I clicked on the link suspecting some spam site has picked up my RSS feed and when the web page loaded I sat there for a moment stunned and very confused because the home page that I just downloaded looked very much like my own but it had a few things missing.

It Was a Complete Duplicate

My company logo and header graphic were gone and in their place was Raj Creatives, Multimedia Designer, the title tags no longer said “Graphic Design and Web Design from Durham Region” but “Graphic Design and Web Design from Rajasekaran”.

WTF?

Because I was still waking up the first thing I thought was that my WordPress site got hacked, but a quick glance at the address bar soon put those fears to rest for another day and as I began to look at the site much closer I immediately saw that it was an exact copy of my hard work that some bush league graphic and web designer, sorry “Multimedia Designer” ripped off and is using it to showcase his shoddy portfolio and other works he is trying to take credit for.

This isn’t the first time I have been a victim of plagiarism, it is the third and funny enough they all have been this year but this Mr. S. Rajasekaran is by far the worst offender that I have caught. They say that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery but this guy has still got my content on his front page, my copyright, legal notice, and link to my old website and XHTML strict compliance.

I have been freelancing in the design business now for almost ten years and most of the last decade has been really tough, the internet bubble burst just before I finished college, there was absolutely no industry employers when I was coming out of school and studio jobs were nonexistent because most of the advertising and online marketing companies folded or cut back and all the experienced designers started taking all the freelance work.

I Know How Hard it is

I am pretty understanding and I know where this guy is coming from but the more I looked at what he did to my work the more angry I got. What if for whatever reasons his pilfered version of my website takes months or even years to be deleted from the Free Web Hosting Area servers (where it rests at the moment) and a potential client looking for me finds the stolen page, it does contain a lot of my content and what if they think that I do lousy work?

Original Website and My Bread and Butter

This isn’t just my blood, sweat and tears, it’s my livelihood and something I take very seriously. I don’t mind in the least that you copied my website to your hard drive, I do it quite often myself as it is the best way to learn. But when I get down to creating I come at it from a different angle, build it from scratch and try to do it better, I don’t steal.

The difference between you and I is that I always want to improve my skills by knowing how things work so I can offer a better product while you just take and then put your name on it hoping to make a quick buck, its people like you that devalue this profession, have no respect for intellectual property and make many clients so distrustful of us.

Two Great Quotes to Think About Mr. Rajasekaran

“Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”
Pablo Picasso.

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”
Albert Einstein.

The website in question(I don’t know how long it will be available so I have some screen caps and would you believe that this guy has actually watermarked some of his own work with his name and phone number …lol )

Now Since I got all the business out of the way I would like to thank you for providing me with the unexpected opportunity to once again utilize my blog to practice search engine optimization techniques to better position my keywords by allowing me to talk about my graphic and web design company Digital Deceptions.

On the front page of my website I have a link to SlideShare where you can download the presentation I did at WordCamp Toronto 2010 on how to use WordPress and Social Media to Win an Election, on your version of my site you have your resume …lol.

Once a Thief, Was That a TV Show or a Movie?

I read your resume and even all your experience is a lie, judging by the bang up graphics butcher job you did with my work there is no possible way on earth you could have designed the web pages you say you did, plus all those sites you supposedly designed have got the design companies names on the bottom of them. Who do you think you are?

The Best is Yet to Come

At the bottom of Mr. S. Rajasekaran’s resume he has a declaration which reads:

I, hereby declare that the information furnished above is true to the best of my knowledge. If given an opportunity to work in your esteemed organization, I can perform to the best of my capabilities in a way that is satisfies the organization’s need and my career thirst.

Isn’t That Just Priceless?

Well if anyone is interested in Mr. Rajasekaran’s Multimedia Design services you can give him a call on his mobile at (988) 425-1897 day or night, mail or stop by his flat if you happen to be in India, he can be found at No.18, Seevaram 2nd Street, Perungudi, Chennai – 600 096 or you could just email him rajasekaran.gpcp@gmail.com. And yes ladies he is single as mentioned in his resume and if anyone does happen to contact my friend Mr. Rajasekaran don’t forget to wish that asshole a happy birthday, he turns 23 on May 27 which is next week and please do tell him that Duncan sent you.

