In the digital age, the speed and security of your website are crucial to ensuring a superior user experience and maintaining high search engine rankings. This is why we recommend Cloudflare (cloudflare.com) as a key component of your website hosting and migration strategy. Here are several reasons why integrating Cloudflare into your domain setup is beneficial:

1. Enhanced Performance and Speed

Cloudflare operates one of the world’s largest cloud network platforms, designed to optimize the delivery of web pages so that visitors get the fastest page load times and best performance. Cloudflare uses a technique known as CDN (Content Delivery Network) to cache your website content on servers around the world. This means that no matter where your users are, they are accessing your site from a server close to them, significantly reducing load times.

2. Improved Website Security

By acting as a reverse proxy, Cloudflare shields your actual servers from direct exposure to the internet, which can prevent attacks before they reach your server. This includes protection from a variety of threats including DDoS attacks, malicious bots, and other nefarious intrusions. Additionally, we can hand-craft security policies to maximize security for login pages and common entry points.

3. SSL/TLS Encryption

Cloudflare offers free SSL/TLS encryption, which is a requirement in all modern browsers. Popular hosting providers like GoDaddy don’t provide free SSL certificates with many of their plans. We offer free SSL certificates on our hosting plans, but Cloudflare ensures there’s no gap in coverage if something goes wrong.

4. Zero-Downtime Migration

During server migrations, like the one we are currently undertaking, Cloudflare can play a pivotal role. By serving cached versions of your site, Cloudflare ensures that users can still access your website even if it’s technically ‘down’ behind the scenes. Additionally, Cloudflare’s reverse-proxy can switch your web server instantly. This is critical for maintaining both user experience and SEO rankings during transitions.

5. SEO Benefits

Faster websites provide a better user experience and are favored by search engines. Google has explicitly stated that page speed is a factor in how they rank websites. By improving load times and site performance through their CDN, Cloudflare indirectly helps improve your site’s visibility in search results.

6. Easy DNS Management

Cloudflare also offers streamlined and user-friendly DNS management, which is vital for quick updates and changes to your DNS settings. This makes administrative tasks simpler and less time-consuming, which can be invaluable during upgrades or when resolving issues. Cloudflare’s dashboard also makes it easy to delegate access of your DNS to multiple users without sharing passwords.

7. Analytics and Insights

Finally, Cloudflare provides detailed insights into your website traffic, which can help you better understand your audience and tailor your services to meet their needs. These analytics cover everything from threat analysis to traffic trends, giving you a comprehensive view of how your site is performing.

Integrating Cloudflare during our server migration process not only ensures a seamless transition but also enhances your site’s overall performance and security post-migration. We strongly recommend taking this step to not just adapt to the new server environment but to also leverage the best tools available for your website’s success.

For further details on how to integrate Cloudflare with your website, please get in touch with our team who are ready to assist you every step of the way. Sign up for a FREE Cloudflare account here.

This investment in your website’s infrastructure is a proactive step towards maintaining a competitive edge online and providing your visitors with the best experience possible.

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According to the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Beach County has one of the best recycling programs in the nation and has adopted Florida’s 75% waste reduction goal. For the last 30 years, the SWA has been providing efficient and convenient services to help us preserve our natural resources. Recycling is one of the easiest and simplest ways to make a difference in your community, whether at home or work.

Recycling at Home

PBC offers free recycling bins to all homes within the county, so there’s no reason not to! There are two different types of recycling bins—yellow and blue. Yellow recycling bins are for paper products, like:

• Newspapers
• Magazines and catalogs
• Unwanted mail
• School and office papers
• Phone books
• Paper bags
• Cardboard boxes

The SWA requests that all boxes be flattened and cut into 3′ x 3′ pieces. Yes, this does make recycling slightly more difficult for the person doing it, but we believe that our environment is worth those few extra seconds! The SWA also requests that shredded paper be placed in a brown paper bag with the top folded down to secure the shredded pieces. Unlike some other counties in the nation, Palm Beach County takes all types of boxes, including beverage cartons, tissue boxes, dry-food boxes, and corrugated cardboard.

