Skills You Should Have to Become a Good Web Designer

On December 12th, 2011, wrote:

Web design is a fast-growing industry given today’s technology and Internet frenzy. To be a good Web designer / developer, one needs to possess a certain set of skills; while there is no written handbook that specifies exactly all the rules of Web design, a creative disposition and a strong sense of innovation are a must, as is a certain knowledge of computer programming languages. Traits of a Good Web Designer Creativity and innovation are essential for a Web designer / developer. No book can teach any individual about all the perfect color combinations for all types of design. These are certain things that come instinctively; Tampa web design, for example, is usually represented by a mixture of web designers with a remarkable sense of creativity and extremely high knowledge of the programming languages necessary for driving high traffic to the business, as well as for optimizing results. Functions of Web Development Maintaining your database is an important function of web – Read the full article

Guest Blogging

On December 6th, 2011, wrote:

Interested to write guest content for Lakeshore Branding and expand your readership? Do get in touch! We’re looking for high-quality blog articles on: Internet marketing, social media, search engine optimization / marketing, e-commerce, web design, and other Internet-based businesses, technologies, tools, and applications. Lakeshore Branding is a PR 4 blog, with thousands of backlinks (per Alexa and Majestic SEO). Published guest blog articles are also shared via the official Lakeshore Branding Twitter account. If you’ve written the article, just E-mail it along with links and images you’d like to accompany the text with. We’ll proofread and spell-check it then let you know immediately when the article is going to be up on the site. If you haven’t written the article, kindly consider the following guidelines we have for guest blog posts: Guest blog posts must be original and may not have been published elsewhere online already. All submissions will be verified before publication. The post must be grammatically correct and – Read the full article

E-Commerce: Launching Your Online Business

On December 1st, 2011, wrote:

Every business shares a common goal – to survive, grow and prosper. In today’s fast-track competitive world, businesses large and small must turn to new measures in order to evolve, grow or simply stay afloat. Ecommerce website development can offer growth opportunities of enormous proportion for businesses from all sectors. This is mostly due to the advent of highly improved and user friendly web services (Ed’s note: services like our favorite, Magento) available across the web that have literally carved a place in the hearts of online users. As an online business owner, the employment of technological advances in e-Commerce website design can mean the difference between the success and failure of your business objectives. Accordingly, it is important to understand exactly what an ecommerce website is and how to get started with one. Basically, an ecommerce website is a virtual representation of your physical business. Interestingly, most business owners grow to learn that the biggest difference between an ecommerce – Read the full article

Writing Content for Search Engines and Human Readers

On November 29th, 2011, wrote:

As a local business owner, you know exactly how important SEO is for your web presence. What is the use of having a website when you cannot be found anyway? And when it comes to SEO, your online content plays a huge role. However, optimizing your website isn’t as simple as posting your random thoughts on your page. The entire act of creating content for SEO can be so perplexing that even the most internet-savvy business owner may still end up confused. Here are a few tips for creating content which will please not just the search engines but also your human readers.     Think about your readers It’s very easy to get caught up in the entire SEO process especially when you get too focused on keywords. Some people think of optimization as an end all, be all that they write content which isn’t pleasing to human readers anymore. They forget that the main reason for why they – Read the full article

Canned Craziness – The Strangest Soft Drink Ads Ever

On November 21st, 2011, wrote:

Quirky, peculiar and sometimes downright outrageous, soft drink advertisements have often courted controversy due to a trend towards off-the- wall campaigns. Shock tactics and unconventional subject matter are all part and parcel of reeling in the much-sought-after youth market. We take a closer look at some of the weird and wonderful soft drink TV ads that have brightened up our screens over the years, including the good, the bad, and the out-and-out freakish. Tango Tomfoolery Tango Advert – Scotsman (1994)Video Credit Ever since the Nineties, Tango ads have been characterised by their deliberate wackiness. The whimsy originated from the first ‘You Know When You’ve Been Tango’d’ ad, which showed a Tango-drinker being slapped around the face by a little round orange man, accompanied by a mock-commentary from pseudo sports-pundits. The ad came up against complaints due to an unfortunate playground copycat craze, so the ad was altered to replace the contentious slap with an extravagant kiss. Over time, the ads – Read the full article

WordPress Issue? Scan “Local Machine”

On October 10th, 2011, wrote:

From humble, open source beginnings, WordPress now powers over  61 million sites worldwide. The extent to which it has grown in popularity not just for bloggers but professional designers and developers is evidenced by Smashing Magazine recently launching an extended, dedicated WordPress section. I’m currently one of these working in web design in Chicago. The Project I recently had a very simple project of launching a blog with a small shopping cart installed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand. Wait-of-Nation.com went live a little over two months ago. The Client With a background in PR/Advertising my client was well versed in getting himself out there, which in a country of 4.5 million people really isn’t that hard to do. He had a good product (sports blog of the most popular sport in NZ), with a niche message/ slant (“Home of New Zealand’s crushing expectation” – that the All Blacks – the National team – – Read the full article

Why You Need to Protect Your Brand’s Keywords

On October 4th, 2011, wrote:

It seems that competition for valuable branded keywords is reaching an all time high, with a recent report by eMarketer, “Brands Go Head-to-Head in Competition for Search Terms,” estimating that US marketers will spend a massive $14.4 billion USD this year on search advertising. Why should you care? Because it’s your brand’s keywords that they’re bidding on. The Battle of Branded Keywords We all know that search engine optimization is based on attempting to reach a top ranking position on a search engine for a given keyword or keyword phrase. We also know that the introduction of Google’s Adwords and Bing’s adCenter offered companies a major opportunity to feature on page one results for a search term without bothering with all this; they could bid on a term and grab traffic without engaging in the arduous process of link building and on and off site optimization. Recently, however, things have developed one step further and brand managers have started to – Read the full article

Guidelines for Developing Effective Websites

On September 16th, 2011, wrote:

To build an effective, profitable, and customer-driven site, you need to dedicate more time and effort to information gathering and planning. The following are some guidelines that will help you build a successful website. What are your specific goals? Do you want a brochure site? Do you intend to sell services and/or products? Are you focused on branding and company awareness? Information and content? Social network communities? You need to think through this aspect since it will form the foundation of your overall strategy. Find websites within your industry which you can emulate. It is okay to borrow ideas, as long as you personalize them. Measure of success Usually, businesses succeed when specific goals are imposed on them. By having a clear goal, be it generating online income or attracting a certain number of visitors to your site, you enhance your chances of success. Take time to list down your goals. Remember that this list could change as your site – Read the full article