Blogging and SEO work for yourself

I occasionally get a client who looks to me to do search engine optimization.

Although I am a fan of Optimization I fully don't understand it enough to confidently offer it as a solution for clients as of yet...

however, I think I am stumbling onto something that seems pretty interesting.

Of course I can do the keyword research add all the metatags, and set up the alt tags title pages and page names to help rank higher.

But there are two main things that need to happen to make a site rank well...

and thats links to your site from other sites...

and content...

these are two things that google just eats up...

So the three main services I think I can help customers with is...

1) Keyword research

2) Meta tags and html set up of these keywords

3) then the reporting, each week on tuesday I go through a series of analytic steps that I have been adapting for a few months now, and I report my finding for tracking purposes and see if the reports give suggestions, ie: web presenter to decrease bounce rate...

So i believe this is a valuable service I can offer clients.

Plus this is great because I can usually get more projects out of the same client because these suggestions are things I can actually design and develop for them...

Now it comes to the last two things that I can share my ideas about but can't actually see myself doing for anyone aside from myself and my own business...

4) Link Building

Now when it comes to link building I don't want to post here what that concept is as of yet, because I am kinda treating it as a "trade secret" telling only my closest friends and clients I have a dialogue with "hint hint nudge nudge"

fill out our get started form and we can then be in dialogue

5) Content

Writing content and tons of it so google recognizes it takes "passion"

Passion for graphic design is what I have, Passion for selling "widgets" I don't have, But;

The clients in need of SEO have passion about their "widgets" so it would be a no brainer for me to instruct them on how to create this content and ways we can combine their passion with my tools and techniques to improve their search engine positioning...

I am always a little weary when pitching SEO services to clients because it is such an unknown variable, but if they have patience and are willing to do a lot of work with me, I am confident we will create a wonderful strategy that will increase any companies positioning and business online...

you website should have flow

these are some things to consider for designing your website

http://www.bestpsdtohtml.com/flow-most-important-unit-of-a-designed-website/

Tips on why you should blog on your own URL

I thing there are some valid reasons here as to why you should blog on your own website. Particularly when it come to tracking...

However, I would like to try and "debate" some of the points a bit...

1) there are "stereo types" as to what platform your blog runs on, ie: this one is using "blogger"

whereas there may be a stereotype with the platform, there is also familiarity...

People regardless of their thoughts on the brand "blogger" its still a brand that someone is aware of, whereas when you host on your own site you have your own brand to solely rely on...

2) External URL, yes the url is different that nopun.com

but that is intentional. Traffic driven to my corporate site from this blog is a "side effect" not the actual goal to my blog writing.

I write blogs to increase the amount of content about graphic design and website design, to rank higher in search engines and try and come closer to the first page in an organic search engine placement.

In addition to relevant content and plenty of it search engine love "links" to your site

Hence the "external URL" for this blog and my insistence on posting comments on any and every blog I see that has relevant content to my cause...

But I do have to say I will most likely convert this blog to the nopun site for the branding a tracking purpose... (Once I have time)

Which is another reason why I have this blog in use, I didn't need to worry about "designing and branding this thing before using it"

Check out the 19 reasons why you should host your blog on your site;

http://www.leveltendesign.com/blog/neil/dont-get-owned-19-reasons-why-blogging-better-your-own-domain

Optimize your site as you build it!

I used to subscribe to the thought that you design your site then you optimize your site...

That one part of the project uses one side of your brain while the other uses the other side...

However, I am so pumped about SEO these days I decided to integrate the process while laying a design and I found it to be not so bad...

The point is when you lay a site out you need to add text to alt images and other SEO techniques anyway so why not use the desired keywords...

The trick is to know what keywords you will want to use before the design process...

This keyword research will take time so try and figure that stuff out as soon as possible...

Flash is OK for search engine optimization "SEO"

A smart design firm will know how you can make a site work well in search engine optimization along with adding flair using flash.

You can have best of both worlds

Don’t be Afraid to Spice up your Website with Flash

"Don’t let anyone talk you out of adding a Flash component to your website," says Crisafi.

Historically, he notes, sites heavy in Flash fared rather poorly when it came to search engine rankings. However, a good graphic design firm, with expertise in Flash video and animation, can actually utilize multimedia to increase search engine ranking and make your site more visually pleasing as well.

I'm not alone in this theory

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/3866-1248965033-leading-web-design-firm-offers-advice-on-proper-seo-techniques.html

http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=23603&catid=391

Free web analytics

This is a tremendous breakdown of some of the most popular web stat websites available.

chekc it out.

I am particularly interested in

reinvigorate

&

going up

http://webdesignledger.com/tools/best-free-website-analytics-tools

the face behind the post

I am so pumped these days about posting comments online, and "participating" in conversations on the web that mean the most to you...

But I have to admit that having the default "avatar" the image that appears next to your name after you post is very impersonal...

I'd like people to know the face behind Noel Wiggins, nopun.com and the comments that I post, to let people know this is a real person engaging in the conversation.

