Head quarters for home staging (and home stagers)

A new bit of business recently was the completion of the homestagershq.com project which involved the design of a new logo, letterhead, business cards, with compliments slips and a presentation folder.

Homestagershq.com is a yet to go live website specialising in providing home stagers a dedicated hub to promote their business and their industry, irrespective of which training organisation the stager is part of or what part of the world the home stager hails from.

The most interesting element of this project is the fact that while it is a resource for home stagers to promote their business (and indeed even use to create their own website on) it also serves as an online tool for home staging professionals who have signed up to a membership to be located by home sellers looking to engage a property stylist.

A home seller simply heads to the home, enter their town and city and the details of registered stagers in the area will be provided.

The site will offer subscribing home stager members:

- a landing page to promote their business

- a portfolio section to upload before and after shots

- a blog function

- a forum to discuss topical issues

- an online store to buy eBooks and training resources

- industry information on home staging trends

- a resource for new business leads based on Google Maps technology

- a high level of search engine optimisation (SEO) and back links to the members own website

The site is expected to go live in April and membership details will be made available at that time.

To register your interest to become one of the first home stagers on the site, go to homestagershq.com.

To see the new logo for homestagersgq.com visit the Shift Branding logo gallery

Keeping furniture being built

Shift Branding recently completed a project for a small local business called Built from the Box. Built from the Box are specialists in, well, building anything you need built straight from the box.

As a home stager, I know how difficult it is when installing furniture in a property not to have everything assembled, and as a parent, we've all been down the path where we have to assemble a bike or trampoline for the kids late at night because we have been at work all day.

Built from the box takes the pressure off these task by having one of their Ready To Assemble (RTA) technicians get to work on the project.

In our deliverables for this project was a logo, business cards, electronic letterhead and a one page landing page to get the client optimised and online so clients can find him.

The brief was simple, make the logo fully reflect what it is we are about. As the logo will appear on truck pantechs and vans, the logo had to scale up to quote large dimensions and we can hardly wait to share the images when we get them.

Thanks to Ritchie from Built from the Box for his work and trust to get the job done for him.

To see the logo, visit the gallery logo section at Shift Branding International

Can a SEO expert guarantee you the #1 spot in search engines??

I see a lot of Search Engine Optimization providers that promote a guarantee that they can obtain their clients the #1 spot in search engines for given terms or keywords. This always surprises me as there is no sure fire way to climb the rankings to own a given keyword other than time, good site maintenance (in relation to new content) developing links from higher ranking site of relevancy and managing keywords.

To promise or guarantee this elusive spot at #1 for your keyword is often a lure to get you in more than it is a reality. When you consider the thousands of websites that are launched each day in given industry sectors it is incredibly hard to guarantee you any rankings, let alone the top spot.

Sure these companies offer great software programs that analyse and crunch data, they offer dedicated account managers and promises of the #1 spot, but they also charge you an enormous amount up front and then seem to lose interest in you once the initial process is complete. However this does not stop them billing you monthly as they attempt to get you that elusive #1 spot.

The SEO landscape is a forever changing one. One day you can be ranking well and the next your competition take the top spot (or push you back a page in rankings). The trick with SEO is not to consider it a one off project that you tick off the to do list once you have had someone review your site but instead look towards the ways that you can constantly improve your site and in turn improve your rankings.

Don't believe the hype with a lot of SEO providers though. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Shift Branding International believe in helping small to medium business with gaining ranking with their website. We provide our clients with sound and relevant advice as well as the skills to implement most SEO processes themselves (if they wish) or we will integrate the concepts for you. On top of this, you only pay for the advice you need, no large up front payments just an hourly rate to meet your budget.

So if you are a small to medium business that needs SEO advice, contact adam@shiftbranding.com or visit www.shiftbranding.com for more information.