Graphtek Interactive http://blog.graphtek.com Helping small to medium-sized business owners Be Engaging, Be Found & Be Connected online! Wed, 09 May 2012 20:52:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 “Surf the Musical” Launches Marketing Campaign for Vegas Production http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/05/09/%e2%80%9csurf-the-musical%e2%80%9d-launches-marketing-campaign-for-vegas-production/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/05/09/%e2%80%9csurf-the-musical%e2%80%9d-launches-marketing-campaign-for-vegas-production/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 19:52:33 +0000 kate http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=270 Surf the musical

“Surf the Musical” might be hitting the stage in Las Vegas this summer, but the ‘60s surfer love story has Coachella Valley roots.

Graphtek worked with the producer of “Surf the Musical,” a full-time valley resident, to create the original artwork and website for the highly-anticipated musical hitting the stage at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas June 11, 2012. The producer worked with our agency previously and knew our creative resources and capabilities would create the perfect branding for the production.

Even more important for our client was the ability to be involved. By working with a local marketing agency, our client was able to have the hands-on interaction that one only gets by working with a local agency. His creativity wasn’t diluted by emails or Skype chats. Instead, he could come directly to our office to work with our creative team, going from concept to implementation without delay.

Because of our client’s accelerated schedule, we had to move very quickly to get “Surf the Musical” ready for its summer debut. The artwork for this project needed to span the generations to bridge the gap between ‘60s music and modern times. Not only did our artwork need to be multi-generational, but it would require the versatility to work in a variety of formats, ranging from video displays to traditional print.

While the project originally explored using royalty-free images and photography for marketing, we quickly realized that neither would be capable of setting the right tone for the project’s ‘60s surf vibe. It soon became clear that original illustrations would create the ideal face for “Surf the Musical.”

The illustration also needed to encapsulate the laid back vibe of California beaches in the ‘60s, and we needed an illustrator with just the right style to bring the concept to life. With Graphtek’s vast network of creative talent, we were able to quickly locate the perfect illustrator for the project.

As we worked to evolve the concept into an illustration well-matched for the show, Brooke was born. From her blonde hair and blue bikini to her red surfboard and quintessential tan, Brooke is the epitome of ‘60s surfer girl. The illustrated Brooke is now the face of “Surf the Musical” and adorns billboards, taxi cab toppers , video screens and printed materials.

As the face of SurfTheMusical.com, Brooke can also be seen on the Graphtek-designed site. Graphtek’s in-house creative team also drew inspiration from ‘60s surf culture to develop the logotype, which incorporates surf-style lettering and a chrome finish. With a solid website and versatile artwork in its marketing arsenal, “Surf the Musical” is ready to hit the Planet Hollywood stage on June 11th.

From branding and artwork to web design and SEO, our one-stop marketing agency has the creative resources and marketing expertise to grow your business. Discover how Graphtek can fulfill your marketing needs by contacting us today!

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/05/09/%e2%80%9csurf-the-musical%e2%80%9d-launches-marketing-campaign-for-vegas-production/feed/ 0 BIGHORN Golf Club uses new technology with redesign. http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/16/bighorn-golf-club-uses-new-technology-with-redesign/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/16/bighorn-golf-club-uses-new-technology-with-redesign/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:31:06 +0000 kate http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=252 BIGHORN Golf Club

BIGHORN Golf Club, a gorgeous landmark located at the base of the mountains in Palm Desert, came to Graphtek Interactive for a website redesign. Their old site was created using Flash technology, which does not work with any mobile Apple products such as iPhone, iPod & iPad. They needed their site to be visually beautiful, yet functional across all platforms. Utilizing emerging technologies, such as a fully customized Content Management System (G|CMS) providing high level access to a broad range of media including high-definition images, responsive elements, dynamic content windows, custom video, and database connectivity to both members and non-members alike. Designed by Ed and Paul, implemented by Israel.

