Inspiration Studio Designs

Southwest Michigan Arts & Eats Tour Goes Live!

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:29:36 +0000

Today marked the “live” launch of Southwest Michigan’s Arts & Eats Tour website! Great program to see artists working in their studio’s, visit working farms in both Allegan and Barry County, and then savor local fare by stopping in to eat at restaurants that serve locally grown food! Complete website design and custom applications and forms (to come in middle May)! Check them out today at www.artsandeats.org

Hastings Orthopedic Clinic’s Summer Print Ad Series

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:21:49 +0000

We have had the pleasure of building a new website for the specialists at Hastings Orthopedic Clinic and also assisting with updating their branding and awareness! We created some new brochures for each of their industry lines and also had the chance to help them out with some print ads to run as a summer series in two community papers. See the final results below!

It’s a September Wedding…Driftwood and Beach Wedding Custom Wedding Invitation

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Our studio had the wonderful chance of creating one of our good friend’s wedding invitations for her up-incoming wedding on September 9th. Below is a sample preview of what the completed invitation will resemble. The main invitation is printed with a custom design on pearl paper and then will be attached to a light pink pearl paper backing. To top the final invitation off, there will be a small piece of driftwood attached to the very top to add character and texture (not pictured). We loved the pink that the bride chose to match her bridesmaid dresses. The couple will be having a beautiful wedding at the same place that my husband and I were married at, Gull Lake Yacht Club and Country Club, right on Gull Lake, in Richland, Michigan! Looking forward to the wedding!

Understanding Facebook’s New Timeline Changes for your Business Page

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:11:43 +0000

As many of you might know, Facebook will be updating everyone’s business “Page” into their new Timeline format effective March 30th. We have been currently helping to roll out our current client’s new Facebook changes and completing their new branding images, although, we still get daily emails inquiring on what these changes really mean and how does it effect one’s business. To make it easy, we have laid out some of the key changes below to make a note of. And of course, we are always here to help you with the conversion or providing you with graphic design services to update your Facebook’s Banner images!

Your Page Will Now Have A New Look!: The format of Timeline for brands is quite similar to Timeline for personal profiles. It employs a cover photo at the top of the Page, and the Page is separated into two main columns by a dividing line, which represents the passage of time. Use interesting milestones to craft the story of your brand over time to promote higher engagement rates.

No Default Landing Page and No More Custom FBML Code: You will no longer be able to set a default landing Page nor have the old interactive features of custom Facebook Mark-Up Language (the fancy slideshows you were used to seeing). The option was one of the primary ways to control the first (branded) impression a user encountered. Since there are no more tab Pages, there is no way to set one as a default. This will drastically change user impressions when they first visit a brand’s Timeline Page.    The main reason this was done was to ensure that your business now needs to promote it’s brand and campaigns through ads with Facebook. Setting up an advertising campaign for a Facebook promotion or new application will be the only way to guide new and clicking users directly to that application.

A Positive Note, You can Now “Pin” and or Flag Important Items: One major new feature that businesses and marketers will love is the ability to “pin” certain posts to the top of the Timeline. Similar to marking a blog post “sticky,” so that it remains at the top of a blog for a specified period of time, pinning a post to the top of Timeline allows it to precede any other content. A pinned post is distinguished by a small, orange flag. Brands can pin only one item at a time, and the pinned item then exists in two locations — as the top item on the Timeline itself, as well as within its chronological place.

As a Brand, You can now Send and Receive Private Messages: Brands will now be able to send and receive private messages with users. This allows for much deeper consumer interaction, and will also enable Page managers to take extended customer inquiries off the Timeline and into a private message.

To show you what the new Timeline will look like, feel free to take a look at our business Page (be sure to click on us and “Like” us too!):

Family Support Center Updated Logo

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:54:14 +0000

We are proud to be working with the Family Support Center, previously known as the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Barry County. We are currently working on new marketing materials for them and the launch of their new website. In the interim, we also assisted in updated their logo into a vector format and providing a corresponding color palette to assist with future branding and awareness. A preview is below and check back soon for a preview of their website!

Retain Judge Amy McDowell Campaign is now live!

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:27:55 +0000

We have been working with Judge Amy McDowell and her campaign committee in establishing a new logo, brand identity kit, web design, and political campaign (billboard, yard signs, etc.) She officially announced her intentions to be retained as our 5th Circuit Court Judge of Barry County yesterday evening to a standing room only courthouse. The event kicked off great and we were glad to be a part of the team! Check out her new website we designed at www.judge-amy.com and also get a sneak preview of her billboard, which we also posted as her Facebook Timeline Banner.

Noahs Ark Preschool, Updated Logo and Branding

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:41:04 +0000

It’s always fun to take a break and work on some fun items for kids, and not just because our daughter currently attends there With Noah’s Ark Preschool, we had a chance to take their current logo and branding and just give it a new modern feel and animal makeover! The final logo chosen is below with a snapshot of with a web address, without, and also their new Facebook Profile Image!

Swimming in a Sea of Beer Hops, Hop Head Farms

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:23:12 +0000

We’ve start off this year with a great trend, Beer! We are excited to be working on not only some new beer websites but also a new hops farm, Hop Head Farms. As clients go, the Hop Head Farms Crew is great and they are bringing great opportunities and agriculture to Hickory Corners, Michigan! We will be launching their new website soon, in the meantime, you can get a sneak peek of their new logo below!

Miller Means Sold!

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:31:12 +0000

Launched today is our new custom website design for Miller Real Estate, Barry County’s leading real estate office for the past 70+ years! With Miller Real Estate’s new site we were able to incorporate SWMRIC’s custom iframe IDX links to assist in special Barry County only searches, Gun Lake searches, general waterfront searches and much more. In addition, Miller Real Estate will also feature easy access for searching homes in specific price ranges right on their homepage and also Barry County’s custom HUD Homes for sale. Check out this site today at www.millerrealestate.net

Get Noticed on Google Search Results and Win in 2012!

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:48:08 +0000

Want to know one of the top questions our clients always ask us? “How can I have a favorable search rank on Google?”

And the answer is never 100% easy to answer…why? Because Google deploys special algorithms for their search rankings. By knowing these special algorithms and keeping up with Google’s updates, you can try and stay ahead and “Win with Google.” Whether you love em’ or hate em’… face it, Google rules the web! Google announced a profit of over $33 billion in Adwords earning alone in 2011, they made updates to gMail, YouTube, +1, has “daily deals” with Google Offers, and Google Chrome is slowly earning internet search ranks (Chrome ended 2011 with 25% of internet browsing market). So what matters for you…SEARCH!

If you want to stay favorable in Google’s search rankings for 2012, you need to deploy some of their new recommendations and requirements below:

Sign up for and get Google’s +1 , just like tweeting and or Facebook, Google’s +1 button filters search results to show websites that people have liked and shared. In 2012, Google is making it essential that you run with social circles and networks (that’s right…there is no way around it for those of you that hate to be social!)
Keep your website or Blog Updated and Fresh, (trust us…we know that this is one of the hardest things to stay on top of-even for us!) Google provides better rankings to websites and blogs that are fresh and up-to-date. To stay ahead, Google is taking it to another level this year by asking for websites to have dated and time-stamped updates. To learn more about Google’s Freshness Updates, check out Cyrus Shepard- SEO guru who gives an easy break down!
Add A Social Icon and Link, same as the old rule…Google wants to see some type of social link on your website or blog to keep your site favorable.
Get All of Google’s Algorithmic Ranking Factors