Website Design and Marketing

How to optimize and market your own website.

Resistance is (Probably) Futile… Clip this story


We have all seen movies that portrayed the 21st century big and shiny, with jet-packs and floating cars. Yet here we are in 2012 and all we have so far this century are smartphones in our hand and tablets in our purse.

Google is finally stepping up their game, announcing their new sci-fi looking glasses – the Google Heads-Up Display glasses.  According to Google, the glasses may be released by Continue reading

The Importance of Updating Your Web Browser Clip this story

In today’s market, media is growing and updating every day – and the Web is a fast paced medium. Because of constant updates, some people are getting left in the dark and slowly fumbling their way through the internet. By not having the browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc) on your computer up to date, you will be missing new features that the most current browsers provide to improve user experience. Continue reading

Smellycat at WordCamp Miami Clip this story

Will Schmierer, our lead designer/developer ninja, recently attended a Wordcamp in Miami to hone his mad WordPress skills and make the WordPress sites we build for our clients even better!  To see some of what he experienced at Wordcamp Miami, visit WordPress.tv or Wordcamp Miami.

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress, an open source blogging tool and website content management system (CMS). WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like us! Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

Smellycat in the News! Clip this story

 

 

 

 

 

From the March 3rd, 2012 edition of the VA Gazette.

LinkedIn Adds “Follow” Button Clip this story

On February 27th,  LinkedIn announced a new feature: a “Follow” button to allow members to click and follow companies, like Twitter and Facebook members can now do, and learn about new career opportunities, company news, or industry trends.

If you don’t yet use LinkedIn, we highly recommend that you do. It’s free to join and easy to set up a profile, and you can add a “Follow” button on your own company website @ LinkedIn Developer website.  But if you need help with either, you can always call or email us! We’ll be happy to get you started!

Here’s a quick video from LinkedIn on how to find and follow companies on LinkedIn: Continue reading

Don’t Get Eaten by Panda (again)! Clip this story

If you haven’t heard of Google’s Panda, you might want to start paying attention – it has caused some publishers to seriously think about how to produce better material for websites. Panda is a filter that lets Google sift out the content of websites they suspect lacks important substance. Panda is called an “update” because the filter runs periodically.

In layman’s terms, each time Panda runs, all the content Google knows about is re-sifted. Improved content escapes the filter, and poor content gets caught again, and the page it is on never makes it to a search engine results page.

Panda 1.0 was released in February 2011 and targeted sites that copied content from other sites. The newest Panda update, version 3.3, is now effective. Continue reading

Connecting vs. Networking Clip this story

Connecting vs. NetworkingHow connected are you? Of course you may have plenty of Facebook friends and Twitter tweeters in your network, but how far do you, yourself, expand? We all have that friend who knows just about everyone, and can help you with anything; if they can’t, they know someone who can. This person is a connector. These connectors are people who have a genuine love for meeting new people and making new friends. Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, defines them “as having an ability to span many different worlds, subcultures and niches.” Connecting is not the same thing as networking – connectors have traits such as “energy, insatiable curiosity and a willingness to take chances.” Continue reading

Are Multiple Domains BAD for SEO? Clip this story

Having multiple domains for websites can be really bad. If you have various domains with websites or “micro-sites” that promote your business, offerings or services the same way (AKA “duplicate content”), you are confusing your customer or potential customer, and sabotaging your search engine ranking.

Search engines decide and choose original content that displays more relevancy to a given search query.  So, don’t copy or clone your content from other sources.

Now, that’s not to say having multiple domains is altogether bad–it depends on how you use them: Continue reading

Smellycat Production’s 2011 Projects Clip this story

This past year was a busy year for SCP! Here’s just some of our 2011 work:

Build Your Own Website Bootcamp Clip this story

Build and publish your own CMS (content management system) 3-page website, with our help, in one day in our studio!

The “Build Your Own Website Bootcamp” is perfect for organizations and small businesses just starting out, or others who’ve been wanting a simple website they can manage themselves, but can’t afford a custom site at this time.

In the bootcamp, we’ll help you build your website, and teach you how to add more pages, images and everything else you’ll need to know to manage and optimize it yourself.

Since this is something new we’re trying out, we’re only taking a few applicants for this first bootcamp, to be held sometime at the end of January or early February.  If interested, click here, and we’ll send you more details.
Cost – $500.00.

 



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