We would like to introduce you to another tool that Card One Concepts could not function without in both our day to day business activities and in our personal lives and it's called Dropbox. Some of you may already be using it and loving it like we do, some of you may have never heard of it. But If you're not already using Dropbox, We have to ask, what are you waiting for? Dropbox is a popular service that lets you easily sync files between computers, share them with others, and create backups securely. Best of all, it integrates so seamlessly with your Mac or Windows computer that you are usually never aware that you're actually using using it. Dropbox is a must-have for anyone who needs to make their files more importantly large files readily available to multiple users or computers. Card One Concepts takes advantage of this by using it to package and deliver very large files to printers and vendors that just a few years ago would have had to be hand delivered on a CD or thumb drive. We have just gotten in the habit of working right from our Dropbox folder, that way we know our clients files are safe, backed-up and accesible and shareable in many many ways!
Trello is the one and only tool I absolutely can not live, work or function without it in my life since I started useing it several years ago. And the most incredible thing is that it is absolutely FREE!!! Yep, that's right I said free, always has been and always will be.
So you may be asking "What is Trello?" and Why should I use it?
Well if you have ever had to work with others on a project, simply put, it will bring instant clarity to the project for everyone involoved. But it's not just a business project management tool. Over the years I found it to be very useful for organizing pretty much anything in my life, from a family vacation or a home improvement project to a simple to do list or shopping list that i need to share with my wife. I have found Trello to be invaluable in my day to day business communications and in my everyday life and if you give it a try I can almost guarantee you will come to value it as much as I do too!
Most of Card One Concepts clients think that a domain name is the same thing as web hosting, and that when they register a domain name they are ready to let the world see their website. However, this is not the case and the following explanation will hopefully clarify the difference between web hosting and registering a domain name.
The easiest way to explain web hosting is to think of your web site as a traditional store with shelves displaying products or services, with a cash register and even employees.
We all want to be number one in the search engine rankings and it is in your reach with a little hard work. The first step to the top is to realize that search engines love words!
Many designers and novice web masters make this fatal mistake right from the get go and think that they need all the bells and whistles to sell their product or service. And yes, a good design and layout do help in gaining a sale but if nobody can find your website what's the point?
To be honest fancy graphics and the latest and greatest trends in web design don't mean a thing to a search engine bot and optimization is all in the writing and were you place that writing.
These questions are designed to help you as a designer or business owner to focus on what the needs of the web site project are.
Background:
1. What is the nature of your business?
2. Who is your target audience?
Message:
1. What goals does your company intend to reach with a new web site?
2. What is the primary message you wish to convey to your audience with this site?
Perception:
1. Use adjectives to describe how you want your site to be perceived by the user. (Examples: conservative, progressive, friendly, formal, casual, serious, experts, humorous, service-oriented, professional, etc)
2. How is your company currently perceived? Do you wish to carry through the same kind of message through your web site?
3. What web sites do you find compelling? What do you find the most interesting about these sites?
4. Are there other web sites you've seen that have functionality that you would like to have on your site? Due to differences in server operating systems, not all functionality you see on the web may be available on your site.
Card One Concepts, all it's existing and future clients websites, web hosting and email services now run on 100% wind power!
How It Works
Since generating wind energy on site isn't feasible, we're offsetting all of our electricity use with wind-generated Renewable Energy Certificates, which prevent the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.
