London based home and business security company British Security Technologies has appointed e-Moonlighting.com for the launch of its social media marketing campaign. The social media marketing campaign will comprise work on the Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter websites. e-Moonlighting will develop, design and write content for the websites and work with BST to build fan base and group numbers for security issues. e-Moonlighting’s own social media marketing strategy has recently resulted in the winning of a first major client in Asia.

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

New Buffalo Logo

e-Moonlighting.com has developed the new corporate ID for Buffalo Leather. Buffalo provides a range of cleaning products for leather. e-Moonlighting provided six initial concepts including examples of the logos in different colour options and against different backgrounds. The final logo was then developed from the selected option following discussion groups. The version inserted is the black and white version of the logo.

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

e-Moonlighting.com has recently completed the design and build of the website http://www.eventshorizon.co.uk for client Trinity Research. The website will sell a range of racing fuels and other racing related products to the UK street racing and drag racing markets. Technical features include ecommerce, content management system and a forum. The concept is to make the website as interactive as possible for visitors with monthly updated videos and picture galleries. Videos will be provided by Shakespeare County Raceway wth whom e-Moonlighting.com negotiated a sponsorship deal. Take a look and let us know what you think.

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

Writing copy for a brochure, website or even a letter can be a daunting prospect if you are inexperienced as a copywriter. This article gives some straight forward tips on how to produce effective copywriting whatever your requirement may be.

First of all, decide how much copy you need or want to write, this is usually calculated in terms of the number of words required. The factors to consider when deciding ‘word count’ for effective copywriting are:

• The media that the copy is required for such as printed media, website, emailer, advertisement, etc. For online media less is usually more, for a printed brochure more detailed information may be required.
• The amount of space available.
• The objective – a brief introduction, key sales points or unique sales points or a longer more detailed explanation. Decide what you hope to achieve from your communication and then the required word count will be easier to identify.

The next stage is to produce a list of the all the points that you want to make in your copy, everything that you want the readers of the copy to know. Then consider their importance relative to each other. Try to make sure that the most important points will have emphasis in the copy. Then think about the order in which the points need to be made so that the copy will flow correctly, it will have clarity, be easy to follow and will also have a logical pattern or argument.

Effective copywriting requires that you back up your arguments or statements with facts, figures and evidence wherever possible. The more respected and authoritative the source of the data that backs up your argument, the more likely it is that readers will take your copy seriously and take ‘on board’ your message.

It is particularly important that the spelling, grammar and the structure of your paragraphs are correct. When operating in a foreign language it is best to use professional translation services or at least have the copy proof read by a native speaker even if you are proficient in the language yourself. Many international websites in particular suffer for the fact that the quality of the English is not good.

Finally, it is always good to include in your copy a last sentence or paragraph that brings together all the key threads of your message or argument. This section can act as a ‘call to action’ to encourage the reader to take any next steps which you would like them to take such as buying, visiting a website, reading further or changing their behaviour.

Effective copywriting is fundamental to successfully conveying your message. It is every bit as important as media selection and graphic design and if you don’t get it right your campaign will fail. By all means have a go at copywriting yourself but if you are not sure that you’ve mastered it then it is always best to get professional help

For more information on the copywriting service provided by e-Moonlighting.com please visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

e-Moonlighting.com has completed it’s latest website design project with the launch of www.ibctrader.co.uk. The website developed and designed for Trinity Research, one of the UK’s leading biofuel suppliers, provides services in both buying and selling intermediate bulk containers. IBC’s are typically used to transport chemicals. The website design and develoment features content management system and interactive forms.

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

e-Moonlighting.com has completed the design and development of the glycerol.co.uk website for Trinity Research, one of the UK’s leading bio-fuel suppliers. The website features an auto quote system and CMS throughout as well as interactive forms to guide visitors through the website if they they want to buy or sell glycerol. e-Moonlighting produced initial concepts, developed the website design and site map, as well as building the website with all technical features. In addition to the website design, e-Moonlighting.com will also be developing SEO activity for the website.

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

e-Moonlighting.com has completed the design and development of the corporate presentation for UK Eco bags supplier SmartBags. The corporate presentation was produced in powerpoint with e-Moonlighting developing design concepts, writing the copy and designing the final presentation. On seeing the final result SmartBags Managing Director Matt Lewis
said “Thats it,very happy with it!!”

