Progressive content writing and content marketing companies are developing digital content that is "authentic, useful and perfectly suited for the Internet generation," says Seth Godin, former dot com exec and author. And we certainly agree with what Seth said. We have always held content writing and marketing as the equal heavyweight to web design. The art of digital content writing and marketing has never changed. Talented writers craft content that is relative and interesting to an audience. Long before "storytelling" become a digital thing, it was called storytelling. Great content writing requires an interesting topic, offers insight, introduces new thoughts and arrives at a conclusion. This can be entertaining, informative, motivating, questioning, educational, horrifying, funny, sad and any other range of emotion that powerful writing can evoke. All hail the introduction of digital tools and distribution channels! We are incorporating, of course, new digital tools and channels to deliver great content to specific audiences across multiple touch points. Today's reader consumes content in shorter chunks and headlines. And if they can be hooked with a relative headline and intro paragraph, chances are strong that they will read, share, comment and bookmark your content. All of that being done on devices of all types through distribution channels of all types. PROGRESSIVE CONTENT WRITING & MARKETING IDEAS Branded Content is Vital - Now, when we say branded content, we're not talking about stuffing posts and stories with a brand's name. We focus on brand qualities that users will deem important to them: transparency, authenticity, original, trustworthy, reliable and factual. Branded content speaks to your expertise and unique company qualities that your team members and customers like. It's not fake because that kind of writing is easily uncovered and dismissed. Branded content represents the qualities and standards that you want to convey to the world. This type of content writing builds brand affinity with an audience because they can see it from business transactions to customer service to real customer experiences. Provide Value to the Audience - Remember, progressive content writing assumes the duty of providing value to an audience, not to keyword stuff a sales pitch. The audience will realize value in content through how it helps them accomplish their own goals and how comfortable they feel with the story you're telling. For example, we write content every week for a regional OB/GYN practice and our value delivery is through content associated with having a baby or raising a newborn. So we write about new products, new technology, pregnancy trends and lifestyle content that brings value to the reader's pregnancy journey. Creating Micro Moments - Micro Moment content is written for instant gratification from a user. The audience is searching for fast actions because they are ready to act on something. This content serves their need to "go now," or "purchase now," or "do now." For example, we blend in regional event calendars for some of our content clients based on the relevancy of the audience's lifestyle to our client's brands. If the audience has interests like mountain biking or kayaking, we distribute branded content on events that are happening at the moment they are looking. It works well. Use New Digital Tools - Content writing and content marketing require the complementary digital tools to place content in the moments on the devices that an audience uses. A great example here is the AI Chatbot. The AI Chatbot is an evolving content tool that anticipates the needs of a website visitor when they interact with the bot. Users want instant knowledge about the product or service being offered, as well as current information about their previous orders or account. Our job as content writers is to use digital tools to deliver highly-relevant content through these channels as the user needs it. AI enables the content we write to match the queries the audience submits. The FAQ section on your website is another great tool. Google likes this type of content and will reward you with higher placement when it is built correctly. Content Pillars and Clusters - This is a genius content marketing move! **CAUTION** The content that you write for the pillars and clusters must be of high quality and highly relative to your offering. Google will recognize fake or stuffed content. So the pillar is a single topic keystone page where the content clusters will live. For example, if you sell pecans, your Pecan Pillar Page (say that five times quickly!) will highlight your broader content on pecans. Then the clusters are long-form content articles and blog posts that dive into deep details on the pecan world. Pillar pages are broad and clusters are in-depth content pieces. You may even earn a Spot Zero designation on Google as the pecan guru. We believe that there are no shortcuts or magic formulas to creating content that is highly relative, useful and perfectly suited for an audience. It takes skill, experience and time to produce quality content. Writing exceptionally strong content is indeed a skill and an art. As a professional content marketing company, we integrate progressive content writing ideas into our client strategies and executions. It's a commitment that we have always taken seriously on behalf of our clients. Lazy content writing earns lazy results. And generic content writing earns generic results. We only focus on writing exceptional content coupled with highly-relevant digital tools to get the job done right. The first time. For more information on how content writing and content marketing can benefit your brand, please contact Jay Joyce at jay@theideapeople.com or call 704-398-4437. ...read more

