Together with the Florida Bar Foundation, Rise was honored to accept an Image award from the FPRA (Florida Public Relations Association) for the Florida Bar Foundation website. The image awards recognized outstanding achievement in public relations initiatives.

Giving to two of the Foundation’s primary campaigns, much of which comes via the Web site, increased during a year when many charities saw declines. The End-of-Year appeal saw a 50 percent increase over the previous year, from $9,100 in 2008 to $13,642 in 2009. The Lawyers’ Challenge for Children saw a 9 percent increase, from $147,223 in 2008-09 to $160,425 in 2009-10. For the new e-newsletter, which is integrated with the Web site, bounces have declined from a high of 42 percent to 13.6 percent, opens have increased from 17.5 to 46.5 percent, and click-throughs have gone from 1 percent to 18 percent. Calls asking for assistance using our Web site have nearly ceased. When inquiries or comments do reveal areas for correction or improvement, they are immediately and easily addressed by the communications staff using Adobe Contribute or by Rise Creative Group, which provides quality and prompt assistance. Overall site traffic has increased by 50 percent from an average of 385 visitors a week during the first month after launch to 579 visitors per week in the most recent month.

Dear clients, fans and followers,

Rise is grateful to have joined forces with you over the years. Our gratitude speaks through our enthusiasm and preparedness to continue working with you in 2010, and help you in exceeding your business goals. In our efforts to boost your business to new levels, we have a few simple questions to ask to help us uncover each of your specific needs and wants in the new year:

• What are hoping to finish that you’ve already started?
• What are you trying to change?
• What are you trying to improve on and by how much?
• What do you want people to say about you?
• Which people?

Our expert team is well aware of the opportunities set before us if we continue to partner together. The boundaries are limitless for us all, and we’re sure to keep perfecting practices and discover unending growth. So thanks again for joining Rise on our journey towards world web domination. We look forward to continued success with you, and can’t wait to kick off the new year. Simply reply to this post at your earliest convenience with your responses. We can’t wait to hear your feedback.

The Rise Team works as hard as we play, and we give back even more. When Rise heard about an opportunity to donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, we jumped at the chance to help. St. Jude’s has been the pioneer in the search to save the lives of children worldwide, suffering from pediatric cancer and other catastrophic diseases. With their research and patient care facilities all in one location, miraculous discoveries are within reach faster than ever before.

St. Jude’s partnered with Chili’s to raise awareness and funding for the helper of little patients everywhere by offering super stylish t-shirts for sale at all Chili’s locations. Each member of the Rise Team is now armed with the appropriately adorned garments, shouting “Hope” to all those in need. We wish St. Jude’s Godspeed ahead in their fight against the killers of our youth. We share one common goal, to raise awareness in our communities and build a brighter future for those less fortunate. And we look pretty spiffy too, don’t ya think?

Literally! There were some pretty heavy winds on Friday night, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time at Kres and Ember. Take a peek at our pics… It’s evident that our devotion to see things through (and have a good time in the process) withstands even the toughest weather conditions. The Rise Team is always committed to getting the job done right.

We’re also committed to building bonds and cultivating relationships that are mutually beneficial to all parties involved. The Rise Team knows how important it is to respect boundaries and allow your project to breathe. That’s why we’re always looking forward to your input and expertise.

So, thank you again for all of your hard work and helping hands. Without you our schedules would be empty, and we wouldn’t have the excitement of new challenges and expectations to exceed everyday. It’s only with your help that we can continue to do what we love, and make the best darn websites possible.

Happy holidays!

I just wanted to share part of the fun Rise had in 2009. Here’s our 2009 Agency Book.

Thanks, Six Revisions, for including the Rise site in a post on 25 Great Examples of Using Gradient Effects in Web Designs.

Blogging is becoming an instrumental part of website strategy and design. It seems that more companies are installing blogs on their websites to help generate excitement about their products, educate current and potential customers and promote two-way communication. A blog is not only a great way to sell or promote your product –  you can also sell yourself as an expert in your company’s field. Below are 10 reasons why you should start blogging if you aren’t doing it already.

