Sadie Howar Graphic Design

How to Make a New Post with WordPress

shgraphicdesign — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:57:14 +0000

Do people REALly care if there is a REAL person behind Twitter?

shgraphicdesign — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:08:32 +0000

One of my greatest hesitancies (is that a word?) is revealing secrets, but I’m going to let you in on a little Twitter experiment I just pulled, which indiscreetly proves the power of picking the correct username for Twitter. I recently just started a Twitter account named jmarketyourself.com, with every intention to tweet with a marketing and social media audience in mind. In a nutshell, my intentions fell short, and in the past 2 weeks I have posted 4 tweets, but my following list has none-the-less grown every single day. Why? Part of the username is ‘market yourself.’ People interested in marketing, browse for marketing profiles. DING! I have a personal/graphic design profile as well, username = snhowar. Woops, wasn’t thinking that one through. Outside of my raving fans (hah), who’s going to search for snhowar?

CALL TO ACTION: So, if you’re not currently on twitter and contemplating an account, my challenge to you is to create a username cohesive with the audience you want to find you.

Facebook Power: Baby Megatron

shgraphicdesign — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:45:30 +0000

I was just invited to be a fan of “MY SISTER SAID IF I GET ONE MILLION FANS SHE WILL NAME HER BABY MEGATRON” on Facebook. This title peaked my curiosity, I confirm, and I see there are 1,081,137 fans. People from all over the US are confirming to be friends of this facebook group. WHY?!?!?! Obviously, Mike Affinito (Admin of this group), did not directly invite 1 million people.

If you want Facebook fans, you have to think about what’s catchy. You will attract fans from humor, deals & discounts, peak their product interest, interesting news and updates (but not overload if information), be creative!!! How can you utilize your current fan base to attract additional fans? If Baby Megatron can get over 1 million fans, you can to.

Fan Page: Megatron Baby

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MY-SISTER-SAID-IF-I-GET-ONE-MILLION-FANS-SHE-WILL-NAME-HER-BABY-MEGATRON/333067975442?v=feed&story_fbid=340891899193

PS – welcome to the world Megatron.

How to start a Twitter page.

shgraphicdesign — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:43:27 +0000

Check out this quick start video guide on how to start a Twitter page. Very basic, step by step. Make comments, ask questions, stay tuned there are more on the way!

Adventures of Twitter

shgraphicdesign — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:27:31 +0000

Although I refused to do it for so long, Twitter is huge, huge, huge in the business world and I’m happy to say I have acquired a positive addiction to it. When I say I initially refused, I was under the impression Twitter was just a way for people to update what they were doing every 5 minutes. Boy, was I wrong. My good friend Lindsey (http://twitter.com/lindseymckelvey) from Love Scott & Associates (http://www.lovescott.com/) gave me some tips, showed me the basics, and I’ve been a Twitter advocate ever since.

I’m in the process of creating a quick start guide, illustrating the very bare bones of Twitter, and how it could benefit you. Check back in a day or two and I’ll have many more details, some screenshots, and additional information to get you started asap!

Website re-design.

shgraphicdesign — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:04:03 +0000

Five AM alarm and two pots of coffee later, I am holding true to my promise of my website grand re-opening today, March 4th! I am so excited about the re-design, but am also excited to say I have much more work to add. SO…constantly in progress, check back to my site often.

http://www.sadiehowar.com (Beware, if you click here before 10am, the new site may not be up.)

GIVE ME FEEDBACK! Positive, negative (preferable constructive criticism!), I’d love to hear what you have to say about the site design, navigation, and my work.

Brand myself checklist, item number one: CHECKED!

Google Analytics

shgraphicdesign — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:28:33 +0000

I attended a seminar by Jason Trout from Blue Brain Consulting at Entrefest this past week, amazing information. The main topic of conversation was Search Engine Marketing (SEM), detailing Google Analytics and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. A few highlights to follow…

Main differences between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM):
SEO is free. You pay for SEM.
There are over 400 variables affecting SEO. Results of SEM are much more trackable and controllable (after effort and time).

Google analytics is my new best friend. You can track the number of hits to your site, average time on site, bounce rate, number of individual page visits, and much more. Best of all, IT’S FREE!!!

Thanks Jason for sharing your info. Visit him at http://www.bluebrainconsulting.com/

Networking, networking, networking.

shgraphicdesign — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:48:48 +0000

I love meeting people. I love getting to know them, inquiring about their career, and soaking in everything that is unique about that one particular person. My college roommates were always inquiring how and why I seemed to know everyone, or at least someone, almost everywhere we went. After contemplating, I would realize that I genuinely care about other people and attempt to remember every single person I meet. I understand now that this quality will take me far in life. I have friends in design, photography, marketing, advertising, public relations, accounting, finance, management, engineering, computer programming, IT, the health and medical fields, social work, sales, teaching, hospitality, basically you name the field, and there is a good chance I know someone in that profession. This is a huge reason why I am excited for this weekend, Entrefest.

The next two days I will be attending Entrefest, “Iowa’s Conference for Small Business & Entrepreneurs.” This is a great opportunity to meet many successful and passionate people and I am fortunate to be attending. Not only will this allow me to network with people of all areas, but also learn about marketing, entrepreneurship, and just how to take the next step in the business world.

Branding Myself

shgraphicdesign — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:59:04 +0000

Lately, my mind has constantly been wandering to the thought of ‘branding myself.’ I think about how I am represented on the web, how I present myself in public, the impressions people glue to me whether from a first interaction or from rumors they may have heard, and all other channels of the world’s perception of me. This plays an important role while I am approaching the initial stages of redesigning my website. Currently, my site contains my design work on vanilla pages and a black background. Does this represent me? Nope. Does this demonstrate my capabilities? Absolutely not.

Brand myself checklist, item number 1: Design my website to reflect my personality, creativity, and business ethics.