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Bluelime Media in 2009

I don’t normally make New Year’s Resolution. Personally I don’t see the point. Every year I notice the same thing at my yoga studio. The classes are just packed with people for the first two – three weeks and then it’s back to normal class size. I’m sure that gyms have seen an increase in attendance in these past few weeks and slim fast an increase in sales.

Although I never make resolutions, over the holidays, I do think about the year and how I can improve things at Bluelime Media and every year, I do the same thing. I think about it and then do nothing…. So this year I thought I would put it up in writing and make myself accountable.

Keeping it small

When I first started web design, I normally thought that I would create a company, get office space, hire a few employees and increase to a half dozen people over the years. At least that’s what BNI and business coaches were envisioning for me. I realise now that that dream isn’t mine. I have no desire to grow and manage staff. I enjoying working by myself and like Dave Shae, happy to be the little guy. So I’ve removed my careers page and updated my about section to reflect this new direction. At least in writing it’s a new direction.. it’s always been like that in my heart.

Embracing WordPress

For the past 2 years, I’ve been building more and more WordPress sites and have come to the conclusion that it’s the best solution for me and for my clients. I’ve updated my home page to reflect this change and in the next week or so I’ll be updating the service section to inform potential clients, that this is what I offer. Not to worry though, I know people who can use Drupal, Joomla and flash, so if that’s your flavour, I will gladly refer you.

Work Less

This is the reason I never make resolutions… Ever year, I look back and think that I’ve worked much too hard… but when you decide to work on your own and refuse to delegate or resist offers of helps… then you end up with a lot of work. So I only have myself to blame. In the past, I’ve taken weeks off here and there and enjoyed the breaks where phone and Internet access is limited. This has worked very well for me in the past and I will keep doing this, starting this month. At the end of January, I’m heading out to India for a yoga trip with Christina Sell and Genevieve Gilbreath. I’ll take lots of pictures while I’m there, but won’t be putting them online until I get back. Doing so, would require finding an Internet cafe which could lead to peaking in my inbox.

Happy New Year to all of you and best of luck with your goals for 2009.

Will your vote be environmentally friendly?

With just a few more weeks until Canadians go the polls the folks at Vote for Environment have been pushing hard to push their message to more than 1 MILLION Canadians. Of the 2 western countries that have decided to ignore Kyoto, Canada is one of them. If you’re concerned about the Conservative’s anti-environmental policy then this website is for you.

All 3 of the other parties (Liberals, NDP, Greens) have strong(er) environmental policies, but which to vote for?
The Vote For Environment website makes it easy for you to decide. Simply type in your postal and take a look at which of the 3 parties can beat the Conservatives in your riding. As long as these 3 parties get enough seats, they should be able to forward a greener agenda.

Be sure to check out their sponsor, De Smog Blog. Their new website dedicated to the election and the one across the border analyzes each candidate’s platform on climate change and assigns them with a rating.

This Canadian election may not be as exciting as the US one, but the outcome may affect the future of humankind more critically than any previous elections.

How to widgetize your blog or website

Susie Gardner from Hop Studios gave a pretty good demo of how to add widgets to your blog today at Northern Voice. Widgets, also called plugins or badges, are little apps which consist of bits of code that once added to your blog or website, pull in external information. They usually appear in the sidebar of your blog. These widgets could pull the latest news feed from a site such as Voxant, the latest Dilbert cartoon, a list of books you are reading or meaning to read, the weather, or a series of flickr photos.

These widgets can be a fun way to add content to your website. The only downside of adding these, is that you have to dabble in the code a bit which can be scary at first. Additionally if you’re blog is on a hosted platform such as WordPress.com or Typepad, you may not be able to add these.

So how do you go about adding a widget?
First let’s select a widget. Of all the widgets mentioned during the presentation, I found polldaddy.com the most interesting. As the name would suggest polldaddy allows you to create polls.

