Update: Podcast has been cleared! Subscribe in iTunes

Also, we are working on making the podcast better. Please bear with us as we get more organized, and our nerves calm down.

However, I must mention a trend popping up: small, niche, publishers. Yes, A Book Apart is not the first company to succeed in a diminishing print industry. Five Simple Steps also started releasing books just last year.

Back on topic, Jeremy wraps up the 85 page book well, giving advice on what to do next. Jeremy is, as always, quotable and fun.

This fully technical, as you can be in 85 pages, and useful book is a must buy for 2010. However, you will have a hard time getting a hard copy; they successful sold out! Better order more next time Zeldman.

I can’t end this post without mentioning the design of the book itself. Jason Santa Maria did a knock-up job! He even gave us a few previews on dribbble.com.

The Changes

• New colors
• New fonts
• Easier to read: headlines, text, and code
• Comment avatars enabled
• Navigation placement
• Tagged added

Still coming

• Awesome home page
• Archives page
• Author’s page
• Regular page design

A Look Back

Here is a last look at what once was, Intel Designer.

This design is being processed and will be converted into a WordPress Theme. There will be a few changes to the design, because of my limitations and knowledge of the WordPress admin.

If you want to help me convert this design to a theme please let me know. I could use some help with the admin controls. Mainly adding baked in meta data fields for the theme.  I would love to get some help with this.

If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to hit me up on twitter. Thanks, for making this blog awesome!

Our Services

Robojuice is a web design studio and we have one objective, to help businesses reach their strategic online goals. However, we do more than design websites. If you ever need assistance reaching your online goals, please visit our website and contact us.

At Robojuice we work with you. We don’t produce a product without helping you use it effectively. Here is why:

• People do not use the web like they used to
• They use it every day, and every day things change
• Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have changed the way people find information and businesses
• Search is not the only factor
• Simply owning a website will not work

New Customer Management

Also, Robojuice will be using a few management tools, Basecamp and Freshbooks. Basecamp is an online project management tool used by companies like BusinessWeek, Fox Sports, and National Geographic. And, Freshbooks works with Basecamp so you can pay on and offline without a hitch.

Our Website: http://robojuice.com/

Now, I know when you’re new it’s hard to get clients to give you anything, content or cash. But, they don’t know what design is, and they don’t know that they need it. It’s not their job, it yours, and you need to inform them.

Doing design right

As I learned, design was not about picking up a brush and hoping something nice came out (This is what most new website owners assume). It was about understanding, communication and art.

I had the process all wrong:

1. design a site
2. plug in content
3. and market the content

Instead the process is quite the opposite:

1. understand the market
2. develop content based on that information
3. and let the content inform the design.

Market awareness

Marketing is the first step to design. For a writer, marketing is a story. For us, it’s the story of those we are working with. But we can only begin to write once we understand their story.

Content

Every story has characters. Who are the characters of the brand you are working with? What is their history? What is their personality? What do they do for fun? Are they goofy or proper?

Writing is hard if you don’t know these things. In the end writing is about bringing an idea to life. It’s about painting a picture in the mind’s eye; and it’s our job to communicate what that painting is emotionally.

Design

Communication is emotional. It is where most relationships break down too. If a design is not communicating correctly, how can the design stand? Well, it doesn’t. It never will. It’s like a person who smiles on the outside and wages war within. Bad design is like a volcano waiting to erupt without warning, and volcanoes erupt.

Design is informed by content. If it’s not, it’s not communicating.

What is your story?

So, what is the story you need to communicate? Have the characters already been given to you? Or, will you pretend that you can design the cover of a book without pages?

Yes, its 2010, but people still use IE6… not many, but enough to be depressing. Still, all is not lost. I happen to run across lesser known PNG fix for the aging browser. It’s called DD_belatedPNG. Unlike the traditional iepngfix.htc hack this bad boy gives you the ability to use positioned backgrounds and still retain transparency, among other things. Check it out for yourself.

No hairs for IE

However, if you don’t want anything to do with IE6, you’re in luck. Just recently Andy Clark updated his universal IE6 CSS on Google code. The new version lets you scrap the browser completely by serving it a nicely pruned style sheet that does just enough to be professional. Consider it the default style sheet you wish IE6 came with.

First, if you are having trouble getting your site indexed try submitting the URL to a site that gets indexed frequently. When you submit your domain name to these site be sure their reputation is good. Search engines will rank your site based on how reputable the sites that link to you are. Twitter is an excellent example because they are both reputable and indexed often.

Google URL Adder

If you didn’t know, Google has its own tool for adding URLs to its index. If you’re not sure Google can find your domain, try applying for Google spider to crawl your site on this site by using the tool. Google uses spiders to index websites so they appear in their search results. If you’re confused about how Google works check out this video, or visit their page all about it.

Web Design Agency

Normally, if your relationship is good, the design company that is making your site will add your domain to their portfolio. If their site gets indexed often yours is bound to get picked up. Be warned that not all websites are added to design company’s portfolios. Many only show their best work so they don’t overwhelm new clients coming to their domain.

Be sure to recognize the decisions made by those you are working with. You never know what their situation is like or how many clients they are working with. However, chances are, if you’re a really good client they will do you a favor and get you indexed anyways.

Just think for a second here. If you know that Facebook has 4,000,000 active accounts, that there are millions of Tweets per day, and Google searches are the most popular place to find out about local business online; would you think they were important? Would you think a website was important?

In fact, most small business don’t yet. According to Vanessa Fox, Author of Marketing in the Age of Google (HIGHLY recommended), “Only 44% of small business even have a Website.”

Most small business don’t want to spend the money

This is huge! Most small business don’t think they can afford to connect with customers outside of traditional marketing. That 56% if you missed it.

56% of small businesses are not thinking about the web yet. On Google, that means most small business can get ahead of their competitors 56%.

So, how much will that website cost you? Well, it depends on what you want, who you get your website from, and what their rate is.

Now, You can probably find someone who can build you a site for under $300. Just remember, what you put in is what you get out, and I’m not talking time. Its more like, garbage in garbage out.

Before I close here, I don’t want to leave a bad taste in your mouth. I want you to get pumped! This is an amazing opportunity. There is simply no reason to be overwhelmed.

Here are a few suggestions

1. Start small! Do not go in all at once. Facebook Pages and Twitter are free. Try them out right now! Go ahead, Google them… Google how to make a Facebook Page.
2. Find a consultant. You don’t need to be the expert. Its important to find a good consultant for digital marketing.
3. Don’t be cheap if you can help it. Have a defined budget. Know what your online brand is worth. It might be more than you think.
4. Read blogs on the topic. Find a good marketing blog and follow it. Some of the most relevant people in the industry, Chirs Brogan, Mitch Joel, and Seth Godin, give their knowledge away for free.