To take a look at more work by e-Moonlighting.com visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

The idea of starting a new business is usually exciting and daunting in equal measure. Running your own business is certainly a very rewarding experience both in terms of personal fulfillment and potential financial return if you make a success of it. What I want to do here is give owners of new or young businesses some ideas that I believe can help them succeed specifically from a marketing point of view.

Identify your market – First things first, decide what exactly it is that you will provide in terms of products and services and who you will sell them to. Define your market, is it consumer (B2C) or business (B2B). Then if for example you are B2C, identify what your market is in terms of age group, geographical area, income level, sex, interest group, etc. Next look at your price points, where do you fit into the market. Do you aim to compete in terms of price point, quality, service, method of delivery e.g. online, etc. Most importantly do some research and try to put numbers to your target market and make sure that you can sell enough for the business to succeed.

Identify your Unique Sales Points – What is different about your company, products or services? Why should businesses or consumers choose to buy from you? Define the answers to these questions clearly and list out your unique sales points and main sales points. These points should be core to your marketing message.

Bring you products or services to market – Think about how you will reach the target market you earlier identified. Dependent on the profile of consumers or businesses that you are targeting you will need to adapt your marketing tactics accordingly. For example, if you have a younger, consumer based target market then they will respond better to SMS text or internet. Older generations often prefer to read print. If your products are very visual or you need to convey a lot of information then you may need to use texts or email to drive traffic to your website to gain sales. There are many marketing options available, online, advertising, direct marketing, PR, etc. Think what will work for your business.

Effective Marketing – This usually begins with a high quality and professional corporate ID, something that reassures your potential customers that you are a business that knows what it is doing and is here to stay. The corporate ID in terms of logo, colors and typeface usage will begin to build your business as a brand and together with your unique sales points, establish what your business stands for.

Make sure that you have a strong online presence because an excellent website is important to all businesses now and core to the strategy of many. For a truly effective website you need high quality design, easy, clear navigation, fast download, great copy and a package of search engine optimization measures to drive quality traffic.

In the early years spend as much as you can afford to on marketing but plan your spend carefully, ideally in an annual marketing plan. Remember marketing is an investment, so monitor return on investment for each element of your marketing and re-target spend towards what is working.

Written by Carl Roughsedge a Director of e-Moonlighting and an EzineArticles.com Platinum Expert Author. Visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

First of all I think I should start this article by defining what I mean by an effective website design. I view an effective website design to be a website that has:

• Achieved a targeted level of traffic
• Achieved a targeted quality of traffic i.e. visitors are arriving on the website with intent
• A website that has the power to convert, to make the visitors do what the website owner wants them to do it

1st element – Quality design work

This is the element that is most important in giving your website the power to convert, to convince visitors to your website to take the action that you would like them to take.

An effective website design should first of all have clear and simple navigation, wherever on the website the visitor is it should be easy for them to get where they would like to go next. So plan the website map carefully and think through what information your website needs to convey and then break this down into sections off the main menu and finally into individual pages.

Develop a design style that is visually enticing and interesting, make a visit to your website as enjoyable as possible but don’t make your website so complex that it takes to long to download. This will typically be the case if you include too much flash work.

Keep your copy clear and concise and keep each page ‘copy light’, don’t over-face visitors with to much information, give them enough to know what you do and what you offer. Tell them why they should deal with you and give them a call to action to prompt them to do what you would like them to do next.

2nd element – Quality Content

You will often see SEO experts write that ‘content is king’ and for sure it is probably the most important factor in developing a successful website presence, an effective website design. Getting content correct really starts with your choice of keywords. Keywords are the phrases that you believe people who wish to find websites such as yours will type into the search engines.

It is important to decide what these keywords are so run searches across several main search engines for the words and phrases you think are correct and see what comes up. Also use Google Adwords for a while and run campaigns on the keywords you think are correct for you, see how many clicks and page impressions you get. If a keyword is too popular you may not be able to get to the top of the search engines for that keyword, on the other hand there is no point in being top of the search engines for a keyword no one ever uses. Get the balance right between these two factors.

