It’s always a good idea to mention it to the world if you get a mention in the press – could be online, could be offline.

Offline – The Guardian Digital Business Supplement

Recently I was interviewed by Digital Business supplement of the Guardian for an article by Peter Bartram (from New Venture Publishing) about building personalised features into websites.

Here is an excerpt of the interview!

Online – One Xtra Pixel

I was also recently interviewed by Krishna Solanki (a website designer in Cambridge) for the On Xtra Pixel blog about Women in Website Design

Have a read of this interview here

All comments are of course very welcome!

Thinking of starting starting a blog? Maybe you already have a blog but aren’t 100% sure of those little dos and don’ts that somehow you’re just EXPECTED to know! Well, help is on the way! We like to think we’ve had a bit of experience with blogging, so we have come up with 3 Golden Rules to think about when taking a step into the wonderful world of blogging!

Images, images, images!

Always use images in your post – people are attracted to images and are far more likely to read a post that has bright, eye-catching images in it than one that is just a ream of mind-numbing text. While we’re on the topic of pictures, make sure your images are always the same width as your text – big bold images will draw people in!

Heading, meet Sub-headings

People often make this mistake – they write a lovely blog, and forget to add sub-headings. Sub-headings break the text up into sizeable, easily digestible chunks, and also give people an indication of what is to come. Many people don’t realise just how much clearer a blog is with sub-headings

Variety is the spice of life

When writing blogs don’t always follow the same format. Many people tend to think that blogging is purely about writing an article or story, whereas in reality there are many different types of blogs than one can write. A few examples of these are:

• Best-of lists
• List of tips (this post is an example of this!)
• Things you have found
• Interviews
• Inspirational Stories
• Reviews
• How-tos

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking! There are many other ideas out there to write about.

Hopefully this has inspired you to look at blogging in a new light and to see the endless possibilities  of things you can do! Most importantly you should have fun and enjoy what you are writing about. Who knows, you may unearth a hidden passion for writing you never knew about!

Public Speaking.
A term that can strike fear into the hearts of most people, myself included. One person who does not seem to share this view is Keren. She believes that Public Speaking is an essential skill and excels at it. Unlike the rest of us. Ask us to meet with a client, chat to each other, argue over who gets the coldest coke or biggest ice cream, no problem, but place us in front of a room full of people and we turn to gibbering wrecks (some of us more than others.. *note to self!)

So, every Friday, almost without fail, Keren drags us, kicking and screaming, from the office, using the term ‘screen break’ as an excuse for us to brush up on our public speaking skills. This is affectionately (and I use that term VERY loosely) known as PSP, and, unfortunately, does not involve any hand held game consoles.

In the beginning was a word

The first time I ever had to do this in front of the TLD team it felt as if my heart was clawing it’s way out of my neck, I had a severe case of clammy hands, shaky knees, and I’m pretty sure I went from white to red within 0.2 seconds of standing up. It’s ridiculous really when you think about it. We socialise with each other on a daily basis, talking, laughing, joking, but yet having to standing up and give my 2 pence about a predetermined topic to these same people causes me to age about 10 years from the stress of it all!

Public Speaking has a few issues in my eyes. Not only do you have to speak in coherent sentences, you have to do it in a way that will keep your audience captivated, hanging on your every word. And this has to be done whilst speaking slowly and clearly.

Trials…

So you master speaking at 2 miles an hour, thinking that if you can do this you’ll be fine. But no. No sooner than you’ve accomplished this you’re then told to throw in some hand gestures, speak with feeling! And to use the space around you! Try that when if feels like you have ten arms that all seem to have doubled in length, your finger tips dragging along the floor like some deranged ape.

.. and Tribulations

And then, just as you think things can’t get any worse, you’re expected to walk. Walk and talk. And make it look natural. As if talking by itself isn’t difficult enough! Someone once told me to imagine every body in the room naked. I don’t know who came up with that idea, but when I do Public Speaking I can assure you naked people are the last thing on my mind!