I found this tool to be useful in creating such a thing.

it follows you around so when you post something it places your uploaded photo to the post instead of the default boring one...

http://en.gravatar.com/

Advertising on facebook

Not only does advertising on facebook seem to be a great idea,

the research tools that it provides could prove to be indispensable to the start of any new project...

there is a lot of buzz about when designing something for a client you usually ask who are we designing this for (who is the target audience)

But the buzz is saying to take this one step further and try and find (one person to target)

Instead of designing and addressing your entire target audience as a whole, try and zero in on one persona (hence the facebook targeting research feature)

I am hoping to use this tool as a way to try and zero in ona particular persona that I can keep in mind when designing something.

Subscribing to the theory that if I can connect with that one persona then I should be able to connect to all...

Heres a great case study on how to use facebook advertising

see you on the other side...

http://www.newmediacampaigns.com/page/comment/613

go viral with marketing video

College teams go viral with marketing video

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32055584/ns/sports-college_football/?FORM=ZZNR2

why should you care?

Or shall I say why should I care ( I think I am the only non sports fan guy on the planet)

But the reason for why I should care is that it doesn't matter...

If its a sports team or a business the goals are the same. To increase a "buzz" about your company.

This is a great testimony on how they used marketing videos to go viral that maybe we can learn a little bit about...

What is Web 2.0?

Just when you start getting a handle on web 2.0 and what it means, here comes web 3.0

http://v-xplore.blogspot.com/2009/08/web-10-web-20-and-now-web-30-are-you.html

I love when a discussion comes up in a conference room about web2.0 technology. people seem to knod their heads as if they understand fearing that they might look bad by not knowing what this means... This is a great way to get some of the questions answered...

http://scottsoloff.com/web-2-0-for-internet-marketers-an-introduction/

what does web 2.0 look like?

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/web-design/web-2.0-design-style-guide.php

what is the purpose to your website?

I found this press release from a competitor and thought it had some valid point to share...

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/3775-1248798399-expert-web-design-firm-asks-what-is-the-purpose-of-your-website.html

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/4384-1250129619-web-development-firm-asks-what-is-the-purpose-of-a-website.html

In our approach to the design and development of a website, we ask our clients to give us a clear vision of what they want to achieve with their online presence," says Crisafi. "While sometimes their big ideas may be larger than their budget, we can usually come up with an affordable solution that will meet their every need."

1) as a way to build up recognition

2) a way for potential clients, customers, and partners to learn more about them

3) to sell your products or services directly over the Internet

4) streamline their business (streamlining their workflow through the internet)

5) provide customer service and support to your existing business

6) earn affiliate commissions through sales and leads generated from your website (create a content rich site that drives so much traffic to your site you can sell ad space or using google adsense)

write articles to increase your business

this is a straight forward no nonsense discussion on how you can increase your business through writing articles. Doing so will not only drive traffic from users but can also be SEO worthy, being that google loves "content"... In addition these articles will always be online, so once an article is published it will remain there for many years to come...

http://web-hosting-design-seo.onthe-web.co.uk/article-marketing-tips-7-ways-articles-can-boost-your-business/

break down the barriers for your conversion

I think this article is a great overview of why and how a company should have and benefit from having a website... I particularly like the breaking down the barriers for your conversion. I just realized in my own site that I am asking for stuff or buried the desired action behind a button. i will try and rethink this process...

http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/common-site-mistakes.html#comment-664401

Inpirada from dinner plates?

Man you never can tell where you can get inspired to create art...

This work by thomas paul portland is truly inspiring and makes me want to more into designing dinner plates

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/07/new-thomas-paul-portland.html/comment-page-1#comment-94739

10 free online image editors

http://blog.lunarpages.com/2009/07/27/10-fantastic-free-online-image-editors/

Motion graphics inspiration

http://spyrestudios.com/a-collection-of-resources-for-motion-graphics-addicts/

I would like to add an example to this list.

I just completed a motion graphics project for a client that I am extremely proud of.

Its the first piece that I knew what I wanted to do, knew how to do it, and the outcome looked like I wanted it to. In addition the project was done in 3 days! 3 very long days but was done in a really quick turnaround... Which is beneficial in so many ways, not only does it look fantastic but it didn't take weeks and months to do.

I have been struggling with wanting to break though my graphic design career with motion graphics. As far back as I can remember I have wanted to do this type of work. It is really creative and freeing, and has the "wow" effect.

That when someone see the piece for the first time they say "wow"

Out of all the type of designs I get involved with, motion graphics is the one type that I get the kind of reaction I look for which is...

You did that?...

I invite you to visit this piece to see it for yourself.

this was the first of what we hope to be many pieces we do for PR Newswire.

I have my fingers crossed that they engage us for more.

Or others see this work and love it so much they want to have us do more...

Out of the box websites

I have always been curious on how we (nopun.com) could make websites more affordable.

I believe the desire is there, I think because prospects see that there are so many companies online it must be a piece of cake to get their business online.

However, that's not the case, through a "proper" process, a website design can range from 5-10,000 and up! Depending on the complexity.

With that said I wish there was a solution I could offer those that simply can't afford that.

I recently was given the opportunity to do a WordPress project for a client so I will now have an opportunity to get my hands dirty with WordPress, I am hoping in the back of my mind, that I can maintaing the custom branding approach with a much simpler ease of getting a site online, in order to make the cost of web development go down.

