We know envelopes are a vital part of your day-to-day business routines. That is why Ajalon is pleased to offer 10% off your envelope orders this winter!

Envelopes work wonders for:

• marketing goods and services
• sending out invoices
• connecting with consumers through newsletters

Offer expires March 31, 2012

Rebranding Your Business in the New Year

Have you heard the rumors about the approaching apocalypse in 2012? We have, and while we’re not quite buying that “the end” is coming, we certainly do anticipate change.

A new year is the perfect opportunity to rebrand your local Sonoma County business. Updating business cards and stationery with a new logo will work wonders to attract new clients, as well as let your current customers know that you are a growing brand.

While a lot of us were raised to oppose change, 2012 is surely a time to embrace it! Contact Ajalon today to begin your rebranding efforts.

Why your local business needs a business cards…

If there is one thing I have learned from my boss while working at Ajalon, it is this: when giving your business card to a prospective client, be sure to give them two cards—not just one. That way they have one card to give to a friend as a referral!

Business cards are essential when spreading the word about your business. A great business card will leave a lasting first impression, so be sure to take care when designing your logo, picking out your font and laying out your type.

If you need help designing the perfect business card for your local Sonoma County business, contact Ajalon today!

The benefits of the business card are endless. Don’t forget to take advantage of this great marketing tool.

SEO helps Santa Rosa customers find your business!

Most small business owners have a simple website set up. It used to be that a few simple pages containing the business background, location and contact information was the norm for all business websites. Even though they thought that is all their site needed to get their customers through their front doors back then, they could not be more wrong today.

If a new customer cannot find your website to begin with, any page you publish will be rendered irrelevant. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is going to get your small business website seen on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Titles

Your webpage title is the most important aspect of your SEO. The keywords you use to title the pages of your website will bring you to the top, or the bottom, of search engine results.

For example, Bob’s Towing originally used the title “Bob’s Towing” on their homepage. This was great when customers of Bob searched for “Bob’s towing” on Google, but what about all the people out there who don’t know about Bob?

When Bob changed his title to “Bob’s Towing – Santa Rosa, Sonoma County Towing and Automotive Services,” he started to reach customers who were searching for things like “santa rosa towing” and “towing sonoma county.” By adding a few relative and local keywords, Bob reached a whole new customer base.

Tags

Title tags are important to how your business website is presented to customers within search engine results. This would be a good place for Bob to condense his page title, creating a transparent link that no one will be afraid to click. Ex: “Bob’s Towing – Santa Rosa Services”

Descriptions

Meta descriptions are also important to how your website is presented to customers within search engine results. When a meta description is not provided, the search engine will select content from the page and display it for your customers. By providing a crisp, clear and complete meta description for a page, a customer is more likely to trust and click on your site.

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Are you utilizing SEO within your small business website? Adding simple things like page titles, title tags and descriptions will help bring you to the top of search engine results everywhere.

Holiday newsletters keep customers connected to you!

Keeping in touch with your customers is a great way to build a community around your local business. Constant communication will keep your customers returning for your goods and services, and increase your authenticity as a brand. Sending out a monthly or quarterly newsletter is an excellent way to do all of these things and more.

Whether you have been sending out newsletters to your Sonoma County clients for years or are just seeing the benefits of this marketing tool now, there is no better time to send out a newsletter than during the holiday season!

There are several things you can do to create the perfect holiday newsletter:

• send warm greetings and well wishes to your valued customers

• tell customers about your updated holiday hours and/or vacations

• market holiday deals and specials

• tell customers what your local business has in store for the New Year

No matter what kind of information you are trying to spread, we have trouble thinking of a better way to do so than within a newsletter. Don’t forget to work with your graphic designer to work a little holiday cheer into your newsletter design!

Selecting a Graphic Designer for Business Endeavors

Whether you are creating your business’ webpage or producing top-notch printed materials to market to your customers, choosing a graphic designer that works for and with you should be the first step in your endeavors.