Now, don’t let me be the one to put you off Public Speaking! It’s not all bad! Once yours is over with you get to sit and listen to others who are undoubtedly going through the same process that you’ve just gone through. And I have to admit it the more we practice, the easier it gets, which means that there might be some truth in the phrase “practice makes perfect… one day!”

So, you have a website, but you feel it needs a bit of freshening up? A bit of an update? But you don’t want to spend shed loads of money giving it a complete overhaul right now?

We here at Top left Design have complied a short list of a few tips and pointers that might help you put that little “pop” back into your website! It might be that you just need something really simple,  like updating a few images, changing a link or a new logo! It’s all in the details!

A few simple things worth considering :

• Update your copyright date – this immediately makes the site look relevant and up-to-date
• Keep your blog update regularly – this is one of the easiest ways to make your website look fresh.
• If you don’t have a blog, consider adding one – a seamless integration which fits into your navigation works best – ask us if you need advice!
• Try not to use cheesy images, people will judge you on the cheese scale, 1 being non existent, 10 being downright cheesy! This is a bit of a hairy topic, as some people like cheese. So use your initiative! If in any doubt ask us – we’re pretty good at the cheesy vs non-cheesy game!
• Make sure your logo is professional. A bad logo can bring down the whole look of your website, so if you feel your logo is looking a little out dated it might be time for a freshen up!
• Consider maybe updating your copy to make you seem more approachable. People are far more likely going to want to read well written, interesting client focused copy aimed at THEM, than copy that is tedious and hard to read.
• Lastly, keep an eye out for the little details – people do pick up on small things out of place, and keeping an eye out for these things can make a world of difference!

Of the many exciting projects we’ve got on at the moment, one in particular has tickled my fancy. One that involves canoes, kids, rubber chickens and parachuting eggs. Confused? Let me help you out.

This project is for a new website, called Our Say Our Way, and is to be an online link to the world within the Youth for Youth project.

A bit of insight into Youth for Youth:

Youth for Youth was started about a year ago with the aim of empowering young people. It’s a one of kind approach to bringing together young people from all over the UK with similar interests and ideas, as well as forming a support base for those that need one. It is an inspired project that can only provide growth and positivity for all those involved and affected by it.

In what can only be described as an adventure into the world of different approaches to web design, Keren and I joined the Youth for Youth team a couple of weeks ago, for a fun-filled weekend away in Thurrock. The idea was to interact with the kids, be a kid, find out what makes them tick. And then take all that away with us and translate it into a website that reflects what everyone wants and needs from this. ‘Everyone’ being a lot of very unique personalities with many different ideas.

Challenging? I’d say so.
Exciting? Infinitely! *squeak*!

Wetsuits, not Websites.. say WHAT?

As well as discussions and presentations about the website, the weekend also involved participating in various activities, ranging from a basic ‘getting to know you through a rubber chicken’ game (don’t ask) to a more physical ‘let me lead you through this uh, INTERESTING obstacle course blind folded. TRUST me!’

Whilst not ALL weekend activities were up our street (cue canoeing in the cold in wetsuits, me thinks NOT. Canoeing, yes. Cold and wetsuits? Nooo) the weekend on the whole was a resounding success, leaving me sad to be going home after only two days, a reaction I was not fully expecting. It just goes to show how different people can touch your life in ways least expected.

There were personal challenges that were overcome (try leaping off a 25 foot high telegraph pole – the platform on top only big enough to house your shoes – onto a trapeze swing that looks MILES away. At night. And toss in a slight case of vertigo to round it off nicely); fears faced (public speaking say? Keren seems fearless in this regard! But then again, she’s just ‘wheeeird’!); and friends made (wonderful, lovely lovely people. Ones that make you jump off 25 foot telegraph poles.. I kid, I kid! ). All in all I think we took more away from this experience than we ever expected, met people I’m sure we’ll stay in contact with; and are super excited for the next step in this project!