1. Establish yourself as an authority in your company’s industry.
You know your business inside and out, so why not blog about your knowledge to others who are wanting your services or products?

2. Educate people.
People are always wanting to learn more about something that they  are interested in purchasing, so why not become a teacher?

3. No better way to market or promote yourself.
This is probably one of the cheapest avenues to help market or promote yourself to potentially millions of people.

4. Connect with others in your field of expertise.
Easy way to form a network and get opinions and feedback from others in your field.

5. Express your thoughts and opinions.
You have created an online network — who better to express your thoughts and opinions to than those who want to listen?

6. Make a difference.
Through your blog posts you can make a difference in someone’s buying process or opinion.

7. Stay relevant.
Things are constantly changing in your business and you must keep your customers up to date.

8. Expand your viral marketing.
Now you have information that you would like your customers, or colleagues, to push by tweeting, Facebooking or forwarding onto friends.

9. Feedback and track.
Now you have a great tool that allows your network to provide feedback, letting you track your success and make adjustments where necessary.

10. Make money.
By promoting your products, knowledge and business you should begin to see new revenue.

Get started today! Become an expert! Promote your business!

As part of Rise Referral Partnership we are dedicated in promoting other Orlando based companies in hope of referring leads to help generate business.

Today, we wanted to tell you about Ryan Totka and Adam Plotkin of Athlete Promotions. Their Orlando based company has access to thousands of sports celebrities for corporate athlete appearances, motivational speaking engagements, autograph signings, celebrity golf tournaments, VIP meet and greets, satellite media tours and more. Corporations can hire sports speakers to deliver a keynote speech, motivate employees, and entertain clients. Professional athlete speakers can related to the same issues that many large corporations go through, including leadership, teamwork, overcoming obstacles and perseverance.

As celebrity booking agents, Ryan Totka and Adam Plotkin have years of experience in finding the best celebrity talent that fits the needs of their clients. They not only have experience with corporate celebrity appearances, but their expertise extends across all areas of the industry, from securing athlete endorsement deals as well as creating successful branding and marketing campaigns for professional athletes.

Please join Rise and help promote Athlete Promotions by passing their information along to others who may need their services.

We always would like to hear from our readers. If you have a company that you’d like to share with us please leave a comment below.

March 9-13

I thought this was a great post and wanted to share it with “you”, our readers. During March 9-13 small businesses are looking to band together for a small business referral stimulus package. With talk of recession and the economic stimulus package, John Jantsch, author or Duct Tape Marketing, decided it was time for small businesses to take matters into our own hands and has decleared March 9-13, 2009 “Make a Referral Week” in hopes of generating over 1000 referral leads to deserving small businesses.

Rise has decided to join the efforts to help stimulate the small business economy. Read more about “Make A Referral Week”.

We hope you will join in the efforts to keep small businesses thriving in this down economy by referring leads to other small businesses in and around our community.

We would love to get more thoughts on how to generate referrals — please leave us a comment!

As predicted, video integration will be huge for 2009, as it is expected to grow by 45% this year. Online video will have one of the strongest ad growth numbers in comparison to other ad formats, such as; search, social networks, etc. 

As on line businesses are constantly innovating their tactics to communicate with their customers, video has made it easier than ever by adding a fresh alternative to basic text on a static website. Rise is constantly adding technology and new marketing practices to their services that we offer to you. This year we started integrating video for 2009 to our website and also added it as a service to our clients. Please check out Rise video, launched on January 5th in a blog post, titled “It’s 2009. Rise above.” Take about 7 minutes and watch the Rise team members share stories of their favorite projects in 2008 and predict what’s next for the web in 2009. 

Keep in mind as video popularity increases so does the ways you can incorporate video into your marketing campaign. 

• Video Ads
• Testimonials
• Live Demos
• Promotions
• Video Intro
• Direct Response
• Email Marketing 
• Lead Capture
• PPC Ads
• Blog

Wanting to add video integration to your website to increase your companies value or send it out as a press release, testimonials or create demonstrations, Rise can help. Please contact us.