Digital marketing is indeed the skill to perfect for any size company that needs to target online customers. Anddigital marketingworks well at scoring hits, visits, brand awareness, etc. But why is standard digital marketing failing at producing qualified leads for a sales team to pull through to conversion? Why is digital marketing on its own so average at producing results? There are so many digital marketers and agencies who claim to be "experts" in their field. They do know how to post a post and generate new page likes. They also know how to manage PPC campaigns and buy social media ads. They may even be good at adding exclamation points on every post, driving energy and excitement to an audience. But where are the results? How much has standard digital marketing impacted your sales and profit? Are you running a digital campaign but seeing no results in the conversion column? There is a 93% chance that you are. Standard digital marketing is real good at masking the real issue of generating qualified leads and driving them through your conversion process. That is why we suggest moving to a moreenterprise marketingapproach to building sales pipelines and interacting with your physical sales team. MOVE FROM DIGITAL MARKETING TO ENTERPRISE MARKETING Alright, so there's another slightly new term you need to learn:enterprise marketing. How is enterprise marketing different from digital marketing? Enterprise marketing builds focus on exponentially increasing qualified leads to your enterprise, whether there are 10 people or 1,000+ people in your company. And it's a collaboration between digital strategies and your real team sales strategies. Enterprise Marketing for the Win First off the bat, we use enterprise marketing to fill sales pipelines with qualified targets. The focus is on conversion. While digital marketing looks at the digital footprint of your company, enterprise marketing looks at your company as an entity. Yes, we use digital tactics to drive the pipeline, but we also deploy stronger marketing and sales tactics through research, stronger content writing, broader audience set targeting and more-refined online campaigns. Plus we balance this with your sales team so we work in tandem. Enterprise marketing is focused on increasing your qualified prospect pipelines. You may already be getting leads, but they're the wrong leads. Or the leads may be too small in value and a waste of time. The Enterprise Marketing Calling CardsDecision Influencers - these are the bottom players in a company. They are the workers and the people producing a service or product. And in the enterprise marketing world, they are important to drive recommendations up the chain, even if their own reasons are tied directly to just their tasks. Middle Management - these career people are line managers, sales managers and operations management. Their evaluations and recommendations are key to the C-suite on purchase decisions. Middle management is important. C-suite - the C-suite is where decisions and purchases are made. These are typically division or market segment decision-makers or they are the ultimate decision makers, like an owner or CEO. Of course, these are key people to reach. What is missing from digital marketing in these sales pipelines? There's no relationship with the top or the middle. Enterprise marketing addresses relationship selling with digital tactics. And each of our three market audiences are important in driving a relationship with the real decision maker. Enterprise marketing works in tandem with your direct sales team and customer service team. We visually "see" who your top customers are and we chart a course of building online pipelines for those people while your team makes physical contact with them. We see enterprise marketing as a "one-two" punch to pull qualified leads through the sales pipeline. And we've seen this technique work with companies to sell wider, sell larger and sell more often to target prospects. To learn more about enterprise marketing, please contact Jay Joyce, at 704-398-4437 or email jay@theideapeople.com. We uniquely have the direct selling and thedigital strategy experienceto build an effective platform for your successful pipeline. ...read more

From operationalizing disparate data from legacy business systems to enabling, configuring, and training on Adobe Marketing Cloud,Marketiblecan help define your future state and take you there. #digitaltransformation ...read more

