AO Studios | Web, Logo, and Brand Development

Your Website – Professionally Built?

AO Studios — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:38:28 +0000

Why should I have my website professionally built? When I receive a question like this it really makes me laugh. Seriously.

Over 2 billion searches are performed on Google every day. That is a mind-numbing figure. Most people never look past the first page of the search results, and if you are not on the first three pages you don’t exist in the eyes of serious customers!

Did you also know that only 45% of small businesses ($50,000 – $500,000 Annual Revenue) actually have a website? This is great news if you are a small business and have a website because more than half of your competition is not online! So if you have a well-built, search engine friendly website you are most likely to appear in Google searches for your particular service; especially in your local area.

Can you start to see why I was laughing sarcastically earlier?

This is your business we are talking about, not some hobby that no one knows about. If you want customers to take YOUR business serious then YOU must take YOUR business seriously.

One of our goals when we started this company was to change the mindset that just having a website is enough. It’s not! Having a website that is well built, user-friendly, easy to navigate, visually appealing, interactive and search engine friendly are just a few of the MUSTS for getting a website off the ground properly.

If it sounds like a lot of work, it’s because it is.

Our Tip: Hire a professional the first time, it will save you money in the long run and grow your business that much faster, making you more money NOW!

A Successful e-Mail Marketing Strategy

AO Studios — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:28:08 +0000

How can you avoid the temptation to over-communicate? Here are five ideas for planning a successful holiday email marketing strategy:

Keep it short ‘n’ sweet. Recognize that when the holiday volume of email goes up, your communications need to be brief, carefully timed, and relevant. Speaking of which…
Create relevant content. Address your customers’ needs and concerns heading into the holidays. Ask them what’s on their minds, what challenges they’re facing, and how you can help. Share your findings in a future email newsletter and your content will pop. That will build trust and earns customer loyalty, in good times and tough times too.
Get creative with promotions. Don’t fall prey to the rapid discounting that the big-box businesses did last year. You can offer seasonal promotions that set your brand apart in a sustainable way, while supporting other local businesses and charitable organizations.

For example, Rothman’s, a men’s clothing store in New York, offered its own version of “cash for clunkers” to get the attention of its readers. The email promotion invited customers to turn in their old suits, which would be donated to charity, and the customer would get $100 toward a new suit. A similar concept can be used for many other businesses.

Offer “holiday special” cross-promotions with other businesses that complement yours, such as a bookstore that offers a package where the purchase of a certain cookbook includes an invitation to a special event dinner at a local restaurant.
Support your local economy. The Kitchen Outfitter, a store near my home, ran a great promotion last holiday season: The owner brought together other businesses in the strip mall where it’s located and they all threw a party for customers. The owner also got the local music school involved for entertainment, adding to the holiday cheer. The businesses work together to drive a big audience, increase their holiday sales, and make it a memorable event. Email marketing is a central piece of the promotion: Each participant promotes the event in their communication, thus broadening each business’ exposure.

Maybe a holiday gathering with some of your fellow Main Street neighbors and merchants could work to your mutual benefit. This is a fun, creative way to drive holiday sales that supports local businesses, shows customer appreciation, and doesn’t obliterate the profit margin.

As a small business owner, you have an advantage over big businesses because you can share your knowledge and passion for your business, and communicate with your customers on a more intimate level. Email marketing is your best tool to foster that communication and earn your customers’ trust and loyalty — now and through the holidays.

No one can say for sure how this holiday season will pan out. But if you plan a thoughtful holiday email marketing strategy now, you will set yourself up for success in the coming months and into the new year. Customers will appreciate you for handling the holidays with class, while respecting their in boxes.

Top 10 Reasons You Need A Website

AO Studios — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:46:32 +0000

A website these days shouldn’t even be a question. There are far more reasons to have a website for your business then to not have a website. Here is a Top 10 list of why you should have a website!

