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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Happy Monday from HMG!

We were greeted this morning with some exciting news from the American Business Awards and we couldn’t wait to share! Last Friday in San Francisco, the ABA awarded many prestigious companies with Stevie Awards in a variety of categories. HMG Creative had the pleasure of competing and are thrilled to announce we won a Gold Stevie Award in the nonprofit category for our work with Texas Young Lawyers Association! The TYLA “What Do Lawyers Do?” Project was an especially fun one for us as we always enjoy the opportunity to work with local nonprofit organizations.

A big thank you to the American Business Awards, and congratulations to all of our fellow winning businesses – we’re in great company!

You can take a look at our winning site at http://wdld.tyla.org, and learn a little more about how we tackled the project here:

[button size=”large” type=”square” color=”standard” icon=”circle-arrow-right” url=”http://hmgcreative.com/project/tyla/”]View Project Details[/button]

Cheers!

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]

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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Austin holds a special place in our hearts. Not only is it our stomping grounds, it’s a city full of culture, music, outdoor activities, delicious food, a booming economy, awesome people and great weather. People are flocking here from everywhere, and we’re not the first ones to notice. Austin has been number one on Forbe’s “America’s Fastest-Growing Cities” list for the past four years. With such a wide array of activities to do and places to see best paper writing service , it’s no wonder people want to live here so badly. In fact, we love Austin so much that we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite things to do, see and eat in this incredible city.

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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

It seems just like yesterday I was frantically calling the office on my way in for my first day at HMG.  I think I passed the office building about three times before I actually realized that was where I needed to be.  Ha, what a newbie!  After a friendly greeting, these eager beavers put me straight to work, which has been the best part of my internship—there was always plenty of work to be done.  No matter how big or small, there was always something I could be doing and no, it actually didn’t require me to make a coffee run!  There are many more aspects I loved about being an HMG Creative Intern that I’d like to share with you in one of my final blog posts.

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After eight great months, my time has come to an end as the HMG Creative Social Media and Marketing Intern. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work on and contribute to a variety of different projects for HMG and before I say my final goodbye, I’d like to share with you what I’ve accomplished during my time here:

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As the month of March rolls around, Austinites (and now, people from across the globe) are preparing themselves for the one festival that brings together over 50,000 locals, techies, musicians, hipsters, film makers, producers, celebrities and many more. Yes, South By Southwest or “South By” for those of you in tune with the local lingo has quickly become the go-to festival in North America. Boasting musical acts from over a thousand artists, countless indie movie premieres and hundreds of technology start-ups, SXSW feeds the souls of those in attendance.

In addition to the many fun-filled events, there’s a lot of business that goes down during the nine days that make up SXSW. And as a creative agency that specializes in working with startups, we take this time seriously, both as a networking opportunity and as a chance to help these young entrepreneurs realize their dreams.

Over the years, SXSW has been the launch pad for many major players in the tech and web-based industries. So much so that the third largest social network, Twitter, launched at SXSW back in 2007. The launch of the micro-blogging platform was so successful that Twitter’s servers became overloaded with users during the event. But not every story is as big as Twitter’s, there are hundreds of smaller companies making a name for themselves each year during the festival- and we’re excited to be part of that growth.

As a progressive digital agency with over nine years in the biz, we know how much hard work goes into building a reputable brand and a dominant online presence from the ground up.We can help get you to the next level through proven marketing techniques, creative web design/development and a plan of action that works.

Are you planning on visiting Austin for South By Southwest. If so, make sure you give us a call, Follow us on Twitter, or come say hi when you see us front row at The Flaming Lips and Green Day concerts!