Fresh

Can you guess what the most important piece of software is on a personal computer? It’s not Notepad, it’s not any office productivity suite, and it’s not Solitaire. Certainly the most important piece of software, at least since the 90’s, is the web browser. The web browser has brought the whole world together digitally through web email, shopping web sites, and Facebook. (And yes, you can also use a web browser as a notepad, office suite, and you can play Solitaire with one, too.)

Content on the web has evolved from simple text and tables to elaborate layouts of page intermixed with images, audio, and video. The underlying HTML used to display this rich content has evolved as well. From the early workings of HTML 1 all the way to HTML 4, HTML has seen a steady growth. The current version, HTML 4, is great. The language allows for embedded objects (like Flash), and other neat stuff.

HTML 1 (left) to HTML 4 (right)

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When our long-time client, Wacom, approached us with a new line of touch enabled tablets, they were looking for an integrated marketing campaign that would drive sales and exposure for their new product. Wacom was thinking about abandoning traditional print-based advertising in favor of doing only web-based advertising, which was a major change for them. We took this opportunity to dive in as a team and come up with something truly different. What we ended up creating was a truly integrated marketing campaign that took one central idea and expressed it in several different ways. The results were more than any of us could have expected.

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This is a continuation of Tom’s post 10 Tracks for your 9-to-5 – Music to get any creative through their work week from last week. Props to Tom for opening the door to writing about how music helps us get through our work week and sharing the love of music with others.

Let me clear my throat by saying how much music affects my daily grind here at work. Aside from Tom, who is a designer looking for inspiration, I am a developer looking to get my work completed with an attention span of about 4 minutes and listening to music while working helps extend that to about 17 minutes. That may not seem a lot to you, but I’ll try any method to get those extra minutes.
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The word “launch” is such an intense word to describe the release of a new web property out into the world wide web. The picture that comes to mind is the glory of a space shuttle taking off into space with the companion footage of a simple countdown and the flip of a couple switches in the control room.  But no matter how a shuttle launch may look, we all know it takes a lot of teamwork, planning, forethought and monitoring to get that rocket into space.  There would probably be a hefty investigation if we found out the NASA launch plan was: cross our fingers, hit the button and wave goodbye. The same goes for a website launch. One might picture a guy sitting in the IT department waiting for the word “go” to push a button – and then we pop open the champagne and move onto the next project.  Hardly.

Like any kind of launch, there are many components to prepare for beforehand and to monitor afterwards. With a site launch we’re dealing with servers, DNS, domains, hosting, file access, operating environments, expected traffic, load time, content, quality assurance (QA), feeds, and the list goes on.

Launching is really a series of steps and several checks and balances between the teams working on the project.  It takes a village to raise a website, and the teams must really work together to get the thing working in one environment and on one day.

Is your site or project ready to launch? Ask these questions and don’t leave your launch up to crossed fingers and a lucky rabbit’s foot.

• Is the site complete?

  As in done, approved, signed off, finished?

• Do you have your domain and hosting set up?

  Have you established a relationship with a hosting company? Do you own and have access to the domain?

• Have the development tools been removed?

  Debugging output? Hard-coded development URLs? Any back-door access?

• Have you considered anticipated traffic?

  Do you know your available bandwidth? Do you have any data-heavy features (streaming video, large photos, etc.)? What is the expected amount of traffic to the site?

• Have all your forms and other components been tested in the live environment?

  Form results are posting and to the right contact? DNS is set and domain is pointed? All the integrated pieces are working together?

• Are your social networking tools in place and hooked up?

  Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? ShareThis?

• Is it Friday?

  Unless you want to be a weekend warrior, you might want to wait until Monday.  Give at least 1-2 business days to complete the launch process.

On any launch at eROI we have a series of team members working on different pieces of what is more of a gradual ascension. The process usually takes all day, if not a few days, and requires many visits, conversations and status updates with the IT, Accounts & Development departments. But at the end of the day and hopefully after another successful endeavor you can brag over dinner how you launched a site into the great beyond.

You’ve written the copy for your site (or you’re about to), but will it get the results you need? Put your copy to work and get everything out of your site that you possibly can by following these 6 strategic tips.

