SLEEK development

So I just Googled ‘al gore invented the internet’ and read all the references and opinions about whether or not Al Gore gave himself credit for creating the internet. I think he does give himself more than his fair share of credit, which is cool. For SLEEK, whether he did, or did not, come out and say that he created the internet we still like the phrase. We coined it around these parts as: Al Gore Cred.

Al Gore Cred

This phrase means we think something is super sick.  The ‘father’ of the web might agree, anything that we give ‘Al Gore Cred’, or ‘AGC’ in some places, means that we really like what we see. This is official name for giving internet props or credit. SLEEK is all about giving credit where credit is due. We are also all about letting people know our inside jokes, the last thing we want to be is the snobby web development guys who are condescending and obnoxious. We know some guys like this…they suck. We are real life dudes who do real magic on the web, really…

In case this is your first visit to our site please check out our Portfolio and contact us if we can offer you any value in the world of responsive online media. Our specialty is bringing your online goals to fruition and creating a harmonious online presence that incorporates the latest trends with functional design. Email or call us, we would love to work with you.

We want to help you gain ‘Al Gore Cred’ with your site/business.

Must read? Really?

Okay, okay, we understand that it is a big claim — ‘MUST READ’, but we have good reason for it. This book is all about how to be an entrepreneur today, right now. It dispels some common myths in regards to becoming an entrepreneur. Here’s what a man by the name of Seth Godin had to say about this book:

“Every once in a while, a book comes out of left field that changes just about everything. This is one of those books. Ignore it at your own peril.”

The book sort of chronicles 37 Signals journey in creating their tremendously successful web app called Basecamp. Their web apps are used by over 3 million people today. The book explains in detail their philosophy about work, management, and creativity. The book is about 180 pages long but it is really about 120 pages of real reading. We have never read a book written like this where there is no fluff,  no generalities, and it is so specific you will definitely walk away with some good ideas. It is a great book for every entrepreneur and business owner especially if your work is in the online world, and if not, it will still inspire you to run your business more effectively and start the business you have been meaning to for a while now.

SLEEK uses Basecamp.

This tool, as they explain in their book, allows you to work seamlessly with people all over the world and keep everyone on the same page. We use it every single day because it enables us to work on multiple projects and never lose any information as well as collaborate on things we all need to be involved in no matter where we are in the world.
You can test all of their apps for 30 days at no cost. Click on this link to check out Basecamp for yourself.

Click this link to get the ‘Getting Real’ E-book for free!

We’ve been saying this for a few years now and everyday, the locations of this virtual real estate are being occupied. Business’ need to start thinking of their websites as an asset. As a piece of real estate. And if you build your piece of real estate the right way, you can have your very own Park Place or Boardwalk.

Having trouble seeing the value in a Website?

Most small, medium sized businesses either don’t have a website at all or have neglected their websites because they feel like they don’t get anything out of them. Well when it comes to the web, it’s not a “build it and they will come” scenario. There are so many different aspects that come into play in order to get your site working hard for you.

• Professional & Custom Design
• Copy
• Functionality
• Is the site Search Engine friendly?
• How are driving traffic?

Again, just having a site is not enough, with the tools available in this day and age we are seeing a new kind of informational and virtual land grab. People are claiming virtual territory wherever their customers are on the web. The strength of your online presence is directly related to your bottom line. This aspect incorporates SMO, SEO, brand monitoring and protection, amount of content, just to name a few.

Maybe now is a good time to sit back and think about your website. Is it working hard for you? Is it delivering value or results? If not, it may be time to re-evaluate or put it in the hands of a the right people. Start researching online media companies and agencies.

Don’t be afraid to invest in your virtual real estate.

What do we mean by holistic web design?

We are not talking about organic food and homeopathic cures (I used to always think of these things when I heard the word holistic), we are talking about the purpose and function of your website. Does the layout of your site provide a road map to the ultimate goal of the site or are your visitors getting lost in the clutter?

To get technical, the definition of holistic is: Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

A big part of our business is educating our clients on how to build their site with each of these crucial parts incorporated into their online media plan. These parts include:

• Brand Harmony
• Virtual Real Estate
• New Age Marketing
• Functionality

These parts all working in harmony result in holistic web design. This simple process that SLEEK takes with their web design services seems simple yes, yet so many design firms and business’ forget to take it into consideration.

Over this next week we’ll be following up with a blog post for each of the 4 main points listed above. If you’re reading this, you should ask yourself if your website is functioning the way you want it to. If it’s not, it’s time to sit back down and get your site up to par.

Stay tuned…

A new wave has hit with the way businesses are being marketed and promoted. A big part of this promoting is happening on the online world. One form of online marketing that has really begin to take off is Social Media or Social Networking. The word “Social” now means so much more then just a hand shake/meet & greet, or taking a client to a business lunch meeting. Times have changed and our society is getting more social by the minute.