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/16/bighorn-golf-club-uses-new-technology-with-redesign/feed/ 1 The Art Place in Palm Desert gets a site refresh http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/02/the-art-place-in-palm-desert-gets-a-site-refresh/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/02/the-art-place-in-palm-desert-gets-a-site-refresh/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:59:37 +0000 kate http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=242 The Art Place Palm Desert

The Art Place in Palm Desert, famous for their monthly Art Walk’s, refreshed their site as part of their monthly G|ROI program with Graphtek Interactive. Part of our ROI program is evaluating the current website and it was time to refresh after reviewing our analytics. In this new design, we utilized rich colors and organized the site in an easy-to-use format where users can easily find what they are looking for and it highlights all the stores in the center. Designed by Paul and implemented by Chris.

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/03/02/the-art-place-in-palm-desert-gets-a-site-refresh/feed/ 1 Costa’s nightclub at JW Marriott Desert Springs launches new website http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/02/20/costaslaunch/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/02/20/costaslaunch/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:45:10 +0000 kate http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=199 Costa's Night Club

Costa’s, The Desert’s Hottest Nightclub, contracted Graphtek Interactive to create an interactive website that would allow users to sign up to be “on the list” and give loads of information on upcoming events as well as join the mobile club.  Designed by Paul and implemented by Israel.

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2012/02/20/costaslaunch/feed/ 0 Productivity: What we’re using around the office – Nozbe http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/productivity-what-we%e2%80%99re-using-around-the-office-%e2%80%93-nozbe/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/productivity-what-we%e2%80%99re-using-around-the-office-%e2%80%93-nozbe/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:26:55 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=186 Like most organizations, the management and staff and Graphtek Interactive are always looking for ways to improve efficiency and workflow around the office. When we do stumble upon new technology or a service provider that makes life a bit more manageable, we feel it’s only right to share what we’ve learned with our clients and friends.

This month, we wanted to let you know about a Web-based time and project management application called Nozbe™. Whether you work independently or collaborate with a team, Nozbe can…READ MORE

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/productivity-what-we%e2%80%99re-using-around-the-office-%e2%80%93-nozbe/feed/ 0 New Faces: Graphtek Interactive welcomes Heidy Hartley to the team! http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/new-faces-graphtek-interactive-welcomes-heidy-hartley-to-the-team/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/new-faces-graphtek-interactive-welcomes-heidy-hartley-to-the-team/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:23:53 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=183 Let us introduce you to the newest member of the Graphtek Interactive family, Heidy Hartley.  When Heidy joined our team as an Account Manager in late March, it was clear after the first week that both our team and clients had lucked out BIG TIME.

New to the Coachella Valley, Heidy had spent the past twelve years working in the marketing and communications field in Chicago.  No stranger to professionalism and customer service, Heidy represented the prestigious Moody Bible Institute leading their Corporate Communications branch.  She focused on web development, public relations and marketing, working with her teams on messaging for web, media, email and internal channels.

In addition to her professional work experience, familiarity with our industry and friendly nature, Heidy’s “can do” attitude never ceases to impress co-workers and clients alike.

Welcome aboard Heidy!

Learn more about Graphtek Interactive!

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/19/new-faces-graphtek-interactive-welcomes-heidy-hartley-to-the-team/feed/ 0 Reality check: There is no “magic bullet” when it comes to SEO http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/reality-check-there-is-no-%e2%80%9cmagic-bullet%e2%80%9d-when-it-comes-to-seo/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/reality-check-there-is-no-%e2%80%9cmagic-bullet%e2%80%9d-when-it-comes-to-seo/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:30:14 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=180 seoIt’s remarkable to see how many Internet marketing firms today are actually promising page one organic search results. Typically, the promises of helping you achieve the Holy Grail of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will be found in your inbox and read something like this: Be found on the first page of search engines like Google, Bing, AOL and MSN! Read a little further and you’ll soon discover that this and so much more can be easily accomplished for anywhere between $5,000.00 to $30,000. If you’ve met these offers with skepticism, it might be wise to trust your gut instinct. If however, you’re intrigued by this too-good-to-be-true offer, there are some things you might want to consider before you go ahead and cut a check…