People have different opinions of the types of posts which are most useful, interesting or tweetable. I personally really like “list posts” (eg top tens, best of, collections), as they are easy to process and pass on. They do seem to also get more traffic. Some of our clients ask for our advice with coming up with ideas for what to blog about, which prompted me to put together a list of the types of posts which I believe will make coming up with blogging ideas easier. I have also included examples for each type!

We recommend people blog regularly and consistantly, but vary your posts. Choose from the below – and feel free to add your comments/suggestions!

Best-of lists

This is where you have taken the time and collected together a good selection of examples within a certain topic – which you believe are interesting/useful/cool enough to be labelled “top” or “best”!

Examples of “best of” posts

• Top 10 Best Facebook Games
• 52 Great Examples Of Urban Photography
• 20 creative print advertisements for your inspiration
• Top 10 Amazing Safari Trips
• 35 Astounding Examples of Waterscapes

Roundup/Resource Collection

Another collection, but rather than being the top or the best – its simply a useful collection for inspiration, freebies or information.

Examples of collections of resources posts

• Twitter vector icons massive icon set
• 50 Beautiful Examples of Aquatic Creatures Photography
• 100 Sounds+Ringtones for iPhone Video Review

Lists of tips

These are great because they are simple to come up with. You just decide on a headline – e.g 10 ways to make your improve your memory – and research/write until you come up with 10. If you can come up with only 7, change the headline to say 7 instead!

Examples of tips blog posts

• Top 10 productivity tips for freelancers
• 9 Proven Ways To Charge Up Your Motivation

How-tos

These would be useful step by steps/how to’s for your audience – such as how to fix a bike puncture, or how to sign up for a Facebook fan page, or how to design a cool button in Photoshop.

Examples of “how-to” blog posts

• Create a Gnarly Snowboarding Themed Web Design
• How To: Solve A Rubik’s Cube In Under A Minute

Reviews

If you have seen a show, movie or a tv show, or if you have attended an event, of it you tried out a new game or weekend experience, you can write a review about this.

Examples of review blog posts

• Book Review: Lovely Things To Make for Girls of Slender Means
• 5 Minute Book Review: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell (VIDEO)
• Iron Man 2 Review

Things you have found

Let’s say you have found a cool video on You Tube and want to tell everyone about it. You can embed this in your blog and write a little intro. These are really quick and easy to do and are still useful to your readers. How else would they have found it?

Examples of blog posts with things people have found

• Babel Fish – Free Online Text and Web Page Language Translation
• Stylish Character Illustrations by Tuomas Ikonen
• How to get a job at a top creative agency
• USB Post-Its: They Are As Cool As They Sound!
• Embarrass Your Friends | There’s an App for That

Interviews

Of course an interview with a celebrities or a high profile person will get lots of hits, but many people have roles or jobs or lives that are interesting to others. Just think of a person you find interesting, and who you would think the audience would like to know more about. Write a list of questions for them and email them the list, or setup a meeting with them to go through the list and write notes. Then put it together into a Q+A type article.

Examples of interview blog posts

• The Future is Now – Interview With a 12 Year Old iPhone Dev
• An interview with Emete and Amy from Make Lemonade

Great headline news story/report

Sometimes you know there is a piece of news which you want to tell everyone about – the key to making people read further is to have a great headline. This is important for all the above types of posts, and also for a general news report.

Examples of great headline blog posts

• 71% of small businesses are not planning for post-recession recovery
• Hercules – World’s Largest Big Cat

Inspirational Stories

These are feel good/happy ending/unusual stories, which of course people like to read about. It’s important with this to include a nice image, either of the subject of the story or something relevant.

