it’s not the medium, but the message

Sorry if I seem like I’m up on a soap box, but hey... that's just me! I find too often people get caught up in things and miss what's really important. As I commented before with it’s just a tool, the camera you use doesn't matter, it’s what you’ve seen that you captured that matters. And photo editing software doesn't make a difference, if you don't have both the vision and the skill with which to use it.

With this post, I'm moving on to the next level... it’s not the medium! Whether art, photography, writing or whatever, the medium is not important! I heard someone ask, “If a piece of art is not hanging on a wall somewhere, is it still art?”. In my opinion, yes, it is! The opposite could also be asked, “If something is hanging on a wall, does that make it art?”. I'm not so sure on that one... I've seen “art”, and said “Huh?”! One can also ask, “If a story is not published, is it still a story?”. In this photo edit, I'm depicting the same message/image in different mediums! Four? You ask! The newspaper and the television, but also where you are seeing it... on my blog, and also where I am depicting it being seen... in my own living room! In reality, this photo has never appeared anywhere other than Flickr, yet it has appeared in homes and offices all over the world! We live in a very powerful age, where we can get our “message” out in so many ways, but I still believe it's not the medium, but the message!

photo © Julian ~ A View from Here
Image editing by Julian ~ Luckham Creative

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

it’s just a tool

I created and posted this quite some time ago over on Flickr but just recently thought to post it here...

When I first posted this it was to make a bit of a personal statement about cameras. I had someone asking about one of my photographs, he was very impressed with the shot, the lighting, etc, etc., and he went on to say he figured I must have been using a pretty fancy camera. He was surprised when I told him the specific shot he was referring to was taken with a Kodak digital point and shoot! Which brings me to my statement – it has always been my belief that it is the photographer and not the camera that makes a photograph! This photo edit I’ve created is my visual interpretation of that... the camera is only an extension of your own eye... it's just a tool! As a paint brush is a tool in the hands of an artist, or a scalpel in the hands of a doctor... the tool doesn’t make you good at what you do, it only enables you to do what you do!

photo © Julian ~ A View from Here
Image editing by Julian ~ Luckham Creative

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

So You’re On-line! Now What? Search Engine Optimization!

In the rush to get on-line many companies don’t take in to account the need for Search Engine Optimization. Without proper optimization you’re just throwing your Web site On-line and hoping it lands where it will be seen... kind of sounds like something we used to do as kids! :-)

Go on to Google, or your favourite Search Engine, right now and pretend you are a potential client or customer of your company. Do a search for whatever it is your company sells, or for the service you provide. Don't use your company name as this is a client who doesn't know who you are. Use your city name to reduce the number of results and to make it easier for you to find a local company. How did you do? Did you notice the number of results you got though... it's no wonder you don't do that well!

Now try this search... go into Google, search for Ottawa Designer, or just click here. See how well I did... notice the number of results you got... 1,740,000! I think I did pretty good! Don't you? Now, I can't guarantee to get you the same results, but I will guarantee I can improve them over what you are now getting, if you haven't had your site optimized. Here's another example, I just redesigned a web site for a local Ottawa Digital Printing company. During the design process I took into account optimizing the site, the design stage is the best time to start thinking about optimizing. Once I had done my research on the keywords that the client had provided, I finished the optimizing and launched the new site. The site went from 0 to #6 in three days! Before optimizing, the site was not coming up on Google for any of the search terms we used, after three days they were #6! With a little bit of fine tuning, a week later they held #1, #3, #6 and #9 spots for various keywords!

So, I've said it before, and I'll say it again... if you are looking for a company to improve your rankings on Google, Yahoo or MSN, look no further! Forgive me for repeating information I have shared before, but they do say there is power in repetition! Take a look at the following rankings for some of my clients' web sites. Click on the keywords to see for yourself! Note the total results number in brackets, the higher this number the more difficult it is to get to the top. I don't include rankings for company names, as those are always very easy to get. I did include Robert Bateman though, as that was very hard to get and took a while to achieve... No. 1 out of almost 4 million results!!

