WordCamp Toronto 2009 is Over
May 10, 2009 by Duncan
WordCamp Toronto 2009
Well WordCamp Toronto is all done for another year. I had an absolute blast learning lots of new things, will probably take a few days for it all to sink in. On Saturday I did a presentation on how Digital Deceptions transitioned from a Flash based website to a WordPress Content Management System and all the benefits and doors it has opened for me over the last year.
You can find my slides here.
And the biggest surprise this weekend was Digital Deceptions taking away the Best Theme Design Award, I’m still in shock.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people I met at the conference Jason from GueRilla Marketers, Glenn from Global Catalyst, Robert from SMO Joe and Alfred from Butterscotch just to name a few. I had some great conversations talking shop.
I would also like to thank Brendan from BackSpaceStudios and Phug and all the volunteers who put on a great show, here is the link if you want to learn all about the WordCamp Toronto 2009 conference.
I’m Speaking At WordCamp Toronto 2009
March 4, 2009 by Duncan
WordCamp Toronto 2009
Well it is official, on Saturday, May 9 at 10:45AM I will be speaking at WordCamp Toronto 2009. This is the second time Toronto is hosting the event and I have to admit that I missed the first one last year because I only started really using WordPress late last spring.
At the moment I am a little concerned about speaking in front of such a large audience but it is still a couple of months away so I have plenty of time to prepare.
Where Do You Think Will You Be In 6 Months?
This opportunity has come up at an interesting time in my career. Six months ago I restructured my entire business model, switched from a Flash website to WordPress and incorporated (SEO) search engine optimization and online marketing strategies into my game plan and have to say that last September I could never have imagined doing so well or that I would even be doing a presentation at WordCamp Toronto 2009.
Anyways On With the Show
I have been to a few similar type events namely Flash in the Can and absolutely love seeing industry people talking shop, it is one thing following somebody’s work online and in magazines but when you get to see them talk and then get a chance to meet them it is a whole other experience, kind of like stalking…lol.
So Who Am I Going To Stalk At WordCamp?
Brendan Sera-Shriar
Last summer I took a WordPress course at the Rich Media Institute which was taught by Brendan Sera-Shriar who runs BackSpace Studios, Phug - Open Source Culture and who also happens to be the big man behind the show, I learnt so much from him in such a little time so I am looking forward to hear what he has got to say. Also I am really interested in his release of FlashPress which is as you guessed it Flash using WordPress as an CMS engine.
Peter Flaschner
Peter Flaschner from The Blog Studio is another gentleman I am looking forward to hearing speak, he has been doing what I have been recently doing but for much, much longer so I will be like a sponge trying to soak up all he has to say.
Nick La
Nick La of Designer Wall, Best Web Gallery and N.Design Studio who I have followed for a couple of years will also be speaking. Nick is always sharing his knowledge and presenting it in a way that is easy to read and visually pleasing.
Matt Brett
Although Matt isn’t on the list of speakers a little birdie (tweet) told me he will be at the event. He happens to be a big time WordPresser who is also from the Durham Region like myself and I have followed his work for quite a while now, you can find his awesome site at MattBrett.com I have never really spoke to him before but I have been following up on his blog and tweets so I guess I am a true stalker…lol, anyway I look forward to hopefully meeting him at the venue.
That is just a few of the people I want to see, I could go on and on but I will save it for another post. You can find the official WordCamp Toronto 2009 site right here.
Back To The Grind
January 9, 2009 by Duncan
Well it is the end of the first week of the New Year, all the holidays are over and clients are just starting to come out of the woodwork again and want to pick up where they left off but seem to have forgotten where that was…lol.
I on the other hand have not forgotten at all and know the exact stage of each project because over the years I have developed a process for dealing with design work and by breaking each job up into logical stages ensures that all aspects of the project are covered and both parties (the client and myself) know what to expect, what is expected and when.
This year I decided to changes things up a little and instead of chasing clients down the first week of the New Year I have taken the that work week off to get Digital Deceptions lean and mean and ready for business, you don’t get too far with clients the first week of January so why stress?
For the first quarter of the New Year I have a couple of exciting ventures in the works that are almost ready to begin and a few web projects in various stages of completion so all the tricks I have learnt over the holidays should come in very handy.
I’m not into making New Year resolutions and I don’t know what this year will bring but I am not too concerned because I have very diverse clientele and I offer many different services so I am confident that I can weather whatever storms come my way.
Cheers and all the best in 2009.
Choosing Your Technology Wisely
November 16, 2008 by Duncan
As a graphic and web designer I am constantly on the lookout for new technologies, upgrading my skills, testing new software and dabbling in different programming languages to see what can fit into my arsenal. By keeping on top of technology and in the know allows me to evaluate and improve my efficiency as a designer by adding what I find to be a benefit through my review and analysis.
Two main factors that determine my decision to incorporate any technology is “will it make my life easier by saving me time” and “will I be able to better assist my clients by offering a more varied toolset giving them more options?”
