Every business works hard to stay competitive in the online marketplace. Search engine optimization, the process of improving one’s search rankings, is an important method of gaining visibility for many Bozeman, Montana businesses. A business owner generally puts themselves into the searcher’s shoes to see how his or her business ranks amongst the competition. With local searches gaining a large number of website visits, even small companies can showcase their goods and services to interested buyers.

When it comes to local search engine optimization, often your best tool is the materials you already produce to help your potential customers become better educated about your product or service. By reworking these materials to focus on specific key phrases your internet marketing can be more targeted and results driven.

Do your homework, but don’t over-do it

Start by creating a list of the 10 key phrases that you want to rank for. There’s a myriad of keyword research tools available, but let’s begin with what you as a business owner intuitively know. Good key phrases are usually a few words that describe what you do. Think of it this way, “If I didn’t know what the name of my business was, what words would I use to search for it?”

Optimize for a single topic

The basic idea to rank for new search phrases is that we need to create written content for each one. Over time, as you begin to create content for each key phrase you’ll organically (read free) rank in Google and other search engines. Examples of content could be describing a new product in a familiar way or a blog post telling current happenings around the company.

For the purpose of this article let’s take use the search phrase “gluten free bread in Bozeman” as an example. Google’s not really interested in us as business – they’re focused on making sure the searcher finds information that’s relevant. Accordingly, we need to create written content that speaks to the topic at hand. Some examples of blog articles that would do well in search engines could be:

• 3 Bozeman Companies Who Bake Gluten Free Bread
• Finding Gluten Free Bread in Bozeman
• Ranking the Best Gluten Free Breads in Bozeman, Montana

Basically, any articles you create should be around the topic you want to rank for. Throughout the article you should include the specific phrase in the headline and in the first sentence. Then mention it in context several times throughout the article. Overall though we always want to write for the reader, not for the search engines. Good content always trumps sneaky search engine tactics.

Recycle content for search engine optimization

As I mentioned earlier in this article a great resource for content are materials that already exist! Perhaps a brochure or press release you’ve written can be re-tooled. Product information sheets and even explanatory emails that you consistently send to customers are both good sources of information. Keep the topic narrow and the content lean. Be sure to focus on your single topic throughout. Look at trade magazines, other website and even competitors as sources of ideas. Take into consideration any questions that you receive consistently or areas that you feel your consumer may be misinformed or under-educated.

Many organizations have materials that exist only in written form. These are great for search engine optimization! Find someone in your organization who could type the articles up at a hourly rate or even better, for a per article fee. High schoolers and other students are usually great for this task.

Great content means more backlinks

The other benefit of writing great content – again the major component of search engine optimization – is that people want to link to your content. Each website, Facebook like or social media mention that links to your article is considered a vote of confidence to Google. The more backlinks you have the higher your content will appear in search rankings.

I hope that you’ve found this brief article on stress free search engine optimization beneficial. Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

Every now and again I enjoy sponsoring a small contest on Twitter and other social media networks. The whole idea is to foster a bit of community involvement and to see who the most active users are. I felt like the annual Sweet Pea Festival in Bozeman, Montana would be a great cause to rally around. Last week I posted a quick Tweet calling for Sweet Pea Festival photo entries.

@manifestphil tweeted: #Bozeman Sweet Pea contest! $10 to whomever posts the strangest/coolest photo from the festival and tags it #sweetpea. Ends Sun. Plz RT!

Thanks to the various folks around the Bozeman community helped spread the word about this informal contest -including WindedBowhunter, HeebsGrocery, ZebraBozeman and various other individuals – there were a handful of entries submitted over the weekend. A few of my favorites are below.

@TEDxBozeman Tweeted: Hanging out watching the community supported #SweetPea festival parade.

@dschotthoefer tweeted: Hanging with the whole damn fam at the #SweetPea parade in Bozeman today. #candy http://t.co/QaIlVDR

@dschotthoefer tweeted: Watching Shawn Mullin perform ‘Lullaby” – yes, THAT Shawn Mullin – at #SweetPea fest. (@ Lindley Park) [pic]: http://4sq.com/r85eLd

@TEDxBozeman Tweeted: We’re back at the #SweetPea fest in #Bozeman for the final day. Awesome weather! http://t.co/E9jQWGF

And the Sweet Pea Festival photo winner is…

My favorite funky photo was from @LewTheLegend. He tweeted:

Two beautiful ladies Jazzercising in the #SweetPea parade @LadyLegend & @kimburr17 http://twitpic.com/61yhsi They were followed by a slutty ballarina. Why is it I hate #parades again?

