David Martin Design Blog - Web Design and Internet Marketing in Bloomington, Indiana

January 5, 2012
by David Martin
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Crowdsource Your Needs by using Jig.com

Crowdsource Your Needs by using Jig.com

Do you need some help? So, if you ever need something, you can post it on Jig.com. It was started by the same guy who started Delicious (an awesome bookmarking service)… I used it to get a recommendation for my neighbor’s computer which I installed last night.

Although I didn’t ultimately go with the computer that a few people had recommended, it turned out to be a very helpful reponse. The computer that my neighbor ordered is a great desktop replacement and it can even be mounted to the back of a monitor for a great minimal design.. It didn’t take me very long to remove all the bloatware that was included and to install Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Security Essentials, and many other useful programs. (used a great website called ninite.com to save a bunch of time on this)…

So, if you need help and you want to “crowdsource” your work, then post it on jig.com and see what happens. I think you will find it very useful.

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January 1, 2012
by David Martin
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My New Years Resolutions for 2012

#1 – Helping others

Helping others is something that’s very near and dear to me and I think it is one of the most important things you can do in life. I have helped many small business owners, local businesses, friends, and current clients that have asked me for help in 2011. I helped a private tutor become more organized and gain back a few more hours every evening. I helped an arts organization in Bloomington by setting up a website to promote the organization and the artists that are part of it. I promoted other web designers in Bloomington so that we can all share in the community of people who need our help. There are many people that I helped in 2011 but I want to continue to help others learn about new technology and how it can be applied to make their lives better and businesses more efficient.

#2 – Learn as much as possible
I plan to practice new skills and learn more about HTML5, CSS3, and other web technologies. I want to learn more about marketing and have hopes to further my education through reading, practicing, and constantly evaluating new technology and applying it where it may be useful.

#3 – Live healthy
Since November 10th, I have made a decision to eat smaller portions, eat better foods (nuts, berries, lean meats, etc…) and to cut down on the processed foods that I put in my body. I have tried to integrate physical activities into my lifestyle every day by tossing my daughter up in the air, running with our neighbor’s dog that we have been taking care of, taking walks, and trying to work out while doing everyday activities. It is my plan to play a lot more racquetball at the YMCA and to bicycle down the B-Line trail.

#4 – Grow
Not only do I want to grow personally but also I want to grow my networks of friends utilizing social networks that I belong to and to grow all of my clients businesses through improving their websites and their digital marketing efforts. I want to grow spiritually, become even more involved in the community, and volunteer more time to people that need help.

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December 22, 2011
by David Martin
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Foursquare is not just a game, it’s a valuable marketing tool

Foursquare is an addictive social networking game for the real world. When using Foursquare and checking in to different places in Bloomington, I am playing a game with my friends I am also helping places and businesses that I check into by creating buzz around their brand.

In today’s world with so many different tools available to all of us it’s hard to keep up with everything. One thing that I’ve figured out is that you really have to pick and choose different networks to focus your marketing. Where do your potential customers hang out?

One of many nice things about Foursquare is that allows other people to do marketing for you. Every time that I check in to a restaurant or business, all of my friends that are on Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter have the potential to see my message. I’m reaching into a very valuable hand-picked network of people and sharing what I am doing with them.

According to the “The Power of Like: How Brands Reach and Influence Fans Through Social Media Marketing” study , 16% of fans will see brand content if that brand posts 5 of 7 days, and posting an additional day will slide the average up to 18.5%. By integrating Foursquare into your marketing plan, you will allow others to the marketing and branding which will free you up to do what you are best at… Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you.

Give Foursquare a try. I think that you’ll find using it is very fun, addictive, and even if you don’t use it yourself you should go the Foursquare website and claim your Foursquare listing. When you claim your listing it will allow you to reward users that check into your location. You can offer them a special deal, maybe the deal might be 15% off. Maybe a cup of coffee, a free appetizer or a buy one get one free reward.

In addition to offering a special deal to the users that check in at your location you can offer a special deal to the mayor of your location. The mayor is the person who’s been to your business more than anyone else and checked in more than anyone else. Most likely it is a very influential person that has a lot of people that are following them on different social networks. By targeting these influential users you are rewarding them for their loyalty and then they are more likely to refer their friends and others to your business. In today’s world it’s very important for you to understand who the influential people are and how you can target them to get them to come to your business and bring in more dollars.

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November 28, 2011
by David Martin
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SEO in Bloomington, Indiana

If you are looking for a local company in Bloomington, Indiana that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), then you have found the right place.

