I had the pleasure of attending the first Local University put on by GetListed.org in Spokane, Washington on February 4th, 2010.  This one day event, provided a fantastic amount of local search, SEO, social media and other Internet marketing information to over 150 attendees looking to have a better grasp on how they can be more visible online.

Organized by GetListed.org co-founder David Mihm, the seminar featured a great line-up of experienced Internet marketers as well as Google and Bing representatives.  The Local University seminar will be heading out to other cities in 2010, bringing a fantastic wealth of information for any business or organization looking to improve their online marketing knowledge.

In just a 4 hour session, attendees took part in detailed presentations, real world case studies, Q & A sessions, how-to’s, do-it-yourself tips, resources and more.  Overall it was some incredible search, social and local/maps information, from talented presenters, all for $129. A complete steal to get a ton of  basics, the best practices and the baseline to market online.

The panel of speakers form left to right were Mikko Ollila of Bing, Ryan Hayward of Google, Matt McGee of Small Business SEM, Mike Blumenthal a local search expert, David Mihm of GetListed.org and Mary Bowling of seOverflow. Not pictured above was Spokane SEO expert Ed Reese.

Local University is a must for any business that wants real answers, real examples and access to grasp the opportunity to succeed online.

In addition to attending the seminar it was a chance for me to finally connect in person with other search marketers I have read, done business with and interacted with for some time.  I had a great time meeting a few new ones too like Mary Bowling, Mike Blumenthal (aka Professor Maps) and Mike Ramsey as the presenters took in dinner the night before.

Minneapolis In The Local University Future?
The one last piece that put me on a flight to Spokane was to attract the Local University offering to the Minneapolis area later this year.  The amount of information, the level of expertise and the complete offering would be perfect for the local business community here in the Twin Cities.

I can tell you that the event left Spokane buzzing, satisfied and hoping for another one.

Hopefully I’ll have some good news soon, but don’t hesitate to let your voice be heard with a comment below.

One of our recent web design projects has been grabbing some attention.  Rear Window Media is a real-time, digital marketing start-up that utilizes LCD screens in vehicles to run ads while on the roadways.  Simply put they are mobile digital billboards, but RWM has done so much more with it.

A Complete Web Application
Rear Window Media runs their business right from their website.  The back-end is a web application that allows advertisers to manage their ad(s) showing, their ad budget and other campaign details.  This application (screenshot below) is the hub of their client interaction and gives complete control to their advertising clients.

Incredible Tracking
RWM advertisers also get to view detailed maps on just exactly where there ads are showing.  How’s that for tracking?  By integrating Google maps with their web application, an advertiser can see what block in downtown Minneapolis thier ad appeared or what mile market on Interstate 35W.  Real time advertising, real time tracking.

Here is a screenshot of the map tracking report.

Web Design Project Overall
Five completed the front end of the web design and as well for their marketing interface.  This project really shows our ability to handle both the marketing front of a project and the complex web application backend, far past our great CMS features.

This project included:

• Web design
• Search Engine Friendly build
• Custom WordPress blog for RWM news
• Advertiser account & log-in
• Web application management for advertising
• Custom Google maps reporting
• Content management platform (SMC)

If you haven’t yet, visit the site:  http://www.rearwindowmedia.com

We released another great restaurant web design under our Taste Trend offering last week.  Shorewood Bar & Grill in Fridley, Minnesota opened in the fall of 2009 and now has a new website.

The project is fully recapped on the Taste Trend blog.

Five also photographed the restaurant and many menu items for the Shorewood to use on the new website.  Below is a photo of their Pepper Seared Ahi Tuna.

• Visit the website:  http://www.shorewoodgrill.com

This year we’ll be putting out a series of posts on web design usability since it’s such an important piece of a websites success. Many will be very simple improvements that anyone can do.

For those of you new to the term Usability, it covers how easy user interfaces are to use. The word “usability” also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process. So in short: making it easy to use your website.

First up we’ll take a look at an easy adjustment for any website to make, making your web content easier to read.

Rid your website of long blocks of content and use sub-headings and one or two sentence paragraphs.  This simple rule easily makes your content easier to digest and a more scanable read.

Here is the wrong way to display content:

Here is the right way to make content easy to read:

So take a look at your website’s content and keep these usability tips in mind.  It’s simple to make these adjustments and improve your site quickly:

• Avoid large blocks of content (blocks=boring)
• Use 1 to 2 sentence paragraphs when possible
• Use sub-headers (size or color variance used correctly)
• Use bullet points or other call-outs

Give your page the scan test.  Can you look at it for 10 seconds and grasp what it’s about?  If not, apply the tips above and see your improvement take shape.

In making your content easier to digest for your user, you will likely make it easier for search engines as well to understand what your page is about … but the SEO benefits of usability, that’s a whole other blog post.

I’ve read enough of the doom and gloom articles for the coming year of business; I’m not going to take part in that. Are there challenges? Absolutely, but it’s not hard to wrap your mind around great people with great ideas overcoming them to make an impact.

For me, small business is all about great people. They are inspired, resourceful, passionate and ever adapting.

Thanks to these characteristics, I feel great about the landscape of small business in 2010. Though consumer and business spending may vary, credit and loans will remain tight, some great things are going to happen. Many have already planned out what they can do this year to improve.

Small business has two fantastic things going for it in 2010:

• Opportunity and Technology

Opportunity: With any slump or downturn, there is the new battle to emerge or launch new ideas. Whether it’s an existing small business adding a service or product to their offering, or a longtime corporate worker being laid off and now taking the jump to work for themselves, opportunity is rampant.

Technology: Without a doubt, here is the part that excites us at Five Technology. We’ll get the chance again this year to work with some incredible businesses ready to leverage technology like never before. It might be a web redesign, a CMS integration, starting a blog, networking with social media or a custom web application that will push efficiency like never before.  The web is business in 2010, just think about it.

So let’s get after it. Let’s take advantage of the opportunity and mesh ideas with technology, to increase marketing efforts, sales, processes and efficiency.

Let’s make 2010 the year of the small business.