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	<title>Mad Town Design</title>
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		<title>Elements of an Effective Healthcare Website</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/elements-of-an-effective-healthcare-website/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/elements-of-an-effective-healthcare-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 15:29:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=3044</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are a lot of healthcare websites out there, and it is important to make yours as effective as possible. So here are some quick tips that you can implement, and hopefully give you an edge over the competition. Have a Mobile Version Healthcare is one of the largest growing mobile networks currently, making it essential that you are accessible through these devices. You don't need to have a mobile only version of your website, but do make sure that your website works well with mobile devices. Mobile devices also have the added benefit of allowing your site to be easily shared with others, even when they are not at a computer. Stay Away From Generic Stock Photography We've all seen the pictures of the very attractive nurse or the doctor with the stethoscope around his neck. The use of generic stock photography is hurting a lot of healthcare websites. It does nothing for site visitors and doesn't communicate anything about your brand. Instead think of ways to graphically represent what you are trying to say. When users visit a website they are typically in research mode, looking for information. Don't be afraid not to use any imagery if need...]]></description>
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		<title>Measuring SEO &amp; Traffic Sources with Google Analytics Pt. 1</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/measuring-seo-traffic-sources-with-google-analytics-pt-1/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/measuring-seo-traffic-sources-with-google-analytics-pt-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 May 2012 14:41:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=3023</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can be used to see how your website is performing, and help you find ways to improve. But beyond looking at how many visitors a website receives, Google Analytics has a lot more useful tools, including measuring the success of your SEO campaign. To prevent wasting valuable marketing dollars , it's important to analyze what is working and what is not working when we optimize our website. It's important to go beyond how many leads we are generating and look for ways we can improve our campaign. Analyzing the right metrics can make all the difference in how we look at our SEO. Traffic Sources To start out, it's important to get a traffic sources overview so we can see how many visitors are finding us because of our SEO efforts. As you can see in this example we received a little over 3,000 visitors with over 54% coming from search traffic, 25% from referral traffic, and the remaining is direct visitors. To analyze the search traffic a little bit more we can see just how many hits we are getting from each search engine. As you can see an astounding 94% of...]]></description>
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		<title>How Much Should a Website Cost?</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/how-much-should-a-website-cost/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/how-much-should-a-website-cost/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 13:07:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=3006</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So you are ready to start a web project, but you are unsure what to spend. The first thing you must understand is that a website is an investment not an expense. Most companies look at a website as an expense that they incur, and that's because most designers don't generate any real ROI for their clients. If you are willing to invest the money into a real creative professional you should be able to see a real return on investment. I made a video on how to calculate your websites ROI, be sure to check it out. The budget comes before cost Honestly, if you are looking for a professional web design organization, they are going to expect you to run your organization as professionals. If you have not taken the time to set a realistic budget for your project, you have already started to show your business’s lack of planning. And from our perspective, most clients that don't set a budget don't have the money to invest in anything meaningful. Don't confuse not setting a budget with not knowing what the cost of services should be. Even if you don't know a realistic cost you should know what...]]></description>
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		<title>Brand Building With a Website</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/brand-building-with-a-website/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/brand-building-with-a-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 14:05:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2990</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As websites and online engagements become the focal point of our brands, it's important to spend the time to develop positive brand attributes and communicate them through our website. A lot of clients today want us to take their current brand identity and build it into a website, but what they fail to realize is that a successful brand starts with their business. Not all brands are created equal and 99% of the people I talk with don't have a true brand worth any value. Branding is only useful if done properly. You cannot convey a brand or brand attributes into a website if the business has failed at the most basic level of brand development. What is Not a Brand To build a successful brand it's important to understand what is not a brand.    &#160; The above logos are highly recognizable, but they are not brands. Having a name and a logo does not make you a brand at all. While these are all successful companies it is not because they are great brands. All these companies need to do to be is make sure they build a phone line to your house and offer you a competitive...]]></description>
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		<title>Healthcare Social Media Listening Strategies</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/healthcare-social-media-listening-strategies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/healthcare-social-media-listening-strategies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 12:50:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2981</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A lot of healthcare companies are still not using social media as a means to communicate with their audience, and I can understand why. Most of what goes on within Twitter and other social media platforms is irrelevant to any part of your business. In fact I would wager that 99% of the discussions going on are useless and stupid, but that doesn't mean social media doesn't have its place. A lot of healthcare companies are still adamantly opposed to social media because they are still focused on traditional marketing tools, and don't see any ROI that can be generated within social media, but ROI in terms of what? It doesn't always have to be revenue generation for a company to see real ROI. Now is the time for healthcare companies to jump on the social media band wagon. There are some great tools you can utilize even if you don't want to actively participate in the social media sphere. What you should be doing instead of being active in social media, is listening to what is going on in your market place. This will allow you to have a better handle on current market behavior and even notice emerging...]]></description>