All Choices Are Client Driven
Both considerations are aimed at the customer, the less time it takes me to complete a project the less expensive it will be and if I can foresee problems before they arise the cheaper it will be to the client in the end.
To successfully complete a graphic or web design project you first have to lay the foundation by accurately establishing the client’s objectives, predicting barriers and then choose what technologies to use, it is all about time versus money and how long it takes to build solutions to obstacles, the more flexible the technology you choose the better.
Working For the Man
I have come a long way since 1998 when I first started immersing myself in the latest and greatest. At one time I was the go to guy in the electronics department at a big box store where I got to play with all the new high-tech gadgets quenching my thirst for knowledge and proving to be an invaluable experience which has helped me get to where I am today.
So you would think that when it came to me purchasing electronics for myself I would be very knowledgeable (which I think I am) and avoid any gimmicky thingamajigs that are on the market but I to have made a couple of bad decisions at one time or another and I thought that I would share one with you.
I am not your average user when it comes to computers and related equipment for the simple fact alone that I tend to spend at least ten hours a day in front of a screen, I’m a power user so my equipment gets used and abused much quicker than most so I tend to purchase better quality products.
Over the years one of the best companies I have found has been Logitech, I have never had a problem with any of their mice or keyboards in the past ten years and they produce solid, quality products and I have always trusted them.
A few years ago I purchased a wireless keyboard mouse combo which looking back I have to admit that I only bought them because they looked really cool and that they were wireless. I put my trust into Logitech and they didn’t disappoint, their products worked flawlessly.
The Mouse from Hell
Logitech MX Revolution
So a couple of years later when they brought out there fully loaded wireless MX Revolution laser mouse that was touted as being the most sophisticated mouse released to date, I had to have it. It worked great out of the box but soon I started having issues with it and as I surfed the net to find out how to correct the bugs I was shocked to find out that many people were having the same trouble, it was a $140 piece of crap riddled with various problems depending on your system configuration or how close it was to another wireless connection, it should of never even hit the market.
My first mistake was trust; you should always research a product before you purchase it no matter who the company is unless you have had experience with that particular product. The second thing I did wrong was falling in love with the heavy marketing campaign that went along with the product, Logitech had never done anything on that scale before and I ate it up.
The most important thing that I forgot right from the beginning was the fact that it was just a mouse, all I needed was a simple little $10 device but I wanted the Ferrari and I got burnt.
Back To Basics
Feeling a little bit humble from the experience I have now gone back to a corded keyboard and mouse setup. I stuck with good old dependable Logitech but ironically I didn’t really have to do much research on either product because there weren’t many corded options to choose from (sign of the times I guess) and I can say that they are both top notch and best of all no more changing or recharging batteries.
Sometimes we just get caught up in the details and get lost, we are inundated with so much technology and information out there today that we tend to forget what we were initially looking for all the while being hit by a constant drove of advertisements selling similar products and services.
Below is a breakdown of the three mistakes I made that got me into my little predicament. Although it wasn’t a very costly lesson, more of an inconvenience I feel it is these little experiences both good and bad that allow me to grow by being able to look at myself from different angles be it the designer, client or the consumer.
Marketing
- Advertising and promotion can sell anything, it is a proven fact. Just look at all those really bad infomercials that use to be on TV late at night, they were on at that time because airtime was less expensive for those hours but now they are on at all hours of the day. If this kind of marketing didn’t sell product then you would never see them on and the funny part is that the advertisements are so obviously low budget and the ads still work. Don’t believe the hype.
Device or Deception?
- What are you really after a tool or a toy? You rarely get both in the same product and these days everything is packed with so many different options that you don’t need but you are paying for and the whole idea of convenience has run amuck taking over simplicity and usability. When your scanner, printer fax machine goes on the fritz you have potentially lost all three, try finding a mobile phone without an MP3 player or camera and it goes on and on just be aware and don’t get caught up in all the so called enhancements.
Research
- Product reviews are a great way of finding out how well something works in the real world but you have to be careful because they can also be a savvy marketing campaign by the manufacturer to exploit the public’s naivety. Trustworthy reviews should come from third parties and watch out for advertisements of the same brand or company from the same source as the review.
Analytics, Keywords, Social Media and the Power of the Blog
October 30, 2008 by Duncan
Website analytics or statistics are basically just a bunch of numbers and information. By studying the analytics and making changes and tweaks you can fine tune your web projects to meet your goals. Over the past few months I have been heavily experimenting with this information on my website and it has amazed me just how much power you truly have about the people visiting your site.
So Our Story Begins
A few weeks ago I went to a friend’s wedding and at the wedding there were other friends who I see maybe once or twice a year, we all laughed and joked and had a really goodtime. One of the friends who we will call “X” happens to be a designer as well and works for a marketing company so naturally after a few drinks we ended up talking about the biz, me about freelancing and “X” about the marketing company.
I was talking about how the change in the economy has affected me and “X” was basically saying the same thing and also mentioned the fact that it felt like it was time to leave the marketing company and find something different and closer to home. As the night went on and I mentioned some of the work I do “X” mentioned that “I can get you work like that because I speak to all sorts of people all the time” blah, blah, blah.