The reality may lie in that custom statement, because anything is possible clients tend to want to see every possible option, making the custom design part the most time consuming part.

As a professional graphic designer you may think I would say no way to "templates" they are bad, you need a fully branded custom website, but that isn't the case microsites that are too low on priority for custom branding deserve to look good to and using these templates in a way that can extend the overall branding of the company could prove to be beneficial...

Site themes could never replace a custom job from a dedicated design and coding team. However, I could see many situations where they make more sense. Maybe a brick-and-mortar store wants to entice local customers, or an employee wants to run a company soccer league bulletin. You can get these kinds of sites online right away with the perfect theme.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/169076/Cheap_Website_Themes_Are_Ready_OutoftheBox.html

Adding music to your website or Presentation

No one can deny how great a presentation is when you add music...

More so than an actual website, My personal take on a website is that I listen to music in the office through my computer so if I stumble on a website that has music I usually close out of it due to noise pollution...

However, if I am reviewing a presentation I will turn the music off to absorb the presentation...

A presentation that is accompanied with music gives me a much better impression that just babbling or worse no sound at all...

I mean isn't a presentation suppose to "present" why you gonna make me read your bullet points to try and figure out what your selling. I don't want to work that much!


So the question becomes where do you get the music from.

there are a lot of copyright issues to be aware of. you can read more here...

http://blog.weboart.com/index.php/451/adding-music-to-your-web-site-without-breaking-copyright-laws/

But the greatest suggestion is to ask a musician you already know...

its a great way to give them exposure and it gives you more control over being able to tell them what your looking for and what you would like the music to sound like...

Fantastic SEO News for no pun

About a month or two ago I have been diving full force into developing an aggressive search engine "SEO" marketing campaign for nopun.com.

I have been patient and trying to be "smart" on what to do to try and show up on "anything" related to what we do and offer our clients...

Our pay per click (PPC) campaign has shown that the keyphrase that benefits us the most is the single word "design"

which is horrible news, for us because have a single word key-phrase instead of a term is an almost impossible task.

But hey I gotta at least try right!

SO I have been doing my work ,and running reports weekly to just try and see some type of "life".

I don't care at this point which phrase I appear on I would just like to see me appear.

And behold Today I have found it!

its not that great of a term and, I really don't think I am going to get to much business from it...

But I appear on page 9 in position 86 for the phrase "professional graphic design portfolio"

So now my goal will be to continue to "optimize" for that phrase to see if I can get that page to the first page.

If I can do that I will hope that I show up for another phrase by then so I can try and bring that to the first page.

I don't have much hope for showing up on the first page for most active word "design" (But I can always keep that in my PPC campaign and I noticed I can buy banner add space from the top organic choice for design at a reasonable rate)


---

Not to sure how this happened But I ain't complaining either...

I posted an article on how to create a web presenter here on this blog...

and wouldn't you know that I show up on page 1 position three for the key phrase
"create web presenter"

now that aint to bad...

1st on how to create a web presenter

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,170,000

page 3 position 3 for web presenter


that's pretty cool

I guess if anything writting blogs is the way to go?...

--

Now even greater news...

did you know that through your gmail account you can set up webmaster tools that can give you some cool information about your site...

like
who links to it

and what the top key phrases for your site and what position your on...

Zero in on what your instinct is telling you

I'd like to think that the work we do here at no pun goes far beyond simply building your website...

We try to increase your business through better design from online and offline and all points in between.

But We do see that good design is subjective. Relevant to only the viewer and their personal tastes.

So we try and gear our design work to feel appropriate with the target audience, combined with our clients instincts and our gut instinct to finalize a design.

Our approach is more like prototyping and a specialty design that can't be duplicated.

In an effort to save time on numerous versions and revisions we are constantly looking to try and streamline the creative process, to try and gather inspiration and look and feels to help ourselves, and the client to try and make better judgements on the designs we move forward with...

This site is a site dedicated to helping people build their own sites, and to give a step by step approach to how you could design your own site, it comes complete with a tremendous amount of design layouts to get some ideas of what kind of site you'd like to create.

Although they seem to have a feeling of "templates" which I would steer people away from it does show a variety of relevant design options and approaches to consider...

From navigation, background placements, call to actions and just overall look and feel...

See which "feels" like what your instinct is telling you then let us know we can help bridge the gap between your vision to your business reality...

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/design/css-techniques/160-mega-web-design-tutorial-roundup.html




http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/design/css-techniques/160-mega-web-design-tutorial-roundup.html

Increase sales through your website

No Body wants to be "sold" by a perfect stranger
online offline and all points in between...

The recent buzz online is that to increase your sales your should put a "personal" spin on your sales message.

The theory is that people want to know who their doing business with.

I gotta admit I like the sound of this.

Hince I recently put my personal touch to nopun.com to see if I can increase get started forms filled out or more calls and inquiries.

I want people to get to know who they will be working with through my website instead of just showcasing the work that I have done for others online...

Its too early to say if adding this personal touch has increased any activity but I am hoping.

And I think if it doesn't work there may be the idea that the actual approach I chose might have been wrong as apposed to dumping the idea of the personal touch altogether...

