Southern Web Group’s designers compiled a list of their top 5 favorite typefaces for your enjoyment. You might already be familiar with some of these fonts. Household names, like Facebook and Apple, frequently use these fonts in their marketing materials.

Enjoy our collection — and perhaps — use it in your next design project.

Klavika Regular

Frutiger LT Std Light

Gotham Medium

Myriad Pro Semibold

Helvetica Neue Light

There are many paths business owners take to reach success – innovation, determination, creativity – but as diverse as business owners are, there are common characteristics of a sound, successful company. Google offers an application package that provides businesses with an affordable, compact way to manage operations, and there are many components of running a solid enterprise that the upgraded Google Apps can support.

1. Organization
   Google Calendar makes it easy to schedule appointments and integrate with your email. Employees can work online without attachments and create organized spreadsheets using Google Docs. Arrange company information, create presentations and coordinate team projects through Google Sites.
2. Security and Privacy
   All Google Apps accounts have enhanced levels of customization and privacy. Google Video allows employees to share confidential information safely. Security, on both a system and site level, lets administrators set regulations on Google Sites. Upgraded Gmail spam filtering helps keep your employee’s email accounts and computers secure.
3. Collaboration
   Employees can share and publish events through Google Calendars. Google enables instant messaging and video chat, and coworkers can share information through Google Video sharing. Set up Google Groups where members can exchange content and search topical archives.
4. Cost-Control
   With Google Apps, each user is charged a flat yearly fee of $50 for Premium accounts – business owners don’t have to worry about licensing associated with other application packages. If your company is growing or expecting fluctuation, Google Apps is an affordable management solution that doesn’t require high software costs.
5. Efficiency
   With Google Apps, business owners have all the applications they need to resourcefully handle company operations in one place. Manage Web sites, administer employees, organize schedules and control the day-to-day processes of your company compactly and affordably.

Fore more information about Google Apps, feel free to contact us. ]]> http://www.southernwebgroup.com/swg.news/2010/03/02/google-apps/feed/ 0 http://www.southernwebgroup.com/swg.news/2010/02/19/5-things-about-search-engine-optimization/ http://www.southernwebgroup.com/swg.news/2010/02/19/5-things-about-search-engine-optimization/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:25:13 +0000 Drew Barton http://www.southernwebgroup.com/swg.news/?p=789

How can you improve your Web site’s search engine rankings, entice customers and increase traffic to your Web pages? There are several search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that are effective in encouraging visibility, traffic and conversion. Be sure to select a firm that tests multiple scenarios, monitors customer usage, provides maintenance and customizes SEO tactics so they are appropriate for your target market to avoid the common pitfalls of professional optimization. Consider these SEO strategies and techniques, and let them be key determinants in choosing the best search engine optimization firm for you.

1. Link Building
   SEO providers should offer comprehensive link building options. From link bait recommendations to draw Web users to your site’s current, comprehensive and unique content to link strategy recommendations and more, an efficient search engine optimizer succeeds in increasing link traffic to your Web page.
2. Testing and Monitoring
   A large part of strong SEO depends on testing and monitoring – investigating one tactic’s success over another’s to create the most impacting optimization for you. Select an optimizer that provides monitoring of Google Webmaster Tools, tracking through Google Analytics, usability testing and quarterly reporting.
3. Maintenance
   Dated content isn’t optimized content. Be sure your SEO includes current setups, site updates and recommendations and monthly on-page optimization – title tags, meta tags, and image attributes.
4. Rich and Relevant Content
   It’s imperative that your Website content be rich, up-to-date and relevant to the audience you’re attempting to attract. Content recommendations, maintained business blogs, keyword-rich text and social media recommendations are all helpful tools in ensuring your website is significant and meaningful.
5. Promises, Promises
   With everyone competing to be the biggest and best, be wary of optimizers that offer or boast the following: guaranteed #1 placement for your Web site on search engines, unclear explanations as to what they provide and where your money goes, shadow domains, doorway pages and traffic generation from fake engines or spyware.

• Free Web Hosting vs. Not-Free Web Hosting
  Several companies offer free Web hosting services, often sustained by advertisements, but users can expect relatively limited services. Paid Web hosting providers are more likely to have the expanded bandwidth, backup servers and features necessary to provide its users’ Web sites with more uptime and accessibility.
• Backups
  Investigate the backup and security policies of potential Web hosting providers. How often do they backup? How long is backup data stored? You want to guarantee that your Web site is protected on a daily basis in the event of a server crash or unexpected high volume of downtime.

  Tip: As a rule, you should request a copy of your Web site from your web developer.  In the event that you part ways with your web developer, you’ll want to make sure you have access to all your files.

• Commitment Periods
  Carefully consider commitment periods when selecting a Web hosting service. Many companies offer discounts and rate reductions in order to draw customers into extended contracts. This most often becomes an issue for business owners if the provider’s services fall short in attaining desired results.
• Compare Features
  Research the features offered by different Web hosting providers before selecting the best one for you. Compare and contrast email options, subdomain additions, technical support departments, domain name registration options, account activation timeframes and conversion tracking tools.
• Know Your Needs
  Some Web hosting companies have only the ability to support basic web programming, such as HTML and static Web pages. For many businesses, the ability to hold more advanced programming, such as PHP, SQL database operations, Flash animation and secured payment functionality is essential. Have an understanding of what your company’s needs are, and let them be a determinant in selecting the proper Web hosting provider.

