Design

What the hell does API mean?

Posted in Design, General on January 15th, 2011 by webmaster – Be the first to comment

Courtesy of thecookshack.blogspot.com but likely stolen from elsewhere before that...

Thankfully, I’m well aware of what the acronym in the title stands for. Surprisingly, it takes me a good 4-5 seconds each time I’m forced to recall what it means/stands for. I’m sure a lot of people out there are faced with the same difficulties in processing the infinite amount of abbreviations, so I’ve scoured (ok, ok…I’ve accessed 2 or 3 other sites namely Techterms and Acronyms Online) the web and made a list for your reading pleasure of ones we come across frequently enough.

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Focus and the Art of Collaboration

Posted in Design, General on December 15th, 2010 by webmaster – 1 Comment

Image credit to 1stwebdesigner.com

There is no such thing as a perfect client. And, as much as you might like to think so, a perfect designer/consultant/idea/friend/parent doesn’t exist either. If after reading that statement you’re saying “whaddya’ mean? I’m damn near as perfect as it gets..”, you and your business/job are already probably already in trouble.

Thankfully I’m offering up some advice. It won’t be perfect, but with a sprinkle of links and references to folks who have played and succeeded in our space, along with some of my personal anecdotes, maybe you’ll see the error in some of your ways and brainstorm some ways you may go about fixing them.

I’ve talked about how the clear conveyance of instructions by and to a client and/or design firm (or any other business for that matter) is critical to a project’s success in the past. My views on the subject certainly haven’t changed much in the year or so that’s gone by, but neither has many of our new clients’ approaches to job specifications and direction when it comes to a design job.

Over on the Duct Tape Marketing Blog, John Jantsch offers up some excellent points in a post titled: How to Collaborate with a Designer. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to collaborating with a designer/developer – unless you’re relaying fluff (make this “pop”, or “jazz” this up, etc…). Concrete examples work best – visual if possible.

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A Shout out to the Slow Cooker

Posted in Branding, Design, General on November 24th, 2009 by Moe – 1 Comment

Lessons in time management and good web design

Do you use one of these bad boys? A slow cooker I mean. What a fantastic invention!

In the past week I have had two of the most delicious, moist and mouth-watering meals prepared in one of these things and I’m not going back.

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You don’t do any kind of Testing on your PPC landing pages? WHAT??

Posted in Design, General, SEM on October 22nd, 2009 by Moe – Be the first to comment

Say you are running PPC campaigns and the numbers are not good (because you are keeping track right??). You then decide to create another landing page design and replace the old one without knowing exactly why it wasn’t performing as expected. A/B TESTING PEOPLE!!! Wake up!

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Here are five ways to know that your company logo needs redesigning.

Posted in Branding, Design on October 17th, 2009 by Moe – Be the first to comment

Many people think when starting a new business that any old logo will do. They think that by just typing the name and having a fancy font with a nice color and a piece of clip art beside it is sufficient. There are so many other aspects of a business to think of that its understandable and even forgivable for overlooking the importance of your company’s brand identity.

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My business doesn’t need a web site.

Posted in Design, General on October 8th, 2009 by Moe – Be the first to comment

I here this all the time from people who run their own business. “I have my clients”, “I’m not looking for any more clients”, “I’m in the phone book”,? and so on. People still think that having a website is solely for trying to acquire more business or sell stuff. Owning a website should be one of the first things any new or existing business should have. Not convinced, well here are 20 reasons:

  1. Establish A Presence
  2. Networking
  3. Making your businesses information available to the public
  4. To better serve your customers
  5. To heighten the public’s interest
  6. A place your clients can go for updates about your business. (closures, cancellations, holiday hours, etc…)
  7. Sell stuff
  8. To make videos, photos and press releases available
  9. To better help you reach your demographic market
  10. To be able to answer your customers and potential customers questions
  11. To stay in contact with sales people, distributors, manufacturers, etc…
  12. Possibility to open international markets
  13. To create service 24/7
  14. To Make Changing Information Available Quickly
  15. To be able to get feedback from your clients and visitors
  16. Ability to test the market with new services and products
  17. Reach the media
  18. To Reach The Education and Youth Market
  19. Reach the specialized market
  20. And of course to serve your local market

So before you put aside the idea of having a website for your business (no matter what size) you should think about all the benefits besides just selling stuff or trying to to get more business. Having an online presence is as important as any other aspect of your business. Not having a website is like not having business cards or not caring about what your clients think about your business.

For more information on what kind of options you have and what is possible to help move your business forward visit Heelatch’s services page.


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