Blue recycling bins are for all other recyclable items, including:

• Plastic containers #1–7
• Steel cans
• Aluminum cans
• Drink boxes
• Milk and juice cartons
• Glass bottles and jars

We’re lucky here in PBC, as many other counties don’t take plastic containers #1–7. It’s important to note that SWA does not recycle plastic bags. It’s best to return plastic bags to your local grocery store, as many recycle and/or reuse them.

Recycling at Work

According to the SWA, businesses in Palm Beach County “generate more than half of the 2.5 million tons of solid waste generated in PBC every year.”

The question now becomes: how can we, as a community, reduce the amount of waste we create?

PBC makes it as easy as possible to answer that question by offering FREE waste audits all across the county! A waste audit evaluates the amount of waste your company creates. During a waste audit, the county will determine the quantity of recyclable materials currently being disposed at your workplace, provide recommendations for cost reductions, provide a proposal for recycling program implementation, and provide employee education presentations. All this is all at no cost to companies!

When you request a waste audit, the SWA provides free desk-side collection bins, central collection bins, educational materials, and posters. The only downside is that the county does not offer free disposal pick up. However, what’s great about Palm Beach County is that even if your office or building doesn’t recycle, that’s no reason not to! PBC makes it as easy as possible for offices to start a recycling program, even if there is no on-site recycling collection. There are a number of different drop-off locations throughout PBC, most of which are accessible 24/7.

Yes, recycling does take some extra steps and a little extra time, but isn’t the environment worth it? Just think about the major impact this small effort will make on the world that we live in and for the future generations to come. For more information on how Green Group Studio helps Clients go green, or to learn more about the services that we provide, visit GreenGroupStudio.com or call 564-594-7336 today!

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On a self-guided tour of the boardwalk, our team learned about the trees from which the center got its name, as well as other local wildlife. Although the walk is only a quarter of a mile, Gumbo Limbo owns 20 acres of protected barrier island in order to give the many plants and animals that live here in South Florida—some of which are rare and endangered species—a safe place to grow and thrive.

We then made our way to the on-site Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Facility to learn more about the center’s rehabilitation practices and processes. We learned that Gumbo Limbo monitors more than 800 nests located on over five miles of beach, and rescues and releases more than 9,000 stranded hatchlings each year! We also learned more about how pollution in our waters is greatly damaging sea turtles, and how just a little effort on our part can make a huge difference in these animals’ lives.

The GGS team had such a wonderful time this Earth Day learning about our local wildlife! If you want to contribute, learn more, or plan your own trip to Gumbo Limbo, go to www.gumbolimbo.org.

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What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is the use of an individual, group, or other entity to appeal to a company’s target audience in order to increase their brand recognition, sales, customer base, and more. Simply put, influencer marketing is the use of people with a large social following that are outside of your brand for the purpose of encouraging them to try your product or service. 

Who Are Influencers?

In order to properly use influencer marketing, it’s important to pinpoint who the important influencers in your industry are in order to gain the full benefits. Every industry has a number of different influencers throughout their marketplace, so it’s important to take care with who you choose to build a relationship with to ensure that the influencer has the right audience for your business’ products and services.

Social Media Influencers

Social media influencers typically have a relatively large and loyal following on one or more social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or blogs. These types of influencers get their power from their relatability. Because they are viewed to be just like us and experience the same struggles that we do, their messages come across as genuine and authentic, even when they’re promoting products. Since these types of influencers have a specific point of view (whether it’s the working parent, fitness fanatic, or successful entrepreneur) they tend to have an inherent understanding of who their audience is, what content they’re interested in, and how to connect with them—making them especially successful when it comes to business partnerships. 

Celebrities

Celebrities are typically viewed as the people that we strive to be, rather than the person that we currently are (like the social media influencer). Because they’re almost guaranteed to have a huge following, celebrities are a prime target for businesses that have the financial backing to claim them as an endorser of their products or services. While celebrities are not as relatable as the previous influencer group mentioned, they do help to elevate the status of a brand in the consumers’ eye, as well as improve brand recognition.

Your Users

Your current, everyday users can be some of your best influencers because they already know and love your product or service. Every person has a community of people who know and trust them, so these can be some of your most useful influencers when it comes to gaining new customers or clients. 

Why Use Influencer Marketing?