• Know Your Target Audience
  The goal of a business website is to communicate the assets of your company to an audience who may not know it exists, but recognizes their need for your products and services.  Your logo, the website content, the navigation structure, and images should all articulate the core strengths of your organization in a clear manner, and help the viewer understand why your company is superior to competitors.  Understanding your target audience and communicating effectively with them is a high priority in a successful website redesign.
• Use Only Quality Graphic Assets
  It may be tempting to use outdated logos or amateur photography on your updated business website; however the results are typically disappointing to both the business owner and viewers. Redesign of your company website creates a great opportunity to refresh a dated company logo or have a professional photographer shoot your offices, take quality head shots of principals, or capture recent projects that represent your best work.
• Do Your Research
  Before meeting with a designer to discuss your business website redesign project, it is helpful to have a short list of websites you like to review with them.  These sites can be in any area from news to competitors in your field.  When you review these sites with a website designer, be prepared to discuss what you like about them, such as use of colors, fonts, interactive elements, and presentation of the content.  These cues are very helpful as the creative process of designing a new web identity for your company begins.
• Content Rules
  Business websites often rely on content to help new customers locate them through search engines.  Content is considered “relevant” by a search engine when it contains valid information and incorporates the terms people commonly use when searching for the products or services on the Internet.  If you do not plan to initiate a pay-per-click advertising campaign in tandem with the new website launch, ask your website designer to recommend a writer who has an understanding of creating optimized content as well as crafting appropriate meta tags to help organic search rankings of your redesigned website.
• Maintain Your Appearance
  Keeping content on your business website fresh is important to search engine rankings as well as to keeping existing and potential customers up to speed on happenings in your company or industry.  You can update content through a CMS (content management system), through a company blog, or through email newsletters that are archived on your website.  Discuss content maintenance strategies with the designers of your updated business website and be sure you can support their suggestions to best use the tools available.

Redesigning your company website can help build new business and introduce your company to new customers day in and day out.  By preparing well for a website redesign, you maximize the value your company reaps from a fresh web presence.  Contact Southern Web Group at 404-848-9440 for more information on how to get started on a business website design today.

The newest features include:

• Global undo/”trash” feature, which means that if you accidentally delete a post or comment you can bring it back from the grave (i.e., the Trash). This also eliminates those annoying “are you sure” messages we used to have on every delete.
• Built-in image editor allows you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images – putting you better in control of your media.
• Batch plugin update and compatibility checking, which means you can update 10 plugins at once, versus having to do multiple clicks for each one, and we’re using the new compatibility data from the plugins directory to give you a better idea of whether your plugins are compatible with new releases of WordPress. This should take the fear and hassle out of upgrading.
• Easier video embeds that allow you to just paste a URL on its own line and have it magically turn it into the proper embed code, with Oembed support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, and WordPress.tv.

With other upgrades and improvements WordPress 2.9 is another leap forward of the world’s most popular blogging platform. For more information about WordPress or Content Management contact us at Southern Web Group to see how to improve your online presence and gain better control of your site

What’s New?

• With fall in full swing and winter coming, it’s the right time to make sure your heating system is fully functional and ready for the weather.  The people at  TomBunch.com (Triple T Heating and Air Conditioning)  have 37 years of experience serving metro Atlanta and are ready to help you. Check out their site and ask for a free, no obligation quote. Don’t get stuck in the cold!

• Atlanta’s Heartwork Counseling Center provides psychotherapy and counseling services in multiple areas including trauma resolution and attachment therapy. With five trained therapists on staff, they’re available using a variety of methods. Each therapist has an individual webpage devoted to his or her background and therapeutic method.  You’ll also find information about Heartwork’s upcoming workshops, as well as information about residency options with the group.

• Not enough time to get to the gym? Looking for a workout that can be done anywhere with limited equipment? Delaine Ross’ AllAboutKettlebells.com is a hot new site that answers all your questions about the history of the Kettlebell workout. Filled with how-to videos and equipment information, Delaine can help you get in shape in your living room with her downloadable videos delivered right to your email inbox. She’ll start you off with her free “How to Swing” video available on the website.

Facebook Status Updates

This week on the SWG Facebook, we polled about your favorite web browser, your favorite Internet search engine and your holiday shopping plans. Most importantly, we asked Phillies or Yankees? Did you vote? Add your opinion!

Are you following us on Twitter? Become a fan on Facebook!

See you next week!

Our office did not escape the storm’s wrath. These pictures were taken the morning of Monday, September 20th. The rains continued that day and the water levels in the office rose above a foot of water.

Fortunately, no one was hurt by the flooding and our data was saved. Unfortunately, we lost several computers and it will be several weeks before we’re able to return to our office.

This week we’ve worked to get all our staff situated so they can work remotely while the repairs are underway.

Here are some photos of the flooding:

Congratulations, Cyndi Wolf of Tampa Bay, Florida, you’re the winner of the Sony Pocket Reader.

If you didn’t win this time, be sure to stay on our fan list. We’ll have another Facebook fan contest shortly.

Cyndi, send us an email at support@southernwebgroup.com to arrange delivery.

How do you win?

It’s simple really. We’ll randomly select one of our Facebook fans on Wednesday, September 2. To enter to win, become a Facebook fan.

We’ll announce the winner on our Facebook page.