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.

When you are planning an event, or have a program to present, it is important that you meet your goals and communicate effectively.   Ajalon can help with any aspect of what you need, whether it is with posters, banners, tickets, programs or PowerPoint presentations. When you want materials that will engage your audience, or stand out from the crowd, and attract people to your presentation we are ready to help.

Posters

Posters come in all sizes and formats.  You can have your posters digitally printed on a wide variety of materials.  Posters can be used to advertise an event, to draw attention to a particular presentation in a booth or to let people know of a drawing for a prize.  How ever you want to use a poster, we can help you design and print it.

Banners

Banner can be used indoors or outdoors.  They can be part of a large display or they can stand alone.  We have made banners for a company in Santa Rosa that wanted to prominently display rules for drop off that could be read from a vehicle.  Social or community events often use banners to announce the event and add to the festive atmosphere.

Once again Ajalon can help with your banners.  Our  vinyl banners are durable, affordable, and come with finishing options that make them easy to display. We can design any banner  so that you can fully customize what you need with images, photos, graphics and text.

Tickets

We have been producing tickets fund raising breakfasts in Occidental and Santa Rosa.  Casino nights in Windsor or silent auctions in Petaluma.  Whether you need books of tickets stapled together, pull off tabs or to have them numbered, we can handle it for you.

We have both a digital press and letterpress that can number, perforate and print, so whatever you need we are able to produce–pronto quick.  Call us and find out what Sonoma County’s oldest printer can do for you and your ticket needs.

Programs

After all the planning and getting ready, you might realize that now you need to tell people who come to your event or presentation what is going to be happening and where. Now is time for your program.

Often this item is left to the end because of all the other more pressing details of the event.  Ajalon can help you design and print your program quickly.  We have multiple machines available that make it possible for us to meet your deadlines and create exactly what you want.  You can relax knowing that Ajalon will take care of it.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Receipt books, estimates, invoices, checks and envelopes.  These are used every day in your business.  Every business, whether they are a large store in downtown Santa Rosa or a small, cottage industry run out of a home in Sebastopol, needs to have the proper business forms.

Client communications and business operations are dependent upon these vital documents.  At Ajalon Printing we offer a wide range of custom, personalized products–checks, labels, envelopes, business forms–to help you start, manage, or grow your business.  You can depend on us to help your business as we have been doing for over 50 years here in Sonoma County.

We offer consulting

We provide consulting services to help you design the most efficient and cost-effective way for you to keep track of all the important processes in your business. Our years of experience can save you time and money when it comes to your business forms.

We offer design services

We have thousands of dollars worth of programs so that we can  design your forms quickly and make them effective for you.  When you have the right form it can make your business run more profitably.  Mistakes are avoided and productivity is improved.  Having the right contract form can save you untold heartache and dollars.

We are local and real people

When you call us, a knowledgeable person answers the phone who is interested in your business, because we live in the same neighborhoods.  You can trust us to provide everything you need with exceptional personal service.  We have been printing business forms for folks in Windsor or Rohnert Park since before they were incorporated cities. We know what we are doing and we care about you.

Old, Traditional and New

We have companies that we have been printing their forms for over 20 years.  We still print lots of carbonless forms, those documents that make multiple copies with no carbon paper.  And if you are ready for the latest in stock inventory and scanning we can provide you with QR codes, allowing quick response  at the speed of a computer.

At Ajalon Printing and Design we are proud of the many businesses we have helped prosper and grow here in Sonoma County by providing  the correct form to aid in running their business.  Join the many business who have learned that they can trust Ajalon to give them their best value in printing.

Written By David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Every business in Santa Rosa wants to grow.  We have been talking about how businesses in Sonoma County have been using business referral marketing, newsletters and postcards to attract new business.  Often after the initial contact a follow up written on your letterhead is the next step.

With your letterhead and business card you begin building the relationships that will make your business a success.  The image that others form about your company will be influenced by the stationery that you use.  Following are some design secrets that will aid you in creating and using fine business stationery.

Choose a good quality paper

Don’t skip on the paper.  The paper is a small part of the overall business stationery package, usually less than 20%.  Trying to save money here may be penny wise and pound foolish.  Choose a paper that has some cotton content.  The cotton makes the paper feel warmer and appears more professional.

Create a strong logo

Make sure that your company name and logo communicate clearly who you are and what you do.  You don’t want somebody guessing at what you do after they see your name.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money creating a logo. Your business name, set up well, can do the job.

Use a tag line

Your name alone may say it all and your logo, if you have one, may present you as a professional, but using a statement that explains what you do and communicates how that benefits your customer can keep working for you long after your initial contact.

A gardener in Sebastopol had the phrase “Expect Excellence” as part of his business stationery.  I always felt this set the groundwork for what his customers could expect in dealing with him.  A simple tag line can be powerful communicator when used properly.

Create your personal identity

Communicate the appropriate message to your prospective clients. Do they want to know you are licensed, insured, professional, new or old, creative and innovative, a larger, secure corporation or a nimble start up?  Give some thought to the image your real customers will be most attracted to and build that into your letterhead and envelopes.

All businesses communicate with their business stationery.  You want to do it well and appropriately.  Whether you are in Windsor or Rohnert Park, you have competition in your business, use your business card, letterhead and envelopes to distinguish you when you get to that all important presentation of a proposal to do business together.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design