Why choose David Martin Design for search engine optimization?

You could pick and choose from several of the very talented web designers in Bloomington, Indiana, however very few have the experience, time, and talent it takes to consistently stay on top of the evolving world of search engine optimization. David Martin offers clients the resources that they need to craft a well thought out, structured, and organized website that is easily crawled and indexed by search engines and other web properties.

Top 3 ways to optimize and focus on SEO

The top 3 things that I would suggest to do to help your SEO and rank highly in the major search engines would be:

Separate your content from the presentation. First and foremost, if your website designer is not using best practices and designing your website with web standards, then I would highly recommend that they familiarize themselves with a book that changed my life, “Designing With Web Standards“, by Jeffrey Zeldman.
The basic premise is that you should think of your website as a well structured set of documents that rely on the structure of the HTML tags H1,H2,H3, etc… to create content that is very well organized and then you should apply stylesheets to the content to affect the way that is displayed on your screen. When you design with web standards, your website pages should work very well in the vast array of digital devices that we access the internet with today.
Spread your seed – Imagine your business as an organic life form. In order for it to grow and spread it must have an easy way to expand. By trading links with others and submitting your website to different social networks, blogs, and specific niche networks you will be able to get some very valuable inbound links that will increase your reputation (depending upon the source of course)
Participate in social media. Social media is not going away and will likely become an ever more important part of a digital marketing strategy for today’s modern business. It is possible to increase your revenue by consistenly being involved in conversations on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and many of the other websites built for community engagement. Get started today and spend at least 15 minutes every day devoted to just writing others back about what they are talking about and stay engaged. This helps your business stay top of mind with that contact and may even lead to a source of a referral for your next project. Well, I feel like I could go on with many other ways to optimize your website and increase your search engine rankings, however the basic 3 steps above will get you a great start on SEO for your website project.

Any other suggestions for important things you can do for SEO? What is working well for you?

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November 11, 2011
by David Martin
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No longer working @Smithville – freelance website design business going full steam!

On November 9th, 2011 I became solely a self employed freelance website designer after leaving the customer service position that I have enjoyed for 3 years at Smithville Communications.

When I began working for Smithville Communications 3 years ago, it was quite a different company than the one that it is today. At the time of hire, the only products offered by Smithville were phone and DSL internet. Now, after 3 years, they have introduced fiber optics to a portion of their customers and are undertaking an enormous fiber optic overbuild for every one of their customers. Wi the introduction of fiber optics it is possible to offer more than just phone and DSL. I learned an extensive amount of how phone service is delivered, how our POTS phone network is all connected, how internet protocol television is delivered, and more. I am very thankful for the opportunity to work for one of the top 100 Broadband providers inthe United States.

I will value the time spent at Smithville and the connections that I made while there, however now it is time for me to focus on the development of my own business and the many projects that I have delayed for far too long. Learning CSS3, HTML5, jQuery, and other important web technologies is what I am going to focus on. I will focus on providing my clients with access and training on an increasing number of digital and social media marketing opportunities including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

It has been quite a few years (13 actually) since designing my first website for a class project in high school. Over the last 13 years I have developed approximately 100 different website projects, spent numerous hours writingand rewriting code, and surfed the internet far more than I probably should have. Now, it is time for me to spend aggressive amounts of time learning and designing websites, learning new skills, and networking with others to sustain my business.

I look forward to working with other designers and artists to collaborate on great work.

Here’s to the future and doing what you love!

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November 1, 2011
by David Martin
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Top 8 Iconic Logos and their Legendary Designers

This is a guest post written for SEO purposes and since I haven’t posted on my blog in a long time and actually enjoyed reading this blog post I thought I would allow it to be guest posted.

Top 8 Iconic Logos and their Legendary Designers

Amidst millions of companies and their numerous logos some iconic logos stand apart. Behind every such memorable logo there is a talented logo designer who conceived the logo design. You may have wondered who have designed some of these logos. Let us have a brief look at some of these iconic logos and the masters that designed them.

Shell and Raymond Lowey

Raymond Lowey (1893-1986) was a French born engineer famous for designing refrigerators and locomotives. He was also a renowned logo designer who specialized in designing logos Shell and Exxon. He was the first product designer to feature in the cover of Time magazine (October 1949). In 1967, Shell approached Lowey with a problem in logo design. The Pecten (a variation of the present logo) was difficult to identify from a distance. It was also difficult to notice the logo in poor lighting. In 1971, Lowey came up with the present logo of Shell that solved these problems. This process of logo repair and testing of its design took more than 4 years before getting finalized.