Ecommerce is the new movement of taking part in business online. As there are many people now shopping online, it has turned into a primary financial action in different aspects of the world. Concerning this pattern, eCommerce sites have taken the lead in the online world presently. The designing of this type of website deals with unique designing needs.Designing an eCommerce site is an expert assignment. The creation and designing of websites is not the work of novice designers. It requires exceptionally proficient and capable website designers Asheville to design an eCommerce website that can bring huge success.These sites are uniquely intended to encourage guests to buy products and stay longer on the site so they can spend more. It incorporates a business pertinent look and feel, mirroring the vision and reasoning of the business, a sorted out format and expert configuration, including proper navigation, conveying a clear and responsive client interface, having a market friendly content, and involving a basic checkout and uncomplicated shopping cart. You can integrate many professional gateway while developing these sites to guarantee smooth and bother free online payment.An expert website designers Charlotte will have few effectively finished ventures to his or her credit. The designer should have enough introductions to all components of eCommerce website designing. The website designer may work freely or even as a member of a company that is particularly into designing proficient stores. The outcome that you have to expect either ways is an effective website that can draw prospective clients and convey your message across.An eCommerce website designer is able and have the professional skills to consider his or her employment seriously. Most customers usually expect that designers will take up the complete responsibility of designing the website all the way. Their sole aim should on designing a website that conveys the imperative ROI and turns into a productive try.The web design agency Charlotte should capable to guide the website from the development to the last integration of the website with the payment gateway. Additionally, the buying experience for the clients should portrayed a smooth way right from arriving on the site and picking the items to continuing to the checkout for payment. Clients should have their preferred capacity to pick a product easily.Being an owner of a business, you should pick an eCommerce designer that can understand the tasks of designing an eCommerce store. What is important for the designer is a complete set of well-developed abilities that joins an intensive aptitude for design. Besides this, you have to hire an experience designer who is aware of the new trends so that he or she can use those trends to design the store, including the preferences and the expert principles that the target audience anticipates. ...read more

We specialize in Internet marketing, but our team brings a broad range of knowledge, skills and education to your project. From web development, WordPress utilization, general help with web design and maintenance, to speaking at small groups or seminars, we can be there for your business. Simply deciding on one of our packages just doesn̢۪t fit some needs and we understand that! ...read more

Looking for the perfect addition to cocktail hour? Come in and get yourself some! get a selection of our Hella Bitters! ...read more

Come check out all the latest items we have gotten in! More arriving all this summer! ...read more

Join us for our monthly Gallery Crawls here in Historic Southend! It is held the 1st Friday of each month, from 6 to 9 pm! ...read more

So proud that we recently won the award for Best Home Accessories for the city of Charlotte 2016! ...read more

A collaboration with Palmer Building Company, Laura Casey Interiors and SDR Custom Pool&Spa. We modeled the existing house exterior, interior and incorporated SDR̢۪s pool design. We also worked with Laura Casey to produce renderings of her kitchen, bedroom and grand stair design. ...read more

