In their own words:

“ArtNowNashville.com is the only news source in Nashville that provides comprehensive daily coverage of the local arts scene. The site publishes overnight reviews of all major symphony, opera, chamber music, jazz, dance and theater performances as well as reviews of the visual arts, film and much more. It will also feature timely news and preview stories about important art events. The new website was founded by Nashville Arts Magazine in the summer of 2011 to help foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the arts in Nashville.”

Electric Avenue has had the pleasure of working with Franklin TN law firm Schell Binkley & Davies for the past several months. They came to us with a common issue:   almost no internet search visibility.

“a law firm of established attorneys with diverse law experience who have formed a powerhouse practice to serve the residents of Tennessee in cases that require incisive analysis, versatile knowledge, and fast-thinking trial experience.

Our attorneys’ experience includes judgeships, professorial tenure, published cases, certified mediation skills, leadership in professional education, law seminar engagements, and trial attorney work for both plaintiffs and defendants.”

Their experience very much makes them a ‘powerhouse’ law firm – with an ability to handle a very wide variety of cases.

We provided them with a full optimization overhaul:

• A full site re-design
  • complete site Search Engine Optimization
  • optimization for local search
  • keyword research
  • on-site  content creation
  • RSS feed integration
  • Google analytics integration for tracking SEO performance

The finished live website is here.

We started by using a search-engine optimized theme framework for WordPress,  Hybrid.  On top of that wonderful framework, we designed a graphic interface that would stay within the firm’s conservative roots but would also separate them visually from the rest of the pack.

We did extensive research into what people were actually searching for when they were looking for the kind of services that Schell Binkley & Davies provide.  From that research, we implemented a keyword framework for the firm’s website.  We added and changed content on the site to reflect the optimization.  We also added Google’s wonderful analytics tracking that enables us (and the Firm) to track the success of our work.

As we tell all of our Search Engine Optimization customers, the process takes time.  The major search engines go through an organic process of indexing the new changes.  If the changes increase the site’s relevance to a potential search customer, the site ranking goes up accordingly.

The SEO process for Schell Binkley & Davies, including their site re-design, is working.  In fact, it’s working great.

How can we tell?

The firm has gone from no search visibility to having (as of April 24th 2011 – three months into the process) at least 10 Google front page search results for their focus keywords.  Our Google analytics reports lets us know who visits the website – and what search keywords they used to get there.   We even know the local TN areas where the majority of the requests come from.  This allows us to further hone our search optimization.

The firm is getting work from people who find them on internet search.

Ad design for the East Nashville magazine The East Nashvillian. Working withem on design for their advertising clients has been a pleasure.  Find some recent design below in the gallery.  They describe the publication thusly:

“Created specifically for the neighbors, patrons and visitors of East Nashville, our free, full-color magazine is designed to bring you stories about the events, people, businesses and places that made Southern Living name East Nashville as one of “The South’s Best Comeback Neighborhoods”. Also, recently featured on “This Old House” as Best Old House Neighborhoods 2011: The South.”

The website for The East Nashvillian is here.

Jazz man and all around cultural aficionado Jack Silverman asked Electric Avenue to create his musical home on the interwebs.  We were proud to oblige.

Adding a bit of Blue Note styling to the fabulous Twenty-ten theme released with the new version of WordPress, we created a feast for the eyes and, of course, ears.

Live site is here. //check it out. Jack and his band are:

Purveyors of everything from crime jazz to ’70s blaxploitation-style soundtracks to scary circus music to sitcom theme songs, The Jack Silverman Ordeal mine a musical terrain far left of the typical Music City fare. Featuring 10 original instrumental compositions along with a wacked-out recasting of The Meters’ “Cissy Strut,: the band’s eponymous debut weaves together infectious grooves, haunting melodies, stellar ensemble playing, a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek musical humor, and of course Silverman’s singular guitar work — a blend of lyricism, dissonance, haunting melodies, tongue-in-cheek musical humor and imaginative improvisation that avoids (or at times lampoons) the rote clichés of the six-string canon.

Updates were needed all ’round: content, images, layout and logo.  While they didn’t want to re-invent the wheel – design and time-wise, they did think it was high time for some changes.

We cleaned up the design and logo.  We updated the content and images. Finally we reformatted the site as a WordPress content management system.  This will enable the staff at Great Big Shows to quickly and easily update the site on their own.

Anyway , have a look at the pics.  We present before and after part deux.

