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Tingalls Blog - Marketing Tips & Tricks

Website Design Best Practices: The Homepage Experience

Anyone with a driver’s license can get from point A to point B in a car. But to excel as a professional in NASCAR or Formula One racing, you’ve go to have some serious skills that have been attained by many years of study and real-world experience. Website design is the same way. Although you, or someone you know, may be able to put together a website, calling upon the expertise of a professional can go a long way in getting you to the “finish line” ahead of your competitors. There’s an art and craft to the process of website design — not only in creating an attractive aesthetic, but […]

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Posted in Website Design

Triumphing with Twitter

To many, Twitter is quite the strange bird. Trying to figure out how to successfully use it can feel like attempting to get all the sides of your Rubik’s Cube (remember those?) to be the same color. The good news? It’s not as hard as it seems, but you’ll need to make a significant time investment if you want to triumph on Twitter. Let’s take a look at some of the best practices you can take to accomplish this, as well as whether or not Twitter is the right social media platform for your business to be on in the first place. Is Twitter Right for You? The easiest way […]

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Posted in Social Media Marketing, Tips

The Best Way to Set Up Your Blog: Subpage vs. Subdomain

In our previous series, Blogging 101, we talked extensively about many of the best practices associated with writing a blog. But what about the hierarchy of how your blog is set up? In other words, is it set up as a subpage or a subdomain of your website? If you’re not a web designer or copywriter, you’re probably scratching your head wondering what the difference is between the two. Have no fear! Tingalls Graphic Design is going to define each of them, as well as let you know which one is the better choice when you have a blog associated with a website. Your Blog as a Subdomain In a […]

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Posted in Copywriting & Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Tips

The Best Way to Set Up a Facebook Fan Page

For many business owners, a Facebook Fan page can be a great asset in connecting with customers, sharing products or services, or stating your opinion on a topic that’s relevant to your audience. Setting up this page correctly is a critical factor in how successful it can become. We’ve seen Facebook Fan Pages set up in a way that actually hurts a business. That’s why Tingalls Graphic Design is sharing some best practices that you can act upon today. Step 1: Begin with Your Personal Facebook Page Since most people already have a personal Facebook page, we’re not going to dive into how to create one in this article. If […]

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Posted in Social Media Marketing, Tips

A New Breed of Social Media Management Tools

In a recent post, Tingalls Graphic Design reviewed three very good social media management tools. But being the geek that I am, I recently decided to do some additional research to see if the landscape for these niche products had changed. Sure enough, it has. In this article, I’d like to share two of my favorite new social media management tools — Sendible and Sprout Social — reviewing the positive and negative aspects of each. SENDIBLE I’ve been using Sendible on a weekly basis for a little over a month. I first came across this app because I was looking for a social media scheduling tool that worked with Pinterest. […]

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Posted in Social Media Marketing, Tips

The Problem with “Bargain-priced” Services

No matter what type of business you have, or type of work you do, you may be faced with a critical question: do you discount? Whether it’s a discount house like Groupon, 99Designs, or simply running a “special” on your website, discounting services or products is something that requires much consideration. Why? Because it can have negative long-term affects on your business, your bottom line — and your reputation. Let’s examine when a discount may be a good idea, and when it should absolutely be avoided. In a retail environment, sales are part of the natural selling cycle. But even here, retail shops have undermined themselves by starting sales earlier […]

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Posted in Graphic Design, Print & Package Design, Website Design

Is Google+ Having a Negative Affect on Your Business?

Somebody once said to me that Google was looking to rule the world. And although this is probably not true, there’s a good chance they already own the virtual world. Google+ isn’t new anymore, but it remains a conundrum to many a business owner. Understanding how to use Google+ to your advantage can help with the overall authority of your website and blog — and ultimately help improve your bottom line. If you’re not taking advantage of Google+, Google knows and they may hold it against you. The good news is with a little guidance, which Tingalls Graphic Design is happy to provide, Google+ is a pretty easy platform to […]

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Posted in Google, Social Media Marketing

Is an Exhausted Brain More Creative?

