Covergence

Or, why I'm committing to Toptal Visual designers group, a marketplace for the top companies to find the top visual designers for their projects.

I was watching Ron Howard's Cinderella Man with my two sons, 9 and 12 years old. It was troubling, on one hand, unbelievable on the other, watching the main character, a man of integrity, struggle to buy milk and keep his family warm during the Great Depression.

Dear Google, please tweak the kerning of your new logo. :)

Disclaimer: I know the Google designers are amazing and this is just my own optical preference.

I'd love to see the kerning tightened between the "G" and the first "o". :)

See my before and after tweaks.

Do you agree with me or not? Leave your comments below!

Scam "topfarmproduce.com" targeting web designers

My hope is by writing this I can spread the word and help fellow designers avoid being scammed.

The bait...

I received this email from my website's contact form:

On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 6:46 AM, Smarty Truck wrote: 
full_name : david
email : davidlewis957@gmail.com 
Message : Hello, i would like to know if you do web design and do you accept credit card for payment??

What does SEO mean?

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a fancy word for ways you can make your website easier for search engines (Google) to find.

The best BBQ ribs I've ever had

Imagine coming home from a long day's work and welcomed by a wave of deliciousness so good it makes you close your eyes and smile? Or how cool you'd be in your children's eyes by making dinner time a memorable aromatic experience all day long?

3 ways to use LinkedIn from Scott Klososky

Scott Klososky is a serial entrepreneur who is a guru in the digital marketing space.

3 quick tips for using LinkedIn are:

1. Crowdsourcing: Utilize your LinkedIn network when you have a question about something. In one click you can reach out and receive great resources, tips, and advice on your problem.
1. MosaicHUB is another crowdsourcing resource you can receive education on a variety of topics on.
2. Warm leads: LinkedIn was originally made for this purpose - find people who can introduce you to someone you’ve identified as a prospect.
3. Surveillance: Monitor your connections' status changes so you can be the first to know of any important contacts that change jobs. Let's say you have a past client that you're on good terms with. Through surveillance, you're able to pitch them and their new company. Another way to use this tactic is let’s say you sell houses, and you see a status update that someone retired or changed jobs. That’s an opportunity for you to reach out to them and offer them something of value and create more of a connection which ultimately may lead to them choosing you as their real estate agent.

For more great digital marketing and social network advice from Scott check out his video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez8yA7wgZdk

4 questions to help you revisit or create your personal elevator speech.

Recently I was asked what I do in a great networking situation. I failed miserably! Since I've changed my professional focus I wasn't prepared to clearly explain what I do to this person and probably failed to make an strong impression.

Imagine you're waiting in a long line at your bank. The person in front of you turns around and you two start chatting. After some pleasantries, they look at you and ask "What do you do?".
If you aren't prepared, you could stumble as you try to explain this memorably in less than 15 seconds.

You never know when someone might turn into a client, or a lead to a client, or a friend. If you haven't revisited your personal elevator speech in the last 12 months it's a good time to take 10 minutes and go through this exercise.

Good design has plenty to do with trial and error - or it should for your brand to be successful

Unless you're business is giving away gold bricks for a dollar, you'll need a well designed site to explain to your target why they should choose you over another business.

Do you know if your site is user-friendly?

What does user-centric design mean?

A user-centric design process means incorporating your users' way of thinking into your website’s user experience and user interface (UX & UI).

Darodar and 'ilovevitaly' link referral scheme

I found 35 referral links with a 100% bounce rate the other day in one of my Google Analytics properties.

Productivity tip: Save Marketing and IT time with Google Tag Manager

Who should care about this?

How to get Apple's "Messages" consolidated into one thread on multiple devices

I recently solved a small thorn in my communication’s side involving sending and receiving apple messages across all my devices.

Local SEO - how it can help your business's bottom line

What is Local SEO? It's combining your business's keywords with your locality. 'San Francisco organic bakery' for example.

What businesses can do to optimize their websites

Read a transcript of an interview with Andy Greider of Linked Insight where Jackson Powell from Little Red Truck Idea Co. talks about some DIY tactics to optimize your website.

6 questions to ask before a website redesign

Redesigning your website, not a minor fine tune-up, can be a time consuming task. Before investing time and money in such a significant overhaul, one should do some research in order to make sure such an undertaking is in the best interest of the business. This is harder than taking the easy road and starting to find vendors or agencies to do the work. The ideas and thought you put into why you’re redesigning your company’s website will help you have a successful outcome later. Put in the hard work planting the seeds now, reap the benefits later when they grow.

How to give your project the best chance to succeed when hiring outside resources

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Where can I find a vendor?" or "What should I do to find a reliable company?”, the answer is write a Request For Proposal (RFP).

An RFP is the best way to lay the foundation for your project. Here's why.

One of our biggest lessons learned helping people get from an early idea to a successful business

Inspiration for Monday: DreamWorks' Animator/Dad turns son into an action hero!

My wife is an Animator at DreamWorks in Redwood City. She sent this to me and I wanted to share it with my network. It inspired me, and was very entertaining. Hopefully it gives you the same boost for the beginning of your work week!

https://www.youtube.com/user/theActionMovieKid

1 Sentence Elevator Pitch Formula

I recently took the charismatic Mr. Bret Waters’ “Getting from an Early Idea to a Business” class at Stanford. Among the many useful pieces of information he shared during the class was a short and sweet way to get others interested in hearing more about your idea. Here’s that formula:

Questions Clients Should Ask Web Design Firms

Web design is possible from so many different avenues these days that it can be hard to know what to look for. I’ve put together six critical questions you should be asking of any Web design company when you are asking for a proposal.  All six elements are likely missing from DIY platforms, in case you were wondering.  So, what are the six questions companies should ask Web design companies when looking for a proposal?