The Nest (Blog)

Hummingbird Media Services’ newest website is now live. Please visit College Planning Solutions.

College Planning Solutions (CPS) assists students and their families through college fairs, complimentary informational presentations, our website, and of course, referrals from past clients.

Urban Wordscapes is a website started by two native San Diegans who love art and travelling. “I’ve done my share of travelling, and have a great stock of pictures and stories, but how can I share them and really give them meaning?” So we created Urban Wordscapes, a website that features stories of cities that are inspired by photographs from city travels.

We want people to share their stories and pictures.

Your story can be true or fictional, funny or serious, sophisticated or silly. It’s up to you. Tell the story that inspired your trip. Tell us about someone you met, someone you won’t forget for a long time. Tell us about the place you never want to leave, or the place you can’t wait to get away from. You can even collaborate with friends and fellow travelers.

Go to Urban Wordscapes, register, and start posting today!

Why do I need a website?
The internet is usually the first place a person will look when searching for a service. Not having a website means missing out on many business prospects and opportunities for growth. Any company, no matter what type of work they do, needs to have a website in order to be competitive and successful. Today, however, most companies have already caught on and created a website. Therefore, having a website is no longer enough. It has to be a good one.

 What should my website do?
Your website should be designed carefully in a way that will demand attention from the viewer, while at the same time being easy to navigate. Often times people come across so many websites in their search that they simply skip over the ones that are visually unappealing or confusing. Therefore, it is important to have a website that looks good and functions clearly. It is also important to have a website that is appropriate to the type of business you have. For example, the bright colors and fun animations you might see on a website for a clothing store would be inappropriate on a website for a law firm, and in reverse, the professional appearance of a law firm’s website won’t attract much attention to your clothing store. 

Another very important thing to consider is the ability and ease of finding your site through a search engine. You can have a perfectly designed website but if it’s impossible to find it won’t do you any good. Search engine optimization (SEO), is a service that increases the chances of your site appearing from a search engine. It will allow your site to be presented earlier and more frequently in the search results, according to certain cue words typed into a search engine. This is crucial to ensuring that your website can be found.

Why:
Adding a video to your website can be a great marketing tool and a great way to make your website stand out. Videos quickly and easily capture the attention of your viewers, leading them to spend more time exploring your site. A video also adds a sense of professionalism, increasing your company’s credibility, which is essential if you wish to grow your company. By watching a video, viewers can immediately relate to your company, and get a better sense of who you are. Therefore, the content of your video is important, to ensure you are conveying the intended message.

How:
To make an optimal and effective video, it is best to use an experienced firm like Hummingbird Media Services. We are expert at carefully choosing certain images and words that engage viewers and leave a lasting impression, while doing so in a smooth and creative way. You simply provide the information you wish to convey, and they will transform it into a captivating video.

What:
Promotional video

• includes client testimonials
• shows why your company is the best choice
• increases credibility

Commercial video

• shows the viewer what you’re all about – what do you do and why is it important?
• personalizes – show friendly helpful people to make your company look more welcoming
• gives the viewer a sense of who you really are

Cost:
Starting at around $4,000 and increases depending on a wide variety of factors such as, complexity, length, number of actors, number of locations, music, script, etc.

Is your consultant an employee or a contractor? The difference has important tax ramifications and will impact pay rates and benefits. Take a look at these guidelines to help you make the right decision: Employee or Contractor

If you own a restaurant, let us design your website. We will produce an elegant design that directs customers to your location while presenting the menu in a way that makes it easy to read and easy to print. Let us tell your story.

Not only do we do customer facing documents. We also can write your internal documents: Personnel manual, SOX docs, sales manual, finance procedures etc.

With the current state of the economy still not back to normal, your organization may be considering staff reductions. However, if you reduce staff, you must still find a way to get the work done.

Perhaps one solution is to replace employees with contract help. You will reduce costs but still be able to meet deadlines and deliver work.

Here are some of the benefits when you use contractors:

• Save time screening prospective employees: Obtaining these resources can be time consuming and not always successful.  We carefully screen each candidate. If we don’t think they’re the best in the field, you won’t see their resumes! Flexibility: Contractors can be retained and released to fit your work load.
• Get started quickly: In many cases we can have resumes submitted to you within days, and have interviews scheduled at your convenience.
• Eliminate payroll costs: You can eliminate payroll tax contributions for contractors.
• Eliminate administrative costs: Because contractors often work remotely, you can reduce administrative overhead costs (computer, desk, phone, and so on).
• Maintain a low turnover ratio: Contractors don’t count when measuring employee turnover. (For years, successful international companies never fired employees, but they often released their contractors.)

If you are considering making some changes, please give us a call. Together we can help devise a solution that works!

Hummingbird can design and print business cards. Here is an example:

Take a look at out “Grain & Gram” website. I love this clean, organized, type-based style. http://www.graphic-exchange.com/05web.htm
Could you see the your site being similar to this?