There are so many good reasons to use influencer marketing that it’s hard to pick just a few! Our Content Strategists have narrowed it down to the four reasons below as to why your company should add influencer marketing to its strategy.

Grabs Your Audience’s Attention

Consumers are exposed to hundreds of advertisements every single day, both online and off. Think back to when the last time was that you’ve stopped and really took in the message on a billboard, newspaper ad, or other marketing piece. The truth is, these types of traditional marketing communications have now become a part of everyday life and people have learned to simply tune them out. If you’ve found that you’re getting less ROI on your advertising, influencer marketing is a great way to regain your audience’s attention. When the correct influencer is chosen, your audience will automatically be attracted to what the influencer has to say, therefore increasing your brand awareness.

Authentic and Trustworthy Marketing

In the end, consumers are all too aware that beneath the marketing gimmicks and sometimes exaggerated promises lies a company’s desire to improve their bottom line. Influencer marketing helps to lessen or remove the doubt from your audience’s mind about whether or not a product is what the company claims it to be. Influencer marketing allows a company to transfer the credibility of an influencer to their offerings, thereby improving the perceived image of the brand and increasing purchase intent.

Reach a Larger Audience

It’s important to choose the correct people to partner with since influencer marketing depends on exposing the influencer’s loyal audience to your brand. The most important point to look at when choosing an influencer is the size of your influencer’s audience and who their audience is. If your influencer doesn’t have a large following or their following is already using your products or services, that influencer probably isn’t the best choice for your company. For example, if you run a makeup company it wouldn’t make sense to use an influencer like Katy Perry, since she already works with and promotes CoverGirl products. 

Connect Better With Your Audience

 An influencer is essentially a liaison between their audience and your brand. In other words, the influencer is a way to get consumers who are already engaged to view your product in a more trustworthy light. There’s only so much of an impact that a printed advertisement or commercial can make, but by having someone with a following of like-minded individuals, you can easily connect with consumers in a way that can help them make the jump to lifelong customer. 

Influencer marketing is all about creating partnerships with influencers who have a loyal following that represents your company’s target audience. If done correctly, influencer marketing can increase traffic to your website, brand recognition, first-time buyers, and ultimately, loyal customers. For more information on influencer marketing, or for help with creating a specific marketing strategy designed to meet your company’s unique needs, call Green Group Studio at 561-594-7336 to speak with one of our knowledgeable Content Strategists today. 

The post The What, Who, and Why of Influencer Marketing appeared first on Green Group Studio.

What is Instagram?

In case you’re been living without internet or cable for the past six and a half years, Instagram is a photo and video sharing application. In addition to its original image-sharing feature, Instagram has added additional features like temporary video “stories”, an algorithm-based newsfeed, and albums (among other things) in order to compete with its competitors. Businesses can create a profile with a username, photo, small “About Me” section, and link. The website address you put here is especially important since it’s the only clickable link you’ll be able to showcase.

Many businesses have been able to successfully manage Instagram as an extension of their marketing efforts. In addition to allowing businesses to connect with new and existing customers on a more intimate level, Instagram also helps them to organically generate leads and push traffic to their websites, all without paying a cent.

Profile

The profile section of a business’ account is important because it defines the authenticity of their page.

• Profile Picture: Green Group Studio suggests using your logo for your profile picture so that your Instagram page is easily recognizable from the search and newsfeed pages.
• Username: Fortunately, usernames need to be unique so that users searching for a particular account can find exactly what they’re looking for. Unfortunately, this means that your business’ name might already be claimed. If your business name is already taken, we recommend adding the word “official” to the username.
• Bio: Your “Bio” section should be a one to two sentence summary describing who your brand is, although it can be slightly more informal due to the platform. You can also include a callout for specific hashtags utilized by your business.
• Website Link: As mentioned above, the most important part of your profile is the website link as it’s the only clickable item you’ll be able to put up. One trick a lot of companies utilize on Instagram is to update their link based on certain events. For instance, if you’re promoting a sale, you can add a link that takes users directly to the page and add comments like “Link in the Bio” to your posts.

Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the primary tools businesses can use for people to find them. In order to add a hashtag to the description of a photo or video, simply use the “#” symbol directly followed by a word or phrase with no spaces or punctuation. Your photo will then show up every time a user searches that hashtag. When adding a plethora of hashtags, we suggest the new technique of adding them to a separate comment instead of in the original post description.

