You shouldn’t steel photos from Google Images or the like for marketing purposes, that’s bad. As an alternative, we’ve rounded up a short list of the best free photo websites with limited use restrictions.

Feel free to add your own favorites!

Dreamstime
Stock Xchng
Flickr Creative Commons
Free Digital Photos
Veer

Want to do something unique this year that will make your customers think, “Wow! They really ARE cool! I should buy from them again.”

Well look no further. All it takes is to stand out from the crowd, in a good way, that’s branded to YOU. Easy, right? Not really. But if you put on your thinking cap, brainstorm with your staff and check out these cool ideas below, you’re sure to come up with something stellar.

Note: You can also click on each image for their source and more info.

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The goal is really to be active and rep your company at the same time. Here’s how:

1. Check and respond to your alerts. You should have alerts set up via Google Alerts and Social Mention or similar. Make sure to take a good look at these and respond to people talking about your company or industry. Even responding to negative chatter can turn into great opportunities if you do it carefully.
2. Tweet it up. Twitter is a great place to network. Don’t just push out company info, be helpful. Follow people who also have similar personal interests and make it a rule to interact with someone each time you check your feeds. You can also create search feeds in third party apps such as Seesmic based on certain relevant keywords for industry or company “listening” as well as news gathering or sharing. Most importantly, make sure your profile information includes a link to your website and brief info about your company, with your personal flair.
3. Post as a page. Facebook is such a significant platform for businesses. Not only is it great to post content from your business page regularly, but occasionally posting as your business on other business pages opens a whole new world of potential fans. Basically, you can post on other business pages your business “likes.” I would not recommend posting on competitor pages, but rather complimentary industry pages with words of expert enthusiasm on their popular content.
4. Be a blogger. You don’t necessarily have to blog your own content every day, but you should comment on other people’s content everyday. Visit your RSS feed daily and catch up on what’s going on in your industry while leaving your own footprint in the comment threads. A simple “great post!” is not going to cut it. In fact, that could make you look a little cheesy. Make sure you’re adding something relevant and useful to the conversation.
5. Check in with your groups. On LinkedIn that is. See what the people in your groups are posting and stay in touch with them. If someone posted about getting a new job, congratulate them! If someone is looking for connections in your town, offer to buy them a cup of coffee and welcome them. Mostly, you’ll find people posting articles they wrote or found online so make sure you contribute with your comments here as well. You might have even found a great post to share with your groups as part of your RSS readings.

Finding relevant key phrases for website SEO purposes can seem a bit overwhelming, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. First, it starts with asking. Ask your customers for key words and phrases that describe your company. This is helpful because words you might use are not words the general public might use to find you so talking like your customer is the most important. Read More »

You might not know where to start in this foreign world of Web and graphic design, but be assured you’re not alone! A good place to start is to first think about what you hope to get out of the project. What are your end goals for the project?

Then, make sure to ask potential designers these questions once they too are aware of your project goals to see who fits the bill: Read More »

We are so thrilled that we had the opportunity to nab this awesome space in the Northwest Valley. There’s still the one-big-collaborative-room vibe we had before and we can’t say enough about the awesome restaurants below the office.

We’re still getting settled, but give us a call if you’d like to come check out the new diggs and do lunch!

5940 W. Union Hills Dr. D260
Glendale, AZ 85308
623.239.3680

Here are the entries for our annual A Cause to Design program where we award a free website to a cause as determined by public vote. Pretty cool, hu? Voting begins Monday, October 3rd on our website. So which cause will you vote for?

Does your nonprofit or cause need a new website? So far we’ve only got one entry for our A Cause to Design program and we need YOUR entry to make it interesting. Use your Flip, your webcam, your cellphone, whatever! Just tell us in under two minutes why your cause needs a new website and rally up the troops to vote for your video when it’s posted! For all the details check out the official A Cause to Design page. Let’s do this!

Not only should this be done before your website ever goes live, but also as time passes and browsers update. You see, sometimes these browser updates can be no bueno for how your website displays on them.

What to do? Check your website out from time to time in various browsers and if things start to look funky, it’s probably time you made an update to your website anyway! Read More »

If you’re a nonprofit in need of a free website, it’s your lucky day! The deadline for the A Cause to Design video contest has been extended to Friday, September 23, 2011.

Check out the official A Cause to Design webpage for infomation about the program and how you can be considered.

Good luck!