We Love Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo!

June was National Zoo and Aquarium Month, and in observation of that, we wanted to briefly talk about one of our newest customers at Magnolia Media! We wanted to post this in June, but it's been so busy that we're just now able to do that.

Last month, we welcomed the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo to our client family! We are maintaining their website by announcing the most current information and posting photos for all to see! We’ll be some of the first to know about upcoming events and new additions to the zoo! If you follow us on Facebook, we’ll be sharing their special news on our page, and we suggest you follow them too. (Links below.)

The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is open every day of the year, except Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day and Christmas. The daily hours are 9 am to 4 pm. Special hours apply to those few holidays though. You can check their website for the admission rates, and annual memberships available.

The zoo opened in June 1989 as Zooland Animal Park, and has grown over these many years to be home to more than 290 animals! They have so many exciting animals like monkeys, tigers, peacocks, kangaroos, and emus…even a petting zoo, reptile house, aviary and daily animal shows during the summer that you can’t afford to miss!


The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo relies solely on admissions, memberships and contributions to remain in business. The local community and businesses have been generous in donating money, building supplies and services in years past. Substantial on-going funding through sponsorships, grants, and endowments from major corporations did not exist before 1998. These additional sources of revenue are now being actively pursued to ensure the zoo's longevity.


And YOU, too, can help with funding for the zoo’s new facilities! The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is moving to new facilities, which should be opening in 2011. The higher grounds of the new facility should prevent flooding that has been a problem in the past, which ensures more safety for each of the animals. Read more on their website about their new facilities and the rare Bengal cubs that will make the zoo very unique!

HOW CAN YOU HELP?! The zoo is offering brick pavers as tributes, gifts, and memorials to loved ones, children, grandchildren, and businesses. Pavers will be positioned in a place of honor and prominence to be seen by all who visit. 100% of each paver purchase will go to the new zoo construction and relocation. Here’s a brochure you can download for more information, and feel free to go ahead and fill it out if you’d like to be a part of the Higher Ground Zoo Move!

They (and we!) are all so very excited about the new facilities and are looking forward to seeing you all there in 2011! In the meantime, you can follow them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or visit their website for the most current news!

To the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, thanks for choosing Magnolia Media for your future website maintenance! We look forward to working with you and growing our business relationship!

To Melanie, we appreciate your referral and hope for the best for you in years to come!

Email Marketing For Your Business

Ever considered email marketing for your business or organization? Many of people have, but just haven’t pursued it. Maybe that’s because they don’t have a list of email addresses to market to yet, or maybe they think it’s expensive, or that people will delete their emails.

If you’re in business during the 21st century, email marketing can be a very beneficial marketing tool for you. This applies to business-to-business corporations, family owned shops, or major service providers. If done correctly, email marketing can help you turn uninterested individual into prospects, turn prospects into customers, and first-time customers into repeat customers!

First of all, what comes to mind when you see the term “email marketing”? For the purpose of this article, we’ll define it as sending newsletters out via email, to a list of subscribers. We prefer to look at it as an opt-in list, whether the subscriber purchased from you previously, signed up for your newsletter on your website or in your store, etc. This helps to ensure the recipients of your email are interested in your news for some particular reason.

With competitive marketing, other companies are doing anything they can to get business in, which is pulling business away from you. If you are regularly placing your brand in front of your prospect or customer, you have a better chance of having a considerable relationship with that individual which improves your chances of beating the competition even if your price is higher. People like to buy from people they trust and have a relationship with. If you keep in touch with your subscriber list regularly, you will be the first that comes to mind when they need your product or service.

Providing helpful tips, coupons, or industry information to them through e-newsletters is a great way to encourage them to stay on your email list and read your newsletter each time they receive it. You have a higher chance at driving traffic to your website, and striking interest for new products you may offer. Providing industry-related news or tips will show that you are keeping up with the changes in your industry and that you are a good resource for information. Providing discounts or coupons will encourage a call to action. If you own a retail store and send out newsletters with a discount for the next week, you will probably see more customers in your store to take advantage of the offer than if you didn’t provide this perk.

Many email marketing programs provide click-through tracking so that you can see what is productive, how many of your subscribers are opening your newsletter, and how many are unsubscribing because of a loss of interest. This information is readily available in real-time tracking.

You probably know that most every business has a website, but not everyone is using effective email marketing techniques. Staying in front of your customers and prospects through email newsletters will help you keep your market share, and hopefully grow it too! Staying in front of your customers monthly, weekly, or however often works for your business, is very beneficial over time. The relationship that email marketing builds between your company and your customer is one that will prove valuable as compared to impersonal and traditional advertising.

Gulf Shores Steamer - Review

One of our customers, the Gulf Shores Steamer, has recently relocated to San Roc Cay in Orange Beach. While in the area for a business meeting, we wanted to visit with the owners and see the new location for ourselves…and of course, with it being close to mealtime, we opted for dinner at the Steamer!