I recently stumbled upon an article at Inc.com called 6 Surprising Ways to Become More Creative. It got me thinking about how the creative process is affected by internal and external influences. One thing the article suggests is that exhaustion is a catalyst to creativity. But does exhaustion really get your creative juices flowing? Or is the research behind this statement all fluff? According to the article, optimal productivity is attained when you’re most awake and alert. Morning people do best at dawn, while night owls do better after the sun goes down. “But when it comes to creativity, you should just throw this conventional wisdom out the window.” Research […]

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Posted in Tips

Tracking Your Networking Success (or Lack Thereof)

In our recent blog post, Networking is Still a Viable Way to Grow a Business, we talked about five tips to help determine what types of networking groups are best for you to join. But once you find groups that are a good fit for you and your business, how do you track the actual effectiveness of the group to see if it’s generating business leads, or business insights, on a regular basis? Assuming that you are a regular attendee of the group, is it really worth your while? To answer these questions, you’ll first need to determine your intention for joining the group in the first place (which hopefully […]

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Posted in Networking, Tips

The Value of Outsourcing

Does your business outsource? Depending on the size of your company, you may outsource lots work to or you might currently have no partners you outsource to. Either way, we’ve got a question for you: what is your perceived value of outsourcing? Outsourcing can have an immense impact on the quality of your products or services, as well as the overall success of your company. When you alleviate difficult, time-consuming tasks that you might not be the best at (I have an immense shortcoming with accounting myself), you free up time to build your business. Being able to spend more time on improving sales, products or services means your company […]

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Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Website Design

Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

People are using their mobile devices more and more to search the web, which beckons the question: is your website mobile friendly? If you’re not sure, the easiest way to answer this question is to simply view your website on a mobile device. If all the sections on your homepage load properly, you should be in good shape. If you’re finding that your site has overlapping boxes, is missing text areas, or you’re unable to access all the pages in your drop down menu, your website might need to be recoded or enhanced for mobile devices. There are a few options when it comes to making your site mobile friendly, including creating a “parallel” […]

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Posted in Website Design

Networking is Still a Viable Way to Grow a Business

There was a time when a handshake was our social media. Live conversation, awkward pauses, and the exchange of business cards were our means of disseminating information to each other. And although the Internet has permanently changed the business landscape, networking is still an excellent way for many businesses to be more involved in the community, and grow their business. That being said, you may not want to join the very first association or group you stumble upon. Doing some research to find a networking group that offers value to you and your business — either with educational opportunities, or potential to meet customers in your niche — can go […]

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Posted in Marketing, Networking, Tips

Creating a Successful LinkedIn Page, Part 3: Adding Connections

How many LinkedIn connections do you have? Did you know that the amount of connections on your LinkedIn account affects where LinkedIn ranks you? As a matter of fact, if you can attain 500+ connections, LinkedIn considers you a “power user,” which can give your page an immense boost in authority. Now just hold on, before you go and attempt to connect with everyone in your “people you may know” section, let’s examine legitimate ways to increase your connections so you can rise up in the LinkedIn algorithm while extending your reach on LinkedIn. 1. Search for colleagues you know (or knew) at your current job, as well as previous […]

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Posted in Networking, Social Media Marketing, Tips

Are Native Ads a Good Solution for Your Website?

One of the current trends in marketing & web design is something called native ads, which is defined as “a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed.” This definition comes from Sharethrough, the world’s largest in-feed advertising exchange. What this means, in essence, is that native ads live within the content of a web page, as opposed to off to the side (usually in a right-side banner area) as we’ve grown accustomed to in web design over the years. Sharethrough’s opinion is that “native ads are more visually engaging than banner ads.” At Tingalls […]

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Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Website Design

Creating a Successful LinkedIn Page, Part 2: Skills & Endorsements

Have you ever received an email from LinkedIn stating you’ve been endorsed? It’s always a nice feeling to know that someone you know took the time to give you a shout-out for a specific skill. But what about when the skill is something irrelevant, or something you don’t want highlighted? The good news is that you now have much more control over the “Skills & Endorsements” section of your LinkedIn profile page. Even better news is that this section can have a positive effect on the value of your LinkedIn page, which means you’ll rank higher when people are looking for what you do. Let’s take a look at how […]

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Posted in Networking, Social Media Marketing, Tips