But first, let’s just get this out of the way: dumping your copy into your site and calling it good will lose business for you. Period. Think about it. When you create an email or landing page, you likely pour over precise pixel placement, copy and button placement. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your website, particularly now that your home page isn’t the guaranteed entry to your website. (Check your analytics, you’ll likely see that your home page isn’t necessarily your front door any more.)

Search continues to change the game so you should make sure every page is playing its part in giving the right impression and achieving your objectives.  You have a narrow window to grab a user’s attention and get them where you want them to go.

Now let’s get to the tips! We’ve split this up into two areas of focus: the first is the “30,000 Foot View” (the big picture) and the second is the “100 Foot View” (digging into the details). (more…)

It’s time to add to the collection of fashionable Fresh wallpapers for you to enjoy on your desktop and share with others!

I can hear the birds chirping! I can feel the sun in my eyes and the cool breeze flowing through my hair. The smell of tulips wafts… Oh wait… I’m here in the office. Well, this wallpaper is just that good.

I’ve used some faded tree and cloud elements combined with a water-color-y wash of lemon yellows and sea green for this wallpaper. Hope you enjoy!

eROI Fresh Wallpaper, Spring Breeze

Need this wallpaper in a specific size? Download it here:

1024×768

1280×800

1280×1024

1440×900

It’s been over a week now since the final day of SXSW Interactive, and of course we are just now getting over the post-South By “hangover” period (readjusting to everyday life and work, and trying to remember what day it is). We’ll be unleashing several SXSW recap posts over the next couple weeks, reviewing some of our favorite panels and some of the ideas that really “stuck”. There were only four people from eROI who went to the conference this year (fewer than in previous years) but I think we’ve got plenty of thoughts to share amongst the four of us.

But before we share our deep thoughts, I just wanted to give a quick overview of my experience this year and share some notes I compiled on the plane ride back to PDX.

Unlike last year, I came to Austin armed with a smart phone so I got to tweet to my heart’s content (from my barf account) and check in often with Gowalla. Lots of my friends were using Gowalla this year and it really did come in handy trying to figure out which panels they were sitting in or at which bar they were responsibly partaking.  Plus there was the excitement of possibly finding a virtual VIP wristband to get into the Gowalla Tiki Room party, where Diplo was slated to perform, or one of the many real life prizes that Gowalla was giving away. I didn’t pick up any prizes or the VIP pass, but a friend did win one of the Lomography cameras (and we did make it into the outdoor Gowalla party, albeit after Diplo had left the stage and during a rainstorm).

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After spending some time working with Magento (an open-source ecommerce platform that’s been on the development scene for a few years now), I have determined that what their documentation really needs is a WordPress-esque “Template Tags” area.

When you’re just starting out with a new platform, documentation is invaluable, and the documentation for Magento seems woefully lacking in terms of front-end development. (If you have a favorite resource, I’d love to hear about it!)

Here are some tips / shortcuts / code snippets I’ve found useful; maybe they’ll be helpful to new Magento developers as well.

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If you’re one of the people out there pondering the ‘mobile’ question, then here are a few things to think about. Let’s start by answering question #1: “Should my website go mobile?”

Yes, you do need to optimize your website for mobile devices.

Year after year, mobile usage is growing and it is expanding to include new formats (Apple iPad, HP Slate and the much rumored Google Tablet). The way we interact with these devices will mature as the technologies and devices develop. For now, there a few simple things to keep in mind.

First, if you have a website, then you should absolutely invest in establishing the mobile version of that site. The key to creating an effective mobile site is in the strategy. A good mobile site isn’t just a tiny version of your existing site. A good mobile site needs to focus on addressing your core marketing objectives in a way that is in keeping with the brand experience of your website but is also optimized for mobile screens.

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Some people may think that St. Patrick’s Day is a time to remember and honor the patron saint of Ireland. Others may use it as an opportunity to drink green beer, dance an Irish jig with reckless abandon, or eat Irish-inspired food they might not normally eat.

Here at eROI, we see St. Paddy’s day as an opportunity to celebrate the color green. We love all the colors of the rainbow, so having one day a year where anything green rocks is kinda awesome. Check out some of the green from around the office.

Enjoy!

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