I came across an article that gives some examples on how you can get in touch with a personal message and I think they are some good ones...

1) Try and address a single person instead of an entire audience.
2) testimonials (Publish some bad ones along with good ones so the prospect knows it's real.
3) Use images (Tell your story through well illustrated images) I tend to showcase pictures of people enjoying the product or service. and if you can illustrate it with some type of cool diagram people would rather try and adsorb your message instead of reading it
4) Offer Bonuses (Give the viewer a reason to act, like they 'd be missing out on a great deal if they let this one pass) – I gotta admit I can't quit figure out what nopun's "bonus" would be..
This web developer offers a free SEO Review? maybe that would work? http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=11520&catid=409
5) Ask for the sale (At the conclusion to my personal touch piece I say if you have a project in mind let us know) Why just showcase what you can do and your product offering if you never ask them to buy now?

http://internet-marketing-canada.com/?p=890

You should be online even if you don't do business online

This is a vital point that I think all local businesses should be aware of...

Even if you don't do business online you need to have a professional site online...

You can also try and streamline your business through simple techniques that even make your business easier or capture business you otherwise would have missed...

Even if a person is aware of your business through your brick and mortar business you need to have a web presence, people want to find out all they can on their own and they love to use online to do this...

So no matter your business no matter your budget, no matter the size of your business you can benefit from being online...

Coming soon page

You got your domain but thats it...

Or your one of those that what to make millions by owning hundreds of URLS...

Well your not done yet.

Get a simple splash page together that could link to your corporate site, twiiter, linked in account or email newsletter sign up form...

Even if you don't have any plans for this URL do this at least with it its benefits you more than it just sitting there...

its easy and here are some samples to get you thinking...

http://tutsaz.com/2009/07/24/beautiful-launching-soon-pages/

The importance of online offline and all points in between

Nothing has ever frustrated me more than talking with a fellow designer, and hearing them say oh, no thats your world, I only do print.

Or I can't layout the brochure because I only do websites.

We are designers above all else.

Brochures websites, flash, video are all mediums that have their own unique design challenges.

Why even if the economic times where good would we limit our design solutions to just one medium?

Hence our motto.

Specializing in creatives for online offline and all points in between

http://www.newmediacampaigns.com/page/challenges-of-transitioning-from-traditional-to-interactive-agency

How to remove your photos from Facebook ads

Facebook can use your photos in ads. Specifically, facebook has the default set to use your friends photos in third party advertising -Yikes! To prevent facebook from using your photos follow the instructions below:
Log in to facebook

On the top right (in the blue bar) roll over “settings”
The fly out menu, click “privacy settings”
Click, “News Feed And Wall”
Click the “Facebook Ads” tab
There is a drop down menu next to “Appearance in Facebook Ads” -click “no one”

Please pass this information on

If you use facebook for busniess of course you wouldn't do this!!!

We would hope that facebook would extend your advertising through 3rd party channels...

Ecommerce with wordpress

http://www.webdesignbooth.com/ultimate-ecommerce-starter-kits-for-wordpress-users/

God Bless Adobe!

How did we ever get along with out them...

http://www.adobe.com/solutions/professionalvideo/

When someone follows you on twitter

I gotta admit I am still not 100% sold on twitter yet.

I am sorry to say that I almost feel like I have offended somebody by saying that...

I just don't see how a company can increase their business through twitter!

However, I recently followed somebody and they replied back to me in a way that made since to me on how a business can try and "connect" with a twitter follower and your business

Thanks for following me, for informative "business key phrase" articles, "other services" and more, visit -

URL to a blog or website

Smart...

Banner Ads ?

I get excited when I think of the idea of doing a banner a ds campaign that would compete with major brands.

But I usually get discouraged by the outrageous rates and the size of the budgets they require.

I have it in mind to get to in a future marketing tier, but only when my company can afford it.

So while we wait for the company to reach the next level. Its good to know where to go when that time comes. Here is a rising star company that is setting out to do banner ad campaigns in a more effective way than previously available.

The old saying is if you have to ask how much then you can't afford probably holds true in this case. But its good to know about these guys, and would be a good resource to try and tap into to try and get some ideas.

http://www.rocketfuelinc.com/index.html

--

For Small business

Google adwords allows you to have banner ads.

And Fetchback is one of the coolest concepts ever developed.

But how do you build an effective banner ad campaign?

Each size presents a different set of obstacles.

and you can't fit design for all...

In addition here are some helpful things to consider when starting a banner ad campaign

http://www.isnare.com/?aid=388399&ca=Marketing

Single Page Inspirada

http://www.instantshift.com/2009/07/24/70-inspirational-single-page-website-designs/

Wow factor inspirada

Video Ads and Website Animation Inspiration

this aint your grandma's yellow pages! Great inspiration

http://iblogndax.vdhdesigns.com/louisville-website-design-media-marketers/

15 New jQuery Plugins To Help You Conquer The Web

These are some things to consider to make your website function cooler...

jQuery is the magic behind alot of cool web effects or things that can make your web experience a pleasurable one...

http://www.unionroom.com/blog/15-new-jquery-plugins-to-help-you-conquer-the-web/

Web Design Tip Sheet - Choosing Best Website Development Company

http://www.caymanmama.com/2009/07/23/web-design-tip-sheet_200907234957.html

Does Website design really matter?

