WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Fasturtle Technologies has been selected for the 2009 Best of Scottsdale Award in the Web Site Design Service category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@us-ca.org
URL: http://www.us-ca.org

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Tune In Monday Morning at 8:00AM PST  
Tweet during the show and I will try to answer any questions
PURPLE COWch Internet Radio at www.Modavox.com/andersen 

Thank you again Dave Brooks, Paul Redmond and the entire Fasturtle Team.

We had some interns in on Friday working on new t-shirt designs for Fasturtle. What do you think?

• You must have proven ability to reach decision makers and have strong closing skills.

• You must be willing to prospect.

• You must be effective at finding and closing new business opportunities, building relationships, and growing existing accounts.

• You must have good communication skills, be a self-starter, be client focused and money motivated.

• You should have an understanding of general business practices, marketing and advertising.

• Advertising, Internet Marketing or Website sales a plus.

• Requires a team/company player, not a loner

• Must possess a valid Arizona Driver’s License.

• You must have prior income of at least $60,000.

• You should have good organizational skills and be responsive to company and client requests.

• Working knowledge of CRM software very helpful

Fasturtle Interactive is an organization that specializes in Interactive Marketing and Website development. Fasturtle Interactive helps organizations build their brand and identity thru traditional marketing and interactive design. Website development, brand identity, off-line marketing and on-line marketing are just a few of the services that Fasturtle Interactive has to offer. Please visit www.fasturtle.com for more information on Fasturtle Interactive, one of Arizona’s fast growing Internet Marketing companies rated by Phoenix Business Journal.

We offer:
Lucrative Commission Structure
Realistic First Year Income of $60K+
Medical and Dental Benefits, 401K with company matching
Great growth potential, in a fun environment!

Fax your Resume to: Fasturtle HR Department, 480-452-0926
Reference: Account Executive
EOE M/F/D/V

(l – r: Chris, Jay, Paul & Amanda)

Follow these easy steps to cast your vote:

1. 1. Click here to visit the Ranking Arizona website
2. 2. Click the “Search by name” option
3. 3. Type in the word “Fasturtle” and select the first option (Advertising and Marketing / Internet Marketing / Fasturtle Technologies)
4. 4. Click the button “Cast My Vote”

From all of us at Fasturtle, we sincerely thank you for your support!

You with me so far? Staring at a bright white background while you read and work is like staring into a light bulb. It’s only a matter of time until as computer junkies we need thick black-framed glasses. I’d like to tell you about two applications I use to save my sight, and they both work great on Mac OS X.

The first app helps you remember to give your eyes a pause rather than remain fixed on a screen for hours on end. AntiRSI gently reminds you every few minutes to let yours eyes focus on things at different distances around the room. All times are adjustable, so Customize AntiRSI to your workflow: Make micro pauses from 1 to 30 seconds long, and the time between pauses from 1 to 16 minutes; let it remind you to get out of your chair for a few minutes each hour. AntiRSI has a pie-chart icon that updates as it sits in your Dock so you can recognize how long you’ve been working.

The next app is Nocturne, which helps invert screen colors to your liking. As a designer you know that light text on a dark background is not always the best for the masses — but as a developer, you can really appreciate some inverted colors when you’re staring at mountains of code all day. Nocturne sits in your Menu Bar and shows up as a little Sun. Click on the Sun to switch to Night Mode and invert the screen. Choose grayscale, inverted, or change colors to something you find more soothing. Nocturne is great when you’re working in the dark, or simply to avoid some eye strain during the day.

Keyboard Shortcut Tip: If you don’t want to download an application, check out your inverted screen right now by pressing Command-Option-Control-8. Press again to switch back.

As one last tip, simply try turning the brightness down on your monitor. While working with my 24” iMac, I keep the brightness on the lowest possible setting and it’s still very bright. Do you have any tips that keep you from turning into the Hunchback of Notre Dame after hours on the computer? Sound off in the comments!

We’re always on the lookout for interesting characters, leave a comment with your Twitter favorites!

What is a mood board?

The folks at 404 Creative offer the following explanation:

A mood board helps establish the branding, design components, typography, imagery, and color palettes that will be incorporated in the design.

Isn’t it just an extra step?

Content and structure are vital to building a website, but as a starting point, a mood board establishes a general design direction. Even though assembling a collage may not be the right start for every web project, a huge benefit of constructing a mood board is the ability to rapidly communicate styles in a medium other than flat-out design mockups.

