Spike WebDesign has launched a new website, Australian Photos, for Australian landscape and wildlife photographer Lloyd Howlett.
The brief for the website was to create an online experience which allowed users to easily view hundreds of Australiana photos, and then be able to select and buy those photos using a secure credit card transaction.
One of the interesting features of the website is the home page utilisation of Google Maps which allows users to very quickly see where the website’s photos were taken, and then gives them the ability to drill down to specific photos based on their map location. The website also features a more standard search function allowing users to search by a location list or a keyword list.
When viewing a specific photo the website utilises the jQuery plugin Fancybox to great effect. Fancybox quickly allows users to view a larger version of the image without navigating away from their current page.
The whole website is driven by Spike’s proprietary content management system, The Admin Site, which was customised to Australian Photos’ exact requirements.
This is a question a lot of website owners ask themselves, in fact this was a question a website owner asked us just the other day, which inspired the writing of this article.
Firstly, something which is not common knowledge and often needs to be explained, is that – it is not easy to be a dominant website in Google.
Just because you:
A. want to appear at the top of Google, for a specific keyword, and
B. have a website
…does not mean Google will reward you with a position near the top of it’s rankings.
Additionally, just because you have developed a new website and are very happy with it, it doesn’t mean Google will look at your new website and change it’s rankings immediately or at all. You may not see a difference in your ranking for weeks or months.
Google is smart, cautious and a spurned lover.
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One of Australia’s most exciting Creative Agencies, Press Play Creations, have launched their new website.
The new site combines a blog, a portfolio of top clients and some great information about Press Play Creations and the way they work.
In their own words; “In a nutshell, we are all about building and executing clever marketing campaigns that work. Press Play’s diverse and loyal portfolio features clients from industries including commercial, health and fitness, fashion, beauty, parenting and kids, and entertainment.”
“Press Play offers the expertise of a larger agency whilst delivering an exceptional, personalised service. Equally important, we ensure that working together is an enjoyable process for our clients.”
“So, why Press Play? Put simply, your success is our success and we won’t rest until we’ve achieved it.”
Their client list shows they’ve worked with companies from the government and education sectors as well as being well versed in the retail sector which displays terrific diversity in their abilities.
Check out Press Play Creations at www.pressplaycreations.com.au/
Spike WebDesign has been featured in the most recent issue of the popular international website design and development magazine, Web Designer.
Spike WebDesign was the only Australian website design studio featured in the world renowned magazine and the team at Spike couldn’t be happier with the recognition.
The article says;
“SPIKE WEBDESIGN (SWD) is a relatively new development agency, formed in late 2007 by Josh Lawrence and Ben Newton. The creation of SWD was driven by a common goal of creating better website experiences for users, both from a visual and functional point of view. Not long after SWD opened its doors for business it launched the first version of The Admin Site, its custom-built CMS. SWD specialises in CMS driven websites that not only controls the website content but also runs a broad range of complex administrative tasks such as running sporting events or automating customer communications. “We are still a relatively young agency and are continually striving to reach great heights, our main motivation is to offer great customer service,” said Newton. “We are constantly hearing horror stories about rogue website designers who are doing terrible things to their clients. In
an unregulated industry we feel it is important to differentiate ourselves from the masses. It seems simple, but good customer service and the willingness to speak to a client will win you jobs.”
The article also highlights some Spike WebDesign’s more recent and varied jobs which display Spike’s which help to display Spike broad skillset.
Spike WebDesign has re-launched the blog of Australian professional basketball player Mark Worthington. Mark’s previous blog operated on the Blogger authoring platform, a Google owned blogging platform.
The two main components that we suggested changing was firstly to implement a complete visual overhaul of the blog and the second change being to migrate the blog over to the more user friendly blogging platform, Wordpress.
The new design that we presented was a totally customised Wordpress template, design by Spike Webdesign, which combined a clean, simple appearance with images of Mark playing basketball. Also, based on Mark’s requests, we included some custom Wordpress widgets including a photo gallery and Google Analytics.
Simple question right? Correct.
Everyone know the answer to that question, right? Surprisingly, no. In fact, the majority of people I ask this question to don’t know. At best the answer is something like;
“Ummm. .. I have Outlook Express?”
Those who do know nine out of ten times say that a browser is Internet Explorer, rather than Internet Explorer is the browser I use. Terrific branding Microsoft!
For those who don’t know what an internet browser is, it is a piece of software that enables you to “browse” the internet and all the sites and pages it offers. Internet Explorer is a browser, but it is not your only choice, and many would argue that it is not your best option, myself included.
The main browsers available to you (for free) are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari (Apple’s browser), Chrome (Google’s browser) and Opera. While there are heaps more, these are the main ones. If you are interested in seeing which browsers are the most widely used you go to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp.
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Many of you have been users of our content management system, The Admin Site, for some time now. In fact, The Admin Site is approaching it’s second birthday. However, unlike most two year olds, we are sure The Admin Site will not be experiencing any of the terrible two’s.
Through a combination of experience, feedback and new technologies we have continued to strive for a better product. Something that can offer more to you, the client, but at the same time become easier and more intuitive to use. We have also looked to incorporate new modules and functionality to add to the library of tasks The Admin Site can help you with.
Behind the scenes there have been many changes to help make The Admin Site run faster and smoother than the older version, however, what we’re excited about are some of the great new plug-ins we have available in version 2.0.
Some of the great new features available are…
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We are once again at that time of year where we all promise to lose weight, stop smoking and to be more positive. Along with all of these personal New Year’s resolutions often comes a raft of business resolutions, goals or targets.
“I really need a website”.
“I must get that shopping cart so I can sell my products online”.
“I’ll update my website in the New Year”.
Resolutions and thoughts like this are common ones, especially amongst business owners. However, as the New Year starts and all that comes with it means that your current website, or ambitions of finally getting a website, get swept under the carpet.
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We have just completed a new website for MWC Media (Melbourne advertising agency) called Tiny Toes Ballet.
Tiny Toes Ballet is a Sydney ballet school specialising in Children’s ballet and Dance for Kids. Due to being a children’s dance school and wanting to position themselves in the ‘ballet for kids’ market, Tiny Toes Ballet and MWC Media decided there should be a playful feel to the website. They wanted some moving elements that would make the page interesting without taking away from the main content or making the overall user experience complicated.
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The latest Spike WebDesign website to be launched is the new discount online store for glasses and frames, Specs For Less.
Specs For Less required a website that would allow them to showcase their huge range of Designer Frames, Fashion Frames, Standard Frames and Budget Frames as well as allow customers to customise their purchases and decide whether they required just the frames or also wanted to purchase lenses.
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