Right when you approach San Roc Cay, you cannot miss the Gulf Shores Steamer and their large sign right out on Perdido Beach Blvd. As you pull into the parking lot, you can take a downward ramp to additional parking. Since we arrived slightly before dinnertime, we found a spot right at the back entrance to the restaurant. On our way in, we stopped to overlook the marina and enjoy the view for just a bit before heading in to dine. If it had been mid-April and not such a hot day, the outdoor dining would have been very pleasant; but we were looking for a nice, cool, relaxing dinner indoors.

We were promptly greeted by the hostess who was happy to seat us in a non-smoking booth just as we’d requested. Shortly after being seated, our waitress greeted us as well and offered to take our drink orders. Not being a much of a seafood fan myself, I asked her what entrée she would suggest, and she happily explained that ANY fish is great, and the Royal Red Shrimp are delicious too. Skip was already leaning towards the Royal Reds, and/or the Alaskan Snow Crab. Instead of having to decide between the two, she suggested he try the Shrimp and Crab Combo(1/2 lb of Steamed Reds, and 2 Snow Crab Clusters). Since the owner had previously recommended the Filet Mignon to me several months ago, I chose to indulge myself with the 8 oz. Premium Filet.

Our waitress was extremely nice and entertaining during our wait for food, along with our visit with the owner. He informed us that they are actually the only local restaurant with Royal Reds at the moment. So, if you’re in the mood for some amazing shrimp, this is the place to be! Once the food arrived, we snapped a few photos and were ready to dig in! (We didn’t order an appetizer considering how large our meals would be. You can see from the pictures below that the food looks delicious, and the seafood combo was especially filling!)

My filet was cooked just perfectly, and the potatoes and corn were especially delicious! The accompanying butter added flavor and was a great treat. This wasn’t like other steak meals; I truly enjoyed every bite of the steak, potatoes, and corn!

As for Skip and his Shrimp and Crab Combo…He was eating for quite a while. I was definitely done with my steak by the time he even finished the royal reds I think! It was quiet a large meal, but that didn’t intimidate him! He rarely gets to have seafood, and he was super pleased with the taste and portion of the Steamer’s combo.

Overall, our dinner at the Gulf Shores Steamer was so fabulous that we just had to rave about them on our blog! The new location is beautiful and very spacious…the employees are so very welcoming and helpful…and the food is the icing on the cake!

We would certainly recommend that you take a visit to the Steamer in the new location at San Roc Cay. Just make sure that you plan to visit them there rather than the old location. You’ll be disappointed to find out that there’s another local restaurant there now, and we wouldn’t want you to have a less than satisfying dining experience and confuse the two restaurants.

The Gulf Shores Steamer has been in business over 20 years, specializing in steamed seafood, rather than fried. You can visit their website at http://www.gulfshoressteamer.com/. The new location is located at 27267 Perdido Beach Blvd, Suite 115 in Orange Beach, Alabama. They are open 7 days a week and can be reached by phone at 251-948-6344 or by email at gssteamer@gulftel.com.

June 15 – National Get To Know Your Customers Day

Every third Tuesday of each quarter, businesses acknowledge Get To Know Your Customers Day. This day has been set aside to get out into the field, or call some of your customers and just let them know that you’re more than just someone trying to sell a product or service, but that you genuinely want to build a relationship with them!

Take this time to find out more about their personal lives if you think you’ll have something in common that could build a stronger business to customer relationship…Find out why your customer likes doing business with you so you can know how to continue to please them in the future…Maybe express some helpful suggestions for them that wouldn’t be something you’re selling, for instance something different to help their business, or let them know of a store near them they may be interested in…If there’s anything they do that you can refer people to them for, these are the things that Get to Know Your Customers Day is all about.

Today isn’t a day to push a product or service on a customer, but to open up to what is important to them. Build a stronger relationship and let them know you truly care about them. Learn more about your customers, make notes on their files if you need to, and mention things that would strike an interest to them when you talk again in the future. Use this knowledge to keep in touch with them about things they’re involved in. If they are a fan of a particular sports team, or a band, this is definitely a conversation starter if you know someone has a big game coming up or a special concert coming up.

Everyone likes to know they are more than a client with no discussion beyond business…They like to be customers that feel they get special attention and aren’t just someone paying your bills. Let them know you care more than that, and that you have an interest in them personally. It will build your returning customer base, and probably your chance at referrals to.

Happy Get To Know Your Customers Day!

New Logo and Website for Covenant Christian School!