AT&T and Saul Bass

Saul Bass (1920-1996) was famous as classic logo designer. Bass was well known for using simple symbols and geometric shapes. In 1984, Bass designed logo for one of the largest company AT&T. US government forced AT&T to break up and spin-off its local phone services to small regional services. As such, the iconic logo of the company – a bell within a circle, required a facelift. Bass focused on the global reach of AT&T in the new logo. The logo design aptly symbolized the telecom network that span around the world. Transition from bell to globe signaled to customers, shareholders and employees that AT&T is going global.

FedEx and Lindon Leader

Linder Leader from Landor Associates is the man behind logo design of FedEx. The logo has won more than 40 awards and recognized by Rolling stone magazine as one of the top logos in last 35 years. The brilliance of the logo is found between the letters E and X. Look for the subtle arrow that emerges from the negative space. The arrow aptly associates precision and speed embedded with the services of FedEx.

IBM and Paul Rand

Paul Rand (1914-1996) is considered a legend in the field of graphic designing and creation of corporate logos. He is arguably the most glamorous and famous logo designer of modern era. Some of his best creations include logo designed for IBM, ABC and UPS. The IBM logo is often referred as Eight Stripe Logo or Eightstriper. It comes from the eight stripes that make up the letters of IBM. This logo was adopted by IBM in 1972 substituting the older one in solid block letters. The stripes of the logo stand for speed and dynamism.

Apple and Rob Janoff

In 1977, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc, asked Rob Janoff to design a logo for the company. Earlier logo design was a bit complex showing Sir Isaac Newton sitting beneath an apple tree. The new logo was simply a bitten apple with colors of rainbow in wrong order. The idea behind the image is to evoke temptation that is hard to resist. The bite symbolizes knowledge (remember the episode in Bible where apple is the fruit in the tree of knowledge). The bite could be also pronounced as “byte” that has a reference to computer technology. The logo aptly described something new (rainbow in wrong order), hope and knowledge. In 1997, Steve Jobs decided to replace the rainbow colored apple with solid colored apple.

Google and Ruth Kedar

Ruth Kedar was a student of architecture fromIsraeland she earned her Maters Degree in designing fromStanfordUniversity. She is famous logo designer of the current official logo of Google. The search engine derives it name from Googol (means 1 followed by 100 zeros). As such, whenever you look at the logo the two “O” grasp your attention. The number of O increases with the number of search result pages. Use of primary colors evokes playful mood and curiosity. The logo design is also very adaptable and scalable. Its flexibility inspired introduction of famous Google doodles.

Nike by Caroline Davidson

Caroline Davidson was a student of PortlandUniversityin 1971 when she conceived logo design of the now iconic Swoosh logo for Nike. According to Greek mythology, Nike (pronounced Ni-key) is the winged goddess of victory. Swoosh represents the wing of goddess Nike. Initially name of the company was included in the logo but as the brand gained recognition the name was dropped which made it more simple and easy to remember.

BT and Wally Olins

Wally Olins is widely acclaimed for establishing corporate identity and branding. He has designed, renovated and repositioned many global brands successfully. Logos of Orange, Unilever, GE, Sony Ericsson and BT (British Telecom) were conceived under its brand consultancy Wolff Olins. A red and blue man blowing its trumpet was the logo of BT. It has been replaced by “connected world” globe by Olins and used presently by BT as its logo. The change in logo design reflects the wide range of global activities planned by BT.

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May 8, 2011
by David Martin
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What is coming next in PC design – TNW Microsoft

Thanks to Robert Scoble for pointing out this post on Twitter. This is a great read about the upcoming revolution of design in Windows based PC computers. It is exciting to think about the next generation of laptop computers and desktop computers that we will be using and how they will be more polished, have better hardware, and will become works of art. Enjoy!

What is coming next in PC design – TNW Microsoft.

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February 24, 2011
by David Martin
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The Best Computer I Have Ever Owned

I didn’t own the computer in this picture (it was my parent’s), but I sure remember when I was pecking away at that huge clunky keyboard, green monochrome screen, and loading up games on the dual 5 1/4″ disk drives. The Apple IIE was my first foray into the computer world, and after using this computer I was HOOKED.

