarge it)

brand CTR on Google

CLICK TO ENLARGE

One final killer tip…

4. Get the Moon & Owl Secret Sauce SEO program working for you.

We can up your count of branded CTR in a way that is above board on Google. It is a family recipe and it is delivering HUGE results for our agency and clients’ CTR on branded search (and also increasing their Time On Page –how much time a visitor spends on your page once they click there–another important ranking factor.)

We can help! Whether you need your home page optimized, other properties set-up to dominate page one, or the SECRET SAUCE…

Call us today, at 817-889-1487 or fill out our GET STARTED FORM HERE 

 

P.S. Google is also looking to see if your long-tail keywords are getting a 60% CTR.

An example of a short-tail keyword is “social media marketing.” A longer tailed keyword would be “social media marketing with cyberdust in 2015.” It is easier to rank for the long-tailed keywords, but once you do, have great content that compels the reader to click through and stay on the page.

By the way, our secret sauce recipe helps you here, as well.

 

The post Brand CTR and Google. It’s Vital. Does Your Small Business Have It? appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Moo Luxe Business Card Review 2015

Our 2015 Moo Luxe Business Card Review.

A client wanted to order these so we took one for the team and ordered a small batch of the Moo Luxe Business Cards for Moon & Owl Marketing first. Good cards but one big concern (you’ll see the pun in a bit).

Packaging | A+

The packaging for the cards is great. Cards were well packed to prevent damage, and they even provide a smaller carrying box to set on a desktop with a magnetized closing lid. Nice touch. Easy to open.

Moo Card Packaging 1

Moo Card Packaging 2

Price | B-

These are Luxe cards, short for Luxury or Deluxe, and you WILL be paying extra for them.

$111.74 with shipping and tax for 200 cards .

So each card you give away needs be worth departing with $0.58 cents.

Print Quality | A

We had our Moo Luxe cards done with a matte finish. The front of our cards are dark blue. The initial printing looks good, with proper color matching and good ink saturation. The navy blue of our card could have easily been washed out or inconsistent. It wasn’t. Great ink job, Moo.

Moo Luxe Card Packaging

 

Thickness | B

Why we initially liked the thickness of the cards, we soon noticed an interesting phenomenon every time we handed someone our card. They grabbed the card, looked at it, and then tried to peel it apart as if we had given them two cards stuck together.

Moo Luxe Card Thickness

 

The cards actually are two different pieces of paper bonded to a plastic middle sheet. Think of the paper as the oreo cookies and the plastic as the filling.

Is this good or bad? Not sure yet. It DID draw attention to the card, but maybe not the attention you want. It is almost as if they had the impression we handed them sticky cards. Each time we found ourselves saying, “No it’s just one card. They’re weird like that.” If you go with the theory that any publicity is good publicity, you’ll love these.

 

The Wallet Test | C-

Many a card lives or dies by its ability to be carried in a wallet either by the giver or by the receiver. Because the Moo Luxe cards are slightly larger than a typical card, they don’t fit in many wallet slots.

Moo Luxe Card Size Comparison

Several times we have handed a card to a contact and watched as they tried to stick it into their wallet only to say, “Hmmm” when it wouldn’t fit into the given slot. They then slid the card into their pocket. No telling where that card will end up. (This is the “big” problem…you can laugh now.)

Time Tested | B-

Over time we noticed because of the double ply system the Moo cards, the edges of the paper card extends a bit beyond the plastic middle, the edges frayed more than a high-end thick single ply card. Our navy edge saw some slight fraying to white along the top after it had been carried around in different places.

Overall Grade | A-

Overall, the cards do make a solid first impression. Our main concern lies with the fact that often they don’t fit in traditional holder sizes (slots in wallets, card pages, etc.). Solid printing and a card which must be reckoned with once it is in the recipient’s possession. Good stuff.

Moo Business Cards also makes some Moo Luxe square cards and Moo Luxe Mini Cards that are unique.

If you need card design, logo creation or branding materials, call us @817-889-1487.

 

 

The post Moo Luxe Business Card Review 2015 appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.

Friday, April 17, 2015

A Business Fueled by Kindness

Here is the mantra for a business fueled by kindness:


The most important thing about us is the way we treat one other while we do the work.


Everything else is less important. Profits, Innovation, etc.


The post A Business Fueled by Kindness appeared first on Moon And Owl Marketing.