When writing copy particularly for your Home Page it is important to think about keyword density. Use your main keyword on your Home Page as it will be your landing page and is as such the page you would most benefit from being at the top of the search engines. Type in your desired keyword to the search engines and see which websites come up, check out how many times these websites feature the keyword on their landing page and try to pitch yours at about that level. However it is important that getting your keyword density correct doesn’t affect the flow of your copy.

Have a latest news, information or blogs section on your website. Keep it up to date and fill it with interesting, useful content, the kind of information that will be of interest to your target market. Upload links to your updates to social networking websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, you’ll be amazed now much quality traffic it will bring.

3rd – Build quality links

Good quality links can not only bring quality traffic to your website directly, they will also have a beneficial effect on your search engine rankings. The search engines view a link to your website as a vote of confidence in it.

There are several ways to build quality links. You can join a few link exchange websites and look for link exchange partners. Try to exchange links with websites that have content relevant to your own and also ideally those which have a good Google Page Ranking.

List your website in free directories where possible but focus your efforts on those with a Google Page Ranking 3 or better which do not require a reciprocal link. One way links are better for search engine position than link exchanges.

In the last section I mentioned the value of writing articles that will be of interest to your target market. You should also upload these articles to as many article directories as possible as these directories will offer a link to your website with every article published.

Written by Carl Roughsedge a Director of e-Moonlighting and an EzineArticles.com Platinum Expert Author. Visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com

Effective logo design is an important element in the development of any business, company or brand. A logo is a graphic symbol or icon that is central to the identity of the owner and will often consist of four key elements:

• A symbol or icon
• Colours
• Wording
• Typeface

These four elements combine to create effective logo design which will embodies the very essence of the company, business or brand. The logo becomes a symbol that represents the core values of its owner. The logo reflects the owners function, service or product and what the customer or client can expect in terms of quality, service, reliability and satisfaction from the owner. As such an effective logo design is at the very core of any business.

When the consumer sees the logo of a major brand they know exactly what to expect, they know exactly why they have decided to do business with that brand – be it cost, quality of service, reliability, product quality, product or service uniqueness, etc. The logo acts to build trust between the business or brand and the client or customer. As a result a logo actually adds value to a business.

An unprofessional logo or badly designed logo, or worse still no logo at all will add no value to your business and tell your potential customers nothing about your business – except perhaps that you did not realise the importance of presenting your business in a professional way!

An effective logo design should have the following attributes:

• Distinctive
• It should adhere to accepted design principles.
• It should be representative of the company or brand.
• Easy to use in all required circumstances e.g. large or small, black/white or colour, against various backgrounds, online of offline.

The creative process to develop an effective logo design can be very complex. It is important to consider the positioning of the business or brand in its market, its core values and its points of difference. Factors such as the industry the business or brand operates in, its geographical location and the target market will also be factors.

Considering the four elements of the logo itself, the shape and design of the icon will be key in conveying the core brand message. It is also important that this shape can be used alone without the other elements of the logo in certain instances. Colour plays an important part in visual reference and combinations of colours provide greater scope for positioning.

Typeface is important as well because different typefaces can be used to create different feelings, to plant different ideas in the minds of the target market. For example a typeface such as sans serif is usually perceived as being strong or modern on the other hand serif would be perceived as being traditional or elegant.

The fourth element, the wording, is usually in the form of a logo descriptor. The logo descriptor is a phrase that encapsulates everything that the company or brand does or stands for.

The four elements must be successfully combined and balanced to create the most effective logo design for the business or brand. Typeface, shapes and colours must be compatible and complementary for it to succeed. When possible it is always better to finalise two to three designs and then put them to market research groups. The findings of those groups can then be instrumental in then developing the final version of the logo.

When the final logo is developed it should be used in a clearly defined way across all communication channels for the business or brand including stationery, advertising, brochures, direct mail and online. Often a design bible is developed to dictate all elements of usage.

So to summarise, why will your business benefit from a professional, effective logo design?

• Professionalism
• Trust
• Added value
• Brand building

An effective logo design is a great sales tool. It is something that will help bring new clients or customers to your business and as such is an investment for the long term development of your business or brand.

Written by Carl Roughsedge a Director of e-Moonlighting and an EzineArticles.com Platinum Expert Author. Visit http://www.e-Moonlighting.com