WordCamp is coming – you need to be there
Published July 10, 2012 | 
When many people look back at their childhoods, they have fond memories of summer camp where they learned, played and made great new friendships.
The WordCamp Fayetteville Facebook cover photo
A different kind of camp is coming up at the end of July that we at The Belford Group strongly endorse and hope our clients consider attending because we are sure they will find ways to better manage their own website and learn ways to grow their business. That, and it’s a lot of fun.
WordCamp Fayetteville is Saturday, July 28 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. A free beginner’s session is scheduled for Friday, July 27 and the Guru Gallery is Sunday, July 29. The Guru Gallery is a chance for one-on-one help for WordPress users who answer each other’s questions about how to manage their sites. Tickets are only $30 and it includes the conference, lunch Saturday, the after party, the Guru Gallery and a T-shirt (sizes guaranteed for those who sign up by July 15). Continue reading
Google + Local gives businesses great social opportunities
Published June 14, 2012 | 
Businesses can use Google+ badges to direct traffic to their Google+ pages.
Google Places has undergone a few changes in hopes of becoming more social. Google + Local pages officially replace Google Places this month. While the new format may seem disorienting at first, many say that the changes are for the better. The two different formats have five noteworthy differences, including: Continue reading
Posted in News, Social Media | 
Business, google, Google Places, Local, social media | 
Leave a commentFacebook reveals changes for business pages
Published June 4, 2012 | Posted in News, Social Media | Business, Facebook, HootSuite, Pages, profile, Social, social media, SocialOomph | Leave a commentBranding on social media more than a logo
Published May 28, 2012 | All too often companies forget that branding is just as important online as it is offline. Maintaining a consistent brand image across all platforms is crucial to ensuring that a company’s brand is easily recognizable. This means using the same colors, graphic icon elements and typography in all places where the branding appears such as print marketing material, social media, signage and other forms of marketing.
The cover photo for client Oh Baby Food's Facebook page is clearly associated with its packaging, its website and all other forms of communication. The status updates provide the same type of information and carry the same informal tone that parents of babies would appreciate across all platforms.
Maintaining the corporate branding on social media goes beyond just having the same logo as the profile picture. Continue reading
Posted in Branding, News, Social Media | Branding, consistent branding, social media | Leave a commentWant better SEO? Write a company blog
Published May 21, 2012 | 
(image courtesy of Flickr user willymarryme2011)
Blogs are one of the many platforms that both benefit from and increase search engine optimization. The benefits of improved SEO and the ability to use a blog to establish the company as an industry leader make the work that goes into maintaining a blog a good time investment. Companies and organizations can also establish themselves as an industry leader by providing good content about industry trends, their services, etc. For the purpose of this blog, we’re focusing on how having a corporate blog can improve SEO. Continue reading
Posted in News, SEO Consulting, Services, Social Media | blogs and SEO, corporate blogging, SEO | Leave a commentWordPress not just for blogs
Published April 30, 2012 | Millions of users worldwide use WordPress including individuals, corporations of all sizes, and nonprofit organizations. It’s generally known as web software for blogging but WordPress can be used for so much more.
We at The Belford Group have started using WordPress as a primary content management system (CMS) for our websites, which means it’s the software we use to create our clients’ websites. We’ve used WordPress for several years to create client blogs (including our own) but we’ve decided WordPress creates such an excellent product that entire sites will now be created using WordPress.
Most clients are not overly concerned what software or program is used to create their website. They just want a website that is functional, informative and visually appealing. Using WordPress to create websites is a major advantage for both the client and the web developer, in this case The Belford Group, because WordPress offers websites that are easy to use, customizable and effective. Continue reading
Posted in News, Services, Web Development | web design, web development, WordPress | Leave a commentMeet our interns: Courtney Aldridge
Published March 30, 2012 | 
Courtney Aldridge
Name: Courtney Aldridge
College: University of Arkansas
Degree: Journalism with a focus in Advertising and Public Relations — May 2013
What interests you most about your new internship?
Learning how to put all the stuff we are taught in class into real world practice. We learn all kinds of things in class and how huge companies have been successful so it’s nice to be able to put what is taught in classes to work. The best learning is through hands-on experience and I am thankful for the opportunity to do that.
Meet our interns: Erik Northfell
Published March 29, 2012 | 
Erik Northfell
Name
Erik Northfell
College
University of Arkansas, Fulbright College
Degree
Bachelor of Fine Arts, spring 2012
What interests you most about your new internship?
What interests me most in the internship is probably working with a wide variety of clients—something that I don’t have a lot of experience with doing.
Continue reading
Meet our Interns: Jason Ward
Published March 26, 2012 | 
Jason Ward
Name
Jason M. Ward
In May of 2011, I graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. I now hold degrees in Geography and African and African-American Studies.
As a new intern operating a bit outside of my area of study, I’m very pleased to be learning how social media as a marketing tool is continuously evolving and improving. I’m glad to be in a productive environment learning useful skills that will benefit the company, and also any other personal endeavors I may want to promote in the future.
Continue reading
Meet our interns: Meleah Gross
Published March 22, 2012 | 
Meleah Gross
Name
Meleah Gross
College
University of Arkansas
Degree
Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis on Visual Design, May 2012
What interests you most about your new internship?
I love web design (design in general, really). It’s so interesting to me to be able to take a blank page and turn it into something awesome. This internship allows me to expand on the base knowledge I got in classes and turn it into real life situations. And it helps small businesses, which is something close to my heart since my dad owns a small business.
Continue reading
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