Something I can really appreciate as a designer is the opportunity for the client to see into my process/vision. A lot of people in general don’t understand that there is a process behind design. Beginning the design process with a collage helps show the progression from conception to completion. By first offering a generalized solution like a mood board, we can hope to eliminate some of the frustration caused by multiple design comps and revision rounds.

Where should I start?

Mood boards can be used in all types of design, created digitally or otherwise. I prefer using them to develop a website design because it gets me out of the rut of looking at a monitor all day. I like to work hands-on, and looking to magazines and other materials for ideas offers inspiration that is truly different and unusual.

Where you you start when proposing a new design to a client? Share your comments below!

Forget Me Not

In my experience, small businesses have a fear of being forgotten, so they spill the beans — all of them. All at once. Their website homepage can quickly become cluttered with every small detail. In an attempt to capture the visitor’s attention, this tactic overwhelms the user. Usually the user leaves frustrated and confused.

Less elements asking for attention, equals more emphasis on important elements. Can you imagine your focus on raising 2 children compared to 12! There’s nothing wrong with having 12 children, but the parent with 2 will be able to focus more centralized attention. And 12 are far more expensive! Your business can take the 2 child approach, letting your readers and customers focus on what really matters, and forget the rest.

The More You Say, The More People Forget

We all have a friend who sends loads of email forwards, or talks incessantly. Michael Scott, the boss on the T.V. show the Office, is the “forward” guy. The more our forwarding-frenzied friends send, and the more they say, the less we pay attention. If another friend only sends a forward every three months, we might be more prone to read.

Our designs, ads, business cards, and sales approach say something, whether verbal, written, or visual. Do they say too much though, and too often? Humans have a natural tendency to over-emphasize.

How do I incorporate Less?

Your first goal should be unifying your message — large businesses call this an IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) plan. Adapt your message for each communication tool you use. Think of your sales pitch, your website, your business card, and determine if the messages are cloudy and/or different from each other.  Why do you think Papa John’s napkins, pizza boxes, answering message, website, and staff all share the same message? It wasn’t on accident. Being clear and concise gives you a guideline for every part of your communication plan, and emphasizes unity and simplicity.

Remove the clutter. Trying to say two things on your homepage is more focused than trying to say five. You might need to say five, but emphasize two. Work with your designer to craft a unified message on your site and collateral. The result will be more focused, smart, and simple communication.

Don’t Go Overboard with Less

The theme of this article is that less is more. I stand by my argument that less is indeed more, but, be clear enough to give the important information out. No more, no less. Being vague is just as bad as providing every detail all at once. Some customers love getting all the details (and you can provide them), just don’t let those details cloud your message.

This video should really drive home the point. Enjoy!

Microsoft redesigns the iPod package

I enjoy sharing things @jayrobinson, and we have a company Twitter account @fasturtle. We started talking about our favorite people to follow and we thought we’d share them with you.

Jay
@jasonfried - because he started 37signals and he’s probably a genius
@mike9r - smart designer and budding Cocoa enthusiast, he provides interesting links and tips
@cabel, @stevenf - the founders of Panic Inc. provide some good insight into the Apple developer community

Amanda
@creattica - consistent quality design links
@aisleone, @konigi - love their tweets and blogs for design / web tips

Paul
@snookca - keeps me up on all the latest developer news, Mac software, and productivity ideas
@cameronmoll - provides some design-related links and humor

What it boils down to is that we are folks who love the Web, and we want to meet other people who are just as passionate as us and love to share things about the Web. So follow us if you’d like, post your opinion to our new poll in the sidebar, or sound off in the comments!

I thought I’d use the same format to introduce myself to you. I hope you enjoy this interview with myself!

An Interview with Jay Robinson

So who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Jay Robinson and I’m a web designer and developer at Fasturtle Interactive. I’ve dabbled in making websites since I was about 12, but didn’t take it seriously until college. In college I learned about web standards, CSS and XHTML. At Fasturtle I am working hard at perfecting my JavaScript and PHP skills.

Before Fasturtle, I built NoPeanutButter.com, a blog that my girlfriend and I started when we were traveling around Southeast Asia. When we came back from traveling, I did some freelance work and built an extensive real estate website. Building these sites helped me learn a lot about real world design and development.

What hardware are you using to get your work done?

At Fasturtle I use a 24” iMac with an additional Dell monitor. The extra screen real estate provides a big boost to my productivity. At home, I have a black MacBook, and my first generation iPhone is with me all the time (a gift from when I worked at Apple).

And what software?