I do agree that "if you built they will come " theory does not apply to website design... However, if a masterpiece is never seen is it still a masterpiece? So having a website that gives the best impression for your business is crucial in establishing trust with your audience... Its important to focus on getting traffic to the site.

http://www.examiner.com/x-18114-Phoenix--Web-Design-Examiner~y2009m7d23-Does-website-design-really-matter

Branding Metrics

What I like about this selection is the diversity of the styles, so many times these types of showcases tend to present designers that share a similar look and feel, where as this one runs the gamut If this doesn't get you out of designers block I dunno what will

minimalist sites

http://www.revolvercreative.com/

Branding trends and research

http://www.hatchfest.org/blog/highlights-from-hatch-design-panels/

Collection of inspirada and tutorials

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/development/popular-promising-web-design-blogs/

Simple site design

http://www.noupe.com/design/simplicity-in-good-web-design-advantages-how-to.html

Typography sites

http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-inspiration/beautiful-examples-of-inset-typography-in-web-design/

http://weburbanist.com/2009/09/14/masters-of-form-plus-function-12-amazing-web-designers/

heres the greatest place to find the top websites for a specific industry

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category/Top/Business

Think about is illustrations would work for your design

http://designerscouch.org/show_article/120/70-impressive-websites-with-outstanding-illustrations.html

Examples of site's that break out of the typical 3 coulmn layout...

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/css-design-out-of-the-box/

This is the closest example of of a list of top brands' websites that can be used to help "define" a brand attribute

http://www.smashingapps.com/2008/11/06/27-eye-opening-and-inspiring-websites-of-top-brands.html

Top brand logos and who designed them

http://www.mainlinemenswear.co.uk/page.php?xPage=brands-directory.html

how about putting the face behind a website!

http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/2009/what-if-websites-were-people/

footer design inspiration

http://www.webdesigndev.com/inspiration/30-inventive-website-footer-designs

At the beginning of every web project I start I ask clients to tell be brand attribute words that describe what kind of business they like to thing they are...

http://www.dzinepress.com/category/inspiration/

http://thefwa.com/

http://spyrestudios.com/category/inspiration/

http://siteinspire.net/

http://sixrevisions.com/user-interface/20-fresh-new-design-galleries/

Otherwise known as mood boards
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/why-mood-boards-matter/

how to create one

http://www.from-the-couch.com/post.cfm/title/creating-an-effective-mood-board

There may be a bit of digging to find what your looking for but this site could prove to be the best place to start

"search design inspiration"

http://www.designbump.com/

search flickr for inspiration boards

vandelaydesign.com seems like a tremendous resource for this type of research...

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/outstanding-church-websites/#comment-35128

and

tremendous call to action buttons

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/add-to-cart/#comment-35400

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/latest_news/this-weeks-favourites-july-24th-2009

http://www.webdesignjunkies.com/2009/07/26/five-types-of-effective-headers-in-web-design/comment-page-1/#comment-70

some more inspirada

http://abduzeedo.com/sites-week-62

http://www.ttuts.com/

Destination Hospitality Inspirada

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/travel/

Custom 404 page ideas

http://www.problogdesign.com/inspiration/35-most-creative-404-pages-around/

http://www.bizreport.com/2009/09/dont_overlook_404_error_page_design.html

15 top graphic designers

http://weburbanist.com/2009/09/21/communication-dedication-15-amazing-graphic-designers

Horizontal scrolling websites

In this day and age of websites beginning to look like one another.

This design approach is a good place to start to try and think differently...

http://dzineblog.com/2009/07/web-design-ideas-27-horizontal-scrolling-websites.html

How to create a web presenter

Ok so this really kicked my but, boy are there a few things that needed to be worked out when trying to do my first web presenter.

I hope these notes can help not only me in the future but anyone else looking to do a web presenter...

First of all the reason why I had so much trouble is that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

And of course I had to try a few ways that made the whole thing very messy...

But here is the workflow that I believe can work.

1) Write the Script;

No Matter how smart you are, (and I am pretty smart) you will mess up the simplest topic if you don't have a script.
I only had three lines to deliver, and when I was left to my own devised and went on tangents that cluttered the message.

SO write what you want to say and try and stick to it, the real challenge here is to say the script without looking like your reading it, a challenge that gives me a whole new respect for the acting profession.

2) Layout the project in illustrator, as a story board, This will help you stay on track throughout the project. At this stage I tried to just make it look good, think about what would make this a good idea, and then go with it.

3) Film it, the camera you use isn't as important as the light.
Make sure you set an area that has great lighting...

also its helpful if your filming yourself to have a monitor that you can glance as that can help you adjust the composition.

Make sure you have a nice neutral background as well. busy patterns and motion can slow down the video streaming when it goes live...

4) Edit the film.