1. First you need to go to their site and sign up for an account. This is done very easily simply by filling your name and email. (Don’t you love people who don’t ask you for every possible detail?)
2. Next, hit create a poll.
3. Type in your questions.
4. Type in your answers,
5. Select the “look” of your poll.
6. Hit save and Voila!

You will then be sent to a new screen with code which may look scary, but here’s the catch. You don’t need to know how it works. Just copy and paste it. That’s it. And here’s the poll I just created:

Now, for this example, I’ve copied the poll in the body of my text. I don’t really want to clutter my sidebar with more stuff, but if I wanted to, I could have a permanent poll anywhere on my site. The beauty of this widget is that simply by login in to my polldaddy.com account and creating a new poll, the poll on my website is automatically updated.

I mentioned earlier that widgets usually appear in the sidebar of your blog. This is where dabbling in the code gets a bit tricky. If you’ve set up your own blog and have access to the presentation, you can go to the template editor, locate the sidebar.php and add the widget code in there. If you are like me and using WordPress which you’ve downloaded and customized, you can also use the widget editor, but be careful and make sure that you back up all of your files, just in case you mess things up.

I should also point out, that if you copy and paste code into the body of a post, like I just did, save the post and come back and edit it, chances are the code for your widget will need to be updated. The visual editor in WordPress seems to alter the code every time you save and edit. I’m not sure why, but it just does… So just add your code once you are happy with the post and no longer need to edit.

Have fun.

Our Partners

Let’s face it, as a one-person company, I can’t do it all. My coding skills are pretty good, but I’m better at certain things than others. Over the years I’ve discovered lots of talented people and formed rock solid relationships allowing me to offer a wide range of services to meet your web-related communications or IT needs.

We particularly like to work with the following people/companies:

Graphic/Flash/Web Design

Apollo Nine Design

With the use of flash being hotly debated throughout the web design world, we’ve chosen to work exclusively with Apollo Nine Design on all of our flash projects. Their knowledge in both print and digital media allows us to provide the best business solutions to all of our clients.

Avenue Creative

Avenue Creative is a one-man communication design company with expertise in identity design, brand development, print communications, and interactive design. Johnny Kuan, principal of Avenue Creative, has over eight years of experience working with internet start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Blue Citrus

Blue Citrus understands the synergy that exists between web interface and usability. Evolving from a traditional print design studio into a highly regarded web development house, Blue Citrus has created print communications materials and websites for high profile clients, including Visa Canada, Sears, Labatt Breweries, Nestle, Kraft General Foods and Kodak.

Tzaddi Gordon

Tzaddi is a freelance web designer living in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast of BC. With a degree from Emily Carr and several years of experience at TELUS, Tzaddi has the unique ability to combine arts and technology and a wide breadth of skills allowing her to work on websites from start to finish. She offers exceptional interface design strengths as well as a solid understanding of usability.

Communications and Copywriting

Market Navigators

Market Navigators takes the mystery and confusion out of how to market your business successfully. They save you time and money by quickly sorting through the endless marketing options and identifying the best ways to reach your customers.

Mud Creative

Mud Creative provides writing, editing and proofing for websites, offline and online press releases, e-zines and magazines, ads, brochures and more for clients across North America. If search engine rankings are important to your business, Mud Creative can assist with keyphrase research and keyword-rich copy that not only converts visitors into customers, but also helps to put your site on the search engine “radar.”

Strategic Positioning

Ascent Group

Before creating a website it is often a good idea and take a look at the “Big Picture”. Ascent Group are experts in this field. Whether its restructuring a business plan, business model, marketing strategy, brand strategy or goals and objectives, Ascent Group brings a fresh pair of eyes and guides you towards the right path.

Don’t think that what you are seeing is what everyone else is seeing

One of the most difficult things about building websites is getting it to look the same on all browsers. This task can be very challenging and frustrating. Before trying to achieve the impossible and making your website look great on every browser, you may want to look at your audience and your stats. Looking at stats is a great way to narrow down your list of browsers that you should support. If you haven’t done it already take a look at Google Analytics or Mint and start collecting statistics.

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