2010 is starting off on the very busy side – and that’s a good thing. I’d say companies are eager to exit the recession and are willing to once again free up their marketing funds for investing online. Wall Street’s economic news is relatively positive as of late and the typical consumer (excluding the many still laid off) is also lightening up from their 2009 firm wallet grip hold.

However, in the midst of all the positive economic news, we’re still running into the companies, non profits and even individuals who have been hit very hard by 2008-2009. Now, they are making one final desperate attempt to generate income, and sometimes it’s with a “thrive or go bankrupt,” “I’ve put my all into this one,” last effort.

At Sozo Firm, we welcome both. If you’re in marketing at a company that’s ready to see the green and you know your corporate site needs a critical look, give me a call anytime, and I’d be glad to help out. Simultaneously, if your business is struggling and you can relate all too well with the last ditch attempt, I’d be glad to brainstorm with you.

I’m pretty convinced the sun is starting to rise. This is actually the best time to plow forward with an aggressive online campaign while sprucing up the total web presence. Get a large foot ahead of the competition while they’re still conservatively sitting back waiting for an overhead sun.

The team at Sozo Creative just launched a new service targeting the local York, PA / Baltimore, MD region: the Sozo Photo Studio. The photography studio will initially bring creative photography services to the client’s location. Photography services include the following:

• Dance & ballet photography
• Wedding & engagement
• Family portraits, baby pictures
• Sports photography
• And much more

Sozo Photo Studio will primarily serve a 30 mile radius from their new location at Suite 110, 73 East Forrest Avenue in Shrewsbury, PA (they are moving in the first week of January; expect a couple months until photo shoots can take place on site – in fact, they prefer to do shoots at the client’s location).

The official opening date is January 11, 2010. Leading up until that time, the photographers are offering some specials to local dance studios as well as to amateur models interested in expanding their portfolios. Sozo Photo Studio is also offering some TFP (time in exchange for photos) photo shoot opportunities to models, amateurs & wannabees. All three of these opportunities are available for a limited time.

At Sozo Firm, we’re excited about the current restructuring and brainstorming taking place as we strategize (is that a word?) to more efficiently and effectively succeed entering 2010 and beyond. We’ve recently broken Sozo Firm Inc into a set of three focused divisions: Sozo Creative, our creativity division; Sozo Logic, our consulting division; and Sozo Ad Agency, our marketing group (all three new divisions will need websites built). Sozo Photo Studio is the first service to emerge from this recent restructuring as we strive to become a company more involved with our local communities. It will be exciting to see what the days ahead hold for us.

You’ve got to make the time to read through it carefully. And then, having done that, be sure to pass it on.

Seth Godin’s blog announcement about the ebook

Direct link to download Seth’s free ebook (pdf)

It’s Christmas time at Sozo Firm. It’s also a big month for us as our big move is looming near on the horizon. Last night, we put our thinking caps on and dreamed big as we worked through our company’s strategic plan for 2010. A key part of that plan is further diversification and even building out our consultation services to include non web based assistance to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. I’ll fill you in on those details in time …

Merry Christmas from Sozo Firm

For now, it’s that glorious winter wonderland season to extend to you some incredible offers. And, these specials are valid only for the first small businesses or nonprofits that take advantage of them, plus, they expire on December 31st, 2009 at 11:59 pm.

We presently have two Christmas deals which we’ve written about on the Optibits blog:

1. Ongoing Adwords management
2. Ongoing search engine optimization services

These are really both incredible options, especially for that small business which is dreaming big for 2010. The contract details are spelled out on the Optibits blog, but, basically, it’s a one year contract with payments broken down into 12 monthly affordable sums.

If you’ve got any questions, you know you can contact me at anytime. We look forward to serving you and helping your business or organization succeed in the coming year.

Ps: If you’re interested in taking advantage of either or both of the above specials, we’ve got a special, mini quote request form for them here. Be sure to enter the special offer codes – special offer SEOxmas2009 or special offer XMASAD2009.

Sozo Firm’s web design division, Sozo Creative, announced today some incredible recession buster deals on small business and nonprofit website design. Sozo Creative has primarily been our division for generating marketing blogs and simple micro websites in the past; now, however, we’re expanding into developing simplistic, search engine optimized brochure sites and blogs for individuals, small businesses and nonprofits.

Sozo Creative is offering four earth shaking web design deals (and these won’t last too long so hurry over there and get your feet in line now before it’s too late):

Get Your Own Blog

This is a perfect package for the nonprofit that realizes the importance of putting a foot out front and interacting with its audience. Sozo Creative is offering blog development plus web hosting and ongoing maintenance (60 minutes per month) at the unbelievably low rate of $595 set up fee plus $55 per month.

The $995 Bargain Website Deal

If your nonprofit or business has had the same simple, barely functional website for the past six years, this is the perfect deal for you. For just $995 plus $25/month (for website hosting & 30 minutes/month of support and website updates), the Sozo Creative design team will hand you an up to 10 page website powered by a content management system so you can freely make textual changes whenever you want. A blog can even be added to it at no additional charge.

The Affordable Website Deal

If you need more ongoing assistance with your website (updates and support) plus you’d rather spread out your web design payments over time, they also offer a deal with a $695 set up fee and $65/month ongoing. This includes all your web hosting plus 60 minutes per month in support and website updates.