But wait, there’s more Sweet Pea Festival action to be had…

There were a few other folks writing and tweeting throughout the weekend.

@MontanaSkies posted quite a few videos of their performance. There’s a quick preview below and the full playlist is here:

The Bozeman Maker’s Club was out in full force and a few robots even invaded downtown Bozeman. @BillsVision has that video.

Today’s Manifest marketing minute explores the popular content management system WordPress. Philip Downer discusses why Manifest Creative believes this platform is a powerful tool for Montana’s small businesses to extend their reach on the internet.

This video marks the first in a series that I think we’ll call “Manifest marketing minute”. If you’re liking what you see, consider subscribing to the Manifest Creative YouTube channel.

Have you used WordPress? Still wonder if it might be right for your Montana small business? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Last night was the 2010 Bozeman Tweetup hosted by the good folks over at KBZK, Future Farm and, of course, Manifest Creative. While the numbers have yet to be tallied, I’d be willing to bet that there were just about 100 Bozeman business owners in attendance. Sean Golliher of Future Farm gave a great presentation on why every small business should be involved in social media. I was asked to give a brief talk on how to get started with Facebook and Twitter.

One of the more enjoyable presentations that evening was from Chief Meteorologist Mike Heard of KBZK who spoke about his experiences with different social networking sites and the impact they’ve had on his profession.

Please take the short poll!

If you attended last night’s Tweetup, we’d love to have your feedback for future events. Did you enjoy the presentations? How was the venue? What kind of topics would you like covered in future events?

Let us know… Take the Bozeman Tweetup poll!

Basics of Twitter and Facebook Presentation

My presentation is available for download or viewing below. If you would like future access to any documents and information that I upload, become a friend on Scribd.com.

3rd Party Software for Social Media

HootSuite is free for basic users

HootSuite – A powerful, online tool that allows you to manage all of your social media profiles from one location. Schedule tweets, shorten links and track how many clicks your links generate. If you’ll only use one tool this is the one you need today!

TweetDeck is a free download available for both Mac and PC computers.

TweetDeck – A software application that you download to your computer, TweetDeck also allows you to manage multiple social media profiles. Easy to use for beginners, but powerful enough for marketing managers. One of my favorite features is the ability to create keyword searches and be notified whenever new Tweets matching the search appear.

Google Analytics is both free and powerful. Learn what's working for your website.

Google Analytics – If your website doesn’t have it installed, you’re missing the boat! Google’s free analytics software is probably your greatest ally in social media as it lets you see where the traffic from your website is being generated. Not sure if your Facebook ads are as effective as they could be? Analytics will let you see what pages Facebook users look at on your website before they make a purchase. Want to see if your Twitter posts have been driving traffic to your blog? Easily check what your most popular posts are, and which posts Twitter visitors tend to favor.

PolicyTool will help you to discover things you might not have otherwise considered.

PolicyTool – Policy Tool offers a free social media policy generator that will help you craft policies for your company and employees. Answer a few simple questions and PolicyTool will do all the heavy lifting for you.

Informative Social Media Videos

• Tom Peters and Seth Godin say “Let’s hear it for the blog”
• Social Media in Plain English – These are great for beginners!

Interesting Articles on Social Media Marketing for Montana

• Social Media for Business – Who’s doing it well and how
• 9 Social Media Topics that Need to Die
• The Sad Truth about Marketing Shortcuts
• 10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips
• 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

Other social media presentations for Bozeman businesses

• 10 Must See Social Media Presentations

Surprise can be a wonderfully potent element of any business’ marketing arsenal.

When Chad Kimm, owner of Crema Roasting in Bozeman, Montana, stopped by our studio last week, it was completely unexpected.

Chad and I have chatted on Twitter over the last year, and I’ve enjoyed many cups of their fresh roasted coffee since. See, I was actually introduced to Crema Roasting through social media. While I had probably seen bags on several local grocer’s shelves, I had never actually purchased a bag of Crema beans.

Chad exposed me to his product by engaging me and surprising me on Twitter by becoming one of my followers. Instead of simply passively listening to what I had to say (and vice-versa) he continued to foster the conversation.

Needless to say, the next time I was shopping I noticed the Crema Roasting coffee tucked in amongst the Folgers, Maxwell House and other national brands at Town and Country Foods. Actually, I was actively looking for Crema Coffee, wanting to try it for myself – even if all I wanted was to learn what the fuss was all about.

That was the power of Chad’s first surprise. Getting me to try his product.