Cheaper and more flexible than print advertising
The Internet is extremely different from print advertising in that space is cheap, your advertisement is accessible for a longer period of time, the content can be changed more frequently (with a CMS!) and you can reach a wider audience.
Market Expansion
The Internet has allowed businesses to break through the geographical barriers and become accessible, virtually, from any country in the world by a potential customer that has Internet access.
Diversify Revenue Streams
A website is not just a medium for representation of your company, it is a form of media from which everybody can acquire information. You can use this media to sell advertising space to other businesses.
24 / 7 / 365
The internet is always on. No more turning customers away when its time to close shop, putting up a note saying closed for public holiday , or leaving an irritating message on your answering service specifying your trading hours. Tell them to visit your website for information they are looking for.
Offer Convenience
Your website is a self-service medium. It is far more convenient for a person to research a product on the Internet than it is to get in a car, drive somewhere and look for information on a product. The potential customer can visit your website whenever they like in their own privacy and comfort, without the stresses and distractions that exist in the real world .
Add Value and Satisfaction
By offering convenience, a point of reference and that touch of individualized customer service, you ultimately add value to your offering and your customers experience a higher level of satisfaction. Your website can add value in other ways too, by featuring tips, advice and general interest content you can entertain your customers. This will also help them remember you better.
Standardize Sales Performance
By looking at which approached / pitches have worked in the past and those which have not, you can produce the ultimate pitch and use it with your website, so that you use it on every customer. No more training of sales people and waiting for them to get a feel for your line of trade.
Improve Credibility
A website gives you the opportunity to tell potential customers what you are about and why you deserve their trust and confidence. In fact, many people use the internet for pre-purchase research so that they can determine for themselves whether a particular supplier or brand is worthy of their patronage. The Internet also allows for Viral Marketing. Your website visitors can spread positive word-of-mouth about your business – your customers do your marketing!
Promote Your Brick-in-Mortar Presence
Getting lost trying to find a place can be frustrating for a potential customer. You can publish what they call a dummy map on your website, which shows directions and landmarks graphically, and the potential customer can print it out when looking for your Brick-n-Mortar location. You might advertise a promotion on your website encouraging the visitor to visit your Brick-n-Mortar premises (e.g.. At a branch near you! ).

Also, if you recently moved to a new location, you will have to wait for the next ‘phone directory to come out before people figure out where you currently are. A website is flexible you can change the content as you like. You can change you contact details instantly and lower the risk of losing customers when moving to a new location.
Cheap Market Research
You can use features on your website such as visitor polls, online surveys and your website statistics to find out what your customers like more and how they feel about certain aspects of your business to determine how you can improve your product and the way you do business. Website statistics show you how much traffic your website receives, how the visitor got to your website and where, geographically, the visitor is from.

V1 Golf iPhone App

AO Studios — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:41:16 +0000

Developed by the makers of V1 Home, V1 Golf allows you to capture, compare and improve your golf swing all from your iPhone. Record and analyze your swing wherever you are. Activate your drawing tools with a touch of the screen. Access your V1 Academy locker to store your swings. Email your video to your instructor for a professiona1 lessons. Customers rate V1 Golf 5-Stars and is being touted as the best golf app available and a must have for all golfers! Everything you love about V1 Home, you’ll find in V1 Golf and more! Helping to launching the V1 Golf iPhone App to the public was a lot of fun.

Products currently produced for this project include:

V1 Golf App Website
MacWorld 2010 Display
Magazine Print
Banner Ads
e-Mail Campaign

Oh Just Us Girls

AO Studios — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:06:02 +0000

Oh Just Us Girls provides a wonderland of events that are highly desirable to ladies of different genres who possess a cutting-edge for fashion and enjoy pampering themselves. Their mission is to promote fashion forward products from unique exhibitors, as well as encourage a bit of pampering and primping. They anticipate their events will bring awareness and exposure to various charities, while providing some funding to support them. They are also very passionate about supporting women owned businesses and their continued growth during economic fluctuations. An “Oh Just Us Girls” soirée is the perfect way to spend an evening in a safe environment, being pampered, and to relish time with just the girls.

