We are so excited to announce the release of our first eBook. This has been in the works for almost three months now and everything culminated today. We have been asked SO MANY different blog questions over the last few years that we felt the need to write a blog post series. Yet, this was only a temporary solution. We wanted an all-inclusive document put together that when someone had any kind of question for the new blogger or a veteran needing a refresher.
Two months ago, we announced some redesign changes that would be coming along to seventy8Productions. We intended for everything to be completed in January and more than twice the desired time later, we are now finished. Some of the work took longer than anticipated due to a lack of resources or simple mistakes on our part, but in the end, we are happy with the results!
Below are the changes we made to our blog, including one that we decided to remove from the list.
Over the course of the last two weeks of this year, we here at seventy8 Productions hope to have a couple of new design changes, just in time for the new year. The design has shown to have some flaws in it that we need to take care of as soon as possible. This holiday break provides the perfect opportunity to do just that.
Here is a list of what we hope to change in that short amount of time.
If you know anything about WordPress and have any easy solutions for any of these problems, we would love the assistance. Otherwise, let us know what you think of the changes as they go live!
We did a guest post over at Churchm.ag you should check out. Here is a link to the full post and below is a snippet:
Google has been doing a lot of little changes to their already existing products with several others on the way. Google Reader is the top RSS reader (Really Simple Syndication) that collects the latest updated posts from blogs, photo galleries, and other types of websites. Traditional RSS readers make web browsing more effective. Instead of visiting your thirty favorite news websites and blogs, this web application collects the content of those websites and puts them in one place for your viewing pleasure. But Google Reader is not a traditional RSS reader.
Why I Love It
The redesign is a complete overhaul for the RSS feeder yet has the same look as the Google+ feel. Google is wanting to create one brand between all of their various projects. Look at Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google+ and notice that after six months of use, we will distinguish Google as lots of whitespace, smooth colors, and clean designs. Building a brand involves similarity between all the parts of a product, something that Google is finally fixing.Another big change to the design is the replacement of the ‘Like’ link of an article with the now famous Google +1 button. Both the mobile and desktop browser versions have integrated it into the design. This means that Google Reader can be better utilized in the rapidly developing social network. (Something Facebook does not have!) Google Reader did have the ability to share via Google Buzz (which is now gone), we hopefully this will be a bit more successful. Is this yet another reason that Google+ will win the social network race in the long run?
Facebook is the official social media networking site and companies are investing millions of dollars in marketing through this site. Above is Starbucks investment in just one of its products among a series of Facebook Pages for their company. But for the small companies and even those that blog for a hobby or want to share stuff and not put a cent into it, there is an option for you too. We will look at using Static FBML and a little web design ingenuity.
Installing Static FBML
To use the Static FBML, we will need to first install the App onto our Facebook Page.
Configuring Your Page
Now that we have inserted the app, we could start messing around with HTML and creating our Facebook Welcome Page. Before we get to that, lets change the icon in the left sidebar navigation and make this the initial page you see when you come to this Facebook Page.
Writing the Content
Now that we have configured the Welcome page, we can begin coding its contents. Facebook does not host any files nor will it run anything but HTML and CSS, so all images need to be stored elsewhere and all content on this page will be static. Here are a couple of suggestions for putting up content on this site.
There are several great examples out that have utilized the Welcome page well, including Pringles, Starbucks, and Red Bull.
We did a guest post over at Churchm.ag you should check out. Here is a link to the full post and below is a snippet:
One of the top WordPress plugins available right now is the Digg Digg plugin. With its customizable social media integration into your website and the flexible positioning, it is becoming one of the most used plugins. But the best aspect that makes it worth getting immediately is the option to allow it to float on the right or left side of your website. This allows the social media buttons to always be present to your viewers and has the potential to significantly improve traffic to your site.
Yet, even with its great compatibility and marketing design, the look of the widget is only average. Fortunately, they encourage users to stylize the widget so that it is seamless with your web design. We will show you one great way to incorporate a CSS3 design technique to better integrate the Digg Digg plugin into your website.
