Thomas-co Media

If You Don’t Have A Website Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Late

March 23rd, 2009

Brent

Table of contents for Web Sites

If You Don’t Have A Website Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Late

design Does every business need a web site? With more and more people using the Internet to find things like hotel rooms, make reservations, etc. with their computers and phones, the answer is yes.

What business needs a web site? Whether every business needs a web site has been a raging debate since the first web site was make. Absolutely every business needs one.

Example 1:

Lets take a look at a guy named Jon who is taking a vacation with his family. Jon lives in Dallas and is taking his family to a theme park in San Antonio. Jon and the family pack up and leave early Saturday morning, first stop will be Austin. But before he gets there he has a flat and the children are screaming for a pit stop. Jon has a road map but that does not help him 5 miles outside Austin, so Jon gets on his iPhone and does a search and finds a gas station just 1/4 quarter down the road. How did Jon find this gas station, it was the gas stations web site.

Example 2:

Lets say you have to make a business trip to New York. You have never been there before, so you check the Internet and make you a hotel and flight reservations. Great, ready for your trip tomorrow. OK, you get to New York, check into you hotel and your getting ready for you big presentation tomorrow. Oh, you just spilled your beer on that lucky shirt. What do you do, you are not from the town you are in. You remember you downloaded a plug in for your iPhone called AroundMe. You quickly find your iPhone and go to AroundMe and find a one hour cleaners just down the block. Great, a web site just saved your presentation.

The point to these examples is that more and more people are using computers, smart phones like (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) to find places, things, etc. prior to reaching a town. Web sites are for everyone, gas stations, mom and pop small business, small business, and corporations.

Tell us what you think, do you have more examples?

Niche Social-Media Sites

February 4th, 2009

Brent

Consider linking up with one of these social-media sites to narrow down your business’s target audience. You’ll find other professionals, enthusiasts and consumers who are most likely already interested in what your company has to offer.

Pixel Groovy: Web workers will love Pixel Groovy, an open-source site that lets members submit and rate tutorials for Web 2.0, email and online-marketing issues.
Mixx: Mixx prides itself on being “your link to the Web content that really matters.” Submit and rate stories, photos and news to drive traffic to your own site. You’ll also meet others with similar interests.
Tweako: Gadget-minded computer geeks can network with each other on Tweako, a site that promotes information sharing for the technologically savvy.
Small Business Brief: When members post entrepreneur-related articles, a photo and a link to their profile appear, gaining you valuable exposure and legitimacy online.
Sphinn: Sphinn is an online forum and networking site for the Internet marketing crowd. Upload articles and guides from your blog to create interest in your own company or connect with other professionals for form new contacts.
BuzzFlash.net: This one-stop news resource is great for businesses that want to contribute articles on a variety of subjects, from the environment to politics to health.
HubSpot: HubSpot is another news site aimed at connecting business professionals.

10 Excellent Inspiration Sites for graphic design.

March 1st, 2012

Brent

We all get imagination block from time to time. It is fun to browse some the the best Inspiration sites to clear that mental block and get your imagination going again.

The Book Cover Archive - “An archive of book cover designs and designers

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LooksLikeGoodDesign - “It shows you the best works of Graphic Designers, Motion Designers, Advertisers, Architects and Product Designers. With one or two posts per day, you will find a good dose of high quality inspiration. ”

GigPosters - “GigPosters.com showcases gig posters, handbills and flyers from around the world. Great for artists, musicians, bands, designers, venues and music collectors. A collection of rock posters and music posters.”

The Design Inspiration -“The Design Inspiration is created by a group of designers who are seeking various design inspiration every day. To make every designer’s life easier, we decided to feature the best logos, illustrations, websites, photos and patterns from the most talented designers from all around the world. And we would like to make sure that you are getting the freshest and best quality design inspirations daily.”

CreativeDepart - “Through Creative Depart we try to reach out to all those beautiful, creative and enriching things in the world that enable us to evolve or simply be amazed by the endless creativity of human mind. From design to art, illustration to photography, trend to fashion, we search to capture the essence of what each creation wants to communicate.”

Designflavr - Browse all Art and Design Inspiration

Deviantart

How can you write about digital art inspiration and not mention Deviantart? As a community destination, deviantART is a platform that allows emerging and established artists to exhibit, promote, and share their works within a peer community dedicated to the arts. The site’s vibrant social network environment receives over 100,000 daily uploads of original art works ranging from traditional media, such as painting and sculpture, to digital art, pixel art, films and anime.

Dribbble

Dribbble is show and tell for designers, developers and other creatives. Share sneak peeks of your work as “shots” — small screenshots of the designs and applications you’re working on.

Yay Everyday

Yay!Everyday is an endless wall of awesome art. It’s always joy to visit the site and just scroll and check out those fantastic artworks.

Creattica

Creattica is a gallery of great design and inspirational imagery. Anyone can submit their work for consideration and voting on items is open to one and all. The best work is accepted and featured in the gallery which receives thousands of visitors every day.