After the Apple IIE, we upgraded to a an IBM PS/2 80386 computer with the DOS operating system. We went through several upgrade cycles from the IBM 386 to the 486 then an upgrade to a Pentium, and a Pentium II. Throughout the various upgrade cycles, the peripherals (mice, keyboards, etc) and the computer hardware evolved and the technology got better with every generation.

In the summer of 1999, I was preparing to enter my freshman year of college at Indiana University. In high school, at my first job I took over the paper route from my sisters, then moved into the BIG money waiting tables at Steak ‘n Shake. Saving money was pretty easy and I had managed to save up enough cash for my first computer. I was able to find a great deal (Thanks Bob) on a Pentium III 500mhz Compaq Presario computer with a matching 17″ Compaq monitor and a “business class” HP 970cxi DeskJet printer. I also received a Intel Pro PC Webcam for my birthday later that year which would be an awesome accessory to chat and play games with. There was a basketball game and a bubble popping game that came bundled on the webcam CD software that turned out to be a BLAST to play. The motion based gaming with the Intel webcam and the included software was the precursor to the Microsoft Kinect peripheral, one of last year’s hottest Christmas gifts.

After about two years, according to Moore’s Law it was time to upgrade my computer. Maybe, subconsciously it was those “Dude, it’s a Dell” commercials that lead me to buy one. Or maybe not. I ended up purchasing a Dell Dimension 4400, Pentium 4 – 2.0ghz computer with 256mb of RAM and a 64mb video card. The hinge design of the computer made it easy to open the machine up to upgrade the hardware. I added more RAM (which is usually the best way to speed up your computer), installed a Sony DRU-500A DVD/CD burner, added a wireless LAN card, added a USB 2.0 card, upgraded the keyboard and mouse to a wireless Logitech system, upgraded the video card, and made countless improvements to the system software. This computer certainly ranks as one of the best computers that I have owned and provided me thousands of hours of endless enjoyment.

In addition to the Dell Dimension 4400, I began to develop my website design business and needed a portable laptop computer. After a lot of careful research, I bought a Compaq Presario R3000 laptop computer from Circuit City. The design was sleek, silver, and was powerful enough to become a desktop replacement. Unfortunately, that model of computer was one of several computers that fell victim to a faulty Power Adapter that wasn’t soldered correctly to the motherboard. The fix cost a few hundred dollars, but luckily I was reimbursed by a class action settlement. Shortly after getting the power adapter fixed, I began looking at a laptop replacement.

After owning the Dell Dimension 4400 desktop computer for several years, I decided that it was time to upgrade to a new computer with more RAM to watch streaming videos on Youtube and to find a computer that could handle more processor intensive applications. I decided to follow the advice of my “better half” and see if an Apple computer was really all it was cracked up to be. Being a price conscious and an avid deal hunter, I wanted to get the Apple experience without breaking the bank and was happy to find an outstanding deal on a Mac Mini for only $519.99.

The Mac Mini was such a wonderful choice as a desktop Microsoft Windows PC replacement. I remember rushing home from work when it came in so that I could get it all setup before my softball game was to start that evening. After plugging in my 24″ 1080p Sceptre monitor that I ordered from Newegg.com, I quickly learned what “plug-and-play” really means: You plug it in and then play! It took me 15 minutes from opening the box until I was ready to open a web browser and use the computer. I was so used to inserting a DVD in a PC, the being prompted with no less than 10 different options. It was simply amazing when I put a DVD in the Mini it immediately played the disc and bypassed the menu. The ease of use, no questions asked, simplicity of design is why Apple is so successful today. I was reluctantly being convinced that this was the future of computing.

Now that my home technology needs were taken care of with the Mac Mini and my son using the older Dimension 4400, it was now time to focus on upgrading the Compaq R3000 “web design” laptop to a newer, more powerful machine. Thanks to Craigslist, I found an Indiana University student that really needed some cash and was willing to sell his laptop at a very affordable price ($700). At the time, I had never heard of Asus, but based on the specs (1.86GHZ Core 2 Duo with 2GBRAM, ATI Radeon 512mb video, Windows XP Premium, integrated 1024 x 768 Webcam, Biometric fingerprint reader) and the reviews, I knew it was a great deal.

The Asus was a great computer, despite having Windows Vista on it. Windows Vista, according to most critics was Microsoft’s worst operating system ever. I didn’t have a lot of problems as long as I kept Vista current with updates, but there was the occasional crash of my important programs that was very frustrating. I was very happy with this system, but I was keeping my eye out for an upgrade to one of the new Core i3,i5, and i7 chipsets that Intel had just released. I sold the Asus to a nice lady who needed a very simple computer for web browsing and the occasional Word document. She got all the bells and whistles and was very happy with the computer and that I set it up for her. (Along with her wireless router and DSL modem). Shortly after selling the Asus laptop, I found a great deal at the Microsoft Store on a Dell laptop.