To access the plugin’s editable CSS code, login to your website, click on the ‘Digg Digg’ button in the administration menu and select ‘Floating Display’. Assuming that this display is enabled, you have configured where this menu would be displayed, and the position of it in relationship to your content on the page, we can move down to ’5.1 Initial Position’. In the textbox, add the following code within #dd_ajax_float { }.
We did a guest post over at Churchm.ag you should check out. Here is a link to the full post and below is a snippet:
WordPress is a powerful platform to use, making it the most utilized blogging platform. One of the aspects that make it such a popular and customizable program is the custom page template. Page templates are custom files that will be put in your theme directory. When finished, you will be able to create a new page for your WordPress site and set the layout to your customized template. This can turn any ordinary page on your website from a simple page of content into a dynamic webpage.
We will take a look at how to setup a page template file and add it to the page you created. But what the page template actually does is up to you. Maybe you will display a photo album from last month’s Church potluck or create a page that displays all of the free files you have ever uploaded onto your website.
The new WordPress default theme, TwentyEleven, actually has two page templates in its install: Sidebar Template and Showcase Template.
We did a guest post over at Churchm.ag you should check out. Here is a link to the full post and below is a snippet:
With the sorrowful announcement of the death of Steve Jobs, many are beginning to mourn his loss. A man that believed in a company, pushed for innovation, and desired nothing less than excellence, the technology world will never be the same. In this time of sadness, several websites have dedicated their website as a tribute to the life of Steve, including his company Apple and their rival Google. Here are some screenshots.
Since the Internet explosion, the drive of website owners has been to increase traffic to their website. For some, more traffic means more money because of advertisement or marketing of certain products. For others, it means that your website is popular and thus validates your hard work. No matter the situation, traffic has been the most-sought after goal. The more traffic your website has, the easier it will be to make money, spread your ideas, or connect with other people.
There are countless ways to increase viewership, including RSS feeds, market on social media, or hold contests with prizes to draw in new viewers. All of those ideas require constant work, but so many people could increase their viewership 300% just by improving their web design. While a great web design will increase your traffic significantly, the opposite is true as well, a poor website will decrease your traffic. This is not a project for you to find the cheapest solution or skimp on costs. Find a web designer that has proven themselves and negotiate a fair cost. If this project is worth pursuing, it is worth pursuing correctly.
While a great web design will increase your traffic significantly, the opposite is true as well, a poor website will decrease your traffic.
Look at our website statistics pictured above. A week and half ago, we changed the website structure because our vision for the site had gone a new direction. In that time, our daily viewership has increased more than 300%. Nothing else has changed, we market the same amount, our posts are the same length, and the content has not varied (excluding the baby announcement, but that was not factored into the statistics).
So what can you do to improve your web design and thus increase your web traffic? Here is a list of a few things:
There is no “magical” strategy to get you millions of views a day short of lots of money in investments or the perfect marketing platform (again, more money). But if you address the basics of your web design, you can optimize your traffic flow and hopefully earn a few extra bucks.
You might not have noticed, but we have updated our website design to better suit our needs and the needs of our viewers. The vision and purpose of the website over the past nine months has changed. While it is very unusual for someone to completely change a website design after nine months, minor changes like this are typical. Check out the three reasons for changing the website design.
Removed the Clutter
Simplicity gives a natural flow to the website for the reader. Complexity takes away from the content, simply presenting the full content provides for more readers to view more of the website. In fact, the first week with the simpler design, we saw readership up 300%. Using space wisely allows the viewer to breath a little easier and focus on the content.
Focus On The Blog
The initial design of the website was to serve several purposes, show off our work, share the blog articles, and provide a place for people to contact us for free services. As the months passed, we saw a need to promote the blog while allowing the portfolio to be present but not center stage. With this new design, the first thing you see are full articles supplemented with a sidebar to view similar categories or other articles.
Improve The Readability
We have changed to a font that is easier to read, increased the font size, and provided more space between lines of text and paragraphs. This allows for the text to be read easier, thus the reader to read more. Do not underestimate the importance of readable text. At the same time, the contrast between plain content, links, and the headings of articles has been increased for easier navigation.