It's an interesting position to own a 21-year-old web design agency. We've seen, heard, experienced and "done" everything. Twice. And being in the creative and technology business affords us opportunities to experiment, adapt and change with trend after trend. So we ask ourselves often, "where are we going next? What is the next world we can conquer? How do we grow the next generation web agency?" Without a doubt, this is where all of our experience kicks in. 21 years of experience that creates a whirlwind of forward momentum. That's what we like. So how will we make this happen? GROWING THE NEXT GENERATION WEB AGENCY: WHAT'S NEXT?1. CLASSIC MARKETING IS ALWAYS IN VOGUE "Drafting a well-written letter, enclosing a current agency brochure and business card still makes viable impressions," said Jay Joyce, president, The Idea People. "Nobody sends letters anymore and that is the best reason why we still do it today." Writing a business letter gives a prospect a physical experience with our brand. 2. SET A MARKETING STRATEGY&FOLLOW IT We preach this to our clients so we do it internally as well. Our chief content officer, Adam Frazier, has developed a multi-week content schedule of topics that are important to our target clients. "We use the content schedule as a guide for our marketing plan so all of our content and advertisements align each week," says Joyce. "If Google notices it and likes it, our clients will, too." 3. EMBRACE NEW We met a new and awesome "sustainable" advertising company called CruiseCarts. Their founder, Dustin Wilson, has created a viable and needed service of carrying people around the city in his special CruiseCarts. Oh, and he carries them for free! He generates revenue by selling advertising on his carts. "We thought this was a fresh and exciting way to place our brand name in front of influencers and decision makers across the city," says Joyce. "It will work well with the mix of everything else we will do." 4. DON'T ABANDON OLD TECHNOLOGY Enter WBT-AM 1100 radio. It's one of the oldest radio stations in the country and has been a crown jewel in Charlotte for generations. "We know that our target market listens to news-talk radio. They always have," said Joyce. "We are sponsoring news updates and the Rush Limbaugh update every weekday. It will work well with the mix of everything else we will do." 5. TAKE ON AN EARTH CHANGING CHALLENGE - IOT Bring on The Internet of Things (IoT). Sensors and devices talking to each other create a mega mountain of data. As a web and mobile app developer, this was a natural growth opportunity for The Idea People. "Let's do something that breaks rules and breaks new ground," said Bill McCown, agency director. "Let's go into new territory and lead the campaign for The Internet of Things here in the Carolinas." Needless to say, this will work well with the mix of everything else we are doing. 6. SPEND MONEY IN SOCIAL ADVERTISING Bingo. We offer this service to existing clients and it works well with the mix of everything else we do for their company. "Yes, social advertising is expensive, and, yes, it does work," said Joyce. "I think we have the best social advertising person in Charlotte and he can work miracles for our clients. We are looking forward to having this sync up with everything else we are doing." 7. VIDEO. VIDEO. VIDEO. Did we mention video? We created a video content series called "The IdeaCast." We produce video content for our agency addressing two audiences every week: the influencers and the decision makers. "Video content takes patience, planning and dedication to commit to developing and broadcasting it every week," said Joyce. "Video is easily shared, promoted, liked and delivered across any social network or device. Video will work will with everything else we are doing." Growing the next generation web agency will be challenging, exciting and rewarding. "We love generating new ideas as a team," adds McCown. "The thrill of generating new ideas, building a strategy, executing the plan and then monitoring the analytics adds the fuel to our momentum. We already see results after just 2 weeks." Every brand and company should find new ideas, energy and passion to push forward in their marketplace. We help brands move forward. Leaps and bounds are desired, but we can live with slow and steady. ...read more

Many a time web developers face issues while developing a site and this makes the delay in completion of the project. It creates inconvenience both for the developer and the client. This is the reason you must choose an experienced and talented website development agency in India like the Nethues Technologies, to reduce the web issues. Here are some of the common concerns a web developer faces very often- Maximize Usability- This is one of the issues that a developer often not try to address properly. He/she gets into the development process so deeply that often fail to predict how will the users will interact with the site created. As a result, the users get disappointed for not getting the exact information they want in a website. This can be avoided by a vigorous testing system during every stage of development including the design. Based on how the users will interact with the testing, the developer can make any change. Accessibility to your site- The developer must be able to choose the font size, color and themes carefully for your site so that it can be accessible to all types of viewers, including those who have some disability issues. Your developer must do a proper study and implement practices based on the preferences of users related to fonts and color schemes of your site. Cross browser compatibility- It is often noticed that a website cannot be opened in all the browsers due to which many users get disappointed. Your developer must create it using HTML5 technologies which have cross browser compatibility. Mobile optimization of a site- If your site fails to cater the needs of mobile users, then you will lose a large amount of audience. The responsive web design is a way out of this problem. Maximize the speed of a site- Speed is a major concern with most of the websites due to which they lose customers. To get rid of this, your developer must make your site light by eliminating extra features and keep constant check on the redirect issues. Being a trusted website development agency in India, the Nethues Technologies treat all these issues seriously and design websites in a perfect manner. ...read more