Hashtags are a fun way to catalog images related to your company and connect with customers. When you’re first starting out on Instagram, it’s a best practice to use a large number of general hashtags related to your industry, like #makeup, #beauty, and #lipstick. Instagram has made it even easier to pick top-performing hashtags because as soon as you start typing one out it gives you suggestions with the number of photos attached to that hashtag next to it!

Location Services

Just like with hashtags, location services can help businesses gain followers because every time a user searches that location, your photo will show up. Also like hashtags, typing a location into the location search bar causes the most popular locations with the most photos to automatically pop up. Businesses should take advantage of using the most popular hashtags and locations because not only are those the most widely used terms, but they are also the most commonly searched terms.

Valuable Content

What really makes businesses and their pages stand out from their competitors is the content they post. In addition to images and videos, Instagram allows you to post up to 2,200 characters in a description box under each post. That’s a lot of room to add valuable content to your followers’ feeds and can really enhance your posts!

Following and Followers

Another easy way to attract followers is to find them yourself. Use the search tool to search your industry hashtags. Once you pick a hashtag, the top nine performing photos connected to it will automatically appear at the top of the results page. The posters of these images are considered influencers. An influencer is someone who has a large following of (typically) like-minded individuals. You can reach out to these influencers to request some sort of partnership or even to use their followers list in order to find individuals who are more likely to follow you back once they see your content.

Instagram is a great marketing tool that can help your business connect with current and potential customers all over the world. By following these simple tricks, your business will be gaining followers and sales in no time! However, most business owners find that they simply don’t have the time to effectively manage all of their presences online. At Green Group Studio, our team of experts allow us to provide a comprehensive suite of design and marketing services, including content and social media management. Call today to speak with one of our marketing specialists at 561-594-7336.

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At Green Group Studio we LOVE the environment and any and all things eco-friendly, so it’s no coincidence that our founders birthdays are on two of the most important, environmentally friendly holidays! Allen Borza was born on Earth Day and Clara Mateus on World Water Day.

Keeping with this year’s wastewater theme, we put together some information about how you can reduce and reuse wastewater to make a major impact on the environment.

Why wastewater?

Clean water is a limited resource, something often forgotten in first world countries where we have unhindered access to unlimited amounts of clean water. But not everyone is this lucky and with rising populations and global demand, fresh water is a resource that should be used judiciously.

Most of today’s wastewater is untreated and returned right back to the environment, but there’s so much more we can be doing with this wastewater instead of wasting freshwater! For example, fresh drinking water doesn’t need to be used for things like municipal washing, crop irrigation, or industrial cooling.

Reducing the proportion of untreated wastewater while increasing water recycling and safe reuse could impact every area of our lives and the world surrounding us including health, clean water and sanitation, energy, sustainable cities, life below water, and life on land.

Why care about wastewater treatment?

We’ve gone over just a few of the different ways treated wastewater can be used, but how does that impact you specifically and our country as a whole? Improving wastewater treatment and setting up safe systems for reusable wastewater will require new infrastructure and businesses, creating a new niche in the market for new, green jobs.

Global demand for water is expected to grow by 50% by 2030! By finding new ways to reduce and reuse wastewater, we will create a more sustainable society and way of life to hand off to our children.

Public health depends on access to safe water and sanitation, especially for those in poorer communities. By reducing and reusing wastewater, we are making our cities safer and healthier for every living thing.

World Water Day is important to us at Green Group Studio, and we do all we can to help keep our environment as clean and natural as possible. Click here to learn more about World Water Day, or here to donate to Charity Water, or here to read more about how Green Group Studio goes green.

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The Content Strategists at Green Group Studio have already given you some great tips and tricks to writing copy for your website, but blogging is a whole different medium. While website copy is typically centered around informing customers about products or services, blogs are generally written in a more conversational tone and seek to inform users about how their problems can be solved based on the company’s offerings. This helps to draw potential customers to your website and makes them feel more comfortable with your brand. This unique ability to relate to customers is the true value of a company’s blog.