There are 2 points I want to make in this post.

• Being Social to Promote your Business
• Being Social to Protect your Business

Hopefully, you can make connection with them and apply them to your business.

Being Social to Promote your Business

Let’s talk about ways of being social to promote your business.

First things first. There is a lot of talk and a growing popularity with all the social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn), micro blogging (Twitter), etc. More and more businesses are realizing not only the power of social media but also the value of it. With the large followings of these social networks you can reach out the millions of users. Not only can you talk to millions of visitors, you can also find the specific niche or market your company is in and promote your company that way. This will not only create immediate traffic and brand recognition but it will also bring in qualified traffic.

So… Is your company setup through any social networks.?

Do you have a Twitter account? Do you have a facebook account? One thing that has been going on with these social networks is account or URL “squatting” What does that mean? Basically, take SLEEK development as the brand name for example. Someone will go and register a Twitter account (www.twitter.com/SLEEKdevelopment) under our brand name. This is very frustrating to say the least when you go to register an account. Bottom line, you must register these accounts before someone else does. So if you haven’t done so already, go and setup social accounts under your company name.

Being Social to Protect your Business

This is something that anyone promoting their brand or company online should be doing. The title of this can be a little mis-leading though.

Protecting your Brand doesn’t always have to be a negative thing. Monitoring and Protecting your brand can actually be a positive thing. There are several tools such as: Google Alerts, where you can track specific keywords that are indexed by Google. You’ll be notified instantly. So if your brand is “XYZ company” it would be wise to setup a Google Alert for that keyword. If you’re being a “social business” you can take what others are saying about you across the web and make it a positive impact to your brand.

For example, say there is a forum where a group of customers is talking about your brand. Well, why not join the conversation? Say thank you, find out what else you can do to make your product better, or just a simple hello glad you liked our product. Whatever the case may be, don’t be afraid to be SOCIAL. You are the voice of your brand and being social and leveraging these social networks is a great way to protect your brand.

So, are you being “Social” to Promote & Protect your brand online?

We’re making good progress with Urban Solutions. When they first came to SLEEK development they knew they wanted to have an online presence and go after the endless amount of potential customers they just weren’t sure how to go about it.

Design Process

We were given the wonderful opportunity to just “run with it.” After a few revision rounds with the new client we were able to decide on a look and feel for the new landing pages. As we sat down to develop the new pages we wanted to make sure we accomplished a few things.

Guide the visitor to an extremely relevant landing page (We recommended creating several unique landing pages with appropriate content)

Have the visitor complete the desired action which in this case was for a FREE Quote.

They were pleased with what we came up with and we eager to move to the next steps.

Development

After the final approval we rolled our sleeves up and got to work on turning around the site quickly and efficiently. Within a few short days we were ready to push the site complete live.

Paid Search

On-Going we’ll be managing their paid search to drive quality traffic to their site to generate high-converting leads. We will deploy several campaigns to target different geo-locations and specific areas where they specialize in.

Overall, we’re happy with how the project turned out and we’ll be posting the website into our portfolio soon.

We’re excited to announce that Urban Solutions from Salt Lake City, UT has chosen SLEEK development to design and develop custom lead generation landing pages. They have a few unique requests for the project and we’re excited to take on the challenge. After the initial design and development of the site is done we’ve also been asked to deploy and manage a successful paid search campaign.

Again, we’re excited to take on the project and deliver value to our new client. We’ll keep you posted as the project progesses.

So here’s the first initial Logo development for the new Digital Signage Logo.  I’ve used 2 different “digital” fonts in the logo.  Also, I have used 2 different colors for each word.

Digital Signage Logo

Like I said, this is just the first round of the logo. I’m sure the logo will be much different at the end of the project.

We’ll keep you posted!

Fortunately for SLEEK we have been chosen by DigitalSignae.com to re-design their entire website.  We feel very lucky to be given this opportunity.

We have full flexiblity on the site’s overall look and feel.  They requested a few widgets and modules to be included but said we could do whatever we’d like on the design.

Check back soon to see what we come up with!

Isaac Farr is a one of kind musician.  Last year he packed up and moved to California to pursue his music career further.  By doing that, he gained a tremendous amount of exposure and experience. A few months ago, he moved back locally.  We got together and collaborated several ideas for his new custom WordPress music site.

Tying in several customizations to promote his personal brand and music:

• Custom Audio Player – Listen Here
• Apparel Section created by Cafe Press
• Custom Fan Polls

Overall, the project couldn’t have turned out better for him.  He now is able to manage his site on his own time, still allowing to keep his personal site genuine and fresh.