The next surprise, albeit a more passive one, came when I realized just how incredible his coffee was! Being exposed to his product changed my mind about what a good cup of coffee actually was. From experiencing the aroma of grinding fresh beans and brewing a pot through to sipping a steaming hot cup of joe – I was surprised to learn that great coffee doesn’t come in a big, red, plastic jug. Elementary, I know, but surprising your customers with quality is incredibly influential. When was the last time a product surprised you?

I made a couple of off-hand Tweets about how much I enjoyed Crema Coffee. As any other designer or office-worker can attest, we can hardly function without caffeine! Now, two surprises were enough to ensure that I never went back to mass-produced coffee. But Chad reinforced every experience I’ve had with his brand with a personal touch.

After Manifest had moved into our new studio, Chad visited with two bags of beans in hand. He wasn’t looking to sell anything. He didn’t have an ulterior motive. All he wanted to do was let us know that he appreciated our comments about Crema and that he was listening to his customers.

He surprised us by taking the time to explain why a cup of Crema is different. Chad surprised us by telling us about other Montana roasters that he respects. He surprised us with his depth of coffee knowledge and his passion for what he does. By engaging with customers using the tools at his disposal he forged a simple relationship with people who will actively tell others about Crema.

Much has been written about how a brand is an experience. A brand is not just a logo, not just a television commercial or a beautiful website. So today, I submit the following question for your consideration:

When was the last time you surprised your customers?

Horsepower has been a part of automotive terminology since the beginning of the automobile era, therefore I find it surprising that only a handful of automotive manufacturers have chosen to use an image of a horse as a design element of their logo or emblem. Horses have long been viewed as a universal symbol of speed, strength, power and prestige… qualities that I assumed would be quite useful in the competitive automotive field. So while doing research for a few horse logos I have designed, I was extremely shocked to come across scarcely a half dozen examples of horse logos in the entire automobile manufacturing industry. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy the six examples of automotive horse logos I was able compile for your viewing pleasure… and if I left out a few please let me know!

1. Ferrari

The Ferrari emblem is probably one of the sexiest horse logos ever designed!

2. Porsche

The Porsche emblem is one of the most recognized horse logos in the auto industry!

3: Ford Mustang

The Mustang emblem is the most famous horse logo in Ford's history.

4. Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco Sport was the first SUV to incorporate a horse into it's logo design.

5. Ford Maverick

This horse decal/emblem adorned select Ford Maverick cars in the early 1970s.

6. Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto emblem is just one of many horse logos in the history of Ford Motor Company.

Which one is your favorite?

I know there are only a few to choose from, but let us know which one you consider the best automotive horse logo. Also, if you know of an automobile manufacturer that I may have left out, please let me know!

It is a New Year, and at Manifest Creative we are very excited to announce that our Montana web and graphic design studio has a fresh new home. On December 1st of 2009 we officially moved into our new office located at 21000 Frontage Road, Suite #6 in Belgrade, MT.

Outdoor signage facing Frontage Road installed by Kelly Kapinos of Signs and Designs, now adorns the iPark professional building which is the new home for Manifest Creative.

There is still a fair amount of work ahead to get the studio decorated to our liking and equipped with the latest in proper design gadgetry, but our new space is already rewarding us with many advantages that our previous location simply couldn’t.

Anyhow, we wanted to offer a few sneak peaks at our new studio before we throw some paint and stuff on the walls. After all… as designers we have all kinds of ideas of what we’d like to do with the place!

If the photos don’t quite give you the full perspective, you are always welcome to drop by and say hello. Our regular hours of operation are 9AM to 5PM, but we frequently work extended hours. If the lights are on, you’ll probably catch us!

In today’s economy, many businesses are cutting their marketing budgets while searching for more effective pathways to maximize their advertising dollar. With smaller budgets to work with, advertisers must work smarter and more efficiently.  To be considered effective, it must offer your organization measurable, trackable results.

There’s only so much attention span available!

Businesses have been questioning the effectiveness of interruption based marketing, and challenging the shotgun approach of advertising in traditional broad-based media such as magazines, newspapers, television and radio to get their message out for quite some time. Since each of these forms of marketing are based on interrupting the viewer’s attention with an advertising message, we’ve become increasingly able to tune these mass-media messages out.

With ever-increasing costs and lower measurable return on investment (R.O.I.) from these forms of traditional advertising, it’s not surprising that these companies are turning their attention to a targeted, conversational approach using new media to augment or enhance their marketing plans.

So what is ‘new media’?

New media is simply a collective term for the use of websites, email marketing, blogging, online advertising, social media and other internet-driven technologies. These new media technologies typically integrate with each other and when well executed boast advantages that are hard to match with conventional forms of marketing.