Charlotte web design company The Idea People is proud to announce the launch of a new website for Advantage Software, an agency management software company based in Mooresville, NC. Since 1977, Advantage Software has been committed to delivering market-leading agency management software that empowers companies and their partners to improve business processes. “Advantage Software has built a reputation for making agencies more efficient, productive and profitable. We wanted to implement a web design that reflected just how intuitive and easy-to-use their product is,” said Jay Joyce, president of The Idea People. Better, Stronger, Faster! At The Idea People, we believe that web design, and especially responsive web design, should be built around your brand’s most valuable asset – its content. Fortunately, we had a wealth of content to work with in redesigning the Advantage Software website. Let’s take a look at the site’s new navigation: Advantage – The “Advantage” vertical is comprised of 10 different topics that cover the full range of the company’s agency management software. Ultimately, this page is focused on giving potential customers a tour of the software. Using screenshots and feature lists, we demonstrate how the software’s browser-based modules allow staff and clients to communicate, collaborate and access information via desktop, laptop, tablet or other mobile devices. Services – Software alone is just a tool, but when backed by professional services designed with your success in mind, it becomes a powerful agency management system. This page highlights Advantage Software’s services, which include implementation, training, ongoing support (software and technical), consulting, disaster recovery, user group access, software enhancements and custom programming. News – The “News” section provides information about recent software updates and releases. To make the information you’re looking for easier to find, we’ve provided a list of categories on the left to filter out blog posts and news updates that don’t pertain to your needs. Communities – The Advantage User Portal delivers information to you and your staff on the software you use every day. The “Communities” page provides information on the User Portal and Users Group, which allow access to pending enhancements, important announcements, answers to commonly asked questions, technical and software documents, training materials and users guides, key contacts and partner information. Training Center – The Advantage University Training Center in Mooresville allows you to train in a focused environment – completely dedicated to your training success. This page provides a tour of the facility and what you can expect from taking courses with their certified trainers. About Us – Advantage Software has been in the game for over 30 years. The “About Us” section provides detailed information about their company and its history, as well as testimonials from clients and biographies on the company’s leadership. Partners – Advantage Software’s philosophy is to integrate their software with other products that their clients use, and invest in strong industry partnerships. The “Parters” page highlights their consulting partners as well hardware, software and service partnerships. Contact Us – Well, this is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? The “Contact Us” page provides all the necessary information you’ll need to get in touch with Advantage. We provide locations and addresses as well as an easy-to-use contact form for enquiries. Our Web Design Focus “The Idea People create clean, professional web designs with an emphasis on user experience, visitor conversions and creating targeted content,” added Joyce. “Our web design process is a solid solution for any business looking to increase its Internet presence.” We give your website design the opportunity to stand apart, attract the right traffic, provide a better user experience and help convert traffic into customers. Interested? Our Charlotte web design and development team is experienced and professional. Let’s talk. Contact us, email, or call Jay Joyce at 704.398.4437. ...read more

