Archive for the ‘web design’ Category

Last week I went on a sunset photoshoot for my client Skapars Design Group to document 2 of their most recent jobs located in Cambridge Massachusetts and Roslindale Massachusetts. Here are the shots processed using a mixture of Photoshop CS5 and Picasa 3. I also used a panoramic stitching program for several of the shots to show the wide angle effect. On the actual webiste you can also check out a couple of “before” the landscaping photos as well as technical blueprints for each site to get a sense of how my client transformed each garden from orinary to extraordinary. Please ckick on the thumnails below to see some of the shots from last weeks shoot.

I have just created a design for my new business cards. I have selected 10 of my best photographs to feature on the back. Although I am listing myself as a Web Designer, Photographer and Fine Artist – I feel the visuals the photos display make the cards stand out better. I have included a QR code on the card. I had considered putting this on the back of the card to give people the option of manually going to my site or flipping it over and scanning the code with their smart phone. I just felt the need to add it as the appearance of the QR code gives the card a more cutting edge feel. Below is a sample of how they will look.

I have recently helped my wife create a website as an outlet for her creative works. My wife designed the site and I helped her set up the technical side and did a few bits of customized coding for it.

She is creating art almost daily now. In the future I will be helping her to establish a social media presence to help support the main site to drive traffic and interactions/comments and commissions etc. Please take some time to view her work at sarahsimagination.com

1. Utilize already established networks.

Promote your Facebook page via other social media sites. Take advantage of followers you have already gained on other networks by periodically putting out blasts about your Facebook page. Be careful to mix the frequency of self promotion up a little though so you are not just constantly going on and on about your own business.

2. 25 fans = custom domain!

You can get your own facebook domain name once you reach or surpass the landmark of 25 fans. This will make it so much easier for you to send a shorter link to the location of your fan page without sending a link that includes a ton of forgattable numbers and punctuation. Click here to see a video of how to do  this once you reach the 25 fan landmark.

3. Signatures.

Add links to your Facebook page everywhere you can from your email accounts signatures and forum signatures as well as in instant messenger statuses.

4. FBML – Facebook Markup Language.

Create some custom designs. Use FBML tabs as a way to separate your content from the generic looking pages that some other businesses may have. You can include forms to capture potential leads and even include captivating video content and images to further draw in potential fans. For people unfamiliar with creating their own FBML, you might want to take a look at this product which is essentially a CMS for Facebook tabs.

5. Good content and interaction.

Start getting conversations going by writing good content. When people respond or post content of their own, interact with them and try to stimulate more people to join in. Afterall thats what social networking is all about. If the page seems dead people might drift away and you will see this from your page statistics and insights.

6. Post often, but don’t saturate your wall.

Good fresh content will gain the attention of fans and perhaps spread to create new fans. It is important to strike a balance between writing too little and writing too much. You do not want to lose fans by bombarding them with constant updates that will become an irritation to them constantly seeing your message appearing in their activity stream.

7. Use your current friends list.

You can suggest your current friends “like” your fan page by sending out a mass message to your followers. This will be particularly effective if you have a solid friends base established for your personal profile. You can also seperate your friends into lists so that you may send the page out to specific groups if you dont want to send the link to everyone. This will be particularly effective if you have a well established and lenghty list of friends.

8. Integrate Facebook with your website.

Take advantage of the various Facebook social plug-ins available from their open graph protocol. The face-pile widget is particularly useful in recruiting new members as all they have to do is click “like” from the page they see it on to become a fan of your Facebook page instantly.

9. Send a bulk email to existing email contacts.

If your like me you have probably had the same email account for eons. Address the email to yourself as the main recipient, and be careful to BCC all other people who you think will find the page of interest. This way it protects the identity of your email contacts from one another – something that most people will appreciate.

10. Buy Ads on Facebook.

Get your page seen by buying some ads that appear on the sidebar of facebook. You can target these ads to appear on the pages for like minded people and within certain demographics who are either interested in the type of business you run, or they may run similar businesses and would like to network with you.

Feel free to check out my own facebook fan page here

As Christmas approaches I was thinking of ways to boost my social media followers and fans. I decided to dust off my flash skills and create a custom flash snow-globe to appeal to people’s sense of holiday spirit. The flash gadget on its own doesn’t do anything really apart from provide mild entertainment if only for a few minutes. I have however added a facebook facepile and twitter stream widgets in an attempt to gain more of a following using this flash toy as the hook.

I plan on periodically posting the link to the widget on my various social media platforms and in other places such as email signatures and forum signatures. I will monitor my campaign over the next month and see if its an effective way of getting people interested in joining my social media network. Click the image below to check the snow-globe out and if your not already a fan, please feel free to use the widgets on the page to become one and spread the word if you like it.

The flash movie itself uses a blend of XML and flash animation/actionscript to achieve the overall effect.