BlackOut recently completed a new marketing postcard to illustrate how the BlackOut process can build your brand online.

The three core components of our approach - creative design, interactive technology and online strategy - are leveraged together to strengthen your brand awareness.

Click on the image below for a .pdf version of the postcard (front and back), and for information on how BlackOut’s services can grow your business, contact us at info@blackout-design.com.

BlackOut Design, Inc. President Jack Reager was quoted in a Sunday Times article dealing with the growing popularity of corporate blogs as a powerful new tool for communicating with customers.

Featured in the “Northeastern Pennsylvania Business Weekly” section, the article cites Reager along with other Northeastern Pennsylvania business leaders, discussing how blogs have replaced traditional PR methods and can open up a mutually beneficial dialog between a business and its customers.

“Years ago, it was get a press release out, make sure you’re in the paper, make sure you’re in the TV news. Now, with technology, you can get your message out there and control it,” Reager is quoted as saying.

At BlackOut, we not only maintain our own corporate blog; we design, build and manage blogs for our clients. If you’re interested in learning how a blog can advance your marketing message, contact us at 570.341.3466 or info@blackout-design.com.

BlackOut client Hydro4GE was recently featured in the April issue of the Great Valley Technology Alliance’s newsletter “eNexus.”

The article highlights the groundbreaking work being done by Hydro4GE in the software development arena, as well as the collaborative efforts between Hydro4GE developers and local institutions of higher education like the University of Scranton and Misericordia University.

You can read the April issue of “eNexus” here.

A recent article in “The Economist” highlights an important issue for anyone working in internet advertising.

The landscape of search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine results page (SERP) services changes on a more-than-daily basis and we’re keeping up with each new development in an effort to ensure our clients’ web presence is optimally position and reaches its target audience.

Here’s an interesting article regarding the quite natural reluctance of some to fully buy into the idea of Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 tools and services have yet to prove their resilience in the ever-changing tech marketplace and the full scope of their utility has yet to be explored.

At BlackOut, we utilize Web 2.0 technologies as one more component in our portfolio of services. Like any other technology we constantly evaluate its practicality, and when it suits our client’s business goals, we’ll use Web 2.0 to create a more effective campaign.

One Point, the 2006 Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year, took advantage of BlackOut Design’s services recently to generate a new website and optimize their position in the online marketplace.

Northeastern Pennsylvania’s leader in office supplies, printing and furniture with more than 100 years of experience, One Point needed a site that allowed customers and clients to shop quickly and easily through its catalog of products.

Through the BlackOut-designed site, One Point customers can keep their offices well-stocked and productive with just the click of a mouse.

Companies count on One Point to keep their offices working smoothly and One Point counts on BlackOut when bringing its reputation for exceptional quality, service and selection to the web.

Hemmler & Camayd Architects came to BlackOut Design looking for a website design as unique, innovative and bold as their own approach to architecture.

The nationally recognized Hemmler & Camayd, out of Scranton, Pa., needed a website that reflected the breadth of services they offer and that showcased the award-winning work they produce.

With enhanced navigation and vivid photos of Hemmler & Camayd’s architectural designs, the BlackOut-generated site creates an immersive experience for potential clients.

View the results of BlackOut’s work at www.hc-architects.com.

Google was at it again over the weekend adjusting the page rank algorithm. This seemingly quarterly change has once again altered current page ranks, thankfully not as much as October’s change. Beware and monitor your site’s rank. You may have to make alterations to your organic SEO strategy.

Pew Internet has reported that

48% of internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year. The basic findings in a national phone survey that ended in December show:

thereby further demonstrating the viral potential for online video, whether it be a advertisement, or educational in nature. In any case videos are reaching people, and those companies who choose to enter, and use wisely, this form of communication will maintain a competitive advantage over those that do not.

So I am going to be interested to see what type of traction Facebook picks up in the next quarter after their belly-flop onto prime time television via their sponsorship of the presidential debates. The various juries are still debating the degree of success, if any, that the interaction between Facebook users and the CNN news crew had in the past week. As an innocent bystander watching the evening I could only imagine how many times the question “What is Facebook?” echoed through middle America. I will give them one thing, they got their brand out there for sure, now the question becomes “How exactly can they capitalize on a bunch of confused middle-aged news watchers?” Time will tell, until then I am going to shine up my new Pownce profile because I am super cool (I actually think they sent a rater large number of invites out).