Leave your set up installed until after you start uploading the project. (you may choose to re film something)

I captured the movie using imovie, (because I didn't have final cut pro installed and didn't see quickly enough how to capture using Adobe Premiere)

Once captured I brought the footage into premiere for editing (slicing up pauses)

Export that into Adobe After Effects, where color correcting was done and the final shot was composited. With the help from assets created in the illustrator phase.

5) Get it live.

Ok so once I got the film looking the way I wanted it was time to export to the web, I knew flash was going to be involved, (I Tried the export as xfl format which was very big and the audio didn't work...

So I decided to use Sorenson Squeeze 5 which has the ability to export a compressed file that has a transparency channel set.

In After effects be sure to export as quicktime with rgd+ (the plus means alpha)

Drop that into squeeze and choose one of the flv setting, (which I wished was swf, the swf would have added more of an illusion of the presenter being inside the page) but would have not had any pause or mute controls, (which I would rather someone hitting mute or stop rather than closing my browser)

I like to choose F8_768K

then resize the file in dreamweaver to whatever size you need.

double click the VP6 Pro icon under the triangle

be sure the pulldown says On2 VP6 Pro (this is what makes the magic work)

Then check that Compress Alpha Data is selected

25% is ok to use...

Take the completed squeeze file and drop it into a div in dreamweaver,

dreamweaver has two places for the wmode

(default to opaque)

we need to change that to transparent...

Upload the files and you should be done.

Best way is for you to build a website presenter is not not even do it yourself.

Leave it to the pro's

hire Nopun!...

as of July 31st

there hasn't been a dramatic decrease in the bounce rate...

However it has decreased.

After further review of the video I want to change a few things I would like to basically redo this piece then have these top 3 things I want visitors to know to come out when I mention them...

Also I was thinking of actually changing this video intro on a regular basis...

A way to keep the site fresh, although this may be fun for me, my return visitors aren't as large as the amounts of "new" visitors I get, so updating the video piece on a regular basis will be kinda pointless...

An updated video for my client link could be a cool idea though. sorta a weekly address...

here's to hoping that web presenters will decrease the bounce rate on website traffic and increase in users sticking to the site long enough to want to contact me or fill out my get started form...

subtle...

A friend recently shared apiece with me that she did for her graphic design studio fatcatgraphics.com I think she did an outstanding job. showcases her work really well. and presents herself in a sympathetic way and a personality that you can truly relate with.

Check it out

Reduce Bounce rate with a web presenter

You may have seen them from time to time.

These are little people that walk out into your website and start yapping to you...

Although they may appear to be annoying, they actually have some great ideas and data behind them.

Some of the benefits are;
People like to connect with other people.
By putting yourself online, it could allow customers to be more sympathetic to you and your company.

But the thing that has convinced me the most is after looking at a ad than is out performing mine on google ad words...
http://www.sitecube.com/promo_bw.asp

When I placed this ad next to mine I "considered" that most of the things that I was promising on my splash page, was hitting the same mark.

the only real difference was this idea of the web presenter.

So I set out to create one no pun style.

inspired more by
http://www.speakvisual.com/#/spotlight

than
http://flashvideodemos.com/

I set out to try and do a concept that would be unique to nopun & could try and introduce myself to the clicks i get online and try and get people to stay and not bounce!

I wanted to play with this idea of the page curl (you know show the "face" behind this website!, ha ha ha no pun intended) and having part (to show mystery) of my face behind the site.

check out the latest version I say latest because now that I know how to do it I will be tweaking it a bit until I am totally satisfied.

http://www.nopun.com/

ok so I just checked in with my web stats

aug 4th

and this is heading in the wrong direction!

I got less visitors than last week which doesn't effect this experiment...

However My bound rate increase from 60.14% to 45% !

and the average time on the site went from 02:25 minutes to 00:48 seconds!

Which is telling me people see my professional web presenter and instead of muting or pausing me they are getting the hell out... by click the close button or the back button.

So this goes back to the de-lima of does a web presenter work and I am just doing it worng or do people not like to see a website talking to you?...

My personal opinion is that no I don't want people talking to me when I visit a site, but...

i am trying to listen to the buzz of the internet that say this will be more appealing to users, you will be able to tell them your 30 second pitch! and then they will be more sympathetic to your cause because they will see a real person behind the company...

I think I will let this sit a while longer to see how the data goes, or I might prepare another attempt at my presenter.

We have to find the "trick" to decrease the bounce rate.

If someone see yours PPC ad and they are interested then they are interested... why would they then not take another actin after seeing your landing page...

Stay tuned...

as of aug 11, 2009

I checked the bounce rate stats today and it went back up a bit...

But I am not fully convinced that by adding this will decrease the bounce rate.

What I have learned through this process is that one of the most popular links is the who we are.

So my latest idea is to change the web presenter to show up after a user clicks on who we are.

I fear that I am loosing a lot of people instead of keeping them by having the web presenter load as soon as the page loads.

I am convinced that by having this presenter there it helps give a personal connection and I still think this is a good idea. But I want to tweak it a bit to see if by not letting it load as soon as the page loads will let people stay a while longer.

Basically. the time spent on the site has reduced drastically which means that the presenter may be scaring people away instead of inviting them to stay a while...

