Digital Balance: The reason digital strategists and designers don’t eat at the same table

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Digital Balance: The reason digital strategists and designers don’t eat at the same table

Do you dream about a world where digital strategists and web designers live in harmony? So do I. Well, I mean, I guess I don’t remember all of my dreams, but I’m sure it happened once or twice before.

As G/L’s copywriter, I’ve been working closely with our designers and digital strategists on the new G/L website and any client web stuff. And one reoccurring nightmare just seems to keep presenting itself: After developing a strategy, the designers will concept an outrageously creative layout using all kinds of Flash and what not. Then, like clockwork, they’ll present it to the digital department, and it will undoubtedly be dubbed, “not best practice.” After wiping away the tears of defeat, the designers head back to their desks, as do the strategists, and this process goes on till some sort of meet-in-the-middle solution is agreed on.

I’ve watched this go down time and time again. While the process is tedious, it’s the best way to ensure we are maximizing creativity and searchability. The rulebook on web design changes all the time. And SEO best practices change about as fast as Google’s crawlers can figure out our next trick. So the result of such fast-changing elements creates what I call the Jerry-Springer-Design-and-Digital-Strategy-Effect.

It’s a double-edged sword. We need to achieve Digital Balance—websites that are aesthetically unique and populated with content interesting enough to generate repeat traffic and sharing. But to get people there in the first place, you sort of need to be able to find the site. So while I don’t sit on the edge of my seat while writing meta descriptions and littering content with keywords, I do realize that for the real creative to be seen, it must first be optimized.

According to The Best SEO Tips and Practices for 2011, awesome websites with Digital Balance include:

  • Killer content
  • Keywords
  • Strategic Titling
  • Links/Backlinks
  • Social Media
  • Video
  • Mobile Functionality

Through a process of making everything digital mobile-friendly, highly searchable, and most importantly, functional, G/L delivers incredible digital work. And this is one service that won’t slow down. I guess for the sake of the websites, I’ll just try to keep the peace between my design friends and digital colleagues. From the looks of the soon-to-be-launched G/L website, we’re definitely doing something right.

Also, this is what happens when you can’t achieve balance.

Still Time to Help Joplin Victims and Enjoy Great Mexican Food at Same Time

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Still Time to Help Joplin Victims and Enjoy Great Mexican Food at Same Time

Casa Gallardo, a client of Geile/Leon, one of St. Louis’ Top Public Relations Firms continues its fundraiser to help victims of the Joplin tornado.

 

Casa Gallardo’s Fundraising Effort For Joplin Relief Fund Continues Through October 16

St. Louis, MO (August 30, 2011)—While the federal government has frozen future aid to tornado-ravaged Joplin to focus on immediate help for victims of Hurricane Irene, Casa Gallardo Mexican Restaurants reminds area diners that they can still help the Joplin relief effort by simply coming into any of the 5 St. Louis-area locations and ordering a special menu item.

For each Grande Fiesta Combo sold through October 16, Casa Gallardo will donate 50¢ to the Joplin Schools Tornado Relief Fund.

The Grande Fiesta Combo features a Ground Beef Chimi topped with Queso, a Beef Machaca Burrito and Chicken Flautas, served with Refried Beans and Rice.

The Joplin Schools Tornado Relief fund is being used to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of teachers being able to teach and children being able to learn by providing them the basic educational materials and support they need. This could include, but is not be limited to, things such as food, clothing, shelter, after school care, school supplies, classroom materials and student transportation to/from school related events.

“The people of Joplin suffered huge losses on May 22, and it’s important that we not forget that rebuilding the community will take years,” said Robert Fowler, Regional Director, Casa Gallardo Mexican Restaurants. “We hope our efforts, along with the generosity of Casa Gallardo’s loyal customers, will help bring some normalcy to Joplin’s teachers and students as they return for the new school year.”

This special fundraising effort will take place at all 5 Casa Gallardo Mexican Restaurant locations in the St. Louis metro area: Westport Plaza, Bridgeton, South County, Des Peres, and Fairview Heights, IL. For more information, visit www.casagallardo.com.

 

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