At Manifest Creative, we have the advantage of providing both new media and traditional media services to our clients. In doing so, we see the shift to new media first hand… and from our experience it is happening at an excited pace. This is made clearly evident as many businesses are hurriedly trying to adapt their marketing plans to take advantage of current technologies.

In the wake of this trend many organizations are left wondering which direction to turn, and which route will ultimately garner the most bang for their buck. This can often be incredibly difficult when you consider the sheer amount of online services available. When you add a full assortment of social media options into the equation, things can really get confusing. At this point turning to an experienced professional can help immensely.

We specialize in helping companies of all sizes create road maps to new media success. We encourage our clients to take advantage of our experience, by allowing us to craft plans that capitalize on major online opportunities while avoiding common pitfalls and hazards. With our guidance and assistance we can make the transition to new media as smooth as possible, while providing measurable results along the way.

If your organization is looking at making the switch to new media or is looking at updating your existing online efforts, please consider giving us a call at 406-585-9406. We think you’ll be glad you did, and your first consultation with us is free!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Kelly Kapinos of Signs & Designs in Bozeman, about designing a vehicle wrap for one of his clients. I had been wanting to design a wrap for awhile, and knowing that Kelly and I have worked well together on a few other projects… I jumped at the opportunity.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with “wrapping”, it is the art of printing graphic design elements on high performance vinyl and then applying that vinyl to a chosen surface. In our case, the client wanted to wrap the back half of his truck to promote his taxidermy services.

One of the first steps of this project was taking precise measurements of the vehicle, this is also one of the most important parts of the project as it determines how much vinyl it will take to achieve the desired results. Kelly took down all the measurements and then handed them off to me, along with photographs of the vehicle, so I could begin the next step of the process… finding appropriate artwork.

Searching for artwork proved to be one of the most challenging parts of the entire wrap. Our client wanted a bear snarling, which is easy enough… but finding an image large enough to be nearly life sized was difficult to say the least. Luckily for me, I eventually found a perfect image from Canadian photographer John Pitcher, and by contacting John directly, we were able to settle on a fair price for the photo.

With the photo and measurements in hand, it finally time to get to the design phase. With the creative software on my hard working Macintosh, I was able to show the client how the image would look on his vehicle before the vinyl was even printed. This also allowed Kelly the opportunity to show the client how the lettering would look as well. This allowed for any tweaking to be done and for the client to be satisfied with the overall design prior to the actual application.

I should note here that half wraps can be somewhat difficult to pull off. The challenge lies in creating a design that effectively covers half of the vehicle, but yet is designed in way that makes the transition from the paint of the vehicle to the graphic elements of the vinyl pleasing to the eye. This is something I think the design I came up with does very well, and luckily for me the client agreed too.

With the green light on the design, I burned a DVD of the rather large image files to give to Kelly. He then took the files and printed them to vinyl on his large format printer at his custom shop in Four Corners. Hours later with the printing complete, it was finally time for the highly anticipated install. It took a full day and part of another for the complete install, but as usual, Kelly did a fantastic job… and I think the finished results speak for themselves!

During the installation I talked Kelly into letting me tag along and snap some photos of the process. Check out the install photos for an idea of the hard work involved in creating a wrap like this. After seeing it in person, my sincere congratulations go to Kelly and the team at Signs & Designs for a job very well done.

Well that’s it for now, but keep your eye out for this rolling billboard around the streets of Bozeman. I hope you get to see it in person, because the photos in this post really don’t do it justice. As always, please leave us your comments below.

I simply love logo design… it is a passion of mine, and with each new logo I create, I love it even more. Over the last several months I have created many logos for Montana businesses. Some of them are for actual customers, some of them are for friends/family, a few of them are just exercises in design and I also have a number of them available for sale as well. I wanted to post and share these designs for the sake of discussion, and to provide inspiration for myself and the valued readers of this blog.

This post is just a recent sampling of my professional logo design portfolio. You can view a great selection of logos I have designed by visiting the following sites:

LogoPond: http://logopond.com/members/profile/showcase/18675

Brandstack: http://brandstack.com/users/profile/SuperDave4eva

LogoGala: http://www.logogala.com/designer/details/david-howlett/

Creattica: http://creattica.com/creatives/david-howlett-manifest-creative/1598

As you read you will notice that several of these logos are available for purchase. If you are interested in purchasing one of these logos, please let me know and we’ll work something out. So without further ado, I happily present to you this latest batch of logos… enjoy!

Decipher Translation Services

This logo was made for a company that specializes in translating foreign languages. The mark was designed to be an interwoven ‘D’ that resembled a Celtic knot and specific attention was paid to the overall flow of the typeface.