When I sit down at a new Mac, there are certain things I have to get out of my way. Some of these are cosmetic, but for those niggly technical bits, I recommend Secrets, by Blacktree software. It’s basically a GUI for the command line, so use it with care. Blacktree makes some great software for übergeeks, including Quicksilver, which I don’t use, and Nocturne and Visor, which I do.

I spend 90% of my day in Coda and Firefox with Firebug. Of course Photoshop (although I hate the square icon), Fireworks, iWork and MAMP for local testing. I use Mail.app to keep myself organized and a Fluid app for our ActiveCollab project management. We use Harvest to do time tracking, and I think it’s fantastic software. Highly recommended.

At home, iTunes is always running, (playing something from my massive music collection), and iScrobbler is always scrobbling to Last.fm. On my iPhone, I love Byline to read RSS and Instapaper to read anything else. They’re the only iPhone apps I ever need.

To sync up my iMac, MacBook and iPhone, I need MobileMe. I am constantly jotting down To Dos, Notes, and keeping bookmarks, on all of these devices. MobileMe makes sure I always have what I want where I need it.

When it comes to working, I am very strict about what third-party software I like to use. But one app I have begun using lately is LittleSnapper, by Realmac Software. It saves screen captures in an iPhoto-like browser and has some really nice touches, but that’s a post for another time.

What would be your perfect, ultimate setup?

Hardware is getting so fast, that I really couldn’t be happier. What I love is unobtrusive software that speeds up the way you work. The iPhone is a great example of intuitive software tied to an amazing touch screen. It will be nice when Apple ships a large Multi-touch tablet that could take the place of my mousepad and mouse. Scroll with two fingers, rotate a document, or zoom in with a pinch. I could see that happening some time in the future.

That wraps it up for me. What applications do you need to work? Mac or PC? iPhone or BlackBerry? Feel free to leave your comments below.

We are also looking for a Account Marketing Manager. Please send your resume with cover letter to us to be reviewed. Or, check out the job posting at CareerBuilder.com →

We are also looking for a Sales Superstar. Please send your resume with cover letter to us to be reviewed. Or, check out the job posting at CareerBuilder.com →

This is the most common misconception I hear when I talk to people about e-mail marketing. Many think that the sheer volume of e-mail that we all receive on a daily basis has ruined the effectiveness of e-mail as a marketing tool. And the fact that spam has received so much attention in the news lately also hasn’t done much to instill confidence in this medium.

In my opinion, the idea that e-mail marketing is no longer effective really stems from people failing to make the distinction between spam and legitimate, permission-based e-mail marketing. While it’s true that spam is not an effective marketing tool — it never really has been — permission-based e-mail marketing continues to be a

• tremendously powerful
• easily trackable
• instantly measurable way to market your product or service.

A recent DoubleClick study reports that 69% of American e-mail users have made purchases online after receiving permission-based e-mail marketing.

That’s great news for companies who continue to use e-mail as a marketing tool. The fact that almost 70% of people have made purchases as a result of receiving an online promotional offer demonstrates that e-mail remains one of the most effective marketing tools in history.

Legislature is reviewing law to make email marketing illegal.

Marketing Myth #2: E-mail Promotions Will Damage My Credibility

There is a pervasive myth among some small- and home-based business owners that using e-mail as a promotional tool will cause subscribers and customers to have a lower opinion of your business.
Now, I’m not sure who started this rumor, but I’ll bet that it was someone who didn’t do a very professional job of putting together their own e-mail campaigns!

If you launch a poorly designed e-mail campaign, of course you will damage your credibility. The same goes for a direct mail campaign filled with spelling mistakes or an offensive newspaper advertisement. However, if you spend some time creating a well-formatted promotional e-mail that is of real value to your customers and subscribers, you will actually enhance your credibility.

In a recent report, eMarketer found that 67% of US consumers said they liked companies who, in their opinion, did a good job with permission e-mail marketing. This is proof that an e-mail marketing campaign that is well-designed and properly delivered will actually enhance your credibility among your customers and subscribers, as opposed to damage it.

The key to delivering an e-mail promotion that your opt-in list will appreciate is paying attention to quality. Here are three easy steps to ensure that your customers and subscribers receive professional, quality messages from you every time:

Make sure that your offer is directly relevant to your subscribers’ interests. If they opted-in to learn more about gardening, don’t send them offers for candles.

Be sure to proofread everything you send out at least a couple of times. And get someone else to proofread it for you as well.

Sign up for a free e-mail address at each of the most popular e-mail services, like Hotmail and Yahoo!, and test your e-mail promotions to those addresses before you send out your mailing. This will help you catch any formatting glitches that might show up in those services.