On January 13, 1964, Bob Dylan released The Times They Are a-Changin’, an anthem about the generation gap and the political divide that came to define American culture in the ’60s. If there’s one thing that’s sure to stay the same, it’s that things always change. We’ve invented countless technologies to make life more efficient and change the way we interact with the world. And when those technologies become antiquated, we create new ways of doing things – new devices with more computing power than the Apollo 11 that fit in the palm of your hand. Technology has changed everything, including the way we communicate with one another. We’ve gone from cave drawings to wall posts, carrier pigeons to tweets and text messages. The changing world of technology and the rise of of social media are having a significant impact on how consumers behave and how businesses interact with them. We’ve done a lot of changing – but many businesses and marketing agencies are still living in the stone age. In order to make it today, you’ve got to evolve and adapt – you’ve got to change. Digital marketing methods help businesses communicate with their target audience in the most effective ways possible. Digital marketing relies on strategies that work well across the internet and across an array of mobile devices. For businesses with big plans and small budgets, this type of marketing has many benefits. Here are just a few reasons why you and your business should harness the power of digital marketing: 1) Build Engaging Relationships – There is much more potential to reach a larger and more specific audience using digital marketing. With this comes the opportunity to engage with the right audience for your business in more meaningful ways. You can respond quickly to queries, join in conversations, outreach to potential customers and receive feedback in real-time. 2) Get Real-Time Results – Digital marketing allows you to execute a campaign almost instantaneously, and you don’t have to wait weeks to see results. You can monitor your campaign results while they are running so, if they’re not performing as well as you’d like, you can change your strategy or put things on hold. You can measure metrics like how well your posts or promotions are performing, if your subscribers or website visitors have increased since the start of a campaign and, most importantly, what content is driving them to your site. 3) Measure Return on Investment – Traditional forms of marketing such as print, radio and television can be expensive, and it’s often difficult to measure return on investment (ROI). With digital marketing, there are many affordable assets that businesses can use such as email, social media and banner ads. These methods provide engaging conversations with customers and you can track the results by measuring clicks, email responses and general interaction with customers. This kind of targeted tracking means that you are able to measure Cost Per Click (CPC) – how much it costs every time someone interacts with your advertising, which in turn means you can measure your campaign effectiveness more easily. Digital Marketing Channels Regardless of the size of your budget, these forms of digital marketing are ideal for all businesses as you can adapt your activity to suit your financial situation: Content Marketing – Start a blog so you can share relevant content with your customers and draw them to your site. Ensure your website is responsive and mobile friendly; more people are reading content on their mobile phones and tablets than ever before. Search Engine Marketing – Drive traffic to your site by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engine marketing focuses on using keywords relevant to your brand or business to improve rankings on search engines like Google. Pay-Per-Click advertising – Pay-per-click (PPC) helps drive traffic to your site using a clickable advertisement (known as a banner ad), which is hosted on websites or search engines. You can set your own budgets and turn individual ads on and off when needed, so it’s a great option if you’re looking to test different keywords. Email Marketing – Send your customers offers, promotions, engaging content and news. There are a range of email marketing services available online to suit businesses big and small. Most email marketing services offer the ability to track results, so you can see how many people have read your email and even what links they are clicking on within it. Social Media Marketing – Social media marketing allows businesses to get in touch with their customers by using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and more. There are options to allocate budget to pay for advertising and promote your online content to wider audiences. Digital marketing is something that every business should understand and incorporate into their overall business strategy. The Idea People have four full-time content producers who specialize in creating high-quality digital marketing campaigns. To learn more about how a creative team of entertainers can bring your digital marketing efforts to the next level, please call Jay Joyce with The Idea People at 704-398-4437 or email jay@theideapeople.com. ...read more

Nethues Technologies recently shared a news about developing a very unique and fully customized Social plugin for one of the B2B clients. This plugin is developed in WordPress and offers a number of customization tools for website owners to use. The plugin would be available for free use so that maximum number of people can take benefit from it. Usually to use the features of share, like or comment any content, three different plugins are integrated into the website. But this new plugin developed Nethues Technologies, is three-in-one. Just integrate one plugin and use all three features, instantly. This plugin offers 16 different themes, so that user can select the social media icons as per the look of the website. Whether you have a funky, professional or kid-focused websites, the wide range of themes offered are capable of satisfying the varying needs. Apart from themes, a range of other customization features is also available. Though the default size of the icons for social media is present, one can custom change the size of icons,as per the needs. The user also have the facility to change the spacing between the social media buttons. Apart from this, user can also change the positioning of the icons. These features provide total control to the user to decide the look of the social media integration on the website. There is no need to make any change in the code, as the customization is completely GUI based. This social media plugin currently offers integration of 9 social media sites that includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, StumbleUpon, Tumblr and two more. Apart from this 5 more integration options are available, so that user can connect any other social media site of his/her choice. The range of customization offered by this Social Media plugin makes it completely different and better from hundreds of other social media plugins available in the market. The plugin do not force website developers to follow a rigid pattern, but allows full control to change it and mold it according to the website’s requirements.  The WordPress plugin development team at Nethues Technologies is completely excited about this social plugin. They have received rare reviews from the users during the testing phase. Now they are waiting anxiously for this plugin to be available on the WordPress website, so that they could get feedback from users. Nethues Technologies is an India based Website development Company. The company has been offering services of WordPress development for many years. Not only the company develops plugins for clients, but many of its free plugins are available on the WordPress website too. ...read more