As of aug 22nd 2009

Adding the web presenter to the site really hasn't shown that big of a difference in reducing the bounce rate. If anything the time spent on the site has reduced drastically, I am thinking people get freaked out or scared by the site talking to them or they can't find the stop or mute button fast enough so they just close the site out...

So I have decided to remove the presenter from the home page.

I recently completed a project I am extremely proud of and wanted to showcase this piece on my home page, so I moved the web presenter to the "Home page"

This page is different from what you would think is the "home" page because its not the page that loads when the site first loads, (that's the index page) the home page is the page loads once someone clicks on the logo to go back "Home"

I still believe that adding a personal touch to the site is a great thing, it give personality to the site, but just adding this didn't change much, so I really have to reconsider how it was done and try a few other approaches to see if we can increase the time spent on the site less bounce rate, and get the visitor interested in viewing more pages, and coming back in the future...

as of sept 1st

I have now switched my web presenter back to the front of the site, with the index page and have removed him from the home page.

I liked the concept of a web presenter when you the home page, and maybe will consider it for a future up date

however, I have added a click to start button, so instead of the web presenter starting as soon as the page loads scaring everybody (causing massive windows closing).

I have also discovered a cool new technique for presenting your welcome message.

I was looking to do my first video blog (Vlog) and I was having trouble remembering my lines, I have this genius piece of software to use as a TelePrompTer but my number one pet peeve is when I see someone reading...

Now matter where I set the laptop up I looked like I was reading.

A friend who happens to be a TelePrompTer operator for a local TV station gave me the lowdown on how the professional systems work, they have a glass at a 45 degree angle in-front of the camera, its like magic! the words are directly in-front of the center of the camera lens.

I was able to rig up a make shift set up until I can purchase the "real" sett-up.

Boy what a big help this was, I am so inspired to not only perfect my web presenter but to start my vlogging career...

Notes on using this set up.

Be sure to clean the glass before every use.

I just finished a long session where I delivered a few great takes before realizing that the audio wasn't taking and then after the second session I realized that there where streaks from the night before.

So I would recommend using a squeegee and get in the habit of cleaning the glass before every use. Oh and also make sure the audio works!

Business Inspiration

this is a tremendous business resource.

For inspiration for your busniess

http://www.imediaconnection.com

How to be a good client

http://www.id29.com/how/

Social Media?

Man!

There is so much buzz about social media my head is spinning...

Especially because no one seems to know or everyone "enjoys" not knowing what it is, how it can help your business grow, and how to do it...

Here's an interesting article talking about the rise of the social network popularity growing "because of the recession?"...

Article

Dunno if that's the reason it may be two separate issues. But it is clear that more and more companies are looking to integrate a social media concept wit-in their marketing strategy.

So ask yourself do I have one?

Then start asking what is social media,

Then you too can start "enjoying" not knowing what its all about...

Here's a quick FREE thing you can try to get a quick understanding on how social media works for your business...

1) visit http://addictomatic.com
2) type in your most desired key phrase you think or you know your customers would search to find what you do. (mine was "web design")
3) Behold!, you will see all the people that are talking about that subject right now on all the majore Social Newtorks ie;
a. twitter
b. friendfeed
c. blogs
d. Truveo "video"
e. technorati
f. wordpress
g. Bing News
h. You Tube
i. Twigly
j. Ask
k. Yahoo
l. google blogs
m. Digg
n. flickr
o. delicious
p. Blinkx
q. Wikio

wew, I am glad thats done was almost out of letter!

4) Now the business growing part if you see a post that you could help this person out with then post it!

Thats it ins a nut shell.

although the chances of them hiring you directly may not be that great, (it's possible) and the more you post and get your name out there the more your search engine ranking will like it and the more people will become aware of who you are...

This much I know is true.


Top 100 Social Media Cheat Sheet for Business

Analytic Tools

I am sure by now everyone has herd of Google Analytics

It is my tool of choice for measureing site traffic...

However, I just came across this Free tool as well and thought I'd post the link here for future reference

http://www.quantcast.com

Outstanding Website

I came across this site about a month ago and it has left a lasting impact on me.
Today I was trying to find it and couldn't for the life of me remeber what why where it was.

and Eureka I found it in a video about some geeky award show that adobe held in Austin...

Hope it inspires others as well

http://www.speakvisual.com/#/spotlight

Great Inspiration for Website Design

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/niche-web-design-galleries/#comment-34949

Website Marketing tips from CNN Money

I have to admit a lot of times when I come across suggestions and things you should consider when marketing your website, I tend to question why is this so crucial, who are you to be telling me this?...

well today we have CNN telling us.

And you know these guys stand behind what they report...

