April 27, 2012
We’re very excited to announce a new EIM partner—Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. Kalamazoo is a local Chicago company that makes hand-crafted gourmet outdoor kitchens of uncompromising quality. Gourmet, outdoor, grilling … well, you can see why we’re so excited!
Kalamazoo makes some amazing products. At the center of their suite of outdoor kitchen equipment is the Hybrid Fire Grill—you can cook with gas, charcoal, wood or any combination of the three. It’s this unrivaled innovation that Kalamazoo wants to share with discerning home chefs everywhere, so they can reach their full culinary potential.
After launching a new website, Kalamazoo engaged us to elevate brand awareness to specific niche markets, and increase the quality, quantity, and conversion of website traffic. We hit the ground running with strong messaging and highly targeted advertising featuring some of the most amazing outdoor kitchens we’ve ever seen (and some drool-worthy food shots, too).
So far, our target market is generating buzz about the new site, and Kalamazoo’s superior products. We’re looking forward to driving more big results for Kalamazoo and, as we’re virtually neighbors, we’ll be looking forward to grilling up some delicious summer creations together, too!
April 26, 2012
As a graphic designer and a student, I cannot help but drop my head whenever I see improper use of typography. It’s everywhere. But what truly makes me cringe is the logo I see whenever I tune into my weekly guilty pleasure, Glee:
The kerning is unpleasant and it’s obvious. Kerning, the spacing between letters, is normally judged by your eye rather than mechanically. The negative space in between the letters should be relatively even. This reads “g-lee.” As minor as some might find this to be, I cannot stand it!
It is very difficult to watch for the two seconds the Glee logo appears on screen and I know I’m not the only Gleek who feels this way…
That’s three.
Perhaps this was purposefully done and I’m sure there was a motive, but it has brought discomfort and grief to my Tuesday evenings. So please, Ryan Murphy and Co., take the time to kern your letters! There are only four of them.
April 19, 2012
We’re proud to announce the launch of American Osteopathic Association’s microsite Mini-Medical-School.com, just in time for National Osteopathic Medicine (NOM) Week, April 15-21, 2012! The microsite was designed to introduce young children to osteopathic physicians (DOs) while teaching them the basics of health and fitness. With the activities defined by the AOA, EIM turned them into an online environment to engage and educate children on the world of osteopathy. This initiative is in direct alignment with the AOA’s continuing drive to properly educate children in the areas of medicine, health and fitness.
The site features information about the Mini-Medical School, the American Osteopathic Association and a cartoon host guiding you through six interactive activities. These activities span a variety of games including a bone health drag-and-drop skeleton, medical instrument matching, hygiene and germs multiple choice, complete the organ sentence, nutritional food group identification and an exercise-focused word search.
Once all 6 activities have been completed successfully, the child receives a downloadable certificate and coloring book page.
- Printable Certification of Completion
Those interested in building their health and fitness knowledge can enjoy the Mini-Medical School website at home or on the go, as all of the games are iPad compatible. The experience should prove to be a fun and engaging way for both parents and teachers to educate kids on a very important topic. There may even be a few valuable refreshers in there for adults, too!
April 18, 2012
This question has come up frequently as of late because many clients use Google Analytics for their business. In fact, according to Wikipedia, 57% of the top 10,000 most popular websites use Google Analytics. Many companies are quite accustomed to the features of Google Analytics and they cannot help but wonder if the Google Analytics Premium is for them.
To help answer this question, let us define the Free or Standard version. Google Analytics Standard is for websites that produce fewer than 5 million pageviews per month. If your organization has an active Google AdWords account, then your account gets unlimited monthly pageviews. Google Analytics Premium is advertised as an Enterprise Solution.
Benefits of Google Analytics Premium:
- More processing power without limits
- Advanced analysis
- More custom variables
- 24/7 customer support
Below is a table of condensed differences between the Standard and Premium version at this point in time. This list may change with version upgrades.
The Google advertising team hit the nail on the head by stating Google Analytics Premium is an Enterprise solution. Small and mid-size organizations do not produce enough data to meet Google Premium data processing standards. Small and mid-size organizations are not always utilizing custom variables. Small and mid-size businesses are not necessarily implementing any attribution modeling as their marketing channels tend to be small in volume and channels.
The only item that Google Analytics Premium can offer non-enterprise businesses is the 24/7 support. For the most part, all the information to solve issues with Google Analytics is freely available on the internet if you “Google it.” Spend some time searching, you will find your solution. Everyone can agree that Google Analytics Premium is really cool, but if your website is not processing near the Premium data limits, the cost benefit analysis may lead you to stay with the Standard version. read the full story...
April 13, 2012
We’re happy to announce that we’ve been selected as an Official Honoree of the 16th Annual Webby Awards in the Restaurant category for the Roots Handmade Pizza website! The Official Honoree is awarded to the top 15% of all submissions. With nearly 10,000 entries from the United States and more than 60 other countries, we are very honored to be included in this select group.
The Webby Award signifies our ability to deliver first-class web design while accomplishing all the clients’ goals and objectives. Roots achieved its goal to break through the heavy competition in the Chicago pizza scene and deliver a website that rivals the nation’s top pizza restaurants.
Congrats to everyone at EIM who worked on Roots this past year, and congrats to our friends at Roots Handmade Pizza. The collaborative effort helped us to achieve this award.
April 11, 2012
As many of you already know, the Instagram Photo Sharing app has taken the world by storm over the past two years. Boasting 30+ million users even without an Android app (which was now just recently released), Instagram has been getting everyone’s attention. This includes Facebook, who just purchased the company for right around $1 Billion.
With Instagram having been named Apple’s App of the year for 2011, then acquired by Facebook (there may be some big integration plans in the future), and the new addition of the Android app that is continuing to massively boost their user base, it’s important to understand how to utilize the app in intelligent and creative ways to help boost your brand’s relationship with its consumers. Take a look at these 4 tips that can help get your brand on the way to building a strong Instagram community!
1. Post engaging content & know your audience
Instagram revolves around one main concept, and one thing that makes it such a huge success: the pictures! People love looking at different photos, and it requires minimal effort to analyze an image (as opposed to reading a body of text). With over 250 million photos posted a day, it’s important that when posting images to Instagram you are selecting ones that are visually stunning, original, and most importantly ones that your consumer base can relate to in some shape or form. When using Instagram you want your users to react to your image (whether they like or comment on your image) to help spread your photo and build your Instagram network. Red Bull does a great job of posting relevant and engaging content on their feed frequently. read the full story...
April 4, 2012
Look—a Frequently Asked Questions page is included in the site architecture! This will be a great place to give information and answer questions for users. Let’s go! FAQ away!
But hold your questions for a minute. Is an FAQ really a necessary part of your site?
An FAQ section is necessary if it:
- Educates users about service or product
- Keeps users engaged with site
- Gages effectiveness of content
An FAQ section isn’t necessary if it:
- Act as a substitute for clear, useful content
- Doesn’t add value because questions aren’t real or aren’t asked
If content clearly tells users everything they need to know, an FAQ doesn’t need to happen. If your organization is asked the same questions over and over—it might be a sign to adjust your site content, not add to your list of frequently asked questions.
