So the holiday’s hit and we basically disappeared on our blog. Man! Has it been a busy end of the year, but we are definitely looking forward to the New Year.
Check out our new galleries for logos and websites. We have updated it and added all of the latest designs.
We will be adding a gallery of some of our printed materials too. So check back soon to see some really cool designs!
Also, we are offering a free consultation to new and old clients for their SEO needs. If you know of anyone or need it yourself, give us a call!! We are doing amazing things with all the new stuff we have learned about keywords and search engines and bears… oh my!!
So here is our latest addition to our logo portfolio! Take a look and let us know what you think…
Site to follow! Stay tuned!
So being a business owner can be very fun and exciting. You get to be your own boss… come and go as you please… say what you will and won’t do without the fear of getting fired! But with being your own boss comes… actually being your own boss. You have to treat yourself like an employee and check your hours, check your work, and be ready to reprimand yourself when you haven’t done your job.
I don’t like having to do that to myself, so I try anything and everything to make sure I stay moving in the right direction. One of my tips is to actually schedule out each and every day as it comes. Write a to-do list and see what you have to do for that particular day. Once you know, try to figure out how much time each task will take and what is a priority. After figuring all that out, write out your schedule accordingly.
I know it helps me stay on the right track for the most part! Try it and send me any suggestions or better ideas for keeping yourself in line as your own boss.
So I have just spent the last 12 hours at work trying to figure out a php problem with one of my client’s sites. It is so frustrating, especially when I am supposed to be meeting with said client within 8 hours of the problem surfacing.
I like to use open-source software for my client’s sites so they can edit their sites without the extra expense. I normally use Joomla or Drupal. I love, love Drupal and all of its capabilities but it can burn you if you aren’t careful. And that is exactly what it did yesterday.
So there I was trying solution after solution that I can find on any forum that even looks like it might help. Literally cussing and stomping around, with a growl on my face. Swearing that I will never use this software again and questioning why I do any of this to begin with!
Only to find a solution this morning 20 minutes before my meeting with my client, and feeling such relief. I am so proud and do a little dance and tell myself how AWESOME I am. Then this battle won becomes my drive to do more, work more, see what else I can do to make the site better.
So I ask, is this simply a job for me to provide for myself? Or an addiction to conquer problem after problem and to get that high from succeeding? Probably a little of both!
Can’t believe but tonight at 11:09 PM it will officially be Fall! Don’t get me wrong, I love the Fall, but where on earth did Summer go?
But with every season change, I like to look at my business image, like I do my personal wardrobe, and see what is working and what isn’t. Time to figure out what to get rid of and what to keep.
So here I am going through my website, updating prices and adding new packages. What do you see that needs to change with your site?
When deciding on the best way to present an idea to a client, partner, or potential investor, remember that staying visual is always best. More than 80% of comprehension happens by a visual stimulus, according to the US Department of Labor. And the chances of someone retaining information is 6.5 times more likely to happen when a visual aid is used with a verbal presentation.
Think about that… 80% of comprehension happens by a visual stimulus. So if you have a business presentation and aren’t sure what to do to ensure that your audience is grasping the idea that you are delivering, throw in a poster, brochure, PowerPoint slideshow, graphs, whatever visual aid that relates back to the topic of discussion.
Whatever you decide to use, make sure it is colorful and eye catching. Yes they say that just having something visual is a great advantage, but don’t you want to better you chances with making it attractive. If one person presented an idea with a black and white graph for their project and another person presented a project with a multi-colored graph, which do you think the viewers are going to remember more?
So remember, get your audiences’ attention with some visual aids, but keep their attention with some color and flair.
This was taken from my blog on Examiner.com - April 9, 2010
We have just designed the logo for the only gastroenterologist at the beach. Check it out!
Gastroenterology, Ltd.
So we are a few weeks into the new year, and I am contemplating the resolutions I made for myself and my business. I think it is important to continually look back and reflect on the decisions we make. Are we keeping up with them? Are they as important as they were at the beginning of the year? If not, why not? What is now important to you and your business now? Revise your resolutions constantly throughout the year… you can make a resolution any time of the year!
For those of you out there, that don’t know what a CMS is, it is a Content Management System. It is software that takes care of all the content on certain websites. Not all sites have them, but more and more people are getting them. There are several different ones out there, but I am going to talk on a couple of the open-source ones, Joomla and Drupal. As I get more and more clients looking to manage their own content of their site, I ask, what CMS should I use?
Joomla has such a huge following and it is hard not to be attracted to the ’shininess’ of it. Joomla is easy to use for the non-technical and provides lots of extensions.
Drupal on the other hand also has a pretty large group of supporters, but is not as user-friendly. You really need to be able to move some code around if you are going to use it. Don’t let that scare you though, it is something that can be learned. The question is, do you want to learn it? And for most of my clients the answer to that question is no.
So for my second question I ask, who will be using the CMS to manage the site… me or a client? As long as my client isn’t going to want to use 100 different modules and plugins in Joomla, we should be good to go with Joomla for them. Many different modules and plugins in Joomla can break your whole site when combined, if not recorded and used properly. Doesn’t mean you are totally safe in Drupal, but it is less likely to happen there.
If the clients wants some spectacular social networking site or a CMS that works with the security of their shopping cart better, then we would want to go with Drupal. Drupal has better support for those types of sites.
But these are just a few of the features of these extremely powerful content management systems. You really should do your research and ask yourself the right questions. Who will be using it? For what? How often? Will they want to add anything in the future?
If you know the answers to those questions, then you probably know which CMS to use!
As I get more and more focused on keeping up with blogs and other social media forums, I find myself asking, ‘what should I write about?’ And after racking my brain over and over again, I thought who better to ask than my peers and the people that will be reading it.
So here is my question: What type of information would you most want to hear about?
1. Help with DIY design projects - resources and tips on how to get the job done
2. The latest trends in the design world
3. JR Design’s trials and tribulations
4. Other - any suggestions are helpful, so if you can think of something I may have missed let me know!
Thanks!
Joy Rogers
