i2i-creative

Dynamic, entrepreneurial financial manager with a 17+ year record of achievement and demonstrated success professionally managing staff, projects, meeting goals and objectives, and providing accounting, auditing, and consulting services to clients with divergent needs while providing award-winning service in highly competitive environments and multiple industries.

That career summary is taken from my latest resume. Bizarre as it might seem, my progression from working with the second largest international accountancy and professional services firm to owning a boutique design firm in South Tampa feels natural and leaves me wondering why people scratch their heads or look at me in a puzzling fashion when they learn of my background.

Before getting here, and after working with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, I worked for a local accounting firm. After becoming partner and taking over the management and operation of the firm, I began seeking out additional services to provide my clients, many of which were small business entrepreneurs located in South Tampa. As I worked closer and closer with my clients and developed a greater understanding of their business, the opportunities and challenges, my education (MBA) and inherent creativity began to draw me towards the marketing and sales side of the organization like a gravitational pull away from the financial niche I had become so accustomed to.

In 2006, after facing what I think may have been some sort of “mid-life crisis”, I began attempting to bridge my business knowledge, technical expertise and detail orientation together with a love of design, marketing and working with small business owners.

Managing to escape this crisis without a shiny new sports car or anyone new on my arm, the outcome and result of my efforts is i2i-creative; a firm uniquely combining the creative design realm with sound website design principles; a firm offering dynamic graphic design services for logo, letterhead, business card and advertisements; a firm bringing a realistic, responsible edge to projects conducted in a disciplined, well-managed and consistent manner…and most importantly…a firm delivering positively, outrageous customer service.

Interestingly and worth mentioning, during the 17+ years of my public accounting career, I worked on numerous interior design side projects as a way for me to express myself through a creative outlet and even had a brief encounter with selling furniture and design services. Looking back, I realize now that I never fit the stereotypical CPA mold.

With my family, network and experience in South Tampa, I am committed to this community and am pleased to offer my services as an alternative. The client relations experience I obtained coming from a career in a professional industry drives me to focus on providing a high level of client service with an emphasis on timeliness, responsiveness, follow-up and results. Exceptional designs, capturing my client’s ideals, intertwined with creativity, attention to detail and function is another identifying factor of my work.

My passion for working with local business owners drives me to create avenues and opportunities for them to thrive. For those interested in supporting local businesses and contributing to the economic well-being of our community, we have formed the Palma Ceia Business and Design District, www.palmaceiadistrict.com. A City of Tampa Merchant Association, we recently hosted our Grand Opening Event Celebration. A huge success, the district packed hundreds of people walking the streets, listening to live music, shopping the local community and enjoying the generosity of the shop owners with free raffle drawings, free food and free beverages. Our plans for the community are exciting and I am proud to be the Marketing Chair and webmaster.

And while it may seem I have permanently exchanged my knowledge base of accounting and auditing of “widgets” for one of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, Dynamic HTML, Joomla and technological advances with Internet and marketing strategies, I haven’t abandoned the public accounting arena entirely. Through my partnership with a local firm, we offer assistance with accounting needs including bookkeeping, taxes, accounting systems, business structure and formation and are available to answer questions or provide general business consulting. Providing these additional services is just another way I am committed to helping small business.

Just as my creative cravings begin to subside, I am intrigued by the allure and power of web 2.0 as I travel though a new world discovering its implications and impact on business. The virtual platform evolving around us presents all new opportunities and is rightfully gaining international exposure as large industry decision makers commit substantial resources to developing their presence in the virtual world. If I have sparked your interest in the least bit…then click out www.secondlife.com & introduce yourself to a whole new world…but beware, it is truly remarkable and highly habit forming!

See you in The District,

Jennifer Davidson
813.293.3823

i2i-creative

Web Site Development & Search Engine Optimization

In developing a web site, several factors must be considered. It is extremely vital that all components compliment each other and that each page remains focused on the same general goals and outlook of the company as a whole. For this reason, it is imperative to establish an organized and efficient site that promotes visitor initial use as well as continued interest.

A properly designed web site should have a strong foundation that is easily adaptable to company growth. This includes product/vendor information for end-users, and also informative content on pricing, and space availability for potential new vendors.

In addition, the site should be designed in a way that provides high visibility of important information to visitors, drives high-traffic and repeat-traffic to the site, and promotes continual consumer use as well as potential advertising interest.

You must establish the purpose of your web site in advance - What do you want it to do? A web site is doomed to failure if its foundation is unclear or based on only one aspect (i.e., content, design, etc.) A successful site will include all of these aspects.

A successful web site must also utilize design diversity. For instance, a highly technical site may have incredible capabilities, but usually lacks the aesthetic value and user-friendliness necessary to satisfy the needs of your target market.

On the other hand, a site developed solely on the basis of graphical content may look wonderful and appear user-friendly, but will inevitably lack the necessary back-end structure and technical capabilities which will allow it to function in the manner in which it was intended.

For these reasons, you must have a developer who understands the overall goal and can bring these individual pieces together into a well-built, well-functioning, and user-friendly site.