Borderline obsessed today with all this? Yes maybe a little but it just happens to be Canada Day May 24 long weekend and I’m going to chalk it up to timing because I usually don’t have this much time on my hands 8p

Well once again WordCamp Toronto has come and gone. I got to see a lot of familiar faces and just like last year’s event I met interesting people and enjoyed making new contacts while practicing the art of networking.

Some of those new people include:

• Sue Varty of Wordtree Consulting a copyrighter
• Martha Chan the owner of the Divorce Marketing Group
• Brian Caicco the lead creative and project manager of dtmedia
• Christy Heenan the founder of Virtuall a virtual assistant providing administrative and marketing support
• Mai Peck a mortgage agent from The Mortgage Centre
• Clarence Johnson a photographer and eyewear photoblogger who has a cool concept website called
• Picpu about dudes like me who were glasses (my pic on his blog)
• Laurie (didn’t catch her last name) of Elle Media
• Ruth Maude a freelance web designer (like me) who’s company is called Dandelion Web Design Inc.
• Brian Anderson a content strategist and copywriter from Strategic Content who I first met on twitter and had the pleasure to meet in person
• The mysterious guy Joe from Double Take who I did not get any contact info from, had some good fun and great conversations with you …lol
• The event organizers Mathieu Yuill of Yuill.ca and Melissa Feeney of Mel, do tell thanks for all of your hard work.

Location

This year’s event was held at the Centennial College Student Centre, first time I had been there and I thought it was a pretty good spot to have it. There was a good crowd turnout, it was spacious and wasn’t packed to the point that you felt like a herd of cattle having trouble moving around and it best of all it wasn’t hot and uncomfortable like some of these events can easily become.

The WiFi didn’t have any issues unlike other events I have been to in the past and there was a lot of crowd surfing (online, no mosh pits) and tweets going on throughout both days.

It is getting pretty late, I have (what I usually call) computer butt from sitting in crappy chairs all weekend which is my only complaint, back is killing me and my Aeron isn’t even helping so it is time to go to bed. I will write a little more about the event during the week and get into some of the presentations.



Wow it is WordCamp time already and I am lucky enough again this year to be speaking at it. From the exposure I got from my presentation last year and a couple of key contacts that were made, Digital Deceptions has by far had it’s most successful year since this crazy ride began.

At this years event I will be speaking with one of my partners in crime Glenn McKnight from Global Catalysts Consulting Service and our topic is “Using WordPress and Social Media to Win an Election”.

WordCamp Toronto 2010 is taking place on March 27 and 28 and will be held at the Centennial College Student Centre. You can find out all about it at the WordCamp Toronto website.

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.

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.

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. here is the official WordCamp Toronto website.

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.

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

When I received the email notification about the comment it came with a time stamp and an IP address. The time stamp 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?

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?

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.

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

The truth of the matter is that without a web site potential clients question your professionalism, commitment to customer service, and long-term stability of your company.

The Internet is the Search Tool Consumers Use

The popularity of the web means that when potential clients find out you don’t have a website, the reaction is similar to how they would feel if you didn’t have a place of business. They either wonder why and you lose credibility or you can attract a very undesirable type of customer.

A professional website says that you are on top of your game, you have a sound business plan for the future, and that you want to make the customer’s experience with your company as positive as possible.

My Business Doesn’t Need a Website

I have spoken to business owners in many different industries and have discovered that in some markets there is a feeling that a website is just not useful for “their type of products or services”, and that no one could possibly buy their “product x” or “service y” online, so why even bother with a website?

Well a website is about more than just selling products and services. It is a tool that can give your latest news and contact information. It announces expansions and new products or services. It can boast about your good reputation, a long standing presence in the industry, or positive client testimonials.

It can also find you employees buy accepting resumes or be an information resource for customers, a way for potential clients to take a look at your facilities or equipment.

At the very least a website should be there to assist your prospective clients and existing customers with your location, mailing address, hours of operations and what holidays your company is closed.

When phoning around, many consumers will look elsewhere the instant they call and get a busy signal, voicemail, or are put on hold for too long. But your website is always on, and always there working for you.

These problems range in size from minor to major and the usual suspects are web standards and compliance which pretty much means that websites function well in one browser but differently or maybe not even at all in others. Another huge issue is usability, if you don’t understand how the website works how are you ever going to navigate to the information you are looking for?

