Category Archives: Web Design News

Shazam Now Available on Windows Phone 7

Shazam on Windows

Last month, we gave Shazam our “Perth iPhone App of the Week“.  This week we are letting you know that it is now available for the Windows Phone 7.  Its a convenient app to have in your pocket for those times when you hear a song and need to find out what it is.  All you do is record a few seconds of the song and Shazam will tell you all about the song/artist etc.

It’s a great app and we recommend no smart phone user should be without it.

If you know of any great apps out there or have an idea for one of your own please contact our app development team.

Do you use social media to promote your website?

facebook

We read a web design article the during the week called “32 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed“.  We already use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Loconut to promote our business in the social media sphere.  At the moment that works very well for us, but we found ourselves being very curious about the other options.  We were going to summarise the best for you, but it might be better to have a read in full yourself.  They tackle social media from a number of different angles, you just have to find what works for you.  Our best advice is to pick a few and stick with them.  It takes a while to gather a loyal following, but once you do you would be surprised at how much business can be generated via social media.  It works for us, and will work for you too.

Please contact us about your thoughts on website promotion through social media.

Create a web design concept in less than 2 minutes

The video below shows that it is possible to create a nice web design concept in less than two minutes.  When we first told our lead designer about the video he was getting a little worried.  “A web design concept in less than 2 minutes” – Uh oh!  On watching the video, a relaxed expression came back to his face.  The video is, of course, using time-lapse techniques to condense a number of hours into 2 minutes.  The results are a sometimes dizzying look at design through the eyes of a web designer.  We like it.  What do you think?

Flash Game live on Western Power website

western power website

Western Power required a game for their Plugin Kids online campaign. The aim is to educate children about power usage and it’s impact on the environment. Together with Nutwork, a concept was created where a player could move through various rooms of a house, populating them with items they have in their own house.

It was then Nutwork’s job to create the layout, interactions and animations that go into making a fully functional game which would appeal to a young audience. Children can have fun placing animated objects in various rooms, but also get feedback on how much Carbon those appliances produce annually. The player also receives handy tips on how to reduce the amount of carbon they produce, and answer questions aimed at installing proactive ways of cutting their carbon foot print.

Once complete, the player receives a Certificate which thanks them for their energy saving behaviours and presents them with their Powerdown Ranger rating.

Play the game on the Western Power website.  It’s not just for kids!

How well does your website rank in Google?

This is a question we often ask people when they come in ask for a website redesign.  Most people do not know the answer. However, Nutwork can issue them with a very detailed Search Engine Ranking report which tells them exactly where their website ranks for a particular set of keywords.  This report gives you your exact ranking which is not the same as you physically typing in your keywords to Google and seeing where you rank.  The problem which using the latter method is that Google skews your search results towards your own website.  It sees that you have visited your website many times and then decides that it is an important result for you.  It is not necessarily how your website will rank for other people searching for you business!

One of our great rankings success stories is a website called Pizza Base.  They came to us about a year ago saying that they wanted to rank on page one of Google for a set of ten keywords.  As of today they rank on page one for nine of them, and first result on page two for the other one.

Keyword Google Rank
pizza flour 2
pizza base 3
make pizza dough 4
pizza dough 7
make pizza 7
pizza base recipe 8
pizza recipe 9
pizza recipes 9
how to make pizza 10
pizza dough recipe 11

Pretty impressive results! It just goes to show with a lot of knowledge, a bit of hard work and some time great rankings for your website in Google are possible.