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		<title>5 Costly Blogging Mistakes to Avoid</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/5-costly-blogging-mistakes-to-avoid/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/5-costly-blogging-mistakes-to-avoid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 May 2012 16:01:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Content]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2972</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging can be one of the most difficult and time consuming marketing activities, but it also offers one of the highest returns on investment, and once mastered can benefit your organization for years to come. I have made quite a few mistakes at blogging and still have a lot more to learn, but I want to share with you pitfalls to avoid to make sure that you are on your way to blogging success. Don't Copy Others Ideas Everyone knows not to copy and paste other blog posts so I am not going to include that in this article, but it's important that we also stray away from offering others ideas as our own. One of the most difficult aspects of blogging is formulating your own expertise and putting it on paper, and it can be very tempting to take others ideas as an easy way to get blog content. From personal experience it's not worth the risk, and it will catch up to you. Besides all of the legal complications that come with plagiarizing. You have also wasted a lot of your marketing time and efforts when you could have been contributing your own content to your blog. Once...]]></description>
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		<title>Creativity or Design Skill</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/creativity-or-design-skill/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/05/creativity-or-design-skill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2966</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As we work with more healthcare companies on their web presence I have noticed an emerging trend. More and more companies are trying to break away from a 'traditional' healthcare site, and are looking for something more 'creative'. A lot of companies even use “creativity” as part of their selection methods. The problem is everyone views creativity differently. It is important to fully understand what creativity is, and as professional designers we must represent creativity for what it actually is. Because our creativity is judged by clients creativity doesn't imply something unique, different, and it has nothing to do with self expression. Having a wild imagination and originality also do not equal being creative, by these standards we are all considered creative, but it ignores the fact that we all have different creative abilities. Most of us would consider our kids highly creative, but that doesn't mean they would be able to create an effective website. With our miss-guided definition of creativity we select a designer and then become displeased when we receive a less then creative result. This is because creativity does not equal effective design. Creativity is based on someones perception and varies from person to person and...]]></description>
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		<title>The Importance of Mood Boards</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/04/the-importance-of-mood-boards/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/04/the-importance-of-mood-boards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:11:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2950</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Designing a website can sometimes be a frustrating process not only for the designer, but for the client as well. Nothing is more frustrating than spending your time working on what you think is a great design only to get a completely different reaction from the client. The client may respond to our first design attempts with phrases such as “it doesn't pop” or “I don't know why but I just don't like it”. Most designers do not even know what these phrases mean, and more likely than not neither does the client, but neither party is happy and you go back to the drawing board with the goal in mind of making it pop, but you don't know what that means. This isn't the client's fault that it happens but instead a failure in our process as designers. Most designers today create 3-5 designs, send them over the client and ask, “Which one do you like?” In reality, the client has no idea which design will be the most effective and the Designer himself is really only a Designer and doesn't work on building effective designs that actually can move a client’s business forward. This is where mood boards...]]></description>
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		<title>Using a RFP to Find a Designer</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/04/using-a-rfp-to-find-a-designer/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/04/using-a-rfp-to-find-a-designer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:36:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2936</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It's time to stop with the RFP madness that has over taken the design industry. RFPs do have their place but it is not when selecting professional services. RFPs exist when you are looking at commodities, and if design services exist as a commodity it is only at the bottom where price is the driving factor. Before I go any further please note that this blog post is not directed at any agencies but instead at business owners looking for design services, and using RFPs as part of their selection process. Removes Relevant Information RFPs generally contain basic information about the organization, page counts, features, budget, and timeline. These elements are irrelevant to creating a successful project. Yes, we as designers must know what pages will be a part of the site and what functionality is required for the project, but this has little to do with what companies are using RFPs for, selecting a design agency. Creative agencies must understand what problems your business is facing, what your profit model is, and how your current website fits into your marketing plan. An RFP cannot answer these questions effectively. You should be most concerned with selecting a professional agency that...]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Starting an Email Newsletter Campaign</title>
		<link>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/01/starting-an-email-newsletter-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://www.madtowndesigns.com/2012/01/starting-an-email-newsletter-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:36:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Baron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Content]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.madtowndesigns.com/?p=2810</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In this months newsletter I would like to focus on the technical aspects of running a newsletter and how you can use it as one of your best marketing tools to promote your products and services. Picking Out a Platform First start by determining what platform you will utilize to deliver your newsletter. One of the easiest platforms to use is MailChimp and we highly reccommend it.  There are plenty of other great platforms you can use just make sure you do your research. Use Calls to Action Once you have picked out the platform you are going to deliver your newsletter with, you need to start getting users to sign up so you have someone to send it to. You need to call users on your website to action. Creating the proper call to action (CTA) can make or break whether you gain newsletter subscribers or not. Start with clear, concise, and direct CTAs, allowing users to know exactly what benefits they will get and why they should sign up. The correct wording of your call to action is also important so spend the time to think up a great value proposition. Make sure it is clear what the user...]]></description>
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