It’s always our pleasure to work with local non-profit organizations here in Central Texas and learn about their causes. When creating a website for these entities, we often rely on the functionality of WordPress for the back-end framework of our projects. In addition to the features mentioned in our previous blog Why We Use WordPress (And You Should, Too), there are a few components of the vastly popular platform that lend itself specifically to our use for these organizations that largely depend on their digital presence to promote and provide key functions in their mission of helping others.

Here’s 6 reasons WordPress rocks for non-profits:

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Hi! I’m Callie Musick, the new Social Media and Marketing Coordinator at HMG Creative. It’s Day 1, and I can’t wait to jump in to my new position here. A little about me – I’m currently a senior (enjoying my summer break) at the University of Texas at Austin and will be graduating this December with a B.S. in Advertising with an English minor. Born in North Pole, and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, texas I migrated south after high school and have been enjoying everything the beautiful city of Austin has to offer for the past 6 years. On weekends you can find me soaking up the sun and wakeboarding on Lake Travis, stand-up paddle boarding on Lake Austin, or jamming front row at a live concert downtown.

Recently, I completed an internship with local street art collective, SprATX, as their Social Media and Marketing Manager in which I immersed myself in the brand and the family of artists to build their startup’s online presence. Additionally, with my past training as a marketing manager in the retail industry, I’m excited to bring my real-world experience and variety of interests to the team here at HMG.

At this internship, I’m excited to gain experience working from the agency side of things, and build upon my creative marketing, networking, and writing skills.

I know I have big shoes to fill here, and I’m looking forward to carrying on what Emily has created!

Feel free to shoot me a tweet at @calliemusick or email me at callie[at]hmgcreative.com

Being a team of creatives, it’s probably not surprising that we seek to find inspiration in any medium we can. The Internet and social media make that all too easy, especially with platforms like Instagram that bundle amazing content from all over the world into one place. Here’s the rundown on 10 of our favorite Instagram accounts to follow:

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Back in April we met Dr. Lisa Gorn, the developer of Glucology and part owner of garcinia cambogia, an all-natural blood sugar dietary supplement. She came to HMG Creative adjustable dumbbells with the need for a complete online web presence with e-commerce capabilities that could handle the various purchase options Glucology offers. Dr. Gorn also needed a platform to communicate with her audience and keep them up-to-date with product news and related information. Reliability, responsiveness, and ease-of-use were additional critical factors we took into consideration when planning her new website design.
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We’ve talked before on here about how much we love WordPress, and it’s definitely no secret. One of the reasons we’ve mentioned is that it’s an open-source platform, meaning that at any given time there are numerous developers fixing it and making improvements to it across the world. With so much constant attention and many new features being added, updates are released periodically making these enhancements available to the entire WordPress community.

Take advantage of these! We know it can seem overwhelming to alter the site that you’ve built, installed plug-ins and themes for, and is running smoothly, but there’s a danger to skipping these updates and benefits you’ll miss out on if you don’t.

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This article was originally posted on Austinot.com

Austin is known for being one of the best cities for singles, making it a city full of first dates and hopefully many others afterward. Beyond the singles dating scene, anyone in a relationship has probably experienced how easy it is to get caught in a routine of go-to date night spots.

Whether you’re craving something new with your current SO (significant other) or looking for an impressive first date idea, here are a few local suggestions that break the typical dinner-and-drinks mold.

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First things first: What’s a landing page? A landing page is a page a visitor is directed to after clicking on an ad. It shouldn’t be your company’s home page. Instead, it should exist as a separate webpage with one clear message and purpose, leading visitors seamlessly from the initial ad to a clear call to action, and ideally – to conversions.

Whether creating a new landing page from scratch or trying to rework an existing one for better results, here are a few tactics you can use that have been proven to ramp up landing page conversions:

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It’s that time of year again friends, the Austin Young Chamber’s FAVE Awards are back! Each fall the FAVE awards recognize local Austin businesses in a variety of categories and this year the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 14^th.  As you can imagine, we’re so excited to have been nominated again and would love the honor of a back-to-back win – but we need YOUR help!

The ballot is now open for voting and it only takes a few seconds to complete. We’re nominated under the FAVE Professional Services Company, but feel free to cast your vote in as many or few categories as you like – we’ve been nominated alongside some awesome local organizations.

If you do vote, let us know! Give us a shout-out that you voted using the hashtag #HMG4FAVE on our Twitter or Facebook page and we’ll draw a winner to receive a fun Austin prize package. We sincerely appreciate your vote!

[button size=”large” type=”square” color=”standard” icon=”circle-arrow-right” url=”http://www.aycawards.org/vote/”]Cast Your Vote Now![/button]

There have been whispers and even yells in recent years that with the onslaught of digital marketing tactics that print “is dead” as a marketing medium. However, any smart marketer would tell you that the old school medium is in fact alive and thriving. You just need to know how to leverage its power. Let’s discuss a few features of print marketing that make it more powerful now than ever:

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You probably heard us buzzing about votes a few weeks ago and we’re pleased to announce the hard work paid off! This past weekend we had the honor of winning an Austin Young Chamber’s FAVE Award for you can try looking at lowhosting FAVE Professional Services Company for the 2^nd year in a row! We are unbelievably thankful for everyone’s support and votes – we truly couldn’t have done it without you.

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