Know Your Audience

When starting any business, it is so important to know exactly who your target audience is and thereby who your company is marketing to. This same approach is extremely important when it comes to blogging. When you know who you’re writing for, it makes it easier to come up with a direction for your blog and ideas for relevant posts. A great way to keep your voice consistent in your blog posts while also effectively targeting your ideal audience is to create a fictional representation of who they are. Think about every aspect of this person, what they look like, their background, their daily routine etc. Your avatar should essentially be your ideal client, with all the wants, needs, and/or problems that your business addresses for them. If you write to this person every time you sit down to write a blog post, you’ll continuously find new ways to reach out to your target market.

Keep It Short and Simple

Today, people want what they want, when they want it. This has lead to the decrease in usage of printed newspapers, traditional television, and even movie theaters. However, there are effective ways to get around the short attention span of today’s younger population. Shorter paragraphs and sentences that include subheads make blogs easier to skim for specific information. Of course, this all depends on your target audience. While the older population or those who are looking for an educational resource generally won’t mind reading a longer blog post (like this one), younger audiences prefer more direct answers to their questions.

Include A Photo

People are automatically drawn to visuals, so adding a photo to your blog post will immediately attract more attention than a post with just text. In fact, posts with images get up to 94% more views than posts without and get shared far more often. Make sure your photo is a reflection of your post, too, meaning that it is a visual representation of the content.

Use Targeted Keywords

Targeted keywords will help to improve your SEO, making it easier for your current and potential customers to find your business. The key to using keywords correctly is to not over- or under-use them. Don’t throw a specific keyword around too often, because then it becomes obvious that you’re writing for a machine rather than people. Instead, use a variety of keywords associated with your topic, like bakery, cookies, and dessert. However, not using enough keywords can also harm your business by not allowing you to gain all of the benefits associated with organic SEO. Instead, there’s a sweet-spot that gets easier to find the more blogging experience you gain.

Guest Blogging

As great of an impact as having current and consistent posts on your own company’s blog can be for your SEO, guest blogging on other sites can be just as beneficial. Guest posting for other blogs can be slightly more time consuming, but will help to spread your company’s name and improve its credibility. The key for writing guest posts is to provide content that is aimed at genuinely improving the lives of the guest blog’s audience. The most important thing to look for when searching for a guest blog to write for is that they give credit to guest writers. If you aren’t allowed to link back to your own website, it’s not worth your time.

Blogging is so important when it comes to improving SEO, but is all too often overlooked. Creating a good blog with genuinely helpful information that also increases sales can be difficult, but with hard work and practice it gets easier and easier. Don’t have the time or the know-how to maintain your own blog? Call Green Group Studio at 561-594-7336 and ask about our content management services.

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Nine years of creativity, design, and inspiration have flown by. We feel so lucky to have such wonderful, supportive clients who bring us the engaging projects we live for.

We are also incredibly grateful and thankful for our fantastic team and all the hard work they put in to make this company the best it can be. Green Group is excited and proud to be here today and can’t wait to see what another year in business has to offer us. We’re looking forward to next year’s 10 year anniversary!

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When she’s not in the office writing and researching, Lyssa can be found reading, doing yoga, or binge watching the latest Netflix shows and movies.

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Happy Halloween everyone! Don’t forget, you still have until tomorrow (November 1st) at 5:00 PM to enter our “Share Your Spirit” Contest. Head on over to the Green Group Studio Facebook page to learn more.

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The Mellgren Planning Group Logo

Using a similar color scheme and shape as their previous logo, the design team at Green Group Studio reimagined an updated, modern logo to increase the brand’s presence. Now, The Mellgren Planning Group’s logo is as unique as they are, reflecting their focus on beauty and functionality. Check out the “before and after” of TMPG’s logo, as well as their new business cards and letterhead, on their Client Spotlight page.

The Mellgren Planning Group Website

The Mellgren Planning Group’s website was outdated and had opportunities for implementing a new look, as well as mobile and tablet-friendliness. We started by hand-picking a clean, responsive framework that allowed for high-impact imagery that also featured sleek styling elements. The site was officially launched last week, and the client was blown away. You can visit their new site at FloridaPlanning.Net.

At Green Group Studio, we specialize in all things branding. From unique logos to responsive websites, our in-house team of designers can make new and established brands come to life. If your branding and company has room to grow, call the experts at Green Group Studio today!

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