So let’s say a website passes all these hurdles, it adheres to web standards and functions properly in Firefox, Safari, Opera, the new Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7 and even the dreaded IE6. It is so simple to use even your granny or your mouth breathing nephew can use it, but does it look good?

Not only do you have to work within a strict set of rules to impact the largest amount of users you have to present it graphically in away the is very pleasing to the eye and simultaneously compliments the content that is being examined.

Unfortunately Most Websites Just Plain Suck

You would expect when any of these vulnerabilities are overlooked it is either very small companies, nonprofits or just an amateur’s personal space but unfortunately that is not the case because these practices are rampant. When I’m surfing the web I come across the very same problems in all industry websites almost on a daily basis.

Now I know that my perception of the web is skewed because of my trained eye and it may sound like I am complaining about the state of the web but really I am not. I am fully aware that from a business stand point it is much better for me that most websites are subpar which finally brings me to the very point of this blog entry, bad graphic and web designers.

Specifically the graphic and web designers in the Regional Municipality of Durham where I live, my competition who rate from very poor to really good as in most places. Fortunately there is only a hand full of us good designers in the Durham Region (notice I said us? …lol) so you would think that most business owners and groups commissioning websites would stay away from all the riffraff but they haven’t.

Many Clients Distrust Designers Because of Past Experiences

What I have found is that clients have almost always had a bad experience from their first website and usually that is why they are looking to get a second one done. This is the proverbial double edged sword, on one hand you are talking shop and networking with potential clients and on the other hand they come with baggage and distrust from the bad experience they had with the last design studio or freelancer they worked with.

A couple of tell tale signs of bad design habits to look out for when you are in need of graphic or web design work are no website or portfolio,  website doesn’t function properly or a date on the site is a year or two old. Of course there are many others but that is for a later blog entry you get the idea.

An indicator of a good designer or Design Company is how thorough they are and if they have some sort of process that they use to get the job done. Using a design process is key no matter what size or type of project is being commissioned and you will quickly find that there will most likely be issues in a project that were otherwise unforeseen by the client but by having a design process in place these issues are recognized and addressed before they become a problem.

Good Work Ethic

As much as I would like to out some of the major local culprits in the Ajax, Pickering, Whitby and Oshawa graphic and web design industry I feel that it would do more damage than good as I have set some strict business and moral standards for myself and Digital Deceptions and reframe from bad mouthing anyone specifically and let the work both theirs an mine speak for itself.

So if you are a business owner, have a unique product or idea and are in need of hiring a local graphic or web designer from the Durham Region area, have a look at my portfolio before you make your decision, Digital Deceptions creates all types of graphics from logos to print layouts and I specialize in web design and animation.

Before I tell you how let me explain to you why it is very important to have offsite backups. We all know it is important to make backups for obvious reasons and that is great if you do but what if your house or office was broken into and all your equipment was stolen, even you’re backups. Even worse what if your backups were destroyed in a flood or fire? How safe are your important files?

Is Your Digital Information Safe?

Just because you do perform backups doesn’t mean you are safe, that is why you should also have a secondary backup offsite that resides away from your primary backup. There are many places to go for these services and they all have theirs ups and downs which I don’t want to get into here but they are services and they do cost money.

So what do I do? Simple, I use Gmail. As of this writing I have almost 7 gigabytes of space (and getting larger) in Google mail and I am only using about 3% which is equivalent to 280 megabytes. I have been using it for a couple of years now, I use it every day and it has saved me on more than one occasion.

In my Gmail account I have made “Labels” which are pretty much like folders that you can name and put emails into. On the top right under Settings > Accounts there is a feature called “Send mail as:” which allows you to send mail from your Gmail account that looks like it is from your POP3 so nobody will know you are even using Gmail.

I also have my primary POP3 (digitaldeceptions.ca) account send a copy of every email received to my Gmail account, when I receive the email in my Gmail account I put the email in the appropriate “Label”. So for instance when a client sends me a copy of their logo I will store it in their folder and always have a secure copy of it online.

Google Mail is Pretty Good for Email Also

I also use Gmail when I send mail, when communicating with clients I always send a “blind carbon copy” to my Gmail account so I will always have a record of my business transactions offsite.

Now if you want to store huge files you are going to be better off purchasing an online backup subscription from somewhere, this little method is perfect for smaller type files only and if you are a freelancer I guarantee this will save your life someday.