CoreGroup (for sale)

I designed this logo after a similar concept got turned down, but I really liked how the ‘c’ and ‘g’ fit together… so I decided to stick with it. I’m glad I stuck with it too… because this is one of my most popular logos at LogoPond and Brandstack. This is a great general purpose logo, and could be used well for a number of different industries. This professional brand is currently for sale and if you’re interested in it, please mention you saw it on this blog… and I’ll be happy to knock a few bucks off of it.

TakeVacation.biz

This logo was designed for a friend of mine for his travel business. He needed a logo that instantly portrayed “tropical vacation”, and palm trees fit the bill perfectly. Check out the logo in use on his website, and while your at it plan a trip… a tropical vacation is just what you need!

One Step Up

I created this logo for a preschool that helps children with physical disabilities and/or other special needs adjust and integrate into the regular school system. This was a fun logo to design, and everyone involved was very happy with the finished result. You can see the logo in use at the One Step Up website.

RaceKart (for sale)

This is a mock-logo that I designed as a fun side project for an area of interest that I have… go kart racing. This logo is currently for sale, and would be perfect for a racing kart manufacturer, race track, racing club or a myriad of other uses in the go kart racing scene.

Chasin’ Tail

This logo is proudly displayed on a fishing boat and was designed as a gift for a good friend of mine. This is a custom vector illustration of a fly fishing lure that ended up looking amazingly realistic. It looks great on the back of his boat, and he gets a lot of comments from his friends and fishing buddies!

Tight Line Adventures

Speaking of fishing, check out this custom logo that I created for a professional guide and outfitter based in Dillon, Montana. This logo is one of my personal favorites, and features a bunch of custom designed illustrative elements. The client actually gave me one of the best testimonials I have ever received – “The logo looks really great, and everyone I show it too just raves about it. I love it and after looking at tons of other fishing logos…this one kicks the crap out of all of them. You did an excellent job and I’m very excited to market my business with this logo!” – Justin Hartman

Fire Bird

This is another logo that I designed on a whim. Ok, I’ll admit it… I have a thing for tribal flames. One day I was wondering how the phoenix would look all done in tribal flames, so I went to work and this is the result. I think it looks pretty cool as a logo, and my friends think the illustration would make for a bad-ass tattoo!

Common Ground

A friend of ours runs a landscaping and grounds maintenance company and wanted some tweaking done to his original logo that my business partner Philip created for him years ago. We came up with this simple brand that was very close to the original, but more elegant and refined to help reflect how his company has grown and matured.

Super 8 Hotel

As a logo designer, sometimes you simply have to have a little fun… that was my motivation for designing this logo. I think this really puts the “Super” into this logo for a well known chain of hotels. I had a lot of fun designing this, and who knows… maybe someday a head honcho at Super 8 will see it and chuckle!

Snow (for sale)

On a particularly snowy day in Bozeman, I got the inspiration for this playful logo. I really like the use of snow to create the white space that makes this logo work. This “cool” logo is for sale, and could work well for a number of different industries… especially here in Montana.

Suncrave (for sale)

Well you can’t have a logo featuring snow, without also designing one for summer… so here you go! This is a mock logo that would be great for a clothing company specializing in beach wear! Admittedly, this one could use some work and probably seems a bit unfinished… something I’ll work next time I’m feeling sunny!

Red Rise (for sale)

Here is another logo featuring the sun, but in this instance it happens to be the rising sun of Japan. This logo is very modern and precise, perfect for a technology company or an entertainment studio. It is also up for grabs and awaiting a buyer.

JR’s Truck Repair

JR is a great local mechanic who needed a nice logo to help grow his new business. Although he has some of the best rates in town (call him at 406-595-0415), he needed a logo that had a very professional appearance and also depicted his mechanical ability. He loved the results!

Dance of Love (for sale)

This is a fine example of how a simple idea can turn into a really cool illustration. I wanted to make a heart out of the negative space between two dancers, something I think I executed very well. I do have some beef with this logo though… as it has been for sale for quite a while now!

Green Tree Service (for sale)

Here is another logo designed just for the fun of it. I love the way the leaves are made from the negative space in the lettering. The typeface was also completely custom created for a look you won’t find anywhere else. This one is also for sale, and ready just in time for the summer season!

Which logo is your favorite?

Well that is all I have for now. Please leave me your comments below and be sure to share these logos with your friends if you enjoyed them. Also if you are in the market for award-winning graphic design, please contact me so we can get to work setting up your FREE consultation.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the post!

Cheers!