Search Engine Rankings as of July 23th, 2007

Site: www.lightwave-repro.com
Keyword(s): ottawa digital printing
Google - 1st page, No. 5 and 6 position (1,940,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 position (95,892)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 6 position (547,000)

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Site: www.lightwave-repro.com
Keyword(s): ottawa colour digital printing
Google - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 positions (879,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 position (17,585)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 1 and 3 positions (101,000)

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Site: www.dedicateddesktop.com
Keyword(s): ottawa designer
Google - 1st page, No. 1 position (1,740,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 position (388,530)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 5 position (2,120,000)

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Site: www.robertbateman.ca
Keyword(s): robert bateman
Google - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 positions (1,930,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 position (343,743)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 1 position (3,780,000)

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Site: www.robertbateman.ca
Keyword(s): artist environmentalist
Google - 1st page, No. 1 position (1,420,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 position (82,226)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 1 and 7 position (680,000)

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Site: www.meredithgallery.ca
Keyword(s): gulf island watercolours
Google - 1st page, No. 1 position (108,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 position (3,372)
Yahoo - not appearing?

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Site: www.meredithgallery.ca
Keyword(s): salt spring watercolours
Google - 1st page, No. 2 position (220,000)
MSN - 1st page, No. 1 and 2 position (4,772)
Yahoo - 1st page, No. 10 position (200,000)

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*It's important to note that achieving high ranking on any search engine is not a permanent thing. Fluctuation can occur daily as more and more web sites are created and/or optimized. The above results may have changed since the date of this posting. Regular maintenance of your web site should be carefully done so as not to lose or corrupt the optimization that has been done. Some html editing software automatically alters your code which can change optimization results.

If you missed the mail-out in regards to this blog post, visit my news page and ask to be added to my mailing list.

photo © Julian Luckham ~ A View from Here

[tags: SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Page Ranking]

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

Reaching out to clients over the Internet

Update: Planning is moving forward on these seminars, and I hope to announce the first dates in the coming weeks. Seminars will be targeted to Businesses first, followed later on with Seminars for the General Public. Seminars will be broken up as follows:

Upcoming Business Seminars: October Dates TBA

Reaching out to clients over the Internet... there is an easier way!
Learning Seminars on making full use of the Internet to find and reach out to clientele, new and old.

Web Essentials: Presentation | Structure | Navigation | Content | Findability/SEO
Search Engine Optimization: Content | Navigation | Coding | Links | Keywords
Networking: LinkedIn | Facebook | Blogs | Wikis | Tagging | Web 2.0
eCommerce: Create and Sell Online | Self-publishing | Shopping Carts | PayPal



Upcoming Public Seminars: Dates TBA

Don’t give up on learning, it’s never too late to learn a thing or two
Learning Seminars on Adapting to a Digital Lifestyle.

Blogging | Photo Sharing | Family or Personal Websites | Social Networking
Digital Photography | VoIP/Internet Telephony | Getting Creative and making it Pay | Web 2.0 Tools
...making the most of your computer and the Internet.

Visit my web site for further information and updates: Seminars

photo © Julian Luckham ~ A View from Here
Image editing by Julian Luckham ~ Dedicated Desktop

[tags: web essentials, SEO, Networking, seminars, training, Ottawa]

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

Learning to Adapt to a Digital Lifestyle

new update: Introductory Seminar for Businesses
* see the update in the next post.

In adapting to a digital lifestyle, I keep hearing people say “it's too difficult”, or “I'm too old to get in to that”. I've always felt you're never too old to learn something new, especially with all that is going on these days with the internet and blogging, photo sharing, digital photography, VoIP (long distance phone calls over the internet), Web 2.0, etc., etc. It's never too late to learn a thing or two, so with that in mind Dedicated Desktop is in the planning stages of setting up a few seminars on “Learning to Adapt to a Digital Lifestyle”.

At this stage I'm looking for some feedback, this is a chance for you to help in the planning process... what better way to get exactly what you want out of a seminar! So here's a few questions for you to think about...If there was one thing you could learn about in regards to computers and the internet, what would it be? Blogging, Photo Sharing, Family or Personal Websites, Social Networking, Digital Photography, Internet Phone Calls, Web 2.0 Tools, On-line Storefronts, Searching the Internet... or just making the most of your computer and the Internet?Would you prefer an in-person seminar, an on-line virtual seminar, or one-on-one personal training in your home or office?

Would you want the seminar to include computer access, would you bring a laptop, or would taking notes during demonstrations be okay?

Please leave a comment here, or send an e-mail with any feedback you might have. All those that provide feedback, will receive a discount on any of the seminars offered.

Here's a bit of background on the training and/or seminars I've done in the past...