My current “web design” business computer is a Dell Studio XPS 15.6″ laptop. It has a 2.66GHZ Intel Core i5 processor with 3GB of RAM, 1 GB Nvidia Video Card, an HDMI port, and a 15.4″ LED screen. It has 3 USB ports, a Firewire port, dual headphone jacks, and an HD webcam. The XPS line is Dell’s top of the line model, it is sleek, very well designed, and sturdy. The only major fault I have with it is that the screen actually touches the keyboard and may cause scratches to the monitor. Through a separate website, I was able to purchase a custom fit micro-fiber cloth for $20 to lay over the keyboard every time I close it. I also use the cloth to clean the glossy finish. Cleaning the laptop everytime is tedious but when it is free of fingerprints it looks pretty slick. The HD LED screen, really fast processor, ample hard drive space, and all of the features make it the best laptop computer I have owned.

In May, I decided to sell the maxed out 2GB Mac Mini and purchase a newer, thinner Mac Mini with an upgraded processor and the capability to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. For $780, I was able to get the perfect companion to my new Toshiba 55WX800U Cinema Series 55″ class 1080p 240Hz 3D LED TV and upgrade to a 55″ desktop computer in my living room. This is the future of TV.

In June 2010, I was one of the early adopters who decided to purchase an iPad. After finding out that AT&T was going to no longer offer unlimited data plans on their mobile 3G network, I couldn’t hold out any longer. I decided to purchase the 32GB iPad ($729) with 3G wireless access and bought the accompanying $29.99 unlimited AT&T data plan to be “grandfathered” in.

Apple’s App Store was my new best friend. I found so many great free apps. A few of my favorite apps: Toy Story Read Along, the Google Mobile App, Netflix, the NPR app, Pandora, AIM, Dropbox, FlipBoard, iBooks, Twitter, Soundrop, Amazon WindowShop, Google Earth, Appshopper, Find My iPhone, Friendly for Facebook, TED, and Virtuoso Piano.

With the custom A4 Apple chip and a very efficient LED screen the iPad’s battery lasts nearly all day. One question that always seems to come up in conversation about it, is “Am I going to be able to use it as a desktop/laptop replacement?” The answer is both yes, and no. Yes, I can attach a bluetooth keyboard to it to write papers, I can use many different apps create graphics with it (I am awesome at drawing stick figures), and I can listen to music, play games, and watch movies on it. While all of these things are possible, it really isn’t designed to replace a laptop or a desktop. It falls into a completely different category than both of these.

One reason the iPad is so successful is because of it’s convenience. It isn’t very convenient to plug a wireless 3G USB modem into a laptop and use it in my car as a GPS. Can I do this with the iPad? Easily. If I am in the kitchen and ooking for some cooking inspiration I use the stand built into my iPad case, prop it up on the counter, and surf the AllRecipes app to find delicious recipes to whip up. Then, I switch over to the Pandora app and load up some “Happy Together” radio to accompany me. It’s so easy and fun with the touch interface.

My 3 year old daughter uses the iPad almost every day to watch Dora on Netflix, to learn her ABC’s from a few different education apps, and she loves to put puzzles together. The touch interface is so intuitive that the learning curve for anyone using it is virtually measured in seconds.

The simplicity of the user interface, the long lasting battery, bright LED screen, Wifi, 3G wireless, and the portability of the iPad easily make it the best computer that I have ever owned. I have no buyer’s remorse of spending $780 on the best computer I have ever had. The versatility of the iPad is amazing as it can be used as a gaming computer, a business device, a music player, a video player, a phone (I can make and receive calls), and more. While it is the best computer I have ever owned, I must say that it is not perfect. There are a few items (dual cameras, lighter, thinner) that will be addressed by the iPad 2, due to be introduced on March 2nd, 2011.

In closing, I am very excited for the future of tablet computing. The new Motorola Xoom tablet looks to be Apple’s biggest competitor when it hits the market. Google’s Honeycomb Android Operating System is a very slick competitor to Apple’s iOS found in the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad devices. Touch computing and gesture based computing are great innovations in the 21st century and the future looks very bright. I wonder what I will upgrade to next.

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