Chicago is lucky enough to host a only a few great tech events in Chicago each year and Social Dev Camp, is one of them. The two organizers, Tim Courtney (@timcourtney) and Andy Angelos (@andyangelos) ran a wonderful event last year and we are very much looking forward to this years conference. SocialDevCamp Chicago is a summer camp for the social web. Immerse yourself in two full days of sessions with leaders of the Internet. Topics include learning opportunities surrounding building applications, working with APIs, mobile, new media strategy, and much more! They have a rockstar lineup of speakers this year for Social Dev Camp. Keynote presenters for the August 13-15 event include Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, Google Open Web Advocate Chris Messina, and Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh. In addition to technical and business track sessions, attendees can compete in the developer Hackathon—with more than $3,000 in prizes—and share practical knowledge at Unconference gatherings. Last year they had some – Read the full article
In the book The Tipping Point the author, Malcolm Gladwell, describes it as the little changes that can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, changing the world. I have been lucky enough to be involved with dozens of startups in the Chicago community through consulting, working for and starting a few of my own. It seems like the ground swell of entrepreneurship is finally reaching that “tipping point”. Chicago has been getting some much deserved press with the recent Fast Company article featuring Chicago as a great place for startups or the fact that Crain’s launched a section for small business. We are fortunate to have dozens of organizations in Chicago who have been supporting entrepreneurship for years. But, I am talking about the grass root efforts that are taking place under the radar, that is slowly changing the landscape. I – Read the full article
Traditional radio, TV and print advertising simply don’t deliver the bang it once did. More and more, people are getting their news, entertainment and business needs from the Internet. Are your marketing dollars helping you find the people who really need your products and services? It’s not by magic or accident that a website ranks #1 on search engines. There are many factors that influence your websites organic search engine rankings. Our team of internet marketing specialists give your website the time and attention required each month to win in the website rankings. We work with dozens of small to medium size businesses to help them increase sales by using search engine optimization, social media, online advertising and e-mail marketing. Contact us today to learn how we can help you take your business to the next level. Give us a call today at (312) 229-0038 or complete the request form below. Lakeshore Branding Internet Marketing Services Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Read the full article
Web design is more than just creativity, it’s usability. Understanding your visitors and how they use your website will lead to increased conversions. For each new website, our team of graphic designers, SEO consultants and marketing specialists work together on strategy, design, usability, and goals. Contact us today to learn how we can help you take your business to the next level. Give us a call today at (312) 229-0038 or complete the request form below. Lakeshore Branding Web Design Studio Services Web Design Graphic Design E-Commerce Web Design For Web Design, we service all of the Chicago suburbs including: Chicago North and Northwestern Suburbs Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004, Aurora, Illinois 60507, Elgin, Illinois 60120, Evanston, Illinois 60201, Palatine, Illinois 60038, Schaumburg, Illinois 60159, Hoffman Estates, IL, Rolling Meadows, IL, Streamwood, IL, Elk Grove, IL, Hanover Park, IL, Skokie, Illinois 60076, Waukegan, Illinois 60079 and Rosemont, Illinois 60018 Chicago South Suburbs Homewood, Illinois 60430, Flossmoor, IL, Olympia Fields, IL, Glenwood, – Read the full article
I wrote a post about social media monitoring last week and in the news today is a Chicago company that is suing one of their tenants for $50,000. This lawsuit is already making waves at popular social media news site- mashable. Within the first two hours of the story being posted their are about 900 people tweeting and 115 comments on the blog. The tenant Amanda Bonnen made a comment on her twitter about mold in her apartment. “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.” The reason this story is already grabbing the attention of the social media community is the fact that Horizon’s Jeffrey Michael is quoted in the Sun-Times as saying “The statements are obviously false, and it’s our intention to prove that”, adding that Horizon has a good reputation to protect. Bonnen wasn’t contacted before the suit was filed or asked to remove the Tweet, he said: “We’re – Read the full article
Web design is more than just creativity, it usability. At Lakeshore Branding, we believe understanding your visitors and how they use your website will lead to increased conversions. For each new website or website redesign, our team of graphic designers, SEO consultants and marketing specialists work together on strategy, design, usability, and goals. Custom SEO Packages Let Lakeshore Branding introduce you to our talented web designers who can help you build a website that not only conveys your message, but has a strong emphasis on usability and conversions of your traffic. E-Commerce SEO Solutions For clients that require an out of the box custom solution, we specialize in building e-commerce websites on the Magento framework. Magento is an open source program that has been regarded as the future of e-commerce with a list of features that few can match. This shopping cart is fully customizable with full SEO integration. Chicago Central Dearborn Park/ Printer’s Row: 60605 Gold Coast/ Streeterville: 60610, – Read the full article
If you abide by the belief that rules exist for a reason, then maybe you don’t need any explanation of why the AP (Associated Press) Style Guide matters. But for the writer who has ever rolled his eyes while reaching for their guidebook to look up the AP rule, or received an editor’s red pen note to “check AP,” then AP Style can feel more like a rulebook than a guide. First, if you intend to work as a journalist, then this book matters simply because your career matters. End of argument! However, a more detailed explanation shows that this book really exists for the sake of consistency in writing for the public. When everyone – or at least every writer – uses the same grammar, punctuation, abbreviations, numbers, etc., it ensures that messages are communicated in a consistent style. This consistency delivers conciseness, correctness and clarity. In a World Wide Web environment where more people than ever are becoming – Read the full article
While the traditional breadcrumbs are nothing but annoying, the term “breadcrumbs” in technology has a different reputation. For those who are unfamiliar, breadcrumbs are little words and phrases that some websites place at the top of a webpage to help the user follow where they are in the website. They work as little navigation tools to help someone stay organized when working through a website with many different webpages. Consider the example below: In general, only major companies use breadcrumbs because they seem so sophisticated. After all, a small business website can’t be that hard to navigate, right? Wrong. If you have more than one webpage, utilizing breadcrumbs has many benefits. Top 5 Reasons Your Webpage Should Be Using Breadcrumbs 1. Easier Usage – Visitors will likely have a much better experience on your website if they can get around easily. Sometimes users can get frustrated jumping from page to page because they get lost, but breadcrumbs help solve this – Read the full article
