I always chuckle on the inside when I listen to an individual or business owner who is frustrated because their blog or business website isn’t showing up on the first couple of pages in search. Perhaps this video by the visualization gurus over at JESS3 Labs will help provide a bit of clarity. If you don’t want to watch their video here’s the quick answer:
There is an staggering amount of competition.

Therefore you better have a strong digital media strategy in place if you have any aspirations of climbing to the top. If you don’t, here is where you can get a great one: Sandweiss Koster

JESS3 designed and animated this for the JESS3 lecture at AIGA Baltimore in Feb 2010.

This simple but effective website was a really cool project to add to my portfolio, and the An family were great to work with. One of the things that made this fun, was as part of the package I was able to help them establish a presence in the social media space with a SUMO branded page on Twitter and Facebook while setting up their accounts to connect with loyal users of Yelp and Foursquare. Check out the links below to see the final results. While the site has only been launched for a few days it has been really interesting to see how much online traffic the social media outlets are driving to the new site. This should equate to new diners for SUMO if worked properly.

The other thing that made this project enjoyable was the strong foundation of key elements. A very iconic and interesting logo coupled with fantastic food photography made it a cinch to incorporate their restaurant decor into their online personality.

Already known in SoCal for their everyday half price sushi menu and huge selection of beautifully artistic sushi rolls, the decision to go online for this local restaurateur was solidified by the addition of sushi catering for private and corporate events to their menu.

If your in Los Angeles be sure to stop by and tell Mr. An I sent you. You’ll be in for a culinary treat! I’d like to give a special shout out to Haekyung An for giving me the opportunity to work on this project. Without her it would not have been possible. Cheers- AW

Click an image to visit that location directly.

All online strategy, graphic styling, photo editing, copy writing, and the postioning statement for SUMO Japanese Restaurant’s online assets was executed by Adam Walker Marketing + Design Solutions.

In fact, some of the greatest corporations in America today were conceived and constructed during recessionary periods in the U.S. economy; organizations with names like General Electric, Microsoft, Burger King, FedEx, and Wikipedia. The new AdamWalker.Biz is no exception.

Accept

I humbly admit for 5 years I owned and operated a full service marketing and advertising agency that employed a stellar team of talented individuals that never had an online web presence and rarely promoted our accomplishments. It wasn’t that we didn’t know how, or didn’t want to, or didn’t try, but it was never a priority. The clients always came first. Times were good. Our work was great, projects kept coming, and the business grew. That was until the market crashed. Like many others, myself and the staff paid the high price. For that I am truly sorry, but understanding that you can’t change the past, only the future, is where the acceptance takes roots.

Adapt

Naturally when past choices have presented you with limited options there is really only one decision to be made, a real decision that defines your true character… Do you give up, or do you adapt?  For me the decision was simple. I love the creative business, the spirit of great collaboration, helping others find success while contributing to your own, clients and colleagues, watching an idea grow beyond your greatest expectations.

Facing the worst career economy in decades where ad budgets were being slashed faster than Zorro could draw his sword, I chose to face the demons of my past, re-invent, and adapt. Not only professionally, but personally. That’s what new AdamWalker.Biz is all about.  It’s the product of learning from the past, formulating that new plan, consciously adapting to a changing environment by the day, by the hour, by the minute,  moving forward clearer, wiser, and bolder than ever before.

Evolve

Having scaled the agency back to a one man, lean, bare knuckled marketing machine, this site was built not only to promote my latest creative assignments, but to serve as a platform for sharing. The sharing in a constant quest for knowledge and personal growth. The sharing and celebrating of great ideas, insights, and creativity. At its core AdamWalker.Biz is the very example of the evolutionary process. AdamWalker.Biz will evolve in time. I will continue evolve for the better because of it; as an artist, as a marketer, a communicator, and a human being. Evolution here will be inescapable because AdamWalker.Biz has been built on four simple principles:

1. Be Honest
2. Be Helpful
3. Be Interesting
4. Be Inspiring

Hopefully, you find an insight, idea or response at AdamWalker.biz that will allow you or a friend to evolve as well. Maybe you will challenge me to embrace a fresh perspective, which I hope is the case. But the bottom line is this: Lets evolve together because only the fittest survive.

Special thanks to Ashley Mulligan for some code work magic that help me get this site launched. http://ashleymulligan.info/

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