  1. There is no magic SEO bullet
    If you take nothing else away from this article, please remember that SEO takes a lot of hard work. There’s just no way around it. Just think about this for a moment…if there was a way for a marketing or SEO firm to guarantee page one organic (non-paid) search results, everyone would be doing it, thereby making search results meaningless. That’s way search engines are constantly updating their algorithms.
  2. You can make your site more search engine friendly
    While there is no magic bullet for high organic search engine rankings, there are things you can do from a technical perspective to make a site more search engine friendly:
    • Make sure a site’s navigational hierarchy is solid: It’s important to make sure all of your pages are linked properly – after all, links are the roads search engines use to index a site’s content.
    • Include alt text for images: While search engines can’t index images themselves, they can crawl and index image descriptions.
    • Use Flash elements strategically: While Web page elements designed in Flash look cool, those elements can’t be indexed by the search engines – essentially leaving a page or entire site programmed in Flash invisible to the rest of the world.
    • Include Meta tag descriptions: Embedding Meta tag descriptions on each page of a website allows the search engines to more accurately index and rank content on those pages.
  4. Content is king
    Search engines love content. They rank Web pages according to relevance and authority. Long-story-short…you’ll need to decide which keywords someone might use to find your page and then ensure the content on that page relates to those keywords. Essentially, the more relevant a page’s content, the higher that page’s authority. The higher the page’s authority, the happier a search engine will be.

While points 2 and 3 above are brief overviews of some techniques and principles that can be used to improve organic search engine rankings, they’re hardly intended to be the ultimate guide of SEO best practices. Rather, they have been presented here to illustrate some of the things you or those SEO and marketing firms can do to improve organic search results rankings.

So, let’s review…page one organic search results can’t be purchased, yet they can be earned though a lot of hard work. That said, if you’re tempted to pay a professional firm to do your SEO work, you might want to consider cutting the check to the organization that promises to help you improve your SEO rankings – rather than the organization promising to put you on page one of Google. The chances are more than likely that the first organization is grounded in reality, while the latter is headquartered somewhere in an alternate universe.
Learn more about Graphtek Interactive!
]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/reality-check-there-is-no-%e2%80%9cmagic-bullet%e2%80%9d-when-it-comes-to-seo/feed/ 1 Benchmark Capital Partners, LLC partners with Graphtek Interactive to build two websites built on the Magento® eCommerce platform http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/benchmark-capital-partners-llc-partners-with-graphtek-interactive-to-build-two-websites-built-on-the-magento%c2%ae-ecommerce-platform/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/benchmark-capital-partners-llc-partners-with-graphtek-interactive-to-build-two-websites-built-on-the-magento%c2%ae-ecommerce-platform/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:22:19 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=168 PALM DESERT, CA, JUNE 22, 2011

Graphtek Interactive, a leader in the Web Development and Internet marketing industries, and Benchmark Capital Partners, LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of quality display solutions since 1983, launched two websites this week – each built on the Magento® eCommerce latform. Displays Direct (www.displaysdirect.net) and Taymar Plastic Displays (www.taymarplasticdisplays.com) provide display solutions to wholesale retailers and the general public respectively. While each storefront caters to distinct target audiences, specialized programming skills were required to define custom rules for each storefront.

“We’re delighted to have delivered a dynamic multi-site/multi-store implementation using the Magento eCommerce platform. Knowing that our programming team consists of Zend certified engineers, all whom have worked with the Magento platform in the past, I felt Graphtek Interactive would be the perfect fit for Benchmark Capital Partners and their Web development objectives,” says Mike Cheley, Founder & CEO, Graphtek Interactive

Among the noteworthy custom programming achievements, the Graphtek Interactive team wrote custom code for each site’s image rotator – adhering to Magento’s coding conventions by using the PrototypeJS framework. Additionally, custom extensions that include delete order, import/export bulk product attributes, customer pre-approval, email notifications, and full MailChimp Integration were added to each site.

In deciding to take our businesses to the next level, we knew it was imperative to build our websites on a platform that delivers a ton of flexibility and an extraordinary eCommerce experience for our customers. Ultimately, we chose the Magento eCommerce platform to meet our business objectives – and leveraged Graphtek Ineractive’s superior programming know-how to bring our vision to life,” said Michael Reher, Benchmark Capital Partners, LLC

About Graphtek Interactive: Since 1993, Graphtek has been providing Web development, website design and Internet marketing services to business nation-wide. The award-winning firm has worked on projects ranging from small business sites to multi-million dollar e-commerce sites.  Their 12-person team includes programmers, designers, writers and project managers.  The company is locally owned and is headquartered in the Coachella Valley, with offices in San Francisco, CA and Midland Park, NJ.