A great graphic designer should work with you and your company to understand your needs, and create killer visuals for you to utilize within your business. We know the search can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you find the graphic designer of your dreams:

• Keep local. Search local business listings and reviews on sites like Yelp. It will be easier to determine which graphic designer will work best for you based on others’ experiences.

• Ask for referrals. Trusted friends and businesses will guide you in the right direction. If you see a piece of graphic art from another business that you are drawn to, don’t be afraid to ask who their designer is.

• Search design directories and browse designs from contests and competitions.

Your designer will help boost your brand or business by implementing your business persona within your business graphics. Awesome websites, mail pieces and more will draw your customers in and keep them coming back for more!

Local Businesses Need A Letterhead!

Do you have a local Sonoma County business, but lack a letterhead? Your business stationery is one of the most important elements in your marketing endeavors. A great letterhead will work wonders to show professionalism and keep your brand in customers’ heads.

For those of you who just opened up shop, letterhead is the heading at the top of your business stationery. An awesome graphic, along with contact information should be included on the printed material that ends up in your clients’ hands.

Is your Sonoma County small business listed on Yelp?

If your Sonoma County small business is not listed on Yelp, be sure to set an account up ASAP! It is easy, free and most of all, will guide local customers straight through the doors of your business.

Yelp is one of the most trusted review sites on the web– consumers are constantly reading and writing reviews about tons of local businesses. Who knows, you might even be ranked in the “Best of Yelp,” just like Invitations by Ajalon!

We encourage all of our customers to review us on Yelp, helping push us to the top of the Santa Rosa Local Services. Facebook is planning to trash their “Reviews” application as well, making Yelp more valuable than ever to small businesses. Are you listed?

We recently made a new Yelp page for Ajalon Print, Web and Social Media.  Review us today!

One of the main advantages of having your local business listed in Google Places is that the map listing is usually above the organic listings on the search results when someone is looking for a local business.  It can’t be bad to be at the top of the heap.

This also means that if you come up in the regular local search results you now have more opportunities for someone to click on you.  I know that I look to see if someone comes up more than once in search results.  It helps me feel more confident in the reliability of the business.

Because Google is the search engine that the most people use to find something when they are looking, I will outline the steps to take to fully utilize their local listing service. It can greatly enhance your chance of being found when a person is searching for a local business in Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park.

Locate Your Business Listing or Create It

Google has already gone out and captured information on many businesses.  Your business may already be listed.  To find out, search for your business name with your city and state.  If your business appears, click the link for “More Information.”  There will probably be a link in the upper right hand corner that says, “Business Owner?”  That means that it hasn’t been claimed and verified.

You will need to create a Google account if you don’t have one, or log in if you do, and begin the steps to verify your listing.

If you don’t see your listing go to the Google Business Solutions page, then click the “Google Places” link

Local Seo Is A Powerful, Effective Way to Promote Your Business

One of the good things about the growing use of the internet is that it is becoming easier to promote your business in your local community.  We are a printing business and we have been here in Sonoma County for over 50 years.  And we have experienced real pressure on our business because of computers and the internet.

But now there is an opportunity to capitalize on the fact that people are looking to find things in their own communities, like Sebastopol or Santa Rosa, not just buy things on Amazon or Ebay. On the whole people are developing in the use of their computer and are searching for services and products in their local community.  And the search engines have recognized that.

Google, Yahoo and Bing have set up local search results that help find local businesses that people are looking for.  And getting your name into these  directories is free.  The search engine companies realized that making it easier for people to find what they were looking for, especially on a local level, made the search engine more valuable because people would use it more regularly.  So they decided to add these local search capacities for free.  nadda.  zilch.

This is like being listed in the yellow pages for free!  I suggest you look into how to do this for yourself.  Below is a link to a youtube video where Google introduces their service. They call their service Google Places.

I suggest you check it out and consider making your business more findable on the internet.  This is something you can do yourself or we at Ajalon can help you do this if you don’t have the inclination or time to set it up.  The search engines are battling for this part of the market right now and you can benefit for free.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design