agIdeas 2011 International Design Week : Go to agIdeas website
“Each year agIdeas brings 40 internationally acclaimed creative people to Melbourne, those who have pushed the boundaries and excelled in their area of creativity. They present in program such as design conferences, business seminars, workshops, panel discussions and are present at social engagements. ”

Venue:  Various depending on event. Refer to website here
Dates: 1 – 5 May 2011

The Internet Show :  Go to The Internet Show website
Those interested in learning more about the value of Social Media, how to improve online sales /conversions and keys to digital advertising may be interested in attending this show. There are over 60 free on-floor seminars across four theatres.

Venue:  Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne
Dates: 4 – 5 May 2011

Coming up…

State of Design : Go to  State of Design website
As part of Victoria’s Design Festival, there are a number of events for both public and trade.

Venue:  Various
Dates: 20 – 31 July 2001

“I’ll just Google it…”

If there is ever anything I need to do, learn, source, outsource, research, upload, email, communicate, spell check, test, find or whatever, there is one source I can always rely on. Google. And from Google – I have collected a number of online tools I often use or recommend to clients. Here is a list that I will continue to update over time.

Site Statistics – Google Analytics
Find out who is visiting your website, where they came from, what they clicked on, and if they’ve visited before. This is an extremely powerful tool, which can seem quite complicated at first look. I have the development team well trained – we add Analytics to all websites we build.
www.google.com/analytics

Large File Sharing, Online Back Ups – Drop Box
The days of burning a CD and posting it to your printer are gone. Simply create an account (Free!), upload your mega sized files and send an invitation to your intended file recipient. They can then login and download your files. This service has saved me so many headaches!
www.dropbox.com

Communication – Skype & Screen Sharing
Skype has been around for a while, but not everyone realises it’s capabilities. Hold a video conference, call a mobile, send text messages and more. Their oversized buttons, clean website design and tutorials make it super super easy too.
www.skype.com

Meanwhile Screenr allows you to record a screencast and forward it to anyone, anywhere in the world.
www.screenr.com

Email Marketing – Mail Chimp
From a design and usability perspective, I just love Mailchimp. They just make it so EASY. If you don’t mind their logo at the bottom of your email campaign, and your database is less than 500, you can use their service for free.
mailchimp.com

Website Testing – Validator & Orangoo
Website visitors dislike nothing more than a website that appears broken. Search engines dislike it even more. Here’s a quick and easy tool to check that your code is ‘clean’ and doesn’t contain any broken links. As for checking for spelling mistakes, there are a number of spell checkers out there.  Orangoo is just one of them.
validator.w3.org
orangoo.com/spellcheck

Gmail – To protect my REAL email
From time to time, a site will ask for your email address (eg: the website spell checker above). For obvious reasons, I don’t like submitting my email address to just anywhere, so I use Gmail’s free service. I just create an email account like “deanna_blogs@gmail.com”, and use it for times like these. I also have an alias email for all the design blogs I subscribe to. That way, I can read newsletters when I have the time, and reduce information overload.
gmail.com

Online Thesaurus & Dictionary
thesaurus.com
dictionary.reference.com
Tip! For an instant definition, go into Google and type : define:(word)

Lorem Ipsum Generator
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog!
lipsum.com

Type Tester
Unfortunately, the websafe font list is still fairly limited. However you can test various fonts, and see how they will interpret on screen here.
www.typetester.org

Google
Drawing back to my intro, no matter what sort of technical problem you’re having, you can bet someone has asked the same question in a forum out there in internet-land. You can also guarantee some other kind soul has posted hints, screen shots and maybe even a video. So next time you’re stuck, just ask Google!

Tip! To ensure a quality search result, here is how I would phrase my searches:

- How do I change the settings in my email to stop getting a copy on the server, and therefore filling up my mailbox?
Interprets to a Google Search: Apple Mail preference copy on server

- How do I do that photoshop shortcut thing where you I can resize heaps of photos at once? Aghh, I always forget!
Interprets to a Google Search: photoshop tutorial group resize

Online learning – Lynda.com
If you have just installed a new piece of software, or want to improve your photoshop skills – check out this amazing resource. Lynda.com has countless online tutorials that take you on a step by step journey through software programs like Outlook, Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat and more. There are only a few that are free, but their easy opt in and out subscription gives you full access for less than $30.
www.lynda.com

I will keep adding to this list – but by all means, let me know if you’ve found one I haven’t mentioned!

Sure, we’re a small business and we don’t have a lot of spare time. In fact, most of our time is spent hovering in front of an iMac until our eyes go blurry. And then we go home and dream up more ideas and concepts. But complaining about time or making weak excuses will see us left behind. The internet isn’t a new concept, but it’s forever getting more and more powerful, and more and more exciting. And we want to play.

So…. what are we going to blog about?

During 2010 internet figures show there are more than 225 million websites online, and over 152 million blogs. Intimidating? Not if you’re providing quality content.

So the goal of this blog is to provide potential clients with an insight into what we do, and how we do it. And for all our loyal and existing clients, we’ll post internet secrets and info that we know is relevant to their product or service. After all, sharing is caring!

Feel free to post a topic you’d like some help with. Otherwise – here are some topics we plan on covering.

Thought processes and the approach to developing a logo
What is a creative brief and why do I need one?
I’ve seen websites advertised for $50. Why is it so cheap, and why would I pay MORE!!?
Internet jargon – made plain and simple
How do I get to the top of Google?
Online tools – they’re amazing, and they’re FREE
CMS – An added expense to your website build, but will you really use it?
We need a website. What now?

No doubt we’ll think of many more topics to cover. And in the mean time, feel free to give us a call. We love sharing ideas!