Check them out – www.ohjustusgirls.com

MO.com

AO Studios — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:37:18 +0000

MO.com is a destination site for entrepreneurs to learn from each other; share what works and what doesn’t; and connect with other entrepreneurs in a mutually beneficial way.

This developing website is one of the Internets upcoming stars! A watering hole for the hottest entrepreneurs in the most popular fields today. Run by Brian Null, this website offers tons of insights into the minds and souls of these break out artists. We highly recommend that you subscribe to the MO.com Newsletter and learn what the brightest minds in the world are doing that can help you succeed with your own personal and professional business goals.

Check them out – MO.com

Pilates 72

AO Studios — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:04:44 +0000

Pilates 72 is a small Pilates and golf fitness studio located in the far west end of Richmond that focuses on personal training and individual instruction to help you reach your fitness goals.

The studio is equipped with Pilates equipment from Balanced Body: the Reformer, Trap Table, Ladder Barrel, Arc, and Wunda Chair. Small props such as foam rollers, Swiss ball, Bosu, tubing, free weights and kettlebells are used for the workouts. Cardio training is done using the x-iser for high intensity short duration sprints.

Madeline is a PhysicalMind Institute certified Pilates instructor and a Pilates for Golf Conditioning Specialist. She completed Dr. Greg Rose’s Advantage Golf MGFI certification and was one of the first fitness trainers to achieve the title of Titleist Performance Institute Fitness Professional Level-3. Recently Madeline added TPI Junior 2 and 3 and Golf Biomenchanics-2 to her certifications. She is studying 3-D computerized golf swing analysis and is adding the K-Vest TPI 3-D to her golf fitness programs.

She is a contributing writer to pilatesdigest.com and to the mytpi.com website. Madeline partnered with fellow Pilates and TPI instructor Beth Begelman to speak at the 2008 World Golf Fitness Summit. Their topic was “The Pelvis and Golf: Making Connections the Pilates Way”. Beth and Madeline are on the schedule to teach a 2 day pre-conference at Balanced Body University’s Pilates on Tour event October 2010 in Tampa, FL. Their workshop will be “Pilates and Golf: Making the Connection between the Body and the Golf Swing”.

Welcome to the NEW AO Studios!

AO Studios — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:47:53 +0000

AO Studios is back! We’ve come out of the dungeon and now we’re up on our feet. The past few months we have re-incorporated our business and got all of our ducks in a row. Golf Web Design has taken flight as we are carving out a niche in the golf market. Our stock price is slowly rising as the DOW Jones and the Nikkei continue to climb.

Our advertising efforts here at AO Studios continue to bring us new and interesting clients. Some recent work includes a billboard for a catering company and banner ads for an entrepreneur in South Korea. While we still strive to grow our clientele, there is hardly a customer we will refuse! (So long as the checks don’t bounce!)

So contact us if you need a website, logo or any kind of printed materials for your business!

LVNV Golf Events

AO Studios — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:47:39 +0000

LVNV Golf Events came to us and needed a new image, logo, and website. We got pretty excited. We love golf, and who doesn’t love Vegas? We knew that they needed something that blended Golf and Las Vegas together, and we hit a home run with their logo design and website. We love when we exceed the clients expectations of their original visions. It means that we connected on many different levels and that is a very satisfy feeling for us and a killer product for them. They could not have been more appreciative of the work we completed.

The professional staff at LVNV Golf Events has over 15 years experience booking group events and golf tournaments. Their wide variety of backgrounds come together to create the highest level of customer service and professionalism.

Their staff includes a 6th generation Nevadan, Wendy Hohler as well as a 15 year PGA professional. Wendy’s background has given her the knowledge and experience to bring first class golf events to Las Vegas. LVNV Golf Events is here to accommodate you and your fellow golfers, whatever your needs may be. Contact them with any questions you may have about bringing your event to Las Vegas.

Check them out – www.lvnvgolfevents.com

Coleman Landscapes

AO Studios — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:31:59 +0000

Coleman Landscapes is a landscaping / hardscaping company cantered in Richmond, VA.

We have designed their company logo and are currently developing their website. We will post a full report when the site is officially “launched”.