Your Own Website Plus Adwords Management

If your nonprofit or small business needs a new website coupled with Google Adwords campaign professional management, then this is the basement bargain deal you can’t pass. With a $750 set up fee and $85/month ongoing, the Sozo Creative team will help your organization’s web presence soar to the next level.

Be sure to contact Sozo Creative quickly to reserve your spot in the inevitably long line that will be forming! You can request your new website through their online contact form.

One day SEO classes for businesses & nonprofits

Note: We’ve chosen the dates for spring 2010. They will be

• Thursday, March 18
• Thursday, April 1
• Thursday, May 6

Beginning in February or March of 2010, we’ll begin offering one day SEO training classes that will run from 9 am to 4 pm. Even with our new offices, space will be tight, so registration will be limited to probably a maximum of 6 registrants. I’m limiting the class size to 6 people not only due to space but also because I want it to be personal and interactive. This will permit us to spend probably half of the time going over general SEO advice (and clarifying common SEO misconceptions) and then the remainder of the day taking each registrant’s website as an example and providing concrete examples for improving it and strengthening its online presence.

The atmosphere will be relaxed, and, I guarantee, you’ll walk away realizing that your class fee was a wise investment.

We’ll break for lunch (still contemplating over how to do that since there are few outstanding restaurants around exit 4 – primarily fast food) and have snacks/beverages present throughout the day. I’ve even thought of having lunch catered, but I’m not sure how workable that would be (a change of scenery increases learning); of course, if we provide the lunch (whether on site or at a restaurant), then the price for the SEO class is going to reflect that.

Participants will need to register far enough in advance so I have time to go through each website and develop what we’ll be covering for the second half of the day.

My goal with these SEO training classes is to equip you with the knowledge to return to your company or nonprofit and make corrections & improvements to your website to help it more effectively pull in traffic. After spending a couple hours discussing the basics of SEO (and these classes will be introductory + intermediate SEO, for beginners as well as those with some general experience), you’ll see firsthand how to apply these principles on 6 websites, one of which is your own site.

Presently, we’re in the middle of working on a new website for SozoFirm.com. When that site is completed, we’ll have some information posted on our SEO Training Classes as well as some dates listed and the registration form. In the meantime, if this is something that would interest you (ie take control of your own SEO for your site!), please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Note: We’ve added information to the main Sozo Firm website on our SEO training classes: http://www.sozofirm.com/seo-training-class.htm

Sozo Firm is moving the first week of January 2010

There’s been a lot of buzz around here about our upcoming move to the Shrewsbury Professional Building off exit 4 on I-83. Admittedly, we’re excited. Moving to formal office space means several things for us:

(1) While we don’t plan to turn into a massive, non personal company someday, we do have growth dreams.

(2) Even though our primary clientele in the past has come directly through web leads and referrals, moving to a more public location means we’ll be catering more to local businesses now too.

(3) In the past, I’ve primarily met clients at their location, but this space will increase our flexibility and permit them to meet with me on our site or theirs now.

(4) Our new office space will permit us to keep with the growing trends of SEO & web marketing consultant companies through offering on site SEO training classes.

We’re excited about what the future holds for Sozo Firm. I’ll share more in future posts about the SEO training classes we’re developing as well as our increasing activity with nonprofit organizations.

It was at a recent Christian business ethics conference in Greenville, SC held by the Alliance for Excellence where I heard Karlan Tucker share his company’s mission statement. It impressed me so much that, upon returning from the conference, I emailed his company, Tucker Advisory Group, and Sarah from their office gave me this mission statement:

Tucker Advisory Group is committed to setting standards of excellence. We lead by example to ensure success. With God and integrity as our foundation, we grow one relationship at a time.

My next step in formulating Sozo Firm’s mission statement was to jot down some notes about what I liked about Tucker’s mission statement: (1) their focus on excellence, integrity and God; (2) naturally, their striving to help others (and themselves) succeed; and (3) their emphasis on building relationships.

I then jotted down some things which I believed were essential parts of Sozo Firm: customer service, friendliness, God, integrity, excellence, customer success, loyalty, trustworthiness, reliability, dependable, etc.

Then, not wanting to be biased toward Tucker’s mission statement, I browsed the web searching for some other Christian companies’ mission statements. I didn’t find too many that really stood out, but I did find some alternative wording to phrases I was already thinking of using. I wanted to publicly incorporate God (I’m a Christian, and Sozo Firm is, essentially, a Christian business serving companies worldwide); I also wanted to emphasize to our clients (both prospective & current) the importance we place on our being able to be trusted by them. When we say something, we do our very best to mean what we say (and I grimmace when I write this because of a whirlwind I’m in right now attempting to choose between two different commercial office spaces – I’ll admit that I’ve said I would “go” with a place but then changed my mind; however, I do my very best to keep my word overall).

The end product of my brainstorming and writing is this, Sozo Firm’s mission statement:

Sozo Firm is committed to standards of excellence and innovation. With God and integrity as our foundation, we serve others through investing into their long term success while developing enduring relationships.

Admittedly, we may tweak it from time to time, but I like what we came up with. I believe it accurately reflects our mission toward our clients.