What is a QR Code?

Quick Response codes (QR codes) and other two-dimensional codes are expected to achieve widespread use this year – and for good reason. Consumers want immediate access to what’s relevant and QR codes are being used to make that possible.

QR Codes 101

If you’re not yet familiar with QR codes, they’re similar to the barcodes used by retailers to track inventory and price products at the point of sale. The key difference between the two is the amount of data they can hold or share.

Here is our QR Code for TND Creative..

The Origins of QR Codes

While QR codes are still considered a novelty here in the United States, they’ve been actively used for over a decade in Japan where they were invented.  QR is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota.  Denso Wave has elected not to exercise their patent rights of QR codes and that has encouraged their widespread use.

Introducing your site to the social web

A few of our clients have been asking whether they should be blogging or using Facebook or Twitter to help their websites along in the online world. What they’re asking about is the “social web”, which is all about engaging with people who have similar interests,  reaching a wider audience, creating opportunities, connecting with people who might become clients or customers…this is networking. If you are selling services/products (eg. personal training, life coaching, web design, photography, jewellery, art, fashion styling)  then really the main aim of your website is to get people to contact you and enquire about or purchase your services/products. People may find your website through Google, but they will also find many other websites selling the same services/products, so how do you connect with people and let them know what you have to offer is what they want?

- The first step is to realize that you will need to devote a certain amount of time each day to social media marketing. Result will not appear overnight so you need to be able to commit to a consistent effort over a long period of time. Even when you have started to generate leads, you will still need to actively maintain your presence on a daily basis to keep up the momentum.

- The second step is to identify your social media marketing goals. This is typically defined as actual sales you hope to make via your social media presence. Make sure you have a web site analytics service (e.g. Google Analytics) as this will help you to keep tabs on your page traffic, leads, and actual sales that are generated from your social media marketing efforts.

- The third step is to create social media accounts, compose quality content with calls to action for your potential customers, take part in online discussion groups within your sector, and engage readers by asking questions and encouraging comments and opinions.

What is a Content Management System (CMS)

Nearly all of our clients ask us about updating their website content themselves when we take on their projects. In the world of the web fresh content is key to a website’s success, so of course it makes more sense for my clients to add and edit content when they wish rather than paying and waiting for me to copy and paste it in. We have found that providing a Content Management System (CMS) can help clients engage with their website more and gives a greater sense of ownership and satisfaction with the end result.

Choosing a CMS to work with

There are plenty of good free or cheap systems available so it’s worth spending a bit of time trying out demos. Look at the system from the user’s (your client’s) point of view as well as deciding if it it matches your development skill set. Some points to consider when researching a CMS:

  • it shouldn’t constrain the design of the website
  • it must be simple enough for your client to complete routine tasks easily
  • it needs to support what the website needs to do, so choose the right CMS for the website being developed
  • it should be flexible enough to be extended in the future if your client requests more features
  • it’s helpful if it has a dedicated user group and support forum
  • it needs to run well on your web host, check the CMS requirements against what your web host provides, there’s nothing worse than setting up a chunky CMS only to find it runs painfully slowly on your web host.

Helpful article: 10 things to consider when choosing the right CMS

iPhone & iPad compatibility

We found this article whilst researching “iPhone ready websites” according to my analytics, over 50% of my page hits are viewed using a handheld device, Interesting..

 iPad Friendly Website, Mobile Friendly Website

With iPhone, you can simply redirect to your existing Mobile version of the website for iPhone users, but you can’t do the same for iPad. iPad screen resolution is many times bigger than a normal mobile screen, hence, there will be a lot of whitespace when you view a mobile friendly website on an iPad. For this reason, it is sometimes better to serve the same version of the web friendly website to iPad devices rather than redirecting them to the mobile version of the website which is designed for small screens. And according to Apple, Safari on iPad is capable of delivering a “desktop” web experience.

Preview

If you want to check out how your website would look in iPad without an actual iPad device, open this Simulator in Safari browser and type in the address of the website you wish to view in the address bar on the iPad image (not the browser address bar). You can click on the top left corner of the iPad image to switch between Landscape and Portrait mode. But if you have got a spare $800, you can buy iPad from Amazon Online Store for the real deal.

Inspiration

As always, Apple has a list of iPad ready websites for your inspiration. If you are looking for an iPad friendly WordPress Theme, be sure to check out Mobility WordPress Theme that provides a touch and slide friendly user interface for iPad viewers.

We want to give you £50!

When our clients or colleagues pass our details onto their friends, customers and colleagues, that is something we never take for granted.  As a result of this and the fact that we are developing our website all the time, we have introduced a formal referral scheme, starting with immediate effect. For every client you introduce to us, We’ll give you £50!  This can be paid as a personal cheque to spend as you please, or as a charitable donation.  There is no limit on the number of introductions you make, so this could easily add up! All you need to do is to give us your contact’s details, We’ll email or call the client and then pay you £50 when they sign a contract with us. Simple!

The scheme is available to anyone who wishes to recommend my services and anyone can be referred to us*.  Whether they are looking for an informative website, a successful online store, a website revamp, help with marketing their site online, or a new brand identity.  It doesn’t matter what they buy, a qualifying referral is based on your recommendation resulting in a signed contract for TND Creative’s products/services to the value of £400 or more.

*Terms & Conditions:

Available to any person or organisation who wishes to participate, subject to the following exceptions; you cannot refer yourself or be employed by the company / organisation you are referring. The referred customer must have made their final payment on a signed contract of £500+ with TND Creative, prior to the £50 reward fee being paid. The referred contact cannot be a previous client or previous contact (based on details held on my database at the time of referral). £50 to be paid in UK pounds either as a personal cheque or as a donation to a charity of your choice. I reserve the right to withdraw this promotion at any time in the event that unforeseen circumstances make this unavoidable. To receive the referrer reward, the referrer must ensure that the new customer tells me the name of the company or person who referred them.

Welcome to our Blog!

Let’s be honest, everyone has one these days, its the ‘In thing’ to do! So heres ours, except our blog is dedicated to all things Web Design and Development related.

We must have come up with around 10 different portfolio designs/layouts for TND Creative and built about 5 of those before we decided that this would be my online shop window to the world! I am very happy with everything for now, as a web designer/developer it is natural for me to always be looking to improves bits and pieces as i go along, hence why we have decided to add a general news and blogging area.

So anyway, a little about me, I’m a Web / Graphic Designer based in Reigate, Surrey. I am currently working for a printing company based in Redhill. You can see a small chunk of my portfolio on this website which i’m sure you will have already seen! I also have a few interesting projects in the works right now that you will be able to read about and view on here.

I hope that you enjoy our website and that you find it easy to navigate from page to page, Expect a rush of content appearing in this section as I go through the ‘I’ve just started my own blog phase’!

Regards

Terry Dallimer – Lead Designer