H1 Design is in the preliminary stages of redesign. It’s obvious to us that we need  more than a prettier wrapper, we need to reconstruct, reorganize and revisit our content.

We have strayed. We are not doing our job. The “Cobbler’s Kids Have No Shoes.” excuse isn’t working anymore. It’s time to invest in our own infrastructure.

It’s time for us to do some Content Marketing.

What is Content Marketing? Simple, really.

“Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.”   – David Olgilvy

Your company’s website content offers the ability to express what is important to your company through creative and engaging ways. Content Marketing is not specifically about your product, but more about how your company lives and breathes. It’s a connection to the public created by you, your people and your company.  Therefore it is easy to become distracted, incomplete and irrelevant. So, keep a handy punch list. Keep It Simple:

• Adopt a content strategy and stick to your goals.
• Give people the information they are looking for, simply and directly.
• Take an inventory of your own content assets and how to utilize the positive

• Make sure it works for everyone on smartphones, tablets to 10-year old monitors
• Keep it light.  Today’s templates are  heavy in code and  will kill load times, SEO and creativity
• Built for Growth. Every site need to see into the future with 3, 4 even 5 years worth of content inventory to organize. That’s a lot.

• Content Marketing is about talking to your customers and corporate peers. None of whom wants to read about what they already know.
• Video and images, visually and graphically charge your content –  stock images are for the lazy.
• Social Media balancing act. Don’t spam, go overboard or ignore. Keep a solid schedule and stick to it. Make a check list for your daily tweets, posts, likes and make sure you check in at the end of your day. Don’t burn out.

• RSS feeds and automation for your primary content, Stock images for your primary images and get creative!
• Don’t push your content. It’s about engaging the audience. Pull the audience in.
• Talking down to your readers. Remember, most of them are your industry peers and knowledgeable clients.  Impress yourself and you will impress others.

Now, on with the redesign,  baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Is here! 

My Mashable quick view, and if they get mad and want me to end this I will, but seriously..Mashable needs to stop blowing rainbows.

Here we go, December 12, 1:32 AM! 1.8 Billion Questions Later, ChaCha (http://www.chacha.com) Has Evolved Past Text Message RootsChaCha is one of the funniest and most addictive things ever. ChaCha started a while ago, and basically you could text a question, ANY question and get an answer. Then came Google apps, and I forgot about it.Now there is an Android and that other thing app, and it RULES. I had crazy insomnia and instead of getting irate at the #OccupyWhatevers, I asked ChaCha some funny questions. No only correct, but some great insight as well. I loved the advice on how to kiss girls, if the cat was sad, or What does “every day I’m shuffling” mean?. The website itself is a bit lame, but the App just rules.

Now the  stupid stuff:

Netflix and USPS Honestly, since Netflix, I haven’t used the Post Office more. I am going to be bummed if my movies no longer break landspeed records on a daily basis.

Twitter, is still too freaking annoyingly fast for me.

“Add Friends’ Facebook Photos To Your Ringtones With Facetones” …oooh! Wow!!..Picture and music on my phone!

“Foursquare Tops 15 Million Users” ..are they making this stuff up? Who the Hell does Foursquare. Enlighten us, please.

“Alicia Keys: Why I Turned to Tumblr” Tumblr is the shit, I just dont’ have time or assistant to crank up another app and fudge some 3rd party HTML.

“10 Top Tools for Digital Photography Lovers” - Just buy a damned camera alreay..

“Damn You Auto Correct Reveals 9 Funniest Texts of the Year” .. Durrrr, I’m an idiot, lolz OMG..

“Tiny Gadget Hooks You Up With Like-Minded People Nearby [VIDEO]“ oh.my.god. Get a life..

“Timeline” and Google+ Brand Page “**snort**, yeah right..

“5 Best Practices for Educators on Facebook” Ummmm..guess no one has seen Kahn Academy yet.

“Graphing Comes to Google” Oh, Look…more analayzing chart thingy from Google..wheeeeeeeeeee

“Xbox Unveils Major Interface Update Centered Around Kinect, Bing” And we give a crap..why?

“McDonald’s Crowdsources Mini Movies to Promote McBites” You lost me at McDonalds

“Bacardi Campaign Lets Fans Compete With Virtual Rafael Nadal” See Like-Minded People Nearby

“Facebook Confirms Gowalla Acquisition” WTF does this even mean?

“5 Ways the Film and TV Industries Use Twitter” whooooooooooooo..

“Mashable Weekend Recap: 32 Stories You May Have Missed” Yeah, don’t have time..32? really? And that’s my little thing for tonight..Hugs!