This beauty came from the website undrcrwn.com, and look! It doesn’t have a flag! Or even the colors red or blue! Immediately, this is the best Memorial Day sale design I’ve seen because it is missing those elements. Every website this week has had red, white, and blue waving in your face so your bound to glaze over – but bright pink sure captures your attention. A nice ‘outside-of-the-box’ moment.

Another ‘different’ design comes from Bloomingdales, which decided to not go the ‘Hey, tell everyone that owns a calendar that it’s Memorial Day Weekend!’ route. No where on the ad does it mention those two words, and it doesn’t involve those patriotic colors. It catches your eye and still says ‘Sale’.

And so you don’t all think I’m not patriotic, here is a nice ad from Foot Locker that brings those elements I just bashed and wrap them up in a nice design. It definitely screams Memorial Day at you, but with muted colors and a fun typeface it comes across as playful, just like this weekend should be.

That being said, Adcuda will be taking a highly appreciated break this Monday to celebrate Memorial Day. We’ll be back at it on Tuesday, May 31 – see you then!

Thank you to everyone who braved the weather to come learn about Local Search – and to those who watched online!
If you missed an important part of the presentation you can watch the whole enchilada below. The question and answer session is provided as an MP3 only.

Before you watch, please feel free to download the presentation and follow along! Click to download!

Spend a little more time and learn more about how LSV can grow your business – check out the Q&A audio below.

Best Ever Medals are awarded to Google Places from the people who use Google’s HotPot,  one of the newest features Google offers – a recommendation engine for Places.

Google account holders automatically have HotPot.  The screen is a collection of Google Places with a number or ways to edit or filter it.  You can also use it to edit the Google Places you want to review including adding the Best Ever medal to the places you like best.  Be sure to use them wisely, each user is only allotted 10 metals.  (You can change who you’ve given medals to at any time, but you cannot currently award more than 10 medals total. This limit will make this rating more significant over time!)

So now I’m wondering, with all the changes Google Maps Places went through last year, and knowing that Google has been watching the checkin scene, what’s the next thing?

Also, this progression of new services also leads to some other points to contemplate:

• Is Google’s overwhelming attention to Local Search good or bad?
• Will the new “Best Ever” medals become a search signal to Google and will they affect rank?
• Should Google even be adding these kinds of features or should they stick with their core – Internet Search?
• When/if Google Checkin comes out, how will Google fare against companies like Foursquare and Facebook who are already actively engaged?
• Will Google loose in the long run by trying to be everything to everyone?

One thing is for sure, HotPot will be getting more attention now since Best Ever medals can only be awarded through the HotPot dashboard.  HotPot was introduced in the forth quarter of 2010 to a lukewarm response.  Perhaps Best Ever medals  are what’s needed to give this new feature some boost…

Hmmm, Google Boost…  Now what’s going on with that?

To be continued…

Required Experience:
Illustrator CS4
Photoshop CS4
Code HTML
Manage Others
Strong Problem Solving Skills

Preferred Experience:
Familiarly with WordPress
Previous Email Design Experience

Please apply directly on our careers page. Thanks! Look forward to talking to you!

I wanted to jump on and drop a line that I will no longer be neglecting our beloved blog here at Adcuda. Now that we have the ship up and running nicely thanks to these talented people I can actually sit down and start writing a few blogs now and again.

We have some great stuff in the works, so I will also be using the blog to make announcements regarding new developments as well. I look forward to connecting with everyone and sharing some of our new ideas and exciting projects!

Required Experience:
Illustrator CS4
Photoshop CS4
Code HTML
Manage Others
Strong Problem Solving Skills

Preferred Experience:
Familiarly with WordPress
Previous Email Design Experience

I just joined Adcuda two weeks ago as the new Content Manager and have since dived headfirst into the wonderful world of SEO, PPC, LSV, and about a dozen other acronyms that I’m adding to the ol’ noggin.

On top of that, I’m readjusting to American life and writing for web readers whose first language is actually English again. I’ve been living abroad in Singapore for the past two years with a husband who just finished his last Navy tour.

Did you hear that? That was me doing a happy dance.

Singapore was cool, but I love being back in the Midwest and most of all, I love writing content for people just like you and me.

The translation factor wasn’t always on my side while writing for an Asian audience. Having to explain that I don’t actually know anything about your panties when I say “Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” is awkward for everyone involved.

But back to writing content. That’s my thing. And that’s what they’ve brought me on here at Adcuda to do.

I’m excited to help our clients build a great site that gets them great exposure, online rankings and ultimately more clients for their business.

So that’s me in a short and sweet blog post. It’s nice to meet you.

Well, I have to confess that I have been thinking of this phrase often over the past few weeks as I came to accept a position here at Adcuda, however, I DO know what to make of it!  I believe the best jobs come when you’re not looking for them, that has been my experience anyway.  Case at point: My new position as Account Manager here at Adcuda.

Previously, as a one-stop-shop for web design, I was doing my usual networking at the Olathe Chamber of Commerce Thursday coffee meeting.  It’s a great networking event that I really enjoy using to meet new customers and just get out and mingle. On this particular visit I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Hoyt of Adcuda.  As we exchanged our nutshell versions of what we did, I was impressed with both what her company did, and also how important commitment and integrity was to her company.  Right away I saw her company as the perfect extension to my business.  I thought that I might partner with Adcuda to carry my web clients to levels I was just not equipped to do myself.

We made an appointment to meet and talk more formally at the Adcuda office…  And the rest, as they say, is history!

As I get comfortable in my new digs, I’ll be making regular comments about what’s going on here from my perspective.  I look forward to sharing some very interesting tales as I get out and meet and re-meet the Kansas City business community.  Stay tuned!