About Benchmark Capital Partners, LLC: Benchmark Displays, has been manufacturing and distributing quality display solutions since 1983. Their mission is to provide the broadest selection of quality products available anywhere, priced attractively and presented in a friendly, easy to use format.

Learn more about Graphtek Interactive!

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/18/benchmark-capital-partners-llc-partners-with-graphtek-interactive-to-build-two-websites-built-on-the-magento%c2%ae-ecommerce-platform/feed/ 3 CrazyOnDigital™ Corporation showcases CS-Cart technology and programming power of Graphtek Interactive in recent website launch http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/17/crazyondigital%e2%84%a2-corporation-showcases-cs-cart-technology-and-programming-power-of-graphtek-interactive-in-recent-website-launch/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/17/crazyondigital%e2%84%a2-corporation-showcases-cs-cart-technology-and-programming-power-of-graphtek-interactive-in-recent-website-launch/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:15:00 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=165 Graphtek Interactive, a leader in the Web Development and Internet marketing industries, and the CrazyOnDigital™ Corporation, an online retailer specializing in digital device accessories, launched a highly-customized ecommerce website powered by CS-Cart earlier this week. While CrazyOnDigital’s product have been available through some online retail giants like Amazon.com and eBay, this week’s website launch marks an exciting evolution for customers looking to buy their digital device accessories directly from CrazyOnDigital.

“Our familiarity with the CS-Cart platform and custom programming capabilities were the perfect fit for CrazyOnDigital’s Web development objectives. From improving the user interface experience through the use of wide drop-down menus to custom jQuery development efforts that now allow us to track click-through rates on banner advertisements, we’ve been able to improve both client-facing and back end functionality.” Mike Cheley, Founder & CEO, Graphtek Interactive

The fact that Graphtek Interactive also specializes in User Interface (U.I.) Design and the implementation of Internet marketing strategies proved advantageous when the website was launched.

“In addition to giving us the ability to cross-market featured products and specials through the use of skyscraper ads on all product pages, the programming team at Graphtek Interactive helped us custom program the display logic for both category and product pages – essentially, improving the visitors’ experience through improved access to relevant information and intuitive navigation,” says Sanjay Singh, Owner & CEO, CrazyOnDigital Corporation.

About Graphtek Interactive: Since 1993, Graphtek has been providing Web development, website design and Internet marketing services to business nation-wide. The award-winning firm has worked on projects ranging from small business sites to multi-million dollar e-commerce sites.  Their 12-person team includes programmers, designers, writers and project managers.  The company is locally owned and is headquartered in the Coachella Valley, with offices in San Francisco, CA and Midland Park, NJ.

About CrazyOnDigital Corporation: CrazyOnDigital is committed to bringing the highest quality product at extremely low prices to their customers. All of their products are brand new, directly from the factory. Since there is no middleman involved, they are able to pass savings directly to their customers. CrazyOnDigital Corporation is based in Livermore, California.

]]> http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/17/crazyondigital%e2%84%a2-corporation-showcases-cs-cart-technology-and-programming-power-of-graphtek-interactive-in-recent-website-launch/feed/ 0 Graphtek Interactive Client Case Study: The City of Alameda, California http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/17/graphtek-interactive-client-case-study-the-city-of-alameda-california/ http://blog.graphtek.com/2011/08/17/graphtek-interactive-client-case-study-the-city-of-alameda-california/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:01:56 +0000 mcheley http://blog.graphtek.com/?p=174 Graphtek Interactive gives the City of Alameda website an extreme makeover while enhancing functionality.

coaIn addition to providing small to mid-sized businesses with Web development, website design, custom programming and interactive marketing services, Graphtek Interactive has been extremely instrumental in helping government agencies across California raise the bar on their Web development initiatives. For the City of Alameda, California, Graphtek Interactive’s dedicated team of in-house designers, programmers and support staff were able to breath new life into their outdated Web presence. Once uninspired, clunky and largely dependent on costly programming fees to make even the smallest of changes, the new website offers city employees practical functionality through Graphtek Interactive’s proprietary content management system, G | CMS. Training and support, overseen by… READ MORE

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