Great Big Shows Before:

Great Big Shows After:

Over the course of twenty years of writing, recording and touring, Kevin Gordon has built an impressively consistent catalog of songs, a critically-acclaimed stack of albums, and a reputation for dynamic live performances that make first-time listeners life-long fans. He is currently completing his next full-length album, to be released in the spring of 2010.  Live site is here.

Gordon’s songs have been recorded by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Irma Thomas, Webb Wilder, Kate Campbell, and others. His recordings are featured in major motion picture soundtracks and in national advertising campaigns. Raised in north Louisiana and currently based in Nashville, Kevin earned a master’s degree in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

We’ve worked with Kevin on his most recent release “Salvage and Drift.”  He describes it thusly: “Over the last year I’ve been going through boxes and piles of unreleased recordings, putting together a group of tracks that work on their own, and with each other, to illuminate my own creative process (via home recordings and studio demos) or just let you in on a really good time (live tracks). Volume 1 contains tracks dating from 1994 to 2009. In future volumes I hope to go back farther. The idea is to let you hear a little more from me, not only in releasing a new studio record more than once every five years, but also in sharing some things that lead to, or beyond, those records. ” Head over and pick up a copy here.

The quick answer is: a lot.  Aside from the design cosmetics of updating (which can be very significant), a thorough update can greatly enhance all aspects of your web presence.

SEO – by integrating the best practices SEO available, your audience / customers / fans can find you.

Analytics – real-time tracking of who visits your website, pages accessed, time spent there.  This is an invaluable tool for insight into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

Content presentation – with modern Content Management Systems, such as WordPress, your website can provide a much more dynamic presentation of your brand.  Full integration of information,  Audio, Video, RSS, Image content, etc. gives users a better experience.

Empowerment – with a CMS website, you can have easy access to update or change your content – all of it.

For more in depth information on the benefits listed above see WordPress features and Google’s description of Analytics.

A recent example of our work that encompasses all these features is the re-design of The Gary Musick Companies website.  Aside from the cosmetic differences (shown below), the ‘under the hood’ SEO and presentation boosted their market presence and search engine ranking significantly.

Before:

And After:

Electric Avenue was asked to feature McCorison’s construction and remodeling projects in a cleaner, more user friendly manner.

I’m so glad I chose Curt Perkins from Electric Avenue Nashville to build my company website! The site he designed has just the look I was hoping for and it navigates really well. My customers love it and it’s been a great help in landing new work during this difficult economic time. –Dan McCorison – President, McCorison Homes, Inc…

McCorison Homes needed a significant update to their older existing website.  We created a custom a WordPress CMS which allows for easy navigation between projects.  We focused mainly on providing a great forum for the stunning visuals of McCorison’s creations.

We had the pleasure of designing the CD package for Melissa Mathes’ wonderful new album, Play Along.   For this project Melissa wanted to use a 6-panel digipack. We had some great photography by Jeff Wilson and John Deaderick (who also produced).   In the end, we decided upon a slightly retro approach to the cover, using a bit of sepia processing and a classic font family, Chalet.   Here is her link on Myspace.

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It’s been our pleasure to work with Mackenzie Fairhead on her Storefront ‘Cal and Bram.’

In her words:  “What started out approximately one year-ago as a simple appliqué robot t-shirt for my son to wear, has turned into a full-fledged business, Cal&Bram “Where Petal Meets Metal.” It has been an exciting beginning, filled with disasters and triumphs, but mostly a lot of learning on the fly. The world of children’s apparel has and continues to give me an amazing education in business, design, marketing, and most important, people.”
We designed a fully customized WordPress CMS with robust ecommerce solution. Cal and Bram’s robotic gear consists of hand-made felt/fabric appliqué robots mingling with flowers which are then hand-sewn onto deliciously soft 100% ring spun combed cotton, 40/S super soft, fine interlock baby gowns, onesies, t-shirts, dresses, hoodies, hats, bibs, and blankets.  Sizes infant to 6T.

Having officially launched in January 2010, Cal&Bram is blowing up! Already featured in some fantastic stores and buzzing blogs, I along with a couple of fabulous friends/seamstresses have been very busy humanoids! We are all truly passionate about Cal&Bram. I love how cool it is to see affordable handmade applique robots on children’s clothing, especially for my boys who, because of the gaping void of cool/unique boy clothing out there, inspired me to create some of my own.