Remember, if you are selling a product or service over the Internet, e-mail is probably the only dialogue you’ll ever have with your customers and subscribers. This means that, along with your web site, your e-mail messages are the only tools you have to build trust and credibility. If you do a professional job creating and testing your e-mail messages before sending them out, your customers will get a great impression of your business and feel comfortable conducting business with you.

Marketing Myth #3: My Customers Will Think I’m Spamming Them

Here’s where we need to talk a little bit about the difference between spam and legitimate, permission-based e-mail marketing. Spam is basically unwanted e-mail that has been sent by a company with which the recipient has had no prior contact. Spammers usually get their lists of e-mail addresses by “harvesting” them from newsgroups and chat rooms, or through a wide range of other unethical sources.

Permission-based e-mail is quite the opposite. Marketers who practice this type of e-mail marketing have previously been in contact with the individuals on their opt-in lists. The people who make up their lists include current and former customers, as well as those people who have left their e-mail addresses with the company for the purpose of receiving e-mail from them — be it a free eBook, a newsletter, or promotional messages.

And studies indicate that e-mail users are well aware of the difference between the two. According to IMT Strategies, more than 80% of people feel negatively towards spam, whereas 78% of the people surveyed in a recent DoubleClick report said that they wanted to receive e-mail from their favorite online merchants.

Now, if 78% of people actually want to receive promotional e-mail from you, you’re doing terrible damage to your bottom line if you aren’t using e-mail as a marketing tool. And unless you really are spamming, you don’t need to worry that your customers will think that you are (as long as you follow a few simple rules like providing clear unsubscribe instructions). Your customers are smart enough to tell the difference.

Marketing Myth #4: People Will Unsubscribe From My List If I E-mail Them

Another really common concern among online business people is that their customers and subscribers will start unsubscribing from their list if they receive promotional e-mails. The only time these companies e-mail their customers and subscribers is when they want to notify them of some company event, like a move to a new location or a total redesign of their web site.

It’s true that if you never send any e-mail to your customers and subscribers, you won’t get any unsubscribes. There’s nothing for them to unsubscribe from! But what was the point of collecting all those e-mail addresses if you aren’t going to use them? The fact of the matter is that people who leave their e-mail addresses with you fully expect to receive e-mail from you. Why else would they have given you their contact information?

Still not convinced? According to a joint study recently released by The Direct Marketing Association and the Association of Interactive Marketing, 63% of companies surveyed reported that e-mail marketing was their most effective customer-retention tool. A “customer-retention tool” simply refers to a method of preventing your customers from buying products or services from your competition rather than you.

Customer retention is one of the most important aspects of any business. Losing a customer to your competition is very harmful to your bottom line, because one existing customer is more valuable than a list of potential customers.

And remember, a few unsubscribes here and there isn’t going to destroy your business. In fact, people who unsubscribe from your list as a result of responsible, well-written e-mail marketing campaigns are actually doing you a favor! After all, why would you want to waste your valuable time and resources on people who have no interest in your offer?

Marketing Myth #5: E-mail Campaigns Are Difficult To Design And Deliver, manage the process

Whenever I’m talking with someone who insists that e-mail marketing doesn’t work, I always ask them if they’ve ever actually tried it themselves. Most of them admit that they haven’t. When asked why they haven’t tried it themselves, the answer is almost always the same: They think that the process of creating and sending out an e-mail promotion is too complicated or too difficult.

Those of us who do use e-mail as a successful marketing tool know that nothing could be further from the truth. Once you’ve learned the basics, the process is a breeze. And there are new tools being created all the time that make the process even easier.

When we conducted a comprehensive survey of our customers and subscribers, we asked what some of the biggest challenges you faced as marketers were. Here are the three most common answers:

• Growing and Managing Your Opt-In List
• Writing Effective E-mail Promotions
• How to Avoid Having Your Legitimate E-mail Promotions Mistaken For Spam

Final Thought

Armed with some basic information and a few simple tools, any business can make e-mail a profitable component of their marketing program. The truth about e-mail marketing is that it remains an incredibly powerful and cost-effective way to sell goods and services, despite what the people behind the myths would have us believe.

The key to making e-mail advertising work for your business lies in understanding how it can help you build and maintain relationships with your customers (and customers-to-be). The responsible use of permission-based e-mail will allow you to tap into the profit-generating potential of your opt-in list more efficiently — and cost-effectively — than any other marketing tool.

And of course, we can’t forget our great company newsletter of the same name, TurtleTalk! It shows up every month so sign up now in the form at the bottom of the site. We promise no spam, and you can unsubscribe in one-click.

See you out there!