Top Goal…Traffic to Web Site

Many Web designers will tell you that Flash sites are not good for search engine recognition. Flash is a powerful application that breathes life and motion into otherwise boring and flat Web sites. The skill required to PROPERLY develop in Flash, however, is quite complex and requires hundreds of hours of proper study to master; it is a mixture of graphic art, animation, and programming.

Brand Positioning…Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We will work on all the suggested keywords for your websites and will strive to get top positions in search engines. In addition to on-page optimization, optionally, we will concentrate on off-page factors to get brand image and online visibility. Before designing your Web site, we perform extensive research on what keywords are being most used in your industry. In Google and Yahoo, we test thousands of keywords specifically created for your business to target appropriate markets. We then build our content and code around these results.

General Scope of Services

Project Cost – The average cost for website development and search optimization procedures usually range from $1,600.00 - $2,800.00. Domain names are approximately $9.00/year and hosting runs approximately $5.00/month. On-line stores are at the mid to higher end of the range and can run more in monthly hosting. We use reputable Internet Presence Providers and do not mark-up their costs to clients. Our philosophy is that clients should maintain control over their hosting accounts and passwords. Too many times there are stories about business owners who are unable to update or make any changes to their website because they are no longer in touch with the webmaster and they were never provided the necessary information to manage their own account and site. This scenario causes them to incur additional costs of having another site developed. To avoid this problem, we involve clients in the set-up of the account with things being explained along the way so they feel more comfortable about the workings of their site. They are able to see the cost and create their own password.

Other things which can push the cost towards the upper end of the cost range would be incorporating a Content Management System (CMS) which is used by clients to update photos and content when desired. It takes additional development and training which naturally increases the cost of the site. If an unexpected increase in hosting or development cost is projected, we will notify our clients immediately to explain the increase and discuss any various options.

Payment terms are usually 50% payable upon acceptance of the agreement and the balance payable upon completion of the site. However, larger or time-consuming projects sometimes require us to progress bill because of our competitive pricing structure and small nature.

The cost normally includes the creation of a “coming soon” splash page with your contact information to be displayed until the final site is complete and visible.

The format will include a flash element and photos of the store and products. Photo galleries need large, high resolution pictures organized by categories. Photos are to be supplied by the clients. We are available to take photos using a digital camera but these pictures can’t compare to the quality that a professional photographer provides.

Websites are encouraged to include content including highlights of any featured publications, photos of projects, written industry information, logo, policies and bios on the owner/owners. This information will need to be supplied by the client.

Specific design, feature and cost elements as discussed in our meetings will be documented and provided to the client in a scope of services agreement.

With shopping carts and on-line stores, please note that not all shopping carts offer the same components, features or design capabilities. Often it is necessary to incur additional cost (hosting and/or software) to meet the client’s requirements. If a client is interested in a store, we will provide them with their options so they can choose the best solution for them given their budget constraints. Typically, after proper training, clients load product images and descriptions into their store unless discussed otherwise.

Driving traffic to your site requires a complex strategy utilizing the right mix of variables specifically chosen for your business. Standard practices include the creation of a Google and Yahoo XML sitemap, submission of the website to various Search Engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN & Alexa, identification of keywords, alt tags, H1/H2 tags and Meta tags/titles.

Depending on the industry and target market, a strategy is developed and can include one or more of the following:

Submission of the website to various search engines & Social Media (web 2.0) websites which are full of content, hyperlinks and get high traffic, including MySpace and FaceBook.
Submission of the website to various online review and article websites.

Advice on Google AdWords, Pay Per Click Campaign, keyword analysis, building links, quality in-bound links, and building a reputation for usefulness as an industry resource with consistently updated material.

New domain names and websites should not feel discouraged when deciding to focus on this marketing channel. We have had great success with our clients’ search engine rankings using the above mentioned strategies. We will not jeopardize your domain by utilizing questionable, un-ethical, or illegal practices to improve your results. Firms employing these types of strategies promise the world and are often very successful producing amazing results for their clients. The downside is that it is highly probable that the search engines will discover the questionable tactics used and ban the site entirely. It is extremely difficult, time consuming, cumbersome, and expensive to undue the damage once your site has been involuntarily and permanently removed from Yahoo and Google. We choose to play by the rules…which is another way we keep our client’s best interests in mind.

We provide assistance with domain name selection and registration and hosting account set-up. Also included is any necessary training needed to use the website and initial set-up of the optimization campaign.

On a go forward basis for a nominal monthly fee which is purely optional, we can provide clients with the necessary tools to manage and understand their website and the marketing information it provides business owners. Traffic reports, fresh content, adjustments to search campaigns, introduction of blogs and keeping up with industry trends and regulations would be just some of the things you would receive. We offer this service as a way for us to stay in contact with our most important asset…our clients. We know that staying in front of our clients keeps our perspective fresh and keeps us knowledgeable about our clients’ business issues and ways to help them achieve their objectives. We don’t believe in disappearing once your website or project is complete. We are looking to build long-term relationships with the business owners in our community.

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