On May 27th, (we apologize for the delayed announcement due to lack of blogging time) Magnolia Media launched a new website for a new customer of ours that you may be familiar with (if you live in the Mobile area). Covenant Christian School, near the intersection of Hitt Rd. and Cody Rd. in West Mobile, recently hired us to design a new website, optimize the site for search engines, and provide statistical evidence to the success of the site. We are honored to have worked with this Christian school, and look forward to our growing relationship with the board members and staff at Covenant Christian!

Unlike some of our recent customers, Covenant Christian School has already had a website for the past several years. You can view the “Before” website here: http://www.covenantschool.com/old  and the “After” site here: http://www.covenantschool.com/ We also created a new logo for the school, because in the past they’ve simply used the school crest. Knowing that their mascot is an eagle, Skip created an amazing logo that they were all extremely happy with! You’ll see it with the school name on the site, and also in the background for an added effect.

The new school website continues with the same functionality of the previous site, but boasts a new design and more extensive information for prospective and/or attending students’ parents. The new site has an estimated 40 pages, with online forms for registration, online student handbook, link to keep up with student grades (via RenWeb), current news and a calendar, along with many other helpful tools.

Thursday, May 27th, we launched the new logo and website without the current news and calendar, but that should be updated within a week or so. Magnolia Media is also training the office manager to make regular updates to the site so that it can be easily managed by a staff member in house. This month you may see some of Covenant Christian School’s billboards throughout Mobile. It’s time for enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year and they are very excited about the new students who will be joining them. We encourage you to consider Covenant Christian School if you have children in the K-4 through 8th grade age group. It may be just what you’re looking for!

To Covenant Christian School: Congratulations on the launching of your new website and thanks so much for choosing Magnolia Media for this new site development!

www.covenantschool.com

Firefighters Insurance Agency Launches New Site!

Two weeks ago, Magnolia Media was contacted by a previous customer of ours concerning a new website for a completely separate company that needed some assistance. During the first week of June, Firefighters Insurance Agency will be at a convention handing out new brochures and business cards with their website address on them. Needless to say, they want a website they are excited about these firefighters visiting after the convention.

They had already set up a free Flash website through Wix.com that wasn’t as attractive or functional as what they really wanted for the company. For those of you unaware of the downsides to templates (especially Flash templates), they are not search engine friendly in the least! Especially these that are free, on a sub-domain of wix.com. They leave the least amount of room possible to optimize your site to be found. FIA’s inquiry focused mainly on search engine optimization and professionalism. Having already been a customer of ours, they understood that all of Magnolia Media’s work is custom-designed to meet the client’s needs, and definitely search engine friendly. So, they called us on Friday the 14th, we set a price and got started on Monday (the 17th), and launched the site that Friday (the 21st)…within a week of the initial contact!

The site was designed based on the same general layout as the previous site they created in house, and was only 6 pages. With a deadline of 2 weeks before they’d be handing their website address out to many Florida firefighters, and knowing we had a lot of projects to keep us busy this past week, we pushed the whole site into a one week period from beginning to end. Much credit goes to Jeff, Lisa, and Richard at the company, who had a great quick response to our questions and ideas, and also had their information ready since they had just created the first site. It makes for a very smooth and quick process!

Firefighters Insurance Agency, located in Tallahassee, Florida offers the highest quality insurance products through quality companies for the benefit of members of the Florida Professional Firefighters Association. They offer so many different insurance products, including ones related to firefighting injuries, and others such as auto, home, motorcycle, commercial coverage for secondary businesses, or even retirement and estate planning services. If you’re a nearby firefighter, take a look at what they have to offer full-time and volunteer firefighters. You may be surprised how much it could help you and your family!

Here are links to see the before and after of what we did for Firefighters Insurance Agency:

Before – Wix.com Free Flash Site

After - Magnolia Media Custom Site

Jeff, Lisa, and Richard, thank you all so much for thinking of us in this project, and we look forward to our growing relationship in the future! Good luck at the convention next week!

Your Opinion Counts! - BlueGill Restaurant

Hello Magnolia Media followers!

We recently decided to take a local restaurant, the BlueGill Restaurant located on the Causeway in Mobile, and re-design their website with no obligation to the owners! This was just an experiment we wanted to test out. Since The BlueGill has recently changed ownership, we thought that a new brand would prove profitable by enticing seafood fans to try out the restaurant if they never have, and to come more often if they've already been before. Below is a screenshot of their current website, along with a screenshot of what we just recently designed for them. You can also see the sites full size if you follow the links for a better view. 

As always, we value your opinion, and hope you'll share your thoughts with us, and recommend us to your friends, coworkers, employer, etc. if you like what you see here.

Also, we would encourage you to try out the food and environment at The BlueGill Restaurant in Mobile. They'd love to have you stop by and try them out!

Current Website:

http://www.bluegillrestaurant.com/  

Magnolia Media's New Design:

http://www.clients.magnolia-media.com/bluegill/