Yearly Archives: 2011

Nica’s Cafe – Site is Launched

We have recently launched the website for Nica’s Cafe, a fusion restaurant located in the Crossroads area, immediately south of Downtown Kansas City.

Nica’s offers a thorough dining experience, with dishes ranging from Cajun to Caribbean to Asian.  Check out their “Red Room”, located in the back.  Nica’s has been featured in The Kansas City Star, the Food Network, KCTV 5, and The Pitch.

The Nica’s website features information about catering and special events and, of course, full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, as well as their wine list…among much more.

If you would like to read about our other completed work, you may view our portfolio.  Our expertise ranges from restaurants to retail to not-for-profits to Fortune 500 companies.  If you have any additional questions or would like to gather more information about how we can help your business, contact Jack at (816) 729-0150.

http://www.nicas320.com/

Gate’s BBQ Mobile Web Site

PlainTalk is excited to launch a mobile version of Gates BBQ website.

We believe this retooling of web sites from their traditional format into mobile versions

is going to be a major portion of PlainTalk’s business model.

You wanna get what…social?

If you’re not familiar with social media, you should be. Because, somewhere out there in never, never e-land, someone may be posting remarks about you or your company or your products. Could be good, could be bad.

The most notables of social media—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+—and other SM media have proven themselves to be forces in public opinion and can provide lovers and detractors alike an instant way to praise or belittle you. They can also provide you with a powerful platform to spread your word.

The takeaway?…be opportunistic, make social media a tool, not a threat.

Now, don’t take the “Chicken Little” approach based on what I’ve said here. The sky is not falling. But, a proactive approach to social media can help you maintain a positive, credible relationship with online followers and help enhance your Web presence.

By integrating your social media efforts with your website and other online marketing, you can hit your online audiences with a cohesive message and multiply your customer contact points for more frequent communications and selling opportunities.

Like most online marketing elements, content is key with social media and “brevity” is the word of the day. You need to choose your social media opportunities wisely, coordinate content and cross-links, and make a commitment to continually read, post and facilitate social media communication.

That’s where it’s handy to have seasoned professionals to help. Someone who can help you identify the opportunities, educate you in the wiley ways of the Web, and give you the arms and legs you need to take advantage of the social media world without a lot of baloney or stress.

We’re here with plain talk, technical know-how and creative approaches to help social media work for you, not against you.

PlainTalk Media…call 816.472.0693 and ask for Phil or Jack. We’d love to be your social media gurus.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

With all the hype about SEM and SEO, it’s easy to get confused about what these terms mean and what benefit or issues they can cause with your Web presence. But, fear not, Internet Warriors! The PlainTalk crew is here to make sense of it all for you.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is an umbrella approach to marketing yourself in e-land. Typically, it integrates paid placement of links and information about your organization, products and/or services along with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to increase your Web visibility—kinda like advertising and P.R. in the conventional world.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, yeah, but there is some mad science to it all. The basic keys to good SEM and SEO are 1) good website content (creative & fulfilling for search engines and visitors, alike); 2) in-depth knowledge of search engine processes and tactics; 3) appropriate and judicious spending for any paid elements that may be used; 4) tracking and analyzing results; and 5) an understanding and commitment to SEM/SEO…in their most beneficial form, they are ongoing efforts.

On the flip side, badly conceived or improper SEM or SEO techniques can cause as much damage to your Web presence as good efforts can create benefits. In many cases, well-intended changes in content or improperly managed search engine submission attempts may actually cause your rankings and visibility to drop dramatically.

So, let’s recap…

  • SEM and SEO can be very beneficial to the success of your Web marketing efforts by increasing your visibility to Internet audiences and providing easier ways for customers to find you
  • They are not “overnight” accomplishments (anyone who tells you different, doesn’t understand them or is interested in you for something else)
  • Anybody can do the basics, but the real benefits and interpretation of SEM and SEO initiatives take expert assistance

That’s the PlainTalk about SEM and SEO…at least, for now. If you want to read or hear more, visit www.plaintalkmedia.com or call 816.472.0693 and ask for the Chief Web Ranger. Peace, out.

To blog or not to blog…

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

Whether it is more noble to rant about those around you or the benefits of expounding on clever topics in the blogosphere can lead to a never-ending stream of opinion. However, in the stream of consciousness (or unconsciousness) purveyed by the team at PlainTalk Media, blogging is, in our opinion, a hot topic.

“Presence” on the Web is much more than a website or banner ads or a social media contribution. Actually, in its most productive form, “Web presence” is a combination of these and more. To put it in PLAIN TALK, an integrated effort through an appropriate mixture of mediums on the Internet can bring your message, your persona, your company’s persona as an effective tool for opinion, public relations, sales and marketing. The right package of electronic communications can add arms and legs to your conventional marketing efforts at reasonable cost, if you’re up to the task.

You don’t have to be a “geek” to make it work. You do need someone who is knowledgeable at identifying and integrating the best technologies and mediums for your benefit. Someone who can lead you in the right direction and tell you how to do it with a straightforward approach, technical know-how and lots of simple, plain talk. Geeee, guess how we came up with our name?!

It’s easy to fall under the spell of dynamic websites, flash animation, SEO, data capture, mass e-mail campaigns, javascript, cookies, user sessions, e-commerce…Holy DOT.NET, Batman! It’s not very much harder to find somebody you can trust to help you find your way through “geekdom” and arrive at a solution that will provide you and your company with a credible presence, value to your business, peace-of-mind and confidence that you can adapt to anything the future brings. Don’t get us wrong—we’re not the perfect fit for everybody, but until you give us a chance to talk to you and help you look at the opportunities, you’ll never know if we’ll hit it off.

Hope you’ll return to our blog often…we plan on addressing subjects that will range the gamut from comedic to downright sensible. And, we’ll do it all to benefit you…our current PlainTalk customers and those of you who want to be PlainTalk customers and just don’t know it yet.

Until next time, Bon Web Voyage!

New Site Ready – But who will blog?

The New PlainTalk Media website has been completed, with the newest social media elements in place and ready to deploy, but still we are nagged by the same persistent question; Who will blog? Will it be the seasoned veteran rock and roll sales-guru Phil Neal? Or the young and impetuous “Saucy” Jack  Dempsy? Who, both being in the public eye and making personal contacts, might be best suited for this type of public discourse? Or will it be Rudy Valenzuela, our much beloved and beleaguered designing/network administrating/photographing/copywriting/co-leader?

Or could it be someone else? But if so, who? who has the time? who has the grammar skills? who has something interesting enough to say that folks will actually want to read it? Stay tuned for the answer to these and more pressing questions here, at the PlainTalk Media Blog.