In addition to providing services in Graphic Design and Web Design through my company, Dedicated Desktop, I have also been providing training since 1990. I taught and designed courses for Vancouver Community College and the International Academy of Design and Technology, in Ottawa, as well as other smaller private schools. Students and clients have included print shops, design studios, government agencies, post secondary institutions, as well as individuals looking to begin a new career or just upgrade their computer skills.

I have also presented seminars and workshops for private companies and the general public on subjects such as “Web sites: Build it right, and they will come!”, “The Apple Macintosh in a Graphic Design Environment”, “Pre-press: Making sure your digital files Print!”, and “Print Production: Creating an efficient workflow”.

Visit my web site for further information and updates: Seminars

photo © Julian Luckham ~ A View from Here
Image editing by Julian Luckham ~ Dedicated Desktop

[tags: digital lifestyle, Web 2.0, seminars, training, Ottawa]

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

Surfing Statistics in Canada

I've been reading some rather interesting statistics lately about Internet usage in Canada. If you have, or are considering an internet presence of any kind, you should consider these statistics.

It's been noted for many years that Canada is one of the most on-line countries in the world, but according to a recent survey by comScore Networks, Canadians spend more time online than any other country. Canadians view over 30% more web pages than the average U.S. user, and more Canadians have high speed internet access than U.S. users as well. According to comScore, Canadians averaged 39.6 hours per month online overall, with broadband users spending nearly three times more hours online than narrowband users (41.3 hours per month versus 14.2 hours online). Almost 90% of internet users in Canada are using broadband, and an interesting note is that Canada has always held the lead among the G7, in the percentage of broadband subscribers. Canada and the U.S. account for more than 41% of internet access. Oh, and another interesting statistic is that Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries in the world where female users outnumber male users... by about 50%!

If you need to establish or reevaluate your on-line presence send me an e-mail or call and let's see what we can do to get you in touch with the largest internet audience in the world!

photo © Julian Luckham ~ A View from Here
Image editing by Julian Luckham ~ Dedicated Desktop

[tags: internet statistics, Internet use in Canada, broadband use, internet use by gender]

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.

Too Much Junk Mail?

I deleted over 2000 junk e-mails one morning last week! I have junk/spam filters in place that catch a lot of junk mail, and my ISP also has filters that I use, but this doesn't prevent all junk/spam from getting through. It does however, prevent some real emails from getting through! It came to my attention recently that some e-mails have not been able to penetrate these filters, and were flagged as junk! If I haven't responded to an e-mail from you, this may be why... I apologize.

So, what's a company to do? Obfuscate! Yes, that's right, I said Obfuscate! Now, this does not require a fake passport, travelling by night in disguise, or even the need for ”A Beautiful Mind”! It does however, need a certain comfort level with HTML coding and/or Javascript.

“What is Obfuscation?”, you may well ask! Well, according to Wikipedia ”Obfuscation refers to the concept of concealing the meaning of communication by making it more confusing and harder to interpret.”! The obfuscation I’m talking about, is a method of hiding content on your web site from those nasty spider robots that troll the internet looking for e-mail addresses they can add to their database. Hmmm! Do I have your attention now? Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin...

The idea is that you need visitors to your web site to have access to an e-mail address they can contact you through. As soon as you do this that address is also available to Spammers! Now the difference is, that a real visitor is sitting in front of a computer reading your content and clicking on links. A Spammer is actually an internet bot, a program that trolls the internet looking for e-mail addresses that it then copies and takes back to it's creator. So what obfuscation does is it makes your e-mail address available to humans, but unreadable to bots. There are a variety of ways of hiding an e-mail address and each one has advantages and disadvantages. I'm not going to go into detail here, instead I'll provide a link to a site I found most helpful in this regard (see link below). Now, I warn you, I cannot make any guarantees about using the advice and/or ideas this site provides. I can tell you though that my old e-mail addresses are still receiving tons of junk mail, but my new addresses have not received any in over a week! Should you not feel comfortable working with the code of your web site, feel free to contact me to discuss how I may be able to assist you.

Check back soon, as I will be posting some additional tips and news to make your Cyber-Life a little less problematic, and a lot more efficient, and even fun! Thanks for reading, and feel free to forward a link to this article to your friends and/or clients.

Link: Email Harvester Robots, Spam and Email Obfuscation

photo © Julian Luckham ~ A View from Here

[tags: combating spam, email harvesters, Email Obfuscation]

Copyright © 1985-2008 Luckham Creative unless otherwise noted.