Examples of Inspirational story blog posts

• Man Tattoos 220 Flags on His Body
• Four-year-old girl lives in cage with crocodiles from birth
• Eton scholarship for determined east London teenager
• Alex Tew: Founder of The Million Dollar Homepage

Further reading/sources for this:

The Different Types of Blog Posts
25 Types of Blog Posts
7 Types of Blog Posts Which Always Seem to Get Links and Traffic
20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block

A selection of social media communities and other fascinating Web 2.0 examples – people seem more and more inclined to let the world know what they are up to!

(with thanks to Betti Moser for her help on this post!)

Foursquare

foursquare.com
You can make lists of your favourite things to do and share them with friends. Foursquare will keep track of the things you’ve done, help you create To-Do lists and even suggest new experiences to seek out…. As you check in around the city, you’ll start finding tips that other users have left behind. After checking-in at a restaurant, you may unlock a tip suggesting the best thing on the menu. Checking-in at a bar will often offer advice on what your next stop should be. Every tip you create is discoverable by other users just by checking-in.

A bit like a mixture of Twitter updates, GPS search to locate people you know and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’.

Plancast

plancast.com
A service for sharing your upcoming plans with friends – a social calendar of sorts. Just submit the things you’re thinking about doing in the future, and your friends will be able to hear about them – and maybe join you, too!

TechCrunch calls it “a ‘Foursquare for the future’. The main idea is that while many people use Foursquare and similar location-based services like Gowalla and Loopt to share where they are, Plancast is about sharing where they will be.”

It looks very similar to a Twitter timeline, but the focus is on what you’re planning today, tomorrow, next week, next month etc. This is how it works in action: plancast.com/mark

Blippy

blippy.com
“Blippy allows you to automatically share your credit card transactions as you make them. This includes the place you made the purchase, the amount, and in some cases, the item. This is all placed in a social stream where other Blippy users can comment on and ‘like’ the various items.”

This is still very new. It looks similar to a Twitter stream, but the updates are automatic via a link from your credit card to Blippy. (Hmmmm…)

Last fm

www.last.fm
“a music service powered entirely by its community of listeners.”

Completely interactive music-based community. Plugs into all other social media platforms. Listeners automatically stream the tracks they’re listening to onto Last.fm, thereby creating their online profile.

Spotify

www.spotify.com/en
“peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums, with virtually no buffering delay.”

A monthly subscription gives access to millions of songs to download. Spotify also has profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

Listverse

listverse.com
“a website dedicated to lists of trivia from a variety of categories – the most popular of which are lists of misconceptions and human oddities.” Full of curious stories, all presented as a “Top 10 most…” list.

Hunch

hunch.com
This is a pretty cool site. It uses artificial intelligence concepts to help people with everyday (and not so everyday) decisions! Try it out and let us know what you find!

Petrol Prices.com

www.petrolprices.com
“Find the lowest UK petrol price in your area! 9,537 petrol stations and 8,000 daily updates.”

Just enter your post code and find the cheapest petrol station near you. Compares prices in real time. Also available as iPhone app.

I have to post this as I want to draw atttention to the blog article written by my cousin Gabriella Sholk – it is hilariously funny but you have to make sure you read it in ALL seriousness anyway as it’s great advice!

Check out the post here:

It’s going to be a busy time for Keren, as she prepares to do numerous talks “all over the country” (well – mostly London!) to certain niche audiences. We thought it might be interesting to share a few details of this.

Wednesday 24 February 2010 – A Business Innovation
“Grow your Business” talk on Social Media with Abbie Tanner.

Tuesday 23 February 2010 – With New Venture Publishing, Perfect Online PR Masterclass with New Venture Publishing, alongside Jo Lynn from Splash PR

Saturday the 27th of February – Along with Tamsin Fox Davis from Enthuse Marketing, a talk on Social Media on to a group of professional Wedding Planners.

Friday 14th May 2010 – Keren is going to be doing a talk to a group of translators in York for the Institute of Translators and Interpreters.

If you would like more information about any of these events, please get in touch!

This was sent by email so we thought we would share! (author unknown)

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England ..
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother’s not Mop?