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/20/smallbusiness/optimise_web_site_for_local_traffic.smb/

15 sites web developers and designers should know

An alternative to browser shot.

this is a solution by adobe, that checks browsers on multiple browsers and operating systems

https://browserlab.adobe.com

see your site through multiple browsers sizes

http://viewlike.us

An alternative to type tester

http://www.csstypeset.com/

Heres a place where you can upload a custom font and it will display that way on your web browser as html text!

http://cufon.shoqolate.com/generate/

tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPQ4TlXatVU&feature=sdig&et=1256351652.77

The 15 sites is growing to way more than 15!

css resets

http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/

an awesome way to get feedback on a design is to use

this allows people to see your design comp for only 5 seconds then they get to list the 5 things they remember from the site, hopefully you they will see what you want them to see

http://fivesecondtest.com

Here is the latest round up of some really great tutorials and topics for web development

http://sixrevisions.com/series/favorites-from-the-feeds/favorites-from-the-feeds-07/#comment-48443

typography

http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/10/05/3-powerful-ways-to-make-typography-talk-on-your-website/

css workflow (the four bubbles model)

http://woorkup.com/2009/10/09/a-methodic-approach-to-css-coding-four-bubbles-model/

usability study on the effects of the page fold.

http://www.cxpartners.co.uk/thoughts/the_myth_of_the_page_fold_evidence_from_user_testing.htm

Showcase of clean simple easy web application user interface

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/07/minimizing-complexity-in-user-interfaces/

Crazy ass grid layout tutorial

http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/grid-design-basics-grids-for-web-page-l/

CSS comment boxes for a blog

http://chethstudios.blogspot.com/2009/01/css-message-boxes-blogger-blog.html

Crating charts (www.fusioncharts.com)

http://www.tutorial9.net/web-tutorials/selecting-the-right-chart-type-for-your-data/

javascript charts

http://g.raphaeljs.com/

milk charts

http://code.google.com/p/milkchart/

Collection of inspirada and tutorials

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/development/popular-promising-web-design-blogs/

How to protect forms from span and generate passwords and such php

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/simple-techniques-to-lock-down-your-website/

Here is a great collection of some free snippets and tools to help create clean css

http://www.noupe.com/design/systematizing-the-design-build-process.html/

learn how and why you should use css resets

http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/

Here is a list of some fantastic proposal/process ideas and some practical workflow ideas

http://www.uxbydesign.org/2009/09/12/best-of-the-web-weekly-roundup-sept-5-11/

Ok so I was feeling pretty cocky when I noted the first few and said up I know about that but then I scrolled down! What a tremendous insight to a mess load of tools that will make my day a little easier...

these are some fantastic ways you can "test" website using firefox plug ins...

http://www.problogdesign.com/resources/9-essential-firefox-add-ons-for-easy-web-development/

15 sites every web developer should know

http://www.webdesigndev.com/web-development/12-really-useful-css3-tips-and-techniques

bowser checking

see the site over all operating systems and browsers

http://browsershots.org/

w3.org validator

http://www.seo-browser.com/

here is a round up of 100 plus resources.

my favorite one is the html cheat

can't wait to try that one out

http://www.webdesigndev.com/roundups/100-fantastic-resources-for-web-designers/comment-page-1#comment-25590

design with icons!

if you can't find anything good from this list then you need to have that looked at by a doctor

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/resources/top-sites-to-get-free-icon-sets/

heres a few more

please excuse the duplicates

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/massive-compilation-of-designer-tools/

something to consider when wanting to use commercial fonts in your website design

http://carsonified.com/blog/design/fonts/getting-started-with-typekit/

free fonts

http://www.graphicmania.net/10-gorgeous-free-fonts-for-web-designers/

psd tutorials

http://psd.tutsplus.com

http://www.graphicmania.net/city-of-ice-photoshop-tutorial/

psd brushes

http://designrfix.com/freebies/ultimate-resource-list-photoshop-brushes

Free Textures

http://circleboxtextures.com/

http://www.imageafter.com/

http://www.geeksucks.com/freebies/77-exclusive-free-texture-pack-collection.htm

if you are at loss with what to do or where to start here is a blog with a list of 22 blogs that have a million and one tutorials on how to design using photoshop.

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/22-photoshop-web-design-interface-tutorial-sites/

http://www.tutorial9.net/web-tutorials/9-things-you-cant-forget-when-designing-a-blog/

http://speechyourm1nd.blogspot.com/2009/09/25-essential-firefox-add-ons-for-web.html

how to conduct a website usability focus group study

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/usability-testing-demystified/

Tips for building your companies first website

http://www.examiner.com/x-12078-Chicago-WorkatHome-Parents-Examiner~y2009m7d19-Tips-for-Getting-Your-First-Website

The Process of webdesign

I love how clients say oh we just need a quick website done, and being that your a professional web developer that shouldn't be a problem.

I have created a collection of questions that help get the ball rolling on any new project. But what I have found is that most clients come to me wanting me to figure all of this stuff out. As if I was a "business guru" instead of a website designer...

Proof is when I used to have this questionnaire as my contact form, and never got them submitted on website.

Needless to say a simple contact form worked neither, but simply putting my phone number in the top righ of my page, I am getting more and more inquiries.

So whether the client fills it out or I fill it out on our conversations these topics need to be considered when developing any new project...

Here's a useful article that clearly showcases all the things that need to be considered when starting a new web project.

Here is some more things to consider when starting your first website project

http://www.examiner.com/x-18450-Memphis-Website-Design-Examiner~y2009m8d2-Website-Design-Starter-Plan-for-Clients?#comments

Here are some behind the scenes to all that goes into setting up a website for the web...

http://line25.com/tutorials/25-detailed-tutorials-for-coding-up-your-web-designs