The Stationers Guild

I’ve got a beef (or “tofu” for vegetarians out there!):  I hate to be lied to by wedding portals and “local” search engines that favor their advertisers to the detriment of their search audience.  Specifically, when I type “wedding invitations” and a “zip code” into a search bar, I expect to find a brick-and-mortar stationer who sells wedding invitations in the general vicinity of my zip code.  Unfortunately, your search result is likely to return a slew of silly-named national printers that “service” your local market.

Companies such as local.com, the Knot or the many varieties of online Yellow Pages should know the difference between a “local business” and a ”national business” serving local markets.   I have spoken with many representatives of these firms and most will tell you that they recognize the shortcomings of the search function.  Nevertheless, to paraphrase a recent conversation with a local search company representative, ”we can’t do anything to alienate our advertisers since they are paying for that particular zip code or geographic area.”  With the possible exception of Google (and they too have their faults), your online “wedding” search results are largely determined by advertising dollars and not relevancy, let alone competence.  Is there something wrong with this picture or am I just naive?

It is largely in response to this online playing field of false expectations that the StationersGuild was established.   On this website you can locate qualified stationers in your neighborhood and research fine paper lines without too much editorial commentary.  Buying fine stationery and invitations or  buying flowers for your wedding is personal.  It requires a connection at that most basic sensory level. 

We can only hope that wedding portals and “local” search engines will begin to rethink their strategy of putting the all powerful advertising dollar in front of honest search results.  Personally, I believe that a balanced approach to local search marketing would be helpful for the public, the search engines and wedding portals that sponsor true local businesses. 

Richard W. May
Founding Member Stationers Guild

Well over a year ago, I received a late night phone call from my teacher, consultant and friend, Bud Kraus.  Bud is the enthusiastic author of Joy of Code, an online course on html and css coding, and avid proponent of designing to standards.  Bud and I had been working on putting together an RFP for a website to help independent stationers be “found” in an online search.  Barely able to contain his enthusiasm, he said “you just have to see this website:  Ante Meridiem Design.”  I did, and I was hooked.

Some months later I engaged Inguna Trepsa of Ante Meridiem Design to help redesign the Therese Saint Clair website and then the StationersGuild.org website, which was a somewhat less ambitious site than Bud and I had orginally envisioned.  While I am not a web designer, it is clear that Inguna’s stunning designs, straight-forward navigation, quick-to-load text and logical coding are clearly raising the bar for great website design.  I have never actually met Inguna or her equally charming husband, Gvido, but we have often connected many times by phone and  email.  Inguna has the singular ability to take vague ideas, moods, ill-defined concepts and turn them into great works of beauty supported by a logical and simple infrastructure.

Our Guild members owe Inguna a big hug and an immense debt of gratitude for helping us design a state-of-the-art website that supports brick-and-mortar stationers and the craftsmen whose fine papers we represent.  Many thanks Inguna.

Richard May
Founding Member, Stationers Guild