Now I don’t put any faith behind that kind of stuff because first off the wedding was an open bar and secondly most people in those positions who never thought of you in the first place are usually just talking out of their bottom lip, we have all done it. Towards the end of the night I gave “X” some of my business cards, said goodbye and never thought about it again.
Checking Google Analytics Daily
The next week as I was going through my web statistics looking for the name of a company’s server I had sent my portfolio link to I noticed that somebody from the marketing company that “X” worked for had visited my homepage for all of three seconds…lol, could this have been “X”? Lately I have mainly been using my analytics to see how long companies I have sent my portfolio to are looking at my work, the longer they stay the more interested they are which is an awesome tool to have.
The Hate mail
Two weeks later I get this email from my website The Free Lance saying that somebody posted a comment. Before I read the comment I thought to myself that it was probably going to be spam as usual but to my surprise it was legit, not only was it legit it was badmouthing me telling me how much I sucked and what my work looked like. It was hate mail……Dun…dun..Dunnnnn!
This was not the first and probably won’t be the last time I get hate mail but as I read it I felt that it was from someone I knew, it was real personal and there was a real genuine hate to it like I really got under someone’s skin. So later on in the afternoon when I finally stopped crying and was able to face the nasty note again…lol I decided I wanted to see where this comment came from and if I could possibly find out who wrote it.
Logging Into the Web Statistics Yet Again
Google Analytics
When I received the email notification about the comment it came with a timestamp and an IP address. The timestamp alone makes it very simple to narrow down the amount of info you have to wade through and it didn’t take me very long to pull up the culprit’s location which was quite local, I knew it sounded too personal to be a stranger. When I looked to see the name of the server I was shocked to find out that it was “X’s” marketing company yet again, if I can watch users like a hawk think what your government can do.
Could it be?
I now knew deep down that it was “X” who sent me that devastating message but I still needed more proof so I checked the site that referred “X” to my blog and it happened to be Google. So what I am a 100% sure of is that somebody using “X’s” marketing company’s network found my site Digital Deceptions had to of typed something into the search engine to find me. What could it have been?
The Keywords
Next I clicked on the keywords button and watched with anticipation as the page changed and sitting right in front of my monitor were the keywords typed into Google by the mysterious hater “graphic design jobs durham region”. It had to be “X” at work looking for something different and closer to home just like what was stated in our conversation at the wedding a couple of weeks earlier.
I’m positive that “X” is the malefactor but I still had to investigate a little further so I went to Facebook where I knew “X” had a page and wouldn’t you know it, both the mystery message and “X’s” Facebook page both excessively use the period key…………The smoking gun!
So What Am I Supposed To Do?
My Reply to the Hate mail
How can you be drinking, laughing and having a goodtime with somebody one moment and then do a complete flip? It must have taken a lot for “X” to have even been at the same function let alone speak to me that night because from what I got from that vile message was true hate. For whatever reason “X” dislikes me so much I may never know but at least I now know the truth.
I really wanted “X” to know that I wasn’t guessing and knew the true creator of the note so I sent a short email to “X” revealing just a couple of the intimate details that only myself and the author would know and so far no reply.
Facebook Wall Post
Funny enough last night after finishing the first draft of this post “X” had written on my Facebook wall (lots of periods of course…..) nonchalantly asking me to take down some drunken photos that I had in my gallery (which I did) and mentioned that “business was down” and that there were no openings at the marketing company but would keep me posted. Ironically this is the first time “X” has ever contacted me and it was just like nothing had ever happened. What a phony all I want is for “X” to admit what they did but I guess that is not going to happen so let the song and dance begin.
What the Stats Have Really Told Me
Besides the fact that the analytics pointed me to whom, where and when they never told me why but they did paint a picture and as malicious as the comments were I know they weren’t premeditated. “X” genuinely found my site looking for something else, a graphic design job in Durham Region and maybe “X” was just having a rough day at work, the 1920 X 1200 pixel monitor they use wasn’t working properly or whatever and just took the eighteen minutes and thirteen seconds they stayed on my site to vent and just got caught. That is the story that I like to believe.
I don’t know if it is karma or dumb luck that “X” chose to be so dastardly when they did or if it was my impressive search engine optimization skills that lead them to my website but what I do know is that years ago I would have revealed names and places on my blog but luckily for “X” I have matured. Although “X” is apparently looking for a new job (that much was true) I’m sure “X” wouldn’t want their marketing company to know that let alone about the verbal venom that gets spewed from their servers.
Either way from a SEO and marketing stand point it would be a huge missed opportunity on my part to let something like this go and not blog about it plus it is absolutely hilarious. So to take a quote from the message that “X” sent me “keep it consistent, practice what you preach” I will, and just like in an earlier post I made called Public Relations and Moral Lessons for Designers I will be a professional and not mention your true name or company online because I wouldn’t want to get you fired, but I will tell all of our friends because unlike me it is you that truly sucks, good luck finding a job and if you ever need a web site give me a call. :p
